#derek clements

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Let’s Take a Look at Classic Golf Course Put-Downs, Shall We?

By Derek Clements

Chambers Bay has attracted more than the normal amount of criticism from players. Yesterday, Sergio Garcia made it clear he wasn't too happy about the greens...

I think a championship of the caliber of @usopengolf deserves better quality green surfaces that we have this week but maybe I'm wrong!

— Sergio Garcia (@TheSergioGarcia) June 18, 2015

If my problem is saying what everyone thinks but they don't have the guts to say it, then I'm guilty of that for sure

— Sergio Garcia (@TheSergioGarcia) June 18, 2015

...But don't run away with the idea that it is the first course to host a host a major that has failed to find favor with the good of golf. Here, we look at a few classic putdowns concerning Chambers Bay and other legendary golf courses.

"They should tow it out into the North Sea and sink it" – Gary Player upon first seeing the Old Course at St Andrews.

"What? There is a golf course, out there, is there?" – Louis Oosthuizen upon completing his first practice round at Chambers Bay.

"The greens are so fast it's like they have been bikini-waxed." – Gary McCord on the greens at Augusta, criticism that earned him a ban from the hallowed course.

"I hate it!" – Ryan Palmer pulls no punches when asked for his thoughts on Chambers Bay.

"They should graze cows on it." – Dave Hill on Hazeltine after finishing second there in the 1970 US Open.

"The only thing missing is a windmill on the 18th green." – a British tabloid newspaper hinting that Chambers Bay might be more suited for crazy golf.

"They got the champion they deserved." – Davis Love III expresses his views about Carnoustie, 1999, where The Open was won by Paul Lawrie.

"Davis' idea of tee boxes on down hill and side hills is ridiculous. That's not golf. I don't care what anybody says. It is a joke. I don't understand it. I just don't know why they would do it." – Ryan Palmer responding to USGA executive director Mike Davis' suggestion about novel tee placings at Chambers Bay.

"The only thing that Pinehurst and Augusta have in common is that they both have 18 holes." – Bubba Watson expressing a lack of warmth for the venue for the 2014 US Open.

"Just shut up and play it." – Robert Trent Jones Jr tells the field how to cope with Chambers Bay. (Yes, he's the guy that designed the course.)

"I could take out of my life everything but my experiences here in St. Andrews and I would still have had a rich and full life." – In 1921, Bobby Jones performed the ultimate major putdown when he walked off the Old Course at St Andrews after finding gorse bushes on the 11th hole.

"It's a complete farce." – The ever tactful Ian Poulter before he had even played Chambers Bay.

[swingbyswing]

Why Florida Golf Has it Right

BY DEREK CLEMENTS

Check out just about any golf website and, somewhere, there will be a thread asking how we are going to sort out the future of the game. We have been asking the question for what seems like an age.

There are plenty of ideas out there but nobody seems prepared to bite the bullet and put any of these innovative thoughts into practice. Or so I thought...

I am writing this while sitting beside a swimming pool at the Florida villa where I have been staying with my wife for the past week. It is located on Highlands Reserve, Davenport, near Orlando. Our back garden overlooks the 18th fairway at Highlands Reserve Golf Club, one of several courses I have played during my stay.

And they have got it cracked. Let me tell you how.

When I pulled up in the car park, somebody was on hand to take my clubs and load them on a cart. They knew that I was on my own and had arranged for me to hook up with a threeball consisting of Jimmy, Joe and Luke, who were all studying at one of the local colleges.

One of the things I love about this great game of ours is meeting and playing with like-minded strangers who become friends over the course of 18 holes.

These guys were all young enough to be my sons but we had fun out there. Two of them sprayed the ball all over the course but we were able to laugh about it. Jimmy found just about every waste bunker on Highlands Reserve but he shrugged it off. To be honest, he had little choice as we ribbed him mercilessly.

It turned out that the four of us had lots in common. I was amazed to learn that they all closely followed the English Premier League and were hooked on soccer. They all followed Manchester United. We had a blast.

But here are the best bits. These guys paid $40 each and for that they got 18 holes, buggies and lunch. The course was superb. It carves its way through the Highlands Reserve estate, but the properties are all set well back from the fairways - you have to be pretty wild to end up in somebody's back garden.

Although the course has only a small team of greens staff, the putting surfaces are superb, with lots of contours. The fairways are beautifully manicured and the bunkers are really well maintained. And when we came off the 18th green, somebody was waiting to clean our clubs and take them back to our cars.

Did I mention that it took us a fraction over three hours to complete 18 holes? On a proper golf course! I have mixed feelings about buggies - part of the fun, for me, is walking the fairways. But if you use them properly, buggies can end six-hour rounds forever.

I also played 18 holes at Southern Dunes, a 6,800-yard course featuring some of the trickiest greens I have ever come across. The course features 180 bunkers, some of which are vast. But here's the thing - the sand is beautiful. Water comes into play on two holes, including the gorgeous fifth, a 378-yard par four that features two fairways. Take the direct route and the hole plays shorter but you have to cross the lake that bites into the right-hand side of a narrow raised green. It's a magnificent hole. And so is the 233-yard par three third. It is played from a raised tee to a green that slopes from front to back. The day I played, the flag was located at the front of the green and my tee-shot finished 30 feet beyond the cup. Two putts? Not a chance.

I played with the general manager, club pro and greens superintendent. And guess what? It took us three hours and ten minutes. That's less time than it took Indy to beat Denver in the NFC divisional playoffs. And the green fees were cheap too.

Greg Tebbutt, the general manager at Hignhlands Reserve, said: "You gotta do what you gotta do. We found that by reducing our green fees we increased the number of rounds played here and increased our profits. It's a no-brainer. And we are pretty proud of our course too. It's a good test and a fair test on a good course."

I have seen the future in Florida, and I love it.

Check out the courses here: www.highlandsreserve-golf.com www.southerndunes.com

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Why Gary Player is Wrong

Opinion by Derek Clements

Gary Player, it seems, has an opinion on just about everything. There was his view that drug taking on the PGA Tour was widespread - an opinion that was quickly retracted when the rest of the golfing world disagreed with him.

There was his opinion that the Atkins Diet was to be avoided at all costs. He has opinions on Tiger Woods, he has opinions on golf balls, he has opinions about health and fitness -- You name it and Gary has a view.

In saying that, he is one the best professional golfers of all time and has been a wonderful ambassador for South Africa, so perhaps we should listen to his opinions.

And it should surprise nobody that he does have a view about Rory McIlroy. Having once declared that he was certain Tiger Woods would break Jack Nicklaus' record of major victories, Player is now on the Rory McIlroy bandwagon. To be fair though, who isn't?

Last year, Phil Mickelson went to Pinehurst for the US Open, where victory would have made him the latest player to win all four majors during his career. Sadly, he came nowhere close. Fear not though, for Mr. Player says that will not happen to McIlroy in April when he arrives at Augusta, looking to become just the sixth player in history to win all four majors.

"I predict that he will do it [in 2015] because The Masters is just made for him," Player said. "There is no golf course I can think of that is made for him more than Augusta National."

McIlroy had a chance to win the 2011 Masters but suffered a final-round horror show and ended up shooting an 80 after starting the day in the lead. Mind you, he bounced straight back from that by destroying the field at the US Open a few weeks later. He was tied for eighth last year - his best finish in six tries - but blew it with a second-round 77.

Meanwhile, Mickelson's quest to win the elusive U.S. Open seems to have lost a bit of steam after a T-28 at Pinehurst – where he lost by one stroke in 1999 – and a season in which he recorded just a single top 10. Mickelson turns 45 in June and will try again for the Open at Chambers Bay, a course unfamiliar to virtually everyone but the 2010 US Amateur participants.

"There is no question in my mind [McIlroy] will be the next winner of the career grand slam and he'll go on to win many more major championships," Player said. "One can never predict how many – people were saying Tiger Woods could win 30 but nobody knows what is going to happen to your health, nobody knows what's destined for you in your career. But all being well he’s going to win a lot of majors."

First of all, I don't recall anybody worth listening to ever predicting that Woods would win 30 majors. It was never going to happen.

With that out of the way, let's take a little time to reflect on McIlroy's chances at Augusta.

He will arrive as a red-hot favorite. Don't forget that he has the Claret Jug and the Wannamaker Trophy safely tucked away at home. Victory would not only give him the career slam but would also have him three-quarters of the way towards achieving something that only Woods has done previously - holding all four major trophies simultaneously.

Can he win The Masters? Yes. Will he win The Masters? Of course. Will he win it in April? I don't think so.

Just imagine the hype that will surround him. And this time it won't just be from the British media. Rory has become a darling of the American public and media too - they love the way he approaches the game because he looks like he is having fun. And most of the time, he is.

They also remember seeing his human side when he suffered the most public of meltdowns at Augusta in 2011. Like everybody on this side of the Atlantic, they believe that the course owes McIlroy one. It's utter nonsense of course.

Look at all the disappointments Greg Norman suffered at The Masters. He never won the tournament he coveted more than any other. McIlroy is too good for Augusta to become his nemesis, but my money will be on Rickie Fowler - and don't be surprised to see Tiger Woods in the frame either.

Rory is a shoo-in for The Open at St Andrews and he will win The Masters in 2016 or 2017.

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I WOULD PAY TO SEE THAT...

BY DEREK CLEMENTS

Most of us have bucket lists, things that we long to do before we die. This isn't exactly my bucket list, but I would happily pay admission money to watch ANY of the following!

What do you think? Let us know what would be on your list in the comments below.

A long-driving contest featuring Bubba Watson, John Daly and Rory McIlroy

McIlroy attempting to get home in two at a 650-yard par five - and succeeding

McIlroy and Tiger Woods going head to head for The Masters at Augusta

Lexi Thompson, Paula Creamer and Natalie Gulbis, going head to head for Women's US Open on a windy final day.

Luke Donald, one of the most accomplished artists on the PGA Tour (or anywhere else), being given a Paint It By Numbers kit

Keegan Bradley being given a putting lesson with a 35-inch putter

Ian Poulter giving fashion advice to John Daly

John Daly giving fashion advice to Ian Poulter

Patrick Reed receiving a lesson in spoken English

Bubba Watson being told that he must spend a season playing in France

John Daly being told that the world's beer supplies have run out

Tom Watson giving a talk on team tactics and unity

Colin Montgomerie and Kevin Stadler telling a selected audience about their success with WeightWatchers

The next time Nick Faldo bumps into Sergio Garcia (whom he described as being "useless" at the 2008 Ryder Cup)

Vijay Singh's reaction if Annika Sorenstam announces she is making a comeback - on the PGA Tour!

Gary Player doing 1,000 one-armed push-ups, with an independent adjudicator on hand to ensure he did them properly

Tommy Gainey giving golf lessons

A tour pro - any tour pro - shouting "Fore!"

Ian Poulter explaining to Mrs Poulter why he has just bought ANOTHER very expensive car

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9 Amazing Shots and Moments of 2014

BY DEREK CLEMENTS

We present a selection of the best shots of the year, almost all of them played under the most intense pressure imaginable - they remind us why we love this game so much. Just when you think that you have seen it all, these guys and gals produce shots that leave you utterly speechless.

Best putt of 2014

There are a few contenders, but the winner is Paula Creamer's 75-foot eagle putt on the final green to win the HSBC Women's Champions playoff.

Creamer went for the par five in two but finished miles from the hole in two. Not only was the putt 75 feet long, but the ball had to reach the top of a slope and then negotiate a huge right to left break. From the moment it left the putter-face, the ball was going nowhere else but in the hole. Creamer was quite excited.

[swingbyswing]

December: Your Golfing Timeline

BY DEREK CLEMENTS

As the year comes to an end, we take a look at the month of December so far... and assume what the rest of the month holds for the golfing world....

December 1: Jordan Spieth boards a plane out of Australia, still enthusing about his incredible round of 63 that won him the Australian Open

December 2: Spieth smiles as he realizes that he has climbed the world rankings again

December 3: Spieth is still smiling - after so many near misses, he finally won his second tournament

December 4: Miguel Angel Jimenez hits the first shot of the 2015 Race to Dubai at the Nedbank World Challenge - in an elite field of 30

December 5: The morning after the night before - papers around the world are full of views about Tiger's first round back in action - a 77

December 6: Tiger is still last

December 7: Hunter Mahan obliges with a shocking final round to tie Tiger for last place. Jordan Spieth wins for the second week in a row

December 8: Tiger slips down the world rankings. Spieth moves up again

December 9: Danny Willett is still walking around in a daze after depositing a check for more than $1m in the bank after winning the Nedbank World Challenge

December 10: Padraig Harrington is also in a daze, three days after winning the Indonesian Open, his first victory for one million years

December 11: The European Tour continues its 2015 season. In South Africa. In 2014!

December 12: Rory McIlroy is in court in Dublin as his battle with his former management company continues

December 13: Charley Hull continues her bid to become the youngest player ever to top the Ladies European Tour order of merit

December 14: Your correspondent (Yes, me Derek) has a birthday

December 15: Charley Hull's world ranking rises

December 16: Happy birthday Rickie Fowler, 26 today

December 17: Across Britain, golfers defy frost and biting cold - and hope they don't think any iron shots

December 18: Across the world, male golfers suddenly realize they haven't begun their Christmas shopping

December 19: Across the world, male golfers are asking themselves: "What size is my wife?"

December 20: Across the world, male golfers are asking the same question: "How much?"

December 21: Across the world, male golfers are recovering from the trauma of Christmas shopping and vow to do it online next year

December 22: Relief as online presents are delivered in the nick of time

December 23: The last of the Christmas parties, and that can only mean the biggest of headaches tomorrow

December 24: Santa sets off, and golfers hope they won't be getting awful jumpers from their nearest and dearest

December 25: A new golf star is born - in China, probably. And golfers get awful jumpers from their nearest and dearest

December 26: Boxing Day - and a chance to escape the family and head to the golf course

December 27: Across the world, golfers are returning unwanted Christmas presents, such as "Toilet Putting"

December 28: Across the world, wives of male golfers are taking back "glamorous" underwear and swapping it for slippers

December 29: Tiger Woods ponders what life will bring in his 40th year

December 30: Sorry Tiger, but you are 39 today. Happy birthday

December 31: Across the world, golfers promise to reduce their handicaps in 2015

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Why Golf is a Great Game

BY DEREK CLEMENTS

We all have ideas on what might be wrong with the game of golf, but it is also worth looking at what is right about the game. Come rain, hail or shine, millions of us play, week in, week out, so what's the attraction?

It's an outdoor sport, so you get to enjoy the fresh air while taking a four or five-mile walk. On a beautiful summer's day, there is nowehere better to be than out on a golf course in the company of friends. And technology has progressed to such an extent now, that we all have waterproofs that work even in the heaviest of rain and thermals to keep us warm on the coldest of days.

Technology also means that the old farts among us can hit the ball as far, and sometimes further, in their sixties than they did in their twenties. How good is that? Golf shoes, which once were heavy and left you in agony for the first four or five rounds after you bought them, are now as light as a feather, and fit like slippers.

It is a competitive game if you want it to be, or you can just pit yourself against the course. And because of its unique handicapping system, a relative novice can take on an excellent amateur and give him a game. He will also know for sure that the low-handicap player will willingly give him some tips as they wander round the course. "I'd find another game, if I were you because you stink at this one!" Seriously, he will point out what you are doing wrong and how you can perhaps improve. It's up to you whether or not you take that advice on board. You may only have 50p on the front nine, 50p on the back nine and 50p on the match -- but how much fun is it to relieve your opponent of $5.00?

Golf is also surely unique in that it allows you to play on exactly the same golf courses where the best players on the planet compete for sport's greatest prizes. Not only that, but you can compare how you play a specific hole with the way Rory McIlroy played it. How cool is that? Just like the pros, you can have a hole in one. I've had four, but I know that there are many, many players who an awful lot better than me who have never come close. It's pure luck, of course, but it is a wonderful feeling -- well it is a wonderful feeling right up to the moment when you get back to the clubhouse, realise it's packed and one of your playing partners shouts out: "The drinks are on Derek, he had a hole in one."

It's an addictive game - no matter how badly you play, there will always be one shot that brings you back.

It is a great way to escape the stresses and strains of 21st century life.

Take time to enjoy the views, look in the ponds and lakes to catch a glimpse of the fish swimming over the golf ball you have just dumped in the water. Try to identify that bird that just emerged from the gorse. Oh no, it's Rosie Blackwater-Smythe again! And isn't that Roger Whyte behind her? What on earth have they been doing in there?

Golf is a game for life. You can start at the age of four or five and carry on playing for as long as you are able to walk - thanks to carts, you don't even have to be able to walk very far. There's a guy at my club who has two holes in one and an eagle two since turning 90!

Not only that, but you can play with your family or your friends. If you've ever got somebody started in the game, watched the bug bite and seen them gradually improve, you will know that there is no feeling to equal it, especially when you hear him say: "Why did I waste all those years playing football?"

After you have finished, you head for the clubhouse and have a drink and a laugh with your friends. The chances are that the beer you drink will be much cheaper than any pub or hotel in the area, and you may even be able to have a couple of games of snooker or a game of darts. You will definitely be able to watch the latest European Tour event on TV in the clubhouse.

People say that it's an expensive game, but if your annual fees are less than $1,000 (and for most of us, they are), is it really so dear? You can play all year round, as many times as you want. You can have a quick nine holes, a full competitive round of 18 holes or maybe an hour on the practice ground. Just compare it with the price of a season ticket at any Football game - and remember that if you travel to away games you also have to throw in the costs of getting there and back every other week.

Golf equipment is expensive, but if you are just starting out, have a look around for some decent second-hand clubs - and take advice from your club professional before buying it. There are club golfers who change their clubs every year, or every other year, but most of us buy a set of clubs and keep them for four or five years, and that means they are not really so expensive after all.

You don't have to play with Titleist ProV1s. In fact, 95% of us should NOT be playing with Titleist ProV1s. Have a look round for some lake balls - they are not expensive.

Most important of all, in what other game would a grown man get away with wearing pink trousers, a lime green top, a white belt and a stupid hat?

This game is the best.

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Jordan Spieth Wins the Hero World Challenge

THERE was only one hero on show at Isleworth - and it wasn't Tiger Woods, the tournament host making his long-awaited return from injury.

The Hero World Challenge was all about one man - Jordan Spieth. The 21-year-old didn't so much win this tournament as destroy the opposition as he ambled to a TEN-SHOT victory. You read it correctly.

It was supposed to be all Tiger's comeback, and in many ways that's how it turned out. Apart from the fact that the comeback we were talking about was not the sensational one we had hoped for and expected to witness at Isleworth, Florida.

The world looked on in disbelief as he staggered to a first round of 77 that included FOUR duffed pitches - count them - and left the great man in a foul mood. In an invited field of 18, he was dead last, and his sole task for the remaining 54 holes was to ensure he didn't finish that way.

There were signs of recovery in round two, when he managed a 70. But, all around him, younger rivals were ripping the course to shreds. This is a layout around which Woods once took 58 shots.

He went round in 69 in round three, but the 38-year-old was feeling unwell. He had lost his voice overnight and was taking antibiotics to combat feelings of nausea. And he would have felt little better when told that Spieth had negotiated the course in 63. He was on 196, 20 under par, and 20 shots clear of Woods, who was still last and the only man in the field who wasn’t under par. He was also seven shots ahead of his nearest challenger.

For Spieth, it was a second 63 in six days - he shot the same score in the final round to win the Australian Open. And it wasn't long before he was off and running again in the final round.

But long before Spieth had finished, Woods was already back in the clubhouse, a 72 giving him a four-round total of 288, level par - he finished tied for last place thanks to Hunter Mahan closing out with a 75.

Tiger's last round was a microcosm of everything that had gone before. He reached the turn in two under, with seven pars and two birdies, but the par-five 13th turned out to be unlucky for him - and how. He took eight shots to complete the hole, and then dropped another at the next. Woods being Woods, he managed to finish with his head held high thanks to birdies at the 16th and 17th, but this wasn't the comeback he had in mind.

What he would give for even a fraction of the magic Spieth possesses right now. The 21-year-old is playing fantasy golf.

He birdied three of the first four holes and then eagled the seventh to reach the turn in 31. He was five under for the round and an astonishing 25 under for the tournament. And he immediately improved upon that with a birdie at the 10th.

Incredibly, he was 12 shots clear of Keegan Bradley and Patrick Reed, 13 ahead of Jason Day and Henrik Stenson. In fact, remove him from the equation and we had quite a decent tournament going on. Spieth wasn't so much winning it as lapping the entire field. Stenson managed to reduce the deficit to a mere 11 strokes with birdies at the 12th and 13th, and when Spieth double-bogeyed the 14th he was "only" nine in front.

The American immediately birdied the par-three 15th and with Stenson doing the same at the 16th, the gap remained at nine. He increased it to 10 with a birdie at the 17th. A par at the last gave him a 72-hole total of 26 under par - it doesn't get much better than 66, 67, 63 and 66. Stenson finished second.

Spieth hadn't won for 18 months and, suddenly, he achieves two on the bounce. There has always been a feeling with Spieth that the moment he claimed his second title he would be unstoppable. For the moment at least, he is unstoppable.

BY DEREK CLEMENTS