The world record for Most Birdies Shot In A 12-Hour Period has been broken! Not more than a month ago a former pro golfer who hasn’t competed since ’06 claimed the title by carding 54 1-unders in 12 hours. Alexander Sandeman proclaimed it a feat of “stamina, skill and most importantly mental fortitude,” and the guys & girls at Guinness agreed, adding his name to a growing list of golf world record holders. Now we can’t all have Most Hole-In-Ones, but is there another golfin’ record you’d really want to see be yours?

Before you answer, here are a few of my favorites:

• Most participants in a single golf lesson: 632 people.
• Most golf balls hit in a 12-hour period: 7,721 – that hurts my back just thinkin’ about it!
• Longest golf cart: 21ft 11 inches. Click here to see a picture!
• Most times a golfer has shot their age or better: 1138, by Kermit Dannehl.

Amazing stuff! I’m not sure if this Caveman is capable of carvin’ his name in the record book for golfing, but I gotta be at the top for lowest prices on golf gear!

~Scratch

Bonus: Maybe the best way to get the attention of the good folks at Guinness is to create a new record for them to track! Find out what you records you could be the first one to set in the Proposal Check List at Guinness Book of World Records.

Good news for my NYC Rock Heads: The Jack Nicklaus Signature golf course that’s been under construction since 1998 is on schedule to open in 2011 there in the Bronx. Sure, that’s more than a decade overdue but better late than never, right?

These days I’m happy to hear about anything positive, let alone a new championship caliber course opening up. This one promises to be an exciting layout and plans to host a PGA Tour event in the near future. I’m sure both the course and the costs are out of this Caveman’s league, but you never know…

In other new course news, Donald Trump has found one more reason to frown from his controversial Scottish resort. Looks like locals have found a loophole to avoid paying for Trump’s $150K wedding packages while still enjoying the same oceanside scenery. Turns out a small city park next door to The Donald’s facility charges a only a fraction for their service, with residential couples paying just $585 to get hitched.

So Rock Heads, any good news or new courses in your neck of the woods? Or would you care to celebrate a favorite local track that’s closed down during this economic trough? Good or bad, me and the rest of the Rock Heads are here & ready to listen… just leave a comment below!

~Scratch

The 6th week of Caveman Golf Trivia has come to a close. Thank you all for playing! For those Rock Heads who are scorin’ at home, here are all the questions and their answers:

When Was the last time Golf was played in the olympics?
ANSWER: 1904
Facebook: Adarsh Vakharia

When was the first time Golf was played in the Olympics?
Answer:1900
Facebook: Adarsh Vakharia, Tim ARnold, Blake Hagwood
Twitter:

When was the tee first patented?
ANSWER:1889
Facebook: Adarsh Vakharia
Twitter:

What was used to raise the ball before the tee?
ANSWER: Sand
Facebook: Adarsh Vakharia, Tom Provatas, Brian Abel, Cathy Almeida, Sean Murray
Twitter:grantwgates, jpalopoli

How Many Majors has Mickelson won?
ANSWER: 3
FAcebook: Adarsh Vakharia, Byron Williams, Chance Chance Proverbs, Raymond Scmitz
Twitter:Jpalopoli

Before Turning Pro, Which lady golfer won 17 straigh amateur events in ’46-’47
Answer: Babe zaharias
Facebook:Adarsh Vakharia
Twitter:

Who won 8 events his debute year on the PGA Tour, 5 years before he won the Masters?
Answer: Horton Smith
Facebook:
Twitter:

Which “Son” had four US Open Wins, including 3 in a row?
Answer: Willie Anderson
Facebook: Adarsh Vakharia
Twitter:

Who won the ’87 US Open, his only Major triumph?
Answer: Scott Simpson
Facebook: John Gallagher, Adarsh Vakharia, Jake Renooy
Twitter

Which Australian has won 5 British Opens (’54, ’55, ’56, ’58 and ’65)
Answer: Peter Thomson
Facebook: Adarsh Vakharia, Michael Pastrick, Jake Renooy
Twitter:

What is the theme song for The Masters Tournament?
Answer: “Augusta” by Dave Loggins
Facebook: Adarsh Vakharia, Michael Novick
Twitter:

What Country singer’s video does John Daly make an appearance in?
Answer: Steve Azar
Facebook: Scott Moore, Adarsh Vakharia, Taylor Henderson, John Hackimer
Twitter:

What is CBS Golf’s theme song?
Answer: “Fanfare” by Yanni
Facebook: Adarsh Vakharia
Twitter:

Who Took the Individual Golf Golf in the 1904 Olympics?
Answer: George Lyon
Facebook: Adarsh Vakharia
Twitter:

How Many Americans have Olympic Golf Medals for Golf?
Answer: 12, Charles Sands and Margaret Ives Abbott in 1900 and the 10 members of the Mens team in 1904.
Facebook: Byron Balint and Adarsh Vakharia
Twitter:

Who was the first woman to play golf?
Answer: Mary Queen of Scots
Facebook: Michael Pastrick, Steven Hart, Kennth Savoury, Frank Shkowalter III
Twitter:

Who was the first person from Great Britain to win The Masters?
Answer: Sandy Lyle
Facebook: Michael Pastrick, Adarsh Vakharia

Who is the only Woman with a Gold Medal in Golf?
Answer: Margaret Ives Abbott
Facebook:
Twitter:

Who was the second person in history to win $1 million in his career?
Answer: Billy Casper
Facebook: Adarsh Vakharia, Mark D. Carter
Twitter:

Who lead the PGA Tour in Driving Accuracty for ten straight years from ’81-’90
Answer: Calvin Peete
Facebook: Scott Shoemaker, W.s. Garnett
Twitter: compgolfassn

Of All the players to ever win a Major Title, Who comes first Alphabetically?
Answer: Tommy Aaron
Facebook: Blake Hagwood
Twitter:

What Two Majors did Mark O’Meara win in 1998?
Answer: Masters and British Open
Facebook: Blake Hagwood, Greg Avant
Twitter:

Three Golfers won 6 of the 10 US Opens in the 90′s. Who were they?
Answer: Payne Steward, Ernie Els, Lee Janzen
Facebook: Raymond Sarlatte, Blake Hagwood
Twitter:

Who won the most LPGA tournaments in the 90′s?
Answer: Annika Sorenstam with 18
Facebook: Blake Hagwood, Susan Bettenbrok Appler
Twitter:

Who was the highest money earner on the PGa tour in the 90′s?
Answer: Davis love III earned $11.6 million plus, and Tiger earned just over $11.3 Million
Facebook: Blake Hagwood
Twitter:

Congrats to jpalopoli(twitter) and Blake Hagwood(Facebook) for winning the trivia contests this week. Adarsh Vakharia Scored the Most points, but since he won last week was ineligible until next month, but Keep up the good Work Adarsh! Remember you get 5 points for having the first correct answer, but can also gain points just by having the correct answer! Weekly winners receive $10 gift certificates to RockBottomGolf.com.

If I haven’t heard from you yet, why not come & play with me and the rest of the Rock Heads this week? Questions are posted between 2 and 4 pm EST on both Facebook and Twitter. To keep things fair, you can only win once per contest per month.

Also Susanne Cyr took this weeks High Score on my golfin’ game! Also Earning her a $10 Gift Certificate to the Cave!

~Scratch

PS: If you have any great golfin’ trivia that you would like to see asked, send it over my way, or feel free to try and stump this caveman.

Tiger Woods was not the only golfer to make a statement last week… Ian Poulter made his on the links at the World Golf Championship in Arizona this weekend. His all-pink outfit captured a lot of attention, but his ability stood out the most as he beat out Paul Casey to win the Accenture-sponsored Match Play event. This win earned him more than one million bucks and boosted him from 11th to 5th in the world rankings. It marks the first time an Englishman has won any of the World Golf Championships since their creation in 1999, and also gives England 3 out of the top 6 players in the world with Lee Westwood in 4th and Casey in 6th.

Also notable:

• #1 seed Steve Stricker lost to Ross McGowan, the 64th seed, making him only the second top seed to lose in the first round. (The first to do it? Tiger Woods in 2002, to Peter O’Malley.)
• Tim Clark became the first professional player to use the Srixon Z-Star Tour Yellow ball in competition. Observers noted the resemblance between these new balls and the ones you find at putt-putt places…. only time will tell if they catch on or come to The Cave to get cleared out!
• Henrik Stenson conceded the first hole, and the first match to Ben Crane, saying he was suffering from a flu. This bit of trickery allowed Stenson to still get credit for starting the tournament and left him to finish tied for 33rd, giving him the world ranking credits and official prize money, without actually having to play. If he had withdrawn, he wouldn’t have gotten the credit.
• And just 3 days after winning at Pebble Beach the new “next-big-thing” Dustin Johnson struggled with a terrible start, losing his first four holes, and eventually the match to Camilo Villegas.

~Scratch

PS: Did the timing of Tiger’s speech take away from match play? Several people, including Ernie Els lashed out at what they perceived to be “upstaging” by Tiger, who explained the timing was necessary to allow him to quickly return to rehab. Do you buy that?

Can you remember a worse winter? Record snowfalls and freezing temperatures have kept golfers off the course across the country, even in typically sunny spots like Florida and Arizona. The number of rounds played in January 2010 was down sharply, with some southern states posting as much as a 30% drop-off from 2009.

So what’s a golfer to do while he waits for Spring? Plenty! Even if you haven’t seen any grass since Thanksgiving, turns out there are lots of ways to get ready for the 2010 golf season. Here are a few of my suggestions, be sure to add yours as a comment below!

• Indoor Driving Range – If you’re lucky enough to have a “golf dome” nearby, you should have no trouble keepin’ your swing in mid-season form. Sure, you’re stuck hitting off a mat but it beats not hitting anything at all!
• Golf Simulators – These electronic solutions have been around for a while, but it seems like they just keep getting better. Basically a digital golf course is projected on a screen and sensors measures the force and direction of your shots. Most major cities have at least one or two that offer hourly rentals, but the cost can be prohibitive for regular use. However the in-home market continues to grow, but this Caveman can’t recommend any particular products just yet.
• Golf Fitness – This may be the least like golfin’ but if you stick with it, you’ll definitely notice a difference on the course! It’s a good idea to exercise regularly anyway, but adding a few golf-specific exercises to your routine can really pay off. Not only will strength and flexibility training improve your performance, you can also stave off injuries and lose a few pounds, too! Check out this article from About.com for more Golf Fitness info!
• Golf Video Games – If you’re a golfer and a gamer, you can pick up a copy of EA Sports Tiger Woods and become immersed in the lush graphics and ambient sounds of a PGA Tour event. It ain’t much when compared to a real round at the local muni, but it beats shovelin’ snow!

~Scratch

PS: OK Rock Heads, help me fill out the list by adding your favorite off-season ways to stay ready for your first round. And remember, the first day of spring is only 30 days away!

The fifth week of Caveman Golf Trivia has come to a close. Thank you all for playing! For those Rock Heads who are scorin’ at home, here are all the questions and their answers:

How many tournaments were won by Byron Nelson in 1945?
ANSWER: 18
Facebook: Roberto Enriquez(1st) Adarsh Vakharia, Chris Parkinson
Twitter: theBUNKY_1974

How many PGA Player of the Year awards did Tom Watson win?
ANSWER: 6
Facebook:Adarsh Vakharia(1st)
Twitter:

What was the single-season record for wins in the LPGA? and who set it?
ANSWER: 13, Micky Wright in 1963
Facebook:
Twitter:GrantwGates

How Many Men have won the single-year Grand slam
ANSWER: Just 1, Boby Jones
Facebook: Todd Vincent, Adarsh Vakharia, Chance Chance Proverbs, Scott Moore, Chris Parkinson, perry snow
Twitter:

How many golfers won the PGA Championship 2 years in a row bweeen 1950 and 1970?
ANSWER: None
Facebook: Adarsh Vakharia, Chris Parkinson, mike wilson
Twitter

What notable thing did Bobby Jones do after winning the four Majors in 1930?
ANSWER: He retired from competitive golf
Facebook:John Hawk, Adarsh Vakharia, rick harvey
Twitter:

Which golfer went on a 5 tournament winning streak in fall ’86, 2 in Europe and 3 in Australia.
ANSWER: Greg Norman
Facebook: Brian Abel, Adarsh Vakharia
Twitter:

Who Started the 1974 season by winning the first three PGA Tour events?
ANSWER: Johnny Miller
Facebook: John E Satanek Jr, Adarsh Vakharia
Twitter:

Which year did Ben Hogan win all 3 majors he entered?
ANSWER: 1953
Facebook: Adarsh Vakharia, brain abel
Twitter:

Who captured the US, Canadian, and British Open in a four week span in ’71?
ANSWER: Lee Trevino
Facebook: Adarsh Vakharia
Twitter:greenfee

Who was the first AMERICAN to win the British Open?
ANSWER: Walter Hagen, won the ’22 British Open
Facebook:Todd Vincent, Michael piper
Twitter:

Who was the only person to win the British Open 6 times?
ANSWER: Harry Vardon
Facebook: Todd Vincent, Vincent Lai, Jim McCue
Twitter:

What father-son duo won 8 of the 12 first British Opens
ANSWER: Tom Morris SR and JR
Facebook:Todd Vincent, Jim Lepere
Twitter:

Who was the First British Monarch to attend the British Open?
ANSWER: King George IV in 1948
Facebook:
Twitter:

Who was the only Left Handed Golfer to Win The British Open?
ANSWER: Sir Bob Charles of New Zealand
Facebook: Nicholas, Anastasakis, Todd Vincent, Bob Charles, Carl Copeland, Matt Urie,
Twitter:

How many Southpaws have won Majors?
ANSWER: 3
Facebook: Mark Sabella, Adarsh Vakharia
Twitter:

What year was the British Open first played over 4 days?
ANSWER: 1966
Facebook: Scott Moore (1892), Todd Vincent (1965), Kimberly Giesel Kozlowski (1966), Adarsh Vakaria (1966)
Twitter

Who won the British Open that year?
ANSWER: Jack Nicklaus
Facebook: Adarsh Vakharia
Twitter:
Who is the only golfer to win six British Opens?
ANSWER: Harry Vardon
Facebook: Adarsh Vakharia, Steve Voelkel
Twitter:

What is the most common par on 18-holes around the world?
ANSWER: 72
Facebook: Jim McCue, Michael Pastrick, Adarsh Vakharia, Jim Volz, Matthew Chadelaine
Twitter: Myaspappa, benbarberhays

What year was the LPGA Formed?
ANSWER: 1950
Facebook: Kenneth Savoury
Twitter: ClevelandGolf, SemLakeCC

How many people founded the LPGA?
ANSWER: 13
Facebook: Kenneth Savoury
Twitter: SemLakeCC

Who, in 1983, became the youngest player on the LPGA Tour to earn more than a million in her career?
ANSWER: Nancy Lopez
Facebook: Andy Meresse, Jesse Zink
Twitter:

Who was the first woman to record an ace in a USGA competition?
ANSWER: Patty Berg, 1959
Facebook: Kenneth Savoury
Twitter:

Name at least three golfers who entered the LPGA Hall of Fame in the 1990s.
ANSWER: Pat Bradley; Patsy Sheehan; Betsy King; Juli Inkster
Facebook: Keith Possinger, Kenneth Savoury, Bonnie Halloway
Twitter:

Congrats to Seminolelakecc(twitter) and Adarsh Vakharia (Facebook) for winning the trivia contests this week. Remember you get 5 points for having the first correct answer, but can also gain points just by having the correct answer! Weekly winners receive $10 gift certificates to RockBottomGolf.com.

If I haven’t heard from you yet, why not come & play with me and the rest of the Rock Heads this week? Questions are posted between 2 and 4 pm EST on both Facebook and Twitter. To keep things fair, you can only win once per contest per month.

Also Jason Marsham took this weeks High score on my golfin’ game with a score of 8100! Also Earning him a $10 Gift Certificate to the Cave!

~Scratch

Ask just about any golfer, and chances are they’ll know somebody who’s hit something or somebody with a golf ball. Heck, at least one member of the Caveman Crew has had to replace a window after a worse-than-usual wobbler from the rough went wrong. But before you take to the tees in 2010, you might want to look through at the laws in your area because liability and legal responsibilities vary greatly from place to place.

Just ask Raymond Kinney. His tee shot on a West Chicago golf course back in 2005 must have had a heckuva hook to it, because he ended up hitting Lillian Demo in the head while she tended to her course-adjacent back yard. Long story short, lawsuits are still being decided almost 5 years later, and a new ruling last week says Kinney may be in the deep stuff, so to speak.

According to the judge, while “New York and California have laws that adopt the view that people who purchase homes next to a golf course assume the risk of being hit by an errant golf ball,” no such law exists in Illinois. That means even though Kinney’s group yelled “Fore!” the fact that the golfer was “negligent by failing to aim properly and failing to properly execute the swing of his golf club” means the woman can seek damages from both the individual who struck the ball and the owners of the golf course. She wants $50,000 and says she suffers from migraines since she was hit. Read the full story at ChicagoBreakingNews.com