Left to right: Me (Tony Korologos), Dave Lair, John Duval, Rob Hayashida
Airport
As I sit here in the SLC International Airport, watching wannabe Sundance movie producers walk by with video cameras in their hands… wait a sec. As I’m sitting here with my laptop open a lady just asked me to help her “find her family.” I had to tell her that I don’t work for the airline…
As I was saying… As I sit here at the airport I’d better log my preview to the big event in Orlando this weekend. No I’m not talking about the PGA Merchandise Show, the golf trade show where some 50,000 people in the golf industry show their new wares. I’m talking about the Battle of the Golf Blogs.
BOGB History
The Battle of the Golf Blogs started back in I believe 2009 when Orlando Golf Blogger Dave Lair and I decided to have a golf blogger championship match when I was in town for the PGA Show. We played a Mickey Mouse course by Disney. The whole town of Orlando is Mickey Mouse really. I’m happy to say that I claimed the maiden tournament’s trophy, one of my most cherished of victories in my very, VERY modest amateur golf career. The next year Dave exacted his revenge. Over the years the tournament has expanded to include two great golf bloggers, John Duval from Into The Grain and Rob Hayashida from Sandbox8.
As golf bloggers we are all about digital media. The last few years there have been more cameras clicking and HD video recording than those that follow Tiger Woods around.
We’ve had some fantastic matches and memorable moments for sure. The most painful “BOGB” for me was the year I separated my shoulder skiing (crashed in parking lot next to my car) and had to WD.
Here’s the list of champions:
2009: Tony Korologos 🙂
2010: Dave Lair
2011: Shared championship between Dave Lair & John Duval a la 2008 the shared Presidents Cup when Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player were captains.
2012: John Duval
2013: (Tony Korologos – text ready to go…hehe)
$500 prize to the champion golf blogger’s readers!
Last year’s tournament was interesting. We had many prominent golf companies requesting to sponsor the tournament. We accepted many sponsors and had a great time representing them by wearing or playing their gear. But we may have allowed a few too many…
This year we have three sponsors, Fila Golf, Bridgestone Golf and adidas. Primary sponsor Fila has volunteered to give a $500 gift certificate to their online store for the winning blogger to give to his readers! That means I’m playing for you my friends. I want to reward a HOG fan by winning the tournament and sending someone on a $500 shopping spree.
Venue
This year we are putting a new track in the BOGB rotation (you know, similar to the British Open course rotation). We are playing Black Diamond’s Quarry Course, a Tom Fazio design. This track looks very interesting from what I’ve seen of the online photos.
Live Social Feeds
All four bloggers will be posting live updates during the tournament on Twitter. Watch for the hash tag #bogb for on-the-fly happenings, photos and video from the Battle of the Golf Blogs. You can see my tweets here on HOG via the Twitter feed module or by following @thegolfspace.
HOGWire – Golf Industry News
Tony
One of my good friends, Denny Williams, lives at Black Diamond. I have had the pleasure of playing it (73 first time I ever saw the course) and loved it! That 4-6 holes stretch on the back around the quarry is awesome..can be had, but so can doubles! Enjoy
Good luck to all. Tony great on your post win. You have all of us behind you.