Ryder Cup rookies revitalize U.S. golf Boston Herald Take a look at an interesting article we found.
On Golf: Parting thoughts from the Ryder Cup San Francisco Chronicle Take a look at an interesting article we found.
Was the U.S. team more prepared? CNN Take a look at an interesting article we found.
The Law of Probability figures into everything we do, from taking an umbrella in the morning to picking a mate.
 by Photo Contest |
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 by Photo Contest |
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 by Cynthia |
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September 30, 2008
The Ryder Cup forces men that usually root against each other to become a team.
As you've now heard, the U.S. won for the first time since 1999. You can catch up with all the details, if you need to, but for me, it was more important how they did it.
Paul Azinger, the United States captain, suggests why the American's got along so well.
"We put 4 guys together in practice rounds who stayed together the whole week and were never going to come out of their little group."
In other words, they were going to like each other or else.
How can you not root for a team with someone named Boo Weekly on it? Trying to explain straddling his driver and pretending to ride it like a horse down the first fairway he said: "It's just my nature to be a little goofy."
His teammates said you can’t walk past him without laughing, which kept things loose. And he, along with Anthony Kim, 6 other rookies, and the usual grizzled veterans, thumped the Europeans 16 1/2 to 11 1/2 and had a thumping good time doing it.
If you don’t know how to keep score, (and it’s fairly complicated with half points and full points) you have two more years to brush up, since the Ryder Cup is a biennial. For those that don't keep plants, that means every two years.
The “Gentlemen’s Game” always seemed like a misnomer to me. Rumor was some wag said g..o..l..f stood for, “Gentleman Only Ladies Forbidden." With Ladies on tour now breaking 70, you can understand why men wanted to keep them out.
And it's said that if you were to put a dollar amount on each uncounted golf stroke, each year, by the average duffer you’d have enough to pay off our National debt. Even if you aren't a golf fan, you might enjoy this classic radio account detailing various forms of chicanery.
As Arnold Palmer said, "I have a tip that can take five strokes off anyone's golf game: it's called an eraser."
Another golf bonus is that it keeps our senior citizens driving on the golf course, instead of on our highways.
So where did chasing after this little white dimpled ball begin?
I hate to break the news to Great Britain, but there’s a leather bound book called “Golf Through The Ages,” and the authors, Flannery and Leech claim that golf was not invented in Scotland as long perpetrated, but in France around 1450. (The Royal volume costs over $1,000 so you know it's accurate.)
You can't write a piece about golf without mentioning Tiger Woods. It's in the golf bylaws. A lot of "golf experts" thought golf would suffer in his absence. Well, the U.S. Ryder team proved a team is bigger than any one person and it was refreshing not to see one logo on anyone out there.
Maybe that's the lesson for anyone working in a team. Lock some people in a room until they like each other; study the elements to team success. And hire Boo Weekly as a motivational speaker.
And now that golf isn't such a grim business anymore, I might just pick up a niblick and an eraser and runneth to the nearest course.
What about you?
Share the Eye:
I occassionally play a three-par game of golf with a lady friend. Sometimes I like to go to the driving range......but I don't play with other business people. I know Trump says he's made more money on the golf course than Tiger Woods because of the deals that came about with other players, but I prefer business to be business.
DreadPirateRoberts: I answered your comment about Atlas on yesterday's post just as the clock struck 9pm here in L.A. Were we speaking about the same Atlas?
ExPat,
Yes indeed. You may have missed the earlier drama: In the photo she posted, Nachista's monkey was sitting on a copy of Atlas Shrugged. There had been discussion of monkeys typing out Shakespeare so, having pretty much equal admiration for Rand and Shakespeare, I called attention to the monkey's choice of seat. I immediately began to regret this action when I realized that this had been apparently intended, not as a compliment to either Rand or Shakespeare (or even the monkeys, for that matter) but a comment on what books belonged under the buttocks of a monkey.
You and the other Randians here (not a reference to what a randy bunch we are, though that's also true) have far greater talent than I in presenting a controversial text's virtues without my usual knack for inflammatory righteous indignation. So I reached out for help.
My beloved David was a "scratch" golfer in the days when there was only one golf course in the NW part of the state (and none anywhere else in the state) where Black men could play golf - and I have the photo of him and one of his buddies with a trophy almost as tall as I am. They won the trophy at a tournament where they were the only Black team - and none of the other players knew that Black people could play the game - much less beat the socks and other stuff off of them! This was 30 years before Tiger - but at his memorial service, many of those talking about David agreed that had he been given the training and opportunities that Tiger had, probably he would have been on the tour as well.
Like Trump, he made deals on the courses as well and many of his clients during the great War on Poverty owed their jobs to businessmen who found David's deals as compelling as his golf game! Straight down the middle and into the cup -
I'm with Mark Twain: Golf is a good walk spoiled. Usually.
I play, but it's almost always by myself. No one likes to play my way. I use four clubs-a driver, an iron, a sand wedge, and a putter, in a Sunday bag, and I walk. No carts, no beer, no BS.
Boys are wussies...
Whenever I even think about golf, I think about a funny sight I saw once:
My wife and I were at the seaside amusement park of Rye Playland in upstate New York. We were playing miniature golf (I don't know a damned thing about the game so putting me on a real course would be a waste). A few holes down from us was a man and his son. The boy was maybe four or five and his father was clearly trying to teach him how to play. It was not going well. The kid didn't see the point of fiddling around with the big metal stick. If you want the ball to go into the hole, just pick it up and drop it in the hole. This made his dad very upset and frustrated. The kid couldn't understand why. Isn't the object of the game to get the ball into the hole?
Truly charming. I think the dad probably went on to talk about "the last time I took my son to play golf." And by "last", he didn't mean most recent. He meant FINAL. Wouldn't do it again for a million bucks and Halle Berry's phone number!
DreadPirateRoberts: Objectivism is about reality, individuality, reason, and free enterprise/ capitalism. It's a sense of life. It's a passion. A monkey's ass on Atlas Shrugged or anything by Shakespeare is insulting to any intelligent person.
I wonder what the world would become if the people who create the jobs and invest the money to do so, stopped. A worker's paradise? 1984? a Brave New World? Farenheit 451? Lord of the Flies? Perhaps a trip to Cuba or North Korea would help. The Taliban ruled Afghanistan or current Somalia might be instructive for when reason and reality get pushed aside.
A cockroach sitting on the IRS code would be more appropriate.
ExPat,
Thank you, as always, for your wisdom. I am in a much more peaceful state now and ready to go to bed.
My last thoughts before I see daylight are that you mentioned a few books that I love and one that I don't. Lord of the Flies is in the running with The Stranger for the title of my least favorite novel I have ever read. Stalin would have loved Golding's notion that we all need the state to keep our demons in check because we are all basically evil. Camus preferred to simply declare that he didn't give a damn about anyone or anything including himself. Give me Rand's vision of man as a naturally heroic being any day.
Good night all.
Olivia, you play my kind of game.
But honestly, I do like a beer, afterwards of course.
Mais oui, apres, ma chere amie!
The fact that I wondered if the Ryder Cup had something to do with horses pretty much brings you up to my level of commitment to golf.
I've been on a course twice. The first time, at age 12 or so, my best friend and I borrowed his father's clubs and went to their country club. (No country club membership in our nine-member family!) It was 11:30 a.m., the temperature was in the high 80s, the humidity was about the same, and we didn't bring anything along to drink. (By the time we got to the 'ball washer', I was tempted to drink the soapy water!). Yep, we carried a full set of clubs. That day, as I've told folks, I shot 132... on the front nine. We quit after nine holes.
The second time was a better experience. I was asked to drive the refreshment golf-cart during a tournament. That was a lot of fun -- and I was never thirsty!
The beauty of the Ryder Cup lies in the emotions we see bubbling up in the players. Pride. Country. Tongue-wagging rights!
As an avid recreational player and uber Tiger Woods fan, this Ryder Cup was fun to watch. Long touted has been the European teams that came together arm in arm to defeat U-S-A teams that seem more individualistic than team. It's seem Azinger found the right formula for success. Get the right personalities to gel and you can conquer anything... and have fun doing it.
Now where did I put my clubs?!!
I thought the Ryder cup had something to do with boat-racing.
I am glad to hear someone speak up against Golding and Camus. What underlying contempt. what non-edifying cynicism, both of these ugly men had. Golding had a slatternly imagination. I read LOTF at a time in school where daily unstructured playground play was important. Groups would form and re-form on the playground, but none of the groups displayed any inexorable drift toward negative impulses. I really resent the innocence that LOTF took from me.
I don't know if Christopher Hitchens has ever essayed on Golding, but I applaud Hitchens for how much good he finds in people even in the absence of religiously-inculcated impulses to be good (see God is not Great).
I really feel as if Camus was a cynical prankster in the guise of a philosopher. By this I mean that he is always waiting in the wings nearby any reader of his books, ready to give the reader a desultory lashing out for trying to resonate with him. It's probably just as well that he was short-lived. His ouevre would have imploded upon itself. A nihilist against nihilism...and a poseur above everything else.
Wait. What? Golf? They're still playing golf? During football season? During baseball's jockeying for post-season play?
So, what was the question again?
Hayekfan---as in Selma?
Yes, but golf has given us one of our funnier movies: Caddyshack.
DPR, I love Rand's work. It was not a deliberate insult. The books under the monkey all happened to be books that were out on my coffee table and when stacked together gave us the right heighth for the mokey to sit at the typewriter. They were all out because they had all just been read...with the exception on that one book in the Eragon serious I really enjoy those books (the dragon one isn't worth the reading). That's why I said I should of placed the dragon book under the monkey's bum, because its the one that needs to be sat upon.
I enjoy golf but I am very very bad at it. I have members of my family that are fanatics and you can see them out on the links in the wind, rain, or snow. With the frequency of charity and business golf tournaments around here, there are some employees who feel like paid golf pros, golfing on the clock as "marketing". I can't really blame them, if I didn't suck at the game, I'd volunteer to "take one for the team" and spend the day out of the office "marketing" too. Why is it that women in business try to learn golf for this very reason? If someone were trying to sell me on their business I'd be more interested in a spa day.
So far we've had 102 comments on yesterday's topic. Is that a record?
Ah Golf.
I dated a PGA-er throughout my undergrad. He lives in Hilton Head (on Hilton Head?). It was the perfect arrangement, really. I like my space. He loves his golf, etc.
And though I'm not typically a jealous woman (Like I said; I need space), there's just something about playing second fiddle to clubs. Especially when you only see each other two or three weeks out of a year.
He would spend the day on the course (Does anyone know Harbor Town Golf Links in Sea Pines?) and I would explore the island. Even that was just fine.
The relationship ended when he invited me onto the course. Big mistake.
The first attempt ended when I showed up to play with the 'the boys' (most of whom did have names like Boo and Oggie) and apparently had scandalously short sleeves. They ended a whole three inches above my elbow. A taboo for that course. So I was 'sent home to change.' Mind you I was 21 and most of 'the boys' were in the 50-70 year-old range. So that made me feel very grown up.
Then, upon my return, pride swallowed, I drove a golf cart ONTO the putting green. Apparently that's a pretty universal taboo as well. What can I say? My father was a sailor. Total golfing rookie.
To summarize, the relationship ended with an early morning flight back to Michigan, before which I tucked his irons nicely into the bed next to him with a note that said, "Hope these keep you warm at night, because I will no longer be able to fill that post."
He's actually a wonderful man. Really. I'm sure he and his clubs are blissfully happy together.
Trask,
Now you know why I have such a fixation on Gullah culture. Had a lot of time to blow on that island.
That's Friedrich August von Hayek. A pretentious assertion admittedly but considering the economic conditions we face now, his principles need to be revived.
Rings90,
If you are still on your perfect pair of denim jeans quest, you may want to check these guys out. I've always had good luck with this company.
http://www.duluthtrading.com/store/clothes-footwear/womens/pants-shorts/jeans/womens-denim-jeans.aspx?navlocation=dept_left
Enjoy the leaves up North. I have waded into the Gitche Gumee off of a beach on the northern tip of Madeline Island.
When I was on the road working with an important salesman from on of our distributors, the person we had a meeting scheduled with that morning, failed to get up- for the last time.
Kenny was devastated over the loss of a long time friend, cried a little, looked up through his tears and announced: "We're going to play some golf."
"Oh, ccrraap," I mumbled, knowing that there was no way out.
It was at a club somewhere in Nebraska with rolling fairways, huge oaks and I predictably stunk up the place until inexplicably really connecting with a drive.
I'll never forget that feeling and I can understand how, if you are someone capable of doing that on a regular basis, the game could be enjoyable.
The shot itself went high and long arcing its way into and then oddly out of a huge fairway bunker. I'm sure that the laws of physics dictate that a ball bouncing off the exposed round top of a granite boulder can go only so far. It did that and then rolled and rolled right down the middle of the fairway.
It took Kenny, a scratch golfer, three strokes to get parallel smirking as he did so.
The middle of the fairway it seems was to be avoided guarded as it was by overhanging branches very low,very high. His lie afforded a clear path to the green.
"You, my friend, are essentially screwed," he mocked.
And I, standing in the deep shade, could not argue.
Looking skyward, I noticed an opening among the limbs and wondered why I wouldn't just knock it right through there with a nine iron and drop it onto the green?
"Hey, yeah sure, go ahead and do that." he agreed while seeming to swallow laughter.
In my ignorance, there was no point in taking practice cuts. I wouldn't have recognized a good one anyway.
I stepped up whacked it, watched as it sailed through the middle of the opening, plop down on the highest point of the green and roll backwards into the cup.
Trying to look like the outcome was pretty much what I had been expecting, I turned to check Kenny's reaction. He was flat on his back, spread eagle like a huge child about to make a snow angel.
It was his club, he played there a lot and had never known anyone alive or dead to have double eagled that hole.
"Until now," I added.
Kenny was a hunter and bird dog trainer with an understanding of quitting on a high note and "They don't come any higher than this."
God bless him. William Randolph Hearst couldn't have spread that story further, wider or faster than did he.
The downside was that upon being recognized as "Ole Double Eagle", I was obliged to recall the experience- often omitting the part played by the boulder- and then, when asked where I usually played, had to admit that I, ahh, didn't.
Apart from putt-putt with our kids and then, theirs, that was it for me and the game of golf.
Hayekfan:
Can you say more about that? I am sincerely interested.
What I appreciate about the game of golf is that the potential of redemption and salvation always lays waiting with your next shot.
While I certainly do admire the skill sets of those who play the game well, what I really enjoy the most when watching it on TV is that I don't even have to turn down the sound when I take a nap. It's a sure-fire cure for insomnia.
Stoney,
That's one for the honor roll if ever I've seen one.
Nachista,
My apologies if I misunderstood your comments yesterday. Once again, I plead the "it was late at night and I'd had a tough time with my daughter" excuse. It was actually Olivia's note that got me most up in arms. The two of us finding ourselves in staunch opposition is certainly nothing new -- except in sartorial matters and sometimes even then as you, of all people, have surely noticed.
PeterLake,
I agree but you haven't lived until you've employed the game of cricket as a backdrop to a snooze.
With terms like: night watchman; sticky wicket; stonewall; googly and my personal favorite: Maiden Over, a fog of uncomprehension descends upon you, your eye lids become very heavy, your breathing slow and steady and you are gone.
In the event that you awaken later thinking that it must have been a mere catnap because the same batsman is up, consider this: He may be in the middle of a triple century (three hundred runs scored in one appearance at the wicket) that has taken the entire afternoon.
It is essential to maintain complete and total ignorance of all terminology, rules, and rationale (if any) pertaining to the game to avoid a chance, however small and unlikely, of ever, even for a moment, having the faintest idea of what is taking place on the other side of those aforementioned heavy, heavy lids.
I guess my enthusiasm for Camus is not shared by some... I always liked his stark vision of humanity, and his decision to embrace the ugly as well as the pretty in humankind. Given his version of existentialism, I prefer it to the Marxist (and hypocritically Stalinist)version propounded by Sartre -- or the opportunistic and obscure version of Heidegger (IMHO a thoroughly despicable man).
Camus had an ability (perhaps based on his life in the French Underground) to be a lonely figure without becoming an embittered lonely figure.
Doc Nolan:
I find that the Existentialists provided a good starting point for a better philosophy of life. Once they dispensed with most of what passed for philosophy they told us we should take responsibility and choose our own way. Of course, being Europeans, most of the Existentialists chose some form of socialism, communism or religion as the way. I prefer the objectivist way. I also prefer small "o" objectivism and recognize Existentialism as a starting point but not a viable life-style philosophy. The small "e" existentialist starting point is probably a better view than the actual movement characterized by the big "E".
If you have to live a life I is better to live one that is life-affirming than one that is based on the essential absurdity of life.
Somewhere in all of this is the meaning of golf. Golf is an impossibly absurd game that has become a wonderful passion for some.
Stoney:
The game of cricket is still a mystery to me (and I was born in England). I don't have a clue as to what is going on during a cricket match, but I knew there was hope for the game when I read about "cricket hooligans"..........
http://www.gussetclothing.com/womdiamgusje.html
Interesting, slightly different take on jeans.
I have a tan pair for long car trips.
Very nice.
Golf ~ my parents took it up in their late 30's & then gave my grandfather a set of clubs the Christmas of his retirement.
I have nothing against the game, especially becuase if you ask me I feel that the Christmas Gift of the clubs to Grandpa prolonged his life. Which was the greatest gift of all. My Grandfather had Alzhiemers, it's a very slow progressing disease, sometimes a switch though will flip on the person who has it & they will become cohereant again, well the Golf Course did that for my grandfather. His memory for everyday things was begining to get bad in the 90's yet Grandma could take him golfing & he would be up on every stroke & where every ball his or any other players was hit to. I'm grateful to the game of golf for the physical & mental longetivity it gave my grandpa. I shudder to think that IF he did not have that outlet how many more the years of wasting away in a nursing home may have been.
Me well I jsut don't have the patience, arm swing strength, or geometry to play that dang game, give me a day out on the boat reading, camping, hiking, biking or a gret game of trivia or blockus anytime over having to play golf.
Robert, you mistook my verbal monkey-dancing japes for serious commentary, as sometimes happens. I have no strong feelings one way or another about Ms Rand. Like many authors who purport to tell us how we should live, she had some good ideas and a great deal of bloviation. I do find it rather ironic that she was so down on Roosevelt's modest socialization in response to the laissez-faire capitalism that generated the Great Depression. His administrations' regulations in large part allowed our financial institutions to dominate the world economically, until Republican greed, misrule, and deregulation got us to today-back to the future! Oh, I know-it's Bill's fault, and if Obama gets elected, he'll be vilified by the Know-Nothings for causing all the problems since Clinton. Those guys live in a perfect world, where nothing bad's EVER their fault-a form of political autism perhaps (impairments in social interaction and communication, restricted interests and repetitive behavior) in conjunction with a congenital tendency to, er, misspeak. Oh well. Things have gone so swimmingly, why NOT four more years?
Wait, I think I got off into another topic. Anyway, sorry Robert, if I misled you-I was only being my silly self!
Stoney,
What about the crowds at Cricket Matches? Are they similar to the well behaved herds of people that dress funny, line the golf courses, and clap oh so politely so that it sounds like the flapping of startled pigeons taking flight, or, are they more boisterous?
Are there spectators at all for Cricket Matches? I'd hate to be rudely awakened by the thunderous cheering of spectators, especially when I wouldn't understand what they are cheering about.
Even the name concerns me, as I have a loud, but ever so elusive Cricket taking sanctuary in my basement.
I'll check out ESPN 25 to see if they broadcast Cricket matches. Thanks for the tip.
Happing Napping!
I like the idea of cricket hooligans, some sort of upscale chavs in their dirty white flannels, no doubt...
Robert, my personal email is: oyeringsl@comcast.net
I'd be happy to hear from any of you! I was reading Robert's and Peter's exchange on childrearing, and OH the memories it brought back! I had four wee 'uns and little help. We all survived, but there were times I would've given anything for some adult conversation...
Interesting that the color scheme here is the Irish flag, green white and gold (orange).
Hi Olivia,
Sorry if I misread your intentions. The limitations of the internet prohibit the hearing of tones of voice that may have made matters clearer. Ms. Rand was certainly not perfect; as ExPat says, "small 'o' objectivism" is less dogmatic than the capital "O" philosophies of her protegee, Leonard Piekoff. He's a talented philosopher but also an utter prig.
Rand's great tragedy is that, while she had many brilliant ideas, she herself could not live by them. Nevertheless, the values of personal accountability and responsibility have no greater advocate in literature than Rand. On the flip side, she had no understanding of shades of gray; she could never -- as we have -- disagree so staunchly with someone and still consider them friends.
On that note, it is a popular but untenable myth to contend that laissez-faire capitalism brought about the Great Depression. Although the U.S. has come closer than any other nation, we have still never practised true laissez-faire capitalism. And the notion that there were no governmental regulations on the market ignores the disastrous meddling that Hoover perpetrated that sent the economy into a downturn at that time. While there are many leftists who seek to discredit it, here is a link to Great Myths of the Great Depression, my favorite article on the subject: http://www.mackinac.org/archives/1998/sp1998-01.pdf
Doc,
Indeed, not only do I not share your enthusiasm for Camus, but I imagine he wouldn't have either. Granted, my only exposure to the man has been The Stranger and it didn't inspire me to go much further. But since his essential and oft repeated theme is "it doesn't matter anyway", to have enthusiasm for anything at all seems rather inconsistent with his vision (if you can call it that). Kinda makes me wonder why he took the trouble to write books in the first place.
One of my great experiences in this year's reading project was going straight from The Stranger to Lolita on my "to-read" list. It was greatly refreshing to shift from the story of a man who couldn't care less about anyone or anything to another story whose protagonist has such a deep passion that it becomes a perverse obsession. Talk about opposite ends of the spectrum!
Mark Swaim,
I share your admiration for Christopher Hitchens. Even when I disagree with him (which is about half the time), he has shown himself to be an independent thinker of great intellectual courage. He doesn't care if his conclusions are unpopular and he has shown himself on more than one occasion to be perfectly an unabashedly willing to admit when he is wrong, provided the opposing argument is sufficiently strong. That's something you virtually never see in today's pundits.
One of the great joys of living in New York is the chance to see brilliantly talented people live and in person. I was first exposed to Hitchens when he came to a bookstore in the East Village to read from and discuss his book, Why Orwell Matters. I was curious about the book but it was clear from the question/answer period that everyone else in the room knew Hitchens' work well and I was the newbie.
PeterLake,
Well, in an ideal scenario, Inspector Morse and a smattering of mostly indifferent "fans" would in a club setting be found dozing on chaises, open books resting in their laps, summer straw hats drawn down over their eyes, claret in stemware suspended in a perilously relaxed grip.
In reality, crazed Pakistanis set loose newspapers ablaze in crowded covered wooden tinderbox bleachers.
The angle worth considering is that though there is doubtless considerable racket, it is viewed, at least in my experience, from what we would call the outfield and they charmingly refer to as "country."
The rabid rabble as a muted backdrop.
The only thing that might put me out quicker would be a sweat sock full of lug nuts swung hard by an expert.
DPR
Kind words.
Thank you.
To: DreadPirateRoberts'
A good article to read is "The Unlikeliest Cult" by Michael Shermer. It praises Rand's philosophy while thoroughly chastizing her cult-like leadership and followers. I don't have a link handy but it can be "googled".
I certainly don't share her taste in music or art....I wouldn't have been admitted to the inner circle, but it doesn't take away from her basic philosophical truths. The ideas are more important than the person expousing them. I can accept the thinking of Jefferson, Roosevelt (Teddy), or John Kennedy. The fact that Jefferson was a slaveholder, Roosevelt had actual hatred for atheists, and Kennedy was a millionaire Catholic and Democrat does not discredit what they said or believed. Even Aristotle believed in owning slaves and that true happiness was only available to "philosophers".
I wonder what Aristotle would have thought about golf or cricket? Best not to ask......