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FUN STUFF
GOLF SITES
www.bogeysandbirdies.com
www.wannabegolfer.com
Golfers' music CD
"I Love Golf"
by Royce Aubé
see www.royceobgolfsongs.com
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April 11, 2006
New review
By Bob Spiwak
posted on Cybergolf.com
http://cybergolf.com/news/golfnews3903.asp
Robert Ronning, of Tucson, Arizon and Golf Today writer said...
Feb. 2006, It was a quick and enjoyable read. Really, I like it and I think
you did a really fine writing job. It reads very easily and is often very funny.
You definitely know the game of golf; I found myself nodding and agreeing
countless times over a variety of the elements, traits, and foibles of the game.
I was quite taken with your tips on sizing up your “opponents” in Chap. 14.
Good stuff, very perceptive!
Golf Tournaments: How to use this book as Tournament prizes
Every golf tournament seems to have surprises. If it's not the weather, it's the food, it's the fun, it's the people you meet and it's the extraordinarily great score at least one player will post. Sometimes the surprise is how extraordinarily bad that normally expert golfer played.
Golf is a game and for us non-professional golfers we need to keep a watchful eye out for the humorous opportunities of the day.
Presenting a book titled "Confessions of a Sandbagger" as a prize to the player who shot the best game of his or her life which happened to occur in a tournament, honours the event, usually causes the audience to laugh and tease with lighthearted congratulations. That player may not have won the tournament but won the most improved game of the day award.
For the player who wins, and deserves to win, and everyone knows the golfer deserves to win, a humourous golf book is a testament to fine play, a friendly tease. For the golfer who posts the "most honest" score, and is embarassed by the horrible play, the ensuing banter is usually enjoyed, and laughter always lightens the gloom.
Be creative with the reasons you present "Confessions of a Sandbagger" as a golf tournament prize.
It may work best at private clubs where the organizers know a little about the players and their "normal" game. Is there is any such thing as normal in the game of golf?
For an even better tournament prize:
Pair up a copy of my book "Confessions of a Sandbagger"
with Royce Aubé's Golfers CD
Featuring "The Sandbagger Song"
CD "I Love Golf"
Order direct from Royce through his website:
www.royceobgolfsongs.com
Bill Wolfram, Travel Golf .com says, " It's a hoot!"
REVIEW
 Oakville Today, December 22, 2005
“Confessions of a Sandbagger a guilty pleasure”
Review by Scott Stewart, Oakville Today Newspaper
Michael Blaine is not a very nice man.
The protagonist of J. J. Gowland’s Confessions of a Sandbagger has all the charm of Rhett Butler and the morals of the White Wizard Saruman.
Blaine is a sandbagger, someone who deceives others into thinking he or she is worse than they actually are.
Sandbaggers are renowned for preying on the innocent at tournaments, using their inflated handicaps to shave strokes off their net score as they strive to win side bets or the tourney itself.
They are also seen as the lowest form of life on a golf course.
Blaine wasn’t always a cheater, though. As a kid, taking part in the junior golf program at Glen Abbey, he was quite a student of the game. It was a chance encounter while caddying for a member of the prestigious golf course that he learned how to tweak scores to his advantage. The veteran convinced the young boy to hide his errant shot and allow him to play a provisional shot on the hole. Blaine earned himself $10 on the spot for his role in the ruse.
As the years went by, Blaine often found himself cheating in order to survive on the links. When he lost his job and became dependent on his wife’s teacher’s salary to support them, Blaine, took to the course to supplement the couple’s income with ill-gotten wins.
His cheating ways continued until the day he showed up at his favourite course for what would be his last round of the year.
His game partners and those he swindled over the years spent that particular day dropping golf balls into his bag, which Blaine thought was odd, but didn’t pay much attention to. Who couldn’t use extra golf balls? However, it wasn’t until a bunch of them strapped him to his bag and tossed him into the pond by the 17th hole that he realized what all those extra balls meant.
As he slowly sank to the bottom, Blaine’s life flashed fleetingly before him, and so did the faces of all those folks he’d cheated and conned.
Blaine’s luck worsens with each passing foursome, as he encounters the very people he swindled. Each of his victims strolls past Blaine in his watery prison, each with the opportunity to pull him and his illegal 15 clubs to safety.
Did he escape the pond before winter hit? Did he learn his lesson?
Pick up a copy of this delightful page-turner and see for yourself. Sure to delight the golfers on your list.
Confessions of a Sandbagger is available at local golf courses and at Chapters.
Caption below picture: "Confessions of a Sandbagger author J.J. Gowland scores a hole-in-one with her new book."
Review November 2005
Matt MacKay, RCGA Handicap Coordinator, "It was a lot of fun to read. Definitely some good life lessons, golf tips, and all teed up with entertaining golf stories." (November 14, 2005)
Official recognition of the novel:
July 2, 2005
Dave Perkins, Toronto Star Sports Columnist, bought a copy of "Confessions of a SandBagger", liked it enough to want to play golf with the author! They expect to play a rematch after Dave returns from the British Open.(Author's note: we're not saying who won the first match).
"I enjoyed a lot of things in this book.
I recognized golfers every golf course seems to have."
Released January 2005 and selling world wide
Available in the USA, Canada, France, Japan, Australia, England, Denmark Germany, the Netherlands, and more
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"Confessions of a Sandbagger" is more than just a humorous golfer's story.
On an October day in Southern Ontario, Mikey Blaine, the golf course sandbagger, has been tied to his golf bag and tossed into a pond. As his golfing friends play through the par 3 17th hole he has to convince them, and the dog, that he deserves to be rescued before the snow falls. Doesn’t every golfer know a sandbagger? And doesn’t every golf course have one?
Imagine, if a corporate executive who committed financial shenanigans was tied to a chair and every shareholder and employee passed by and offered an opinion, to render judgment with mercy, leniency, or revenge in mind.
Lessons in life, business, relationships, and golf can be found in "Confessions of a Sandbagger.”
Non-golfers and golfers are enjoying it. It is suitable for readers from the age of 13 to 90+
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“Confessions of a Sandbagger” is also available through bookstores such as Blackwell’s Bookstores in England (50 sites), Powell’s in Oregon (6 sites), Bookers in Oakville, Ontario, Canada, and Bunkyodo/Asahiya Bookstores in Japan, and Chapters/Indigo stores in Canada.
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| Fan Reviews of "Confessions of a Sandbagger" |
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An avid senior male golfer in Fort Myers, Florida, Jan 2005, said, "I loved it. I can just imagine a stand-up comedian doing this routine. I've never laughed so much!"
Hanne, Mississauga, Ontario said, “I really enjoyed this book and I’m not even a golfer! The plot carried me through. I couldn’t believe that so many people wouldn’t rescue him and I started to feel sorry for Mikey. The Sandbagger! A golfer will get so much more out of the book than a non-golfer.”
Joan, an avid golfer in North Fort Myers, Feb 2005, said, “When I had to retrieve my golf ball from a pond at Lake Fairways and almost slipped in, all I could think of was a haunting line from ‘Confessions of a Sandbagger’ –‘Oh NO! How deep is this pond?’”
From “C” an avid golfer in Oakville, Ontario, March 2005, who said, “I haven’t had a chance to read “Confessions of a Sandbagger” yet. My 17 year old, non-golfing, daughter picked it up off the coffee table, read it, loved it, and took it to school to ask permission from her teacher to do a book report on it.”
“Confessions of a Sandbagger” includes golf lessons.
Before publication, Paul LaCroix, a 25-year member of the Canadian Professional Golf Association, verified all of the golf tips. Paul said, “This is a great story. I’m going to recommend this book to all my CPGA friends at golf courses in South Western Ontario. They should sell it in their pro shops and it would make a great tournament prize table item.”
Dorothy, avid Oakville golfer, July 2005, "HILARIOUS!"
Frank, Ontario Canada, "I won a copy and liked it so much I took two copies to golfing friends in South Africa."
Jackie: "I won a copy at a tournament - for breaking 90 for the first time!"
"It's funny and best read with a glass of wine in hand."
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| April, Dallas, Texas, "I bought 2 copies." |
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Samantha, Hamilton, Ontario April 2005,
"The only thing I didn't like was that it ended.
Personally I think that this is a great novel and I wish J.J Gowland the best of luck on any new up coming releases. I recommend this to book to everyone. Golf lover or not, you’ll just take a liking to it, and to the style of writing. I for one am looking forward to the next new book release. I rate this book: 5 Stars!"
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Enio, avid senior golfer and former Detroit Red Wings NHL Stanley Cup team member (1954): "I liked it so much I read it twice!"
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