The things we do – OK, the things I do – to get that fix can range from the inane to the insane.
Sometimes I’ll think of the things I do for golf, and all I can do is laugh. It’s during the winter doldrums that the pull of this crazy sport seem to render me even less sane than normal. The past two weeks are a prime case study whenever my wife decides to have me committed.
Sleep deprivation, long drives at odd hours to check out new golf gear, practice sessions in the snow. They all add up to a weird mix of dedication, passion, desperation and without a doubt, obsession.
Unlike other sports, in golf we root for the player, not the team. It makes a fan’s emotional investment all the stronger.
Call me a golf nerd, but as the theme song piped up and the sweet, sweet voice of Jim Nantz came through the TV, my blood was pumping. The season technically began a few weeks ago, but consider those preseason games. For my money, the PGA Tour year starts when CBS joins the party, with Nantz leading the way.
Sitting on the couch Saturday afternoon, a day after the winter blues had struck with full force, I expected a typical day of golf. The leader board was strong, with big names and exciting stories destined for lots of camera time. But when that Yanni-composed masterpiece started pumping, the feeling was more like a Yankee World Series game, or Sunday of the Masters. I was caught off guard by how excited I was. Just a two weeks earlier I’d lamented whether my golf fever had finally broken. Thankfully I’m as afflicted as ever.
Continue reading “Dramatic Farmers Finish Proves TV Golf is Anything But a Snoozefest”
The European Tour stop makes the once-noteworthy Hope Classic an afterthought.
If you needed any more evidence of where the game of pro golf sits in 2011, look no further than this week’s two headlining tournaments.
The PGA Tour returns to the mainland after two ho-hum weeks in Hawaii for the once ballyhooed Bob Hope Classic. It should be a fan favorite, with movie stars, musicians and athletes playing alongside some of the best golfers in the world. A big chunk of the country is buried in snow and craving a golf fix, even if it’s staring at pretty green fairways during the commercials of the NFL playoffs.
So where are four of the top five players in the world teeing it up this week? In the desert of the United Arab Emerites, half a world away, at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship. Lee Westwood, Martin Kaymer, Phil Mickelson and Graeme McDowell will be dueling for the $2 million purse, in a field that reads more like a major than a standard stop on the European Tour.
Continue reading “Desert Duel: Dubai Deals Blow to PGA’s Hope”
High hopes for Tiger Woods, little expected from Mickelson, and the bar is set high for Kaymer. And remember Sergio? You might be hearing from him again this year.
With a full offseason to put his off-course woes even further in the rear-view mirror, the golf world is bracing for Tiger Woods, the golfer. Not Tiger the partier, the cheat, or the punchline. Wood finished 2010 winless, and each time he tees it up in 2011, the question will surface: when will the losing streak end? If you believe The Sand Trap staff consensus, Tiger’s slump is all but over. But will he return to dominate, or just look like an ordinary Top Ten player?
As for sleepers, there’s more than a little love for Sergio to surge. As for players of the year, will the Europeans build on their gains of 2010? Or can the Americans find the magic atop to rankings again?
Whether rooting for him or against him, the game’s not the same without Woods at his best.
This time a year ago it was hard to fathom what laid ahead for Tiger Woods. Would his personal problems be a blip on the radar? Would he have renewed focus on his game? Would he even play in 2010? We got all those answers, and most of them were quite ugly. So rather than venture a guess at how he’ll return with a fresh start in 2011, I’ll just cling to the hopes that he’s back to being the Tiger Woods that we’ve grown to know, and love, and hate.
Year in Review: Mickelson didn’t dominate, no solace on the course for Woods, Daly couldn’t shake the duldrums, and so much more.
What’s the point of making predictions if you’re not going to own up to them after the fact? Especially when your predictions are as far off as mine?
But with 2010 wrapping up, it’s time to review the season’s highs and lows … and when it comes to my prognostications, it was pretty one-sided. How lousy? Let’s call it Tiger Wood ’10 bad.
There were a few gems mixed in, however, such as Dustin Johnson’s arrival. Before I get too excited, I also thought it would be the year of John Daly’s resurgence.
Continue reading “Ouch! A Look Back at My Pathetic 2010 Predictions”
Keep your warm cider, pumpkin pie and Thanksgiving. I’ll be out, trying squeeze in one more round before winter.
Some of my best memories in golf come on the short, crisp, leaf-strewn days of fall in the Northeast. The grass is always greener, the oppressive heat of the summer is a distant memory and the crowds have thinned out.
So as most of the country bids farewell to the 2010 playing season, packs up their gear and cleans out the trunk, I say, “welcome to fall, embrace it, and enjoy it.”
What an ugly year for American golf. Not only did the top U.S. players collapse, but the so-called future stars were embarrassing compared to the young studs from abroad.
We’ve known for a month that the calendar was going to be the only one to knock Tiger Woods from his perch atop the World Golf Rankings.
So when Lee Westwood rose to number one four days ago, it summed up golf in 2010: a foreign golfer steps in as an American falters. The was the year that American golf took one right on the chin from the rest of the world.
Continue reading “Westwood’s Ascension Caps Foreign Golf Invasion”
Lesson combined with club fitting offered a prime example of all the game’s learning tools.
I’m constantly stumped by the venom and vigor of golfers who swear anything can be fixed with the right equipment, and those who say with enough lessons and practice, you can break par with 25-year-old gear.
I’ve straddled the line through the years, often falling more on the “answers are in the dirt” side, but I took it to another level. Being around pro shops I’d heard my share of tips and advice, but as a Harvey Penick disciple, I didn’t want to weigh my golf mind down with much other than “take dead aim.”
More recently I’ve overhauled my golf bag, kicked the only putter I’ve ever known to the curb, and spend way way too much time reading about equipment I’ll never own.
With all that in mind, I’d say I was prime for a learning academy revelation.
Continue reading “Is it Equipment or Technique? I Vote For Both”