Replacement for the British Open first tee announcer named!
Golf Chats is a website to encourage discussions on various subjects relating to the game of golf. I am Mel Sole, Director of Instruction of the Mel Sole Golf School and SAPGA Master Professional. I invite you to enter into a discussion on this or any article on the golfchats.com website. The input is for the entire subscriber base to learn something new each time! Please post your comments below. Keep it clean and tasteful. We are here to learn from one another!
The Legendary Open Championship[ Starter Ivor Robson Retires.
Last year, I posted on the retirement of the smooth-voiced first tee announcer at the British Open, Ivor Robson. The players really did love his lilting silky smooth voice. He stood on the first tee of the Open Championship from the first tee shot to the last without ever taking a break! The R&A has finally made an announcement of two people who are going to be Ivor’s replacements. Read on.
Matt Corker and David Lancaster
There’s no way the R&A can ever truly replace Ivor Robson, the legendary first-tee starter at the British Open for the last 41 years. But Robson announced his retirement at the end of 2015, and the tradition of the opening-tee starter at golf’s oldest championship has to go on.
The future of the first-tee starter was announced on Tuesday, as the R&A has tabbed David Lancaster to replace Robson in the role of official Open starter. Lancaster is not alone, though, as Matt Corker will also help out on the first-tee duties.
“It is an honor and a privilege to be given the opportunity to become the official starter,” Lancaster said in a statement. “The Open is one of the most prestigious events in world sport and I have long been inspired by its heritage and the tremendous performances of the golfing greats over the years. Matt and I are very much looking forward to playing a part in history by introducing the players on the first tee.”
Interesting Tiger Woods stories we all want to hear!
Golf Chats is a website to encourage discussions on various subjects relating to the game of golf. I am Mel Sole, Director of Instruction of the Mel Sole Golf School and SAPGA Master Professional. I invite you to enter into a discussion on this or any article on the golfchats.com website. The input is for the entire subscriber base to learn something new each time! Please post your comments below. Keep it clean and tasteful. We are here to learn from one another!
There have been many stories circulated around about Tiger Woods and his quirky personality. Some of them are fabricated, and some of them true. Here are a few told by the people who were present at various times in Tiger’s life. His lunch with the Navy Seals was quite a shocker to me and bore truth to the story that Tiger is a tightwad for paying for group meals. Tiger stories will always hold our attention, no matter what, so read on! Thanks so much to Chris Chaney, Wrong Fairway, for this interesting story!
Twitter/@heraldsunsport
Every few months, ESPN the Magazine’s Wright Thompson finishes a longform deep dive into a subject. Whomever or whatever that subject is, fans of the person, place or team that he’s written about are much better informed because of Thompson’s work.
Tiger Woods was Thompson’s latest muse. In a piece entitled “The Secret History of Tiger Woods,” Thompson pulls back the curtain on a generation’s greatest golfer and explains how his relationship with his father, Earl, and Tiger’s yearning for a deeper connection following Earl’s death, brought him to exactly where he is now.
For being the most popular and recognizable athlete on the planet for the better part of a decade and the subsequent media throng that constantly followed him, Woods somehow seemed to stay shrouded in mystery. Part of that was by design and part of it was because of his inherent personality.
Here are some of the best snippets from the story…
Introverted Superstar
THEY’RE NOT WRONG, not exactly, but the SEALs are also viewing Tiger through their own pre-existing idea of how a superstar should act, so his behavior processes as arrogant and selfish. That reaction has colored Tiger’s relationships his entire life: People who meet him for 30 seconds love him, and people who spend several hours with him think he’s aloof and weird while people who hang around long enough to know him end up both loving him and being oddly protective. His truest self is shy, awkward and basically well-intentioned, as unsuited for life in public as he is suited for hitting a ball.
Then there’s the story of the lunch, which spread throughout the Naval Special Warfare community. Guys still tell it, almost a decade later. Tiger and a group of five or six went to a diner in La Posta. The waitress brought the check and the table went silent, according to two people there that day. Nobody said anything and neither did Tiger, and the other guys sort of looked at one another.
Finally one of the SEALs said, “Separate checks, please.”
The waitress walked away.
“We are all baffled,” says one SEAL, a veteran of numerous combat deployments. “We are sitting there with Tiger f—ing Woods, who probably makes more than all of us combined in a day. He’s shooting our ammo, taking our time. He’s a weird f—ing guy. That’s weird s—. Something’s wrong with you.”
A sit down with Donald Trump to talk Golf and the Presidency!
Golf Chats is a website to encourage discussions on various subjects relating to the game of golf. I am Mel Sole, Director of Instruction of the Mel Sole Golf School and SAPGA Master Professional. I invite you to enter into a discussion on this or any article on the golfchats.com website. The input is for the entire subscriber base to learn something new each time! Please post your comments below. Keep it clean and tasteful. We are here to learn from one another!
Love him or hate him, Donald Trump moves the needle!
He always expresses a refreshing opinion, compared to the humming and hawing of most politicians. He certainly has been successful in his business enterprises, and with golf being at the forefront, how will his position (if he is elected President) affect his courses? Jaime Diaz of Golf Digest sits down with Donald to get some answers.
This interview was conducted in Donald Trump’s office on the 26th floor of the Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. The day before, the PGA of America had cancelled this year’s Grand Slam of Golf, which had been scheduled to be played at Trump National Golf Club Los Angeles in October, but was moved from that venue after Trump’s controversial comments about Mexican immigrants in July, which caused several corporations to disassociate from him. Trump, 69, seemed unbothered by the news, he and his spokesman pointing out that he still has three years on his contract to host the event, and that the decision to move the venue had allowed time to remove a waterfall on the course.
You’ve become a major player in golf. How would you compare how you’ve reached that station to how you’ve become a major political player in your run for President?
I think very different in one way, and very similar in another. My golf is very high end. Great locations, great courses, highly acclaimed. And the word quality is important. I have locations that are good for many other things. So I’m not necessarily stuck in the world of golf. But I choose to be. But I have land that is so valuable, that if I ever wanted to do housing on it, as an example, but I just don’t choose to do that.
For government, you have to do it differently, but I think the quality of what we would do would be much better. Our infrastructure has to be rebuilt. Our bridges are literally crumbling. They need work and nobody is doing anything. Our roads, our schools, our airports. So I think I’d start a process where we would have a much higher quality at a much lesser cost. I think there would be far better management. You look at the vets, how badly they’ve been treated. Reports have come out that 300,000 vets have died waiting to get into the Veteran’s administration.
A sit down with Donald Trump to talk Golf and the Presidency!
It’s probably at the worst point it’s ever been. So I think the management of the country would be much better. And I think I get great credit for management, not only for my golf courses but the way I manage the company.
I’m not “mean and lean.”
I respect lean and mean, but I don’t think my style is lean and mean. I spend more money than I would have to. But I like to see it perfect. And I see a lot of people who spend a lot of money and don’t make it perfect, and that’s the worst of all combinations.
There is tremendous fat in government. A lot can be cut. We have to, because look at the budget deficits that we have. Look at the money that we owe. We owe $19 trillion. That’s hard to believe. That’s a big job when you think of it.
But one thing about government, you have to manage, but you also have to manage with a heart. You need heart. In golf you don’t have to manage with heart. Or in business you don’t necessarily have to manage with heart. But in government you do have to manage with heart. And I understand that.
What have you learned from the presidential experience?
Well, I had no idea it would be this big, number one. Because when you look at what’s happening in terms of the level of popularity and the polls, I didn’t think it would be that fast. Nobody thought I was going to run. Once I made the announcment, it’s all started to happen very fast.
Number two, it’s a nasty business. It’s nasty. I find great dishonesty. Sort of the opposite of golf, I find great dishonesty in the world of politics.
If you have $55 million to spare – Greg Norman is calling!
Golf Chats is a website to encourage discussions on various subjects relating to the game of golf. I am Mel Sole, Director of Instruction of the Mel Sole Golf School and SAPGA Master Professional. I invite you to enter into a discussion on this or any article on the golfchats.com website. The input is for the entire subscriber base to learn something new each time! Please post your comments below. Keep it clean and tasteful. We are here to learn from one another!
Several former PGA Tour golfers have recently put their homes on the market.
Are things getting that bad in the golf industry? Ben Crenshaw has just listed his house in Austin, TX, for a more modest $5.7 million. Greg Norman’s home is nothing short of spectacular and has a total of 8 acres of land. Extravagant, I know, but as one of golf’s most successful players and businessmen, he certainly deserves it. Be sure to go to the link below to see some of the beautiful pictures of the house, inside and out. Thanks to Allen Etzler of Golfweek for exposing us to a world we don’t often see!
Greg Norman’s estate. ( Photos Courtesy of Norman listing )
It already has been a busy year in golf real estate, and Greg Norman joined the party by putting his estate on the market for a whopping $55 million.
You read that right.
Norman bought the 8-acre estate in Jupiter Island, Fla., in 1991 for $4.9 million, according to the property appraisal records, and its most recent appraisal notes the total value has increased to slightly less than $22 million.
The estate contains seven buildings that add up to about 26,000 total square feet and comes with a putting green, a gym, a game room, a tennis pavilion and court, and even a two-bedroom, two-bath guest cottage that is right on the water.
The main residence is a four-bedroom, 7 1/2-half bath that was built in 1902 with a large kitchen, wet bar, game room, wine storage and home theater.
You know, everything you would expect a $55 million house to have.
A chat with 2014 FedEx Cup Champion Billy Horschel.
Golf Chats is a website to encourage discussions on various subjects relating to the game of golf. I am Mel Sole, Director of Instruction of the Mel Sole Golf School and SAPGA Master Professional. I invite you to enter into a discussion on this or any article on the golfchats.com website. The input is for the entire subscriber base to learn something new each time! Please post your comments below. Keep it clean and tasteful. We are here to learn from one another!
Billy Horschel’s Wikipedia profile says he shot a 60 at Hazeltine National in Chaska, MN, in the 2006 US Amateur Championship to win medalist honors.
However, he points out that the tournament was actually played over 2 courses, and his 60 was at the Chaska Town Course and not Hazeltine. That’s the type of guy he is. I think I would have kept quiet and let everyone think it was at Hazeltine!
Close-knit circles of trust are almost like support groups. Bubba Watson, Rickie Fowler, and Webb Simpson are the ultimate posse on the PGA Tour, though there are a couple of others. There’s the posse of Brad Faxon, Jeff Sluman, and Jay Haas on the Champions Tour. I’m not a long-term posse guy. I’ll hang around with a group of guys for a while, then start fresh with a whole new crew. People do get tired of each other. After I’ve been home for a few weeks, [wife], Brittany will say, “Don’t you have somewhere to go?”
I can’t say I’m a fan of the task force to fix what’s wrong with the American Ryder Cup team.
Jim Furyk phoned me to explain the reasoning behind it, which was nice of him because I’ve yet to play the Ryder Cup. Like I told him, “task force” sounds desperate. After two years of public talk about the task force, what happens if it doesn’t work? You’re going to get hammered worse than ever.
Getting veteran players and past captains together to discuss ideas is smart. But making it public adds a lot of pressure.
The U.S. would do better in Ryder Cups if our guys felt freed up to show more emotion.
A time when an outward show of fire from a Lanny Wadkins or Raymond Floyd was welcome. Over the past 20 years, the media has pretty much beat it out of them. In international team play, where you’re playing for your country and each other, it’s natural to show excitement. It can lift you up, take you to another level. But our players have been ridiculed so much for celebrating, they tend to rein it in—to their detriment. So long as you’re respecting the other players, the course and the game of golf, everything else is fine.
Say every hole I played was the 13th at Augusta National.
I’m in the middle of the fairway, conditions ordinary, 4-iron to the green. Do I go for it in two or lay up? I go for it every time. Every great person in business, athletics, or anything else, has had the nerve to gamble on themselves. They have a deep self-belief. That’s why, when I hit a shot fat into a hazard on the final hole at the Deutsche Bank in 2014, I stood in the fairway and laughed. It cost me a chance to win the tournament, but what the heck. I knew then and know even more now that most times, I’ll pull it off.
7 Things to know when playing with a scratch golfer!
Golf Chats is a website to encourage discussions on various subjects relating to the game of golf. I am Mel Sole, Director of Instruction of the Mel Sole Golf School and SAPGA Master Professional. I invite you to enter into a discussion on this or any article on the golfchats.com website. The input is for the entire subscriber base to learn something new each time! Please post your comments below. Keep it clean and tasteful. We are here to learn from one another!
Like the writer of this article, Tim Gavrich, editor of Golf Vacation Insider, I moved between a +2 and a 2 handicap over the past 50 years. I have played with hundreds of high handicap players and have enjoyed almost all of them. I say almost because there has been the rare exception where the player is painfully slow, and as a golf professional, I am very aware of keeping up with the group in front. What generally ends up happening is I speed up my play to compensate, and that is not enjoyable for me.
But as I said, those are rare, and I know as a scratch golfer I will always be playing with golfers who have a higher handicap than me. I am often thrilled when a higher handicap asks me to play. So go ahead, don’t be shy. I bet you’ll really enjoy the round. Oh, and another thing, your golf game will improve if you regularly play with golfers who are better than you!
The PGA Tour is holding the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am this week.
Not only will pros be competing against each other, they’ll be alongside some rank amateurs. Needless to say, there may be some nerves on the part of the higher-handicappers, who will be playing with some incredible golfers…in front of crowds. Believe it or not, this could affect your next golf vacation. Have you gone on a golf vacation as part of a twosome or threesome?
I have a number of times, and that has meant I’ve been paired up with an incredible range of characters over the years, from all across the spectrums of age, golf-seriousness and handicap. My current handicap index is exactly 0.0. I could not possibly be more of a scratch golfer than I am right now. And I’ve been one for a while – my handicap has hovered between 1 and +1 for a number of years.
This is not to brag, but rather to say that I’ve been a low-handicap golfer for long enough to make some observations about how higher-handicap players tend to perceive me and others of my approximate skill level. I’ve joined groups that ranged from threesomes of fellow competitive amateur players to triads of ladies who all shot 100 or higher, and every permutation in between. I’ve gathered a lot of intel over my years of playing golf. So, here are 7 “confessions” from a scratch golfer that might surprise you:
You can benefit from playing with someone with a good swing!
Get off your duff and make time for golf in 2016 – It’s not hard!
Jaime Diaz of Golf Digest is one of my favorite golf journalists. I enjoy his writing, so I read his articles every time I see one. This time it was a quote in the middle of the article that caught my attention and deserved some discussion. The quote is, “But what used to be time for rounds of golf has been overtaken by other stuff. I feel undeserving of leisure when so much seems undone.”
I recently returned from teaching for almost 3 weeks at my school in Mexico and had many catch-ups to do. My desk was piled high with mail and bills to pay. But you know what? I was completely caught up in 2 days. 2 days! This taught me a lesson, and Jaime’s quote brought it to a head. We sometimes create extra work just to feel busy. People ask me to play golf, and I say, “Sorry, I’m too busy!” No, I’m not! So my New Years’ resolution is to get out of the office when I’m not teaching (I have to make a living like everyone else) and head to the range for practice or to the course for a round! Last year I played a total of about 20 rounds. This year I’m going to make that at least 50.
My challenge to all who do not play because they are too busy is getting out there and making this your breakthrough year!
Come to Golf School and start the year with some positive thoughts and feelings for your golf game. Make time for golf!
Pawleys Plantation Golf and Country Club.
Where’s golf? It’s a question that repeats in the mind, especially at the start of a new year.
Growing up, I knew that while golf was important to me, it wasn’t that big a deal to most other people. Which was fine—it was rewarding having a little-known world dense with riches as a welcoming refuge. After I became a golf writer, I never worried about my obsessions having a small but reciprocal audience. Basically, I had faith in the intrinsic perfection of the game.
That was confirmed in the 1990s, when golf suddenly got discovered by a larger populace. Tiger Woods helped turn many on to the game, but it was more about a confluence of people having sufficient time and money to try it for themselves, along with the desire for an antidote to the increasing speed of modern living. The game’s powers of renewal—known to golfers for centuries—crossed over.
With the popularity came the American capitalistic drive for growth, a bubble and a backlash. All during which the world changed at a faster rate than it ever has.
The last decade has been a tough one for golf, and it goes well beyond the fortunes of Tiger.
Crucially, less of the game’s oxygen—money and time—has been available. Cultural changes, like the alterations in parenting and the tyranny of the smartphone (on which you might be reading this), haven’t helped. As entertainment activities increasing must be packaged for hand-held consumption, golf seems more arcane.
Recently, though, I’ve noted some optimism surrounding the state of the game.
In particular, the professional tours and their players are more appealing than ever, as if everyone has taken lessons from Arnold Palmer (highly recommended, by the way). The economy seems to be improving, and the unseasonably warm winter has extended the playing season. In a bit of over exuberance that betrays how bad things got, there’s been commentary positing that 2015 was the best golf year ever.
Honestly, I’m not exactly sure where golf is. I know that my prism reveals both bleakness and hope. I don’t play nearly enough, though I probably make more air swings in elevators, hit more wedge shots in the back yard and putt at more table legs. But what used to be time for rounds of golf has been overtaken by other stuff. I feel undeserving of leisure when so much seems undone.
Golf Chats is a website to encourage discussions on various subjects relating to the game of golf. I am Mel Sole, Director of Instruction of the Mel Sole Golf School and SAPGA Master Professional. I invite you to enter into a discussion on this or any article on the golfchats.com website. The input is for the entire subscriber base to learn something new each time! Please post your comments below. Keep it clean and tasteful. We are here to learn from one another!
You are a Powerball Lottery Winner!
Finally, the biggest payoff in Powerball lottery history was split this week between three winners. I wonder if any of them are golfers?
Let’s look at some fun suggestions to help them spend their windfall if they are true golfers. Alex Myers of Golf Digest gives 5 pretty good ideas for purchases.
I prefer #3, which is ‘Build your Own Golf Oasis.” But, it would be terrific to design your own private golf resort with your favorite type of course, a fabulous on-site home with a world-class chef…I could go on!
One more suggestion from me is to split your time all year, staying in the absolute best golf destinations in the world. Flying by private jet, of course, and staying as long as you like!
On Tuesday, Golf Digest’s annual list of the top 50 earners in golf revealed Tiger Woods has earned more than $1.4 BILLION in his career. But with a few lucky bounces of the ball, someone could earn more than what it’s taken Tiger two decades to amass in a matter of seconds with Wednesday night’s Powerball drawing.
Yep, someone could win $1.5 billion in this record-breaking drawing.
Of course, you won’t get all of it. Most people take the smaller lump sum (estimated at $930 million) and then there are taxes. When all is said and done, you’re looking at somewhere in the $600-700 million range depending on what state you live in. Let’s split the difference and say $650 Million. What could/should you do with all that cash if you’re a golfer? Funny, we’ve been thinking about that since we purchased our own ticket. . .
Join some golf clubs:
In 2003, USA Today reported the average initiation fee of the courses that host PGA and LPGA Tour events was $48,000. You could join a club for that much in all 50 states for a mere $2.5 million, barely making a dent in your loot. Or you could just…
Buy a Golf Course.
Why be just another member of a golf club when you can be the only member of one if you’d like? A quick search produced several websites specializing in listing golf courses for sale. How about Club West Golf Course in Phoenix?
Not too shabby. And it can be yours for $2.1 million. Or maybe Cateechee Golf Club in Hartwell, Ga., which is listed for sale at $2.3 million. Throw inTanglewood Golf Course in Northern Michigan for an extra $1.7 million because you’ll need a comfortable climate to play in during the summer. That’s three courses for $6 million, or less than one percent of your Powerball winnings. Or for a little more. . .
Check out these crazy golf moments from the 2015 season!
Golf Chats is a website to encourage discussions on various subjects relating to the game of golf. I am Mel Sole, Director of Instruction of the Mel Sole Golf School and SAPGA Master Professional. I invite you to enter into a discussion on this or any article on the golfchats.com website. The input is for the entire subscriber base to learn something new each time! Please post your comments below. Keep it clean and tasteful. We are here to learn from one another!
Tiger Woods of the United States hits an approach shot during a practice round before starting the 115th U.S. Open Championship at Chambers Bay on June 15, 2015, in University Place, Washington. (Photo by Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images)
As the end of 2015 approaches, we’re seeing many ‘Bests’ in golf articles for the past year.
There are always strange happenings on the golf course every year. 2015 was no different! How about some of the funniest and also crazy golf moments?
Thanks to Golfing World Slice for this compilation of hilarious and downright scary moments from 2015.
One surprise…the last one, my favorite, is neither funny nor scary!
How to get maximum distance out of your ball in cold weather?
Golf Chats is a website to encourage discussions on various subjects relating to the game of golf. I am Mel Sole, Director of Instruction of the Mel Sole Golf School and SAPGA Master Professional. I invite you to enter into a discussion on this or any article on the golfchats.com website. The input is for the entire subscriber base to learn something new each time! Please post your comments below. Keep it clean and tasteful. We are here to learn from one another!
With the onset of winter, some of you will be putting your clubs in the closet until March or April. However, some live on the fringes. People who live in states without snow but with chilly temperatures. Here is some sage advice from David Dusek from Golfweek about golf balls and their performance in cold weather.
This week, David Dusek answers a reader’s question about how cold weather effects how well golf ball perform.
Twitter/@heraldsunsport
