golfweloveit

I admire the excellent Golfshake.com which continues to grow and expand. This week there was an article about freelance golf writer John Huggan by Kieran Clark. He sent some clear and profound messages about the current state of the sport. My comments are in brackets and italics.

Read the full article:

http://www.golfshake.com/news/view/9220/In_conversation_with_John_Huggan.html

Some strong thoughts about the way that equipment is making the game one dimensional, not interesting to watch and the governing bodies are doing nothing to redress the situation. The skill and shotmaking which we grew up watching has been gradually taken out of the game. The distance the ball travels needs to be redressed. (This is at the very heart of what is wrong with the game today. I have heard that the new Chief Executive of the Royal and Ancient has admitted that golf is dying. Well, what is being done to save its life? Diagnosis is one thing, radical life saving treatment is another).

He says that many top players would like to play in Europe but the prize money on the PGA Tour is much bigger. If purses were to get within 10% of American prize money they would then come. He calls for a world tour outside of the United States which would fill in weak spots, for example in February when the tour would go to Australia and New Zealand. (In an ideal world, but it would take the elevation of events outside the United States into World Golf Championship or even major championship status with prize money of that level to attract the American players to travel outside of their tour more than once a year. This is why there needs to be much more dialogue and more generosity from the PGA Tour, which is unlikely to happen because they want to protect their domestic brand).

The contraction of print media is damaging the game.There are only three dedicated golf correspondents at UK newspapers (James Corrigan, Telegraph, Derek Lawrensen, Mail and Doug Proctor, Sunday Post in Scotland). Media Centres can have a depressing eerieness with the sparcely populated media which is becoming increasingly common. Without dedicated writers to observe faults, make arguments, the game is losing its critical voices. Many writers have disappeared completely. The coverage will be limited to PGATour.com a promotional extension of the PGA Tour. There needs to be hard, critical comment. (Indeed. But until the sport is overhauled and the “terrible image that non-golfers have of it” as he says makes way for a better public perception then the voices will be kept within a community of those who love golf and not reaching out and allowing new people to join us. Trade newspapers are preaching to the converted. There needs to be a huge outreach to the public to draw more new people in before the print media will find space. Editors with limited resources are sending out a clear message against what they percieve as an elitist and non inclusive sport. It is that which needs changing and the coverage will follow).

There is something wrong with empty courses.

(Yesterday afternoon, a weekday, on a sunny, relatively warm day, I was at a club where the course was empty apart from one junior practicing with his mother watching him. Apart from that it was completely empty. There is something wrong with this to see a course almost completely empty for great swathes of time).

And, Mr Huggan Kirsty Watched on twitter. He said that she should have been stopped from trotting out onto the 18th green at Woburn to commentate on the British Masters prizegiving in high heeled shoes. Her dad should have a word.

(High heeled shoes on the green? Kirsty plays golf in them, see picture above. Quite a feat).

Fifty seven thousand people attended the British Masters at Woburn last week, which returned to the tour calendar after an absence of seven years. A worthy British winner in 21 year old Matt Fitzpatrick who lead from start to finish wrapped up the event in style. There seems to be nothing but praise coming from all quarters. The professionals felt that it was good to have another tournament on mainland Britain, it was uplifting for some of them to play at home. The host club provided a magnificent course in immaculate condition and Sky Sports presented the event in an immaginative and patron friendly way. Ian Poulter, this year’s host said that “British golf has been away for too long”. Let’s hope that this event stays firmly put on the schedule. Masterclasses at the close of play by top professionals provided  an interest for spectators and the spectator village was beautifully branded and presented. Full marks too to Sky for transmitting the tournament on their non-premium channel Sky One. The only thing I would change about something pulled off so magnificently would be the date. Previously the British Masters was played in the Spring when the purple azaleas and rhodedendrons made the course look even more attractive to TV audiences and the conditions were easier. Next year the British Masters will be played at The Grove in Hertfordshire which is glorious in the spring. In an ideal world it might be better to play it towards the end of May in the slot occupied by the BMW PGA and move the flagship tournament towards the end of the season in October. Wentworth attracted huge crowds to the World Matchplay in the Autumn, to me it would make more sense. Otherwise, what a start for the rejuvanated tournament. A triumph all round.

So for the ninth time in eleven outings the President’s Cup has been won by the American team. But that statistic belies that something special happened at the Jack Nicklaus Club in Incheon, South Korea. It must have been compelling to watch the final day live. It was golf at its very best – the 15.5 – 14.5 result that could so easily have been a tied match 15-15 but for Anriban Lahiri’s missed 4 foot putt on the 18th green following Chris Kirk’s unlikely holing of a 15 foot putt.

It was an extraordinary thing to see American players actually shaking with the intensity of the situation. J B Holmes playing Hideki Matsuyama had a pitch into the 18th green which he gripped and ungripped the club his hands were visibly trembling. A slow player at the best of times Holmes seemed unerved by the closeness of the competition. Perhaps with the Ryder Cup scenario in the back of his mind, Americans usually win the President’s Cup, how could they have put themselves into being threatened by the Internationals?

With a sigh of relief US Captain’s son Bill Haas managed to get Sun Moon Bae to concede the final hole and the match was won by the narrowest of margins. International Captain Nick Price alluded to the Ryder Cup: “I think it was 1983 when Europe lost by a point, Seve [Ballesteros] was in the locker room, and all the European players were down in the dumps and they were very depressed that they had lost,” Price said. “He looked at them all and said, ‘No, no, don’t be depressed. This is like a victory for us. We only need one more point.’” He said we (Internationals) are at that point now.

Well, its taken them a long time to get there. In 1983 the close Ryder Cup match at Palm Beach Gardens came in only the third match of a united European team. It’s now eleven matches in and the Internationals are still massive underdogs.  Presidents Cup matches were set up originally with 34 matches to Ryder Cup’s 28, far too much.

It’s been cynically called an event mired in an identity crisis not helped by a lack of interest in the event by both teams. Nick Price has said how difficult it has been to get the team to bond with them speaking six languages from seven different countries under a manufactured flag and no Tour Commissioner of their own. But Adam Scott said that this year there was much more investment from the Internationals. Branden Grace was a star performer. On the American side Mickelson played a particularly good singles against Charl Swartzel and grabbed the headlines for himself, yet again, by a ditzy rules infraction, dissing the opponents, ordering weird selfies and generally being the gung ho talisman inviting the US players to rub his rotund belly for luck. All elevating the event into the realms of bizarre entertainment rather than yet another sluggish golf team event.

Mickelson looks to be eyeing his future role in team golf competitons with relish. Of course he is looking to captain future sides in both this and the Ryder Cup. But what sort of captain he will make… There was a photograph of him with George W Bush taken last week that showed a little glint in his eye. It’s just my intution but it’s the first word of this Cup that I suspect he’s really interested in. What a politician he will make. It’s going to be so entertaining!

This week Luke Donald and Graeme McDowell sent a “go on” message to Kirsty from the competitors at Woburn supported from similar words of encouragement from Jamie Redknapp, Phil Tuffnell and Shane Warne who were in the Pro-Am. Such messages of support did seem to buoy Kirsty’s confidence, which she needed to have when it was revealed she would be dancing as a dog.

As noted previously BBC wardrobe are not playing the tabloids game who trailed Kirsty’s casting on Strictly as her wanting to “flash the flesh” and “sex up the show”. Going out at 6.15 on a Saturday with a family audience who watch the show, it seems the producers think this hasn’t hit the right tone and their wardrobe department seem to have a brief. In the opening scene she had a hankerchief across half of her face. And then coming down the stairs she had a her feathery tail across her face again. What was going on, had she broken out in hives?

Once revealed the dog costume was an beige opaque bodystocking with a mass of brown feathers. The costume is worth noting because it played its part in the dance. On twitter one wag likened her outfit to the car in Dumb and Dumber.

The make up department had painted on a very smiley dog face. The American Smooth went smoothly and there seemed to be a significant rise and fall, all was going well until the feathery tail got caught up in Brendan’s costume. “Wardrobe malfunction” pleaded Kirsty to the judges as soon as she had finished the dance.

“A great improvement on last week ” pronounced Darcey Bussell. Len Goodman spoke to Brendan rather than to her. “You kept her on a tight leash, well done Brendan”. Bruno talked of more flow and grace being needed. Craig didn’t mince his words. “There were balance issues and the arms were devoid of all emotion and feeling”. Ouch.

Despite the painted on smiley dog’s face Kirsty was clearly hurt by this. It seemed as though the judges were talking about her rather than to her. Brendan Cole talked about the cute dance being for his small daughter Aurelia to enjoy. The scores came in 5,6,6,6. An upward movement of three points from two weeks of 20 marks.

When the results from the public came in Kirsty and Brendan were again one of the last to be told they had gone through. When Kirsty sat with Claudia all the other competitors were interviewed about how relieved they were, except her.

The hype around Kirsty needs to be quiet and let her get on with this demanding task. Let her dancing do the talking please publicists.

Further to my post below all the American WAGs seem to have been told to wear the same dress. And it looks like most of the players are with exactly the same woman.

Extraordinary shoes from Mrs Mickelson (second left bottom row) making her four inches taller to match the height of the next shortest woman.

I know, it’s the week of the British Masters, a stone’s throw from home and I am not there. Neither can I see it nor the President’s Cup from Korea. For I am in Finland, but happily so at the World Figure Skating Championships.

And so I am left to ponder what Mr Poulter and co are getting up to on the Marquess course. There will be next year and it is very pleasing that there is such a commitment from Sky Sports and four leading British professionals to rejuvenate the event and re-establish it permanently on the tour schedule. I have visited Woburn many times and it is such a welcoming club. Hopefully there will be highlights on Sunday night and the constant chatter of IJP’s twitter feed to bring me up to date.

Also pondering if there could possibly be that rarest thing, a non-American win in the President’s Cup. The Korean golf fraternity are taking on the event with huge pride. It’s just a shame there are few ways their supporters can express their joy. The best some Australians could come up with last time was a derivation of the song Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep ‘In-ter-nation-als, Internationals’. It’s not easy against the relentless You-s-a!!

A bewildered non- golfer once said he couldn’t undersand why I wrote about golf. What exactly do you write about, you’re female. Do you write about the clothes?” Well, not if I can help it. However I am wondering, in my shalow female mind, how the WAGs of the Presidents Cup turned out. Only out of concern. The photograph above was taken at last year’s Ryder Cup Gala Dinner. And I noted that five of the women accompanying the players were wearing exactly the same black lace dress. This had obviously been provided if the woman had turned up with a dress which was deemed unsuitable, or worse, no dress at all. Interesting that five of them, from both sides, didn’t pass muster. Wondering what the Presidents Cup women will do to top that.

UK’s second largest golf retailer Golf Direct continued to be at the centre of a battle this morning. On Friday, the day after administration was filed Sports Direct who own a 25% share in the 20 store company had changed the locks on its Huddersfield Headquarters, locking the staff out. Today the locks had been changed back and the staff were protesting. Golf UK boss John Andrew has complained that Sports Direct are taking over the administration process. He has pledged to speak to staff, one of whom has called the situation “a farce” this  afternoon to reassure them about the situation.

Back from the brink, 25 year old Danish star Thorbjorn Oleson won the Dunhill Links Championship yesterday after a nervy birdie, double bogey, bogey start. A fantastic 50 foot holed putt on the 15th green helped him to a 2 shot win. He will now retain his European Tour card for next season which was looking unlikely after he has made only 6 out of 20 starts this season and seen him drop out of the top 100 in the world.

New professionals Jimmy Mullen and Paul Dunne fresh from winning the Walker Cup, shared the first round lead with Dunne having an ace at Kingsbarns 15th.

A fantastic tournament for spectators, with A listers walking amonst us in the town. Including a bemused Hugh Grant who couldn’t understand why a Leuchars taxi driver didn’t recognise him and after a while ventured to him “well, don’t you want my autograph then?”.

Last week on Strictly golf presenter Kirsty Gallacher had likened herself to a racehorse, the way she had shied away from the start of the race. This week the question was, which racehorse would she be – Arkle or Devon Loch?

She came down the stairs in a blue sparkly dress ready for the Salsa. She looked good but BBC wardrobe were still not giving the tabloids what they wanted, it was a much longer than a usual salsa dress.

Third on the show, she was flung about and lifted, which she managed to do bravely. In between there was a lot of stacatto walking to the music, which lent a stilted rhythm to the whole dance. It ended with Kirsty being placed writhing on the judges table and there was a look between Darcey Bussell and Craig Revel Horwood which showed they didn’t really approve of that.

The most picky judge, Craig, began “it lacked fluidity, there was a lot of stopping and starting. Made you look stiff, you need a figure eight rotation in your hips, that was lacking. Darcey said her lifts were a very good show. Len Goodman said she “sizzled”. Again Bruno Tonioli was critical “you had the right steps but they didn’t fit the beat. You cannot be behind the beat. We want to see it done properly, because you can”.

5,5,5,5 came the judges scores.

What! exclaimed Kirsty.

When it came to finding out who was in the dance off, the contestants who had made a fuss about their scores were in it, with Kirsty being left to the bitter end to find out it was not her. She floated up the stairs in relief where she wasn’t interviewed about how relieved she was.