The Golfer's Wife

Prodigy

This weekend I read this. I would love to meet her. Just so I could say I knew her when. I would venture a guess she will do great things with her life. Perhaps even in golf. And from the sound of things her love of golf is HER love of golf. There are no pushy parents standing behind her, making her get up early in the morning and head to the practice green. Quite the opposite.  And did you read in the side quotes, where she got mad at her dad and threatened to run away? She was going to take her clubs and go live at the golf course. When they ask her what she wants to be when she grows up she says she wants to play on the LPGA tour. Oh, and be surgeon. Actually it sounds like she wants to be a surgeon first, and play a little tour golf on the side. But she is 8. And here’s the thing about 8 year olds, they get VERY passionate about things, for about 2 weeks. Then they move on to something else, and get VERY passionate about that. Granted it sounds like Elizabeth is different from most 8 year old girls. Most 8 year old girls are passionate about their favorite Hannah Montana song. And she is very good. So if I had to bet I would bet she will be a world class golfer before she turns sweet 16. But here’s the thing. If, in 6 months, she decided that golf was fun, but what she REALLY wanted to concentrate on was Irish Step Dancing ( you know, just to pull something out of thin air ), the golf pro would be very disappointed, but I think her parents would just shrug and say ‘Well, that’s Elizabeth. Better sell the clubs on e-bay and buy some ghillies.’ Because they seem to understand that a kid like Elizabeth is going to work hard to be the best at whatever she chooses to do, and their job is just to give her the chance, and keep it fun along the way. 

And keep this in mind. In the Junior World Golf Tournament, she came in third. As good as she is, there are 2 other girls out there her age that are better.

This week GO#3 played in the junior tournament at the cc. ( Keep following me, I pull it all together in the end) His flight consisted of 11 and 12 year old boys. 5 of them. They played from the 2nd tees ( 1st tees are closest to the hole. I play from the 1st tees.  Yes, this means those 11 and 12 year olds are better than me. Just another in the long list of things that prove I am getting old.). And those 11 and 12 year olds hit their drives an average of 200 yards. And these kids are just average. No super stars. They know the rules and play a mean game of golf, but once they walk off the course they turn back into boys. None of whom has any plans to become a PGA pro. In a year Elizabeth will be able to beat them. But will she be able to beat the boys her age, who are as passionate about golf as she is?  The ones who were getting their parents up early to take them to the range? As good as she will probably be, I doubt it. At least not on a regular basis. Will she want to try? I would bet real money on it.

Annika Sorenstam is Elizabeth all grown up. ( Keep reading. It really will all come together.)

Weekend Update

Every golf cart was charged and ready, the bars were fully stocked, and betting sheets covered one wall of the restaurant. 15 flights, 6 teams in each flight, top 3 teams in each flight are in the Shoot Out. The Golfer and The Golfer’s Brother won their flight. 45 teams in the Shoot Out, divided into 3 groups. Each group sent out to a hole. Carts loaded with drinks and club members follow the various groups. And then it starts. And on the second hole played by their group The Golfer and The Golfer’s Brother are out.

Ah well. There’s always next year.

Actually, they won their flight, won their yearly match against the ‘Smith’ brothers ( which rivalry goes back years ), and had a great time. Overall it was judged another successful Member/Guest.

Did you watch any of the Canadian Open?  Not real exciting, but I needed a Feherty Fix, so I watched the last couple of hours. Chez Reavie won. Yeah I know. So I looked it up. His name is William Chesney Reavie. Apparently he has always been called by his middle name. Which of course lead to the shortened version ‘Chez’. Okay I guess. But what’s wrong with ‘Bill’?

This weekend:  PGA – Bridgestone Invitational
                       LPGA -  Women’s British Open

Of Horse Races And Shoot Outs

No we are not in the Wild West. Well, actually, we are. But even here in the Wild West we have country clubs, and that is where the horse race/shoot out will be taking place. Here is something I learned after joining the cc. THE most important yearly event in cc life is NOT the Christmas party. It’s not a big black tie dinner dance. It’s not the annual fashion show put on for charity. It’s not even, as The Offspring think it should be, the opening of the pool for the season. It is The Member/Guest.

The Member/Guest is The Event Of The Year. People talk about it for months before, and regale each other all year with stories of past Member/Guests. And by ‘people’ I mean men golfers. Yes Ladies, the event around which all cc life revolves is men only. And before you get on your high horse ( because we’re talking about a horse race here, get it? Um….okay, movin’ on ) the reason why has nothing to do with gender discrimination and everything to do with basic cc economics. Which is fodder for another post. For now, it’s a men only thing. Be an adult and deal with it.

The Member/Guest is a golf tournament. It consists of teams of two, a member and ( you guessed it ) a guest invited by the member. And it is not just any guest who gets invited. There are teams of best-friends-since-college. Heck, there are teams of best-friends-since-elementary-school. Father/son teams. Uncle/nephew teams. And, as is the case with The Golfer, brother teams. And because the guest is someone very important in the life of the member, the same guests are invited back every year, which means the same teams return year after year, which means after playing in it a few years everybody knows everybody, which makes it a premier male bonding experience. In fact, in the case of The Golfer, The Golfers Brother also belongs to a cc. His Member/Guest is always 2 weeks before our Member/Guest. So every year The Golfer flies out and plays in TGB Member/Guest, and two weeks later TGB flies out and plays in ours. It is A BIG DEAL. There are practice rounds, and dinners, and breakfast every morning. And of course cigar smoking, drinking, betting, and crude jokes at the expense of someone else. There is a long waiting list of people for our Member/Guest. If a member that has played in previous years misses a year, they drop to the bottom of said list and have to work their way back up.

The tournament itself is match play. And after all the matches are done on the last day, the teams with the most points are in The Horse Race. Or The Shoot Out. Some cc’s call it one, some call it t’other. The criteria for making it into the Shoot Out ( since we are in the Wild West here ) varies from club to club. The shoot out itself is a basic elimination round. All the teams start out on a hole. The same hole. So if there are 11 teams there are 22 guys teeing off from the same tee. All the teams play the hole, and the team with the highest stroke total is out. Everyone else moves on to the next hole. And so on. Until there is only one team left. And that team wins the Shoot Out. They also win the tournament. And of course the trophy and bragging rights, until next year. Lots of people come to watch the Shoot Out. It can take hours for one team to finally win. People follow the teams around the golf course, walking and in carts. This is actually more fun that it sounds, since there is generally a lot of alcohol involved.

And money. If you have a gambling problem a cc is no place to be during The Member/Guest. A large amount of betting takes place. Not necessarily for large amounts of money. Each bet may involve only a few dollars. But there are lots of them. The majority of which involve only the players themselves. But not The Shoot Out. Club members bet on which team they think will win the shoot out. And this is not just a matter of betting on the husband or good friend. Remember, these teams have been playing together for years. They have established track records. And people have more than a passing familiarity with the team members lives.

‘How about picking the Smith brothers to win? They were 3rd last year.’
‘No, Bill Smith went through a nasty divorce this year and the ex got the club membership. Hasn’t been playing much golf.’

‘I wouldn’t bet on Bob/Joe. They were out of the money last year.’
‘Yeah, but have you seen Bob’s new trophy wife? He’s added 10 yards to his drives. Viagra must work like steroids.’

‘Tom/Harry looked pretty good last year, what do you think?’
‘Oh definitely pick them to at least Show. Harry retired in Jan, and he’s been spending all his free time on the course. I heard his game has really improved.’

And so information is exchanged, and knowledge is gleaned, and bets are made. And this is why many cc’s refer to it as a Horse Race. So the crowd following the players around with drinks in hand aren’t just there for the golf. There is money at stake.  And bragging rights. There is a certain prestige in having bet on the winners. People will let ‘Well, I bet on Tom/Harry to win of course’ slip into casual conversation during the year. 

 

This week is our Member/Guest. The Golfers Brother arrived on Wednesday and I haven’t seen much of them since. Nor do I expect to until Saturday evening sometime. They really only come home to get more cigars, fill up the flasks and take a shower. If they make it to the shoot out I may actually go over and follow them around. Or maybe I’ll just join The Offspring at the kicka** pool. They serve cocktails there too.

THE Open, 2008 Final Notes

Well. That was a tad anti-climatic. Unless of course you are Irish, or Padraig Harrington. Harrington won last year as well. He injured his wrist so he wasn’t really supposed to even contend this year. But he played beautiful steady rounds of links golf, and came out on top again. Which was, actually, fine with me ( because of course what I think matters most, and it has to be fine with me or it’s a do over ). And there were lots of interviews so I got to sit there and listen to that wonderful Irish accent. Which I really needed to hear, since there wasn’t David Feherty. And doesn’t Mr. Harrington have the cutest kids? There is nothing in this world cuter than a small child with an Irish accent. Seriously. Anyway.

What happened to Greg Norman? He didn’t play links golf. He didn’t, as has been his habit in the past, actually choke. He just played golf like he was playing on a US country club course. He should have left his driver in the club house. As I said, Padraig Harrington played a text book game of links golf. Stuck to his irons. Kept the ball low. Tried to avoid making bogey instead of trying to make birdies. Which is how you have to do it when the wind is blowing like it was, and you are playing a course full of gorse bushes and pot bunkers. Instead Greg played as he always does. Aggressively. Taking chances. Hoping for the huge hole. Which I suppose, if you’ve played that way for 20 odd years, and it’s made you millions and won you previous Opens, you’re not going to change now. Still. He’s a smart guy, and seeing how things were working for Harrington, you would think he would have made a few adjustments. Ah well. He gets to finish his honeymoon and go on with life with Chrissy, so it’s hard to feel too sorry for him.

And so ends this years, Tigerless, Open Championship.

Next up, The Canadian Open.

The Open, 2008 notes

It’s been cold, rainy, and above all WINDY. In other words, as far as Golfers are concerned, the weather’s been perfect.

But seriously, The Wind. As an example Greg Norman used a 4 iron to hit the ball 175 yards. Normally he would hit an 8 iron for that shot. 4 clubs worth of wind. It’s blowing so hard that the balls are moving on the greens. The R&A were thiiiiiiisssss close to stopping play because of The Wind.

I just love the links course. Tall grass. Gorse. Pot bunkers. No trees. Miss the fairway and chances are good you will never find the ball. The only reason these guys are hitting drivers are because of the wind. Personally I like playing links style courses. Of course I much prefer playing them when it’s 75 degrees and no wind. But when the top of the leader board is +2, you know conditions are tough.

And speaking of Greg Norman(aka The Shark). Wow. 53 years old. Just married Chris Evert. This Chris Evert. He has admitted to playing much more tennis than golf lately. And yet he is leading by 2 strokes. Of course this is also Greg of the famous chokes. He has made a habit over the years of being in the lead on Saturday, and then doing a severe choke on Sunday, and losing. But he has won this tournament twice before, and he knows how to play links courses. And he is happy, and relaxed and golf is no longer THE most important thing in his life. So who knows.

I have mixed feeling about this. I like Greg. And he was/is a great golfer. And he is definitely ‘of a certain age’ and it’s nice to see someone in your own demographic doing well. But. He’s hard to root for on a Sunday, because he has choked so often. And he’s already won this tournament twice. So personally I have to say, while I won’t be unhappy if Greg wins tomorrow, I am rooting for several others.

David Duval was really looking good on Thursday and Friday and I would have loved to see him win, but he fell off pretty bad today, and it will be hard for him to come back tomorrow. So right now I am pulling for either Jim Furyk or Rocco. I would like to see the golfing gods get behind either one of them. However, if the gods decided on either Cutie Pie or Retief Goosen I wouldn’t complain. They all know their way around a links course, and if Greg does his usual Sunday choke any one of them stands a chance.  I like KJ Choi, but the others have paid more dues, and deserve the win a bit more. He can have it next year. Given the weather, how hard the course is playing, the movement of players up and down the leader board today, and Mr. Normans tendency to choke on Sunday, realistically anyone +9 or better has a chance.

In case you hadn’t noticed, coverage is not on CBS, as I thought. It’s actually on TNT/ABC. So I am not getting my David Feherty fix. Which just doesn’t seem right. There ought to be an Irish accent at The Open, don’t you think? Of course I think there ought to be a certain Irish accent at every tournament. But then, as mentioned before, I’m extremely biased. ABC is doing alright. And at least I don’t have to listen to Johnny Miller.

And finally. Most of you probably don’t haven’t noticed this, but ABC keeps playing Irish music. As mentioned previously Golfing Offspring #2 does Irish Step Dancing. As it happens, in my previous life (i.e. before marrying The Golfer ) I played the bagpipes. And GO#3 is following in my footsteps and plays the bagpipes. So I know where-of I speak. The music ABC is playing is Irish. There is nothing wrong with Irish music. I happen to love Irish music. It occupies much space on the iPod. But. This is The Open. This year it may be being played on an English course, but the whole tournament evokes the sports distinctly Scottish heritage. So the least ABC could do is get the music right. Some Wicked Tinkers would be just perfect I think.

Stay tuned. Tomorrow should be a very interesting day.

THE Open

This weekend is The Open Championship. Or simply The Open, if you are A Golfer. The British Open to most of the rest of the world. The Open is the oldest major championship in golf. The first one was played on October 17th 1860 at Prestwick Golf Club, in the town of Prestwick, South Ayrshire, Scotland. So it’s been around awhile.

The first field consisted of 8 golfers. Prestwick was a 12 hole course at the time. The tournament consisted of 3 rounds, all played on the same day. The prize was a magnificent carved leather belt with a silver buckle. The rules around the belt were the same as those around The Green Jacket. It was left at the club and the winner could wear it when they were there. In 1870 Young Tom Morris won for the 3rd time in a row, and was given the belt to keep. This caused a little bit of a problem. A proposal was made that Prestwick join with other clubs to put on the championship, and the cost of a new belt be split between the clubs. This was voted on as a good idea, but, as usual with these kinds of things( the slow pace of decision by committee being even older than the championship), no decisions on which other clubs would be included were made, so the championship wasn’t played in 1871. By 1872 they had pretty much gotten their act together and three clubs had agreed to host The Open – Prestwick, the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers, and The Royal And Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews. Each club contributed 10 pounds ( which was a considerable sum in those days ) towards the purchase of a silver claret jug to be given as the prize. They didn’t get their act together soon enough though, and there wasn’t time for the jug to be made before the tournament was played. Young Tom Morris won again in 1872, and was given a medal. In 1873 the jug was present and the winner was Tom Kidd, but Young Tom Morris’ name was the first to be engraved on the jug. That Claret Jug, officially known as The Golf Championship Trophy, has been presented to every winner since then. When referring to The Masters you will hear people refer to it as ‘playing for The Green Jacket’. When they say ‘playing for The Claret Jug’ they are referring to The Open.

Since 1872 The Open has been played at a number of courses in rotation, with only a few courses added and dropped over the years. The current rotation consists of 9 courses: The Old Course at St. Andrews, Carnoustie, Muirfield, Turnberry, Royal Troon, Royal St. Georges, Royal Birkdale, Royal Lytham and St. Annes, and Royal Liverpool. These are all links style courses in either Scotland or England. 

The courses involved shared hosting duties until 1920, when all responsibility for the championship was handed over to The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews. (side note: The R&A if you are A Golfer. Although there is now an actual group officially known as The R&A.  The Royal and Ancient was the ruling authority of golf everywhere except for the US and Mexico, where it is the USGA, until 2004, when that authority was handed over to The R&A. ).

It's Worth The Money

We belong to a country club. This was a requirement of The Golfer. I will admit that, before we joined, I saw no point in belonging to a country club. And actually, The Golfer’s requirement wasn’t that we belong to a country club, it was that we have home course. A ‘suitable’ home course. With The Golfer being the one who got to define ‘suitable’. Not because he was being chauvinistic, but because I really couldn’t tell one course from another at that point, so I didn’t really care. About any of it actually. It was one of those ‘I’m going to find us a home course - That’s nice dear, have fun.’ kind of things. As it turns out having a home course is a good thing. If you are married to A Golfer a home course can save a lot of wear and tear on the marriage. Lucky for me The Golfer found us one. Anyway. Suitable. For a course to be suitable for The Golfer it had to meet 3 main criteria, and many other smaller ones. The first main suitable criteria was, the course had to be challenging to The Golfer. Which criteria should pretty much go without saying.

The second criteria was each hole had to have a tee that didn’t require you to carry a hazard( side note: carry. Hit over. As opposed to land in. Hit over a sand trap. Hit over the pond).  Each hole on a golf course has several tee boxes. Many courses are designed so that no matter which tee box you hit from you have to hit the ball over a stream, or desert, or a lake, or a sand trap, to get to the fairway. This is fine if you are The Golfer. But if you are me, or someone just starting out, you know the minute you step up to the tee chances are good you are going to lose a ball and a stroke. Which can take the fun out things real fast. Hence the criteria that each hole have at least one tee box that didn’t require carrying a hazard.

The third criteria was the course had to have a juniors program. Golfing Offspring numbers 1 and 2 were still quite young at this time, and GO #3 was still just a glint in The Golfers eye, but he was thinking ahead.

We happen to live in an area where there are several country clubs and quite a few private golf clubs with in ½ hours drive. The Golfer took upon himself the arduous task of actually playing all these courses. Took him weeks. He hated every minute of it. ( HA! ). In the end he announced he had found what he was looking for. A great Pete Dye course that was a 7 minute drive from our house. However in order to play there we would have to join the country club whose course it was. So we had lunch with the membership director and before I knew it, I was part of the country club set. Only, as anyone who knows me can tell you, I will never really be part of the country club set. Whole ‘nother post. Anyway. Over the years I have grown to appreciate belonging to said country club. For one thing it has, to quote the Offspring, ‘a really kicka** pool’. Different levels with waterfalls, and slides and a really nice baby pool. But the pool is just a fringe benefit. We didn’t join because of the pool.

Family Pictures - July 4th

Well with this family what were you expecting, hotdogs and a parade?

On The Origins Of The Game

The origins of the game of golf have been discussed/debated/written about ad nauseum. Personally, this gets my vote for how it really happened.
( WARNING:  Audio definitely NSFW )