The idea is beautiful in its simplicity, and genius in how many layers it can peel back. It's called the Forward Tees Tournament and it's taking place next weekend at your home course. Just as the name says, everyone plays from the shortest set of tees their home course provides. Before you head out, you post your expectations.

I call tell you from experience, it's going to open your eyes. And maybe not in a good way.

I'd like to call the FTT less of a golf skills event and more of a golf intervention. Stripped of a big course rating, a yardage that measures near 7,000, and standing where Mr. and Mrs. Havercamp normally tee off, you've got to be oozing confidence. I know I was. Until I realized all the flaws that show up from the tips just might rear their heads from the senior tees.

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I'm baffled by all the negative press the FedExCup gets. As a golf fan, why wouldn't I want an extra month of meaningful golf, with the best players on the PGA Tour competing for a huge purse, and bringing golf to some of the biggest media markets in the country?

For years, the golf season effectively started at the Masters and ended at the PGA. But the introduction of the PGA playoffs offers up golf straight through September.

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I'm glad to hear that it's "okay to root for Tiger Woods again" because, if nothing else, it signals a return to stories about Tiger being about golf and not about his marriage, his kids, his infidelity, his temper tantrums on the course, and a whole bunch of other stuff that I don't really care about.

We recently asked people in the forum to predict Tiger's 2011 season, and as I write this 25% of people think Tiger will continue his major-less streak in 2011. 43% think he'll win a lone major, and 23% think he'll win two or more. In regular PGA Tour events, only 9% think he'll go winless, while 40% think he'll win one to three and another 25% think he'll win four or more.

My votes? I picked two majors and 4-6 regular PGA Tour wins, and here's why. In 2011, Tiger Woods will have the emotional wreckage of his broken infidelity and subsequent divorce behind him, he'll have incorporated enough of new instructor Sean Foley's methods to get his swing back, and he'll be eager to prove that he can still be dominant. Let's look at each of these.

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You won't hear me saying the PGA is the forgotten major ever again, not after the 2010 rendition served up the most exciting tournament of the season. From the breaking news before play even began to the statement made by a crop of young soon-to-be superstars, there was so much to love even before you add in the biggest rules blunder of our generation.

A sensational course setup that encouraged risk-reward golf proved that a links-style design that looks about as authentic as a Disney World jungle can still provide the stage for exciting, compelling, nail-biting golf.

Whistling Straits and the PGA of America put on such a memorable tournament, even the bland as white bread champion couldn't spoil the week.

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Woe is Tiger, he's coming off his worst tournament as a professional, he's barely going to qualify for the FedEx Cup, and he'll likely need to be a Ryder Cup captain's pick. He's struggling so badly, even the bookmakers have dropped him to double digit odds to win (12-1).

Woe is Phil, he's had a summer full of chances to take over as the world's number one golfer, yet balky play and a bout of psoriatic arthritis have kept him in his comfortable spot of second banana. He's got a major on his 2010 resume, but that's really the only highlight of his season.

With the game's elite struggling (including world number three Lee Westwood, who withdrew with a leg injury), is now the time Steve Stricker steps to the forefront, in his home state to boot? Will it be one of the upstarts such as Rory McIlroy, Ryo Ishikawa or Ricky Fowler?

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Going low is all the rage, as the magic number has been achieved or threatened near weekly this summer. It was fun at first, but now it's obscene. There's no question the spate of birdie binges is a result of a concerted effort to inject life into the low-level Tour stops. We all know how good these guys are. How about a bit of a test tossed into their 18-hole afternoons?

As with all sports, golf's all about the drama. When the world's best are dueling down the stretch, that's exciting. When they're facing the challenge of battling themselves, holding a big lead or charging from behind, there's a story to be told, a reason to root. But when the game is lacking any compelling story lines, what's left? Who can make 10 birdie putts vs. who can make 11 birdie putts? It's fake, it's a fraud, it's manufactured drama.

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Does anyone want to be number one in the world? It certainly doesn't seem that way. Not the way Tiger Woods has been downing mediocre pills this season, leaving the door wide open. Not the way Phil Mickelson has been squandering one opportunity after another to take over the top spot. Lee Westwood is playing the best golf in the world, but his wins come when the rest of the field collapses.

The title of "Number One in the World" has been so elusive for so long that it would be like England declaring they're holding a contest to replace the Queen. Would anyone be prepared to step in? The same is happening right now, as Tiger has obviously abdicated his throne. Sadly, no one wants to take over.

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