Why I Root for Stacy
Your Stories: Why I Root for Stacy Lewis
published by the LPGA WOMEN’S NETWORK
Playing a Highfalutin’ Course, When You’re Lowfalutin’ Me
I think I speak for every public golfer – I love playing exclusive golf courses. For us, getting out on these gems is a wonderful treat.
But exclusive courses can be a minefield of gaffes for a public course hack like me. Just parking my car poses a problem. Once, I was pulling into a parking space when I noticed every single car around me was a Mercedes, BMW, Jaguar … geees, is that a Rolls? I parked my ten-year old Subaru down the hill in the secondary lot.
Then there’s the “only change your golf shoes in the locker room like you have some class” rule. If this were a public course, I’d put my golf shoes on in my car like everyone else (once I was so lazy I actually left my house in my spikes). But not at the […]
Hezbollah and Me
In 2010, I visited Lebanon, my ancestral homeland – where, shockingly, there’s a golf course! Who knew? I mean, Lebanon – it just doesn’t scream golf. It screams hummus and grape leaves, and maybe bombs, but golf?
But yes, indeed, in 1923 the Golf Club of Lebanon was opened right in the heart of Beirut, and I couldn’t resist playing it.
Just getting to the course was an adventure. The cab driver spoke very little English and while I know a lot of Arabic words, they’re almost all food and curses. But after a few animated swings and repeating the word “golf,” we made it to the course.
Was I expecting a beautiful masonry welcome gate here in Beirut? No. But I also wasn’t expecting the army check-point gate either… complete with a guard! The driver said something to the guard in Arabic (I’m […]
The Golfer’s Perfect Spouse
I got really lucky in the spouse department. Rebecca and I have been together 24 years. And although I tease her that they’ve been the best 6 years of my life, all 24 have been wonderful.
Rebecca’s not athletic – au contraire. Her favorite statement, which she says proudly, is “I don’t do anything with balls involved.” In fact, she’s so non-athletic she’s like Einstein’s “antimatter”. Antimatter isn’t the lack of matter, and it’s not a vacuum, it’s ANTI-matter. Rebecca isn’t just not an athlete, she’s the ANTI-athlete. Stand too close to her and you won’t be able to putt.
So what makes Rebecca the golfer’s perfect spouse? Simply put, she considers my passion for golf to be a good thing. I’ve heard other golfer’s spouses say “you’re addicted to golf” or “you’re obsessed […]
Gratitude – Happy Thanksgiving
I finished the 15th hole of a course down in Florida this past Thanksgiving week and there were two maintenance workers working hard in the heat. I often say hello to maintenance workers. I’m sure they couldn’t care less about me, but they work really hard so I can have fun, and it just doesn’t feel right to walk by and ignore them. I assumed (correctly) that they were Hispanic and said, “Buenos días.” They smiled and responded, “Buenos días.”
While walking away I had an interesting thought: out of the 7.6 billion people in the world, the three of us took actions in our lives that brought us together to this exact same place at this exact same moment. But then I thought: we couldn’t have had more different paths.
I assume their original homeland didn’t have enough work for them to […]
Honor
There are few sports where honor plays as prominent a role as it does in golf. The reason? There aren’t any rules officials – we’re on our own to call rules infractions on ourselves. Even if we accidentally move our golf ball 1/16 of an inch, in the woods, 100 yards from our nearest competitor, we assess ourselves a penalty stroke. And while officials are made available at some tournaments, golfers still call infractions on themselves when officials aren’t present. This is why golf is known as a game of honor.
Compare this to other sports:
- Football, where some say the mantra is “if you’re not cheating, you’re not trying.” Don’t get me wrong, I’m a huge NFL fan and love football for its athleticism, power and speed. But honor? Not its strong suit.
- Baseball, where even Derek […]
Who’ll Show Up To Play Today?
Remember Patty Duke? She starred as the bubbly, fun, zany Patty Lane on The Patty Duke show. She also starred as Neely O’Hara, the overdosing drug addict in The Valley of the Dolls.
That’s me on the golf course.
Sometimes I look like I can play this game. I’m not a great player, but I’ve had some success and it’s clear I’ve played before.
But then the overdosing drug addict shows up – unwelcomed, uninvited and, well, high on something – and takes over my golf game. She can’t hold a club, her takeaway is bad, she has no follow-through, and she can’t chip or putt. I hate her!
And she doesn’t just show up between rounds, sometimes she takes over in the middle of a round! “Patty” had one round going where I was 2 […]
Controversy at the Solheim Cup
There was a controversy over a “gimme” putt at the Solheim Cup and Norway’s Suzann Pettersen got slammed for it.
For my non-golfing readers, a player can concede their opponent’s next putt – one that is usually so short it’s virtually certain of being made anyway – by saying something like “that’s good.”
On the 17th hole of close match, American Alison Lee thought she’d heard one of her European opponents (either Pettersen or Charley Hull) say “that’s good”, so she picked up her 18-inch putt. But neither Pettersen nor Hull had said it, so the Americans lost the hole and eventually the match.
The controversy stems from the fact that almost all competitors, especially professionals, concede 18-inch putts. In fact, if your friends don’t give you an 18-inch putt, you need new friends.
But I’m not surprised this controversy was about Pettersen and failure […]