Personalities

  • Congratulations Paul Goydos, Steve Stricker. Not So Much Love for LeBron James and the Sports Media.

    On the day when PGA Tour veteran Paul Goydos accomplished the most difficult feat in golf, virtually every newspaper sports section in America devoted its front page and bulk of its coverage to LeBron James’ decision on what team to take an overpriced contract with. It’s worth noting that LeBron did not actually win anything - and he never has won anything notable, not at the pro or amateur level – all he did to warrant such coverage was move to Miami. Goydos, on the other hand, deserves far more recognition then he is getting. He shot 59, the lowest score ...

  • The Pinehurst Cop Who Made Jim McLean a Famous Teaching Pro

    Tens of thousands of golfers have improved their skills and technique via the teaching and writings of the world-renowned instructor, Jim McLean. They might all be worse off in the swing department if a North Carolina patrolmen had shown a little mercy one warm evening 33 years ago. The year was 1977 and the PGA Tour’s Qualifying School was being played at the Pinehurst Resort in the Carolina Sandhills. That era was known for its continual experimentation with Q School formats and policies, and ’77 was certainly a tinkered-with edition of the annual ordeal. Known as a marathon that would stretch out ...

  • Signature Hole

    If you were anything like me in high school, you spent a lot of time during history class drawing impossibly difficult golf holes in your notebook.  What avid golfer doesn’t imagine he could design a great layout? Several years ago, Phoenix-based golf course architect Greg Nash-- Billy Casper’s partner, and designer of dozens of courses-- offered me the chance to quit day-dreaming and step up to the drawing board.  Nash agreed to build one golf hole of entirely my creation into a layout he was designing near Las Vegas. Nash was tired of golfers misunderstanding the difficult nature of course design.  He ...

  • Wild Tiger

    After resigning as Tiger Woods’ swing coach, Hank Haney said that it was strictly his decision and told Golf.com that “Tiger won’t spin it any other way.” Later, Woods wrote on his website that “Hank Haney and I have agreed that he will no longer be my coach.” If not backspin, that’s at least some sidespin, no? The story behind the Haney resignation story is that it was probably a case of, “You can’t fire me, I quit.” (Or “You can’t quit me, I’m fired,” as the old joke goes.) There have been rumors and reports of Woods sending out feelers to other teachers, ...

  • Tim Clark was no choker, even before the Players

    The final round of the Players Championship could have been titled Three Men Desperately in Search of a Win (for this post, we’ll ignore the subplot titled Pain in the Neck, more on that later). The leader, Lee Westwood, hadn’t won in his last 125 PGA Tour events since a lone victory in 1998, and had finished second or third in the last three major championships. He was being chased by Robert Allenby, winless in 222 PGA Tour starts since his last win in 2001, and Tim Clark, who had never won in 205 attempts on the PGA Tour. Clark emerged as ...

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