Great Read: Andy Sanders And Jimmy Walker

One of 2014's best stories remains the emergence of Jimmy Walker as an elite player and Ted Bishop at his One Shot At A Time blog files a stellar write-up on a key piece of the Walker story--looper Andy Sanders.

Once an aspiring player, Sanders has overcome MS to guide his man to great finishes while flying under the radar.

Back in the 1990’s when Andy Sanders was visiting Franklin, staying with his grandparents and playing golf, it would not have been a surprise to hear his grandmother, Dottie, telling him that someday he would be in the competition at The Masters and Ryder Cup. She was proud of her grandson and she would tell anyone willing to listen how good Andy was going to be. I know because I lived across the street from Dottie on Carriage Lane here in Franklin.

Those predictions did come true, but not in a way that Dottie imagined. Unfortunately she never lived to see Andy enjoy success in golf at the highest level. Sanders was one of the country’s best junior golfers and he attended the University of Houston on a golf scholarship. After college he played on the Nationwide Tour from 2002-04 aspiring to continue his playing career.

Then one day Sanders woke up and experienced a blind spot in his right eye. Initially he thought it was a problem attributed to his contact lenses. Sanders would soon discover that he had Multiple Sclerosis. He tried to fight through the condition and keep on playing. He was receiving muscle injections every other week and eventually he contracted vertigo which was the worst thing that could happen to a golfer.

“My playing career ended because of the medicine, not the MS. Those shots depressed me night and day. They gave me vertigo and losing my balance was the end of my playing career,” recalls Sanders.  “There is no way you can’t look back and have some second thoughts. I made my choices at the time and now I am incredibly fortunate with my family and hopefully I have a great career ahead of me.”  

Bishop goes on to recount how Sanders and Walker ended up working together and other interesting insights into a player-caddie relationship.

"Top 10 in 2014: Social Media Fails"

I hope I'm not the first to wish Steve Elkington a big congrats for making Golf Channel's 2014 Top 10 Social Media Fails list...twice.

The list is a sobering reminder of the pedantic and more ridiculous scandals of 2014, all from hitting little keys on a digital device.

And a special nod to Jesper Parnevik for Instragraming his Segway accident, which made the list.

On a classier note, GolfChannel.com's most watched videos of the year list is topped by an actual golf shot and includes several other golf shots. For those so inclined.

WSJ: "Golf, as it’s now played in China, doesn’t have a promising future."

It'll come as a massive shock that the hyper-expensive, uber-gawdy, totally-unsustainable version of golf exported to China appears to be slowing down.

Andrew Browne, writing for the Wall Street Journal (thanks to JB and Bertie for sending), writes:

Just a few months ago, members of a newly opened Jack Nicklaus signature course in the Beijing suburbs woke up to discover the venue had been ordered shut amid a government audit of all of the city’s clubs. It was allowed to reopen after a few weeks, but only for members, not their guests. A nearby club didn’t get off so lightly: it had to plow up its immaculate greens and close permanently.

This isn’t a passing shower. Golf, as it’s now played in China, doesn’t have a promising future.

Browne cites Dan Washburn, guest on State of the Game and author of the best golf book of 2014, as his background for golf's history in modern China.

Washburn recently visited and offered this on his website:

But during my recent two weeks in China, I encountered more pessimism and uncertainty from those in the industry than ever before. Everyone quoted the rumor that up to 100 courses would soon be shut down, a process that perhaps got kickstarted with the closure of a handful of courses this summer. Beijing then, as it had a handful of times over the previous decade, reiterated its oft referenced but rarely enforced ban on golf course construction. It did so again just this week. Things do appear to be ratcheting up.

What to make of it? Who knows. Maybe this is truly the end of the boom. Maybe it’s just another bump in the road. Either way, it seems a good time to share with you a recent email I received from a China golf course industry veteran.

That email is worth checking out (many paragraphs). And as you might suspect, all of the reasons for the slowdown were predictable.

Video: It Is Possible To Hit A Golf Ball Into Your Face?!

I've hit the replay button too many times on this Golf Fail video linked by Luke Kerr-Dineen (and memorialized by him in a Vine). 

But even as steep as his backswing is, it's impossible not to question how someone could do what this poor lad pulls off in embarrassing (and painful) fashion.

Safe to say, he needs some better release point reps.

The full clip: