Happy New Year!

Wishing all a safe and Happy New Year! I can hardly wait to see what suprises 2010 has in store! Gotta work on my New Years Resolutions....

Nationwide Tour's Geoff Sisk

Nationwide Tour player Geoff Sisk - 6 time MA Open Champ at Kernwood Country Club

Touring professional Geoff Sisk finished up his 2009 Nationwide Tour sched with a pit stop at PGA Tour Q-School, making it to second stage, before arriving home to Marshfield for the holidays! Geoff's currently rehabbing from a recent elbow surgery. He told me, "...nothing major, I had a 5mm bone spur removed bout a month ago....it was nothing that really bothered me when I played but there was a potential that it could present a problem in the future." Geoff played in 26 Nationwide Tour events in 2009 finishing up #66 on the Tour's money list. He's ranked 6th on the Nationwide Tour for driving accuracy and his best finish of the year was T3rd at the Chitimacha Louisiana Open presented by Dynamic Industries ~ also his best Tour finish ever ~ way to go! Geoff's best round of the year was round two at the Cox Classic presented by Lexus of Omaha where he shot a 63. BTW Geoff's been playing golf since he was 7 and turned Pro when he was 23. His sweetest MA Open win was in 1995 at Wollaston Country Club - 'cause it was his first! What's on the agenda for 2010? Geoff said he's probably gonna miss the first two Nationwide Tour events (Australia and New Zealand) and Panama and Bogata, Columbia are the next two that he'll be eligible for in February. Whats in Geoff's bag? TaylorMade Irons, TaylorMade woods, Titleist Pro V1X golf balls, Footjoy shoes, Footjoy gloves, Adam Hybrids and a Scotty Cameron putter! We wish you all the best in 2010 Sisky!

(Don't miss out! Click on this iTunes link to listen to the Sunday December 27, 2009 Goldie Bounce Golf show with Geoff Sisk http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=348834534)

The Bay Club's Greg Yeomans

Ariel view of The Bay Club in Mattapoisett, MA on Buzzards Bay

The Bay Club's Head Golf Professional Greg Yeomans is a very active member of the Cape Cod Chapter of the New England PGA recently snagging the "Dutch Wessner" Player of the Year Award for the 2009 season! Quite the satisfying win for Greg 'cause he was runner up to Bay Pointe's Tom Tobey in 2008! This season Greg also picked up the 2009 New England PGA Team Stroke Play Championship, pairing with Pleasant Valley's Head Pro Paul Parajeckas and for the second year in a row Greg won the New England PGA Match Play Championship honors which BTW he also won back in 2005! While a student at UConn, Greg was Captain of the golf team for 3 years and was awarded the "Guy Tedesco Award" as the top college golfer in New England. Greg said, "It was a suprise and an honor for me to receive the award - I was the first UConn student to ever win the award." Interestingly enough Greg also happened to be a walk-on member of the UConn basketball team in the mid-1990's and was a teammate to Celtics Ray Allen and Comcast SportsNet's Donny Marshall. I asked Greg why it is that during a basketball game a player can be running down a court, heart pounding, 3,000 fans screaming and make the winning basket and at a golf event a professional golfer has to have complete silence from the peanut gallery even for a tap in? Greg told me that "basketball is certainly a more instinctive sport and as pros and coaches in the game of golf we would like our students and players to be alittle bit more instinctive rather than planning every shot out, the silence - it is just kind of the traditions of the game I guess." Greg's been with the Bay Club since its opening in 2004 and he filled me in on this Brad Faxon and Brad Booth designed layout - FYI it was Brad's first design and he takes great pride in the course, usually stopping by for a quiet day of practice when he's in the area. Greg said that " Brad truly has in interest in the golf course itself and is always talking to us about the layout of the holes or how a hole should be re-shaped a bit - it keeps us on our toes!" He also said that the course layout is "constantly alive" due to design changes made over the years to ensure the course is fun and challenging for all levels of players! Sounds like a "winning combination" to me! For more information about membership options at the Bay Club go to www.bayclubmatt.com . To listen to my interview with Greg Yeomans click on the podcast player in the right sidebar

Joss Stone ~ Free Me

How fun is this video ~ Dancing with the Stars! British bombshell Joss Stone's preferred way to roll is barefoot ~ she usually belts out her Grammy Award winning tunes whilst standing upon an oriental rug! I can relate ~ one of my most favorite things to do in the whole wide world is walkin' barefoot on the golf course ;)

Oyster Harbor's Joe Keller

Joe Keller - 2008 New England Senior Amateur Championship Winner

Local golfer Joe Keller's still goin' strong! Widely rumored to be one of the most intimidating, fiercest, and unrelenting competitors ever to hit the New England golf circuit, this Ranked Senior Amateur has been racking up wins for over 25 years! Joe's an old school style gentleman, calls the Oyster Harbors Club in Osterville his home track and is quite the savvy businessman! FYI
although not one to show his softer side, he's got a heart 'o gold and if your one of the lucky few, he's a true blue friend in every sense of the word! It was a pleasure to have Joe join me on "Goldie Bounce Golf Live," my new Sunday evening show, during the first blizzard of the year - just in time for Santa's arrival! Joe's no stranger to inclement weather, in fact he's a master at beating the odds under any playing conditions - the mark of a true championship golfer! The unofficial kickoff to the golf season on Cape Cod is the Seagulls Fourball Championship held over two weekends in April at the Hyannisport Club. This event has some of the worst playing conditions known to man and Joe has reigned supreme 7 times! He's been known to hold his own on the national stage too, competing 4 times in the USGA Senior Amateur as well as USGA Mid-Amateur events. Joe's even gone global! His fondest golfing memory is winning the Carnegie Shield at the Royal Dornoch Golf Club in Scotland in 2003 - the only American to have ever achieved this feat! How kool is that? He's got quite the curriculum vitae of awards and championship wins from the Massachusetts Golf Association as well; 1993 Player of the Year Award, 2008 Senior Amateur of the Year Award, MGA Fourball Championship Winner with Charles Valpone in 1987 and 1993, MGA Mid-Amateur Championship Winner in 1986, 1987 and 1992 and 2005 Senior Amateur Championship Winner. A former owner of the Hyannis Golf Club, Joe cites the 10 years working alongside his former business partner and friend Fordie Pitts "...as some of the best times of my life...where business was done with a handshake in the Grille Room at the club." Looking forward to 2010 - Joe's keeping up with the latest technology, staying in shape with exercise and stretching and of course, practice, practice, practice! In Joe's words, "it's all about the short game." Don't miss out ~ listen to my interview with Joe by clicking on the podcast player in the right sidebar

WATD Reporter Steven Dodrill

WATD Reporter Steve Dodrill interviews Frank Tedesco, a WWII bomber pilot

Steven Dodrill is one of WATD's best and brightest! This past Spring he graduated Cum Laude with honors in Mass Communication from Franklin Pierce University. At the ripe young age of 22 this former WATD intern (superstar) has already racked up numerous awards for Breaking News Coverage - 2 Associated Press and 2 from the Radio Television News Directors Association! Tally Ho! Steven currently wears many hats at WATD, he's a full-time News Reporter and Weekend Anchor and Manager of Web and News Services. You may have noticed some of the changes to the www.959watd.com website?! In order to keep up with the lightening fast speed in which news travels Steven has eased the station into New Media platforms such as - Twitter, FaceBook, Flicker and YouTube, creating a more streamlined news flow for all of our local WATD listeners. BTW you can still call the station with a breaking news story at 781-837-1169 or email Steven at SDodrill@959watd.com. Lets just say that WATD station owner Ed Perry sure has an eye for talent!

Patriot's Owner Bob Kraft ~ Gentlemen Farmer

Gentlemen Farmer Jon Joly and his wife Cara's chicken coop on Cape Cod

Congrats are in order! A few weeks ago, New England Patriots Owner and Gentlemen Farmer Bob Kraft petitioned the town of Brookline for a "Keeping of Animals" permit. Much to the chagrin of Kraft's neighbors - who were up in arms at the thought of chickens in the neighborhood, he just got the OK from the powers that be. Brookline Public Health Commissioner Dr. Alan Balsam gave the green light for the Kraft family to house 12 chickens at their Chestnut Hill estate during the winter months! Bob Kraft is a summer resident of New Seabury on Cape Cod and the chickadees reside there during the summer months. The town of Brookline stipulated that Kraft's chicks cannot "run free throughout the neighborhood" and must be kept in an enclosed shed and pen and no roosters allowed - far too noisy! I found that to be reasonable however my curiosity was not satisfied, just what was it that had Bob Kraft's neighbors' feathers so ruffled?! I decided to pay my brother Johnny and his wife Cara a visit! FYI these two rather trendy Gen Y'ers are newlyweds! This past Summer they built a chicken coop and filled it with exotic Araucana chickens sans ducks (pigs to come). They even have an organic garden! Cara told me, "the chickens are great for composting, it's great fertilizer for our garden, they even eat the bugs in the yard!" The chicks lay fresh eggs daily in an array of colors, from light blue, light green to pink and brown! All I can say is Bob Kraft is onto something, I don't believe I have ever tasted eggs so fresh. I'm thinking a mighty cheese souffle for Christmas morning???

Goldie Bounce Golf Live

Goldie Bounce Golf Live host Liza Churchill with her guest "caddie" PGA Teaching Professional Mike Gibson

Goldie Bounce Golf's gone live! No more pretty produced segments all wrapped up in a gold bow -we're going Rogue! Turn on tune in and tee it up Sunday evenings from 7:00 to 7:30 on 95.9 WATD the South Shore's Favorite Radio Station! Host Liza Churchill will be joined by her many guest "caddies" as well as New England's leading golf instructors and competitors, industry hotshots - even celebrity golfers for a unique bird's eye view of golf in New England! Liza's first guest "caddie" and Award winning PGA Teaching Professional Mike Gibson is profiled in this video! Got a hitch in your giddy-up? Winter is the perfect time to work on your game so you'll be ready to break a hundred come Spring! We'll be taking calls so feel free to call in at 781-837-4900 with any questions, comments or suggestions - you can even email them to goldiebouncegolf@gmail.com! Wishing you safe and Happy Holidays!

Schools Out!

Puma clad phenom Ricky Fowler earns his first PGA Tour Card

This week on Goldie Bounce Golf, PGA.com Interactive Producer TJ Auclair joined me for the wrap up of this year's PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament! Each year this grueling event produces 25 card carrying members for the following PGA Tour season. These Rookies may have battled through as many as 4 stages of competition (6 back to back rounds of play in each stage) in order to punch their ticket to the dance. All the effort pays off for most everyone gets a prize for completing the final stage. After the 25 PGA Tour Cards are handed out, the next 50 players and ties receive full exempt status on the Nationwide Tour with the rest of the field receiving versions of conditional status on the Nationwide Tour. It has been noted that the PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament is one of/if not the toughest sporting event in the world and this system for qualifying to play on the PGA Tour dates back to 1965! As anything, there are exceptions to the rule for not every graduate is a rookie, this year Jeff Maggert earned his card marking this his 20th consecutive year on tour, having played in over 500 career tour events! Quite the contrary was Medalist Troy Merrit who shot a score of 22 under to cinch the win by one shot over veteran Jeff Maggert! FYI Troy has never even played in a PGA Tour Event! Go figure! To view the full leaderboard go to www.pgatour.com/qschool and to hear "TJ's Take" and all the behind the scenes action at Bear Lakes Country Club click on the podcast player in the right sidebar!

Christmas is here for the Littlest Golfers

The Littlest Golfer Brand tykes Hogan hat, polo shirt, knickers and sox

Searching for that perfect Christmas gift from Santa for the littlest golfer in your life? Look no further for The Littlest Golfer Brand is taking the infant and children's clothing market by storm! The brand's motto, start younger play longer is sure fitting in this day and age as the trend of child proteges in sports is here to stay. The company is based out of Asheville, NC which BTW is quite the golf mecca - boasting some of the regions finest golf courses designed by Donald Ross, Tom Fazio, Arnold Palmer to name a few. Founder's Kris and Keri Wilson are avid golfers and with a growing family of their own, saw a niche for infant and children's golf apparel. Their mission is to literally grow the game of golf by creating a golf lifestyle for children so they can not only learn the game of golf but the life lessons that the game imparts. The apparel and accessories line is chock full of kid friendly products branded with golfing turtle logos (brother and sister Putter and Sandy) and they even carry head covers, backpacks and plush toys as well as the world's littlest kids knickers and high performance windshirts, polo shirts, hogan hats and visors! Wowser anything that adults may wear for golf in mini form! Plans for the future include rolling out a line of children's golf clubs as well as a fun book series - the abc's of golf terminology due out next year! Ho ho ho - Merry Christmas the perfect gift is just a click away go to www.thelittlestgolfer.com today!

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