Martin Catalioto, part-time Hilton Head Island resident, made his PGA Tour debut at the Travelers Championship tournament over the weekend. Catalioto earned his spot in the tournament, which is held at TPC River Highlands in Cromwell, Conn., by finishing six under par at Monday’s qualifier at Bull’s Bridge Golf Club in South Kent, Conn.

Catalioto is from New Jersey, but is a part time Hilton Head resident where he works as a caddie at Bluffton’s May River Golf Club and plays on the Charlotte-based Tarheel Tour. He decided to go out for the tournament because Cromwell is close to his New Jersey home and the tournament was being held during a two-week break in the Tarheel Tour.

Catalioto shot a 70 and a 76 in the first and second rounds of the tournament. See the full scoreboard listing from the tournament.

Aaron Stewart, son of the late Payne Stewart, is playing in the North and South Amateur tournament this week at Pinehurst. This will be the 20-year-old’s first tournament at the famous course. Aaron, who is a sophomore at SMU, is making a rare trip to the course in south-central North Carolina. This is the same course where his father’s second U.S. Open title came four months before his untimely death in an airplane accident.

Aaron, who was 10 at the time of his father’s win, didn’t develop a strong interest in golf until he entered high school. The similarities between father and son are evident, as Mike Hicks, Aaron’s caddie, stated. “The mannerisms and the way he conducts himself; there’s a few things that remind me a lot of his dad.” Mike Hicks, also carried the clubs for Payne Stewart during his victory in the 1999 Open. In addition to having the same caddie, Aaron brought his father’s yardage book along from the 1999 tournament.

Aaron also stated that he would not rule out mimicking the fist pumping pose his father struck after his 15-foot putt sealed the 1999 Open victory, the same pose that is immortalized in the statue by the 18th green.

For more information on the North and South Amateur tournament, visit Pinehurst.com.

The PGA Championship History Exhibit, “A History of the Season’s Final Major,” is now open in Edina, Minnesota. The exhibit, which officially opened on June 9, pays tribute to past winners (all the way back to 1916) and to its newest Champion , Padraig Harrington.

Some of Harrington’s memorabilia is already featured in the exhibit, including the sand wedge that he used to capture the 2008 PGA Championship.

The exhibit has a diverse collection of memorabilia from the many PGA championships played, including:

-Jack Nicklaus’s putter, which he used to capture the 1980 PGA Championship
-Phil Mickelson’s wedge that clinched his victory on the 18th hole at Baltusrol in 2005
-A driver used by Jim Barnes in the 1916 inaugural Championship
-A straw hat worn by Sam Snead and a walking stick once used by the legendary Walter Hagen.

The PGA Championship History Exhibit is open daily through Sunday, Aug. 16, from 11 a.m. through 5 p.m. with free admission.

Twenty years ago, Doug Weaver, a Hilton Head Island resident, made history at the 1989 U.S. Open, becoming one of four golfers known as the “Four Aces.”

Weaver finished the tournament in a tie for 69th and only pocketed a meager $4,099, but he became part of US Open history that day when he made a hole-in-one on the 167-yard sixth hole.

After Weaver’s shot, Mark Wiebe, Jerry Pate and Nick Price all defied the odds by also acing the same sixth hole. The four men quickly became known as the “Four Aces.”

Weaver says the subject comes up every now and then, but he gets asked about it more often this week.

A New York Times article recently claimed the odds of this happening again were 2,355,683 to 1!

Planet Jack, a two-part Golf Channel special, follows Hall-of-Famer Jack Nicklaus on a 12-day, eight-country, 25,000-mile journey as he visits several of his golf courses currently in development around the world.

The first part of the special will cover golf course projects in Japan, South Korea, India and China. Nicklaus makes a special trip to China’s Mission Hills Golf Club where he receives a lifetime achievement award.

The second part of the special shows Nicklaus relaxing and fly fishing in the Seychelles Islands, then off to the Republic of Mauritius. The Republic of Mauritius is an island nation off the coast of Africa where Nicklaus is surveying land for a prospective golf course. Nicklaus ends his journey in South Africa, where he works on two golf courses under construction.

Travel is nothing new to Nicklaus, who has more than 80 percent of his 341 golf courses overseas. He typically logs more than 500 travel hours per year.

The Armchair Golf Blog recently posted “A Guide to ‘Women-Friendly’ Golf Facilities” with information about the Executive Women’s Golf Association (EWGA).

The association offers a program for golf facilities to earn an official designation as a women-friendly facility. There are certain criteria, based on playability and customer experience, that a facility must meet in order to receive this distinction.

Under playability, the EWGA requires:
-At least two sets of tees rated for women.

-Tees should fall in the following range:
· 4,600 - 5,300 yards for the 1st set
· 5,300 - 5,800 yards for the 2nd set
· Extra credit for having a 3rd set of rated tees with one 5800 yards or longer

-Carries from the forward tees are limited to 50 yards or less for the majority of holes.

-Drop areas provide for carries over 50 yards from the forward tees and more than 100 yards from the 2nd set of tees.

-Slope and rating data and course handicap conversion tables for women are in an obvious and easily-accessible area.

-Distance markers are available inside 100 yards.

Under Customer Experience, the EWGA requires:
-Staff has a consistent approach to all players regardless of gender; this includes all staff from the pro shop to the bag staff and the marshals.

-At least 10 percent of the golf course staff are women.

-Equal services are provided to men and women, i.e., if club fitting is offered, staff is well trained to fit equipment for women and offers equipment for women golfers of various skill levels

-Facilities are relatively equal for men and women, i.e. tee boxes are maintained in equal condition and have similar basic amenities (ball washers, trash cans, etc.), and clean, pleasant restrooms are available at least every six holes on the golf course.

Anything missing from the EWGA’s list? What courses do you think are women friendly?

Golf.com has ranked the the 10 hardest holes you can play in the United States. The shortest on the list is only 137 yards, and the longest is 595 yards. Florida leads the list, with 4 holes in the top 10, and California is second, boasting 2 holes in the top 10. Here they are in alphabetical order:

Arnold Palmer’s Bay Hill Club & Lodge
Orlando, Florida
18th hole, 441 yards, par 4

Doral Golf Resort & Spa (Blue Monster Course)
Miami, Florida
18th hole, 467 yards, par 4

The Dunes Golf & Beach Club
Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
13th hole 590 yards, par 5

Ko’olau Golf Club
Kaneohe, Oahu, Hawaii
18th hole, 476 yards, par 4

Pebble Beach Golf Links
Pebble Beach, California
9th hole, 466 yards, par 4

PGA National Resort & Spa (Champion Course)
Palm Beach Gardens, Florida
15th hole, 179 yards, par 3

Spyglass Hill Golf Course
Pebble Beach, California
1st hole, 595 yards, par 5

TPC Sawgrass (Stadium Course)
Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida
17th hole, 137 yards, par 3

Whistling Straits Golf Club (Straits Course)
Sheboygan, Wisconsin
18th hole, 489 yards, par 4

Wolf Creek Golf Club
Mesquite, Nevada
8th hole, 248 yards, par 3

What holes don’t belong and what holes did they leave off the list?

Tradition National Golf Course, located near Hilton Head Island, and designed by Tommy Fazio, was recently reviewed by Lisa Allen of Worldgolf.com.

Allen thought the most scenic par 3 was the No. 3 hole, and that the No. 7 hole, a signature hole, was “gorgeous”.

She had these tips for future players of the course:
-On No. 12, put your ball close to the pin because a canyon bisects the green. You don’t want to have to putt through it.

-No. 15 lulls you into complacency, but don’t fall for it. Stay on your game, or your ball will trickle into the drink on the left. Bunkers are all along the right

-Putting it on the green on No. 16, there is a sea of sand in front and behind. Smack dab in the middle is the green. It makes your second shot a little stressful.

Overall, Allen summed up her experience at Tradition National with this thought, “Tradition National is a versatile golf course that invites creative play.”

Have you played Tradition National? If so, do you agree with Allen’s review and pointers?

Golf has been long viewed as a sport that is played mostly by the older generation, but Waggleroom.com is reporting that is not necessarily the case.

Blogger Ryan Ballengee says that according to the National Golf Foundation, at the end of 2008, nearly half (45%) of 26.2 million golfers in the United States, were younger than 40, while one-third were more than 50 years olf.

We all know Tiger Woods helped tremendously in getting younger generations interested in golf, and recently the two tournament wins by amateurs this season on the European Tour, and several top players under the age of 20, have invigorated the sport as well.

Despite the push to expand golf to all ages, the Sports Business Journal 40 Under 40 list only contained one golfer, the USGA’s Chief Business Officer Pete Bevacqua, says Ballengee.

“For the future health of the game, there have to be more young voices that are prominently guiding the game,” says Ballengee. “The way that the game is sold and marketed to the public has to appeal to an audience that skews younger.”

How do you feel about Ballengee’s comments? How would you suggest golf appeal to younger audiences?

On Saturday, 28 golfers competed in the Touchstone Energy Million Dollar Hole-in-One Shootout at Old South Golf Links. Jon Piccione, a Hilton Head Island amateur golfer, won the contest but not the million dollars.

Piccione, swinging a 6-iron, knocked the ball to 12 feet, 7 inches, which was good enough to win the Shootout and earn him the grand prize of $1,000 cash and a trip to Las Vegas to play in a pro-am event. After the contest, he couldn’t help but wonder what might have happened if he had used a 7-iron.

About his winning shot, Piccione said “I hit a 6-iron and teed it up a little higher, because I was planning for a mis-hit, but I hit it as pure as I could hit it.”

Piccione was not the only golfer with an impressive shot on Saturday. Here are the top 5 finishers:
Jon Piccione 12 feet, 7 inches
Jon Pannone 17 feet, 7 inches
Clayton Brown 27 feet, 9 inches
Ted Morris 29 feet, 11 inches
Gary Caron 33 feet, 8 inches