NARUO GOLF CLUB, JAPAN

Naruo Golf Club, Japan. The first hole pictured here on the left. One of the most historic courses of Japan. Beautiful looking. Nope I've never been to that country, one day I'd like to visit with my clubs, and an appetite for real Japanese food.

How did I get to looking at this golf course? I was just browsing the net looking at international courses, playing roulette in my mind..(don't ask).. and Japan was what popped up. And the course that came up when I hit the computer button, Naruo was the course that came to view. I scrolled their website and found some interesting information on Japanese golf.

Excerpts from NARUO GOLF CLUB

The origins of golf in Japan can be traced back over a century to a small private course in Kobe’s Rokko mountains. During the Meiji Period, many Europeans and Americans lived in the bay-front foreign settlement in Kobe, introducing various aspects of foreign culture into Japan.

The British-born trading merchant Arthur Hesketh Groom (1846–1918) built a summerhouse atop Mt. Rokko, an area he chose for its peace and quiet as a perfect location for social gatherings. There he built a four-hole golf course. Two years later, in 1903, he expanded the course to nine holes and founded the Kobe Golf Club, the first golf club in Japan.

The Naruo course was steadily expanded, and in 1924 a full 18 holes were completed. But in 1927, severe economic constraints forced the course to be shortened to nine holes.

The Club members were desperate for a new course, so they entrusted its development to the Club’s most stalwart members, the Crane brothers—Joe E., Harry C. and Bertie E. Crane. Every weekend the brothers inspected candidate sites all over the Kansai area until they happened upon the location where the present course was built.

Harry C. Crane had long sought validation of his course by a famous golf course designer. In 1930, Charles Hugh Alison came to Japan to design the Asaka course for the Tokyo Golf Club. He also designed golf courses in Hirono and Kawana. Crane asked Alison to survey the Naruo golf course and offer recommendations. Alison spent a full week on the project in early 1931. In his report he wrote, “The skeletal construction uses the site’s features well, and no changes are required.” At the same time he submitted detailed recommendations to improve 16 of the 18 holes.

In the mid-1990s Naruo became internationally famous through photos taken in May 1992 by the well-known golf photographer Brian Morgan. Morgan was the official photographer for the four major worldwide tournaments and a master of his craft. His shots of Naruo, taken with great skill and discerning perspective, make the course come alive, artistically depicting one of Japan’s oldest courses with grace and dignity.
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PHIL Leads at Pebble

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — Phil Mickelson stayed away from all the celebrity commotion Saturday at Pebble Beach. More importantly, he stayed away from bogeys on the toughest day.

Mickelson took only 21 putts and shot a 6-under 66 to take a two-shot lead in the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, leaving him one round away from tying the record with his fifth victory at this event.

"It's fun to be back in the thick of it," Mickelson said.

It's his first 54-hole lead on the PGA Tour since the 2013 U.S. Open at Merion. Mickelson has gone 52 events worldwide since his last victory at Muirfield in the 2013 British Open that gave him the third leg of the Grand Slam. It is the longest drought of his career.

He was at 16-under 199 and led by two shots over Hiroshi Iwata of Japan, who had a 69 at Spyglass Hill.

FROM PGA.COM

Here's a reason why I like Phil, although I have never met the guy. I met a few guys that played on the PGA Tour. I met Davis Love 3, the first time was at one of the Mercedes Championships out at Kapalua. I just asked him, "Hey Mr. Love how'd you shoot today?" and he barked back, "Hey it's just a game!" At that time, I had no idea he played like crap that particular day, oops sorry.

And that year when Vijay Singh lost at another Mercedes Championships, I just joked with him, "Hey Vjay stop pouting, you just made more money than me and six of my friends put together for a year." He gave me that look like he wanted to chop my head off.

So I see commercials and interviews of Phil, and he seems like a together dude, like if we were in Little League he'd be the all star pitcher, but his mom was the coolest and they'd take you to get ice cream cones before going home after practice. Phil, looks like you could go up to him even if he lost in sudden death and go, "Hey Phil, maybe you need a new putter, hahahaha!" And he'd be all, "Yeah right? Have a nice day Ron."

Ron Sambrano- Golf Blogger.

CASEY MARTIN

Casey Martin, remember him? He made headlines back in the day, because of a defect in his right leg, that limited him on the golf course. 
Casey is from Eugene, Oregon, he stands 6-2, weighs 170 lbs. Turned pro in 1995. He played briefly with Tiger Woods at Stanford. He successfully sued the PGA Tour for the right to use a golf cart during tournament play. He was a hot topic for many 19th holes around the country. I even remember almost getting into a fight with my good friend Ben who defended him in using the cart, I felt for Casey but said, if that's the case, then if some free safety in the NFL one day would be able to have some handicap system in football to his advantage. Or some major leaguer might have an extra strike instead of three because his eyes can't focus. My point was back then, and still to this day is I don't think in that case, he should have had the right to use a cart. I don't know. Call me mean, call me heartless, but I just did not see that. But God Bless him.

This is a post for those who were wondering, "Hey what happened to Casey?"

Ron Sambrano
Golf Blogger

1964 ARNOLD PALMER GETS A GREEN JACKET

You heard of the sports fan that jumps the bandwagon, he follows the teams that win, like after the Broncos won the Super Bowl last week, although he was a fan of the Panthers, for half of 2015, he buys a Broncos cap and jersey. Fake, fake, fake, fake. Like Elaine Benes on Seinfeld when she told Jerry she never had an orgasm with him. Funny ___! 

Well when I was a kid, my favorite golfer was the guy that won the Masters. Haha, I was a bandwagon jumper at a young age. Well, here's something me and Arnold Palmer have in common. I was born in 64, and that's the year Arnold won a green jacket at Augusta National. Check out his scores that year.

RD. 1- 69
RD. 2- 68
RD. 3- 69
RD. 4- 70
F at -12 

But what's really interesting is this, he won like $20,000. Is that like 4 million today? I don't know but that's some historic stuff here folks. Arnold Palmer was the designer of the Bay and Village Golf Courses just 10 miles from my house at Kapalua. He's a legend for sure. That year he beat the likes of Dave Marr by 6, Jack by 6, well he just kicked everybody's ass that year. 

1964 he became the first four-time winner at Augusta National. And he didn't have adjustable drivers back then, in fact they used restricted flight golf balls. Haha. You ever looked at Arnold Palmer? He could have been a western cowboy actor killing Indians and fist fighting with John Wayne. But he's a good commercial actor.

Ron Sambrano
Golf Blogger

MOPPIN NEAR AUGUSTA NATIONAL

Moppin (to stuff one's face, pig out, eat without shame, nothing goes to waste on a plate of food), this is a verb, let's use this word in a sentence.

"We went to Frog Hollow Tavern in Augusta, Georgia. And everything we ordered we went moppin! Chucky even licked his plate!" 

I know the Masters is a few weeks off, but why not hype it up early right. And yours truly is here on the Valley Isle Maui, Hawaii. I ran into some folks from Georgia and I asked them if they played golf, and they said they do. I asked if they ever played at Augusta, and the two men in their late 40s laughed. "Yeah right, we aren't connected and we don't make enough money, we stick to the public courses."

These two guys were big Falcons fans and Bulldog fans. Georgia bred, all that good Georgia stories they were telling me. One guy named Brad said he and his dad went to the Masters a long time ago when Freddy Couples won the Green Jacket. Hey that was in the 90s sometime. So besides these Georgia boys playing golf on Maui, they were raving about the good fresh fish we got here. "You guys got fresh ahi, I love it." Well, we do ahi well, we know our fish, we'll eat it prepared anyway, raw, poke, grilled, whatever and wherever ahi is, we will eat it.

So with the Masters over a month away, I had to ask, "Hey Brad where's a good place to eat in Augusta?" He looked at me and said, "Frog Hollow Tavern, good food man." The other guy's name was Jimmy he agreed. "Yeah Frog Hollow."

Ok, so I went online to check out this Frog Hollow Tavern these men spoke of. And voila I found it on Google, Yelp and Trip Advisor.

Check out this pic below it's a Sugar Roasted Duck Breast 

Frog Hollow does catering up to 1000 at a time now that's some action!

Now I don't know what this is, but it sure looks good, looks like a good cut of beef

Ok, if I ever get to Augusta one of these days I'll go check this place out. They are located at 

1282 Broad St. Augusta, GA 30901, Ph: 706-364-6906 

Click this link for more info FROG HOLLOW TAVERN

I just checked out their website, and I went straight for the Large Plates. One of the dishes I would try is the Maple Leaf Farm's Duck Breast for 24.00, with warm Brussels Leaves Salad, Roast Organic Beets, Pears, & GA Pecans. Local Turnip Puree, Spiced Cherry Vinaigrette. 

Or the Braised Berkshire Pork Shoulder for 22.00, with Smoked Tomato Pork Jus. Smoked Gouda Mac n Cheese. Port Wine & Vinegar Braised Collards.

Or the Angus Cowgirl Ribeye for 32.00, with Creamed Kale Twice Baked Russet Potato. Meyer Lemon Chive Marrow Butter. Sauce Bordelaise. Woo that's some rich stuff!!!! Love it, anything with _____aise at the end sound delicious.

Well go check it out, if you decide to travel to Georgia and feel generous, buy my plane ticket, and I'll need per diem, and a rental car so I can do my own thang.

2016 MASTERS TOURNAMENT

Augusta National Golf Club the host of golf's most iconic tournament on the PGA Tour, will be happening this year from April 07-10, 2016. I was looking at some of the prices to get into the tournament, and this is what I found. For the Executive Club Hospitality it can run $1293.75 per guest on Thursday, $1251.25 on Friday, $1,336.25 on Saturday and $1,421.25 on the final round Sunday. 


Those prices aren't expensive for the people with the money, it's like me giving a homeless guy .25 cents to help him out. Would I pay that much to watch a tournament? Probably not, even if I had that kind of money. In fact watching golf on t.v. is easier, I'd save that money and buy something else. But for me, the only time I'm really interested in watching golf, is watching any of the four majors. Not a LPGA fan, but watching the men play at that high level is like watching the Final Four, the Super Bowl, or the NBA Finals.

Last year's winner Jordan Spieth set a milestone for himself by beating Phil Mickelson and Justin Rose by four shots. Still a young man on tour, can Jordan (Green Jordan) win it again this year? With March Madness around the corner which is one of my favorite sports tournament, and right after that it's the Masters, t.v. sports is good, something to look forward too. I love the Super Bowl, but I can do away with all that hype and marketing crap. At least the Final Four and the Masters is a little bit less in your face. Just a thought on the Masters today as I drink my coffee.

Ron Sambrano
Golf Blogger

BOMB TECH THE NEW KID ON THE TEE BOX

Bomb Tech is the new kid on the tee box, I have yet to sample this cool looking driver. I'd like one, hope maybe Sully the designer can send me one, and we can video tape me swinging it despite I got a bad back and heading down the home stretch to the old age of 52 in like 6 1/2 months.