Sep 13

Walker Cup Saturday Recap: A Confession

I shall attempt to make concise and salient points. It occurred to me that the Walker Cup mirrors my own forays into golf writing, albeit with one caveat (to be cited later.) Walker Cup golfers, at this stage, are amateur players. With the exception of Nathan Smith on the USA side, their immediate plan is to attempt a professional career at some juncture. In the case of Smith, his career is well established and his need to perform on the glamour stage is nil. He is an excellent weekend golfer, doubtless a member at a marvelous, Pittsburgh-area course, and a contestant along the Summer Circuit of amateur events that traverses the USA.

If any other members of either team should choose to remain outside professional golf throughout adulthood, they would join my team, that of the gentleman amateur. As I have indicated before, my backgrounds in writing and in golf qualify me to execute the tasks required to blog for this fine website. I do not travel from event to event on a weekly basis, although I do make an effort to get to events within a certain radius of my home. When the PGA was in Rochester, NY, I attended. Two Opens at Bethpage and one at Shinnecock were graced by my presence. This Walker Cup will hopefully be followed by one in 2013 at National Golf Links.

In the end, I feel most at home with the amateurs. In their eyes, one sees the anticipation of the future, not the hardened glare of the past and present. These eyes are readily available at national amateur events and national team amateur events. They are hopeful yet trained eyes, not stunned by the first glare of the bright lights of attention. There is much in me that desires the opportunity to work in journalism professionally. As I near the half-century mark, I will continue to make these journeys to major events, with the hope that I might somehow catch on. With the incredibly changing state of information reporting, however, the skill set is also much more diverse. In fact, I tweeted and facebooked while on the course yesterday, wrote one story and watched as staff members of a noted golf magazine plugged ear phones in to their laptops to edit video pieces. You need to have it all in order to compete.

Now comes the caveat. Might I consider my writing to be of Walker Cup quality? Who could be so bold? I expect that Tom from Albany will chime in at least once with a nay vote. All I can do is write and hope that perhaps, just perhaps, Captain Marucci will select me with one of his picks for the amateur writers’ team.
medcred

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13 comments

§ Ron Mon® said on : 09/13/09 @ 21:52
That's it, Tom. I am officially deleting you from now on. I've put up with enough of your own self-indulgent, look at me I can call RonMon names crap for long enough. The irony is, you didn't read what I wrote or you'd know I claim to be an amateur journalist. My sentences are cogent while yours lack vowels. TravelGolf doesn't get me credentials to any event; I get them on my own. Any time you want to see my Bethpage badge, just ask. Goodbye.
§ Tom said on : 09/14/09 @ 13:05
I want to see you Bethpage Badge. I accuse you of falsifying to your readers that you were credentialed to or even at Bethpage Black for the 2009 U.S. Open
§ Ron Mon® said on : 09/14/09 @ 19:57
I have deleted two more of Tom's vitriolic comments. I will post credentials for his sake by 6 AM Tuesday morning. The catalyst for his venomous attacks remains unclear to me. As he continues to insult and degrade, so will I continue to delete his comments. In six years of writing for this fine site, I have never deleted anyone before, including Tom. His ramped-up intensity has forced my hand. Should Tom come to his senses and engage in courteous debate, I will allow his comments to appear.
§ Ron Mon® said on : 09/14/09 @ 22:42
And there you go...at the bottom, three recent media badges. Tom, evidently your sources turned out to be bogus or misinformed.
§ Tom said on : 09/15/09 @ 09:56
Bogus and misinformed? Just like your work. Where is bethpage 2002? Or shinnecock?

nice "work" from Merion - nothing!
§ Ron Mon® said on : 09/15/09 @ 10:06
Seriously? Tom is that dedicated to this smear campaign...let me go back and dig up all the previous badges...my secretary should have them catalogued, framed and scented. I'll get back to you.
§ Tennessee said on : 09/17/09 @ 16:41
Not sure what Tom's issue(s) is/are but I enjoy reading your work, although not always agreeing.

In the vein of the amateur golf team concept, I'll refer back to the omission of Tim Jackson from the Walker Cup team. A life-long amateur and one who I think typifies the best attributes of golf.
§ ronmon said on : 09/17/09 @ 19:40
I appreciate that, Tennessee. Whenever you don't agree, I invite you to state your thoughts. Broadens my horizons and makes me a better writer.

I have an entry in the works about mid-ams and the walker cup and hope to get it up soon. I actually recorded it in the car on the way home from Merion. Just have to transcribe it. Stay tuned.
§ Tom said on : 09/21/09 @ 17:08
"Broadens my horizons and makes me a better writer."

That isn't even a complete sentence. Some "writer" you are!
§ Sara Payne said on : 09/21/09 @ 18:54
Dear Ron:

While I think that Tom can get a little aggressive, I have to agree with his premise: You take far too many liberties with language and word choice. You frequently use the wrong word, and your style is afrequently over-the-top, calling attanetion to yourself more than what you are tryingt o tell the reader. I think you should try putting yourself in the background more and write more simply. You might find more peole would find your opinions more accessible.
§ Ron Mon® said on : 09/21/09 @ 22:07
Sara,
You represent an interesting viewpoint. I'd love to know which word choices you consider to be incorrect ones. The point of this particular entry was to place myself in the foreground, so I would surmise based on your perspective that I succeeded. If you read other entries, you will find that the subject matter always takes a front seat to my trunk-side seat.

Tom, sadly, has placed his personal vendetta far above his desire to contribute in a positive way. As a result, he is in no way, shape or form of any use to fellow readers or to this writer.
§ Sara said on : 09/22/09 @ 12:40
Just because he's rude doesn't mean he wrong. I am an English teacher, and I have often thought of taking your work to my class and showing them what not to do. With respect, when you are careless with word choice, you again thrust yourself into the foreground instead of the story, making your work harder to read, and losing some credibility in the process.

Try pulling out a copy of a small book on grammar and style and you'll see what I mean.
§ Ron Mon® said on : 09/22/09 @ 14:21
The language is exciting for me and I push that envelope in my writing. As an English teacher, you should appreciate that. I'm quite insulted that you would use my work as an example of what's wrong. Please elaborate, as I disagree. Looking forward to an enlightening discussion.