Spy on Golf: Rocco’s Wrong, but Short Courses are Alright
Written by Daniel M Who’s making news in golf this week?
Who else? As we write this, the top eight headlines on golfchannel.com involve Tiger Woods.
Rocco Mediate and Tiger Woods
Among other topics, there’s his new endorsement deal with Rolex, his pending appearance at the Frys.com Open, and Rocco Mediate’s recent comments on the state of Tiger’s game.
Geez, not even the president gets this much attention.
Take Tiger out of the equation and things are relatively quiet around golf. Of course, that’s like saying if you take the sauce off your spaghetti, all that’s left is pasta.
Since we love pasta – and non-Woods-related golf issues – we’ll dig right in…
Im-Mediate reaction: Sorry, we simply must take a bite of sauce before moving on… Mediate is one of our all-time favorite pros. He’d be on the short list for filling out our dream foursome. But when Rocco said Woods’ woes are strictly physical, we let out a big, “Huh?”
No doubt Tiger’s knee troubles and swing changes have something to do with his two-year winless streak. But to assert that Tiger’s psyche is the same as it was pre-scandal is crazy talk.
Our take: Tiger isn’t playing like his old self because he doesn’t feel like his old self. Where he once thrived on being the center of attention, he now feels vulnerable – exposed, even -- when all eyes are on him. No longer bullet-proof between the ears, Woods now bludgeons putts he would have gutted in his glory days.
Maybe Rocco’s right and Woods just needs to get the old swing plane straightened out. We think he needs a different kind of therapy.
Another golf trend we like: Following up on last week’s post, it’s great to see the fun, creative things being done with short courses these days. Next year Bandon Dunes Resort will open a par-3 course called Bandon Preserve, designed by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw. It should jump immediately to the top of best-of lists everywhere.
The Golf Purist has more details and a sneak preview of the scorecard.
The Prairie Club, Horse Course
At the Prairie Club in Nebraska, the Horse Course is a 10-holer inspired by the basketball game of horse. There are no tee boxes, so the player with honors chooses where the next hole is played from.
How cool is that?
Independent Golf Reviews has photos and a rave review of the Horse Course, at the bottom of a full write-up on the up-and-coming resort.
Other stuff we’re chewing on…
Luke Donald finally three-putts: The world’s No. 1 player went 449 holes without three-jacking before his streak ended last week during the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship. Imagine how good he’d be with a belly putter.
The new Brangelina: The golf world’s collective gag reflex got a workout with the news that Rory McIlroy had given his girlfriend, tennis star Caroline Wozniacki, a wedge inscribed with the couple’s pet name: WOZZILROY. Guess LET’SMAKEEVERYONEPUKE wouldn’t fit on the club.
