Part one and part two of my look back at 2011 covered the professional golf world, Tiger Woods, PGA Tour etc. Part three today covers the first half of 2011 for Hooked On Golf Blog as well as my own unique experiences. I’m lumping them together because it is too hard to separate them. So here’s a sequential look at January to June 2011 through the HOG and TK filter:
January 2011
January is always a big post month because of the start of the PGA Tour season, and because of my annual trek to do live blogging from the PGA Merchandise Show. At the PGA Show I did a ton of interviews including Titleist, Taylormade, Bridgestone Golf, Cleveland/Srixon and many others.
Unfortunately in January I separated my shoulder skiing. I was blogging and shooting photos with one arm in a sling. The injury caused me to miss the annual Battle of the Golf Blogs in Orlando at the PGA Show. My role became photographer, reporter, tweeter and videographer.
Nike Machspeed Black Driver - click for review
February 2011
My new Nike Machspeed Black driver review was posted.
Did a review of the Hexcaliber, a golf ball compression and roundness testing device. Very cool.
Nailed down Nike Golf as the grand prize provider for 2011 HOG/Space fantasy golf. I rule.
Gave away some free tickets to the AT&T at Pebble Beach. Yeah baby. Did I say I rule?
Natalie Gulbis - click image for golf babes gallery
March 2011
Teamed up with Pukka Headwear to create the first series of Hooked On Golf Bog / The Golf Space golf hats!
The blog was attacked and hacked, but HOG will survive.
The Japan earthquake and tsunami made it hard to think about golf.
New Hooked On Golf Blog World Headquarters goes online.
Male golfers (or lesbian golfers I suppose) rejoice as I add the new “golf babes” category to the HOG image gallery.
One of my best pals Guy, cards a hole in one on the 12th hole at River Oaks. My name is on his trophy now as a witness!
Had a blast with my Fred Funk interview. What a cool cat.
I get some good news and bad news on my life long problem with back pain.
I tried to put together financing to buy Tiger Woods’s yacht “Privacy” but couldn’t get the 20,000,000 people to all chip in $1. It would have been the biggest boat party ever.
April 2011
April saw quite a bit of traffic here with 3,400,000 hits.
As always in April, HOG World Headquarters buzzed with zillions of posts, tweets and images from the Masters.
I reviewed the new Nike 20XI-X golf ball.
Busted yet another web site ripping off my content.
TaylorMade Performance Lab
May 2011
The HOG World Tour traveled to Mesquite, NV. I played in my first Mesquite Amateur tournament. What a blast. I won the Masters trivia contest and won Masters schwag for all the people at my table. Unfortunately an emergency with the lovely wife forced me to WD after round two of three. No worries. She’s okay now.
Did my first ever TaylorMade Performance Lab session. I am the Terminator.
Very saddened by the loss of golf legend Seve Ballesteros.
HOG World Tour stopped at a new Nicklaus Signature design course in Nevada called Coyote Springs.
Coolest par-4 I’ve ever played? Could be the Road Hole or perhaps #12 at Sand Hollow.
I was invited by HP to be the resident blogger and social networking guy at the HP Byron Nelson Championship. What a fun (and tiring) time trekking around in the heat of Texas, tweeting and blogging about the PGA Tour. I was there for Keegan Bradley’s first win as a PGA Tour player. How cool is that? Off the charts cool.
My bid to buy Acushnet, parent company of Titleist-FootJoy-Pinnacle, failed. I was outbid by 1.299999 billion dollars by a Korean equity firm.
The Golf Chick sporting a HOG hat. Way cool.
June 2011
June and into July was perhaps the most insane HOG schedule in history. In 1.5 months I played in the Salt Lake City Amateur tournament, went to St. Andrews, played the Mesquite Am, played 72 holes in one day in four states, and traveled out of town to no less than 15 golf courses.
Met Kristen Williams, the world famous and mega cool Golf Chick.
Introduced a new site layout during US OPEN week. Why I pick the busiest time of year to do stuff like that I don’t know.
Survived the Solstice Golfathon – 72 holes, 4 courses, 4 states, one day.
On June 30th, my plane departed for SCOTLAND. My life would never be the same after that departure!
HOGWire – Golf Industry News
And after your week in St. Andrews my life also changes for the better!
The ‘golf babes’ gallery was definitely a real highlight for me. Not only can a lot of these girls play great golf but they are beautiful people in their own right.
The 2011 US Masters was a great event and I enjoyed watching a couple of local Australians battling it out for the green jacket.
I always enjoy reading his blog.