Okay, So Not All Golfers Are Honorable Files: Staten Island Edition

John M. Annese of the Staten Island Advance reports on Christopher DeMenna, 40, kicking in the door of his girlfriend's house to harass and assault her following back-to-back prison sentences for drug charges. And he's one fine golfer too!

He's also a mainstay on Staten Island's golfing circuit -- Advance records show he's a three-time Staten Island Amateur champion, and he has won several other major championships on the borough's links.

But hey, he's consistently a scumbag...

In 2007, DeMenna was banned for four years from the Staten Island Amateur after he cursed at an official during that year's tournament at the Richmond County Country Club. He sued both the club and the Staten Island Golf Association in 2009, and the matter was resolved in a "confidential settlement" before state Supreme Court Justice Philip Minardo, according to Advance records.

DeMenna is now accused of kicking in the front door of his girlfriend's West Brighton home at 10 p.m. Sept. 12, then punching a hole in her bedroom and bathroom walls, court papers allege.

Competitors, just remember the next time you get a lousy pairing. It could have been worse. They could have put you with this flea.

Clint Got JT On ANGC

Bryan Alexander of USA Today, with this from the junket to plug their new movie, talking to Clint Eastwood and Justin Timberlake:

"When you're directing, you never get to play golf," says Eastwood. "But we managed to get a few rounds in down there."

The star even managed to get Timberlake onto the famed Augusta National Golf Course a week before the Master's tournament for 36 holes.

"So the two of them would go off and have fun while the rest of us were working all the time," says Lorenz. "They'd come back all sunburned and tired from walking all 36 holes."

25 For Nine Holes!

Tod Leonard of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports that 20-year-old Todd Baek posted an 11-under 25 on the par-36 front nine at Salt Creek in Chula Vista. Baek went on to fire a new course record 60.

“I was amazed myself,” Baek said on Monday. “It was like, ‘What’s going on?’ We were playing for money, so my friends were giving me (crud) about it. They said you need to stop making birdies or you’re going to walk home.”

He did hit some long irons...for his second shots to par-5s.

He hit a 40-yard pitch at the par-4 first that dropped in for eagle. At the par-5 second, he lashed a 5-iron to 9 feet and made that putt for another eagle.

Maybe Golf Course Living Isn't For Everyone Files

Reno's KRNV news first reported, AP has picked it up (viral!), and the New York Daily News has the dreaded mug shot of 53-year-old Jeff Fleming, who fired pellets from his shotgun at a golfer who accidentally shanked a ball into Fleming's house, breaking a window.

Alyx Sacks reports for KRNV:

According to Reno police Fleming started an argument with two golfers on the 16th hole after one hit his house with a golf ball and broke a window.

Fleming is accused of coming out of his house with a shotgun and at some point in the argument fired once at the golfers hitting one of them.

"Based off of some of the golfers we've seen around here today yea I think it's a pretty common thing to hit into houses that are pretty close to a course like here at Lakeridge so I mean I think buying a house on the course you got to be prepared for golf balls to come into your property," golfer Dan Dooley says.

Police say Fleming fled his house on Wycliffe Circle before they arrived on scene.

He later taken into custody without incident after police found him at this attorney's office.

That's the place you want to be found by police.

Beermeister: “We tried to stack the deck in our favor by releasing the beer in areas where we don’t have to explain who Sam Snead was."

There is one minor issue with the new Slammin' Sam beer, created in part by former Golf Channel staffer Casey Bierer, and pointed out by The Pilot's Tom Embrey.

The line’s packaging and marketing will depict famous images of Snead from the 1950s and ’60s. Ironically, Snead was pretty much a teetotaler, especially when he was on the circuit playing.

“We tried to stack the deck in our favor by releasing the beer in areas where we don’t have to explain who Sam Snead was,” Bierer said.

Bierer said he hopes to expand the brand in the future to reach more than just golfers.

“Our inspiration was Sam Snead,” Bierer said, “So golf courses are a natural target, but this is not just for golf courses, it’s not a novelty product. It’s something we think everyone will enjoy.”

Slammin' Sam is available at Pinehurst Resort along with 31 other beers.

The Great (Golf) State Of Vermont Is Back!

Tom Mackin files an update on the Vermont courses hit so hard by Irene last year and the resurrection of several is pretty stunning considering how dire the initial images were.

Hurricane Irene was the worst storm to hit the state in more than eight decades, causing six deaths, destroying countless homes and severely damaging bridges and roads. Total cost of the damages statewide has been estimated at between $700 million and $1 billion, according to Betsy Ide, executive director of the Vermont Disaster Relief Fund.

Virtually every golf course in the state was affected as well, according to Dave Pfannestein, executive director of the Vermont State Golf Association, which has 65 member courses. "There was a big impact on any tourist-related business after the storm," he said, noting that September and October are the peak months for both golf and the state's famed foliage season. "People saw pictures of the damaged roads and stayed away until wintertime. It was really a big hurt. The munis lost green fee traffic while private clubs lost their second-home business."

A year later, the scars left by Hurricane Irene are still visible. "When you drive around there are still houses off their foundations and others condemned," Pfannestein said. "Some stuff has been cleaned up, but other stuff is still sitting there like it was that day. But most of the courses are pretty much back to normal this year."

A slideshow of before and after shots by F.X. Flinn and Ken Lacasse accompanies the story and it makes for some stunning viewing.

Initial Isaac Reports Positive For Golf Courses

John Strege talks to Kelly Gibson about some of the first observations for the Louisiana area and while it was no Katrina and the levees are working better, Isaac has definitely left several golf courses under water.

"One course I'm personally concerned about is Joe Bartholomew Park [in New Orleans]. "We spent $8 million renovating it. They had received 12 feet of water for almost a month or so from Katrina and [Hurricane] Rita. We designed it to accommodate a substantial amount of rain."

Gretchen Bradford, the president of the Pontchartrain Neighborhood Park Association, reported that Joseph M. Bartholomew Sr. Municipal Golf Course survived intact.

"We had very minimal flooding in our neighborhood," she said. "We were very blessed. I'm not a golfer, but from what I see [of the golf course] it looks like it's OK. It has tree limbs and stuff around, and it probably did get saturated, but it wasn't flooded out."

Meanwhile, the New Orleans Times-Picayune reported that Audubon Park Golf Course in New Orleans "was inundated with standing water."

Mississippi is another story. Stay tuned.

Slow News Week Video: Unsuccessful Leap Over Golf Cart

Nice catch by the GolfChannel.com team.

And what are those shorts made out of?

Video: Fairway Hole-Out Leads To Walk-Off Win In Canada

How many times have we heard announcers say a player has to hole out from the fairway to have any hope of winning only to be disappointed. Not on the Canadian Tour, as Jay Busbee explains Eugene Wong's final hole eagle from the fairway to win the 2012 Canadian Tour Championship by a shot over Joe Panzeri.

It was caught on video and posted by PGATour.com.

Bieber: I Played Music To Pay Green Fees!

There is a Justin Bieber cover story (not posted online) by Josh Eells in the July 18 Rolling Stone where the writer shadows the teen idol for various appearances and an infamous round of golf at Calabasas Country Club--when paparazzi ambushed.

Fathers whose daughters are inexplicably in love with the lad?  I envision this as a wonderful opportunity for you to use the story to point out the merits of the Royal and Ancient to daughters who are perplexed by your fascination with the game. After all, if Bieber is Bieber because of golf, well...they might be more understanding?

You might have heard the numbers for Bieber--the 375,000 copies his new album, Believe, has sold, making it the biggest debut of the year; the 25 million followers on Twitter, second only to Lady Gaga; his 45 million Facebook fans, more than Mitt Romney and Barack Obama combined. But did you know it all started with a golf game?

Back when he was growing up in Stratford, Ontario, Bieber was a regular at the local municipal course. He'd play almost every day in the summer; he says his handicap was a very respectable seven. And then one day, as he wrote in his 2010 memoir, First Step 2 Forever: My Story

Wait, he has a memoir already? With 2 instead of "To" in the title? Sorry, go on...

"I wanted to go golfing with my friends...but I didn't have any money." So he took his guitar and started busking on the steps of a town theater, hoping to make $20, enough scratch for a round. He came home with $200, as well as a new career.

There was also this, teased online:

Midway through a golf game at a private country club, Bieber and his entourage are confronted by paparazzi. Bieber responds by taking out his nine-iron and hitting a golf ball at them. He later tells an employee at the club that "we'll probably never play here again."

"Never leave the golf course, Michael Phelps. Never ever leave the golf course."

DJ Gallo posts a short but sweet plea to Michael Phelps begging the swimmer not to become an Olympian has-been by sticking to his desire to play a lot of golf. A sampling of his take on other past Olympic greats:

Bruce Jenner: After taking gold in the decathlon in 1976, Jenner was just as famous as Phelps is today. Since then, his interests have been diverse. He is active in the sport of plastic surgery and has taken to wearing women’s earrings. He also married the ex-wife of one of O.J. Simpson’s attorneys and is now the patriarch of the family many see as the prime example of everything that is wrong with American culture.

Phelps Wants Home & Home With Bubba; Pro-Am Circuit Looms

John Meheffay reports on Michael Phelps' plans after the American won his 18th and final Olympic gold medal.

It will include a showdown or two at home courses TBD with Bubba Watson and inevitably, any pro-am he wants to play in.

The aftermath for Phelps will start with travelling, some publicity appearances and plenty of rest and relaxation.
Golf with his friend, U.S. Masters champion Bubba Watson is also on the agenda as Phelps confirmed during the week when he said he would not be rescinding his decision to retire.

"Bubba said I'm a good swimmer but still terrible at golf. So maybe I'll challenge him to swimming and we can go on a golf course after that, that will be (all) my competitive swimming after I'm done," he said.

NY Post: Tam O'Shanter Club Home To Strippers, Cheap Booze Passed Off As Premium And Oh So Much More!

Should be a livelier than normal mixed couples Sunday at New York's Tam O'Shanter, as Jamie Schram and Jeane MacIntosh report on shenanigans exposed after a wrongful termination complaint was filed by former bartender Justin Williams.

Regarding the reciprocal guests...

The flesh-fests took place during the country club’s men-only August outings attended by about 100 to 150 members and their guests, said Williams, who this week filed a wrongful termination complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

The day began with scantily clad local strippers parading around the golf course at each of the tees — and ended with prostitutes having sex with the men in members-only showers and massage rooms, he said.

“The members would play a round of golf, and while they were out there, they would have strippers on the course, and drinks,” said Williams, 33.

The girls came in for cocktail hour but would eventually leave — and “the actual prostitutes would come in,” said Williams.

“There were about 10 prostitutes. I don’t know where they came from.”

During cocktail hour, club general manager Maureen Hollenbach and food manager Carl O’Boyle “would send most of the female staff home. At that point, whoever wanted to solicit would just walk up to the hooker, and things were negotiated during cocktails.”