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How Do You Bet On Golf?

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Placing a bet or two this fall? Don’t forget about golf!

Well, we’re headed into my favorite time of year.  It’s early September and right around the corner will be cooler temperatures, the changing of the leaves and of course…football will be in full swing.  Now I have said before that when football season starts, my golf season comes to an end.  But that’s not exactly true.

Fall is also my favorite time of year for golf, mainly for the first two reasons mentioned above – golf is much more fun to play when you are comfortable, and depending upon where you’re playing, the changing leaves make it a more aesthetically pleasing experience as well.

However, if I play golf on a Sunday, I want to be home on my sofa by 1:00. Besides just watching football, one of my favorite things about the sport is betting on it.  Whether it’s straight up betting, playing fantasy football or getting into a knock-out pool, putting a little money on the game makes everything more interesting.

As a matter of fact, it’s not just football.  I’d be willing to put money on anything.  However, I’ve never really done much along the lines of betting on golf, except of course for betting out on the course.  But maybe it’s time I change that. The problem for me is, I just don’t really know how to easily bet on golf.

Sure, I could go on a site such as Betfair and get the odds for each tournament.  But then what?  Do I go to a guy at work and tell him I’ll give him 7-to-5 on Rory?  People just don’t bet like that.  Maybe we just do it like we did some horse racing – all of the names go in a hat and you pull one.

Maybe you only put a certain number of names in there and one of them is “The field.”  Or maybe we do like we did World Cup Soccer where we just picked a country ourselves and went with it. I suppose there are plenty of options and ways to go, but choosing one is going to be the hard part.

However, the easy part is knowing that I need to get in on the action and bring some people along with me.  After all, if the money helps get people more interested in the game, then I may actually be doing the game a service, right?

Swing ’til you’re happy!

We Go Together Like Golf And…

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20140818_002545Some things just go together.  Peanut butter & jelly.  Bread & butter.  Burgers & fries.  Raiders fans & felonies.  You just can’t have one without the other.  But if you’re not a golfer, you may not realize that golf and alcohol can fit right in with those examples.  Whether it’s the relaxed atmosphere of the game which makes taking a few swigs seem second nature, or your game itself which drives you to drink, there’s something about the sport which ties the two together.  But just as much as what you choose to drink, it’s what you’re drinking from.

Take a beer for instance.  Something about drinking a beer from a can sends a certain message.  Step up to a bottle seems to be a bit more grown-up.  Where as having a beer on draft, especially in one of those glasses crafted specifically to accentuate the flavor of certain brews, makes you look like the ultimate brew snob.  But taking a swig of your spirit of choice from a finely-crafted hip flask?  Now that can tell your fellow golfers you take your drinks seriously.

Enter our friends over at buyahipflask.com.  Personally, I have my own hip flask.  I received one, custom engraved, as a gift several years ago from a friend who knew what I liked to drink.  I thought mine was nice, until I got a look at one sent to us from our buddies across the pond.  One of the flasks from their golf collection simply puts mine to shame.  While mine did come in a nice box, the presentation of the one we here at GolfStinks received was quite luxurious.  Taking off the cardboard sleeve reveals a quality, textured cardboard presentation box featuring the logo of the English Pewter Company.  Pop the top on that, and it contains an attractive, black velvet bag with an EPC Finest Pewterware printed across the front.  Once you dig into that bag, you’ll pull out a foam-wrapped, shiny piece of libation-holding beauty.

But it’s not just the look.  It’s the feel of it, the weight.  You know this is no shiny-painted piece of crappy metal.  This is good quality, lead-free pewter.  The leak-proof top and funnel are nice touches, although I would have preferred the funnel to be something other than plastic.  But this doesn’t alter my thoughts toward the flask itself.  Along with the look and the feel, the engraving on the front of the flask is highly detailed, to the point where features of the club such as the grips, sections of the shaft and the club face are all there.  Even the shadow on the engraved ball looks good.  Ladies and gentlemen, this is no piece of cheap tin.

And as always, your friends here at GolfStinks do not keep everything for themselves.  No, we share as usual.  Do you want a chance to get your golf glove wrapped around one of these flasks yourself?  Then simply head on over to the Golfstinks Facebook page and give this post a like.  You’ll be entered to win this very flask.  And while you’re there, don’t be afraid to share with us your favorite pre-, during and post-round libations.  Don’t drink alcohol during golf, or at all for that matter?  Then share that with us as well.

Swing ’til you’re happy!

Make More Time For Golf

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thVYDG9HBMOne of the reasons (among many) that I don’t golf as much as I’d like is simply because I don’t have the time.  I don’t mean the time required to play a round – I don’t really care if that takes five or six hours.  I mean the time to get out to the course at all!  Between all of the commitments required in everyday life, golf has taken a backseat.  And that’s been no more apparent than during this season.  I have played exactly one 18-hole round this year.  One!  How can I even call myself a golfer with that in mind?!  Well, there are things that we can do to make time…and believe me, they’ve all crossed my mind at some point.

1. Quit your job.  Several years ago, I was laid off from my place of employment.  It was a sad time.  My boss clearly didn’t want to do it, but tough decisions had to be made.  As he shook my hand and told me how sorry he was, I said to him “Don’t worry about it.  I understand and I’ll be fine.  This just gives me a little more time to play golf.”  And that it did.  It’s amazing how much free time is made when you don’t have to go to work.  In hindsight, I probably should have been saving that money due to the whole “no job” thing.  But hey, hindsight is 20/20, and at the time it seemed like a good idea.

2. Take a leave from your job.  OK, maybe taking a leave to play golf is not necessarily the best idea I’ve ever had.  However, hear me out.  I know someone who worked their behind off for quite a while.  He saved up a bunch of loot and took six months off to travel around Europe.  Now that’s something which, to me, seems worth taking some time off of work.  That’s something most people will never have the chance to do at any point in their lives.  And here he was doing it in his 20’s.  So if you can save the money and get the time, that can be turned into an extended golf trip.  Travel around the country or the world, playing your dream courses!  Again, if you have the means…it seems worth it.

3.  Married?  Don’t be.  First off, I am not suggesting you get divorced so you can play more golf.  I mean, what kind of an a-hole would ever suggest that?  What kind of jerk would suggest throwing a marriage away so you can hit the links more often?  Now, with that being said…marriages and families do seem to take time away from the course.  If golf is more important to you than a spouse and a family…don’t get married, don’t have kids.  Speaking from experience, your free weekends will quickly no longer be free.  Speaking further from experience…I will soon see if this free time actually is made.

OK, so there are my ideas.  I didn’t say they were realistic ideas.  But ideas nonetheless.  Either way, we all want to play more golf and we all need to figure out how to do it.  Lord knows I do.  Again…one 18-hole round this season?  By mid-August?  I’m on the edge of no longer being able to call myself a golfer.  I’m becoming just a guy who plays golf on occasion.

Swing ’til you’re happy!   

Is The PGA Hiding a Bigger Problem?

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thS8FZDIX1Darryl Strawberry, Derek Boogaard, Josh Hamilton, Ricky Williams, Dwight Gooden, Steve Howe, Roy Tarpley, Len Bias.  All have something in common – drugs affected their careers.  And one, due to drugs, never got his career started.  Notice how on this list, and among the most famous of all of the athletes with drug problems, there are no golfers.  Are we somehow supposed to believe that, other than John Daly’s alcohol-related problems, no other golfer has suffered from any type of substance abuse?  Well, thanks to Dustin Johnson, we can now see that this is most likely not the case.

We all know already that the PGA is very quiet about their inner-workings.  We know they fine the players, but unlike the other major sports, we rarely know when or ever find out how much.  Suspensions however?  Well that’s a different story.  It’s only when you begin putting two and two together that you begin to figure things out.

After news leaked that Dustin Johnson was being suspended due to a positive test for cocaine, it was followed shortly thereafter by news from the PGA that he was not suspended, he was leaving on his own to deal with, what was it…”personal challenges?”  Along with that story was news that Johnson had two or three previous drug-related incidents as well.  Do the powers that be not realize that, in this day and age, if there is a story to be leaked, it’s going to be leaked?  But like everything else in the PGA, they have not yet realized it’s now the 21st century.  Information is everywhere and accessible to anyone.  All it takes is one untrustworthy person.

Now I can understand the players right to privacy.  If I had a drug-problem that caused me to be suspended from my job, I would not want it to be public knowledge either.  But of course, people don’t spend money to see me push a pencil around my desk.  And therein lies the problem.  Fans of a player or sport spend money to see each – and they believe that entitles them to the right to knowledge.  Are they right?  Maybe.  Fans don’t want to be deceived.  They don’t want to feel cheated or lied to.  So when, what appears to be a cover-up, surfaces…naturally people are going to be upset and call other occurrences into question.  People have already begun questioning Johnson’s supposed jet-ski accident two years ago.  Was he hurt, or was he actually suspended due to one of his previous positive drug tests?

To the PGA – the bottom line is the fans want the truth.  They spend money to watch your tournaments live.  They spend money to watch them on TV.  Many make purchases based on what players on the tour use.  They do not want to find out that the wool is being pulled over their eyes.  With golf in it’s current state, the last thing they need is another avoidable scandal.

Swing ’til you’re happy!

The Contradictions of Golf

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thBF407J5ZNext to a chess match, golf just might be the slowest moving sport going.  Or maybe it just feels that way when you’re watching or playing it.  But the funny thing about that is, every golfer is in such a hurry to get their round finished!  I hate playing with people who are in a rush.  I just want to scream my head off at them – What’s your rush?  Aren’t you enjoying yourself?  Don’t you want to spend some time out here with your buddies?  Did you make other plans?  You know we were golfing today and we always grab a bite to eat after the round…did you really make other plans so now you’re going to bitch and moan the whole round about how you need to leave?  You know what…next time just stay home!

But golf is full of this type of behavior.  If it’s not the speed of the game, it’s the level of play or the cost of everything associated with it.  What do I mean?  Here….let me explain.

1. The speed of the game.  As explained above, golf is a slow moving sport.  We are all aware of that going in.  So why in the hell is every golfer in such a hurry to finish?  Why do you make a 9am tee-time and then make plans for the early afternoon?  You know there’s a good chance you won’t be done in time.  And if you are done, you’ll be cutting it awfully close.  Everyone understands there is no rule saying your round must be completed in four hours, right?  You all know that time was just made up by courses so they can squeeze in as much golf as possible in order to make as much money as possible, right?  Obviously, no one wants to be stuck behind someone who is just so deliberately and unnecessarily slow – bad golf is tolerable, slow golf is not.  But as long as that person has the common courtesy to let a faster group play through, then what’s the issue?  We need to go into these rounds with a more relaxed, laid back attitude.  It will make your round so much more fun.  If you’re in that big a hurry, play nine or play an executive/par=-3 course.

2. The competition in the game.  Most of us golfers are just out there for fun.  The majority just plays for no reason other than they simply enjoy playing.  We’re not pros, we’re never going to be pros and we accept that.  We don’t care.  The game is more fun when that reality is accepted.  But it bothers me when I hear the people who claim this mindset, but in the next breath they are going on about how their lessons have helped lower their handicap to a level better than the next guys.  Seriously?  I thought you were out here for fun.  Why do you care if you have a better handicap than your buddy?  I’ve made the comparison before, but it still rings true – I didn’t hire a batting coach when I played beer league softball.  But I played softball for the same reason I play golf – for fun.  So why would I spend a stupid amount of money for lessons in something I’m never going to take any further than my local track?

3. The cost of the game.  Unless you’re rich or incredibly well-off, the cost of this sport is something all of us take into account.  We all know by now that you can take a $50 pair of shoes, slap some spikes on the bottom, and now they’re $100 golf shoes.  Many of us will not treat ourselves to a nicer course because of the price.  Some golfers feel like they don’t belong there because they’re not good enough to play a course like that (which is a ridiculous way of thinking by the way).  OK, I understand that.  But don’t complain about the cost of the game when you show up in your $60 polo shirt, using your $120 putter to tap around a ball that came out of a package which cost you $40 for a dozen.  You can spend one-third of that on all of those things, and next thing you know you will have the money to play that nicer course!

I’m not saying all golfers act in this manner, and I get why some do.  I understand why someone’s handicap means something to them.  I get that people feel like anything more than four hours is too long to be golfing.  And I understand that people have places they would rather spend their money than on a golf course.  I just find the contradictions amusing.  Oh well…one more thing I love about this sport!

Swing ’til you’re happy!

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