Today is a day to remember. This past summer, I played in the second annual Private Michael Freeman Memorial Golf Tournament, near Peterborough, Ont. The tournament, started and run by Michael's father, Mark, pays tribute to a young man who died while serving in Afghanistan. If you go here, you can see my talk from last year's Remembrance Day, that has some footage of Michael golfing in Afghanistan - it's riveting, I assure you. I was lucky enough to play with Sgt. Mike McColeman, who has made three tours of duty in Afghanistan as well as one in Bosnia. It was a tremendous honour to spend the day in his company and to hear his stories of working to make things better in that country, about the times he laughed with his pals and then cried as they were killed. Meeting those members of our military is so humbling for me and to be able to thank them with a round of golf through a wonderful tournament is something I'll continue to do as long as I can.I hope you feel the same. I urge you to do something to honour our men and women of the Armed Forces, past and present. Watch a Remembrance Day service on television.Better yet, take part of your day and go to a service in your area. Make a donation to one of the many wonderful charities that helps our troops. I support the Canadian Hero Fund's 11 for 11 campaign (11for11.ca), which raises money for educational scholarships for the kids of the fallen. And if you see a veteran, young or old, thank them., buy them a drink or a sandwich or take them golfing.
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Friday Fringe: trick or treat edition
**** Lost in the announcement of changes to the Rules of Golf was an alteration that would prevent golf from getting another Disco Dick. That was the nickname given to Richard Zokol back in the day when he used a Walkman between shots to help him relax and focus (even though he swears he wasn’t listening to disco music!). Geoff Shackelford has the details on the new Rule 14-3/17.**** Spent a long weekend in the Bahamas a few weeks back, the first time I’d been to that particular Caribbean nation and really fell in love with the Ocean Course, a Tom Weiskopf design. Oh and the resort we stayed at, the One and Only Ocean Club, was truly amazing. Here’s my video report:**** Looks like the Canadian Tour may be headed to the Kingston area, Gananoque to be exact. Nothing official from the Tour office but this story in the Whig says the groundwork has been set for a new event in the Ontario city. **** In case you missed it, here’s a story by Brad Zeimer from the Vancouver Sun on Brent Franklin turning down an opportunity to be feted for induction to the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame. Not that he doesn’t love the honour, just that he’s no interested in the party that traditionally goes with these inductions. It’s hard to believe that Franklin hasn’t played competitive golf for about 15 years now. Lots of Canadians may not realize just how talented he was, but he was definitely something special. For the record, he went six straight years winning a Canadian championship and was the first Canadian golfer to win $1 million in a year, long before purses were Tiger-boosted. **** A nice crop of B.C. golfers was honoured Thursday night at the Golf Hall of Fame of B.C. induction ceremony this week. Jim Rutledge, Dawn Coe-Jones, Cec Ferguson, the late Bob Kidd and the late Walter McElroy. All are deserving and it brings to 25 the number of honoured members. You can read more about each of the individuals here. **** Speaking of halls of fame, Henry Brunton, teacher extrordinaire, got the nod into the North Grenville Hall of Fame (that’s kind of Ottawa Valley, Ontario, for folks not in the know). Bet you didn't know there was a North Grenville Hall of Fame. Wonder if he has a chance at the South Grenville Hall of Fame? The report. **** I had a chance to chat with Mike Weir this week. He’s already chipping and putting and this week, hit half shots with a sand wedge. No pain, progress is good but still no timetable for a return to competitive play. **** Don’t forget you can follow the progress of Canadians in the first stage of Q-School with our tracker here.
What should be the punishment?
So what should happen to Steve Williams? That seems to be the question being asked all over golf this morning and the responses range from nothing to a suspension to banning him from the game entirely. I think to have him go without any punishment says a lot - too much probably - about golf and its old boy club. Golf's history of racism (not to mention sexism or religious persecution) is well known and not entirely a thing of the past. For that reason, the governing bodies, the people who work with Williams and stakeholders in the game needed to take a stronger stance to the insensitive remarks. What do you think the response would be if the comments had come from a player rather than a caddie?Whether he likes it or not, Williams is a public figure. And he's also too smart to know that despite the fact the caddie dinner where he made the remarks was supposed to be a closed-door affair, anything said was likely to leak out. That's society today. Anything said into a microphone is likely to end up in a public space, be it Youtube or Facebook or Twitter. I don't believe Williams is a racist in the worst sense of the word but that doesn't matter. He said what he did and there needs to be some sort of response.What Adam Scott wants to do is up to him. He's elected to keep Williams on and that's his prerogative. What an outfit such as the PGA Tour does, however, is important and by doing nothing but issuing a statement that essentially says don't do it again, it really shows the Tour has no stones. Of course the wisest thing that could be done in this would be for Williams to quietly disappear back to New Zealand until the start of next season and hope that by that time, it would be less of an issue. So today's question is: what do you think should be done?
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Cabot Links destined for greatness
Yesterday I had a chance to look at Cabot Links, the much-lauded course that is set to open all 18 holes next spring. It's the only true links course in Canada, sitting on a strip of scrub land in Inverness, Nova Scotia.
Perhaps more importantly, it's one of very few pure golf courses; nothing has been compromised at the expense of the course. There are no housing developments planned, no accompanying resorts slated. This is about a golf course, which is as it should be.
Our arrival was timed perfectly for one of the strongest wind storms of the year, with gusts up to 110 km/h strafing the course. Still, as only pure golfers would do, we ventured out to play just a few holes. I even hit a driver on the 102-yard sixth hole, although it was a little bit too much club. You can see the video here.
The Rod Whitman-designed course is simply exceptional. It hugs the coastline of this Cape Breton town, working back and forth at the start, before heading out to the ninth hole, which sits by the Inverness wharf, and then skirts back along the coast before returning to finish just a few metres in front of the clubhouse.
It's hard to put the true sense of what has been created here into a short blog but this is a course unlike any other in Canada. It is as close to Scottish or Irish golf as you'll see in this country, maybe this continent. All those other courses that call themselves links? A visit here will tell you what links golf is all about.
Speaking with people in the town provides another aspect to this story. As Rankin McDonald, the editor of the Inverness Oran, the local bugle, told me, this course is a saviour for the town and perhaps the most important thing to hit it since the coal mines shut down in the 1950s. More recently, the shuttering of the paper mill in Port Hawkesbury has devastated the local economy as close to 50 per cent of the citizens here had direct or indirect employment through that mill.
Ben Cowan-Dewar, the man behind the project, has been praised in almost all corners or the community. (There is a small group of folks who aren't happy about the course, primarily because it changed some beach access.) He is the man who finally turned this course from an idea to a reality. There have been many false starts in the past with architects such as Graham Cooke and Jack Nicklaus having built designs for the land. The locals can be forgiven for being skeptical.
Cowan-Dewar is a golf lover but perhaps more importantly, a golf course lover. He left Bay Street and moved his young family to Cape Breton to complete this project. The enthusiasm that flows from his every pore when it comes to golf is contagious and his love of Cabot Links is evident at every turn.
His vision for the course has remained steadfast - pure golf. No carts, but caddies are available. No massive clubhouse, a small but efficient building of unique design. (some says it was created to look like the opening to one of the now closed coal mines. Cowan-Dewar said it was the creation of the architect.)
Some accommodation was being constructed when we were there and it will be the perfect spot to crash at the end of a 36-hole day, perhaps with a glass of single malt nearby. It won't be the Four Seasons and that's all right.
This is going to be a destination for golf, a place where buddies will come, where fathers and sons, and mothers and daughters will play together on a special visit.
As great a course as Cabot Links will be - and trust me, it will be a great one - it will be an even better golf experience. Maybe the best.
Friday Fringe: Fall back edition
Friday Fringe: Extra hour of sleep edition*** Marty McSorley, 95. Ozzie Smith, 89. Mark Bellhorn, 87. Jermaine Dye, 86. Those are the first-round scores of contestants in the Canadian Tour’s Desert Dunes Classic. Lots of folks have a tough time with allowing these celebrities to play in an official event. I don’t. If you’re going to sell a developmental circuit based in the frozen North in California, I’m afraid the Canadian Tour players won’t do it for most folks. Watching old athletes shoot high scores will and so that’s why you bring them out. This is a business folks and as unfortunate as all that is, it’s necessary. By the way, Stuart Anderson leads at eight under. *** In any case, it appears the Canadian Tour may have bigger things to worry about than whether celebs are teeing it up in its tournaments. According to Robert Thompson, the Tour is in financial troubles and is talking to the PGA Tour as its saviour. *** Lost amid the news that former amateur stars Nick Taylor and Matt Hill failed to make it past first stage at the PGA Tour’s Q-School, is the fact that they are among six Canadians who made it through first stage at the European Tour’s Qualifying School. They join Andrew Parr, Matt Johnston, Mike Mezei and Lindsay Reynolds at second stage, which will be held Dec. 2-5 at four locations in Spain. It’s hard to remember the last time a Canadian played the Euro Tour full time but I’m thinking it was Jim Rutledge who last played there in 1992.*** Sales of belly putters are way, way up say the manufacturers I’ve met with over the last month. They might not be so excited to see this, an invention that turns your regular putter into a belly putter. *** Got it wrong? Hmmmm. . . quite a sensational headline and deck on this story. I don’t think you can get anything like this right or wrong, just a different opinion. *** Apparently Brendan Steele isn't happy that the PGA Tour gave Adam Hadwin a pass to final stage of the Qualifying School. Here's a Tweet from earlier this week: "Interesting that the PGA tour changed the Q School exemption category for one player. I hope they are ready to deal with that in the future."*** Tiger Woods was in Singapore this week and announced that he’s healthy, swinging well and ready for the Presidents Cup. But my eyes caught this line of the story that described what he did while in Singapore. Woods visited nightspots and held a private clinic during his brief stopover, and stunned recreational players after turning up unannounced at a Singapore golf course. Not golfed and then visited nightspots, but visited nightspots, then golfed. Hmmm. . .
Monday, November 14, 2011
Nike's new gear
I spent a day last week in New York City getting a look at the what Nike Golf has coming down the pipeline for next year. Some of the new gear will be released early next month while there's another wave slated for early next year. I'm allowed to talk about the first stuff, not so much the second. Mum's the word. We started looking at apparel and footwear, the strength of the Nike line for many shops. The new TW line is pretty sharp. Apparently with all his time off, Tiger was deeply involved in helping to design the clothes, and he was focused on getting lots of stretch to allow him to turn without any impingement. The line has some very cool designs, matte black snaps, no-sew seams and very sharp designs. One that we saw had a thin black line going around the bottom edge of the collar which looked amazing. It's all very sharp and you'll start to see Tiger wear it very soon. And the big feature of it is that it's lighter. In fact, overall in Tiger's wardrobe, there's been a 20 per cent reduction in weight. That may not sound like much but you can feel its significance. I also really liked the Warm Motion Polo, a shirt that looks as if it is a layered with a compression layer on the arms with a polo over top. But the really neat line, to me, was the Nike Golf Sport line, which is sort of a relaxed, throw-back look made from Dri-fit cotton. It features an oversized Swoosh on the left front and just drips of cool. Apparently during a photo shoot for the catalogue, Anthony Kim took home the samples he loved them so much. In footwear, the big story is actually about what's next, although there are some very sharp-looking shoes in the mix. But there's lots of talk and focus on the Nike Free-inspired shoes that Tiger's been wearing lately.If you're a runner, you might know there's a trend to minimalism in footwear, shoes that let your feet work as they were made to, which allows them and the muscles in the lower leg to strengthen. These golf shoes are along the same lines. They are in prototype stage right now and will likely appear sometime next summer and there are thoughts that it could be a game-changer in the footwear market. On sale next, however, will be the TW12, which has the Lunarlon cushioning technology which makes it seem like you're walking on marshmallows. The other neat line is the Nike Dunk, based on the famous old basketball shoe. It has a cool old-school look and while a little heavier than say the new TW12, it's certain to sell well. Overall, Nike's apparel and footwear line is very appealing and very smart. The company has taken some chances no doubt, but then again, it wouldn't be Nike if it didn't. Next time: Nike Clubs.
Friday Fringe: last event edition
Friday Fringe*** Spent a day in New York City this week getting a sneak preview of the new Nike clubs and apparel for 2012 (full blog coming next week). They have some big winners in their lineup but I love the Nike Dunk, golf version, which looks like a retro basketball shoe, except it has spikes and waterproof leather. Not surprising since it's based on a 26-year-old basketball shoe design. It's very cool, in my humble opinion. *** Matt McQuillan's hope of getting into the top 125 comes down to today's round. He needs to make the cut to have a shot at moving up the money list. His hometown bugle, the Whig-Standard, spells it all out. *** The new PGA Tour Latinoamerica looks promising, especially since it will reportedly award spots onto the Nationwide Tour. For Canadian Tour players, it also looks enticing as it will start just as the CanTour season ends. However it's primarily targeted at players from Latin America and we wonder how it will affect the co-sanctioned tournaments the CanTour presently runs with the Tour de las Americas, which will be folded into this new circuit once it finishes up the present season. *** Lots of people in these parts take up golf to help improve their chances at business, seeing as how so many executives like to tee it up. But not so in Vietnam. Transport Minister Dinh La Than said "Over the last years, some leaders of agencies and companies have showed their inattentive attitude at work, which has affected the progress of public projects and developments," Thang's directive said."One of the reasons for their loose management is that they had spent too much time playing golf, even during weekends."Even on weekends! Imagine!Well not so fast says one of the bureaucrat's affected by the request. *** I'm surprised no one thought of this before, but they've come out with an alcoholized version of the famous Arnold Palmer, that's half iced tea and half lemonade. I know guys at my club have been mixing it with booze for a long time. (and yes, the teenager in me snickered at the name).*** Come one, admit it. We've all secretly wanted to do what Roger Deadman did to this "crapping maching."*** In case you were wondering, here's how the top Canadians fare in the Official World Golf Ranking: Adam Hadwin, 222; David Hearn, 237; Stephen Ames, 261; Matt McQuillan, 330; Graham Delaet, 485; Jon Mills, 521; Roger Sloan, 530; Dustin Risdon, 580; Stuart Anderson, 629; Danny Sahl, 634; Mike Weir, 709.
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