{"id":137,"date":"2010-08-14T13:34:26","date_gmt":"2010-08-14T13:34:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/teemoore.com\/?p=137"},"modified":"2010-08-14T13:34:26","modified_gmt":"2010-08-14T13:34:26","slug":"legends-of-the-game-open-harbor-shores-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/golf\/137\/legends-of-the-game-open-harbor-shores-2","title":{"rendered":"Legends of the Game Open Harbor Shores"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_139\" style=\"width: 1034px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2010\/08\/44104-hi-HarborShores25.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-139\" class=\"size-large wp-image-139\" title=\"44104-hi-HarborShores2\" src=\"http:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2010\/08\/44104-hi-HarborShores25-1024x638.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"638\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-139\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Industrial wasteland was transformed at Harbor Shores<\/p><\/div>\n<p>(Benton Harbor,  Mich.) If there was a moment that summed up the charm and the relaxed competition of the Champions for Change charity skins exhibition in Benton Harbor, MI, featuring Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Tom Watson, and Johnny Miller, it occurred on the par-four third hole at Nicklaus\u2019s newly opened Golf Club of Harbor Shores. After long stout drives that carried a cross bunker some 210 yards from the tee, Nicklaus and Watson bantered as they walked down the fairway. Nicklaus asked Watson from where he traveled to get to Benton Harbor, the depressed community in southwest Michigan whose hopes for economic development have surged with the opening of the 530-acre beach and resort community. Watson replied, \u201cI came here from Kansas City; it was only a 90 minute flight.\u201d With that as introduction, Nicklaus broke into quiet song, reciting lyrics of \u201c<em>Kansas  City<\/em>\u201d from the venerable and popular stage play <em>Oklahoma<\/em><em>! <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p>As they strolled toward their drives, Nicklaus and Watson\u2014holders of 26 major championships between them &#8212; exchanged slightly off-key verses of the song.<\/p>\n<p><em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u201c Ev&#8217;rythin&#8217;s up to date in Kansas   City<br \/>\nThey&#8217;ve gone about as fur as they c&#8217;n go!<br \/>\nThey went and built a skyscraper seven stories high,<br \/>\nAbout as high as a buildin&#8217; orta grow.<br \/>\nEv&#8217;rythin&#8217;s like a dream in Kansas   City\u2026\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>What a picture: two longtime friends singing a Broadway ditty, relishing each other\u2019s company while playing in an event that attracted a sell-out gallery of 3500 happy golf fans. That\u2019s why you attend such an exhibition\u2014to catch a more personal side to these legends, to bathe in their presence as the tide of time slowly takes them away.<\/p>\n<p>The same \u2018good time\u2019 vibe was felt at the morning Champions Clinic where the bantering and one liners were delivered with Henny Youngman-like speed and precision. For example:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A      miked Johnny Miller started things off by examining Watson\u2019s bag and says      to the gallery, \u201cYou can always tell the guys who are having trouble      putting when you see four or five putters in their bag.\u201d And he followed      up: \u201cBut it\u2019s the same with guys who aren\u2019t driving it well. They have      three, four drivers in the bag. Heck, Tiger\u2019s got a barrel of \u2018em!\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Miller      later said about Tiger: \u201cI don\u2019t think he\u2019s gonna beat Jack\u2019s record (of      18 majors.)<\/li>\n<li>Jack      in turn reluctantly took up the topic: \u201cI don\u2019t care about the record. OK,      I do care&#8212;everyone cares about their record. But if someone comes along,      like Tiger, and plays well and puts in the time and wins more majors, then      I\u2019ll be first to congratulate him. That\u2019s the way it should be.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Miller      explained two key swing tips: one: to make sure a player\u2019s divot starts      ahead of the ball by thinking \u201cbrushing the ball\u201d; and two: \u201cdon\u2019t lift up      the left side through impact.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Nicklaus      said it was important for aspiring players to have \u201ctheir own system to      hit the golf ball.\u201d Nicklaus also said modern swing fundamentals are so      prevalent and widely adopted that a player\u2019s natural tendencies and tempo are      lost. \u201cUnder pressure, a player must rely on his natural swing or it will      break down.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Nicklaus      related how his vaunted pre-shot alignment method started at the 1970      British Open at St. Andrews. \u201cI was      having a devil of a time out on the course trying to get a line or      direction for my shots. So finally I decided to pick out a spot a foot or      a yard in front of my ball and used that mark to line up my shot. I\u2019ve      used it ever since.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Palmer      had a number of good quips starting with, \u201cI just watched Tom Watson hit      the ball and I\u2019m already tired!\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div id=\"attachment_140\" style=\"width: 1034px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2010\/08\/44104-hi-HarborShores3.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-140\" class=\"size-large wp-image-140\" title=\"44104-hi-HarborShores\" src=\"http:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2010\/08\/44104-hi-HarborShores3-1024x682.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-140\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lavish bunkering is found at the par-three second hole<\/p><\/div>\n<p>The Golf Club of Harbor Shores is noteworthy for how it reclaimed industrial wasteland and transformed it into a championship-caliber course already chosen (indicative of the Nicklaus clout) for the 2012 and 2014 PGA Senior Championship. It has a variety of looks as it meanders through woods, marshland, river and sand dunes along Lake Michigan. In keeping with his design tenets, Nicklaus affords space off the tee with ample fairways. The greens are generally large with lots of movement and slope in them; a few boast multiple tiers so accurate approach shots will be demanded. Surely the most popular holes will be those near and alongside scenic Lake Michigan. The par-four 7<sup>th<\/sup> hole heads due west toward the lake with the green nestled 25 ft atop a dune. Any short approach shot will roll to the bottom of the hill. For sheer beauty, the tee shot at the par-five 9<sup>th<\/sup> hole will take top honors. The tee is perched 60 ft above the fairway with marvelous views of Lake  Michigan behind the player.<\/p>\n<p>The most controversial hole may be the par-five 10<sup>th<\/sup>. It sports a green measuring a gargantuan 10,500 square feet in size and with four different tiers. In the exhibition match, after being needled by Miller for the severity of the green, Nicklaus dropped an extra ball on the front of the green and aimed his putter at the flagstick some 100 feet away on the back tier. Amazingly, Nicklaus holed the putt to thunderous applause. It was the shot of the day even though it didn\u2019t count. To the thousands of fans in attendance that didn\u2019t matter a lick. They were just happy to be around these icons of the game lending optimism and goodwill to their ambitious community project now officially on the map.<\/p>\n<p>Images courtesy of The Golf Club at Harbor Shores<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>(Benton Harbor, Mich.) If there was a moment that summed up the charm and the relaxed competition of the Champions&#8230;  <a class=\"excerpt-read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/golf\/137\/legends-of-the-game-open-harbor-shores-2\" title=\"ReadLegends of the Game Open Harbor Shores\">Read more &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47,"featured_media":138,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,17],"tags":[3021,1036820,2832,2834,3018,100,3020,2793],"class_list":["post-137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-golf","category-courses-and-travel","tag-miller","tag-golf","tag-terry-moore","tag-michigan","tag-harbor-shores","tag-nicklaus","tag-palmer","tag-watson"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2010\/08\/44104-hi-HarborShores24.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/47"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=137"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":142,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137\/revisions\/142"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/138"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/teemoore\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}