Author: George Promenschenkel

Surprises at the 2009 Masters

A visit to Augusta National brings a few surprises.

Trap Five LogoAfter watching the Masters on TV pretty much every year since grade school, I finally got to see Augusta National in person this year. My wife and I took her parents to see the Tuesday practice round. It was the first time any of us had seen the course. Despite the weather (about 45 degrees with 30+ MPH gusts), we had a great time, saw quite a few of the world’s most famous golfers, and walked the best known golf course in the western hemisphere.

I’d heard to expect the course to be hillier than it appears on TV and that the cost of concessions would be remarkably low compared to most sports venues. Still, I didn’t think there would be that much that would surprise me. I was wrong. TV doesn’t really do the place justice.

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Nine Holes with Bobby Jones

There has only ever been one true Grand Slam of golf.

ProfilesBobby Jones is one of the truly legendary figures of golf. Among other things, he helped found Augusta National and the Masters, but he will always be best known for the Grand Slam of 1930.

Jones was successful on and off the course, but it was his play that has made him immortal. There are really just three names that come up in a discussion of the greatest golfer of all time: Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, and Bobby Jones. While Jones may be trailing in comparisons these days, it’s difficult to dismiss all he did in a short (and amateur) career.

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What Caddies Might Say

A mic and a caddy: a recipe for disaster?

Trap Five LogoAt next week’s Shell Houston Open, the PGA Tour and NBC will experiment with putting microphones on caddies to capture the dialogues between caddies and players. The Tour and the network are interested in learning if the audio quality and, more importantly, the conversation quality are worth putting on the air.

You and I won’t hear any of it, most likely. It is just an experiment, after all. The Tour isn’t very comfortable with trying something in front of an audience. If it is a success, it will probably be a few weeks before we get to listen in. The Masters is not about to allow mics on the caddies. After McCord got banned from Augusta by saying that they used bikini wax on the greens, can you imagine what might happen if the caddies had mics?

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Buying New Sticks

Five questions to ask before you buy clubs.

Trap Five LogoWe’re just coming into the peak golf club purchasing period in the northern half of the United States. A lot you may be trolling the aisles of new clubs in the next few months looking for a few extra yards or a few less strokes per round.

I know… the economy sucks. The TV keeps reminding me every evening. But I also know that I’ll probably still be trying out some new gear this summer. After all, someone has to kick start the economy (maybe a new driver purchase will get the Dow above 8K again). As long as I’m working, I’ll likely be playing golf. And if I’m playing golf, then all those new toys in the golf shop will be kind of tempting. And I bet I’m not alone.

Now I’ve purchased quite a few new clubs in recent years looking for a few more yards or a tighter shot dispersion (I know, I know… it’s not the arrow). Sometimes I’ve found a little more game. Sometimes I haven’t. Here are a few questions that might help you find the right equipment for you, and maybe save a little money along the way, too.

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Nine Holes of Hype or Not Hype

Sometimes the golf media gets carried away, but not always.

ProfilesThere’s a lot of hype out there this year, maybe even more than usual. There’s always a lot of pre-major hype this time of year regarding some of the big names in golf, but 2009 also features a number of young faces coming to a major near you.

Here’s the thing about hype. Sometimes there’s truth behind it. Sometimes it’s just hot air. We complain a lot about hype, but I kind of think of it as a USGA index. Events seldom live up to the hype, just like you can’t shoot your index very often (it is based on your best 10 rounds out of your last 20, not an average). But you might shoot your index in your best rounds. Each is about proven or (in the case of hype) perceived potential.

When it comes to sporting events, hype tells us about what is possible. It also boosts ratings and sells advertising, but there has to be a kernel of truth there or we’d never buy it. At its best, it is not about what will happen, but what might. And so, though the hype might drive us nuts from time to time, here’s a look at nine of the most hyped golfers of the 2009 season and an assessment of the truth lying below.

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If I Was King of Golf

There are going to be some changes ’round here.

Trap Five LogoMarch is the cruelest month above the Mason-Dixon Line. It teases us with the breath of Spring from time to time, and then blasts us with more snow and cold winds. It’s a time of year that can drive a golfer to fits of lunacy… like imagining what it would be like to be King of Golf.

I don’t mean imagining what it would be like to “the King,” Arnie (in the day, that had to be a blast), or golf’s current king, Tiger (I suspect that wouldn’t suck, either). No, I mean, what would I change about golf, if I could change anything I wanted to.

Naturally, I want to reverse my handicap. Go from my -9 to a +9, and see what the PGA Tour is really all about. But that’s too easy. Everyone would want to do the same thing. I’m more concerned with the bigger questions of golf. Here are five things that, with tongue more or less in cheek, I’d like to see changed about golf.

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The Tiger Effect

All Tiger All the Time

Trap Five LogoWell, Tiger’s back (though he’ll be taking the weekend off). I, for one, am happy that he’s back. Sure it was interesting to see more press about some of the other guys on Tour, but they just don’t have the same impact that Tiger does, on Tour and beyond.

We’ve experienced a beehive of buzz (or maybe several) in the week since Tiger announced that he would participate in the WGC-Accenture Match Play. That Samuel L. Jackson spot on Golf Channel was out less than 12 hours after the announcement. Nike wasn’t far behind with its new “The Good Life” where five pros live it up until you-know-who walks back into the locker room. The marketing machine runs at full speed when Tiger is involved.

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Most Impactful Innovations in Golf

Talking ’bout a revolution. Several really.

Trap Five LogoA recent forum post by a Carmelo Anthony fan got me thinking about the how the game of golf got to the point it is today. Respondents posted a number of very good candidates: the hybrid club, the 460cc driver, the sand wedge, and more.

A surprise in the thread on golf’s top inventions/innovations of the last 100 years was the number of people who included the backpack or two-strap carry bag in their lists of the top inventions/innovations in golf over the past 100 years. Not to dismiss the impact of the modern strap systems for carry bags, they have undoubtedly saved many backs and just generally made the game more enjoyable for others, but I don’t feel that it’s revolutionized the game. It has made it more comfortable to be sure.

The golf tee would have made my list, but the modern tee is between 110-120 years old and thus missed the cutoff. Before the tee was developed, players placed their golf balls on little piles of sand to begin play on a hole. Imagine trying to hit a 460cc driver off a pile of sand! No thanks.

The game of golf has changed tremendously in the past 100 years. Here are the innovations that I think most changed the game.

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Golf in a Crummy Economy

Sure the 401K is shot, but the golf might be good.

Trap Five LogoNot to state the obvious, but the economy is in a dismal state. The news is full of dire reports of mass layoffs and foreclosures. We’ve all seen enough of that to make us sick.

Golf is certainly not immune to the effects of these frightening times. If you’ve lost your job, golf naturally drops down the priorities list pretty quickly. We’ve already discussed how tournament sponsorships are being affected. We’re also likely to lose even more courses this year than we have over the past few years. And unlike those years when most courses that go out of business get plowed under for condos and housing, this year the courses that fail may well sit there, becoming ungroomed grass and weed farms. The PGA Tour Network, the radio voice of the PGA Tour, is threatened by the Sirius XM freefall.

If you plan to buck what could very well be a widespread trend this year and make golf part of your personal economic stimulus plan, you may find that you can stretch your golfing dollars a little farther. In the spirit of making lemonade when the world gives you lemons, here are five ways that the current economy might just give golfers a bit of a break this year.

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