Category Archives: commentary

My Eyes Are Still Bleary

Yesterday the U.S. Open was on TV from 10 a.m. to about 7 p.m. Guess how much of it I watched. That isn’t a trick question. If you said, “All of it,” you’re close to being right.

How can you not watch Pebble Beach on a sunny day? Even the “inland” holes are gorgeous. No wonder we gladly fork over $425 to play a round there.

I didn’t stay parked for all that time, I would go out and do a bit of yard work, hit some balls in the backyard, fall asleep on the couch, but I overall I saw a lot of golf.

Phil caught fire, Tiger did squat, and I don’t know how many players I saw get eaten up by the green complex around number 14.

That’s why I love the Open. It’s the people’s major. It makes players take 8s and 9s. When’s the last time they made an 8 on a hole? When’s the last time you made one? Welcome to our game.

Today I have a barbecue to go to in the afternoon so I’ll only get to watch for an hour or so. Just as well. My eyes need the rest.

But tomorrow, my favorite day of the year, I’ll be there for every shot. I hope all of you get to see it, too.

My new book, The Golfing Self, is now available at www.therecreationalgolfer.com. It will change everything about the way you play.

My Favorite Time of the Year

In just a few days, hopefully tonight, pro basketball will be over. Hockey is over. Football hasn’t started up yet. It’s that glorious time of year when for about six week the only two sports in the sports pages will be baseball and golf.

Our minor league baseball season starts Friday the 18th. What better way to spend a summer evening than out at the park with a warm beer (it starts out cold, but doesn’t stay that way for long), a ball game in front of you and a good friend beside you?

What better way to send a summer day than out on the links? As good as that sounds, this week we go one better. We stay glued to out TV watching the U.S. Open. Formerly the National Open. This is the THE tournament for me. The courses are scary, this year the course is beautiful and scary, and they play recreational golf.

Really? Take a look. Pars are at a premium, bogeys are to be had by the fistful. Welcome to our game.

364 3/4 days out of the year I’m fairly agreeable and I’ll go along with whatever you want to do. But on the 1/4 day, when the final round of the U.S. Open is being played, I’m not available. Just don’t call me.

I’m glad they play the Open early in the summer. I couldn’t wait any longer than I already do.

Visit www.therecreationalgolfer.com

My favorite . . .

Golfing weather: clear, ~70 degrees. I don’t like heat, and even though I’m from the Pacific Northwest, I don’t see the point in playing when it’s raining.

Famous golf course: Merion East. It’s a nice, tidy little course that is a bear to play. The U.S. Open will be played here in 2013, and I’m going.

Golfer: Bobby Jones. Franicis Ouimet said, “I played creditable golf in the 20s, but when I played Bobby Jones he gave me two holes a side and still beat me. You have no idea how good he was!”

Favorite modern golfer: Arnold Palmer. I got his autograph in 1959 when I was nine years old, and it was just him and me, and he was just a nice man. That’s all you have to say.

Favorite current golfer: Position vacant, to be filled by the golfer who finally realizes that Tiger Woods can’t knock you down when you’re trying to hit your shot, or kick your ball, so just play your game and you’ll beat him.

Golf book: The Golf Handbook for Women, by Vivien Saunders. Check it out guys, this is the book for recreational golfers. Whatever your problem, she’s got a fix in two sentences and a drill.

Golf club: tie between my 24-degree hybrid and my sand wedge. It use them as often as I can because I know something good will happen when they’re in my hands.

TV announcer: Judy Rankin. She’s insightful, honest, courteous, easy to listen to. Not to mention, after she’s said what she has to say, she stops talking.

Golf shot: the 6-inch par putt.

My new book, The Golfing Self, is now available at www.therecreationalgolfer.com. It will change everything about the way you play.

Going to Oakmont

My wife and I made reservations last week to go to Pittsburgh in July to see the U.S. Women’s Open at Oakmont. This is one of those “ever since I was a kid” wishes, that I could walk around this course and a few others of its stature. I did Pebble Beach in 1960, and Merion is on my calendar for 2013.

This course is one of the hardest courses in America, featuring more bunkers than you can count, and dipsy-doodle greens that are slicker than (you know what). The Church Pews bunker between the 3rd and 4th holes is forty yards wide at its widest and 60 yards long. You can get the shakes over a one-foot putt.

We’re going to spend two days there, the Wednesday practice round, and the first round of competition on Thursday or Friday. On Wednesday, we’ll get to walk all around the course and take lots of pictures. I figure this is the only time I’ll get to be on this course with so much of the course showing (small crowds).

On the competition day we go to, we’ll start off the first tee with a group of interest, follow them for a few holes, then park ourselves at a green until a few more groups go through and someone else is worth following comes along. In about six hours, we’ll have made a restful tour of the course and have seen a lot of players.

This is going to be fun. I’ll keep you posted come July.

See more at www.bettergolfbook.com.

New Year’s Wishes

We had a good Christmas at our house, visiting family and being visited. Christmas should be on Friday every year. It gives us a nice long lead-in to The Big Day followed by two days off right away.

New Year’s is resolution time–the time we resolve to do things differently, to improve the parts of our life most meaningful to us. Even though we can start making positive changes at any time, January 1 makes nice separation between two golf seasons. We have enough time to wind down from one and get ready for the one to come.

So here are my golf resolutions for 2010.

1. Play harder courses more often. Play courses that make me hit better shots, think more clearly, and have a tighter game overall.

2. Stop trying to improve my swing and just get better at repeating the one I have.

3. Talk to my pro to develop an overall improvement plan and take a lesson every two/three weeks to carry it out.

4. Enjoy the fun and fellowship more and get caught up less in making good scores.

That last one might sound like a contradiction to the first three, but it’s not. Since we spend so much of our precious leisure time playing golf, we might as well play it as well as we can. But golf is also our recreation, our relaxation, our sanctuary. We should certainly enjoy the good rounds, and resolve to improve our bad ones, but the most important skill is to come home happier than when we left.

Otherwise, why play?

Thank you for following me in 2009. Be looking for the unveiling of therecreationalgolfer.com in March 2010.

Christmas Wishes

Another golfing year is coming to a close. My instructional book came out, and is selling slowly but steadily. The left-hander’s edition is doing even better.

I started out the season with a 10.2 handicap and saw that go up to 11.4, not the direction I intended, but my father died at the end of March and I didn’t have the emotional energy to devote myself to progressing. That weight is lifting, and I’m making great strides in all phases of the game, at least on the practice ground. So in 2010, single digits, here I come.

Since there is still one shopping day left, here are my suggestions for the golfer on your list, and that can include yourself:

Bridgestone Tour B330-RX golf balls. Expensive, but they stop on a dime around the green.

A new sand wedge and a new lob wedge. Or two. Square-grooved clubs cease being manufactured on January 1, so load up now.

Golf lessons–preferably putting lessons.

New golf shoes. The ones you’re wearing now have pretty much had it.

New golf shoe spikes. OK, your shoes still look good, but the spikes are worn down to the nub.

A wide-brimmed hat that actually does, instead of pretending to, keep the sun off your face and neck.

A new driver. Just kidding. You really don’t need this. Learn to get the one you have in the fairway and use the $400 to pay for golf lessons.

Better Recreational Golf, by yours truly. Applying the information in this book will help you shoot lower scores.

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and good golfing in 2010.

Time For PGA Tour Pros to Start Earning Their Living

Tiger is gone for an indefinite period. Most commentators think he’ll miss a big chunk of the 2010 season. Quite frankly, I don’t think he’ll miss anything. But that’s not what I’m here to talk about.

It’s the rest of the guys on the PGA tour. They’ve had a cushy ride on Tiger’s coattails for about ten years now. All they’ve had to do is show up, play decent golf, let Tiger win, and collect a handsome pay check. When the 91st player on the 2009 money list earns over $1M, why bother to do much else?

Party’s over. Tiger is damaged goods. We need other players who can move the needle for the Tour to maintain its profile.

Once we had Arnold Palmer, Doug Sanders, Julius Boros, Chi Chi Rodriguez, Lee Trevino, Gary Player, Tom Weiskopf. If these guys had been actors, each one would have been a leading man. Now the tour is full of supporting players and extras.

Who out there gets you excited about watching golf on TV? Who would you pay to see if the Tour came to your town?

All I can think of are Phil and John Daly, although Daly’s attraction now is more about his pants than his golf.

The PGA Tour is in more trouble than Tim Finchem wants to admit. 2010 will not be an easy year, and unless things change, 2011 will be worse. Professional golf could become a niche sport.

It’s time for players to step up and step out. We need interesting personalities out there, guys we can root for. We need players we care about.

Part of the problem is that too many of today’s players came out of college, where they played team golf. Being an individual wasn’t encouraged or even necessary, so the current breed of golfer doesn’t know how to be one.

We also need players who care about winning. I heard one guy last summer interviewed after he choked away a win say that he’s disappointed not to have won, but he played well overall and has a lot of positives to take away from the week. Incredible!

These days marketing is about establishing a brand. The brand that needs to be established is not for the Tour in general, but for each player, one by one. Professional golf lets fans get closer to the players than any other sport does, so it should be easy for golfers to make themselves known. But it’s the golfers who have done the worst job of it.

Time to change that.

Quotes

“The average golfer’s problem is not so much a lack of ability as it is a lack of knowing what he should do.”

Ben Hogan

“To improve your golf the first stage is not necessarily to change your swing, but to learn to do your best swing more often.”

Vivien Saunders

“It is true that if you cannot putt you cannot win, for no hole is won until the ball is down—but good scores are only made possible by good play up to the green.”

Percy Boomer

“I can outhit many men, much to their embarrassment, for suddenly they are pitting…their strength against mine. That’s foolish. They aren’t competing with my strength; they’re competing with the efficiency of my swing.”

Mickey Wright

“The average golfer’s chances of developing good judgement are better than his chances of radically transforming his golf swing.”

Raymond Floyd

See more at www.bettergolfbook.com