Spending More Time in the Sand Than David Hasselhoff

So it’s been over 3 months since I posted something. I would love to say the stampede of popular opinion has forced me to write again, but, in reality, no one seems to have noticed. I have, occasionally, missed it. Not often – usually I’m just relieved that I don’t “have to come up with another idea”, which probably means I’m not a true blogger.

Until now.

What got me off the couch to rip another post?

Twitter.

I don’t get Twitter. I find the fact that so many people are “tweeting” a bit discouraging for our future. It has become so rampant and out of control, that I’m half expecting to be invited to “Follow Barack” on Twitter. If our current president or a future president is found out to be a “tweeter”, I will then lose all hope in the United States as a country of influence in the world.

So this encouragement by C. Bivens, LPGA jefe, to have her players twit while on the course is not just disappointing, but infuriating. Does the LPGA want to be a fluff piece forever, or considered a real sport with real athletes? Compare the public response to my hometown Bucks’ forward Charlie Villanueva twittering in the locker room at halftime (outrage and head shaking) versus the acceptance of a commissioner of a major sports league encouraging her athletes to twitter.

Ms. Bivens, you have some of the greatest golfers in the world playing on your tour. Act like you run a sports league of value, not an after-school program for adolescents!

There, I feel better. I knew there was a value in blogging!

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I ran into Jay Busbee’s interview with David Feherty online today and I just had to share some of it.

For those who don’t know, Feherty is a former European tour player from Ireland who retired in 1997 and since, has been the best on-course announcer in golf history for my money. He has a way with words that, well, no one else has. For example, he has used the phrase “pulled up on the back of his underwear violently” in describing how a certain PGA player felt after flubbing a shot. Another favorite: “that ball ran across the green like a frozen sloat” – I think that means the green was slick.

But, as this interview shows, he isn’t just funny, but a man who may care about America more than most Americans.

Some excerpts:

His view on the war in Iraq: “What you think of the war — whether we should be there, whether we shouldn’t — isn’t truly relevant anymore. This is one of the greatest good deeds the world has ever seen. Iraq had the fourth largest army in the world, and we blew right through it. And now you’ve got Iran pushing in, looking to gain control. It’s truly terrifying — we think in four-year election cycles, and these people think in hundreds of years.”

On how great it is to live in the US: “I’ve lived so many other places, and it’s given me some perspective. The average American wouldn’t believe how extraordinary we have it here. Every day I wake up, I think, “Am I still in America? Yes? Thank f—!”"

And some of the funny stuff.

Speaking about a golf tour he did in Iraq for the American troops where a long drive champ hit a ball off a rubber tee in Feherty’s button fly, “When you’ve got a club coming 200mph right at your plums, that’ll wake you up.”

On how amazing Tiger was compared to the players Feherty was used to on the tour when he hit the scene: “And then every round, Tiger would hit a couple shots, and I’d say, “F—, I didn’t see that one coming.”"

Another reference to how unique the Striped One is: “You just can’t say enough about the guy. He’s winning majors by 10, 12, 15 shots. We haven’t seen that kind of stuff since the 1800s, when Old Tom Morris was playing with a badger’s testicle stuffed with seagull feathers.”

Badger’s testicle stuffed with seagull feathers? How does he even imagine this stuff?

And finally, how’s this for an attitude about life after nearly dying in a bicycle accident last year: “But still, man, I’m a lucky guy. Can’t wait to see what’s going to be next.”?

The world needs more Fehertys.

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I got back into reading The Onion online by hearing about some great Brett Favre headlines on a podcast:

• “Brett Favre Getting That Retirement Itch Again”
• “Brett Favre Demands Trade to 1996 Packers”

I decided to see what they do with golf. Awesome!

• “Small Businessman Conducts Business on Miniature Golf Course”
• “Tiger Woods Looking for More Competitive Golf Tour”
• “Nintendo Releases ‘Phil Mickelson’s Wacky Left-Handed Golf Tour”
• And probably my favorite – “Annika Sorenstam Has Another Remarkable Year For a Lady”

Gold, Jerry!

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I’ve spent a bit of time perusing golf blogrolls to find other blogs, to find yet more blogrolls, etc. etc. Basically, I want to find the good golf related blogs on the net so I can can totally immersed in internet golfology. Besides, the more other writings I find, the less I have to work since I can just “borrow” their content. How does plagarism work in regards to the web, by the way?

I haven’t finished my expedition yet, and Google Reader may kick me out for adding too many things, but I’ve got a few observations.

• More than one blog describes itself as “The Web’s (or “The Internet’s”) Best Blog”. One of these had had two posts in the last 2 months. If that’s good, I am outstanding!

• There are a lot of blogs out there. Some dedicated only to course design, some to club reviews, some to the pros, one to college golf specifically. I need to find a niche – Junior golf parents, maybe? With photos and embarrassing video?

• Does every major, and sometimes minor, newspaper’s golf writer have a blog? It seems like it. Why? Don’t they write enough on the standard part of their jobs?

• Not enough golf blogs have a sense of humor. One I found (Fore Right: A Golf Site for the Everyman) does. They included this photo:

Inside Tiger's Knee

(Maybe I just think its funny since I love Xrays.)

I fully intend to read every piece of golf-related material on the web, every day, for the next year or so. Then, I will have a stroke – but I’ll know who won on the Asian tour first!

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I’ve decided to try to get a broader view of the blogging world as it relates to golf so I’ve done a search and looked around. I found a disappointing number of golf blogs that haven’t been written on since long ago, and a couple that have closed.

I just ran down Matty G’s blog roll and probably 50% of them haven’t had recent posts. That is interesting, and a little distressing, I must say. Do all bloggers eventually fatigue? Is it only the really resilient ones who hang tough and continue to write, even when they don’t want to? Is it that there is only so much content that can be written about in golf? (With John Daly, there is always going to be more stuff though, right?)

Concerning for me. I need to watch myself. I don’t want to become another golf blog roadside casualty.

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My good friends, Jonny Mac (also known as Blue Devil Jonny and J Dukenstein) and Jess “The Baron of Brewing” Stokes, have given some good suggestions for a title for this so-called blog. You can see them all in their comments but here are my favorites:

“Please Stop Yelling “Get In the Hole!”" (You got that right, brother!)

“Gunga galunga . . . gunga, gunga-galunga” (Can never have too many Caddyshack references in any golf related writing)

“Spending More Time in the Sand Than David Hasselhoff” – nice!

“I Just Did All That?” (I’m not sure on the exact link to me and my golf game but I chuckle everytime I read it)

“It’s Not the Clubs” (Nor would Mizuno, The Ben Hogan Company, Ping, or Cobra want me to attribute the results I get to their clubs which have ended up in my paws)

“One Man’s Torture – A Golfer’s Tale”

As outstanding as these entries are, I’ve got to hold the contest open. For now, as you may have seen, I’ve come up with my own temporary title which fits my view of golf most often – “Golf – Huh! – What is it Good For? Ab-so-lutely Nothin’” And I will say it again!

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Just finished a great book – “Two Years in St. Andrews: At Home on the 18th Hole”, by George Peper. I really liked it. I’ll give you some highlights down the road.

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I’ve made a discovery of how my brain works in the last day or so.

I was looking for a name for this blog when I started it last week. I’d used “mind” in my other blog so I quickly came up with “A Golfer’s Mind” – not great but OK and I needed to call it something, right? It did come to me somewhat easily though.

Last night, as I looked at our family room end table, I found out why. Because I’m reading a book by Bob Rotella called, you guessed it, “The Golfer’s Mind”. I’m not sure of the vagaries of the laws on plagiarism regarding blogs, but I’m probably in dangerous waters there. He was, after all, first with that name. Changing “The” to “A” probably doesn’t help me much. I’ve now learned that my subconscious does hang onto certain things I read, but not the ones I really need when I need them, unfortunately.

So, I need a new name. I’m wide open for thoughts, suggestions, etc. I will not accept, however, any title containing the words “idiot”, “moron”, or “loser”, unless they’re really, really clever. Winner of this very subjective, unofficial contest gets a free T-shirt with the new blog title emblazoned on the front and a more than life size head shot of me on the back. Now that’s incentive!

The Rotella book, in spite of its easily copied name, is excellent – well worth the read for anyone who is confused by how they can understand so much about how to golf yet fail so miserably and so often when the blade mis-strikes the Titleist.

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That is a great question – why am I doing this? I’ve been an author of a blog before (on a small business, which subsequently died a slow, painful death just over a month ago) so I know how time-consuming, absorbing, frustrating and ,occasionally, fun blogs can be. But I’ve come to realize that
the blog is as much for me as for anyone who may read it (there won’t
be many, I’m sure), so why not write about what I really enjoy? My passion for the game of golf is so much more than my passion for small business so I’ve decided to give it a shot. There certainly are a lot of golf related blogs and online articles out there – will mine be any different? You and I will be the judge. At the very least, you’ll get to see what I’m thinking about this silly game.

I’ve been golfing since I was 7, at times very well, but for the last decade or so, increasingly “interestingly” – i.e., the ball goes in many places most golfers never see. This in spite of the fact that I’ve played more in the last 3 to 4 years than I ever have, as well as pounded more balls. This primarily because my two older sons, Erik and Alex, have become quite good golfers in their own right. They give me the chance to spend time with them (hubby and daddy points!) while golfing. Sweet, right?

But I don’t improve. Just like so many others.

So this blog will be about my golf journey, my musings (rantings) about my game, junior golf and the intriguing inhabitants therein, the PGA tour, and, in short, all things golf. I hope I get out of it what I want – even if I’m not sure yet what that is – and you get some giggles and insight.

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