The Iowa City West High Girls Basketball team is set to begin their season Nov. 9 under the leadership of third-year coach B.J. Mayer.
The Trojans are looking to improve on their 16-6 record last season, although they face the obstacle of having a young, relatively inexperienced team.
“Our players have been practicing in open gym,” Coach Mayer said. “We have such a new background of kids that we have just been trying to get the sophomores and seniors on the same page.”
The Trojans will need their underclassmen to step up after graduating their two leading scorers and rebounders, Emma Krieger Kittle and Madison Sadecky. Kittle now plays volleyball for the University of Iowa Hawkeyes.
Sophomore Tatum Klein, who saw minimal playing time on the varsity squad last year as a freshman, will play a pivotal role in the team this year.
“Tatum is one of our primary on ball defenders,” Coach Mayer said. “She’s our best returning defender.”
Unfortunately, the Trojans will be without a tall frontcourt; their tallest player this season will be 5-foot-10. However, Mayer is going to accommodate for their lack of height by playing a backcourt dominated, up-tempo style.
“We are going to play a fast tempo to get [other teams] out of their element,” Coach Mayer said. “We need to take more shots than normal. We are going to rely on the three-point shot.”
Senior Courtney Fritz, who captured the 4A State Discus Title last spring, will be the primary ball handler this season.
While the Trojans will be young this season, this year’s juniors come with a history of success together. Last year, the West High Sophomore Girls Team went 20-1.
“Our sophomores are a resilient bunch” Coach Mayer commented.
This year’s Mississippi Valley Conference will be as competitive as ever; featuring many of the state’s top teams.
“[The Missippi Valley Conference] is the top conference in the state,” Coach Mayer said. “It makes us improve in order to compete.”
Though the Trojans’ season ended in disappointment last year with a second-round playoff loss to Ankeny High School, Coach Mayer believes the experience will be vital in the future.
“In Sports it is difficult to get to the next level until you’ve been there before,” Coach Mayer said. “Hopefully, [the team] will play with a chip on their shoulder this year.”
The Trojans begin practice Nov. 9 and will start their season campaign Nov. 24 against non-conference opponents Fairfield High School.
In his article, “Equitable Media Coverage of Female and Male Athletes: Is there a Solution,” Professor John Vincent of the University of Alabama describes how the sports media has traditionally favored male athletes in the quantity and quality of their reporting, as well as how the media has tended to objectify and gender-stereotype female athletes.
Where the simple reporting of women’s athletics may not serve a distinct and significant cultural purpose on its own, rather the cultural portrayal of women (and other minority groups) can provide important social cues and frames for the public. Vincent writes, “Most aspects of life in contemporary societies have an impact on the media and, reciprocally, are influenced by the media. How the media represents a social group gives important clues to understanding their social status, social values, norms, and attitudes toward that group.”
Vincent also identifies three theoretical approaches to explaining the mediated coverage of women’s athletics: first) a feminist sport scholar perspective, second) a cultural studies perspective, and, third) a political economy perspective. While the first focuses on the gender-based (as well as race, socioeconomic status, and ethnicity) perspectives, the cultural perspective focuses on the hegemonic, patriarchic, heterosexual notions of media coverage, the third perspective, political economic, describes how media institutions are driven by financial considerations; often resulting in the reinforcement of “traditional cultural mainstream values rather than act as engines of social change.”
“Sports Journalism remains a male-dominated profession.”
According to the University of Central Florida’s 2008 Associated Press Sports Editors Report Card, 94 percent of sports editors were men, 90 percent of assistant sports editors were men, 93 percent of columnists were men, 91 percent of reporters were men, and 84 percent of copy editors/designers were men.
Vincent focuses on four qualitative and quantitative guidelines for determining equitable media coverage of women’s athletics: 1) quantity of coverage, 2) quality of coverage, 3) position of the page, and 4) content and quality of the photograph.
Quantity of coverage can be measured by number of articles published, number of words and paragraphs in articles, number of headlines, number of photographs, size of the articles, size of headlines, and size of photographs.
Quality of coverage is measured by position in the newspaper.
The position of the page refers to its actual location on the page (top, middle, bottom).
Content and quality of the photograph may be determined by the type of photograph (pose, competitive vs. non-competitive, etc.) as well as whether the photograph is in color or black and white.
Vincent concludes that, while the newspapers are in decline, the impact of newspapers remains significant. He labels the coverage as “dominant patriarchal ideology” and that the coverage “helps define, normalize, and influence the mainstream beliefs parents have about sport.”
Vincent believes that parental support is important in determining a young girls’ involvement in sports and a healthy lifestyle, but this may be impeded by negative media coverage of female athletes.
Ultimately, the media coverage needs to permit young girls to “identify with sporting role models who are determined, powerful, independent, and strong female athletes who are valued by society without having to deal with a host of socially constructed stereotypes, based on rigidly defined gender roles.”
Returning to Vincent’s description of the theoretical perspectives, it seems that, pragmatically speaking, the most relevant rationale for the diluted media coverage is economic. Where a question may develop as to whether, through their coverage, the media makes men’s sports more popular or whether, culturally, men’s sports are simply more popular, the notion remains that men’s sports are more popular throughout the nation than women’s sports. Hence, there is a significant discrepancy in financial value of men’s sports versus women’s sports; it seems that an applicable discrepancy in media coverage would exist.
Vincent’s recommendations for complete equitable coverage of women’s sports seems unrealistic in that there is not an equitable consumer interest in female athletics. This idea is not a condemnation of women’s athletics, but rather a practical understanding that the athletic-fan base remains male-dominated, and where it isn’t, athletic-curiosity for men’s athletics remains the prevailing interest of sports media consumers.
Where it seems unpractical to strive for equitable coverage, it seems appropriate and ethical for the media to strive for a cultural-consciousness of both the existing coverage of women’s athletics as well as the greater significance behind the framing of female athletes.
As an individual who believes in egalitarian principles, there is a certain responsibility placed on those with a substantial communal voice (elites, perhaps) to recognize and advocate for cultural minorities. In the future, “Never Three Putt” will feature amply more coverage of women’s golf.
When you reach a stage where previewing the Vikings Classic is supposed to be fulfilling, it becomes obvious that you need to look elsewhere -- although I will say that it is that time of year where David Toms usually picks up a victory and I do really like Michael Sims game these days . . .
So, instead . . . listen to this:
DJ Format - A Little Bit of Soul (Via: Armed Snobbery) And read this and these:
On Monday Jason Sobel blogged about Rickie Fowler and Jamie Lovemark, as well as briefly touched on the tendency today's golf culture is often quick to label young stars as the "next Tiger" (essentially).
Please excuse the commentary, I prescribe to neither their analysis nor their perspectives.
Fowler has a tremendous golf swing, he plays with youthful optimism -- particularly in his putting, and he seems to have the unbridled confidence that most winners have -- and Fowler has won, and won often, at every level he's competed at so far. His golf swing is extremely rounded (Ben Hogan-esque), which is increasingly becoming the modern standard, and he is seriously long (he finished 4th in driving distance at the Frys.com Open -- 307.1 yard average for the week) while only being 5'9" and not particularly broad.
Fowler, has a history of embracing stardom and, now, it appears that his management company is labeling him as the future star of golf -- after all he is Rickie Folwer - Golf 2.0. (Geoff Shackelford)
During Sunday's round at the Frys.com Open, Parker McLachlin, while sitting bored on the fifth tee (his 15th hole of the day) waiting to play he took out his cell phone and tweeted (@ParkerMcLachlin):
"Just made birdie on 4. Waiting on 5th tee. First tweet during a tourney round. Don't want to get too used to this!"
Unfortunately, this violated the PGA Tour's policy prohibiting the use of electronic devices during competition. Ironically, McLachlin commented:
"'Basically, in [Sunday's] round we had a pretty long wait on the back nine sitting on the tee,' McLachlin told ESPN.com. 'The guys that I was playing with [Brad Faxon and Glen Day] were checking football scores and someone yelled out, 'You should tweet about what you're doing right now.' I was like, that's a good idea. I didn't really think too much about it.'"
There's unlikely to be any discipline for McLachlin (Via: ESPN).
President Obama's golf game has received as much media coverage recently as his health care policy has. Not only is Fox News using his 24 rounds played while in office as a talking point against his domestic policy, but he actually played with a woman, Melody Barnes (Chief Domestic Policy Advisor) -- becoming the first woman to play golf with a sitting president.
Sadly, the Prez has had less success in improving his golf swing then he has had in brokering bipartisan legislation. On a bright note, I'm playing Friday at Blue Top Ridge with missed comrades. Though it's a day of Wilt Chamberlain jokes on the first tee, bloody marys at the turn, and A.D.D. on the back nine, I'm still going to make miles of putts.
In an effort to take away some of the advantage that long hitters have, the United States Golf Association has successfully punished shorter hitters; they are putting a ceiling on how skilled a player can be with their wedges.
The USGA’s policy, to be implemented on the PGA Tour beginning Jan. 1, 2010, will alter current wedge (and iron) designs in two respects: one, it will reduce the maximum groove volume by 25 percent and, two, will limit the groove edge sharpness to a minimum radius of .010 inches.
Current U - GrooveProposed New Groove Traditional V-Groove
According to a recent Titleist study, the new grooves will result in a 30-50 percent spin rate reduction, a five-degree higher launch angle, and nine to 15 feet of more roll out. The study also found that players who generate less club head speed will be affected more than those with higher club head speeds.
Essentially, shots played from the rough with future conforming grooved wedges (and irons) will have less backspin than they did previously, will come out with less control (trajectory) than before, and there will be a greater likelihood for flyers – when grass between the ball and the clubface at impact causes the ball to fly with less than normal spin resulting in greater distance traveled—in the future.
Ultimately, this policy is regressive; it makes the short game equally more difficult for shorter hitters – who rely more on their short game – as it does for long hitters – who do necessarily need as much short game skill to score well – and, for the general public, it affects those with less skill, less knowledge, and fewer resources more than those who are acclaimed and privileged. As has been illustrated in golf throughout history, top players are able to accommodate to changes in the game with greater ease than those that are less skilled.
With the advent of the modern golf ball, skilled players note on how it is increasingly difficult to control the curvature of a shot. As a result, skilled players simply aim at their target more often and try to curve it there less often. New club technologies make the golf ball travel significantly higher than before, yet skilled players have learned to control their trajectories in adverse conditions if they desire, or simply use more club.
The USGA claims that the new wedge measures are “designed to reduce spin on shots played from the rough by highly skilled golfers, and thereby restore the challenge of shots played from the rough to the green. This should result in an increase in the importance of driving accuracy.”
Aside from the impractical workings of the policy, the USGA’s rationale for adopting it is equally unconvincing. They want to curb the benefits of distance by making the short game harder; they want to take away the advantage that distance provides by making it more difficult for players that rely on their short game to score well.
PGA Tour player Steve Stricker currently ranks 110th in driving distance, 52nd in driving accuracy, 54th in greens in regulation, and 48th in total ball striking – not exactly impressive ball striking statistics. Yet, Stricker currently ranks second in PGA Tour scoring, third in the Official World Golf Rankings, he won three PGA Tour events this year, and made over $6 million in earnings. Why the success? Stricker is ranked second in scrambling – how often a player makes par after having missed the green in regulation – on tour.
Now, take away the capacities of Steve Stricker’s wedge game . . .
At the end of the day, players with the physical abilities of the likes of Tiger Woods, Bubba Watson, and Phil Mickelson will be able to spin the ball from the rough with greater ease than will be less physically able players, such as Tim Clark, Steve Stricker, or Zach Johnson. This is not due to skill to any degree; it is simply caused by physical speed/strength that allows certain golfers to generate more club head speed.
Yes, the new grooves will put an emphasis on accuracy; yes, the new grooves will make scrambling more difficult. But, it’s not as if tour players will suddenly prefer playing a five-iron from the fairway as opposed to a wedge from the rough.
As the golf courses continue to get longer, as they do each and every year on tour, players will be increasingly burdened with difficult up and downs. Long hitters have an advantage on longer courses in that it is easier to hit it on the green from 150 yards than it is from 200 yards – sometimes even if the ball is in the rough.
As there is an undeniable correlation between how close a player is to the green after their tee shot and the their proximity to pin after their approach shot, players hitting from a longer distance are more likely to miss the green. The USGA is simply making it more difficult for them to get up and down.
By permitting equipment companies to produce drivers and golf balls that have increased the median driving distance by over 25 yards in the last 20 years, the USGA has allowed an elemental transmogrification of the game. Where only three Tour players averaged over 280 yards in 1989, 25 did so in 1999, and today 157 of the 188 card carrying PGA Tour members averaged over 280 yards – similarly, zero averaged over 290 yards in 1989, five averaged over 290 yards in 1999, and today 80 average over 290 yards.
Since 1989, the median greens in regulation average has remained almost identical, the median scrambling average has gone unaffected, as has the median scoring average.
Where it is difficult for the average viewer to understand the skill behind shooting 68 en route to a 24-under winning tournament score at the Mercedes-Benz Championship, it is essentially impossible for an average viewer to comprehend the skill required to shoot 75 in a US Open winning four-under tournament total. The unparalleled difficulty of some championship golf courses is difficult for many to fathom as they’ve never experienced golf courses like them, needless to say the tournament pressure of competing on such a difficult course. On the contrary, almost every golfer has had an experience with being unable to shoot in the low 60s on even the easiest of golf courses.
The USGA missed the only opportunity to preserve golf as Bobby Jones, Ben Hogan, and Arnold Palmer played it when they did little to prevent the excessive distance that the golf ball travels today; get over it.
Up until now, the USGA has tried to reconcile their mistakes by creating a culture where the size of a golf course is more important than its features and by bastardizing the country’s classic golf courses.
Golf is a game and it is meant to be enjoyed as such. The uniqueness of golf comes with the benefits of potential enjoyment by the young and the old, the athletic and the awkward, the privileged and the blue-collar, the intelligenent and the unsophisticated. The game played by the top professional golfers in the world is the same, although obviously at a higher level of skill, as the Saturday game with friends, with
grandparents and grandchildren, with wives and husbands.
The USGA’s sole mission should be increasing the access to and the enjoyment of golf throughout the country, establishing and operating competitions to determine who is the best in their respective competitive arena, and to implement policies that preserve what remains as the sanctity of golf.
Golf is egalitarian; it is a sport where 59-year-old Tom Watson competed alongside 29-year-old Sergio Garcia and 16-year-old Italian Matteo Manassero at this year’s (British) Open Championship.
Distance or physical ability does not always dictate success, rather it is skill and the potential for excellence that a golfer has with his or her own clubs. In hopes of taking away the advantages that distance presents, the USGA is making the area of the game where distance is not a consideration more difficult; that is like discouraging the three-point shot in basketball by making the hoop smaller, rather than changing the location of the three-point line. You have inadvertently created an advantage for basketball players who can dunk by making all shooting more difficult; the USGA has inadvertently created an advantage for strong ball strikers (or long hitters if one prescribes to the notion that ball striking is easier when playing from shorter distances) by making the short game more difficult.
The USGA’s policy discriminates against those who rely on their short game for success. That is far from its supposed intended demographic . . . I hope.
At this point every year, there usually comes a morning when I wake up, open the blinds on my bedside window, and peer out to see the end of the golf season. It's not necessarily the literal end of the golf season; there are always those days where 45 degrees feels like 65 degrees and the snow melts, the ground hardens, and you put on the mudders and grab the moon-bag, but its the moment when your drive just leaves you.
I believe mine is today, particularly coming off my reoccurring nightmare that's plagued my sleeping habbits for years. I find myself waking from a dream where I'm standing on the 18th tee of a high school tournament course and I keep hooking drive after drive into the fairway bunker. During my senior year, I came to the second hole of a playoff -- after shooting a back nine 32, with a three putt bogey on the 18th, for a 68 -- and drove it in the left bunker, forcing a lay up, and consequent bogey to lose. I've replayed this moment in my dreams and in day-dreams ever since.
In the documentary, HBO uses clips from this interview -- Watch the whole thing, but pay attention to Mr. Hogan as he reminisces about his approach shot at the 17th hole, Sunday, of the U.S. Open where he lost the tournament.
Craig Bestrom published an article for the November issue of Golf Digest about non-golfer athletes that have taken an affinity to golf. There are several swing sequences of the athletes. On a side note, are you kidding me with the Tony Romo estimated +3.3 index? Please. . .
Also, the Wall Street Journal published an article Oct. 17 about how a statute in the Stimulus Plan is providing tax credits to purchasers of electric vehicles -- including golf carts. Interestingly, they state that the tax credit is between $4,200 - $5,500, while ABC reports that it's a minimum credit of $2,500 plus additional money depending on the golf cart's battery life. (Via)
I found this graph of the WSJ article particularly offensive:
"This golf-cart fiasco perfectly illustrates tax policy in the age of Obama, when politicians dole out credits and loopholes for everything from plug-in cars to fuel efficient appliances, home insulation and vitamins. Democrats then insist that to pay for these absurdities they have no choice but to raise tax rates on other things—like work and investment—that aren't politically in vogue. If this keeps up, it'll soon make more sense to retire and play golf than work for living." Golfdom reports that August 2009 rounds were down 1 percent from 2008:
"The National Golf Foundation recently surveyed 300 golfers about how their golfing and spending habits. Sixty-one percent said they were playing during off-peak days/times to manage their costs, 58 percent said they were playing less-expensive courses, and 53 percent said they were spending less on food and beverage."
"Steve Skinner, CEO of Kemper Sports, told NGF: Many assume that since rounds are flat, revenues should be as well. But the rounds number tends to obscure what is really happening throughout the industry. Member rounds are up, value course rounds are up, off-peak is up. So as an industry as a whole, revenue per round and total revenues are actually down.""
Over the course of the next several months, I'll be exploring the history, traditions, themes, and contemporary practices in golf media.Today, Ron Sirak published an excellent article on the use of Twitter by professional golfers. His major contention is:
"The main benefit players derive from Twitter is an immediate connection with their fans. This can also provide another platform on which to promote the various goods and services with which they have lucrative endorsement deals. That makes both the player and the sponsor happy, and it helps cement the bond between the player and the fan. The tweets help to humanize the celebrity."
With the advances of social media, individuals, corporations, and organizations are increasingly able to provide transparency for their constituency (fans). Ultimately, the content of a "tweet" isn't entirely signficant, as long as it provides some sort of insight into a golfer's life that a fan wouldn't have access to otherwise. Further, twitter, facebook, etc. provide a golfer with the ability to control their own frame which their fans see them through; a sort of cyber-personality.
While Roger Goodell has spent his tenure as NFL commissioner attempting to inject a vaccination of morality into its image, Goodell and the team owners may have just made their most moral decision yet by not letting the propagandist of the moral right party a seat at the dinner table. In striking down Rush Limbaugh’s attempts at ownership of the St. Louis Rams, the NFL made their most ethical decision since the two-point conversion.
In a sport where its league anagram is considered offensive to its members (National Football League, please. . .), the League is the embodiment of American privilege. Its owners have all accumulated massive amounts of wealth, they are by overwhelming majority Anglo-Saxon, and symbolize the traditions of a “good old boy” network in sports.
Limbaugh epitomizes the transmogrification of conservative politics into a nihilistic prey on the god-fearing. He speaks in empty rhetoric; proselytizing the Old Testament and Exodus as if they were a Tony Robbins self-help book.
Yes, Limbaugh’s ownership of the St. Louis Rams may have made them the most popular team among the racially insensitive. Perhaps his money and social capital would lure in the new wave of the Great White Hope football player, but, unless green is the only color that matters today, anyone with a moral compass cannot justify supporting the team, needless to say justify playing for the team.
Though there are real questions as to the authenticity in the reporting of Limbaugh’s racial bigotry and nativist oratory; the fact remains that he has a history of well documented racist commentary.
With a sport that is increasingly dominated in play and in fan-base by African Americans, it would have been un-debatably inappropriate to permit an owner who would appoint Taylor Swift and Tobey Keith entertainment directors, who would pass out anti-science literature at the front gate, who would speak of his ownership of the team on a radio show where also regurgitates the propaganda of the Family Research Council and the American Family Association.
Where the NFL has perpetuated a culture contrary to the culture of its majority players, it may have finally recognized the need for racial sensitivity. A silent applaud. . .
What began as a publicity stunt for Limbaugh, similar to Joe Wilson’s “you lie” outburst and the complimenting $1 million in campaign funds he has received, evolved into an obscene ploy to advance his own empty rhetoric. As he already has and as he will continue to, Limbaugh will exploit his rejection as NFL owner as a sign of Obama’s new “black” America.
He is the ideologue who still uses the term “reverse-racism.” He is the guy who stands on the street corner selling DVD copies of “White Man’s Burden” as an account of the world if African Americans were the status quo.
Vince I have known eachother since high school, he was a sophomore when I was a senior, at a rival school. Since then, he has grown into a tremendous player; one worth following throughout the spring NCAA season and next year.
The following is an artilce I've written about my experience with him:
“You have to expect things of yourself before you can do them.” – Michael Jordan
With a cold mid-October dew covering my car, I picked up Vince India, junior University of Iowa golfer, outside of his home at 9a.m. His cold weather rain suit and stocking cap almost added to his small frame, a generous 150 pounds.
While he does not often take himself seriously, choosing rather to laugh at life in its face, at times he aggressively wears emotion in his face, which looks considerably younger than his 20 years. Where his eyes are usually soft, in disappointment they wear the full force of his emotion.
Knowing that Vince had worked out with his team earlier in the morning, I couldn’t help but laugh at the irony at the sight of him with a McDonald’s breakfast bag and a small coffee.
Vince is coming off a fourth place finish at the Golden Gopher Invitational and tenth place finish at the Fighting Irish Classic, both of which he, by his own admission, could have won.
Where sports often require complete athletic devotion from their respective players, an athlete’s competitive nature often propels them to challenge the limits of their athleticism in other sports. Such has been the case for the likes of Jim Brown, Bo Jackson, and, recently, Michael Jordan, not in the baseball he played between NBA Championship three-peats, but rather in the golf games that he’s grown notorious for.
This summer, Vince had the opportunity to play 36 holes with Jordan, his childhood hero, at the Merit Club in Chicago’s western suburbs.
“After not practicing or warming up, Michael made a difficult birdie putt on the first hole and acted like it was routine and expected,” Vince said. “Then he turned to the group and loudly says ‘it’s going to be a long day for you guys.’”
Vince played well, shooting even-par over the 36 holes, and beat Jordan in their match. Although, Jordan played well and was a formidable opponent, particularly when it came to his gamesmanship.
Jordan is famous, perhaps infamous, for his extreme competitive nature. “Not in a rude way, but Michael is willing to put friendship on hold if he wants to win, which he always does,” Vince commented.
With our arrival at Finkbine Golf Course, where Vince has become a celebrity of sorts, we had a familiar change in discourse and tone – the same tone which has characterized our relationship for more than five years.
As I often find a need to do with Vince, I spent most of our time at the practice tee reminding him that I was two years his elder.
I first met Vince when he was a sophomore up and coming junior golf star at Deerfield High School in suburban Chicago. At the time, I was a senior on the golf team at Highland Park, a neighboring town and the rival of Deerfield.
As my senior golf season wore on, I surpassed Vince in my play, but, even then it was obvious to me that his golf exploits would be worth following. By the next school year, Vince had established himself among the elite class of Illinois state golfers.
After being recruited by Michigan State University, Notre Dame, and the University of Illinois, Vince signed his letter of intent with Iowa in October of 2005 and enrolled in the fall of 2006.
“At different times I thought I was set in going to another school, but those options kept disappearing,” Vince remarked. “But what could have been a disastrous moment became the greatest thing possible. I fell in love with Iowa early in the recruiting process and [coming to Iowa] was one of the greatest choices I have ever made.”
I enrolled in the fall of 2005 as a member of the Kent State University golf team. Within months I sustained a hand injury, and subsequent surgery, and was rendered unable to practice and play at the necessary level. I came to Iowa in the fall of 2007 and will graduate this December.
We stepped to the first tee and there was our usual sense that what had been playful gamesmanship and ultimately two competitive friends squabbling back and forth had become a bit more serious. As he placed his tee in the ground, I announced to an absent audience “Welcome to the tee Steve Kerr (Jordan's less famous teammate).”
Though we were not playing tournament golf, there was familiarity of competition in the air. With tournament golf, there is the additional pressure of notoriety, a final score published in the newspaper adds anxiety that a round amongst friends does not have. Nevertheless, the flames of competition that once epitomized us still, at times, linger.
“Stop calling yourself Michael Jordan and me Steve Kerr," Vince said.
As he often does, Vince played a low spinning pitch shot to the par 5 second hole with flawless technique. After tapping in his short birdie putt (and taking a one-hole lead), Vince whispered “M.J.” in my direction.
He referred to me as “has been” for most of the round.
Vince’s career thus far is characterized by high finishes, but few wins. At the junior, high school, amateur, and college level Vince has steadily established him self among the best, but has done so through his consistency on the top-10 of the leader board.
Vince has had eight top-10 finishes in five semesters of college golf; a strong resume, yet it noticeably lacks a victory.
While Vince reads greens well and generally has a fine feel for speed, he does occasionally suffer from an inability to start the golf ball rolling on his intended line.
Back home in Chicago in August, Vince saw a putter in the trunk of my car and asked to use it. It was a belly putter, a putter that is anchored on the stomach as a means to encourage a pendulum, arching putting stroke with increased face control. While it does have its critics, the belly putter is clearly a method that helps to start the ball on line.
Vince won the Iowa Open at Riverside’s Top Ridge Golf Course only weeks later using my putter. The belly putter didn’t win the event for Vince, but the confidence that it gave him certainly propelled him to overcome a 10-shot deficit with a final round 68 and an eventual two-stroke victory.
“When my speed is good with the [belly putter] I can make any putt I’m looking at,” Vince remarked. “There’s a lot of confidence in knowing that you’re going to start the ball on line.”
After I lipped out a chip shot on the par 5 sixth hole for birdie, Vince — still using my putter — made a short, but difficult left to right putt, a putt that he traditionally has struggled with, to win the hole. With a conventional putter, skilled players often rely on feel when stroking short, but big breaking putts – players push or pull short putts subconsciously to start the ball on an appropriate line. Vince has routinely had difficulty with this; often over or under compensating.
Two holes down to Vince after seven holes played.
Where Vince is most impressive is in the quality of his ball flight, for which he does not get enough credit. Top professional golfers are noted for high, but controlled ball flights, spinning, but penetrating trajectories, and a consistent curvature. They also have an ability to purposefully curve the ball either direction when they need to.
Vince clearly favors a right to left drawing shot, which also can cause his greatest struggle on the course. He has a tendency to overdraw the golf ball or, in defense, overcompensate by aiming or swinging to the right. However, he is aware of those issues and works relentlessly to improve the path of his club head.
“I spent hours yesterday hitting cut (left to right) shots,” he remarked. “I’m trying to find ways that make it easier for me to control the draw and move it left to right when I need to.”
As I hit one of my best shots of the day on the eleventh hole, a 100 yard wedge from the right side of the fairway, Vince, without hesitation or discretion, yelled “no” as my shot nearly fell in the cup – he knew that had it gone in, the match would have been even.
One down to Vince after 12 holes played.
On the thirteenth hole, Vince became visibly frustrated after a combination of an extraordinarily difficult putt and a misjudgment in speed resulted in a three-putt green. Finkbine is well known for its undulating greens. Particularly in the fall when the grass doesn’t grow as well and the greens become faster, putting at Finkbine is remarkably difficult, as it was throughout our round that morning.
Perhaps he is too hard on himself; perhaps at times his drive to excel may get the best of him. But, it is more likely that he is impressively self-confident while aware of the expectations that his coach, his family, his peers and competitors have for him, as well as the unmatched expectations that he has for himself.
“I want to play well and I want to win,” he commented. “I believe that I can win and sometimes I am hard on myself when I am not performing as I know that I can.
When you look at the top level of junior and college golf, the players are often equally skilled and talented, but the best players are the ones who have an ability to remain as emotionally composed as a seasoned veteran, but embrace the benefits of the optimism that youth provides.
Ultimately, it’s about accepting disappointment, because in golf it occurs often. The challenge is to never become discouraged; disappointment is a source of motivation while discouragement can be debilitating.
Golf is also a contest of who is willing to do what is necessary to get better.
“Jordan spent his life his getting better at basketball, even after he was the greatest ever. Tiger (Woods) won the Masters by 12 shots and he looks at the camera and says ‘not good enough.’ You always have to work to get better; maintain that long term perspective.”
On a cold October Iowa morning Vince won two holes up after shooting a calm, simple even-par 72 and I had a blue-collar, working mans 74.
Where I onced looked at Vince as an opponent and threat, today I find myself living vicariously through his successes and frustrations.
In the car ride home, Vince wears in his face the unmistakable frustrations of what could have been, the absolute nature of golf in the mind of a highly spirited, highly successful competitor. Vince spent the drive criticizing his misplayed iron shot on the seventeenth hole and a poor drive on the fourteenth hole.
With the combination of a more fundamentally sound golf swing than is often found at the collegiate level, a polished game that seems too mature for his age, and a willingness to learn and improve that is not often found among young players, the sole obstacle to success in Vince’s future is himself.
Vince will be back in competitive action at the end of this month at the Baylor Intercollegiate, as the team rounds out its fall season.
As we left lunch and sat in my car, Vince looked at me and with a serious face asked “Can you drop me off back at the course? I’m going to practice.”
Maybe in the not too distant future, Vince deserves my letting him be Michael Jordan for once.
The man saga that was the Robert Allenby v. Anthony KimCelebrity Deathmatch officially ended, not by knockout, submission, reality show, but, by a crafted public relations statement on behalf of the PGA Tour communications department. PGA TOUR Executive Vice President & Chief of Operations Rick George: “Robert Allenby and Anthony Kim were both part of a fantastic week at The Presidents Cup in San Francisco, representing the U.S. and International Teams, respectively, with utmost professionalism, competitive spirit and good sportsmanship. Concerning the reports publishedafter the fact with unfortunate comments attributed to Robert regarding Anthony, we understand that both players have since spoken and have put the incident behind them. We wish them both the best as they play out the remainder of their 2009 schedules.” Robert Allenby: “While I feel like the comments published were taken out of context, I did call Anthony to apologize for anything that I said or inferred that could possibly portray Anthony as anything less than a professional of the highest caliber. He was a key member of the U.S. Team last week and a formidable opponent on Sunday when we faced each other in singles competition. I am glad we had the chance to speak and clear the air.”
Anthony Kim: “Robert and I have spoken about the comments he made after the final day of competition, and I’ve accepted his apology. We are both moving on, and I don’t have anything more to say about the issue. I had a great experience at my first Presidents Cup and look forward to competing in many more international team competitions for my country.”
While I'm at the front line in appreciating when public relations should settle disputes or, on the positive, advance a cause or organization, this doesn't seem satisfactory to me. Allenby still needs to apologize through the media in a direct interview with an American publication.
Also, not that Kim needed to exacerbate the situation, but the world would have loved a strong statement. Although the "he may need to practice a little bit more" statement was superb, a "that is not true, I just drummed him and he's just whining through the media" would have been amazing.
Tomorrow night (Thursday), a major announcement is expected by the European Tour. Citing a need to improve sponsorship relations and encourage European Tour players to compete in its most popular events, there's a proposal in discussion which would require European Tour players to compete in a minimum of 12 Tour events, 4 of which must come from the Tour's six "core" events.
This policy is not aimed at the everyman European Tour player, but rather at those who are dual-card carrying members of both the PGA Tour and European Tour, otherwise written as the best in the world who, for reasons ranging from nationality to sponsorship affiliations, maintain their allegiances to the European Tour.
I'm not going to get involved in the seeming conflict between Padraig Harrington and the European Tour's Tournament Committee Chairman Thomas Bjorn, although Bjorn only moments ago announced that he was resigning his post. Their discourse has been catty at best and ultimately erroneous at worst.
The existing rule is that members must play only two out of the big six events (2009 tournament dates listed):
No Event Scheduled (October 1-4) - Dunhill Links Championship Weekend
No Event Scheduled (October 8-11)
No Event Scheduled (October 15-18) - Portugal Masters Weekend
Based on last year's schedule (the only one available online), the largest conflict will involve the back-to-back French Open (played opposite the AT&T National - Tiger Woods' event) & Scottish Open (played the week prior to the British Open). As Tiger's event increasingly gains notoriety, the game's European Tour stars will be reluctant to compete in it (most will already be in the States because the US Open is two weekends prior) and then immediately travel to compete in the Scottish Open and then the British. While many golfers enjoy playing in Europe the weekend prior to the British as a means to acclimate themselves to the differences in the style of play warranted, 3 consecutive weeks that include a shift in continents is excessive and potentially detrimental to their game. If, as I predict is the case, European Tour players may be forced to miss their maximum two "core" events in this period, favoring instead larger tournament purses and an improved level of competition.
The other issues, which are similar, could be traveling immediately following play at the Players Championship (for the Irish Open) and, similarly, following the Tour Championship (for the Dunhill Links Championship).
Aside from the scheduling flaws and the transportation concerns, it seems like this policy could have potential serious negative repercussions for the European Tour, and potentially the PGA Tour. Assuming this policy is effective, it will encourage European Tour players to remain oversees and to play less on the game's, widely considered, greatest stage, the PGA Tour. On the other hand, this policy could as easily deter dual-card carrying members from maintaining their European Tour allegiances, choosing instead a Tour where the purses are larger and the tournament's feature more players that top the World Golf Rankings.
Policies in sport that aim to be inclusive by practicing exclusionary ideals are counter-intuitive. Obviously there is a concern as how to compete with a "superior" product (look at the LPGA Tour's struggles with English-only policies), but rather than challenge that, why not embrace it and broadcast as an alternative with alternative benefits.
Rick Reilly, the noted former Sports Illustrated columnist who went to ESPN in 2008, wrote a column during the summer that truly made me cringe. Following the British Open, Reilly wrote this condemnation of Tiger Woods:
"He spent most of his two days at Turnberry last week doing the Turn and Bury. He'd hit a bad shot, turn and bury his club into the ground in a fit. It was two days of Tiger Tantrums -- slamming his club, throwing his club and cursing his club. In front of a worldwide audience."
"This isn't new. Woods has been this way for years: swearing like a Hooters' bouncer, trying to bury the bottom of his driver into the tee box, flipping his club end over end the second he realizes his shot is way offline."
"I know what you're saying. We see more Tiger tantrums because TV shows every single shot he hits. And I'm telling you: You're wrong. He is one of the few on Tour who do it. And I keep wondering when PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem is going to have the cojones to publicly upbraid him for it."
I in no way say that there aren't aspects of Tiger's life to criticize, as there are (Nike, UAE), but the issue here is both journalistic credibility and inconsequential reporting. Yes, Tiger does have a bad temper, yes he does curse, and yes he does throw clubs, but he's not the only one. Reilly tries to make the case that Woods is an anomaly, but that's blatantly false. I will admit that I did some research and struggled to find any media coverage of poor PGA Tour behavior--maybe this is because today's golf media is so heavily dominated by Tiger Woods coverage, I rely on my first hand account of attending professional golf events. Players get upset and men often revert to machismo sports behavior; swearing, pouting, and overt temperamental displays.
As a kid, I volunteered for, the former, LaSalle Bank Open, a Chicago Buy.com (Nationwide, Nike Tour) event. In my three days one year, I witnessed 3 broken clubs, 2 outright swearing fits, a broken flag stick, and countless club slamming. By the way, much of that occurred on Saturday as one player in my group, Doug Barron, had an 8-under streak in a 7-hole stretch.
There isn't just one instance; I've attended almost a dozen PGA Tour events in my lifetime, and there are moments of questionable behavior that I recall from every event.
And Reilly calls on PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem to respond, which is absurd.
"Tiger is teaching them that if he can be a hissy hothead on the course, they can, too."
Please . . .
You're really going to criticize Tiger Woods as a role-model for children. . .
I was fortunate enough to attend a Chicago banquet for the 2004 U.S. Open at Olympia Fields that featured Arnold Palmer, Phil Mickelson, and Jim Nantz. As nothing more than a precocious 17-year-old, I asked Mr. Palmer about his brash playing style. He responded by telling a story: as a young man, Mr. Palmer was playing golf with his father when, after he hit a poor shot, Arnold threw a club. Arnold's father, Deacon, told Arnold that golf was a game and that it was meant to be played as a game. For that reason, Arnold treated golf as a game and he, seemingly, enjoyed every moment of his career.
While I will never criticize Arnold Palmer's contributions to the game, let's not forget that 41 of Palmer's 62 career victories were from 1955 - 1963, from ages 26 to 34. Palmer's last major, the 1964 Masters, came at age 35. While Mr. Palmer's technical flaws eventually caught up with his age, there is room for discussion regarding Palmer's drive. In the era of Hogan -- a meticulous practicer, a man seemingly possessed with the drive to perfect his golf wing, Palmer never worked on his.
The basis for Reilly's comments is, ultimately, that there's something afoul in Tiger Woods-land. That's blatantly absurd; not only is Tiger Woods receiving unprecedented stardom from golf, but, arguably, he's positioning himself as one of the quintessential global icons of our time. Not only did he recently establish himself as the world's first athlete billionaire, not only will he likely eclipse all essential golf records within the next few years, not only is he the best golfer in the world and seemingly the most dominant athlete today, but he's one of the most influential, visible, and recognizable figures in the world. Well argued Rick Reilly. . .
Reilly is one of the great sports columnists in history, he's responsible for one of my favorite articles, he's undeniably funny, but, when it comes to sports, specifically golf, he doesn't have any sort of reasonable frame to use.
"One day, when Tiger was just a kid, he was throwing his clubs around in a fuming fit when his dad said something like "Tiger, golf is supposed to be fun." And Tiger said, "Daddy, I want to win. That's how I have fun.""
Tiger is right, winning is fun. I used to use a classic sporting cliche when it came to my golf; how do you spell "fun?" . . ."W . I . N."
Tiger does obviously need to be aware of his behavior because he is such an influential figure. But, ultimately, it is Tiger's temperament, his tightly-wound personality, and his unquestionable driving temperament that has made him the greatest ever. Tiger seems to expect more from himself than his peers; he openly states that, when he arrives on the first tee on Thursdays, he expects, not believes, not hopes, but EXPECTS to win.
Always gracious in defeat, Robert Allenby attacked the character of Anthony Kim following his massive 5 and 3 defeat to Kim Sunday at the Presidents Cup.
"Allenby said friends here witnessed Kim getting back to the team hotel, in Allenby’s words, “sideways” at 4 in the morning, less than five hours before his scheduled tee time against Allenby at Harding Park."
“Maybe we should all take the theory of Anthony Kim,” Allenby said. “Get home at 4 o’clock (in the morning) and then go shoot 6 under."
Allenby, who is 38, has four PGA Tour Victories, compared to Anthony Kim, age 24, who has two career victories, both coming in 2008. While Anthony is currently ranked 23rd in the official World Golf Rankings, to Allenby's 33rd place position, Allenby was a top 10 player in a brief period in the early 2000s; Kim's high career ranking is 14tth.
Unfortunately, Allenby often does not get the credit for his game that he deserves. His abilities are clearly limited and his game is tailored for a specific type of golf; his lower ball flight, steeper angles, and volatile temper clearly make him a hard, fast golf course player where birdies are often. Kim, on the hand, is more rounded (literally in his golf swing and in his game) and has more potential, seemingly, than Allenby ever had.
In college, Anthony was. . .well, known to enjoy himself, particularly because others did not really enjoy him. He was notoriously conceded, his demeanor was often brash and flashy, and his fellow competitors didn't really like him -- but that's potentially as much due to the fact that he beat them so often.
Anthony behaves like a kid who has always been talented, who has repeatedly won in his career. He walks with less restraint than his peers, he acknowledges the crowds, he continues to treat golf as a game. I'm not saying he doesn't work as absolutely hard as his peers, but he seems to be as concerned with maintaining his enjoyment for it as anything else.
However, all of that is inconsequential to the statements at hand. While it's difficult to discern fact from fiction -- I would not be surprised to hear that Anthony had been out the night before, Allenby's discourse are unprofessional and un-PGA Tour like. I was disappointed to see this story get so much coverage; I even saw it in a segment on ESPN's Pardon the Interruption.
But, keeping with typical Anthony, he responded to Allenby by saying:
“If Robert had that to say,” Kim said, “he may need to go practice a little bit more.”
