By: Pro From Dover

2010…you had to see it to believe it. Here are just a handful of the curiosities:

• Phil and Tiger winning  just one tournament between them? Tiger can’t remember a year when he didn’t win a tournament. And if we forecast zero for 2010 for Eldrick, we would have figured Phil would win a few.
• A couple of 59’s? Stuart Appleby and Paul Goydos did it and we certainly couldn’t have made that call.
• The Majors winners! Okay, Phil figures at the Masters,  but Ireland’s Graeme McDowell at Pebble for the US Open? South Africa’s Louis Oothuizen wins The Open at St. Andrews leading most of the way and Germany’s Martin Kaymer takes advantage of a goof by Dustin Johnson at Whistling Straights to win the PGA. If you put anything down with Ladbrokes on those outcomes you’d be finishing your new house on the French Riviera about now. Read the rest of this entry »
  

By: Pro From Dover

As the sun finally broke through in Wales, there were a lot more winners than losers at the Ryder Cup.

First, the losers:

• Wales Tourism. Yeesh. A monsoon reinforced the image that when one is in the British Isles, dreary weather is always a factor.
• The PGA Tour. Because they stubbornly insisted that the dates of the Fed Ex play offs be  fixed thus pushing the Ryder Cup to October, a time when rain is not rare in Wales. Their enmity toward the PGA of America probably contributed to the decision.
• The many television viewers who were deprived of seeing the singles matches live with the final day moved to Monday. Read the rest of this entry »
  

By: Pro From Dover

Listening to commentators during recent golf tournaments, one would think US Ryder Cup captain, Corey Pavin, must be chewing his finger nails to the knuckle worrying about his Tiger Woods dilemma. Oh, please.

By rule (simplified,) the top eight ranked US players in money earnings for the year, through the upcoming PGA Championship, are automatically on the team. Then Pavin has four  “captain’s picks” from the rest of American golfers. He is free to pick anyone he wishes and is certainly not bound by tradition or rite to pick players ranked nine through 12.

There’s as  much art as science in the captain’s picks. Who is really playing well and not just winning money? Some guys excel at match play others do not. Some players are positive, upbeat, love to be around them people, others are not. Some will accept a limited role playing only a couple of matches, others may not. Read the rest of this entry »

By: Pro From Dover

Many knowledgeable observers believe NHL  Hockey Hall of Famer Ray Bourque is the best all-around defenseman to ever play the game. His stellar career included election to the NHL First All Star team 13 times. With 410 goals and 1169 assists, he is the highest scoring defenseman in NHL history and he retired as number eight among all players in games played. He capped his 22 season career with a Stanley Cup in 2001 and then retired.

Just as hockey was a passion, so is golf. Recently, we sat with the ever congenial five handicapper at his home on the North Shore of Boston to talk about his game.

Ray Bourque, “My dad used to take my brother, Ricky, and me to caddy for him and his buddies at a local course outside of Montreal when we were 12 or 13 years old. After he played and went in for a beer, my brother and I would go to the range and just whack balls for an hour.

“We didn’t really get any formal teaching. It was just kind of watching others and picking it up as we went along. I had a close friend and mentor, Benoit LeDuc, who was a pretty good player and he helped a bit.

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By: Pro From Dover

It’s still number two in our heart but The Open Championship played last week on the Old Course at St. Andrews was just wonderful from start to finish. The only thing it lacked was a nail biting conclusion but we’ll get to that in a moment.

We love the fact a guy with the nickname Shrek lead for the last 48 holes. Many observers, including yours truly, were waiting for Louis Oosthuizen to pull a Jean Van de Velde or even a Dustin Johnson. But the 27 year old journeyman from South Africa seemed to get stronger as the pressure built.

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By: Pro From Dover

Just thinking about shooting a 59 for 18 holes on a PGA Tour caliber course, makes us choke.

On the other hand, we have shot 59 just about every time we’ve played eighteen holes, so what’s the big deal? Of course, it’s usually reached around the 13th hole but that’s beside the point. (Our personal best was a 70 on a par 71 course many, many years ago. Just gripping the club the last few holes was a major challenge as we realized what was possible.)

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By: Pro From Dover

We’re back from a short stint on the DL. We played (and walked) our first two rounds of the year last week and it was like being reborn. Gimme an Amen, brother!

With the storm of  the century having left courses battered and behind the calendar, not much was missed. A pal at Andover CC reports their greens were hammered by the winter resulting in all the front nine being replaced. Ouch! Our home course escaped with some minor scratchiness but we’ve heard lots of horror stories of damage left by the ice. Now we need hot, humid air but there isn’t much nearby.

So we enter another season of comments and observations about the game we love. Read the rest of this entry »

By: Pro From Dover

A kid in a candy store? A hungry dog with a pork chop? Tiger walking into the Foxy Lady?

Your humble Pro in the Professional Golfers Association of America 57th Annual Merchandise Show? Call it euphoria!

We’ve heard about the show and have been curious about it for years so we traveled to Orlando to check it out. It was definitely worth the trip. The industry considers this the kick-off of a new golf year. Read the rest of this entry »

By: Pro from Dover

For many of us New Englanders, the golf season doesn’t end until we say it ends.

Ah, well, not so fast.

Mother Nature just lowered the boom. Saturday we could see green grass and with just a few more degrees of temperature or a little less wind, we might have squeezed in another nine.

Gone. Done. Fini. Read the rest of this entry »

By: Pro From Dover

The last time out seven weeks ago, if we counted all the strokes, we wouldn’t have broken 100. This by a player who started learning the game 50 years ago, was as low as a five handicap at one point and entered this season playing to an eight.

It was not a pretty sight. Worse, the rest of the foursome quickly tired of our incessant whining.

We’ve praised golf in many ways over many years but the core attribute of the game comes down to one word: fun. Golf offers a challenging sport on a beautiful venue alongside people with whom we want to spend time. It’s great exercise when walking. It’s healthy. It gets the competitive juices flowing. But most of all it’s fun.

Struggling to break 100 when accustomed to occasional rounds in the 70’s and the majority in the 80’s is like sticking needles under ones’ fingernails. We were angry, frustrated, confused but most of all, we were unhappy and we were lousy company. The game ceased to be fun. We began looking for reasons to not play.

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