This past week was Phoenix's red-headed stepchild PGA Tour event, the Frys.com Open. The FBR (Phoenix) Open is the mega-golf tournament in town. It is usually played on Super Bowl weekend and, notwithstanding the conflict with the Super Bowl on Sunday, has by far the largest crowds of any PGA event. Everyone knows about the Par 3 16th hole, which is the rowdiest hole on the PGA Tour.
The Frys.com Open is part of the Fall Season events and was played on the Raptor Course at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale. This year the tournament raised $670,500 for a variety of local and national charities. Since the tournament is played after the FEDEX Cup championship, most of the superstars do not participate in the event. It is a tournament for those players that are trying to make the top 125 money list for a full exemption the following year on the PGA Tour or the top 150 money list for a partial exemption the following year on the PGA Tour. The highest guy on the money list was Rory Sabbatini at No. 18. It is also an opportunity for a young player to win a tournament and receive all of the benefits of a tour winner in addition to the $1M+/- winner's check, including an exemption for the remainder of that season and the following two seasons, and an automatic invitation to the following year's PGA Championship. However, winners of Fall Series tournaments do not receive automatic invitations to the following year's Masters.
The golf was unbelievable! The winner, Troy Matteson, shot back-to-back 61s to break the PGA's consecutive 36 hole record. There were four holes in one, two on the 199 yard 16th hole, one on the 211 yard 5th hole, and Nicholas Thompson had a double eagle 2 on the par 5 11th hole, holing a 261 3-wood, and followed that with a hole in one from 199 yards on No. 13! I need to add a double eagle to my golf bucket list. He took care of two bucket list items in 3 holes and still finished tied for 8th place. The advertising company that came up with the campaign, "These Guys are Good!" hit the nail right on the head. Here's a second video.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Grand Ole Opry
I cannot figure out anyway to tie this post into golf, but it was so much fun that I wanted to tell you about our night at the Grand Ole Opry!
Everyone that visits Nashville needs to go to the Grand Ole Opry one time (only)! The Grand Ole Opry is to country music what Cooperstown is to baseball. It is broadcast live on WSM (We Serve Millions) AM Radio and simulcast to many parts of the country. It is two hours of country music and old fashioned humor broken into four half-hour segments with live voice over commercials for sponsors Dollar General, Humana, Bass Pro Shops and Martha White's Flour. The original Grand Ole Opry was in downtown Nashville at the Ryman Auditorium (check under the tab for history). The Opry still broadcasts from Ryman from time-to-time, but its home is now a beautiful theater on the outskirts of Nashville. We went on a Friday night.
The first half hour was hosted by John Conlee with Riders in the Sky and Whitney Duncan, who was singing for the first time at the Opry. Check out her hot new song and video, Skinny Dippin'. The second half hour was emceed by Little Jimmy Dickens who is a legend in Nashville and has been a Grand Ole Opry member for 60 years! His guests were Bobby Osborne and the Rocky Top X-Press, who sang the old standard "Rocky Top (Tennessee)" and T. Graham Brown. The third half hour was hosted by Bill Anderson with Jean Shepherd, the first female member of the Grand Ole Opry, and Keith Anderson, one of the two show headliners. Keith Anderson sang "I Still Miss You" and "Pickin' Wildflowers". The last half hour was headlined by special guest Ricky Skaggs, another country music legend, with Jeannie Seely and Jim Ed Brown.
The old-timers like Little Jimmy Dickens, Jeannie Seely, Bill Anderson and Jean Shepherd have been a part of the Opry for 40+ years, and today's superstars still come to the Opry and love to perform. Artists performing at the Opry during the next three weeks include Keith Urban (10/30), Vince Gill (10/30), Blake Shelton (10/31), Josh Turner (11/13) and Carrie Underwood (11/14).
If you enjoy country music or just music in general, you should see a show at the Grand Ole Opry.
Everyone that visits Nashville needs to go to the Grand Ole Opry one time (only)! The Grand Ole Opry is to country music what Cooperstown is to baseball. It is broadcast live on WSM (We Serve Millions) AM Radio and simulcast to many parts of the country. It is two hours of country music and old fashioned humor broken into four half-hour segments with live voice over commercials for sponsors Dollar General, Humana, Bass Pro Shops and Martha White's Flour. The original Grand Ole Opry was in downtown Nashville at the Ryman Auditorium (check under the tab for history). The Opry still broadcasts from Ryman from time-to-time, but its home is now a beautiful theater on the outskirts of Nashville. We went on a Friday night.
The first half hour was hosted by John Conlee with Riders in the Sky and Whitney Duncan, who was singing for the first time at the Opry. Check out her hot new song and video, Skinny Dippin'. The second half hour was emceed by Little Jimmy Dickens who is a legend in Nashville and has been a Grand Ole Opry member for 60 years! His guests were Bobby Osborne and the Rocky Top X-Press, who sang the old standard "Rocky Top (Tennessee)" and T. Graham Brown. The third half hour was hosted by Bill Anderson with Jean Shepherd, the first female member of the Grand Ole Opry, and Keith Anderson, one of the two show headliners. Keith Anderson sang "I Still Miss You" and "Pickin' Wildflowers". The last half hour was headlined by special guest Ricky Skaggs, another country music legend, with Jeannie Seely and Jim Ed Brown.
The old-timers like Little Jimmy Dickens, Jeannie Seely, Bill Anderson and Jean Shepherd have been a part of the Opry for 40+ years, and today's superstars still come to the Opry and love to perform. Artists performing at the Opry during the next three weeks include Keith Urban (10/30), Vince Gill (10/30), Blake Shelton (10/31), Josh Turner (11/13) and Carrie Underwood (11/14).
If you enjoy country music or just music in general, you should see a show at the Grand Ole Opry.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Drums are Beating!
We are starting to build some momentum for a European golf trip. Below is an e-mail from Smooth, our trip coordinator, to the "World Of" participants:
Men, drums are beating for "A Journey to St. Andrews"-- both the blog and a 2010 Links Trip. There is no final decision from the Committee, but shareholder input is appropriate for this sojourn. Share your votes on the following:
2010 Trip: Foreign _________ U.S. Domestic ____________
If foreign, Scotland________ Ireland______________
Ideal no. of days for the trip: _____________
Ideal no. of rounds: ____________________
If we go, we should go in July or August. Scotland in July will be hard, however, because the Open is at St. Andrews next year.
We will take a modest, "World Of" approach to accommodations to reduce cost, but we also will look hard at a bus and driver to keep Americans off the roads, speed up travel, and increase the intake of single malt.
This is a "big" trip, but we have gone a less expensive route the last two years. If you gambled well, the last two years were dirt cheap. Also, we are 50+, and we need to do this before a Scotland "World Of" trip includes wives, castles, soap factories and a single round of golf on a 4500 yard course.
Yours Very Truly
Smooth
Men, drums are beating for "A Journey to St. Andrews"-- both the blog and a 2010 Links Trip. There is no final decision from the Committee, but shareholder input is appropriate for this sojourn. Share your votes on the following:
2010 Trip: Foreign _________ U.S. Domestic ____________
If foreign, Scotland________ Ireland______________
Ideal no. of days for the trip: _____________
Ideal no. of rounds: ____________________
If we go, we should go in July or August. Scotland in July will be hard, however, because the Open is at St. Andrews next year.
We will take a modest, "World Of" approach to accommodations to reduce cost, but we also will look hard at a bus and driver to keep Americans off the roads, speed up travel, and increase the intake of single malt.
This is a "big" trip, but we have gone a less expensive route the last two years. If you gambled well, the last two years were dirt cheap. Also, we are 50+, and we need to do this before a Scotland "World Of" trip includes wives, castles, soap factories and a single round of golf on a 4500 yard course.
Yours Very Truly
Smooth
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Southern Dunes - An Unmitigated Disaster!
Today I played one of my favorite courses in Arizona, Southern Dunes Golf Club, and made a mess of it! For whatever reason I cannot translate what I do on the driving range onto the golf course. As soon as I get to the first tee box I tense up and get the hooks. I am starting to think that I need a sports psychologist to join my entourage. I played with Chad Feldheimer, which is enjoyable because he is such a fundamentally sound player.
Southern Dunes Golf Club, formerly known as Royal Dunes Golf Club, is in unincorporated Pinal County, adjacent to the City of Maricopa, which is about 45 minutes from downtown Phoenix. Maricopa is the poster child for the boom and bust real estate market in Phoenix. Even the Wall Street Journal piled on! The starter homebuyer mantra is "drive to qualify". The further you get from the metropolitan areas, the lower the home prices and the easier it is for the first-time homebuyer to qualify for a mortgage. As I was driving to the course, I passed a number of subdivisions in the City of Maricopa in which I represented the homebuilders. There were kids twirling signs advertising homes starting at $59,000! The entry areas of the subdivisions looked like they were being reasonably well-maintained, but there have been so many foreclosures and homebuilder bankruptcies that houses and lots are not being maintained. We are starting to see a resurgence of investors buying finished lots to sell to homebuilders, but most of the activity is closer to Phoenix. The subdivisions in Maricopa and other communities in Pinal County will probably not be fully developed for another 5 to 10 years.
Southern Dunes Golf Club is a gorgeous Scottish links-style golf course designed by Schmidt-Curley Design, Inc. and Fred Couples, one of my favorite golfers, located in the middle of nowhere. The idea for this course was clearly someone's brain freeze! The golf course was originally a private club for men only, although it was designed to have home sites within the 320 acre master plan! Women were not even allowed in the clubhouse restaurant. I am trying to picture the poor homebuilder's salesperson explaining to a prospective buyer couple, "John can play golf on our fantastic Fred Couples-designed championship golf course and smoke cigars with the guys while Susan stays home taking care of the children, cleaning the house and cooking dinner." That will go over well! Surprisingly, a number of very well known athletes and local celebrities were founding members of the golf club. The golf course and surrounding residential property have been taken over by the lender and it is now a daily-fee course open to men and women.
The golf course clearly has a Freddy Couples feel; if you hit high fades you will love the course! Check out the hole-by-hole pictures on the website under golf club and then course flyover. I, of course, was hooking the ball. Even when I hit a reasonably good shot, it would trickle into the gorse-like native high grass never to be found. I shot a forgiving 98 not following the USGA/R&A Rules of Golf. The golf course was in great shape. We played the gold tees, which are about 6,900 yards with a slope rating of 131. The course was not overseeded so the bermuda grass was dormant. The fairways were cut very close so they had a links-style feel and if you hit your drive in the fairway you got a lot of run (I only know this because of my partner's drives). The greens were overseeded and were fast and true and receptive to approach shots (I only know this because of my partner's approach shots). Chad was hitting the ball really well from tee to green, but was having trouble pitching and putting and shot in the high 70s, except that we both played 18 so badly that we walked off of the course without finishing! It was a disappointing day, but I love this golf course and we played in 3 hours and 15 minutes, which makes up for the travel time!
Southern Dunes Golf Club, formerly known as Royal Dunes Golf Club, is in unincorporated Pinal County, adjacent to the City of Maricopa, which is about 45 minutes from downtown Phoenix. Maricopa is the poster child for the boom and bust real estate market in Phoenix. Even the Wall Street Journal piled on! The starter homebuyer mantra is "drive to qualify". The further you get from the metropolitan areas, the lower the home prices and the easier it is for the first-time homebuyer to qualify for a mortgage. As I was driving to the course, I passed a number of subdivisions in the City of Maricopa in which I represented the homebuilders. There were kids twirling signs advertising homes starting at $59,000! The entry areas of the subdivisions looked like they were being reasonably well-maintained, but there have been so many foreclosures and homebuilder bankruptcies that houses and lots are not being maintained. We are starting to see a resurgence of investors buying finished lots to sell to homebuilders, but most of the activity is closer to Phoenix. The subdivisions in Maricopa and other communities in Pinal County will probably not be fully developed for another 5 to 10 years.
Southern Dunes Golf Club is a gorgeous Scottish links-style golf course designed by Schmidt-Curley Design, Inc. and Fred Couples, one of my favorite golfers, located in the middle of nowhere. The idea for this course was clearly someone's brain freeze! The golf course was originally a private club for men only, although it was designed to have home sites within the 320 acre master plan! Women were not even allowed in the clubhouse restaurant. I am trying to picture the poor homebuilder's salesperson explaining to a prospective buyer couple, "John can play golf on our fantastic Fred Couples-designed championship golf course and smoke cigars with the guys while Susan stays home taking care of the children, cleaning the house and cooking dinner." That will go over well! Surprisingly, a number of very well known athletes and local celebrities were founding members of the golf club. The golf course and surrounding residential property have been taken over by the lender and it is now a daily-fee course open to men and women.
The golf course clearly has a Freddy Couples feel; if you hit high fades you will love the course! Check out the hole-by-hole pictures on the website under golf club and then course flyover. I, of course, was hooking the ball. Even when I hit a reasonably good shot, it would trickle into the gorse-like native high grass never to be found. I shot a forgiving 98 not following the USGA/R&A Rules of Golf. The golf course was in great shape. We played the gold tees, which are about 6,900 yards with a slope rating of 131. The course was not overseeded so the bermuda grass was dormant. The fairways were cut very close so they had a links-style feel and if you hit your drive in the fairway you got a lot of run (I only know this because of my partner's drives). The greens were overseeded and were fast and true and receptive to approach shots (I only know this because of my partner's approach shots). Chad was hitting the ball really well from tee to green, but was having trouble pitching and putting and shot in the high 70s, except that we both played 18 so badly that we walked off of the course without finishing! It was a disappointing day, but I love this golf course and we played in 3 hours and 15 minutes, which makes up for the travel time!
Friday, October 23, 2009
World Of - Evening Entertainment
Today, I am pleased to have my first guest post from a founding member of the "World Of". I had to make some minor changes to the post to maintain my PG-13 blog rating, but this gives you a flavor of the camaraderie among the group. Hopefully, my "World Of" followers will continue to provide guest commentaries throughout the Journey:
The “World Of” is about as diverse as a group of middle-aged, white male lawyers can be. We share a common love of golf and laughter, but otherwise we’re pretty eclectic. We have Yankees and Confederates, Right Wingers and Left Wingers (not hockey players), Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, Rednecks and City Slickers. These differences are part of the fun, although we do observe a moratorium on political discussion. Another difference that has evolved over the years is the COs versus the Non-COs.
CO is short for “Conscientious Objector”. Non-CO, as you might have guessed, is short for “Non-Conscientious Objector”. These terms have nothing to do with war. As best I can tell, we all favor war, at least up to a point. No, COs and Non-COs have to do with who will go to gentlemen’s clubs on “World Of” trips.
In the early “World Of” years, there were no COs. We all went to the gentlemen’s clubs. At that time, the only questions were--how late would you stay out and how drunk would you get? The guys who stayed out the latest and got the drunkest declared, “The Wrong Way is the Right Way!” and its corollary, “The Right Way is the Wrong Way!” We never kept track of which way was the right way, but it was still fun to state the rule and the corollary, really loud and really often.
Anyway, around about “World Of V”, the Mouth--a very principled guy when he hasn’t knocked down 10 or 12 Budweisers--said he didn’t feel right about going out to the gentlemen’s clubs. Turtle, Smooth and Arnie quickly joined the Mouth. The COs thus were born, which simultaneously hatched the Non-COs. It was no small irony that the Mouth founded the COs, given that he had been one of the most frequent--and certainly the loudest—proponent of “The Wrong Way is the Right Way!”
It’s hard to say exactly what was the basis of the COs conscientiousness. It may be that several of the COs had gotten married and had daughters. The girls in those gentlemen’s clubs are someone’s daughters after all, and although the “World Of” isn’t exactly a hotbed of sensitivity, we do have our soft spots. Or, it may be that several of the more religious among the group had, by “World Of V”, recovered from our backsliding college and law school days, and decided it was time to clean up our “World Of” acts. Or, it may be that the innate cheapness of some of us just couldn’t deal with paying cover charges, buying expensive bad beer and being expected to throw money at women whom we knew cared about us only for the money they could fleece. Maybe most likely is that the COs were feeling older and decided they had a better chance of playing good golf the next day if they went to bed at a decent hour—“The Right Way is the Right Way!” Whatever the basis, the COs were around to stay.
I am a CO but I have to give the Non-COs their due. Led by High Right, and with strong support from the Natural, their outings have produced some of the most enduring lines of the “World Of”—“I’m not leaving this place until one of these girls takes a shower!” and “Just to show her!”—which were coined by Crimson Tide and the Big Man, respectively. The Non-COs also have a lot of courage—they have gone to some of the scariest-looking gentlemen’s clubs you’ve ever seen. Of course, it makes a big difference when you have the Big Man with you. By the way, the Big Man is not only good protection, but for some reason the girls at these places seem to really like him. Finally, I want to point out for the record that, to the best of my knowledge, none of the Non-COs has ever done anything really bad on their outings—and by that I mean something that would be relevant in a domestic proceeding.
An interesting feature of the CO/Non-CO split is that the COs have grown in number over the years while the Non-COs have dwindled. In the beginning there was usually one carload of COs. Now there is usually one carload of Non-COs. I suppose that was to be expected as the group aged…and our daughters became young women. I’m not sure what the future holds for the COs and the Non-COs as separate groups, but I continue to look forward to seeing them all every year, regardless of affiliation.
Arnie
Editor's Note: I did not join the "World Of" until about "World Of XII" and I am a CO only because I cannot stay up that late and play golf (good or bad) the next morning!
The “World Of” is about as diverse as a group of middle-aged, white male lawyers can be. We share a common love of golf and laughter, but otherwise we’re pretty eclectic. We have Yankees and Confederates, Right Wingers and Left Wingers (not hockey players), Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, Rednecks and City Slickers. These differences are part of the fun, although we do observe a moratorium on political discussion. Another difference that has evolved over the years is the COs versus the Non-COs.
CO is short for “Conscientious Objector”. Non-CO, as you might have guessed, is short for “Non-Conscientious Objector”. These terms have nothing to do with war. As best I can tell, we all favor war, at least up to a point. No, COs and Non-COs have to do with who will go to gentlemen’s clubs on “World Of” trips.
In the early “World Of” years, there were no COs. We all went to the gentlemen’s clubs. At that time, the only questions were--how late would you stay out and how drunk would you get? The guys who stayed out the latest and got the drunkest declared, “The Wrong Way is the Right Way!” and its corollary, “The Right Way is the Wrong Way!” We never kept track of which way was the right way, but it was still fun to state the rule and the corollary, really loud and really often.
Anyway, around about “World Of V”, the Mouth--a very principled guy when he hasn’t knocked down 10 or 12 Budweisers--said he didn’t feel right about going out to the gentlemen’s clubs. Turtle, Smooth and Arnie quickly joined the Mouth. The COs thus were born, which simultaneously hatched the Non-COs. It was no small irony that the Mouth founded the COs, given that he had been one of the most frequent--and certainly the loudest—proponent of “The Wrong Way is the Right Way!”
It’s hard to say exactly what was the basis of the COs conscientiousness. It may be that several of the COs had gotten married and had daughters. The girls in those gentlemen’s clubs are someone’s daughters after all, and although the “World Of” isn’t exactly a hotbed of sensitivity, we do have our soft spots. Or, it may be that several of the more religious among the group had, by “World Of V”, recovered from our backsliding college and law school days, and decided it was time to clean up our “World Of” acts. Or, it may be that the innate cheapness of some of us just couldn’t deal with paying cover charges, buying expensive bad beer and being expected to throw money at women whom we knew cared about us only for the money they could fleece. Maybe most likely is that the COs were feeling older and decided they had a better chance of playing good golf the next day if they went to bed at a decent hour—“The Right Way is the Right Way!” Whatever the basis, the COs were around to stay.
I am a CO but I have to give the Non-COs their due. Led by High Right, and with strong support from the Natural, their outings have produced some of the most enduring lines of the “World Of”—“I’m not leaving this place until one of these girls takes a shower!” and “Just to show her!”—which were coined by Crimson Tide and the Big Man, respectively. The Non-COs also have a lot of courage—they have gone to some of the scariest-looking gentlemen’s clubs you’ve ever seen. Of course, it makes a big difference when you have the Big Man with you. By the way, the Big Man is not only good protection, but for some reason the girls at these places seem to really like him. Finally, I want to point out for the record that, to the best of my knowledge, none of the Non-COs has ever done anything really bad on their outings—and by that I mean something that would be relevant in a domestic proceeding.
An interesting feature of the CO/Non-CO split is that the COs have grown in number over the years while the Non-COs have dwindled. In the beginning there was usually one carload of COs. Now there is usually one carload of Non-COs. I suppose that was to be expected as the group aged…and our daughters became young women. I’m not sure what the future holds for the COs and the Non-COs as separate groups, but I continue to look forward to seeing them all every year, regardless of affiliation.
Arnie
Editor's Note: I did not join the "World Of" until about "World Of XII" and I am a CO only because I cannot stay up that late and play golf (good or bad) the next morning!
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Tiger Trophies
Did you know that the PGA Grand Slam of Golf occurred on Tuesday and Wednesday in Bermuda? Neither did I! The PGA Grand Slam of Golf pits the winners of the four majors in a two round tournament with $600,000 paid to the winner. This year's participants were Angel Cabrera (Masters), Lucas Glover (U.S. Open), Stewart Cink (Open Championship a/k/a the British Open), and Y.E. Yang (PGA Championship). Who? Lucas Glover, the U.S. Open Champion, played great and won at 11 under par for two rounds. All 15 fans at the event (including the players' family members) enjoyed it thoroughly. The PGA Tour is now divided into two parts, the tournaments that Tiger Woods plays and the rest of the tournaments. According to some articles, the television ratings for the standard PGA Tour events in which Tiger competes are 33% or more higher than the television ratings for those tournaments in which Tiger does not compete! This does not include the four majors, the Ryder Cup and similar big-ticket events.
Without winning a major in 2009, Tiger will win the PGA of America player of the year, the Vardon Trophy and the Byron Nelson Award, both for the lowest scoring average, the Arnold Palmer Award for winning the money title and the Jack Nicklaus Trophy for the PGA Tour player of the year. The only remaining drama (drum roll please) is whether Tiger will win the comeback player of the year award (which does not have to be awarded each year) after missing a substantial portion of the 2008 season with reconstructive knee surgery.
Jack Nicklaus had antagonists Arnie Palmer, Gary Player, Lee Trevino and Tom Watson. Tiger has Phil Mickelson, Vijay Singh, Paddy Harrington and Y.E. Yang. I truly believe that the depth and quality of today's PGA Tour far exceeds the Nicklaus era, but Tiger dominates like no one else. Is Tiger just so much better than Bobby Jones, Sam Snead, Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus or is it something else? Are his competitors happy just to finish in the top 10 and take home large checks? What are your thoughts?
Without winning a major in 2009, Tiger will win the PGA of America player of the year, the Vardon Trophy and the Byron Nelson Award, both for the lowest scoring average, the Arnold Palmer Award for winning the money title and the Jack Nicklaus Trophy for the PGA Tour player of the year. The only remaining drama (drum roll please) is whether Tiger will win the comeback player of the year award (which does not have to be awarded each year) after missing a substantial portion of the 2008 season with reconstructive knee surgery.
Jack Nicklaus had antagonists Arnie Palmer, Gary Player, Lee Trevino and Tom Watson. Tiger has Phil Mickelson, Vijay Singh, Paddy Harrington and Y.E. Yang. I truly believe that the depth and quality of today's PGA Tour far exceeds the Nicklaus era, but Tiger dominates like no one else. Is Tiger just so much better than Bobby Jones, Sam Snead, Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus or is it something else? Are his competitors happy just to finish in the top 10 and take home large checks? What are your thoughts?
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Golf Lingo
My favorite follower, who we will call "SO", expressed concern that the "Journey to St. Andrews" blog is not accessible to the masses because of the golf jargon. I explained that this is a blog for "real" golfers, not namby pamby golfers that look at the swans and take pictures while playing golf. As you can imagine, this did not go over very well!
Therefore, in the interest of commercialization and my goal of selling this blog to a book publisher and then to a movie production company (I am thinking of George Clooney to play me! I especially like this picture), and to maintain some minimum level of harmony in my relationship with SO, the following jargon can make you sound like a golfer even if you can't play a lick and you like to look at the swans while playing golf:
Ace - A hole in one.
Approach Shot - A short or medium shot played to the putting green or pin.
Birdie - One stroke under par on a hole.
Bogey - One stroke over par on a hole.
Bogey Golfer - A player who has a handicap is the about the same as the number holes on a course (18 to 22).
Chili Dip - To catch a shot fat by hitting the ground behind the ball before striking the ball itself; also known as fat, heavy, chunk.
Dance Floor - The putting green.
Dogleg - A hole where the fairway curves noticeably to the left or right.
Double Bogey - Two shots over the hole par.
Foot Wedge - When a golfer kicks his ball or nudges the ball into a better position for the next stroke.
Fried Egg - When a ball remains in its own pitch mark when landing in a bunker, looking like a fried egg with the ball as the yolk.
Match Play - Form of competition where each hole is won, lost or halved. The winner is whomever won the most holes. A winning score of 3 and 2 means that the winner won by 3 holes with 2 left to play. The highest score possible is 10 and 8.
Nassau - Three bets in one: the front nine, back nine and 18-hole scores all count as separate bets.
Nineteenth Hole - The clubhouse bar after playing 18 holes.
On the Dance Floor - When the ball has stayed on the green.
Ready Golf - A very effective informal method of play in which the right to play based on "honor" or "away" is forsaken and whoever is "ready to play" plays next, in the interest of speeding up play.
Rough - The high grass area adjacent to the fairway and green.
Royal and Ancient or R&A - Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews - golf's primary governing body.
Sandbagger - A golfer who lies about his ability in order to gain an advantage in a match or wager, or submits artificially high scores in order to inflate his handicap (euphemism for "liar, cheater").
Short Game - Chipping, Pitching and Putting.
Shotgun Start - A way to start a tournament in which all groups of players tee off simultaneously from different holes. If there are 18 groups of foursomes in a tournament, then each hole on the course will serve as the starting hole for a different group.
Texas wedge - Name given to putter when used anywhere other than the green.
Wedge - A short iron with significant loft mainly for playing shorter, more lofted shots (the amount of loft can vary widely, from a pitching wedge that ranges somewhere between 47° and 52° to a lob wedge that can range from 58° up to 65°).
This jargon is courtesy of golfeurope.com, energeticgolfer.com, golf.about.com, greatgamesforgolf.com and pgaprofessional.com. For some politically incorrect golf jargon see greatgolfjokes.com.
This leads to the old wive's tale that my female followers can debunk when confronted by a male chauvinist pig golfer that proclaims "golf" is an acronym for "gentlemen only, ladies forbidden." A more accurate and interesting description of the derivation of the word "golf" is in the on-line article "Golf Carte". I especially like the author's alternative name for golf, "flog".
I hope you novices enjoyed this post and are now ready to "talk the talk".
Therefore, in the interest of commercialization and my goal of selling this blog to a book publisher and then to a movie production company (I am thinking of George Clooney to play me! I especially like this picture), and to maintain some minimum level of harmony in my relationship with SO, the following jargon can make you sound like a golfer even if you can't play a lick and you like to look at the swans while playing golf:
Ace - A hole in one.
Approach Shot - A short or medium shot played to the putting green or pin.
Birdie - One stroke under par on a hole.
Bogey - One stroke over par on a hole.
Bogey Golfer - A player who has a handicap is the about the same as the number holes on a course (18 to 22).
Chili Dip - To catch a shot fat by hitting the ground behind the ball before striking the ball itself; also known as fat, heavy, chunk.
Dance Floor - The putting green.
Dogleg - A hole where the fairway curves noticeably to the left or right.
Double Bogey - Two shots over the hole par.
Foot Wedge - When a golfer kicks his ball or nudges the ball into a better position for the next stroke.
Fried Egg - When a ball remains in its own pitch mark when landing in a bunker, looking like a fried egg with the ball as the yolk.
Match Play - Form of competition where each hole is won, lost or halved. The winner is whomever won the most holes. A winning score of 3 and 2 means that the winner won by 3 holes with 2 left to play. The highest score possible is 10 and 8.
Nassau - Three bets in one: the front nine, back nine and 18-hole scores all count as separate bets.
Nineteenth Hole - The clubhouse bar after playing 18 holes.
On the Dance Floor - When the ball has stayed on the green.
Ready Golf - A very effective informal method of play in which the right to play based on "honor" or "away" is forsaken and whoever is "ready to play" plays next, in the interest of speeding up play.
Rough - The high grass area adjacent to the fairway and green.
Royal and Ancient or R&A - Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews - golf's primary governing body.
Sandbagger - A golfer who lies about his ability in order to gain an advantage in a match or wager, or submits artificially high scores in order to inflate his handicap (euphemism for "liar, cheater").
Short Game - Chipping, Pitching and Putting.
Shotgun Start - A way to start a tournament in which all groups of players tee off simultaneously from different holes. If there are 18 groups of foursomes in a tournament, then each hole on the course will serve as the starting hole for a different group.
Texas wedge - Name given to putter when used anywhere other than the green.
Wedge - A short iron with significant loft mainly for playing shorter, more lofted shots (the amount of loft can vary widely, from a pitching wedge that ranges somewhere between 47° and 52° to a lob wedge that can range from 58° up to 65°).
This jargon is courtesy of golfeurope.com, energeticgolfer.com, golf.about.com, greatgamesforgolf.com and pgaprofessional.com. For some politically incorrect golf jargon see greatgolfjokes.com.
This leads to the old wive's tale that my female followers can debunk when confronted by a male chauvinist pig golfer that proclaims "golf" is an acronym for "gentlemen only, ladies forbidden." A more accurate and interesting description of the derivation of the word "golf" is in the on-line article "Golf Carte". I especially like the author's alternative name for golf, "flog".
I hope you novices enjoyed this post and are now ready to "talk the talk".
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