Henry Luken recently acquired two golf courses

"The fairways are in better condition than they've ever been," Luken said. "There are still a few weeds to work out, but we'll beat the weeds."

Luken will spend between $5 million and $7 million in total by the end of 2012 on the courses, which includes both the cost of buying and renovating the three clubs.

The clubs had fallen on hard times before he acquired them, suffering from falling membership during the recession, he said. By combining operations and sprucing up the courses, Luken hopes to save money and attract new members. He's already made several deals to acquire better taylormade burner superfast 2.0 driver and new furniture for the clubhouses, and an extensive upstairs renovation is under way at Battlefield.

"When I acquired Battlefield, we were down from 330 members to 170, but we're already back up to 220," he said.

"When you sign up for a normal golf membership, you get one golf course," Luken said. "Here, you'll get three."

And there's still a lot left to do, he said.

Ben Vaughn, general manager at Battlefield Golf Club, said the personal attention from Luken has boosted the club's fortunes.

New pricing tiers are slightly higher, but they grant member benefits at all three clubs.

The long-term goal, Luken said, is to boost membership over 1,000 among the three clubs.


Luken, who already owns Montlake Golf Course, took over Eagle Bluff Golf Course and Battlefield Golf Club in January and immediately started freshening up the aged courses and clubhouses. He decided that the economies of scale in owning several ping g15 irons were too good to pass up.

To that end, he's refreshing everything. So far, he's repaired pools, installed new pedestrian bridges, fixed fairways, and mended water obstacles.

"It's a matter of making the business plan work the right now," Luken said. "I'm trying to make a family environment discount golf clubs that's economically viable. I don't mind putting in the money to make it work."

"We intend to take this back to the way it was," Luken said, seated in one of Battlefield's new golf carts. "When we get done at Battlefield, we'll get to work on Eagle Bluff."

Once the clubhouses are renovated and the course is fully repaired, he's willing to add new features like gyms and full-service restaurants -- if members want it.

"Things had been neglected for a long time," Vaughn said. "We've probably doubled our players from the same period last year."

the youngest Chinese player in European Tour golf history

Guan, from Guangzhou, endured a nervous start to his historic round as he joined the likes of Englishman Ian Poulter, who finished seventh at this month's Masters, competing for the $3.1 million tournament prize fund.

He made three bogeys and one double bogey in his first six holes and ended the day 12 shots behind leader Matthew Baldwin, from England.

But despite his indifferent start, there's no taking away Guan's title as the youngest player at a European Tour event -- breaking the record set by by Taiwan's Lo Shih-Kai -- who was callaway razr x irons 103 days older when he played at the 2003 Hong Kong Open.

"I couldn't believe I was playing with a 13-year-old -- I am old enough to be his dad," Australian Fraser told the European Tour's website. "It's pretty scary actually -- I thought I was still quite young.

The 13-year-old struggled as he joined the big boys at golf's top table, ending his opening round on five-over-par to sit 149th in a field of 156.

"He was very impressive for someone who is 13-and-a-half years old. He hits it long off the tee and hits a lot of very good shots.

But despite Guan's baptism of fire, playing partner Marcus Fraser, who ended the day two shots off Baldwin, said the schoolboy has a bright future ahead of him.

"To be that age and be able to play at callaway diablo edge irons this level is amazing. I felt lucky to be out there with him because if he keeps going he will be in the top ten in the world pretty comfortably.

"He is very mature, very driven but he is not being pushed into by his parents -- he wants to go out there and play and improve and that is the main thing.

Guan will have his work cut out if he is to catch 25-year-old Baldwin at the top of the leaderboard, after his bogey-free opening round.

"His putting is good and he has good routines. You can see he is very competitive too which you need to be. If he keeps on the path he is on then he can be a great player.

"A lot of kids get pushed into things but that is not the case here. He really wants it and it is pretty cool to see that in someone so young."

After shedding his early nerves, Guan was more discount golf clubs consistent in the second half of his round and shot level par on the back nine.


Although a rookie on the European Tour, the Englishman showed no signs of inexperience as he carded seven birdies at Binhai Lake Golf Club in Tianjin.

The youngster now faces an uphill battle to fulfill his dream of becoming the youngest player to make the halfway cut and give himself a chance to qualify for the second major of the golf calendar -- the U.S. Open in June.

If successful, he would break the record set by compatriot Jason Hak who was 14 years and 304 days old when he played at the 2008 Hong Kong Open.

Augusta National is a very powerful men-only club

Richard Lapchick, director with the Institute for Diversity and Ethics In Sport at University of Central Florida, said men-only clubs are fading as professional sports embrace diversity, but change is slow.

"I think you are going to see a lesser amount of them in the future, but unless someone puts the spotlight with a club, nobody is going change because they prefer things the direction they are," he said. "For a couple weeks, [the media] is currently talking about Augusta National, as well as the other 50 weeks, the club's policy continues."

Augusta's chairman dodged the prickly issue of women's membership Wednesday, saying it was an individual matter.

"Well, as continues to be the case, whenever discount golf clubs real question is asked, all issues of membership are now and also have historically undergone in which you deliberation of members," Billy Payne said. "That statement remains accurate; it remains my statement."

Critics say Augusta and also other men-only golf sets tend to be than merely places to tee with the guys. They're places of economic for corporate elite, where connections are manufactured and deals are brokered.

"The no-girls-allowed rule keeps women from accessing that power where they are able to do business and rise in professional development and make their very own power networks," said Veronica Arreola, assistant director of the Center for Research on Females and Gender at the University of Illinois-Chicago.

The idea of clubs as power hubs is becoming so entrenched in corporate culture that women's groups have hosted clinics to train the sport to women for them to hold their own for the green, Arreola said.

Exactly the same forms of discussions Taylormade Rocketballz Irons aren't necessarily happening in women's book clubs or with the local Curves gym, the ubiquitous franchise marketed to women.

"Million-dollar deals are certainly not taking at Curves, but they are heading down at clubs," said Terry O'Neill, president of NOW, that has men on its board and among its membership.

"The world turns on human connections; when power brokers hang together, they actually do business together. It is actually a big barrier for women to become excluded from a place like Augusta that is so well-known internet marketing the cause of power-brokering opportunities. That's really different from sweating side-by-side on treadmills."

Activists the Augusta National controversy shows gender discrimination is taken more lightly than racial discrimination.

"If this became the 1st black male CEO of IBM, and that he has not been permitted to join, IBM wouldn't normally also be considering remaining a sponsor or having some other executives at the health club," said Burk, the previous NOW president, who made Augusta's policy a national issue in 2003. "Because it's sex discrimination, they are empowered to ignore that or treat it as being a lesser evil."

Several states, including New York and California, have "public accommodation" laws that say no one can be excluded Ping G20 irons from private establishments that sell food towards the public or show films, exhibitions or athletic teams -- or places whose operations affect commerce "among the several states" -- like clubs where conferences over lunch might result in corporate mergers.

"Of course most people are entitled to a peer group that they enjoy," Burk said. "That's not the same as keeping out those who are qualified and must be a part of precisely what is essentially an enterprise club, for reasons which have absolutely nothing to use anything except an immutable characteristic such as race and gender."

Troops receive golf clubs and balls from Charity

That was his inspiration to produce Bunkers in Baghdad, the non-profit charity he admits that presently has shipped about 3 million projectiles and 60,000 clubs (all donated) to U.S. military personnel in 19 countries, including Iraq and Afghanistan, and all sorts of 50 states. They also help "Wounded Warriors" rehabilitation programs.

"The question I will be always asked is did I believe this could lose so quickly. My solution is always yes," says Hanna. "People are generous. People love the military. And when you're associated with Ping G20 driver a hobby people like such as golf, and you involve the military, it's really a perfect mix.''

When Hanna first got his idea, he chose to run it with a contact he previously with the U.S. Marine base in Quantico, Va.

"And he (the contact) said, "You know very well what I am going to do? I'll collect some golf clubs to suit your needs down here.' Therefore it is ironic how our first donation came from the Marines and attended the Marines," says Hanna.

Hanna first reached in the market to a local school in western New York and also got the volunteer help of students to aid package and ship the equipment. Turned says he's assist volunteers from a lot Mizuno MP-68 Irons more than 100 schools in 30 states. He calls the scholars "Bunkers Buddies," and with every package they include letters and drawings for the folks the military.

From Afghanistan, part of the Army's 77th Field Artillery said construction was underway on the driving range which has a net. "Already the golf equipment has become a great stress reliever. ?- After we obtain the driving range completed I know a great many more Soldiers will likely be burning up some stress while crushing some balls," said the email.

In terms of clubs, he admits that the charity prefers "gently used or new" equipment. He says his group also ships golf tees, golf mats and some apparel.

Hanna's attorney, Goldberg and Segalla, has donated an office for that charity. He says he's a volunteer board of discount golf clubs directors. "Nobody draws an income from the charity. Every dollar that comes in starts back over to our soldiers," according to him.

He admits that the "biggest hurdle" is shipping expenses. With the, he relies on donations and fund-raisers, such as a golf tournament set for this August inside the Buffalo area. Along with the group has some golf celebrity benefactors.