A Golf Blog

PGA Tour Fall Season

Except for The Presidents Cup the next 7 tournaments are going to have to get by without the tours top players.

The purses average $4.85 million and in only one does the winners share eclipse $1 million.

But, it's golf and I'll watch - even if it means struggling with the Golf Channel's talking heads and commercial interruptions. At least I won't have to listen to Kelly shilling for the Fed Ex Cup.

And, it's a great time for first time winners - Tiger's not planning on playing.

Fore!

Spike Marks

There's no disputing the fact that going to 'soft spikes' has lessened wear and tear on greens. That's not to say that greens don't get abused. They do!

I see golf carts parked next to the green with the cart path only 12 feet away. Compacting the soil makes growing grass difficult and compaction means more frequent core aeration. And we all know how much we like putting on greens full of holes filled with sand.

A pet peeve of mine is the golfer that has difficulty not dragging his feet on the green. Darn, game's hard enough so having to negotiate putts through areas of the green that look like miniature mine fields just isn't right.

Eighty percent of the time, here at the 'Ranch', when called on a point of etiquette, the golfer didn't realize what they were doing. The other twenty percent is a different story. I recall an episode where a golfer was digging in his spikes like he was going to hit a bunker shot from the green. I said something like "hey, be careful. You're only hitting a 12 footer, not shooting a bazooka". Yeah, a bit gruff but sometimes it takes tough love to get your point across.

Did I mention this exchange took place on #4? I could have gone off on any of the first 3 but decided on giving the benefit of doubt in his favor. Nothing like having a member of your foursome playing like they had a sharp stick jutting from one of their eye sockets.

Happenings at the Ranch

I was out and about a couple of days ago, armed with my trusty camera to get an idea of what kind of shape the course is in. I play quite a bit and as a player, a lot goes unnoticed but when I make the round as our men’s golf association grounds chair, I view things in a different way.

I think I work pretty well with our superintendent and this year we’ve seen remarkable progress. Most of which was made possible by the unusually wet late spring and early summer. We’ve had problems with cart traffic beating down the turf and most of that’s been handled with the judicious use of rope barriers limiting where carts can enter and leave the fairway from the cart path. We’ve even taken to making two holes (one on the front 9 and one on the back 9) cart path only. They get rotated and we don’t have two together.

One of the things that get me going is fairway divots. Most all the ‘Ranchers’ here have sand tubes on their private carts. The good news is that the percentage of them using sand to fill divots is up. Unfortunately, that accounts for about half the golfers.

Another thing is fixing ball marks. The greens here are Tiff Eagle and ball marks are sometimes hard to find. Regardless, if you don’t fix it or you can’t find it, there’s a good chance the next times the green’s cut, the top of the ball mark will be scalped and the green (especially the Par 3s) begin to look like a teenager with acne.

Then, there’s the unplanned incident. The last one here was a runaway dualie (Texas’ answer to the Manly Man work truck). This is what happens when the dual tires on the rear end of one run over the masonry of the tee marker and ball washer. The truck won.

And lastly, there was a comment on ‘The Course’ post guessing where the ranch was – it’s Robson Ranch in Denton, TX. Home of the Wildhorse Golf Club. Our little piece of paradise. If you’re in the area and would like to give it a try, drop me a line.

Keep it in the short grass.

Shut Up and Play

I see where Rory Crybatini has called out Tim Finchem (who by the way I don’t always agree with) and the tour and is asking that players that don’t play a full (four tournaments in a row) Fed Ex schedule not be allowed to compete for the title. What’s with that?

Let’s see, Tiger’s lapped the field. Phil is in the hunt and Stricker has been amazing! Hey Rory, get on with it and get in the mix.

Besides, in college when my grade in a particular course was such that I could skip an exam and still score, why take the exam?

Rory, how’s that different?