Too close to home ....

I missed the excitement while I was in Florida. It turns out that a single engine plane made an emergency landing on the fifth hole of a golf course just a couple of miles from GolfBlogger World Headquarters. No one was hurt and the course apparently suffered little damage. The plane then drove back to the airport, which is just a few hundred yards away.

I wonder if anyone was on the fifth hole at the time. Imagine their surprise!

I also wonder if the USGA has ever had to make any rulings about planes landing on a course during play.

They’re lovely to look at, but any golfer in Michigan knows that Canada Geese actually are a major course menace. The sky rats descend upon our courses, parks and lawns in vast numbers, leaving behind mountains of excrement and aggressively going after children and golfers alike.

(BTW, it’s Canada Geese, not Canadian Geese)

I’ve always wondered why they were a protected species, since they seem more common than pigeons and sea gulls. And it turns out I was right about their numbers. The DNR says that in the past four decades, the number of geese has grown from 9,000 to more than 200,000.

COurses that I know have tried a variety of ways to discourage the birds, including setting dogs loose to chase them off. And there apparently have been efforts to capture and relocate the geese. But now the DNR is planning on reducing the population by killing excess birds. The harvested geese will be distributed to various soup kitchens.

Any environmentalist who objects can do the right thing and volunteer their home as a location for displaced geese.

The sixth hole at Bay Pointe, in Commerce Township, Michigan. Bay Pointe is formerly a country club that, due to falling on hard times, has gone public.

Photo taken with a Panasonic Lumix point-and-shoot.

Hickory Sticks golf course near Ann Arbor has closed. I was never a big fan, but it was a favorite among many area golfers.

It’s presumably a victim of the economic downturn.

A view from the ninth at Huron Hills in Ann Arbor. What you’re seeing here is the eighteenth tee box, the tenth’s fairway and green, and beyond the trees in the center, the par 3 eleventh.

The Detroit Free Press has an article today on the various Michigan state golf tournaments, suggesting that they offer a nice opportunity to watch some quality golf tournaments for free. The Michigan Open is this week, the Michigan Amateur is being held from June 23 - 27; and the Michigan Tournament of Champions is July 20 - 22.

The Tournament of Champions is a great concept, with men, women and juniors competing directly from different sets of tees.

Even if you don’t live in Michigan, there’s no doubt that your own state golf association has similar tournaments going on. I’ve attended several state high school tournaments as a coach and walking scorekeeper. It’s good cheap entertainment

The electric car lobby should take notice: a guy from Michigan—home of the evil hydrocarbon burning internal combustion engine—is running a thriving business customizing golf carts. He’s even won a Michigan Small Business and Technology Development award.