Spending More Time in the Sand Than David Hasselhoff

Tiger Woods has stepped up to aid our ailing global economy as only he can.

GM and Tiger have agreed to sever their relationship one year early.  Says Larry Peck, golf marketing manager for Buick, “. . . it sure frees up a lot of money for us.”

Yes, it does, sir. And that means less money for you to beg from the federal government to save your company. And more money to spend on jet travel.

As for Mr. Woods, well done! On behalf of the American taxpaying public, I thank you. Have you had any discussions with Citigroup?

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I had posted about JP Hayes before, a fellow cheesehead and golf professional. Briefly, he disqualified himself from Q school after realizing he had used a non-conforming golf ball (a Titleist test ball that he inadvertently put into play).  This was after originally calling a 2 stroke penalty on himself when he realized that his ball wasn’t the same type as the one he had started the round with. His take on it is very refreshing, in our modern day era of sport cheating and braggadocio. (From Golf Digest’s Local Knowledge Blog):

Oprah hasn’t called. Neither has Letterman or Leno. But J. P. Hayes says he has fielded at least 30 requests for interviews since he became national news, and that amazes him because golfers routinely turn themselves in after infractions of the rules.

“It probably happens every week on the PGA Tour,” said Hayes. “You just never hear about it. Why I’ve attracted so much attention, I don’t know. But it’s good for golf, I guess, because it confirms what we’re all about, although a couple of the responses I’ve read or heard are interesting. Some people aren’t buying it. They’re saying there has to be more to the story, or that I’m doing all this for publicity.”

I trust JP enough by reputation and homeland that I can assure you, he isn’t doing this for the publicity. (What are people thinking?)

There is some justice in the world, however. JP didn’t make it through Q school but at least the John Deere Classic has given him a sponsor’s exemption for next year. And he gets the chance to play on the Nationwide Tour while awaiting more chances at the big show.

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The Pink Panther or a Tiger? Which one is the meaner cat?

On the face of it, no contest. Sure, the Pink Panther is cute, funny, and occasionally wicked. But Tiger is tough, fearless, lethal; the king of all he surveys.

In pro golf, however, the line became blurred this week. Paula Creamer, the so-called “Pink Panther” for her love of all things rose colored, sucked it up to play four solid rounds at the ADT Championship. She didn’t win, but she made it through two separate cuts and finished all 72 holes – in third place, no less. She had what is described as “an inflamed abdominal wall” with concerns that she had appendicitis. Not bad after having significant abdominal pain since the day before the tournament, not being able to warm up properly on any day, bending over and kneeling on the ground through her rounds to relieve her pain, not eating or drinking appropriately, and spending the night at a local hospital Saturday night, enduring 3 CT scans and getting IV fluids to re-hydrate her. She finally was discharged at 7:15 AM on Sunday, in time to get to the course to try to play.

Now, the cynic would say, “Sure, she was just doing it for the money.” And 1 million smackers is indeed a big incentive. But she has plenty of cash. She had to know she would have a hard time winning without being closer to 100% than she was. And she obviously felt horrible. I say, bravo! I hope she didn’t cause a real problem for her health, but isn’t this what we applaud in sports? Willis Reed emerging onto the court after a severe injury, that Japanese male gymnast sticking a landing on a broken leg, Kari Strug gimping through her routine after an injury to her ankle. We eat this stuff up. We admire these athletes.

Witness the hoopla around Tiger at the Open. Some didn’t believe him (Retief – I bet you wish you could have your words back), but what he did, to play 90 holes on a stress fractured leg, was amazing. The winning is even cooler.

I’ve had a stress fracture, as well as a bad knee, and I have a pretty good idea of what the Striped One went through during the Open. But I’ve never had an “inflamed abdominal wall” nor do I want one. But with the gut aches I have had, I look at what Ms. Creamer did, and I am amazed. All she wanted to do, I’m sure, is lay down and rest. But she hung tough and finished the tournament in great fashion.

So which cat is tougher?

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There are many reasons why I love golf. Stories like this one are a big part of it.

(From The Golf Digest’s Local Knowledge Blog) by E. Michael Johnson:

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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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Friday was my birthday – don’t worry, I’m not upset that all of you didn’t call or send me cards. Well, I retract that – my sister, Kerry, has blown off my birthday once again. But that’s OK – she’s visiting for Thanksgiving so I’ll extract revenge then.

I had a great time, even though the nasty rain prevented playing golf with my older two sons. But Erik, my 19 year old son at UNC – Wilmington, and Kirsten, my 21 year old daughter at UNC – Chapel Hill, both came in town and we all went to dinner, so it was nice. And I got some cool gifts – UNCW hat and shirt, the new Bob Rotella book (always a great read), the Josh Hamilton book (inspirational!).

Erik gave me a very, very cool present. He doesn’t have a lot of money, so I was a bit surprised when he brought in a large, flat package “wrapped” in a sheet – a clean one, he insisted. It was this:

4 summers ago, Erik, my father, and I had taken a “once in a lifetime trip”, in our case, to Scotland to play golf. My dad is a golf nut and, as I’ve mentioned before, taught me how to golf. And I, in turn, taught Erik. My dad had been to Europe many times, but always with my mom, who doesn’t golf. He had never visited the great golf courses of Scotland. We played at Turnberry, Prestwick (the original home of the British Open in the mid-1800’s), Kingsbarnes, Carnoustie, and at St. Andrews. It was a great 3 generational trip. And Erik took the yardage book from the Old Course at St. Andrews and cut it up to make this poster, including our scorecard, which you see on the bottom right of the poster, and below in close-up.

Our scores from the Old Course

I would like to point out a few things. Yes, I did indeed shoot an 89 while Erik shot 77. And, in fact, I did have a 10 on 14. I could say that I wanted to give the “Hell Bunker” a try and failed. But in reality, I got into this version of golf Hell and, 4 swats later, found out how it got its name.

But I’d rather you focus on #18, the Home Hole. We had teed off at 6:40 in the morning (a bit brisk in St. Andrews at that time, even in July). We were finishing at around 10:30 on what was turning into a beautiful summer morning. This area of St. Andrews is very popular and bunches of people are typically walking around the 18th green and 1st teebox, which are adjacent, on their way to the beach or just for walks.

The 18th Green at The Old Course

So there were probably 50-60 people standing in back of the green just watching the golfers on 18. Erik and I both hit good drives and hit our approaches to about 20 feet. In front of the crowd, I drained my putt for birdie, hence the “3″ you see on the card. My caddie then incited the crowd to cheer for me, so I am proud to say I got a standing ovation on the 18th at the Old Course. Probably my greatest golf memory ever.

The classic tourist photo on the 18th at The Old Course

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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 son, Alex, has another International Junior Golf Tournament this weekend – at Pinehurst #8, no less.

Alex has been playing junior tournaments for quite a while now. He started with local tournaments at our then home course, Lochmere Golf Club in Cary, NC.  He graduated to more regional tournament series, the Eastern Junior Golf Association and The National Junior Golf Club. The last two years, though, he has improved enough to play national type tours, such as the IJGT, the Future Collegians World Tour (FCWT), and the big daddy of all junior tournaments, the American Junior Golf Association (AJGA).

These tournaments are the most reliable route to college golf scholarships. It is very difficult to play only high school golf or local tournaments and attract any college coaches’ attention (especially club golf – coaches essentially ignore any “Junior Club Championships”). Big time coaches – Oklahoma State, Georgia, Wake Forest – have the reputation and talent level that allows them to ignore all but the very top tournaments in AJGA and, thus, the very best junior golfers in the world. They can get anyone they want, so they can be choosy.

There are all kinds of levels of college golf, though, and lots of opportunities out there. Alex has recently been getting information about Bethany College, a small NAIA school in Kansas. Apparently, they are very competitive nationally and have a good academic reputation. It certainly isn’t a school Alex would have considered (primarily because his parents never heard of it before), but now, he might.

Junior golf and the inhabitants therein is a fascinating study. You see all kinds of parents and kids. There’s the one parent who called his kid “Tin Cup” on the range in disgust after the kid wouldn’t listen to his advice and kept mis-hitting his shots. Practice shots. On the range. And he wasn’t kidding – he was mad.

There’s the dad who would stand behind the green on the exact line he wanted his son to hit when his kid would hit approach shots (if you’re unsure, that is grounds for disqualification – no golfer can get advice or coaching during a round unless it is from his own caddy or a coach if it is a team competition). I’ve actually gotten to know this guy a bit over the last few years and he is a very nice guy – he just wants his kid to succeed too much.

• We interrupt this blog for an important PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT: General advice for youth sports – parents, you are the child’s parent, not their friend, not their agent. Be a parent. Love them, support them, respect them, but if they don’t do as well as you or they want to, accept it and teach your child from the experience. Disappointment is part of the maturation process so expect it and, if possible, welcome it as a growth tool for your child.

Then there are the great people – both parents and kids – we’ve met. The IJGT, as the name suggests, has a fair number of international kids who play, usually coming from the International Junior Golf Academy in Hilton Head (if you heard of the show, School of Golf, on the Golf Channel, that school is the subject of that show). Alex and I were commenting after the last tournament how generally gracious, respectful and fun the kids in that tournament series are. We haven’t really met a jerk at one of the 15 or so tournaments he’s played there in child or parent form, nor among the coaches and directors. And some of the kids and their parents have become good friends, such as Kurtis Straw and his folks, Randy and Carla, from Pennsylvania.

Kurtis Straw, junior golfer, star hockey player and all around nice guy

I’ll try to capture some photos from the course this weekend to give you added flavor. Alex has 3 top tens so far in IJGT this year – let’s hope for an even better showing in the rain!

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Further info on the aforementioned lawsuit regarding Pro V1 golf balls:

“At issue was a series of patents referred to as the “Sullivan patents,” a reference to Michael J. Sullivan. Sullivan is the former vice president of golf-ball research and development for Top-Flite who left that company in 1999 and went to work for Acushnet as vice president for intellectual property. The patents covered, among other things, solid-core golf-ball technology used in Titleist’s Pro V1 and Pro V1x balls.”

So, like all good corporate espionage stories, it comes down to stealing intellectual property and technology. It isn’t a whole lot different than Red Hat vs. Microsoft, just with a non-geeky aspect. Maybe it will become a movie thriller starring John Cleese, Kevin Costner, or some other well-known golf-related actor, like P. Mickelson.

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Finally, driver technology has advanced to match cartoons.

Powerbilt announced its new “Air Force One” driver. The new techno feature – the clubhead is infused with nitrogen gas, pressurized up to 150 psi. That stabilizes the face and allows the face to be thinner (2.6 or 2.8mm vs. 3.0 for the standard high level driver). This also allows them to match clubface thickness to the player’s swing speed to enable face flex like a tour pro. It also improves the launch off of heel and toe hits.

Bottom line – jet fueled drives! Yes – I always knew Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd had the right idea about improving the game of golf.

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