NEW ZEALAND GOLF – I was on Top Down Under
It’s good to be old. My partner Rebecca and I had never taken an extended vacation, but now that we’re both retired, we were able to spend 2 months in New Zealand where I got to play some incredible golf courses.
But before I get to the golf, I first want to tell you about New Zealand’s other major attribute – its people. All I heard before we left was how nice New Zealanders are. Turns out, that’s an understatement. Every New Zealander we met was kind, considerate and gracious. It was if they all personally cared about us and our trip. We may have traveled to New Zealand for the scenery and the golf, but we found the people to be the real highlight.
Although the golf was a close second! Fifteen years ago, a friend […]
We’re Playing Golf, Not Math
It’s one of the most stupid rules in golf. I take that back – it’s one of the most stupid rules in ANY SPORT: Signing a wrong scorecard gets you disqualified.
Non-golfers: In tournament golf, a player is disqualified (not just penalized… DISQUALIFIED) for signing a scorecard that has a lower (better) score than the one they made. Yes, this guards against cheaters, but RARELY are disqualified players being accused of cheating. Usually everyone involved, including the authorities, knows that a scorecard mistake was an honest one.
But get it wrong and you’re out. It’s as if golf demands that after you play, you must then pass an added bookkeeping test.
Most sports have umpires or referees who keep players’ scores for them. Some sports, like gymnastics, don’t even have scores until the judges say what the score is. Runners and swimmers have clocks […]
One Word Won the Ryder Cup
I’m not saying homefield advantage wasn’t an enormous factor in the European’s Ryder Cup win in Italy. A week later and I still can’t get Ole’, Ole’, Ole’, Ole’, Ooooole’, Ooooole’ out of my head! But the European team had something special, a huge intangible, that I assert was the key to their 2023 Ryder Cup victory:
Love.
I know the word “love” isn’t used much in sports, but the love these guys had for each other, and for their captain, Luke Donald, was palpable. You could see it in the way they embraced – they didn’t embrace like teammates, they hugged like brothers. They didn’t act like they were bonded by sports, they acted like they were bonded by bloodlines. They were family.
Come on Patty, how sappy can you be? This is golf, not a romance novel, or even a bromance novel. […]
PGA, PIF, LIV … WTF?
If you’re a golfer – wait, scratch that – if you’re a human, you’ve heard the news: After 2 incredibly contentious years, complete with lawsuits, insults and hostilities, the PGA and LIV Golf have essentially merged. I remember where I was when JFK was shot, and now I’ll remember where I was when I heard this shocking news.
The framework of the deal was published recently. One of the key factors of the agreement is that all pending lawsuits between the PGA and LIV will be terminated. Some are saying there was so much dirty laundry in both camps that settling was just a way to stop the legal discovery.
But settling isn’t necessarily shocking news – what’s shocking is that usually after adversaries settle, they don’t merge. The PGA & LIV […]
Would I Die for Golf?
I was driving to my home course when my car started acting weird. Even when I hit the gas hard, my car wouldn’t go over 20 mph. Then the main monitor went bananas. “Check your transmission system” came up in bright orange letters. Then “Check engine!” “Check oil pressure!” “Check ABS System!”. Finally, every idiot light on the dashboard turned on.
Turn around and get the car home, Patty!
But I was playing with three of my favorite people in a match I’d been looking forward to all week so…I kept going. I never went over 20 mph, but I made it to the course. I hoped that the lights would reset after the round, but nope, turns out I had a big problem.
Actually, turns out I had an even bigger […]
The Attack On The PGA May Not Be As Bad As We Think
Non-golfers: there’s an attack on the PGA and it’s seismic in the golf world. For years, the PGA has been the dominant golf tour in the U.S. (and world), but a tour named LIV Golf has been formed with the explicit purpose of undermining it.
Briefly, LIV’s financial backer is Saudi Arabian crown prince Mohammed bin Salman – the man widely recognized as having arranged the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi; the man who essentially rules over a country that notoriously violates human rights. Bin Salman is giving LIV seemingly infinite funds – so many funds, in fact, that PGA Commissioner Jay Monahan (who’s referred to the situation as an “existential threat”) admitted that if the LIV attack were solely a battle of money, the PGA couldn’t compete. Staggering signing bonuses have already been spent to siphon off some PGA players for LIV.
But here’s […]
Who’s the Bigger Knucklehead?
First off, I would never call a friend a “knucklehead” (at least not publicly). The title of this piece was given to me by one of the knuckleheads in question and approved by the other. Also, both stories take place at Bethpage State Park – a huge New York golf and catering facility.
Knucklehead #1 – Joe: Joe was having a hard time on the 10th hole of the Blue Course. He had already hit 3 shots and was still 10 yards from the green. Hot under the collar, he walked to his ball and looked for the wedge he needed, but it wasn’t in his bag. ^%$#@ – he had left it near the 9th green.
Because he wasn’t using a motorized cart, he jumped into his friend Bobby’s and sped back to the 9th green. He parked the cart, ran […]
The Real Housewives of the PGA
I’ve never seen any of The Real Housewives shows and now I know why – I don’t have to. I get all the drama, gossip and cattiness I need just listening to PGA Radio.
Ryder Cup Captain Steve Stricker didn’t call Billy Horschel. Billy was “gutted.” In fact, after he won the following week’s tournament, he said he did so because he was “ticked” that Steve never called him and that not getting a call “put a fire in my butt.” Ouch, that must have hurt.
I can relate. When I was in high school, I wanted James to ask me to the prom. I even told his sister Susan to tell his friend Johnnie to tell James that I wanted to go to the prom with him. But he never called. I, too, was gutted. Although I don’t remember having anything ignited in my derriere.
