Natalie Gulbis cooks on Celebrity Apprentice

Could Natalie Gulbis, LPGA super-golfer, become the next Celebrity Apprentice?

Donald Trump's latest attempt at capturing viewers includes a cook-off with Gulbis and the possibility of catfights with Deal or No Deal's Claudia Jordan, filling the show with more surprises than the recent bankruptcy deal which Trump Casino filed and, in a huff, the Donald walked away from. No bailouts here!

Expect other players in the mix like Dennis Rodman, Herschel Walker and double-threat Melissa and Joan Rivers to add to the mayhem! Andrew Dice Clay looked like he was even sassing "the Donald" in a recent advertisement which means that this show is really digging deep to come up with greater commercial success. Trump tried once in 2007 to rally publicity with a Rosie O'Donnell feud but ratings slumped to an all-time low which showered the television reality show premiere of Grease with more viewers, and that turned out to be a prime-time bomb!

Has Donald Trump assembled the most creative cast of characters yet or is he just searching for ratings? If this show survives, perhaps he should seek out Michelle Wie for a tryout? She may need the job if her new career in the LPGA doesn't come to fruition!

Stanford schools Michelle Wie on the mental game. Tiger Woods returns and is your short game scaring you?

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Michelle Wie's high hopes were dashed once again as she struggled against the wake of the tide which Angela Stanford created as she plowed through on the back nine at the SBS Open. Expectations, as we have seen time-and-time-again, have a way of throwing this game of golf into turmoil instead of doing what Stanford did by "just having so much fun." Michelle Wie version 2.0 is still very much a work in progress.

The battle between the two was exciting and proved that, although Wie has much work to do on her mental game in order to shift focus from competing to winning, her optimism and greatly improved swing will serve her, and the LPGA Tour, well this year. Any threat so far to Lorena Ochoa? Not likely…

Carolyn Bivens, who in 2006 mentioned her "master plan to expose the personalities of our stars to the general media", will now get the opportunity to turn her dreams for the LPGA into reality, thanks to the addition of Michelle Wie.

Several interesting deals to counteract the downward decline of the LPGA include a ten-year exclusive agreement with the Golf Channel beginning in 2010 and a sponsorship deal with Korea media bigwig JoongAng Ilbo. The Sports Business Journal asserts that Wie will not be promoted any differently than any of the other nineteen LPGA rookies but the Golf Channel made no such promise, instead deciding to use Wie's image to boost ratings. Can you blame them?

For now, it is clear to see who is the belle of the ball, the star of the show regardless of performance. Hopefully Michelle Wie will not disappoint but that doesn't matter much either as viewers have a weird fascination watching the rise and fall of celebrities. Either way, MW's entrance into the LPGA is a winning situation for all involved.



This popular tune sung by Frank Sinatra says it all…

Cause she's got, high hopes, she's got high hopes, she's got, high apple-pie in the sky hopes….

So any time your gettin low
stead of lettin go
Just remember that ant
Oops there goes another rubber tree plant…


Golf for Beginners also offers news of Tiger Woods' return to the PGA Tour from friend Mark O'Meara.

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Does Michelle Wie version 2.0 still have glitches and is Tiger Woods too tired for golf?

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With LPGA Tour card in hand, Michelle Wie is presenting the upgraded version of herself to fans this week at the SBS Open. You might even consider her "M.W. version 2.0", but don't expect any new surprises as she still remains the same golfer but in a shiny new package.

Although her parents have allowed her a bit of wiggle room by allowing Wie to live on campus they still maintain ultimate control, living close by and even following her around in a cart three times a week during practice sessions. She alleges that she's "to the point where I don't care what other people think of me, if they think I'm weird or something" which obviously means she is still concerned about the opinions of others. The now nineteen-year-old Wie is also probably fearing what may happen to her endorsements if she should not succeed on the LPGA Tour. Yes, Michelle Wie has demons that she needs to exorcise in order to successfully play in the zone and make a name for herself among her peers.

In other words, the computer desktop may have a new theme but bugs in the operating system need to be fixed before she can successfully release this new edition.



On a more positive note, Wie will get a kickstart in Hawaii in an event which, as a fifteen-year-old amateur, nailed her a tie for second place. Michelle has finally secured her Tour card, validating her ability to play by the rules and, for at least the start of the season, she is the darling of the LPGA, offering Golf Channel shows like Grey Goose 19th Hole plenty of fodder with Carolyn Bivens agreeing to sit in as a featured guest this week.

One question to consider over the upcoming season is, will MW's "play-whenever-you-want" ideology prove successful or detrimental to the new star of the LPGA Tour?

Golf for Beginners also wonders if Tiger's stamina during practice will improve with the addition of newborn Charlie Axel or will the world's number-one golfer fall prey to late-night feedings?

Congrats to the Woods family!

Send your golf questions and comments to golfforbeginners@aol.com.

Subscribe to our weekly podcast through this RSS feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/golfforbeginners or through iTunes.

Click Here to receive our archived podcasts and 100's of easy golf tips free!

Check us out on MySpace!

"Shiny Tech" courtesy of Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)"

This podcast is supported by OrlandoGolf.com, 866-443-8566.

Photo Credit: © Golf Digest