Opinion & Analysis

Finding poetry in golf

Published

11 years ago

Jun 4, 2013

Relax, friends. This article is not one more attempt to try to convince you to love poetry. It is about perspective.

One of the best things about being a super-senior golfer is that we have “perspective.” That may only be a nice way of saying that we can remember golf shots from July 6, 1978, but can’t remember where we put our car keys last night. I prefer to think of perspective as the ability our experience gives us to see golf as the historical, sociological and even literary phenomenon that it is.

For younger golfers, the sport is the round they played last weekend. For super seniors, golf is what we have done every weekend all our long, long, long lives. (I could add another long here but I think you get the idea.) This long association can’t help but lead super seniors to ask questions that youngsters don’t think to ask or maybe don’t have the time to ask. For example, consider the question: what do we love about golf?

Super seniors love to get the competitive juices flowing, just like we always have. We play golf against each other. Look at any men’s club. There will be a large percentage of the group who will be in our age group. It’s fun to beat people our own age. But isn’t the highlight of your week when you take a buck or two from the flat-bellies that hit the ball a mile but can’t sink a putt?

We play golf against the course. Even if we have played the same course every week for 20 years, we can always find some view of a hole that we have never seen before. (Most of my “new views” unfortunately seem to be the ones I find from behind an old tree after an errant shot.) Golf courses have a way of making our lives exciting. There are times that you would swear that a really good course is a living creature, changing and morphing into a new place bent on pushing and challenging us to hit a new shot or forcing us to remember how we miss-hit an old one.

We play golf against ourselves. The mystery that is golf manifests itself when we have to reach into parts of our minds and bodies, to find strength we didn’t know we had, and to fight through body parts we know we have but would rather forget because they don’t work as well as they used to. This constant battle between our physical strengths, weakness and the subtleties of the golf swing keep golf a fresh challenge even if we are playing as a single, without any competition except ourselves.

And we love the opportunity golf affords us to find beauty. For super seniors, the perspective we have developed allows us to see beauty on a very different level than we saw it in our youth. We see that beauty in the friendships we have nurtured over the years with our favorite foursomes. We see the beauty of the game itself, in the challenges it presents to us. We see the beauty of the well-made swing. We see the beauty in the equipment we use. And it goes without saying that on the courses we play, we see the beauty that nature presents to us on some of the most beautiful places in the world.

All of the things we love about golf should make it an ideal subject for literature. Literature adds a context to our understanding of golf and what it means to be a golfer. Golf has been a subject of interest for both fiction and non-fiction prose for many years. Golf books line the walls of many of our “man caves” (and the female equivalent). But for reasons I can only speculate about, there are comparatively few serious works of poetry about golf.

I hold myself very fortunate to be among those who love both golf and poetry. The comparative lack of golf poetry is very disappointing but to some extent understandable. I understand why most people could not care less about poetry. Like golf, I know that poetry is a difficult thing to love. Most people have a track record with poetry going back to their youngest educational experiences. They may have been forced to memorize a poem for a grade-school class. In high school, they went through the process of scanning for rhyme and metric patterns. In college, they fought their way through the obscure references and archaic language in poems that had little or no apparent relevance to what career they were really interested in.

While this article isn’t an attempt to coerce anyone into suddenly developing the kind of love for poetry that I have, there are striking parallels between golf and poetry that do make the lack of golf poetry puzzling. I am hopeful that these commonalities might be interesting to super senior golfers. After all, our status gives us the perspective to explore such things.

What are the parallels? Here are a few that I have found. For example, don’t most people have strong feelings about golf like most people have strong feelings about poetry? These critics are often not satisfied with ignoring both golf and poetry. Many people cultivate an active dislike bordering on prejudice against them.

Why do people have such strong feelings again poetry and golf? Some of their objections are actually based on the same misconceptions. Many people see both golf and poetry as elitist. Poetry is for the intellectual snob, they will tell you. And many people will tell you that golf is the sport of the economic and cultural privileged only.

Both golf and poetry can be frustrating to those who need a black-and-white finality in their lives. Great poetry can never be totally understood. A poem’s “meaning” may be obscure or multidimensional. It may even change over time. There is no right or wrong to a poem’s meaning. This lack of finality can drive some people crazy.

Our sport can drive people crazy for a similar lack of finality. Golf can never be mastered, only approached. Golf is a sport that cannot be truly dominated, even by the greatest golfers who ever lived. Golf is never “over.”

Given the commonalities between golf and poetry, it seems logical then that there must be at least a few great poems about golf. Being the inquisitive sort, I decided to find a few examples. In my search, I guess I wasn’t surprised to discover no shortage of golf limericks. I also found silly rhymes that hardly deserve to pass as poetry. But what of the kind of poetry Robert Frost described as “begin[ning] as a lump in the throat, a sense of wrong, a homesickness, a lovesickness”?

I’ve found that that caliber of golf poem is hard to find. And when you do find one, it is a treasure that would be worth sharing. One recent find is just such a treasure. It’s a very short but poignant poem called “A Bridge to Sunset” by Aldo Kraas. It speaks to super-senior golfers because of what I see is its themes: the timelessness of golf, the fellowship we find in the sport, and why golf remains so central to our lives, even as our skills decline.

A Bridge to Sunset
The bridge to sunset
Is located inside a beautiful golf course
And the man I know goes golfing every weekend
With his friends

Super-senior golfers can see the first glimpses of sunset on the horizon. My favorite time to be on the golf course is the evening. Thankfully, my love of golf at sunset isn’t shared by everyone. At sunset, there are some days when I am literally the only person on the course. It’s the time the world of golf finally operates at my speed. I have trouble walking these days so my speed is slow. At sunset, there is no pressure to move along. I can take my time and stop when I need to stop. I don’t have to be “guilted” into using a cart. I can tote a few clubs in my old carry bag again. I can hear the wind and visit with the geese. I can watch the muskrats get ready for nightfall. We have hawks on our course. At sunset I can watch them swoop and soar, dive and snatch a mouse for an evening snack.

Sunset also represents the coming end of my days. Fortunately that time isn’t exactly near, but it is nearer than it ever has been. At sunset on the course, I remember people I once knew who have walked into the sunset. I remember my dad who taught me the game and with whom I spent many wonderful late evenings on the course. I think about my uncles who played the game with vigor if not with skill. Sunset makes me think about those golfers who walked these same fairways, who laughed and struggled with the game during their days. In the quiet of sunset, I can almost hear their voices. You can hear them too at sunset, if you listen.

The poet’s imagery of the bridge is important to golfers but even more so to super-seniors. One of the most enduring images many of us have is Arnie, Jack and Tom crossing the Swilken Bridge at Saint Andrews — the symbolic crossing-over from being a competitor to being a legend. Most courses have less famous bridges but bridges that we know we will someday cross for the last time. Every time we cross them, even if we don’t think of the final crossing we‘ll all make one day, we know we are moving towards new stages of life.

The last line of the poem speaks of importance golfers attach to our friendships. Golfers collect friends. Our golfing buddies are sometimes our closest friends. They are people we see rain or shine, in the heat and cold, year in and year out. We may not know their children’s names. We may not even know if they have children. We may not know whether they are married, divorced, gay, straight, homeless or wealthy. We may not know what they do for a living, whether they are Democrats or Republicans, Methodists, Marxists, Martians or Free Masons.

This is an aspect of golf that most non-golfers cannot understand. My wife thinks it’s amazing beyond words when I don’t have any idea that one of my golfing buddies is dating one of her friends, has lost his job or is being promoted to be president of the bank. We don’t share those things. We share golf. And in sharing golf, we share something much more profound than who they are. We know “who they are.”

I know if they are dependable or lazy, if they are patient or a “foot-tapper” and if they are honorable or a cheat. I know if they make me feel better after a bad shot, whether they need to laugh or to be left to fight whatever battle they need to fight alone. I know if they pay their debts. I know if they are easily distracted. I know if I like them enough to spend four or five hours sitting next to them in a golf cart and not have to explain to them why I like poetry.

These are the people I am growing old with or, in the imagery of the poem, they are the people I am crossing the bridge with. We built the bridge, brick by brick, week after week, year after year. I will see them cross over that bridge at their last sunset. They will see me do the same in mine. I will miss them when they are gone over that bridge. I hope it’s their voices I hear in those beautiful sunset times when hawks swoop and the muskrats dive deep into their ponds.

Those voices that I hear sound very happy that they were golfers. I am very happy I am a golfer who loves poetry.

Your Reaction?

LIKE1
LEGIT0
WOW0
LOL0
IDHT0
FLOP0
OB0
SHANK0

19th Hole

Vincenzi’s 2024 Zurich Classic of New Orleans betting preview

Published

3 days ago

Apr 22, 2024

Matt Vincenzi

The PGA TOUR heads to New Orleans to play the 2023 Zurich Classic of New Orleans. In a welcome change from the usual stroke play, the Zurich Classic is a team event. On Thursday and Saturday, the teams play best ball, and on Friday and Sunday the teams play alternate shot.

TPC Louisiana is a par 72 that measures 7,425 yards. The course features some short par 4s and plenty of water and bunkers, which makes for a lot of exciting risk/reward scenarios for competitors. Pete Dye designed the course in 2004 specifically for the Zurich Classic, although the event didn’t make its debut until 2007 because of Hurricane Katrina.

Coming off of the Masters and a signature event in consecutive weeks, the field this week is a step down, and understandably so. Many of the world’s top players will be using this time to rest after a busy stretch.

However, there are some interesting teams this season with some stars making surprise appearances in the team event. Some notable teams include Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele, Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry, Collin Morikawa and Kurt Kitayama, Will Zalatoris and Sahith Theegala as well as a few Canadian teams, Nick Taylor and Adam Hadwin and Taylor Pendrith and Corey Conners.

Past Winners at TPC Louisiana

2023: Riley/Hardy (-30)
2022: Cantlay/Schauffele (-29)
2021: Leishman/Smith (-20)
2019: Palmer/Rahm (-26)
2018: Horschel/Piercy (-22)
2017: Blixt/Smith (-27)

2024 Zurich Classic of New Orleans Picks

Tom Hoge/Maverick McNealy +2500 (DraftKings)

Tom Hoge is coming off of a solid T18 finish at the RBC Heritage and finished T13 at last year’s Zurich Classic alongside Harris English.

This season, Hoge is having one of his best years on Tour in terms of Strokes Gained: Approach. In his last 24 rounds, the only player to top him on the category is Scottie Scheffler. Hoge has been solid on Pete Dye designs, ranking 28th in the field over his past 36 rounds.

McNealy is also having a solid season. He’s finished T6 at the Waste Management Phoenix Open and T9 at the PLAYERS Championship. He recently started working with world renowned swing coach, Butch Harmon, and its seemingly paid dividends in 2024.

Keith Mitchell/Joel Dahmen +4000 (DraftKings)

Keith Mitchell is having a fantastic season, finishing in the top-20 of five of his past seven starts on Tour. Most recently, Mitchell finished T14 at the Valero Texas Open and gained a whopping 6.0 strokes off the tee. He finished 6th at last year’s Zurich Classic.

Joel Dahmen is having a resurgent year and has been dialed in with his irons. He also has a T11 finish at the PLAYERS Championship at TPC Sawgrass which is another Pete Dye track. With Mitchell’s length and Dahmen’s ability to put it close with his short irons, the Mitchell/Dahmen combination will be dangerous this week.

Taylor Moore/Matt NeSmith +6500 (DraftKings)

Taylor Moore has quickly developed into one of the more consistent players on Tour. He’s finished in the top-20 in three of his past four starts, including a very impressive showing at The Masters, finishing T20. He’s also finished T4 at this event in consecutive seasons alongside Matt NeSmith.

NeSmith isn’t having a great 2024, but has seemed to elevate his game in this format. He finished T26 at Pete Dye’s TPC Sawgrass, which gives the 30-year-old something to build off of. NeSmith is also a great putter on Bermudagrass, which could help elevate Moore’s ball striking prowess.

Your Reaction?

LIKE8
LEGIT3
WOW1
LOL1
IDHT0
FLOP3
OB1
SHANK1

19th Hole

Vincenzi’s 2024 LIV Adelaide betting preview: Cam Smith ready for big week down under

Published

3 days ago

Apr 22, 2024

Matt Vincenzi

After having four of the top twelve players on the leaderboard at The Masters, LIV Golf is set for their fifth event of the season: LIV Adelaide.

For both LIV fans and golf fans in Australia, LIV Adelaide is one of the most anticipated events of the year. With 35,000 people expected to attend each day of the tournament, the Grange Golf Club will be crawling with fans who are passionate about the sport of golf. The 12th hole, better known as “the watering hole”, is sure to have the rowdiest of the fans cheering after a long day of drinking some Leishman Lager.

The Grange Golf Club is a par-72 that measures 6,946 yards. The course features minimal resistance, as golfers went extremely low last season. In 2023, Talor Gooch shot consecutive rounds of 62 on Thursday and Friday, giving himself a gigantic cushion heading into championship Sunday. Things got tight for a while, but in the end, the Oklahoma State product was able to hold off The Crushers’ Anirban Lahiri for a three-shot victory.

The Four Aces won the team competition with the Range Goats finishing second.

*All Images Courtesy of LIV Golf*

Past Winners at LIV Adelaide

2023: Talor Gooch (-19)

Stat Leaders Through LIV Miami

Green in Regulation

Richard Bland
Jon Rahm
Paul Casey

Fairways Hit

Abraham Ancer
Graeme McDowell
Henrik Stenson

Driving Distance

Bryson DeChambeau
Joaquin Niemann
Dean Burmester

Putting

Cameron Smith
Louis Oosthuizen
Matt Jones

2024 LIV Adelaide Picks

Cameron Smith +1400 (DraftKings)

When I pulled up the odds for LIV Adelaide, I was more than a little surprised to see multiple golfers listed ahead of Cameron Smith on the betting board. A few starts ago, Cam finished runner-up at LIV Hong Kong, which is a golf course that absolutely suits his eye. Augusta National in another course that Smith could roll out of bed and finish in the top-ten at, and he did so two weeks ago at The Masters, finishing T6.

At Augusta, he gained strokes on the field on approach, off the tee (slightly), and of course, around the green and putting. Smith able to get in the mix at a major championship despite coming into the week feeling under the weather tells me that his game is once again rounding into form.

The Grange Golf Club is another course that undoubtedly suits the Australian. Smith is obviously incredibly comfortable playing in front of the Aussie faithful and has won three Australian PGA Championship’s. The course is very short and will allow Smith to play conservative off the tee, mitigating his most glaring weakness. With birdies available all over the golf course, there’s a chance the event turns into a putting contest, and there’s no one on the planet I’d rather have in one of those than Cam Smith.

Louis Oosthuizen +2200 (DraftKings)

Louis Oosthuizen has simply been one of the best players on LIV in the 2024 seas0n. The South African has finished in the top-10 on the LIV leaderboard in three of his five starts, with his best coming in Jeddah, where he finished T2. Perhaps more impressively, Oosthuizen finished T7 at LIV Miami, which took place at Doral’s “Blue Monster”, an absolutely massive golf course. Given that Louis is on the shorter side in terms of distance off the tee, his ability to play well in Miami shows how dialed he is with the irons this season.

In addition to the LIV finishes, Oosthuizen won back-to-back starts on the DP World Tour in December at the Alfred Dunhill Championship and the Mauritus Open. He also finished runner-up at the end of February in the International Series Oman. The 41-year-old has been one of the most consistent performers of 2024, regardless of tour.

For the season, Louis ranks 4th on LIV in birdies made, T9 in fairways hit and first in putting. He ranks 32nd in driving distance, but that won’t be an issue at this short course. Last season, he finished T11 at the event, but was in decent position going into the final round but fell back after shooting 70 while the rest of the field went low. This season, Oosthuizen comes into the event in peak form, and the course should be a perfect fit for his smooth swing and hot putter this week.

Your Reaction?

LIKE12
LEGIT3
WOW1
LOL1
IDHT0
FLOP1
OB1
SHANK1

Opinion & Analysis

The Wedge Guy: What really makes a wedge work? Part 1

Published

1 week ago

Apr 18, 2024

Terry Koehler

Of all the clubs in our bags, wedges are almost always the simplest in construction and, therefore, the easiest to analyze what might make one work differently from another if you know what to look for.

Wedges are a lot less mysterious than drivers, of course, as the major brands are working with a lot of “pixie dust” inside these modern marvels. That’s carrying over more to irons now, with so many new models featuring internal multi-material technologies, and almost all of them having a “badge” or insert in the back to allow more complex graphics while hiding the actual distribution of mass.

But when it comes to wedges, most on the market today are still single pieces of molded steel, either cast or forged into that shape. So, if you look closely at where the mass is distributed, it’s pretty clear how that wedge is going to perform.

To start, because of their wider soles, the majority of the mass of almost any wedge is along the bottom third of the clubhead. So, the best wedge shots are always those hit between the 2nd and 5th grooves so that more mass is directly behind that impact. Elite tour professionals practice incessantly to learn to do that consistently, wearing out a spot about the size of a penny right there. If impact moves higher than that, the face is dramatically thinner, so smash factor is compromised significantly, which reduces the overall distance the ball will fly.

Every one of us, tour players included, knows that maddening shot that we feel a bit high on the face and it doesn’t go anywhere, it’s not your fault.

If your wedges show a wear pattern the size of a silver dollar, and centered above the 3rd or 4th groove, you are not getting anywhere near the same performance from shot to shot. Robot testing proves impact even two to three grooves higher in the face can cause distance loss of up to 35 to 55 feet with modern ‘tour design’ wedges.

In addition, as impact moves above the center of mass, the golf club principle of gear effect causes the ball to fly higher with less spin. Think of modern drivers for a minute. The “holy grail” of driving is high launch and low spin, and the driver engineers are pulling out all stops to get the mass as low in the clubhead as possible to optimize this combination.

Where is all the mass in your wedges? Low. So, disregarding the higher lofts, wedges “want” to launch the ball high with low spin – exactly the opposite of what good wedge play requires penetrating ball flight with high spin.

While almost all major brand wedges have begun putting a tiny bit more thickness in the top portion of the clubhead, conventional and modern ‘tour design’ wedges perform pretty much like they always have. Elite players learn to hit those crisp, spinny penetrating wedge shots by spending lots of practice time learning to consistently make contact low in the face.

So, what about grooves and face texture?

Grooves on any club can only do so much, and no one has any material advantage here. The USGA tightly defines what we manufacturers can do with grooves and face texture, and modern manufacturing techniques allow all of us to push those limits ever closer. And we all do. End of story.

Then there’s the topic of bounce and grinds, the most complex and confusing part of the wedge formula. Many top brands offer a complex array of sole configurations, all of them admittedly specialized to a particular kind of lie or turf conditions, and/or a particular divot pattern.

But if you don’t play the same turf all the time, and make the same size divot on every swing, how would you ever figure this out?

The only way is to take any wedge you are considering and play it a few rounds, hitting all the shots you face and observing the results. There’s simply no other way.

So, hopefully this will inspire a lively conversation in our comments section, and I’ll chime in to answer any questions you might have.

And next week, I’ll dive into the rest of the wedge formula. Yes, shafts, grips and specifications are essential, too.

Your Reaction?