The Best In Golf

Entries categorized as ‘Underrated’

The Most Underrated Things In Golf- Live Golf Early in The Morning

May 19, 2009 · 2 Comments

slDid you watch the Irish Open over the weekend?  If not get it on Netflix.  This was golf as I like it and I know I’m in the minority.

I like to get up on Saturday, and Sunday when I’m all prayed up and don’t need to go to church,  flip on The Golf Channel and watch what will seldom be boring, unless they are playing in Spain that is…the European Tour.

What never gets in the polls of best golf announcers are the undisputed heavyweight champs in the ”let’s send it out to 15″ group–that is Scotland’s Renton Laidlaw and Dougie Donnelly.  These two make me laugh with fewer words than any two humans possible. 

Like when they exchange:

“Don’t cough on me Rent, you might be spreading the swine flu.”

OR 

“Dougie you’re awfully quiet today, a little too much of the grape last night perhaps?” 

I also love the way they call out the nationality of the golfer, for better or worse…like:

“And another VICIOUS  lip-out for the Spaniard!!!”

OR

“The motorway behind the green seems to be off-putting to the Irishman”

They don’t feel the need to talk the entire time and give their audience some credit for knowing a little about how golf douis played…totally foreign to us, pun intended.

The weather was pure Ireland, cold and rainy.  The contestants were Irish, Northern and Regular, Scottish, Swedish, English, Spanish, and French.  But the story of course was Shane Lowry of Northern Ireland or Narn’ Iron’  if he were to say it, a 22-year old amateur known well to Europeans as a phenom…and he more than proved it. 

The fact he had to pass on the half-million Euros after winning in a playoff was such a minor thing in the grand scheme of things, I just hope he realizes that in his youth and holds on as an amateur for a little longer…at least until the Walker Cup at Merion.

Padraig with his three majors, Rory in Dubai, and now Shane?  What’s next…we need to pay attention to find out…and I for one can’t wait.

If you don’t normally watch the European Tour do yourself a favor and give it a try, where you just might hear:

renRenton: “This putt reminds me of an Irish Setter I had as a lad”

Dougie: “Rent, you were never a lad”

Categories: Amateurs · Underrated

The Most Underrated Things In Golf…New Grips

April 9, 2009 · Leave a Comment

grips1I just recently aquired a new set of irons…Mizuno MP-52s to be exact.  I forgot what it feels like to play with a real golf club.  Let’s just say they “communicate” with you on all quality of passes, know what I mean?

Anyway, that’s another post.  What I want to tell you about today is whether you are playing with brand new shiny forgings (like moi) or are still clanking it around with your Eye 2 Berylliums, you owe it to yourself to slip on some new grips.

A golf clubs parts are simple.  We spend all of our time looking down at irons seeing how they fit the eye, endless chatter about shafts but why not the part that connects you to the ball?  I don’t know about you but the feeling of a new grip just makes me more confident in the shot.  I may very well lay the sod over another chip on the way to a bogey or worse…but man it felt good doing it.

Golf Pride is the undispted heavyweight champ in the golf handle biz and with good reason.  In fact about 80-90% of the tight pants crowd in Georgia this week will be playing one of the 60+ models they produce.

Take it from B.I.G. and put a little love on yourself this week…go get yourself some new rubber…it’s a Most Underrated Thing In Golf.

P.S. I prefer mine in pink.

Categories: Underrated

The Most Underated Things In Golf- Part IX

November 14, 2008 · Leave a Comment

fall

I hope some day you have the chance to play the Donald Ross gem just refurbished in Charlotte, NC as I did this week.  Charlotte CC, home of the Best Fried Oysters In Golf, is one of the greats…and a place for one of the Most Underrated Things In Golf.

Fall golf is without a doubt one of the true small pleasures in life.  Teeing off at nearly 2:00 allows for a late twilight finish which comes with it’s own special bonus…it’s already cocktail time!

My friend John “Isn’t it Wunnerful?” Corder hosted us for this walk in the park with two superb caddies, Dave and Box Car…the latter got his name when he used to ride the rails to work and one day the train was moving too fast for him to jump off at the construction site where he was working…so he had to ride it to the end and walk back the 30 miles…good Sherpa lore.

 

I remember working at the golf course as a kid in the fall with the smells of burning leaves in the air…stealing a three hole loop before dinner and riding my bike home in the dark.  No way I’d let my kids do that but that’s another story for another day.

 

But the fall is a time for some of the best things in life.  We move too fast, especcially in these times, to really enjoy them.  Football, Thanksgiving, fireplaces, and maybe the best of all…golf. 

Categories: Caddies · Courses · Food · Friends · Underrated

The Most Underrated Things In Golf Part VIII- Night Chipping

August 23, 2008 · 1 Comment

I’ve posted about Pine Needles before.  It is without a doubt one of the most underrated golf courses and golf experiences in the country.

For a variety of reasons it’s not on the short list of avid golfers looking for a high quality vacation but it should be. This week we played Pine Needles during the National Amateur held a few thousand pine cones down the road over at The Amazing Deuce…Pinehurst #2…a little on that in a minute.

“Buddy Trips” as they’ve been coined, are among the most sacred events in  the game.  It doesn’t take much to make one a success.  The elements are good friends, good or great golf, a nice but not too nice place to stay, and a little beer.  But the best part was none of the above.  The thing that made this 36 hours The Best In Golf was, you guessed it, night chipping.

Since we were staying next to 18 green the lure was too great.  We had to hit a few lobs in the dark, not quite sure where the flag was…then again who cares about that anyway.  I’m pretty sure I lost. 

Then over to the US Amateur for a couple hours.  If you ever want to have a great getaway, find a golf course near the Am to play, then go watch college kids hit it miles and putt 13.5 greens with all the fear of a US Marine.

The fun part is you get to do all of this from the middle of the fairway.  It takes a hole or two to get used to this…big major chamoionships are supposed to be mob scenes, with all the intimacy of a fall Saturday at Death Valley…but not here.  These amateur championships have got to be the last best secret in the game.

Strolling up a perfect fairway behind two great golfers is a treat…take it from me.  And the best part?  You don’t have to ruin the experience by playing.

Categories: Amateurs · Courses · Friends · Travel · Underrated

The Most Underrated Things in Golf Part VII-Open Sunday

July 20, 2008 · Leave a Comment

Royal Birkdale
Royal Birkdale

Not very long ago, before TIVO, the greatest invention since ED drugs by the way, the only time one could roll out of bed, walk the dog, fix a Starbucks, and watch live golf was this very day…Open Sunday.

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I love the starter.  “Ladies and Gentleman, this is the last game of the championship…on the tee from Ireland, the defending champion, Padraig Herrington”. 
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I love the way the cameras shimmy in the wind, how the ball flickers, and how the fans all look like Wisconsin steel workers.
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There are those I know who would rather record and play back later to avoid all the bad advertising, but not me….I want it live and will watch the goober with the big red umbrella or the Lexus Racing Golfers commercial 91 times to do it…or is that Mercedes? 
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No that’s the one where the soccer mom looks like she’s having the best day of her life carrying the kiddies around.  When in reality she’d be driving 50 in a 30 on the cell phone terrorizing everything in her path…hey, maybe we could get her to mow down the umbrella guy…but I digress.
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Give it to me live and the longer the better.  I don’t mind…after all it’s a most Underrated Thing In Golf.

Categories: British Open · Underrated

The Most Underrated Things In Golf VI- The Shower Cocktail

April 11, 2008 · 1 Comment

Like my buddy over here I have always relied on the kindness of others…plus GWTW was a 3-clubber into the grill for the south…let’s face it.

This week I had one of the great Scarlett moments (3 days) at Sage Valley GC (Home of the Best Cake In Golf) in of all places, Graniteville, SC. The two things Graniteville has going for it are the club, an Augusta National “clone” so to speak, plus it’s about a 20 minute drive with traffic to the Tournament.

Sitting around in a cottage that has no relation to the word cottage, my friends and I were discussing the subject of The Most Underrated Things In Golf and some of the entries already brought up on this BLOG.

We began to chuckle about some of them and came up with one which never should have been number VI…it belongs in the top 3 for sure.

Have you ever taken a cocktail into the shower after walking 36 holes? You’re sweaty, tired, beaten 6,4,3,1, and even? If not, you need to and soon.

A ten gallon a minute shower beating down while you sit on the bench sipping a cocktail is something no golfer, make or female, should be denied…it’s one of the things that makes the ancient game great…and is The Best In Golf.


Categories: Underrated

The Most Underrated Things in Golf IV- The Day Trip

February 18, 2008 · Leave a Comment

A couple weeks ago my friend Mark and I decided to take a day trip to our favorite acreage in all of golf. The weather was supposed to be rainy and windy but we decided to take the chance which turned out to be a very good decision.

To review, for something to be considered underrated it must be that which we don’t think much about but would miss greatly if it were to dissapear.

The “day trip” is just such an example.

We met at the bagel place before it opened and scooted down US 17 in the dark. Arriving at Secession GC just before 8, a quick hello to the best staff in golf, and away we went.

Our caddie for the day was Paulie…a guy you wouldn’t want to get into a stare-down with around the poker table for your lunch money.

Paulie is a man of many talents. I take it he has played some 5 card draw in his day…he’s a fine caddy and knows his grass, pun intended. But most of all Paulie is a +2 at talking …unsurpassed at banter, bullshitter par excellence

He did stop talking for about 5 minutes of the 5 hours we spent together, but that was cumulitive…a few seconds at a time. He told us the story of the caddiemaster who won the football pool and bought himself some new teeth with the take and the time he was pulled over in New Mexico with a few thousand bucks in his Wranglers…couldn’t understand why the authorities thought it a bit suspicious. It was all OK because Mark and I took turns listenting or acting like we were.

Paulie had hit the “Looper Lottery” that day. Thirty-six holes, twenty-seven of them before 12:00, and two bags that weigh slightly less than the average pouch of Callaways he hauls over the course of a day…combined.

His fellow sherpas let him know how they felt about his good fortune by shooting him the middle finger wave from a distance on more than one occasion.

The weather was a little rough at first but the last nine we played was perfect. We arrived back at the now open bagel place well before supper…so 36 holes at a course two hours away, a very nice caesar with grilled chicken (blackened), two cold Sam Adams, all within 10 hours.

Ah, give me the day trip any time.

Categories: Caddies · Friends · Underrated

The Most Underrated Things In Golf III

January 22, 2008 · Leave a Comment

Short game giving you trouble? Want to shoot lower scores?

Of course you do.

The next time you’re at the club and see a jar of Ginger Snaps and bowl of Cheez Whiz…give them a try together.

Hey who would have thought of chocolate and peanut butter until a 13-handicapper named Billy Bob Reeses came along?

Now that’s underrated pards!

Categories: Underrated

The Most Underrated Things In Golf II

January 4, 2008 · 1 Comment

To be labeled as “Underrated” something must be a) that which we golfers appreciate though rarely ever think directly about and b) would suffer greatly if it were to disappear from our narrow-minded yet tradition bound landscape.

No this is not a rant on the demise of that most pleasurable of sounds…the spikes in your FootJoys raking across the pavement…or the matching leather headcovers that came on your Kro-Flite’s…or the joy of finding a smile-less Titleist in the rough…no they among others will come along in our next topic “Things I Miss In Golf”

This post is about something so simple, so perfect in it’s discretion, the ingenious yet natural. I give you…
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“The Traveler”
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Credit: Eddie B

Categories: Rants · Underrated

The Most Underrated Things In Golf

January 1, 2008 · 2 Comments

Sitting around during the holidays one’s mind has time to wander…which may be the best thing about this time of year.
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So with all the categories blogged on this year including Best Drives, Best Small Hotels, and Best Trips there seems a need, at least to me, for a new subject.
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It’s New Year’s Day and a lunch this week hatched an idea for a new series…and that is The Most Underrated Things in Golf, be they a moment on a golf trip, a par 4, or a casual round with friends.
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This first post of 2008 will deal with one of the greats… The Long Lunch at the Club. The LLATC if not dead, is flat on it’s back with tubes sticking out of it’s nose. Once a staple in the lives of men, it has become as rare as the laminated 2-wood or the bad lie in the PGA Tour bunker.
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The LLATC died a slow and torturous death, usually at the hands of that most evil of institutions…”The Country Club Board.” There was a time when guys could sit with each other and have a drink or a burger, play a few hands of gin and be home for supper. Somehow this became not only morally reprehensible but very nearly unconstitutional…but let’s pick up this rant in a later post, now back to our regular programming.
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The perfect LLATC should have several, if not all, of the following characteristics. It should take place in the Men’s Grill (if you can find one), it should happen on a day that’s cold and miserable , it should happen during the holidays, and last but not least…be on a weekday.
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They haven’t lost the plot at The Country Club of The South on the north side of Atlanta…not only do they still have a Men’s Grill, but they back it up with the perpetual popping popcorn machine…just magic.
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My friend and client Dick Lyons, my friend and Big Pods Ed Butler, and I spent a few leisurely hours in the Grill…killed a few cheeseburgers and a couple of Buds…just enjoyed each others company talking about old times, new times, kids, and launch angles.
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The LLATC is no big deal…just one of the Most Underrated Things in Golf…what’s one of yours?

Categories: Underrated