Ogg

Personally I will take Phil's genuine smiling and things like his joking with Fred Couples as they walked up the fairway together last year at the Masters. I love Tiger's golf but his petulance and condescension to anyone outside of Team Tiger gets old real quick. The way he treats any announcer who has critiqued him is really childish too. Not to mention his boorish idiot caddy! Show me guys who are out there having some fun and interacting with the fans a la Arnie. That is what I want my kids to see.

I have read so many positive things about Phil and his contributions. To say that he is condescending or that he acts poorly, wow, you must loathe Tiger then.

Adam Scott could be very tough this week.

Trust me, you will not be disappointed. They are that much fun.

I played golf with a guy who had worked at the Golf Channel as a producer. I asked him about Kelly Tilghman and he said she is a wonderful person but she would not be looking at me as she plays for the "other" team. Siad he had seen her at functions with her partner etc etc. Not sure if this is true but not sure that it isn't.

Seems like M. Wie will miss 4-6 weeks of golf as she hurt her wrist during a fall while running according to ESPN. Not sure if she is supposed to play in any upcoming tournaments.

I like Bob Rotella's books as they deal with the mental aspects and I think I always need help with that part. For fun, Rick Reilly has 2 books out called 'Missing Links' and 'Shanks for Nothing' that are hilarious and just plain fun. I highly recommend both of them. Anyone else read these?

By height (thanks Ty)

Well no sponsor and from what the article said, it cost approx 8.5 million to host a tournament. It's tough. And Tiger not playing does not help it at all.

Seems like the International will no longer be a tournament and is cancelling this year rounds immediately. http://sports.espn.go.com/golf/news/story?id=2757727

Best Swing : Ernie Els (by far) Beautiful : Steve Elkington Ugly: Greg Norman - looks like a cross between Elaine dancing on Seinfeld and a robot.

Arnie has said something to that affect. Guys aren't as vicious or prepared to win since the second place (and third and fourth) money is so good. I think this is so true. Why else would so many people fold playing against Tiger down the stretch?

Do you think Tiger having children will affect his game and his focus? That is something to consider once the baby is born. I agree with mstuck too, Bobby Jones was the only player to win the Grand Slam and just so much better than everyone he played against.

Yep, like my Dad used to always say, it is not how far, it is how many.

I work with a guy who has been known to exagerate just a bit. We got to talking about golf and how all of the people in his family were scratch golfers. Then he proceeded to tell me that the all carried handicaps in the 8-10 range. I asked him what it was scratch or 8-10 and he replied "Both!". But his ultimate feat is talking about how he regularly hits the ball over 300 yards. He told me that he routinely hits is over the 300 yard sign at the driving range at Lochmere (my home course). So with the roll he was getting 330 easily. I chuckled to myself but told him that was seriously long. That Saturday I was walking up our tenth hole which runs right next to the driving range and noticed the netting at the back of the range with a 270 marker hanging on the netting. Had a good laugh to myself over that one.

I did the same thing about 10 years ago. We played TPC Sawgrass about 4 days after the tournament and I can recall my buddy and I trying to hit it in the rough since the course was so firm. We were taking these dime sized divots out of the fairway and it felt like every shot we hit was thin.

Very true and I think the rolling helps so much. I cannot tell you how many times I have hit a drive and seen it roll 2 yards and you can see the large indentation from where my ball hit the fairway. I also happen to play on a very wet course here in NC so that does not help.

I have called on it and told him it is cheating. I ceased to play for moeny with him a long time ago. He and his regulars play every weekend for money too. I have noticed him rolling it over in the fairway plenty of times too. I caught a guy playing in our daily club tournament rolling it over in the rough and giving himself putts and then inputting his score. Reported him after the round. I wish more people would do that if they saw the infractions.

The president of our handicap committee had a simple solution (at another club), if you teed off and completed your round, you were required to enter a score in the computer. If you did not, a 72 was input for you. Since the club required your crad to be timestamped and turned in, they knew that you finished the round. You can bet that people made sure their score was posted. But that still doesn't keep people from not playing properly. I played this past summer with a couple of guys who were playing against each other for money. Glad I did not get in to the $$$ with them. I caught one of the guys mismarking his ball (very blantantly too) on the green, and only playing holes with just his wedge, including putting, so he could get a high score (he knew he was out of the hole already). Kept his handicap nice and high this way. Must be nice to try and screw your friends out of money. I have a close friend who shot a 74 on a golf vacation and he said there was no way he was going to enter that score as it would bring his handicap down. He claimed to be a 14 handicap at the time too.

Jack until Tiger can beat his totals. I think it will happen. I would love to see Tiger go out to Baltusrol and hit the same one iron and the same type of ball that Jack used in 1967 just to see what he could do. I know it was all into the wind that day and the title was on the line so it would be hard to recreate that moment, but just coll to see how close Tiger could stick it. In the end though, I think Arnie meamtt more to the game than either of these guys though. Truly such a great man with the fans.

IT Web Developer/Data Warehousing (nnnneeeeeeerrrrddddd!)

Refuting my own post: I was just thinking more about this though and while they roll away from the tee boxes, how many times do you see the cross cuts on the fairways? Wouldn't this indicate that the grass is cut in 2 different directions and there for some is bound to be able to catch the ball?

Dudley Hart

Shortly after the Pope had apologized to the Nation of Israel for the treatment of Jews by the Catholic Church over the years, Ehud Barak, the leader of Israel, sent back a message to the College of Cardinals. The proposal was for a friendly game of golf to be played between the two leaders or their representatives to show the friendship and ecumenical spirit shared by the Catholic and Jewish faiths. The Pope met with his College of Cardinals to discuss the proposal. "Your Holiness," said one of the Cardinals, "Mr. Barak wants to challenge you to a game of golf to show that you are old and unable to compete I am afraid that this would tarnish our image to the world." The Pope thought about this and as he had never held a golf club in his life asked, "Don't we have a Cardinal to represent me?" "None that plays golf very well," a Cardinal replied. "But," he added, "there is a man named Jack Nicklaus, an American golfer who is a devout Catholic. We can offer to make him a Cardinal, then ask him to play Mr.Barak as your personal representative. In addition to showing our spirit of co-operation, we'll also win the match." Everyone agreed it was a great idea. The call was made. Of course, Nicklaus was honored and agreed to play as a representative of the Pope. The day after the match, Nicklaus reported to the Vatican to inform the Pope of the result. "I have some good news and some bad news, Your Holiness," said the golfer. "Tell me the good news, Cardinal Nicklaus," said the Pope. "Well, Your Holiness, I don't like to brag, but even though I've played some pretty terrific rounds of golf in my life, this was the best I have ever played, by far. I must have been inspired from above. My drives were long and true, my irons were accurate and purposeful, and my putting was perfect. With all due respect, my play was truly miraculous." "How can there be bad news?" the Pope asked. Nicklaus sighed, "I lost to Rabbi Tiger Woods by three strokes."

Just to confirm what Naruto said earlier about the perfectly manicured conditions, I can recall a conversation with the greenskeeper for TPC River Highlands and the work that they have to do before a tournament. Course is closed down before the tournament (1 or 2 weeks) and the fairways are rolled everyday. The rolling is done away from the tee boxes so that the grass does not catch the ball and slow it down. This adds many more yards to the roll (cannot quantify it though).