Calling our GolfPunk soldiers in the Manchester area. You are in the cyber last chance saloon for your chance to get VIP tickets for the opening of William Hunt’s Golfsexy Concept store this Thursday.

GolfPunk have 5 VIP tickets to give away with each lucky winner having the opportunity to select a free shirt from the new Golfsexy Spring Summer 2007 range with the complements of William Hunt.

4/17/2007 7:59:27 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)    Comments [0] 

With the woo haa that surrounded Justin Timberlake’s cheeky 18 at Carnoustie in mind, we at GolfPunk Towers were reminded of The Golf Album by Gary Farr and who out of golf’s growing legion of crooners could contribute to a sequel.

Don’t worry, we got over it.


J Tizzay has nothing to do with this album.

“The Golf Album was originally pressed and released on a cassette which explains the “Front Side” and “Back Side” titles. It was designed to get you to your golf course within 30 minutes (Front Side) and get you home or where ever you are heading after your round (local bar, girlfriends house, etc.) again in the 'back side' 30 minutes. The CD however is continuous play and if it takes you longer to get to a golf course, this is even better!”
For more on this story click here…

4/17/2007 7:37:25 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)    Comments [0] 

I first heard about this story about a week ago, however it only became really interesting yesterday when my playing partner got stung on the mouth after a bee made it’s way into his can of pop. Apart from being incredibly funny it ignited debate on the usefulness of insects and what can we realistically sacrifice in the pursuit of golf.



What do you think?

“An initiative to help to save some of the UK's rare bumblebee species has been launched by Syngenta. A number of farmland bumblebees are perilously close to extinction due to loss of habitat. However, by developing sections of a field into a clover-rich legume area, known as a field margin, farmers can very rapidly increase populations of even rare species by providing bees with vital food sources. Such legume margins have been proven to restore habitats for endangered bumblebee species while also contributing valuable points towards Entry Level Qualification allowing farmers to qualify for agri-environment scheme points. Seed mixtures developed specifically for Operation Bumble Bee are designed to provide maximum pollen and nectar for foraging bees and insects throughout the summer."
For more on this story click here…

4/16/2007 9:55:47 AM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)    Comments [0] 

Friend of the mag and all round good egg William Hunt is opening a swanky new store in Manchester.

However this blog is not a public service announcement, we are giving you a chance to join William and a host of VIP guests and celebrities for the opening of his first concept shop outside of Savile Row.

The cloth botherer has set out to recreate Savile Row within Scottsdale Golf and guarantees there will be nothing quite like it in golf.

Golf Punk has 5 Pairs of VIP Tickets up for grabs for this Launch Night - each lucky winner having the opportunity to select a free shirt from the new Golfsexy Spring Summer 2007 range with the complements of William Hunt.

To enter the draw simply email website@jf-media.com with your name and phone number and we will let you know if you have won. Can’t say fairer than that.

Remember – if your names not down – you ain’t coming in! Don’t miss a night to remember.

Date: Thursday 19th April
Time: 7.30pm for Champagne & Canapes
Dress: To impress (naturally!)
Location: Scottsdale Golf, Sale, Manchester

4/13/2007 2:43:37 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)    Comments [0] 

Yesterday we introduced you to golfpunkonline.com’s latest contributors, Tim and the rest of his fourball. Well their report from last weekend is in so join them again on their familiar journey of golf, banter and i-pods.

The Spring Tankard Gets the Season Underway.

Ahh. The Spring Tankard. A sunny day, with more than a hint of spring as the daffodils greet me driving up to the clubhouse for a 10.52 tee off. The hangover was mild, the children dropped off at tennis so I had done my bit, and now I was going to handle the pressure of being 8.4 and the potential of dropping to 9. Ray and Michael were already there – Ray on the putting green and Michael moseying around the pro shop picking up putters. Jeremy Mills was joining us to add his 20 handicap to Ray’s 5, my 8, and Michael’s 19. High low seemed appropriate so it was Michael and I for the 50:50:£1.00 match. I know, some of you readers will be amazed that we play for such enormous stakes, but we can handle it, as long as we visit the sports psychologist during the week. I handed Michael my iPod to listen to the Golf Made Simple podcast that seemed to have been written for him, being as it was all about lowering expectations and the like. Oh how this simple act was going to come back and bite me on the arse with vengeance.

We wafted our clubs about and Ray teed up. Driver. No-one else in the club uses a driver off the first, but Ray just loves to wellie it and so what if it ends up in the trees on the right (which it does 3 times out of 4). What’s the problem, he just chips on and birdies it about 2 times out of 4. This being golf we were already into the chat. “What about Bob Woolmer? Incredible, like something in a Hercule Poiroit novel.” “Incredible, takes the shine off Ireland’s win a bit” “Was it fixed? The match?” “Who knows? I step up and manage to fly the bunker on the right, so far so good. Michael melts a drive down the middle and Jeremy tops his down the hill. We’re off.

Second shot, a well struck five iron drifts into the bunker. It is GUR. I drop behind. I hit it back into the bunker with my trusty lob wedge. A horrible thought hits me. Did I nearly shank that? I drop again. I chip over the green. I miss the putt. I miss the short one back. I start with a ding. Ray pars. “Well are the DUP and Sinn Fein going to do a deal?” We chat about this, which will be of no interest to anyone outside Northern Ireland, and to be honest not much to us either, but we feel obliged to say something every week. “Probably. Big Ian doesn’t want everyone to blame him for the water charges” I clip a good drive down towards the bunker, but it is sliding away. I look away and watch the others. We natter on about this and that as I approach where my ball should be sitting, pristine on the fairway. What the…? It reached the bunker. Damn. I play out. It’s a par five. Ray lays up, which in Rays terms means he is about a foot short of the green. Michael has done something that is unusual for him and hit a second good drive. And a good second. Jeremy is a bit out of sorts. Well to be honest he is all over the place. He over swings, but I don’t know him well enough to tell him.

Ray wins the hole with a birdie. Me. I ding it. Two holes, no points. The third goes peacefully. I manage to pick up a point. Whoopee. Then the fourth. Par three. I shank it off the tee. Ray is five feet away from the pin. I am under a tree. I am losing the plot. I walk away from the ball, worried that I might break the club against the tree. The others move away from me, with that concentrated look of people who have decided that it is dangerous to say anything. Another ding. Ray has a five footer for a birdie. Michael is looking at a four. Ray putts. He misses. He putts. He misses again. He putts. He misses again. He putts he holes it. Four putts from five feet. So I can now tell you the main difference between Ray and the rest of the human race who play golf.

He smiles. Shrugs his shoulders. “Didn’t see that coming” I would have been in bits. A nervous shambles, anger and despair fighting to take over my body. In fact I was already a bit like that having one point from four holes. Michael won the hole so we were in the chair. He drove. Another good one. I drove. Drifting out right. “Wait until you see, under an effing tree no doubt” Hoping that my prediction would ensure that it was lying well in the light rough. Walk down. There it is. Right under a tree. Loads of room around for it to have gone. But no. It is right under a tree. That is it. No more anger, just complete understanding that the golfing gods were repaying me for giving Michael the iPod. Basically saying you are a smug bastard – take that.

But it is not over. My drive at the eighth, slight hook – moving wide of the bunker – moving so wide that I may be in trouble. Clips a tree and appears to be leaping towards the fairway. So what do you think. Did it reach the flat grass. Did it hell – of course it rebounded into the bunker, under the lip and another hole without scoring. Michael and I managed to win the dosh, so I am £1.70 better off, with Ray getting three points for his birdies, and us a couple for oozlers. It was so ridiculous that the other three laughed, and I joined in. As it turned out that was the last of the golfing god’s jokes for the day. I had scored five points after eight holes. I got a par with a shot at the ninth, for three and then sixteen on the back nine for a total of twenty four. Ray ended up with thirty seven, including four birdies, Michael had to disqualify himself for thinking that there were preferred lies through the green, and not just on closely mown areas. Jeremy. Well, lets just say that he can play better.
It’s the Master’s time again, which is the annual time for saying “Jaysus – it’s the Masters time again, it only seems like about a week since the last one”. To all the players out there – do not lend anyone your iPod, it wrecks your game.

4/12/2007 4:10:26 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)    Comments [0] 

Here is a cracking site we came across on our web related travels.

www.dressthatgolfer.com offers a wide range of new and fresh fashion for golfers of all standards and age groups and also suits everyone’s pocket, There are a few websites around at the moment doing various golf clothing, but most seem to be either very niche or very expensive. Dressthatgolfer.com offer value for money and a range to suit everyone. As you can imagine, being the golf website for everyone, this is right up our boulavard.



Don’t take our word for it, check it out, see what you think and leave a comment, or you can argue about it at.

4/12/2007 3:49:53 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)    Comments [0] 

Ladies and gentlemen, as anyone with a license fee should know the golf season is here. Yeah we know, the global sport is played all year round from Malaysia to Malaga to Margate but the first major of the year is when it really kicks in. So what are we going to do to celebrate? Speak to the PGA’s newest major winner about what it is like to be on top of the world? Naaaa. Talk to a rookie about what it is like to appear on the greatest stage in golf? Nope. Chat to some weekend hackers like you and me about real grass roots golf? Yeah, that sounds a bit more like us. So here it is, introducing the latest set of GolfPunks Against the World, it’s The Fourball.

Hi, This is the first of a regular update on what is happening in the real world of golf – not the glorious weather of the USPGA, or the exotic locations of the European Tour – no this is golf without caddies, television cables to drop from, crowds of people to cheer and groan, and shots to make you go oooh and aaah. This is the fourball.

Yep. A regular fourball, playing the same course regularly, with the same strengths and weaknesses – every week – as we try to win our majors – the weekly competition, the club matchplay, the monthly medal and the glory of a few quid from a shop sweep. We play for real money. Fifty-fifty and a pound, with ten pence points for birdies, oozlers, woozlers, sandies and golden ferrets. Shots are taken from the low man. But I had better be honest. It is a fourball lacking one thing. A fourth person. So our fourball has three regulars, plus whoever puts their name down with us on the timesheet. So I’d better tell you a bit about us.

We are probably not qualified to be considered golf punks, as we might be seen as too old, too set in our ways and too middle class. But in our favour – we lose our tempers (well Michael and I do) have a laugh – talk about the topics of the day, can work an iPod and welcome younger players to our fourball to keep us up-to-speed with the current trends for young people – who it would appear are much more conservative than we were at their age.

Here are the players:

Michael

Age: Too near to 50 to be completely sure of seeing next week, he is a sort of civil servant who works in human resources.

Ability: Plays off 19, lowest handicap was 15, and there is no reason that he should be so high, well apart from the wrist he broke in the takeaway that seems to be near incurable.

Trophies: A sickening two Captain’s Prizes, including the Millennium Prize, two medals, and a few other assorted gongs over the years.

Ray

Age: Over fifty. We are not that sure what he actually does, apart from go on holidays quite regularly, both for golf and to watch his daughter play tennis.

Ability: Plays off five. Was lower. Totally unflappable. Was going to win Captain’s Day a couple of years back until a shank on the 12th. His response: “Oh well, that’s a bit of a pity.” Michael and I were inwardly bashing our clubs on the ground on his behalf, as he happily wandered over, finished with a five, missed the prize by a point and enjoyed the dinner.

Trophies: Two at least, club matchplays, various medals, one captain’s prize, and on several teams. Hits the ball a country mile – for an old guy.

Me (Tim)

Age: Nearly 49, but not quite – and what does age matter anyway. Work in advertising making things up – but this is all true.

Ability: Down from 11 to eight last year – my lowest ever handicap at the age of 48 – life is only beginning – hurrah.

Trophies: One singles competition in nearly 20 years. One, yes, one. The Graham Leason Bodel putter for heaven’s sake. Not even a medal. Closest to a medal was fifteen years ago – when I was second to a 28 effing handicapper. It didn’t bother me at all that Len ‘whasisname’ – off 28 – beat me into second and I was off 12. Not a bit. Four semi-finals of the club match play. I am the Jimmy White of the Deramore Cup. But I will keep the story of that for another day.

We play at Malone Golf Club outside Belfast. A beautiful course, set in 300 acres, with a lake on the back nine, 27 holes and great practice facilities. So we all practise. Like hell we do. We are amateurs. We need to be able to race out of the car park on to the first tee and wallop the ball down the middle with barely a practice swing. Practising is for wimps and people who are blessed with talent and can play the game. The clubhouse is great – with a new bar, and a warm welcome as long as you are wearing socks.

So that is us. Throughout the year I will keep you up-to-date on our performance, our opinions on current affairs, Big Brother, football, what we bought to improve our game without practising, Irish rugby (Ray and Michael are experts, so they tell me), politics, how we screwed up every competition, what size of hangover we played with, and how we managed to spend our money on the card.

Talk soon.

Tim

4/11/2007 4:32:51 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)    Comments [0] 

Police are hunting a midnight golfer after he ruined a bowling green while practising. The late-night enthusiast carved out more than 200 divots when he climbed into the grounds under the cover of darkness last month. Despite increasing the number of patrols, police in New Milton, Hampshire have not been able to catch the suspect. "If anyone sees a youth or individual carrying a golf club walking along the street they should call us so we can challenge that person," a spokesman said.

1/16/2007 11:48:38 AM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)    Comments [0] 

LPGA Commissioner Carolyn Bivens said she has no knowledge of drug use among tour players.

This may seem like a sad state of affairs, but there have been some interesting tales of rife drug abuse in both amateur and professional games around the world. Someone has to start the trend and it will be interesting to see what the results of this program are and whether other tours will follow suit.

The LPGA Tour said Wednesday it will begin testing players for performance-enhancing drugs in 2008, a move that makes it the first major golf tour to announce a drug-testing program.

"While we have no evidence to date that any of our players are using performance-enhancing drugs, we need to have a very clear policy and a program in place," Bivens said. "We want to take a proactive role."

Players learned of the decision with the announcement.

Annika Sorenstam, the top-ranked women's player, said she had no problem with the decision, yet called it "sad that we have to have testing."

"Golf is not like other sports," said Sorenstam, who was tested in college. "I believe in this sport. I believe in the people out here. ... I don't think you're going to see anything out here, so it might be a waste of time. But if it's peace of mind for people and if we need to prove that the LPGA's clean, then let's do it."

11/16/2006 12:03:26 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)    Comments [0] 

PAUL McNamee, the new promoter of the Australian Open golf tournament to be played at Royal Sydney this week, has been received with some scepticism by conservative fans fearful his plans to revive the tournament could compromise its grand traditions.

However, in an exclusive-ish interview with The Sun-Herald, McNamee moved to calm fears that plans for twilight golf, spectator viewing points on the fairways and concerts after play would affect the nature of the tournament.

"I've had people come up to me saying absurd things like, 'I've heard you're going to have girls in bikinis caddying for the players'," he said.

"That's just ridiculous. Have you ever tried to find 100 swimsuit models strong enough to carry those heavy bags around for four days? I have and it's just not feasible."

We at GP Towers know just the lady for this dilemma. I see a campaign for Nursey to amass an armada to help out our Aussie friends.´NURSEY.....

11/15/2006 6:11:04 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)    Comments [0] 

Nov 13, 2006 05:40 PM

11/15/2006 6:07:53 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)    Comments [0] 

Fresh from the Reuters website and the world of absurd ventures...

Seeking the perfect holiday gift for the golfer who has everything? Try flavored golf tees.

U.S. inventors John Packes and Ramon Peralta have come up a product line called Tasty Golf Tees in various flavors including mint, cherry, strawberry, and grape.

Mint is the strongest-tasting flavor in the range.

"It will knock out the foulest of cigar, beer breath within five seconds," Packes of Norwalk, Connecticut, told Reuters on Tuesday.

Packes said they came up with the idea while walking along the fairway one day and noticing that many golfers popped a tee in their mouth as they headed to the next hole or waited to tee up.

Tasty Golf Tees, which cost about 25 cents each, are made from uncoated wood, which is sanitized and flavored. They look and play like regular wooden golf tees.

"Some people just look at you funny," said Packes. "'Do you really put it in your mouth?' They give it a shot and say 'This is kinda cool.'"

11/15/2006 6:04:29 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)    Comments [0]