Greg Norman has it too good these days. Jets off in his private jet to Shanghai with his fiancé, a still gorgeous Chris Evert. Says he’s going to do a little business over there. His “business” includes golf course design, real estate, a clothing line and wine. And while he’s in this exotic location, with a beautiful, former tennis queen, he uses his idle time to play in the $2.3 million Asian Open, where he shoots a 1-under 71 in the opening round. Wears a hat with “Great White Shark,” written in Chinese. As I write this, I’m sitting at my desk ... full post »

Before the Masters, Trevor Immelman was just sort of a name, a good, solid pro, but essentially just an also-ran with a mildly-amusing name. Now, he’s leapt to the front of my leaderboard! After his Masters win, Immelman did the whirlwind-celebrity deal all Masters winners do, and one of those was going to New York. “The thing that I personally enjoyed the most was going to Madison Square Garden to go watch the basketball game,” Immelman told Kevin Currie of The Sports Network. “That was fantastic. I’m a huge basketball fan and to go there and watch the Celtics play against the Knicks ... full post »

You’d expect a golf course with the name: “John Daly’s Murder Rock Golf and Country Club” to be a handful, wouldn’t you? It isn’t. It’s a good course, definitely, but it’s no John Daly-sized back-breaker. Daly had nothing to do with the design, and the name “Murder Rock” comes from a Civil War-era bushwacker who used to ambush travelers under a nearby rock. So, with that out of the way, Murder Rock is worth a visit when in the Branson, Missouri area. It’s situated on the highest point in Taney County, 300 feet above its superb neighbor, Branson Creek; both are located in ... full post »

Branson Creek, just outside Branson, Missouri, is one of those must-plays if you love mountain golf and are anywhere in the area. It plays up and down the hills of the high plateau that takes up most of southern Missouri. Those holes that play along the high, rocky ridges give off grand, misty views and the holes that plunge down to the valleys are perhaps even more scenic, with purple-flowered hills rising gracefully above the fairways. It is a dazzling layout in this part of the postcard-ready Ozarks, outside the town of Hollister. Its scenic beauty is matched only by the artistry of ... full post »

Branson, Missouri has a lot of slick performers, both country and otherwise. Beatles impersonators, formerly famous rock bands, wild comedians. They have elaborate stage acts, fancy hairdressers and all sorts of pyrotechnics. It’s all entertaining, if you go in for that sort of thing. But, for my money, the best act in town is Roy Rogers Jr. and his band, the High Riders. Roy Jr., better known as Dusty, comes out on stage at the Happy Trails Theater with his band behind him and just sings. No fancy stuff, just some old-time songs you probably heard your parents or your grandparents sing: Tumbling ... full post »

Being from a very flat state, I love mountain golf courses. I found a gem just outside of Branson, Missouri, called Ledgestone Golf Course. It’s set in a ritzy neighborhood called Bridgestone, and it has some serious elevation changes – I defy anyone to play No. 15, a par-3, and not get at least a mild case of vertigo. No. 15 is the most dramatic example, but quite a few other holes highlight this part of the Ozarks. It does take some getting used to. With all the twists and turns and elevation changes, you need to play this course a few times before ... full post »

You may have heard of Branson, Missouri, most likely from your parents, grandparents or great-uncle. They probably had a great time and told you all abut it. What you might not know, and which might prompt you to pull the Trigger (get it? Roy Rogers?) is that the famous country music city is trying hard to become a golf destination, and they’ve got a pretty good start. They have about a dozen courses in the area now, with more to come, including the Payne Stewart Golf Course that’s scheduled to be completed this fall; it should be a doozy. Just played Ledgestone today, and ... full post »

Tiger Woods has shown time and time again he is no charger. He may be the most dominant player of all time, but he doesn’t set hearts aflutter like Arnold Palmer used to do during one of his famous charges. Give Woods the lead and he’s a pit bull. Put him a few strokes back and he turns into Shelley Winters. Woods had tons of opportunities to make a serious run for the lead Sunday during the final round at The Masters, but never got around to doing much. He actually looked bored. Hey, Tiger, I wanted to yell, this is the ... full post »

One of the semi-cool things about the Masters is the way it lets in the old-timers, past champions well past their primes who don’t stand a chance in hell of contending. It’s a link to the past, a historical showcase that’s fun to watch. Most of the time. Still, I think Gary Player shouldn’t be playing this year, his 51st. He’s obviously in it solely to break Arnold Palmer’s record. “We both had that record and I think that’s really the motive in the back of my mind,” Player told the media this week. Players has always been fiercely competitive, but it would ... full post »

Sports Illustrated was probably thinking shock and awe when it recently named Tiger Woods the toughest athlete, followed by Alaska dog musher Lance Mackey. We’ve all done it in the media, come up with something just to create controversy. Not me, of course. I have too much integrity to do something so tawdry. So let me fall into SI’s little trap. No way is Woods tougher than Mackey, or any musher for that matter. I used to live in Alaska. I covered the Iditarod, usually from a warm, dry place. Still, I ventured outside long enough to know that to drive a team ... full post »

Hey, it’s true. Don’t blame me. The field is the weakest. Just ask Stephen Ames. “When you compare it to the other major events, it is the weakest field technically,” Ames told the Calgary Herald. “There are only 90 players (at the Masters); the top 50 players in the world are guaranteed. Of those 90, there are 20 old guys still playing, past champions, who shouldn’t be playing golf. So, technically, it’s a field of 70. “Hey, I’m just quoting facts. The Players Championship is a stronger field than that one.” Ames won The Players, by the way, but he’s speaking the truth. The Masters ... full post »

A few of the fellas from my neck of the woods are taking on Augusta National, Boo Weekley, Heath Slocum and Bubba Watson. They’re all from the Florida Panhandle. Slocum doesn’t actually live there any more, but you never really leave Milton. I’d like to be a fly on the wall at Augusta. I wonder what these guys think of the white bread and cheese sandwiches. I wonder what they think of all those old, moneyed aristocrats drinking mint juleps on the veranda. I don’t think Bubba has ever sipped a mint julep, unless somebody poured one in a can of Old Milwaukee. The ... full post »

Mark Sweeney of the New York Times has an interesting story about Tiger Woods. Sweeney delved into the stats to emphasize what most of us already knew: Woods is lackluster in some departments, like driving accuracy, but light years ahead in others, like hitting greens in regulation, putting and sterling iron play. Sweeney came up with his own model, which showed that hitting greens in regulation and putting combined to account for 5 percent of the “predictive power of scoring.” When he added in “scrambling,” that number rose to 78 percent. From beyond 150 yards, the average tour player goes south when ... full post »

The obsession over rules is a big reason so many conservatives are drawn to the game of golf. Personally, I pay little attention to the rules when I play. Neither do my brothers, who like to tee it up on the fairways to make irons shots easier. People are still talking about the rule that got Stewart Cink disqualified from the Zurich Classic. In the third round, Cink hit a wayward drive at No. 15 that came to rest near but not in, a bunker. Cink stepped into the bunker to hit the shot. His shot landed in a greenside bunker. Cink’s caddie ... full post »

The Palmetto course is where members of The Landings go when they’re due for a whipping. There are six courses at the massive golf community just to the south of Savannah, and most of them are geared to the typical resident – he or she is generally well past “last call” time and looking for a genteel round of golf with little intrusion in the way of difficulty. Most of the other courses, all of them excellent, give a little, then take a little. Palmetto plays tough, man-to-man defense from whistle to whistle. It isn’t as though this is the most difficult ... full post »

It’s hard to claim you’ve found an undiscovered gem about a place that’s been there for well over 30 years and has around 10,000 people. The Landings on Skidaway Island (how’s that for a great name?) is one of the largest golf communities along the East Coast, with six excellent courses in its arsenal. It has an idyllic location: on an inner barrier island, with that beautiful, Southern coastal vegetation – ancient oaks draped with Spanish moss, spreading marsh views, colorful wading birds – yet protected from Atlantic storms by outer islands. There’s a feeling of peaceful isolation once you get on the ... full post »