English proficiency on the LPGA Tour

I'm working on a significant upgrade to the shopping cart functionality at TartanGolfGrips.com, and watching The Golf Channel (naturally) on the television alongside my desk...

They're breaking the news that the LPGA is announcing a minimum English proficiency requirement in order to maintain active status on the LPGA Tour at the end of the 2009 season.

All I can say is - WHAT TOOK YOU SO LONG???

Hey ladies, if American dollars are what you're playing for, you should be prepared to speak American words to your adoring fans (UNASSISTED) while you pick up that surfboard-sized check...and also to interact with the people who are shelling out the big bucks to play in the Wednesday Pro-Ams...it's part of the deal...

What's the big deal about this news? If you want to speak Korean or Spanish exclusively, I'm sure there's a professional Ladies Tour back in Korea or Mexico...although they probably don't have the same economic POTENTIAL...

Am I missing something here?
(Besides that the PGA Tour should be enforcing SIMILAR requirements on ITS players - Angel Cabrera comes to mind...)

Partans explained

What is a Partan(TM)???

A Partan is a Personalized tARTAN design that affixes to a golf club shaft, usually on a putter, but on any golf club, and then covered by a C-Thru Golf Grip(TM).

The C-Thru(TM) grip allows the personalized tartan to show THROUGH the grip, allowing the golfer to express their individuality, their love of golf (a sport that is closely linked (pardon the pun) to Scotland AND Ireland), their pride in their heritage and their general good taste!

The breadth of tartans that are available is truly staggering, covering most major heritages, geographies, military associations, academic institutions, professions, and then there are HUNDREDS of "Universal" tartans that are simply attractive to look at, but have no particular association.

Did you know that there are tartans available for:

• Japan
• Korea
• Germany
• Ireland and every one of the Counties or Districts
• Argentina
• Brazil
• Canada and every one of the Provinces, and many CITIES within Canada
• Most of the states in the United States have their own tartan
• Many many more

Some GOOD news - Charlie's stateside and heading home!

This post is a follow-up to my post from last Fall about "Charlie", the dog that was adopted by a US soldier in Iraq....

"Charlie" is HOME - he's made it out of Iraq after MANY months of red-tape and waiting - you can read the story here...he landed at Dulles Airport on Valentine's Day, and is heading to Sgt. Watson's home in Phoenix, AZ!!!

HOO-AAAHH!!! (Read the blog entries that lead up to this one.....they're heartwarming....)

For MORE heartwarming stories, and another opportunity to help with other "dogs of war"like Charlie, there's a new charity at Baghdadpups.com, which is a special project of the SPCA International...

Watch the video's of Charlie's return at http://baghdadpups.com/videos/

Another dog needs our help - please help him out

I don't know what it is, but somehow I keep stumbling across dogs that need (y)our help on the web, plus the way I found out about THIS one is kinda interesting, and provides the segueway into some closure from a posting from last May...enough time has passed that it's time to resume more regular blogging...

I stumbled across THIS dog in distress story because of what happened last May. On May 2, 2007 (easy to remember because 5+2=7) my wife went to Orange County to play in a charity golf tournament with "a client". She left her wedding band in her purse in his GMC Yukon, and her wedding ring was stolen from the Yukon while they were playing.

Shortly after learning of the theft of the ring, (but before a BIG revelation was uncovered almost three weeks later) I had set up a search on eBay to look for pear-shaped diamond rings, in the hopes that we might find it being "fenced" via eBay, and every day, I STILL get three e-mails with pictures of pear-shaped diamond rings...

Naturally, after all this time, no ring, and I usually just delete the three e-mails without looking at them, but SOMETHING compelled me to take a look at this morning's diamond e-mail...

SO - I opened this mornings e-mail, and the FIRST image that appears is this one and I start reading the details and the seller is trying to sell this pear-shaped diamond to raise money for his epileptic dog. When I first opened the listing, I thought the thumbnail KINDA looked like "our" ring, but as I scrolled down, I was REALLY touched by the reason for this listing. Apparently, the dog requires treatment, and the ring is being sold for significantly less than fair-market value to raise funds for treatment of the dog.

Now when I saw the picture of the DOG, I REALLY went "Whoa!", because the DOG looks A LOT like my Rusti, who passed away in September 2006 (ironically when my wife was away on a "business trip" in Vegas either WITH or on BEHALF of an asswipe, motherfucking "client").

Needless to say, this story TOTALLY tugged at my heartstrings, and I sent the seller an e-mail to ask for their e-mail address, so I could send 'em some money via my PayPal account to help out with Junior's treatment.

He responded pretty quickly, and if you're interested in making your OWN contribution to "Junior" via his guardian Cameron, you can use your own PayPal account to send them some cash at ( vintagedreams2007 at yahoo dot com ).

ALTERNATIVELY, Cameron's got a whole STOREFRONT of eBay items for sale, and you can visit him at http://stores.ebay.com/vintagedreams2007-Start-Here . Find something you like, and help out "Junior" at the same time...

Let's get together and pool our resources, and either buy something from Cameron's eBay store, or just send him a few bucks via PayPal, and help out Junior....

To close, here's what Cameron wrote me: "That is so nice of you to do that. Junior is my little man. He is sweet as sugar and I want him well I know the loss you feel everyday. I lost 2 dogs that were both 17 and I think about them all the time. I honestly was not aking for donations, but if you would like to help my email address for paypal is vintagedreams2007 at yahoo dot com. If not just say some prayers. Take care!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We're back...and hoping to help

It's been a little over three months, and things seem to be getting back to normal in my life again, and I feel that it's time to resume posting again - ESPECIALLY when a story like this touches my heart like this one has...

(Thank you to those of you who reached out to me and offered your support and prayers during a very difficult period in my life...)

Recently, I purchased a copy of "From Baghdad With Love" that chronicles the heartwarming story of an American soldier who was befriended by a local puppy, and his stories about successfully getting Lava back to the United States.

Well, I was reading an article at the Rocky Mountain News that highlighted the plight of ANOTHER American soldier, and HIS hope at getting his canine companion safely back to the States.

I did a little research, and the soldier has his own blog, called Operation Bring Charlie Home. You can make a donation through PayPal there, to help defray the high cost of bringing this adorable dog back to the United States, which I have, and I hope that many of those that read this blog will help out in any amount that you can.

My Dad was in the 8th infantry in WWII, and he relayed stories of many situations like this from HIS war experiences. Dad passed away suddenly a little over four years ago, and it's in his honor and memory that I would like to re-open my blog, and ask your assistance in this cause.

"Charlie" bears more than a casual resemblance to OUR little furperson "Triniti", so this story resonates with me for a NUMBER of reasons...

I'm back......and hopefully so will "Charlie" - SOON!

On hiatus

My apologies for being out of touch for quite awhile....while I was making the last posting on May 19, a series of events began to unfold that culminated in the receipt of some devastating personal news on May 21.

This news basically rocked my world. Let's just say that questions about the "Ross tartan" will always have significant meaning to me...and will always initiate feelings of supreme sadness and disappointment.

I am still dealing with the after-effects of this development, and the blog will practically be on hiatus for the foreseeable future.

In the meantime, I have been fortunate to include TartanGolfGrips.com putter grips in the player packages at the American Century Celebrity Golf Challenge that runs from July 13-15, and also at a charity golf tournament being played locally on July 9 benefiting the Long Beach VA Hospital.

Maybe someday I will discuss these developments - I hope not, however...but my primary objective in my life right now is healing...

Your prayers are very much appreciated in the meantime....

Have a safe, happy Fourth of July....

Artan of the Week (May 18, 2007) - IRISH OPEN edition

Wow - things have been REALLY hectic at my "day job", and between juggling the pipe band, fulfilling orders for TartanGolfGrips.com, doing a little rehearsal preparation for the Kingsmen Alumni Corps, and a MAJOR overhaul of the TartanGolfGrips.com secure shopping cart and website links - I just realized that I'm a full TWO DAYS late for the Artan of the Week...gaack...

There's also ANOTHER special project that will take place in conjunction with the 18th Annual American Century Golf Championship that has sucked up whatever precious free time I didn't have before, but I'm REALLY excited about this opportunity....I'll let the cat out of the bag more later, but we will be heading to beautiful Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course in mid-July to participate in the American Century Golf Championship.

I've signed on as a walking scorer, and I'm really excited about this opportunity...I've watched the event on NBC for several years now, but this is the first time that I've ever been to Lake Tahoe in the summertime, PLUS seeing all of these athlete/celebrities play golf at the same time will be REALLY, REALLY fun...it would be a dream come true if I got to keep score for John Elway's group...

But I digress - the REAL reason for today's posting is to highlight the Artan of the week for May 18, 2007. This week's design highlights the OVERSIZED paddle grip that is an option at TartanGolfGrips.com. I personally use this grip myself, because I like the feel of a larger grip - you can see the extra grip material at the top of the grip. (You can ALSO see the damage that was done to the Artan design when the owner attempted to install the grip, and used a SCREWDRIVER to try and force the grip onto the shaft...I had to bail him out...the screwdriver shaft STILL embedded inside the grip, the HANDLE long gone as it had pulled off the end of the shaft...THAT was fun....you can see HIS customization to the artwork on and to the left of the "I" in HARRINGTON...oh well, I told him it's REALLY PERSONALIZED now...)

My personal full-swing grips are Eaton Golf Pride Dual Durometer "Yellows" which are the midsize offering in the Dual Durometer line. It's interesting to note that both Cheri and Lorena Ochoa both use the "Reds" in the GolfPride Dual Durometer line....
This grip was done for my neighbor across the street, Steve Harrington, and coincidentally, one of my favorite professional golfers, PADRAIG HARRINGTON is leading the Irish Open through the third round.

It would be SO COOL if Padraig could win his home country's Open tournament - it would be the first time in 25 years, as the last Irishman to win the Irish Open was John O'Leary back in 1982. How Irish a name is THAT??? Half the COUNTRY can probably lay claim to being the '82 Irish Open winner!

I think it's fate....it's been 25 years, and Padraig's gonna win this event. It's also nice to mention that the NEW IRELAND flag grip has been selling REALLY nicely since we debuted it back in what, March? I sold a couple of those this last week alone...as the word gets out, I think more and more people are going to want one of these....(at right).

Oh, during this past week, I found it interesting to learn that Nike is ALSO getting aboard the black club phenomenon that I chronicled earlier, when they announced the launch of their SV Tour Black Satin Wedge. (Shown below)

We're looking at another BUSY, BUSY weekend - today's haircut day, I'm gonna stop by Kemp Ford and check out a 2008 Ford Escape Hybrid, I've got Pipe Band rehearsal this afternoon at Johnny Carson Park in Burbank from 2-5, the website needs some more link updating, the lawn needs to be cut, edged and the plum tree needs to be pruned, and HOPEFULLY, we'll head over to the driving range to at least keep the swing in plane before heading out to play some tennis with our friends Mike and Michelle.

Sleep??? Who needs it???