2012 Battle of the Golf Blogs – Preview

For many years, the PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando, Florida has brought together many of golf’s greatest minds and influential people for its annual trade show. Over one thousand golf companies will be there along with tens of  thousands of golf industry insiders, PGA club pros and media. But for some of us, the PGA Show isn’t the highlight of the week. No, for a select few golf bloggers, there is an event even more important than the PGA Show itself. It’s the Battle of the Golf Blogs!

This match-up that pits the editors of four internet golf blogs against each other in a friendly competition is being held for the fourth time in 2012. This year, the annual competition is being held at Reunion Resort on the challenging and beautiful Nicklaus Course. Its namesake, Jack Nicklaus, designed the course as a parkland layout with long horizon lines and elevated tee boxes and greens. Forced carries, undulating greens and plenty of hazards on the 7244 yard course should provide a worthy challenge to the players. Speaking of which, here’s the lineup for this year’s contest:

John Duval of  www.intothegrain.com hails from Daytona Beach, FL and carries a +1 handicap. He most looks forward to the lefty challenge, where he plays one hole left handed against Dave Lair with his own clubs. A former ski instructor and professional tennis player from Montreal, Canada,  He’s adept at playing golf in cold and/or wet weather and loves a good old fashioned hockey fight. John has kind of a “home course” advantage this year, as he’s the only one that has played the Reunion Resort’s Nicklaus Course.

Dave Lair of www.orlandogolfblogger.com lives in Orlando, FL and carries a bag full of left handed clubs. Dave is terribly worried about losing to John in the lefty challenge. A dedicated family man, Dave is the proud father of three future Masters champions. Given more time to practice and play he would be a single digit player in no time. Dave currently plays to a handicap in the high teens, but has been known to throw down a round in the mid 80s and destroy his low handicap playing partners. Like me.

Rob Hayashida of www.sandbox8.com comes from Chicago, IL and probably hasn’t touched a club since October 2011. Rob has all the cool gadgets, including a sweet DSLR video rig that even cooks him breakfast. Rob is a cool cat. I mean, just look at him! One of the better guys in the golf blog world, he enjoys photography and loves to follow the pros around when they come to town during the FedEx Cup playoffs. The BOGB is early in PGA Show week this year so he’ll have to defrost his golf swing in a hurry!

Tony Korologos of www.hookedongolfblog.com lives in Sandy, UT and can play the drums like nobody’s business. Tony was injured last year in an unfortunate parking lot skiing accident and had to watch from a golf cart, and being the sportsmen that we are, we didn’t let him live it down. Watch out though, because he’s looking for vengeance this year. Tony claims to be a 3.4 handicap, but I think he’s sandbagging a little bit…

The format for this year’s contest has yet to be determined, but we’re leaning towards a stableford scoring system with handicaps. One thing’s for sure, there will be more photos and video shot at this year’s event than ever before! As a result of this coverage, potential sponsors have been breaking down the doors to be a part of the action. So far we’ve welcomed Srixon Golf as our golf ball sponsor to provide their Z-Star and Q-Star golf balls. Our good friends at Loudmouth Golf have agreed to outfit us all with some awesome shorts & pants. Kentwool will be providing the unsung heroes of any golfer – socks! Asher Golf will be providing some of its ultra-cool looking gloves. Frogger Golf will supply some of their amazing brush-pro tools and amphibian towels. We’ll be using Champ Flytees exclusively, and you may even see a few other surprises along the way. The four of us will also be providing a full WITB (What’s in the bag) as part of our post-round coverage.

To get you ready for what’s to come, here’s a look at last year’s contest at Falcon’s Fire Golf Club in Orlando, and the dramatic finish:

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