Nine Days Of Christmas: Let Photobucket Make A Canvas Print

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With only four days until you do not get the gifts you wanted, hopefully you bought yourself something between Seamus, Johnnie-O, St Andrews, Lululemon pants or Wybranski major art.

My selection of a Wybranski for your office or mancave walls was directed at those who have been to a memorable golf tournament in recent years and just wanted to liven up their walls with a fond memory. And all for 20% off exclusively to readers of this site courtesy of Wybranski.

But if tournment golf isn't your thing, why not just have favorite golf photo of your own enlarged? After all, with apps like Snapseed, there is almost no excuse now to have a bad photo. Even better, most smart phones now take a photo that can be enlarged to sites like Photobucket. Which is why this excellent service comes in to the picture.

For years I've been waiting for someone to offer photos printed on canvas at an affordable price. The look is cool and the extra cost more palatable than framing photo. Canvas-printed photos should also age better.

Having uploaded a few golf course images to Photobucket for printing on canvas, I can wholeheartedly recommend them for quality, service and consistency with the original image. At 80% off their canvas prints right now (enter code: HOLIDAY80), there is no more affordable and classy way to enlarge your favorite golf course images. Photobucket's canvas prints allow for the option to wrap your image around the 1.25 inch thick canvas (or you can go with white and black borders). The canvas' come with UV coating and a surface easily cleaned with a dam cloth. Oh, and they offer every size imaginable starting at  6x6 up to 32x48. At 80% off you can take a chance on images you aren't sure have the resolution or gravitas to be printed on canvas.

Though judging by my early experiences with Photobucket (which has not paid for this post or even knows abvout it). even an average photo will look timeless printed on a canvas.

Merry Christmas!

Nine Days Of Christmas: The ABC Pant

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As the big day looms and you figure to receive nothing you actually wanted, we carry on post-Seamus, post-Johnnie-O, post-St Andrews books, and post-Wybranski major art with a Vancouver-designed product that almost never is discounted. While I love sharing a good deal, I'm buying one more day to see what offers turn up related to three of the final choices before recommending. So in the meantime I give you...$128 pants!

What a guy!

Back in February a golfer friend told me of his love for teeing up in Lululemon's ABC Pant. Like most, I only barely knew of the company as female and yoga-centric. Then I found out the price of the ABC Pant and laughed. His reply? No dry cleaning, no ironing, lots of durability and you can wear one pair three times on a trip and they'll never smell or feel dirty.

Pre-millennials are saying right now: this is what they used to say about Sansabelts.

(For millennials: Sansabelts were the hideous beltless polyester pants worn in the 1970s and 80s by professional golfers who would start with a flat hand well above their stomach and hug the skin as they lowered their hand toward their pocket in search of a coin to mark a ball, all the while short of breath because the poly wasn't that comfortable.  They are still made today.)

Lulu's ABC pant does not make you work to get something out of your pocket. Ever better, they breathe. Quite simply, they are the greatest pant ever made and seem like they were created just for golfers. They weren't. In fact, the old CEO (now gone) didn't like golf at all.

To rationalize the cost, ask yourself...

Do you travel a lot?

Play a lot of golf?

Hate ironing?

Hate paying for dry cleaning?

Like to feel like you're wearing your favorite pair of sweat pants all day?

Like a modern cut of pant that gets just the right amount of non-dad jean snugness?

Lululemon's ABC Pant is for you then. Check them out here. And sorry, no discount. Also, be prepared for their scarcity model, which means colors and sizes come and go and vary widely from store to store.

I still say Johnnie-O's are more ideal for most golfers in cut and style, but if you're all about pure function and willing to pay for it, you'll never once entertain thoughts resisting a visit to what was once thought of as only the domain of Yoga instructors: a Lululemon store.

Merry Christmas!*

*PS - go a waist size up. If you're a 30, buy 32s, etc... some sort of Canadian sizing thing.

Nine Days Of Christmas: Johnnie-O Pants And More

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Day two of the gift guide for those anticipating receiving nothing they wanted shifts from Seamus Golf's classy accessories to the often agonizing subject of good golf pants. Two suggestions will be part of my gift to you, but only suggestion #1 comes with a discount!

Maybe you wanted a pair of Johnnie-O's under the Christmas tree but were never asked? Well the nice folks at Johnnie-O are providing a discount code just for the readers of this site, even the miserable trolls!

Just enter FARANDSURE and receive 25% off your order!

Now, what to get from this maker of golf-inspired (and cleverly engineered) menswear from midwestern-raised and the decidedly-West Coast converted John O'Donnell?

I've been buying Johnnie-O's clothes for years and sense from my own purchases (along with what I see golfers wearing), that they've dialed in both the fit, color and sensibility of their brand, which is to let you wear something functional on the course, while also owning something you can wear in a non-golf setting.

Golf shirt-wise I love all their offerings, but of late have leaned toward the "Prep-formance" polos because who needs ironing when you're traveling. I've been virtually sleeping in their current golf-friendly vest, one of many new outwear items served up this fall. And for off the course, their button down shirts feature Johnnie's why-didn't-Ralph-Lauren-think-of-that "Tweener" button.

But I'm most excited about Johnnie-O's recent forays into pants because it's hard to find pairs that work for both golf and social settings. You'll notice by the dwindling supplies that their Fillmore cords have been a big hit thanks to three elements: great fit, a touch of stretch in the fabric you don't normally get in a cord, and colors not normally seen in cords.

For year-round golf purposes, check out the Napa pant. It's closer to a traditional cut but still modern enough. The style I've been enjoying most, however, is the Cal pant. It's a jean fit not cut too tight but definitely not a dad jean.

And Merry Christmas at 25% off!

Nine Days Of Christmas: Something From Seamus Golf

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In looking back on the year, I continue to be amazed by the number of interesting things people are doing to make golf more stylish, cool and retro chic while paying homage to the past. So over the next nine days I'm going to highlight some of my favorite items purchased in 2015 for the gift buyer looking for that special purchase for...themselves.

After all, most golfers don't get what they want and many of the items mentioned here are off the radar of friends and relatives. So how about a little self-indulgence to make up for gifts not received?

There is no better way to kick things off than with something from Seamus Golf, the Oregonian outfit producing classy and cool headcovers along with accessories hand-crafted at their studio. I'm sporting a Musselburgh Tartan headcover as well as a stylish padded pouch for storing your wallet and keys as you play. Compliments abound on both and so far the high quality of production values has meant little sign of wear and tear.

With the proximity to Christmas and uncertainly about delivery times, Seamus is softening the blow of a possible late arriving shipment with a 20% discount on any purchase right now by using PLEASEPLAYTHROUGH

Support this excellent golf-history loving company and buy yourself a Christmas treat!

Video: Ed Dougherty’s Incredible Story

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Longtime golf watchers will remember Ed Dougherty as both successful PGA Tour and Champions Tour player who came to the game after discovering it during his tour of duty in Vietnam. But now he’s battling Agent Orange-related leukemia that can be traced to his combat days.

Of all the excellent Veteran’s Day coverage, this powerful piece of work by Golf Channel producer Dominic Dastoli and hosted by Tim Rosaforte is well worth your time if you missed its live airing.

It's A Wrap: The Links At Petco Park, 1600 Rounds Later

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Monday night at Petco Park concluded with over 1600 rounds having been played inside the Padres home stadium. What turned out as a semi-publicity stunt/goodwill effort to share Petco with golfing baseball fans turned into something much larger. ESPN sent Kenny Mayne for a post-MNF feature, local newscasts around the United States showed footage and Golf Channel covered the madness.

What happened here that so intrigued people?

For starters, baseball stadium architecture has always shared similarities with golf architecture in reflecting tastes of the era in which they were built. In the last twenty years, fans have come to see baseball parks as statements about regional architecture. When the ballparks are so good that they become places of civic pride, they take on another level of interest.

Turns out that golfers, already armed with a critical eye, have quietly dreamed of hitting a shot from home plate over the center field wall just to confirm how short the distance is. For good measure, eight more holes meant five days of sold out golf at $50 for each round, with several thousand relegated to a waiting list.

It was surreal to be hitting shots inside a stadium and it all turned out to be shockingly safe. (A tent covered the home plate tee for safety). Every element of the experience was meticulously planned by the Padres, while Callaway handled all of the golf details. There isn't a thing I'd change except maybe the water hazards and even those provided a few laughs.

As for other parks in the future, the obvious dream locales include Fenway, Yankee Stadium, AT&T Park, Dodger Stadium and Wrigley. But this is no small undertaking and the buzz surrounding it may never match what just took place. But if you saw the clips of golfers inside their home park, the joys of this form of Stadium Golf were so great that any promotional value is bound to be superceded by golfer demand. Oh, and it's a nice way to sell a few season seats while reinforing the magic of two great American pastimes: golf and baseball.

My video report after playing the links:

If you're a millennial, this is the Skratch look at the course's creation, minus a mention of co-architect Johnny Rodriguez.

And just to show that there are no new ideas, Gary Player's group tweeted this epic shot of a stadium golf setting from 30 years ago. Take that Johnny!

 And Kenny Mayne just had to dive into one of the ponds.

 

Mayne's ESPN feature as only he can tell a story.

Photo: Golf Course Gator Gets Python...

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I'm not really sure what's more unsettling about this photo from Fiddler's Creek Golf Course: the alligator as predator, or that there was a python of that size in the golf course lake.

Thanks to Andy Zunz for spotting and The Classics Country Club for sharing.

Our Member, Pat Aydelott took this great shot while playing Fiddlers Creek down the street from us. Pat - can you get closer next time so the photo isn't so grainy? Thank you! :-) Caption this!

Posted by The Classics Country Club at Lely Resort on Thursday, November 5, 2015

New President Bush Bio Opens With An Old Golf Story

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As George (41) Bush's presidential legacy continues to grow in stature and Rummy's feathers are ruffled (not to mention 43's) over the new biography authored by esteemed historian Jon Meacham, it turns out golf is a nice part of the much-anticipated tome.

While I'm not sure pollsters would buy Jerry Tarde's assertion that President Bush is the "most beloved living president who played the game," we golfers adore anyone who made pace of play a priority and whose family has long been front and center in American golf.

Tarde says the book opens with a golf story about Samuel Prescott Bush standing on top of the Hotel Traymore in Atlantic City. Nucky Thompson was apparently not around, however.

"A prominent Midwestern industrialist, Bush was at the Jersey Shore in the early summer of 1915 to take part in what was described as ‘the highest golf driving contest ever held in the history of the great Scotch game,’ ” Meacham writes. “Facing the Atlantic, in a long-sleeved dress shirt and formal trousers, Bush, driver in hand, took his stance and swung smoothly. He connected just the way he wanted to—cleanly and perfectly.

The ball rose rapidly, a tiny spinning meteor. Bush’s shot streaked out over the sea, soaring over the white-capped waves before disappearing deep in the distance, the sound of its splash lost in the wind and turf.

“Bush won, of course. Though his opponents did what they could, they failed to surpass Bush’s dramatic drive. It was not the most serious of competitions, but that did not matter. The New York Times reported Bush’s triumph. A contest was a contest.”