PGA Tour Hyundai Tournament of Champions TV Times & Field

Written by: Tony Korologos | Friday, January 3rd, 2014
Categories: PGA Tour • Pro Golf

Yes the 2014 PGA Tour season technically began a few weeks ago, but the “real” season starts….. TONIGHT!

PGA Tour
Hyundai Tournament of Champions
Friday Jan 3 – Monday Jan 6, 2014
Plantation Course at Kapalua
Kapalua, Maui, HI
Purse: $5,700,000 – Winning Share: $1,140,000 – FedExCup Points: 500

TV SCHEDULE

Fri 01/03 GOLF CHANNEL 4:30 PM – 10 PM ET
Sat 01/04 GOLF CHANNEL 2:30 PM – 7 PM ET
Sun 01/05 NBC 3 PM – 4 PM ET & GOLF CHANNEL 4 PM – 10 PM ET
Mon 01/06 GOLF CHANNEL 4 PM – 8 PM ET

Hyundai Tournament of Champions Field
Austin, Woody	Bae, Sang-Moon	Blixt, Jonas
Brown, Scott	Dufner, Jason	Duke, Ken
English, Harris	Ernst, Derek	Gay, Brian
Haas, Bill	Henley, Russell	Horschel, Billy
Johnson, Dustin	Johnson, Zach	Kirk, Chris
Kuchar, Matt	Laird, Martin	Merrick, John
Moore, Ryan	Points, D.A.	Reed, Patrick
Scott, Adam	Simpson, Webb	Snedeker, Brandt
Spieth, Jordan	Streelman, Kevin	Thompson, Michael
Walker, Jimmy	Weekley, Boo	Woodland, Gary

Self Assessment – Hooked On Golf Blog 2013

Written by: Tony Korologos | Thursday, January 2nd, 2014
Categories: Miscellaneous • Site News

2013 was one of the best, yet most difficult years for Hooked On Golf Blog. I was fortunate to take the HOG World Tour out of the country three times and play five of the world’s top 50 courses. I made many new golf friends and business associates, reviewed a ton of great golf equipment and waxed semi-poetic about professional golf and my own golf game (or lack there of).

Why was 2013 difficult? 2013 was a year of major changes in my world. First and foremost, it was the first full calendar year in existence for my new and awesome son, Master Seve. This little guy has been such a positive influence and has completely changed my world. I was skeptical about having a kid at the ripe old age of… old, but glad I did.

Needless to say, having a baby (now 14 months old) is quite time consuming and demanding. I spend a lot of time chasing this little guy around on all fours, giggling, and wrestling. Time I would have otherwise spent blogging about golf.

2013 was also the first calendar year I had what is referred to as a “day job.” Yes, for the first time in almost 50 years, I had 9-5 job complete with my first W2 and first cubicle. Big changes. No more blogging and being a sole computer geek at home in my jammies, working on my own schedule. That meant my time for blogging was in the wee hours before work and/or between times I wasn’t at work and wasn’t chasing Master Seve around.

I managed to squeeze 340 golf blog posts out of my strained cranium and limited schedule in 2013, almost an average of one per day. In comparison, 2012 was a year of 495 golf blog posts. The drop in content, combined with different algorithms for Google’s search, hurt the blog’s traffic a bit and especially the ad revenue in 2013. Over the years this golf blog had grown to such an extent that the cost of producing it was substantial, requiring some powerful and capable web hosting. That’s why I had to go to an advertising model to bring in some revenue. This thing had to at least pay its own expenses.

A positive, yet additional strain my schedule and my brain was accepting a golf writing position for a very large website, Answers.com. I became the “golf expert writer” and have produced some 90+ articles, reviews, and golf related stories there. That has been a fun gig and it will continue. Check out golf.answers.com!

In addition to all those things above, I do computer programming, web design and app development in my “free” time. Oh, and I do one other golf writing gig as a “ghost” writer for a golf company, but I’m not allowed to mention the name.

What is the point of the last few paragraphs? Mainly that I feel like I’ve kicked ass producing what I have, but wish I had the time to do more. It all adds up to a nutty schedule, but somehow I’ve managed to pull it off and that’s not going to change. Right now I’m looking back at 2013 to see what worked well and what didn’t, so I can strategize 2014.

What worked well was much of the content which usually has worked well here, insightful blog posts and commentary which readers find useful and informative. Hard to say what posts or kinds of posts did not work well. Some are more popular than others naturally.

I changed the site design this year to a mobile friendly version. That worked okay, but some screen widths could be a bit better, like my Nexus 7 or 7 inch tablets. That’s not content per se, but something which could have been better.

As mentioned, I noticed a drop in ad revenue from the google ads here, as well as a drop in other paid ads. Some drops were as much as 90%. Imagine that if you were in business. Not cool. Google has changed some things and search traffic is not as hot as it was. Other ad types are tighter too. So I tried some different ad providers and formats. I even leaned toward the more TMZ style content ad links. Honestly, those haven’t produced much and I think I’ll get rid of them soon.

I’ve worked the social networking end for a long time. HOG’s twitter followers are around 2,400 while my personal is at about 3,500. The HOG Facebook is has about 1,500 fans. I started up a Google+ account for HOG too and that one is growing, and surpassing by far the FB impressions. For a long while I’ve simply used the social media outlets to post links to my blog posts. I’m not exactly sure how many people REALLY click the links and actually read the posts. There are always those who click the like button on FB, but that doesn’t translate to an article read necessarily. I’ve been very frustrated and disappointed with FB. Since they changed their model for impressions, the HOG FB posts with links are only seeing 25-50 views out of 1,500 followers. They’re set up to make you pay for your fans to see your content. It seems like a waste of time at this point. Twitter blows away FB for HOG and so does G+.

I also think perhaps I should approach the social networking thing a little differently for 2014. Perhaps rather than just posting links to blog posts, I should use the social networks as a supplementary avenue for reaching people. Treat them as their own entities by creating content and doing more interaction within that scope.

Fantasy Golf 2013 gets a C grade. At the end of the season I sent an email to Nike to arrange the grand prize for the winner. As luck would have it my contact was on maternity leave. I didn’t know that and the winner started to get very irate, to the point of actually threatening me we legal action because his prize hadn’t come yet. I couldn’t believe what was happening. I was being threatened with legal action because my free fantasy league which got this guy a new free driver wasn’t delivering it fast enough. I told the guy repeatedly that Nike had been sponsoring for years and he’d get his prize but I was practically stalked. Of course, the prize did ship and the guy got it. The end result was that I have NO desire to run a fantasy league this year. Who wants to get stalked/sued for providing a free service which gives people a chance at free golf gear? Not me. Maybe I’ll cool down about this later, but for now there will be no fantasy golf for 2014. Last year’s winner can thank himself for not having a chance to win anything else.

When HOG started back in December of 2004 it was uncommon and quite groundbreaking. It was only one of 3-4 other golf blogs in existence. Now there are hundreds. I was one of the first bloggers to do golf equipment reviews, course reviews and those types of pieces. Now golf blogs are a dime a dozen. Most are mediocre and many give us folks who work it hard a bad name. They’re all over social networks too. Time to differentiate HOG from the rest again, though I feel the quality content and photos do a good job of that already. I’m not sure how or what I’m going to do, but it is time for some change and new groundbreaking to happen. There is a lot of golf blog noise out there, much of it posted without so much as a spell checker and forget using the right “your” or “you’re.”

My next post will be more of a look forward with these previous comments in mind. Looking to the future and what changes and new ideas can be implemented.

Thoughts, opinions, criticisms, and suggestions welcomed. Tell me what you think.

2013 World Golf Rankings

Written by: Tony Korologos | Thursday, January 2nd, 2014
Categories: European Tour • Pro Golf • Rory McIlory • Tiger Woods

Below is the world golf ranking through 12/1/13 for the top 50 players in the world. Tiger Woods is on top, having moved from the #3 position one year ago. Rory McIlory was #1 in the world one year ago, but has now moved to #6. Despite winning the U.S. Open, Justin Rose stayed at #4. The big mover was Henrik Stenson naturally. He moved from #53 to #3 in one year. Phil Mickelson moved from #17 one year ago to #5.

Rank	Player	Avg Points	Total Points	Events
1	Tiger Woods, USA	11.69	479.49	41
2	Adam Scott, AUS	9.60	393.43	41
3	Henrik Stenson, SWE	9.16	476.20	52
4	Justin Rose, ENG	7.16	372.50	52
5	Phil Mickelson, USA	7.06	345.92	49
6	Rory McIlroy, NIR	6.50	318.44	49
7	Matt Kuchar, USA	6.15	319.93	52
8	Steve Stricker, USA	5.72	228.94	40
9	Zach Johnson, USA	5.45	283.23	52
10	Sergio Garcia, ESP	5.31	265.30	50
11	Jason Day, AUS	5.29	232.65	44
12	Ian Poulter, ENG	5.24	256.68	49
13	Brandt Snedeker, USA	5.18	253.89	49
14	Graeme McDowell, NIR	5.01	260.31	52
15	Jason Dufner, USA	4.98	258.83	52
16	Dustin Johnson, USA	4.80	230.55	48
17	Luke Donald, ENG	4.76	233.48	49
18	Charl Schwartzel, RSA	4.74	246.50	52
19	Jim Furyk, USA	4.55	218.20	48
20	Keegan Bradley, USA	4.31	224.18	52
21	Webb Simpson, USA	4.30	219.10	51
22	Jordan Spieth, USA	4.15	166.06	40
23	Hideki Matsuyama, JPN	3.88	155.03	40
24	Thomas Bjorn, DEN	3.76	191.95	51
25	Lee Westwood, ENG	3.69	191.88	52
26	Jamie Donaldson, WAL	3.66	179.34	49
27	Ernie Els, RSA	3.55	184.37	52
28	Bubba Watson, USA	3.45	162.32	47
29	Bill Haas, USA	3.35	174.21	52
30	Nick Watney, USA	3.26	169.72	52
31	Hunter Mahan, USA	3.23	168.15	52
32	Victor Dubuisson, FRA	3.22	132.20	41
33	Ryan Moore, USA	3.16	160.96	51
34	Louis Oosthuizen, RSA	2.96	154.07	52
35	Gonzalo Fdez-Castano, ESP	2.95	153.59	52
36	Graham Delaet, CAN	2.86	148.60	52
37	Miguel A Jimenez, ESP	2.79	130.96	47
38	Francesco Molinari, ITA	2.77	144.20	52
39	Martin Kaymer, GER	2.71	140.82	52
40	Rickie Fowler, USA	2.66	133.13	50
41	Billy Horschel, USA	2.63	136.58	52
42	Jonas Blixt, SWE	2.62	136.44	52
43	Matteo Manassero, ITA	2.60	135.32	52
44	Kevin Streelman, USA	2.58	134.42	52
45	David Lynn, ENG	2.58	134.13	52
46	Thongchai Jaidee, THA	2.57	133.67	52
47	Jimmy Walker, USA	2.48	128.87	52
48	Peter Hanson, SWE	2.40	120.12	50
49	Joost Luiten, NED	2.35	120.09	51
50	Branden Grace, RSA	2.34	121.77	52

2013 Year in Review – Part Dos

Written by: Tony Korologos | Tuesday, December 31st, 2013
Categories: Boneheads • Golf • Golf Courses • Miscellaneous • Site News
Tags: Jason Dufner • Scotland

Welcome to part dos of the 2013 Hooked On Golf Blog Year in Review. The 2nd half of this great year started off in golf mecca…

Carnoustie Golf Links – click for more images

July

On July 1, 2013 I played the Old Course in St. Andrews with my best friend in the world, and the best Old Course caddie John “Boynie” Boyne of Caddie Golf Tours. I made a tactical error by reducing the loft of my driver one degree because it was so bloody windy. That made my driving accuracy awful as I had more sidespin. Consequently the Old Lady ate my lunch and crushed my confidence! I gained new respect for the Old Course.

Through the first week of July my Scotland golf trip continued. I played the absolutely fabulous Kingsbarns Golf Links in mega-wind. I hit a downhill 4-iron 128 yards and a crushed hybrid 132 yards! Solid!

I played Carnoustie, considered the toughest golf course in the world. I was even par after passing through Hogan’s Alley! I was -1 through 4. Solid 82.

Played two rounds on the Castle Course, another on the Old Course, and a round on the Torrance Course.

The final round of the Scotland trip was special, and the first round I broke 80. We played the wonderful Balcomie Golf Links in Crail. That round changed my perspective with regards to what I’d like to do the next time I’m golfing in Scotland. The next trip will be a tour of the coastline, playing every course which comes along the way.

Two weeks after I got back from Scotland my heart was aching to be back in Scotland as I watched Phil Mickelson win the Scottish Open, then the Open Championship a week later.

Continuing on with possibly the best July on record for me, I did a media trip to Cabo San Lucas and played the #1 (Diamante Dunes) and #2 (Cabo Del Sol) courses in Mexico. So in a one month period I played 4-5 of the top 50 courses in the WORLD.

Yeah, July did not suck.

Homestead Resort – Midway, Utah

August

Forgot to mention that starting at Kingsbarns in Scotland, I proceeded to play every round from the first week of July to August 8th without losing a golf ball. In total I played 199 holes of golf without losing a ball. Yeah, I couldn’t get to 200. Idiot. Choker.

In the most groundbreaking golf apparel event EVER, I posted my PGA Championship apparel script.

Jason Dufner won the PGA Championship in boring fashion. Then, the most exciting part of the week was when he grabbed his wife’s ass on the 18th green in front of about 20 billion people. Nicely played.

Sadly, the new club president at my men’s association ran the club into the ground. Only six people showed up for the championship.

The HOG World Tour went to Midway, Utah.

Diamante Dunes 16 Green

September

I released a new Hooked On Golf Blog site design which adapts to the screen size of the device, such as desktops, laptops, tablets, and mobile phones.

I did a lot of apparel reviews in September, including underwear guaranteed to shave strokes.

I posted my review of Mexico’s #1 golf course, Diamante Dunes. Fabulous.

Jack Nicklaus released his own golf balls. Ironically they were not “rolled back.”

Nice shoes…

October

In a yawner, the USA Team won the Presidents Cup. The International Team has only won the event once, EVER.

A skinny female streaker who wasn’t quite naked ran at the Presidents Cup because “golf is boring.”

Somehow, someone stole a 200 pound 3×3 foot golf ball. FORE!

Sadly, one of my home clubs, Hidden Valley CC, was sabotaged and many trees killed. Around the same time the club members voted down a Rees Jones redesign. Smart!

My wife bought me a gift for my birthday which changed my whole perspective on photography and video, literally. It is a remote control helicopter with camera mount.

My son Seve’s 1st birthday. What a special time.

Aerial Golf Photos!

November

Caught the first look at the new HOG headcovers from Ecktron Performance. Coolest head covers ever.

Started posting aerial photos of golf courses.

HOG World Tour visited Kanab, Utah and the Grand Canyon.

I reviewed the Cleveland Golf Smart Square putter.

I called out golf media for their shameless objectification of hot lady golfers like Natalie Gulbis, Anna Rawson, Blair O’Neal, and Holly Saunders.

Chi Chi Rodriguez hit himself in the chi-chis. OUCH.

In possibly my best and most in-depth review ever, I wrote about the Little Tikes golf set my 1 year old baby plays with.

December

Posted the 2013 Hooked On Golf Blog Turkey of the Year Awards. The winner was not Tiger Woods…

I reviewed The Ball, the Ecco Street Evo One shoes, the Cobra Baffler XL Hybrid, and the Under Armour Phenom sunglasses.

Jason Dufner won the inaugural “Most Entertaining Golfer of the Year” award.

I posted a reality check for golf inventors after finding about 50 versions of a ground breaking invention on ebay and online.

2013 Year in Review – Part Uno

Written by: Tony Korologos | Monday, December 30th, 2013
Categories: Boneheads • FedEx Cup • Golf • Golf Accessories • Golf Apparel • Golf Balls • Golf Books • Golf Clubs • Golf Courses • Golf Equipment • Golf Gear • Golf Life • Hackers • HOG World Tour • Life • PGA Merchandise Show • PGA Tour • Pro Golf • Rory McIlory • Site News • The Masters • Tiger Woods • Travel • U.S. OPEN • USGA • Web.com Tour
Tags: Bubba Watson • Golf Travel • Justin Rose • Rory McIlory • Sergio Garcia • Tiger Woods

2013 was quite a year for Hooked On Golf Blog and me, Tony Korologos. This article is part one of two (part two tomorrow), looking back at 2013 from at HOG viewpoint.

January

Ah the beginning of a new year and the hopes that my short game would improve. There’s always 2014…

Rory McIlory switched to Nike Golf. Personal issues, business issues, and perhaps the equipment switch would contribute to a less-than-satisfying year on the course for Rory.

Attended the PGA Show for the billionth time. Orlando hates me and my body. Had a great time seeing the new gear, meeting old golf friends and battling in the Battle of the Golf Blogs.

February

February I posted a bunch of golf videos from the PGA Merchandise Show.

Asher Golf’s James Roundy, a local friend, passed. Sad.

The Hooked On Golf Blog World Tour traveled to Bogota, Colombia. What a fantastic trip! I got to play golf with Web.com Tour star Kevin Foley in the Web.com Tour Colombia Championship Pro-Am. Kevin would later gain his PGA Tour card for 2014! He must have learned from my dual chicken wing granny over the top swing.

March

While in Colombia I played golf at La Cima Golf Course, 10,000 feet above sea level in the Andes Mountains. Wow. Ball go far.

Met Web.com Tour player Dusty Fielding. Nice kid.

A fun blog post was “Filtering Out the Noise: Golf Social Networking’s Top 10 Overused Status Updates.”

I reviewed the Cobra Amp Cell driver.

April

Bubba’s Hover was the video rage. Bubba Watson released a golf cart hovercraft!

Of course, April is Masters month. Not a month is busier for me or HOG. Lots of Masters related articles. Adam Scott won the Masters in dramatic fashion. Angel Cabrera hit what I consider the shot of the year with his approach on the final hole to about two feet. That shot resulted in a birdie to tie Adam Scott and force a playoff.

I reviewed the Cobra Amp Cell irons.

May

Ecco Golf came out with hybrid wingtip shoes. Some of the coolest crossover shoes ever.

Tiger Woods won THE PLAYERS (always write “The Players” in ALL CAPS, it is what they do). Sergio Garcia and Tiger Woods had a little tiff which the media went into a feeding frenzy over. Sergio eventually apologized for some not-so-nice comments.

HOG poll results told us that Delta Airlines is the worst airline for golf travel.

Good thing Adam Scott won the Masters when he did. The USGA and R&A announced the ban on anchored golf clubs, beginning January 1st, 2016. Bye bye belly.

Eric/Tom sent in some great fan mail, calling me an “asshole who sucks at golf and couldn’t break 100” all because of a golf bag I reviewed. Thanks Eric/Tom!

I fell down a volcano and suffered volcanic road rash. Thankfully my Nikon survived.

June

I played in the Salt Lake Amateur golf tournament. I was right in the mix through 27 holes until my back went out on the 10th tee. I finished, but the last nine was not pretty. Bugger. Kill me.

HOG readers voted Southwest Airlines as the best airline for golf travel by a landslide.

I reviewed a very cool book: An American Caddie in St. Andrews: Growing Up, Girls, and Looping on the Old Course.

Posted an article on golf CHEATERS. That’s what sandbaggers are.

Justin Rose won the U.S. Open in amazing fashion. That was one of the best ball striking displays I’ve ever seen.

On June 30, I boarded an airplane bound for St. Andrews, Scotland.

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