This one is just kind of creepy. If you’re a die hard golfer near Bellvue, WA, you can now spend eternity buried in a bunker at the Sunset Hills Memorial Golf Park.
Yes, you read that correctly. Sunset Hills has built a replica golf course/cemetery. This gives new meaning to being “dead” in a hazard. Be warned though, sand traps are reserved for cremated remains only.
The course will naturally feature a leaderboard where your name will be listed if you’ve reserved a “future tee time.” I guess you’re winning if you’re still upright?
Sunset Hills (via SI)
Thanks to Phil for sending this my way. Planet golf has a really interesting story on the revival of Royal Melbourne as a championship golf course. Most Americans probably don’t know it, but Melbourne has been in drought conditions for most of the last 10 years.
So how exactly do you get a golf course in shape to host a major tournament without a reliable source of water? Well, you build a $4.5M stormwater harvesting system. Then you convert your fairways to a more robust strain of grass and you hope that you at least get enough rain to make sure you didn’t just waste millions of dollars.
Another interesting fact: The greens are a bent grass variety known as Sutton’s Mix which has been in use at Royal Melbourne since the 20′s and is not found on any other course in the world. Who knew?
Planet Golf
by Derek on November 16, 2011
in Deals
by Derek on November 15, 2011
in Video
Graham Bensinger recently sat down for an in-depth interview with Steve Williams. Yes, it’s a long video. But if you aren’t completely sick of hearing about Stevie/Tiger, this is worth a watch.
Tiger looked pretty good this week (except for Saturday). He may not be “back” but this is the best we’ve seen him play in a long time. Hopefully he’ll build on that for the President’s Cup this week.
Can you tell which one is the fake? It's the one on the left.
Last week the Chinese government conducted multiple raids on counterfeit golf club operations in China. They seized over 25,000 products from markets in Beijing and Shanghai.
This is part of an ongoing effort to stem the flow of fake golf clubs coming from China. In September alone, the Anti-Counterfeiting Group conducted 4 raids that seized 80,000 fake clubs.
According to Michael Rider, Senior VP and General Counsel for Callaway Golf, “The number and location of these recent raids sends a strong message to counterfeiters that we are committed to shutting them down.”
“We are striking back at these illegal operations, hitting them where it hurts like our most recent action in shutting down some of the most popular locations in the world of counterfeit store fronts,” said Rawleigh Grove Vice President and General Counsel for PING. ”We’re confident this will be a deterrent to counterfeiters in the future as we keep pushing to keep golf real.
The problem is that while the numbers sound impressive (and they really are), this is just a drop in the bucket. When you shut down one market in China, 2 more will open up. Personally, I don’t really have a problem with Counterfeit clubs per se. If you want to buy some cheap knock-offs, then go ahead. Nobody buying a $50 set of Callaway’s in China actually thinks they’re real. The real problem is when the counterfeits get shipped over here to be sold as legitimate clubs. Some golfer then ends up going on eBay and unknowingly buys one and wonders why his new super-titanium carbon fiber driver is shorter than his 5-wood.
To that end, I’ve posted a list of websites allegedly selling fake golf clubs after the break. Also, for what it’s worth, the counterfeiters only bother going after the big name brands. A rep from Adams told me earlier this year that they’ve never actually seen a fake Adams club because they’re not yet a big enough brand to have caught the attention of the counterfeiters in China. Also, My Golf Spy has a nice guide on how to avoid buying fake clubs on eBay (they claim 24% are fakes).
[click to continue…]
Judging from the video, Kenny Mayne isn’t exactly a scratch golfer. However, I’m not sure I could do much better 3 feet from the edge of a drop like that.
I’ve never been to South Africa, but if I ever go, this is on my list of things to do. How often can you say that you’ve just played a 427 yard par 3 that requires a helicopter to get to and from the tee box?
Legend Golf and Safari Resort
