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Wednesday, September 19, 2012

 

Golf lobby urges Rubio to drop the Obama golfing jokes

September 18, 2012

Golf lobby urges Rubio to drop the Obama golfing jokes

Golfers apparently have it so hard these days that a pro-golf lobby group called “WeAreGolf” is urging Senator Marco Rubio to refrain from discussing President Obama’s “passion for golf” in the future.

“As we enter the final stretch of campaign season,” the group writes, “we write to make a request we hope you will receive in the same spirit in which it is offered. Please reconsider your political strategy of criticizing President Obama’s passion for golf.” (Emphasis theirs.)

The concerns apparently stem from Rubio’s speech during the GOP convention in Tampa last month.


Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2012/09/18/golf-lobby-urges-rubio-to-drop-the-obama-golfing-jokes/#ixzz26uWmtieN

 


Monday, September 17, 2012

 

Teed-off Nevada man shoots golfer who broke his window: police

RENO, Nevada | Fri Sep 7, 2012 9:21pm EDT

(Reuters) - An angry homeowner apparently had better aim than a Nevada golfer whose errant ball broke the window of a home that overlooks the course.

Jeff Fleming, 53, of Reno is accused of opening fire with a shotgun on a golfing twosome, hitting one man who was treated at a hospital and released, police said on Friday.

Fleming was taken into custody at a local attorney's office where he fled following the shooting, Reno police said in a statement.

Fleming was booked into the Washoe County jail on suspicion of battery and assault with a deadly weapon late on Thursday and later released on bail.

Police say he opened fire at the 16th hole of Reno's Lakeridge Golf Course after one of the golfers shattered a window of his house with a ball. Fleming, whose home overlooks the course, had a verbal argument with the golfers before the shooting, police said.

Authorities shut down and evacuated the course after the shooting. Witness accounts led officers to Fleming's residence, which they surrounded before he surrendered at the attorney's office.

A telephone message left for the general manager of the public golf course was not immediately returned on Friday.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/08/us-usa-crime-golfer-idUSBRE88700S20120908?feedType=RSS&feedName=oddlyEnoughNews&rpc=69


Thursday, September 13, 2012

 

PHX Munis

 The City of Phoenix has a dilemma regarding its golf courses. And so do I.

The city owns a superb array of courses, playable and enjoyable for skilled players and duffers alike. But they are financially struggling.

The golf courses are supposed to be self-supporting. According to current city policy, green fees and other golf-related income should cover the cost of operating the courses without any assistance from the general taxpayer.

Until about a decade ago, that was the case. Now, it isn’t. The accumulated deficit in the golf fund is now $12.4 million. The annual deficit is around $2.5 million.

Part of this is because the city decided to use golf and the golf fund to achieve social policies.

The Palo Verde golf course used to be private.  In the late 1990s, the owner wanted to develop it, which made the neighbors apoplectic. So, the city bought it and stuck the golf fund with the cost.  It’s been a money-loser ever since.

About the same time, Aguila was built in the southwest part of the city. Aguila is a great layout – a desert golf experience without the target-golf frustrations of many such courses.

But there wasn’t really a demand for a golf course in that area. It was built as an amenity for an underserved part of the city. Again, the golf fund got stuck with the cost of what was really a social policy, rather than a golf, decision.

The purchase of Palo Verde and the development of Aguila were financed through bonds paid off by the golf fund. The cost of doing so explains much of the current deficit.

Still, there are some harsh realities about the golf business that can’t be blinked away. Play has declined as the number of golf courses in the Valley proliferated. At present, there is an excess of supply to demand.

Rounds played at Phoenix muni courses are down by a third to a half. The bonds arguably attributable to city social policies were retired in 2009. Yet annual deficits continue.

The city has appointed a committee to figure out what to do about it. One possibility examined by city staff is to close up to three courses – Palo Verde, Aguila and Maryvale.

http://www.azcentral.com/members/Blog/RobertRobb/172026

 


Wednesday, September 12, 2012

 

The Girl Wonder of Golf

The Girl Wonder of Golf

By KAREN CROUSE
Published: September 12, 2012

·                               

HOYLAKE, England — The golf prodigy Lydia Ko was asked how she would cope with being the youngest competitor this week at theWomen’s British Open, which was like asking Sean Lennon how he deals with being the son of a Beatle. The 15-year-old Ko knows no different.

At 7, she competed in the New Zealand Women’s Amateur, an event she won seven years later, before her 14th birthday. At 12, she finished tied for seventh in a Ladies European Tour event won by Laura Davies, nearly 34 years her senior. In January she became, at 14, the youngest champion on the Australian L.P.G.A. Tour with a four-stroke victory at the New South Wales Open.

Last month Ko was crowned the United States Women’s Amateur champion and became the youngest winner of an L.P.G.A. event when she turned back a Canadian Women’s Open field that included 48 of the top 50 golfers. At 15 years, 4 months and 2 days, Ko was more than a year younger than the American Lexi Thompson when she won a tour event last September.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/13/sports/golf/lydia-ko-acts-like-a-teenager-but-golfs-like-a-veteran.html?pagewanted=all  


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