It is Saturday morning and a week has gone by since my last blog. That theme was an update on the ANNIKA brand of businesses and the new life of little Ava. I thought I would continue with that theme as we have more to share.

Ava is now 26 days old and she is really growing! Even though she is still tiny, she has gained over 10 ounces and grown nearly an inch. Her eyes are open more often and she is more alert. We are enjoying her waking hours and we like to give her some “tummy time” to strengthen her neck muscles as well as her core. It’s never too early!  It is cute to watch her as she tries to learn how to crawl. She pushes off our arms and is able to move about five feet. We call it an “assisted crawl.” Both Mike and I are still taking turns during the night to make sure we get as much sleep as possible.

In less than a week, the Academy will open up for our third season. We have enjoyed a good summer, but come October 1stwe will be running at full speed and will share our passion for golf and fitness through the different packages that we offer. We have a few new offerings this season as I mentioned last week. First of all we would like to welcome Evian as the “Official Water” of the ANNIKA Academy. Our guests will enjoy the premier water in the world as well as their Brumis facial spray.  We will also do some fun promotions with them throughout the world as our brands have a lot of symmetry. 

As I mentioned, we are now a certified Callaway Performance Center.  We will continue to use their state of the art CPAS fitting system, but now we are now selling more Callaway equipment in our shop at the Academy and we will be marketed and recommended by Callaway Golf world wide. This is huge for us and I would like to thank Callaway for their support and trust in the ANNIKA brand.

We have also created the Dynamic Analysis Package which is a complete three hour golf and fitness assessment.  Guests will enjoy swing analysis, club fitting, and a personal fitness evaluation.  If you are in the Central Florida area, please give us a call 1 888 ANNIKA 2 to schedule an opportunity to see the Team. Also, look for our new advertising that will air on the Golf Channel and their website starting next week. 

My golf course design business is in high gear. I am now on my eighth project worldwide and in discussions with a few others. My main market so far has been Asia, where I am planning to go check on a couple projects again in a few months. Two of the courses, Beijing and Malaysia, are now in “phase two” and the permit stages. We are in the drawing (routing) phase for the course in the Philippines. It will be a spectacular course as we have a lot of nice land and ocean views to utilize.  My course outside Seoul, Korea is in its late stage. We only have a few more holes to finalize and then we will let it grow and mature for the grand opening early next year. I truly love this area of business and look forward to my first project here in the US.

I have so much to share, but have to run. I will get back to you with next week with a Foundation update. It might have to be a whole blog in itself as we have several initiatives in the works including the ANNIKA Experience at Fiddler’s Elbow presented by Benee Scola Realtors & Company.  There are still spots available for you to join us at this golf and culinary event on October 14th in New Jersey.   As you can see, there is never a dull moment with the ANNIKA businesses and the McGee family.  That’s the way we like it!