Patrick's Blog

On the range this morning that’s Martin Kaymer (center), winner of last year’s PGA at Whistling Straights. This is a great place to watch your favorite players swing different clubs and put the golf balls out there with unbelievable accuracy…

The 93^rd PGA Championship week is under way, and I’m at the Atlanta Athletic Club in John’s Creek (just north of Atlanta) ready to witness the year’s last major. First round play begins Thursday, but I thought I’d give you a small sneak preview of the course and a few of the pre-tournament preparations.

An early Tuesday morning stroll told me the ACC’s Highland Course is ready to take on all comers, especially holes like the 260-yard, par 3 15^th, shown here with a Golf Channel crew recording some last-minute player tips. David Toms scored an ace on this hole in 2001, the last time the PGA Championship was played here.

The course is immaculate, playing at 7,467 yards (270 yards longer than ’01), and despite some last minute afternoon thunderstorms on Monday it’s fast and firm, with sloping greens designed to challenge the game’s best players. And the players are here – on the range, in the bunkers, prepping on the course for the tests to come…

Heat and humidity will be factors, too, and the misting stations are in full-blast mode to accommodate golf fans, already arriving in force.

Of course, if the temperature gets to be too much, we’re here, in the air-conditioned PGA Golf Shop tent, ready to share stories and smiles, and of course, eager to show you our Stonehouse 2011 PGA Championship images and gifts.

Come by and say hi.

It’s that time of year again… the 2011 Stonehouse Golf Calendar is almost ready to roll out, so I thought I’d give you a peek.

January

Ritz Carlton Orlando #9

Those of you trapped in the deep, cold snowdrifts might appreciate a look at this Sunshine State standout.

February

PGA Village Golf Club – Ryder #18

It’s a 7,000-yard Fazio design that can make you feel like you’re in the beautiful Carolinas.

March

Old Head #12, Ireland

There’s nothing in the world like the rugged environment at Old Head.

April

Cruden Bay #4, Scotland

Old Tom Morris played here in 1899.  A purist’s delight.

May

Colonial #16

One of the granddaddies of Lone Star golf, Colonial has hosted many of the game’s greats since 1936.

June

Congressional Country Club #10

A spectacular course, home of next year’s U.S. Open Championship.

July

Royal St George’s Golf Club #6, England

The late author Ian Fleming’s club hosts the Open Championship for the 14^th time this year.

August

Atlanta Athletic Club #18

The PGA Championship visits the Atlanta area.  Full of Southern charm.

September

East Lake #18

The permanent home of the PGA Tour Championship and Bobby Jones’s home course… ‘nuf said.

October

TPC Summerlin #16

Fuzzy Zoeller helped design this layout… the perfect antidote to that first blast of winter.

November

Hudson National #18

If this image doesn’t make you want to swing a club, you ain’t alive. This one also gets the nod for the Calendar cover shot.

December

Sherwood Country Club #17, California

Got a yearning for golf in SoCal?  This is one of the best.

Pre-order your Calendar now. Perfect for gifting, birthdays, any old reason… you won’t be disappointed.

Best,
Patrick

The finish at this year’s PGA Championship at Whistling Straits was exciting, perhaps even a little controversial, but there sure wasn’t anything arguable about the ace Tom Lehman scored on the par-three 17th hole Saturday afternoon.

Undoubtedly one of the most contentious holes the players face all season, 17 at the Straits Course is called “Pinched Nerve” for a reason, but the 1996 Open Champion barely seemed to notice as his tee shot found the cup.  223 yards.  One swing.  A great moment.

Ironically, I just happened to have a Limited Edition print of 17 with me in the merchandise tent.  Someone suggested we sign it and give it to Lehman, and… Voilà!  The moment was preserved.  All of us in the tent signed a letter to accompany the print, which was presented by the Whistling Straits management team to Tom.  I wasn’t at the presentation, but I understand TL was very pleased.

A fortunate coincidence – the kind we love at Stonehouse.  Preserving the memories of those special shots, holes and events is our mission, one we always appreciate sharing with friends and fans around the world.

Have a special golf moment you want to remember?  You’ve come to the right place.

Best,
Patrick

Being here at Whistling Straits this week reminded me of this:  When you watch the pros play golf on TV, you see them extremely focused, unsmiling for the most part, almost mechanical in demeanor and movement.  In the words of Jack Nicklaus, the players are “…in the midst of 50,000 people, alone with their game.”

That’s why I enjoy going to practice rounds – that’s where I get to see the players as human beings, not just golf machines.   In practice rounds the players can loosen up to an extent that’s impossible when millions of dollars in prize money are on the line.  They smile, sign autographs, and joke with each other and with fans.

Practice rounds allow amateurs like me to observe the world’s best players hone their craft, too.  Often the pros put three, four, or even five balls in play on certain holes so they can test clubs, ball flight or swing techniques.  It’s amazing to watch these guys, even when they’re just taking it easy.

The televised tournaments may generate more drama, but practice rounds definitely generate more fun.  If you want to really enjoy a tournament, take in some practice rounds.  And by the way, if you do, bring a couple Stonehouse mini-prints with you – they’re perfect for autographs.

2010 marks the 150th anniversary of the Open Championship, and we’re extremely honored that an image from the Stonehouse Golf Collection has been selected to help recognize this important milestone:  A special Limited Edition gicleé of our “Rainbow” image of hole #17 on the Old Course will be signed by all of the players and hung in the St. Andrews clubhouse.

I personally oversaw the print’s production and numbering – 1 of only 125 editions – and I believe this is the first time a photographic image has been selected for this purpose, so I’m very grateful.  It’s the best of all possible scenarios for Stonehouse.  We’re here to create and preserve lasting memories of golf, and this image, with its panoramic view of the 17th green, Swilcan Bridge, the 18th “Tom Morris” tee and fairway, and the historic R&A clubhouse overarched by a delicate rainbow, is a fitting tribute to the game’s oldest and most revered Championship.

This week, as you watch the drama of the Open Championship unfold, you might give a thought to the fact that you’re seeing more than a golf tournament.  You’re witnessing the continuation of a historic tradition, a tradition in which the world’s most talented competitors have displayed their skills – a tradition now celebrated, in part, with the help of the Stonehouse Collection.

Best regards,

Patrick

Among the year’s most pleasant developments so far is an arrangement between Stonehouse Publishing and Premier Golf, one of the nation’s best-known golf destination travel agencies.

Premier Golf intends to use Stonehouse Mini Prints as confirmation gifts for clients who book golfing tours – customized golf-centric packages that can range from attending the Ryder Cup, to virtually any destination golf course in the UK or U.S.

Patrick Drickey, Stonehouse photographer and founder,  sees the arrangement as a natural extension of both firms’ expertise.  “For over 20 years, Premier has been recognized as the “go-to” travel specialist for golf enthusiasts,” he said, “and the addition of Stonehouse Mini Prints as confirmation gifts is the perfect way to say “thank you” to clients.

“Chris Gurney, Premier’s Director of Business Development told me our first effort for the agency, a Turnberry image, was a ‘huge hit’, and we’re proud of that.  It underscores what we know about how our golf course prints can help meet client-relations goals on an on-going basis.  People tend to hang to our golf prints.”

The Premier Golf print program will include customized stickers, special feltweave envelopes, customized vellum inserts and logos.

First of all, we must thank everyone who entered the “Show Us Your Stonehouse Print” contest by sending us photos of where you’ve hung your Stonehouse Golf prints. It’s humbling to see our images displayed so nicely in so many homes, offices, clubhouses and yes, even bathrooms. It’s great to think about golf anywhere, isn’t it?

Our winner really impressed the judges and his story exemplified one of the things we have always believed about golf pictures from the Stonehouse Collection: looking at the photo is a great way to share the experience and re-live the experience of having played a great course.

So congratulations to Jay D. from New Palestine, Indiana on winning a framed Signature Edition print from the Stonehouse Golf Collection! Jay – we hope to get a picture of where you hang your latest addition to your own collection! Thank you for entering and for being such a great collector.

Here is Jay’s entry:

To whom it may concern:

Please see the attached photos of my Stonehouse prints.  I have a total of 15 prints which surround the inside wall of my pool room.  These are all of my top courses I have played and these make for great conversation while playing pool or when having visitors in our home.

I like Stonehouse prints because of the panoramic view of the course and you have a wonderful selection of courses.  This is the only room in our home where I can decide what pictures are hung on the wall… which means my wife likes them too.

I hope to hear from you soon.

Jay D.

Well said, Jay! A gift certificate for your framed Signature Edition print is on its way!

About three weeks ago I arrived in Philadelphia to photograph the famous Aronimink Golf Club, site of this year’s AT&T National Tournament hosted by Tiger Woods.  Tiger had been there only a week before to check out final arrangements, so I was able to experience the course at close to its playing level for the pros. Let me tell you, this is one heck of a Donald Ross design.

No history of golf in the Philadelphia area can be told without mentioning Aronimink. It was incorporated as a club in 1900, although its true genesis stretched back several years to the Belmont Golf Association (reorganized as Aronimink) and its role in founding the Golf Association of Philadelphia in 1897.

Golf was catching on in the U.S. around the turn of the century, and the citizens of Philadelphia were determined not to miss out on the game’s rising tide of popularity.  The demand for professionally-designed, 18-hole tracks was growing. So much, in fact, that Aronimink actually outgrew and moved its facilities four times before finally acquiring its present site in 1926.

The club had the foresight to hire Donald Ross to design the layout, which today retains much of the character for which his courses are so well-known.  At first glance, the casual observer might think the mature trees are Aronimink’s only real scoring obstacles, but Ross never designed a course with only one defense. Aronimink’s arsenal of hills, bunkers, valleys, and doglegs present what Ross called “a supreme test” to many of the world’s best players at this year’s AT&T.

Having seen it, walked it and photographed it, all I can say to the players who are about to take on Aronimink is… Good luck fellas,  you’ll need it.

Want to win a FREE framed signature edition print?

Then fire up your camera and send us a photo of where you hang your Stonehouse print. Include a sentence or two about why you chose the print displayed in your photo. We’ll choose a favorite, or favorites, to win a signature edition print.

Send your submission to promotions@stonehousegolf.com. Submissions and winner(s) will be posted right here on our blog. Submissions must be received by 11:59 PM CST on June 30, 2010.