So you get relief from a cart path but not a public traffic area?

Dustin Johnson was stripped of his playoff berth and penalized for grounding his club in a bunker.  This bunker was defined by unthinking rules officials as being a legit bunker, whether or not the gallery outside the ropes had trampled and littered in it for four days.

IMO it was a waste bunker at best. This is a tragedy of over-thinking and over-design.

There will be a lot written about this, but there is no rewind of history or ignorance.  Shame on the PGA and Whistling Straits.

Bad rules are no excuse for claiming justice.

Over the past (add double digit here) years, I’ve accumulated a lot of golf tips.  Most of them languish in dusty binders up on a bookshelf somewhere, just above my Zebra putter.

Elsewhere, however, tucked in a pocket of my golf bag with this season’s new golf glove and brush-style tees, are a few tips that, year to year, have made a difference.  They might not be gimmicky or flashy or even attributed to a golf legend—they just whispered the right things in my ear so my brain listened and spread the word to my ignorant muscles. Maybe they’ll help you too.

(By the way, I’m talking to righties here.  If you’re a lefty, I think you know what to do.)

1. Eliminate the Wrists
This one is more a thought and feeling than a reality (but don’t tell your brain).  Whenever I find myself throwing the club from the top, slicing it or pulling it, this tip has straightened out shots of all kind.  It’s simple—take the club back to about  ¾ without breaking your left wrist, then swing down the same way.  I used to picture a splint strapped on top of my wrist, now I just imagine the swing of Steve Stricker—he does it for real.

2. Chip Low
This one is so simple it is nearly stupid.  It is also a philosophy, not a reality.  For me, it works like a charm and eliminates all but the two-beer chilli-dip.  The thought is to hit your chips as low as you possibly can.  Don’t think about height or distance—let the club and your feel take care of those—just try to hit low with no hands, follow through low, and watch the ball pop up and sail on line.

3. Show Your Back
Yes, I have a problem coming over the top. To get my lower body working first, I take my backswing and hold my back to the target as long as possible. This really works, especially early in the season.

4. Balance Boost
I had this tip a long time ago, but I was elated to hear it from Nick Faldo on TV last year.  It is one amazing tip for a duffer like me.  I can really get the feeling of proper balance by practicing on downhill lies, so my weight doesn’t fall back. I still can’t hit downhill lies, but I don’t fall down on flat lies anymore.

5. Kneed It
That little phrase sticks in my mind and helps remember this tip. I’m no Golden Bear, so when I lift my left heel on the backswing and my knee goes back, I’m off balance and swaying.  So, I focus on maintaining a gap between my knees – as if a volley ball is between them.  If I can be conscious of this, it even helps my putting.

6. Ridiculously Light Grip
We all know this one, but it really works for me.  Driver to putter, feeling that light grip helps me on the downswing to help the club search on its own to get where I want it to go.  I just let it happen.

7. Flatten in Sand
Slide the club under a dollar-size slice of sand is the great tip we all know.  Key to accomplishing this (without even thinking about it) is to flatten the swing in bunker splash shots—and follow through.  I repeat, follow through. When I go up to my ball on the green, I see a dollar bill beneath it.  I swear. And it’s not mine

8. Distance Control
This is easier said than done for me, but it really helps me keep my tempo consistent.  I try to control distance with trajectory, not swing speed or umph.  A high ball goes farther, a low shot sails shorter with more run.  Before I start my swing, I decide where my follow through will finish—waist (shorter), shoulder (medium), over head (long).  This especially helps me feel as though I know what I’m doing—and the results reinforce it…mostly.

9. Driving Ranges Lie to Me
I used to spend literally hours most days pounding shots off plasti-grass mats, thinking how savvy I was spending a whole session on pitches and chips.  Then I’d get to the course and have a “bad day” hitting fat, shanking irons, and finding that I have no real good shots to visualize.  Plus I had elbow problems.  Are driving ranges hazardous to my golf?  Yes.  But I found a remedy.  Tees.  Now, I tee up everything.  I have a full set of those hollow rubber tees for nearly every club in the bag.  Goal:  don’t hit the mat.  Now, I can actually feel where the ball hits the clubface.  Be careful at these venues and be wary of the truth of their hard, well-worn golf balls.  One sure supplement to this kind of practice is to have a knowledgeable witness—a PGA teaching pro.

Hope this helps.   For me, the consequences of my score are much more enjoyable when I play golf with a plan.

Not only is Tiger returning, he’s returning at the Masters…in 3-D. The entire epic will be seen in eye-popping three dimensions.   What could be more potent?  The addition of smellvision?

Only the ancient Greeks produced bigger, more epic stories than Tiger’s return to the game of golf at the sport’s storied, stiff Augusta National.  The most well-known athlete and celebrity in the world, a god among golfers, fell from his mountaintop and plunged into a pit of sin, lies, and humiliation. He has clawed his way out, sought forgiveness and endured searing introspection.   And soon he will step alone onto the first tee of the rest of his career and life, then lift his face and look the game straight in the eye.  I wonder what he’ll see.  I wonder what we’ll see.

We can’t wait to find out.  The buzzing audience is already filling the theatre three weeks before the curtain rises on the big show.  Tiger is backstage, drying his palms.

During Masters week, will he hang his head and apologize again?  I think not.   Will he ultimately blow up at the accumulation of gallery jibes and worse?  Steve, his caddy, might.  I hear he’s going to be taking names.

Will the media be sated on the pound of flesh they carve out of the event?  My suggestion–bring a sandwich.

Sorry, something just woke me up from last weekend’s tournament TV-viewing.

What aroused me?  Sorry.  What got me up?  Sorry again.  What startled me from my reverie?   Well,  I heard that Tiger got out of sex rehab (dayum, that makes me cringe–what goes ON in there?) and his wife is flying back to join him.

No, it must be a dream.

But wait.  The Master’s is looming with juicy tournaments in between.  Also, Freddie said the tour would embrace Tiger and welcome him back.  Plus, as we all know, the business of golf for Tiger must be much bigger than the dirty business of serial infidelity.

So, maybe it’s true.  Maybe a fairy tale ending is being arranged for us.

Yeah, I know, it’s easy to poke fun and joke.  And honestly I cannot offer any serious conjecture or commentary without sounding like every other self-righteous reporter out there without a story or a fact to their name. So, I’ll try to refrain from the jokes, most of them, and I’ll wake up, crack my knuckles, and get ready to pay attention as Tiger claws his way out of the muck to consummate his date with golf history.

Advocates for golf in the Olympics no doubt broke into a cold sweat last Friday when Chicago was dismissed so quickly as a candidate to be host city for the 2016 Games. Not because there are no noteworthy championship golf courses in the vicinity of Rio de Janeiro, but rather because the International Olympic Committee upheld its reputation for unpredictability.

Chicago’s rejection surely was unnerving for Ty Votaw, the PGA Tour executive who along with R&A CEO Peter Dawson is spearheading golf’s Olympic bid. On Friday, they make their final presentation to the IOC, which then will vote on whether to include golf in the 2016 Games in Rio.

Joining Votaw and Dawson for the final pitch are Padraig Harrington, Suzann Pettersen, Michelle Wie and Matteo Manassero, the 16-year-old British Amateur champion from Italy.

“We have demonstrated to the IOC Executive Board throughout the evaluation process that golf’s bid to become an Olympic sport has received unprecedented support from both amateur and professional golf organizations around the world and leading international players,” Votaw said in a press release. “Now, we must reaffirm this support before the full IOC membership and we couldn’t be more pleased than to have Padraig, Suzann, Matteo and Michelle help to communicate this support during our final presentation.”

Also making its case for Olympic inclusion is rugby sevens. Golf and rugby beat out seven other sports in preliminary evaluations by the IOC, which will exercise its option to add two sports to the Olympic program for 2016.

“Option” is the operative word here; the IOC could add two sports, one or none. And as Chicago’s failure underscores, there are no shoo-ins when it comes to Olympic decision-making.

If golf does make the grade, the next big decision will involve the 2016 venue. The Brazilian government will have seven years to deliver a world-class golf facility in Rio. You can bet competition will be fierce among the big-name course architects to design 18 or 36 holes that will endure as the first golf venue built specifically for the Olympic Games.

I’m guessing it won’t hurt Nicklaus Design’s chances that founder Jack Nicklaus just happens to have assisted golf’s Olympic bid as a “global ambassador.”

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Orlando-based Dave Seanor is a scrappy 11-handicap who’s been a sports journalist at three major newspapers and two national golf magazines. He has covered the “Royal and Ancient Game” in 18 countries, once teaming with Nick Price to win a Pro-Am in Morocco.  See some of Dave’s other golf articles on Examiner.com.

Tom Watson is leading a major golf tournament again, and this time he’s picking on players his own age.  Or is he?  At 60, he’s one of the more senior senior players on the Champions Tour. And with the mind and body of a spry middle-aged lad, Tom is pretty much dominating the field with a four-shot lead at this week’s Senior Players Championship in Timonium, MD.  He’s living proof that 60 is the new 50.  But what does that say about 14-year-old amateur Alexis Thompson, who is still in the hunt at the Navistar LPGA Championship?  For her, it seems that 14 is the new 24.  I’d love to see Tom and Alexis in a Skins Game, wouldn’t you?

Tom Watson (photo by Remjr)

The glorious play of 59-year-old Tom Watson at last week’s Open Championship defies time and meaning, and it will not leave my thoughts.

It was as if Bobby Jones or Harry Vardon came striding through a wrinkle in time and proclaimed, “I will show all of you that I can triumph over the field, but I will stop short of doing so. Winning the tournament trophy is the reward of your era, not mine. Capturing the memory of the feat is my domain.”

No one will soon forget Tom’s steady play last week. I also will not forget how, time and again, other players inexplicably slipped irrevocably away from Tom, leaving him perched atop the leaderboard.   There must have been something in the air that could fill old lungs and clear old minds of age’s burdens.

Only Stewart Cink, the ultimate victor, was not affected. He was breathing enchanted air all his own. To sum his own words, he was totally calm all week, without a bit of nervousness, even as he sank his final long putt to ultimately secure his spot in the playoff. “I honestly didn’t care whether the ball went into the cup or not. I just hit it.  Every tournament, it seems there is one player who remains calm and wins. This time it was me.” Such was his magic.

Before the 72nd hole was complete, Tom had already made his point to us all, as well as to himself. Though Cink trounced Tom in the four-hole playoff, it was less of a slaughter than a suicide. For as Tom strode off the tee box of the 73rd hole, it seemed as though the essence of the former Tom Watson slipped back through the wrinkle in time and disappeared.

The gleam faded, smile tightened, shoulders slumped, swing quickened, stride grew heavy, and the ball had no more purpose for Tom Watson, and vice-versa.

Now, when I look at the eternal bittersweet smile spread across Tom’s face, I will know a small part of what he is pondering. From the very beginning of the championship, Tom told us that there was something spiritual out there and he felt it but couldn’t quite describe it. Tom, it was you.

TOM WATSON (Photo by remjr)

There are a thousand stories being spun out there about sharp Tom Watson, the 59-year-old professional golfer who nearly won the Open Championship trophy in a competition I call “A Wrinkle in Time.”

Each story thread written will be woven to create the legend of the event, the epic nature of the accomplishment, and the value that the moral of the story has for all of us.

Tom’s story is not one of winning or losing. The story is one of exacting a feat beyond one’s perceived ability to do so.  In this case, a senior citizen beat a field of professional golfers from every generation 20 years removed from his own.  After 72 holes, Tom Watson and only one other player had completed four rounds of tournament golf victoriously.  It took an extra four-hole playoff for Sharp Tom to lose his edge and fall.

Tom’s story is not one of unusual physical fitness, although health played a role.  Nearly 30 years ago, Gary Player, known for his inspired play and physical fitness, told the media that someday over-50 golfers would be competing for major championships.  “They called me crazy,” said Player. Today, the idea is not so crazy, not so unattainable.  A man who recently had his hip replaced just soared to everything but total victory.

When someone extraordinary (like Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan, Roger Federer, etc.,  and all the extraordinary people who inspired them to heightened greatness) raises the bar, competitors learn how to jump higher.  It’s not about age, it’s about ability.  I wonder how able Tiger will be to win a major championship when he is 59?

It’s a mental challenge as much as a physical one.  “Do you think you can really win this championship?” a reporter asked Tom Watson after he dominated the field during the first round of play at the Open.  “Of course I can win it,” he said.  “If I do the right things, there is no doubt in my mind.”

I didn’t believe him then.  I believe him now, and I apologize.  I am also inspired to continue a couple of projects that I had convinced myself I was too old to continue successfully.   I’m two months younger than Tom Watson, and if he’s not done excelling, neither am I!

Everyone, of any age, who witnessed Tom’s hole-by-hole triumph this week will never forget it.  When today’s 20-year-old tour golfer turns 50, he won’t be so quick to think that his or her career is on the downswing or that he’s obsolete as a functioning human in the sport.

Tom’s triumph has reprogrammed expectations many will not draw upon for decades, as well as the expectations of those boomer “geezers” (Tom’s word)  like me who needed a new and vital role model.

The winner of the 2009 Open Championship, Stewart Cink, had some wonderful things to say about Tom’s triumph.  Tom’s odyssey elevated the value of Stewart’s victory higher than it might have been.

We were all the winners this week, thanks to Tom Watson.

Acting commish Evans. (AP/Rick Bowmer)

How apropos. The LPGA has chosen Marsha J. Evans, former chief executive of the American Red Cross, to relieve the suffering – at least temporarily – inflicted by deposed commissioner Carolyn Bivens.

Evans, a former Navy admiral, was named acting commissioner to oversee LPGA operations while a search committee reviews candidates to replace Bivens, who unceremoniously resigned today.

Given Evans’ recent history, it appears the LPGA is a glutton for punishment. Evans herself was ousted from the Red Cross in December 2005 after repeated clashes with its board of governors.

According to a March 4, 2006 Washington Post article that reported Evans received a $780,000 severance package, ARC board chairman Bonnie McElveen-Hunter had warned Evans six months before her departure “that the board’s executive committee was unhappy with her communication and collaboration with the 50-member Board of Governors and that the board believed she needed to change her ‘command-and-control’ management style.”

Six months later, Evans again ran afoul of the board when she fired several senior ARC executives. Evans was asked to resign, the Post reported, after “most of the board’s 14-member Executive Committee decided that they had lost confidence in her leadership.”

In fairness to Evans, her two predecessors – Dr. Bernadine Healy and Elizabeth Dole – also had difficulties in their dealings with the Red Cross board. Nevertheless, the characterization of Evans having a recalcitrant leadership style might sound all too familiar to LPGA sponsors (past and present) and players. And it’s one more reason for the search committee to expedite a permanent hire.

The LPGA has retained the high profile executive search firm Spencer Stuart to guide a search committee chaired by LPGA board member Leslie Greis and joined by board members Juli Inkster, Helen Alfredsson and Bill Morton. Board chairman Dawn Hudson told Golf Channel that the next commissioner, unlike Bivens, will have a background in sports management and association management. To that end, Hudson said Spencer Stuart has assigned the heads of both its association and sports practices to the task.

“We’ll soon have in place a commissioner to lead us into 2010 and beyond, but until then, it’s important that we immediately appoint an Acting Commissioner whom we know and trust,” Hudson said in a press release. “As a board of players and independent directors, we wanted an Acting Commissioner with experience leading a large organization, one who appreciates and listens to our player members and tournament owners, understands sponsors and their challenges and needs, and has a track record that commands respect. We’re pleased that Marty Evans will be our Acting Commissioner, as she fits all the criteria necessary during these challenging economic times for sports leagues.”

Assisting Evans, and presumably her successor, in repairing the damage done to sponsor relations will be Annika Sorenstam, who has agreed to assume the role of Advisor to the LPGA Board of Directors. Hudson said Sorenstam will be involved in on-going discussions with tournaments and sponsors.

“Obviously, I will do everything possible to ensure that the LPGA remains the pre-eminent women’s sports association in the world,” Sorenstam said. “I’m committed to getting up to speed quickly on the challenges facing the board right now, and will assist the LPGA in a number of ways both immediately and long-term.”

Evans had a 29-year career with the U.S. Navy, where she rose to the rank of Rear Admiral. She served on the LPGA Commissioner’s Advisory Council in 2007-08 and joined the LPGA board of directors this year.

“We look forward to making progress on completing negotiations for the 2010 schedule and building on the impressive work of Commissioner Bivens to execute the Association’s long-range strategic plan,” Evans said.

In a news conference televised on Golf Channel, Evans, 61, stressed that her role as Acting Commissioner will be temporary and she is not a candidate to replace Bivens full time.

Evans told Golf Channel she will immediately begin meeting with officials from “highest priority tournaments” in an effort to finalize the LPGA’s 2010 tournament schedule.

“We want to make sure we quickly nail that down,” Evans said.

Meanwhile, the names Donna Orender (president of the WNBA) and Cindy Davis (president of Nike Golf) have been mentioned as candidates to succeed Bivens, although the LPGA might already have the ideal replacement in-house.

That would be Zayra Calderon, who as part of an internal restructuring in Bivens’ wake today was promoted to Executive Vice President, Tournament Development & Worldwide Sales. That gives her responsibility for all tournament business affairs, “working closely with tournament owners and title sponsors to secure renewals and new tournaments and sponsors for the LPGA,” according to the press release.

As longtime CEO of the Futures Tour, a position she’ll retain, Caldron orchestrated the acquisition of the developmental circuit by the LPGA in 2007.

Bivens, who did not attend the U.S. Women’s Open last week, exited the LPGA quietly. She was not present at the press conference to announce her resignation.

“The LPGA is a special organization comprised of great players, teachers and fans with a rich history,” Bivens said in the press release. “I love the LPGA and have been proud to serve as its commissioner for the last four years. I am also proud of what the LPGA has accomplished during my tenure. My job was to be a change agent, to help move the LPGA into the strongest possible position to ensure its future.

“It is time to turn this organization over to someone who can build on the solid foundation we’ve established. I wish the LPGA and its members nothing but fairways and greens as it enters its 60th year.”
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Dave Seanor is the National Golf Examiner at Examiner.com. He’s an Orlando-based, scrappy 11-handicap who’s been a sports journalist at three major newspapers and two national golf magazines. He has covered the “Royal and Ancient Game” in 18 countries, once teaming with Nick Price to win a Pro-Am in Morocco.

The news is floating everywhere: LPGA Commissioner Carolyn Bivens will soon leave the organization, perhaps as early as next week. This announcement, coming on top of the first round of the U.S. Women’s Open, puts a damper on the tour’s biggest tournament of the season.

Veteran LPGA players Judy Rankin and Dottie Pepper said on The Golf Channel today that with so many sponsors jumping ship in so short amount of time, something had to be done, even though the timing wasn’t ideal.

Many players and fans agree that Bivens has to go. Some, however, disagree. One veteran player told Golf Digest, “She’s gone. It’s just a question of whether it’s a firing or a resignation. And she doesn’t deserve any of it.”

The buck has to stop somewhere, and it is correctly in Bivens’ lap. Finger-pointing will not rebuild the LPGA. Sometimes you have to start over, and that means clearing the ground for a new foundation. That looks exactly like what is going to happen.

How the LPGA will rebuild, how they will land new sponsors, how they will improve and grow is all unknown. As I have written in a four-part series on my golf blog, I don’t believe the LPGA is being marketed well. The on-air broadcasts are fragmented and pedestrian, with no verbal imagery, no story-building, none of that wonderfully improvised melodrama that you hear from the PGA Tour broadcasts.

On the PGA broadcasts, all the players have dynamic nicknames and all are “heroes,” “warriors,” “swashbucklers,” and men of the highest of ethics who have come together on an historic green stage where nothing but epic drama and excitement will ensue.  The PGA broadcasters don’t wait for the on-course action to define the story or viewers’ experience.

Lately, another big theme for the LPGA is that of the large amount of dominant foreign players and lack of American players. I am extremely uncomfortable even writing about this issue, as well as considering it a “problem.” My message to American players is simple: practice. And I don’t mean to just practice golf. Interview savvy, projection, positivism, marketing spin, and yes, even Twitter skills, are all areas that a celebrity must master. As I said above, making the LPGA exciting and interesting for viewers is essential, and each week there are 150 LPGA pros who could all help their cause.

The LPGA brims with wonderful and inspirational stories, charity programs,  life-lessons, diversity, role-models, and heroes.  The professional women of the LPGA need to be shown how to take their role and their tour much more seriously in everything they do, then perhaps the media, the marketing gurus, and the public will too.

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