Category: Trap Five

A 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.

Continue reading “Most Impactful Innovations in Golf”

Not 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.

Continue reading “Golf in a Crummy Economy”

My crystal ball seems to have developed an astigmatism of late. My fantasy football team, the Big Darby Beer Mussels, finished 3-13. I was so far down in the office bowl picks that I nearly won my entry money back for coming in last.

So it was with some trepidation that I revisited the Fearless Predictions that I made for 2008 in golf. Here’s how I fared:

I predicted Tiger would win majors (plural). A balky putter at the Masters and a destroyed knee that made him miss the final two majors kept that from happening. But that U.S. Open win was really something! And it went extra holes… twice! Surely that counts for two, right? No, not buying it? Okay, 0-1.

Continue reading “Five Not-so-Fearless Predictions for 2009”

There’s a lot of Pepto-Bismol being sold in La Quinta this week. At PGA West, 161 of the best golfers not to have their PGA Tour card for 2009 are playing for their futures. The field is an odd mix of the familiar and unfamiliar.

Bob May once nearly took down Tiger Woods in the 2000 PGA Championship at Valhalla, but now he’s just hoping to regain his card at Q-School. Frank Lickliter II won the 2007 edition of Q-School, but he’s back, too. Notah Begay III, Carlos Franco, Glen Day, Robert Garrigus, and Harrison Frazar are teeing it up with Major Manning, Alex Aragon, Vance Veazey, and the Golf Channel “Big Break” alumni James Nitties and Tommy “Two-Gloves” Gainey, all vying for the coveted PGA Tour card that will give them a shot at very comfortable living for life.

Continue reading “Five Things You Might Not Know about Q-School”

Ah, the range! It’s the place where most of us work on our games. If you’re like me, you go through a jumbo bucket or so every week… sometimes two when the game necessitates it.

I’ve had some great experiences at ranges. Once, back when the LPGA used to come to town, I found myself hitting shots next to Vicki Goetze-Ackerman, whose best career finish is T2. Now, as a top-level professional, I’d have expected any LPGA player to be pretty consistent. But hitting balls there beside her, I quickly learned just how consistent these players are. She was hitting irons to a target green, and every shot was landing within a circle about ten feet in circumference. Not only that, but each consecutive shot seemed to follow the hole in the air punched by the shot before it. It was amazing… and humbling. But it also taught me just how consistent you have to be to play really good golf.

Continue reading “Range Rats!”

Well, once again, November is breathing its chilly breath on all golfers in the northern latitudes. I’m not happy about it, but what can you do?

Now, those of you with true four-season golf weather will have trouble relating to this one. But for all my fellow northern golfers who have either already put up the clubs for the season or are contemplating doing so in the near future. To them, I say, don’t do it.

Yes, the best golf of 2008 is probably behind us, but we can still get out there and win a few bucks from our friends, or, at the very least, chase a few Canada Geese around the fairway. I say, if you can get out there without icing up, why not tee it up. Throw on a few, or several, layers. Start with a warm, thin mockneck and build from there.

Not convinced that cold weather golf can be fun? Here are five reasons to play golf all year long.

Continue reading “What’s to Like about Cold Weather Golf?”