There is more to the Tour than Tiger and Phil...right Golf Channel?

For many (the "in the hole" yellers who consider a Budweiser the drink of champions) the PGA tour is entertainment.. The USGA and the R&A are the guardians of the game and have grappled with how to teach the finer aspects of the game to the ever growing "I'll wear jeans if I want to crowd "(and if you don't think this is a topic for debate, check out any golf forum. These particular discussions go on for pages and pages). Last week, as we watched, my friend Ali commented that the announcers were more mellow.. more like the Euro Tour announcers. More like gentlemen. Less like entertainment and the Kelly Tillman over the top type fake adoration that has a way of creeping into even the best at the game of broadcasting. The PGA tour is the envy of all major sports (except maybe NASCAR). Until Tiger got caught running around, relatively scandal free unless you include not paying one's taxes or an occasional DUI.. Millions to charity and a clean cut image rarely tarnishing until Tiger.. you get the point.. So Quail Hollow is up this week.. a great course.. a sponsorship problem with Wells Fargo thinking over how to "use" the venue to their advantage... meanwhile TGC channel in it's usual classless approach to things, is marketing the event as a showdown between Tiger and Phil... It's not Shell's Wonderful World of Golf.. It is one of the great stops on tour.. super course and usually a great field.. the fans deserve better.. The Golf Channel needs to stop being so downright goofy. Start by hiring Peter Alliss.. he who is not afraid to stand up for the gentlemanly aspects of the game... we could learn a thing or two from Peter...BTW: Does Tiger have a new caddie yet?

Year of The Wedge --

Short Game! So I'm stocking up (a little)... it is critical to have the right tools that you are used to (or do they become used to you?) when it comes to wedges. And it seems somewhat crazy to abandon a system that works. Have always tried to play a gap wedge that matches my irons (which I do now) and I play a 54 and a 58, 59 or 60 depending on the bounce configuration required for the course(s) I'm playing a lot. Currently I play most of my golf on a course that has fluffy bunkers. So a lob wedge with extra bounce is helpful. I rarely use any club other than my lob wedge for bunker shots. I match my iron shafts to my wedge shafts (currently nippon 950GH) .. this year I'm playing Mizuno MX-300's and am very pleased with them. 5 iron through Gap Wedge. My 54 degree wedges is a Mizuno MP T-10 and my lob wedge is a Callaway x-forged 58 bent to 59 for a little added bounce to help me get out of those fluffy bunkers I mentioned.. but I've been trading some notes with a friend who has proclaimed the Cleveland CG15 the game changer and Cleveland Golf  has certainly caught the attention of the "raters" winning the Hot List wedge category at Golf Digest. So I'll be constructing some CG15's with nippon shafts and look forward to reporting back.. I have played the callaway lob wedge for nearly 6 years.. not the same wedge mind you but the exact same model.. This year I will improve my bunker play which is currently a "concede a shot" strategy. Hard to shoot par when you give up a stroke every time you drop it into a bunker...My home course has tiny greens that are well protected. This is the year I get as good from the bunkers as I am chipping around the greens.

The following is a current ad featuring Cleveland's CEO Greg Hopkins:

Some recommended reading on short game improvement:

Tiger - It's great to have him back...

Nearly halfway in his round today, Tiger hit one of those shots.. The kind only he hits.. On the 460 yard 9th hole  he has 207 to the hole  for his second shot and he hits a 5i that draws 30 yards around a tree and lands 2/3 of the way onto the green,  holds and rolls easily to the back of the green. He then makes a 15 foot putt for birdie.. he missed 3 or 4 other putts by less than an inch.. his speed was good.. and he seemed to be having a good time as he interacted with others and even putting his hand on his playing partner's shoulder and sharing a smile as they made their way to 16. Nice. Hope this all works out for him..again...Oh and  By The Way: Couples has a one shot lead at -6 with Watson right behind him. It's the Masters.

Tiger at Augusta

I have to write this for my own sanity. Too many emails and so forth.. I understand recovery. I started the journey almost 30 years ago.. seen 'em come and go and I have no idea what Tiger should or should not do..BUT I do know this. When I was free of the things that brought me to my knees I was not free of the things that troubled me and I had to find peace. The easiest way to do that was to be decent in all my affairs. 

I met an old man.. Near 80 at the time who had been sober for nearly 40 years. He was willing to spend time with me. A lot of time with me.. and he showed me by his actions how to find the comfortable way of living that seems to elude so many who come in for a break in the action.. So if Tiger asked for my help, I'd know what to do with him... the same thing that kind old man (well there were times he was not so kind) did with me.. and as he used to say, "if you stop doing what you were doing, 85-90% of your troubles will go away in time. The steps will fix another 5% of your troubles and the rest you are going to have to learn to live with and be a man about it.".

But there's another Problem. Brad Faxon wrote on Golf.com that he was "much more concerned about Tiger's being treated by the Toronto doctor, Anthony Galea, who was arrested in Canada last October on drug charges, a doctor who admits to using human growth hormone.". Tiger needs to square up and be a man about everything.. He needs to fire Stevie and his management team and hire decent human beings with good manners. As we say, "if you want what we have and are willing to go to any length to get it, you only need to change one thing.. and that's everything." Good for Tom Watson  and Arnold Palmer for explaining their thinking about Tiger.. He's needs to take the questions and start to humbly act like a gentleman.. no more F-bombs on the course.. We've heard enough.. what a talent he is.. time to grow up.