The Hardest Course to Get On

My learned readers have spoken and agree that Augusta National is the hardest course in the United States to get on because you have to play with member and only fifteen or so live locally. Also, a member can only have three guests on the property at one time. For added difficulty, take a look at the list of members, half are CEOs or ex-CEOs and it's not particularly easy to wiggle an invite from the likes of Warren Buffett, Bill Gates or Lou Gerstner, Jr. 61% voted Augusta National as the most difficult course to get on.

I'm still trying to get on Augusta and have two leads I am pursuing. A friend recently played and send me a long email about the experience, which sounds better everytime I hear a new story. "My bed in the Berckman's Cabin was merely a place to lay down, the ability to sleep was impossible," pretty much sums up the experience.

Cypress Point came in as the second most difficult at 15%. Again, a small membership of 250 members, only 75 of whom live locally. Chicago Golf Club came in third at 8%, because there are only 125 total members. Fishers Island came in 4th at 7%, Seminole at 4% and Shinnecock at 1%. Let's keep the list in perspective, though, all six courses are exceedingly difficult to get access to.

Thank you for all those that took the time to vote. A new poll question regarding the best architect of all time has just been launched.

My next post is my ever popular year and review with reader comments, followed by Camargo.

Tiger Woods Rumors Lure the Tabloids to Golf...

The tabloid media has grown in prominence dramatically over the last several years. Gossip around the private lives of celebrities has overtaken actually substantive topics across America's water coolers. Nothing is more telling than the simultaneous explosive growth of TMZ and PerezHilton.com in contrast with the near bankruptcies being faced by legitimate news stalwarts such as the New York Times.

But golf has seemed to be immune to this tabloid pandemic. Unfortunately, Tiger Woods' enormous popularity placed him under its greasy microscope. All it took was something minutely unusual in the petri dish for them to pounce. That indeed occurred over Thanksgiving when Tiger drove his Caddy around like a carnival bumper car with his wife going all Nicholson on it (let's just hope it wasn't with his priceless Scotty Cameron putter!). Like a herd of great whites drawn to a drop of blood, the media descended upon Tiger's Isleworth sanctuary with dollar signs in their eyes. Could this be evidence of a domestic issue?!

So friggin' what? A couple of years ago on my Bandon Dunes golf vacation, a friend of mine told us he knew a person close to Tiger's entourage. According to him, Tiger was quite the Casanova who was not opposed to "stepping out" and playing much more than just 18-holes. He also emphasized that it was more about quantity rather than quality. I didn't entertain the discussion because I didn't really care. Lots of people step out and it's almost a given amongst pro athletes. Big deal.

It turns out that it is a big deal to many. The Chinese have gone so far as to create a CGI re-enactment of the whole incident. Not quite Pixar, but way too polished than it should be and just another sign that the end is near (I wonder if they actually mocapped Elin swinging that club!):



But why all this attention? My guess is that people somehow build up a fanciful notion that famous people lead perfect lives. When anything surfaces to dispel these fantasies, it devastates them. It's just absurd. In the case of Tiger Woods, why should we think that he is better than us commoners at anything outside of playing golf? As a society, we need to come to the realization that all people suffer from faults. No amount of fame can make them go away. If anything, fame does the opposite. It would be naive to think otherwise. Accept it and move on. There are many more important things in the world be concerned.

To those who still think that most famous people stay on the straight and narrow, just remember that a wise man, Chris Rock, once said, "A man is only as faithful as his options." Ponder that for a minute. It's probably safe to assume that virtually all famous people are cheating. Certainly that's a better assumption for us as a whole than to deitize them if we want to put an end to the tabloid fascination. Lastly, for the record, I'm an extremely faithful guy by choice, not due to a lack of options!

P.S. Check out some of my blog friends' posts on this topic:

Hooked on Golf Blog

Mike Pederson Golf

The World's Top 100 Photo Montage

The winter months always present a challenge to post new write-ups. Over the next couple of months we will present our year end review and some other interesting posts that will no doubt dazzle my readers. The year end review is always one of my favorites because I recount reader comments from throughout the year. I have a trip planned to Australia in March so the spring and summer should be filled with a rich line-up of new course postings.

At great sacrifice to my family and work I have been traveling the world in the service of my faithful readers to report back my view of the top golf courses in the world. I've been toting my digital camera for the last four and have accumulated a nice collection of photos from the far corners of the earth. Here for your viewing pleasure, I have assembled my own favorites together in one place. Alfred Hitchcock has also inspired me to insert a cameo appearance in one of the photos.

Like the lovely lass in Seinfeld, there have been no touch-ups. All my pictures are real and they're spectacular. Enjoy!

Cypress Point's par three 15th hole

Cypress Point's par three 3rd green

Cypress Point's 17th along Monterey Bay

The approach to Valderrama's second with the ubiquitous cork trees

The beauty of Loch Lomond's par three fifth hole

Rossdhu House, Loch Lomond's world beating clubhouse

The par three 14th at Crystal Downs in Michigan

Maidstone's par three fourteenth along the Atlantic Ocean

The 9th hole at Myopia Hunt Club, Massachusetts on a fall day

Sweeping the dew at Somerset Hills 6th hole, site of a former race track

The view from the elevated tee on the 15th at Friar's Head, New York

Inside the clubhouse at The National Golf Links of America, New York

Sebonack's 11th hole at dusk, Southampton, New York

The exciting Entry drive at Yeamans Halls, Charleston, South Carolina

Seminole's pink clubhouse, Juno Beach, Florida

Sunrise at Cabo del Sol, Mexico

The desert meets the ocean at the 6th, Cabo del Sol, Mexico

The "horseshoe" third green at Yeamans Hall, South Carolina

The 11th, "Short" hole at Camargo Club, Cincinatti

The mystical approach to Morfontaine, north of Paris

The wild par three 4th hole at Morfontaine's Valliere Course, France

The magical par three 17th hole at Chantilly, France

Durban's 3rd hole routed through the bush, South Africa

Durban's 17th hole with wild-undulating fairway, South Africa

The narrow first tee shot at Naruo, near Kobe, Japan

The automatic traction system that shuttles clubs around Naruo, Japan

The massively sloping 14th fairway at Japan's Hirono Golf Club

The mist lifting on the 17th hole at Kawana Golf Club, Japan

The world-class par five 15th hole at Kawana, Japan

The uphill dog-leg, wavy fairway on the 8th hole, Prairie Dunes, Kansas

Whad'Ya Know? Wie Actually Won!

Well, it finally happened. Michelle Wie actually won a legitimate professional golf tournament. It occurred at the Lorena Ochoa Invitational over some of the top women golfers in the world.

While I've always thought that Michelle would win on the pro circuit someday, I didn't think that it would take this long. I had some serious doubts a couple of years ago when her pursuit of distance to compete with the dudes led to some questionable swing changes. But her Ernie Els-like swing of old returned last year and she was able to go flag hunting. She was competitive in many tournaments before her breakthrough win.

So what now? Obviously, it is a tremendous weight lifted off of her shoulders. The kind of pressure to win this kid must have built over the years must have been absolutely maddening. With every loss the PSIs were raised a notch. But the relief of winning must have been equally euphoric.

I think that the boost to her confidence from her first win could propel her to multiple win seasons in the near future. LPGA majors are certainly part of the picture. Why not? Have you seen the names of the recent winners of LPGA majors? Since Annika left, it's a who's who list of "who?". Over the last 3 years, the World's #1 Lorena Ochoa has taken only 2 majors. The rest are players likely to be unrecognized at my local muni. Clearly, there's plenty of opportunity for Wie to win majors in the current competitive landscape. We'll see what happens, but I'm sure that it will interesting to watch regardless. Good luck Michelle!

Tom Clasby: Golf Magazine Panelist of the Year

The following was published on Golf.com on October 10, 2009. Nice article, but Tom broke the cardinal rule. And people think I'm obsessive!

By Joe Passov, Senior Editor, Golf Magazine.

Call it a hobby, a passion, or even a quest. GOLF Magazine is fortunate to boast no fewer than 12 Panelists who have played at least one version of the Top 100 Courses in the World. In the case of Panelist Tom Clasby, however, it's more accurate to label it an obsession. At least that's what his wife calls it.

In early 2009, Clasby knocked off Singapore Island Country Club, Malaysia's Royal Selangor Golf Club, Taiwan Golf Club and Wack Wack Golf Club in the Philippines. In doing so, Clasby became the only man in history to play every course that's ever appeared on any GOLF Magazine ranking list since the lists first appeared in 1979. Opinion is divided as to whether we should reward Clasby with a silver plaque or a session with a shrink. Either way, his accomplishment is remarkable. Understandably, the journey hasn't been without its perils. However, the affable 58-year-old Southern Californian takes it in stride.

"I started my quest 20 years ago," says Clasby. "My first wife didn't get it. My second wife got it." These days, Clasby takes his wife and 11-year-old son on as many excursions as possible. His job as an engineering business development consultant and his Olympic Club membership have provided Clasby with flexibility and access, but most of his conquests are born of sheer will — and boatloads of networking. He estimates he's flown 280,000 miles and spent roughly $230,000 to play them all. In the psycho-travel department, perhaps his 1999 trip to play Japan's Naruo C.C. stands alone: He left for Japan from L.A. on a Wednesday at noon and was back in L.A. on Friday at noon. Another nightmare itinerary took him to play Ireland's Old Head, South Africa's Durban Country Club and New Zealand's Paraparumu — in one trip. It amounted to 55 hours of flying in eight days, ten flights on five different carriers.

In all of this, Clasby is the perfect dinner companion, conversant on a wide variety of topics. Most of the "Clasbys" of the world are pretty one-dimensional. Not this Clasby. He's also visited 52 baseball parks in the U.S., sports real estate and professional engineering licenses and has successfully completed an Ironman Triathlon.

Best moment on a Top 100 course? "Getting engaged to my wonderful wife Ginger on the 18th tee box at Pebble Beach in 1993 was one of my all-time highlights." Toughest course to get onto? "Augusta National, by far! I got on because I was lucky enough to work the Masters as a forecaddie, which is almost equally impossible to playing the course itself. Some of the nicest, most understanding people helped, but it took five long years of begging and hounding everyone I ever met to get to these people." Courses he would not need to see again? "Royal Durban, which was surely mistaken for Durban Country Club in the early listing, and Marbella in southern Spain."

So what keeps Clasby going? We've got a dozen new courses on our World and U.S. Top 100 lists, so he's got a few trips to make to stay current. Kudos to Clasby, however: He's already played nine of them. Hey, what can you say — he's obsessed — and he's a great panelist.