The chance to buy a limited edition Phil Mickelson prototype putter should be cause for celebration. Until the price tag smacks you in the face.
I’ve got a really tough call to make – do I play it safe, or do I pull out the 5 wood and try to carve one into a green surrounded on three sides by water? If I pull it off, I’ll have the equivalent of an eagle putt. If I don’t, I’m not just digging for another ball… I’m sleeping on the couch.
Continue reading “Even Off the Course, a Golfer’s Got a Risk-Reward Decision To Make”
Our beloved game cries out for a wager (or five) to make things interesting … and a tad more competitive.
For a while, I assumed it was just my delinquent friends who needed to place a bet on just about every aspect of a round of golf. Front nine, back nine, overall, sandies, birdies, bobs, skins. As a purist, I couldn’t be bothered, I was there to play my game, post my lowest score. Sometimes it was just easier to agree to the game than argue, and at the 19th hole wait for someone to hand me a few bucks or tell me what I owe.
Over time, I’ve learned there’s so much more to a golf wager than the $2 – or $2000 – on the line.
The latest departure from Team Woods — aka Team Enablement — should be far from the last.
So much has been made of Hank Haney’s split from Tiger Woods this week, it brought more attention to the role of golf coach than we’ve seen in many years.
It comes at a turbulent time, with Woods reeling, with the media calling for Haney’s dismissal, and with Tiger suffering through the pain in the neck heard ’round the world.
I’ll always believe that Haney finally had enough of the luke-warm support he was getting out of his primetime pupil. However, the fallout raises an interesting point about golf coaches.
Continue reading “The Woods-Haney Divorce: Why Hank Had to Walk Away”
Red-hot youngsters and a surging Phil Mickelson set the stage to usher Woods out of the spotlight. Get real. Tiger’s one good week from reminding us of his greatness.
The winds of change are blowing but one man can restore order to the PGA Tour by himself.
There has been no shortage of “changing of the guard” and “youth movement” talk this week, thanks to two stunning performances on Sunday. Ryo Ishikawa made headlines with his closing round of 58 in Japan, followed by Rory McIlroy holding off a star-studded field with a 62 at Quail Hollow. Separately, they’re two impressive showings. Put them together and you’ve got yourself a “trend!” And we in the media love nothing more than a trend. If you really want to take it to the next level, add the fact Phil Mickelson can take over the top spot in the world rankings and it all adds up to a PGA in flux.
Can we all take a deep breath please?
Continue reading “Let’s Not Send Tiger Off Into the Sunset Just Yet”
The world’s top female golfer steps aside, and the world shrugs. Now it’s time for budding stars like Michelle Wie and Christina Kim to spur the tour’s rebirth
Some are saying Lorena Ochoa’s retirement is the latest blow to the LPGA. They must have forgotten the women’s tour took a major leap into irrelevance and tiptoed toward extinction while the phenom from Mexico sat atop their rankings.
How can it get any worse with her stepping away? It can’t. If anything, it should open the door for more of the LPGA’s personalities to take the spotlight. Names like Christina Kim and Michelle Wie, who can make more headlines without hoisting a trophy than Ochoa ever could while assembling what would be a Hall of Fame career had she stuck around for 10 years.
Continue reading “Ochoa Hands Off to LPGA’s Real Personalities”
Whether you took away the good vs. evil angle, or if the Krispy Kreme pictures cemented the Mickelsons as “real,” this was a very educational major
There’s no doubt I could have written a half-dozen columns about the epic week at Augusta National. From the Hall of Fame leaderboard, to masters.com blowing me away, to the fact I’ll trade the televised par-three tournament for just about anything else golf-related, there’s so much to say about the highlight of the golfing calendar.
They say the Masters doesn’t begin until the last nine holes on Sunday. So in honor of that great Augusta truism, I present the nine things I learned from the 2010 Masters.
Continue reading “Masters Offered So Many Lessons on Both Phil and Tiger”
Will Tiger win? Will he regret his decision to return this week? Will the “patrons” heckle him? Our writers weigh in.
On a typical year, golf fans start counting down to the Masters months in advance. This year, the addition of Tiger Woods’ return turns it into one of the most anticipated golf tournaments in the sport’s history.
We’ve polled The Sand Trap staff to offer you their insights into all things Tiger, Augusta and ask who will be wearing the green jacket Sunday afternoon.
Sure, it’s not the site of the Masters, but there’s one course that’s magical, mystical, and helped hook me on the game of golf. Everyone’s got one. Tomorrow I play mine. Today I’m tingling.
There are few places that get the blood flowing the way Augusta National can. The lush green landscape signals the long gray winter has given way to another golf season. Offering us a glimpse of the grounds that are so hard to reach in person should have been the sole reason someone decided we needed HDTV.
Augusta National is special for so many reasons, including the exclusiveness of the club. It will always be at an arm’s length from the public, dangling just enough out there for us to always want so much more. It’s a formula that extends well beyond Magnolia Lane. We’ve all got our own personal Augusta National, and so few of them are in Georgia.
Give me peace, quiet, and meeting new people over reminding my buddies each night that our 8 a.m. tee time will make staying until last call all the more painful.
I made my long awaited (in my mind) return to the golf course last week. No press conferences. No media stakeouts. Just me, my clubs, and a balky putter. At some point there will be apologies to my wife and family since the next eight months I’ll be sneaking off with my other loves (all 14 of them, with a few substitutes depending on my mood). I’d like to blame the layoff for by abysmal start to the year, not the distractions caused by my infidelity this winter (demoing irons and drivers for hours on end, leaving my current player-club relationships in serious jeopardy).
Unlike a certain big name golfer, I couldn’t possibly wait for the Masters. But I did choose a controlled environment to kick off my season, and got away from my familiar surroundings, heading across the country for a solo golf trip in Nevada that reintroduced me to the joys of traveling and playing alone, with strangers, and (unfortunately) the rigors of being joined by my buddies after three days by myself.
Continue reading “When It’s Time For a Golf Trip, I’m Flying Solo”
