golfweloveit

Ever heard of a golfvaardigheidsbewijs?

Well I hadn’t before but at the Hilversumsche Club people were handing over a document which wasnt a handicap certificate.

Since the 1980s Holland and Belgium have had a test which when passed allows people without a handicap to play on most courses without being members of a club or association.

It’s sort of like a driving test – a written theory exam with 20 questions -5 on etiquette and 15 on rules and then a playing test. This is four holes with an examiner the best three are counted and the score must be below 21. The GVB as it is called for short allows casual golfers to play and get practice in without having an official handicap.

Golf stocks have showed staying power over the last two quarters with two companies performing particularly well.

Callaway golf has had a 45% gain and is up 12% since the start of 2018. They are up 20% in net sales and are selling a lot of equipment with higher profit margins. They are helped by their 14% ownership of Top Golf which has a worldwide value of around $2 billion netting them $290 million.

Aschunet which own Footjoy are also up 15% since the start of the year. The CEO of Bridgestine Golf has said the company has already hit their forecast for the year in April. The return to form of Tiger Woods has helped enormously bringing massive television ratings and new interest in the game.

Live Under Par is the PGA Tour’s new advertising campaign launched yesterday. It replaces the These Guys Are Good message which has run since 1997, the longest running advertising in professional sports.

Moving on from the competitive excellence of the players, it focuses on the fans’ engagement with the players. Showing the fun and excitement of professional golf it has 360 degree views inside and outside the ropes. It aims to reach a new audience and exhibit the core values of sportsmanship, respect and charity. It doesn’t aim to convert fans into golfers, it’s viwed as a separate spectator sport. And that has always been the difference between US fans and European. Over here most spectators play the sport and have an in depth knowledge.

The United States Supreme Court is due to rule soon on legalising gambling across the country. It will still be up to individual states whether or not to implement but at the moment only four state, including Nevada, allow it.

The PGA Tour’s Vice President of Tournament Operations Andy Levinson has said that the Tour will support legalised betting on its tournaments as there will be a commercial gain for golf. He said it will encourage fan engagement, using the PHA Tour statistics and shotlink. Over the past 18 months the PGA Tour has been running an “integrity programme” educating players and stakeholders involved with the tour to set out rules and regulations. They have set out the responsibilities of those with direct access to competition in a bid to stamp out corruption. The Tour will not encourage betting on negative outcomes, such as betting on players missing putts, fairways or greens or losing tournaments

PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan is expected to announce today the merger of two tournaments so the WGC Bridgestone event will move to Memphis which is the home of PGA Tour sponsor FEDEX. A tournament has been played over Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio since 1976. The tournament will keep its August slot but the date normally occupied by the Fedex St Jude Classic in Memphis at TPC Southwind will be freed up for a new event.

Other changes to the 2019 PGA Tour schedule will be a move of the PGA Championship from August to May so the four majors run in consecutive months and the Players Championship will revert to its old date in March.

If you read my piece A Simple Twist of Fate – click on November 2015 on this blog to find it – you will see that I consider the winners over Firestone Country Club  to be the unluckiest in the world of golf. It’s worse than The Masters Par 3 curse, look at what’s happened. Finally the PGA Tour have put an end to it.

Potholes on a major road in Burton are so bad that one resident got his clubs out for a game of ‘crazy golf’ with a difference.

John Anderson was so fed up with the potholes that he decided to have a round of golf on Shobnall Road.

The 57-year-old says he is concerned for cyclists and motorcyclists using the road as well as drivers, saying conditions are dangerous enough for accidents.

Mr Anderson, who has previously found a pothole in Field Lane, Outwoods, that was so big he got out his fishing line for a spot of angling, said he wants to look at potholes in a “positive light” because the area is “infested.”

I’ve yet to start properly reading my copy of Jeff Benedict and Aman Keteyian’s new book Tiger, but have a look at this first. It’s a superb documentary made by British journalist Jaques Peretti which covers nearly everything in the book. It’s objective not being made by a golf writer and clearly tells what I call Act One of the story.

Because we’re now into Act two. On Saturday night at the Masters Tiger said “to be able to compete again. If you had said that last year at this particular time I would be competing here I would have said you were crazy”.

After four spinal surgeries in two years and getting clean from an addiction to pain killing medication, and being physically inactive he is back. During his final round 69 at The Masters, including an eagle on 15 he brought the audience to life like no one else can. He cautiously admits he’s progressing. It looks that way. His iron play is still not easy to watch, he is struggling with his approach shots and admits he is not hitting the ball well enough. But he is out there again. His next outing is at Quail Hollow after a break then on to The Players and Memorial Tournament before competing at the US Open.

Hollywood made a film about what was the greatest comeback in golf. It was called Follow The Sun and starred Glenn Ford as Ben Hogan. The way Tiger’s story is panning out his comeback may be even greater. For I believe he will win more major championships. And when, in time, the film does get commissioned I know just the actor to play the part, when he comes back from the land of Zog, Perhaps he should be given a second hand set of clubs to get himself ready…

“I’ve been waiting for this chance” said Rory McIlroy after Saturday’s round. He was as confident and as optimistic as he’s ever been seen. He looked excited and was walking with a bounce in his step. And he took the gallery’s support with him, unusual with an American playing partner. They wanted to see history being made, to see a career grand slam being completed, but perhaps their support added to the pressure.

Some of the comments this morning are unfair. To call McIlroy’s final round a ‘pitiful surrender’ is not right. He did not give up all round even though he played some ghastly approach shots. This was where his weakness seemed to be all week, he was well down the statistics in greens in regulation and during the final round his putter went cold.

Perhaps the pressure did get to him, perhaps his mind jumped ahead. But as for The Masters being the monkey on his back? No. He has been in the top 10 of the last five Masters tournaments. But perhaps he just has to dig even deeper. There is always something more to learn about Augusta National. Jon Rahm’s good performance so early in his career was partly down to preparation. He quizzed Phil Mickelson, who went to Arizona State University like him, about all the intricacies and variables of the greens.

Rory said that his loss of the 2011 Masters was in fact a huge positive. It forced him to admit that he wasnt ready to win a major then and he soon won the US Open after making a lot of mental adjustments.

It’s interesting to hear that on Monday he had sought the opinion of former PGA tour winner Brad Faxon about his putting stroke. Faxon’s own putting lives in my memory, he was sublime. He once had a 1.704 putting average for the season. His mantra was “my only secret is confidence. I just try to hit every putt as if I’ve just made a million in a row”.He assured Rory that everything was correct technically but mentally he wasnt putting well under pressure. And so it transpired in the final round. Diagnosis made, this is going to be another turning point for him to crack this, watch this space.

Let me start by saying how much I enjoyed watching Patrick Reed play all four rounds at The Masters. There was a simplicity and clarity of thought to the way he approached Augusta National, he was a demon with his putter most of the week and for three rounds the way he played the four par 5s in -13 was extraordinary.

He was also incredibly tough mentally. To have golf’s best competitor, Jordan Spieth coming up from behind shooting 64, equalling The Masters lowest final round would have unsettled many players leading from the front.

But Patrick Reed is no ordinary golfer. Most of the words written about him today are disappointingly all about the controversies surrounding him. About the family who have turned against him and his troubles in college which all seems a mess. And about him speaking his mind. Well there is nothing wrong with that.

His caddie apparently reminded him during the final round to “just be you”. And that is a breath of fresh air when there is an almost paranoia in professional sports for maintaining popularity and image to the point where it is phony.

Honestly, I dont ever regret anything I say. I stand by my comments but I am just out here to play.

His wife Justine, who used to caddie for him before he played on the PGA Tour, says

“The less he sees me react the better”

Which is telling!

Although there were little moments of niggle, such as he and his caddie having their yardage books covered in the Stars and Stipes and with the logo of the United States Ryder Cup team, which might have annoyed playing partner McIlroy a little, overall whats not to like? The only loss of composure I saw was when Sergio put the green jacket on his shoulders and he audibly exhaled a long sigh of relief. Or could that be fresh air being blown into the stuffy Butler cabin? There is nothing wrong with confidence, or speaking your mind – golf needs more people like him to do so.

Interesting that Patrick Reed, Brooks Koepka, and Francesco Molinari, the winners of this year’s majors, all commit to playing in Europe regularly. Might be something that those on the PGA Tour say they will only do “when the Atlantic Ocean shrinks” might like to think about.

“It’s great to be back” said Tiger Woods after his first competitive round in a major in a long time. “OMG the crowds have been incredible. I had several standing ovations and the fans have been incredible so warm over my fight to play this game again,

“I’m almost lost for words” he saif. “I’m so grateful to be playing in front of them”.

He had to grind out his opening round, did not take advantage of the par 5s and made a few mistakes one of which was misjudging the direction of the wind which turned from east to south. “I hit every club in the bag” and the way the ball was taking off it was going half a club further”. He shot 73, +1.