Author: Erik J. Barzeski

Golf Talk [Episode 060]

B.J. Wie is trying to run his daughter’s life, but he’s getting too much “I” in there: he’s going to R-U-I-N it instead it.

Golf Talk PodcastZach K.J. Choi and Rory Sabbatini win, the LPGA institutes a drug-testing policy, and Michelle Wie and Phil Mickelson withdraw with wrist injuries, but only one of them seems legitimate. Find out which and a whole lot more in this episode of Golf Talk.

You can subscribe to the RSS feed for our podcasts here or download Episode 060 as an MP4 file. For those who want to subscribe to us in iTunes, click here.

For this week’s Show Notes – links to articles we discuss in the show and additional information – just read on.

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2007 Memorial Pictures: Tiger

Tiger Woods didn’t win the 2007 Memorial. Heck, he wasn’t even close. But that didn’t stop everyone from taking plenty of pictures of him.

The Memorial TournamentTiger Woods is a big draw at any tournament. Last year, while Tiger was taking time off to grieve the death of his father Earl, the media room at The Memorial was rather bare. Half the number of photographers were present. This year, with Tiger Woods in the field, photographers flooded the course.

We managed to get a few snaps of Tiger in action, and we present them here with a little commentary.

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2007 Memorial Pictures: The Americans

Phil Mickelson and Zach Johnson withdrew, but we’ve still got pictures of them.

The Memorial TournamentThe Memorial attracts a wealth of good players, and a good many of them are American. However, their numbers are dwindling, as Jack Nicklaus himself is quick to point out. Nicklaus says golf is again becoming more of a “world game,” and that the pendulum is swinging back towards foreign domination of golf. Witness, he says, the last several Ryder Cups and the number of international players in the field at his tournament.

The man has got a point.

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2007 Memorial Pictures: The Internationals

With all the Aussies that appeared on the leaderboard and a Korean winner, you bet we’ve got a lot of international player photos.

The Memorial TournamentDespite having a field of about 100 to 110 contestants, The Memorial Tournament attracts a wide variety of foreign players. Though they rarely experience success at Muirfield Village, the 2007 edition was won by a Korean – K.J. Choi – and featured several Aussies in contention, including Adam Scott, Rod Pampling, Geoff Ogilvy, and Aaron Baddeley.

Here are some shots of some of the more popular international players from the 32nd Memorial Tournament.

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2007 Memorial Pictures: The Others

It’s probably just David Leadbetter’s lunch, but I’d really like to know what he carries around in his man purse!

The Memorial TournamentLast year, we looked at Muirfield Village’s defenses and those pesky furrows. This year, we didn’t do that quite as much as the bunkers were less of an issue and the course itself hasn’t changed much.

So, filling out this year’s “Others” picture-heavy post, we have David Leadbetter and his mystery bag, a shot of the new bunker rake, and a pair of shots with no people in them whatsoever.

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The Continuing Michelle Wie Saga

B.J. Wie is writing the scripts, but is Michelle Wie reading them or silently rebelling against a controlling father?

Michelle WieA few years ago I gave Michelle Wie the benefit of the doubt. Last year I stood up for her. While people were screaming “she hasn’t won anything!” (despite winning the 2003 Women’s Public Links) and declaring that she should follow the same path Tiger took to success in the world of golf, I sat back. I suggested that the Michelle Wie story will be written by Michelle Wie, and that only years (or decades) later could we sit back and judge whether Wie had taken the best path.

I was both wrong and right. It appears the story is no longer being written by Michelle Wie – she’s merely a bit player in the sad story of B.J. Wie’s corruption of his daughter. She’s the “talent” and he’s the ruthless, money-hungry stage dad who’s making all the wrong moves.

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Eagle Sticks Golf Club (Zanesville, OH) Review

Eagle Sticks is a renaissance course that rewards creativity and shotmaking over the popular bomb and gouge style of play. It’s a throw-back course, and a fun, well-designed one at that.

Eagle Sticks LogoDescribed on our forum as “Augusta Junior,” Eagle Sticks Golf Club has at least one thing in common with the famous Georgia course: the entrance is right off a street filled with strip malls, fast food, and small retail buildings. The course is also set among hilly terrain, like Augusta National, but the comparisons really stop there. Eagle Sticks was not designed by Alister MacKenzie. I doubt if any top-ranking pro aspires to play there. And, as hard as I looked, I couldn’t spot a single azalea anywhere on the course!

Fortunately for golfers, Eagle Sticks is a fun, well-designed, and relatively inexpensive track for golfers east of Columbus, OH. I had the chance to play Eagle Sticks in early May, and after hearing the “Augusta Junior” moniker, I couldn’t possibly help but be disappointed when reality didn’t quite meet expectations. Right? Wrong – Eagle Sticks impressed me enough that I’m trying to find a way to get back to the course, despite the four-hour drive, to play again.

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Golf Talk [Episode 059]

Zach Johnson has gotta win eventually outside of the state of Georgia. He may have a good chance this summer… in Pittsburgh.

Golf Talk PodcastZach Johnson validates his win in Georgia by winning… in Georgia, home of all three of his PGA Tour wins. Also this week, Lorena Ochoa wins, Tiger has eye surgery, John Daly, and the Bottom 10 from the world of golf, and a whole lot more in this episode of Golf Talk.

You can subscribe to the RSS feed for our podcasts here or download Episode 059 as an MP4 file. For those who want to subscribe to us in iTunes, click here.

For this week’s Show Notes – links to articles we discuss in the show and additional information – just read on.

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Cranberry Highlands (Cranberry, PA) Review

Cranberry Highlands is a very playable golf course that suffers a little bit from blandness. I prefer to think of it as more of a blank canvas for the kind of golf you’d like to play.

Cranberry Highlands SignAmerican golfers don’t often get to play a course without many trees, and when we do we often call the course “linksy.” Of course, nothing could be further from the truth, as true “links” land exists in only one place: right against a large body of water. Links land is a soft, fertile soil that literally “links” the inland sections to the body of water.

For treeless inland courses I prefer the term “early American.” Many of today’s parkland courses, characterized by chutes of trees leading from tee to green, began their lives as virtually treeless golf courses. Whether as a result of “Beautification Committees” or Mother Nature, treeless golf courses in 1930 became forested, heavily wooded courses by 2000. For example, Oakmont – home of this year’s U.S. Open – was once treeless and has had to remove some 8,000 trees to get back to its original look.

A short drive west of Oakmont, one will find an “early American” course in a town called “Cranberry.” Built on the top of a hill, Cranberry Highlands brings this style of architecture to a public, municipally owned course. I’ve had the chance to play Cranberry Highlands a few times, and I’ve come away with mixed feelings. Read on to see what I mean…

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