From my trip to play in the Crowne Plaza Invitational’s Wednesday Pro-Am in 2011:

The par 3 eighth at Colonial measures 194 yards. I think the tees were more like 170 at the Pro Am. I hit a five wood and fell short into the bunker on the right. There’s a little peninsula of grass that extends from the left into the bunker’s center (you can barely make it out in this photo). My ball was nestled right up against that tuft. I hit at the ball as hard as I could with my wedge and it popped up to the far left side of the green. The flag was front right, about forty feet away. When I got behind the ball, however, I saw the line perfectly. It was almost like it was drawn in the grass. I made a smooth stroke and it tracked right into the center of the hole.

My compatriots all cheered and I did a little fist pump.

“I don’t know what you’re cheering about,” Appleby said. “It wasn’t THAT great.” He laughed.

I think Stuart Appleby and I would get along if we had more time together. He’s got the same dry sense of humor that gets me into trouble with people who can’t tell if I’m serious or not.

TAYLORMADE R11 Iron Set 3-PW with Steel Shafts

The new TaylorMade R11 irons pack a lot of technology, with “precision center-of-gravity (CG) placements, ultra-thin faces, a Tour sole design, and Inverted Cone Technology.”

One interesting note about this set is that TaylorMade claims to have created weights to ensure a constant swingweight while positioning the center of gravity between toe and heel. This is said to solve the clubmakers’ problem of adding weight to a port in the hosel, which evens out swingweight, but shifts the COG.

The Inverted Cone Technology, which TaylorMade has been using for the better part of a decade now, is designed to create faster ball speed on off center hits. The thin face promotes higher ball speeds.

These now are running $100 off at most major retailers.

Unmatched is an alternative to using handicaps in a match play game between two players of disparate skills.

On each hole, the lesser skilled player tees off second and then chooses to play his ball, or his opponent’s. Players then finish the holes with their assigned balls.

The Lazy MF blog has some fascinating (as in a train wreck fascinating) copies of pages from a 1980 book put together to commemorate a golf outing in Bali.

The Crowne Plaza Invitational and the Colonial Country Club are full of traditions, one of which is the plaid jacket awarded to its Champions.

During my 2010 visit to the Crowne Plaza Invitational, Mrs. Golfblogger and I were treated to the traditional quail breakfast while listening to a talk by Tournament Director Chuck Scherer on the history of the club, and on the signature red plaid jackets.

Members’ jackets extend back to the Colonial’s beginnings in 1936, when founder Marvin Leonard decided the club needed a jacket such as those worn by the members at Augusta. The original jacket was blue, but Leonard switched to a plaid, which he said reminded him of when he had played in Scotland. The fabric is a real Scottish tartan, and has SEVENTEEN colors in it.

The members wear them for the tournament (and I assume on other important occasions) and they’re not nearly as garish in person as they seem in many photos.

The plaid has been continuously in use, and awarded to tournament winners with one exception. The club went back to the blue for one year in honor of the tournament’s 30th anniversary.

Woot, the deal-a-day site is currently in the middle of one of their famous Woot-Offs, where they relentlessly push one deal after another. Woot is more than just the deals, though. It’s as tie that’s a lot of fun to visit just to read the hilarious product descriptions.

One of their deals earlier today was for golf balls:

Woot: One Day, One Deal.

Here’s a photo of the Ben Hogan Country Club at the Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas. I took the photo last year when I was a guest of Crowne Plaza at the Crowne Plaza Invitational.