Morning Quick Links

1) Monday Golf

The RSM Classic went from a field of 156 golfers to a 5 man playoff. One golfer rose up on Monday after darkness took hold on Sunday to win it. Congrats to Mackenzie!

http://www.golfweek.com/2016/11/21/pga-tour-wins-rsm-classic-in-4-man-monday-playoff/


2) Lydia to PXG?

Buried in yet another Jamie Diaz "what's wrong with golfer x" article is an interesting tidbit, the best golfer in the world Lydia Ko is moving to PXG. I am fascinated by this company; who is buying these clubs and is the price actually justified?

http://www.geoffshackelford.com/homepage/2016/11/21/diaz-what-went-wrong-for-ko-can-she-get-it-back.html

3) Finally The End

Its finally the end of the various tour's schedules with the European Tour and LPGA Tour ending their seasons. Meanwhile the PGA Tour continues to torture us with a wrap around schedule which provides us with golf (pro) but most golfers skip the tourneys or are exhausted come Sunday (con). For those that have ended, Stenson and Jutanugarn are your winners!

http://www.golfpunkhq.com/news/article/stenson-wins-his-second-race-to-dubai
http://www.golfweek.com/2016/11/20/lpga-ariya-jutanugarn-wins-1-million-bonus-race-to-cme-charley-hull-first/

4) New Podcast

Talking Golf Getaways is on fire recently. Debuting a new daily podcast and partnering with GolfNewsNet, Darin and Mitch bring great golf insight daily to your ears. Check out today's latest:

http://thegolfnewsnet.com/talking-golf-getaways/

Morning Quick Links

Here are some links to the golf interweb to check out today!


Everything Is Coming Up TM:

The guys at GolfNewsNet have video of Tiger hitting some Taylormade woods as part of his comeback. Tiger aside, its interesting to me that when guys are switching between clubs (Rory from Nike, etc.) that they are all switching to Taylormade M1 and M2 woods. There is something in the water with those woods for the world's best I guess.

http://thegolfnewsnet.com/golfnewsnetteam/2016/11/17/video-tiger-woods-hitting-taylormade-series-fairway-wood-medalist-101247/

Crowdfunding A Career:

Golfweek does a deep dive into Natalie Sheary's attempt to qualify for the LPGA tour through crowdfunding. Crowdfunding platforms have been very successful for entertainers in funding their movies, albums and TV shows and I think we will see more sports people get into the action to fund their dreams. Go Natalie!

http://www.golfweek.com/2016/11/17/lpga-hopeful-natalie-sheary-uses-gofundme-to-pay-for-golf/

Mo Money:

The LPGA and LET are joining forces for the Ladies Scottish Open by offering even bigger purses than in past years. I am a huge fan of the LPGA and glad to see the purses increasing!

http://www.scotsman.com/sport/golf/1-2m-cash-boost-for-ladies-scottish-open-1-4293291

New Podcast:

I love Ru's Scottish Golf Podcast and this one packs a punch when Ru interviews No Laying Up. Something to definitely check out!

http://scottishgolfpodcast.com/episode-106/ 

Rams Hill Photoessay

I am a huge fan of Rams Hill located in Borrego Springs California and became a true believer after my first trip there. I recently went back and took a couple more picture that I thought I would share with you guys that really highlights the beauty of the place, enjoy! 

The practice facilities are top notch!

The use of water on the course is strategic and beautiful!

Green grass versus desert brown.

One of my favorite par 3s.

No one wants to be in the bunker but if you are, its often a work of art.

Sunset on the 18th.

For more info on Rams Hills, check them out here: http://www.ramshillgolf.com/

Shorecliffs Golf Club - Review

California has 840 miles of coastline and yet very few golf courses reside on that line. Those that do are often very expensive so if you want to marry the sea and golf, you have to pick your spots. Shorecliffs is a course that is NEAR the sea but close enough to give you those nice sea breezes at a very affordable price and I recently checked it out.

The above picture is a par 4 that plays 353 yards from the back tees. The play here isn't taking a driver with major danger in a streaming looming to the right and houses up on a cliff looming to the left. Instead, you should take your 3 wood and do a gentle fade into the fairway. That is basically Shorecliffs in a nutshell.

The course is short but has a lot of teeth due to the severe doglegs (many holes you can't see the green from the tee) and your driver is placed in your bag for a lot of the day. Still, there are places to bail out and it is not as tight as DeBell or other similarly constricted courses.

The course meanders its way on top of cliffs, down cliffs and through cliffs. Between the houses and the cliffs, there wasn't much land to place a course but the few spots of land they found, they wedged it in there and I was constantly marveling on where the course might go next.

The superstar hole is certainly a downhill par 4 at about 300 yards in length and while the smart play is to lay up with a 200 yard club, once you get on the tee box, you HAVE to go at it with driver.

Shorecliffs also shows its teeth around the greens by having greens that are elevated and have choke points so you better miss correctly or you are going to have insane chips over bunkers and in tall grass. Shorecliffs is also unusual as it seems to be smack dab in the middle of a drainage system so to access many parts of the course makes you drive through aqueducts to get to the next tee.

Shorecliffs isn't going to set your golf world on fire with its routing or conditioning but it is a fun course to play and my round on a Sunday morning only took four hours which can't be said for most courses. If I could make one suggestion to the course, don't overwater the fairways. Sure they might turn a bit browner but let the ball run a bit more if it catches some short grass.

Overall, if you want golf and a sea breeze on a budget, definitely check out Shorecliffs. You will be puzzled at times by the course but I bet after playing you will say that you had fun. And when is the last time you could say that after playing golf?

For more information about Shorecliffs, check out the link: http://www.shorecliffsgolfclub.com/

Regripped Goes To The Powershares QQQ Championship

I love playoffs. I think every sport should have a playoff once the regular season is over. In golf, the PGA Tour has had some success with FedEx Cup playoffs and now the Champions Tour is following suit with the Charles Schwab Cup Playoffs. The first event was here in SoCal, the Powershares QQQ Championship at Sherwood Country Club.

I have never been to or played at Sherwood but was eager to with memories of the "Showdown at Sherwood" stuck in my head (that great match between Tiger and Duval in their prime). I haven't had a chance to play it in person yet (which I hope to one day) but I figured a stroll around the course seeing some high end golf is just what the doctor ordered.

The Tourney:

First off, Powershares and Sherwood CC did a great job putting on this tournament. The volunteers were extremely friendly and there was a really laid back vibe to the whole proceedings. Sherwood is not the most walkable course with significant elevation gains and losses but the tournament put food and drink stations in the right areas and all the spectators had a good time.

The Course:

Sherwood is schizophrenic but in a charming way. The front side for the most part is flat and follows various parts of a lake set amongst old oak trees.

Don't let the front side fool you, there is no bombing the ball here as there are various washes and streams that bisect the fairway in multiple areas.

The backside has a crazy amount of elevation gain and losses, none felt more so than the par 3s. It seems that every par 3 on both the front and backside, you are hitting over a ravine to a green you would be lucky to get on in the best of conditions.

The par 4s and par 5s are no bargain either with forced carries for your tee shots and oak trips devilishly placed to catch an errant tee ball.

There are also a tremendous amount of rocks on the course which become boulder-sized starting on 9

Bonus Points:

Any time you get to hang out with Wayne Gretzky (member of Sherwood) to watch golf and to go into the pro shop and see Dustin Johnson's US Open trophy and bag, well you sir get bonus points!

Also bonus points should be added for the sweet tourney merchandise at Sherwood. Often tourney schwag isn't awesome but this time it was. My only regret is that I didn't pull the trigger on getting a Sherwood archer hat with the orange Powershares tourney logo on the side. Still thinking bout that hat as I write this ;).

Overall, the inaugural Powershares QQQ Championship got off to a great start and is being held at the fascinating Sherwood course. I will definitely be back again.

For more info on the tourney check out this link! http://www.pgatour.com/champions/tournaments/powershares-qqq-championship.html

Elkins Ranch Review

An hour Northwest of Los Angeles is the small town of Fillmore that is home to Elkins Ranch. ER is a rarity in SoCal in that they control their own water supply so conditions are often green where other courses are putting on their brown coats. Having played Mountain View a few months ago, I was eager to try out ER which is right down the road.

ER is set up like your typical parkland course with holes running parallel to each other. The trees, while sparse, are set up to capture stray shots for the most part. What this course lacks in routing prowess, it more than makes up for in elevation changes.

You have holes with elevated greens and holes with crazy elevated tee boxes. While the course is under 6,500 yards and rather boxed in to its surroundings, its amazing to me how many changes to the elevation occur in such a confined space.

Because ER controls its own water, they have some pretty sweet water features including this brute of a hole, the par 4 ninth hole.

The number 1 handicap hole, you have a sliver of fairway to the right as you make your way around the pond. I missed my par putt by inches but it made want to play this hole over and over again. Water is a double edged sword as the course might be a bit overwatered but the water features are pretty sweet.

The course does have some oddities. The few traps that exist on the course are oddly removed from the greens, which is a design feature I have never encountered before. There is at least a good two feet of rough between the trap and green below.

Also, the course is EXTREMELY compressed in certain areas. Right here there are three greens that are within a bump and run from each other.

I am not sure what the solution is to this compressed conundrum, especially since it leads to a lot of fences around the course but if the course ever undergoes a redesign and get rid of this pancaking the course could be really something.

For more info on Elkins Ranch, check out the link! http://www.elkinsranchgc.com/

Lakes at El Segundo- Review

As you are driving to the Lakes at El Segundo, part of you wonders how it can even exist? Several of the holes border Sepulvada Blvd (a very busy road here in Los Angeles) and it seems hemmed in on all sides by other major roads and the run off from LAX. But exist it does and LA golfers are better for the course existing.

Lakes offers an LA golfer a bunch of short holes (short = sub 110 yards) which sharpens the wedge game and the greens roll true so you get a classic short course vibe. Unlike a lot of short courses, Lakes has a crazy amounts of bunkers, none more so than a 76 yard hole that has huge swales of bunkers in case you are not incredibly precise.

(seriously the entire green is fronted by bunkers)

Lakes ups the ante into executive course territory offering two really interesting par 4's (both sub 300 yards). One is uphill with a lot of strategically placed bunkers

and one downhill with water and bunkers to harass your shot.

Lakes does have some issues, geese have taken over the course and evidence of them are everywhere and the squeezing between the boulevards does affect the yardages so you are making a lot of the same shot for 9 holes. That being said, I really enjoyed my Sunday morning round. It was very relaxed and a good walk in the park!

For more information about the Lakes at El Segundo, check out the website here: http://www.golfthelakes.com/Club/Scripts/Home/home.asp