Royal St. George's - Sandwich

Bond. James Bond. The famous golf match between James Bond and Auric Goldfinger is set at the fictional stand in for the Royal St. George's Golf Club (ranked #33 in the world) - Royal St. Mark's in the book. Ian Fleming served as captain of the club.

This Month Marks Two Years of Grouchy Golf!

About two years ago, I was dying to get one of those newfangled Gmail beta accounts. At the time, they were hard to come by, and I was too cheap to buy one on eBay.

I had heard that Google was giving away gmail accounts to users of Blogger, a subsidiary of Google. I figured, what the heck? I'll sign up for a stupid Blogger account to receive a Gmail account. That's easy. I waited and waited, and no gmail invite. I reasoned that I needed to actually use Blogger to receive that coveted Gmail invite. I had never even heard of "blogging". But I was so determined to get that friggin' Gmail account, I started a shill blog called "Grouchy Golf". My first post was short and sweet, because I figured that one post would qualify me for a Gmail account. But when I still didn't receive a Gmail invite, I created another post to better my chances. That began a vicious cycle: no invite, new post, spin cycle, repeat. Eventually, I directed some friends to Grouchy Golf for fun. They got a kick out of it so I continued to create new posts for our amusement. Two years later, and I'm still going strong! The ironic thing is that I never did receive that dog-gone Gmail invite from Blogger! Newman!

FIGJAM - Ego Cost Phil Mickelson the U.S. Open

Have you ever heard of the term "FIGJAM"? Apparently, it is widely used on the PGA Tour to describe fan-favorite Phil Mickelson. FIGJAM is an acronym standing for "F#ck I'm Good, Just Ask Me." According to an article in GQ magazine, "There are a bunch of pros who think he and his whole smiley, happy face are a fraud. They think he's preening and insincere."

That's what I've thought all along. It's convenient that Phil's peers, the people who truly know him the best, have already coined a term to describe him so accurately. Whenever I see that pompous Phil Mickelson smirk on TV, my mind automatically superimposes a cartoon-like thought bubble next to his head filled with those words, "F#ck I'm Good, Just Ask Me." That phrase fits his expression to a tee!

But being a FIGJAM, by definition, requires a massive ego. Unfortunately, such megalomania often clouds sound decision-making. That was exactly what happened to Phil at the 2006 U.S. Open at Winged Foot.

Playing in front of a Phil-friendly crowd, Phil was determined to show off his golf skills at every available opportunity. Time and time again, Phil chose to dazzle rather than to play it smart. For the most part, he got away with it, flashing that FIGJAM smile whenever he did. But when you laugh in the faces of the Golf Gods, expect to be struck down.

Holding a one shot lead on the 18th tee, Mickelson only needed a par for the victory. A safe fairway wood off the tee would have been the wise choice, but that's beneath a FIGJAM. No, a FIGJAM needs to hit driver to impress. Phil sliced his drive so badly off the tee that it hit a hospitality tent and landed between the trees onto the spectator-trampled rough. Chipping back onto the fairway would have all but guaranteed a bogey and a playoff with Geoff Ogilvy, but again, that's beneath a FIGJAM. Phil just couldn't resist the temptation of bringing the house down with a miraculous 3-iron through the trees and onto the green. Only the miracle didn't happen. Phil's ill-advised 2nd shot hit a tree and dashed his hopes of winning.

"Discretion is the better part of valor" is an old expression derived from Shakespeare's King Henry the Fourth. It means that caution is preferable to rash bravery. Phil must not have paid much attention in English class because it is a lesson that he continues to ignore and this time it cost him a U.S. Open. But I don't think that he was too upset by it since he was smiling the whole time.

Hoylake - The Royal Liverpool Golf Club - Far and Sure

Royal Liverpool's historic clubhouse

Wow!

Legendary. Historic. Welcoming. A classic golf course. World renowned history. Welcome to the Royal Liverpool Golf Club (ranked #72 in the world), also known as Hoylake after the town it is located in. It has been 39 years since the R & A has held the open championship at Hoylake and the world is in for a treat. The last open held there was before the massive media and television coverage golf receives today. This is one of golf's true gems and the opening will most likely be its coming out party to the modern era of golf.

Hoylake is the third oldest course on the top 100 list, built in 1869, it is pre-dated only by The Old Course at St. Andrews and Carnoustie. The first Amateur Championship was held here in 1885. The course has hosted the open championship ten times. This is one of the four courses Bobby Jones won the grand slam on in 1930, winning the open championship here that year. The clubhouse at Hoylake displays its history better than any other we've been to yet. Where else in the world are there the signed original winning score cards of Bobby Jones, Walter Hagen and memorabilia from two of golf's early historical figures John Ball and Harold Hilton?

The one knock you hear about Royal Liverpool is that it has too many holes that have out of bounds and in particular too many with internal out of bounds, known locally as 'cops' which allegedly makes for bad golf. There are 10 holes that have an O.B. My view is that the 'rule' among golf's cognoscenti that too many O.B.'s makes a bad course is complete rubbish and Royal Liverpool proves it. Even for a non-scratch golfer, such as myself, I didn't find that the O.B. came into play that often. When it does, it is very strategically placed and you are duly penalized for hitting a poor shot.

I played the course recently while it was being prepared for the Open Championship. Located about 15 minutes outside of Liverpool on the Wirral peninsula, you leave the City of Liverpool through the Queensway tunnel. The tunnel is over two miles long and winds its way under the Mersey in an unsettling fashion for those who aren't used to driving on the left side of the road. Once you pull into the course the dramatic clubhouse (pictured above) is most inviting. The course is behind the clubhouse and is dramatic. Half the grandstands were up and the course was re-configured with the new routing. The original first hole now plays as the third, the 17th plays as the first and the 18th as the 2nd. Holes 4 through 18 continue in the original order, previously having been the 2nd through 16th holes. I found every hole to be a good hole. The routing is interesting and varied. The use of bunkers is very strategic. For example, on the 4th hole, a line of bunkers on the left forces you to hit where the fairway narrows on the right side with no margin for error.

A hole we are adding onto our list of the world's best is the third (pictured above), formerly the first. It is a terrifying par four with a dogleg right. The tee shot doesn't look that hard, but it is. You flirt with O.B. on the right off the tee and aiming left leaves you a longer shot into the green or in the rough. The dogleg is sharp and after the turn in the dogleg the whole is ruler-straight, with O.B. all the way down the right. There are NO bunkers on the hole but it is one of the best par fours in golf. I couldn't imaging how much harder it played being hole #1 without warming up first.

Holes 11-15 along the River Dee are gorgeous as you overlook North Wales across the way. The day we played the course there was a 4+ club wind. You had to aim your tee shot on the 151 yard par three 50 yards left at the TV tower setup off the green in preparation for the open. And even then your ball was blown off the right side of the green. It was good playing Hoylake in its difficult wind-blown condition, which it has a reputation for.

The clubhouse is one of the most inviting, intimate and welcoming in the world of golf. They have a world class golf book library, memorabilia second only to the R & A and an awesome dining room with pictures of every club captain going back to 1885 wearing the red jacket bestowed on the office-holder.

The Smoke Room in the Royal Liverpool Clubhouse

Congratulations to the R & A for putting Royal Liverpool back in the rota. Now to really make things interesting drop either Royal Troon or Royal Birkdale and play the open here at least once a decade my friends!

Royal Liverpool should be ranked at least 30 places higher on the world rankings. Of the three world ranked courses on the Lancashire coast of England near Liverpool England, Hoylake is the best, easily a better course than both nearby Royal Lytham and Birkdale. Thus far, if there is one club overseas I would like to join, this is it. The place has it all.

As the club's motto says - Far and Sure!

Post Script - July 2006

Congratulations to Tiger Woods, The Royal Liverpool Golf Club and the R & A for hosting a fantastic championship. Hoylake proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that it belongs back in the rota with a regular spot. I look forward to visiting again and seeing Tiger's signed winning score card hanging alongside Jones and Hagens in the downstairs bar. Great courses produce great champions.

Is Carolyn Bivens Running the LPGA into the Ground?

I enjoy watching LPGA events just as much as that of the PGA. In certain cases, I prefer the LPGA. For example, given the choice between watching an LPGA major or a non-major PGA event, I always choose the LPGA.

That was the situation I was expecting to face this weekend as I sat down on my comfy leather couch. I took a sip of my tasty beverage and powered up the old boob tube. I knew that the LPGA's 2nd Major, the McDonald's LPGA Championship, had just started. I flipped the channels to find the television coverage. NBC - nada. ABC - zilch. CBS - the Barclays Classic. What's the dealio?

I checked my trusty TV Guide. My worst fears were confirmed. None of the major networks were televising the McDonald's LPGA! Instead, the Golf Channel was covering all four rounds. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love the Golf Channel. However, I had to drop it from my cable service after it moved into the premium sports tier and pushed my monthly cable bill over a Benjamin.

Regardless, I was just dumbfounded that no major broadcast network picked up the final rounds of an LPGA major at a minimum. Since I had nothing else to do, I jumped onto the internet to find out the scoop. According to the article, "The McDonald's turns to TGC" by Jay A. Coffin in the April 18, 2006 issue of Golfweek:

The McDonald's LPGA Championship will receive four more hours of coverage this year but it will not be shown on network television for the first time in nearly two decades. After 15 years on CBS, the tournament announced April 17 a three-year deal with The Golf Channel, making it the first major championship on the LPGA broadcast solely by the network.

Had the major networks simply lost interest in the LPGA? Apparently not. According to "Major savings?" by Ron Sirak in the May 26, 2006 issue of Golf World:

Jon Miller, NBC's senior vice president of sports, said when NBC learned CBS was giving up the McDonald's (because tournament officials wouldn't agree to the network's request for a 3 p.m. Sunday finish), he called the LPGA and told commissioner Carolyn Bivens his network would like to take over the telecast. But Miller says Bivens told him McDonald's officials had already decided to go with The Golf Channel; when Miller pressed her on it, Bivens told him the decision was "out of the LPGA's hands."

Why would any tournament, particularly a major, opt to give up broadcast network coverage? Money is the most obvious answer. A source familiar with the situation, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said McDonald's saved $1.2 million a year by going to The Golf Channel instead of a network. Unlike the PGA Tour, the LPGA buys network time for its tournament broadcasts, then sells the commercials itself to try to recoup its cost. The source told Golf World it would have cost $1.5 million to put the McDonald's on CBS (or, presumably, NBC), but just $300,000 on The Golf Channel.

Unfriggin'believable. Sure, it's cheaper to broadcast an event on The Golf Channel, but the revenue opportunities are a lot less as well. Also, with the emergence of new and exciting young female golfers such as Michelle Wie, Morgan Pressel, Paula Creamer, etc., isn't this the best time for the LPGA to invest in the tour's exposure? These future golf stars deserve the spotlight of broadcast network coverage to capitalize on a new wave of viewer interest. The Golf Channel's miniscule audience just doesn't cut it.

How could the LPGA let this happen? Someone clearly dropped the ball big-time. Ultimately, Bivens must take responsibility for this sorry state of affairs. If her blunders persist, she will lose the support of the players, including one that's not yet a member but may be key to the LPGA's future: Michelle Wie.

Many people have been critical of Michelle Wie's limited LPGA schedule. The fact of the matter is that Wie is not an LPGA member and is limited to playing a maximum number of eight LPGA events this year. Not only is Wie playing as many LPGA events that she can, but she actually entered a much more difficult U.S. Open Sectional qualifier to be able to play in the McDonald's. She could have easily skipped the McDonald's to play in a much easier U.S. Open Sectional qualifier that would have almost guaranteed her chances to make history at Winged Foot. That's a pretty big sacrifice. How much more could Wie do for the LPGA? Outside of maxing out LPGA events, Wie plays in the best events that she is invited, whether it be a men's or women's event. Considering that Wie lives in Hawaii, it makes a whole lot of sense.

If Carolyn Bivens continues to penny-pinch the LPGA into obscurity, maybe Wie would be better off to remain a part-timer on the LPGA. Why play on a tour where only a fraction of the population can view it? I wouldn't blame Wie if she were to bypass the LPGA altogether. I'd be in favor if it meant that I could watch her more often. Bivens needs to increase the LPGA's visibility, not lessen it. If she can't grasp this obvious and simple concept, she is totally clueless and needs to step down immediately. After only ten months as the queen bee, Bivens has already seen the departure of seven senior LPGA executives, two of them she had hired. Asked why she bolted from her post as the senior vice president of golf, Deb Richard responded, "I've lost faith in the leadership." Let me translate that cryptic message for you, "Carolyn Bivens is running the LPGA into the ground and I'd better bail out now before the $hit really hits the fan." Ty Votaw, you are sorely missed.