Or so Carl Spackler once said.
Something somebody else once said that seems appropriate for today's column:
"...If we killed all the journalists in the world tonight, there would be news from Hell by breakfast" - William Tecumseh Sherman
What you might have noticed is that the rocket scientists comprising the golf media gene pool (a pool or pond...a pond might be good for them) have decided that it is "Be Antagonistic to Tiger" month. Apparently the Great One kept them at arm's length after the totally absurd flogging he took for...how dare he...not winning the PGA, and they had their feelings hurt. They can dish it out but surely cannot take it, which is probably why they became writers to begin with.
The media cretins, and this includes the oxygen thieves on television as well as all of the marginally famous writers (this means you, Jay Busbee), decided to dogpile on Tiger in a general sense. Aside from the more lunatic, Quixotic assaults on Tiger's mental and physical failings, golf media generally manuevered into a passive posture of disdain for the very person that assures their existence. I cannot fathom why this is now de rigueur among golf pundits. Have they become so spoiled as to ignore why golf media is so popular? It is not because of all the brilliant play and charasmatic leadership by such Tour luminaries as Scott Verplank and J.P. Hayes. Nothing personal against either of them (especially J.P.), but the golf universe is its current size and can afford all of the accompanying luxuries only because of Tiger Woods. Period. For the press to mindlessly snipe at him because he thinks they are a group of post-adolescent sociopaths is self-destructive at worst, and self-important delusion at best.
Tiger does not need them, but they sure as hell need him.
Maybe they'll get their way, though, and eventually drive him from the game. We can then return to those heady days when Tom Lehman and Steve Jones battled down the stretch for U.S. Open glory. And who can forget the dashing figure that Dan Forsman cut, or the raw charisma of Brett Ogle, Tommy Tolles, or Bill Murchison? Ah yes, those were the glory days of golf! Or even better, maybe we can go further back to when our selection of golf heroes toggled between the hopelessly arrogant product of country club youth programs and the totally uninspiring yet well-meaning grinders.
If you are just dying to cancel your weekend plans so you can watch Curtis Strange win in a pair of red sans-a-belt pants, and then immediately gloat about it, then be my guest. Or maybe that is too daring for you. How about an insomnia cure to encourage Sunday napping in the form of the broad brimmed vision of Tom Kite marching his way to golf greatness? I am sure the press would just love doing the post victory interview with him, and then they could all pile into their AMC Pacers and head off to whichever KOA Campground they could afford to patronize.
A quick message to the self-appointed golf experts currently attempting to suck all of the air out of the room: Shut your pieholes. Start appreciating the game and its players and realize that you are not one of them. Tim Rosaforte can use all of the cool player nicknames on the planet, and can drop all of the names that he wants, and he will never be one of them. Somebody needs to check these massive egos before they do any further damage.
And remember, if it's not Gofl blog, then it's just plain gofl.
SC
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Lower Your Handicap in Two Weeks
No, this post does not involve perfecting the foot wedge, the pencil whip, or the Mulligan. If you currently play golf, and have a reasonable amount of athletic ability, you can shave multiple strokes from your score very quickly. Interested?
There is no "secret move" to learn and no product to buy. As Hogan said, "the secret is in the dirt". Hogan was a great ball-striker not because of training products or swing doctors or sports psychologists. Ben Hogan would hardly be able to contain his contempt for modern golf if he were alive today. True students of the game like Hogan, Trevino, Faldo and Vijay all grasp the same critical fundamentals, and spent thousands of hours practicing them. You may not have the time or the inclination to play like them, but you can certainly make yourself a better ball striker. And here is how.
The number one flaw I see on the course and on the range every week, and I mean number one by a country mile, is horrendous alignment. It is so bad that one can only wonder how they expect their ball to go to their intended target. Oddly, it is one of the easiest errors to fix.
Imagine getting in your car today and driving to work or to go shopping. You don't give much thought to how your car works, but you expect it to do some pretty complex things and at high speeds. Now imagine that the engineer who designed the car, as well as the mechanic that services it, gave no real consideration to how the car was aligned. You'd be in for one hell of a ride! The car would weave constantly, you would run the rubber off of the tires, and attaining high speeds without tragic results would be impossible. For all intents and purposes, your car would be undrivable. So when you play golf and hit a drive wildly out of bounds on one hole and right down the middle on the next, do you think that is just random chance? It isn't.
Just like your car, your swing needs to have certain fundamental qualities in place before you start it. People spend so much time thinking about "the swing" that they totally ignore what it really is. The next time you get into your car, start thinking about everything you do while you are driving it. Consciously picture turning the wheel. Stare at the wheel as you put your hands on it. Pay extra attention to your foot pressure on the brake. Now how absurd would it be if you really did this? Especially at 70 mph! Yet, for reasons that I will never understand, golfers will try to do this very thing with their swing at 100 mph. It makes no sense. You simply will never, ever play good golf if your are going through your check list over the ball. So this can mean only one thing: you have to be ready to go and committed before you pull the trigger. Alignment is the key that starts the engine.
The next time you go to the range, lay down a club to orient yourself to your target line. Many of you will be shocked to see the difference. If I had a quarter for every time I saw someone aimed 20 or 30 yards right of their target, I would be very, very rich. Oh, I hear you saying to yourself "But I don't do that". Look, I see really good players do it, too. It is absolutely the most common and most devastating problem in existence for today's golfer. If you had any idea how many players aim right, come over the top, and then think that they hit the ball straight, you would be stunned. Think about it. They can swing the club on what they feel is an "inside" path, raise it with their arms (not too much shoulder turn), come over the top, and the hit a pull, a pull slice, or a pull hook.
If you are not a single digit player, and I mean single digits on a course you have never seen before, then take a hard look at your alignment the next time you practice. Get a club on the ground and start getting used to what is known as "parallel left". You will feel like you are set up like Trevino or Freddie, about 20 degrees open. You're not. You should feel like you can really see the target line all the way to the flag or fairway, like you are peeking around a corner. Your shoulders might feel open, as well. You may hit a few fades at first, but you will gradually feel much more able to get the club back to the ball with much more speed at impact. Don't believe me yet? Let me give you some examples of guy who take this to an extreme -Kenny Perry, Tom Lehman, Freddie Couples, Tiger, and Nicklaus. And what do they all have in common? Monster length. Their hips and shoulders are aligned properly enough, just like a car would be, so that when they really hit the gas, they did not have to worry about the wheels flying off. They can just jump all over it. That is how important alignment is.
Still don't believe me? The next time you see your local pro, ask them how important it is. Ask them if they see a lot of players with their feet aimed well right of their intended target. Or better yet, start paying careful attention at the range and on the course. Try to slip in behind your playing partners before they hit, or watch all of the range jockeys try to fix their swing without laying down a club. You will really begin to see how common and how easily corrected this is.
One thing is certain: You will not find one great player in the modern game that sets up way right and comes over the top. You won't see it. You will see players set up left and then either hit a cut (Tiger, Couples) or drop the club inside to play a draw (Jay Haas and Kenny Perry), but nobody aims right and comes over it. The closest you will see to that is Craig Parry (who Johnny Miller once famously insulted) , and Furyk likes to aim a little right, but he drops the club back inside the plane. If you will begin to check your alignment religiously, you will drop shots immediately (assuming you can make a few putts!). Your ball will end up on the green more often, in the fairway more often, and your misses will be in play more often. As unromantic as that sounds, that is how many average professionals play. They simply make mistakes that do not result in a big number. And nothing makes golf less fun than blowing up during a good round.
So lay down a club point parallel left of, not pointing to, your intended target the next time you play or practice, and you will begin to feel how the best players in the world feel when they set up. You will feel like you are aimed left of the world, I assure you, but it will pay massive dividends in a short period of time if you have a little faith and use a little elbow grease.
And remember, if it isn't Gofl Blog, then it's just plain gofl.
There is no "secret move" to learn and no product to buy. As Hogan said, "the secret is in the dirt". Hogan was a great ball-striker not because of training products or swing doctors or sports psychologists. Ben Hogan would hardly be able to contain his contempt for modern golf if he were alive today. True students of the game like Hogan, Trevino, Faldo and Vijay all grasp the same critical fundamentals, and spent thousands of hours practicing them. You may not have the time or the inclination to play like them, but you can certainly make yourself a better ball striker. And here is how.
The number one flaw I see on the course and on the range every week, and I mean number one by a country mile, is horrendous alignment. It is so bad that one can only wonder how they expect their ball to go to their intended target. Oddly, it is one of the easiest errors to fix.
Imagine getting in your car today and driving to work or to go shopping. You don't give much thought to how your car works, but you expect it to do some pretty complex things and at high speeds. Now imagine that the engineer who designed the car, as well as the mechanic that services it, gave no real consideration to how the car was aligned. You'd be in for one hell of a ride! The car would weave constantly, you would run the rubber off of the tires, and attaining high speeds without tragic results would be impossible. For all intents and purposes, your car would be undrivable. So when you play golf and hit a drive wildly out of bounds on one hole and right down the middle on the next, do you think that is just random chance? It isn't.
Just like your car, your swing needs to have certain fundamental qualities in place before you start it. People spend so much time thinking about "the swing" that they totally ignore what it really is. The next time you get into your car, start thinking about everything you do while you are driving it. Consciously picture turning the wheel. Stare at the wheel as you put your hands on it. Pay extra attention to your foot pressure on the brake. Now how absurd would it be if you really did this? Especially at 70 mph! Yet, for reasons that I will never understand, golfers will try to do this very thing with their swing at 100 mph. It makes no sense. You simply will never, ever play good golf if your are going through your check list over the ball. So this can mean only one thing: you have to be ready to go and committed before you pull the trigger. Alignment is the key that starts the engine.
The next time you go to the range, lay down a club to orient yourself to your target line. Many of you will be shocked to see the difference. If I had a quarter for every time I saw someone aimed 20 or 30 yards right of their target, I would be very, very rich. Oh, I hear you saying to yourself "But I don't do that". Look, I see really good players do it, too. It is absolutely the most common and most devastating problem in existence for today's golfer. If you had any idea how many players aim right, come over the top, and then think that they hit the ball straight, you would be stunned. Think about it. They can swing the club on what they feel is an "inside" path, raise it with their arms (not too much shoulder turn), come over the top, and the hit a pull, a pull slice, or a pull hook.
If you are not a single digit player, and I mean single digits on a course you have never seen before, then take a hard look at your alignment the next time you practice. Get a club on the ground and start getting used to what is known as "parallel left". You will feel like you are set up like Trevino or Freddie, about 20 degrees open. You're not. You should feel like you can really see the target line all the way to the flag or fairway, like you are peeking around a corner. Your shoulders might feel open, as well. You may hit a few fades at first, but you will gradually feel much more able to get the club back to the ball with much more speed at impact. Don't believe me yet? Let me give you some examples of guy who take this to an extreme -Kenny Perry, Tom Lehman, Freddie Couples, Tiger, and Nicklaus. And what do they all have in common? Monster length. Their hips and shoulders are aligned properly enough, just like a car would be, so that when they really hit the gas, they did not have to worry about the wheels flying off. They can just jump all over it. That is how important alignment is.
Still don't believe me? The next time you see your local pro, ask them how important it is. Ask them if they see a lot of players with their feet aimed well right of their intended target. Or better yet, start paying careful attention at the range and on the course. Try to slip in behind your playing partners before they hit, or watch all of the range jockeys try to fix their swing without laying down a club. You will really begin to see how common and how easily corrected this is.
One thing is certain: You will not find one great player in the modern game that sets up way right and comes over the top. You won't see it. You will see players set up left and then either hit a cut (Tiger, Couples) or drop the club inside to play a draw (Jay Haas and Kenny Perry), but nobody aims right and comes over it. The closest you will see to that is Craig Parry (who Johnny Miller once famously insulted) , and Furyk likes to aim a little right, but he drops the club back inside the plane. If you will begin to check your alignment religiously, you will drop shots immediately (assuming you can make a few putts!). Your ball will end up on the green more often, in the fairway more often, and your misses will be in play more often. As unromantic as that sounds, that is how many average professionals play. They simply make mistakes that do not result in a big number. And nothing makes golf less fun than blowing up during a good round.
So lay down a club point parallel left of, not pointing to, your intended target the next time you play or practice, and you will begin to feel how the best players in the world feel when they set up. You will feel like you are aimed left of the world, I assure you, but it will pay massive dividends in a short period of time if you have a little faith and use a little elbow grease.
And remember, if it isn't Gofl Blog, then it's just plain gofl.
Monday, August 17, 2009
The Golf Vultures Swarm on Tiger
Well that didn't take long.
The once invulnerable golf deity, Tiger Woods, is currently being fitted with the goat horns by a parade of smug "sportswriters". Somehow, those silly 70 PGA Tour wins, and those unconvincing "excuse me" victories in 14 Majors have been swept into a pile of faint memories. After all, the guy is almost 34 years old! He should have won at least that many times. And let's not forget the 5 cuts he has missed already. What a hack.
Leave it to the motley collective of self-important sports media to reduce the reputation of an international Superman down to the likes of Forrest Fezler. How dare Tiger lose a Major on a Sunday? The nerve! Let's see...what did I read today? He's losing his touch, he is a control freak, he is unable to close when it matters, players aren't afraid of him anymore, and so on.
Well sportswriters of America, let me help clarify a few things for you, because as much as your degrees in Communications from New Mexico State have prepared you for the urgent realities of global sport, you seem to be overlooking some critical facts:
1) No one in golf history has done what Tiger has
2) He is a physical specimen
3) He has the best caddie in the game
4) His determination is unrivaled
5) He doesn't care what anyone thinks, least of all you
6) He is only 33
I think that about sums it up. If Tiger remains motivated to play, he could win 10 more Majors without too much trouble. He could win 20 more regular Tour events. He could earn another $500 million dollars in the process. He could put most golf records so out of reach that he might arguably own them until the world dissolves into a molten mass of goo. Will that be enough to satisfy you? Will he have then sufficiently proven to all of your wounded media egos that he is deserving of every bit of praise he receives? Or has Y.E. Yang finally shown you that Tiger was just a big phony the entire time, waiting to be knocked off of his trembling pedestal by the first available journeyman? Y.E. Yang: the new answer to Tiger Woods.
All you are doing by bowing your neck at Tiger is angering him, and he will then be forced to take it out on the poor fools that challenge him next. If for no other reason than to save Tour players the indignity of being pounded into pulp, spare us the hyperbolic criticisms of our game's greatest player. Take your quick victory lap and send out your snarky missives, and then go back to writing about A-Rod or NASCAR or Serena Williams, and leave golf to the golfers. All you are doing is bringing your opinionated quasi-political dogfight into a world that does not need it. If you really want to prove something, put it on a tee and play 18. Your score will do all the talking. Shoot, I will play you and whoever loses has to quit writing about golf forever. You just name the course.
And remember, if it isn't Gofl Blog, then it's just plain gofl.
The once invulnerable golf deity, Tiger Woods, is currently being fitted with the goat horns by a parade of smug "sportswriters". Somehow, those silly 70 PGA Tour wins, and those unconvincing "excuse me" victories in 14 Majors have been swept into a pile of faint memories. After all, the guy is almost 34 years old! He should have won at least that many times. And let's not forget the 5 cuts he has missed already. What a hack.
Leave it to the motley collective of self-important sports media to reduce the reputation of an international Superman down to the likes of Forrest Fezler. How dare Tiger lose a Major on a Sunday? The nerve! Let's see...what did I read today? He's losing his touch, he is a control freak, he is unable to close when it matters, players aren't afraid of him anymore, and so on.
Well sportswriters of America, let me help clarify a few things for you, because as much as your degrees in Communications from New Mexico State have prepared you for the urgent realities of global sport, you seem to be overlooking some critical facts:
1) No one in golf history has done what Tiger has
2) He is a physical specimen
3) He has the best caddie in the game
4) His determination is unrivaled
5) He doesn't care what anyone thinks, least of all you
6) He is only 33
I think that about sums it up. If Tiger remains motivated to play, he could win 10 more Majors without too much trouble. He could win 20 more regular Tour events. He could earn another $500 million dollars in the process. He could put most golf records so out of reach that he might arguably own them until the world dissolves into a molten mass of goo. Will that be enough to satisfy you? Will he have then sufficiently proven to all of your wounded media egos that he is deserving of every bit of praise he receives? Or has Y.E. Yang finally shown you that Tiger was just a big phony the entire time, waiting to be knocked off of his trembling pedestal by the first available journeyman? Y.E. Yang: the new answer to Tiger Woods.
All you are doing by bowing your neck at Tiger is angering him, and he will then be forced to take it out on the poor fools that challenge him next. If for no other reason than to save Tour players the indignity of being pounded into pulp, spare us the hyperbolic criticisms of our game's greatest player. Take your quick victory lap and send out your snarky missives, and then go back to writing about A-Rod or NASCAR or Serena Williams, and leave golf to the golfers. All you are doing is bringing your opinionated quasi-political dogfight into a world that does not need it. If you really want to prove something, put it on a tee and play 18. Your score will do all the talking. Shoot, I will play you and whoever loses has to quit writing about golf forever. You just name the course.
And remember, if it isn't Gofl Blog, then it's just plain gofl.
Sunday, August 16, 2009
The Winter of Our Discontent, or: The Day Tiger Became Just a Man
Well, it happened. They said this day might never come. The Titanic sunk. The Hindenburg crashed. The Globetrotters lost.
With each of the five bogeys Tiger made on Sunday, one more than he made the previous three days combined, an era of unprecedented and furious dominance slipped into the tranquil memory of a generation. It happens in every era, but no one ever wants that day to come. Baseball fans in the 1920's watched the Bambino, the Sultan of Swat himself, hammer pitches out of stadiums in record numbers. There would never be anyone like Babe Ruth, they said, he is the greatest of all time! And so he was. For a little while, anyway.
And then, the insidious specter of age begins to work in double shifts to slow down the legs of the fastest, weaken the muscles of the strongest, and dull the senses of the brightest. It is an ugly thing to watch. Not because our heroes are one day struck down in some cosmic reversal of fortune, but because we all know instinctively that the sun of the summer of our lives is beginning to set. The days will grow shorter, and soon the long days of unscripted joy and excitement will be replaced by the grim requirements of polite society. The temperature will drop rapidly one week, and even though you will pretend it is just a cold snap, you know that the it will not return to the way it was. The leaves will change, and the mood will dim, and nothing will seem as wonderful and endless as it did just a month before. On days that grow particularly cold, you will forget what it ever felt like to be carefree, and your hopes may seem as dark as the days around you. Short, humorless days.
Perhaps what we all saw today was the beginning of the end of our golf summer. Not just any summer, but the greatest summer ever. Boxing has it's summer with Tyson and Ali, basketball had Jordan and Bird, baseball had Ruth and Aaron, and football had Payton, Montana, and Farve. All things must pass, and golf fans must not hang on to the past to spite the future.
Someday, when your kids, or somebody else's kids (or grandkids) ask you to tell them about what it was like to see Tiger play, today is the last day you will mention. But they will probably ask about it. Was today the day that Tiger became a normal human being? Was he just a normal dad with two kids and dog and some aches and pains? Was this not the same man that just a year before played 96 holes of golf in a US Open on a leg that was broken and torn, and won? Was it all just a dream?
Only time will tell now. Tiger's 2009 season is over, for all intents and purposes. He doesn't need the money, and winning another regular tour event is another day at the office for him. He needs five more Majors before he can wind down his spectacular career, so there is not much more for him to do this year. He will win them, so maybe that is what we should be looking forward to. We have at least five more times to jump out of our seats when he makes 30 footers for birdie, or hits miracle shots in the clutch, and holds Major trophies above his head for the world to see.
There is no question in my mind he will win them, but the way he wins them may not be the way he won the first 14, which is really what everyone liked to see. The days of winning by 12 strokes are gone, and the days of losing by 3 are here. But what a ride, though! What a great and wonderful thing to see, for sports fans everywhere, for all people everywhere.
As in nature, so it is in golf, that the seasons change. And summer turns to autumn, and then to winter, and just when all seems lost, into spring. I feel badly for the people who did not live through the greatest season in golf history. While I am certain the future generations will have a glorious golf summer of their own someday, with a conquering hero to thrill them and inspire them throughout, it might not be for a very, very, very long time.
And remember, if it isn't Gofl Blog, then it's just plain gofl.
With each of the five bogeys Tiger made on Sunday, one more than he made the previous three days combined, an era of unprecedented and furious dominance slipped into the tranquil memory of a generation. It happens in every era, but no one ever wants that day to come. Baseball fans in the 1920's watched the Bambino, the Sultan of Swat himself, hammer pitches out of stadiums in record numbers. There would never be anyone like Babe Ruth, they said, he is the greatest of all time! And so he was. For a little while, anyway.
And then, the insidious specter of age begins to work in double shifts to slow down the legs of the fastest, weaken the muscles of the strongest, and dull the senses of the brightest. It is an ugly thing to watch. Not because our heroes are one day struck down in some cosmic reversal of fortune, but because we all know instinctively that the sun of the summer of our lives is beginning to set. The days will grow shorter, and soon the long days of unscripted joy and excitement will be replaced by the grim requirements of polite society. The temperature will drop rapidly one week, and even though you will pretend it is just a cold snap, you know that the it will not return to the way it was. The leaves will change, and the mood will dim, and nothing will seem as wonderful and endless as it did just a month before. On days that grow particularly cold, you will forget what it ever felt like to be carefree, and your hopes may seem as dark as the days around you. Short, humorless days.
Perhaps what we all saw today was the beginning of the end of our golf summer. Not just any summer, but the greatest summer ever. Boxing has it's summer with Tyson and Ali, basketball had Jordan and Bird, baseball had Ruth and Aaron, and football had Payton, Montana, and Farve. All things must pass, and golf fans must not hang on to the past to spite the future.
Someday, when your kids, or somebody else's kids (or grandkids) ask you to tell them about what it was like to see Tiger play, today is the last day you will mention. But they will probably ask about it. Was today the day that Tiger became a normal human being? Was he just a normal dad with two kids and dog and some aches and pains? Was this not the same man that just a year before played 96 holes of golf in a US Open on a leg that was broken and torn, and won? Was it all just a dream?
Only time will tell now. Tiger's 2009 season is over, for all intents and purposes. He doesn't need the money, and winning another regular tour event is another day at the office for him. He needs five more Majors before he can wind down his spectacular career, so there is not much more for him to do this year. He will win them, so maybe that is what we should be looking forward to. We have at least five more times to jump out of our seats when he makes 30 footers for birdie, or hits miracle shots in the clutch, and holds Major trophies above his head for the world to see.
There is no question in my mind he will win them, but the way he wins them may not be the way he won the first 14, which is really what everyone liked to see. The days of winning by 12 strokes are gone, and the days of losing by 3 are here. But what a ride, though! What a great and wonderful thing to see, for sports fans everywhere, for all people everywhere.
As in nature, so it is in golf, that the seasons change. And summer turns to autumn, and then to winter, and just when all seems lost, into spring. I feel badly for the people who did not live through the greatest season in golf history. While I am certain the future generations will have a glorious golf summer of their own someday, with a conquering hero to thrill them and inspire them throughout, it might not be for a very, very, very long time.
And remember, if it isn't Gofl Blog, then it's just plain gofl.
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Moving Day Promises Sunday Fireworks
Earlier today, I saw a headline from the occasionally suspect Yahoo sports braintrust (Martin Roberts was the offender) announcing that the 2009 PGA was over. Tiger had sealed it, and everyone could just go on home. Not so fast, smart guy. All he had to do was take a brief look at the leaderboard to know that this one will be settled on Sunday, and not a minute before.
In a move rarely seen in Majors, the field is attempting to run Tiger down. There is a fearless scramble going on right now in Chaska, Minnesota that resembles a group of adolescent girls brawling over Miley Cyrus tickets. Make no mistake about it - none of these guys are just going to roll over quietly and give Tiger his 15th major. They all look hungry, and they are all playing exceptionally well.
Tomorrow may very well be a replay of an old WWF steel cage match. Instead of Hulk Hogan, Rowdy Roddy Piper, Paul Orndorf, Cowboy Bob Orton, Jimmy Snuka, and the British Bulldogs, it will be Tiger, Ernie, Vijay, Padraig, Henrik, Lucas, and Alvaro. Throw in the lesser-known but equally as formidable Y.E. Yang, Soren "I Make Everything I Look At" Kjeldsen, and Brendan Jones just to keep everyone honest. There is something for everybody tomorrow, and it is shaping up to be a brilliant display of golf. Wouldn't it be great to see Ernie or Vijay do something on Sunday at a Major? It would be just like old times, and we are long overdue for that type of cliffhanger.
You can be sure of one thing, though. If Tiger hoists the PGA Tournament trophy tomorrow evening, it is not because a sportswriter anointed him as an unconquerable force of nature. It is because he battled the greatest players in the game until there were no more holes left, and simply bested them all.
And remember, if it isn't Gofl Blog, then it's just plain gofl.
In a move rarely seen in Majors, the field is attempting to run Tiger down. There is a fearless scramble going on right now in Chaska, Minnesota that resembles a group of adolescent girls brawling over Miley Cyrus tickets. Make no mistake about it - none of these guys are just going to roll over quietly and give Tiger his 15th major. They all look hungry, and they are all playing exceptionally well.
Tomorrow may very well be a replay of an old WWF steel cage match. Instead of Hulk Hogan, Rowdy Roddy Piper, Paul Orndorf, Cowboy Bob Orton, Jimmy Snuka, and the British Bulldogs, it will be Tiger, Ernie, Vijay, Padraig, Henrik, Lucas, and Alvaro. Throw in the lesser-known but equally as formidable Y.E. Yang, Soren "I Make Everything I Look At" Kjeldsen, and Brendan Jones just to keep everyone honest. There is something for everybody tomorrow, and it is shaping up to be a brilliant display of golf. Wouldn't it be great to see Ernie or Vijay do something on Sunday at a Major? It would be just like old times, and we are long overdue for that type of cliffhanger.
You can be sure of one thing, though. If Tiger hoists the PGA Tournament trophy tomorrow evening, it is not because a sportswriter anointed him as an unconquerable force of nature. It is because he battled the greatest players in the game until there were no more holes left, and simply bested them all.
And remember, if it isn't Gofl Blog, then it's just plain gofl.
Friday, August 14, 2009
Read This Story When You Can...
http://www.pga.com/pgachampionship/2009/news/powell-080709.cfm
This is a link from the PGA website about the recipient of their Distinguished Service Award for 2009. If you missed the brief interview with Bill Powell during the coverage of the PGA, have a quick look at this story. This is a remarkable man, overcoming remarkable obstacles to create a nice golf course for normal folks. This is exactly why golf will always be the greatest game in the world: golfers look after other golfers first and foremost. When all else fails around us, we can always retreat to the links.
This is a link from the PGA website about the recipient of their Distinguished Service Award for 2009. If you missed the brief interview with Bill Powell during the coverage of the PGA, have a quick look at this story. This is a remarkable man, overcoming remarkable obstacles to create a nice golf course for normal folks. This is exactly why golf will always be the greatest game in the world: golfers look after other golfers first and foremost. When all else fails around us, we can always retreat to the links.
Daly WD's Due to Injury, Bad Pants
Ok, I made up the part about his pants. As awful as his attire is these days, no pastiche of paisley or polka dots can overcome the stomach-turning spectacle that is John Daly's personal life. A more sympathetic figure in American golf folklore there has never been, but how much fans and sponsors can tolerate before they move on to the next train wreck is a looming question. After all, it is not like John just burst on to the scene recently. The 1991 PGA at Crooked Stick was a lifetime ago, and we have since endured John's drunken hotel room demolitions, his drunken trips to the hospital, drunken brawls with spouses, and his drunken trips to jail after "sleeping with his eyes open". Basically, if you can do it while drunk, John has done it repeatedly...and for millions to see.
We have endured the bizarre behavior, the lunatic gambling benders, the bad books, the bad songs, the WD's and on-course meltdowns, the bad clothes, the bad marriages, the bad reality shows, and the never ending episodes of constant disappointment. Every time you want you the guy to go left, he goes right, every time you want him to sit down, he stands up. He is like the bad kid in class that the other kids like in spite of himself. If golf had a detention hall, he would have a permanent desk there.
So now what happens to the much smaller version of Big John Daly? He just got off a 6 month suspension and can't seem to find the steering wheel on the speeding bus that is his life. If you believe him, and why would you, he is constantly fighting one amorphous injury or another. I suppose he never considered the major physiological impact that smoking a pack of cigarettes and drinking 10 diet cokes during in round would have on a body trying to swing a club at 130 mph. Can't his swing coach, Rick Smith, say something to him? Is there not one doctor in America that can explain to him what a truckload of caffeine and nicotine will do to a body trying to do the athletically improbable? Or is John just not listening to anyone but the severely wounded voice in his head, the same voice that has caused him to throw away the better half of a life on booze and self-loathing?
I, like many of you, have a soft spot for John, but am beginning to wish he would either alter his behavior to better represent the game, or just quietly go away for awhile. I am sure he and Kid Rock or Johnny Lee can write a few self-indulgent quasi-country ballads together (using only 3 chords, of course). He can smoke and drink all he wants then. And that is really what he seems to want to do, whereas he plays golf just to make the payments on his ex-wives. It's really just a total waste of talent, something that any of us would give an unnamed left appendage for, but I guess it is his to waste. I just wish he would not do it on live TV anymore, because it is just too damn depressing to watch.
And remember, if it isn't Gofl Blog, then it's just plain gofl.
We have endured the bizarre behavior, the lunatic gambling benders, the bad books, the bad songs, the WD's and on-course meltdowns, the bad clothes, the bad marriages, the bad reality shows, and the never ending episodes of constant disappointment. Every time you want you the guy to go left, he goes right, every time you want him to sit down, he stands up. He is like the bad kid in class that the other kids like in spite of himself. If golf had a detention hall, he would have a permanent desk there.
So now what happens to the much smaller version of Big John Daly? He just got off a 6 month suspension and can't seem to find the steering wheel on the speeding bus that is his life. If you believe him, and why would you, he is constantly fighting one amorphous injury or another. I suppose he never considered the major physiological impact that smoking a pack of cigarettes and drinking 10 diet cokes during in round would have on a body trying to swing a club at 130 mph. Can't his swing coach, Rick Smith, say something to him? Is there not one doctor in America that can explain to him what a truckload of caffeine and nicotine will do to a body trying to do the athletically improbable? Or is John just not listening to anyone but the severely wounded voice in his head, the same voice that has caused him to throw away the better half of a life on booze and self-loathing?
I, like many of you, have a soft spot for John, but am beginning to wish he would either alter his behavior to better represent the game, or just quietly go away for awhile. I am sure he and Kid Rock or Johnny Lee can write a few self-indulgent quasi-country ballads together (using only 3 chords, of course). He can smoke and drink all he wants then. And that is really what he seems to want to do, whereas he plays golf just to make the payments on his ex-wives. It's really just a total waste of talent, something that any of us would give an unnamed left appendage for, but I guess it is his to waste. I just wish he would not do it on live TV anymore, because it is just too damn depressing to watch.
And remember, if it isn't Gofl Blog, then it's just plain gofl.
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