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I remember hitting balls on the range one day for about three hours. I must have hit 600 balls. My hands were so sore the next morning that I couldn’t hold my coffee cup. But that was nothing compared to what David Ogron, a teaching pro from Laguna Beach, did a couple of years ago when he smacked 2,275 golf balls in one hour. The feat got him into the “Guinness Book of World Records” — for the third time! Ogron also holds the 12-hour and 24-hour ball-striking records at 6,691 and 10,392, respectively. Watching Ogron and his hitting style will amaze you. An assistant rapidly places balls in front of Ogron, who swings at each ball in less than two seconds. And get this: To qualify for the “Guinness” records, each ball must be hit a minimum of 100 yards and land in a 30-degree arc. Seeing is believing. Check out the streaming video at www.miraclegolftour.org. This year Ogron will try to break all three records during his Miracle Golf Tour. At each stop he’ll raise funds for the National Children’s Cancer Society in tribute to his father who died from the disease. BUILDING BLOCKS: Eric Lohman, general manager at Black Gold Golf Club, might be able to add golf course architect to his resume — someday. Every year the former UCLA golfer — who played in the Pac-10 the same years Tiger Woods played for Stanford — throws a spring fling invitational at the Yorba Linda facility. The guest list includes politicians, vendors, media and VIPs enjoying the hospitality of the city-owned golf course. I usually play Black Gold a couple of times a year and the most notable changes I see each time are the number of new homes around the course. Home-building is booming. So much so that the course will lose its practice green for a few months to the construction process. So Lohman stepped up to create and supervise the building of a new practice green next to the driving range. Every budding golf architect has to start somewhere. Next month, when the construction noise near the Black Gold clubhouse reaches its highest levels, Lohman plans to reward golfers for their loyalty. The staff won’t be handing out ear plugs, but they will give each golfer a sleeve of balls with paid green fees. FUNNY BUSINESS: The fifth annual Mark & Brian Lexus Celebrity Golf Tournament was another huge success last month at Industry Hills Golf Club. The KLOS morning duo always seems to manage business with pleasure by attracting a full field of competitors and a fun field of celebrities. Kevin Nealon, the former “Saturday Night Live” funny man who holds the distinction of being the longest-running cast member in the show’s history, was “so Hollywood” during the tournament that I had to snap a picture of him playing golf while “taking a meeting” on his cell phone. The fact that he can even hold one of those itty-bitty phones to his ear while swinging a club is significant, but to see him lip out a 60-foot chip while talking on the phone was astounding. BIG-LEAGUE GOLFERS: Last month I wrote about Fernando Valenzuela, the former Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher. I once saw the natural left-hander boom two drives from both sides of the plate, so to speak — hitting one left-handed and one right-handed. That prompted a number of e-mails from readers. The answer to some of their Dodger/golfer queries: The best baseball playing golfer I ever saw was Orel Hershiser. The farthest I’ve seen a golf ball hit was by Mike Piazza. Mickey Hatcher was the most fun to play with, while the prettiest swing belonged to Sandy Koufax. If you’d like to play golf with a current or former Dodger, the fifth annual Dodger Dream Foundation Charity Golf Tournament is Thursday, June 30, at Trump National Golf Club in Rancho Palos Verdes. The tournament is usually held during the off-season but is being played this year during a homestand off day. For details, visit www.ladodgers.com and click the Community link, or call (323) 224-1413. BACK IN THE GAME: On July 1, the day after the Dodgers event, Trump National expects to open for public play. The official grand opening will be later in the summer. Formally known as Ocean Trails, the beleaguered golf course, whose 18th hole fell into the ocean, will be a spectacular facility — both for amateurs and professionals. The biggest hurdle left is having a driving range in place in time for the LPGA event scheduled in late September. While everything else at Trump National looks on track, crews haven’t begun to grade the area for the driving range. If a driving range can’t be completed in time, the LPGA Office Depot Championship has an out-clause in its contract. That’s the last thing Donald Trump wants. The best the course can hope for at this point is the California Coastal Commission’s permission to build a temporary range. When I asked the odds of this happening, course general manager Mike van der Goes said it’s “95-5” that the commission will approve the application because it’s “in the best interests of everyone, including the peninsula community.” Stay tuned. N Eric Tracy can be reached at eric@themulliganman.com. |
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