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A listing ship Ten grand ideas from the undergroundPosted: Monday May 06, 2002 5:17 PM
This week's Top 10 Things That I Just Thought Of (on account of my having to write a Web column again this week, despite popular demand): 10) Sammy Rachels beat Dana Quigley in a playoff to win last week's Senior PGA Tour outing ... as that tour's so-called momentum screeches to a halt like a '71 Gremlin with bad brakes. The bad news is that Rachels is a complete no-name to the general public. The good news is that Quigley still has perfect attendance. And does anybody know where CNBC is on my cable system? I'm still looking. (OK, but not very hard.) 9) The LPGA's Chick-fil-A Championship (definitely the best tournament name in golf) was shortened to 36 holes due to rain. The PGA Tour decided years ago that a two-round event was kind of bogus. Especially when guys like Ernie Gonzalez started winning them. If you can't play at least 54 holes, don't try to pass it off as a real event ... although anything Juli Inkster wins can't be all bad. 8) I went to the claw putting grip the other day ... on the fourth hole of a round of golf. I'm a convert, at least for now. My putting stroke, which had been working fine on the practice green, wasn't holding up on the course. Which tells me it was more mental than physical. The claw is so different, it frees you up mentally from the old demons. And it's easy enough that you don't have to spend a month practicing it before you get any results. This month's theme: Claw power, baby! 7) Even with the claw, I still stink. (That's a given, but I just thought I'd mention it.) 6) Six ... pack. 5) You may officially begin the U.S. Open hype now that the PGA Tour is heading to Texas for the Byron Nelson Classic, which is kind of the unofficial start of the Open run-up. Let's be honest, though ... the hype will begins in earnest whenever Tiger Woods decides to return to action after winning yet another Masters. Tiger will be at Las Colinas this week, so the Open buildup may begin then. Also, U.S. Open local qualifying begins this week for the 8,000-plus schmoes who entered, most of whom have zero chance of advancing. But if you have a 1.4 handicap or better, it's a great dream to pursue? And at $125, it's not a bad buy, either. If you squeeze in a practice round at the qualifying site, you get two rounds of golf for that price. Not bad. Ah, but if you advance to sectional qualifying at one of the sites that uses two courses, you can weasel two more practice rounds, then play your 36-hole qualifier. That's six rounds of golf for $125, an average cost of barely $20 a round, which makes entering Open qualifying the biggest bargain since the $31 weekday fee to play Bethpage Black, the public course on Long Island that's hosting this year's Open. It's true. Golf is all about value. 4) The easy-twist-lock golf spike is a great concept. I don't know about you, but when I go to replace my non-metal spikes, easy-twist or not, I usually can't get them out, even with the special new tool that spikemakers provide. The problem is the cheap, green plastic base the spikes are made with. The holes for the spike wrench need to be deeper and sturdier. Either the spike won't budge or the tool rips apart the hole when I'm trying to turn it. Either way, I'm stuck with a pair of good shoes that I can't use anymore because I can't replace the non-metal spikes. I challenge the shoe manufacturers and spikemakers to solve this problem. 3) I see Bethpage Black as the biggest obstacle to Woods' attempt to win the Grand Slam. With the greens being relatively flat (which I'd like to see more of from designers), it may make the Open into more of a putting contest than a ballstriking contest. At the Masters, for instance, you've got no shot to make your putt unless you're below the hole, and in fact, you'll have a difficult time two-putting. A good approach shot is rewarded. At the Black, I think you'll see putts going in from all over the green, with one caveat -- the toughest putts are the subtle ones, where the putt may break only half an inch but you don't know in which direction. You'll have that at the Black. Severely contoured greens have been the bane of golf design ever since the '80s. Everyone wants to have their own little Augusta National. Then the course owners complain that it takes five hours to get the public around 18 holes. Well, duh. If you're hammering every player with 40 putts a round because of the difficulty, of course play is going to be slow. You designed it that way. Back to the Open, Southern Hills' dogleg fairways took the driver out of Woods' hands, neutralizing his advantage. Will the Black's relatively flat greens do something similar? We'll see. If Woods wins at Bethpage, though, the Grand Slam in a calendar year is a slam dunk. 2) Phil Mickelson may have a future as a golf course designer. I was fortunate enough to play a round on his course, Whisper Rock, in Scottsdale, Ariz. It's pretty sweet. The practice greens, range and grill are all-world -- I'd like a membership just for those alone. The course is outstanding, too. I did not play the Lefty tees, which measure 7,359 yards. However, the championship tees provided plenty of challenge. Rather than make his par-5 holes unreachable in two, Mickelson simply made the greens difficult enough so that if you miss them, you've got a few problems. The third hole, a 567-yarder, features a green that drops off in back with a sort of sheer, rock-supported wall. So if you go just over, you're facing a difficult pitch. Basically, you have to hit a flop shot -- just like Phil. I played Whisper Rock, my new favorite course in Arizona, with tour player Brandel Chamblee. He made nine birdies, shot 30 on the back, had just 24 putts for the round and posted a 65, despite a double when he strayed into the desert. Let's just say (double duh!) I didn't win any money off him. 1) You have to like a dictator who listens. Masters chairman Hootie Johnson's cool quotient went up a bunch of points last week when he did a Mongolian reversal on the past champions playing policy. Johnson had announced that starting in 2004, 65 would be the maximum age allowed for Masters players, and past champions who didn't otherwise qualify must be active players, meaning they'd have to have played at least 15 tournaments. After a phone discussion with Jack Nicklaus, who has no intention of playing 15 and who felt singled out by that requirement, Johnson backpedaled and lowered the minimum to 10 events. It was a classy move and showed that while Johnson is still as tough as the Masters' legendary chairman Clifford Roberts, he's also more fair. My prediction, which I hope is wrong, is that the 2001 Masters was Jack's last. I have doubts that Jack's back, which is a mess, will get healthy enough for him to feel competitive next April. Oh, his back may get well enough to play, like he did at the Tradition. But unlike Arnold Palmer, Jack isn't going to risk embarrassment if he knows 78 is the best score he can post. He knows whether he should play, and he proved it this year when he took a pass. If Doug Ford and a few others had followed Jack's example, Johnson wouldn't have had to send out those pink slips last January and then come up with a new set of admission standards. What's this, fan mail from a flounder? No, just messages in a bottle. Your mailbag queries ... I just got a great idea for the U.S. Open at Bethpage. They should make the
players sleep in the parking lot like normal folk do. If you're not there, you
don't get a tee time. What do you think?
Best idea I've heard all year, especially from a Canadian with no discernible last name. Who wouldn't like to see Tiger take on a 7 a.m. tee time after spending the night in the back seat of a '91 Ford Taurus? Welcome to our world, fellas. And no chipping on the putting green, either, you guys! What ever happened to diplomacy? Forcing the old fogies out of the Masters
at age 65 was a low-class move. They could have let them stay, just make them
play from the ladies' tees! That would be a subtle way of helping them decide
when to call it quits. What do you think? Should I be Augusta National chairman,
or what?
Sorry, Richie, but mentioning the word "ladies" in the same sentence with Augusta National precludes your consideration as a future chairman. You totally flunked out. The National likes to call those the members tees and, as you may know, ladies are not members (although they are allowed to play as guests; Karrie Webb recently teed it up there). As a concept, though, I like your idea. Three of the next five U.S. Open Championships (PGA Tour) are in the state
of New York: Bethpage, 2002; Shinnecock Hills, '04; Winged Foot, '06. What's up
with that? While I'm sure the big sponsors all have headquarters, or at least a
presence, in New York, it seems that if they are spending millions to sponsor
the event, they wouldn't mind shelling out a bit more to travel elsewhere. We
always read about amazing courses in Montana, Oregon, Colorado, etc., but never
get to see them. And if they are concerned about spectator turnout, I believe
there are enough fans out there who would love to take a June vacation off the
beaten path. Maybe even more than visiting the Empire State every damned year.
There's much more to holding an Open than a good course, but get serious, most of these hot new courses you read about aren't necessarily up to the challenge of PGA Tour players who average 285 off the tee and expect perfect putting surfaces that stimp out at 13. You also need to have parking, shuttle service, thousands of hotel rooms, volunteers and a crack greens staff. If there's a course in Montana that has all that plus enough population to sell 40,000 tickets a day at a premium price, let the USGA know. They'd be happy to kiss your Butte. As for the New York bias, the USGA seems to be looking for new venues. Torrey Pines in San Diego looks like a shoo-in for a future Open, and Pumpkin Ridge in Oregon has hosted several USGA events, although not an Open. What is your opinion on mixing cavity-back and muscle-back clubs within the
same set? I love the feel of the muscle-back clubs on the shorter iron shots
(from about 165 yards or less). But I feel like I need more forgiveness outside
of 170 yards or so. What clubmakers, if any, offer a mixed bag?
I think you've got to cobble together your own mixed bag, Bill. I'm not aware of any on the market that come pre-mixed. Mickelson designed his own Titleist clubs that way, though, mixing cavity back with blades. I think it's a good idea. Every once in a while I come across a putt that seems to read as uphill, but
from the other side appears to be downhill. How could this be? When confronted
with this dilemma, should I putt it as if it was a flat grade?
Nah. Just pick it up. It's good, buddy. Sports Illustrated senior writer Gary Van Sickle writes for the magazine's
Golf Plus section and is a regular contributor to CNNSI.com. Click here to send him a question or comment.
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