Golf Talk

Scotland says no to Donald Trump.

Hurrah, the people of Aberdeenshire Scotland stood up to Donald Trump and told him to get lost. Trump was attempting to get his mega-course on a special land reserve on the coast of Scotland. It was placed on the reserve due to its environmental sensitivity and protection of the bird population. Trump was trying to buy his way through the process, dangling his $2.1 billion dollar investment in front of city councilors. And it appeared that for the most part, he had bought himself enough votes to get it passed through. In fact, just the other day it was announced that Trump had the votes to get it passed.

Then the city councilors met for 2.5 hours yesterday and when the came out of their meeting, the verdict was in, Trump’s project was a no go. Leading up to the meetings, there was heavy protest from several groups including the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) who put out a report on Trump’s mega-course project proposal indicating it was potentially disastrous to the local endangered bird population.

This is all great news, because it shows that citizens do have a voice in democracy, and that if you take action and protest things that are wrong, you can beat the big boys, the corporate interests that only have the bottom line in mind.

Regretfully, Trump has already started scouting out new locations for his project around Europe and there is no question that he probably will find one that will pass. There will always be someone out there that is willing to sell-out their land for money which is unfortunate. I hope it doesn’t happen, but it appears to be just a matter of time.

Donald Trump

Jack has some wise words for parents everywhere.

In an interview with the Associated Press, Jack Nicklaus made some interesting comments regarding the need for young golfers to remain well-rounded and to not specialize in golf too early. Nicklaus went on to say in the article that even while playing college golf at Ohio State, the clubs would be stored in the closet following the playing season and he would take up intramural football, basketball and volleyball. Nicklaus’ advice to aspiring young golfers, “I think kids should be playing everything, doing everything. Eventually, if you want to specialize in something, that’s fine. But go out and enjoy, and be happy to be able to play other things.”

I think this phenomenon of kids specializing in a specific sport is not limited to golf, but it is happening in all sports. You see all the time where kids as young as seven or eight are playing in these ID tournaments where scouts are eager to find the next Michael Jordan, Wayne Gretzky or Tiger Woods. There’s so much money and pressure these days, that parents feel that they have to specialize if their child is to have even a chance to make it to the bigtime.

I read the other day where parents are driving themselves crazy trying to get their kid that extra edge. Finding them sports psychologists, therapists, personal trainers, etc… And it’s all a big fad. One kid’s parents decide to sign their kid up for acupuncture and before you know it, the entire team has their kid doing it. The madness has got to stop.

I remember back in my day. I never did play golf growing up, but I played baseball, football, basketball and soccer. The thought never crossed my mind to only play one, we always played everything. Kids and parents these days are so eager to force their kids into something, and make them go pro as soon as possible. It truly is tragic.

Jack Nicklaus

Rich Beem trying to stay on the big boy tour.

With December almost near, that can only mean one thing for a hundred or so golfers around the country, Q School. The final stage of Q School starts this Wednesday with a total of 166 golfers taking in 108 holes of golf. Q School is the mandatory qualifying tournament in order to earn a Tour Card for the upcoming PGA Tour season. Most of the players are people you’ve never heard of, but still, us golf fans can’t get enough of the grueling and heart breaking drama of Q School. They’ve already gone through the first two stages that have weeded out over a thousand aspiring professionals and the final stage represents the last 166 seeking just 30 spots on the Tour. This final stage as mentioned will be 108 holes in six days.

Q School represents the epitome of competitive golf. Where every single shot means so much. Where one missed putt could be the difference between playing on the PGA Tour and working the local golf club. You’ll see frustration, exhaustion, elation, heart break, often in the same round for each player. Imagine your boss coming to you and saying that we’re going to have a competition to see who can sell the most widgets, the top 3 of you get to keep your job, the rest of you are out. Now that’s pressure.

A couple of big names will be trying to avoid disaster by earning their tour card, Rich Beem is one of them. I posted earlier how Shigeki Maruyama did just enough to keep his card. All I can say is that it’s going to be one heck of a week for these guys.

Q School

Freddie loves the Skins Game.

Believe it or not, there are still some guys out there playing so we’ll take a look at some the miscellaneous tournaments happening around the globe.

We’ll start in China, where Colin Montgomerie and Marc Warren of Scotland notched its first win in the World Cup of Golf beating Americans Boo Weekley and Heath Slocum on Sunday. The Scottish pair won with a par on the third hole of a playoff at the Mission Hills Golf Club in the city of Shenzhen. Because of the tournament being held in the winter, it’s attraction with the best players in the world has dwindled over the years and what used to be a pretty high profile event barely registers now. Too bad, I read that back in the day, it was actually referred to as the Canada Cup of golf.

Right now on ESPN, they are showing the skins game. This year’s edition features perennial favorite Fred Couples followed by Stephen Ames, Zach Johnson and Brett Wetterich. Though, the golf isn’t all that exciting to watch, the money involved is absolutely ridiculous. Freddie has won more in the skins game than he has in all the major championships he’s competed in combined. Can you imagine that, and Fred has been in and more importantly won a major championship including the Masters in 1992. Freddie is the undisputed king of the skins game and he always plays in it every year.

Hometown boy, Aaron Baddeley defeated Daniel Chopra of Sweden to win the Australian Masters on Sunday. Baddeley saved par on the fourth hole of a playoff after hitting his tee shot into the trees to secure the win. Nothing against Daniel Chopra, but it’s good to see the hometown player and a guy as good as Baddeley to win in his own backyard.

Fred Couples, skins game, world cup of golf, australian masters

A view of hole 14 at Chambers Bay in Tacoma.

A magazine by the name of name of Travel + Leisure Golf has released its list of top ten new golf courses of 2007 in the world. Good to see both the Pacific Northwest and Canada represented in the list, though I am surprised that no fewer than three in this top ten list are from the Pacific Northwest, goes to show you how much of a golfing destination we are here. If you’re planning on heading to play Chambers Bay, take a look at some things to do in Seattle while you are there.

1. Chambers Bay, Tacoma, Washington
2. Golf Club at Ravenna, Littleton, Colorado
3. Stonebrae Country Club, Hayward, California
4. The Home Course, DuPont, Washington
5. Promontory, Painted Valley Course, Park City, Utah
6. The Golf Club of Cape Cod, Falmouth, Massachusetts
7. Creek Club at Reynolds Plantation, Greensboro, Georgia
8. Kinloch Club, Kinloch, New Zealand
9. Gozzer Ranch Golf & Lake Club, Coeur d’Alene, Idaho
10. Cobble Beach Golf Links, Owen Sound, Ontario, Canada

When I first read the list, I thought it was the top ten golf courses in the world period. Then I’m going through the list and I’m saying to myself, I don’t know a single name on the list. I thought I knew my golf, but if I can’t recognize any of the top ten golf courses in the world, I must be dumbest golfing SOB on this planet.

Then I read “new” and “2007″ and then it all made sense. As these are all new courses, I’ve obviously never been to any of them. But from experience, I never like playing on brand new courses. There is a feeling of fakeness, like the conditions have been altered and are incompatible with the natural surroundings. Like a creek where there wasn’t a creek before. Or clear cutting of trees where it was obvious that there was a cluster before. I usually like playing on courses that have been around for 20 years or more, they feel much more natural in the way the course and the surroundings fit together, the birds are in places where they are suppose to be.

Tiger Woods, European Tour, Dubai World Championship

Tiger won’t be lured to Dubai.

Just days after announcing that the Dubai World Championship was boosting its total prize pool to a record $10 million dollars and further boosting the bonus for winning the European Tour’s player of the year, now named the Race to Dubai, award to $2 million dollars, Tiger Woods through his agent has announced that Tiger will not make any changes to his schedule. So it would appear that the huge sum of money will not lure Tiger to play in the Dubai, nor will he participate in the required number of tournaments to maintain status as a European Tour player.

The European Tour lowered it’s number of minimum tournaments played to 11 in order to lure some of the top US-based golfers to its tour. More than half of the World’s top ten golfers, six to be exact, already hold European Tour status, but it is the four Americans they desperately want, including Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Jim Furyk, I believe Zach Johnson is the fourth.

Now, we know that Phil Mickelson won’t budge. He barely plays anywhere outside of the US, let alone all the way in Europe, except for the British Open. Jim Furyk is too much of a Pennsylvanian homer to play the minimum 11 events in Europe. Zach Johnson certainly could go over to Europe to make even more money, but I just don’t see it, I think he will cut back on tournament in 2008 so that he can focus on the majors, which means 2009 will most certainly be the same. That leaves Tiger. Now, if this was 6 years ago, I’d say Tiger would go in a heartbeat, just another notch on his belt to gain. But now that he’s a family man, and has accomplished so much in golf already, I don’t see it. I think Tiger is all about the majors right now, catching Jack Nicklaus’ 18 majors record and trying to win as many more so that his name will live on forever.

So, in essence, I think people are trying to make this out to be that Tiger is rejecting the money. But I don’t see it that way. I think he very much would like to win the money that is being offered by the European Tour, but that his priorities have shifted to solely on the majors.

Tiger Woods, European Tour, Dubai World Championship

China is the new frontier in golf.

I just read an article by Dan Washburn on ESPN about a guy in China who went from peasant farmer to security guard to golf professional in China’s burgeoning new Tour. The fellow’s name is Zhou, he’s thirty-five and his story is not unlike many of the Chinese competing on the three year old Omega China Tour. Zhou had never picked up a club before the age of twenty-two and has never had an instructor in his life, he is now a 2 handicap.

This whole golf thing is still new in the world’s fastest growing economy that is China. Golf in China used to be just a status symbol, much like driving a BMW, wearing a rolex and living in a gated community. But the professional sport of golf really only began in 1994. And for players like Zhou, 22nd on the China Tour’s money list, it can hardly be called professional. In fact, Zhou claims that he spent more money in 2006 than he made.

But much like everything else in this world, the new frontier is China. With over one billion people strong, China is going to be force in just about everything, golf included. With that one billion in population, there is bound to be at least a Tiger or two somewhere in China that is just waiting to burst out. And we saw just recently at the Shanghai Open that the Chinese fans really get golf, and have embraced it. As the price barriers keep coming down and more people can afford to play golf, you can bet that in 20 years from now, the Chinese player will be a force to reckon with on the world golf stage. We’ve already seen what Korea has meant for the LPGA.

Golf in China

Money makes the world go round.

As the world of golf gets bigger and bigger, so do the prizes. Today, the European Tour announced that the Dubai World Championship would boost it’s total payout to a record $10 million dollars, making it the richest golf tournament on the planet. The European Tour has also announced that the Order of Merit will be aptly renamed, ‘The Race to Dubai’ with the total payout buoyed to $2 million dollars to the winner. The winner of the Dubai World Championship will receive $1.66 million from the $10 million total pool. The new prize structure will take into effect for the 2009 season.

I think it is absolutely ludicrous the money that is being thrown around here. Though, I’m not the least bit surprised. Lets face it, there is a lot of money in golf. From the equipment manufacturers, to the courses, to the instructors, golf is a business, a mega industry. The fact that these golfers are jettisoning around in private jets, frolicking in Monaco and living in mega-mansions in Florida shows there is no lack of funds to go around.

But I think at some point, you just have to say enough is enough. Where do we draw the line in the sand and say, we can’t go past this or we’ve completely lost all integrity? Or perhaps we’ve passed that line several decades ago. I know that golf has always had the elitist stigma on it, but I remember paying $20 bucks to play all day at my local muni. Golf should mean something more than just the $$$.

Well, I’ve said my peace, I leave you with the words of one, Gordon Gekko, “Greed is good.”

Donald Trump

Ochoa, richest woman in golf.

I guess it is fitting that as the best womens’ golfer in the world fades into the background, a new leader emerges. Annika Sorenstam ended her worst year since her rookie year in 1994 by missing the cut at the ADT Championship. Now Lorena Ochoa caps off a record year in earnings and wins with the victory at the same ADT Championship. The torch has been officially handed off, we have a new leading lady in the world of golf.

Things didn’t always come so easily to Lorena. After all, it was just four months ago when Lorena was still facing her demons after another second place finish blowing a lead to Nicole Castrale at the Ginn Classic. And she saw her younger competitors capture the major championships, first there was Paula Creamer last year, then Morgan Pressel at the Nabisco, Suzann Pettersen at the LPGA Championship, Christie Kerr at the US Open (OK, so Christie isn’t younger, but still, you get my point). But winning the British Open, the final major championship of the year and her first, seems to have eased all the tensions.

I see Lorena playing now, and she doesn’t feel the pressure like she once did. I liken it to when Phil Mickelson won the Masters to claim his first major. There was always so much pressure on Phil and every loss came with the inevitable questions about how he lost another championship. Lorena had the same pressures. But I see her much more relaxed now and I think her game has responded positively.

So it seems fitting that she would hit a 6-iron from the rough on her approach shot on 18 that would roll inches for the cup and seal the win this week over Natalie Gulbis. Also fitting that the biggest prize in women’s golf history goes to Lorena to cap off her amazing season filled with ups and downs.

Congrats to Lorena, and I’m sure there will be plenty more to come…

Lorena Ochoa, ADT Championship

Say NO to Donald Trump.

Donald Trump is reportedly in negotiations to build what he is calling “greatest golf course in the world” in Aberdeenshire Scotland. Problem is that part of the land he is trying to build his mega-course on is a special land reserve due to its environmental sensitivity. But Trump is trying to buy his way through the lawmakers, the politicians, the environmentalists and basically anyone who stands in his way. He purchased full-spread advertisements in both the Aberdeen’s Press and Journal newspaper under the corporate name ofTrump International Golf Links Scotland.

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) has released their report on the mega-course proposal calling it potentially disastrous to the local bird population, of which some are endangered. They have called for city planning officials to block this proposal and all future development plans for the protected area. Approximately 150 people are expected to attend a protest march in the city today.

First of all, do we really need another golf course in Scotland? I mean they probably have more golf courses per capita than anywhere else in the world. Secondly, can’t Donald Trump find some other place to put his mega-course? I mean, he’s the biggest real-estate mogul in the world, can’t he find some other corner of the world to build his megalopolis?? The land is a protected area for a reason. I mean, I’m in favor of development, but not when it is in conflict with nature. I know they are new technologies that developers are using these days, but take Oakmont for example, the site of this year’s US Open. They cut down thousands of trees so that it would be more “playable”. I find it a shame that these huge thousand year-old trees were cut down for the sake of Phil Mickelson and his wrist. It just isn’t right.

Donald Trump

Golf Girl turning heads with Golf Girl TV.

It’s been a slow golf news day now that the PGA Tour is officially in hibernation and contrary to Tiger’s busy October, he has crawled under his rock without a peep not to be seen until January. So, I thought I would you all on a tour of my favorite golf blogs and what they’re talking about in the off-season.

In case you haven’t checked it out yet, Patricia Hannigan runs a golf blog called Golf Girl’s Diary and in it she produces a bi-weekly video called Golf Girl TV which you can view on her website. This week, she films on location at the Foxwoods Resort & Casino as she attends a putting party with legendary golfer, Jim Thorpe.

Over at the Sandtrap, JP Bouffard is ranting about golf equipment companies, self proclaiming golf gurus, telestrators, golf angles and much much more. It’s a long rant, so be sure you have 20 minutes to spare to read it all.

Mulligan Stu at the Waggle Room has been busy tallying up the top 10 golf cities in America. The winner?? Austin, Texas. Las Vegas and Columbus, Ohio come in second and third. Las Vegas seems right, but you would think a city in Florida would be in the top 3.

Ed Lee over at the Golf Blog, is relishing in the misery of others, specifically Lorena Ochoa and her quad-bogey at the ADT yesterday.

Tony Korologos a.k.a. mediaguru talks golf apparel at Hooked on Golf. Specifically, CBUK Golf Apparel which is a division of Cutter & Buck. Apparently CBUK uses “Cocona Natural Technology”, not exactly sure if that will help lower my handicap, but it sure sounds nifty.

blogosphere

Annika tries to save her round.

In the quirky format that was the ADT Championship this week, history was made as Annika Sorenstam finished the year without a win, the first since her rookie year way back in 1994. Once the most dominant female golfer in the world, Sorenstam suffered a neck and back injury earlier in the year and just never recovered. In fact, she never even really came close to winning all year, and was well back in all four of the LPGA’s major tournaments.

It certainly has been a strange year for Sorenstam, much can be attributed to her injury which forced her to miss most of the season and competing in just nine tournaments all year. But there are a couple of other factors which have distracted her from golf. One of them was the engagement to her boyfriend Mike McGee just a few months ago.

But even months after the injury, Sorenstam has just been off on her game. Her usual steady iron play has been widely inconsistent all year and her putting has been way off. If there is one thing that you always expect from Sorenstam has been her ability to make fairways, hit greens, and two-putt. Prior to this year, she led or was in the top five in most of the categories of fairways, greens in regulation and total putts.

So the big question comes, whether Sorenstam has lost it for good, or is 2007 just a blimp on the radar screen. It’s tough to tell, but it certainly appears that that her best golf is behind her. With her wedding coming up next year, and following marriage usually comes motherhood. With only a few years left on her biological clock, Annika will probably have kids earlier rather than later.

And if you factor in the upcoming young talent that has seized the LPGA over the past year, it would appear that Annika’s best days are behind her. Players like Lorena Ochoa, Paula Creamer, Morgan Pressel and Suzann Pettersen look a lot hungrier at this time and their talent and athleticism will be tough for a 35-plus mother-to-be to compete against. Then again, the ageless Julie Inkster would prove otherwise.

Perhaps the greatest sign that time is passing her by was Sorenstam’s loss at the Solheim Cup. Pressel beat Sorenstam on her home soil.

Annika Sorenstam

Fedex Cup changes, more smoke and mirrors.

A couple of changes were announced today by the PGA Tour. First off, after much debate and controversy surrounding the inaugural season of the Fedex Cup, a few changes were made to accommodate the litany of complaints from both the players inside the PGA Tour and fans on the outside. The second change announced was the change to lower cut lines at all PGA Tournaments starting next season.

Fedex Cup Changes:

First off, the changes to the Fedex Cup. The first three events, The Barclays, Deutsche Bank Championship and BMW Championship will stay the same. But now there will be a full week off before the Ryder Cup. The final leg of the Fedex Cup, the Tour Championship will be played the week after the Ryder Cup.

If you ask me, I still that’s too many weeks in a row for these guys. And they still need to do something about the 175 player field to begin with. I mean, nobody ranked 175 is going to win it, why not start at like 125. The PGA Tour supposedly listened to the players this time, as Joe Durant was representing the players, but it still seems like they haven’t really listened to what the players want.

Lower Cut Lines:

In an effort to increase the pace on the weekend matches, the PGA Tour has announced they will change the rules regarding the cut lines for all tournaments in 2008. Previously, the cut was set at somewhere in the top 70 players with ties rounding up. Well a change will be made where if the number of players exceeds 79, they will make the cut one stroke lower even if it is below 70.

This is going to be very controversial for a lot of players, as many of them use the statistic of cuts made to determine success for sponsorships and the like. While this will improve the pace of play in the final rounds, it will have a detrimental effect for the players.

PGA Tour, Fedex Cup

John Daly at this year’s US Open, a troubled soul.

John Daly continues to make news despite not being in the top 100 on the world ranking. First off, AOL Fanhouse has a great post about Daly’s latest money-making scheme, a golf instructional book. In it, Daly attempts to give tips that have helped him win the British Open Championship and PGA Championship major tournaments. Such interesting tidbits that include preparing for his British Open Championship-winning final round at St Andrews in 1995 by eating ten chocolate croissants, or claiming he can go through twenty packets of M&Ms in a round and was once disqualified from a junior tournament for having a bottle of Jack Daniels in his bag.

As for his actual golf game, Golf Digest is reporting that John Daly is seeking swing instruction from swing guru Butch Harmon. You’ll remember that Butch Harmon was the one that people have credited with helping Phil Mickelson earlier in the year capturing the Players Championship shortly after. Butch Harmon is also the man who used to coach Tiger Woods when he had his Tiger slam and is the long-time coach to Natalie Gulbis helping her win her first LPGA event this year at the Evian Masters.

So what exactly can Butch Harmon do for John Daly?? Well, not really anything at all I’m afraid. You see, there’s nothing wrong with John Daly’s swing. In fact, Tiger Woods has even said that John Daly has more god-given golf talent than anyone else. He just has to practice and become more disciplined. I don’t see how Butch Harmon is going to do that for John. What John really needs is a shrink and a marriage counselor. He needs someone that can peel the layers of a fragile psyche and build up his confidence in himself as a person. Once John has faced his fears face on, he can return to the game which he was born for.

John Daly, Butch Harmon

Justin Timberlake to bring sexy back to the PGA.

ESPN is reporting that the new celebrity host for the PGA Tour tournament known as The Shriner’s Hospital for Children Open will be Justin Timberlake who has been a busy bee this past month. Past celebrity title hosts have included Bing Crosby, Sammy Davis Jr. and most recently Bob Hope. The official new name will be Justin Timberlake’s Shriner’s Hospital for Children Open and will be a part of the PGA Tour fall series playing the weekend of Oct. 13-19, 2008, at TPC-Summerlin.

Apparently, Justin is a 6-handicap golfer and has played in the PGA Tour’s AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am each year. He is said to have a personal golf instructor and takes his clubs wherever he travels to take in a round or two. According to the report, Justin plans to qualify (or get a sponsor’s exempt) and play competitively on the PGA Tour, presumably for his own tournament.

The report also says there are plans for another avid celebrity golfer, George Lopez, to host a PGA Tour event in 2008 as well, the tournament and date yet to be determined.

I think this has to be seen as a positive for the PGA Tour. Anything to bring in new fans, which both Justin and George will do, is good for the game. Not to mention the Title Sponsor, Shriner’s Children Hospital is one of the countries top charity hospitals, the partnership of golf, charity, and celebrity is a perfect fit. We need more people interested in golf, especially, kids, young adults and minorities who think golf is an elitist sport.

Natalie Gulbis, LPGA Tour