Golfgal

Well, King, you called it! They say golf is a game of inches and it really came down to that with Kim's short irons. She came so close, but perhaps she shouldn't have - Brian almost gave it away, didn't he? But his last shot was a doozy, just like Aaron's. But didn't it surprise you how many really bad shots there were out there tonight? I talked to Brenda about that and she put it down to nerves mostly. And I guess given the length of the elimination, normal "jitters" probably got worse instead of better over time. Well, Brian's still with us, and so is Brenda, so I expect we'll be hearing a lot more "sound bites" next week :) And, yes, I will find out about Nicole and Derek - I know you're all dying to know the scoop on that. LOL!

Well, I finally was able to connect with William today - we were having some technical phone difficulties over the past few days. He is such a nice guy. I am so sorry to see him leave. I hope he'll come back and chat with me again. Meanwhile, check out his interview where he shares where his nickname came from, how he felt that day, what he's doing now and what he had to say about Brian.

haha...you guys are so funny. How come none of the women on this forurm are drooling over the BB men ;) Anyway, I just finished Gerina's interview . She's feeling much better after winning that $1,000. No one remembers the water shot anymore. What do you think she'll spend it on? And what do all you guys think about 6 to 4 (women to men) left. Sorry...couldn't resist the dig ;) Who will leave next week? Any guesses?

You sound like me and my husband - best friends - best golf buddies. So cool! Now...how do you top that gift with her? ;)

Actually Brian was a bit upset with the show's editing and shared that in his interview today.

So ApocG10! How do you feel tonight watching your lady-love scramble to victory? Check out her interview tonight . And did it look cold enough to you? Brenda said they huddled together to keep warm. Golfgal

haha..I will be sure to tell her :) It was shot last Sept. That can be quite cool in the maritimes in Canada. Avg temp range is 46 to 71 degrees F. So I expect there were some pretty chilly AM's there and don't forget, they start very early and go late. Funny thing, I was in Phoenix last week and it was 50 degrees when we headed out to play on thursday AM. So it's not like they don't get cool weather there. I'm used to that in Canada, but I dress for it too. I only took summer clothes to Arizona assuming hot weather. I froze the first two days. So even us Canucks get wimpy at times ;)

Blair, Brenda, Derek and Gerina had lots to say about the show today. Check out their interviews . You'll be surprised when you hear what Blair thinks of Robert.

Then you'll be happy to know that I'll be interviewing her every week for my blog like I have done in the past with many of the Big Breakers. Her interview will be up tomorrow, along with Derek, William, Gerina, Blair and hopefully Brian. Those are my 6 picks for this season. I am also going to have Michael Michaelides from BB X on the blog to provide some commentary from a past BB'er. Hope you'll check them out and let me know what you think. Gayle

I wasn't able to work We Ko Pa this time, but I sure do want to play it. I love that it is walkable. This week I'm playing Legend Trail Sunridge Canyon Grayhawk Hilton Sedona Can't wait! Cheers Gayle

Hmmm....no, have to disagree...women don't like sexist. Golf may be female friendly, but not all golf courses are female friendly. One tiny example...I have a ton...but this is just a little one that bugs me... When I show up at the bag drop, and the guy automatically assumes my husband's bag goes on the driver's side, that bugs me. I drive the cart when we play, and I know that many of the women I play with like to drive the cart. It's probably because if we let our husbands drive, they would forget to go to our balls. LOL! Sad but true...they are focused on their own balls and their own game, so we have to take care of ourselves. Anyway, I am happy you like seeing the growing female influence on golf, and I agree the "game" is gender neutral. But the courses aren't yet and so we have a ways to go. But we will get there. I have no doubt about that.

I love to walk, but that's NOT a woman thing I don't think.

An excellent check list iWALK18. Thanks!

Hey Tiy! Oh, as a Canuck, I envy you and the warm weather... I'd love your recommendations. I am writing for a women's mag, so women-friendly will be one criteria, but not the only one. I may be female, but I do judge courses by many other factors that are important to both men and women. AND I'll be playing with my husband who always has input into my writing. :)

Lots of intersting points Shindig. In terms of your last point, when I am 15-16 handicapper off the reds, I'll switch to the whites, but not before. Many men I've played with don't break 100 on the course, but insist on playing from the back because of egos. I watched this on Sunday - young guys hitting off the blues and barely making it past the reds (even more rarely hitting a FW). It was pathetic. They sprayed their balls off the tee. It held up play and frustrated my foursome. No marshalls around either to speed them up. I like courses where there are marshalls on the course (doing their jobs) and not just on the first tee. I am surprised the number of courses that don't have anyone on course. Maybe cutbacks are the problem - can't afford to pay them. I'd volunteer to marshall a course if they let me play for free.

Definitely NOT women-friendly!

Here's a picture of the award at Steele Canyon. The guy in the pro shop was so proud of it, he wanted to take it off the wall so I could take a picture of it (I didn't let him, which is why it is a bit blurry with the flash). So yes, it would be nice is a golf course catered to all golfers, but that's not always the case and if something is missing, it's usually something a woman cares more about than a man. It's just the way it is....

Yes, it makes sense. Usually I find that if I can hit as far as the guys off the tee (farther is nice too :)), I'm left with a fair shot into the green. I just hate it when I hit off the tee and have to run to my second shot because the guys are still closer to the green. That usually means to me that the red tees are too close to the whites.

Hi everyone. I am heading to Arizona to review 4 golf courses in about a week (haven't chosen them all yet - have a list of 10 from which to choose). The reviews are for a women's golf magazine: " Fore Her Magazine ". So one of the criteria I want to use to rate the courses is "how women friendly it is". Now that's a big question. For me, there are about 6-18 things I look for in a golf course, but I'd love to hear from both the ladies and men on this forum on what you think makes a course women friendly. To get it started, here's one of mine. Position of the forward tees. Now I realize forward tees are about skill level and not about gender, but 95% of the women I know play from them and 0% of the guys do (except our son when he was 12), so let's just forget the political correctness for a minute and call them "the ladies tees" for now. In my opinion (and I could be wrong, heaven forbid ;)), but I believe the ladies tees should be placed so that when she tees off, her ball should land roughly in the same area where the guys' balls are on the fairway. There is nothing worse than being last off the tee and first off the fairway on the 2nd shot. The courses I've played that received the GFW award had tee positions that seemed "fair" to me - ie. met the criteria I just mentioned. Those courses were fun to play because after the tee shot, it was a level playing field with the guys. Anyway,that's one of mine. What criteria would you use to rate a course women friendly? Thanks Gayle

Thanks Shindig! TST is much tamer than some others - most definitely! ;) Cheers Gayle

Hello everyone Well, this topic always seems to get things going ;) My post was initiated to gather opinions and it definitely did that for me :) I did write the article (and yes I was asked to write it with this issue in mind). I used input from 4 forums (obviously this was one of them) to add to the stats I collected. But I did try and write an article that spoke more about The Masters than this one issue. Thanks to everyone for their input into my story . I really do appreciate it. Let me know what you think of the article in a direct message (I definitely do NOT want to start another thread on this :)) Gayle

Well, I certainly wasn't expecting all of this conversation over my question, but I thank you all for your comments. I actually learned a lot and that confirmed once again for me that forums are interesting places to hang out, even when they can be a bit brutal at times. I stand corrected on the 'Women not allowed" comment - it would seem that women just haven't been invited to Augusta yet ;) Lesson learned! And just an FYI...this is not entire basis of my article on Augusta and The Masters - it is a small part. I hope I didn't leave the impression that I wanted to write a rant and rave on Augusta - never my intent. Anyway...thanks to you all. You've been great!

Hmmm...okay you bring an interesting point about companies. It would seem that most people believe private golf clubs should have the right to "choose" their members any way they like. But what about privately held companies? They cannot choose/exclude employees based on race or gender. Just to open up discussion again...what makes a private club different than a privately owned company when it comes to this issue? Is there a parallel to draw?

:) You are probably right about not letting her examine the rules. This article was posted last year before the Masters. Now I realize that Wikipedia isn't exactly an "official" reference, but it says: "Augusta National Golf Club has about 300 members at any given time. Membership is strictly by invitation; there is no application process. It is expected that annual dues are low (less than $10,000 per year) given the Masters Broadcast on CBS earns the Club millions per year. Amid much criticism of exclusive and discriminatory admissions, Augusta accepted a black member in 1990. There are currently no female members of Augusta, although women are able to play the course as guests of a member. The club's lack of female membership received national attention in 2002 when Martha Burk, chairperson of the National Council of Women's Organizations, publicly challenged the club's stance. Pressure placed upon corporate sponsors of The Masters over the 2002 controversy led the Club to voluntarily broadcast the 2003 and 2004 tournaments without commercials."

Excellent points. Forgive my ignorance, but are private clubs allowed to exclude people because of race in the US, just because they are "private"?