Tee Time Helper is a page that helps you organize your group’s outing. It emails the invitations, keeps track of RSVPs and keeps players updated. It does not, however, actually book the tee times. That, you’ll have to do yourself.

American readers likely are entirely unfamiliar with Argos stores (My UK and Irish readers will please forgive me for this little exposition). The chain is the largest general goods retailer in the UK and Ireland, with more than 800 locations. In concept, they are a bit like the now long defunct US catalog stores such as Best Products and Service Merchandise (I date myself in having shopped at those stores). Customers select their items from a catalog, which then are held for them at the brick-and-mortar locations. Alternately, the goods can be delivered to their doorstep.

I actually like the catalog showroom concept better than the current US trend of mail order only shopping. I like to be able to hold a product in my hands before buying it—poke the buttons and heft the clubs. From a business perspective, what killed Service and Best was that they were tied to their catalogs. Where other retailers could clear out slow moving merchandise for hotter items, the catalog stores were less flexible.

Argos has weathered that storm, though. Online catalogs allow them to be as flexible as the next guy.

Argos sells a wide variety of products, including consumer electronics, furniture, garden and DIY goods, jewelry and—or most interest to my readers—golf clubs and accessories. Brands offered include Dunlop and Wilson in full sets that include driver, woods, irons, club covers and a bag. They’re the sort of pre-sorted sets that in the States you’d find at Target, Costco, Walmart and Meijer. Absolutely nothing wrong with these, and usually perfect for beginners.

Wilson’s likely a higher profile brand in the UK and Ireland than here in the States, thanks to their headline pro, Padraig Harrington and Scotsman Paul Lawrie (who recently finished second at the Dubai World Championship). That said, I know plenty of local players who sport Wilson Staff irons.

Dunlop’s headquarters is in Surrey, England, and like Wilson enjoys much higher profile on the European Tour, with Lee Westwood, Darren Clarke and David Howell on their staff.

Argos also carries a selection of Dunlop, Callaway and Nike balls, as well as training aids, trolleys and other accessories. You can find a link to Argos’ golf pages above.

I hadn’t heard of them before, but a site called GolfZing has a sweepstakes for a bevy of Nike products that you might want to get in on. Here’s what’s in the prize package:

1 VR Pro Driver
1 VR Pro 3 Wood
1 set of VR Pro Combo Irons (3 thru PW)
2 VR Pro Wedges
1 Method 001 Putter
1 Nike Performance Carry Bag
5 Tiger Woods Collection Polo (Bonded)
5 Tiger Woods Collection Pants
1 Pair Tiger Woods Zoom Golf Shoes
2 Nike Flex Fit Tour Hats
1 pair Nike Skylon Sunglasses
1 Nike Classic Glove
2 Dozen 20Xi Balls

When they’re not giving away stuff, GolfZing offers a bunch of different golf related services, such as tee times, fantasy golf, handicap tracking, tips and videos.

I just got a note from graphic designer Gary Finkler, who has started a new sports cartoon blog called 7th Inning Sketch. As luck would have it, his first was on the recent PGA Championship. It reminds me a lot of classic early 20th century comics, such as those done by Bill Gallo—using art rather than words to tell the readers what happened.

Finker is off to a good start. Now comes the hard part of blogging—producing material on a regular schedule without fail. It’s very easy to say “I’ll do it tomorrow” in this “business.” Tomorrow then becomes the next day, and the next, and before you know it, your blog is just one of the estimated 126 million abandoned blogs. That’s 95% of all blogs ever started. I’ll put a shameless plug in for my own site here. GolfBlogger.Com:  Eight years of blogging every day. More than seven thousand articles. Six million words.

LinkedIn, the professional social network has pulled a fast one and secretly opted everyone in to allowing them to use your face and name in social advertising. You can opt out, though. Either navigate your way through the account settings until you reach Manage Social Advertising under Privacy Settings, or use this direct link (it assumes you’re signed into your account): https://www.linkedin.com/settings/social-advertising.

I totally understand their need to generate revenue, but this is a trick worthy of Facebook, not a professional network. It reminds me of the small print on the back of sporting and music event tickets that allows the organizers to use your name and image in their advertising in perpetuity.

Lets give a warm welcome to the Aether to Golf Gear Garage, a new golf blog from my friend Jason Woodmansee.

ESPN’s Bill Simmons has a new blog, called Grantland, which will feature longer articles than is usual in a blog, mixing sports and popular culture. The title obviously is a reference to Grantland Rice, the early 20th century sportswriter who is perhaps most famous among golfers for his promotion of Bobby Jones. Rice also elevated to mythic status such figures as Jack Dempsey, Babe Ruth, Bobby Jones, Bill Tilden, Red Grange, Babe Didrikson Zaharias, and Knute Rockne.

Simmons writes of the new site:

We had four goals for this site. The first was to find writers we liked and let them do their thing. The second was to find sponsors we liked and integrate them within the site — so readers didn’t have to pay for content, and also, so we didn’t have to gravitate toward quantity over quality just to chase page views. The third was to take advantage of a little extra creative leeway for the right reasons and not the wrong ones.12 And the fourth was to hire the right blend of people — mostly young, mostly up-and-comers, all good people with good ideas who aren’t afraid to share them.

It’s a nice idea, and I’ll be checking in to see how it develops. Truthfully, Grantland is the sort of site for which I’d like to write.

A Grantland Rice quote on golf: “Golf is twenty percent mechanics and technique. The other eighty percent is philosophy, humor, tragedy, romance, melodrama, companionship, camaraderie, cussedness, and conversation.”