This Week at TravelGolf.com: March 8, 2005

Almost every big institution carries a code of silence on some things. Baseball, the mob, the media.

That's right, the media. The media code goes something like this: If you take the lazy way out and regurgitate a press release or rely on canned quote sheets for a story, I won't call you on it, if you don't call me on it when I do it. When I worked as a sports columnist in New Jersey, Nets beat reporters from different papers, major papers, shared the tape recordings of their player interviews with each other. This assured that no one would be beat on a controversial quote and have to answer to their sports editor. So much for competition. This was all about covering each other's back, making life a little easier.

That was a rare case, but everyone who's ever worked in the sports journalism can tell you tales of star columnists who never leave the press box and see a locker room, let alone talk to an actual athlete live. They just get their quotes off the video feed of the press conference or from the team PR department's quote sheets.

No one really talks about this, of course. That would be like Jose Canseco talking about steroids. Well...make that almost no one. Starting now, TravelGolf.com National Golf Editor Tim McDonald is calling the golf media on their garbage.

If a magazine gives a golf tip that makes about as much sense as an 18th-century medical treatment, McDonald is going to note that in his regular media column. And pity the travel writer that tries to sell unsuspecting readers on dubious information. Lynn Seldon probably thought the flowery praise on the "safe" Jamaica scene would simply insure her more free trips. Little did she know that McDonald would break out the CIA Fact Book on her.

That's the thing. McDonald may be old, as noted in a previous blog war, but if you ever met him, you'd swear he might be ex-CIA. The TravelGolf universe is full of rebels like this.

We'll tell you that the Vegas scene is more strollers than strippers, that Scottsdale's a much better golf thrill ride, even if it makes our advertisers in Vegas cringe. Heck, there's a Rebel Blogger that will tell much worse than that on anywhere and anything.

As always your comments are welcome on anything, including the media code and rebels everywhere.

Ocean at Kiawah Island
not your father's resort course

No golf course in the world has ever improved on nature, but the Ocean course at Kiawah Island comes closer than most. Course architect Pete Dye accomplished this by letting the location's natural beauty remain in its simplest state. As Tim McDonald reports, this is not your father's resort course. Not surprisingly, it's also been rated the most difficult resort course in the country.

Full story | Carolina golf courses

Santee, S.C., impersonates
a true golf destination

In his debut blog, the Rebel Blogger takes on the golf community in Santee, South Carolina. "There is hardly a bigger blow hole in the U.S. than Santee," he writes. "This joint is in the middle of Myrtle Beach and Columbia. It is to golf destinations what Phyllis Diller is to super modeling." The blog has already sparked controversy from some readers: "Has this idiot ever even been to Santee?"

Full story | Visit Blog Central

Magazine golf tips
often go far out of bounds

What is it with golf magazines and their "tips?" All the major golf magazines have dozens of "helpful tips" each issue, but recent issues have gone nuts with it. In Tim McDonald's monthly "Inside Media" column, he browses the golf magazine rack and highlights the best and worst from Golfweek, Golf Digest, and more.

Full story | Travel writers need a dose of reality