It's In The Hole!

Dear Google,

Smart Phones, Tablets and Chromebooks are in the $400 and up range, which is about the price of a 10 meg hard drive in the ‘80’s.  Not bad, but who can afford one of each?  Luckily for you, dear Google, there is a sport that caters to that demographic, of which you seem to be unaware.

Fore!  

It’s summer in the northern hemisphere, so from dawn till dusk, men, women and children are “searching” for a little white ball.  Many more gather live, world-wide, to watch what are called “Golf Tournaments.”  Many, many more (Big O) sit in their favorite chair and watch golf on (Google)TV.

Jaguar is doing a push.  Classy.  For the most part, the corporate sponsors are insurance companies and meaningless acronyms from the Fortune 100: SAP, PWC, NYSE, etc.  OK, we all know who the New York Stock Exchange is, but why are they sponsoring a Golf tournament?  What does PWC do?  Professional services?  The world’s oldest?  Oh, world’s largest.  My mistake.  These corporations are spending millions of dollars on marketing and sponsorship and they don’t even “sell” anything!  What corporate memento do they give away in their hospitality tents?  

Golfers are more than the Rogaine and Viagra crowd, though these guys do make up the largest and wealthiest segment of this demographic.  2011 has produced a crop of “under 30” tournament winners, who will definitely keep golf “cool.”  Plus, they know how to use a smart phone and will look good doing it.  Google “Rickie Fowler”, click on images.  Putting a Google logo on his cap or sleeve is a hole in one.  If you wish to feel good about yourself, dear Google, sponsor “The First Tee.”

The pinnacle of tournament golf in the US is The Masters, Augusta, GA.  The pinnacle of golf in the world is The Open, hosted by the R & A, Scotland.  The US Open and the PGA round out the major US tournaments.  The US golf season opens in January in Hawaii.  It then toggles back and forth between southern California and Florida, moving north as the weather warms.   This generates a new crowd to trample the hospitality tent, every week.  

Professional golfers cannot use GPS on their Droid in competition.  They and their caddy are required to pace off the distance from the nearest sprinkler head.  Weekend warriors glorify in holding up their Droid to the sky and declaring, “I am 192 to the pin.”  They know they could never hit the ball 192...but they still have clubs in their bag that cost more than an 80’s 10 meg hard drive.  And clubs in the closet, basement and garage that each cost more than a FroYo tablet.

The Google Engineers might not care about some stupid, corporate event at Pebble Beach, but I’d wager some of those Sales and Marketing types wouldn’t mind the sunshine.  Maybe they could help the PWC and SAP people interface whatever it is they do with Droid and the G-cloud.  

What should Google serve in their hospitality tent?  “Chateau Mountain View, “Hello World’”, but we’ll open that bottle in another letter.

Drive for show, putt for dough,

Perk