GolfStinks

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Golf Tournament Hype

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The fans are excited. The anticipation has been building all week. Fans are talking about it amongst their friends, family and co-workers. Everyone is expecting to see some of the best play they’ve seen all season. Everyone is expecting to see greatness. And this isn’t even the championship! Then what is it you ask? It’s the Chevron World Challenge!

Ha! I fooled ya, didn’t I? I know you thought I was talking about the NFL and Championship Sunday. Well, I don’t blame you. Seeing the two best teams from each conference square off against one another to decide which teams go to the Super Bowl is pretty exciting. But that’s not how it is in golf.

See, this is what I’ve been talking about. The NFL ends the season with it’s most exciting games leading up to the Super Bowl – a championship game. But the second to last tournament of the PGA season is the Chevron World Challenge. Practically meaningless. But not quite as meaningless as the final tournament – the Franklin Templeton Shootout.

So what do I mean by meaningless? Well, name me one sport, other than golf, that puts it’s “playoffs” right in the middle of the season. You can’t. Stupid, right? The PGA “playoffs” are made up of four tournaments in August and September. But for some reason, the season doesn’t end after the playoffs. No, us golf fans are treated to a myriad of meaningless tournaments after the playoffs have ended!

So why is it so mixed up in golf? Why wouldn’t they simply put the playoffs at the end of the season like everyone else? This is all part of what I’ve been getting at. And it was on full display leading up to this football weekend, and will be on full display again over the next two weeks leading up to the Super Bowl. For cryin’ out loud, the NFL gets more attention when there are no games going on during the weeks leading up to the Super Bowl than the PGA Tour gets during their two biggest tournaments of the year combined! That should tell you enough!

Ah, I’m spouting off again. But I just can’t help myself. It’s such an easy target. One day the powers that be in the world of the PGA will pull their heads out of their 19th holes and get with the program. But until then, well, I’ll keep tryin’…

Swing ’til you’re happy!

The Beginning Of The End To My Golf Season

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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!

Super Bowl Hype For Golf?

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So, much like 100+ million other people, I watched the Super Bowl this past Sunday. Another good game for America’s favorite sport as, once again, the big game lived up to it’s hype.

It kind of makes you wonder why the Super Bowl is as revered as it is. What does the Super Bowl have that the World Series doesn’t? Why are we all excited to tune into the Super Bowl, but not as much the NBA Finals, or the Stanley Cup Finals? And where does golf rank in this question?

Well, to get it out of the way quickly, my short answer to why the Super Bowl is so much more popular than the championships of other sports is…there’s only one championship game. The whole season and everything a team has played for, comes down to one game. That right there is part of the popularity for two different reasons.

Reason 1 – The sporting reason – There simply is no second chance. The team has one chance to win. It’s not a series. There is no game 2 (or 3,4,5,6 or 7 for that matter). You lose, you’re done. It’s exciting! What if there was no series in the World Series or NBA Finals. Would it have made Rangers-Giants or Lakers-Celtics even more exciting? My guess is yes!

Reason 2 – The entertainment/get-together reason – It’s just so much easier to gather friends and family for one game than it is for, somewhere between, four and seven games. Who gets together for the entire World Series? Maybe a game or two…and a game 7 if there is one. But unless there is a game 7, then who knows when the last game (the actual championship game) will really be? See, the logistics of it are just too tough to figure out.

Now take golf…it’s just a mess. The Maters, The PGA Championship, The Opens, The FedEx Cup, the money list, the rankings…what the hell?! Who’s #1 and why? I mean, I can see who’s ranked #1…but how did they get there? Especially if they haven’t actually won any tournaments! Drawing on stinky golfer Pete’s idea – there should be one single tournament to determine the season’s champion!

But since it seems highly unlikely that the PGA would completely rearrange its entire structure to accommodate a complaint that a couple of hacks at a place called golfstinks have made, it seems the next logical step to add some hype to the boredom of the golf season is…halftime shows!!

Look, the Super Bowl is a huge draw every year. But ever since 1993, when Michael Jackson performed, it’s obvious the NFL changed it’s perspective on halftime and has made every effort to bring in big names rather than the college band theme they had been doing previously. And the result? One could argue that a significant part of the reason some people watch the game at all is for the halftime show! I would rank it with the commercials, but they seem to fall flatter and flatter every year. (On a side note, beer commercials used to be funny. Now, they are just awful).

So what better way to draw more viewers (and fans at the gate), whether fans of golf or not, than to book a kick-ass rock group for the Friday (halftime of a golf tournament) night festivities? It’s working for the NFL, isn’t it? MLB and the NBA are beginning to work it in at their all-star games. Why not give it a shot?

OK, so I’m really reaching again. But hey…I’m just trying to help. A little music and entertainment never hurt anyone. Just one request…if anyone involved in the PGA halftime entertainment division is reading this…please don’t book the Black Eyed Peas. Was the halftime show a spectacle? Yes. But it was likely the worst music to ever make it to the Super Bowl.

Swing ’til you’re happy!

Golf Super Series World Cup Bowl Finals?

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Hey pro golf, can you feel that excitement in the air? It’s electric…and it’s called the Super Bowl. Take heed to the NFL’s example on how to get people wanting to watch a sports championship.

Considering it is right around the corner, I thought it would be a great sample to use. If you’re not a football fan then baseball has the World Series, basketball has the NBA Finals, hockey has the Stanley Cup and soccer has the World Cup. Pick one.

As a golf lover and fan, I just don’t get that “Oh man! I can’t wait for the FedEx Cup” feeling. Seriously, where is the excitement? The pro’s don’t even exude any! I’m sure they are happy with the pay-out but I don’t see any after-tourney shenanigans (a fist pump does not count as a celebration).

Here’s my idea: The Money List…get rid of it. This will be based on wins. If you consistently make the top ten and never win you can lead the money list. So, take the top records and make the cut at 72 and have them battle it out. Throw in a “wild card” to the four golfers that just miss the cut and make it start a day earlier. That’s it. A winner takes all (or most of it) tournament once a year.

As for now, I’ll just settle in and let my snow shovel rest while I indulge in a traditional Super Bowl fair of wings and beer.

Hit’em long…yell FORE!!

From Greens To Gridirons

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This is my favorite time of year. The days are getting cooler and more comfortable. The nights are becoming, what I refer to as, “sleeping weather.” Soon, the leaves will be blazing with the foliage of another beautiful Connecticut autumn. It doesn’t get any better than spending a few hours out on the course on a Saturday morning in September or October. But not Sunday! Why not Sunday? Well, becaue of another reason this is my favorite time of year. It’s football season!

Since I began playing golf, I try not to let much get in the way of being on the course. Sometimes I can’t help it. Things happen. I can’t control the weather. And with my wife being a photographer, sometimes her appointments, sessions or weddings get in the way. But hey, it’s better for her to be making us money, than for me to be spending it, right? But the one thing that I will always allow to get in the way of golf is the NFL. I will put away my putter in favor of my Patriots.

I have long been a fan of football. Ever since I was just a little kid and my dad would keep me up at night to watch Monday Night Football. Nothing has changed since then. As a matter of fact, I find myself doing the same thing with my boys now. The minute the Super Bowl ends, I long for September to come around again. I want to spend my Sundays lounging in front of the TV with a beer, eating chips and wings. I’ll play golf on Sunday, but I have to be home by 1:00.

However, as much as I love football and look forward to the start of the season, I guess it is a bittersweet feeling as well. Because when the football season is just starting up, that means golf season is winding down. So I begin to reflect on another season of golf. I look back on another season in which I didn’t get to play nearly as much as I would have liked. I don’t really reflect on my performance all that much. For me, it’s more about quantity than quality. I think back on some of my favorite rounds. I look back and appreciate playing a course I’ve never played before, or one I haven’t visited in a few years. I try to remember the good rounds and forget the bad. There’s usually not a whole lot of good rounds for me to remember!

But along with the disappointing feeling of another golf season coming to an end, is the feeling of knowing I am also entering my favorite part of the golf season! Often times, we will try to save some of the best courses for last. Courses we know have the best views of the changing leaves. The prettiest courses in autumn. There’s nothing like standing at the top of an elevated par-3, hitting your ball into a sea of reds, oranges and yellows, followed up by searching for the ball in the woods while the fallen leaves crunch beneath your Foot-Joys. How about playing a course with a few holes that wind around an orchard right when the apples are in season. There’s nothing like eating an apple picked right off the tree. And it’s even better when I can simply drive my golf cart right up to the tree, and pick out the best one I can find. Now that’s great golf.

So let’s all enjoy these last few weeks of the season. Forget your score for a while. Don’t try so hard. Don’t take it so serious. Enjoy the beautiful weather and comfortable temperatures. And if we’re lucky enough to have that “golf weather” last deep into the year, then let’s just enjoy the fact that we’re out on the course at all! Just not on Sundays after 1:00.

Swing ’til you’re happy!

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