We're down to eight players on Big Break Kaanapali after Dana (I won't use her nickname, Gayle, I promise) managed to fumble not once but several times in an elimination challenge where she could've easily put away one of the strongest players in the field. At one point while watching the show last night, after hearing myself call both Dana and her protégé Susan "stupid" for not playing it safe when they both had leads on Kim, whose putting had left the planet, I said to my husband, "Ouch -- was I too mean there?" He turned to me, eyes still wide from what he had just witnessed, and shook his head: "No," he said, "that was beyond stupid." He also asked that I print him up a t-shirt with a picture of Andrew Magee throwing his hands in the air and the quote "What's going on??" written underneath it. I may look into that. It was by far the funniest moment of the season so far.

This episode did indeed turn into one sloppy mess for a few of the players, but it also had some of the best golf shots we'd seen so far. First off, Lori ran up and crushed the glass in the glass-breaking challenge on her first swing, and Tina on her second. I don't know how familiar you are with this exercise, but it's one of the toughest things you'll ever try (Golf Channel sometimes broadcasts an exhibition they did with some PGA Tour players a few years back, where you get to see the likes of Tiger Woods and Jim Furyk take a stab at it -- not under relay conditions like the girls did in Kaanapali, mind you, but at their own pace -- and it took them quite a few tries to break that glass). Luckily for Lori and Tina, they were on the same team, so that pretty much secured their spots on the next show.

Another shot for the record books came when Kim stepped up to the tee on the third hole of the second immunity challenge, knowing that her two teammates' dismal play had already put her into the elimination (I must agree with the peanut gallery here; what in the world were they thinking putting Susan on the par 5 rather than Kim?). She was ticked off, more so than even I realized at the time (I'm loving watching the girls' confessionals on the show -- they were still pretty polite to each other on the course at this point, so we didn't quite know what they were thinking) and she pounded that drive all the way to Molokai. Then she made the long birdie putt, probably just to prove a point, and moved on to the elimination way too angry for her own good. It almost sent her home. The putts she stroked in that elimination challenge were nothing short of hideous, as she readily admitted in her confessional. But since her opponents Dana and Susan both managed to make some of the worst course-management decisions I've ever witnessed, she still squeaked by. Kim called her opponents' water shots (not just one but two for Dana) "a gift" in her interview after the round, and it couldn't have been a bigger one if it was tied up in a pretty ribbon. Since Susan chipped in early in the elimination challenge (another of the great shots on display amidst the carnage in this episode -- don't let her "Aw, shucks" demeanor fool you; this girl has a wicked short game) she was never threatened and, finally, had to watch her surrogate mom go home. What will this do to Susan's confidence? Can Kim recover from her near-fatal putting slump? Will Lori ever get nicer? You have to tune in next week to find out...

When Annika Sorenstam came back from her neck injury to win the first LPGA tournament of 2008, the SBS Open in Hawaii, most of us hoped it was a sign of a historic rivalry in the making and saw the potential for a season in which the world's no. 1, Lorena Ochoa, would have to fight hard to keep her Swedish predecessor from reclaiming her throne. Then Ochoa promptly won five of her six first tournaments, four of which had Sorenstam in the field, and those of us who had voiced our rivalry prophesies (see my item in GFW's May/June issue comparing Ochoa and Sorenstam to Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus) felt kinda' silly. But this Monday after the Michelob Ultra Open, as Sorenstam has just won her second tournament in a row (and third this season) -- this time with Ochoa not only in the field but in the same group for three out of four days -- it's clear the game is on.

So what's my point, to pat myself on the back for apparently having called this one correctly after all? No. It's to herald the power of good putting. Because tee to green last week, Ochoa actually outplayed Sorenstam. She drove the ball almost 10 yards farther on average, and hit three more greens than her elder over the course of the week. What propelled Sorenstam to the winner's circle by a healthy margin of seven strokes to the cluster of second-place finishers was her excellent putting, ironically the one aspect of her game the Hall of Famer has always grappled with. In fact, she took 16 fewer putts than Ochoa during the Michelob and ended up beating the Mexican by 12 strokes.

Now, while Sorenstam was busy showing who's boss on the LPGA Tour, Spaniard Sergio Garcia rose from the dead to win the PGA Tour's "fifth major," the Player's Championship, for his first victory in three years. As any golf fan knows, Garcia's struggles over the last 36 months have all had to do with his putting. The man had a textbook case of the yips, and he's had to watch countless tournaments -- most memorably the 2007 British Open -- slip through his fingers because he couldn't hit the broad side of a barn with his putter in clutch moments. But last week, while you can argue hit was his long game that won him the tournament (he finished 1st in the field in driving accuracy and in greens in regulation), it was his T-39 in putts per GIR (a huge improvement over his average in years past) that made the difference between first and second place. To watch his confidence with the flat stick was nothing short of joyful.

Is it a coincidence that both Sorenstam and Garcia had switched back to blade putters last week after playing with mallets for years? Maybe. Is it a fluke that both have spent time working with putting marvel Stan Utley? Perhaps. But both will surely agree that the power of knowing that your putts will fall is greater than any other in the game.

Two footnotes to last week's tournaments: 1) Congratulations to former GFW associate editor Sarah Turcotte, who played in the Michelob Ultra on a sponsor's exemption as part of a blog series for her current employer ESPN The Magazine. She shot 84-89 to finish last, but did better than anyone could've imagined considering she's been living in Manhattan for the last five years. Atta girl, Sarah! 2) Paul Goydos, where have you been all my life? This man is exactly what the PGA Tour needs -- a perfect mix of humor, humility, great play and sportsmanship. Here's hoping we see lots more of him in the future.

I admit it, I lost a bet to Andrew Magee after the fourth episode of Big Break Kaanapali (don't get your knickers in a twist; we were only betting peanuts). Earlier that week, after watching the 12 contestants' practice rounds before the taping of the first episode, I had picked Adrienne to win the whole thing. She had serious game, lots of experience and a tenacity that was nothing short of inspirational. So when she was the third player to be knocked out of the competition, no one was more shocked than I. And losing both Adrienne and Liz in what amounted to an early-season double whammy really rattled us all. These were two of our better players and nobody expected them to go home so early. That said, their opponents in the elimination challenge didn't deserve to get the boot either; Sam and Sophie are both very accomplished players as well.

So what should one make of an outcome such as this? That life isn't fair? That it's all about luck? Well, now that Cirbie was gone, there was really no stand-out bad player who should've taken the next loser walk. (And to those of you who think Susan was the next obvious victim, all I can say is "HA!" That girl may be inexperienced, but she could play the pants off most of you, especially in a short-game challenge.) So it's all a crap shoot from here, ladies and gents. And the hits will just keep on coming.

The thing that really got to me most that fateful day in Kaanapali, however, was just how hard both Liz and Adrienne took their defeats. It wasn't shown on TV, but they were inconsolable. They had obviously never imagined getting cut so early, and once reality sunk in, it hit them hard. But I hope they both know that they have very bright futures ahead of them, and that losing out on the Big Break won't mean much in the big scheme of things in their potentially long, successful careers. As long as they keep working at it and believing in themselves, I'm sure we'll see both their names in lights soon enough. Because, besides being good golfers, they're both very nice, hardworking, talented young women. And at least they can console themselves with the fact that an early departure kept them from getting involved with the drama and infighting that's about to ensue on this season of the Big Break...

We finally had our first elimination on last night's installment of Big Break Kaanapali, and for those of you who've been complaining that it took three episodes for the ax to fall, all I can say is I hope it was worth the wait (and if you paid attention to the preview of next week's episode at the end of the show, you may have picked up on the fact that TWO players will be cut in episode four, so your thirst for blood should be fully satisfied after that). Speaking of waiting, if it wasn't blatantly evident on TV (it is, after all, only an hour-long show), the short-game elimination challenge that eventually felled our token rocker chick Cirbie Sheppard took fo-or-ev-er. I started out that day four months pregnant and ended it ready to give birth. It was remarkable; Andrew and I clocked Cirbie laboring over one of her last long putts and she took FOUR MINUTES AND 50 SECONDS to decide on her line and club selection. (And it was a hot, steamy day, as you may have noticed from the umbrellas that the rest of the contestants pulled out to shield themselves from the sun as they were watching this putting marathon.) After that, the producers asked Cirbie to speed it up or we'd lose daylight.

But I have to reiterate that the pressure of these eliminations is unlike anything the players have ever faced before, so it's perfectly understandable that some of them have a hard time sticking to their normal routines. There is no way to describe just how much tension is in the air; I know some viewers think that Andrew and I sound overly dramatic when we narrate what's happening, but every shot is truly nerve-wracking to watch in person. With countless cameras on you, and the knowledge that everyone you know -- plus millions of people you don't -- will see your every move and there are no do-overs, even the best of these players can crack.

That's not to suggest Cirbie was the best of the Kaanapali Twelve, or even close. She was, clearly, the worst, and as she admits in her exit interview (which will air tonight on Golf Central but is already up on the Golf Channel website), fully expected to be the first player to go home.  But to those who've been on Cirbie's case from the get-go and claim she didn't deserve to be there, I'd like to point out that this girl is no rookie. She is a professional golfer who plays on the Cactus Tour and who hit some beautiful golf shots in her audition. So don't count her out completely; we may hear from her again.

As for the 11 survivors of last night's episode, the real game is now on. We may have had a predictable first woman out, but from here on in, the surprises just keep on coming. Next week, I guarantee, will be a doozy.

The second episode of Big Break Kaanapali brought more drama (and more rain), lots of it thanks to the producers' well-thought-out roommate/teammate pairings, which were revealed to the contestants the second morning of the competition. As usual, I am bound by my confidentiality agreement to reveal nothing about what's coming down the line this season, but let's just say these are not random pairings. Personalities will mesh and clash like never before based on these couplings.    

As someone who was there for the golf but never in the confessional room or the one-on-one interviews conducted with the contestants every night, I must admit it's fascinating to watch the show and hear what the girls had to say when it was just them and the camera. Many of them are a lot more outspoken -- for good and bad -- than I ever knew while we were filming. (And, sure, Dana calls herself "the Cougar Mama" a little too often.)

Reading some of the message boards this morning, I understand that there were viewers who were disappointed that no one ended up getting sent home in the elimination challenge at the end of last night's episode. While I understand the urge for bloodletting, I can tell you that this elimination was one of the best and most nerve-wracking I've ever seen (and as I've confessed before, I'm a long-time BB watcher). It was brilliant: the two players, Courtney and Tina, had their destiny in their own hands. They could both be saved or both go home, depending on whether or not they could play the two holes on par or better.  And since they were two of our better players, I'm happy they both managed to avoid extinction that early. For any of you who are worried that the same thing will happen over and over, I can assure you that the ax will start dropping swiftly and shortly. And guess what? The weather gets better, too!

Speaking of the weather, I just have to address one more thing I read in some viewer blogs this morning: apparently there are those who doubt the wind-gust numbers put up on the screen during periods of the show. Let me tell you, it was at times windier than anything I've ever experienced on a golf course (if anything, the number I saw last night, 35 mph, seemed way low), but the producers scrambled to put us in places where we wouldn't look like we were about to take off like Mary Poppins under our umbrellas. It's edited television, people. If you were to look at the many hours of film we shot with nine cameras every day, you'd see us spend most of our time those first few days huddling under roofs on random people's verandas adjacent to the course to avoid the buckets of rain that fell every half hour. You'd see us hold on to trees and carts to not fly away. And you'd be damn impressed by how most of that was concealed in the show. Sure, it may have seemed strange that some of the players couldn't put a ball inside a grid in the fairway 200 yards away with a driver, but considering the insane head winds and soggy grass, it was a miracle that anybody reached it at all. An even bigger miracle was the fact that it was the tiny rookie, Susan, who eventually ended up succeeding. A sign of things to come, perhaps? (Oops, did I just say that?)

Lorena Ochoa has done it again, winning her fourth straight LPGA title at the Ginn Open in Reunion, Fla., on Sunday, her fifth triumph in six starts since she blew out of the 2008 gates to take the HSBC Champions in Singapore by 11 strokes. It's moments such as these that make me feel like a complete idiot. You see, after Ochoa earned that first win of the year in early March, Golf For Women editor-in-chief Susan Reed asked me what I'd think about running a chart in our May/June issue (on newsstands now) comparing Ochoa's dominance to that of Tiger Woods, and I said "no way." I argued that while Ochoa had definitely dominated the LPGA Tour in the past year, and had started the new season in impressive form, her accomplishments were nowhere near Woods' (I think I said it would be like comparing Ellen Page to Meryl Streep) and there was no way she'd be able to keep those kinds of margins to her fellow-competitors for very long.

Now I really wish I'd been asked that question a month and a half later. Because what Ochoa has accomplished in the last few weeks in nothing short of supernatural, and she shows no signs of stopping (to add insult to injury, she doesn't just squeak by; she continues to trounce the competition in full-on romps week in and week out). Since Woods is on the bench recovering from knee surgery, and failed to pull off the record-setting streaks he seemed poised for before that, Ochoa is THE story in golf -- and, some might argue, in sports -- right now. If she wins again next week at the SemGroup Championship in Tulsa (she's skipping the Stanford International in Aventura, Fla., this week, I'm sure to the relief of her LPGA Tour colleagues), she'll tie the record for most LPGA Tour wins in a row (currently shared by Nancy Lopez and Annika Sorenstam) at five, and she'll be almost halfway to Mickey Wright's legendary record of 13 LPGA Tour wins in one season (and she'd have two thirds of her season left; more than ample time to keep racking up the trophies). Also, while Tiger Woods' 2008 Grand Slam dreams were killed at the Masters, Ochoa's are alive and kicking since she easily took home the title at the 2008 Kraft Nabisco Championship. All these possibilities, which seemed like far-flung hyperbole two months ago, are now very real.

As always, when a young player starts to perform history-making feats such as those Ochoa has accomplished in the last year, people start to compare her to her predecessors. The debates are getting heated: Is Ochoa better than Sorenstam was during her heyday? Better than Wright, Lopez and Kathy Whitworth? And, of course, the most popular topic of all, is she the female Tiger Woods? Post a comment below and let me know what you think. I, for one, am certainly I'm rethinking my original position. 

The first thing that struck me when I was watching the premiere episode of Golf Channel's Big Break: Ka'anapali last night was that I'd forgotten the rotten weather we were faced with during the first few days of shooting. The island of Maui usually gets about seven inches of rain per year, but the first week we were there for filming last December, we got 10 inches in five days. It was a miracle that anything got done at all, and it gave me a newfound respect for what the producers and crew of a television series such as this have to grapple with. I have done several smaller shows for Golf Channel and USA Network in the past, but until arriving at Ka'anapali, I had never been exposed to a big-budget production such as Big Break, and I very quickly realized this was going to be a whole different ball game. I was hugely impressed. The 60 crew members -- from prop stylists and jib operators to production assistants and executive producers -- that put together this show are nothing short of a well-oiled machine, and massive flooding, camera malfunctions and cast cat fights don't faze them one bit. There's a job to be done and they get it done, no matter what.

My co-host (and four-time PGA Tour winner) Andrew Magee and I got along great from the get-go and we knew as soon as we met the contestants that we were going to be in for a wild ride. I've been a loyal BB watcher for years and have gotten to know many of the past seasons' contestants as I've traveled with them on Golf With Style: Global Challenge, but this crop of players was unlike any I'd seen before. It was as if the producers had plucked the 12 most Alpha females they could find out of the thousands who applied to get onto the show. (And as the season progresses, you'll learn that even the players who may have seemed meek and sweet in the first episode have some real claws.) On top of that, all of them (okay, all but one) were really good players with impressive golf resumes. I'm a betting girl, so Andrew and I immediately started debating who we thought would end up winning, end up in the top five, etc. Let's just say I was proven wrong time and again as the shooting progressed. I had to buy Andrew lunch more times than I care to remember.

It was evident that all the players were extremely nervous for the golf challenges in the first episode, and the rain and 30 mph winds certainly didn't help. It's hard to describe the pressure these girls find themselves under in a situation like this, with nine cameras fixed on their every move and no do-overs -- every last one of them said it was more nerve-wracking than playing in a big tour event with lots of money on the line. It's not like real golf where you can find a rhythm; it's sit-and-wait-for-two-hours-then-get-up-and-hit-one-shot-for-all-the-marbles-with-
hundreds-of-thousands-of-people-watching kind of golf. And no player in the world has much experience at that, no matter how good she is. (As Andrew said over and over again, it's "sudden death every time they swing.") So naturally, there were some real stink bombs launched at those greens in the first challenges, and some of the players we thought were going to perform well couldn't buy a good shot while others did a lot better than we'd anticipated.

After watching the first episode, you might conclude that the obvious front-runners are Lori, Kim, Adrienne and Courtney, and the bottom of the barrel are Cirbie, Susan and Dana. Well, I'm not at liberty to reveal what happens, but let's just say you'd be pulling out your wallet to pay for Magee's lunch as often as I did...

Speaking of Andrew, one of my fondest memories from shooting Big Break in Hawaii was getting to know his father, a Pearl Harbor vet and retired oil executive who was along for the ride and, at 85, walked the course with us every day and shared hair-raising stories from his globetrotting life with the crew at every meal. Sadly, Mr. Magee passed away last month. He will be greatly missed; the world is a less fascinating place without him.

If you're like me, you spend an abnormal amount of time watching golf on TV during the spring and early summer. We're just about to launch into major-championship season on both the LPGA and PGA Tours, and there's more great action to be caught week in and week out than you can shake a stick at (I'm seriously close to crashing my DVR right now, but I'd rather do that than miss a thing on either tour).

This past weekend, as I watched the guys struggle with bad weather at the PGA Tour's PODS Championship in Tampa, it struck me that Stewart Cink and Mark Calcavecchia, the two players who seemed to fare best on the greens in the pounding rain and howling winds on Friday and Saturday, were both using belly putters. My work husbands, Golf World and Golf Digest equipment gurus Bomb & Gouge, always dismiss players who use these putters with longer shafts, which can be anchored against your belly or chest to help stabilize your stroke, as "cheaters." (Gouge, who's especially vocal on the subject, often uses stronger terms than that.) After watching the PODS, I can sort of see their point. In bad winds, a belly putter is definitely less jerky than a regular-length putter. I've also gotten to experience the phenomenon of belly putting myself lately, thanks to the growing bump (okay, massive stomach) that comes with being seven months pregnant. I'm anchoring that putter against my belly whether I like it or not, and it actually helps me make a more consistent pendulum stroke.

What do you think, is using a belly putter akin to cheating? Should the USGA ban these untraditional models once and for all? Write me a comment below and let me know.

Note to self: Next time, don't post a provocative blog right before leaving the country for two weeks. It doesn't make for a peaceful homecoming.

I must admit I expected a variety of reactions to my last post ("The Web World of Golf Techno Geeks"), but I was surprised to see the sheer fury coming from some of you. Crudeness, sure (that's par for the course when you're questioning men's resumés). Humor, absolutely. Slight offense taken, perhaps here and there. But I never imagined such a generally angry response. I must have pushed a few buttons.

Unfortunately, the most rabid retorts were sent to our GFW Editors inbox with explicit requests not to be published (which, when you think about it, is pretty classic), so I can't share them with you. But you get the gist from the "comments" section below the original post.

For the record, since there seems to be some misunderstanding, I wasn't trolling for dates when I asked those of you who frequent golf-equipment message boards on sites such as thesandtrap.com, golfreview.com, golfwrx.com and bombsquadgolf.com to come out from behind your computers and tell us who you are (I am happily married with a baby on the way, thank you very much). I also wasn't asking where you "come off talking about golf equipment," as someone suggested -- I was simply wondering who you are and how you know so much.    

As for my own credentials (which were heavily questioned by most of you), I started playing golf at age 7 and have been working with golf equipment since I was 14 years old (I am now 36); this past January I attended the PGA Merchandise Show for the 22nd consecutive time. I started out learning the ropes in my dad's golf stores in Sweden in the mid '80s, became a certified clubfitter and component-club maker at age 18, earned membership to the Swedish PGA teaching division in 1995 (I was a teaching pro for five years while running my own golf store and indoor teaching center in Connecticut) and have been working as an equipment editor and writer for Golf For Women and Golf Digest (where I serve as one of four Hot List judges) for the past nine years. I play to a 12-handicap these days, that's true, mainly because I now live in New York City. I play no more than 15-20 full rounds of golf a year and I'm always testing new clubs every time I play, neither of which is great for my game. But my job isn't to be a player-tester; my job is to evaluate and write about equipment, and I spend most of my time visiting club manufacturers and researching golf-equipment technology.

There were a few of you who seemed to take my post in the manner it was intended, and I appreciate your feedback:

Stina,

My name is Erik J. Barzeski, and I'm the Editor in Chief of The Sand Trap.
I'm writing in reference to your GFW blog entry about Equipment Geeks.
I'll take the "middle-aged 16-handicapper with a paunch" in the manner in
which I hope it was intended and laugh it off, because sometimes I wonder
the same thing.
However, most frequently I've found that the guys sharing their "expertise"
are lower handicap players. Some have backgrounds in metallurgy or
engineering, others in teaching (golf), and so on. Some work for golf
companies and post in their free time. Most, at least of those who regularly
talk on my forum, are simply club repair and fitting guys - they usually
just want to share their knowledge.
I will also say that The Sand Trap is a much lighter site in terms of
in-depth equipment "debats" than GolfWRX or BombSquad. Personally, I don't
care for the depth of their discussions and their fascination with Tour
equipment. It's a bit out of hand. The discussions at TST tend to be a bit
more civil, even if they're a bit less in-depth than at the others. That's
not to say opinions can't get heated sometimes - they can, particularly if
someone takes an opinion as a decree of truth.
As for me, I'm 29 (so, not quite middle-aged), I don't care for frozen
dinners, and I've managed to stave off the paunch thus far by playing ice
hockey in the winter and walking the golf course when possible. I will have
to admit to occasionally working in my boxers, but hey, that's the life of
the self-employed. :)
I'm a 2.7 handicap index. I've written a good many of our reviews
<http://thesandtrap.com/reviews/>. I have degrees in computer science,
medicinal chemistry, and French (great combination, eh?). I enjoy R.E.M. And
long, slow walks on the beach (not really - I'd rather practice bunker
shots). :) Not sure what else you may want to know.
I've got a fair amount of "free time" because my daughter goes to sleep at
8pm and my wife, being a teacher, usually nods off shortly thereafter. :) As
a self-employed guy, I can set my own schedule and leave gaps throughout the
day to check in on the site/forum. Many of the others are visiting the forum
from work, so it's not so much that they have "free time" but that they'd
rather post on a golf forum than work. 
As for being "endlessly curious" about who we may be, well, I'd recommend
seeing a psychologist about that problem. Some things are probably better
left unexplored... :)

Bill Wolfrum, for one, made me smile:

Stina,

My name is William K. Wolfrum and I'm not an equipment expert. Whew.
I'm glad to get that off my chest. Heck, I'm not really even a golf
expert. Just some guy who write a lot of golf posts among other
things.
I've been a blogger at WorldGolf.com for quite some time now, as well
as writing for my own site (www.williamkwolfrum.com) as well as a
progressive/feminist blog community (Shakesville.com). Plus, there
have been rumors that I've written under other names for
WorldGolf.com, Like the Cheap Bastard, but I will not dignify such
rumors.
I do find it quite interesting, as  you pointed out, that there are so
many out there that have such rabid opinions on golf equipment. I do
think a lot of it comes down to a "Boys and their toys" mentality. I'm
not really a car guy, but I imagine that if Chevy introduces a new lug
nut, there are likely 42,000 blog posts within 24 hours examining
everything about said lug nut, up to and including what type of meals
the designer of the lug nut enjoys.
But as someone who appreciates the blogosphere quite a bit, I think
overall it's a great thing. It's obviously much better to have 500
opinions available on Nike's new driver than just the opinion of a few
golf journalists, who oft-times enjoy the same reputation as seal
clubbers.
As a golf blogger who tends to focus on culture and such more than
equipment and the inner workings of the game, I suppose I felt
inclined to write after perusing the comments of your post calling out
golf equipment bloggers and commentators. I guess I've become a little
better about noticing how rampant sexism is on the Internet, and was
by no mean surprised that your tweak of said equipment writers would
produce an angry reaction from males, up to and including the
perfunctory clever sexual remarks. After all, men are allowed to be
outwardly stereotypical and sexist regarding women, but any type of
stereotypical comments coming from a female means that you must be an
ice queen and such stereotyping will be the end of society as we know
it.

To Bill's point, there were also a lot of replies from people like Nash Carr, who really didn't get the message:

Dear Stina,

I thought your take on golf forums was lacking at best. Handicap - 12 (never practice at all so that is pretty good I think), I have 45 hours PAST my masters degree and hold a full time, professional job. In fact, I am probably more qualified to be a magazine editor than you are.
And no, you cannot have a date with this golf techno geek, I am too busy eating a variety of frozen dinners each night, you know the kind with the little brownies in the corner. Gotta keep the 'ol paunch happy you know? Actually, I am very fit, 6ft, 190 lbs.
My best guess is that you have a Nike IC putter (yuck!) in your bag as your gamer, it figures. Hopefully Nike gave it to you for free. I am still bewildered as to how that piece of crap actually made the Hot List???? I liked your "born and bred" line, that was funny.
Want me to subscribe to your mag? Give me 150 pages of Natalie Gulbis, then I will!
Not to be critical but, ease up on the make up (or the tanning bed), less is MORE.

Or George Richards, who obviously needs some new material:

Since I doubt you really care what I look like I thought I would send you a picture of someone you may better relate to:

In the end, I welcome any and all comments, and I hope to keep the discussion going. Because it still fascinates me to learn just how passionate and involved golfers get when it comes to the topic of equipment. But really, guys, let's stick to the point. If your maturity level is so low that you have to resort to telling me to "play a stiffer shaft," you really shouldn't be cruising the Web without adult supervision.

As equipment editor of Golf For Women, one of my favorite job duties is to scan the many golf-equipment forums available on-line to find out what the die-hard gear heads are talking about. Sites such as TheSandTrap.com, Golfreview.com, Golfwrx.com and Bombsquadgolf.com all feature discussion boards where people with above-natural interests in the most intricate details of golf equipment new and old share their excitement over a new shaft material or dismay over a discontinued line of putter grips.

It's fascinating stuff to read, partly because I'm boggled by the endless amounts of time these guys seem to have on their hands, and partly because of how thoroughly many of them do their research. On several occasions, I've gotten my first glimpse of a prototype product I know isn't coming from a company until three months down the line in a fuzzy, paparazzi-like picture on golfwrx.com that some covert sleuth has managed to snap inside the bag of a tour player on the driving range at a tour event. Many of the bloggers also keep close track of what's released in Asia, a completely different market than than in the U.S., and use that information to deduce (not always very accurately) what's to come here in the States.

As a born-and-bred equipment geek myself (my father had me repairing and building clubs in his custom shop from the age of 14), I understand where these guys' interest comes from. But I work with golf equipment so I also have to know as much as possible about every aspect of the genre. Learning and writing about it is what I do, every day. I'm curious what these guys do for a living, where their interest and "expertise" comes from. They're often very opinionated and happy to dispense advice and criticism of anyone in the industry who doesn't share their views (my esteemed Golf Digest Hot List colleagues Bomb & Gouge take their fair share of beatings on many of these message boards, for instance).

When I read posts from some of the more uppety bloggers, I always picture some middle-aged 16-handicapper with a paunch who's eating a frozen dinner in his boxer shorts in front of his computer as he bashes the idiot who proclaimed the Titleist Z Muscle Forged irons inferior to the Z Blend Forged (both of which, by the way, are clubs designed for the very top layer of players in the world and not for amateurs). I'm endlessly curious to find out who these dudes might really be.

So here's my challenge to all you armchair equipment experts out there: Let us know what you look like. Send us a picture. Tell us what you do. And then explain how you know so much.

Finally, there's news from the Michelle Wie camp that suggests the poor girl's future as a golf legend may not be completely lost. As my esteemed colleague Ron Sirak of Golf World reports, Wie's handlers (i.e., her much-criticized parents, Bo and B.J.) have decided to spare her the humiliation of getting slaughtered in any professional men's events this season. They're also planning on keeping her out of school (Wie is a freshman at Stanford University) for the first quarter of 2008 so that she can focus on gaining her back her golf game and confidence.

While I'd rather see the girl put college first and golf second, I hope this decision is a sign that her parents have regained some semblance of sanity. The charade that was Wie's 2007 season can only be blamed on them. The list of their atrocities is endless: They let her play injured; they kept putting her into top-level tournaments even though she couldn't hit the broad side of a barn; they made her look like a liar and a cheat by taking her to Bulle Rock to practice for the McDonald's LPGA Championship two days after the 88-rule debacle at The Ginn Tribute Hosted by Annika; they moved to a house by Stanford's campus so that they could spend every waking moment with their daughter even after she enrolled in college; they got rid of yet another agent; and they failed to listen to anybody who told them to just step back and let the girl be.

But now it seems they may be listening.  Let's just hope it's not too late.

Most celebrities have some kind of presence on the internet, whether it's their own website or a MySpace page (personally, I don't understand the MySpace trend, but I guess I'm too old -- still, why would anyone feel the need to post pictures of themselves whenever they attend another party or go to the dentist?), and that goes for professional athletes as well. Sure, the golf elite isn't exactly known for being the best self-promoters in the world, but a respectable number of tour players have launched websites in the last few years.

Never before, however, have I seen the phenomenon displayed in Annika Sorenstam's new blog. The former world no. 1 is posting regularly and, shockingly, responding to practically every comment posted by her fans. That's... unheard of. For a celebrity of her stature, it just doesn't happen (and before all you Rosie O'Donnell fans bite my head off, I know she's another rare exception, but let's face it, she has a little more time on her hands than Sorenstam does). I mean, it doesn't even happen with low-brow no-names such as myself. In over a year of blogging on this site, I've posted less than a dozen responses to other people's comments. Annika had me beat in her first weekend. I'm sure that doesn't say much about me, but I hope you get my point: the woman is a saint. And before the entire world discovers this rare opportunity and inundates her blog with more comments than any one person could possible handle, I strongly suggest you take the chance to converse with this golf mega-star. I guarantee she'll get back to you.

It's been exactly one month since I left town for 12 days to attend the annual Golf Digest Hot List summit (this year we went to Mesquite, Nev., for our player testing and meetings with scientists and retailers). As I sit on the train to work finishing my write-ups for the massive Hot List special that will run in the February issue of Golf Digest, I'm struck by how these are always the longest four weeks of my year, but they still seem to go by faster than any other.

The GD Hot List summit used to be focused solely on men's golf equipment, but in the last two years, we've held a women's-clubs testing day at the beginning of the summit to gather information that we'll use in the annual GFW Spring Equipment Preview, which will run in our May/June issue. We call in test clubs from every women's-club manufacturer in the industry and have a panel of 10 players of different abilities evaluate them. Each year, I am struck by the sheer volume of amazing new products, and this year in particular, by how good it all looks.

Yes, I said looks.

I've been extolling the virtues of the technical advances in women's equipment for a few years now -- and I still do -- but what really makes me realize how far the mainly male-run companies have come in their women's R&D and marketing is just how gorgeous these clubs have become. They are no longer haphazard shafts attached to generic-looking clubheads with clumsily designed, swirly-logoed "ladies" medallions glued to the back cavities. Some real research has gone into matching the sleek profiles, color schemes and graphics that are fashionable right now, and it's clear that there has been a lot of big-picture thinking in designing full collections of equipment and accessories that match and complement each other.

You will see all of the greatest new women's products in our May/June issue, which hits newsstands in April. But for a sampling of some of the clubs I'm talking about here, check out:

Tour Edge's new chocolate Moda set with matching bag

Adams' new Idea A3OS set for women (also with bag)

Ping's purple Rhapsody clubs

I guarantee you, they are just the tip of the iceberg.

Annika Sorenstam just proved to me—and to the world—that she has more integrity in her pinky than the entire Michelle Wie team of lord knows how many people have as a collected group of fully-grown adults. When presented with a "special exemption" to this week's Samsung Championship, for which she had not automatically qualified because of an injury-plagued season, Sorenstam politely declined. The limited-field event only has room for 20 players, and Sorenstam didn't want to take the place of a more deserving player above her on the money list. As a result, 28-year-old Brit Sarah Lee gets to play instead.

Sorenstam's was one of two special exemptions offered for this event—the other was extended to Michelle Wie back in May, and she accepted. Since then, Wie has played a pitiful season on the LPGA Tour riddled with scandal and criticism, and has enrolled as a full-time college student at Stanford University. If she manages to break 80 this week, it will be a miracle. But did she do the right thing and pull out of the event to make room for the next player on the LPGA money list, Evian Masters winner and Solheim Cup player Natalie Gulbis? Nooo. Apparently, integrity has no place in the Wie camp. They'd rather rack up more bad PR for the poor girl.

So let's recap: the best player in the history of women's golf decides to sit out a limited-field tournament to allow a higher-ranked player to take her place. And a college student with a season-best T-69—who's not even a member of the tour nor has any plans to become one—decides to play despite taking a spot from a player of Natalie Gulbis' caliber. It's flat-out embarrassing, both for the Wie camp and Samsung. Sorenstam, on the other hand, just looks classier every minute.

In the Swedish Monday-morning papers, the local sportswriters are practically mocking the European Solheim Cup team's Sunday performance, calling the players "outclassed" and "annihilated." Then they blame Europe's "key players" Annika Sorenstam, Suzann Pettersen, Sophie Gustafson and Maria Hjorth, all of whom lost their matches on Sunday. Even if three of these four had "done their duty" and won their matches, Europe would have come away victorious.

This is when I have to chuckle at the ignorance. Sure, the math is correct and sure, Sorenstam's loss to Morgan Pressel may have been surprising (unless, of course, you consider the fact that Pressel is a former U.S Amateur champ -- i.e., winner of the toughest match-play tourney there is -- and had been allowed to rest during one of the previous matches, and that 36-year-old Sorenstam had been playing golf 12 hours a day in really draining conditions and is still healing from two busted vertebrae in her back), but why, for instance, would anyone think Mimmi Hjorth, who's ranked  41st in the world, would have a chance against 7th-ranked Paula Creamer? Because she's Swedish? Get a grip. And with Prammanasudh and Hurst displaying the best putting of their lives (they had six and five birdies respectively on Sunday), why should Pettersen and Gustafson still have beaten them? Because they're on home soil? Right.

I agree it would have been nice to see the Euros pull a miracle on Sunday, but let's face it, it would have been a  shocker. The American team was full of players who, in 2007, are just better. I'll reiterate a stat I've used before: the average world ranking of the US players was 19. The average of the European players was 59. It should have been a romp in singles, and it was.

The papers go on to call local girl Linda Wessberg "best Swede" and say she was the only "shining light" during a dark event. Come on. Wessberg played two matches all week and was fresh as can be when she teed it up on Sunday. She only got a W against Cristie Kerr on Sunday after Kerr conceded her par putt on 18 long after the competition was over because it was the sportsmanlike thing to do. In the Saturday-afternoon four-ball match, Wessberg got a halve. Sure, she did well and it's nice to see my home town Gothenburg produce another world-class player, but was she the Solheim Cup's Swedish MVP? Heck no. (She barely played, and I doubt Kerr would have lost their singles match had it mattered.) That honor would have to go to Mimmi Hjorth or Annika Sorenstam, flaws and all.

Despite the clueless Swedish newspaper press, this was still an amazing week. It's ironic to watch the sun rise on a clear-blue sky in Halmstad Monday morning, considering the weather the Solheim Cuppers just endured over the last three days (Thursday was also beautiful for the opening ceremony -- it's as if the weather gods played a cruel joke on the Swedish Golf Federation by pinpointing the exact three days of competition to dump some of the worst weather ever seen on this part of the country).

But consider this: 36,000 spectators still came out to watch the play on Sunday; 33,000 were here on Saturday. In all, over 85,000 people attended the 2007 Solheim Cup. And even though the Friday crowd was a little subdued (it's hard to do the wave when you're trying to keep all limbs under the free rain poncho you're wearing to stay at least somewhat dry), the atmosphere over the weekend was as festive and raucous as any Solheim Cup. The Swedes know how to cheer, and it must have felt amazing for the players to walk the fairways of Halmstad GK with so much support.

Speaking of fairways, the golf course held up remarkably well. Despite a few puddles Sunday morning, it played fantastically all week. The superintendent and staff at Halmstad GK should be proud.

Lastly, there were many touching moments during the 2007 Solheim Cup, but none more than reading Svensk Golf's final interview with Helen Alfredsson. When asked if there was a particular player who surprised her in a positive way during the week, Alfredsson praised Laura Davies for her longevity and fire, then said, "But also Annika. We came together this week and had a blast. We've found our way back to each other after a few tough years." It's no secret Alfredsson and Sorenstam haven't exactly been best friends in the past, so this was a nice development. Sunday evening, during the post-round press conference, Sorenstam, who (after being comforted by fiance Mike McGee following her loss to Pressel) had uncharacteristically been sporting a yellow-and-blue curly wig for a while, seemed happy to praise Alfredsson as well. "One thing that we can give credit is to Helen for her attitude. She's a captain with a lot of spirit, a lot of heart. I've never seen anybody really care so much. So on behalf of all the players, we want to thank Helen for that. It's been great this week. Sometimes you cannot just look at the scores and decide, you know, if it was a bad week or good week. I thought we had a great week." I'd say she's right.

The US may have won the 2007 Solheim Cup, but did they come out victorious in the all-important Clash of the Competing Closets? Not exactly, but in my opinion, they got one back today. The trend of the European team's outfits looking very young and contemporary somehow went out the window on the last day of the competition. As you can see in the image of Morgan Pressel and Annika Sorenstam below, both teams opted for argyle sweaters on Sunday, but this time the Americans' cuts looked better. Why? Because the Euros' sweaters were actually cardigans. Come on, argyle cardigans? Isn't that a little too cliche? An easy 1-up for the Americans on the day, which brings the total fashion score for the week to (drumroll, please): HALVED.

Mickey Walker, four-time European Solheim Cup captain and Sky Sports Solheim Cup coverage co-anchor, shares her observations on the last day of the 2007 event:

SS: It's over, and it turned into a blood bath. Why?

MW: Europe did fantastically well in the four-balls [which were finished in the morning, before the singles started -- ed's note], but we just didn't perform in the afternoon. I don't know if having that many matches come down to the wire all week just left the players exhausted. Until singles, every time we had a critical putt, we made it, but not in singles. The [European] players are obviously devastated, or somewhere in between disappointed and devastated. The Solheim Cup is always a tough, emotional week, but because of the conditions, this one must have been tougher than any other for them. They were just physically and emotionally tired. I feel for them -- I'm emotionally involved in this myself. But the US team was outstanding as a whole, and had so much depth. I think it's hard for our top players, we're reliant on them. I don't know if they'd say this, but perhaps they didn't perform as well because they feel they've got to perform.

SS: You know what it's like to captain both losing and winning teams. Helen Alfredsson was very emotional after today's loss -- how do you think she'll spend the evening?

MW: Win or lose, the Europeans party no matter what, though Alfie doesn't really drink much. I don't know, as a captain, you're so deeply involved emotionally in this. For a long time after being captain, I would dream about it. When you lose, you second-guess everything. Eventually, you mentally crash. Alfie will be knackered.

SS: You've been covering this event for Sky Sports and have been working as a TV commentator for a while now. What are your thoughts on the Dottie Pepper incident that took place yesterday, when Pepper, who's commentating for Golf Channel this week, was mistakenly overheard calling Sherri Steinhauer and Laura Diaz of the US team "choking dogs" on live TV?

MW: This afternoon, I said to Judy [Rankin, Walker's co-anchor and two-time Solheim Cup captain -- ed's note], "What do you think Dottie would say about the Americans now?"
I heard she wanted to come into the player room and apologize but they [the American players] didn't want to hear it. But I also think it's definitely possible [her comment] spurred them on. I don't know if this will jeopardize Dottie's chances of becoming Solheim Cup captain in the future, but Judy said Dottie was very upset. It must be a pretty horrible thing to have your fellow teammates, your contemporaries, not want to see you after something like that.

SS: What do you think the audience reaction will be?

MW: The thing about Dottie that's so great is that you either love her or you hate her. She's like John McEnroe, so passionate.   

The final score, 16-12, says it all: the 2007 American Solheim Cup team was too stacked with top-20 players to ever be threatened in singles play. Cristie Kerr conceded her match to Linda Wessberg on the 18th green (a classy move) to give Europe a third singles win, but with one halve and eight US wins on the day (that's right -- eight), the red on the leaderboard may as well have been blood since this was a slaughter. Congratulations to Betsy King and her team. They played some magnificent golf under horrible conditions. The Euros put up a strong fight, but in the end, there was nothing they could do. This time, the yanks were just too good.

It's official: the US has won the 2007 Solheim Cup, the first time a team has taken the cup on foreign soil since 1996. Fittingly, US standout Nicole Castrale got to hole the deciding putt on 16 in her 3&2 win against Bettina Hauert. Rookie Castrale has impressed all week, and played steady golf against the struggling German in today's match.

With three matches still on the course, the Americans are on track to win eight of the day's 12 singles matches, plus score two halves. The only Europeans to win their matches so far today are Catriona Matthew and Laura Davies, who beat Laura Diaz and Brittany Lincicome. The most surprising upset came from the youngest player on both teams: Morgan Pressel. Her match against Annika Sorenstam was close all day, until Sorenstam missed a short putt on 15 to go 1-down. Pressel, showing a cool under pressure she's been lacking most of the week, then birdied the very difficult par-3 16th to go 2-up with two to play. Bothe players then parred the 17th, which ended the match 2-up for Pressel. It was the perfect scenario to illustrate the day. The US started strong and never really wavered, giving Europe little chance to make a comeback.

Going into the Sunday singles matches, the US was 0 for 10 on the 18th hole, failing to win the hole once. But this afternoon, Solheim Cup rookie Stacy Prammanasudh birdied the hole to beat heavily favored Norwegian Suzanne Pettersen, putting another nail in the coffin that is quickly closing around the European team. The US has won four of the matches that have already finished, to Europe's two. And in the matches that are still underway, the Americans hold a comfortable lead in five while Europe only leads one.

Considering the Americans' record of winning 60% of the points in Solheim Cup singles play, the Europeans knew they had to make something happen when they got up at dawn to finish the back nine of Saturday's best-ball matches. Going into singles with anything but a lead would mean an all-but-certain defeat in the 2007 Soheim Cup. And even though conditions were, if possible, worse than the first two days (with more rain this morning, the ground got so saturated that puddles filled the fairways and greens, and making solid contact and judging the green speeds on chips and putts became impossible), Europe managed to win three out of four points to take an 8.5-7.5 lead in the overall standings.

The undefeated power pair of Sorenstam and Pettersen once again proved that there is such a thing as a perfect match in these events (why captain Helen Alfredsson didn't pair them together until Saturday afternoon is completely unfathomable); they easily won their bout with Cristie Kerr and Morgan Pressel 3&2. Laura Davies is showing more spirit than we've seen from her since, well, the last Solheim Cup; she and partner Becky Brewerton beat Natalie Gulbis and Nicole Castrale 2-up. And once again, the Americans lost 1-up leads with two to go in both of the remaining matches, having to settle for halves. Perhaps Dottie Pepper has a point.   

However, two hours later, as the last of the 12 Sunday singles matches holes out on 1, the board looks very red once again. The Americans currently lead seven matches, the Euros lead two and four are all square. The Americans need six and a half points to retain the cup, and Europe needs six. In other words, The Europeans are in deep trouble. 

So who wore what on Saturday, and who looked the best? Once again, the two Solheim Cup captains chose very different styles and, once again, one dressed her team like old ladies and the other dressed her team like young girls.

The American uniforms (seen here on Cristie Kerr and Nicole Castrale) featured high-waisted gray slacks with a faint plaid pattern (I think I saw my accountant wear the same style just last month), paired with zip-up sweaters that read "USA" on striped bands on the arms. I get the patriotism, but these tops remind me of something my mother sported when I was in junior high. And that was a long, long time ago.

The Euros wore all black, in contemporary, snug fits and boy-cut pants (though for most of the day, the players, such as Sofie Gustafson here, added an extra layer on the bottom to stay warm). The backs of their sweaters had wide black-and-white stripes with a distinct bumble-bee feel. My 12-year-old niece thought they were "way cool."

I'd definitely give the best-wardrobe nod to the Euros on Saturday, even though I didn't love their uniforms (why go practically all black in a Solheim Cup?).  I just disliked the American duds a lot more.

Total score so far: Europe 1-up

After one-and-two-thirds of the 2007 Solheim Cup days have been completed (thanks to a weather-delayed Saturday start, the back nine of the afternoon best-ball matches will be played early Sunday morning, before the singles), the U.S. is up by one point but trails in three of the halted matches and is all square in the fourth. In other words, this one could go either way, and Sunday looks to be riveting.

Once play was stopped due to darkness, I once again checked in with former captains Judy Rankin and Mickey Walker to get their thoughts on the day and ask them which players they thought had been doing the best job so far. Here's what they had to say:

Rankin: "Rookie Castrale has played real well. I wouldn't call it a surprise, but she has just played well from the get-go. Pettersen always impresses me. She just is pulling these things off under pressure… They just get your attention. Kerr and Castrale this morning, to come back the way they did, to birdie four holes in a row in alternate-shot, that's hard to do on a pretty day. And it could very well have been five in a row. I think Creamer has really played well. I don't know if she’s going to get enough out of it, but she's played really well. And then the usual suspects. Juli's come through. Kerr has been up and down, but I have to say, she's playing like a team leader, even though she's not playing perfectly.

I cannot communicate well enough to people how miserable these conditions have been and how tough these players have been, all of them. Don't ever tell me that any of these players aren't tough, because they've proven themselves. I've probably seen three days in my life that were as hard as this. But I'd be hard-pressed to say I've seen two days in a row as hard as these two.

Walker: I think it was another great escape for the European team this morning. The finishing holes were just so exciting. I mean, it looked like it was going to be 3-1 again in the series this morning for the USA, and the way Pettersen and Gustafson made par, the up-and-down by Hjorth and Bocera to save a half, and the finish by Kerr and Castrale was amazing. To birdie four holes in a row in foursomes, that's just great golf. And to do it in these conditions is spectacular golf. Overall, I think today was tougher. Yesterday was probably more miserable because you had both the wind and the rain, but the wind today was borderline unplayable.   

Saturday's morning alternate-shot matches may have taken a couple of extra hours to get started (strong winds made the course unplayable), but once it got under way, it was one heck of an exciting ride. The Europeans started out strong, leading three of the four matches for much of the front nine. Then the Americans woke up and the Europeans caught the bad-putting plague. What had been a sea of blue very quickly turned to a crimson tide, and by the time all four groups had passed the 15th hole, it looked as if the morning would spell disaster for the European team.

Denmark's Iben Tinning and Germany's Bettina Hauert (who, by the way, is working hard to become Europe's answer to Christina Kim, the self-imposed head cheerleader of the 2005 Solheim Cup at Crooked Stick in Carmel, Ind.) went from 3-down after 4 to all square after 8, then lost four holes in a row between 13 and 16 to lose 4&2. Annika Sorenstam and Catriona Matthew played great golf on the front, which, in combination with their opponents Cristie Kerr and Nicole Castrale's rocky start, got them to a comfortable 5-up with six to play. At that point, Kerr explained after the match, Kerr said to Castrale, "You know what, you start getting it up and I'll start making it. Damned if we didn't." Kerr's stone cold putter all of a sudden caught fire, just as Sorenstam started spraying the b