On Our Mind Golf Blog

Scouring the internet I came across a recent study conducted by the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden that says golfers may have discovered the fountain of youth and they aren't considering it a water hazard.

The study, which is published in the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, is based on data from 300,000 Swedish golfers and shows that golf has beneficial health effects. The death rate amongst golfers is 40 percent lower than the rest of the population, which equates to an increased life expectancy of five years. 

Tiger Woods is both the best golfer in the world and the least active "active" golfer on the planet. While Woods is recuperating at his stately Orlando palace, the game of golf is plodding along. We've witnessed the rise of Anthony Kim, the return of Greg Norman and the trials and tribulations of young Michelle Wie.

Trouble is, everyone writing, analyzing and following the game just can't file a story without the obligatory Tiger reference.

Anthony Kim was the odds-on favorite to win this weekend’s RBC Canadian Open as he entered Sunday’s final round just one shot off the pace set by PGA Tour Rookie and eventual winner Chez Reavie.

Kim emerged from the locker room sporting a familiar color of red that we’ve all become accustomed to seeing on Sundays. 

Greens can often be the most fickle element of a golf course, whether you're a golfer trying to get off them with as few putts as possible or a course superintendent striving to keep your visitors and members happy.

Golfers desire consistent speeds, a true roll and a pleasant overall appearance from putting surfaces. "How's it rolling?" is a popular refrain as players pass through the clubhouse corridors. Many of these characteristics and how they can be achieved depend on the make-up of the surface itself.

The epic 2008 Men's U.S. Open Golf Championship staged at Torrey Pines generated an overall economic impact of $142 million in addition to providing the San Diego area with significant national television exposure, according to survey conducted by San Diego State University.

A direct impact of $73.62 million was attributed to spending on items such as lodging, shopping, food and beverage and transportation which in turn created an indirect impact of $68.46 million, for an estimated total of $142.08 million. 

When Michelle Wie failed to affix her signature, the very same signature that has been penned on lucrative endorsement contracts earning her close to $30 million, to her scorecard after the second round of this month's LPGA State Farm Classic in Illinois, thus disqualifying her from the event, a Pandora's Box of criticism dissecting and second-guessing the 18-year-old's career was again torn open.

For the record Wie, who wasn't alerted to the infraction until after the completion of her third round, which placed her second just one stroke behind the leader, was on the verge of her first ever LPGA Tour victory.

Indecision - a phenomenon that grips Americans each and every day as we struggle to sift through the vast abyss of choices presented to us almost constantly. Wouldn't it just be better to have a little bit of everything?

Leave it to the restaurant industry, seldom the picture of pioneering and innovation, to provide a framework of just how to do it. 

The first United States Golf Association Rating system was established in 1911. The proposal made by Leighton Calkins, who served on the USGA Executive Committee in 1907 and 1908) was that par ratings be based on the play of the U.S. Amateur Champion; at the time the amateur champion was Jerome Travers, who won four amateur titles from 1907 - 1913.

Rating courses according to the "expected" score of the national amateur champion became accepted, and course rating was born in America.

Enamored as we are with the many of idiosyncrasies of links golf (the wind, the rain, the bunkers capable of consuming humans as well as golf balls) the prevailing thought headed into this year's Open Championship is that it would take something special for us to forget who wasn't at Birkdale. That was not a reference to Kenny Perry.

Padraig Harrington's eventual repeat victory is a monumental story in Ireland and is being celebrated across the European continent but we were all sucked in by the Shark. Greg Norman's presence on the leaderboard captured our attention like that monotone music signaling the beginning of the end in Jaws. 

If you're widely hailed as the best golfer on the planet yet to have won a Major Championship questions about how you deal with the pressure and how long until you break through are lurking around every corner. Talking about it becomes as tedious and frustrating as not being able to go out and do it.

Immediately following Sergio Garcia's win at this year's PLAYERS Championship in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida at TPC Sawgrass, an event some in the game consider golf's unofficial "fifth major", Garcia made a rather odd statement.