What did you mean by “likely”?
November 26, 2010
When I first began playing golf nearly thirty years ago, paved cart paths on the golf course were the exception, not the rule.
When we moved to the Cape Region twenty years ago, therefore, I wasn’t at all surprised to see that Old Landing Golf Course had no paved cart paths.
Over time, many courses have switched to paved paths, either concrete or asphalt. From the club’s perspective, the pavement helps encourage cart users to stay on them, reducing the chance of rutting or otherwise damaging the course at its more sensitive spots. Paving can also cuts down on the dust, noise, and general rumpling around that happens when a small motorized vehicle traips along a dirt-strewn route.
Old Landing hasn’t yet made that change to its paths, and that’s fine. On the other hand, at both Old Landing and the courses with paved paths, golfers with the occasionally less than perfect swing can easily discover how far a golf ball hitting pavement will bounce and roll.
At Old Landing, this can happen with a hooked tee shot on a few holes on the front nine, where the course runs along Old Landing Road.
On golf courses with paved paths, including Rehoboth CC, Kings Creek CC, and Shawnee CC, the high bounces and unexpectedly long distances from a pavement-assisted shot can happen at many locations.
I thought about this for two reasons. First, Shawnee CC’s women’s club champion Lisa Hutchins recently told me about an unusually long tee shot she had on the par-5 eleventh hole at Shawnee, courtesy of the cart path.
Second, a recent Ruling of the Day at the USGA’s website had me disagreeing with the USGA, which doesn’t happen all that often.
In the situation described in the Ruling, a golfer thinks his tee shot is either lost or out of bounds past a road running along the course, and he hits a provisional ball just in case. After searching for his original ball unsuccessfully, he hits a second shot with the provisional ball. As he walks further up the fairway, he discovers his original ball. It had apparently run along the road and then bounced back onto the course.
He’s now hoping to use the original ball, instead of the provisional ball with its added strokes.
However, the USGA says he’s stuck with the provisional, citing Rule 27-2b: “The player played a stroke with the provisional ball from a point nearer the hole than the place where the original ball was likely to be. When he did so, the provisional ball became the ball in play and the original ball was lost…. The place where the original ball in fact lay was irrelevant.”
I think this ruling was unduly harsh, at least under two additional circumstances.
Suppose that the golfer hit his second shot well before the full five minutes had run out under the Rules, which he could have spent looking for the original ball. Also suppose that those five minutes would not have expired by the time he walked up to where he found the ball, much farther down the fairway than he would have hit a normal drive.
I think the golfer should be able to take advantage of two things—first, his good fortune in finding the original ball inbounds, within the five minutes; and second, he hadn’t held up anyone else’s play by taking the full five minutes to search for the ball, when he could have.
The real impact of this Ruling is to encourage a better appreciation for what “likely to be” means, when there’s pavement potentially involved. If a ball has a good chance to bounce onto pavement, be it on the course or just off of it, the golfer should take those extra yards into account, in figuring out where best to spend his five minutes searching for it.
Paying a bit more attention could save you a few strokes, and some aggravation, too.
Some special offers
November 19, 2010
The folks at Sussex Pines Country Club have obviously re-discovered the potential benefits of making their golf course a bit more player-friendly.
Not too long ago, the Georgetown course re-built thirteen of the greens, which previously suffered from a bad case of root rot that just couldn’t be repaired any other way.
In addition to that major project, the club also decided that it was time to remove some of the trees that had grown in since the golf course was first built many years ago.
Sussex Pines should be congratulated for the club’s tree removal efforts.
Pleasant as it is to see a greens complex edged by trees, the fact is that turf and bark do not go together very well. If there are too many trees, light and air can’t reach the grass, leading to unhealthy turf.
In addition, as I’ve experienced at Sussex Pines on a few occasions, it’s not that hard to escape from the edge of the woods, when the trees are well-spaced from each other. When your ball’s location presents you with a veritable wall of wood for your next shot, on the other hand, the recovery stokes can really add up quickly.
The benefits of the tree cutting can pay off remarkably quickly. Several years ago, for example, Rob Marshall removed some of the trees at his Old Landing Golf Course on Old Landing Road. The turf at these locations, such as the tee box on the par-3 fifteenth hole, bounced back wonderfully. Marshall has kept up his tree trimming and cutting, and his golf course is all the better for it.
At Sussex Pines, cutting down the trees created another opportunity for the club.
They now have firewood for sale, as recently noted on the Club’s Facebook page.
It’s a great way for Sussex Pines to rid themselves of stuff they don’t need, while giving you a chance to show your support for renewable energy, as it were.
If you want the club’s weathered firewood, you can self-load a truckload for $75. For an additional $75, the Sussex Pines staff will load your truck for you.
If you’re okay with letting the wood season a bit more, you can buy their “un-weathered” wood for $50 per truckload if you do it yourself, or $100 using the club’s gang.
Contact Rob Crouse at 302-856-7718 for more details, or send an email to SPCCgrounds@gmail.com.
Shawnee Country Club is running a few special offers for the off-season of the more typical variety.
From November 1 through March 31, folks interested in experiencing for themselves why the Milford golf course is so well liked by its members can take advantage of the club’s Guest Fee Special. A $25 fee pays for a round, with a cart. Contact Shawnee’s golf pro, Devon Peterson, at 302-422-7010 for more details.
The newer golfing residents of the Cape Region may not realize it, but Shawnee, Sussex Pines, and the other local courses are usually able to remain open throughout most of the winter. There may be the occasional frost delay, and no course will open after one of the area’s rare snowstorms, but over most of the next several months, you can still play.
With that in mind, Shawnee is also running a special membership drive. With the prepayment of dues for their 2011-2012 season (April 2011 through March 2012), new members can begin enjoying the benefits of membership now, instead of waiting until next spring.
Contact Tricia Marney at the Shawnee Country Club office at 302-422-9745 for more details.
Saw you at the Festival
While working at the Box Office during this year’s Rehoboth Beach Independent Film Festival, I had the pleasure to meet quite a few of the readers of this column as they came up for their tickets.
Thank you very much for the kind remarks about this column and The Cape Gazette, as well as the compliments about the Festival!
Golf Movies
November 12, 2010
The Rehoboth Beach Independent Film Festival is running this year from November 10 through 14. Thousands of film buffs will be flocking to the Movies at Midway.
You can, too. With over 100 movies on the schedule, this year’s Festival offers plenty of enjoyable viewing options for golfers and non-golfers alike.
Unlike past years, however, none of this year’s crop includes movies with a golf-related theme. That’s not to say you couldn’t host your own little golf movie festival, if you were so inclined.
One past Festival movie had a golf subplot, and is now available on DVD. In “Keeping Mum,” the now-departed Patrick Swayze played a sleezy golf professional at a British golf club. He’s on the make with a preacher’s wife, played by Kristin Scott Thomas. Rowan Atkinson, better known as Mr. Bean, is the preacher. This is dark little comedy, well worth your time.
Here are some other golf movie options, taken from one of my 2005 columns.
“The Caddy” (1953)—Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis took their comic shtick to the golf course, with Martin as a pro golfer and Lewis as his caddy. This movie will not help your golf game, but it might improve your singing. That’s because in this film Martin sings “That’s Amore,” which earned an Oscar nomination. Ben Hogan, Sam Snead, and Byron Nelson play themselves, and a very pretty, very young Donna Reed is in a supporting role.
“Caddyshack” (1980)—Following the Martin/Lewis tradition, Chevy Chase and Bill Murray tried their hand at a comedy centered around golf. The raunchy movie is now recognized as one of the best comedies of all time. Among other running gags, Murray plays a demented groundskeeper trying to eliminate an obviously fake groundhog, with explosive results.
Unfortunately, the movie was followed up by “Caddyshack II,” one of the worst sequel movies ever made. In fact, it’s right down there with the worst movies ever, regardless of its heritage.
“Dead Solid Perfect” (1988)—Randy Quaid gives a fine performance as a struggling tour pro trying to find a way to keep playing. This made-for-TV movie was based on the 1974 best-selling book by Dan Jenkins.
“Happy Gilmour” (1996)—Many folks consider this movie to be one of Adam Sandler’s best performances. Other folks do not consider this to present a major artistic challenge.
Hockey player Sandler learns how to use his slap shot with a driver and a golf ball. Those looking for realism in a golf movie should stay away, but for those looking for stupid fun need not look anywhere else.
“Tin Cup” (1996)—The writer of “Bull Durham” switched sports, but kept Kevin Costner as the hero, in this wry funny movie about a golf pro at a down-market driving range. Rene Russo plays the love interest. Cheech Marin is a wisecracking caddie who helps Costner when he somehow makes the finals of the U.S. Open.
“A Gentleman’s Game” (2001)—Gary Sinise stars in this drama about a young boy (Mason Gamble) learning the game as a caddy at his father’s country club. The boy also learns some valuable life lessons, thanks to Sinise’s character. Many of the film locations were shot in and around Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, including the Main Line suburbs.
For more Festival information, go to rehobothfilm.com, or just go to the Festival tent located in the rear parking lot of the Midway Shopping Center. I’ll be there.
More season-ending highlights
November 5, 2010
Kings Creek Country Club held their Ladies Golf Invitational on Thursday, October 28. Two prizes were awarded in the gross category, and five net prizes were handed out as well. There were also four closest to the pin on par-3 winners, showing that Kings Creek was apparently attempting to make sure nearly everyone had a good chance to win something.
The first place gross winning team was Sandi Scitti, Perry Drevo, Diane Herndon, and Donna Pierce.
The first place net winning team included Jeanine Doan, Terry Derville, Prabha Karapurkar, and Christine Moore.
As If You Needed Another Reason to Despise Him
Hugo Chavez continues to preside over the slow dissolution of Venezuela as a formerly free-market, democratic society. During his leadership over this troubled South American country, he has nationalized a wide variety of companies operating there, including businesses active in the oil, telecommunications, cement, and steel industries.
Most recently Chavez announced the expropriation of two glass-making factories, owned by Owens-Illinois. His supporters made the usual claims of remedying past exploitation of the masses to justify the takeover.
As if these actions weren’t bad enough, Chavez has now shown that no economic activity of whatever modest consequence is operating below his acquisitive radar screen.
According to an October 31 Bloomberg report, Chavez announced during his weekly television show that golf courses should now be expropriated and turned over for housing purposes.
The news story quoted Chavez discussing golf in fairly pejorative terms: “That’s an injustice -- that someone should have the luxury of having I don’t know how many hectares to play golf and drink whiskey and, next door, there’s misery and children dying when there are landslides.”
The story did not mention anything, of course, about whether and under what conditions the owners of these golf course properties might be paid for the takeover. One doubts that any such compensation would be offered. After all, under the Chavez regime, any efforts at correcting perceived past injustices could not possibly include the prospect of paying those property owners for what has been taken from them.
In this country, there is a long history of golf course properties being acquired for public purposes. The famous Oakmont golf course near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, site of legendary U.S. Open championships, is sliced in half by a major highway. Closer to the Cape Region, the Rock Manor Golf Course north of Wilmington has been altered at least twice by highway construction, most recently as part of the Blue Ball project.
In these and other U.S. cases, however, the catch is that private property cannot be taken for public use, without first paying just compensation for the acquisition. This compensation guarantee is recognized in the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, and in similar constitutional provisions in the state constitutions.
Every so often, one sees another bit of evidence that our way of life has a few things going for it that are unfortunately unavailable elsewhere. In the meantime, one can hope that the situation eventually improves in Venezuela and other countries, where respect for property rights is woefully absent.
Oakley’s 2010 season coming to end
The Rookery’s Director of Golf has not fared as well during this year’s European Senior Golf Tour as he would have liked.
At this writing, Pete Oakley sits in 72d place on the Tour’s Order of Merit, with almost 16,000 Euros in earnings from the fourteen events in which he competed. He may possibly qualify for the season-ending tournament Nov. 5-7, held at the Club de Campo del Mediterraneo, in Valencia, Spain, but several other golfers have to drop out for him to make the field.
Otherwise, if Oakley wants to be on that Tour next year, he will have to compete in the Tour’s upcoming Q-School, to be held Nov. 15-18 in Portugal.