Apropos of Nothing.... LPGA Style.

Ok. Just because I’m the Homeless Golfer doesn’t mean I don’t have stuff going on. Or perhaps I’m just lazy. Maybe a combination of the two.

Since the LPGA is back in New Jersey (fist pump!!!), I though I’d get off my butt and finish up my notes from the Sybase Match play. So, without further ado….

1. Angela Stanford had a “tin cup” moment on the 18^th hole in her match against Amanda Blumenhurst. Hitting what looked like a 3-wood on her 2^nd shot (par 5), a gust of wind blew in once her ball was in flight. It hit the front of the green, by the pin, then rolled back off the green. If there was water there, well, splash. Don’t think she would have dropped from the spot and made a 14 though. Immortality or not.

2. It is interesting to see who planned on staying around for the weekend after they were eliminated. Either they can’t change their flight, or they thought they were going deeper in the tourney…

3. Anytime you see a women with a laminated badge turned around so you can’t see the name/picture… that usually means you are a PRO. Just like at the PGA Show, turning it around draws more attention to you than telling people who you are. Most of them wouldn’t know who you were anyway…

4. Stephanie Sparks = cougar. If cougars liked their own kind…so I hear. Not that there is anything wrong with that…

5. Middle aged men getting autographs = weird. Seriously. If I’m getting an autograph from a woman my age (or socially acceptably younger) that doesn’t include a phone number, what’s really the point? Really.

6. Many residents from the island of lesbos on hand to witness the action.

7. You could bring in anything here.  Cell Phones, food, water, beer, thermonuclear weapons, etc….

8. One woman on Saturday was seen walking around with a set of clubs… WTF? It’s not like bringing a glove to a baseball game lady.

9. Sandra Gal really likes really short shorts. If you got it, flaunt it eh?

10. I forgot how ridiculous “Jersey Sporty” is. Wow. Like a Soprano’s extra’s holding area..

11. Bo Wie sporting a CVS shopping bag. They a tour sponsor?

12. An established “golf media” member (I think I recognized him) pulled a “Don’t you KNOW who I am” routine with a volunteer displaying his credential in the poor volunteer’s face. Seriously. No one reads your crappy articles anyway. So, no. They don’t know who you are. Jackass.

13. It looked like Angela Stanford was carrying a dip can in her back pocket on Saturday. She is from Texas and likes baseball…but…

14. TONS of white on the course. Where the PGA prefers black slacks, the LPGA prefers white…everything. Pants, skirts, those “skort” things, etc.

15. Michelle Wie out drives her competitors by almost 50 yards every hole. Yet isn’t dominating… perhaps that’s why she is seeking out Dave Pelz’s help?

16. I saw a bunch of middle aged dudes giving “commentary” on every shot. I’m talking about golf commentary, not the other kind. After listening for about 20 seconds, no wonder they are still living at home.

17. Kudos to those who got the Derek Flint reference in #6.

18. Lots of stereotypical “Jersey” types here. (Other than “sporty”) Make sure you stay to windward of them.

19. This course (Hamilton Farms) isn’t  very spectator friendly. Not many good viewing points.

20. Speaking of, one of the best points is behind the 16^th green, which has a panorama of the 18^th.  They actually let people stand on the fringe up against the collar. Good thing the ladies aren’t missing the green…

21. Dude. Seriously. I saw a credentialed “media” member with more hair coming out of his nostrils and ears than I have on my head. No, I’m not bald.

22. One of the weirdest sights of the tournament for me (and there were a few) was some overweight white guy in is 50’s parading around with a Korean flag. He didn’t have a stick so he held it up to make it fly. WTF?

23. I would not like to come across a pissed off Catriona Matthew in a dark alley.

24. Nor Karrie Webb for that matter.

25. Christina Kim standing on her golf cart and acting as a marshal for Michelle Wie for her 2^nd shot on #10 during her match vs the aforementioned Ms. Matthew. Lucky I didn’t get run over by her. Besides, I was at the spot first.

26. Speaking of marshals, 90% of them didn’t really know their jobs. One lady was frantically waving some someone 30 yards away to stop and wait until a player putted. The marshal was standing on the fringe of the green right in front of the player.  Um yeah. Not distracting. Not one bit.

27. I though it was weird when I saw matching couples. You know when the bf and gf wear matching outfits.  When they are both gf’s… much weirder.

28. Sandra Gal is the Vijay Singh of the LPGA. She hit balls for HOURS on Saturday. I’m thinking at least 5 hours.  I’m struggling to get through a large bucket… damn.

29. Speaking of practicing, Azahara Munoz was on the putting green for at least two hours before hitting balls for another couple of hours. Good to see the work ethic.

30. Heard there was a potential stalker situation with Bea Recardi on Friday. Might explain the state trooper walking along with the group. Plenty of candidates to choose from…

A Single Man's Adventure with the LPGA...

OK. Let me just tell you this up front. I am still spinning from my experience at the Sybase Match Play Championships. I’ve been to PGA Tour events, and even a US Open playoff. But. This was something I really didn’t expect. Granted I was willing to wager that 99% of the Pro-Am participants were guys, and most of the fans out there were men, but still… Wow. It was weird. Perhaps it was my expectations (or lack thereof), but there was some interesting stuff I observed. There are probably going to be like half a dozen posts to rid my brain of everything, but we’ll see. Ok. Here it goes…

Overall Observations:

It definitely didn’t have the “feel” of a major league event. The tickets were distributed in a small folding tent in the parking lot. School buses took you to the course where the driver of the bus gave you the “banned items” speech. Except that instead of saying that cell phones and cameras were banned, he just asked you to put your phones on vibrate. Two small concession stands. The gave you the roll for your hotdog in one line, then you had to stand in another to actually get the hot dog…. If they were actually cooked.

The course didn’t look really difficult. Ok, the greens were undulating and pretty fast… not extremely but still fast, and you had to put your approach in the right part of the green. The fairways were so huge, I could have hit them. I saw only one missed fairway in two days- Catrona Matthew on #10 on Saturday (more on that in a later post). I know the women hit it straighter than the men, but jeez.

If you like 230-240 yard drives, the LPGA is for you. Definitely no WOW factor. Makes Michelle Wie look all the more impressive.

At a PGA Tour event, there is definitely some eye candy outside the ropes. At Sybase? Non existent. Don’t get me wrong, there is plenty inside the ropes… the Ricardi/Munoz match was something to behold, but…

…. It is weird watching post-middle aged men (and some middle aged men) ogling women easily more than a half to a third of their age. I mean really weird. To the point that I was uncomfortable being there…

… not to mention that most of these dudes still looked like they still live in their parents’ basement… or my late grandfather. Wow.

I was expecting some bigger crowds, but then again I remembered… women’s sports don’t draw outside of Knoxville, TN and Storrs, CT. And only for basketball.

My friend Matt (who is living in Beijing) has a theory that Asian women are vampires due to their aversion to the sun. I guess they use umbrellas on sunny days and not on rainy ones. Based upon what I saw… that theory is still valid.

Pretty much anyone can get a “Media” credential. I doubt half of the people carrying media credentials have ever had anything written, published, or posted. Hell, with this blog, I am more “media” then they….

….speaking of the other half of the credentialed media, the “stereotypical” sports writer: doughy, aging male, not athletically inclined, wearing wrinkled, rumpled clothes, was on full display. Needless to say, they fit right in.

The trend of wearing golf shoes while watching a tournament is still mystifying. What is the point? You don’t wear spikes to a baseball game. You don’t bring your skates to a hockey game. Why the hell do you wear golf shoes to a golf tournament? What was interesting here is that 90% of the violators at the Sybase were women. Seriously. No. Joke.

I have heard that LPGA golfer were more “accessible” to the fans (are they sure they want to be?) than their PGA brethren. While this is true, I can’t help to wonder, is this by design or by simple logistics? I smell a future blog exploring this… maybe.

I watched the players warm up on Saturday before their matches. Not many putts on the putting green dropped. I mean everything from 3 footers to lag putts. I bet the success rate was maybe 60%. Perhaps I’m missing something, but it was astounding none the less.

Well, I think this is enough for now, I’ll be back… much, much more to come.

Golf's Big Problem? Not Really

Sunday’s Wall Street Journal published and article titled: Golf’s Big Problem: No Kids are Joining the Game. In it, author Matthew Futterman decries the lack of youth participation in golf based on a National Golf Foundation report showing a 24% drop in the number of golfers aged 6-17 from 2005 to 2008. Ok. What is the big deal? Fine, there was a 24% drop from 2005 to 2008. What was it from 2000-2004? Did it go up? If the number of youth golfers is resting at 2.9 million (down from 2005’s 3.8million), what was it in 2000? 1995? 1956? Is there data? I’m sure there is, but I can’t get to it since you would have to pay for it. (being “homeless” and all…you know…) It would have been nice if Mr. Futterman had included some numbers because it adds something: perspective and context. Without either of those things, his conclusion is meaningless. Is it just a bump in the road? If the 2000-2004 numbers shown growth from like 500,000 to 1.8 million, then 2008 is still ahead of the game, perhaps the 2005 numbers were artificially inflated? The unfortunate dilemma is YOU DON’T KNOW. He could have had the numbers, but decided not to add them, because, well, who would ever let data get in the way of their conclusion.

It would be nice to see how these numbers were taken. Did the NGF take surveys of local course starters? Are they counting the numbers of golfers signed up for official youth tournaments? Is it some kind of extrapolated number like an exit poll on election night? Without a basic understanding of how the numbers were developed, they are just what they are… numbers.

MF goes on to give some reasons as to why he thinks this large drop occurred. Of course I don’t agree with many of those either, so attacking one-by-one:

MF reason 1: Golf courses are too long.
Ok. Seriously? His example was of a 450 yard hole. Only an idiot would have an 8 year old tee off from the tee box. A hole like that makes most beginners (or hackers) cry no matter what their age is. Most “family oriented” courses I’ve seen had a set of “junior” tees (pair of monuments imbedded in the fairway) about 150 yards from the hole which allows Mommy and Daddy to tee off from their tees and allows Junior to tee up when they hit their approaches. If there is a dogleg hole? But the tees in the middle of the dogleg. Your course doesn’t set junior tees? Have your kids tee it up from the 150 yard marker. Simple. As they get older they can go from playing the holes as par-4’s (@ 150), to par-3’s, then slowly move back from there. There is no reason a 12 year old boy can’t play from the senior or ladies tees. Heck in Europe, there are no men’s or ladies’ tees. The tees that you are allowed to play from are based upon your handicap.
Back tees: 0-10
Middle tees: 11-15
Front tees: 16-25
If you have an index higher than 25? Hit the range. They don’t want you tearing up the course. Imagine if something similar was enforced here in the US at a local muni on a Saturday in July. Loads of pissed off duffers who think they can hit 300 yard drives consistently.

BTW- His solution is short sighted. Make a shorter course? No. Make the existing course shorter. Big difference. Besides, there are plenty of executive courses if a regulation course is too much.

MF reason 2: You need to make the game easier
Stop. The game is easier. With perimeter weighted cavity backed irons, hitting the ball is easier than ever. My 1st set of clubs (at age 16) was a mismatched set of muscle-backed Northwestern Irons with Permission woods. Yeah. And that was not that long ago. He suggests that golf should follow tennis in creating smaller courts, partner with colleges to make more intramural teams (more opportunities), etc, etc.

As a former member of the USTA (hey their Mid-Atlantic office was in the lobby of my apartment building), the quick start program is great- don’t get me wrong. But I don’t think that golf needs to copy it. Unfortunately, golf programs in High Schools aren’t as prevalent as tennis programs. I think it is due to a) costs of competition (greens fees, etc) and b) lack of participation due to team sports. Do you really think that a school system or High School athletic director is going to put money into a golf program for 8 students and take it away from a revenue producing sport such as football, basketball, or wrestling? No. Let’s be honest. As a nation, we would prefer our youth to be playing team sports rather than individual ones. I know it is called a golf “team” but c’mon. Really. My High School had a golf team. There were 10 golfers on it. Most of them didn’t actually compete because they couldn’t get through nine holes in under 60 strokes. At least they got to practice….

I don’t think making partnerships with colleges making IM programs or a “no-cut” rule for High Schools (which most golf programs have anyway just to get numbers up) is the way to go. You first need better understand the market (getting to it…wait for it….).

MF reason 3: Golf takes too long- more short-course facilities need to be built.
Jeez. Really? Parents don’t have 6 hours to spend with their kids? Obiously MF never had a daughter who played softball at a high level (travel ball), or a son who played AAU basketball because spending entire weekends traveling to and watching tournaments is soooooo much shorter than a 6 hour round at a muni. Again, the great thing about a golf course is that you can adjust it to fit your needs. If you want to make it a family outing, let mom or dad (if they are learning too) use tees from the fairway (tee up the driver, then tee up the 5-iron from the fairway) in order to move things along and enhance the experience. We don’t need short course facilities for golf to move forward- we need golfers to forward think.

An overlying theme of the article is that golf needs more kids aged 8-18 to be come involved in the sport in order for it to survive. With that premise, he seems to forget something. Most kids age 8 and up start their sports careers in team sports. Baseball. Basketball. Football. Soccer. Hockey. There is a reason for this. Team sports build character. Not to say that a solo sport can’t (USGA’s great 1st Tee commercial), or doesn’t, but 8 year olds need to make friends, learn to play nice with others, learn how to lead others, etc, etc. Golf can do this too, but team sports are able to reach more kids at the same time. Golf is something that most athletic people take up after their team sports days are over (High School, College, or Professional). I played a grand total of 3 round of golf before my 22nd birthday. 1st round at age 16, 2nd at age 18, 3rd at age 21. Why? I was a baseball player. High School, American Legion, College (Div 1), and Semi-pro after college. Most of my friends followed a similar path. Whether they ran track, played hoops, football or whatever. Golf (and tennis) were sports we didn’t really pick up until after we were pretty much done competing in other sports. That is why golf is a “game for a lifetime”. The demographic I want to see is the participation of the 18-35 year old golfer (male and female). That demographic will determine whether golf grows or dies.

Not the Headlines out of Mexico the LPGA was hoping for...

This week the LPGA tour is in Moreila, Mexico, at the Tres Marias Championship played at the Tres Marias Golf Club. If you aren’t up on your Mexican geography, Moreila is about 225 miles South East of Guadalajara right smack in the middle of South Central Mexico. While most of the cartel and drug related violence is centered among the border towns and states of Mexico the recent attempted assassination of the country’s Secretary of Public Safety (like a Deputy Director of the FBI) in Moreila must not have been welcome news in Daytona Beach (HQ of the LPGA).

The scene, described as something out of a Tom Clancy novel (Clear & Present Danger anyone?) with grenade launchers, automatic weapons (duh), and a .50cal sniper rifle (which can penetrate hardened surfaces) causes one to pause. Hopefully things will be cleared up before the pre-tournament events start on Monday. What Moreila has going for it, is that it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site which is nice. Having lived in a similar place (albeit in Europe) Moreila most likely doesn’t have the Western style gated resorts the coastal resort towns have which might be a bit safer.  Hopefully the tournament organizers and the LPGA were smart enough to plan for a contingency similar to this (as dark and alarmist as it may sound) and help the players plan their flights in and out of the area so they can collect them in bulk at the airport and transport them to wherever they are staying. If they are lucky, they are all staying in the compound/community where the tourney is being competed.

While I don’t think there will be any problems this week, a news report like this does make you take notice. I don’t think this is how Mike Whan envisioned Lorena Ochoa's swan song…

Here’s hoping everything goes off without a hitch. Just in case, the LPGA higher-ups can stay at a Holiday Inn Express and get smarter. You know. Just to cover the bases.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

That's right sports fans. For those golfers who reside North of the Mason/Dixon line, the 2nd week of March ushers in the opening of Golf Courses all throughout the Northeast. You never thought that 52 degrees could ever feel so warm.. Time to break the sticks out and get ready.

Hello Again....World

Well, I'm back. Sort of. First, I'd like to thank Blogger for somehow deleting about 2.5 years of posts.... and resetting my account back to the stone age....er 2007. But hey. At least I'm still here in this small sliver of the web. Since I'm going back to the future, a lot has changed in the world of blogging especially golf blogging since my reset date. Before we were just a bunch of hacks pontificating on everything from who is wearing what on the course, to when will Phil Mickelson win a major (remember that discussion)? Facebook was a site strictly for college kids and needed a .edu e-mail account to join. Remember that? Twitter? Isn't that what you called someone from the South who wasn't too bright? Guess not. Now the blogging world has blown up and is probably more mainstream than Sports Illustrated, The Sporting News, and most print media. As I catch up with what has been going on, and try to recreate some old posts (with a new spin) hopefully you will revisit some of the things that are now missing from this blog, and for those new to THG, welcome. Pour yourself a beverage and stay awhile.

Weather Good, Golf Bad

Actually wandered down to the putting green over at Haines Point in DC (http://www.golfdc.com/gc/ep/gc.htm) to practice my putting. Brought along my Scotty Cameron mil-spec (www.scottycameron.com) and my old hickory shafted blade which I use as a practice putter. The practice greens were in decent shape, but my stroke wasn't cooperating. Perhaps I'll get in some more time on the greens this upcoming weekend. Which reminds me- this weekend in New England isn't looking too good. My schedule was to consist of rounds at:

Shennecossett GC in Groton, CT (would have been my home course if I still lived there but then I'd have to rename this blog. The Wandering Golfer?.......wait, isn't that already taken? Crap.)
Norwich GC (www.norwichgolf.com) in Norwich, CT
Elmridge GC (www.elmridgegolf.com) in Pawcatuck, CT
Newport National (www.newportnational.com) in Middletown, RI
and maybe Granite Links (www.granitelinksgolfclub) in Quincy, MA
and if I got really desperate Lake of Isles in Preston, CT

Oh well. Might have to bring the executive indoor putting set to the (ugh) folks home. Happy Easter. At least the Masters is on. And the Red Sox.

The Golf Girl (http://thegolfgirl.blogspot.com) gives a decent editorial on newly minted LPGA Major Champ Morgan Pressel and her association with Polo Ralph Lauren. Though she misses one of the most annoying things about this years' Polo stuff. THAT BIG ASS POLO LOGO. (http://www.polo.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2528658&cp=1766616.1766670&SMR=1&parentPage=family) Enough. The original is classy (in fact I wore a Polo shirt to work today) with the normal logo. That huge ass logo is just annoying. More like Ralph being Tommy.