Golf Site of the Week -- The Reluctant Jam Boy

Note: This is the fourth Golf Site of the Week post of 2010. Hope you enjoyed the mini-series on golf course maintenance blogs. Today we go back to regular golf sites, and today I'm going to highlight the Reluctant Jam Boy, a young man who is following the PGA Tour to provide a different flavor of coverage.
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Golf Site of the Week - The Reluctant Jam Boy
- http://www.thereluctantjamboy.com/blog.html -


One of my favorite sites to read is a blog by the Reluctant Jam Boy, a former caddie who is following the PGA Tour like a madman this year, and documenting it all along the way. Most of his writing is composed of eBooks available through purchase on Google Checkout, but he also maintains a blog updated regularly with snippits of his experience on tour.


If you read the blog posts, I think you will be enticed to buy the eBooks. I've read through a couple, and they are a very entertaining read. Do not expect the same golf coverage you might find in Sports Illustrated or on the Golf Channel, it is a very different (and refreshing) style from an  informed writer.


As always, if you come across a golf site worthy of being featured in this series, please let me know!

Golf Site of the Week: The Rim Golf Club Maintenance Department

  Note: This is the fourth Golf Site of the Week post of 2010. This week we feature the final installment of our mini-series on blogs focused on golf course maintenance.
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Golf Site of the Week - Rim Golf Club Maintenance
- http://therimgolfclub.blogspot.com/ -

This week I'd like to feature a fascinating blog written by the maintenance staff at The Rim Golf Club in Payson, AZ. The course is incredibly scenic, surrounded by beautiful pines and breathtaking views all over the course. The course superintendent, Justin Ruiz, does a fantastic job keeping his readership informed on the everyday activities of his maintenance staff. I would only hope that if I ever have the resources to join a club such as The Rim Golf Club that the course would have a similar blog -- ensuring its population that the staff is hard at work day in and day out to make the course as perfect as it can get.

The information provided by Ruiz and his staff is truly incredible, ranging from quick updates or an interesting photo to the elaborate monthly reports that are presented to The Rim Greens Committee. The staff there has been doing a great deal in terms of conserving their water use, and it sounds like they have been quite successful at it.

Just a few of my favorite posts

• Monthly Greens Committee Report
  
• Elk, Elk, and More Elk
  
• December Green Committee Report

I hope that you've enjoyed a brief look at golf course maintenance blogs. There are many more like them, and I'm sure a few of them will come along in Golf Site of the Week as the year progresses.

As always, if you have a suggestion on a potential golf site of the week, please let me know!

Local Amateur Golf Events

Growing up playing golf competitively in high school, I am always interested in opportunities to compete on the golf course, therefore I have an interest in what amateur events are held locally. From what I can tell, being a resident here in Maryland for only a couple years now, there are several options for tournament play.

Maryland State Golf Association

The Maryland State Golf Association (MSGA) fields an extensive calendar of events, to include tournaments for individuals, teams, amateurs and pros alike. The MSGA does a nice job of spreading around where these events are held, both at public and private venues located throughout the state. This year’s Maryland Amateur event is held in mid June at Congressional Country Club’s Gold Course, while other events are held at the University of Maryland course, newcomer Lake Presidential, and the P.B. Dye Club in western Maryland.

Baltimore Municipal Golf Corporation

The Baltimore Municipal Golf Corporation (BMGC), which runs Baltimore City’s five golf courses, also hosts a season-long series of tournaments. The schedule for 2010 is yet to be released, but by scanning over the 2009 schedule one can see there are plenty of opportunities to try out Charm City’s courses. Among these events include a Two-Man Team Championship, Publinx events for both men and women, and a Maryland Amateur Stroke Play Championship held over three days. These tournaments are also unique because of the fact the BMGC owns five courses, the events are often held at multiple courses, similar to the Bob Hope PGA Tour event taking place as I type. I truly plan to play in at least one BMGC event this summer.

Washington Metropolitan Golf Association

For those living in the Washington D.C. metro area, there are several events held by the Washington Metropolitan Golf Association (WMGA) throughout the year. The WMGA hosts a Mid-Amateur, a traditional Amateur, a four-ball event as well as a Senior Amateur event. They also host a pair of team matches, several junior matches, and several USGA qualifiers throughout the year. The events are held at courses within a 60-mile radius of Washington D.C., and include several top-tier clubs.

Middle Atlantic Golf Association

The Middle Atlantic Golf Association (MAGA) is very similar to the Maryland or Washington DC golf associations, however, it seems to be heavily focused on unique tournaments. In their schedule of 14 events posted for 2010, five involve juniors, three involve seniors, a couple of four-ball events, and the traditional amateur held over a four-day span. The events appear to be almost entirely hosted at private venues, thus allowing the average player a chance to play courses such as the Baltimore Country Club or Columbia Country Club.
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These are just a few of the options available to the amateur golfer in the Maryland/Washington/Virginia area. If you know of any additional events, please do drop a line.

Erin Hills Golf Club

Erin Hills Golf Course is the subject of a fascinating article in the most recent issue of Golf World. The course is located in Erin, Wisconsin, less than an hour’s drive from Milwaukee, and despite its young history, is scheduled to host the 2011 U.S. Amateur Championship. The article recaps the development of the course, culminating with the financial meltdown of its owner and resulting sale this past October. I think it will be very interesting to see how the course develops this year -- the article’s author claims that the new ownership will be putting significant amounts of money into the course in the maintenance department, apparently one of its big shortfalls under previous ownership.

I think you can clump Erin Hills into the category of Pebble Beach or perhaps some of the Bandon Dunes courses -- simply built on a magnificent piece of land. Just scan through some of the images on their website, or those featured in the countless news articles about the course, and it’s easy to see why the United States Golf Association (USGA) has a love affair with the course.

Erin Hills is likely to be a future host of the U.S. Open someday -- perhaps as early as 2017. It is rumored to be among a short list of finalists for the national championship, joining the likes of 2008 host Torrey Pines and my personal favorite, Cog Hill No. 4. The USGA has really developed a liking to discovering relative unknown courses and turning them into U.S. Open favorites. The best example of that is Bethpage Black, which hosted its second version of the even this past summer. I am a big fan of choosing public courses for the U.S. Open, allowing the average player a chance to tee it up on an “Open course,” hence why I want the 2017 event to be held at Cog Hill, a course I played this past summer. 

I think the re-development of Erin Hills will be one of the more interesting stories in 2010, and the USGA’s decision in February about the 2017 host will obviously play a big role in such a development.

Golf Site of the Week: Vail Golf Club Maintenance

 Note: This is the third Golf Site of the Week post of 2010. This week we continue with our mini-series on blogs focused on golf course maintenance.
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Golf Site of the Week - Vail Golf Club Maintenance
- http://vailgcm.blogspot.com/ -

This is one of my favorite blogs, as the amount of pure information they convey is incredible. The blog is authored by the maintenance staff at Vail Golf Club in Vail, Co. The course is very scenic, and their location presents all sorts of challenges in terms of keeping the golf course in its peak condition.

Just a few of my favorite posts:

• Building New Tees 
• Mini Golf 
• Finishing the 18th 

Just a very well written blog with lots of pictures. Be sure to check it out, and head back a few pages to see some posts from before the snow flew, they've done a lot of work to the course and it is interesting to see how it progressed.

Greatest Walk in Golf...

One of the writers at Golf Digest, Matt Ginella, posted on his blog about his experience at Cypress Point off the coast in California. It is considered by many to be the finest collection of golf holes in the world. Its signature hole...or perhaps one of them, is the par three 16th. While the hole itself is incredible, the walk to the hole is equally impressive. Check out his post to see the video, it is truly breathtaking.

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Just FYI -- my personal top five of courses I want to play:

1. Augusta National
2. Pebble Beach
3. Cypress Point
4. St. Andrews
5. Pinehurst No. 2

Got a Letter in the Mail...

Got a letter in the mail today confirming my status as a volunteer for the 2011 U.S. Open Championship to be held at Congressional. The tournament will probably go down as the biggest Maryland golf event of the decade, and promises to be entertaining. I plan to cover everything related to this event as the date draws near, but this was just a tiny bit of excitement, as I had registered to be a volunteer several months back. As the letter states, no word yet on what committee I'll be assigned, but I'm glad to help out any way I can (though I'd prefer to not be making hot dogs...)

If you are interested in volunteering, please check out http://2011volunteers.usga.org.