Work sucks, Golf doesn't

This rant may apply to anyone who has a hobby they enjoy but since this blog is about golf, and if you're reading this, you know about or play golf. Have you ever noticed how easy it is to get up in the morning to play golf? No matter how little sleep you got, or how early the tee time is, you're usually up before the alarm goes off. Let's say you get up at 6am for work everyday. It's just rotten when that alarm goes off and it's the same thing every single day for work. You stumble out of bed, scratch a few areas that you feel were neglected in your sleep, and blindly stumble to the coffee pot or shower. You would do anything to just lay back down and sleep another 3 days.

Now comes the morning you have a 7am tee time. You get up around 5:30am, fresh as a daisy, and head to the kitchen to fire up the bacon and eggs with your coffee. You don't wanna play golf on an empty stomach. Of course you're just finishing up your breakfast when your alarm goes off in the room because you set it for 6am.

Well maybe that's me but I'm very certain I'm not alone. Just a quick rant to see if anyone feels the same way. Let's get a banter going on here.

Golf's Too Hard - to write about

Ok folks. I think I'm back to my rants. If you're new, please read the older posts. They'll tickle you in ways only your stepdad would when he told you not to tell anyone. That being said, if you have comments, by all means leave them on this post and future ones. And I adore comments, especially intelligent ones (then again, I don't have enough intelligence to decipher from a smart to a stupid comment so all are welcome and encouraged).

These rants are an anectode to the ramblings I have come across regarding the game of golf over the past few years. As I said, go back to the older posts just by clicking on the links on the right of the page. Also, reading them in chronological order makes the stepdad tickling the best.

As for this post, anytime someone tells you they don't play golf anymore, didn't quit due to an injury, and used to break 80, ring the full of donkey dust bell. This just happened to me last week. I was going to a local eatery, looking awesome as always, in my normal work attire. The cook/owner/receptionist/liar asked if I had just gotten off the golf course. Actually, I'm gonna try to paint the setting:
I walk in and sit down.
The jack of all trades screams, "AAAAAYYYYY, diju just play gofff??!!"
I try to calm down his enthusiam with, "Nah, just having some lunch, I'm on the clock. I do attempt golf though, it's so damn hard huh?"
This apparently got him even more excited, "Baqckkk in Brookkklyn (I would have never guessed my his inability to speak) I ujed tah blay goffff all da time!!! I ujed to break 80."
Once he got past the word 'brooklyn' i smacked the donkey dust button as if I was playing 'Whack-a-mole'. I ignored him from there on and put him in an all too common of golf wannabe's.

Everyone has these people they deal with when you talk about golf. It's just a fact of life. It's the 'can you top this' generation where people just have to outdo whatever everyone has. If I told that guy I broke my leg in a motorcycle accident in 1987, which is true, I'm certain he would have had his arm ripped off one time while chasing a warthog into the subway, fell onto the track, the subway came by, hit him in the arm, seperating it from his axial skeleton, only to re-attach it an hour later with a cotton swap and rubber band.

Anyway, you know the type. They suck but we sort of need them just for rants just like this. Comments please.

The Masters

Sorry for the major gap in updates but golf really hasn't been too exciting until last week. So what did we learn over the last year? As much as Paddy Harrington lit up the tour, it sucked without Tiger.

Tiger Woods IS the PGA Tour, like it or not. Proof was in his defense of his Bay Hill title by once again making birdie on the 18th to rip the heart out of another colleague. This time it was Sean O' Hair. Granted, it wasn't as if Tiger had to do anything more than just show up. O'Hair wilted under the pressure of being stalked by Tiger during the final round. Also, was anyone really surprised that Tiger made birdie on the 18th to win the tournament? He's just that good and everyont should really appreciate what we get to witness.

So now that the tour is back on track and Phil Mickelson is making a run at the number one ranking, it brings us to the greatest, most prestigious tournament in the world, The Masters.

There have been some grumblings about The Masters breaking away from tradition and making the course more of a US Open type and it's all true. They all heard the noise and we should expect a more traditional Masters set up. One where the rough isn't too penalizing, where it's a course of angles, and position. We can always expect the slick greens which is the norm at Augusta.

Because they're going back to a more traditional approach and the way Bobby Jones had originally planned for it, look for a big name to win the tournament. The past few years, much like the US Open, has been somewhat a fluke due to the course set up. The traditionalists made a lot of noise about it and it appears the proper changes were made. There's nothing they can do about the weather but the course needs to be in proper shape to handle that.

The forecast looks good all week for the tournament and under those ideal conditions we should be in for a real treat. Although Lefty had a horrible week at the Shell Houston Open, missing the cut, he had played well up till that point. Tiger is... well he's Tiger so he's always gonna be the front runner. Keep an eye out for guys like Geoff Ogilvy, and Paul Casey. Ogilvy has a high ball flight and can stop any shot on those greens. Casey fared well last year and has terrific course management. It'll also be great to see Greg Norman back in the field. Due to his honeymoon finish at Royal Birkdale, The Shark played himself back into the Masters field for the first time since 2002. He probably doesn't stand a chance but he, along with Freddie Couples will be the fan favorites. Let's hope those 2 can make a little bit of noise. It was only 3 years ago that Couples was in the final pairing with Mickelson.

Unfortunately a bunch of great players won't be making the trip to Augusta because of the rankings system. Davis Love III got the shaft because he fell out of the top 50 as well as a bunch of other great players. Because The Masters invites past champions back forever it knocks some well deserving golfers out of the tournament. About 70% of the field really shouldn't be there and have no chance to even be competetive. The cut line is whoever is within 10 strokes of the lead but because these guys play so bad, the last 2 rounds usually have only a handful of players left. I'm not knocking them at all but should Gary Player and Fuzzy Zoeller really be playing over J.B. Holmes and DL3?

But I guess that's part of the tradition that makes The Masters what it is. Hopefully we'll get back to the real tradition that the final round begins on the back nine on Sunday. So sit back, relax, and enjoy the greatest golf tournament ever. The only Major that's played at the same place every year. It's time for a trip to Augusta, Georgia. It's time for THE MASTERS!