Sounds ambitious…..you need a young strong back to pull this off.  Just imagine playing 50 of the top courses in the Washington Metro Area in just seven weeks.  This is precisely what Tyler Dunmyer, a junior at Quince Orchard High School intends to do.

Tyler came up with this ingenious promotion to satisfy a major golf itch and support Junior Achievement of Greater Washington a charity he finds close to his heart.  Hitching his wagon with the Web.com’s Mid-Atlantic Championship’s Tickets For Charity program he will give folks an opportunity to see this pro tournament at the TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm May 27th through June 2nd and support his favorite charity at the same time.

100% of the ticket price you pay goes to Tyler’s charity.  This is a win-win for everyone involved.

(Click here to read Tyler’s announcement of his personal community service program)

Tyler’s dance card includes great fee local courses like Musket Ridge,  Stonewall, Raspberry Falls, Renditions, and Whiskey Creek as well as some of the most storied private courses in our area like Columbia Country Club, Woodmont Country Club (site of the final stage qualifying for the U.S. Open each year) and Laurel Hill where they will play the USGA Public Links in 2013.  He hopes to make the 50th stop at Avenel Farm to play the TPC Potomac Course the week of the tournament.  Sounds like a dream boat couple of months to me.

Take a moment to read some of Tyler’s day-today postings of his exploits.  The passion in the writing will give you a get a clear sense that this is much more of a journey of discovery than simply playing great golf courses.

(Click here to follow Tyler’s progress to his goal of 50 courses in 50 days)

Junior Achievement is a national program with a major presence in the Washington Metropolitan area.  Over 50,000 local students a year benefit from programs sponsored by Junior Achievement in work readiness, entrepreneurship, and financial literacy.  Tyler says, “Junior Achievement comes into all of our schools and teaches real world life skills….it is real important stuff and the way they do it really gets the kids attention.”

Consider supporting Tyler in his community service project by buying tickets for the Mid-Atlantic Championship ($10 for a day or $25 for the week) or simply make a donation.

(Click to buy tickets and donate to Tyler’s 50 in 50 initiative for Junior Achievement)

April, 2013

Don’t lose any shut eye being concerned about the financial state of the PGA Tour.  As you can read in Matthew Futterman’s article in the Wall Street Journal the beds of Tim Finchem, the PGA Tour, and the players fortunate enough to stay in the top 125 and cash in on the weekly spoils are all amply feathered with Jacksons as the tour has successfully navigated itself through the first Post-Tiger period.

After Tiger’s run in with the hydrant and the resultant free fall from grace because of personal indiscretions exposed, the PGA brass was very worried that the golden calf that his fame had help create was going to be seriously devalued without his persona dominating our Sunday television screens.

Apparently the sport had more self-sustaining momentum than they thought and with a fresh crop of young and talented players from the global golf pool stepping into the void the product proved as attractive as ever to the two parties that matter the most-the TV broadcasters and the corporate sponsors.

Futterman points out that the new nine-year TV contract inked in 2011 with NBC and CBS represented an average of about $800 million a year-a 33% increase over the expiring agreement.  The tour revenues for last year rose over $90 million (close to 10%) in a year when most businesses were just trying to figure how to eke out a low single digit increase in this sputtering economy.

Every one of the 42 PGA Tour events has a title sponsor kicking in anywhere from $6 to $12 million for the event.  Uniquely these sponsors commit to buying around 75% of the ads during the broadcasts, this is a huge hedge for the television broadcasters who have put so much on the table.  Viewership has continued to grow robustly justifying their outlays.

As Futterman says, the PGA Tour has succeeded in redefining the story of the tour.  It is now way more than one dominating force in a red shirt on Sunday-it includes Bubba Golf and Ricky Golf and Rory Golf and so much more.  The pot of gold is there for the players and more of the great athletes of the next generation will be proudly wearing soft spikes and bright colored shirts (with white pants of course) trying to dip their hands in that stash.

Against all the odds the PGA Tour has managed to redefine it’s attraction and connect with more folks than ever.  Just listen to that resonating ka-ching….it is louder than ever.

(Click to read Matt Futterman’s WSJ article on the PGA Tour)

Matthew Futterman

Wall Street Journal

April, 2013

All inebriated golfers have their dream foursome, the three guys with whom they want to play their fantasy round. In my case the number has climbed to double digits so it is kind of my moegolf dream outing.

With that attitude what a great two-man pard he would be ! (photo: brandtsnedeker.com)

Brandt Snedeker is a the top end of the ‘Please Save The Date’ list because he has three of the personal characteristics to pass my dream outing litmus test. He smiles all the time, has a humble respect for the game, and seems like a thoughtful guy with whom I would enjoy spending an afternoon playing golf and sharing a side of fries.

As you can read in John Garrity’s Golf.com article on “Sneed-a-ker” this is a guy who knows where he came from (in fact he still lives there), plays within his abilities, enjoys the game, and has a competitive fire for taking your money. He is very grounded in his values and the way he carries himself on and off the course. A bit of prankster lurks behind that innocent “Opie” moniker, but he certainly he qualifies as a guy you would want your kids to look up to and root for.

Sneds has been a moegolf post focus on more than one occasion.

(Click to read moegolf post about his early years)

(Click to read moegolf post about this season’s early triumphs)

No question he has the attention and respect of his peers with a too die for putting stroke and excellent course management skills. His five professional win venues include Harbour Town, Torrey Pines, East Lake, and Pebble Beach-any of which will do just fine for my dream outing.

Given the way Sneds has played so far this year-win at Pebble, two seconds, and a third, he has to be in that upper tranche of favorites at Augusta next week.

(Click to read John Garrity’s wonderful article about Brandt Snedeker)

John Garrity

Golf.com

April, 2013

With Tiger back at number one in the world after his victory at Arnie’s Barbeque this past weekend there may not be much time for him to savor the spoils.  As you can read in Jason Sobel’s Golf Channel piece, Rory can steal back the number one ranking from Mr. Redshirt with a win at the Shell Houston Open this weekend.

Not everyone thought this made high ethical marks (Picture: Nike Facebook)

The folks at Nike are in full embrace of ‘Tiger’s Return’ with their somewhat controversial “Winning Takes Care Of Everything” Facebook campaign launched right after the final putt dropped in the Monday finish at Bay Hill.

(Click to read the CNN.com piece on the Nike Facebook campaign controversy)

Having their number one and two vieing weekly for the top spot in the World Golf Rankings has to have Nike bigwigs doing cartwheels across the company conference table.  This is the Nike  “No Cup Is Safe”  ad becoming reality right before our eyes.

As Sobel says, Tiger’s fraternity brother advice for Rory this week involving the relocation of a particular digit pretty much says “Rory, your serve”.  I feel the little white dot moving across the old Atari screen right now.

And this entertainment seemed so high tech in the day!!

There could be real electronic fireworks if Rory can step up and compete with Tiger head-to-head when he is playing at the top of his game.  In the past when Tiger has been number one it has pretty much been Game-Set-Match no matter how credentialed the challengers have been.

Should be interesting to see who is waving a finger come Sunday afternoon.  Hopefully they have some hand sanitizer in the scorer’s hut.

(Click here to read Jason Sobel’s GC article “McIlroy Can Reclaim #1”)

Jason Sobel

Golf Channel.com

March, 2013

To most golfers who have any recognition of Walter Hagen it is as the ultimate showman, a man with flashy clothes and cars, a way with women, and a sense for the dramatic in golf competitions.  Unfortunately this pushes his compelling competitive record and the seismic changes he brought to status of the professional golfer to the back burner and relegates memory of him to more of a caricature performer than one of the truly great golfers in history.

The attached biographical article called “Sir Walter” by Ron Fimrite was written for Sports Illustrated in 1989.  It is a thorough account of the real and unreal life of Walter Hagen who single handedly changed the position of professional golfers in the U.S. and around the world.  He deals with many of the myths about the man as well as the full breadth of his accomplishments both on the course and around the clubhouse.

Hagen’s competitive record was astounding.  He won 11 majors over his career-(2) U.S. Opens, (4) British Opens, and (5) PGA Championships.  Between 1916 and 1928 he won 32 of 34 matches in the PGA Championship, including 22 in a row, a record that is astonishing by any standard.  Fimrite estimates Hagen won some 75 tournaments and played in more than 3,000 exhibition matches from 1912 to 1939.  Much like Tiger in our time, Hagen’s feverish popularity helped set new standards for tournament purses and exhibition fees from which all of his professional brethren benefited.

His only shortcoming was not of his own doing.  He played in an era where the amateurs were considered the aristocrats of golf and during the reign of the greatest amateur of them all, Bobby Jones.  The fact that he never won a British or U.S. Open in which Jones played clung like a persistent piece of lint to his cashmere sweaters.

Hagen’s outsized personality was well cultivated.  He won more money than any professional golfer of his time and appeared to spend twice what he earned.  From 1926 he became known for his carousing and, as Fimrite says, “By then he had the money to live in a the grand manner and he did”.   His antics made golf popular to the entire public. “He brought golf into the mainstream of the Golden Age of Sport. He was as colorful and popular as many of the other legends of his time, Ruth, Grange, Dempsey, Tilden…..golf became not merely a rich man’s game but everyman’s game.”

To the professionals who came after him he was a ground breaking hero.  To the rest of us he was just another character of the Roaring Twenties who was bigger than life.  Either way you see it, enjoy the details of the exploits and accomplishments of Sir Walter in this timeless article.

 (Click to read Ron Fimrite’s SI article “Sir Walter” from 1989)

Ron Fimrite

Sir Walter

SI Vault

June, 1989

A.K.A. the grey matter between his ears.  As Feherty says,  “I’m unable to stop the wheel in my head from spinning, even if I drug the hamster”.

There is a good bit of insight into the mind of the Mad Hatter of golf broadcasting in this Golf World article by Franz Lidz called “Scorecard From The Edge”.  His ability to lampoon a sport which codifies conventional behavior as scripture is explained by Feherty’s unique combination of a tough love Irish Protestant upbringing, considerable professional successes, and the torturous experiences of his personal life.

Throw in the fact that he is bright, opinionated, irreverent, and can improvise better than most stand-ups and you have a combination that makes for plenty of pregnant broadcasting moments.  Lidz says of Feherty, “For all the mugging and slapstick, his interview can be as languidly brilliant as his tournament commentary.  He’s affectionate, but not infatuated; admiring, but not adoring”.

The article reveals much about the tribulations Feherty has gone through-alcoholism, depression, a disintegrating marriage just to name a few.  But somehow he has found his ballast in the oddest of places, himself.  LIdz says, “Feherty doesn’t just want to be good, he wants to be seen as good”.  Feherty says it best himself, “I’ve found that the longer you spend on this planet, the more important the time you have left becomes”.

For those of us willing to put up with Jim Nance just for the opportunity to hear Feherty’s commentary, we get glimpses of what is inside this Fun House and become more and more infatuated by the humor and vision contained therein.

(Click to read the Franz Lidz article about David Feherty “Scorecard From The Edge”)

Franz Lidz

Golf World

February, 2013

It was a record setting blockbuster deal when Rory McIlroy signed on with the Swoosh.  This will undoubtedly begin an ongoing tandem campaign with the other Nike show pony Mr. Eldrick Woods.  Up to now the details on the trail to forging his relationship with Nike have been sketchy but you can read in the attached SI article by Alan Shipnuck how Rory and his agent carefully navigated the waters before landing  him on this island oasis.

What may surprise you is how motivated and engaged Rory was in this process.  He takes the presentation of his image very seriously and found that Nike represented the right fit of young and cool he was after.  As Rory said in his typical self-deprecating fashion, “It always seemed  like a food fit to me.  Golf needs a younger and more athletic image and Nike has always had that.  I’m young enough.  I’m not sure I’m athletic enough.  But I’ll try”.

His agent Conor Ridge of Horizon Sports Management was determined to eliminate the clutter of logos that made Rory appear on TV broadcasts as “golf’s version of a NASCAR ride”.  Through a protracted series of agreements to meet Rory’s goal of a cleaner, more simple image presentation, Ridge has realigned Rory’s endorsements and delimited the ad real estate on Rory clothing.

The most interesting aspect of this article is Shipnuck’s description of the evolution of Rory’s relationship with the Nike equipment side.  Rory said he was “relieved to discover that among the club tweakers there were no spiky-haired hipsters or mad scientists…..I was blown away by the craftsmanship and attention to detail”.

In the end Nike’s craftsmen found Rory a quick study who, as the ultimate feel player, is apt to embrace changes that intrigue him and take the attitude of “let’s try it and see what happens”.  This is a far stretch from the conservative and controlling approach of the second stud in the barn.

The jury is out on how a drastic equipment change may affect Rory’s career trajectory but he does not seem all that concerned about it.  He says, “I don’t over think things.  I’m not going to get overwhelmed by changing my equipment.”  His father Gerry who knows him better than anyone has said , “Rory could win a major playing with a hockey stick and an orange.”  Maybe Rickey Fowler should take note of that.

Tiger has gracefully accepted the fact that an ad relationship with Rory allows Nike to bring him back from his wilderness journey that started after that fateful incident at Isleworth in 2009.  The first advertisement of the series (click here to view the first ad) has just the right amount of edginess and personality interest to set the table for the many more sequels that are cooking in The Oven.

(Click here to read Alan Shipnuck’s article on Rory’s Nike Deal)

Alan Shipnuck

SI/Golf.com

January, 2013

Once again the USGA is on top over everything relevant to the preservation of the integrity of the game.  Bypassing lesser concerns about anchored putting, compliant ball aerodynamics, and nuclear ball speed off driver club faces, the USGA has introduced, after two years of exhaustive internal research and development, a new and improved version of the Stimpmeter.

The latest cutting edge version with the USGA logo (USGA/Jonathan Kolbe)

I for one will sleep better at night knowing that the powers that be have addressed this pressing problem.  You can read about this exciting development in John Paul Newport’s Wall Street Journal article called “Ta-Da! Stimpmeter Makeover”.

The original was a wooden version introduced in 1935 by Massachusett’s amateur champion Edward Stimpson in response to concerns over the unfair green speeds at the U.S. Open at Oakmont that year.  Separately, there is an unsubstantiated rumor that Mrs. Stimpson volunteered in a Depression soup kitchen and was looking for a better stirring implement for getting the lumps out of the morning oatmeal.

It was not until 1976  that Frank Thomas of the U.S.G.A. made the next big move changing the Stimpmeter from wood to aluminum and it became the standard device for measuring green speeds at U.S. Opens starting that year in Atlanta.  Within two years green superintendents around the country had adopted it for tweaking their putting surfaces and it has become a critical tool for bragging rights at high-end private facilities all over the country.

Fast forward another 34 years and the USGA brain trust correctly decided that enough was enough and made two critical improvements to sustain it’s relevance for generations to come.  First, they updated the color from drab green to a “dazzling USGA blue”.  Second, they added a second “starting hole” to accommodate measurements on greens that don’t have the required 10-12 foot flat run out for the original device.  This is a condition on many older severely undulating greens and the steep and segmented greens that are often the gift of wrath from designers today.

As a course superintendent you can order one of these from the USGA for only $110 (or 3 easy payments of $36.66).  If you act now the USGA will generously double your order sending you a second Stimpmeter for the back nine ABSOLUTELY FREE (just pay shipping and handling for the second device).

For a limited time, as an additional bonus, you will also get a 6 oz can of their “Green Renew” biodegradable green paint that cures pesky brown spots on closely mowed greens in seconds.  It comes in three different shades for Bent, Poa Annua, and Tifeagle Bermuda putting surfaces (please specify preferred color with order).

For those who share the “innate nerdiness” of USGA staff and you can review their instructional video below on the proper use of a Stimpmeter.  WARNING: This video is rated PG and is not appropriate for those without fossilized frontal lobes.

(Click here to see the Official USGA Training Video on Proper Use of the new Stimpmeter)

I only hope that the USGA has, in keeping with the trend of responsible and patriotic vendors, insisted that the current models are being “assembled in the U.S.A.”

(Click here to read John Paul Newport’s WSJ article “Ta-Da! Stimpmeter Makeover”)

John Paul Newport

The Wall Street Journal

January, 2013