Gary Player, NY Times Frequent Flier

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Gary Player authors this week's NY Times Business section's usually entertaining Frequent Flier column/Q&A, claiming that in his 60 years he's spent 90 percent of his time on commercial airlines, logging more than 15 million miles. 

And sleeping on plane floors.

I remember a flight years ago when I was traveling from Los Angeles to Japan. I was seated next to a woman who was very engrossed in her knitting. I asked her if she would like the use of both seats, and I proceeded to go to the floor. I was out like a light. As I was coming out of my sleep, which was about eight hours, I heard the woman talking to the attendant. She thought I might be dead. All I could do was smile, and she was either quite relieved or scared when I stood up.

Snedeker: The Halloween Costume

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Little Rickie was darn impressive in the two-year-old division but reader Matt grabbed a photo of nine-year-old Timmy Gannon who raised the Halloween costume bar by sporting actual Brandt Snedeker gear.

Apparently Timmy's mum wanted to write "Snedeker" on the back of his shirt to better explain his costume, but Timmy held his ground in the name of authenticity. He also didn't want to be confused with a caddy, and who could blame him?

The hat and glove he is wearing are Brandt's actual hat and glove. Brandt gave them to him after a round at the Wachovia Championship. These guys are good!

First Sandy Storm Surge Photos Surfacing

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Hurricane Sandy's track appears ominous with flooding for a massive area expected, but in the near term coastal storm surges are the primary concern. Including for some prominent golf courses. Not as dramatic as the fake photos making the rounds, but serious stuff.

Brian Benedict of Seawane Golf And Country Club posted these on Facebook:


Rockaway Hunt Club, near New York's Kennedy Airport, courtesy of reader Jim. I'm told this shot of the 15th normally looks like a dogleg left golf hole:

Yao Ming Looks Great At Address...

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...and then there is his swing.

Thanks to Alan Shipnuck for Tweeting this golf.com photo gallery of Eugene Hoshiko's AP images from the World Celebrity Pro-Am at Mission Hills. Included are shots of Adrian Brody, Ryan Reynolds, Michael Phelps, Ronaldo, Andy Garcia and three shots of actress Minka Kelly.

Yao looks tremendous at address and so I went to YouTube to see if the rest of the seven-foot and then-some former Houston Rocket had a decent move.

I think you'll feel better about your wedge game.

"Mini-golf may be the closest most of us get to really understanding Sisyphus."

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Michael Tortorello files a New York Times Home and Garden section story on Bruce Stillman's 13-hole Big Stone Mini Golf Course and sculpture garden in Minnetrista, Minnesota.

The second hole, a stiff par 3, breaks a wobbly six feet from left to right. Mr. Stillman calls it “Banking on Mound.” If there’s any place in America left to pun, it’s a mini-golf course: Mound is the name of the nearby lakeside suburb, on the western edge of the Minneapolis metro, where Mr. Stillman banked his fate.

It’s a landscape of country clubs, hobby farms and marinas, with “some of the most expensive real estate in Minnesota,” said Heidi Hoy, a sculptor who has lived intermittently at Big Stone as Mr. Stillman’s companion.

When he first bought an old dairy farm here in 1991, he wanted to try his hand at landscape and environmental art: something in the spirit of the British site-sculptor Andy Goldsworthy. Another influence was a piece of popular American cinema called “Overboard,” in which reluctant lovers played by Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell create a Putt-Putt Seven Wonders of the World.

There is also a 25-image gallery accompanying the story online.

The Re-Match Of The Match That Was Tweeted

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Alan Shipnuck's tweets of the First Tee Special Boosters exhibition match, where Fred Couples was replaced at the last minute by Nick Watney, can be read here.

While Shipnuck was clearly holding back to prevent one of Tim Finchem's henchmen from marching him to a watery Pacific Ocean grave, there are some photos showing how sweet Cypress Point is looking.

Alec Baldwin Liked To Honk His Horn At The Top Of Backswings And Other Wacky Tales From East Hampton

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The NY Posts' Kate Briquelet talks to looper Scott Werner about his new self-published tell-all, Caddie Tales ($1.99 on Amazon for Kindle readers).

The 48-year-old former financier turned caddie tells stories about the Hamptons elite at East Hampton Golf Club, a $400,000-to-join Coore-Crenshaw course.

Werner recalls one morning when a mogul just couldn’t take losing to his financial adviser. He threw his putter in the air, upbraided the golf ball, and stomped around the fairway in anger.

Then he lined up next to a wad of foam he thought was a ball and swung so hard, he collapsed.

“These are people controlling the financial world, and it’s amazing, the things they say,” said Werner, who travels as a caddy-trainer and once carried for Tiger Woods and Jack Nicholson.

And my favorite because it's so believable, so perfect for Alec and is just plain funny to imagine:

When the club first opened years ago, Alec Baldwin would terrorize CEOs by driving up to the course in a blue car and park with a cup of coffee, Werner recalled.

Anytime someone would take a swing, he’d honk his horn to faze them. It’s rumored he loathed the club for environmental reasons.

Okay, So Not All Golfers Are Honorable Files: Staten Island Edition

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John M. Annese of the Staten Island Advance reports on Christopher DeMenna, 40, kicking in the door of his girlfriend's house to harass and assault her following back-to-back prison sentences for drug charges. And he's one fine golfer too!

He's also a mainstay on Staten Island's golfing circuit -- Advance records show he's a three-time Staten Island Amateur champion, and he has won several other major championships on the borough's links.

But hey, he's consistently a scumbag...

In 2007, DeMenna was banned for four years from the Staten Island Amateur after he cursed at an official during that year's tournament at the Richmond County Country Club. He sued both the club and the Staten Island Golf Association in 2009, and the matter was resolved in a "confidential settlement" before state Supreme Court Justice Philip Minardo, according to Advance records.

DeMenna is now accused of kicking in the front door of his girlfriend's West Brighton home at 10 p.m. Sept. 12, then punching a hole in her bedroom and bathroom walls, court papers allege.

Competitors, just remember the next time you get a lousy pairing. It could have been worse. They could have put you with this flea.

Clint Got JT On ANGC

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Bryan Alexander of USA Today, with this from the junket to plug their new movie, talking to Clint Eastwood and Justin Timberlake:

"When you're directing, you never get to play golf," says Eastwood. "But we managed to get a few rounds in down there."

The star even managed to get Timberlake onto the famed Augusta National Golf Course a week before the Master's tournament for 36 holes.

"So the two of them would go off and have fun while the rest of us were working all the time," says Lorenz. "They'd come back all sunburned and tired from walking all 36 holes."

25 For Nine Holes!

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Tod Leonard of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports that 20-year-old Todd Baek posted an 11-under 25 on the par-36 front nine at Salt Creek in Chula Vista. Baek went on to fire a new course record 60.

“I was amazed myself,” Baek said on Monday. “It was like, ‘What’s going on?’ We were playing for money, so my friends were giving me (crud) about it. They said you need to stop making birdies or you’re going to walk home.”

He did hit some long irons...for his second shots to par-5s.

He hit a 40-yard pitch at the par-4 first that dropped in for eagle. At the par-5 second, he lashed a 5-iron to 9 feet and made that putt for another eagle.