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  • Change is not Unique

    One day while I was home on college break, heading out the door, my mother said to me, “You’re probably more liberal than you think.” I laughed it off, as if being called a liberal or a democrat was a personal attack. (Not that some wouldn’t take it that way.) At the time I would have easily classified myself as a conservative republican, but without justification. Politics was more about the image than the idea.

    Only recently have I begun to fight back against my default apathy, which, as I type these words, I am reminded is a much more difficult fight than I ever expected. I refuse to give up, or give in. I want to care very much, and I believe that my vote ultimately does count towards something. Even if that something is ideologically out of reach. Baby steps.

    I’ve watched friends get behind a candidate (Ron Paul, mostly), and their passion and conviction is inspiring. I hope to one day feel that connection, but it seems that falling head-over-heals for a candidate is far more complicated than crushing on a cute girl in class. Rarely, in this day and age, am I permitted to observe a candidate from afar and overlook the imperfections that would otherwise dissuade me from supporting him. Instead, the micro attention feeds me an incessant stream of useless information. Never has so much been made of so little.

    Further complicating things, information, useless or otherwise, without a personal conviction breeds apathy. It’s all static, and I want to cut through it. Oddly, the Friends episode where Ross tallies the pluses and minuses of Rachel and Emily comes to mind. I wish supporting a candidate were that easy. E.g., McCain has fat ankles – Vote Obama.

    The real fight, for me, is realizing that… I don’t know how to put it exactly without falling into patriotic rhetoric too much. I need to realize that this all means something. For eight years now we’ve seen how badly a president can damage the image of the United States. The modern day cliche, “Change,” is what is needed. But, it certainly isn’t reserved solely for Barack Obama. Instead, each one of us, as Americans and as humans needs to look in the mirror and consider what change would mean for us and how we can bring it about ourselves regardless of who our leader is.

  • The U.S. Open

    Tiger Woods decided, with one short stroke of his putter on the 72nd hole, that today’s round was not the final round of the 2008 U.S. Open.

    Today was evidence of why I love watching Tiger Woods play golf. If he doesn’t dominate the field, which he hasn’t lately, and certainly didn’t do over the past few days, he puts on the greatest show on earth. Thirty on his back nine on Friday. Two eagles and a birdie yesterday. The putt to tie Rocco Mediate and force a playoff today.

    What will we see tomorrow? I can’t wait.

  • Meet the Press

    Since college, my ideal Sunday morning has been waking up early and watching Meet the Press with a hot cup of coffee by my side and a newspaper or my computer to peruse.

  • Voice

    I have not written for a long time and need to rediscover my voice. The best way to do that is to start writing again and be patient until the old one returns or a new one is unveiled.

    Check back on Thursday, June 5th for my first story in some time.

  • Round 1 of 2008: High Pointe Golf Club

    I played my first round of the year at High Pointe Golf Club in Williamsburg, Michigan last Thursday. If you’re not familiar with High Pointe, it is one of Northern Lower Michigan’s best courses. As its homepage reads, “Two unique nines, one great course.” The greens are spectacular, too. Huge undulations and contours that reward precise approach shots and penalize poor ones.

    Having not hit a golf ball on real grass since last October, I had no idea what to expect of my game. The relaxed expectations resulted in a decent score of 78, which could have been lower. The fairways on the front nine were forgiving enough to allow me to spray a few drives and still have an approach shot. We played through a slow group and as a result I rushed my tee shot on the par four twelfth hole and ended up with a triple bogey. In an otherwise error-free round, that was my lone mistake.

    What needs work?

    • Short game — misjudged pitches and chips cost me a few strokes.
    • Irons — distance control with mid and short irons.

  • THE PLAYERS Playoff Was Lacking

    The 17th hole at the TPC of Sawgrass is the worst golf hole in the world on which to start a sudden death playoff.

    It’s not just that there is no room for error. It’s that there is no room for uncontrollable externalities such as wind, rub of the green, or timing.

    Paul Goydos hit his ball in the water because a gust of wind caused it to upshoot. On almost any other golf hole in the world, he would have had a chip. Or, if the hole had an area to bail-out, then he could have planned the miss. But, he had no control over this shot.

    What if either players ball had ricocheted off pin at 17 and into the water? That’s rub of the green, and there would be nothing they could do about it.

    What if some unruly fan – a tipsy man or tired young boy – had screamed during that one critical second of Sergio or Paul’s backswings and ultimately caused via ball-in-water the loss of $600,000 in winnings and a prestigious title?

    The 17th at the TPC of Sawgrass offers no solution to these unpredictable and more importantly uncontrollable outcomes. The “sudden” in sudden death playoff means it ends abruptly when one player scores lower than another on a hole. The “death” should come at the hands of the other player’s superior play, not a gust of wind or one of many other externalities.

    The 17th hole is too extreme for a sudden death playoff. Imagine if the sudden death playoff were to start on the 18th hole, which was basically playing as a par five late Sunday afternoon. There would be a premium on driving it in the fairway, but should one of the players hook the ball into the water, they would still have a chance to make a five with the slight expectation that the other player would have to do well, even from the center for the fairway, to make a par four.

    Better yet would be a multiple-hole playoff like we see at the British Open or the PGA Championship. Although this would be a burden for the Tour to adopt on a weekly basis, it would not be asking too much of THE PLAYERS, an almost-major. Three of the four majors have multiple-hole playoffs. Only the Masters is sudden death.

    But, really. Even if THE PLAYERS sticks with the sudden death playoff, they need to start on any hole but 17. It’s just not fair to the players, the fans who have to trek back out there, and the television broadcast that has the air of excitement sucked out of it the second player one dunks his ball in the water.

    Will there be a change for next year?

  • Yearning to Compete: Setting a Goal

    Golf has always been competitive for me. While I learned to play by hitting balls at the Hack Shack golf range, I learned to score – to golf my ball – to post a number by playing junior golf tournaments. At the time, I was not aware of the lasting effect playing in the eight or ten tournaments a year would have on my approach to golf. The experience has had it’s positive and negative influences.

    The negative is that simply enjoying a nice day while playing golf is difficult. There is a constant desire to hit the best shots that I can hit, and when I fail at this frustration sets in. Learning to deal with this frustration by accepting the poor shots during leisure rounds is something I still work at to this day.

    Playing competitive golf starting at ten years old has had several positive effects as well. I credit competitive golf for some of the development of my honesty and trustworthiness. Golf is a gentleman’s game because it requires a great deal from its competitors. It’s rare that a player playing any sport but golf calls a penalty on himself or disqualifies himself. In golf, you see this every week.

    Competing and playing well makes for a healthy ego. So long as the ego is kept in check, it is a great source of inspiration and confidence.

    Playing in tournaments is fun and a great way to meet other driven individuals. Whether you compete on a high level or in the high-handicap league at your club, the back-and-forth of a friendly match is often a very rewarding and memorable afternoon. I’ll never forget some of the highs and lows and laughs I experienced while playing in junior golf, high school, and amateur golf tournaments.

    With this said, I haven’t played a competitive round of golf in over three years. The last round I played that “counted” was probably for the Traverse City Country Club Championship. It has been tough to play consistently in the past couple years because of working, moving, going back to school and traveling or working during the summers. But I’m declaring now that my goal is to play in at least two golf tournaments during the summer and fall of 2008.

    Watch out, World! Ha ha.