Meg Mallon has been named to Captain the 2013 Solheim Cup team and she is a very deserving candidate.  She has the credentials and the personality to motivate her team.  She's played in many cups herself and is a fierce competitor.  She has also acted as a Captain's assistant.

Of course her appointment brings with it speculation that Dottie Pepper was once again overlooked to Captain a team because of her comment back in 2007 about the team being choking dogs.

But Mallon has stated publicly that she thinks Dottie should get a chance to captain a team.  Dottie was the firestorm behind many USA wins.  Mallon also said that she feels a Captain needs to be an assistant before becoming a Captain.  So, that begs the question as to who Meg might pick as her assistants.  I'm guessing Dottie will get the nod and that in 2015 she will be asked to Captain.

I think many of the organizations and clubs that host events are too thin skinned.  Just look at the banishment of Gary McCord for his reference to Augusta greens and bikini wax.  That got him a permanent exit from the Masters coverage.  Sure it hampered Gary's career but who lost out in the end, the viewers who miss his great coverage.

Dottie has always been a lady who speaks her mind.  It was unfortunate that her producers left her mic on when she made the comment about the team to her fellow announcer.  While her comment was accurate and to the point, it was viewed as being anti-american, that she wasn't supporting the team.  And it's been what many think is the obvious reason for overlooking her for that coveted leadership role.

I can't wait for the 2013 games and the possibility of a Mallon/Pepper duo leading our team to victory.

The Magazine industry is in a major transition and my prediction is that within 5, maybe 8 years we will no longer have many magazines or newspapers that publish their writings on paper.

The world has become an electronic age where people no longer want stacks of paper in their homes, instead preferring to view articles and instruction on their electronic gizmos - from smart phones, laptops, Ipads, and now book readers like The Nook Color Tablet and The Kindle Fire. 

The websites accessible from your computers and smart phones allow you to see a variety of content that publishers couldn't possibly afford to put into their magazines.  With the decline of advertising dollars, publishers are downsizing their magazines - have you noticed less pages, less heft, and also a reduction in the paper footprint?  Often it will appear that you are getting just as many pages as before but if you put your latest edition against one from two years ago you may be shocked at how much the page has been trimmed.

The electronic age allows us to get a lot of the content for free vs. paying $4 in the grocery store.  Publishers are interested in number of readers, so the focus is now going to web readers and tablet subscribers.  The reduction in paper costs and distribution costs should garner more profits for the companies while giving them a wider exposure to readers.

The smart phones will allow you to take instructional videos to the range.  The only caveat is that you have to have either your 3G/4G connection or a wifi connection if you choose to use one of the tablets.  With more and more wifi hotspots popping up, this shouldn't be a problem in the near future.

When I worked in the industry, one of the common complaints we had was getting superb quality for the spectacular photography on inexpensive paper.  It never did the photos justice, but on our electronic devices those photographs are memorable.

I was happy to receive a Nook Color Tablet during the holiday season and several of the major golf magazines allow you to now subscribe to their publications on those platforms.  You get the electronic version of the magazine you will find on the newsstand.  To help with the transition to the electronic version, some are offering a free electronic subscription if you already have a paper subscription.  That's a real bargain, the best of both worlds.

So should we hang on to all those old issues as collector’s items?  Unless it's a really special commemorative issue, I'd toss them because chances are you'll find them in the archive section on the magazine’s website.

Congratulations to LPGA Superstar Lorena Ochoa on the birth of her baby boy.  Lorena and her husband Andres Conesa welcomed their son, Pedro Conesa Ochoa on Thursday, December 8th in Mexico City.  This is the couples first child.  Lorena left the LPGA tour to focus on family and charity work but the good news is that she is considering playing in a few tournaments a year in the near future.

That freaky October snow was a sign that winter is coming, but just look at those 60 degree temps we've had in November.  So what's a golfer to do?  Do you pack the clubs away for the winter or do you keep them at the ready for one more chance to get out there and play.

What I'm seeing is that now that we've pushed the clocks back and it's getting dark earlier, many courses are opting for a single shotgun round usually starting at 10 a.m. and finishing by 3 p.m.  Perfect for this time of year.  If there was a frost, it usually would be gone once the sun warms things up by 10 and if you're off the course by 3 you've haven't gotten behind that slow group and come into the last hole after the sun goes down, which happened to me in a recent round that didn't start until just before noon.

The weather forecast for the weekend after Thanksgiving is looking promising so I'm still hoping to get one more round in with old golf balls now that all the leaves have fallen.  If you do go out, pack a couple water bottles into you bag and a snack or two because most courses are not putting out water jugs, having snack bars open, or having someone ride around in a cart offering you a beverage or snack.  The last thing you want is to get dehydrated so plan accordingly.

If you are going to tuck your clubs away for the winter, make sure to give them a nice cleaning, and don't forget that those grips need a good wipe down too.  But most importantly, take any leftover snacks out of the bag or that pesky little mouse that visits garages, sheds and basements might just chew a hole in your bag to get some lunch and a warm place to sleep over the winter.

For many the golf season is over.  Often players put their clubs away between October 1 and November 1 but there are still many good days of golf left.  This week will see temps in the 60s, not bad for fall golf.  And many courses are offering special incentives to get you out there to play.

Storm Alfred devastated much of our state and I'm sure many of the golf courses lost trees and they too needed time for the snow to melt and do their cleanups.  But several northern courses have made announcements that they would be reopened this week.  What better way to get rid of the frustrations of having no heat or lights than beating up on a little white sphere.

So get on the phone or the net and see if your favorite course is open for business.  Check their websites for special discounts, shotguns to get you in before dark now that the days will get darker sooner.  It's been a tough year for our courses so get out there and support them.  Too many clubs have closed their doors due to the poor economy.  Let's keep the sport we love going.  Think twice about putting the sticks away right now.  Enjoy some fresh air with a friend or two.  See you on the links!

BTW - I played The Ranch in neighboring Massachusetts just before Alfred hit and the course was in spectacular condition for this time of year.  Also played Yale prior to the storm and that was in the best condition I've seen in years.

Is it just me or have you also wondered how in the world handicap holes are determined on the scorecards at the various courses you play?  Some courses will have two sets of handicapped holes - one for men and one for women.  Those tend to make sense to me and often there is a huge disparity between what holes are the hardest and easiest.

What baffles me the most is when I go to a course and they'll list a hole as the number 1 handicap hole but from the women's tee boxes it's a fairly easy hole, while another hole that is a bear might be the 7th handicap hole.

So why is that?  Is it just laziness on the part of the course?  What is supposed to happen is that someone, typically the men's and ladies' leagues, will review scorecards from their players over the season and determine the scoring averages for each hole and compare those to par.  The highest average over par should be rated #1 while the least highest would be #18.  Odd numbered handicap holes on one nine and the even handicap holes on the other nine. But sometimes the course will just determine it without consideration for the differences in tees, maybe based on play by a few people or even the architects suggestion on which holes are the hardest.  This can play havoc during match play because the higher handicapper is supposed to get their strokes on more difficult holes and more often that not, that's not how it works out.

So if your course only reflects one set of handicapped holes on their scorecard, have your ladies league collect at least 100 cards during the season from players of all abilities.  Do the math on an excel spreadsheet and see if you come up with a major difference.  If only one or two holes come out differently, it's not a big issue but if you find that 50% or more are incorrect, share your results with management and ask them to adjust their scorecards accordingly the next time they send them out for printing.  It's not that difficult for them to ask the printer to add another line in there for the ladies tees.  In the interim you can make up your own scorecard with adjusted handicapped holes for your league and play by those when playing your tournaments.

Speak up ladies.  This is your game too and just as womens tees were after-thoughts in the past, architects are now thinking about us in their current designs because they want us to enjoy the course and keep coming back.  So why not get courses to start thinking about us when it comes to handicapping holes from our tee boxes.  With the off season approaching it's a great time to ask your tournament chairperson for all those score cards.  Create a committee and figure it out.  Get in touch with your pro or management over the winter so that those springtime scorecards will be right.

Congratulations Angela - Connecticut is very proud of you!

From the LPGA website:

Angela Aulenti, Professional of the Year

Aulenti is a Class A Member of both the LPGA T&CP, as well as the PGA of America. Currently she is the Director of Golf Operations for two facilities, Sterling Farms and E. Gaynor Brennan Golf Courses, both in Stamford, Conn. She has served the LPGA Northeast section as Vice-President and is currently serving a two-year term as Northeast section President.

In her role as Director of Golf, Aulenti manages the day-to-day operations at both facilities, as well as planning and overseeing tournaments. In addition, she directs the golfing education at each facility, teaching and co-coordinating golfing instruction through private lessons, clinics and seminars. In 2010, she established the state-of-the-art Aulenti Club Fitting Studio featuring Trackman technology.

"I am so honored to have been chosen National Professional of the Year. It is so special to have your peers recognize your accomplishments," said Aulenti. "This award is definitely a highlight in my career."

Aulenti is also the recipient of numerous golf industry awards, including the LPGA Northeast Section Professional of the Year in 1998, 2003 and 2011. In 1998, she was recognized by the PGA of America as the Metropolitan Merchandiser of the Year.

An expert in golfing instruction, Aulenti was recognized by Golf for Women magazine in 2003 as one of the top 50 golf instructors in America. An accomplished player, she was the LPGA T&CP Senior National Champion in 2007 and won the LPGA National Team Championship in 2008.

The LPGA T&CP Professional of the Year award was established in 1980 and is awarded annually to a female golf professional involved directly in the entire golf operation. 

It is with great sadness that I share news of the passing of Florence Ramsey.  Florence had a passion for life.  Her sense of humor was her trademark both off and on the golf course.  Florence was an avid golfer and had served on the SNEWGA Board for many years.  Her leadership helped to mold the direction of SNEWGA.  She will be greatly missed.

RAMSEY, Florence

Florence (Watson) Ramsey, 78, of Vernon, beloved, mother, grandmother, great grandmother, and wife of 57 years to Mathewson Ramsey, passed away Tuesday, (September 20, 2011), at Rockville General Hospital with her family at her side. Florence was born June 2, 1933 in Portadown, County Armagh, Northern Ireland, daughter of the late Margaret (Hughes) Watson and Joseph Watson. She immigrated with her family to the United States in 1965, first settling in Manchester, Ct, and then moving to Vernon, Ct in 1970. Florence was an avid fan of the UCONN Women's Huskies Basketball and an accomplished golfer, winning the Skungamaug Lady's Classic in 1976, 1977, and 1981, as well as the Founder's Cup. Florence was on the Board of Southern New England Women's Golf Association and served as President from 1989-1991. She was champion of SNEWGA super seniors in 1998 and also represented Connecticut in the US Women's National Public Links Tournament. Florence loved travel and was fortunate to be able to visit many countries in Europe, Asia, the Caribbean, as well as the USA and Canada with her husband, Matt. She enjoyed dance and the camaraderie with her friends at the Grossi Dance Academy for eighteen years. Florence was predeceased by her only brother, Harold Watson. She is survived by her sons, Michael and his wife, Carol of Manchester, and Edward and his wife, Myong Cha of Enfield; grandchildren, Shawn, Nathan, Andrew, Mathewson, Alexander, and Sarah; great grandchildren, Mackenzie, Peyton, Eli, Brady, Evangeline, and Noah; niece, Amara Maria Watson (California), cousins, Hazel Turkington, Kenny Jones, Barbara Washburn, Karina Crosby (Australia) Nigel and Keith Crosby (England) and the extended Turkington and Jones families. Special friends, Alma Ramsey (N.Ireland), Kay Lindeman, Loris Fuller, Vicki Flannery, Linda Stuart, Phyllis Fleming (Canada) and May Jameson (Canada). The family wishes to express their gratitude for the special care given by Dr. Richard Orris and his staff, Dr. Faustinus Onyrimba and staff, along with the Emergency room and 2nd floor Bissell staff of the Rockville General Hospital where she was a frequent guest. Florence was a giving, loving and caring wife, mother, grandmother, great grandmother and friend with a zest for life, living it to its fullest with a sense of humor. She will be missed by all.

Respecting her wishes, Florence has donated her remains to the University of Connecticut School Of Medicine for Teaching and Medical Research; therefore there will be no visiting hours. A private memorial will be announced at a future date. Contributions in her memory may be made to the Shiners' Hospital for Children 516 Carew Street, Springfield, Ma. 01104.

This past week saw the women's version of the Ryder Cup in the Solheim Cup.  The event, played in Ireland, was broadcast on Golf Channel and if your digital package doesn't include GC then you really missed out on some excellent golf over the last three days.

After the first two days of four-balls and foursomes the matches were tied at 8-8.  Commentators implied that because of the tie the matches didn't have much importance in the final outcome of the twelve single matches played on Sunday.  I disagree.  Had each team not fought so hard to get those points, Sundays singles might have been anticlimatic.

The USA only needed 14 points to retain the cup, just half of the singles matches needed to be won.  It didn't seem out of the realm of possibility.  And up until the last three matches finished it looked like the USA would bring home the trophy but that wasn't how it played out.  The USA would lose to Europe 13-15.

Key to the loss was the injured Christie Kerr.  I'm not really sure who I blame more for that lost singles point, Captain Rosie Jones or Kerr herself.  Apparently Kerr's wrist was hurting prior to the matches.  If she felt she couldn't play, Captain Jones could have replaced her with an alternate but Kerr assured Jones that she was good to go and so it seemed over the first two days when she played in all four matches.  Knowing that Kerr had an injury was it wise of Rosie to play her every match the first two days when she had to play in singles on Sunday?  Rosie sat out Christina Kim, the fireball the first day, never seeing play on Saturday.  Rosie also put out players the second day who weren't performing well on Friday instead of Kim.  To me that was a huge mistake.  Kim fires up the crowd, she's got the emotion to spark the team.  She didn't belong on the sidelines as a cheerleader.  And she proved that with a dominant win in singles which got very little coverage by GC - what's with that?  Instead Rosie put out the struggling Stacey Lewis and Angela Stanford who continued to lose points for the USA.

The matches on Sunday were very exciting with some very key matchups.  The stellar contest of Juli Inkster vs Laura Davies was the highlight of the weekend.  And just how did these two players just happen to get paired up - well, truth be told it wasn't an accident.  Even after both Captains and Inkster tried to make us believe it was the luck of the draw, Davies just blurted out the honest truth and told the cameras that both she and Juli asked the Captains to put them in the 4th spot on the rotation.  Who cares if that match was fixed - it was fantastic to see the two old timers battle it out.  Appropriately it ended in a half point for each team. 

Rookie Ryann O'Toole performed beautifully winning 3 points in her rookie appearance.  Paula Creamer met a steamroller in the first match on Sunday against Catriona Matthew.  Paula was supposed to be the one to get that first singles point on the board but the Euros had a different plan.  The first point went to Karen Stupples when Kerr was forced to withdraw.  USA was down one before they even hit a shot and after Creamer's loss they were two down.  They had a tough fight on their hands and they fought valiently.  Several missed putts here and there could have made a huge difference so you can't point to any one match as the one that lost it.

Congratulations must go out to Alison Nicholas and her team, especially Suzann Pettersen who played stellar golf over the last three holes to beat Michele Wie 1 up.  It was nice to see a lot of the "old time" players out supporting the ladies on both sides.  Kathy Whitworth, Nancy Lopez, Pat Bradley, and Annika Sorenstam were out there walking with the matches.

But I'd really like to thank the person who invented DVRs so that I could record all of the matches that came on early in the morning due to the time difference and watch them during the day and replay key shots to savor the great golf being played in good, bad and ugly conditions over the three days.  No more getting up to switch out a 6 hr VCR tape so that you could get all 10 hours, then try to watch it on another machine while the VCR continued to tape ongoing matches.  You have to love the technology advances.

Thank you ladies for three days of riveting golf.  My only wish is that everyone could have seen it.  I remember when all LPGA golf was seen on the major networks, but those days are long gone.  Thanks to Golf Channel for their great coverage of the event and continuing to show the singles matches instead of switching to the men's event.

Golf Channel was also well prepared for the rain delay.  The most touching interview had to be the one with Sophie Gustafason.  What courage.  I doubt any TV viewer ever knew that Sophie has a serious stuttering problem.  She bravely gave an interview answering written questions.  At times she struggled to get the words out.  But what a great message it send out to kids afflicted with the same problem, that you can still succeed and be one of the best in your field even though you have what many might consider a disability.  Kudos to Sophie for sharing with us on national television.

Congratulations to Debbie Johnson, Ellie Dutch and Mia Landegren on making the Connecticut team heading to The Landings at Skidaway Island in Georgia next month to represent us in the USGA Women's State Team competition.  This will be Debbie's second straight appearance representing CT in the team competition while this will be the inaugural appearance for both Ellie and Mia.

These ladies earned their way onto the team by leading the points standings for their play in numerous golf tournaments over the past two years.

In the alternate spots should any of these ladies not be able to make the trip are Lisa Fern Boros and Kelly Whaley.

To qualify for the State Team, a players performance over a two year period is given points based on how well they played in certain events.  For complete information on the selection process visit http://snewga.org/Selection%20for%20StateTeam.htm

Ellie Dutch was the lead qualifier with 197.50 points
In 2nd place is Mia Landegren with 196.25 points
In 3rd place is Debbie Johnson with 193.75 points

First alternate Lisa Fern Boros tallied 156.88 points
Second alternate Kelly Whalley garnered 142.50 points

How they fared in some of this years competitions:

CT Women's Open - Golf Club at Oxford Greens (event included professional golfers)
     Ellie Dutch - 6th place/top amateur
     Mia Landegren - T11th place

USGA WAPL Qualifier - Tallwood CC
     Mia Landegren - 1st place
     Debbie Johnson - 3rd place

WAPL - Bandon Dunes, OR
     Mia Landegren - T78th in stroke play rounds missing the cut of 64 for match play

SNEWGA Individual Championships - H. Smith Richardson GC
     Debbie Johnson - runner-up

NEWGA (multi-state competition)
     Ellie Dutch - 9th place
     Debbie Johnson - T19th place

CT Women's Amateur - Timberlin GC
     Ellie Dutch - runner-up
     Mia Landegren - 3rd place
     Debbie Johnson - T8th place

MA Women's Open
     Ellie Dutch - winner