Bobby Knight the Golf Show Impressario
You gotta see this. Bobby Knight, the former coach of the Indiana Hoosiers basketball team, now coach at Texas Christian University, was the host of a Golf Show. Yes, in the early 80s, the face of Indiana basketball Bobby "Mt. Vesuvius" Knight, was the host of a locally produced golf show entitled "Golf Your Way". For a man that is known for throwing chairs and choking players, telling others how to play golf doesn't seem to play to Bobby Knight's strengths.
Somewhere in between the long profanity-laced diatribes and the club throwing, Mr. Knight was attempting to instruct his viewers on how to improve their attitude and their golf score. Who better to talk about attitude?
I discovered this gem on an obscure sports blog called
We Are The Postmen. There you will find show outtakes of a scratchy, poorly shot, nine minute video of Coach Knight beating balls, throwing clubs, pissing behind a tree, spewing a colorful litany of anatomical terms and castigating "Bernie" behind the camera. One of my favorites is his attempt at being a pitchman for Pizza Hut. "Pizza Hut is to appetite what Jack Nicklaus is to golf." Huh?
Brilliant.
Click CLICK HERE to listen.In Episode #13 of Golf Gear News, host Bruce Stasch launches the GOLF GEAR DADDY GIVE-A-WAY. He also reports on the latest from THE NEWSTAND with
Drunken Cops Vandalizing Driving Range, Tiny Tiger Losing to Professional, Tiger Woods Winning Stock Car Race and
Dick's Sporting Goods Opening Golf Specialty Store. Then in PERFECT FIT hear about the USGA Capping MOI for Woods.
In the COMPONENT CORNER learn about the
Dancing Dog Golf Simulator and the
Consumer Reports Golf Ball Ratings. The GOLF BLOGOSPHERE tells about a chance to
Caddy at the 2007 Masters. CAN'T WE ALL GET ALONG reports on a
Golfer That Wins Case Against Des Moines.MYTHBUSTERS from Dick Rugge, GOLF AROUND THE WORLD visits
Erinvale Golf Course in South Africa, GOLF OF THE WEIRD brings you a
Dog that is Inducted in Hall of Fame and a
Big Brother Who is Watching Your Swing. Finally, say hello to
Consumer Reports in our WEBSITE SPOTLIGHT.
As always, our show is sponsored by
Golfknockoff.com.Register to win the GOLF GEAR DADDY GIVE-A-WAY at contest@golfgearnews.net.
Dick's Sporting Goods Opens Golf Store
I early spoke about the
pending Clubbuilding War between
Golfsmith and
Golf Galaxy. Well, now there's a third big box player emerging
Dick's Sporting Goods.
Very quietly, this major sporting goods retailer has seen how nicely golf fits into it own niche that they have recently rolled out a new specialty golf store appropriate called The Golf Shop.
The store is located in Robinson, a suburb of Pittsburgh and will occupy a former 36,000 square foot Media Play location. Golf merchandise is one of Dick’s store-within-a-store departments and they already private label a line of golf equipment under the Walter Hagen name so a complete store from this sport retail giant doesn't seem too far off the mark.
The
Pittsburgh Business Times quotes Mitchell Kaiser, a retail analyst with Piper Jaffray and Company, as saying that Dick's, by having a stand-alone shop, will have access to higher-end clubs and the hope is that more retiring baby boomers will help to reinvigorate a flat golf industry. The major sporting goods chains only represent 10% of the $7 billion dollar equipment industry.
Now with three well-funded public companies vying for the golf equipment market (Golfsmith just announced an IPO and Golf Galaxy and Dick's Sporting Goods are both public companies) expect some major changes in golf retailing with major pricing pressure on the brand name club manufacturers and smaller retailers like GolfUSA and Nevada Bob's feeling the heat to innovate or die.
Labels: Dick's Sporting Goods, Golfsmith, Retailing
Oh, Cry Me a River Mr. David Toms III
Now that the afterglow from The Masters is down to glowing embers, some of us try to look back on what happened and reminisce. This includes professional golfers like David Toms III. AP writer Doug Ferguson got this gem from Mr. Toms last week “to me, it’s still a place where the players walk around on egg shells, not knowing if they are in the right place.” Toms goes on to say “it’s the only place all year where the players don’t feel like they’re the most important thing there.”
Not that I’m a big fan of Hoottie Johnson, and I think this may be one of the first things I agree with him on, but taking the spotlight off the players and keeping it squarely focused on the tournament is the right idea. These pampered millionaires appear to have lost their perspective. Their hands are held from the moment they arrive at a tournament and given their courtesy Cadillac Escalade, to the walk up the steps of their private plane when they leave.
Perhaps Mr. Toms is bitter because he wasn’t competitive and missed the cut with rounds of 76-76. Or he got up on the wrong side of the bed that week. Maybe he’s kicking himself because he didn’t think of carrying two drivers before Phil Mickelson did?
These guys earn $1 million for a tournament victory. They sign 5 year $100 million endorsement contracts. They are household names in the golf world. What more do they want? They are starting to sound like spoiled, overpaid, over-hyped basketball players. How soon before we have a golfer pull a Soriano and refuse to tee-off at a tournament?
Oh cry me a river Mr. Toms.
Click here to listen.In Episode #12 of Golf Gear News, host Bruce Stasch brings you the latest from THE NEWSTAND where he talks about
Tiger's Poor Choice of Words,
Eco-Terrorists, the
Expanding Masters and the
Longest Drive Champ in Europe.In SHE GOLF'S TOO he ask's
What Makes a Women's Golf Course? The COMPONENT CORNER you'll hear about
SMT's New Master Distributors and the
New Two Driver World caused by Phil Mickelson's win at the Masters. The GOLF BLOGOSPHERE explores
Innovex Golf Buys Out Investors.Travel with us in GOLF AROUND THE WORLD and learn about
Donald Trump's Latest Shrine to His Ego. In GOLF OF THE WEIRD, hear about the
Temple of Love's take on golf and the
Police Chief that wins a Mercedes.As always, our show is sponsored by
Golfknockoff.com.
A Big Surprise in Phil Mickelson's Bag
One thing that most viewers probably missed during Phil Mickelson's dominate golf performance last week at the
BellSouth Classic was what was going on in Phil's bag. The commentators noted that Phil was experimenting with two drivers. Yes, two drivers. They stated that his fairways hit average was only 57% this year and during the BellSouth Classic he was hitting over 70% of his fairways.
Mickelson chose to test two drivers in this tune-up to the Masters to see if it would help him with the tight fairways at Augusta. With the new weighting systems of drivers like the
Taylor Made r7Quad and
Callaway FT-3, a golfer can adjust the clubhead weight to promote a draw or a slice. In the case of Mickelson, he used it to his advantage by keeping it in the fairway more than 70% of the time, and even more amazing, increasing his greens in regulation to a stunning 88.9%.
Get ready to make an investment in another 460cc driver because with this kind of improvement by a tour professional who switches to two drivers, regular golfers are bound to flock to their local pro shop to buy a twin sister or brother for their cherished big stick.
