A couple of months ago Colt Knost had the world by the ass. The U.S. Amateur and U.S. Public Links Amateur champion, riding high on an impressive Walker Cup victory had just turned down his automatic invitation to the Masters. Today, Colt Knost is out of a job. Not only did he fail to grab the prize PGA Card, by finishing 85th at Q-School he was two shots shy of earning Nationwide status.
On the other hand, Todd Demsey, a former NCAA champion and amateur teammate of Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, shot an impressive 8-under 64 to earn one of 26 full-exempt cards next year in the big leagues. Like Knost, Demsey was a phenomenon winning the NCAA title at Arizona State in 1993. He was teammates with Woods at the World Amateur Team Championship in 1994, and played alongside Justin Leonard in the Walker Cup. He also had the world by the ass.
But things changes. Hampered by injuries, Demsey spent only one year on the PGA Tour, then it was off to the Nationwide Tour to try and earn a second chance at the big times. In 2002, after feeling unusual pressure in his left sinus, Demsey decided to have it checked out. Unbelievably, Doctors found a tumor behind his left sinus going into his brain.
Suddenly, earning a PGA Card didn’t seem very important. It took two operations to remove the tumor, and all seemed fine until earlier this year when doctors discovered that the tumor has returned. Although Doctors believe it is benign, he will have an MRI next week to decide whether to treat it with radiation.
With a brand new PGA Card in his pocket, Demsey smiled and said, "They don't think it's going to be too much recovery time, probably just a week or so. Hopefully, I can get it done in the next week or two." That’s good news because Demsey expects to take his new PGA Card out for a spin at the Sony Open in Honolulu in January.
Other noteworthy PGA Cards went to old pro Frank Lickliter III, who won the whole thing with a whopping 29 under. Colorful Duffy Waldorf also secured his card, as did Carlos Franco with a 15 under and the semi-famous Tommy “Two Gloves” Gainey the first Big Break guy to do anything.
The heart attack cards went to David Lutterus, John Merrick and Bob Sowards who tied for the last card at 14 under par. Merrick and Sowards birdied the last hole to secure their cards while Greg Chalmers and Miguel Angel Carballo bogeyed the last hole to lose theirs. Life is hard and sometimes golf is as well.
Guys you may have heard of such as Harrison Frazar finished 12 under along with Skip Kindall and Grant Waite who were 10 under par, however all three left without a card. Esteban Toledo, who took more than 10 years to get his first card, finished in 62 place. The sons of famous fathers didn’t fare well either as Hunter Haas finished 85th and Gibbie Gilbert III 93rd. The old warhorse Steve Pate finished 141st and the once bright star Tommy Tolles could do no better than 147th.
Only the top 25 and ties were destined to have their dreams come true. The next 53 were granted Nationwide Tour exemption and the rest received limited Nationwide status whatever that means. Of those who finished, Spike McRoy, who shot 14 over, had the dubious honor of finishing last. However, it should be noted that by the second round eight guys had enough and picked up their ball and went home.
Colt Knost will have to go back to the drawing board.
Friday, December 7, 2007
The Science And Witchcraft Of Golf Balls
As with everything else in golf, most golfers have a favorite brand of golf balls. Whether or not this preference is based on sound scientific reasoning is doubtful because of the one word that applies to every aspect of golf. Can you guess what that word is?
The magic word in golf is feel; but like the untrustworthy moonlight that flatters your blind date, you can’t always depend on feel… or at least not mine. Sometimes my “feel” is based on one swing on one hole. Sometimes my “feel” is based on what someone told me. And, because I have a tiny little brain, sometimes my “feel” is based on something I read in a golf article like this.
At one time or another, I have played with every golf ball on the market for every reason imaginable. Some were gifts, some were cheap, some were the only thing available, and some were used in a never-ending, not so scientific, quest for the elusive long-ball.
Frankly, I don’t know how to test a golf ball. I have tried playing a round at my home course using the fairway landmarks that I know, but because I am so inconsistent I can fly any ball almost any distance, and if gaining an extra 10-yards is considered a big deal, then my bladed five-iron is the perfect scientific measuring stick.
What exactly is feel, anyway? Are some people born with it, while others will never have it? Can it be learned, developed, bottled and resold by Butch Harmon, David Ledbetter and Hank Haney?
I have seen remarkable examples of feel. Jim Furyk knew when the clubmaker added one extra layer of tape under his grip, and he would not allow the shaft manufacturer to changes the graphics on the shaft because it changed the weight five-grams (five-grams is what a post-it note weighs). On the other hand, Fred Couples seems to be able to play with any old set of clubs. I’ve known professional golfer who didn’t know their swing weight, and then there were guys like Ben Hogan who knew everything about his clubs and yours.
Here are the few things that I think I know about golf balls. Spin equals lift. Lift helps you attain optimum launch angle. However, if your ball spins too much it will balloon and you will lose distance. The more club-head speed you have the less spin is required to obtain optimum launch angle. That’s why Tiger can hit a one-iron as high as you and I hit a five-iron. It’s artillery practice and the bigger your cannon the longer and higher your cannon ball will fly.
Spin is also the father and mother of the hook and slice. The more the ball spins off center, the more hook or slice you will have. In these cases, the problem is with the swing not the ball, but if you can’t fix the swing perhaps you had better change balls.
Here’s a revelation; you can play the correct ball and still not strike it very well. Sometimes (most of the time with me), it is the Indian and not the arrows. Which for me means that confidence is the most important aspect of “feel”, and if you feel more confident with a fifty dollar a dozen ball than a fifteen dollar a dozen ball, you should go with whatever you feel confident about. That reminds me of the story of the guy who, after hitting three brand new ProV1s into the water hazard, was asked by his playing partner, “Why don’t you use an old ball?” to which he answered, “I never had one.”
I personally abide by the $10 rule, which states that you should never lose more than $10 worth of golf balls on any single hole.
Here’s what Brandon Sowell of Bridgestone Golf has to say on the subject: “For the industry as a whole, it’s fairly evident that solid-core golf ball technology and three-piece urethane cover construction have had the biggest impact. Seamless Cover Technology allows players to experience unparalleled flight consistency, regardless of whether they strike the ball on the equator or on one of the poles.
“The biggest mistake that I’ve seen is that the average golfer doesn’t always buy the best ball to maximize their game. Some may choose a model based on what their friends use or what guys on Tour are playing. Another mistake we see is that the ones who do choose a ball based on their swing only look at swing speed. In order to get the best ball for your game, it’s important to look at the total equation. For instance, launch angle and the optimal spin rate should also be a consideration for golfers. Every golfer should be fit on a launch monitor to find out what ball is best for them.”
So I guess a launch monitor is the answer to my question about how to test golf balls. Now all I need is someone to loan me the money to buy ten different sleeves of golf balls.
You’re right, there is no cure for cheap.
The magic word in golf is feel; but like the untrustworthy moonlight that flatters your blind date, you can’t always depend on feel… or at least not mine. Sometimes my “feel” is based on one swing on one hole. Sometimes my “feel” is based on what someone told me. And, because I have a tiny little brain, sometimes my “feel” is based on something I read in a golf article like this.
At one time or another, I have played with every golf ball on the market for every reason imaginable. Some were gifts, some were cheap, some were the only thing available, and some were used in a never-ending, not so scientific, quest for the elusive long-ball.
Frankly, I don’t know how to test a golf ball. I have tried playing a round at my home course using the fairway landmarks that I know, but because I am so inconsistent I can fly any ball almost any distance, and if gaining an extra 10-yards is considered a big deal, then my bladed five-iron is the perfect scientific measuring stick.
What exactly is feel, anyway? Are some people born with it, while others will never have it? Can it be learned, developed, bottled and resold by Butch Harmon, David Ledbetter and Hank Haney?
I have seen remarkable examples of feel. Jim Furyk knew when the clubmaker added one extra layer of tape under his grip, and he would not allow the shaft manufacturer to changes the graphics on the shaft because it changed the weight five-grams (five-grams is what a post-it note weighs). On the other hand, Fred Couples seems to be able to play with any old set of clubs. I’ve known professional golfer who didn’t know their swing weight, and then there were guys like Ben Hogan who knew everything about his clubs and yours.
Here are the few things that I think I know about golf balls. Spin equals lift. Lift helps you attain optimum launch angle. However, if your ball spins too much it will balloon and you will lose distance. The more club-head speed you have the less spin is required to obtain optimum launch angle. That’s why Tiger can hit a one-iron as high as you and I hit a five-iron. It’s artillery practice and the bigger your cannon the longer and higher your cannon ball will fly.
Spin is also the father and mother of the hook and slice. The more the ball spins off center, the more hook or slice you will have. In these cases, the problem is with the swing not the ball, but if you can’t fix the swing perhaps you had better change balls.
Here’s a revelation; you can play the correct ball and still not strike it very well. Sometimes (most of the time with me), it is the Indian and not the arrows. Which for me means that confidence is the most important aspect of “feel”, and if you feel more confident with a fifty dollar a dozen ball than a fifteen dollar a dozen ball, you should go with whatever you feel confident about. That reminds me of the story of the guy who, after hitting three brand new ProV1s into the water hazard, was asked by his playing partner, “Why don’t you use an old ball?” to which he answered, “I never had one.”
I personally abide by the $10 rule, which states that you should never lose more than $10 worth of golf balls on any single hole.
Here’s what Brandon Sowell of Bridgestone Golf has to say on the subject: “For the industry as a whole, it’s fairly evident that solid-core golf ball technology and three-piece urethane cover construction have had the biggest impact. Seamless Cover Technology allows players to experience unparalleled flight consistency, regardless of whether they strike the ball on the equator or on one of the poles.
“The biggest mistake that I’ve seen is that the average golfer doesn’t always buy the best ball to maximize their game. Some may choose a model based on what their friends use or what guys on Tour are playing. Another mistake we see is that the ones who do choose a ball based on their swing only look at swing speed. In order to get the best ball for your game, it’s important to look at the total equation. For instance, launch angle and the optimal spin rate should also be a consideration for golfers. Every golfer should be fit on a launch monitor to find out what ball is best for them.”
So I guess a launch monitor is the answer to my question about how to test golf balls. Now all I need is someone to loan me the money to buy ten different sleeves of golf balls.
You’re right, there is no cure for cheap.
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Playing From The Ladies’ Tees
The following story recently appeared in an Australian Newspaper… Transgendered Golfer Makes History… A transgendered woman will make golfing history next month when she tees up for the Australian Women's Open. Never before has a transgendered woman played in a professional women's tournament.
"It's a dream for me -- I've been playing golf since I was eight, but I turned professional only in August last year. So, it's been a long time coming," said 37-year-old Mianne Bagger.
Bagger admitted that while most women on the golf course accepted her sex-change operation, some still found it hard to come to terms with.
"I have made a lot of great girlfriends through golf, but there are some women who find me hard to accept," Bagger said.
"To most people, I am just another one of the girls out there playing."
She said she went through two years of hormone replacement therapy before surgery in 1995.
"There seems to be a misconception in society that one day we (transsexuals) just wake up and think, 'I'm going to have a sex-change today'," she said. "I have always known there was something different about me since I was young -- we are born this way."
A Women's Golf Australia spokesperson said the WGA welcomes Bagger in the tournament and has been following her progress since the 1990s when it formed a policy to allow her to play in, and win, the South Australia amateur championship.
"Mianne has been playing for years in our amateur tournaments where we have no rules against trans-gender players," the spokeswoman said. "There is no reason why she should not continue her golfing career in the professional tournament."
Bagger said she one day hoped to move on from being seen as "the transsexual" golfer.
"My sexuality is just one of the obstacles I am going to have to face," she said. "What people have to realize is that plenty of men and women out there are transsexuals.”
Which begs the question, how many is “plenty”? As a semi-old, white, southern guy I’m not sure what to think of Mianne Bagger. I know so little about the subject that I don’t even know the right questions to ask. I assume that Mianne is not simply trying to find a way to play from the front tees, but frankly anyone who would be crazy enough to have their privates cut off, is also crazy enough want to play from the front tees. Is that insensitive? Sure. Inaccurate? Who knows?
For Mianne sake, I can only hope that she did her homework because history has proven that transgender athletes haven’t done all that well in competition. At least that’s the case for the most famous transgender athlete that I can remember, Renée Richards. In 1975, at the age of forty, Richard Raskind, a renowned eye surgeon and highly ranked amateur tennis player, "died," (so to speak) and Renée Richards was "born," (more or less) in what became the most public and highly scrutinized sex reassignment to date.
Granted, Dr. Renee’ Richards was already forty years old when she/he its began his/her its tennis career, and to most people’s surprise, the six-foot tall, 170 pounds good Doctor wasn’t able to dominate the real ladies. It seems the hormone replacement therapy that is required for changing a person’s sex actually does make you a bit of a wussie… not that there is anything wrong with that.
That started me thinking, which PGA star would make the best female golfer? Would it be the Tigress, or Phillis, or perhaps even K.J. Choi for those who prefer something more exotic? Certainly, Tigress would be the one with the best body and Phillis would be the one with the biggest boobs. One things for sure, it could never be Bubba Watson, or Jason Gore or John Daly because no one wants to look at any one of those guys in those little shorts.
For now, let agree that everyone should keep their own bodies parts and play from the appropriate tees. But, like Garth Algar (Dana Carvey) of Wayne’s World might have said, “Did you ever look at Adam Scott or Trevor Immelman and wonder what they would look like in a dress? Neither did I.”
"It's a dream for me -- I've been playing golf since I was eight, but I turned professional only in August last year. So, it's been a long time coming," said 37-year-old Mianne Bagger.
Bagger admitted that while most women on the golf course accepted her sex-change operation, some still found it hard to come to terms with.
"I have made a lot of great girlfriends through golf, but there are some women who find me hard to accept," Bagger said.
"To most people, I am just another one of the girls out there playing."
She said she went through two years of hormone replacement therapy before surgery in 1995.
"There seems to be a misconception in society that one day we (transsexuals) just wake up and think, 'I'm going to have a sex-change today'," she said. "I have always known there was something different about me since I was young -- we are born this way."
A Women's Golf Australia spokesperson said the WGA welcomes Bagger in the tournament and has been following her progress since the 1990s when it formed a policy to allow her to play in, and win, the South Australia amateur championship.
"Mianne has been playing for years in our amateur tournaments where we have no rules against trans-gender players," the spokeswoman said. "There is no reason why she should not continue her golfing career in the professional tournament."
Bagger said she one day hoped to move on from being seen as "the transsexual" golfer.
"My sexuality is just one of the obstacles I am going to have to face," she said. "What people have to realize is that plenty of men and women out there are transsexuals.”
Which begs the question, how many is “plenty”? As a semi-old, white, southern guy I’m not sure what to think of Mianne Bagger. I know so little about the subject that I don’t even know the right questions to ask. I assume that Mianne is not simply trying to find a way to play from the front tees, but frankly anyone who would be crazy enough to have their privates cut off, is also crazy enough want to play from the front tees. Is that insensitive? Sure. Inaccurate? Who knows?
For Mianne sake, I can only hope that she did her homework because history has proven that transgender athletes haven’t done all that well in competition. At least that’s the case for the most famous transgender athlete that I can remember, Renée Richards. In 1975, at the age of forty, Richard Raskind, a renowned eye surgeon and highly ranked amateur tennis player, "died," (so to speak) and Renée Richards was "born," (more or less) in what became the most public and highly scrutinized sex reassignment to date.
Granted, Dr. Renee’ Richards was already forty years old when she/he its began his/her its tennis career, and to most people’s surprise, the six-foot tall, 170 pounds good Doctor wasn’t able to dominate the real ladies. It seems the hormone replacement therapy that is required for changing a person’s sex actually does make you a bit of a wussie… not that there is anything wrong with that.
That started me thinking, which PGA star would make the best female golfer? Would it be the Tigress, or Phillis, or perhaps even K.J. Choi for those who prefer something more exotic? Certainly, Tigress would be the one with the best body and Phillis would be the one with the biggest boobs. One things for sure, it could never be Bubba Watson, or Jason Gore or John Daly because no one wants to look at any one of those guys in those little shorts.
For now, let agree that everyone should keep their own bodies parts and play from the appropriate tees. But, like Garth Algar (Dana Carvey) of Wayne’s World might have said, “Did you ever look at Adam Scott or Trevor Immelman and wonder what they would look like in a dress? Neither did I.”
How Much Is A PGA Tour Card Worth?
Lee Trevino once said, “Pressure is playing for ten dollars when you don't have a dime in your pocket.” That may still be true, but getting and keeping a PGA Tour Card will pucker you up as well. More than ever, a PGA Tour Card is an incredibly valuable thing. Based on the fact that it takes almost a million dollars in winnings each year just to keep it, any one of the 125 PGA Tour Cards is worth at least that and a lot more if you are able to hang on to yours.
Consider that Tiger Woods pocketed $10,867,052 in winnings in 2007, Phil Mickelson grabbed another $5,819,988 for his efforts and another five guys made more than $4 million. Now look at career earns where Tiger has already earned $76,579,376, Vijay Singh $54,108,218, Phil Mickelson $45,334,026 and another 75 guys have earned more than $10 million in their careers. As Bunker Hunt once said, “A million here and a million there and pretty soon you’re talking about some serious money.”
Don’t get me wrong I’m not against athletes making big money. As a matter of fact, I think golfers, who are basically independent contractors, actually deserve their winnings. It’s win or go home. Actually, it’s make the cut or go home but that’s splitting hairs.
Now none of this includes endorsements and other stipends that are available. Did you know that Titleist pays every guy on Tour that plays their ball each week, every one of them. Footjoy does the same with gloves and shoes. A few years ago I calculated that anyone who can make the field of a tournament makes at least $2,500 a week playing and wearing the right stuff. The trick is making the field, huh?
There’s a survey taken each week at each event asking every player about clubs (drivers, fairway, irons, hybrids, wedges and putters), shafts (driver, fairway, irons and hybrids), ball, grips, shoes, and underwear. Okay, I made up the part about underwear. From that weekly count club makers, ball guys, and shaft manufactures along with every other golf gadget lives and dies. If the right guy plays your club it’s worth millions. If you lose the right guy you just might lose your job.
The perks at the tournaments aren’t bad either. It starts with a free car for the week, Cadillac, Mercedes and who knows what else. Then there are tickets and luxury boxes just for the asking. You want to see Mavericks play? No problem. You like the Stones? Here’s your backstage pass. And the food and gift packages fill up your locker. As they say, to whom much is given, more is given each week.
It’s a great life, if you’re a great player. It’s a pretty damn good life if you’re a good player come to think of it. When is the last time you hit balls on the range and never had to bend over to put your own ball on the tee? Which reminds me, did you know that Tiger Woods brings his own range balls to each tournament? It’s true, and after the balls are picked up some poor soul has to sort through them and return the Nike balls to Tiger.
Yep, it is good to be the king in any job including sports.
So what’s at stake in this final week of the PGA Tour? What’s on the line at the Nationwide and Q-school in this final week? It’s a king’s ransom; fame and fortune; your picture on a Wheaties box; a date with Britney Spears; hosting Saturday Night Live; a stack of money ten-feet tall; and don’t forget the free golf balls.
Pressure? Maybe just a little.
Consider that Tiger Woods pocketed $10,867,052 in winnings in 2007, Phil Mickelson grabbed another $5,819,988 for his efforts and another five guys made more than $4 million. Now look at career earns where Tiger has already earned $76,579,376, Vijay Singh $54,108,218, Phil Mickelson $45,334,026 and another 75 guys have earned more than $10 million in their careers. As Bunker Hunt once said, “A million here and a million there and pretty soon you’re talking about some serious money.”
Don’t get me wrong I’m not against athletes making big money. As a matter of fact, I think golfers, who are basically independent contractors, actually deserve their winnings. It’s win or go home. Actually, it’s make the cut or go home but that’s splitting hairs.
Now none of this includes endorsements and other stipends that are available. Did you know that Titleist pays every guy on Tour that plays their ball each week, every one of them. Footjoy does the same with gloves and shoes. A few years ago I calculated that anyone who can make the field of a tournament makes at least $2,500 a week playing and wearing the right stuff. The trick is making the field, huh?
There’s a survey taken each week at each event asking every player about clubs (drivers, fairway, irons, hybrids, wedges and putters), shafts (driver, fairway, irons and hybrids), ball, grips, shoes, and underwear. Okay, I made up the part about underwear. From that weekly count club makers, ball guys, and shaft manufactures along with every other golf gadget lives and dies. If the right guy plays your club it’s worth millions. If you lose the right guy you just might lose your job.
The perks at the tournaments aren’t bad either. It starts with a free car for the week, Cadillac, Mercedes and who knows what else. Then there are tickets and luxury boxes just for the asking. You want to see Mavericks play? No problem. You like the Stones? Here’s your backstage pass. And the food and gift packages fill up your locker. As they say, to whom much is given, more is given each week.
It’s a great life, if you’re a great player. It’s a pretty damn good life if you’re a good player come to think of it. When is the last time you hit balls on the range and never had to bend over to put your own ball on the tee? Which reminds me, did you know that Tiger Woods brings his own range balls to each tournament? It’s true, and after the balls are picked up some poor soul has to sort through them and return the Nike balls to Tiger.
Yep, it is good to be the king in any job including sports.
So what’s at stake in this final week of the PGA Tour? What’s on the line at the Nationwide and Q-school in this final week? It’s a king’s ransom; fame and fortune; your picture on a Wheaties box; a date with Britney Spears; hosting Saturday Night Live; a stack of money ten-feet tall; and don’t forget the free golf balls.
Pressure? Maybe just a little.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Official World Golf Rankings
One of the favorite items that we publish from time to time is the Official World Golf Rankings. It’s always fun to see who is second and so on. However, every time we publish these ranking about a thousand of you, including myself, ask who, what and how is being counted to get these rankings?
Being the crack reporter that I am, I have taken it upon myself to ferret out the answer to this important question. However, after hours, okay minutes of research I feel it is my duty to inform you that the formula used to calculate the aforementioned ranking is more complicated that Chinese arithmetic, but you asked for it, so here it is:
The Official World Golf Ranking, which is endorsed by the four Major Championships and the six professional tours which make up the International Federation of PGA Tours, is issued every Monday, following the completion of the previous week’s tournaments from around the world.
The official events from the six professional tours together with the Canadian, Nationwide and European Challenge Tours are all taken into account and “Ranking Points” are awarded according to the players’ finishing positions and are generally related to the strength of the field based on the number and ranking of the Top-200 World Ranked players and the Top-30 of the Home Tour players in the respective tournaments (Event “Rating Values”). However, the four Major Championships are rated separately to reflect the higher quality of the events together with the Players Championship in the United States. In addition, the BMW PGA Championship in Europe, the Australian, Japan and South African Open Championships and the Flagship events on the Asian and Nationwide Tours are allocated higher minimum point levels to reflect their status.
The World Ranking Points for each player are accumulated over a two year “rolling” period with the points awarded for each event maintained for a 13-week period to place additional emphasis on recent performances – ranking points will then be reduced in equal increments for the remaining 91 weeks of the two year Ranking period. Each player is then ranked according to his average points per tournament, which is determined by dividing his total number of points by the tournaments he has played over that two-year period. There is a minimum divisor of 40 tournaments over the two year ranking period.
The winners of the Masters Tournament, the US Open Championship, the Open Championship and the PGA Championship are awarded 100 points (60 points for 2nd place, 40 for 3rd, 30 for 4th down to 1.50 points for a player completing the final round), and the winner of the Players Championship is awarded 80 points (points are awarded down to 1.20 points for 60th place and ties). The BMW PGA Championship has a minimum 64 points for the winner (points to 56th place). Minimum points levels for the winners of official Tour events have been set at 6 points for the Canadian Tour (points to 6th place), 12 points for the European Challenge Tour (points to 14th place), 14 points for the Asian, Sunshine and Nationwide Tours (points to 17th place), 16 points for Australasian and Japanese Tours (points to 19th place) and 24 points for European and the United States Tours (points to 27th place). In addition the Open Championships of Australia, Japan and South Africa have a minimum of 32 points for the winner (points to 37th place) and the Flagship events on the Asian and Nationwide Tours have a minimum of 20 points for the winner (points to 22nd place). In the cases of co-sanctioned Tour events, the minimum points levels are determined using the “average” of the minimum Tour ranking points from each Tour (rounded up to nearest whole number).
Points are reduced by 25% for tournaments curtailed to 36 holes because of inclement weather or other reasons.
Being the crack reporter that I am, I have taken it upon myself to ferret out the answer to this important question. However, after hours, okay minutes of research I feel it is my duty to inform you that the formula used to calculate the aforementioned ranking is more complicated that Chinese arithmetic, but you asked for it, so here it is:
The Official World Golf Ranking, which is endorsed by the four Major Championships and the six professional tours which make up the International Federation of PGA Tours, is issued every Monday, following the completion of the previous week’s tournaments from around the world.
The official events from the six professional tours together with the Canadian, Nationwide and European Challenge Tours are all taken into account and “Ranking Points” are awarded according to the players’ finishing positions and are generally related to the strength of the field based on the number and ranking of the Top-200 World Ranked players and the Top-30 of the Home Tour players in the respective tournaments (Event “Rating Values”). However, the four Major Championships are rated separately to reflect the higher quality of the events together with the Players Championship in the United States. In addition, the BMW PGA Championship in Europe, the Australian, Japan and South African Open Championships and the Flagship events on the Asian and Nationwide Tours are allocated higher minimum point levels to reflect their status.
The World Ranking Points for each player are accumulated over a two year “rolling” period with the points awarded for each event maintained for a 13-week period to place additional emphasis on recent performances – ranking points will then be reduced in equal increments for the remaining 91 weeks of the two year Ranking period. Each player is then ranked according to his average points per tournament, which is determined by dividing his total number of points by the tournaments he has played over that two-year period. There is a minimum divisor of 40 tournaments over the two year ranking period.
The winners of the Masters Tournament, the US Open Championship, the Open Championship and the PGA Championship are awarded 100 points (60 points for 2nd place, 40 for 3rd, 30 for 4th down to 1.50 points for a player completing the final round), and the winner of the Players Championship is awarded 80 points (points are awarded down to 1.20 points for 60th place and ties). The BMW PGA Championship has a minimum 64 points for the winner (points to 56th place). Minimum points levels for the winners of official Tour events have been set at 6 points for the Canadian Tour (points to 6th place), 12 points for the European Challenge Tour (points to 14th place), 14 points for the Asian, Sunshine and Nationwide Tours (points to 17th place), 16 points for Australasian and Japanese Tours (points to 19th place) and 24 points for European and the United States Tours (points to 27th place). In addition the Open Championships of Australia, Japan and South Africa have a minimum of 32 points for the winner (points to 37th place) and the Flagship events on the Asian and Nationwide Tours have a minimum of 20 points for the winner (points to 22nd place). In the cases of co-sanctioned Tour events, the minimum points levels are determined using the “average” of the minimum Tour ranking points from each Tour (rounded up to nearest whole number).
Points are reduced by 25% for tournaments curtailed to 36 holes because of inclement weather or other reasons.
The Tallest Guy On Tour
In the 1970s, five foot five inch, 148 pound Freddie Patek was asked, “What’s it like to be the smallest guy in Major League Baseball?” to which he smartly answered, “It’s a hell of a lot better than being the smallest guy in Minor League Baseball.”
Such is the predicament of Cory Pavin.
Although slightly bigger than the diminutive Patek, at five foot nine and 155 pounds Cory is a lot closer to qualifying as a jockey than a bouncer. At 48 years old, the 1995 U.S. Open winner has competed in 25 tournaments in 2007 banking $498,252, which sounds like a lot until you realize that places him 138 on the money list.
He ranks 195 in driving distance with an average of 265.3 yards (you probably have someone in your foursome who hits it further). Playing from the Tournament tees it’s predictable that he would also rank 180 in greens in regulations (Tiger is hitting a wedge and Cory is hitting a four iron). Just as predictable are his putting stats; long irons and hybrids into the green is not the way to get it close, or make birdies (ranked 182), or eagles (ranked 122).
However, Cory has had his moments; with fifteen victories including one major and total earnings of $13,681,873, he’s made more money on the PGA Tour than the likes of Payne Stewart, Tom Kite, Jose Maria Olazabal and Tom Watson, yet many people likely regarded him less than any of those players. Perhaps it is because he is in that difficult phase of his career where he is too old to compete on the regular Tour and too young for the Champions Tour. Everyone goes through it, and like the old fire-horse, it is hard not to run (even though your legs are gone) when you hear the bell. And let’s face it, where else could he make $498,252 a year for playing a game?
It doesn’t matter that Tiger Woods almost made more money in 2007 than Cory made in his entire career. It doesn’t matter that Johnny Miller makes fun of his swing (he also made more money on Tour than Johnny Miller did). What does matter is that he loves what he does and no one should blame him for stretching out a career as long as possible? He understands that he can’t out drive Tiger Woods, but he couldn’t out drive Jack Nicklaus, either.
Perhaps he is a man out of time, more suited to the old days of bad swings and worse attire. Still his 280 U.S. Open score bettered the likes of Greg Norman that year and beat the festive-way out of Fred Herd who shot 84-85-75-84 for a hard earned 328 in 1898.
There is an old joke that says that the race doesn’t always go to the biggest and fastest, but don’t bet against it, and I imagine Cory Pavin has heard that kind of stuff his entire life. But somewhere in his journey he discovered that it doesn’t matter that life is not fair, sports are. If you can run faster you win and it doesn’t matter if you are five foot, five, or six foot five. And another thing, when you’re standing on the winner’s podium everyone looks a lot taller.
I suspect that Cory is counting the days when he’ll become a rookie one more time and join the Champions Tour, but maybe not. I bet he’s the kind of guy that loves to give the young guys a tip or two, or tell them how it feels to win the U.S. Open. And I wager that he would like to catch lightning in a bottle one more time on the regular Tour, and don’t bet against him doing just that. His last victory was the 2006 U.S. Bank Tournament in Milwaukee where he shot 20 under. Remember, he had that incredible start, then held on for dear life. I can still see that funny looking swing kicking up divots and hear David Feherty making jokes. By the way Cory made a lot more money on Tour than David Feherty did, as well.
And one other thing, a couple of years ago when we organized a tour of the J. Eric Jonsson Community School, a benefactors of the Byron Nelson Championship, Cory Pavin was one of only about five or six players that actually took time out of their schedule to tour the school.
Interestingly, the 7 and 8-year old children didn’t have any idea who Cory Pavin was, but that didn’t seem make any difference to them or Cory. All they knew was a nice man wanted to see the pictures they had painted and that was pretty cool. I remember watching him take the time to look at every picture and compliment every child. It wasn’t long after that I remember thinking that Cory Pavin looked a lot taller than I thought he was.
Such is the predicament of Cory Pavin.
Although slightly bigger than the diminutive Patek, at five foot nine and 155 pounds Cory is a lot closer to qualifying as a jockey than a bouncer. At 48 years old, the 1995 U.S. Open winner has competed in 25 tournaments in 2007 banking $498,252, which sounds like a lot until you realize that places him 138 on the money list.
He ranks 195 in driving distance with an average of 265.3 yards (you probably have someone in your foursome who hits it further). Playing from the Tournament tees it’s predictable that he would also rank 180 in greens in regulations (Tiger is hitting a wedge and Cory is hitting a four iron). Just as predictable are his putting stats; long irons and hybrids into the green is not the way to get it close, or make birdies (ranked 182), or eagles (ranked 122).
However, Cory has had his moments; with fifteen victories including one major and total earnings of $13,681,873, he’s made more money on the PGA Tour than the likes of Payne Stewart, Tom Kite, Jose Maria Olazabal and Tom Watson, yet many people likely regarded him less than any of those players. Perhaps it is because he is in that difficult phase of his career where he is too old to compete on the regular Tour and too young for the Champions Tour. Everyone goes through it, and like the old fire-horse, it is hard not to run (even though your legs are gone) when you hear the bell. And let’s face it, where else could he make $498,252 a year for playing a game?
It doesn’t matter that Tiger Woods almost made more money in 2007 than Cory made in his entire career. It doesn’t matter that Johnny Miller makes fun of his swing (he also made more money on Tour than Johnny Miller did). What does matter is that he loves what he does and no one should blame him for stretching out a career as long as possible? He understands that he can’t out drive Tiger Woods, but he couldn’t out drive Jack Nicklaus, either.
Perhaps he is a man out of time, more suited to the old days of bad swings and worse attire. Still his 280 U.S. Open score bettered the likes of Greg Norman that year and beat the festive-way out of Fred Herd who shot 84-85-75-84 for a hard earned 328 in 1898.
There is an old joke that says that the race doesn’t always go to the biggest and fastest, but don’t bet against it, and I imagine Cory Pavin has heard that kind of stuff his entire life. But somewhere in his journey he discovered that it doesn’t matter that life is not fair, sports are. If you can run faster you win and it doesn’t matter if you are five foot, five, or six foot five. And another thing, when you’re standing on the winner’s podium everyone looks a lot taller.
I suspect that Cory is counting the days when he’ll become a rookie one more time and join the Champions Tour, but maybe not. I bet he’s the kind of guy that loves to give the young guys a tip or two, or tell them how it feels to win the U.S. Open. And I wager that he would like to catch lightning in a bottle one more time on the regular Tour, and don’t bet against him doing just that. His last victory was the 2006 U.S. Bank Tournament in Milwaukee where he shot 20 under. Remember, he had that incredible start, then held on for dear life. I can still see that funny looking swing kicking up divots and hear David Feherty making jokes. By the way Cory made a lot more money on Tour than David Feherty did, as well.
And one other thing, a couple of years ago when we organized a tour of the J. Eric Jonsson Community School, a benefactors of the Byron Nelson Championship, Cory Pavin was one of only about five or six players that actually took time out of their schedule to tour the school.
Interestingly, the 7 and 8-year old children didn’t have any idea who Cory Pavin was, but that didn’t seem make any difference to them or Cory. All they knew was a nice man wanted to see the pictures they had painted and that was pretty cool. I remember watching him take the time to look at every picture and compliment every child. It wasn’t long after that I remember thinking that Cory Pavin looked a lot taller than I thought he was.
Thursday, September 27, 2007
I've Spent Most Of My Life Playing Golf... The Rest I've Just Wasted
I am not only a writer I am a talker. I talk to every swing, good and bad, though I tend to talk to bad shots more than the good ones. I sometimes cuss bad shots that turn out well, which really ticks off whoever I’m playing with. I actually miss-hit my only hole-in-one, and cussed an eagle that was bladed from the fairway to the bottom of the hole.
Over the years the famous, infamous and folks you never heard of like me have had some interesting things to say about the great game. Here are just a few:
Golf is a good walk spoiled. ~Mark Twain
Eighteen holes of match or medal play will teach you more about your foe than will 18 years of dealing with him across a desk. ~Grantland Rice
Golf is like an 18-year-old girl with big boobs. You know it's wrong but you can't keep away from her. ~Val Doonican
Golf appeals to the idiot in us and the child. Just how childlike golf players become is proven by their frequent inability to count past five. ~John Updike
They call it golf because all of the other four-letter words were taken. ~Raymond Floyd
Actually, the only time I ever took out a one-iron was to kill a tarantula. And it took a seven to do that. ~Jim Murray
A "gimme" can best be defined as an agreement between two golfers, neither of whom can putt very well. ~Author Unknown
If profanity had an influence on the flight of the ball, the game of golf would be played far better than it is. ~Horace G. Hutchinson
Golf is like a love affair. If you don't take it seriously, it's no fun; if you do take it seriously, it breaks your heart. ~Arthur Daley
The reason the pro tells you to keep your head down is so you can't see him laughing. ~Phyllis Diller
The ardent golfer would play Mount Everest if somebody put a flagstick on top. ~Pete Dye
If I can hit a curveball, why can't I hit a ball that is standing still on a course? ~Larry
Nelson
Art said he wanted to get more distance. I told him to hit it and run backward. ~Ken Venturi, on Art Rosenbaum
The sport of choice for the urban poor is basketball. The sport of choice for maintenance level employees is bowling. The sport of choice for front-line workers is football. The sport of choice for supervisors is baseball. The sport of choice for middle management is tennis. The sport of choice for corporate officers is golf. Conclusion: The higher you are in the corporate structure, the smaller your balls become. ~Author Unknown
Golf balls are attracted to water as unerringly as the eye of a middle-aged man to a female bosom. ~Michael Green, The Art of Coarse Golf, 1967
If you're caught on a golf course during a storm and are afraid of lightning, hold up a 1-iron. Not even God can hit a 1-iron. ~Lee Trevino
Golf is played by twenty million mature American men whose wives think they are out having fun. ~Jim Bishop
"Play it as it lies" is one of the fundamental dictates of golf. The other is "Wear it if it clashes." ~Henry Beard, Golfing, 1985
I would like to deny all allegations by Bob Hope that during my last game of golf, I hit an eagle, a birdie, an elk and a moose. ~Gerald Ford
The first time I played the Masters, I was so nervous I drank a bottle of rum before I teed off. I shot the happiest 83 of my life. ~Chi Chi Rodriguez
A golf course is nothing but a poolroom moved outdoors. ~Barry Fitzgerald, Going My Way
I'll shoot my age if I have to live to be 105. ~Bob Hope
After all these years, it's still embarrassing for me to play on the American golf tour. Like the time I asked my caddie for a sand wedge and he came back ten minutes later with a ham on rye. ~Chi Chi Rodriguez, on his Puerto Rican accent
My swing is so bad I look like a caveman killing his lunch. ~Lee Trevino
Golf is the cruelest game, because eventually it will drag you out in front of the whole school, take your lunch money and slap you around. ~Rick Reilly, "Master Strokes," Sports Illustrated
Golf is the cruelest of sports. Like life, it's unfair. It's a harlot. A trollop. It leads you on. It never lives up to its promises.... It's a boulevard of broken dreams. It plays with men. And runs off with the butcher. ~Jim Murray
No game designed to be played with the aid of personal servants by right-handed men who can't even bring along their dogs can be entirely good for the soul. ~Bruce McCall, "The Case Against Golf," Esquire
These greens are so fast I have to hold my putter over the ball and hit it with the shadow. ~Sam Snead
Golf is an awkward set of bodily contortions designed to produce a graceful result. ~Tommy Armour
Who watches golf on TV? Who calls eight friends over and gets a keg of beer? Landscapers, I guess. They sit around the TV, yelling, "Will you look at that golf path? Pure pea gravel." ~Jeff Cesario
Golf is a game in which you yell "fore," shoot six, and write down five. ~Paul Harvey
You can't call it a sport. You don't run, jump, you don't shoot, you don't pass. All you have to do is buy some clothes that don't match. ~Steve Sax
Hockey is a sport for white men. Basketball is a sport for black men. Golf is a sport for white men dressed like black pimps. ~Tiger Woods
It's so bad I could putt off a tabletop and still leave the ball halfway down the leg. ~J.C. Snead, on his putting
The uglier a man's legs are, the better he plays golf. It's almost a law. ~H.G. Wells, Bealby, 1915
One of the advantages bowling has over golf is that you seldom lose a bowling ball. ~Don Carter
I'm a golfaholic, no question about that. Counseling wouldn't help me. They'd have to put me in prison, and then I'd talk the warden into building a hole or two and teach him how to play. ~Lee Trevino
My Sunday best is a Wednesday afternoon compared to him. ~Nick Faldo, on John Daly
When I die, bury me on the golf course so my husband will visit. ~Author Unknown
Over the years the famous, infamous and folks you never heard of like me have had some interesting things to say about the great game. Here are just a few:
Golf is a good walk spoiled. ~Mark Twain
Eighteen holes of match or medal play will teach you more about your foe than will 18 years of dealing with him across a desk. ~Grantland Rice
Golf is like an 18-year-old girl with big boobs. You know it's wrong but you can't keep away from her. ~Val Doonican
Golf appeals to the idiot in us and the child. Just how childlike golf players become is proven by their frequent inability to count past five. ~John Updike
They call it golf because all of the other four-letter words were taken. ~Raymond Floyd
Actually, the only time I ever took out a one-iron was to kill a tarantula. And it took a seven to do that. ~Jim Murray
A "gimme" can best be defined as an agreement between two golfers, neither of whom can putt very well. ~Author Unknown
If profanity had an influence on the flight of the ball, the game of golf would be played far better than it is. ~Horace G. Hutchinson
Golf is like a love affair. If you don't take it seriously, it's no fun; if you do take it seriously, it breaks your heart. ~Arthur Daley
The reason the pro tells you to keep your head down is so you can't see him laughing. ~Phyllis Diller
The ardent golfer would play Mount Everest if somebody put a flagstick on top. ~Pete Dye
If I can hit a curveball, why can't I hit a ball that is standing still on a course? ~Larry
Nelson
Art said he wanted to get more distance. I told him to hit it and run backward. ~Ken Venturi, on Art Rosenbaum
The sport of choice for the urban poor is basketball. The sport of choice for maintenance level employees is bowling. The sport of choice for front-line workers is football. The sport of choice for supervisors is baseball. The sport of choice for middle management is tennis. The sport of choice for corporate officers is golf. Conclusion: The higher you are in the corporate structure, the smaller your balls become. ~Author Unknown
Golf balls are attracted to water as unerringly as the eye of a middle-aged man to a female bosom. ~Michael Green, The Art of Coarse Golf, 1967
If you're caught on a golf course during a storm and are afraid of lightning, hold up a 1-iron. Not even God can hit a 1-iron. ~Lee Trevino
Golf is played by twenty million mature American men whose wives think they are out having fun. ~Jim Bishop
"Play it as it lies" is one of the fundamental dictates of golf. The other is "Wear it if it clashes." ~Henry Beard, Golfing, 1985
I would like to deny all allegations by Bob Hope that during my last game of golf, I hit an eagle, a birdie, an elk and a moose. ~Gerald Ford
The first time I played the Masters, I was so nervous I drank a bottle of rum before I teed off. I shot the happiest 83 of my life. ~Chi Chi Rodriguez
A golf course is nothing but a poolroom moved outdoors. ~Barry Fitzgerald, Going My Way
I'll shoot my age if I have to live to be 105. ~Bob Hope
After all these years, it's still embarrassing for me to play on the American golf tour. Like the time I asked my caddie for a sand wedge and he came back ten minutes later with a ham on rye. ~Chi Chi Rodriguez, on his Puerto Rican accent
My swing is so bad I look like a caveman killing his lunch. ~Lee Trevino
Golf is the cruelest game, because eventually it will drag you out in front of the whole school, take your lunch money and slap you around. ~Rick Reilly, "Master Strokes," Sports Illustrated
Golf is the cruelest of sports. Like life, it's unfair. It's a harlot. A trollop. It leads you on. It never lives up to its promises.... It's a boulevard of broken dreams. It plays with men. And runs off with the butcher. ~Jim Murray
No game designed to be played with the aid of personal servants by right-handed men who can't even bring along their dogs can be entirely good for the soul. ~Bruce McCall, "The Case Against Golf," Esquire
These greens are so fast I have to hold my putter over the ball and hit it with the shadow. ~Sam Snead
Golf is an awkward set of bodily contortions designed to produce a graceful result. ~Tommy Armour
Who watches golf on TV? Who calls eight friends over and gets a keg of beer? Landscapers, I guess. They sit around the TV, yelling, "Will you look at that golf path? Pure pea gravel." ~Jeff Cesario
Golf is a game in which you yell "fore," shoot six, and write down five. ~Paul Harvey
You can't call it a sport. You don't run, jump, you don't shoot, you don't pass. All you have to do is buy some clothes that don't match. ~Steve Sax
Hockey is a sport for white men. Basketball is a sport for black men. Golf is a sport for white men dressed like black pimps. ~Tiger Woods
It's so bad I could putt off a tabletop and still leave the ball halfway down the leg. ~J.C. Snead, on his putting
The uglier a man's legs are, the better he plays golf. It's almost a law. ~H.G. Wells, Bealby, 1915
One of the advantages bowling has over golf is that you seldom lose a bowling ball. ~Don Carter
I'm a golfaholic, no question about that. Counseling wouldn't help me. They'd have to put me in prison, and then I'd talk the warden into building a hole or two and teach him how to play. ~Lee Trevino
My Sunday best is a Wednesday afternoon compared to him. ~Nick Faldo, on John Daly
When I die, bury me on the golf course so my husband will visit. ~Author Unknown
Scrambles, Shambles, Pro-Ams and Other Lesser Forms Of Golf
I hate scrambles. Perhaps they are a necessary evil of trying to get around a golf course with a large group of mixed handicaps, but the rounds tend to last five or six hours anyway, so what’s the point?
I hate that scrambles make me over swing because “the team” already has a ball in play so the only way I can contribute is to be long, which is not my game. Nonetheless, for the team, I jump up and try to show everyone my cleats. Half the time my “big swing” ends up as a dead pull and OB left. Now and then I’ll hit one pretty good only to find out that one of my flat-bellied partners has hit it past me anyway. Instantly, my best was relegated to second best just like that. What a waste.
Then there is putting and the embarrassment of missing a putt after you have seen the line and speed four times. And, let’s face it if you don’t birdie or eagle every hole you have no chance to win. Hell, I’ve played in scrambles that 25 under didn’t even make the front page of the leader-board. The first liar hasn’t got a chance.
Then there’s the closest-to-the-hole contest at the long par three that I never win. The only way I even get to write my name on that card is to be in the first group, which is good because only the second group knows that your ball was a good fifty feet from the hole. Writing your name on that card that stands defiantly close to the hole is a golfer’s badge of courage. You’ve hit dozens of balls closer. Now and then you’ve caught it clean and impressed your buddies with a little backspin. But this is better because you get to write your name down. Go figure.
Longest, straightest, closest to the hole; I pretty much suck at all of those things, so why do I hate scrambles when it is obviously a game suited to my talents? Because win lose or draw, it simply doesn’t feel like real golf.
A scramble reminds me of playing penny-ante poker with strangers where four aces may draw the same bet as two-pair. There is so little at stake you never get a feeling for the game. In a scramble format it’s easy to lose your focus, not to mention your pride and ego. Bad shots have no penalty because the guy behind you simply hits another. Good shots are blown out of proportion because four or five guys benefit from your occasional magic with a five-iron. High-fives all-round.
Another thing I hate about scrambles is the shotgun start. In my mind, golf courses are designed to be played hole one through hole eighteen and when you tee off on fifteen, which may be the number one handicap hole, it changes everything. I have a tiny little brain and when I get off to a bad start I have a very difficult time righting the ship. Think about it, have you ever double-bogeyed the first hole and had a good round?
Next month I’m playing in a shamble, which is better than a scramble but not better than just playing golf. It still makes me swing too hard off the tee, but at least after you move your ball to the site of the best tee shot you get to play your own ball in from there. I don’t know if a shamble is slower or faster than a scramble, but I do enjoy it more.
Speaking of six-hour rounds, for several years I played in a big-time pro-am at a PGA event that cost me about $5,000. It wasn’t a scramble, it was two-ball, and if you were out of the hole they made you pick up your ball. Most of the pros I played with were okay, some, like Tom Watson, were very nice and a few were real jerks and made no bones about not wanting to be there. For some reason those guys never realized that the dudes willing to pony-up the five grand were pretty important to the welfare of the Tournament. Go figure.
Which reminds me of the nameless PGA professional and recently fired television commentator that was asked by a one of the pro-am participants to read a putt to which he answered, “Pick up your ball fat boy, you’re out of the hole.” For $5,000 you deserve to have a putt read even by a jerk.
Like most of you, I hate to play slow and perhaps real golf would be slower than a scramble or a shamble. What do you think? What is the best way to move twenty or thirty foursomes around a golf course? Perhaps a better question would be, what would be the most fun?
I hate that scrambles make me over swing because “the team” already has a ball in play so the only way I can contribute is to be long, which is not my game. Nonetheless, for the team, I jump up and try to show everyone my cleats. Half the time my “big swing” ends up as a dead pull and OB left. Now and then I’ll hit one pretty good only to find out that one of my flat-bellied partners has hit it past me anyway. Instantly, my best was relegated to second best just like that. What a waste.
Then there is putting and the embarrassment of missing a putt after you have seen the line and speed four times. And, let’s face it if you don’t birdie or eagle every hole you have no chance to win. Hell, I’ve played in scrambles that 25 under didn’t even make the front page of the leader-board. The first liar hasn’t got a chance.
Then there’s the closest-to-the-hole contest at the long par three that I never win. The only way I even get to write my name on that card is to be in the first group, which is good because only the second group knows that your ball was a good fifty feet from the hole. Writing your name on that card that stands defiantly close to the hole is a golfer’s badge of courage. You’ve hit dozens of balls closer. Now and then you’ve caught it clean and impressed your buddies with a little backspin. But this is better because you get to write your name down. Go figure.
Longest, straightest, closest to the hole; I pretty much suck at all of those things, so why do I hate scrambles when it is obviously a game suited to my talents? Because win lose or draw, it simply doesn’t feel like real golf.
A scramble reminds me of playing penny-ante poker with strangers where four aces may draw the same bet as two-pair. There is so little at stake you never get a feeling for the game. In a scramble format it’s easy to lose your focus, not to mention your pride and ego. Bad shots have no penalty because the guy behind you simply hits another. Good shots are blown out of proportion because four or five guys benefit from your occasional magic with a five-iron. High-fives all-round.
Another thing I hate about scrambles is the shotgun start. In my mind, golf courses are designed to be played hole one through hole eighteen and when you tee off on fifteen, which may be the number one handicap hole, it changes everything. I have a tiny little brain and when I get off to a bad start I have a very difficult time righting the ship. Think about it, have you ever double-bogeyed the first hole and had a good round?
Next month I’m playing in a shamble, which is better than a scramble but not better than just playing golf. It still makes me swing too hard off the tee, but at least after you move your ball to the site of the best tee shot you get to play your own ball in from there. I don’t know if a shamble is slower or faster than a scramble, but I do enjoy it more.
Speaking of six-hour rounds, for several years I played in a big-time pro-am at a PGA event that cost me about $5,000. It wasn’t a scramble, it was two-ball, and if you were out of the hole they made you pick up your ball. Most of the pros I played with were okay, some, like Tom Watson, were very nice and a few were real jerks and made no bones about not wanting to be there. For some reason those guys never realized that the dudes willing to pony-up the five grand were pretty important to the welfare of the Tournament. Go figure.
Which reminds me of the nameless PGA professional and recently fired television commentator that was asked by a one of the pro-am participants to read a putt to which he answered, “Pick up your ball fat boy, you’re out of the hole.” For $5,000 you deserve to have a putt read even by a jerk.
Like most of you, I hate to play slow and perhaps real golf would be slower than a scramble or a shamble. What do you think? What is the best way to move twenty or thirty foursomes around a golf course? Perhaps a better question would be, what would be the most fun?
Thursday, September 13, 2007
My Cup Runneth Over
You might have heard that there are a few championship cups at stake this month. And for my money, it is yet to be determined which one will be the most exciting or the most important.
The FedEx Cup. I assume that the PGA Tour considered what would happen if only six guys actually had a chance to win the FedEx Cup in the final week. I also assume that they knew that the third round had a real chance to be concluded at more than twenty under par. In their defense, they had no idea that Atlanta would spend the year closer to the sun than normal and suffer through the worst summer in twenty years and perhaps lose several greens just before the Championship. We all hate that, but not as much as the Tournament Director who lost his Pro-Am and a couple of million dollars.
But it is what it is.
So, here’s what it comes down to: If Tiger wins first or is tied for second he wins. If Stricker wins he wins and if he finishes second and Tiger finishes third he still wins. Mickelson needs a little help. If he wins and Tiger finishes no better than third, Phil is the Champion. Rory Sabbatina needs to beat Mickelson and Stricker and have Tiger finish no better than thirteen. K.J. Choi needs even more help. He needs Mickelson to finish third or worse, Stricker fourth or worse, and Tiger to finish twenty-second. He may have to steal Tiger’s clubs for that to happen and that still may not be enough. The only other guy with any chance is Aaron Baddeley who basically needs to win on Sunday and have Tiger, Steve, Phil, Rory and K.J. to finish dead last.
Any of the other twenty-four players can win the Tournament, but they cannot win the FedEx Cup even if the top six players don’t play. For the Tour’s sake, I hope the top six play well. It might be a little embarrassing if the first FedEx Cup winner shoots 80 on the final day.
The Walker Cup. This may turn out to be the most exciting cup of the year. The U.S. team, with our guy Colt Knost, needed a 254-yard 4-iron from Jonathan Moore on 18 to set up a four foot eagle putt to win 12.5-11.5. By the way, it’s the first time the U.S. has won the Walker Cup on foreign soil since a couple of guys named Phil Mickelson and David Duval won at Portmarnock outside Dublin back in 1991.
Our boy Knost and the hero of the day Jonathan Moore were the only two players not to lose a match. Doesn’t Jonathan Moore sound like he ought to be playing for the Brits?
The Solheim Cup. In a grumpy old man sort of way, I like the ladies’ game and the Solheim Cup. Perhaps it’s because the ladies’ game is a lot closer to mine than Tiger’s. However, I must admit that I miss the craziness of Michelle Wie, but alas she is hitting the books at dear old Stanford. Fear not however, with only nine tournaments in the record books, the U.S. has already made it a habit of kicking European butt without Michelle Wie. The three European wins have been over there, but only one of the U.S.’s six wins has been away from home.
U.S. Team Captain and Hall of Fame member Betsy King brings veterans Juli Inkster, and Pat Hurst along with past team members; Laura Diaz, Cristie Kerr and Sherri Steinhauer are all three-time members of the American squad as well. Twenty-one-year-old Paula Creamer is making her second Solheim Cup appearance after leading the Americans in her rookie debut with 3 points in 2005.
The U.S. Team will also showcase four rookies including Nicole Castrale, Brittany Lincicome, Stacy Prammanasudh and Morgan Pressel. Natalie Gulbis, a member of the victorious 2005 U.S. Team, and Angela Stanford, who played on the 2003 U.S. Team in Malmo, Sweden, round out the 12-member team.
For the Europeans, all you need to know is that Swede Annika Sorenstam leads the way, along with England's Helen Alfredsson and long hitter Laura Davies, who has played in all nine previous stagings of the event.
They will tee it up at Halmstad Golf Club in Halmstad, Sweden this week with nary a Korean in sight.
The Nextel Cup. The Nextel Cup holds the honor of being the only cup that you could actually die winning, that is unless you drown at the America’s Cup, get hit between the eyes with a puck at the Stanley Cup, or break your putter over your head at the FedEx Cup. In any case, Jimmie Johnson has a chance to accomplish what Jeff Gordon last did 10 years ago and win consecutive Cup championships. First, Johnson will have to hold off Gordon and 10 other drivers in the Chase Cup.
Imagine, ten guys having a chance to win… what a concept.
The World Cup, Etc. There is one of these for every sport ever invented, isn’t there? And, let’s not forget the Stanley Cup, America’s Cup, the Ryder Cup, and a dozen other cups you never heard of.
But in case you missed it, the Anaheim Ducks won the Stanley Cup four games to one. The Swiss won the America’s Cup and for the second time in a row; no Americans were even in the race. The Ryder Cup is next year, isn’t it? And just about everyone either has or will win a World Cup in their lifetime.
Stay tuned for the winner of the Tees2Greens Cup.
The FedEx Cup. I assume that the PGA Tour considered what would happen if only six guys actually had a chance to win the FedEx Cup in the final week. I also assume that they knew that the third round had a real chance to be concluded at more than twenty under par. In their defense, they had no idea that Atlanta would spend the year closer to the sun than normal and suffer through the worst summer in twenty years and perhaps lose several greens just before the Championship. We all hate that, but not as much as the Tournament Director who lost his Pro-Am and a couple of million dollars.
But it is what it is.
So, here’s what it comes down to: If Tiger wins first or is tied for second he wins. If Stricker wins he wins and if he finishes second and Tiger finishes third he still wins. Mickelson needs a little help. If he wins and Tiger finishes no better than third, Phil is the Champion. Rory Sabbatina needs to beat Mickelson and Stricker and have Tiger finish no better than thirteen. K.J. Choi needs even more help. He needs Mickelson to finish third or worse, Stricker fourth or worse, and Tiger to finish twenty-second. He may have to steal Tiger’s clubs for that to happen and that still may not be enough. The only other guy with any chance is Aaron Baddeley who basically needs to win on Sunday and have Tiger, Steve, Phil, Rory and K.J. to finish dead last.
Any of the other twenty-four players can win the Tournament, but they cannot win the FedEx Cup even if the top six players don’t play. For the Tour’s sake, I hope the top six play well. It might be a little embarrassing if the first FedEx Cup winner shoots 80 on the final day.
The Walker Cup. This may turn out to be the most exciting cup of the year. The U.S. team, with our guy Colt Knost, needed a 254-yard 4-iron from Jonathan Moore on 18 to set up a four foot eagle putt to win 12.5-11.5. By the way, it’s the first time the U.S. has won the Walker Cup on foreign soil since a couple of guys named Phil Mickelson and David Duval won at Portmarnock outside Dublin back in 1991.
Our boy Knost and the hero of the day Jonathan Moore were the only two players not to lose a match. Doesn’t Jonathan Moore sound like he ought to be playing for the Brits?
The Solheim Cup. In a grumpy old man sort of way, I like the ladies’ game and the Solheim Cup. Perhaps it’s because the ladies’ game is a lot closer to mine than Tiger’s. However, I must admit that I miss the craziness of Michelle Wie, but alas she is hitting the books at dear old Stanford. Fear not however, with only nine tournaments in the record books, the U.S. has already made it a habit of kicking European butt without Michelle Wie. The three European wins have been over there, but only one of the U.S.’s six wins has been away from home.
U.S. Team Captain and Hall of Fame member Betsy King brings veterans Juli Inkster, and Pat Hurst along with past team members; Laura Diaz, Cristie Kerr and Sherri Steinhauer are all three-time members of the American squad as well. Twenty-one-year-old Paula Creamer is making her second Solheim Cup appearance after leading the Americans in her rookie debut with 3 points in 2005.
The U.S. Team will also showcase four rookies including Nicole Castrale, Brittany Lincicome, Stacy Prammanasudh and Morgan Pressel. Natalie Gulbis, a member of the victorious 2005 U.S. Team, and Angela Stanford, who played on the 2003 U.S. Team in Malmo, Sweden, round out the 12-member team.
For the Europeans, all you need to know is that Swede Annika Sorenstam leads the way, along with England's Helen Alfredsson and long hitter Laura Davies, who has played in all nine previous stagings of the event.
They will tee it up at Halmstad Golf Club in Halmstad, Sweden this week with nary a Korean in sight.
The Nextel Cup. The Nextel Cup holds the honor of being the only cup that you could actually die winning, that is unless you drown at the America’s Cup, get hit between the eyes with a puck at the Stanley Cup, or break your putter over your head at the FedEx Cup. In any case, Jimmie Johnson has a chance to accomplish what Jeff Gordon last did 10 years ago and win consecutive Cup championships. First, Johnson will have to hold off Gordon and 10 other drivers in the Chase Cup.
Imagine, ten guys having a chance to win… what a concept.
The World Cup, Etc. There is one of these for every sport ever invented, isn’t there? And, let’s not forget the Stanley Cup, America’s Cup, the Ryder Cup, and a dozen other cups you never heard of.
But in case you missed it, the Anaheim Ducks won the Stanley Cup four games to one. The Swiss won the America’s Cup and for the second time in a row; no Americans were even in the race. The Ryder Cup is next year, isn’t it? And just about everyone either has or will win a World Cup in their lifetime.
Stay tuned for the winner of the Tees2Greens Cup.
Tee It Up On The Twenty Yard Line
The only guy that Tiger and Phil may be scared of over the next couple of weeks is New England Patriot quarterback Tom Brady, and who can blame them. This time of year the name of the game is TV ratings and I suspect that the PGA and the FedEx Cup are about to get a dose of reality. Welcome to the NFL, where “These Guys Are Good” as well as big and fast and the owners of Fall TV ratings.
It’s not Tom Brady’s fault. He was willing to accept golf in its traditional role of second-level tournaments and made-for-TV events from now through Thanksgiving, but golf would have none of that, and now it may have to pay the price. Perhaps finishing second in the ratings is acceptable for golf, but even that goal requires beating NASCAR, and one should never underestimate the drawing power of the redneck nation.
Listening to Phil Mickelson after his win on Sunday probably didn’t give the Commissioner much comfort because he never said that he would play round three, and sure enough he has pulled out. I don’t doubt for a minute that there will be terrific galleries in Chicago (even without Phil) and Atlanta over the next couple of weeks, but FedEx is counting on more than just big galleries. Television potentially reaches more people in 30-seconds that all those galleries combined, but who’s counting? And, why should we care if our beloved game finishes second or even third in the TV ratings during their inaugural big-deal playoff event, as long as we get to watch golf? Isn’t this predicament exactly why TiVo was invented?
But what really happens if golf gets its butt kicked over the next two weeks? Perhaps the TV executives are forgiving, or perhaps the big-time advertising dudes run for cover, and not just from the FedEx Cup but from golf in general. The horror story that we all hope to avoid is the one where the corporate sponsors stop answering their phones when your favorite tournament calls. Then there is that small story right under golf’s bad TV rating story that innocently mentions that Tiger, Phil and the other big boys still think the season is too long, which is French for don’t count on me returning next year.
I am a pessimist, but for good reason. I simply don’t want golf to go the way of Tennis and become almost a second-tier sport, which is always a danger for country club sports. Check out the stats; golf, in terms of participation, is not growing; yet the prize money and the ticket prices are higher than ever. Who do they think they are, baseball?
Tiger is the biggest thing to happen in golf for many years. People who couldn’t pick Phil Mickelson out of a two-man lineup are watching Tiger Woods and only Tiger Woods play golf on TV. Chinese kids know who Tiger is. Look at the ratings. When Tiger’s not playing golf ratings drop like the XFL play-offs.
So, what’s going on? It seems like the Commissioner is asking Tiger, Phil and the boys to take on Tom Brady and the NFL head-on, and neither Tiger, Phil, nor any of the other boys are sure they want that responsibility. Would you?
It might help if they made the FedEx Cup a winner take all tournament, or perhaps a WFL cage match. Maybe Tiger and Phil will stage a legendary battle and each day the stakes will get higher. On Sunday with the Dallas Cowboys staring them down, Tiger will bet Phil his 250-foot yacht and Phil will promise to give back Butch Harmon and sign up for Jenny Craig if he loses.
How about we play the final round on an episode of Dancing With The Stars? Hell, Tiger has got to be a better dancer than Jerry Rice.
It’s not Tom Brady’s fault. He was willing to accept golf in its traditional role of second-level tournaments and made-for-TV events from now through Thanksgiving, but golf would have none of that, and now it may have to pay the price. Perhaps finishing second in the ratings is acceptable for golf, but even that goal requires beating NASCAR, and one should never underestimate the drawing power of the redneck nation.
Listening to Phil Mickelson after his win on Sunday probably didn’t give the Commissioner much comfort because he never said that he would play round three, and sure enough he has pulled out. I don’t doubt for a minute that there will be terrific galleries in Chicago (even without Phil) and Atlanta over the next couple of weeks, but FedEx is counting on more than just big galleries. Television potentially reaches more people in 30-seconds that all those galleries combined, but who’s counting? And, why should we care if our beloved game finishes second or even third in the TV ratings during their inaugural big-deal playoff event, as long as we get to watch golf? Isn’t this predicament exactly why TiVo was invented?
But what really happens if golf gets its butt kicked over the next two weeks? Perhaps the TV executives are forgiving, or perhaps the big-time advertising dudes run for cover, and not just from the FedEx Cup but from golf in general. The horror story that we all hope to avoid is the one where the corporate sponsors stop answering their phones when your favorite tournament calls. Then there is that small story right under golf’s bad TV rating story that innocently mentions that Tiger, Phil and the other big boys still think the season is too long, which is French for don’t count on me returning next year.
I am a pessimist, but for good reason. I simply don’t want golf to go the way of Tennis and become almost a second-tier sport, which is always a danger for country club sports. Check out the stats; golf, in terms of participation, is not growing; yet the prize money and the ticket prices are higher than ever. Who do they think they are, baseball?
Tiger is the biggest thing to happen in golf for many years. People who couldn’t pick Phil Mickelson out of a two-man lineup are watching Tiger Woods and only Tiger Woods play golf on TV. Chinese kids know who Tiger is. Look at the ratings. When Tiger’s not playing golf ratings drop like the XFL play-offs.
So, what’s going on? It seems like the Commissioner is asking Tiger, Phil and the boys to take on Tom Brady and the NFL head-on, and neither Tiger, Phil, nor any of the other boys are sure they want that responsibility. Would you?
It might help if they made the FedEx Cup a winner take all tournament, or perhaps a WFL cage match. Maybe Tiger and Phil will stage a legendary battle and each day the stakes will get higher. On Sunday with the Dallas Cowboys staring them down, Tiger will bet Phil his 250-foot yacht and Phil will promise to give back Butch Harmon and sign up for Jenny Craig if he loses.
How about we play the final round on an episode of Dancing With The Stars? Hell, Tiger has got to be a better dancer than Jerry Rice.
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
Hold My Green Jacket While I Hit This Five Iron
Here’s the dilemma; you are twenty something years old, you’ve won the U.S. Public Links Tournament and now the U.S. Amateur title, the historic Walker Cup looms just ahead, you’re not broke, but you are a long way from rich. You’re feeling pretty good about your game especially now that the likes of Phil Mickelson says that you are good enough to turn professional. On the horizon appears to be big money endorsements, and the kind of prize money that you only dreamed of. So, what’s the problem?
The Masters and the U.S. Open, that’s what.
The winner of the U.S. Public Links and the U.S. Amateur earns an invitation to the Masters and the U.S. Open, but not if he turns professional.
Now, you might be thinking that with all your talent you’ll have a dozen chances to play in the Masters and the U.S. Open… but what if you’re wrong? What if you turn down the opportunity to play in the two biggest golf tournaments in the world, and then, for whatever reason, the Masters and the U.S. Open never come calling again?
That’s the dilemma facing Colt Knost, a student of T2G’s own Randy Smith.
In his dreams Colt can see himself driving down Magnolia Lane, staying in the Crow's Nest, strolling alongside the azaleas, walking across Hogan Bridge and trying to keep his ball out of Rae's Creek. He can imagine hobnobbing with Tiger and the boys at the Champion’s dinner, but he knows if he turns pro there is a chance that he’ll be sitting in his living room in 2008 watching it on television, just like you and me.
What would you do?
The last person to decline an invitation to the Masters was 1992 U.S. Amateur runner-up Tom Scherrer, and it took him until 2001 to earn a second invitation. He had nine years to think about that decision, most of them on the Nationwide Tour, but at least he finally made it.
Perhaps Colt Knost is better than Tom Scherrer; only time will tell. I remember the big smiles of amateurs Matt Kuchar and Ricky Barnes at the Masters and see the difficult times that both players have endured after turning pro. Matt Kuchar’s world ranking is 150 and Ricky Barnes, an amateur superstar, has yet to make it to the PGA Tour and who knows if he will ever return to the Masters.
If Colt doesn’t already know it, the difference between good and great is razor thin. Bull Durham’s “Crash” Davis said the difference between a 250 hitter and a 300 hitter is one hit a week; a seeing-eye single, a Texas Leaguer. Golf is the same; a couple of putts around, a lucky kick off a tree, a fifty-footer now and then, and you’ll keep your card, otherwise pack up your car for the Nationwide Tour, or any one of a dozen other regional tours.
Colt Knost is already in the middle of a great golf adventure. His resume reads like the All-American that he is, and let’s face it, he’s already accomplished more in golf that most of us can even imagine. Friend, and Walker Cup captain Buddy Marucci, bluntly told Knost he would be crazy to pass on a whirl around Amen Corner, but it’s not his decision, or Randy Smith’s, or your, or mine, it’s Colt’s.
"I think about it every day," Knost said. "It's hard not to think about it, because everybody I see comes up and asks. It's about 50-50, people saying I should turn pro or stay an amateur. ... It's obviously a good problem to have." Colt says that he’ll make his decision by the end of September; until then he’s busy with the Walker Cup.
For what it’s worth, Colt seems like a nice young man and we wish him all the best with his difficult decision. Personally, I think I would live in my car, if need be, so I could play in the Masters and the U.S. Open.
What do you think Tom Scherrer would do if he had it to do over again? What would Randy do? What would you do?
The Masters and the U.S. Open, that’s what.
The winner of the U.S. Public Links and the U.S. Amateur earns an invitation to the Masters and the U.S. Open, but not if he turns professional.
Now, you might be thinking that with all your talent you’ll have a dozen chances to play in the Masters and the U.S. Open… but what if you’re wrong? What if you turn down the opportunity to play in the two biggest golf tournaments in the world, and then, for whatever reason, the Masters and the U.S. Open never come calling again?
That’s the dilemma facing Colt Knost, a student of T2G’s own Randy Smith.
In his dreams Colt can see himself driving down Magnolia Lane, staying in the Crow's Nest, strolling alongside the azaleas, walking across Hogan Bridge and trying to keep his ball out of Rae's Creek. He can imagine hobnobbing with Tiger and the boys at the Champion’s dinner, but he knows if he turns pro there is a chance that he’ll be sitting in his living room in 2008 watching it on television, just like you and me.
What would you do?
The last person to decline an invitation to the Masters was 1992 U.S. Amateur runner-up Tom Scherrer, and it took him until 2001 to earn a second invitation. He had nine years to think about that decision, most of them on the Nationwide Tour, but at least he finally made it.
Perhaps Colt Knost is better than Tom Scherrer; only time will tell. I remember the big smiles of amateurs Matt Kuchar and Ricky Barnes at the Masters and see the difficult times that both players have endured after turning pro. Matt Kuchar’s world ranking is 150 and Ricky Barnes, an amateur superstar, has yet to make it to the PGA Tour and who knows if he will ever return to the Masters.
If Colt doesn’t already know it, the difference between good and great is razor thin. Bull Durham’s “Crash” Davis said the difference between a 250 hitter and a 300 hitter is one hit a week; a seeing-eye single, a Texas Leaguer. Golf is the same; a couple of putts around, a lucky kick off a tree, a fifty-footer now and then, and you’ll keep your card, otherwise pack up your car for the Nationwide Tour, or any one of a dozen other regional tours.
Colt Knost is already in the middle of a great golf adventure. His resume reads like the All-American that he is, and let’s face it, he’s already accomplished more in golf that most of us can even imagine. Friend, and Walker Cup captain Buddy Marucci, bluntly told Knost he would be crazy to pass on a whirl around Amen Corner, but it’s not his decision, or Randy Smith’s, or your, or mine, it’s Colt’s.
"I think about it every day," Knost said. "It's hard not to think about it, because everybody I see comes up and asks. It's about 50-50, people saying I should turn pro or stay an amateur. ... It's obviously a good problem to have." Colt says that he’ll make his decision by the end of September; until then he’s busy with the Walker Cup.
For what it’s worth, Colt seems like a nice young man and we wish him all the best with his difficult decision. Personally, I think I would live in my car, if need be, so I could play in the Masters and the U.S. Open.
What do you think Tom Scherrer would do if he had it to do over again? What would Randy do? What would you do?
Friday, August 24, 2007
Tiger Spots The Field The First Tournament
In Commissioner Tim’s FedEx Cup dream the media world is sitting at his feet listening carefully as he describes how golf’s version of the “Final Four” exploded on to a hundred million TV screens, and how each successive week’s tournament was bigger than the week before. Then, with the fate of all mankind at stake, and a TV audience bigger than the Super Bowl, Tiger came from behind to win the $10,000,000 by one FedEx point with a double-eagle on the final hole.
Now, cut to a beautiful sunset with Tiger and Phil, tears of joy running down their faces, carrying Commissioner Tim on their shoulders and whispering in his ear, “Commissioner Tim thank you for saving golf and America.”
Lastly, with his blackberry filled with offers by the networks to drop the Super Bowl just so they would have the opportunity to air next year’s FedEx Cup, the Commissioner pulls a FedEx Championship tee-shirt over his head that reads “I told You So.”
It could happen, or then again Tiger could skip the first FedEx Cup Tournament.
I’m sure that the golf chairman of some of the regular season tournaments that Tiger skipped in 2007 are tempted to send Commissioner Tim an email saying, “How does it feel?” And, who could blame them?
Like it or not, Commissioner Tim, Tiger is in charge and you’re not. He, and he alone will decide when and where he will play, FedEx Cup or not. He decides which tournament will have TV ratings and which ones will not. He decides who will make their title sponsor happy and who will not. It’s Tiger’s Tour, so get used to it.
Unlike Commissioner Tim, Tiger didn’t ask for the power he has amassed; he won it fair and square, and now that he has it, perhaps only father time will ever take it away. For the most part, Tiger understands his power and has done a reasonable good job in being as fair as possible. However, he can’t play in every tournament even though we wanted him to.
In the reality show called “Tiger’s World” I suspect there is strange karma between Commissioner Tim and Tiger as they gaze at each other across the room. He knows that Tiger owns him and Tiger knows that he knows. In his mind, he doesn’t have to wash Tiger’s car, but he wants to keep his options open. Could Tiger take Commissioner Tim’s job? Probably not, but he could most likely get him fired if he was so inclined. But, Commissioner Tim shouldn’t worry about Tiger taking his job, what he should worry about is Tiger starting his own Tour. Greg Norman tried it a few years back, and gave birth to the World Championship Tournament idea, and Tiger’s drawing power is ten times Norman’s. But then again, Tiger already owns the PGA, so Commissioner Tim listens to what the boss is saying.
For example, for years Tiger, Phil and some of the other big guns have been complaining that the season is too long. However, what Commissioner Tim heard was that the end of the season didn’t have big enough purses. Not exactly the same thing is it?
Now, I don’t think that Tiger was trying to make a point by skipping the first FedEx Cup Tournament, but he did send a message, didn’t he?
Listen to what Kenny Perry had to say about his friend Tiger Woods. "It's pretty cool when a guy thinks he can spot us a week and still win the deal. I think he's great for the game. He could probably skip the first two tournaments and he'll win the last two. You never put anything past him."
Then Perry said what Commissioner Tim really fears. "As goal-oriented as that guy is, I know he wants (to win) that first one. Then, after that, we probably won't see him playing in any more of them."
For Commissioner Tim’s sake, I hope Kenny Perry is wrong, but just in case I’d at least think about washing Tiger’s car and consider making FedEx pay in advance next year.
Now, cut to a beautiful sunset with Tiger and Phil, tears of joy running down their faces, carrying Commissioner Tim on their shoulders and whispering in his ear, “Commissioner Tim thank you for saving golf and America.”
Lastly, with his blackberry filled with offers by the networks to drop the Super Bowl just so they would have the opportunity to air next year’s FedEx Cup, the Commissioner pulls a FedEx Championship tee-shirt over his head that reads “I told You So.”
It could happen, or then again Tiger could skip the first FedEx Cup Tournament.
I’m sure that the golf chairman of some of the regular season tournaments that Tiger skipped in 2007 are tempted to send Commissioner Tim an email saying, “How does it feel?” And, who could blame them?
Like it or not, Commissioner Tim, Tiger is in charge and you’re not. He, and he alone will decide when and where he will play, FedEx Cup or not. He decides which tournament will have TV ratings and which ones will not. He decides who will make their title sponsor happy and who will not. It’s Tiger’s Tour, so get used to it.
Unlike Commissioner Tim, Tiger didn’t ask for the power he has amassed; he won it fair and square, and now that he has it, perhaps only father time will ever take it away. For the most part, Tiger understands his power and has done a reasonable good job in being as fair as possible. However, he can’t play in every tournament even though we wanted him to.
In the reality show called “Tiger’s World” I suspect there is strange karma between Commissioner Tim and Tiger as they gaze at each other across the room. He knows that Tiger owns him and Tiger knows that he knows. In his mind, he doesn’t have to wash Tiger’s car, but he wants to keep his options open. Could Tiger take Commissioner Tim’s job? Probably not, but he could most likely get him fired if he was so inclined. But, Commissioner Tim shouldn’t worry about Tiger taking his job, what he should worry about is Tiger starting his own Tour. Greg Norman tried it a few years back, and gave birth to the World Championship Tournament idea, and Tiger’s drawing power is ten times Norman’s. But then again, Tiger already owns the PGA, so Commissioner Tim listens to what the boss is saying.
For example, for years Tiger, Phil and some of the other big guns have been complaining that the season is too long. However, what Commissioner Tim heard was that the end of the season didn’t have big enough purses. Not exactly the same thing is it?
Now, I don’t think that Tiger was trying to make a point by skipping the first FedEx Cup Tournament, but he did send a message, didn’t he?
Listen to what Kenny Perry had to say about his friend Tiger Woods. "It's pretty cool when a guy thinks he can spot us a week and still win the deal. I think he's great for the game. He could probably skip the first two tournaments and he'll win the last two. You never put anything past him."
Then Perry said what Commissioner Tim really fears. "As goal-oriented as that guy is, I know he wants (to win) that first one. Then, after that, we probably won't see him playing in any more of them."
For Commissioner Tim’s sake, I hope Kenny Perry is wrong, but just in case I’d at least think about washing Tiger’s car and consider making FedEx pay in advance next year.
Golf Is Truly An International Game
Americans are famous for their lack of knowledge about the rest of the world. It’s one of many reasons the people from across both ponds think less of us than we think they should. However, golf may be somewhat of an exception. What golfer hasn’t heard of Ernie Els, Vijay Singh, Sergio Garcia or any one of a dozen other international players… and there is a good reason for that phenomenon. This week’s ranking of the top fifty golfers in the world places only sixteen Americans in that group. Of course, three of those sixteen are the first three, Tiger Woods, Jim Furyk and Phil Mickelson, and five of those sixteen are in the top twenties.
According to the rankings the number two power in the world is Australia with a total of nine players, two of which are in the top ten and three in the top twenty. Third is South Africa with six players, one top ten and four top twenties. The inventors of the great game, the Scots/ English, rank fourth with five players (one Scotsman and four English), no top tens and only two top twenties, followed by the Swedes with four players with one in the top ten.
If you’ve been watching the majors you know that both Argentina and Spain have two players each. Likewise, our Canadian friends up north have two players, and unlike the ladies’ Tour, which is dominated by Koreans, the men’s Tour only has one.
It’s a bit of a surprise, because they are such rabid golfers, but the Irish have only one player in the top fifty; Padraig Harrington is the number six ranked player in the world, which is exactly the same number for the country that claims the number seven player in the world, Vijay Singh from Fiji.
Certainly golf doesn’t come close to soccer in the number of players participating around the world, and I guess it really doesn’t challenge soccer in the number of countries participating either, but it makes you proud to know that the top ten players in golf represent seven different countries and that they have 850,000,000 frequent flyer miles collectively.
World Rankings
1 Tiger Woods
2 Jim Furyk
3 Phil Mickelson
4 Ernie Els
5 Adam Scott
6 Padraig Harrington
7 Vijay Singh
8 Sergio Garcia
9 Geoff Ogilvy
11 Luke Donald
12 Choi Kyung-Ju
13 Rory Sabbatini
14 Steve Stricker
15 Justin Rose
16 Zach Johnson
17 Retief Goosen
18 Trevor Immelman
19 Angel Cabrera
20 Paul Casey
21 Niclas Fasth
22 Stewart Cink
23 Scott Verplank
24 David Toms
25 Stuart Appleby
26 Nick O'Hern
27 Andres Romero
28 Charles Howell-III
29 Arron Oberholser
30 Richard Green
31 Aaron Baddeley Aus
32 Ian Poulter
33 Brett Wetterich
34 Woody Austin
35 Robert Allenby
36 Stephen Ames
37 Richard Sterne
38 Rod Pampling
39 Tim Clark
40 Anders Hansen
41 Boo Weekley
42 Colin Montgomerie
43 Davis Love-III
44 Jose M Olazabal
45 Robert Karlsson
46 Mike Weir
47 John Senden
48 Carl Pettersson
49 Hunter Mahan
50 Chris DiMarco
According to the rankings the number two power in the world is Australia with a total of nine players, two of which are in the top ten and three in the top twenty. Third is South Africa with six players, one top ten and four top twenties. The inventors of the great game, the Scots/ English, rank fourth with five players (one Scotsman and four English), no top tens and only two top twenties, followed by the Swedes with four players with one in the top ten.
If you’ve been watching the majors you know that both Argentina and Spain have two players each. Likewise, our Canadian friends up north have two players, and unlike the ladies’ Tour, which is dominated by Koreans, the men’s Tour only has one.
It’s a bit of a surprise, because they are such rabid golfers, but the Irish have only one player in the top fifty; Padraig Harrington is the number six ranked player in the world, which is exactly the same number for the country that claims the number seven player in the world, Vijay Singh from Fiji.
Certainly golf doesn’t come close to soccer in the number of players participating around the world, and I guess it really doesn’t challenge soccer in the number of countries participating either, but it makes you proud to know that the top ten players in golf represent seven different countries and that they have 850,000,000 frequent flyer miles collectively.
World Rankings
1 Tiger Woods
2 Jim Furyk
3 Phil Mickelson
4 Ernie Els
5 Adam Scott
6 Padraig Harrington
7 Vijay Singh
8 Sergio Garcia
9 Geoff Ogilvy
11 Luke Donald
12 Choi Kyung-Ju
13 Rory Sabbatini
14 Steve Stricker
15 Justin Rose
16 Zach Johnson
17 Retief Goosen
18 Trevor Immelman
19 Angel Cabrera
20 Paul Casey
21 Niclas Fasth
22 Stewart Cink
23 Scott Verplank
24 David Toms
25 Stuart Appleby
26 Nick O'Hern
27 Andres Romero
28 Charles Howell-III
29 Arron Oberholser
30 Richard Green
31 Aaron Baddeley Aus
32 Ian Poulter
33 Brett Wetterich
34 Woody Austin
35 Robert Allenby
36 Stephen Ames
37 Richard Sterne
38 Rod Pampling
39 Tim Clark
40 Anders Hansen
41 Boo Weekley
42 Colin Montgomerie
43 Davis Love-III
44 Jose M Olazabal
45 Robert Karlsson
46 Mike Weir
47 John Senden
48 Carl Pettersson
49 Hunter Mahan
50 Chris DiMarco
Monday, August 13, 2007
Tee It Up With Barry
Like it or not Barry Bond is now baseball’s all-time leading homerun champion with 756 dingers. With a hat size akin to a basketball, and late career numbers that read like they were written on a prescription pad, baseball will not plant an asterisk beside his name even though he maybe be indicted later this year for the BS he told the grand jury.
Sorry Hank.
For an athlete, probably any athlete, the temptation to use steroids or some other kind of performance enhancing drug is obvious and perhaps even rational. In baseball it may only take one great year to get that big contract and the same goes for football. Now you’re set for life, even if that life turns out to be a shorter than expected. But according to Robert Earl Keen, when you’re 30 years old, “The road goes on forever and the party never ends,” or at least that’s the way it feels.
If you’re keeping score, track and field, baseball, football, cycling, gymnastics, swimming, even snowboarding (although those drugs may just be for fun) have all been touched by drug problems… the exception is golf. Is that logical?
Imagine you’re the 125th player on the PGA Tour. You’ve bounced back and forth between the PGA and the Nationwide Tours. You’ve made a few bucks but never enough to make life secure. Rightly or wrongly, you believe that the only thing holding you back is that your average driving distance is 265 instead of 295. Are you tempted?
What would you do for fame and fortune?
Has your doctor ever prescribed steroids? Mine has. There are no needles; in many cases it’s a clear gel that rubs on like suntan lotion. It’s not scary, nor does it feel dangerous, and it definitely doesn’t feel wrong. In my case, the steroid was to build bone density, however I did notice a bit more zip in my step, and over time (six months) I became more aggressive to the point I stopped using the drug on my own.
Perhaps golfers are immune to the temptations, or perhaps the Commissioner is. I suspect that like baseball, golf has figured out that the fans come to see the long-ball, and as good as some of the Punch and Judy players are, what we really want to see is someone hit the ball ten miles. And, just like baseball, as long as you will pay for it (no matter what “it” turns out to be) the sport will do everything in its power to serve it up. You want full contact golf? Well, if you’ll pay to see it, the WWA and PGA will start merger talks tomorrow.
We like to think that we have changed over the past 30,000 years; we’ve become more civilized, after all we now have doctors at ringside, but that doesn’t change the fact that men still hit each other in the head for our pleasure. I say this while fully admitting that I like a good a boxing match as much as the next guy. I don’t know, perhaps it is Neanderthal, brain-stem stuff that draws us to the car-wreck and the long-ball, and maybe it will take another 30,000 years for us to appreciate the finer things that life has to offer. Until then we’ll tee it high and watch it fly.
Are professional golfers using steroids? More than likely. Do I want to see Tiger and the boys peeing in a cup before each round, frankly no. However, I do hope that those players that are tempted will get some good advice from their doctors and others who know the real dangers of steroids.
Sorry Hank.
For an athlete, probably any athlete, the temptation to use steroids or some other kind of performance enhancing drug is obvious and perhaps even rational. In baseball it may only take one great year to get that big contract and the same goes for football. Now you’re set for life, even if that life turns out to be a shorter than expected. But according to Robert Earl Keen, when you’re 30 years old, “The road goes on forever and the party never ends,” or at least that’s the way it feels.
If you’re keeping score, track and field, baseball, football, cycling, gymnastics, swimming, even snowboarding (although those drugs may just be for fun) have all been touched by drug problems… the exception is golf. Is that logical?
Imagine you’re the 125th player on the PGA Tour. You’ve bounced back and forth between the PGA and the Nationwide Tours. You’ve made a few bucks but never enough to make life secure. Rightly or wrongly, you believe that the only thing holding you back is that your average driving distance is 265 instead of 295. Are you tempted?
What would you do for fame and fortune?
Has your doctor ever prescribed steroids? Mine has. There are no needles; in many cases it’s a clear gel that rubs on like suntan lotion. It’s not scary, nor does it feel dangerous, and it definitely doesn’t feel wrong. In my case, the steroid was to build bone density, however I did notice a bit more zip in my step, and over time (six months) I became more aggressive to the point I stopped using the drug on my own.
Perhaps golfers are immune to the temptations, or perhaps the Commissioner is. I suspect that like baseball, golf has figured out that the fans come to see the long-ball, and as good as some of the Punch and Judy players are, what we really want to see is someone hit the ball ten miles. And, just like baseball, as long as you will pay for it (no matter what “it” turns out to be) the sport will do everything in its power to serve it up. You want full contact golf? Well, if you’ll pay to see it, the WWA and PGA will start merger talks tomorrow.
We like to think that we have changed over the past 30,000 years; we’ve become more civilized, after all we now have doctors at ringside, but that doesn’t change the fact that men still hit each other in the head for our pleasure. I say this while fully admitting that I like a good a boxing match as much as the next guy. I don’t know, perhaps it is Neanderthal, brain-stem stuff that draws us to the car-wreck and the long-ball, and maybe it will take another 30,000 years for us to appreciate the finer things that life has to offer. Until then we’ll tee it high and watch it fly.
Are professional golfers using steroids? More than likely. Do I want to see Tiger and the boys peeing in a cup before each round, frankly no. However, I do hope that those players that are tempted will get some good advice from their doctors and others who know the real dangers of steroids.
Thursday, August 2, 2007
Gentlemen Start Your Engines
I am not a NASCAR guy and frankly I wouldn’t know the NEXTEL Cup from any other athletic cup, and as of this moment, I feel exactly the same way about the FedEx Cup. Perhaps it is because I have never experienced the excitement of a FedEx Cup fight to the finish, and once I do, I will buy the tee shirt. But for now, I’m still skeptical.
I’m not sure why I feel this way, maybe it’s because it feels contrived, like a made for TV stunt that serves no real purpose. A playoff system makes sense for football and other team sports, but isn’t every golf tournament a playoff, and doesn’t the money list tell us who the best golfer was in any given year? Which number is most important: Tiger’s $5,214,385 in winnings, or his 20,899 FedEx points?
Another thing that bugs me is that this exclusive playoff system is limited to the best 144 players, or in other words, just about everyone. The first cut is to 120 players, which means only 24 players are eliminated. Which begs the question: did those 24 ever have a chance in the first place?
A week later, the field is cut to 70 players, or about the same number of players that normally make a Friday cut each week. The following week 70 becomes 30 and we’re ready for the Tour Championship, which if I recall, used to be the top 30 money winners. It will be interesting to see how many of the top 30 money winners and the 30 players making the cut are the same. Sure, there will be a few blind hogs finding an acorn, but I’ll be surprised if the top 30 money winners are not well represented.
Perhaps my skepticism is because I have never believed that this tournament is about trying to identify the best player; it about money, for both the player and the PGA. And the money is big, really big. Each of the four tournaments has a purse of $7,000,000, plus, when all is said and done, the overall points leader picks up a cool $10,000,000. Then there is TV money, sponsor money, ticket sales, concessions, and of course tee shirt sales.
An oddity of the tournament (and NASCAR) is that the winner of the playoffs and the winner of the $10,000,000 points leader bonus may not be the same person, which creates all kinds of interesting scenarios.
Imagine some kid from out of nowhere is leading the Tournament, but the guys in second and third place are dueling for the points lead and the $10,000,000. Now, the kid from out of nowhere can’t possibly catch the points leader, but the points leader could catch the kid from out of nowhere. A birdie ties the kid, but it’s a dangerous shot and brings 6 into the equation. A par retains the points lead and the $10,000,000 prize.
Can you say lay up?
Frankly, I could never imagine a situation where a golfer might get booed, but this could be the case. I don’t like the idea of golfers playing for second place, or trying to stay in the top ten so they could be the overall points winner. I understand that golf is how these guys make a living, but I hate the thought of a business decision deciding a tournament. It’s enough to make Dale Earnhardt turn over in his grave.
On the other hand, if Tiger kicks everybody’s butt, wins the tournament and the $10,000,000 points bonus and all is right in the universe, who cares? Which brings me back to where I started; what’s the point?
But I’m trying to keep an open mind.
I’m not sure why I feel this way, maybe it’s because it feels contrived, like a made for TV stunt that serves no real purpose. A playoff system makes sense for football and other team sports, but isn’t every golf tournament a playoff, and doesn’t the money list tell us who the best golfer was in any given year? Which number is most important: Tiger’s $5,214,385 in winnings, or his 20,899 FedEx points?
Another thing that bugs me is that this exclusive playoff system is limited to the best 144 players, or in other words, just about everyone. The first cut is to 120 players, which means only 24 players are eliminated. Which begs the question: did those 24 ever have a chance in the first place?
A week later, the field is cut to 70 players, or about the same number of players that normally make a Friday cut each week. The following week 70 becomes 30 and we’re ready for the Tour Championship, which if I recall, used to be the top 30 money winners. It will be interesting to see how many of the top 30 money winners and the 30 players making the cut are the same. Sure, there will be a few blind hogs finding an acorn, but I’ll be surprised if the top 30 money winners are not well represented.
Perhaps my skepticism is because I have never believed that this tournament is about trying to identify the best player; it about money, for both the player and the PGA. And the money is big, really big. Each of the four tournaments has a purse of $7,000,000, plus, when all is said and done, the overall points leader picks up a cool $10,000,000. Then there is TV money, sponsor money, ticket sales, concessions, and of course tee shirt sales.
An oddity of the tournament (and NASCAR) is that the winner of the playoffs and the winner of the $10,000,000 points leader bonus may not be the same person, which creates all kinds of interesting scenarios.
Imagine some kid from out of nowhere is leading the Tournament, but the guys in second and third place are dueling for the points lead and the $10,000,000. Now, the kid from out of nowhere can’t possibly catch the points leader, but the points leader could catch the kid from out of nowhere. A birdie ties the kid, but it’s a dangerous shot and brings 6 into the equation. A par retains the points lead and the $10,000,000 prize.
Can you say lay up?
Frankly, I could never imagine a situation where a golfer might get booed, but this could be the case. I don’t like the idea of golfers playing for second place, or trying to stay in the top ten so they could be the overall points winner. I understand that golf is how these guys make a living, but I hate the thought of a business decision deciding a tournament. It’s enough to make Dale Earnhardt turn over in his grave.
On the other hand, if Tiger kicks everybody’s butt, wins the tournament and the $10,000,000 points bonus and all is right in the universe, who cares? Which brings me back to where I started; what’s the point?
But I’m trying to keep an open mind.
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Thanks Padraig and Sergio and Carnoustie
For your sake, I hope you watched the Open at Carnoustie, Scotland this past week because it was great theater. It started with Sergio Garcia’s amazing 65 in the first round and his declaration that he wanted to win one for Seve Ballesteros, and for three and a half rounds it looked like he would do just that. But unlike Ben Crenshaw when he won the 1995 Masters for his mentor Harvey Penick, Sergio failed to call his shot, and by the time he made the turn on Sunday his lead had disappeared.
Then came Andres Romero, looking all of twelve years old, with ten birdies, a two shot lead and only two holes to play. You could see the headlines, “Second Argentinean Wins Major.” It was Snoopy striking out Joe DiMaggio; Russell Crow out rebounding Bill Russell; and Carl Lewis losing the 100-meter sprint to Jerry Lewis. Unfortunately, by the end of the day, the stars realigned themselves and young Mr. Romero shot three over on the last two holes.
However, throughout the day Irishman Padraig Harrington stalked the course with the relentless steadiness that he is famous for. Hole after hole Padraig watched each pretender fall by the wayside one-by-one until he alone stood at the top of the mountain. This would be his moment. This would be the return of Irish and European golf. Standing on the 18th tee he could almost hear the cheering emanating from his favorite pub in County Cork. Then with the ghost Jean Van de Velde lurking in the tall grass, and Harrington home free with a three shot lead, he unexplainably pulled out his driver.
At that point there was only two possible outcomes. The first was a fabulous long drive down the middle directly toward the Claret Jug and immortality, or the second which was a miserable miss hit that comes tantalizing close to accidentally skipping across the bridge only to hit the railing and fall hopelessly into the water.
Well, it wouldn’t have been nearly as exciting if he had hit it 285 yards down the middle, would it?
But Padraig was not through. He had another chance at immortality. His three shot lead was now basically two and all he had to do was take his drop, then lay up his third shot, hit his fourth shot on the green and two putt for all the glory. Simple enough. But for some reason, and to everyone’s amazement, he reaches into his bag and pulls out a long iron and proceeds to hit a second ball into the water. Suddenly his Irish brogue was sounding very French and the ghost of Jean Van de Velde was about to be replaced by an Irishman.
When the smoke had cleared Padraig was one stroke behind Sergio Garcia, who appeared to be waiting to make good on his promise to Seve. All that stood between him and keeping his promise was the 18th hole at Carnoustie.
By now, sitting in front of my television sipping on a Diet Dr. Pepper and munching on a Pringle, my own emotions had been torn asunder and I couldn’t imagine what Sergio and Padraig were feeling. It had already been Friday The Thirteenth III and I didn’t know if I could stand Jason coming back to life one more time. Go ahead Sergio, bring back my faith in the golf gods, make par and they’ll start writing songs about you in Spain, Dreams Do Come True.
He had used a Tiger-like Old Course strategy of playing it safe all week and hitting long irons off many of the dangerous tees; now all he had to do was make two more swings, two putts and his place in golf history would be secure. I bet the mayor of his hometown had already started mapping out the route for the parade.
The number one handicap hole at Carnoustie is the 499 yard 18th. The burn swings across the fairway twice, once at about 209 yards and the second time only twenty yards from the green. For Garcia, with a one shot lead there was no need to do anything foolish like hit a driver, so smartly he pulled out his trusty 3-iron, the one that had served him so well all week long. He would place it safely in the middle of the fairway and make a second shot onto the green, two putts and start celebrating. But the golf gods had one more trick up their sleeves. Sergio would have to stand on the tee and wait fifteen minutes before hitting his tee shot. Fifteen minutes to think about it.
Perhaps it wasn’t the ghost of Jean Van de Velde that caused Sergio to hit his tee shot fat resulting in his ball being about twenty yards short of where he had intended, but he was still in the fairway, a long ways away, but nonetheless, in the fairway.
It was at that point that I knew one of difference between me a Sergio Garcia, you see, I’ve always know that the golf Gods had a sick sense of humor, so I was not surprised when Sergio had to wait another fifteen minutes to hit his second shot. And I don’t care who you are, standing there waiting for fifteen minutes to hit your second shot for the Open Championship is difficult beyond belief. Not surprisingly, it was not Sergio’s best shot that found the bunker in front of the green, but even as the golf gods snickered, he was still not dead. All he needed to do is to hit the bunker shot close, one putt and start counting the $1,542,450, but it was not to be.
After Sergio missed the ten-foot putt to win, he was devastated, and who could blame him. He was one inch left from immortality and failed. Sure, there was a four-hole playoff, but it’s hard to play those last four holes with a stake in your heart.
As I sat there in my easy chair emotionally drained, I felt for Sergio and Andres Romero and all of the others that had a shot and came up short. Wow, I thought, this was a great golf tournament; an emotional roller coaster with incredible ebb and flow and Tiger wasn’t even on the first page of the leader-board. Is that possible, a great golf tournament without Tiger in contention? I guess the answer is yes.
Then came Andres Romero, looking all of twelve years old, with ten birdies, a two shot lead and only two holes to play. You could see the headlines, “Second Argentinean Wins Major.” It was Snoopy striking out Joe DiMaggio; Russell Crow out rebounding Bill Russell; and Carl Lewis losing the 100-meter sprint to Jerry Lewis. Unfortunately, by the end of the day, the stars realigned themselves and young Mr. Romero shot three over on the last two holes.
However, throughout the day Irishman Padraig Harrington stalked the course with the relentless steadiness that he is famous for. Hole after hole Padraig watched each pretender fall by the wayside one-by-one until he alone stood at the top of the mountain. This would be his moment. This would be the return of Irish and European golf. Standing on the 18th tee he could almost hear the cheering emanating from his favorite pub in County Cork. Then with the ghost Jean Van de Velde lurking in the tall grass, and Harrington home free with a three shot lead, he unexplainably pulled out his driver.
At that point there was only two possible outcomes. The first was a fabulous long drive down the middle directly toward the Claret Jug and immortality, or the second which was a miserable miss hit that comes tantalizing close to accidentally skipping across the bridge only to hit the railing and fall hopelessly into the water.
Well, it wouldn’t have been nearly as exciting if he had hit it 285 yards down the middle, would it?
But Padraig was not through. He had another chance at immortality. His three shot lead was now basically two and all he had to do was take his drop, then lay up his third shot, hit his fourth shot on the green and two putt for all the glory. Simple enough. But for some reason, and to everyone’s amazement, he reaches into his bag and pulls out a long iron and proceeds to hit a second ball into the water. Suddenly his Irish brogue was sounding very French and the ghost of Jean Van de Velde was about to be replaced by an Irishman.
When the smoke had cleared Padraig was one stroke behind Sergio Garcia, who appeared to be waiting to make good on his promise to Seve. All that stood between him and keeping his promise was the 18th hole at Carnoustie.
By now, sitting in front of my television sipping on a Diet Dr. Pepper and munching on a Pringle, my own emotions had been torn asunder and I couldn’t imagine what Sergio and Padraig were feeling. It had already been Friday The Thirteenth III and I didn’t know if I could stand Jason coming back to life one more time. Go ahead Sergio, bring back my faith in the golf gods, make par and they’ll start writing songs about you in Spain, Dreams Do Come True.
He had used a Tiger-like Old Course strategy of playing it safe all week and hitting long irons off many of the dangerous tees; now all he had to do was make two more swings, two putts and his place in golf history would be secure. I bet the mayor of his hometown had already started mapping out the route for the parade.
The number one handicap hole at Carnoustie is the 499 yard 18th. The burn swings across the fairway twice, once at about 209 yards and the second time only twenty yards from the green. For Garcia, with a one shot lead there was no need to do anything foolish like hit a driver, so smartly he pulled out his trusty 3-iron, the one that had served him so well all week long. He would place it safely in the middle of the fairway and make a second shot onto the green, two putts and start celebrating. But the golf gods had one more trick up their sleeves. Sergio would have to stand on the tee and wait fifteen minutes before hitting his tee shot. Fifteen minutes to think about it.
Perhaps it wasn’t the ghost of Jean Van de Velde that caused Sergio to hit his tee shot fat resulting in his ball being about twenty yards short of where he had intended, but he was still in the fairway, a long ways away, but nonetheless, in the fairway.
It was at that point that I knew one of difference between me a Sergio Garcia, you see, I’ve always know that the golf Gods had a sick sense of humor, so I was not surprised when Sergio had to wait another fifteen minutes to hit his second shot. And I don’t care who you are, standing there waiting for fifteen minutes to hit your second shot for the Open Championship is difficult beyond belief. Not surprisingly, it was not Sergio’s best shot that found the bunker in front of the green, but even as the golf gods snickered, he was still not dead. All he needed to do is to hit the bunker shot close, one putt and start counting the $1,542,450, but it was not to be.
After Sergio missed the ten-foot putt to win, he was devastated, and who could blame him. He was one inch left from immortality and failed. Sure, there was a four-hole playoff, but it’s hard to play those last four holes with a stake in your heart.
As I sat there in my easy chair emotionally drained, I felt for Sergio and Andres Romero and all of the others that had a shot and came up short. Wow, I thought, this was a great golf tournament; an emotional roller coaster with incredible ebb and flow and Tiger wasn’t even on the first page of the leader-board. Is that possible, a great golf tournament without Tiger in contention? I guess the answer is yes.
Friday, July 13, 2007
Tiger Woods And The Dangers Of Looking Human
A buddy and me were shooting pool and drinking beer one day, when he asked me, “Why aren’t we rich?”
Being the sage that I am I answered, “Because it’s 2:30 on Tuesday afternoon and we’re shooting pool and drinking beer instead of working.”
Okay, now imagine that you’re Tiger Woods and you look down at your bank account and you see $100,000,012.54. Are you tempted to roll over and hit the snooze alarm for ten years or so? To me, that has always been the real difference between Tiger Woods and everybody else; he never seemed to reach for the snooze alarm. He is not only the most talented player in the world; he is also one of the hardest workers, as well.
But are things changing?
For almost two years now Tiger seems to be a little out of sync, and that’s understandable. First, there was his marriage, then the death of his father, and now the birth of his first child. Probably any one of those emotional events would set you and I back for months. Now, take all of that and add the normal, day-to-day pressures of simply being Tiger Woods and you have the formula for a total collapse, or at the very least a club throwing hissy fit.
There have been difficulties, sure, but no collapse, or hissy fit. He is still the leading money winner on Tour and the number one ranked player in the world, so what’s the worry?
The answer is simple; he’s starting to look human, even vulnerable.
Remember Mike Tyson before Buster Douglas? He wasn’t human, he was unbeatable, invincible, the scariest man on the planet. But, somehow he lost to Buster and he was no longer invincible and very human. Within the count of ten, Mike Tyson started down that road of “no respect,” which he never recovered from.
Tiger is not Mike Tyson (thank God), but he is starting to look human and that is a dangerous territory for an intimidator, any intimidator. Competitively, Tiger was like Tyson. He carried the aura of invincibility. People didn’t believe that they could beat him and as long as they felt that way they couldn’t. Now, he’s lost to a fat boy from Argentina and last week he was never in the hunt. And there have been other signs. Granted, two weeks does not a season make, and as I said before he is still the leading money winner on Tour and the number one ranked player in the world, but I’m worried.
As good as Tiger is, and I certainly believe that he is the best golfer in the world, I don’t believe that he can simply show up and win. Perhaps he can show up and finish in the top-ten, and frankly he maybe that good, but I hope that’s not the plan. I want to see Tiger be Tiger. I want to see the best golfer in the world be as good as he can possibly be every time he tees it up; that why’s I am proposing that Tiger should get a divorce.
I’m selfish; I don’t want Tiger to be human, or married, or a father. I want him to be the greatest golfer in the world 24/7. Remember, Joe DiMaggio waited until after his career was over before he married Marilyn Monroe. Would “The Yankee Clipper” have had a 56 game hitting streak with Marilyn whispering in his ear? I think not.
High jumper Dwight Stone talked about pacing himself because he was receiving a check every time he broke the world record. Using this tactic he set the world record six or seven times, but he never jumped as high as he could because he was always saving room for another world record and another check. Later on he said how much he regretted not putting the bar as high as he could when he could.
Tiger is in his prime and now is not the time to start pacing himself. Now is the time to see how high he can set the bar, and I want to watch. So the only reasonable answer is to get a divorce. Certainly, this might create a hardship for wife Elin and Sam Alexis Woods, but nothing comforts hardships like a zillion dollars in the bank.
I agree that my expectations of Tiger are not fair. Like any other human being he should be able to marry, raise a family and enjoy his $100,000,012.54 when and where he sees fit. But my advice to him is the same as I gave my friend some years ago, “Stop shooting pool and drinking beer and go to work.”
Like it or not, you’re a supernatural being, so let your mom baby-sit, send Elin to Rodeo Drive and get yourself to the driving range before the British Open.
Being the sage that I am I answered, “Because it’s 2:30 on Tuesday afternoon and we’re shooting pool and drinking beer instead of working.”
Okay, now imagine that you’re Tiger Woods and you look down at your bank account and you see $100,000,012.54. Are you tempted to roll over and hit the snooze alarm for ten years or so? To me, that has always been the real difference between Tiger Woods and everybody else; he never seemed to reach for the snooze alarm. He is not only the most talented player in the world; he is also one of the hardest workers, as well.
But are things changing?
For almost two years now Tiger seems to be a little out of sync, and that’s understandable. First, there was his marriage, then the death of his father, and now the birth of his first child. Probably any one of those emotional events would set you and I back for months. Now, take all of that and add the normal, day-to-day pressures of simply being Tiger Woods and you have the formula for a total collapse, or at the very least a club throwing hissy fit.
There have been difficulties, sure, but no collapse, or hissy fit. He is still the leading money winner on Tour and the number one ranked player in the world, so what’s the worry?
The answer is simple; he’s starting to look human, even vulnerable.
Remember Mike Tyson before Buster Douglas? He wasn’t human, he was unbeatable, invincible, the scariest man on the planet. But, somehow he lost to Buster and he was no longer invincible and very human. Within the count of ten, Mike Tyson started down that road of “no respect,” which he never recovered from.
Tiger is not Mike Tyson (thank God), but he is starting to look human and that is a dangerous territory for an intimidator, any intimidator. Competitively, Tiger was like Tyson. He carried the aura of invincibility. People didn’t believe that they could beat him and as long as they felt that way they couldn’t. Now, he’s lost to a fat boy from Argentina and last week he was never in the hunt. And there have been other signs. Granted, two weeks does not a season make, and as I said before he is still the leading money winner on Tour and the number one ranked player in the world, but I’m worried.
As good as Tiger is, and I certainly believe that he is the best golfer in the world, I don’t believe that he can simply show up and win. Perhaps he can show up and finish in the top-ten, and frankly he maybe that good, but I hope that’s not the plan. I want to see Tiger be Tiger. I want to see the best golfer in the world be as good as he can possibly be every time he tees it up; that why’s I am proposing that Tiger should get a divorce.
I’m selfish; I don’t want Tiger to be human, or married, or a father. I want him to be the greatest golfer in the world 24/7. Remember, Joe DiMaggio waited until after his career was over before he married Marilyn Monroe. Would “The Yankee Clipper” have had a 56 game hitting streak with Marilyn whispering in his ear? I think not.
High jumper Dwight Stone talked about pacing himself because he was receiving a check every time he broke the world record. Using this tactic he set the world record six or seven times, but he never jumped as high as he could because he was always saving room for another world record and another check. Later on he said how much he regretted not putting the bar as high as he could when he could.
Tiger is in his prime and now is not the time to start pacing himself. Now is the time to see how high he can set the bar, and I want to watch. So the only reasonable answer is to get a divorce. Certainly, this might create a hardship for wife Elin and Sam Alexis Woods, but nothing comforts hardships like a zillion dollars in the bank.
I agree that my expectations of Tiger are not fair. Like any other human being he should be able to marry, raise a family and enjoy his $100,000,012.54 when and where he sees fit. But my advice to him is the same as I gave my friend some years ago, “Stop shooting pool and drinking beer and go to work.”
Like it or not, you’re a supernatural being, so let your mom baby-sit, send Elin to Rodeo Drive and get yourself to the driving range before the British Open.
Thursday, July 5, 2007
Growing Up A Prodigy
Having never been a prodigy of any kind it is difficult for me to understand what it must be like growing up carrying those kinds of expectations. While I was busy learning how to walk and chew gum at the same time, a 14 year old named Nadia Comaneci was sticking a perfect ten at the Olympic games.
How does anyone do that?
The soccer prodigy Freddy Adu turned pro at 14, and at 17 years, 74 days Maria Sharapova won Wimbledon. When I was 17 years, 74 days old the only thing I was serving was pancakes at the local IHOP, and soccer wasn’t even a varsity sport.
If I recall, Tiger Woods played in the Nissan Los Angeles Open when he was 16. He didn’t win, but even if he had finished dead last, which he didn’t, he was still doing better than me.
As for the importance of an education to sports prodigies, Coby and LeBron ditched college all together and you can count on one hand the number of NBA stars that graduate from any where. Granted, there are ten thousand “would be prodigies” that dropped out of school and are now working on the shipping dock, and that is sad if you believe that basketball kept them out of medical school. However, taking your shot and not succeeding is not necessarily failing, and there is nothing dishonorable about working on the dock.
Are there prodigies that don’t fulfill their promise? Sure. Would they have been better served by taking it slow, or staying in school, or firing their agents, or their coaches, or having better parents? Who can really say. Life, even the lives of prodigies, is a mixture of nature and nurture and nothing is ever decided by talent alone.
Today, I’m a lot older than 14 and I don’t have a shoe contract, nor have I ever fired an agent, and I promise you that no one has ever offered me a zillion bucks to play a game. Which brings me to the point: Am better off because of that? Gosh, I hope not.
Is Nadia Comaneci better or worse off because someone pushed her to greatness? How about Freddy or Maria, or Coby, or LeBron, or even Tiger; are they better or worse off? Certainly they are better off financially, but being “better off” can mean a lot of different things, would you agree?
How about Michelle Wie, is she better or worse off? The truth is we don’t know because all we really know is Michelle Wie the television personality and golfer, and that’s not real life. Is she embracing the life of a celebrity golfer, or does she hate it? It’s hard to tell. Some people thrive on conflict, while others need more nurturing. I don’t know Michelle’s parents, or agent and I have no idea if she is being served well by them. I do know this, even if she never plays another game of golf in her life, she is probably financially set for life. Is she ruining her potential? I don’t know. If she had waited until she was older to turn pro would she have received the same contract from Nike and the same attention from the press? Would she be a better golfer? Who can say for sure?
Can you be a prodigy and not be driven? Did Tiger Woods wake up one morning and decide to be a golfer, or did his father drive him to the driving range every day from the time he was potty trained? Perhaps obsession comes with the territory.
Has Michelle made some mistakes? Certainly. However, unlike you and I, Michelle is making her teenage mistakes on national television and that’s really difficult; just ask Lindsey Lohan. I’m trying to imagine living my teenage years on national television and how ugly that would have been.
A couple of years ago I saw Michelle Wie on Sixty Minutes. It was the same day that she got her driver’s license, if I recall. When the interviewer asked her what she liked to do most, she answered like a teenage girl that had never picked up a golfclub in her life, “I like to hang out at the mall with my friends,” she said. And, in subsequent interviews, I heard her sound exactly her age, more times than not. As a matter of fact, the only time I ever heard her sound older was when she was answering golf questions.
Without question, Michelle Wie is a prodigy, not merely because she plays golf, or because she can hit the ball a mile, she a prodigy because she is so young. She’s the bearded lady in the circus and when she shaves, or in Michelle’s case becomes older, she will no longer be the story, so there is some logic to running as fast as you can, as long as you can.
I think Michelle is going to be fine. She is enrolling at Stanford this summer. Perhaps she’ll find a guy and never play golf again, or maybe she’ll find her game and reach the potential that we all hope to witness. Whatever happens, she seems like a nice young lady and I wish her nothing but the best.
How does anyone do that?
The soccer prodigy Freddy Adu turned pro at 14, and at 17 years, 74 days Maria Sharapova won Wimbledon. When I was 17 years, 74 days old the only thing I was serving was pancakes at the local IHOP, and soccer wasn’t even a varsity sport.
If I recall, Tiger Woods played in the Nissan Los Angeles Open when he was 16. He didn’t win, but even if he had finished dead last, which he didn’t, he was still doing better than me.
As for the importance of an education to sports prodigies, Coby and LeBron ditched college all together and you can count on one hand the number of NBA stars that graduate from any where. Granted, there are ten thousand “would be prodigies” that dropped out of school and are now working on the shipping dock, and that is sad if you believe that basketball kept them out of medical school. However, taking your shot and not succeeding is not necessarily failing, and there is nothing dishonorable about working on the dock.
Are there prodigies that don’t fulfill their promise? Sure. Would they have been better served by taking it slow, or staying in school, or firing their agents, or their coaches, or having better parents? Who can really say. Life, even the lives of prodigies, is a mixture of nature and nurture and nothing is ever decided by talent alone.
Today, I’m a lot older than 14 and I don’t have a shoe contract, nor have I ever fired an agent, and I promise you that no one has ever offered me a zillion bucks to play a game. Which brings me to the point: Am better off because of that? Gosh, I hope not.
Is Nadia Comaneci better or worse off because someone pushed her to greatness? How about Freddy or Maria, or Coby, or LeBron, or even Tiger; are they better or worse off? Certainly they are better off financially, but being “better off” can mean a lot of different things, would you agree?
How about Michelle Wie, is she better or worse off? The truth is we don’t know because all we really know is Michelle Wie the television personality and golfer, and that’s not real life. Is she embracing the life of a celebrity golfer, or does she hate it? It’s hard to tell. Some people thrive on conflict, while others need more nurturing. I don’t know Michelle’s parents, or agent and I have no idea if she is being served well by them. I do know this, even if she never plays another game of golf in her life, she is probably financially set for life. Is she ruining her potential? I don’t know. If she had waited until she was older to turn pro would she have received the same contract from Nike and the same attention from the press? Would she be a better golfer? Who can say for sure?
Can you be a prodigy and not be driven? Did Tiger Woods wake up one morning and decide to be a golfer, or did his father drive him to the driving range every day from the time he was potty trained? Perhaps obsession comes with the territory.
Has Michelle made some mistakes? Certainly. However, unlike you and I, Michelle is making her teenage mistakes on national television and that’s really difficult; just ask Lindsey Lohan. I’m trying to imagine living my teenage years on national television and how ugly that would have been.
A couple of years ago I saw Michelle Wie on Sixty Minutes. It was the same day that she got her driver’s license, if I recall. When the interviewer asked her what she liked to do most, she answered like a teenage girl that had never picked up a golfclub in her life, “I like to hang out at the mall with my friends,” she said. And, in subsequent interviews, I heard her sound exactly her age, more times than not. As a matter of fact, the only time I ever heard her sound older was when she was answering golf questions.
Without question, Michelle Wie is a prodigy, not merely because she plays golf, or because she can hit the ball a mile, she a prodigy because she is so young. She’s the bearded lady in the circus and when she shaves, or in Michelle’s case becomes older, she will no longer be the story, so there is some logic to running as fast as you can, as long as you can.
I think Michelle is going to be fine. She is enrolling at Stanford this summer. Perhaps she’ll find a guy and never play golf again, or maybe she’ll find her game and reach the potential that we all hope to witness. Whatever happens, she seems like a nice young lady and I wish her nothing but the best.
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Freak Luck Is A Strange Thing
In the past Argentina has been plagued by inflation, which reached 2,000 percent in 1984. By 1989 inflation had reached 5,000 percent making the nation's currency almost worthless. Imagine being in a golf tournament and the purse was $1,000,000 when you started and $10,000 when you finished?
However, recently things got much better in Argentina. The government created the nuevo peso Argentino (new Argentine peso) bringing inflation under control, and Angel Cabrera won the U.S. Open waddling home with 1,260,000 Nuevo Pesos Argentinos and the entire country shouted Ay! Caramba.
Who would have believed it? The Duck beat the Tiger, but it happened and I, as a bit of a duck myself, couldn’t be happier. Fire up another Winston, hand me that second helping of mashed potatoes, and let’s play golf. Angel Cabrera is the 2007 U.S. Open Champion. Chips and salsa one under par on Sunday, abs of steel two over. Somewhere Billy Casper is laughing, jiggling of course, but still laughing.
Cabrera didn’t win it, Tiger lost it, you say? Pour me another shot of Tequila while I disagree. He and Tiger may play a hundred times in the future and Tiger may win a hundred out of a hundred, but on those four days Angel Cabrera was the best golfer was the world, not Tiger Wood, not Jim Furyk or anybody else. It’s time to realize that your favorite nine and seven football team is not a better team than that. You are what you are. Could the 1980 U.S. Olympic Hockey Team beat those commie Russian bastards again? It doesn’t matter; they have their Gold Medal just like Cabrera has his name on the trophy and 1,260,000 of Nuevo Pesos Argentinos in the bank.
As Johnny Miller waited for Furyk and then Tiger to make their moves, Angel Cabrera and his caddie sat nervously in the locker room waiting. "I was definitely feeling nervous, but I assumed that this is the same sensation everybody was having in my place," said Cabrera through an interpreter. And, it was at that very moment that I realized that had Cabrera and his caddie switched bodies perhaps Angel would be getting a little more respect. But who cares? Angel Cabrera is Lyle Lovett marrying Julia Roberts, and who wouldn’t trade their abs for that?
On 361 days this year Tiger will be the best golfer in the world, but not at the 107th U.S. Open. Is the mystique gone, or just back in Florida thinking about baby Sam that would arrive shortly? Pack away your red shirt and grab your passport for the British Open next month. Phil Mickelson will be there along with Retief, Furyk, Padraig, Ernie and Vijay, but look out for that chubby guy sitting in the smoking section.
As Rocky Balboa once said, “Freak luck is a strange thing,” so the next time you tee it up with your buddy that has beat you like a red-headed step child once a week for the last year, remember Rocky Balboa and Lyle Lovett and know that all things are possible. You are the U.S. A. Hockey Team, David with a slingshot, and yes, Angel Cabrera. So, light up that Winston, and take one more trip through the buffet line because tomorrow you could win the club championship.
Granted, it would help if you could hit the ball 390 yards like Angel Cabrera, the 2007 U.S. Open Champion.
However, recently things got much better in Argentina. The government created the nuevo peso Argentino (new Argentine peso) bringing inflation under control, and Angel Cabrera won the U.S. Open waddling home with 1,260,000 Nuevo Pesos Argentinos and the entire country shouted Ay! Caramba.
Who would have believed it? The Duck beat the Tiger, but it happened and I, as a bit of a duck myself, couldn’t be happier. Fire up another Winston, hand me that second helping of mashed potatoes, and let’s play golf. Angel Cabrera is the 2007 U.S. Open Champion. Chips and salsa one under par on Sunday, abs of steel two over. Somewhere Billy Casper is laughing, jiggling of course, but still laughing.
Cabrera didn’t win it, Tiger lost it, you say? Pour me another shot of Tequila while I disagree. He and Tiger may play a hundred times in the future and Tiger may win a hundred out of a hundred, but on those four days Angel Cabrera was the best golfer was the world, not Tiger Wood, not Jim Furyk or anybody else. It’s time to realize that your favorite nine and seven football team is not a better team than that. You are what you are. Could the 1980 U.S. Olympic Hockey Team beat those commie Russian bastards again? It doesn’t matter; they have their Gold Medal just like Cabrera has his name on the trophy and 1,260,000 of Nuevo Pesos Argentinos in the bank.
As Johnny Miller waited for Furyk and then Tiger to make their moves, Angel Cabrera and his caddie sat nervously in the locker room waiting. "I was definitely feeling nervous, but I assumed that this is the same sensation everybody was having in my place," said Cabrera through an interpreter. And, it was at that very moment that I realized that had Cabrera and his caddie switched bodies perhaps Angel would be getting a little more respect. But who cares? Angel Cabrera is Lyle Lovett marrying Julia Roberts, and who wouldn’t trade their abs for that?
On 361 days this year Tiger will be the best golfer in the world, but not at the 107th U.S. Open. Is the mystique gone, or just back in Florida thinking about baby Sam that would arrive shortly? Pack away your red shirt and grab your passport for the British Open next month. Phil Mickelson will be there along with Retief, Furyk, Padraig, Ernie and Vijay, but look out for that chubby guy sitting in the smoking section.
As Rocky Balboa once said, “Freak luck is a strange thing,” so the next time you tee it up with your buddy that has beat you like a red-headed step child once a week for the last year, remember Rocky Balboa and Lyle Lovett and know that all things are possible. You are the U.S. A. Hockey Team, David with a slingshot, and yes, Angel Cabrera. So, light up that Winston, and take one more trip through the buffet line because tomorrow you could win the club championship.
Granted, it would help if you could hit the ball 390 yards like Angel Cabrera, the 2007 U.S. Open Champion.
Friday, June 8, 2007
Welcome To The Tiger Tour
Tiger Woods now has his own tournament, the AT&T National, to be played July 2 through 8 at the famous Congressional Country Club. That’s not news. However what may be news is that the golf world has pulled an end run around its own rule about appearance fees. How’s that you ask? Well, for his duties, which is basically showing up at said tournament, the Tiger Woods Foundation will receive a multi-million charitable donation no matter what Tiger does on the golf course.
Technically, that may not be an appearance fee, but when the money ends up in Tiger Wood’s control what else would you call it? Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure that the Tiger Woods Foundation does wonderful work, but that’s not the point. The fact is that Tiger’s presence in a tournament can make it or break it from a TV rating standpoint, and without TV ratings sponsors are hard to find, and without sponsors tournaments disappear.
So, what’s next? Will Phil Mickelson and his Foundation host the next FBR Open in Scottsdale? How about Vijay Singh and his Foundation hosting the Mercedes-Benz Championship in Hawaii, or Ernie Els, or Jesper Parnevik? Okay, maybe not Jesper. Granted, it may only be the top two or three players in the world that make enough difference to warrant such treatment, or their maybe there’s only one, but how many Tournaments would plop down a sizable chartable donation if it would guarantee that Tiger Woods would play in their tournament?
Consider how few tournaments the top players actually play in these days. Now consider how many spots on their dance card are already filled with four majors, plus the Players. Now add to that the World Golf Championships, the Tour Championship. Then comes the money games like the million bucks Tiger and others get for showing up in Dubai and Asia. Now don’t forget that Tiger plays in two Buick events, plus the AT&T National, just like Phil plays in the American Express sponsored tournaments. Then there are Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer’s tournaments, which most attend. Now, factor in that the big name players don’t like to play more than three weeks in row and what have you got?
The answer is very little room for any other tournaments.
So, what’s the harm? Perhaps there is none, or perhaps Tiger, Phil, Ernie and the boys are becoming their own tour and in doing so relegating the regular PGA Tour to non superstar status and that would worry me if I were ranked number 75 in the world. Because with relegation comes less exposure followed by less money and less opportunity. How many tournaments already have limited exposure because they are only seen on the Golf Channel?
Again, so what? What does Tiger and all of the others owe to golf? Actually, everything; without golf Tiger is selling real estate, Phil is on the Poker Tour and Ernie is a potato farmer in South Africa. Politicians and CEOs get in trouble when they think they are the smartest guys in the room. Athletes get in trouble when they start thinking that they are bigger than the game.
Last year the PGA Tour touted that they had raised a billion bucks for charity and that’s admirable. But what happens if this new order takes hold? Sure, Tiger’s Foundation will get its money and so will Phil’s, but what about the dozens of other charities that are left out in the cold? Who got their share? Tiger, Phil and Tim Finchem should remember that golf did not invent the big buck charity golf tournament; charity invented the big buck golf tournament.
Sometimes when the banquet table is too big you forget who bought the groceries.
Technically, that may not be an appearance fee, but when the money ends up in Tiger Wood’s control what else would you call it? Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure that the Tiger Woods Foundation does wonderful work, but that’s not the point. The fact is that Tiger’s presence in a tournament can make it or break it from a TV rating standpoint, and without TV ratings sponsors are hard to find, and without sponsors tournaments disappear.
So, what’s next? Will Phil Mickelson and his Foundation host the next FBR Open in Scottsdale? How about Vijay Singh and his Foundation hosting the Mercedes-Benz Championship in Hawaii, or Ernie Els, or Jesper Parnevik? Okay, maybe not Jesper. Granted, it may only be the top two or three players in the world that make enough difference to warrant such treatment, or their maybe there’s only one, but how many Tournaments would plop down a sizable chartable donation if it would guarantee that Tiger Woods would play in their tournament?
Consider how few tournaments the top players actually play in these days. Now consider how many spots on their dance card are already filled with four majors, plus the Players. Now add to that the World Golf Championships, the Tour Championship. Then comes the money games like the million bucks Tiger and others get for showing up in Dubai and Asia. Now don’t forget that Tiger plays in two Buick events, plus the AT&T National, just like Phil plays in the American Express sponsored tournaments. Then there are Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer’s tournaments, which most attend. Now, factor in that the big name players don’t like to play more than three weeks in row and what have you got?
The answer is very little room for any other tournaments.
So, what’s the harm? Perhaps there is none, or perhaps Tiger, Phil, Ernie and the boys are becoming their own tour and in doing so relegating the regular PGA Tour to non superstar status and that would worry me if I were ranked number 75 in the world. Because with relegation comes less exposure followed by less money and less opportunity. How many tournaments already have limited exposure because they are only seen on the Golf Channel?
Again, so what? What does Tiger and all of the others owe to golf? Actually, everything; without golf Tiger is selling real estate, Phil is on the Poker Tour and Ernie is a potato farmer in South Africa. Politicians and CEOs get in trouble when they think they are the smartest guys in the room. Athletes get in trouble when they start thinking that they are bigger than the game.
Last year the PGA Tour touted that they had raised a billion bucks for charity and that’s admirable. But what happens if this new order takes hold? Sure, Tiger’s Foundation will get its money and so will Phil’s, but what about the dozens of other charities that are left out in the cold? Who got their share? Tiger, Phil and Tim Finchem should remember that golf did not invent the big buck charity golf tournament; charity invented the big buck golf tournament.
Sometimes when the banquet table is too big you forget who bought the groceries.
Drive For Show, Putt For Dough
His brother Rick Dempsey is perhaps the better-known athlete, but Pat Dempsey has an even bigger swing than baseball’s 1983 World Series MVP. At about six-foot four inches tall and maybe 240 pounds, Pat Dempsey is built like a brick caddie shack and swings a golf club like Conan The Barbarian swings a two-handed sword.
Pat and I met a couple of years ago at a charity golf tournament where he was hitting drives for charity. For twenty dollars Pat would launch one into the stratosphere for you. Playing with a foursome that was born in the middle of the last century, we were more than anxious to purchase his distance, so we coughed-up the twenty bucks and then watched Pat do his thing.
To say Pat swings hard would be like saying Steve Nash can shoot free throws. It is absolutely violent to the point of making the spectators flinch, and I know because I was the head flincher. And, when someone said that he killed that one, it didn’t seem like a metaphor. Forget the long, smooth under control swing; this was pure violence.
As a special treat, Pat also did his impression of Happy Gilmore starting his pre-shot routine by jogging toward the ball before striking his mighty blow. As the ball sailed down the fairway I secretly wondered what must it be like to scare other golfers and small children with my drive; to reach every par five in two; to carry every bunker; to laugh in the face of water hazards? If I could hit a ball like that would my wife still make me take out the trash? I think not.
As we approached our charity ball at about 365 yards out I glanced back at Pat who was lighting a celebratory cigar and laughing like Arnold Swarzenegger. “I’ll be back,” I thought I heard him shout.
With only a sand wedge left to the green and with four shots at it, you probably think we’d pitch it up there for an easy birdie, but if I recall we didn’t get a ball inside of ten feet with four chances. Save for a putt that did a 360 around the hole before falling in we almost blew the whole deal.
Pat is still hitting the long ball but now as Captain of UST’s Long Drive Team as well as a competitor in the senior division of Long Driver of America and the RE/MAX Long Drive Championship. The Team is doing really well this year with five of six team members already qualifying for the World Championship. For the record, they’re swinging UST’s V2 Long Drive shaft designed especially for long drive and other competitive gorilla activities.
I don’t have a list of future Long Driver of America Tournaments or the requirement to enter, but I bet if you pay an entry fee and go through qualifying you can join the testosterone exhibitions. However, before you quit your day job and jump out there you should know that the flat-belly record holder, better known as the Open Division, is Jason Zuback with a blast of 412+ yards. Interestingly, Zuback is also the shortest Champion standing a mere five-foot nine inches. Just for the record, Viktor Johansson is the tallest Champion at six-foot six inches. Nancy Abiecunas is the woman’s record holder with a drive of 332+ yards, and coincidentaly she is also the shortest women champion at five-foot ten inches, an inch taller than the shortest men’s record holder. The tallest lady Champion is Stacey Shinnick at six-feet two inches.
Just imagine the mixed scramble team you could put together.
The leading money winner on the Tour is Dave Gureckis with $69,350 for his entire career. That is correct; that’s his career earnings not annual. Our friend Pat Dempsey has earned $58,070 over about ten years of competing. Don’t get me wrong, fifty thousand bucks is a nice bonus, but you might want to keep the day job, which I assume all of these men and women do.
So, I guess it’s true that you drive for show and putt for dough, but there seems to be more to it than money. I think these men and women really love the thrill of hitting the big one, and come to think of it, so do most of us. What’s a lay up?
The one question that everyone always wants to ask is what kind of golfers are these guys? Pretty good, actually. Pat, like many of the other long drive guys, is a scratch golfer, but the other side of that coin is that just about every club pro in America is also a scratch golfer. So then, how good are Tiger, Phil and the rest of those guys all the way to the Nationwide Tour who play golf for a living… really, really good.
Let’s put it this way, Sean O’Hair could spot most of us an eight on seventeen at Sawgrass and still beat the crap out of most of us, and he might even win the long drive contest, as well.
Pat and I met a couple of years ago at a charity golf tournament where he was hitting drives for charity. For twenty dollars Pat would launch one into the stratosphere for you. Playing with a foursome that was born in the middle of the last century, we were more than anxious to purchase his distance, so we coughed-up the twenty bucks and then watched Pat do his thing.
To say Pat swings hard would be like saying Steve Nash can shoot free throws. It is absolutely violent to the point of making the spectators flinch, and I know because I was the head flincher. And, when someone said that he killed that one, it didn’t seem like a metaphor. Forget the long, smooth under control swing; this was pure violence.
As a special treat, Pat also did his impression of Happy Gilmore starting his pre-shot routine by jogging toward the ball before striking his mighty blow. As the ball sailed down the fairway I secretly wondered what must it be like to scare other golfers and small children with my drive; to reach every par five in two; to carry every bunker; to laugh in the face of water hazards? If I could hit a ball like that would my wife still make me take out the trash? I think not.
As we approached our charity ball at about 365 yards out I glanced back at Pat who was lighting a celebratory cigar and laughing like Arnold Swarzenegger. “I’ll be back,” I thought I heard him shout.
With only a sand wedge left to the green and with four shots at it, you probably think we’d pitch it up there for an easy birdie, but if I recall we didn’t get a ball inside of ten feet with four chances. Save for a putt that did a 360 around the hole before falling in we almost blew the whole deal.
Pat is still hitting the long ball but now as Captain of UST’s Long Drive Team as well as a competitor in the senior division of Long Driver of America and the RE/MAX Long Drive Championship. The Team is doing really well this year with five of six team members already qualifying for the World Championship. For the record, they’re swinging UST’s V2 Long Drive shaft designed especially for long drive and other competitive gorilla activities.
I don’t have a list of future Long Driver of America Tournaments or the requirement to enter, but I bet if you pay an entry fee and go through qualifying you can join the testosterone exhibitions. However, before you quit your day job and jump out there you should know that the flat-belly record holder, better known as the Open Division, is Jason Zuback with a blast of 412+ yards. Interestingly, Zuback is also the shortest Champion standing a mere five-foot nine inches. Just for the record, Viktor Johansson is the tallest Champion at six-foot six inches. Nancy Abiecunas is the woman’s record holder with a drive of 332+ yards, and coincidentaly she is also the shortest women champion at five-foot ten inches, an inch taller than the shortest men’s record holder. The tallest lady Champion is Stacey Shinnick at six-feet two inches.
Just imagine the mixed scramble team you could put together.
The leading money winner on the Tour is Dave Gureckis with $69,350 for his entire career. That is correct; that’s his career earnings not annual. Our friend Pat Dempsey has earned $58,070 over about ten years of competing. Don’t get me wrong, fifty thousand bucks is a nice bonus, but you might want to keep the day job, which I assume all of these men and women do.
So, I guess it’s true that you drive for show and putt for dough, but there seems to be more to it than money. I think these men and women really love the thrill of hitting the big one, and come to think of it, so do most of us. What’s a lay up?
The one question that everyone always wants to ask is what kind of golfers are these guys? Pretty good, actually. Pat, like many of the other long drive guys, is a scratch golfer, but the other side of that coin is that just about every club pro in America is also a scratch golfer. So then, how good are Tiger, Phil and the rest of those guys all the way to the Nationwide Tour who play golf for a living… really, really good.
Let’s put it this way, Sean O’Hair could spot most of us an eight on seventeen at Sawgrass and still beat the crap out of most of us, and he might even win the long drive contest, as well.
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
Golf And These Desperate Times
The logic seemed sound; I would surprise my wife with new golf clubs and lessons. It would be a great Christmas gift that she would use to gain an appreciation for the beauty and difficulty of the great game. Ultimately, that appreciation would translate into playing only when we were on vacation and in the meantime she would return to shoe shopping with a carefully crafted understanding of why I’m playing golf instead of retiling the bathroom. Perhaps I didn’t think it through.
And, the look on her face on Christmas morning quickly confirmed that fact. In her defense, I should say that she is not a violent woman, but had she been, I could visualize her beating me to death with a brand-new Ping five-iron that fateful Christmas morning. Obviously, her grip would have been a little strong because she had not taken her lesson as yet, but I would have been just as dead.
Perhaps the situation was exacerbated by the sheer size of the package and the stupid smile on my face; but trust me, after a woman wrestles a giant package to the ground looking for who knows what and finds you know what, she is not very happy. In all likelihood, the situation was made worse because I had just opened her package to me containing a $2,000 Giorgio Armani jacket that I had coveted for months. Don’t get me wrong, I love golf, but Armani defiantly trumps Ping.
So, where is the lesson here? Is it to never buy your wife golf clubs and lesson for Christmas, or is there a bigger more profound message to be learned? The answer is “yes” to both questions, but there is also a tactical question at hand. Remember the circumstance; there I was on Christmas morning; I had just snap-hooked my drive into the deep woods. The easy thing to do would be to pitch it back into the fairway, take my punishment and move on, but I didn’t get to where I am by laying up, so I took dead aim through the trees and let it fly. Then, as the tears welled-up in her eyes, I boldly announced that her first golf lesson would be in Cabo San Lucas.
It was like watching a great golf shot as her arms went around my neck. I saw the ball emerge from the hazard, land softly on the green and roll to within two-feet of the hole for an easy birdie. Granted, I could have gone for an emotional eagle but that would have likely cost me a trip to Europe.
Okay, I hear you. It was a bad premise to begin with because I really don’t want to play golf with my wife or any other woman for that matter. It is not because it is a sacred game as much as it is because golf resides in a sacred place called “guy-time,” that most sacred of all places where we scratch, spit and cuss at will. It is that place where your best friend's nickname describes at least one of his inadequacies. It is that holiest of places where you don’t care if your shirt is wrinkled or has a Gatorade stain down the front, or, you have terminal hat-hair; those things have zero importance in Guy-time.
In a world filled with equal rights, women executives, and unisex barbershops, guy-time is in danger. Once safe bastions of manhood such as golf, football and fishing are under attack and in grave danger of being neutered. The enemy of guy-time is women with their never ending list of domestic chores and “us-time.” Mow the grass, fix the sink, and turn on the TV and watch “Dancing With The Stars” with me; is there no end to this assault?
Reading the latest golf stats, perhaps it is too late for you and me. The number of people playing golf is not growing. The simple answer is to make sure that you teach your son the great game of golf, and if that fails invite a NASCAR guy to play.
These are desperate times.
And, the look on her face on Christmas morning quickly confirmed that fact. In her defense, I should say that she is not a violent woman, but had she been, I could visualize her beating me to death with a brand-new Ping five-iron that fateful Christmas morning. Obviously, her grip would have been a little strong because she had not taken her lesson as yet, but I would have been just as dead.
Perhaps the situation was exacerbated by the sheer size of the package and the stupid smile on my face; but trust me, after a woman wrestles a giant package to the ground looking for who knows what and finds you know what, she is not very happy. In all likelihood, the situation was made worse because I had just opened her package to me containing a $2,000 Giorgio Armani jacket that I had coveted for months. Don’t get me wrong, I love golf, but Armani defiantly trumps Ping.
So, where is the lesson here? Is it to never buy your wife golf clubs and lesson for Christmas, or is there a bigger more profound message to be learned? The answer is “yes” to both questions, but there is also a tactical question at hand. Remember the circumstance; there I was on Christmas morning; I had just snap-hooked my drive into the deep woods. The easy thing to do would be to pitch it back into the fairway, take my punishment and move on, but I didn’t get to where I am by laying up, so I took dead aim through the trees and let it fly. Then, as the tears welled-up in her eyes, I boldly announced that her first golf lesson would be in Cabo San Lucas.
It was like watching a great golf shot as her arms went around my neck. I saw the ball emerge from the hazard, land softly on the green and roll to within two-feet of the hole for an easy birdie. Granted, I could have gone for an emotional eagle but that would have likely cost me a trip to Europe.
Okay, I hear you. It was a bad premise to begin with because I really don’t want to play golf with my wife or any other woman for that matter. It is not because it is a sacred game as much as it is because golf resides in a sacred place called “guy-time,” that most sacred of all places where we scratch, spit and cuss at will. It is that place where your best friend's nickname describes at least one of his inadequacies. It is that holiest of places where you don’t care if your shirt is wrinkled or has a Gatorade stain down the front, or, you have terminal hat-hair; those things have zero importance in Guy-time.
In a world filled with equal rights, women executives, and unisex barbershops, guy-time is in danger. Once safe bastions of manhood such as golf, football and fishing are under attack and in grave danger of being neutered. The enemy of guy-time is women with their never ending list of domestic chores and “us-time.” Mow the grass, fix the sink, and turn on the TV and watch “Dancing With The Stars” with me; is there no end to this assault?
Reading the latest golf stats, perhaps it is too late for you and me. The number of people playing golf is not growing. The simple answer is to make sure that you teach your son the great game of golf, and if that fails invite a NASCAR guy to play.
These are desperate times.
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Golf You Have To See To Believe
It’s Byron Nelson week, and to you that may be just another week, but to me it is one of the highlights of the year. I’ve been working at the EDS Byron Nelson Championship for more than twenty years and I highly recommend it for anyone who loves golf, getting outside, or simply people watching. It’s a hoot.
I’ll never forget my first year; I was a rookie marshal constantly fearful of doing something dumb like walking in a players’ line. But when the rains started everything changed. And as the day progressed, the challenge became whether or not they were even going to play. At every break in the weather the rookies like myself would squeegee the greens and do our best to bail the water out of the bunkers. Then it would rain again.
You haven’t had any fun until you’ve bailed and raked bunkers for hours on end.
Weatherwise it was a terrible week. It must have rained ten or fifteen times, and of course every time it rained we had to evacuate the players. I’ll never forget seeing Greg Norman huddled under one of the hospitality tents, wet, cold and totally tick-off about getting wet I suppose. Apparently it never rains in Australia, or at least it never rains on Greg Norman. But we all survived, including Greg Norman, although I don’t think he ever returned to the Nelson. I suppose it could have been the rain, but more likely it was the less than sterling round he shot on Sunday.
For several years the Nelson had the reputation that it always rained, and stories like the one I just told likely contributed to the misnomer. The truth is we’ve only lost four days of golf in thirty years. Most of the time we worried about being scorched by the Texas sun, then again the sunshine brought out the beautiful ladies. It’s that ying/yang thing working, I suppose.
Regardless of the weather, it is always fun to get close to the players because you see and hear some amazing things. Like the time Nick Faldo missed the fourteenth fairway and was hopelessly in the trees. Being a dutiful marshal, I cleared an area so that he could safely pitch the ball out into the fairway, take his punishment and move on to the next hole. When he arrived at his ball I was astonished when he pointed toward the green and said, “I’m going right there,” then he asked me to clear the area. Understand, “Right there” required that he hit a 150 yard shot no more than six-feet high, under the trees, then carry the ball over a lake as well as a mound to an elevated green. It was just the kind of shot that you and I make everyday.
As I moved the crowd back I smiled politely at Nick as he focused on the shot at hand. This was the first time I had ever been close to Faldo and I was struck by how big he was; six-four I would guess and every bit of 225 pounds. As he took his stance over the ball I said to myself, “This is crazy. Pitch it out in the middle of the fairway and take six or seven out of the equation.”
Then, with a hundred people crowded as close as possible, Nick made his swing, not the easy, form-fitted swing that he usually makes from a fairway, but a low violent punch shot that sent the ball rifling through the trees like a .357 magnum. As his ball cleared the water it was traveling at perhaps a thousand miles an hour just before it impacted with the large mound that protected the green. Then, as if he had played a twenty-yard pitch shot, the ball bounced straight up in the air and fell softly on to the green and the crowd went crazy.
As those of us still standing close to Faldo deep in the trees cheered and laughed at the astonishing shot we had just witnessed, Nick slowly removed his glove and looked straight at me and winked as if to say, “Nothing too it, Mate.”
It was totally cool.
These days I’m stuck in the media tent during most of the Tournament, but occasionally I do get to watch some great golf up close and it is still as thrilling as ever.
The EDS Byron Nelson Championship has almost 2,000 volunteers helping out each year, and judging by the celebration we have at the end of each Tournament, every one of them has a blast. And, if you have the opportunity to work a tournament I’ll bet you’d feel the same. It doesn’t have to be the PGA Tour to be fun. The guys on the Nationwide, Champions and LPGA could use your help, as well and those tournaments might be even more fun to work. But even if you don’t have the time to work, make sure you get out to see some great golf in person. I’ve told that story about Nick Faldo a thousand times and there are a thousand more stories just waiting for you.
See you at the golf tournament.
I’ll never forget my first year; I was a rookie marshal constantly fearful of doing something dumb like walking in a players’ line. But when the rains started everything changed. And as the day progressed, the challenge became whether or not they were even going to play. At every break in the weather the rookies like myself would squeegee the greens and do our best to bail the water out of the bunkers. Then it would rain again.
You haven’t had any fun until you’ve bailed and raked bunkers for hours on end.
Weatherwise it was a terrible week. It must have rained ten or fifteen times, and of course every time it rained we had to evacuate the players. I’ll never forget seeing Greg Norman huddled under one of the hospitality tents, wet, cold and totally tick-off about getting wet I suppose. Apparently it never rains in Australia, or at least it never rains on Greg Norman. But we all survived, including Greg Norman, although I don’t think he ever returned to the Nelson. I suppose it could have been the rain, but more likely it was the less than sterling round he shot on Sunday.
For several years the Nelson had the reputation that it always rained, and stories like the one I just told likely contributed to the misnomer. The truth is we’ve only lost four days of golf in thirty years. Most of the time we worried about being scorched by the Texas sun, then again the sunshine brought out the beautiful ladies. It’s that ying/yang thing working, I suppose.
Regardless of the weather, it is always fun to get close to the players because you see and hear some amazing things. Like the time Nick Faldo missed the fourteenth fairway and was hopelessly in the trees. Being a dutiful marshal, I cleared an area so that he could safely pitch the ball out into the fairway, take his punishment and move on to the next hole. When he arrived at his ball I was astonished when he pointed toward the green and said, “I’m going right there,” then he asked me to clear the area. Understand, “Right there” required that he hit a 150 yard shot no more than six-feet high, under the trees, then carry the ball over a lake as well as a mound to an elevated green. It was just the kind of shot that you and I make everyday.
As I moved the crowd back I smiled politely at Nick as he focused on the shot at hand. This was the first time I had ever been close to Faldo and I was struck by how big he was; six-four I would guess and every bit of 225 pounds. As he took his stance over the ball I said to myself, “This is crazy. Pitch it out in the middle of the fairway and take six or seven out of the equation.”
Then, with a hundred people crowded as close as possible, Nick made his swing, not the easy, form-fitted swing that he usually makes from a fairway, but a low violent punch shot that sent the ball rifling through the trees like a .357 magnum. As his ball cleared the water it was traveling at perhaps a thousand miles an hour just before it impacted with the large mound that protected the green. Then, as if he had played a twenty-yard pitch shot, the ball bounced straight up in the air and fell softly on to the green and the crowd went crazy.
As those of us still standing close to Faldo deep in the trees cheered and laughed at the astonishing shot we had just witnessed, Nick slowly removed his glove and looked straight at me and winked as if to say, “Nothing too it, Mate.”
It was totally cool.
These days I’m stuck in the media tent during most of the Tournament, but occasionally I do get to watch some great golf up close and it is still as thrilling as ever.
The EDS Byron Nelson Championship has almost 2,000 volunteers helping out each year, and judging by the celebration we have at the end of each Tournament, every one of them has a blast. And, if you have the opportunity to work a tournament I’ll bet you’d feel the same. It doesn’t have to be the PGA Tour to be fun. The guys on the Nationwide, Champions and LPGA could use your help, as well and those tournaments might be even more fun to work. But even if you don’t have the time to work, make sure you get out to see some great golf in person. I’ve told that story about Nick Faldo a thousand times and there are a thousand more stories just waiting for you.
See you at the golf tournament.
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Tailor Made Golf Lessons
I took another golf lesson today. It was something that I’ve needed to do for a long time. Like many golfers, as little things go wrong with my swing, I apply Band-Aids here and there until I have no idea what I am doing.
I’m like the old joke where the guy goes to the tailor because one arm of his jacket is too long and the tailor tell him to tuck a little bit of it under his arm. Then he notices that one leg is longer than the other, so he tells him to bend his left knee. Finally he sees that his lapel is puckered up on one side, so he asked him to hold it down with his chin.
Leaving the tailor’s shop he passes two friends, and seeing their friend bent over and hobbling with his chin holding his lapel in place, one friend asked the other, “What’s wrong with Sam?” to which the other friend answers, “I don’t know but doesn’t his suit fit nice?”
It’s frustrating and amazing to me that what I think I am doing with my golf swing and what I am actually doing are sometimes so different. Granted my cat-like reflexes have far surpassed their nine lives and there are times when my rippling abs actually get in the way of me making a full turn, but I keep trying.
A couple of years ago the publisher of Tees2Greens and vaunted golf addict, Mike Casson and I attended Bill Moretti’s Academy of Golf Dynamics in Austin, Texas. And, except for the scorching heat that accompanied Austin in August, The Golf Magazine Top 25 Golf School was great fun and very helpful.
For me their teaching method was both beneficial and interesting to watch. It started with videoing each of the fifteen students’ swings and then spending no more than five minutes with each of us talking about what they saw. They told us that it was the first and the last time we would look at a video. Their reasoning was that they didn’t want us thinking about our swing in pieces. Some will likely disagree with that reasoning, but it is hard to disagree with Moretti’s twenty years of success.
Back on the range, the five instructors walked behind each of the fifteen students for not more than ten minutes before starting down the line with individual instructions. As you might expect, each set of instructions was different for each person but the goal was the same; the one-plane swing.
For the next three days I hit ten thousand balls more or less. My hands hurt, my legs hurt, my back hurt and parts we’ll just call parts hurt as well. Inter-mixed with ten thousand one-plane swing balls, we putted for hours, chipped and pitched for several more hours, and dug holes in the sand traps until we were almost covered up. We worked on downhill lies, up-hill lies and side-hill lies and every lie in between. You name the shot and we worked on it and in the end that was one of the most beneficial aspects of the school for me.
I’m sure I benefited from the hours of one-plane swing practice, but learning proper technique for many different shots was something that has continued to help me. Rarely do I have a shot that I don’t know how to play; that doesn’t mean that I can actually hit the shot, but at least I do know what kind of shot I should be trying to hit.
Moretti sent each of us home with specific drills, video tips and an email address that we could use to talk about any swing problems we might have in the future. I don’t know if this constitutes a lifetime guarantee, but it’s close.
The bottom line here is that lessons are good for your game if for no other reason than it encourages you to hit ten thousand balls. Give your PGA Professional a call when you’re having problems; let me know how it goes and I’ll do the same. As a matter of fact, over the next few weeks I’m going to take lessons from D.A. Weibring and Randy Smith and if they don’t tell me to give up the game, I’ll let you know how it went.
I’m like the old joke where the guy goes to the tailor because one arm of his jacket is too long and the tailor tell him to tuck a little bit of it under his arm. Then he notices that one leg is longer than the other, so he tells him to bend his left knee. Finally he sees that his lapel is puckered up on one side, so he asked him to hold it down with his chin.
Leaving the tailor’s shop he passes two friends, and seeing their friend bent over and hobbling with his chin holding his lapel in place, one friend asked the other, “What’s wrong with Sam?” to which the other friend answers, “I don’t know but doesn’t his suit fit nice?”
It’s frustrating and amazing to me that what I think I am doing with my golf swing and what I am actually doing are sometimes so different. Granted my cat-like reflexes have far surpassed their nine lives and there are times when my rippling abs actually get in the way of me making a full turn, but I keep trying.
A couple of years ago the publisher of Tees2Greens and vaunted golf addict, Mike Casson and I attended Bill Moretti’s Academy of Golf Dynamics in Austin, Texas. And, except for the scorching heat that accompanied Austin in August, The Golf Magazine Top 25 Golf School was great fun and very helpful.
For me their teaching method was both beneficial and interesting to watch. It started with videoing each of the fifteen students’ swings and then spending no more than five minutes with each of us talking about what they saw. They told us that it was the first and the last time we would look at a video. Their reasoning was that they didn’t want us thinking about our swing in pieces. Some will likely disagree with that reasoning, but it is hard to disagree with Moretti’s twenty years of success.
Back on the range, the five instructors walked behind each of the fifteen students for not more than ten minutes before starting down the line with individual instructions. As you might expect, each set of instructions was different for each person but the goal was the same; the one-plane swing.
For the next three days I hit ten thousand balls more or less. My hands hurt, my legs hurt, my back hurt and parts we’ll just call parts hurt as well. Inter-mixed with ten thousand one-plane swing balls, we putted for hours, chipped and pitched for several more hours, and dug holes in the sand traps until we were almost covered up. We worked on downhill lies, up-hill lies and side-hill lies and every lie in between. You name the shot and we worked on it and in the end that was one of the most beneficial aspects of the school for me.
I’m sure I benefited from the hours of one-plane swing practice, but learning proper technique for many different shots was something that has continued to help me. Rarely do I have a shot that I don’t know how to play; that doesn’t mean that I can actually hit the shot, but at least I do know what kind of shot I should be trying to hit.
Moretti sent each of us home with specific drills, video tips and an email address that we could use to talk about any swing problems we might have in the future. I don’t know if this constitutes a lifetime guarantee, but it’s close.
The bottom line here is that lessons are good for your game if for no other reason than it encourages you to hit ten thousand balls. Give your PGA Professional a call when you’re having problems; let me know how it goes and I’ll do the same. As a matter of fact, over the next few weeks I’m going to take lessons from D.A. Weibring and Randy Smith and if they don’t tell me to give up the game, I’ll let you know how it went.
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