This Week at WorldGolf.com: June 14, 2005

Payne Stewart’s legacy brings
much-needed perspective
to U.S. Open hoopla

Most of us eventually arrive at a point in our lives when we come to realize how stupid it is to judge a man by what he can do with a ball  how far he can drive it or how accurately he can chip it and putt it. Hero worship is a rite of passage for kids but if youre even in your 20s and think you really know something about a person based on what they can do in a game, you have some serious growing up to do.

I never did learn a damn thing about Payne Stewart, the man, from looking at his golf swing, pretty and fluid as it was. Neither did you.

But in any number of the stories Ive read about the man since his tragic death in October of 1999, I have learned a few things, things that really mean something. By all accounts he was a great father to his kids, Chelsea and Aaron. He danced with his wife, Tracey, and bought her flowers. He didnt take life too seriously and knew how to have fun  he kept people grinning along the way. He is missed by many of the fans who watched him on the golf course, and by all of the people who truly knew him.

I didnt tear up when his jet went down  to say I did would be a lie. It was just another breaking news story to me that day. Im older now, though, and have two kids of my own. Reading Damon Hacks recent story about Stewart in the New York Times, I found myself riveted by the human tragedy of Stewarts untimely death. Of course, I still dont know him  but given Hacks wonderful writing and the course my own life has taken since 1999, the story of the Stewart family connected for me more than ever before.

Payne won the 1999 U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2 on Fathers Day. These days, near No. 2s 18th green, theres a statue that captures him celebrating the win, fist outstretched and leg kicking backwards. It was a great moment for golf and a great moment for the Stewart family.

This weeks tournament culminates there this Sunday, again on Fathers Day. Its a wonderful juxtaposition, really. Odds are, Sunday is going to bring together for a lot of golf fans something they really enjoy (an entertaining finish on the grandest of major stages) with something that really matters, family.

So during this 105th U.S. Open, people, take it for what it is: Just a golf tournament. A great one, to be sure, held on a course thats among the games most hallowed grounds. Watch it. Enjoy it. Talk about it with your pals. Bitch about it. Blog about it. Rave about it. Plan your golf pilgrimage to Pinehurst. But when its over, do something meaningful. Like take Dad golfing.

TravelGolf.com welcomes your comments.

Rock-carved pool scene makes
Tempe's Wyndham Buttes Resort

In the Arizona desert, it's all about the swimming pool. And every resort in the Phoenix-Scottsdale resort labyrinth has at least one. The Wyndham Buttes Resort in Tempe lives off theirs. Carved out of the rock walls on which the resort is built, it provides a striking scene to wile away the off-course hours. It's not the biggest or fanciest pool you'll ever find. It's just one of the best combinations of scenery and scenes you'll ever find.

Full story | A blogger’s sneak peak at a new Dye course

Primm Valley: more than a
rest stop on the way to Sin City

Interstate 15 is the main highway for countless folks coming to Las Vegas from Southern California for a quick weekend jaunt. The savvy set has figured out, though, that you don't need to go all the way to Sin City to get a quick fix of gambling and golf. Primm Valley Golf Club , just 45 minutes south of Las Vegas, boasts three casinos and 36 holes of Tom Fazio-designed golf.

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Spa day for the
golfing guy? Golfer's massage
craze demands research

For tough golf guys, spas produce a natural flight instinct. Our game is rugged, ritual self-torture, after all. (What else do you call a quintuple bogey?) Against his instincts, though, macho golf writer Chris Baldwin endured a massage at the Four Seasons in Whistler, B.C. Now hes a convert. "Playing several rounds without a Golfer's Massage? A little uncivilized, no?" he writes. "Need more grapes here. More grapes! And heat up some Maxflis!"

Full story | Sit around work thinking about golf? Wanna blog for us?