Its not directly related to golf, but I found what could turn out to be a very useful website: Retail Me Not. It’s a catalog/search engine for online coupons. Its “collaborative” in that it encouages people to enter coupons that they have encountered. I found a 15% off coupon for Dick’s Sporting Goods.

IZZO No Bogey Putting Cup

Here in Michigan, the greens are the first thing to shut down as the weather turns bad. No greenskeeper wants to take a chance on injuring the grass. My home course remains open year round, but the temporary greens go in place in November. So while I can continue to work my swing, my putting suffers.

Fortunately, there are lots of indoor putting solutions.

The Izzo No Bogey Putting Cup is made of soft rubber and has a lip that’s supposed to simulate more accurately a real cup. It’s supposed to get you to hit the ball square to the hole. The interior of the cup has specially designed “teeth” that hold the ball in.

A man who drove his truck into a golf course pond was rescued by a maintence worker equipped with a 3-Iron.

I knew a 3-iron had to be useful for something. It’s certainly not any good for hitting a golf ball.

And you thought alligators on Florida courses were a problem.

Missing Python Found At Golf Club.

VISIBALL Glasses

For me, one of the most frustraing things in golf is losing a ball in plain sight. You know the feeling: you hit a nice drive and watch it trickle a little off the fairway. Then you get to the spot and for the life of you, you can’t find the ball. So you have to take a stroke and distance penalty, ruining the hole, and possibly the round.

Visiball promises to help you find those wayward balls. The lens is designed to filter out the greens of the course, making the white ball stand out. Of course, it also will make any bits of paper or white leaf undersides stand out, so it’s not a perfect solution.

But I’m seriously thinking about getting one of these. If it saves me even one stroke and distance penalty a round (or saves me five minutes looking for a ball), it’ll be worth it.

I think I’d like these even better, though if there was a flip version. Then I could attach them to my sun glasses and flip them up and down as needed.

Or would that look totally geeky? No matter. Everyone already knows that I’m a geek.

Natalie Gulbis 2007 Calendar

There is no doubt that the LPGA currently has a large number of attractive young players on its roster, but none has played this up as much as Natalie Gulbis. And why not? Sex sells. It’s a shrewd business move on Gulbis’ part. There’s no doubt that it influenced her deals with—among others—Taylor Made Golf, Adidas, Canon, and Amstel Light.

Of course, there aren’t the nude photos like you’ll find in the Sophie Sandolo calendars, but some of those bikini shots are about as close to naked as you can get and still be legal in all 50 states. Her first calendar was banned by the USGA from the US Open venue.

It also doesn’t hurt Natalie’s no slouch on the course, either. While she has yet to actually win a tournament, she finished third in the Kraft Nabisco (an LPGA Major) in 2006, fourth in the US Open in 2005, and fifth in the 2005 LPGA Championship. She placed in the top-10 in four consecutive major championships from the 2005 LPGA Championship to the 2006 Kraft Nabisco Championship. Gulbis also placed sixth on the 2005 money list.

That’s not a bad record. And its only a matter of time before she wins ... and wins ... and wins.

It almost sounds like a scene from a cartoon: A guy attempts to steal a set of golf clubs from a porch, and is beaten into submission by a woman wielding a ten inch cooking pot.