Keeping things real

Oldgolfdawg was ready to offer his take on the possibility that Tiger Woods might skip one or even all of the season's four majors when a comment from a good friend made him realize the tone of Chase The Pea is a tad too serious.

Blogs by their nature are self-indulgent babblings by people who think they have something to say. Oldgolfdawg doesn't wish to portray himself as an expert in anything, except perhaps the art of three-putting. That said, it might take time for him to zero in on his true writing voice. But he already knows you don't have to be a highbrow stuffed shirt to appreciate golf's lure.

Anyone who has launched a "two-cheeker" from the tee box and marveled at the beauty of its flight knows that golf is a spiritual experience. Whether its the kind of spirituality described by Deepak Chopra in his book "Golf for Enlightment" or the variety offered by Dan Jenkins in his book "The Money-Whipped Steer-Job Three-Jack Give-Up Artist," doesn't really matter. As they say, "Different strokes for different folks."

So don't be put off if Oldgolfdawg comes off a little too close to the vest like that football coach who guides the Buckeyes down in The 'Shoe. Over time they'll probably both learn to loosen things up.

Sleepy start for PGA Tour

The PGA Tour's 2010 season-opener was a bit of a snoozer. Even though Geoff Ogilvy rallied from a two-shot deficit with 10 holes to play Sunday, his one-shot victory over Rory Sabbatini in the SBS Championship at Kapalua was anti-climatic. On a scale of 1 to 5 dog biscuits, Oldgolfdawg would throw it a 3.

Maybe the Arizona Cardinals' 51-45 overtime victory over the Green Bay Packers in an NFL wild-card playoff game earlier was just a tough act to follow. But when Sabbatini slightly missed his tee shot on the 18th hole, the drama quotient took a hit. He didn't get the roll he needed on the 663-yard hole and had to lay up short of the green on his second shot. The miscue came back to haunt Sabbatini, who capped a brilliant 10-under 63 with a disappointing par. It was like watching a running back rush for 200 yards only to fumble away the ball inside the 5 on his way to the end zone.

Ogilvy secured the victory with a workman-like par on the final hole. He shot a final-round 67 to finish at 22-under 270. In posting his eighth consecutive round in the 60s on the Plantation Course , he joined fellow Australian Stuart Appleby as the only repeat winners since this tournament moved to Kapalua in 1999. Ogilvy also became only the seventh player in the 58 years of the winners-only tournament to win in consecutive years.

The Golf Channel broadcasting team of Kelly Tilghman, Nick Faldo and Mark Rolfing didn't sugarcoat Sabbatini's missed opportunity. It was pointed out that Sabbatini missed a 3 1/2-foot putt on the 18th in 2002 that would have forced a playoff.

Like NBC analyst Johnny Miller, Faldo's remarks carry a lot of weight. But Faldo points out players' weaknesses in a more delicate manner. He noted that Ogilvy got off to a fast start in 2009 before fading from view in April. He suggested Ogilvy's swing got stuck in a bad spine angle rut that he couldn't shake.

Miller has often been blunt in his criticism of players. One example came on June 16, 2008, when he referred to Rocco Mediate, during the broadcast of the U.S. Open's 18-hole playoff, as "looking like the guy who cleans Tiger Woods' pool."

Oldgolfdawg enjoys hearing the insights of analysts as wise and knowledgeable as Miller and Faldo. But a kinder, gentler, machine-gun hand goes well with Faldo's affable personality. Sometimes we just don't need a sledgehammer.

Sniffing out a bargain

The Greater Columbus Golf Show will be celebrating its 20th anniversary when Northcoast Golf Shows visits town Jan. 15-17 in the Veterans Memorial Building. Golf dawgs looking for an escape from the vagaries of winter will flock to the event like moths attracted to light.

In the words of its promoters: "Whether you're looking for the latest equipment, planning your next golf getaway or looking to improve your game, the Greater Columbus Golf Show has it all! With over 225 booths, it's your best chance to shop compare and save on anything and everything in the world of golf! Enjoy special show savings on the absolute latest in golf clubs, bags, balls, shoes, apparel, training aids, accessories, even golf resort packages! Test your talent in our challenging skills competitions, see amazing stage performances or take a free one-on-one golf lesson with a PGA professional. This is a show that you don't want to miss! "

For parking, directions, and other show information you can visit the websites listed below: http://www.northcoastgolfshows.com/columbus/cns_columbus.htmlhttp://www.fcvm.com/

If you go, Oldgolfdawg suggests you visit the Fairway Magazine booth. If you enjoy straying from your home course once in a while or don't have a home course, Fairway Magazine offers a great way to cut the cost of playing a variety of courses with its 240 discount coupons. More than 20,000 issues of the magazine were sold in central Ohio last year. For more details, check out: http://www.FairwayTheMagazine.com

No place for the timid

Champions Golf Course is a string of pearls with a gem thrown in for good measure. Famed golf course architect Robert Trent Jones, Sr., re-designed what was formerly Winding Hollow Country Club in 1948. It is viewed in many circles as central Ohio's most challenging public course. Jones believed that golf should be a no risk, no reward activity and No. 13 is a perfect example of how his designs encouraged daring play.

Carl W. Grody, a staff writer for GolfOhio.com, wrote a beautiful course review of Champions that explains better than Oldgolfdawg ever could why No. 13 belongs in his "Elegant Eighteen." Check it out here: Golf Ohio: Champions Golf Course: Just Remember These Two Things

Included among Jones' many esteemed designs are Spyglass Hill in Pebble Beach, Calif., and Golden Horseshoe (Gold course) in Williamsburg, Va.

No need for Tiger

The PGA Tour opens its 2010 season today with the start of the SBS Championship in Kapalua, Hawaii. The fact that Tiger Woods won't be part of the festivities while he sorts out his personal life shouldn't affect TV ratings too much. Woods hasn't played in the event since 2005. And golf addicts who have been cooped up in their homes recently because of a cold snap that has gripped much of the nation will likely tune in just to escape the dull, gray shades of winter outside. The tournament will be telecast by the Golf Channel.

The season-opening event, limited to winners in 2009, will have 28 players in the field. Phil Mickelson and Henrik Stenson have decided to skip an adventure at the Kapalua Resort and its Plantation Course (7,411 yards, par 73), a former pineapple plantation in the foothills of the West Maui Mountains.

Four out of seven PGATOUR.COM experts are picking Steve Stricker to win this year's tournament. Geoff Ogilvy posted a wire-to-wire, six-stroke victory last year. Rounds of 67-68-65-68 left him at 24-under 268.

As the season unfolds, talk of Woods' return and just when it will happen will likely overshadow the accomplishments of players still actively pursuing big prize money. In past seasons, Woods has often played a light early schedule. There's much speculation that Tiger will return to the tour in late March for the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill in Orlando, Fla. He's the defending champion and it falls two weeks before The Masters.

If Tiger stays out until then, he'll miss the first 13 tournaments of the season, including the San Diego Open at Torrey Pines, site of his epic 2008 U.S. Open victory over Rocco Mediate in a playoff. If Tiger doesn't return for the Bay Hill event, the drama over his return will reach new heights.

Check out this Golf Channel video looking at some of the top questions to be answered as the 2010 season unfolds:



Check out the PGA Tour's 2010 schedule at:


PGATOUR.com - Official Schedule

Going to the Chapel

Driving to Chapel Hill Golf Course in Mount Vernon from downtown Columbus is a 47.5-mile trek, but Oldgolfdawg always looks forward to such visits. The course, a par-72 layout that weaves its way up and down numerous hills, plays 6,856 yards from its back tees. It is a beautiful course, especially in the fall because of its many wooded areas. During a round there, golfers are confronted with numerous shots guaranteed to produce drama. The second shots on Nos. 9, 11 and 18 come to mind quickly, but Oldgolfdawg breaks into a cold sweat when he starts thinking about the seventh hole.

As the second member in the "Elegant Eighteen" clubhouse, the seventh hole takes a backseat to no hole. The par 4, dogleg right plays 411 yards from the middle tee and 440 yards from the tip. The tee box rests near the top of a hill and the golfer sees two sand traps beyond the left side of the fairway as the hole bends to the right in the valley below. The fairway itself is sloped from left to right, prompting any shot that is fading to the right to roll through it and into a runoff valley and possibly into an adjacent wooded area.

If you hit into either of the sand traps, you're staring at a bogey, and more likely a double bogey or worse. That is because the second shot, sometimes a mid-iron or more if the wind is blowing, requires a golfer to thread the ball between two small ponds protecting a sloped green, which lies at the bottom of a steep drop-off from the fairway. A prudent golfer will lay up and try to get a bogey. A swashbuckler who goes for the green from the sand traps will be tempting the golf gods to unleash their wrath.

If you stray to right of the fairway off the tee box and into the runoff valley beside it, your second shot to the green will be partially blocked by trees and you will have to hit some kind of miracle slice to get the ball near the green.

If you hit a nice drive that stays in the fairway on the plateau above the green, you have to hit a second shot that will land softly. If it comes in flat or too hot, the ball will run through the green and possibly into a pond on the left. There's a bailout area to the right of the green, which slopes from right to left. But if you end up there the chip to the green is very dangerous and can easily run off, possibly into the pond on the left.

Once you get the ball on the green safely, a par is no sure thing. The slope of the green is severe. It is easy to three-putt when the cup is on the left side of the green. Thoughts of putting it off the green creep into the mind and with good reason.

Don't let this description of the hole scare you away. It's a lot of fun to play. And if you come away unscathed, you carry with you a deep sense of satisfaction as you make your way to the eighth tee.

A flyover view of this hole is available to golflink.com members.

Google maps (click view larger map) can help you get to the course from downtown Columbus:


View Larger Map

Central Ohio's Elegant Eighteen

You know how during any given round you usually run into one hole that stokes your imagination and quickens the pulse. Perhaps the hole's simple beauty or its higher degree of difficulty revs your engine. These holes stand out from the others. And when you play them well, you take extra satisfaction in meeting their challenge.

For years, Oldgolfdawg has made it a pre-round habit to single out a hole on the course he is going to play the next day and to plot strategy geared to tame its bite. While plotting strategy and executing are two different things, the practice of plotting strategy has ingrained certain holes in Oldgolfdawg's mind.

For fun on the first day of a new decade, Oldgolfdawg has decided to come up with his own version of 18 such holes in central Ohio. He'll refer to them simply as "The Elegant Eighteen," attention-grabbing holes that will make you pay a price if your game is not on its best behavior.

The makeup of "The Elegant Eighteen" will be revealed over time in future posts.

For now, the campaign will kick off by naming hole No. 2 at Royal American Links as the first member in the clubhouse. The RAL scorecard refers to the hole as "Little Lovely." Oldgolfdawg always has an itch to add one more word to that title after walking away from it with a double bogey or worse.

At first glance, "Little Lovely" appears docile enough. It's a par 4 that plays 324 yards from the middle tee and 352 from the back tee. A creek runs along the left side of the fairway. The tee shot is not overly demanding and longer hitters usually lay up with an iron or a fairway wood. But as the golfer reaches his tee shot he notices the creek makes a turn to the right and snuggles itself up next to the front of the green. This makes the second shot very demanding. There is little margin for error because only 4 to 6 feet separate the green from the creek and most balls that barely clear the creek end up bouncing back and rolling into the water.

The hole's narrow elongated green also has a diagonal factor to it that increases the difficulty depending upon where the flag is placed. The green's backside is protected by a large bunker on the left that collects a lot of shots that come in too hot out of fear of landing in the creek. There's also a small nuisance backside bunker on the right. The shot out of the left side bunker is scary because the creek looms again if it is hit too boldly. Any shot hit over the green but is lucky enough to avoid the bunkers faces a similarly difficult situation. The farther one hits it over the green, the scarier the shot coming back becomes.

Oldgolfdawg is always happy to land anywhere on the green in regulation. Even when he does so and proceeds to three-jack his way to a bogey, he doesn't get too upset. The fact that he has avoided a really big number only two holes into his round is cause for relief. That's the effect a few run-ins with "Little Lovely" can have on anyone who loves to chase the pea.

If anyone is interested in seeing a flyover view of this hole, they can do so by becoming a member of golflink.com. The Web site has a lot to offer but does have an annual membership fee of $49.95. Oldgolfdawg is a member and only suggests that you check it out.