You say golf’s too hard? You’re not alone. The difficulty of the game is often cited by those who give the game up for good. There is a loud contingent that is calling on golf course architects to make courses easier. Jack Nicklaus is not among them. Nicklaus says golf courses in the U.S. are too easy. “Most of the people in the United States want it as wide as they can get it and no trouble and want it easy as it can be,” Nicklaus said in a recent interview. “If you go to the rest of the world, you’ll fine ... full post »

If you’re a golfer and you’ve been to Myrtle Beach, chances are you’ve stopped by Martin’s PGA Tour Superstore. It’s a huge place that has pretty much everything you need, except cart girls. It’s gotten even bigger. Martin’s is having a grand re-opening this Friday, March 2, at its North Myrtle Beach location, showcasing its new additions. That includes six, new hitting bays with 27-inch flat-screen “flight scope monitors” giving you a detailed readout of each shot. That’s in addition to the two simulators it already has. It also has a new short game “improvement area,” with a 1,300 square foot putting green, ... full post »

The Mississippi government has already helped out the Biloxi casinos, which have been one of the driving forces behind the economic recovery of the Mississippi Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina. Now, it needs to do the same for the golf courses. Shell Landing, one of the top courses in the Biloxi area, is in financial difficulty. The course is in default with its mortgage lender and foreclosure proceedings have begun. The club’s lawyer has filed for a “disaster forebearance act,” aimed at businesses in foreclosure that have lost at least 15 percent of sales due to a natural or man-made disaster. Club owners ... full post »

Kiawah Island Golf Resort has two-day junior golf camps this summer, starting in June and running through Labor Day. I hope they don’t turn them loose on the Ocean course. They’ll quit on the spot. The two-day camps cost $305 and have, at most, a 5-1 teacher/student ratio, according to club officials. Students can opt for one day for $165. Camps run twice a week. Students will study full swing and short game mechanics, on-course management. There will be on-course instruction. The resort also has the “Ultimate Golf School package” for adults. It costs $1,488.35 and includes seven hours of video analysis, personal training ... full post »

I like a good jerk as much as the next guy. Face it, some of the best comedians are jerks. Remember the movie, “The Jerk,” with Steve Martin? Hilarious. That’s why I decided to take a look at the Golf Jerk Web site, after I was alerted by a PR release. Yes, the Golf Jerk has a PR company working for him. It advertises comments like: “The guy who is nervous over the three-foot putt is going to miss it over 80 percent of the time. It doesn’t matter if he steps right up or, most likely, surveys it from every angle ... full post »

If you’ve ever played the TPC Myrtle Beach in the fall and loved the course and hated the greens - and I’ve heard the complaints, believe me - take heart. The club is re-doing the greens. The TPC is scheduled to close this summer for two months while maintenance crews re-grass the greens with mini-verde bermudagrass, according to Myrtle Beach Online. It’s a grass that has been used successfully at other TPC venues, but never in Myrtle Beach. The course has been plagued with irrigation problems since it opened, and officials are hoping to fix that as well during the course closure. full post »

No surprise to me the Ocean course at Kiawah Island was ranked the hardest course in the U.S. by Golf Digest. I’ve played the course. First, it sneered at me as I strode up to the first tee. It landed a few early jabs, toying with me, then began to work effectively to the body, taking its time. I was in danger before I made the turn, wobbly-kneed early on the back nine, and by the time I came dragging in – I refuse to tell you my scorecard – I was counted out. What sets the Ocean course apart is the aesthetics ... full post »

I’m glad Phil Mickelson doesn’t have his finger on the nuclear red button. This guy is supposed to be one of the best golfers in the world – many will tell you he’s second only to Tiger Woods – and he folds like a jackknife under pressure. I used to think he was just intimidated by Woods, but now it appears Mickelson turns belly-up when anything is on the line. I can’t, in good faith, put forth the theory he’s intimidated by Charles Howell, or David Howell or even Thurston Howell. You would think Mickelson has been through enough to keep his ... full post »

He came, he saw, he made suggestions. Usually, when Jack Nicklaus makes recommendations, you follow through. Nicklaus visited the National Golf Club in Southern Pines, N.C., just outside Pinehurst, on a routine course inspection last year. He liked what he saw of the course he designed in 1988, but suggested the club make a few changes. So the course has embarked upon several improvement projects, including renovating bunkers throughout the course, including. They’ve already taken out three, two of them near the first green and a fairway bunker on the third hole. National is also in the process of redefining the perimeters of ... full post »

Fallen Oak, Biloxi’s newest post-Katrina golf course, is a humdinger, a big, bold, even spectacular track by an “A-list” architect, Tom Fazio. It’s financed by MGM Mirage and only guests of the Beau Rivage Casino are invited to share the glory. That’s not all: They won’t even allow you to take pictures out here; only officially approved photos will ever grace the pages of non-MGM Mirage publications. Nor have they released construction costs. They’re a little anal about this sort of thing, but they have the course to back it up. While technically it isn’t private, it is exclusive, doing a third ... full post »

Biloxi, Mississippi has two new golf courses born after Hurricane Katrina, or partly anyway. The Preserve was designed by Jerry Pate and Fallen Oak was laid out by Tom Fazio. The two have co-designed courses before, and their friendly rivalry has been stoked by the fact their courses opened at roughly the same time. The Preserve was close to opening when Katrina hit, and it landed a solid blow to the course and its pristine surroundings, two miles north of Interstate-10. It lost thousands of trees and part of the course was flooded. The storm delayed the Bermuda grass grow-in process, and the ... full post »

As many of you long-time, rabid Tim McDonald fans know, I’m always looking for great barbecue joints in my travels, and Biloxi has one of the best, both in terms of ambience and food. The Shed in Ocean Springs is a local legend. There were fears it would not re-open after Hurricane Katrina, because it suffered severe flooding (they have a line drawn at the watermark, which is chest-high). But, it did come back, with a vengeance. It’s basically a pile of junk the owner, Brad Orrison, has collected over the years, and it has more than its share of redneck chic ... full post »

Ever heard of Italian soul food? I’m always on the lookout for great, local barbecue joints, but I can’t resist talking about the Italian restaurant I ate at here in Biloxi the other night. It’s called Bragozzo, and it’s the focus of the Isle of Capri Casino’s renaissance from mid-tier casino to running with the big dogs. The casino has obviously gone all out with this restaurant, and I have to say it’s paid off. I may have had better Italian food somewhere, but I can’t remember it. The name comes from the Venetian fishing boat, called a bragozzo. It’s also a wine ... full post »

Biloxi, Mississippi is suffering from both an image and a perception problem. The image problem relates to New Orleans, such a forlorn place since Hurricane Katrina flooded the grand old city in August and September of 2005. All you hear from New Orleans is finger-pointing and belly-aching. You don’t hear much complaining going on in Biloxi and envrions. From Biloxi west to Bay St. Louis, the people are quietly going about the business of getting life back to normal. But, all the noise coming from New Orleans tends to make people paint Katrina victims with a broad brush. Too bad, because people ... full post »

I will send out a valuable WorldGolf gift and leisure coupon packet to anyone who can quickly name the only championship in all of golf that still uses an 18-hole playoff system. You must respond within 10 seconds from the time of this posting to claim the prize, however – no Google cheating. The USGA recently axed the 18-hole playoff format from the Women’s Open, in favor of a three-hole format. “That makes sense for the players, fans, volunteers, vendors, the general media and our broadcast partners regarding the Women’s Open,” USGA President Walter Driver said in a press release. I’m thinking that last ... full post »

I’m a big, Natalie Gulbis fan – what red-blooded, heterosexual American male wouldn’t be? But, when she starts talking about her reasons why she does her famous calendars, she comes off as either a phony or delusional. In a podcast with our own Dave Berner, Gulbis said her newest calendar will be a “little more a reflection of who I am.” She said she’s going to wear “fun clothes.” Look, I love her calendars – I’m all over Google looking for more, and I think you know what I mean – but let’s be real. I’m not looking for a reflection of her ... full post »

If golf ever seriously wants to embed itself into the sporting mainstream, it needs to learn how to cuss. Or at least embrace good cussers, like Tiger Woods. Notice how they always bleep out Tiger’s better curses? He throws a club, it’s front page news. But, let him spew forth with a good, healthy stream of expletives, like golfers all over the world do, and you can practically hear the TV director: “Get the hell off Tiger now! Back to Vijay!” Good cussing is integral to the future of the game, as are rowdy fans, like those who mouth off at the ... full post »

Tiger Woods’ streak is nowhere near as impressive as what Byron Nelson did. Nelson won 11 straight back in 1945 over the course of about five months. Woods won five straight from the British Open through Deutsche Bank Championships, then lost in the first round of the HSBC Match Play before winning a PGA Tour event again. Woods himself downplays his streak, yet there is a tendency to elevate today’s players over everyone else in history. Woods may indeed be the best player of all time. We’ll see. But, as far as winning streaks, Nelson’s is right up there with Joe DiMaggio’s ... full post »

One of my many guilty pleasures is watching the Senior Tour, even if they’ve changed the name to the Champions Tour, another of the marketing triumphs that is heralding the decline of civilization (Is EVERYBODY on the Champions Tour a champion?) Of course, I usually fall asleep on the couch, but isn’t that part of the allure of watching televised golf? And I am actually excited about seeing Seve Ballesteros hook up with the old fellas after he makes a sentimental journey to The Masters in April. Ballesteros’ ego is big as all outdoors and he can be nasty in competition, but ... full post »