Golf’s love cheat warmed up for today’s TV groveling session (11 a.m., CNN) by hitting golf balls in the backyard of his Orlando-area mansion.

Tiger Woods, 34, is expected to deliver his first televised apology, then return to sex rehab in Hattiesburg, Miss.

But in the meantime, an apparently relaxed Woods practiced his swing Thursday afternoon for the benefit of a shutterbug summoned to the mansion.

Tiger Woods hit some balls Thursday in the backyard of his Windermere home (Click on the photo for more, and Friday's mea culpa by Tiger)

Woods’ quiet suburban life unraveled at Thanksgiving when he crashed his car outside his home in the middle of the night, lifting the veil on his double duties as husband and dad by day and stud by night.

Good thing the Nike-clad Tiger’s looking much cleaner than when he was photographed in the courtyard of the rehab center last month. And he may even have gained a few pounds! Check out the gallery of Thursday’s action and Friday’s mea culpa by clicking on the photo, or here.

And get the bird’s eye view of Tiger’s properties all over Florida here.

Burress, who's serving 20 months on a gun charge.

Retired three-time Super Bowl champ and former Florida Gator star Godfried Myles sums it up best: “There are two places in this country where most football players live:  South Florida, and Arizona. But South Florida’s the place.”

He ain’t kidding. The area is home to thousands of former, and current, NFL players, officials, TV commentators and team owners.

There are actually so many NFLers here that former Dolphins majority owner H. Wayne Huizenga used that fact a few years back when he unsuccessfully tried to talk the league into declaring Dolphin Stadium the permanent home of the Super Bowl.

When gun-toting wide receiver Plaxico Burress is released from jail next year, he’ll probably rebuild his life at home in Lighthouse Point, not too far from where New England Patriots star Randy Moss lives, in a modest $250,000-home in Boca Raton.

And Washington Redskins owner Dwight Schar spends nearly every winter weekend in his $68 million-Palm Beach mansion. Baltimore Ravens financier Steve Bisciotti is at home in Martin County’s Jupiter Island, down the street from Canadian songbird Celine Dion.

Wait, there’s more. Look below, or click (Read more…)

Jordan and Sheen filming a Hanes commercial

– Sitcom star Charlie Sheen, whose Two and a Half Men is broadcast on Channel 12-WPEC Monday at 9 p.m., is losing his shirt and undies. Literally. Underwear maker Hanes announced it’s pulling all TV ads featuring Sheen and soon-to-be Jupiter resident Michael Jordan, the former NBA star. According to hollywoodlife.com, the move is a result of Sheen’s arrest for allegedly choking his Palm Beach-raised wife, Brooke Mueller, on Christmas morning. Hanes spokesman Matt Hall told the BBC: “It’s a pretty standard, straightforward call when somebody who’s in your commercials is arrested on suspicion of something of this magnitude. And we would suspend the ads, both for the company and, really, for Mr Sheen and his family as well.”

– Former Port S. Lucie cheerleader Megan Fox, as in Transformers and the gory Jennifer’s Body, is spending some of her Hollywood millions. Click here to see shots of the breathtaking Los Angeles abode she just bought herself, for $3 million. The 23-year-old gets a view of the Pacific during the day, and the glitter of downtown L.A. at night. I’m sure she misses PSL terribly.

Fox

For a guy who isn’t really that committed to his family, golfer Tiger Woods sure seems committed to the lovenest he’s been building for wife Elin Nordegren.

As paramours came out of the woodwork and sponsors started cutting off Woods in mid-December, his lawyer filed paperwork in Martin County showing that Woods intends to finish building the Jupiter Island home where he planned to move with his wife and two children. Swedish-born Nordegren designed the mansion, 9,000 luxurious square feet of living quarters and an equally large gym connected by a glass hallway.

The Motel 6-like structure Woods is building (Splash News.Special to Page2Live)

On Dec. 14, when Woods’ older mistress, Wellington’s Theresa Rogers, was outed, Woods’ Orlando lawyer filed two sets of document notifying the county that the Jupiter luxury construction company D&D Constantakos would continue building the ocean-to-Intracoastal property.

The general description of the work, according to one document signed by attorney Chris Hubman on that day, when Nordegren first appeared in public without her wedding band, includes: Completion of main house with two floors and basement, concrete block construction, a metal roof and impact windows. The other document is for work on a pool, a spa, the garage, a studio, landscaping and ornamental fences.

Neither David nor Daniel Constantakos, the contractors, were available for comment.

Shortly after Woods and Nordegren tied the knot in 2005, Woods started to assemble adjacent properties to form today’s 12-acre estate, which the couple named Sand Turtle. He spent $44.5 million on the land and it is estimated he has spent well in excess of $10 million on tearing down the existing homes and building his castle.

Check out all of Tiger Woods’ properties in Florida by clicking here.

Dobbs

No-nonsense former CNN star Lou Dobbs wants to throw his hat in the New Jersey political world as a third party candidate.

Joisey?

You can do better than that, Mr. Independent!

How about trying the corrupt world of Florida politics?

Because he owns a $2 million-home at Ibis Country Club in West Palm Beach, according to county property records, Dobbs could easily become eligible to run for political office in Florida. And there’s enough populist anger and resentment against the political establishment down here to pave the path to office for the grumpy anti-immigration advocate with a red carpet.

If Dobbs wants to aim high, there’s the U.S. Senate seat that Gov. Charlie Crist thinks he’s got a lock on. The vote is in november 2010.

For a dog fight is what he’s looking for, there’s a mayoral election in West Palm Beach in 2011. And the fancy western community in which Dobbs bought in 2005 would love nothing more than having a member become mayor.

Dobbs to replace Lois Frankel? Imagine that!

“Lou Dobbs is a constituent?” WPB Commish Kimberly Mitchell asked, surprised. “Well, if he ran here, that’d put us on the map. I’d sure elevate the dialogue in this city!”

Dobbs is spending Thanksgiving at Ibis. He is expected to spend weeks at a time here this winter as his daughter, Hillary, competes in Wellington’s Winter Equestrian Festival.

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Bruce Helander (Michele Sandberg/Special to Page2Live)

West Palm Beach collage and pop artist Bruce Helander, a darling among Palm Beach’s art collectors and a popular figure on the society circuit, may soon lose his beloved classic home.

The bowler hat-wearing artist and his wife, Claudia, were notified last week that the U.S. Bank National Association filed a notice to have the home sold on the proverbial courthouse steps unless the couple comes up with $945,033.

That includes the principal on an $882,970 mortgage in 2006, and more than $2,060 in late fees.

Helander bought it in 1998 for $195,000 but, according to court records, routinely borrowed against it. The digs are well-known for being the stage for some of the best parties in town and its second-to-none lush backyard.

Helander, whose art has been shown nationally, was the first hipster to buy a home in one of the downtown’s most neglected and blighted areas. He was soon followed by dozens of others, and Grandview Heights became livable again.

Helander listed the house in 2005 for $1.2 million.

“We didn’t know the bank was filing,” Helander said. “We were negotiating a new traditional mortgage. But this is a classic case of being upside down. The house appraised at less than $500,000.”

A cross between a discount motel and a beachside nursing home? Na ... it's Tiger Woods' home under construction on Jupiter Island. (Splash News/Special to Page2Live)

Elin Nordegren and Tiger Woods

Is it any wonder that golfer Tiger Woods had everybody building his Jupiter Island home sign a confidentiality agreement? I mean, look at this place! It’s a cross between a discount motel and a beachside nursing home! But hey, from what I’ve been told, Woods’ Swedish missus, Elin Nordegren, is calling the shots on this one. Woods bought four adjacent properties on the tony island for a Martin County-record $44.5 million in 2006. He then tore down the existing homes on the 12 acres, including a classic Bahamas-style manse. The new 9,700-square-foot home is split between the living quarters (right on the photo above) and a gym (left side). Both sides will be connected with a glass-covered walkway, according to the blueprints. Good thing the plans call for so much foliage around the house that few passers-by will be able to see it! For more photos, and the poll, look below or click (Read more…)

Michael Jordan, as he was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame two weeks ago (AP photo)

The plans for former NBA star and basketball Hall of Famer Michael Jordan’s new castle in Jupiter are in.

And the stack of papers recently submitted to town officials by Jordan’s architects, contractor, consultants and lawyer show that residents of the Bears Club, a posh golf community, better get ready for something the size of a Walmart.

The developer, Lavelle Construction Corp., submitted applications for a 37,942-square-foot building, with 26,000 square feet under air conditioning. There’s a cottage and guard gate.

In all, Jordan’s crib will have 11 bedrooms, and a yet-to-be-determined number of bathrooms.

The house, at 172 Bears Club Road, will dwarf most in the north side of Palm Beach County, and all around it at the Jack Nicklaus development.

Jordan's property (Courtesy Google Maps)

According to property appraiser records, most homes around Jordan’s are about 10,000 square feet.

Jordan’s slamming down $7,627,669 to build the two-story home, which will feature an elevator, a grand stairway, 10-foot ceilings and a giant fireplace.

So far, the Hanes undies pitchman has paid $152,553 to the town in permits and other fees.

Jordan, 46, bought two adjacent lots at the Jack Nicklaus-founded Bears Club last year for a total $4.8 million. He’s got three acres of wooded land adjacent to a golf course. Golf, and the privacy of a gated community, is what caught Jordan’s attention.

The sheer size of the soon-to-go-up digs, slightly smaller than the beachfronter in Palm Beach that Donald Trump sold for $100 million last year, is already having some local environmentalists chomping at the bit.

“Who needs that kind of a footprint,” said Joanne Davis, a growth management specialist with 1000 Friends of Florida. “It’s insane, a waste. Cities see nothing more than a tax base in these giant homes, but I can’t imagine anyone needing anything like that, except to show off.

“This house is going to require an enormous use of natural resources for no good reason.”

While Air Jordan’s manager in Washington, D.C., hasn’t commented (for reasons of security and privacy, she said), town officials said the part-owner of the NBA’s Charlotte Bobcats is well within code.

“The Bears Club was specifically designed for large lots,”said town zoning principal planner Scott Tatcher. “The Bears Club has done a good job setting aside upland pine areas and wetlands to offset construction. It’s true other homes are in the 10,000-square-feet range, but he is building on two lots.”

In yet another not-so-green move, the six-time NBA champion Chicago Bull has had most tall trees on the property taken out.

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will

– Who’d have thunk it!? Black Eyed Peas frontman will.i.am loves the Miami Dolphins so much that he’d put his bod on the line for the team. He posted on his blog this video plea to team owner Stephen Ross to grant him a tryout before the season starts next week. At 5-foot-4 on high heels, however, the self-described “fast” will.i.am may have a hard time finding a position, except maybe kicker. He says he wants to be a punt returner. “Yo, Ross, this ain’t no joke, I wanna play,” will says on the video. The team had no reax to the rapper’s come-ons. A source, meanwhile, tells me Dolphins officials ordered jerseys with Black Eyed Peas hottie Fergie’s name on the back, fueling rumors that the band will play at halftime of the Sept. 21 Monday night home opener.

Forest Lawn

– From the Great Beyond, Michael Jackson is pushing real estate prices up by at least 30 percent. Future stiffs have gone wacko for burial plots near Forest Lawn Memorial Park mausoleum where the King of Pop himself was interred last week in Glendale, Calif. Burial plots that went for $7,000 a few weeks ago now are creeping toward $10,000, reports TMZ. Interested in a crypt for two inside Jackson’s mausoleum? Fuhgettaboutit! They’re now trading for $34,000 a piece.

– Hey, A-Rod, got something to tell us? Kate Hudson, the actress galpal of Miami’s New York Yankees superstar Alex Rodriguez, is stepping out with a big fat sparkler on her ring finger. Spies for the New York Daily News spotted her with the bling at a recent Bombers game. Seeing that it took the lovebirds weeks in the spring to admit they were an item, it’ll probably be years for them to confirm they’re engaged.

Nightscape standout and charity organizer Leslie Holvey-Linder, a realtor by day, was feted by 100 of her closest friends Thursday at Bice restaurant in Palm Beach, after she was named managing partner of Barclays International Realty. With co-owner Shirley Wyner working on the company’s European clients, Holvey-Linder has been charged with re-focusing the firm on the Palm Beach market. Check out our gallery by Michele Sandberg.