View From The Couch Is Lacking

Get To The Course To Get A True Flavor For PGA Tour Event

You may think that the best seat from which to watch a golf tournament is in your living room with the remote in one hand and a cold drink in the other. You may be surprised to find out how wrong you really are.

Unlike any other sport, golf's playing field is huge, better than a hundred acres in size. Go to a baseball or football game and you can see the entire field, missing very little of the action. This is certainly not the case in golf. You're basically in one spot watching 1/18 of the action. If you follow your favorite player around the course you get to see the entire playing area, but you stuck with one group of players.

Sounds like I'm making a point to stay at home, but hold on a minute. There are so many things that you just won't see on TV. When was the last time you saw any of the action from the front nine? How about some shots of the players warming up at the driving range? Ever see a player working on his putting stroke before his round on television? Of course not.

Attending a tournament in person has many benefits. Personal contact with your favorite players is quite special. Getting a hello, a smile or, better yet, an autograph from one of the guys you follow each week is a special treat.

If you go to a tournament, you can even witness history first-hand. A couple of years back I was covering the Bay Hill Invitational in Orlando. If you remember, John Daly suffered a serious case of "playing like a regular golfer" that Sunday afternoon.

Daly carded an 18 on the par-5 sixth hole that day. Over the years tens of thousands of people will claim to have been there to witness it first-hand. However, truth be told, there were no television cameras at the hole and NBC and Johnny Miller were left to scramble to find out just what had happened.

I was one of the fortunate hundred or so who actually did get to see John's version of Tin Cup. I had ventured over to the sixth hole, hoping to see just how much of the lake on the dogleg left hole Daly would bite off. His group was coming down the fifth fairway and a small crowd was gathering at the sixth tee, with the same thing in mind.

One man even said, "This should be worth the price of admission. This is what I came here to see. Daly pound one over this lake."

Little did we know that we would witness PGA Tour history. What we witnessed was one of the most painfully humorous moments in sports.

Daly teed up his ball and tried to bomb it over a corner of the lake, a carry of about 300 yards according to his caddie. A little too much draw and the ball was wet. Daly consulted with playing partners Tom Watson and Paul Goydos, and moved up about 20 yards on the tee to take his drop. He pulled out his 3-wood and tried the shortcut again. Five splashes later, with the gallery on the safe side of the fairway, well away from the water, waving for him to hit it their way, Daly finally got one over.

The ball plugged in the bank of the hazard and Daly had to take a drop and another penalty stroke. His 6-iron, from about 200-yards out, was heading for the water when it struck a rock and sailed across the green and into a bunker, Three shots later, we had a new record for the highest score ever on one hole in Tour history.

It was a moment that only those of us who witnessed it in person would ever see.

Attending an event even allows you to play a role in the outcome. Several years ago Mike Nicolette was involved in a dogfight down the final holes on Sunday at Bay Hill. Nicolette was trying to capture his first PGA win, and Greg Norman was chasing him, trying to pay off the Ferrari that he was driving to the event each day. The crowd was clearly for the underdog Nicolette, and urged him along during the playoff with shouts of encouragement. After winning the playoff, Nicolette expressed his gratitude to a gallery that gave him strength and confidence at a time when he was no longer sure that he any had left. It would be the lone victory of his career.

By being at that tournament, you can get a true appreciation for the teamwork between caddie and player. Most televised coverage doesn't let you in on the planning and strategy that goes on before each shot is struck. Some of them even complain and bicker at one another after a shot goes astray.

This past weekend I traveled to the Honda Classic, the PGA Tour's nearest stop to my home. Going to an event allows you to watch how the pros practice or warm up. They separate the two. Before their rounds, the players are not working on their swings. The purpose of warming up is not to change things or to repair a flaw, but to get the juices flowing and to figure out just what their swings were doing and how they were hitting the ball on that day.

Of course, there is always the exception to the rule. And John Daly, if you can imagine, is it. The slimmed-down Daly warmed up in the locker room with a Diet Coke. He hit a few practice putts, took a few practice swings at the first tee, and then ripped one way down the first fairway. Raw talent does have its advantages.

Since the practice green was close to the locker room, this was the first place that the pros stopped. It was also a prime spot for the autograph seekers. Most of the pros took the time to sign a few hats, books, scorecards or programs before gearing up for their rounds. Some even talked to and answered questions from the fans gathered there. Mark Calcavecchia was explaining to some fans how his new putting grip works. He points the middle and index fingers of his right hand down the shaft and uses them to push the putter through. Its seems to be working. Calcavecchia has gone from 136th in putting in 1999 to number one in 2001. A few players were experimenting with new putters. Jesper Parnevik was working with a new wand that resembled a squared-off boomerang, and the way his week went, it turned out to be a magic wand. Other players chose less wisely and struggled on the greens.

The players aren't the only ones preparing for 18 holes of golf. While the players are going about their business, the caddies are finishing up their last minute preparations -- double-checking and cleaning equipment, checking their yardage books one last time and loading the golf bag with fruit, snacks and a beverage or two.

Then there's that history part again. Ty Tryon became the youngest to make a cut in a regular PGA Tour event. At the tender age of 16 years, the high school sophomore from Orlando played so well that his name was actually on the leaderboard Friday afternoon.

My favorite moment was when Tryon shook off his caddie's advice that he hit 2-iron on the first tee on Thursday and instead ripped a driver 300 yards down the center of the fairway.

"It was my first pro tournament. I just wanted to rip a driver down there," a smiling Tryon would later admit.

It was very special to see this young man play so well and to see him do it in person. His final-round 68 and four-day, 10-under-par total, impressed the event's sponsors enough to give him an exemption to return next year. His play impressed those in attendance so much that his gallery was larger than some of the established stars. And that's not counting the crowd lined up for his autograph.

As the Honda Classic came to a close, three men had the opportunity to win when they stood on the 18th tee. Rookie Geoff Ogilvy, trailing by one, was first and missed the green badly. His up-and-down attempt failed and his subsequent bogey would prove costly. Next was the leader Parnevik and his playing partner, Calcavecchia, who trailed by one. Parnevik also missed the green and failed to make his par. Calcavecchia's par attempt, which would have sent the event into a playoff, lipped out. It was a disastrous finish for the top-three on the leaderboard. It was, however, nice to see players of their caliber longing for a mulligan at the end of the day.

So the next time that you think you have it made, parked in your favorite easy chair with the remote, just remember that the camera doesn't see everything. You may be missing history, or at the very least the opportunity to meet your golf heroes.

More New Stuff
Mizuno has continued its forged club-making magic with the company's line of MP Series wedges. A 60-ton hammer press forms the clubhead from mild 1025 carbon steel, then a 70-ton press is used to align the grains and produce more consistency throughout the clubhead. These "Grain Flow Forged" wedges come in five lofts from 52 to 60 degrees, with computer-milled "U" grooves.

If you'd like the feel of forged throughout your bag, Mizuno has introduced its new forged muscle back iron, the MP-33. The club has a computer optimized-sweet area and sole camber that locates the sweet spot in the ideal place in each club for workability and trajectory control.

The key to more accurate putting, according to C-Groove Putters, is to achieve rolling motion immediately upon striking the ball. The C-groove Putter accomplishes this through a unique design that incorporates concentric grooves cut at 20-degree angles to the putter face. The grooves actually grip the ball at impact, creating immediate and true forward roll.

Most putts skid along the green for as many as 18 inches before beginning to roll. By getting the ball rolling as much as six times faster than a conventional putter, the C-Groove stabilizes the ball on the target line sooner and helps it to hold its line all the way to the hole. The result is more holed putts.

You want exacting tolerances in your wedges? Porsche Design Golf uses computer milling for everything from the flanged cavity back to the scoring lines on its PD Forged Milled wedges. The clubface is so exact that it is milled to five-thousandths-of-an-inch flatness for maximum consistency. The flange on this model lowers the center of gravity and sole is designed to move weight from the heel and toe for more solid contact. The wedges come in 52-, 56- and 60-degree lofts.

If you watched the beginning of this year's PGA Tour, you probably noticed several pros donning orange Strata hats. These players are wearing them to trumpet the introduction of the next generation Strata Tour Ultimate golf ball.

The Strata Tour Ultimate is the only golf ball with "Concentrated Core Technology." The defining performance feature is the Tungsten Energy Core, which concentrates the ball's weight at its center, allowing for greater energy transfer from club to ball. This transfer results in a higher launch angle, creating greater distance off woods and long irons. Off the mid and short irons, the core combined with a soft cover makes it easier to initiate spin for greater control.

The company is also giving away a personalized dozen of the new Strata Tour Ultimate. Simply click on the Strata name above and visit their Web site to fill out the contest form.

Stammer's Golf Archive

Editor's note: James Stammer is a freelance writer living in Florida. He has played golf for better than a quarter-century. To reach James, e-mail him at jstammer@yahoo.com.

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