Of the golf paraphernalia we use each day, the most taken for granted piece of equipment is our wooden golf tee.  It lacks the technological wizardry and the marketing hype but it serves us faithfully eighteen times a round.  Made me wonder where it came from and why it has not changed very much over time.

If you go back to the black and white images of the late 1800’s and early 1900’s you will notice a box of wet sand next to the teeing grounds.  The players would take a scoop of the stuff and mold a little tee-pee on the ground from which to launch their gutta percha.  The consistency of this support had to be questionable since most of the guys had trouble bending down in those waistcoats and wool britches.

Vintage Golf Tees from 1892 to 1922 (brinkster.com)

It is not like there were not great minds working on this dilemma.  As you can see in this image a number of guys came up with some innovative man-made teeing platforms to consider.  In fact at least two of these have a current iteration that you can buy from an infomercial for three easy payments, and, if you act now, double your order for free if you just pay the additional shipping.   The problem was these guys lacked enterprising minds and they could not figure out how to widely market their product to generate any income.

Around 1920 a dentist and frustrated hacker from New Jersey named Dr. William Lowell, who clearly was not making enough from producing wood bridges for his patients, decided to go after this fledgling market big time.  He introduced his wooden peg version, The Reddy Tee, which he patented in 1925 and struck a deal with Spalding Company to produce.  The concave platform cradled the ball to hold it in place without wobbling and the red paint gave it a recognizable look.

Dr, Lowell's Reddy Tee 1925 (golf.about.com)

The real challenge was how to market this to the growing populace in America who became infatuated with golf in the Francis Ouimet-Bobby Jones golden era.   Other than major amateur events most people saw their golf through exhibition matches that were put on by the professionals of the day.  There was no one more visible or popular in this platform than the ultimate showman himself Walter Hagen.

Lowell’s marketing genius was to sign Hagen for the outrageous sum of $1,500 to use his tees on exhibition tours in the United States and England.  Hagen handed out hundreds of bags of them at his exhibitions and before long spectators were scrambling to collect them as souvenirs,  It worked like a charm because the Reddy Tee started showing up in pro shops all over the country.  Imitation is the highest form of flattery and knock offs of these tees started coming out of the woodwork, literally.

You might wonder why the tees are not still red today since that was one of Lowell’s basic marketing features.  It turns out they had a humidity issue.  Mark Frost, in his book “The Grand Slam” explains that “The first time Hagen went out with a pocket full in humid conditions he saw a stream of crimson running down his tailored plus fours and thought he had been shot.  Not about to turn his back on the endorsement money, Walter took to carrying a spare Reddy behind his ear”.

It is funny that with all the technological changes in balls, clubs, bags, and everything else we use on the golf course, the tee we use today is pretty much the same one Dr. Lowell patented in 1925-just smidge taller to accommodate those 450cc driver heads. Pure genius knows no substitute.

January, 2012

The 2012 PGA Tour Season kicks off this week on the sun drenched side hills of the Kapalua Plantation course in Maui with the playing of the Hyundai Tournament of Champions.  This is a limited field event of the winners from last year’s PGA sanctioned events.

Good news is, this is a marvelous visual venue for golf.  If you are stuck in the grip of winter on the mainland the Golf Channel broadcast of this event in prime time each night will warm the cockles of your heart.  Broadcasts are Friday through Monday from 5:30 to 10pm ET.

Hanging Chad-Number 17 Green

(Click here to see my Postcard From Kapalua photo collection)

The bad news is, 11 of the champions eligible for this event will be home snowboarding, surfing, or watching the event from the comfort of their couch.  Missing from the action include (3) major champions-Schwartzel, McIlroy, and Clarke, (3) WGC event winners-Donald, Scott, and Kaymer, and (2) FedEx Playoff event winners-Johnson and Rose.

The absence of highly ranked players from this event is a continuing trend.  Mickelson has not played since 2001 and Tiger last played here in 2005.  Clearly the extended world golf season until early December and the plethora of rich events through the calendar year make the lure of this season opening event much less than it used to be.

Having said that, this is one incredible golf course to see in HD and the elevation changes on the last two holes will offer you some 400 + yard drives to behold.  If the choice is a another silly bowl game or some second rate college hoops I recommend the clicker lands on this broadcast from sunny Hawaii.

(Click here to see the complete Kapalua Plantation course review)

January 2012

Ian Poulter, ever the fashion maven, made sure his IP black shirt and favorite plaid trousers would look resplendent with the yellow blazer they give you for winning the Australian Masters.  Then he went out and shot a masterful 67 at Victoria Golf Club in the final round of the JBWere Australian Masters to complete his outfit.

In relatively benign conditions for the Australian Sandbelt region, Poulter’s solid ball striking and putting led to 65-68 as he comfortably led the tournament at 8 under after the first two days. On Saturday Geoff Ogilvy, who grew up down the street from the storied Royal Melbourne and Victoria Golf Clubs, used a entire childhood of local knowledge to his advantage.  He rocketed up the leader board with eagle, birdie, birdie on the first three holes and had 9 birdies and an eagle on the day shooting a blistering 63 to take the lead at 13 under par.

As we saw at the Presidents Cup a month earlier, the northern breeze provides the stiffest defense to these Sandbelt courses and the final round would not yield the kind of scoring the players enjoyed the first three days.  The wind played havoc on everything from tee to green and even more so on the putting.  There were lots of incredulous head shakes after balls seemed to veer inexplicably off line on their way to the hole.

Ogilvy’s jeweled carriage turned into a pumpkin on the back side on Sunday as he made two bogies and a double in the last six holes to take himself out of the hunt.  Poulter, on the other hand, eagled the opening hole to tie for the lead and made three more birdies on his way to 15 under and a 3-shot victory.   Ian seemed to comprehend the wind effect better than most making a ream of testing 5 to 15 footers to save pars and keep the competition at bay.  Through the week he hit over 70% of the greens and was under 28 putts a day on greens that seemed to confound most of the field.

Good bet the yellow blazer will be added to the IP Fashion Collection come spring.  He certainly looked handsome in it.  On the golf course Ian Poulter Fashion Statements generally speak for themselves.  This week his clubs were on the same page as well.

December, 2011

Imagine how the new tournament director of the Farmers Insurance Open felt when he got up the other morning to hear on the news that Tiger Woods would be skipping the 2012 event at Torrey Pines to play in the Eurpopean Tour’s event at Abu Dhabi.  Tiger has played in this event as his annual launch to the golf season for years.  He has won at Torrey six times in PGA events and once in the U.S. Open.  He used to play with his Dad at Torrey and even won a Junior World event there.

Apparently Tiger is not nostalgic about such things and has opted out this year for a good reason, easy money.  You see Tiger just shows up in the United Arab Emirates for this event and gets an appearance fee with six zeros on the end wired to his personal account. Please understand this man has lots of overhead to cover, especially since he has lost so many of his corporate patrons after that unfortunate incident with the fire hydrant outside his home in Florida.  His boat alone cost him more than $20 million and I don’t think his ex is throwing in on the payments of that baby as part of their settlement.

Professional golfers are private contractors, they are free to chase their dreams wherever it is most lucrative for them, so you cannot really criticize Tiger’s logic in this decision.  But announcing it on his website and not communicating with the tournament director through a call or a letter just shows that Tiger and his advisers have no sense graciousness or class when it comes to dealing with the hands that feed them.

The timing of this announcement is pretty mindless as well.  Tiger is playing on the international stage in a team event in Australia and he detracts from the opening day of this event with this announcement of his personal golf schedule three months from now.  What was the rush?  Do the Arab Sheiks need to firm up there appointment books in late January for the pro-am?

The tournaments that have been contested at Torrey Pines have provided Tiger with a stage from which to project his success and gain access to the returns that come with that.  The people of San Diego who so generously supported his successes there deserve better consideration and treatment in the handling of this announcement.  Once again Tiger proves that he has no aptitude for managing his career and image.  It is all about the fame and the money and has nothing to do with being personable to those who support him.

November, 2011

As Rory proved to us with his runaway win at the U.S. Open following his personal debacle at The Masters this year, at the highest level of competition, it is the guy with something to prove that you have to worry about.

So after being shunned as a captain’s pick for the U.S. President’s Cup team, Keegan Bradley goes out the first two days in the WGC HSBC Champions event and shoots 9 under par to be two strokes off the lead at the halfway point against on of the elite fields of the year.  He actually had the lead at 10 under through the first eight holes yesterday when he stumbled and made his first bogey of the tournament.  He was on cruise control the rest of the way and is well positioned to make a run for his first WGC title come Sunday.

This is no small accomplishment for a young player categorized by many as the next great American hope.  To travel half way around the world, deal with sleep deprivation and no comfort food, and be competitive against the top players in the sport is a tall order.  Bradley seems focused and determined to prove to himself that he belongs and maybe to Captain Couples that a mistake was made in leaving him off the American President’s Cup squad.

I am reasonably sure that Freddie’s decision was less his own and more that of the Australian sponsors and the network with the TV rights for this event.  Rightly so, Couples more high profile pick will mean longer lines at the gate and a bushel of ticks in the TV audience rating.  Commerce trumps reason once again!

November, 2011

Old Tom apparently couldn’t find the real harsh stuff to throw at the players so he had to settle for a Scottish Haar, a coastal fog, to drape over the links at St. Andrews for the final round.  The low ceiling is like playing at dusk all day, it mitigates the depth perception and makes target visualization a strain.  It was chilly enough for hands in the pockets but without a breath of wind the Old Course was without it’s primary defense.

Starting the day five back and a group ahead of the leader Northern Ireland’s Michael Hoey, Rory McIlroy set a blistering pace shooting 30 on the front nine and grabbing the lead at 19 under  at the turn.  It was like Congressional all over again, his lyric swing in perfect balance, his approach play seemingly effortless and precise, and the hole must have looked the size of an ash bin to him.  He missed a makeable birdie on 10 but came right back on the 190 yard 11th, with the hole cut on a small inaccessible shelf on the back of the green, and knocked it stiff for a kick-in birdie to get to 20 under.

Graeme McDowell, the third Ulsterman in the mix, had his chances.  He hit it close a bunch of times but he putted without authority leaving himself hands on knees staring at his shoes wondering where his putting courage was today.

Michael Hoey would not go away.  He was stuck in neutral on the front side with two bogies early and two birdies on eight and nine.  After knocking it within birdie range a number of times on the back he finally converted a short one on fifteen to tie the lead at 20 under.  It was going to be a typical test of will and judgement over the closing holes at the Old Course-the Road Hole looming large between the leaders and the finish.

With Rory watching from the tee on 17, Hoey seized the lead outright knocking it stone dead to a testy pin placement on sixteen for a birdie.  Rory burned the edge on 17 with a long putt from off the front of the green and had to settle for par.  Hoey answered with a par of his own on the Road Hole to maintain his one-shot advantage.

After a well positioned drive on 18, It came down to Rory making a birdie pitch across the Valley of Sin to create a playoff.  Enter in Old Tom for the last word as McIlroy hit the perfect high pitch just behind the hole with what looked like just the right spin to leave it below the hole for an uphill birdie chance.  But after the ball seemed to come to a complete stop it got a finger shove from above and started creeping toward the edge of the false front ending up with a Costantino Rocca leave at the bottom of the hill off the front of the green.  Two putts from there left him stuck at 20 under and a shot behind.

Michael Hoey drove it to center and went the low pitch and run route through the Valley of Sin to leave it inside ten feet below the hole.  As an exclamation point he holed what was left to win by two and etch his name on this prestigious piece of hardware.

This was a fitting finish to what was a gripping day’s play at the ancestoral home of golf.

(Photos from Getty Images/EuropeanTour.com)

October, 2011

There is no doubt that Bill Haas played the best golf in the Tour Championship and deserved to win the whole kit and caboodle including two trophies and about $11 million in cash sweeps.  His magical play, especially as the ultimate escape artist on the three playoff holes, will be the remain a thing of legend.  His aquatic recovery on 17 would have made Lloyd Bridges and Woody Austin feel proud.  With this dramatic ending of two of the best young American players locked in battle, logic would say that everyone should be satisfied with this show, the sponsors, the fans, the players, and the tour officials.

But the truth is that the PGA Tour’s attempt to create “Playoff Fever” through the FedEx Cup mechanism is still a disappointing failure.  This has not turned into the back nine at Augusta or the stretch drive to the Super Bowl.  Their inability to communicate clearly to the fans and the players in real time who is gaining ground, who is losing ground, who can win the pot of gold, and who is out of it remains the Achilles Heel of this concept.

To his own admission, Bill Haas did not know he had won the FedEx Cup when he climbed the stairs after sinking the winning putt.  If he did not know for sure he was putting for the $11 million how compelling is this competition.

Let’s be honest, if you watched the broadcast of the final round there is no way you had a sense of how your personal favorite was doing until Steve Sands got on with a white board and a dry erase marker and penciled in the possibilities for you like a teaching assistant explaining the Laffer Curve to a class of freshman economics students.  At one point in the broadcast they showed one of the leaders in the clubhouse thumbing through an app on his iPhone-clearly this was the only way he was going to know where he stood in the proceedings. There is something wrong when the players and the fans need a seeing eye dog and an MIT professor to update them on the current status of a golf tournament.

Bottom line is that if they want to create a real sense of riveting anticipation they need to end the bifurcation of the results of the final tournament and the year long competition.  Fans and players cannot comprehend a parallel competition in real time.

After much musing  and deliberation, my number crunching cohort R.M. and I have come up with the solution.  It is really simple,  we need March Madness in September.  Four tournaments make up the playoffs.  In sequence the first two tournaments winnow the fields from 125 to 60 and 60 to 30 respectively.   The third tournament takes it from 30 to 4, the “Final Fore”, who play for the whole FedEx enchilada the last week.

This FedEx Championship event would be an innovative affair where the four guys play each other for three days in variety of formats for travel money and caddy fees to get it down to two finalists.  The two still standing play on Sunday a three point Nassau, with presses, for the $10 million-winner takes all.  Now that could be the back nine at Augusta every year.

September, 2011

Even before the first ball was struck all the Golf Channel pundits said that Suzann Pettersen was going to be the horse to ride if the Europeans were going to get the Solheim Cup back in their possession.

Pettersen set the tone on the opening day when she made a 15 footer to win the anchor alternate shot match and stifle any early momentum the Americans were trying to build.  She followed with two birdies on the final four holes in her afternoon best ball match teamed with Anna Nordqvist to beat Cristie Kerr and Michelle Wie and give the Euros a one point lead at the end of the day.   After resting the morning session the second day Suzann played an outstanding afternoon four ball making birdie on 16 to square the match against Morgan Pressel and Cristie Kerr.  It took the heroics of Pressel who birdied seventeen and to provide them the 1 up edge that denied Pettersen a perfect record in the competition.

After two days of intense partner competitions with the score tied going into the singles matches, the final day was going to be a doozie.  The day started on a bad note for the US team when Cristie Kerr’s ailing wrist kept her from playing her match and the first point of the day was conceded to the Europeans.  Things got worse as Paula Creamer, who had been a point making machine for the Americans, played her worst golf of the week and lost 6 and 5 to Catriona Matthew.  Stacy Lewis and Brittany Lincicome were struggling as well and it really looked bleak for the Americans.

The weather interceded, forcing multiple interruptions in the day’s play, and the last delay seemed to work in the American’s favor because they came out energized from the Snicker’s break and rode the outstanding play of MVP Morgan Pressel, a couple of rookies in Vicky Hurst and Ryann O’Toole, two unlikelies in Christina Kim and Brittany Lang, and the old war horse, Juli Inkster, to give them a real shot at their fourth consecutive win in this bi-annual competition.

Suzann was not going to have any of that- she saved the best for last in her highly anticipated singles match against Michelle Wie.  With only three matches left on the course and the team score tied at 12 1/2 each, the Euros needed a win in this match to give them a realistic shot at bringing home the cup. Down one on sixteen Suzann rendered the first of three memorable fist pumps for the day slam dunking a twenty footer for birdie to square the match.

After both of them hit precise drives into the tight landing area of seventeen, she won the duel of wedges hitting it stiff and making a birdie.  To Michelle’s credit she was up to the challenge and buried her own 20 footer to halve the hole and send the match to eighteen as sudden death.  With the pressure ratcheting up another notch on eighteen, it was deja vu all over again-Pettersen hit the perfect tee ball and stuffed another wedge in tight to set up the birdie to win this decisive match and bring the Euros within reach of the cup.

Given how well all the rookies played over the three days it seemed appropriate that a Caroline Hedwall and Azahara Munoz cashed in the points in the last two matches to seal the 15 to 13 victory and set off the celebration that will continue well into the night.

Anyone who watched this Solheim Cup has conclude that this is a huge win for women’s golf.  They seem to comprehend the concept of team competition much better than the men.  There is true camaraderie, a spirit of shared accomplishment, and competitive drama that just cannot be scripted.

September, 2011

Which is what the Europeans are trying to do in this 13th offering of the women’s international team competition at Killeen Castle just outside Dublin.  They are trying to break the death grip the Americans have had winning the Solheim Cup three consecutive times.

This golf competition is like no other-it has the pageantry of a partisan Friday night high school football game in Texas, complete with hand written signs, chantin’ and singin’, and even face painting-of the players.  But it is all business once they put the tees in the ground for the first foursome’s matches-you can see the tension in the faces of the players, especially the rookies, and the Euros have five of them playing in this circus atmosphere for the first time.

The Irish weather was brisk and windy for the first day’s matches which brings us to the second most important feature in this biannual event-the fashion.  Unlike the men’s version which too often tends to offer the bad fashion taste of the wife of the captain, these women know how to put it together and accessorize.   With the possible exception of Michelle Wie’s tacky shoes (pictured) and Laura Davies’s signature 4X windbreaker, these girls were dressed to the nines.

They had on so many layers to deal with the morning conditions that it looked like there was a different pairing on each hole as they were peeling off layers to acclimate to the changing conditions.

The competition was no powder puff affair as both teams showed incredible moxie in dealing with a long Jack Nicklaus golf course, quick greens, nerves, and more than a wee bit of an Irish breeze.  Michelle Wie and Christie Kerr won the first point for the Americans but Catriona Matthew and rookie Azahara Munoz won a decisive 3 and 2 match over Stacy Lewis and Angela Stanford.  Paula Creamer is in her element in this kind of grind your guts golf and she teamed with long ball Brittany Lincicome to win their foursomes match.  But the decisive swing in momentum in the morning matches came when Suzann Pettersen buried a 15 footer for birdie on the 18th hole to pull the Euros even at 2 to 2.

The afternoon four-balls were equally dramatic as the Europeans seemed to be throwing a shutout.   With five holes to play the scoreboard was a dark shade of blue as the Euros already had one match in the bank and were leading in the other three.  The unlikely American heroes might have been the always flamboyant Christina Kim and the only one in the field of Irish descent, rookie Ryann O’Toole who came barrelling from behind in the last four holes to tie their match and steal a half a point.  Paula Creamer won her second point of the day teaming with Morgan Pressel to outlast Laura Davies and Melissa Reid with a 1-up win.  But again it came down to tough Suzann Pettersen and Anna Nordqvist taking down the Wie-Kerr pairing in the pivotal anchor match 2 up.

After a day of compelling golf performances, the scoreboard read Euros 4.5- USA 3.5.  Both captains had to feel good about the play of their teams, especially their rookies, whose performances belied the early nerves and were critical to the day’s outcome.

We are looking at what promises to be three days of gripping golf drama without any panes of broken glass as they try to get their hands around this cherished piece of cut glass.

September, 2011