GolfStinks

A Golf Blog for the Rest of Us!

The Beginning Of The End To My Golf Season

| By | 2 Comments

Does football mark the end of your golf season? (Photo via Pixabay)

It’s already begun. This past Thursday night Stinky Golfer Tom shows up at my house, beer in hand, ready to watch the first NFL game of the season. This will be the official start to my favorite time of year…football season.

Every year, immediately after the Super Bowl, I find myself already anxious for the start of the next season. It’s not just the fact that I love the sport itself. It’s everything that goes along with it. Getting together with friends to watch the games, the fantasy football leagues, maybe a few pools here and there…and of course a Super Bowl party.

However, I guess the start of the football season is a bit bittersweet as well. As much as I love it, it also means my golf season (as little as I played this year) is coming to an end. Football marks the nearness of autumn, with winter soon to follow. And being that here in CT we’ve already had a few sub-70 degree days, winter may be here sooner than expected.

But it’s the fact that this weekend, the first of many this this season that a few buddies will head over to my place to watch the games and stuff our faces rather than playing golf on a Sundays, tells me something about where golf stands in my sports life. As far as my buddies and I watching football, I’ve mentioned before that we don’t get together to watch golf .

When it comes to fantasy sports, I’ve been participating in fantasy football for over 15 years now. But fantasy golf? I took my first shot at it this year and was bored with it by week 3. I don’t really know enough of the players on the tour, and I don’t follow the tour closely enough to care. So fantasy golf quickly becomes dull.

But what about a pool or some type of wagering? That always makes things much more interesting. Well, it simply isn’t common enough for golf. I’ll get into Super Bowl pools as well as some regular season pools or random wagers. But golf…no one cares enough. And if someone approached me about a golf pool, I’d probably do it. I bet on everything. Hell, I even put a few bucks in on the Home Run Derby this year! But no betting equals no additional interest.

But obviously, the most important part of football season is the games themselves. I desire enough to watch the games that, from this weekend on, golf is now limited to Saturdays only. If golf is going to be played on a Sunday (and that’s a BIG if), it will be limited to nine holes only and must be played locally or early enough that I can be home in time for the start of the games.

I love playing golf. But one of the things I love most about it is the camaraderie with my golfing buddies. Just hanging out with my friends on the course, having a beer and some grub afterward are part of what’s great about getting out and golfing. But watching the games with my friends provides the same camaraderie and includes the non-golfers. Not too mention the other factors mentioned earlier and even more excitement and interest is provided.

But as much as I love football, it can’t actually take the place of being out on the golf course with my pals. Well, on Saturdays anyway…

Swing ’til you’re happy!

Why I Suck at Fantasy Golf

| By | 1 Comment

I’ve played fantasy football since 1998 and I’m not too bad at it. I usually make the playoffs and the year our prize money was at its largest, I won the entire league. Needless to say, my overall winnings outweigh my overall entrance fees.

So when a golf buddy asked me to join his fantasy golf league this year, I figured why not? Anyway, there were a few advantages to his league – First; there were only 5 people in it (better odds for me to win). Second; I knew two or three of the people had never played fantasy golf before (same boat as me). And third; it was free – so what did I have to lose?

Despite never playing fantasy golf before, I figured how hard can it be? You just pick the top-ranked players every week and hope the odds pan-out. Au contraire. Turns out fantasy golf is a whole lot harder than it looks.

First of all, you can’t just pick the same players every week, because in my league (Yahoo!) you can only use a player 9 times. So now I have to mix and match. The only problem with that is I have no idea who many of these players are! Stinky Golfer Chris has posted about this issue and he’s right – if the media wasn’t so hung up on Tiger, I may be a better fantasy golfer!

Anyway, not knowing many of the tour players, I’ve relied on the “expert” picks. And when you start reading-up on fantasy golf from the experts, you realize these guys are choosing players each week for a multitude of reasons. For example, they won’t start a player who is hot because he historically doesn’t play well at a particular course. Or even in particular weather!

Now I’m sunk. Not only do I not know many PGA Tour players, but I don’t really follow the PGA Tour to begin with! How am I supposed to know how a particular player has done at a specific course? That’s just too much research for me.

Oh and I’m having a hard time remembering to change-out my players too. In the NFL, players tend to play every week (unless they’re injured or on bye). So if you forget to change your lineup, chances are your team will still be intact enough to give you a shot at winning anyway. But not in golf. Not every player plays every stop on tour, so if you forget to check, you can (like me this week) have no golfers from the previous week playing in the tournament this week! That translates to a big fat goose egg for my weekly score.

But there’s more. In football, there’s only one game a week. In golf, the tournament lasts four days. So there’s an opportunity to switch starters with bench players after the first, second and third rounds. The problem is, I can never remember to do it! I’d set my lineup on Wednesday and check how I did on Monday…only to learn two of my four starters missed the cut on Friday! That led me to set a reminder on my phone for Friday night at 10 PM to make sure my starters actually make the cut for the weekend!

It doesn’t matter – I have no business playing fantasy golf. Of the five that started-out in our league, only three have kept it up (myself included). And of those three, I’m last. It’s pathetic. I play golf, I write about golf, I love golf. But I suck at fantasy golf. But, I signed up and I will compete till the end of the season.

Speaking of that, the summer session is about to begin – another 13 weeks of me stinking-up the fantasy golf links. Joy.

Want Every Golf Match to Matter? Play Fantasy Golf!

| By | 2 Comments

5032395691_ab951c598a_b
Playing fantasy golf will increase your interest in the game… (photo by Richard / CC BY 2.0)

I’m sitting up late at night watching the Phillies vs. Brewers game. I’m a Mets fan so, outside of pulling for the Brewers, I don’t have any real interest in this matchup. Well…that’s not 100% true. I sure could use a couple of hits out of Raul Ibanez. Why? My fantasy league of course!

Roughly fifteen years ago I was first introduced to fantasy sports. A friend and I jumped into a fantasy football league, sharing a team since neither of us new exactly what we were doing. Despite starting off hot with a record of 8-3, we made a bonehead trade and lost the rest of our games (not too mention our money) and missed the playoffs. You’d think it would have left a bad taste in my mouth, but instead, I was hooked. Be it fantasy football, baseball or basketball, I haven’t missed a season since. But now, a new fantasy sport has caught my interest – fantasy golf.

The thing about fantasy golf is, it’s very simple. Anyone who participates in fantasy sports knows that scoring is based on stats (and there are plenty of stats). You draft your players and the better the stats they produce, the better your team does. There are so many stats in fact, scoring can be downright confusing. But not in fantasy golf. There are pretty much two ways to score points in fantasy golf:

1. Points are based on your golfers score per hole (ex. 100 points for an eagle, 50 points for a birdie, 20 points for par, -20 points for a bogey, etc….).

2. Points are based on where your golfers finish in the final tournament standings.

Also, you even have the choice to redraft your team every weekend if you’d like, depending upon which golfers are playing in each tournament.

Seems pretty simple, right? But the fun of it, as well as the chance to win a few bucks, are not the only draws to fantasy golf…or any fantasy sport for that matter. It’s the draw to a game or tournament that, normally, may not interest you at all. Hence, the game I mentioned earlier.

Years ago, fantasy sports were mostly shunned or frowned upon by the professional leagues which they emulated. Participation in a fantasy league was looked upon as simply gambling. But that is no longer the case. Major sports leagues such as the NFL and MLB now embrace fantasy sports, and it’s the right thing to do. Fantasy sports have increased the overall interest in the game, even if it is mainly based on statistics and not necessarily the game itself. But, these leagues realize there are people like me, who will tune into a game they could care less about, in order to watch the one player my fantasy game hinges on. Does Bud Selig care why I’m watching the game? I doubt it, as long as I’m watching.

Fantasy golf is not nearly as popular as fantasy football, baseball or basketball…but the PGA may want to look into changing that. Once again, if you want me to watch your tournament, then give me as many reasons as possible to do so. The performance of players who aren’t necessarily stars, or worthy of much coverage, may not matter as much to the PGA Tour, but they may mean something to more people if they have a reason to cheer for them. Maybe I have a guy in my foursome this weekend named Jeff Overton. He’s only 35th on the money list and not exactly a popular name, but I want to see if he can sink that birdie putt to get me another 50 points for my team! That, my friends at PGA Tour headquarters, is interest in your sport that you normally would not have.

I’ve mentioned before that the PGA doesn’t do enough to promote it’s players, but fantasy sports are a great vehicle for promotion! The PGA would be wise to loosen up and jump on the fantasy sports bandwagon to welcome a new breed of fan. Again, give me a reason to watch the tournament. Give me a reason to cheer for a particular golfer. Give me something other than another Tiger Woods press conference!

Fantasy sports have made me a good amount of money, as well as lost me a good amount of money (no question lost more than I’ve won). But more so, they have gotten me interested in games that I normally wouldn’t be interested in. Honestly, how great would that be for the PGA?

Oh, and just an update, Ibanez went 1-4 with a walk…not good enough for me to pull it out. Looks like I’m going to drop another close one. I swear that guy knows I’m a Mets fan.

Questions / Advertise

info@golfstinks.com

Disclaimers

See here

Privacy Policy

See here