The twitter hate today.

Reading twitter today, Nike, Rory and Tiger are once again overtaking my timeline and this time I don't like it. 

There is seriously a barrage of tweets just absolutely slaying McIlroy and the equipment switch.

In my opinion, this is getting slightly out of control. If I was McIlroy I’d be avoiding the public too. 

Now I’m not saying his ‘WD’ was right today, there's clearly more going on behind the scenes here but I don’t understand why we so constantly have to beat down and belittle these guys struggling. If we’re all such big supporters of World #1 and we all want to see him back to where he was last year maybe it’s time to chill out and lay off... everyone is human, even Rory McIlroy. 

This is his second PGA Tour start of 2013 and he lost in match play which can happen to anyone. Tiger lost, Charl lost...Remember?  How easily some forget Tiger won the Farmers just over a month ago, how quickly everyone changes tune and abandons ship on these guys. 

I find it seriously hard to believe Rory McIlroy is playing this badly due to his equipment. These guys are so talented and yes equipment changes aren't easy to adjust to but McIlroy is the best for a reason. The technology we have for fitting today is insane and the World #1 doesn't shoot +7 thru 8 holes because of bad equipment. Maybe if he had a bag full of Nike persimmon woods I could believe it. 

Should he have quit? No. You always try to play a round out but there are certainly times and circumstances that you just can't finish. Duval commented on this best earlier:

You never know who came to watch you play that day. How far they drove or from where they flew. That's part of why I never quit.
— David Duval (@david59duval) March 1, 2013

Illness or injury are the only reasons not to finish your round. As a pro you should always post your score. It's your responsibility.
— David Duval (@david59duval) March 1, 2013

I don't know, maybe I'm just turning soft but kicking guys like McIlroy when they're down isn't my cup of tea, especially not this bad.

Rory will be back and I look forward to my timeline when he is. 

59....60

This will get replayed over and over and over again... can't believe it didn't go in for 59.

Poor Phil, can never catch a break!

Deer Spray, DJ & Pheonix.

In the world of sports today ‘I didn’t know’ is the most bogus excuse that could ever be used by a professional athlete.

If you’re on your way to the professional ranks or have already made it, surely you’ve been on some kind of regiment training program (maybe not if you play baseball) that forces you to be aware of what you do.

There is no excuse. In the words of my wise father, ‘The only one responsible for you, is you!’

I’m not remotely shocked to hear Singh play the latest ‘I’ll play dumb card’ as his former golfing honour code, certainly has taken a few hits. Remember 1985? Asian Tour? Regardless, if you’re going to take something named ‘Deer Antler Spray’ surely you know that it can’t be legit.

So what's everyone else saying?

Deer antler extract?Wow, what next!
— Trevor Immelman (@TrevorImmelman) January 30, 2013

Don't know what to say about the @vijaysinghgolf stuff except he's a great player and fierce competitor!! Have a ton of respect for the guy!
— Dustin Johnson (@DJohnsonPGA) January 30, 2013

On the DJ note, he recently joined Instagram and I'm assuming Paulina had something to do about it. If you haven't already, check out DJohnsonPGA on it... I can't even bring myself to post the screenshot. It's just too much.

Waste Management Phoenix Open

I've been holding strong in my office fantasy pool. I'm not at the top but I'm pretty sure I'm on the comeback.

A few of my suggestions for this week include:

Bo Van Pelt
Fired a nice 81 to end the week at the Farmer's but has been posting some good scores lately. With a T18 in 2011 and T8 in 2012, I like him for this year.

Jason Day
With a T9 last week to kick off his PGA Tour season I think he can handle the crowd at 16.

Rickie Fowler
Back to back T6's to start his year, loves the big stage and the fans and posted a solo 2nd in Phoenix in 2012, put him in.

Canadian shout-outs

Awesome to see Albin Choi and Corey Conners selected to the Ben Hogan award watch list for the NCAA this year. Looking forward to following them as the second half of the NCAA kicks off!

Day 3 and on...

After finally making it back to Oakville today amongst a plane filled with Mickey Moused out kids, I finally realize what PGA Show week is all about.... and I'm EXHAUSTED.

I can't imagine ever missing that week again in my life and I will always make a point to do my best to make it down for the show (with more golf next time). It is seriously the coolest golf gathering ever.

The last few days have been crazy with a lot of hand shaking and meeting new faces. I met some really great people this week that I would likely have never encountered thanks to the show and I definitely came home with some new friends!

#5 Grand Cypress

Hitting the links yesterday was pretty comical due to a very late Friday 'Howl at the Moon' evening.. There was always a lot of laughs each morning (or late morning) when running into people who looked at you and said 'You went howling didn't you?' pretty common phrase around International Drive! So I found out... It is really a 24hr a day show! haha

On the golf note, it was great to finally get to play, even though I felt like a 15 handicapper... Definitely hit some hilarious shots, but it was a beautiful day out at Grand Cypress and I made my first birdie of 2013 on my 5th hole of the day! I consider that a success. Many more to come.

If I could wrap up top moments/funny realizations of the trip I'd have to go with the following:

- Pulling into Demo Day on a bus and thinking to myself 'this can't be real!!?'
- Feeling hilarious overwhelmed at the amount of product that presented itself on Thursday morning on the show floor.
- Sleeping 2hrs from Tuesday night at 11pm until 3:30am on Thursday morning (never booking that flight again)
- Taylormade Party (that was something else!)
- Denny's.... no need to explain
- Sore feet, like really sore feet
- 28 and sunny, pulling into Grand Cypress yesterday
- Meeting certain people that I've always wanted to shake hands with in person (there were quite a few of you!)

Can't wait for next year already and for the snow to melt in Oakville!

Day 2

My feet hit the floor of my hotel room this morning and you'd think I just ran a marathon... they hurt that much. 

Walking into the show yesterday can only be described by one word and it's 'overwhelmed'

I wandered around like a true golf geek for a few hours but did manage to catch Pia Nilsson's seminar which was really neat for me as a player to listen to the vision 54 ladies! 

I also manage to check out some pretty new cool gear and there are some seriously crazy new products coming out this year. All of these things I have pictures of but thanks to the Best Western's awful internet this morning, the pictures will not upload. 

Golf Channel also launched their 'new' Morning Drive crew and set and I sat in the audience pretty jealous of everything they have going on. Morning Drive is now going seven days a week and has an insanely impressive and credential filled staff list to back it up. 

Other than that I've now lost my two East Coast wing men, so I'm flying solo til Sunday! I have no idea what's in store over the next few days and when I can upload pictures I will. Last night's TaylorMade party was seriously out of this world, the hosted like no other.. It was pretty crazy to experience. I'm glad I'm still in one piece after a wild ride on indoors swings (yes they had indoor swings) 

Have to get back up to the floor though and see what's in store for Friday! 

I've found it.

I'm pretty sure when I die I've finally figured out exactly what my heaven looks like....

can't complain

It is called the PGA Show.

The veterans were right, my hands are blistered and I'm slightly sunburnt but from what I took in of my first ever 'Demo Day' this is exactly what they all told me it was going to be like. Sore feet and all.

I tried to hit as much new product as I could that I'm not familiar with and I'm sure Taylormade's new line is incredible (If I got to hit it I might actually know) but thanks to the 2hr wait to hit anything, I skipped the line and I will just give it a big thumbs up. They are definitely killing it with their presence here.

Not to be left out is Puma/Cobra golf. This line is packing some serious fun power, as is their booth. DJ and all...

love this 

Get your DJ on

I'd actually never really hit Cobra anything and I picked up the new Amp Cell driver with a 57gram shaft and it blew away, in a great way, any expectations I had.

This line seriously rocks. It oozes the 'cool' factor that makes people buy product and I can also see it being a huge favourite with women's golf with the awesome funky colours. (The guys will want it too)

Iron wise, for something that I never had hit before, the feel of the new Mizuno JPX-825's is definitely worth trying.

I completely skimmed over the putter circuit, as I've had two my entire life and I find it hard to rave about much other than my Scotty... However, I have to say the new See More, Corona Del Mar X3 literally won me over. It might have found a new home in my bag.. we'll see.

As per usual, I spent nearly 45 minutes hitting chip shots around the Titleist Vokey wedge area and how can you ever go wrong putting the SM4 wedges in your hand. You just can't. Felt great to be hitting some short shots.

Other than that, it was an early morning for me 245am wake-up to get to Pearson for an early flight and I'm going to be very happy to explore IDrive shortly and find a cold beer to chat with friends over.

Today though what really stood out to me is that I truly couldn't help but think about how no other sport comes together like golf. It is honestly a sporting experience like no other.

.... This awaits me to tomorrow.

PGA Show bound

Currently waiting for my 630am flight out of Pearson to sunny Orlando for the PGA Show! This will be my first trip to the convention centre on international drive and as awful as it was waking up at 245am this morning to catch this flight, I'm sure it's going to be well worth it.

Demo Day starts the next few days for me today on the range at Orange County. I'm sure this rookie is going to be in pure golfing heaven!

Will update soon...