The Best In Golf

I like Google News…always have.  It gives me headlines from several categories…national news…entertainment, sports, etc.  I can read coverage of the same event  from the Christian Science Monitor and the NY Times…that to me is useful, and cool.

It also helped me figure out why this is the first post on B.I.G in several months.

Quite simply I lost it.  Not that anyone but me really noticed or cared, but the game left me.  I enjoyed playing it only rarely and in circumstances I controlled. Who I played with , what  course, etc. all became far too important.  Slinging a carry bag over my shoulder for nine late in the afternoon was neither appealing or happening.

This morning (Saturday) started about as perfectly as one can.  I woke up early to a quiet house, made some coffee, and settled in to indulge the only addiction I have left…that’s right,  fishing shows.  My particular favorite is Hunt For Big Fish (VS. Network, 7:00 AM) where Larry Dahlberg, a true Minnasotan in every “Hey Stan wutcha eatin’ der ?” sort of way, travels the globe under the guise of catching fish…what he’s really there for is to make fun of the people and the culture he’s exploring…uniquely American.

One Larryism and then I promise to move on.   “The difference between fishin’ for Wolffish in the Amazon and fishin’ for Pike back home is the Pike won’t try to bite your leg off for catchin’ ‘em.”

That’s right Virgina, there’s only Rednecks in the South.

Back to Google.  Two stories were directly across from each other.  The first was in US News and was about Scott Brown and his game-changing win in the Massachusetts Senate race. The other was in Sports and reported on Tiger checking into a sex rehab clinic in Mississippi.  How are these related?  Only to me.

You see they both represent badly needed do – overs…resets, restarts.   As a small businessman I know first hand the need for healthcare reform.  My little company’s coverage is adequate and more and more expensive every year. The system needs an oil change.  But I don’t like the rush through it was getting before Christmas from the Obama/Pelosi/Reed squad.  Anything this important needs buy-in from all…not just the majority…my opiniion only.

I  don’t think about healthcare every day.

Golf on the other hand is far more a part of life for me.  I was raised around it, went to college, met my great wife, and take  care of my family  because of it.  Then why over the last few years have I become less and less interested in it?

I think I figured it out.

I don’t blame Tiger Woods.  Repeat, I don’t blame Tiger Woods.  In a hyper-celebrity, media saturated world came along the greatest golfer of all time…sorry Jack fans but that’s just the  facts.  He captivated the world, won majors in dramatic ways, smiled at us, and made almost a billion bucks in the process.  Nothing wrong with that even if it were two bill…I’m a capitalist too.

But what happened to the game is what I mourn.  All of a sudden it wasn’t  little anymore where goobers played $2 Nassaus with their buddies at the muni, grabbed a dog and went home to mow the lawn.  It became million dollar lots on golf courses, $500 greens fees at resorts, drivers that cost as much as a vacation, and Donald Trump.

Well I don’t like Donald Trump.  And I miss the little things that make golf fun…at least I used to.  I’m pretty sure they are going to come back.  The game is shrinking.  That’s not a bad thing.  It’s a good thing.  It will find its natural level again and be better for it.

Fat cats won’t join the latest club on Long Island where you  take a helicopter in to make your tee time. Think for a second about just how sick that sentence is.  They won’t join them, not because they don’t have the money,because there will be plenty of that, but for a much more important reason…it will be unseemly.

We need to get our manners and our perspective back.  And thanks to Tiger’s downfall I think we have a fighting chance.  I hope he comes back and wins 20 more majors…I honestly do.  But it won’t be as important as it once was.

Yes I miss the way it used to be.  But I’m playing at 1:15 tomorrow with three great pals.  We are carrying our clubs and the stakes will be two $6 pitchers of beer…and for the first time in a long time I can’t wait.

Golf is hurting don’t get me wrong.  I know that rounds are flat or down but that has been going on for some time.  The game is in what I would term a reset. 

I read this morning that Trump Entertainment has filed for bankruptcy protection.  That’s all the cheesy hotels in Atlantic City where he preys on grannys and truck drivers who think they’ll hit it big one day and be rich grannys and truck drivers, but we know how often that happens.

So golf is retooling, resetting.  Guys like Donald Trump, and I blogged about this two years ago, have infiltrated us, and done harm.  Hopefully, and I truly believe this, the game will be better off when we  figure out that $300,000 initiation clubs don’t work long term. 

We’ll play nine holes again, we’ll take that sacred and much needed  buddies trip to Pinehurst or Myrtle Beach, we’ll get back to normal…I for one can’t wait.

Two things are bugging me today that I just have to tell you about. The game is great we know but there are things about it that just make you want to give it a buried lie in a bunker and a 2-wood to get it out.

First, and I would have linked to it if it were online, is Bob Verdi’s Reporters Notebook piece in the June 20 issue of Golf World.

Second, and this is a beauty. In the latest issue of TIME there’s a blurby piece on the dangers golf carts pose to the general public. Between 1990 and 2007 the number of visits to emergency rooms for golf cart mishaps has increased 100%. So of course some lawmakers want to pass laws restricting their use by age as well as require the use of helmets.

Way to go Palm Springs…you are going to get what you deserve in two years when you don’t have a PGA Tour event anymore.
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Dear Last Opponent,

I am a 6.5 handicap. What follows are my last 10 scores including those pending the next update. As you can see, other than the rogue 80, shot on May 27th by the way, my scores have nowhere sniffed anything like a 6.

“I know 6 handicappers, 6-handicappers are friends of mine, and Senator you’re no 6-handicapper”

In reality most of the time I’m a pretty good 6. That should mean that for me to shoot 78 as an example, I need to have had a superb round…in fact one of my best over the last 18 months. Miss a few shortish putts, hit one or two O.B. and it’s ballgame…84.

The problem comes when you play with people who have a looser interpretation of the system…can’t tell you how many times a guy will say “Hey I only shot 3 better than my handicap.”

No kidding? You would have to just had your best round in a year to do that so don’t be so humble…you played great! And, you took my money again.

Oh well I’ll keep trying, keep posting, and keep paying…hey it’s worth the money to see you play with such skill.