"But it is often these small things that make the biggest impression, especially at the margins."

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I must say the 74 comments (at blog posting time) on the Jerry Tarde editorial calling for loosening of cell phone rules made for great reading. Thanks for all of the great remarks. I'm sure Jerry was tickled at all of the kind remarks about his stance and the state of Golf Digest. (Note to self: don't send Jerry that email with story idea for a while.)

Lawrence Donegan noted the story on his Guardian blog and echoed the comments many of you made and put the issue into the context of golf club's current problems:

Golf clubs are in trouble. Why are they losing members? Obviously, the economy is the main problem but they don't help themselves with their insistence on maintaining petty restrictions that exist, it seems to me, only for the benefit of those who take pleasure in, well, maintaining petty restrictions. This is not an original point, and it might be a small one. But it is often these small things that make the biggest impression, especially at the margins.

And...

On a grander philosophical level (a speciality of the Guardian golf blog, as regular readers will know), it would be better if golf clubs - and Golf Digest - focused their attention on those things that harm the game far more than any jeans-wearing, car park shoe-changing, hat-wearing reprobate ever could - extortionate joining fees (especially in the States), insidious bigotry (or every shape and form) and slow play.

"The grounds for litigation would only be absence of due process. It wouldn’t be the result."

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An interview of Acushnet CEO Wally Uihlein by John Huggan has surfaced on GolfObserver.com, which means you'll get some snazzy early 90s Photoshopping and plenty of Titleist-supplied shots of site sponsor Uihlein. But that's where the fluff ends.
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"I probably shouldn't say this, but if I had played in the [Greg] Norman-[Nick] Faldo era, instead of winning 25 times with two majors, I probably would have won 40 times and had six majors."

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Monte Burke talks to Johnny Miller, his usual humble self, offering a few thoughts worth checking out there. Highlights:

Forbes: Give us an idea of the preparation you go through before covering an event.

Johnny Miller: I don't want to brag, but I do more homework on the course than any other announcer.

More than Gary McCord?

I chart the greens to get all the breaks. I walk down into the greenside bunkers. I walk into the fairway bunkers to see whether a player can reach the green from them. My goal is to get to know the course as [well] or better than the players.

That doesn't take much these days!

Forbes: What's your take on the overall state of the game?

Johnny Miller: They've got it really good. The Tour is a fantastic place to be right now. I don't look back and say I got hosed. I think our era, if you don't count money, was maybe the most exciting era. You had Palmer, Nicklaus, Player, Trevino, [Raymond] Floyd, [Hale] Irwin, [Tom] Weiskopf, myself and Hubert Green. It was a golden age of golf from 1970 to 1980. I don't know if there will ever be one quite like it. Every era has two or three great golfers. Our era had six to 10. I probably shouldn't say this, but if I had played in the [Greg] Norman-[Nick] Faldo era, instead of winning 25 times with two majors, I probably would have won 40 times and had six majors. That era had [Fred] Couples, Norman, Faldo and [Curtis] Strange, but it didn't really have guys who could play on Sunday. We had the great era of Sunday players. There's a lot to be said for that.

That's great Johnny, but it was a state of the game question, not the state of your game had you been in your prime during the 90s (wait...didn't you win a tour event in the 90s?).

Now this was interesting:

Will Tiger break Jack Nicklaus' record of 18 career major wins?

Everybody has a choke point. Nicklaus' was winning the Grand Slam. All of Tiger's life ever since he was kid, he's wanted to get to 19 majors. It's probably going to get a lot harder with these last five. Let's put it this way: He doesn't want to go next year without winning any majors, because he'll probably start second-guessing himself.

Tiger is a pretty old 33. He's been going at it for an awful long time. Maybe he's one of those guys like Tom Kite or Gary Player, one of those guys who never lost the love of competition and traveling and living out of a suitcase in a motel room. They just couldn't get enough. Maybe Tiger will be that way, but maybe if he has more children, he'll play just eight tourneys a year. It's not a guarantee that he'll win five more. There are plenty of guys who played great golf, had great careers and only won a few majors. If I had to guess, I'd say that he will beat the record, but it will be a struggle.

Condi Joins Shoal Creek; Next Stop, ANGC Green Committee

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First, she'll be gnawing on cigars in the Shoal Creek lounge, going all 18 with the boys and telling fart jokes, Next think you know, Condoleeza Rice'll be up on the podium Wednesday of Masters week, clad in green, telling the assembled scribes that if we don't narrow the fairways and grow more rough the distance explosion smoking gun will come in the form of a mushroom cloud.
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