Collecting dust and filing for Chapter 11

For the better part of 15 years I've been buying virtually all of my golf equipment from this back-alley warehouse, appropriately named Golfers' Warehouse. It was every golfer's dream...a huge space devoted to framed photos, novelties, accessories and of course every set of clubs you could think of. Some years ago on my way to work I noticed a large new building off the highway being built, and when the large green illuminated Golfers' Warehouse lights were hoisted up I nearly drove off the road in excitement.

This place is incredible. It was a brand new facility with a clothing and shoe section, a clubfitters workshop, a professional indoor range for private lessons, a large practice green for putting and about 8 mats at the indoor range for testing virtually every club in the store. If there wasn't a demo version on the floor, the reps would even gladly tape the face of a new club off the shelf and even let you hit that. Behind the net covering the ENTIRE WALL (which must have been 100 feet long and 15 feet tall) were two great murals - the 18th at Pebble Beach and the 17th at TPC River Highlands. This place had it all.



Apparently due to this stupid economy, spending money on golf hasn't exactly been a high priority for many people. There result is a huge warehouse with hundreds of thousands of dollars of brand new equipment occupying floor space and collecting dust. If you include clothing, footware, bags, used clubs and other accessories, and multiply that by the store's 6 locations, you have millions of dollars of inventory that has been slow to move.

Faced with dwindling sales during these trying economic times, Golfers' Warehouse has been forced to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. I suppose the good news in this is that the stores have been sold to a California-based golf accessories retailer called WorldWide Golf. Hopefully there won't be too many job losses, and it has been predicted that the flagship store in Hartford will remain open.

You can find everything that you want at Golfers' Warehouse online at other vendors for the same price, as golf equipment prices are usually nationally set with only smaller private retailers charging a markup (generally pro-shops or fancy casino boutiques). The real benefit of Golfers' Warehouse was being able to hold the gear in your hands and even demo it for a few days at little to no cost before deciding to buy. On top of that, you could be professionally fit for free if you purchased the equipment from the store, something that just can't be done online unless you know exactly what shaft flex, kickpoints and weights you'll need for your fancy new driver or what your lie angles are...and you're sure not going to buy a set online and have it sent to you already bent to your specifications.

Damn these Wall Street goons and garbage government bailouts. Damn them all to hell.

Leif Olson makes amazing hole-in-one

If you're were alive in the 80's, you remember the Converse commercials with Larry Bird and Magic Johnson battling it out in a game of H-O-R-S-E.

A la Magic and Bird, Leif Olson pulled off his own off-the-wall-over-the-highway-through-the-window type shot on the 15th hole on a day that Mark Calcavecchia set a PGA Tour record with nine consecutive birdies at the Canadian Open.

If you didn't see his shot (off of another golfer's ball) at the 2009 RBC Canadian Open, here it is:



In addition to Olson, three other golfers (Casey Wittenberg, Arjun Atwal and Briny Baird) aced the 15th hole. In fact, there were a total of six holes-in-one counting those by Peter Leonard (12th hole) and Joe Durant (7th hole) in the opening round.

All four players who made a hole-in-one on the 15th won a BMW Z-4.

Calcavecchia's record-setting birdie streak broke the record (eight) originally set by Bob Goalby in 1961. Five other players have made eight consecutive birdies since Goalby including J.P. Hayes, who was in Calcavecchia's group today, in 2002.

Elementary, my dear Watson

No one else alive on this planet understands the dynamics of links golf as well as Tom Watson. Harry Vardon would be the exception, having won 6 Open Championships from between 1896 and 1914. His incredible performance at this year's Open Championship clearly rebukes the idea that the modern Bomb & Gouge strategy is the be-all end-all to winning tournaments. While Stewart Cink is a very deserving champion, Watson's skill and charisma will forever be the enduring memory of the 138th Open Championship.

Watson showed us the importance of playing golf at its most basic level; that is, finding fairways off the tee and hitting accurate approach shots. While players less than half his age struggled to find their mojo all week, it was Watson - who at almost 60 years of age and with a replaced hip - showed the world that the game of golf requires a special understanding and incredible skill to truly understand the game as the course dictates it should be played.

By his own admission he knows that he simply cannot compete with today's touring pros on ultra-long courses. He knows he can't compete at Augusta National unless he's "absolutely perfect...the course is just too long for me." But Watson knew that his ability would suit him well at Turnberry. The fact that Watson came so close to becoming the oldest player to win a major is amazing, but given the fact that it was at Turnberry makes it even more spectacular. It was in 1977 at Turnberry that Watson and Nicklaus battled in what was called the Duel in the Sun, the players then both tied after 15 holes after Nicklaus started the back with a 1-shot lead. Watson went on to hit shot after brilliant shot to beat Nicklaus, but that event in and of itself is worthy another post altogether...

Players today are obsessed with high launch angles and low spin rates, but there sure is a lot to be said about classic golf. Watson made novices believe that they can achieve the impossible. He made professionals believe that hard work and persistence will yield great results. He made the young strive to put aside any adversity they may have, and he inspired old-timers to dust off their dormant clubs and resurrect the old great feeling of hitting that perfect shot. This Open Championship won't be known as the time that Tiger missed the cut for only the 2nd time in his career, but rather it will be known for how great the game is and how it transcends generations. Watson's class and supreme sportsmanship in defeat highlight how great the game of golf truly is.

Let's not take away anything from Stewart Cink who was lurking all week and made huge clutch putts when it mattered most. Cink himself personifies class on the golf course, and his skill and talent have long been established, but his win validates all those years of earning top dollar sans the major trophy.

Golfers young and old should understand the importance of the fundamentals of the game. It's vital to play the course as it was meant to be played. More often that not, short and accurate will prevail over longer and imprecise. It's an elementary strategy employed by Watson who could have pulled off one of the greatest moment in sports of all all time.

Elementary, my dear Watson. You almost had it.

Thank you.

Turnberry Ailsa: WWII runway or world-class links track?

If you answered "yes" to either of these, then you'd be correct!

This year's Open Championship takes us to Turnberry Resort's Ailsa course, a course that has hosted the event 3 times before and is arguably the most scenic of all the Open Championship courses on the rota.

Don't believe me? Fine. Here:



With the exception of Greg Norman's win here in 1986, Turnberry has let players shoot unusually low (-12 was the winning score in both 1994 and 1977, belonging to Nick Price and Tom Watson, respectively). Although Turnberry is unusually beautiful, it's also unusually flat. How flat? During WWII the Ailsa course and its sister course (The Arran) were turned into concrete runways used by the RAF. It's a straightforward layout...there's a bunker here and a bunker there...or at least there used to be. Turnberry is almost bereft of bunkers compared to other Open Championship courses. Like all major venues these days, it seems, there are always course "renovations" and "adjustments" that take place to alter the original layout. This can include everything from tree removal to tree additions, lengthened and altered tee boxes, tighter fairways and new strategic bunkering. This year, 23 new bunkers were added to the course bringing the total up to 65, whereas other Open courses have upwards of 120. The weather, a standard and prominent factor at all Open Championships, is going to play a huge role in determining the winner. Either way, you have to consider that Tiger Woods is either going to demolish the field or end up right on the heels of whoever may escape with the coveted Claret Jug.

Padraig Harrington, who has been the winner of the past two Open Championships, is seriously struggling with his game. I know firsthand, having spent the better part of an hour watching him at the practice range at this year's U.S. Open at Bethpage Black. Harrington was consistently drawing every club, intentionally, from short irons to laser hybrids to towering drives, a pattern that is traditionally inconsistent with his high fades. As of the end of last year he was the clear favorite to three-peat. Harrington wasn't sure if he was even going to play in 2008 and ended up making a last-minute decision to enter the tournament despite a nagging wrist injury, which goes to show you how much talent the man possesses.

I'm not certain how the R&A changes or toughens courses for the Open Championship. The adjustments made to U.S. Open venues are well-documented - ankle-strangling rough, tighter fairways, ludicrously speedy greens - whatever it takes to make the place a living hell. Due to the nature of these British courses, the weather alone is enough to wreak incredible havoc on the playing field. If I remember correctly there wasn't much in the way of tall fescue or gorse bushes at Turberry. If this remains the case, Tiger Woods should be able to spray the ball everywhere off the tee and still hit greens in regulation. If the conditions are fast and dry, I expect that he may even leave the driver in the bag and opt for the 3-wood a little more often, a-la Royal Liverpool in 2006. With the #2 player in the world (Phil Mickelson) most likely absent due to his wife's battle with breast cancer and the #4 player (Kenny Perry) entering the tournament burdened by finding out his mother is in hospice, Tiger will be dealing with two less massive talents as he tries to hoist the Claret Jug for the 4th time. Despite this, there is still a solid and select group of players who stand a great chance of getting in his way.

Even with Woods' enormous talent and surgically repaired knee, anything can happen.