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Senior moments on the junior circuit |
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Thursday, 24 July 2008 |
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I got a kick listening last night to my 18-year old son Tim and 16-year old Nicole Agnello of Florida discussing their days on the junior golf circuit. Tim had caddied for Nicole the last few days at the USGA Junior Girls National Championship at The Hartford (CT) Golf Club. Nicole played beautiful golf during medal play (148 for 36 holes), made it through to match play yesterday The kids were careful to excuse us from examples of overbearing golf parents.
Last night at dinner, my wife, Nicole's mom and I sat back and listened to the kids talk about their junior golf experiences. Nicole talked about one of her high school competitors in Florida who consistently "forgot" how many strokes she had taken on a hole, reporting she had one or two strokes lower than her playing partners knew she had played. On virtually every hole, Nicole would have to help the player replay each stroke to convince her of the proper score.
The kids also talked about classic overbearing parents (they made sure to exclude the parents present at the Some parents cheer when their child's opponent misses a putt.
Yesterday, after watching Nicole's opponent slide a coin well under her ball to mark it on the green and then place the ball in front of the coin, thereby gaining a few inch advantage, Tim alerted the rules official walking with the players. A hole later, the rules official warned the girl about it. Golf is a game of inches, but it is also a game of rules. For the future of the game, we can only hope junior golfers get the message, even if it is too late for some of their parents.
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If you want to play better golf, be your caddy |
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Wednesday, 23 July 2008 |
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The child is father of the man. - William Wordsworth
If I had the stamina to carry a golf bag for 18 holes on a 90-degree day, I would sign up to volunteer to caddy for one of the competitors at the USGA Girls Junior Championships. It would certainly help shave a few strokes off my handicap.
This week, the national tournament is being held at the Hartford (CT) Golf Club, and I have spent the last two days watching my son Tim caddy for "If I were my own caddy," said my less-than-1-handicap son, "I'd be a lot better golfer.
In Tim's words, the experience of toting the bag and working over each shot in behalf of someone else has taught him something about his own course management.
"If I were my own caddy," he told his mother yesterday, "I'd be a lot better."
Of course, to caddy means much more than toting the bag and handing out clubs. Tim has been focused on his player's strengths -- she is straight as an arrow off most tees and terrific from just off Hartford's contoured greens -- as well as her weaknesses. At just 5 foot 1 inch, she is not as tall or as long offAs for what advice he will offer on how to handle her first match play event, he said: Don't be so nice."
But player and caddy have managed the course to her strengths and around her weaknesses. On the slick greens at Hartford today, I can recall only one time she was above the hole (it caused her second three-putt bogey in a row); aiming short of the pins meant either an uphill putt or, in the worst case, playing to her strong suit, chipping. But past the pin played negatively to her unfamiliarity with the faster, bent-grass greens at Hartford. She plays mostly slower Bermuda greens in Florida. The strategy worked to perfection on Hartford's par 5 9th, her 18th hole of the day, where she floated a pitching wedge from the first cut of rough to five feet below the hole and sank the putt for birdie.
Tim has also watched carefully his player's relentlessly focused pre-shot routines where no practice swing appears wasted or even casual. And her work around the greens caused him to tell us after the first round that, "if I had her short game, I might be a seriously good golfer." (His handicap rating is less than 1.)
The player and her mom, who has followed every hole, have given Tim credit for helping his golfer relax and read the slick greens. His challenge and that of his player increases significantly today; she has never played an organized head to head match before. I asked Tim what advice he will give her before the match. He said simply: "Don't be so nice [to your opponent]."
I haven't mentioned the player's name because I decided to write this late last night and did not have time to ask her mom's permission. But if you want to follow the progress of the 32 matches at the tournament from 7 a.m. EST today, set your web browser to USGA.org, click on the U.S. Girls Junior Championship, and then the "scoring" tab.
It is exciting stuff. Yesterday, one player had a hole in one and missed the cut by just one stroke; another shot a 63, which could very well be a course record for a woman at the decades old Hartford Golf Club (they were checking at day's end). LPGA player Morgan Pressel's sister Madison has made it through to match play, as has Daniela Lendl, the 15-year old daughter of tennis great Ivan. Kimberly Kim, 17, is in the field; she won the U.S. Women's Amateur at age 14, the youngest ever to do so. An 11-year old competed in the first two rounds, the youngest girl ever to make it in via sectional qualifying, but she missed the cut.
The future Ochoas, Wies, Parks and Creamers are lurking in the field. There is a lot to see, and learn.
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The Donald adds a note to his opus |
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Tuesday, 22 July 2008 |
All the public hearings have been conducted in Aberdeen, on the eastern coast of Scotland where Donald Trump is hoping to build his $1 billion resort, including homes, and where the plans are pitting neighbor against neighbor. Now the American millionaire will just wait for the ruling bodies to make their final decision. Not one to wait in silence, the showman Trump has announced he is planning to give his eventual Scottish employees each a non-polluting Smart Car, some believe, as compensation for wrecking their local sand dune structure. Meanwhile, Trump hustled off a letter to a local farmer who had risen in support of the resort at a town meeting. Naturally the letter, and a profile ofThe 79-year old farmer expects a stroke per hole from Trump.
On Trump's latest foray to Scotland, he stopped at the family's old stomping grounds - his mom was born somewhere in the area of the Outer Hebrides Islands - and the remote but famous Stonoway Golf Club offered him membership. He accepted, although if his course in Aberdeen doesn't get the green light, it cannot be too likely that Trump will revisit or that Mr. Henderson will get to play his "few holes" with the confection-coiffed one.
Trump, who probably believes in the old adage that there is no bad"If Birkdale were a one-hole course, [the 17th] green would be out of character with the rest of the course..." -- Geoff Ogilvy
"If Birkdale were a one-hole course," Ogilvy told the press, "this green would be out of character with the rest of the course. It's out of character with the land. It's out of character with the hole."
The 17th hole brought Trump into play because Martin Hawtree, the Donald's architect in Aberdeen, had been commissioned to redesign it. Hawtree responded to the complaints by Ogilvy and others by blaming the Royal & Ancient Golfing Society. "The R&A wanted spectator mounds," Hawtree told the press. "So now the green forms too much of a bowl shape. I'm taken aback by the depth of the reaction." He pledged to restore it to the original design he presented to the R&A if they ask him to do so.
If Mr. Hawtree believes the R&A pushed him around, wait until he starts his work for the Donald. The London betting house Ladbrokes will quote odds on just about anything, and it will be interesting to see if the odds are in the esteemed Mr. Hawtree's favor, or if he is more likely to be called into the boardroom eventually to hear the dreaded words, "You're fired!"
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More small talk...from one of our readers |
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Monday, 21 July 2008 |
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Our good friend and longtime reader, Brent Heppner, sent the following to me regarding the article yesterday on the trends toward downsizing and green living:
"Great article, Larry. Much like [your wife], my wife and I want to build green and "Simplify, Simplify, Simplify." You are right on point about the smaller houses stacked right on top of each other. I do not like it either. One of the things I struggle with is the fact that the developers scalp the land to make small home sites; this practice is far from green.
The competition to get the most amount of money out of the land by golf community developers lends itself to the smallest lots they can get away with, and still sell. This can be seen at many communities. The challenge is finding a community that is environmentally sound, yet not so ridiculously expensive that only a few can afford to live in it.
Keep up the good work."
As he prepares to move in a few years to a golf community, Brent has done way more research on the subject of building green than anyone I know, and I look forward to hearing about and reporting on his progress.
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