"A president's critics always go for the golf joke because it irritates people at a gut level."

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Slate's John Dickerson defends Barack Obama's love for golf in light of Newt Gingrich's recent criticism. Yes, someone is defending golf!

Obama should resist—and, regardless of party, we should all want him to. The presidency is a prison. Your every move is watched and tended by the Secret Service, your opponents, and the media. Even when you're "having fun," you do so in quotation marks. At parties or a baseball game, you're watched to see if you're having a good time. If you play basketball, your on-court demeanor is analyzed for clues to your leadership style. You don't drive. You can't keep a diary (they can be subpoenaed). You can't smoke (the kids are watching). You can't take a stroll through your old neighborhood. All of this distorts the mind.

The golf course is one of the few places a president can escape the pressures and physical limitations of the office. George W. Bush was smart enough to have a ranch that allowed him to get out from under the scrutiny of the press. He was inside a perimeter, so the Secret Service could back off a little. You don't have to like golf to recognize that being able to walk in relative freedom and hang out with friends is an obvious pleasure and escape. The more tightly someone is confined, the more necessary it is to escape. One of the great problems for any president is a loss of perspective. A distraction, even for a moment, from the constant and attention-shredding duties of the day is one way to gain perspective.

"Hogan's got to be rolling over in his grave."

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Former PGA Tour Commissioner Deane Beman, as told to Bill Fields in Golf World's Backspin issue (not posted):

Using today's 460cc metal-headed drivers with perimeter weighting, if you miss it a half-inch off center, you'll only lose five yards and still hit it dead straight. If you did that with persimmon, it would cost you 50 yards and you couldn't find the ball.

And...

Hogan's got to be rolling over in his grave. Take the top 20 ranked player in the world today, give them the type of clubs Jack Nicklaus used in his prime and a mid-1970s ball--the best made--and put them out on tour in January against all the other players using today's equipment. Not one of the world's current top 20 would win a tournament and, week-to-week, not half of them would make the cut.

Now before you rip Beman for stating the obvious for any generation of golfer or sounding like a cranky old man, think of his comments this way.

We hear over and over how today's fields in golf are deeper than ever before. The players are working out, the instruction is better, diets have been refined, et cetera. All true, but ultimately what his comments point to is how much equipment has equalized play and made it harder for the great ball-strikers to separate themselves.

"Now, even when asked reasonably sensible golfing questions, he looks like he has terminal piles."

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In the new Golf World "Backspin Issue" (not posted online), the reading is off the charts good with Judy Rankin, Deane Beman, Bill Coore and William Campbell among others sharing their memories instead of the usual story about what they're up to with an accompanying photo revealing how cruel the aging process can be.

And then there's Peter Alliss' take on Tiger Woods.

I've watched Tiger Woods since he was 15 and marvel at what he can do on the golf course. He has been amazing. And there was a time when he smiled and was more gracious. But that has gone. Now, even when asked reasonably sensible golfing questions, he looks like he has terminal piles. He gives nothing back and looks like he hates every minute. He has never learned the art of communication.

Monty Continues To Insist He's Not Interested In 2014 Captaincy But Will Take The Job Only--ONLY--If Asked

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I thought this headline to Bernie McGuire's Reuters story was misleading: "Montgomerie Interested In 2014 Ryder Cup Captaincy."

That said, Monty sure can't shut his trap about the '14 Ryder Cup at Gleneagles, this time after Sandy Lyle suggested Monty would be a strong candidate.

"I don't know where Sandy is coming from but that's just his own opinion, I suppose," Montgomerie told reporters on the eve of the Andalucian Open on Wednesday.

"But whether or not I am captain in 2014 depends on how things go in 2012 and what the committee's feeling are.

"I am just there to support the Tour, as I've always said," Montgomerie added.

"Anyway, I am sure I will be involved because of my affiliation with Gleneagles whatever that might be.
"But if asked again, and because of my involvement for and with the Tour over the years, I would have to accept. Only if they wanted me.

"But they would have to approach me. I wouldn't be approaching them."

Sounds like someone still wants to run the ship!

"There are still additions being made to make the project more family-friendly, such as pools, hiking trails, soccer fields, a top-end spa and roaming herds of longhorns for kids to feed."

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Reading William Pack's story on Boot Ranch hitting Control-Alt-Delete on the good ole boy club concept and Texas-sized lots, I couldn't help but wonder if the attempts to make Hal Sutton's dream club more family friendly will work, especially this business with the longhorns.
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One Of Golf's Most Fascinating Short Par-4's Debuts Thursday!

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Fascinating because it should encircled with a giant Ground Under Repair line.

I finally studied the morphing of the Eisenhower and Zaharias courses at Industry Hills for the LPGA's KIA Classic and to my shock, they are playing quite possibly the worst par-4 in southern California and maybe all of Earth: the infamous ninth of the Zaharias, which I believe is the 10th on this week's Eisenharias layout.

I think the aerial speaks for itself, but if this Google Earth view of the 308-yard ninth doesn't excite the senses, let me help with a few details.

It begins with a magical walk down an asphalt path from the eighth green. At the tee the player will find not one, but four protective screens to guard the neighboring houses from a snap hook. The difficult-to-locate landing area offers neither strategic angles of attack nor spectating room on this coin pocket of the former landfill's mountainside. Good luck this week, ladies!

 

“It sounds like old guys trying to cover their butts. Is this an old boys’ club or who the best players are?"

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Jeff Rude calls the PGA Tour's proposed concept to convert Q-School into a Nationwide Tour qualifying event "too much of a closed shop, too restrictive, too protective of current members making the rules, too much of a half-dream for Q-School entrants and too little of the concept of keeping immediate hope alive."
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