Bunker Mulligan "Let us endeavor so to live that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry." ~Mark Twain

I must clear my mind. Overwhelmed. Sick of politics. NEED GOLF!

With all I’ve dealt with recently, I’ve missed out on imparting golf knowledge on my readers. Especially a milestone I reached last weekend. On my old home course, there are two holes I had never birdied–a 4-par and a 3-par. The 4-par is the #1 handicap hole with a tight green that is hard to hold. The hole must be in the right place to allow any chance for a putt to make birdie. Normally it requires a bounce-up approach. But I managed to knock in a birdie there several weeks ago, which left only #13, a 3-par.

This hole is a relatively long 3-par, about 165-180 yards (depending on tee placement), and has a large green. Most days, the wind is right in your face, which adds three and sometimes four clubs to the shot. Anything off-line is blown ever further off-line. A low wind-cheater landing short to run the ball up doesn’t work because the front of the green has St Augustine grass which grabs the ball and stops it. Many times I’ve managed to get within 10 feet of the hole, but missed the putt. Last Sunday, I had a 25-footer, and rolled it in. I have now birdied every hole on the course.

This weekend I have a tournament at my new course. I have a clean slate there, no birdies in the two rounds I’ve played. The countdown begins.

Bogey and I had a phone discussion about Presidential golfers earlier this week.

Several years ago someone asked Rush Limbaugh if he would like to play golf with Bill Clinton. He quickly answered, “Yes. You learn a lot about someone playing golf with them.” Golf has often been a testing ground for character.

Just the other day I saw a program on Discovery Times Channel called “First Off the Tee” about golfing Presidents. It was apparently based on the book by Don Van Natta Jr. One of the issues he addressed was character.

Guess who makes it into the

I just watched John Daly. Every time I see him I am more impressed. He is real, an unpretentious gentleman. He offered several warm-up tips I’ll try, but the thing I will remember most is his common sense approach to things.

He spoke of his first attempts at playing golf, and how inspired he was by the series of articles written by Jack Nicklaus which eventually became Lesson Tee. I have that book myself, and always return to it for its simplicity. What JD remembers is that the book was, to a kid, a comic book. Each lesson was lavishly illustrated by Jim McQueen. JD’s point is that if you want to get a kid involved in golf, the easiest way is through illustration. Each lesson also takes up no more than two pages, and maybe two dozen sentences of text. I think he really hit on something which should be obvious.

I remember learning the rules of golf as a kid. I learned from a book written to explain the rules and associated decisions, and it was also amply illustrated. I sometimes embarrassed my dad when I went out with him because I felt no shame in pointing out rules violations to his playing partners. Most of them weren’t appreciative of a seven-year-old who knew rules they didn’t, or rules they ignored. I

Nearly twenty-five years ago I was stationed at the Presidio of Monterey. I played golf at Fort Ord. There were two courses there, the Bayonet and the Blackhorse. Blackhorse was the newer of the two, and hadn’t quite settled in as yet. It was still a challenging course and has since grown up.

Bayonet, though, was as nice, and tough, a course as you could find anywhere. Tour players coming to the Monterey Peninsula often played Bayonet as a warm-up for the Crosby (now AT&T) tournament at Pebble Beach. Nobody had ever broken par on that course in tournament play, so it was humbling to play. The Nationwide Tour now has a tournament there annually, and par is no longer the barrier it once was.

Of course, it has changed in the intervening years. I played there last January when I went to visit relatives in Santa Cruz. There is no longer iceplant in the rough, which once stole many strokes from me. Although I didn’t score well the day I played, it was certainly easier than before if I strayed from the fairway. Even so, we had several golfers playing qualifying rounds in our tournament to get into the AT&T. The best of them shot 71. With no wind and soft greens.

I mention all this in anticipation of the Champions (Senior) Tour playing on the Peninsula this weekend. One round will be played on Bayonet, and the others at Pebble Beach. Don’t be surprised to see lower scores at PB this weekend, unless the wind picks up.

Today I played my first round on a new (for me) course. I joined the Northshore Country Club across the bay. No big deal cost-wise. As a military retiree, I have to pay $75 a month. So, I’ll play Saturday mornings there, and continue my Sunday Services with the old gang.

The course is a Bruce Devlin design, with five holes on the back nine along the bay. The back nine also has three each 3, 4 and 5-par holes, which is a little different. The front nine has a rolling links feel to it, with some water thrown in for good measure.

I had a couple of shots go out of play due to lack of course knowledge, but that’s okay.

Two of the back nine par threes require fights with the wind when it’s up. The tee shot has to start out toward the water, and you pray it comes back.

Best of all, I managed to get in with a group of early golfers. There were nine of us today, and the group sometimes grows to fifteen. They block out enough tee times to be first out every weekend. And they were a fun group to play with. Five bucks in the pot to begin, then side bets and “Wolf” within playing group. I was the Wolf on the first tee, trying to pick a partner from guys I’ve never played with. I ended up two bucks richer in the end, though.

Two years ago I had a month-long trip to Groton, Connecticut. It was early fall, and expected to be easy weather. My lovely wife suggested I buy a travel case for my golf clubs. I like to tell people she suggested it so I’d stay out of bars and away from loose women, but she knows there’s no danger there. The purpose is to allow me to play golf. Period.

Groton has a wonderful municipal course, Shinnecosset. It is a Donald Ross design, first built in 1898. Ross came to the US in the early 1900s and finished it off, leaving his unmistakeable mark. It has wonderful fairways with deceptive approaches to the greens–those domed greens. Three new holes have been added after the city ceded some property to Pfizer for expansion. The company purchased a piece of property jutting out into the Thames Estuary for replacing the holes lost to construction. One evening I played and had the pleasure of seeing the sun begin to set across the river behind the 16th green–a golden hue washed the fairway, and I stood on the green for several minutes after holing out just to take in the view for as long as it lasted. It was a magical experience to play a course designed by a master and to be treated to the show as well.

I’ve become much more interested in golf architecture in the last five years or so. I began keeping track of the courses I’ve played, and the architects who designed them. I’ve played some by the old masters–Ross, Tillinghast, MacKenzie, Neville–and some of the better-known tour pros-turned-architects–Palmer, Player, Devlin, Burke, and Norman. I prefer the old guys.

Here in Texas we have the honor of several Tillinghast courses. San Antonio has three of them: two at Fort Sam Houston, and the San Antonio Country Club. He also designed Cedar Crest in Dallas, which was once a country club and hosted PGA events, including a PGA Championship in the ’30s.

What I like most about the old masters is their ability to see a course in the landscape, then construct it in their own style with little moving of earth. They let the ground determine the flow of the game, much like the old links courses in Scotland.

The Greg Norman and Gary Player courses have a similar feel, although earth-moving equipment is far more handy than it was early last century. Of the tour-pro architects, I prefer their styles. In particular, Player’s layouts are designed with every level of golfer in mind. He doesn’t take the Robert Trent Jones approach and simply construct very long tee boxes. In fact, the difference in length from the different tees isn’t extreme. What he does is design landing areas for different skill levels such that some help is provide for the duffer who strays off-line only slightly, but the long-knocker better hit where he’s supposed to. He also sets up approach shots to force you to think your way to the green and use a variety of clubs to do it. The same thing MacKenzie advocated and succeeded in doing at places like Pasatiempo and Augusta National.

I always play from the tips on a new course just to see what the architect wanted to accomplish. Usually he accomplished it at the expense of my score.

But I love it.

Anyone need a new logo for a golf blog?

One of playing partners found this on the course today. Pretty descriptive trademark. Never heard of it before!

Today was an interesting round of golf. I played poorly for much of the round, but did very well playing against Dave.

Dave is a good golfer, a 1-handicap. He will play in the USGA Mid-Amateur qualifier this week in San Antonio. But he can be a pain to play with. He is slightly arrogant, which I can accept on the golf course. But he is also condescending, which I don’t tolerate well anywhere.

I had a fousome set up for this morning, and he showed up a little later than I’d like, as usual. Then he piddle-farted around, and we got off late. The reason he dallied is because he had taken it upon himself to invite someone else to play with us. The other guy never showed. If he had, he and Dave could have waited for another start. It was my foursome.

Then he wanted to play a side bet–a quarter skin. I asked him how many strokes he was going to give me–I have a 13-handicap. No answer. Okay.

After three holes I told him, “Dave, I’m already into your pocket for 75 cents. You better get to work.” Pressure. He doesn’t like it. Especially from a high handicapper.

Understand, I can hold my own with just about anyone in match play. Any high scores I shoot are Dalyesque–a big number on a couple of holes. After nine, he was only 1-up without giving me any strokes.

When we get to the tenth tee, he wants to change the game to two bucks a stroke, and he’ll give me six strokes. Okay. We both hit good drives, but my second bounces off line into the bunker. A wet bunker. My first attempt stuck the ball in the bunker’s face just under the lip. I tried to pop it out, but it rolled back into a hole in the sand. I couldn’t get the club through that much sand.

I picked up and played out. He got a par. “How many strokes do you want to take on this hole?”

“I can only post a seven for handicap, so let’s just say I give back all six strokes and we play scratch from here on out.” He got a wide grin. And soon regretted it. I matched him hole for hole all the way around, but bogeyed the 18th and he got a par–to beat me by one stroke. Boy did I have fun. He was getting pretty frustrated. On a par 5, his second finished 20 yards from the hole. I had a bad drive, and my second left me 130 yards. Our third shots both finished on the green the same distance from the hole. I left the putt short, and he misread the line. We both got par. Had I made birdie to his par, I’m sure he would have exploded.

Dave likes to tell everyone how far he hits the ball. And he does hit it well. But on the 16th, we arrived at our balls on the fairway, and I set up to hit the one that was about five yards shorter. I looked down, and it was his ball. “This one’s yours.” No return comment.

I don’t mind. I get a kick out the different personalities I meet on the course. I’ve met few people I hated to play with. Sometimes Dave gets to me.

Today, I got to him.