Free rounds of Golf at Stonebrooke- Today only

In order to celebrate the first day of spring in Minnesota, if you order that pervasive Titleist ball deal through Stonebrooke golf course they will give a free round of golf with the order.

Good today only until midnight.

For the duffer in all of us

Revisiting Angelo Spagnolo's 66 on the 17th at TPC Sawgrass.  That hole led the way to him being named the worst avid golfer in America.

Pebble Beach

Well there is still 6 inches of snow on the ground in Minneapolis but today I took a trip to Pebble Beach to watch my friends play.

I didn't have to take a flight for this.  I actually just drove over to Minnetonka to Bunker Indoor Golf.  A indoor simulator facility with 12 full swing simulators and a putting green area.


I arrived a bit late and by then they were already on the 4th hole. I didn't play as I am nursing a month old shoulder injury.  Hoping to be recovered by the time I need to swing for real.  My friends Keith, Michael, and Tom generally were impressed and said the distances seemed fairly accurate.  Chipping and putting were a bit unrealistic but the full swings seemed realistic.

 A shot of Tom with perfect position at the top.

The round of play took just over 3 hours to do.  Putts were given if inside of 10 feet.  Only 2 putts were made from outside of 10 feet.

 Keith on the 18th.  Not quite as impressive as the real thing but Keith hit a great drive.  Just to the left of the famous fairway trees.

Vigen teeing it up, also on 18.  He faded his tee shot right into one of the bunkers down that side.

With the gimmie putts the scores were a touch hard to stand up but Michael won with a 92.  Keith had a 97, with an impressive 41 back nine.  Tom finished with a 45-55 even 100 round.

This was actually a pretty fun looking thing to keep the rust knocked off in the Winter.  I am looking at maybe trying a similar facility in Chaska at the end of this month.  Hopefully my shoulder will be recovered by then and I can start to work on getting some kind of swing back in preparation for this year.

Golf is a long ways away

Last month I went to Brainerd, MN to visit Cragun's with my brother.  He had done some work for them and received a $1000 credit for his efforts!  We drove up there to get fitted for new clubs for him.

Cragun's, and Brainerd in general, is home to some of the finest golfing in Minnesota.  Cragun's has Dutch's Legacy and Bobby's Legacy 18 hole courses and a par 3 course.  I played both of the 18 hole courses about 5 years ago and really liked them.  I hope to be able to get up there this fall for a tournament the Minnesota Golf Association puts on.

Right now the golf season is a long ways off according to how it looked up there.

Here is a shot of the 9th hole on Dutch's course

Back at the Cragun's hotel area, a view out across the lake shows the skating rink they have set up there.  They also rent out fish houses for ice fishing and snowmobiles.

One new addition in the clubhouse this winter is an indoor simulator.  It takes up most of the floor space in the pro shop but has allowed the pro shop to stay open for the first time this winter.  You can call in and book time on it to keep your game in shape during the winter.

Unfortunately we didn't get a chance to get my brother fitted.  Chris Foley was not there that day after having just been at the Minnesota golf show.  Mike is going to go back up there in April when the driving range will hopefully be open.

A bit of a rant

OK, OK, I get it.  Titleist is giving away one dozen free Pro Vs if you buy 3 dozen!  I don't need every golf course and golf merchant out there emailing me like they have arranged some great deal for me.

Rant over.

Goin' insane...going Ben Crane

More proof that the PGA needs more golfers like Ben Crane.
http://youtu.be/iiiOqybRvsM