The 20th Hole

We moved from Dunas to the next venue in Portugal,  which was the Els Club-Vilamoura redesigned by Ernie Els.  The Els Club was originally designed by Arnold Palmer as a public venue and is now become a private club. The Club similar to  Dunas inasmuch as the makes...

We left the chaos in the United States for the calm and peaceful shores of Portugal and the first course we played was Dunas Golf Course near Lisbon.  Relief from US chaos was short-lived as the Lisbon airport is the worst airport I have ever flown into.  It took over...

Money Changed Everything Professional golf was a gentlemen's sport for most of its history before Greg Norman and the Saudis decided to take on the infrastructure of the sport. Then came the Saudis who decided that they would buy their way into professional golf to...

Rory McIlroy came to Augusta well prepared to claim a second consecutive Masters.  He had prepared carefully and I believe his strategy was to be aggressive and play the power game taking on all the bunker complexes and get those birdie opportunities that Augusta...

It's 2000 and we're attending the NCAA Final Four Basketball Championships for the 13th year in a row.  The venue is the RCA Dome in Indianapolis Indiana.  Usually I would take my son, brother and a few associates to the Final Four and this year would be no different....

Monterey Peninsula Country Club  has recently completed its course remodel and it can be praised as a very successful endeavor.  There are no significant changes to the course design and layout but new sand in the bunkers and the verdant grooming of the fairways are...

I would be the last golfer on the planet who has the credibility to render any instruction or advice as to how to play, practice or improve, but this piece will render some opinions that might be helpful.  How to you think about practicing your golf game?  It's always...

It's hard to get excited about another Florida stop on the PGA Tour.  Congratulations to Akshay Bhatia who defeated a crestfallen Daniel Berger who was caught by a blizzard  of Bhatia's great shots after holding a sizable lead.  Bhatia is emerging as the real deal in...

The PGA Tour moved to Florida to the Champion Course at PGA National in Palm Beach.  The Champion Course might have as much water acreage as Pine Valley's array of waste bunkers without rakes.  The course rewards accuracy and ability to navigate wind that impacts club...

"Take it Easy" "A call to remember that golf is supposed to be fun, not a race" That was a comment on a recent article that I read in a golf magazine essentially condoning slow play.  My opinion is that golf is a game within itself to be respected by those who...

Instead of the weather spoiling the AT&T Pro-AM as it usually does, Sunday's threatening weather that was supposed to come, stayed far enough away for the players to compete without donning seven layers of clothing on Sunday.  On top of that, Monterrey County had...

If you wanted some excitement on Super Bowl Sunday, the Waste Management Phoenix Open was far more exciting than that championship football game.  The 16th hole Roman ampitheater at TPC Scottsdale created more drama than the grass of Bad Bunny.  Scottie Scheffler, who...

The PGA Tour moved to its first California tour stop in San Diego, California at Torrey Pines.  The South Course at Torrey Pines is usually a pretty good test with spinachy rough and a bunch of holes that aren't going to yield birdies especially on the back nine....

Some tidpits from the 20th Hole Scheffler wins the American Express PGA Event. There aren't any more superlatives that you can ascribe to Scottie Scheffler.  He won this event as if he was playing by himself on a Sunday afternoon.  His attitude and demeanor are...

January is a difficult month as it's back to reality from the spirit of the Christmas holidays and New Year celebrations.  I also equate January with depression (when I lived in England, we called it "the gloom.")  and decided to take a business trip to China to try...