Golf in Poland?!

My father grew up in Poland and I have been there at least five times and I never thought that golf would be of interest in a country that is big in soccer. Boy was I wrong. Poland currently has 15 golf courses with many more on the way. As we were driving from the Czech Republic into Poland I saw a sign for a Par 12 golf course. Number one I couldn’t believe there would be a golf course so close to the boarder and two it was Par 12! I wasn’t sure what that meant, so we went back to the golf course a few days later and inquired about what Par 12 meant, and the caretaker had no idea. He thought the developer saw it on another sign and decided to put it on his sign. The golf course wasn’t even close to being ready, but he said that in about a year or so it will be an 18 hole golf course. The next time I go to Poland I will definitely make it a point to make time for a few rounds of golf. Here are some pictures of the “golf course.”





This is the club house...








A fabulous view and the putting green...








The yellow markers are on the first tee box, and in the distance you can see a castle!






I think this golf course will be beautiful when it is finished and I can't wait to come back in two years and play a few rounds.

Hurray for Michelle Wei

As you know I have been a Michelle Wei fan for a while, especially since she has moved to my neighborhood, but I always knew it was a matter of time until she came back. I that Michelle earned a spot into the 2008 Womens (sorry I can not find the appostraphy on this keyboard) Open by shooting a 67 and a 70. That is great! I hope she works extra hard at her game and goes into the tournament ready to shoot low and kicks some but. Except for Paulas of course. (I can not even make a smily face on this keyboard!)

The LET for WEI

The little time that I had on the internet I read that Michelle played in an LET (Ladies European Tour) Tournament and shot a final round under par to end up in 6th place. I am not sure if Michelle is thinking of playing on the LET full time, but it should be something she should consider. The LET will give her tournament experience and allow her to work on her game in an environment that is not as difficult as the LPGA, while playing with top players. I think she should play as much as she can on the LET for a season and then take a few sponsors exemption on the LPGA. The LETet will give her a lot of confidence as well as prepare her for success on the LPGA.

Free Internet

Sorry everyone for taking so long to post all of the entires from the Masters, but it is finally done and we can get to more exciting things. Right now, I am sitting in a hotel room in Nurnberg, Germany hoping that I will find a cafe with free internet along the way to getting some breakfast and post a few entries. The prices for internet are outrageous over in Europe. I was just in Israel and prices for everything are much worse. I think one Internet Cafe charged us $15 for 30 minutes. It was crazy, but that was the cheapest we could find at the time. Anyway, I will do my best to update as much as I can and keep up with what is going on in the golf world. One a Side note: I just went to a Starbucks that had a wi-fi sticker in the window, and the Barista said I had to enter my credit card number at the T-mobile site and pay for it. T-mobile is taking over all of the internet access and they charge you an arm and a leg for it. It’s awful. I was lucky to find a cafe in Israel that did not charge for internet, and for some reason there are many cafe’s that offer wi-fi, but they have a contract with t-mobile or another carrier and make you sign up and charge you in order to access the internet. A las, I miss my free internet.

A New Masters Champion is Crowned (Day 4)

Today was the day I and every golf fan have been waiting for. There were so many possibilities of who could be the champion that you could not really put your money on anybody. The running of the bulls was more chaotic than the other days. More people showed up today and more people wanted to put their chairs on hole 18. Once the gates opened there was a mad rush to 18 and somehow my parents and I got separated and in the end our chairs were in different places on 18, but I was lucky enough to get a spot next to the scorecard house. After we put our chairs down we went to get some breakfast, and I followed Justin Rose for his front nine and went to check on my chair, and to my surprise someone had removed my business card that was on the back of my chair and put a cigar ring! I turned to the security guard and asked if my chair had been removed, since people were trying to crowd their chairs in the designated area the security guards were instructed to remove chairs that were not placed in the appropriate area. Thankfully this morning the head of security put his chair next to me and we talked for a while before I left to get lunch, so he told me that even though my business card was missing from my chair that it was mine and he would deal with anyone who said otherwise. So every guard that was involved with the incident of my chair came up to me periodically through out the day and tapped me on the shoulder and jokingly ask me if this was my chair. The morning hours were a bit stressful, but as the day wore on and Tiger, Phil, Immelman, Snedekar, and Ian Poultar teed off things began to get more exciting. As groups began to come in all of the contenders were approaching hole 16 and everyone was intently watching the scoreboard. Many people were cheering and hoping that Tiger would make a run as well as Phill and others were cheering for Sneadaker to make a move. As Phill hit his second shot on 18 his ball hit the TV tower on the left hand side of the green on 18 and it ricochet off of the TV tower and landed somewhere around the green on hole 9. He hit an amazing third shot back onto the green on hole 18 and made the putt for par. The last group finally made its way in and it was so classy of Snedaker to allow Trevor Immelman to walk up to the 18th green alone and receive all of the applause from the fans. The last putt by Immelman will forever be burned into my mind and hopefully my family and I will be able to go back to The Master next year.

Day Three - Moving Day

MOVING DAY!! For those of you who don’t watch the Golf Channel religiously, every Saturday is moving day. It is the day players movie as much up the leader board as possible in order to be in contention to win on Sunday. After the Running of the Bulls, which was not as hectic for us today, because we only wanted to put our chairs on hole 9, which is a great hole to watch players hit their shots into the green. Again, we were fabulously blessed with a great spot, second row behind the pin. After we put our chairs down we walked to hole four. A tricky par three with grand stand seating where you can watch players tee off, putt, and tee off on hole 5. As we made our way to hole four the weather started to cool down and the rain clouds moved in. My dad and I went to the golf shop and bought an umbrella, some breakfast and continued to make our way to whole 4. I brought a pair of rain pants and a rain jacket, but I did not pack them in the car this morning since I did not think it would rain. Boy was I wrong! After the first group teed off it began to rain really hard, and everyone in the grand stand took out their umbrellas, and I am sure it was a site to see on TV, since you could only see the tops of the umbrellas and not the people. The rain was on and off through out the day and when each player would come everyone would lower their umbrellas causing the accumulated water on each umbrella to dump on the unsuspecting patron next to or in front of them. After about four groups had passed the rain became worse and the bull horn sounded and a suspension of play was called. The grandstand cleared and everyone rand to find shelter. It was quite cold, but thankfully the rain was warm and did not do to much damage to the course. We waited about 30 minutes and suspension of play was cancelled and everyone went back to their chairs. After a bit of walking around we returned to our chairs on the 9th hole and I was not surprised to find our chair soaking wet. I bought lunch before we sat down and placed our plastic bags on our chair so our butts would not get wet, but I did not think of covering our entire chairs to protect our backs from getting wet. So, after a while of sitting in the cold with my back side soaked I decided to go and buy a blanket because the sun had disappeared, the wind picked up, and we still had at least five hours to go before we left. I bought my blanket, walked back to my chair and began to unwrap the blanket and I looked up at the person that was sitting behind me and it was Carolyn Bivens! I definitely felt my heart skip a beat. We looked at each other and I began to talk to her. I told her that I thought I saw her earlier in the week and I surprised to find her standing right behind my chair! I then told her that I was excited about the improvements she was making, and she was quick to say thank you and add that I would probably be the first one to let her know once I was unhappy with something that she did. We both laughed and I continued to tell her about what I am interested in and if she had any names at the LPGA that I could contact for some advice. She was surprisingly very helpful and gave me a few names at the LPGA. She was really nice, relaxed, and I wish I could have lunch with her and just pick her brain. She is an amazing woman and I cant wait to see what else she does with the LPGA. After we talked I wrapped my self in my blanket like a burrito and enjoyed the rest of the day.

Day 2

Friday started off the same way the other two days did, the running of the bulls was as crazy as yesterday, except today my mom was with us and we wanted to put our chairs down on hole 16 again. There are so many gates leading into Augusta National, and there is a gate right behind hole 16, so those who line up at that gate get a better spot than those who have to come all the way over from the main entrance of the course, so we thought. The tournament organizers roped off specific areas that were designated for chairs only, and we were lucky enough to be in the second row of seats right in front of the pin location for that day, which was a great spot. Many players tried to go for the pin, but since the pin was in a tight location we only saw two or three birdies the whole day. It was fun to have the players come so close that you could hear the conversations they were having with their caddies about the slope and speed of the greens. I sat with my parents until lunch had passed and I walked to hole four to meet up with one of my favorite players Justin Rose. He was tied for the lead with four under after the first day, which was a great start. When I saw him tee off yesterday I noticed that he has a swing just like my swing coach Kris! I was really excited about that, so I decided to follow him today and learn about his swing, pre-shot routines, and putting strokes. I followed him through hole 12 and met up with my parents again who were watching Tiger Woods on hole 13. We went back to our chairs and watched the rest of the field come in on hole 16. The last group came through and we packed up and made our way to our car. Normally the flow of traffic has not been a problem, but for what ever reason today the traffic cops made our side wait over 45 minutes before they would allow traffic to flow through to the main street. Cars were honking trying to change to the right lane so they could make a turn onto the main road going in the opposite direction and then make a U-turn when possible so they could go the direction they originally wanted. Eventually after an hour of siting in traffic we made it home just in time to watch Golf Central. We practically ate, slept, and breathed golf everyday that we were in Augusta, which is basically something I do on a daily basis any way, but it was nice to see that my parents were joining in on my obsession, even though it would only last for a week.