The Open Championship

The Open Championship, 3^rd Major

The 2012 Open Championship begins with the 1^st round on July 19^th and held at the revered course at Royal Lytham & St. Annes Golf Club located in England.  The last time the Open Championship was held at Royal Lytham was back in 2001 when David Duval took the Claret Jug home. 

The tournament itself is known for one of the few tournaments the pros play that opens with a par 3 & their 200 + bunkers.  Expect a great tournament and let’s root for an American to take home the Claret Jug this year, house money is on Tiger to break through and silence his critics.

Royal Lytham & St. Annes Golf Club prides itself on being one of the premiere courses in the world and has a mantra of pace of play that most clubs especially in the Mid-Atlantic region should practice.

The Club expects you to follow the governing rules for pace of play and what they expect from their members and visitors:

Etiquette and Slow Play
We understand that every golfer does not play to the same standard or at the same speed. It is most inconsiderate to hold up players behind you and to do so would ruin their day. PLEASE CALL THEM THROUGH. A Fourball should take no longer than 4 hours.

Please read the underlined sentence:  NO LONGER THAN 4 HOURS!!! & yes that means for a foursome.  For those of you accustomed to playing 4 ½, 5, or 6 hour rounds.  If you don’t practice ready golf or regularly averaging 12 minutes a hole, this means YOU!!  I realize good money was paid to enjoy a round of golf but if you are regularly having problems locating your ball in the woods or heavy rough, stop playing with expensive balls; take your penalty/mulligan/give me and move on.  If you still constantly average 15 minutes or more to play a hole—please let the group behind you pass through—most golfers don’t like to see bad shots constantly nor less playing slowly.  I could and have played with all sorts of playing abilities stemming from individuals who never touched a club before to former collegiate golfers and take pride in either not playing slow or letting the group behind you play through.  You will make your round a lot more enjoyable letting a group through that’s constantly breathing down your back hole after hole.  Golf is a great game and hard enough to play well; no need to add additional distractions to make the game harder. 

Good job and 2015 here I come…..

Hats off to the United States team for winning the President’s Cup at the Royal Melbourne Golf Club.  I know the President’s Cup does not live up to the competition the Ryder Cups provide, but enjoy watching the similar formats the event showcases.  If you need to understand the differences between the Ryder Cup and the President’s Cup, you only need to see how crushed Hunter Mahan was in the post interview in the last Ryder Cup; definitely hard to watch someone feel that low for losing their singles match.  Alternate shot and singles matches are great to watch.  Golf is such an individual game, then to have venues where the pro’s play in a team format, truly makes for great television.   You get a chance to see how each individual dislikes losing a hole or attempts to grind through to half a hole.   The course definitely provided different climates each day but the constant were those fast greens.  There were times were I thought the balls were rolling on ice.  Alister MacKenzie who also designed Augusta National, designed the course at Royal Melbourne where the event took place.   After a valiant effort by the international team on the last day of singles matches the Cup was retained by the Americans 19-15.  The international squandered opportunities from Day 1 and never recovered.   The President’s Cup returns to the States in 2013 to Muirfield Village Golf Club in Columbus, Ohio.       

Again I apologize, work gets in between my life’s passion and puts a wrench in my plans a lot of times.  I will no longer make promises of when I plan on writing posts.  I’ll just say until next time….

Some random thoughts I have for the winter season.   This time of year where I can rarely play due to weather conditions, I try to swing when I can and when a “rainy” day occurs that allows me to get out and play I try to take advantage of the opportunity.  Again you won’t post your low score of the year during the offseason but gives you an opportunity to still swing a club and enjoy the game.   Due to the mild weather conditions so far in the Mid Atlantic region I was able to play a round of golf on 11.11.11 Veteran’s Day.  It was a day to be thankful for all the service men and women who have sacrificed and allow me to enjoy days filled with playing 18 holes.   The weather was in the 50’s and windy and I didn’t have a care in the world what I was shooting, I was just happy to play a round with old and new friends on all 1’s day. 

During the weekend of the President’s Cup the site for the 2015 was announced.  Seoul, Korea will be the destination and I tentatively plan on being there.  Crossing my fingers and setting a 4 year goal for myself so I may have a Tebowing moment on the course.   I hope everyone on state side enjoys a happy turkey day.  Until next time.... take care and god bless.