Shank-o-potamus

Random one, here. The e-trade baby goes golfin'!

"skins game beat-down" - classic!

Memories

I took a couple weeks off there, eh???

Anyway, here's the highlights...

I was big time into golf when I was a youngster - I can remember watching Curtis Strange rip it up at the US Open back to back (just like the Lakers did in the 80's, and as mentioned in the R-rated, Red Hot Chili Peppers Song clip below):




My passion for the unseen intricacies of competitive golf is why I jumped at the chance to go and watch the first round of the US Open a couple weeks ago here at Torrey Pines in La Jolla, Ca. Man, what an experience! Here's my ticket:



spent a lot of the morning at the par 4 6th hole watching the worlds best golfers struggle on their long approach shots. It was pretty crazy when the Tiger/Phil/Adam Scott group passed through. The throng was unbelievable!!

We spent the afternoon sitting in the grandstands of the 8th hole watching the world's best golfer's look like weekend duffers (like myself) - we only saw one birdie over a three hour span (Stewart Cink,I believe..)

Pretty extraordinary experience to see guys with that much talent battlin', and grindin' it out. I was inspired, and certainly won't forget it!!!

Yeah, so, I raced again last weekend at La Mirada - not very exciting, and I raced like a scared chipmunk, I reckon, seein' as how the field let three of the Amgen/Giant guys go up the road and take the first three spots. This time around, though, I did go au-bloc trying to go across the gap to those guys. Came up a wee-bit short, though, just like last year...

We'll see how it goes this weekend up at Manhattan Beach - should be an interesting deal up there!

See you at the races,

-kraig

Any Golfers Out There?

I've been doing the sporting good product thing for a little over a decade now (a couple years in the bike biz, and the rest where I currently am in the golf biz), and I still get pumped when the team I am on launches a new product:

http://www.taylormadegolf.com/campaigns/burnerbloodline/content/microsite/

When new product ships, it's a crazy mix of nerves and pride for the team - it's an amazing process to be involved in - to watch an idea go from thin air, to a 2-d sketch, to a 3-d model to several iterations of prototypes... There are a lot of folks involved along the way, and that is pretty cool.

I don't think I step away from the process enough to really appreciate what goes on, sometimes. A golf club seems so simple, but the projects rarely are! Those challenges along the way, with the pressure of being a bit under the gun, are where it's at for me.

Back to work, though - we gotta come up with the next product that will make the Tour Burner obsolete in 18 months! ;-)