5 BIG STARS FOR FOX HOLLOW GOLF CLUB!

by Doug McAllister

Many folks around here remember it as Tri-City. Tri-City? The course, now Fox Hollow, was apparently owned by three cities in northern Utah County: American Fork, Lehi and Pleasant Grove. I think most agree that "Fox Hollow" has a decidedly classier ring to it.

But, regardless of how it is remembered, Fox Hollow Golf Club is about as classy a course as you will find.

It wasn't always that way. Before the new clubhouse and new name, the course sported a rundown shed-of-a-shop that, according to employees, was infested with all sorts of critters and had a basement/cart garage that spent many a day filled with water. After the old place had been torn down I happened to be speaking to one of the club pros. "Did you shed a tear or two when they knocked down your old digs?" I asked. "Hell no!" he snorted without hesitation. He then chuckled as he told me how he and others on staff teed up range balls and broke all the windows in the place just before the wrecking crew did its worst.

And the new spread is something to behold, complete with a full-service pro shop and a reception center!


A VISIT FROM THE KING

Fox Hollow has a reputation of being one of the hardest golf courses in Utah. An apocryphal account still circulates that, while on a course designing trip to Utah, The King, Arnold Palmer, played a variety of courses in the area and Fox Hollow — still named Tri-City — was on his list. After his round, the course staff wanted to know Palmer's impression of their beloved course. According to the story, Palmer noted that it was a nice course. "Too long for the weekend player," he added. Needless to say, it was probably the finest compliment that Palmer could have paid. For years thereafter, the Tri-City faithful would boast to anyone that would listen that Arnold Palmer, himself, had said their course was too hard for just anybody!

Would have been interesting to hear Palmer's assessment of the old clubhouse.


STILL A TOUGH TRACK

A tradition of solid golf continues with Fox Hollow. Never mind what the clubhouse was, the course has always been, in my opinion, a well-designed and challenging showpiece, offering players the feeling that you are away from things when actually surrounded by suburbia. And it seems to be getting better with age.

Yeah, it's a tough track — for those who insist on playing from the back tees of machismo land. 7,077 yards from the back tees, with a course rating of 73.1 and a slope of 123. But, like most courses out there, the course does have three tees besides the back ones, offering an enjoyable time for players of all skill levels.

The Utah Golf Association web page describes the Hollow like this:

"Old style golf course, with water on 5 holes. A premium is placed on the tee shot on most holes, with length and accuracy both required to score well. Many trees and few bunkers with a beautiful view of the Wasatch Mountains."

Most of the individuals who seem to have a problem with Fox Hollow hate its length. Add to that some narrow fairways, lined with old, full-size trees and it's easy to see why many would rather go elsewhere. Fine with me if they do.


TOP-NOTCH PRACTICE FACILITY

Fox Hollow also sports one of the best practice facilities that I have ever seen. You won't find AstroTurf-covered-cement hitting pads to jangle your arms and destroy your clubs if you happen to hit it a little fat. The driving range, planted with natural grass, is also fully lighted for after dark practice.


Fox Hollow Golf Club is a 5-star public course that is well worth the visit. Play 9 or 18 and, given the challenging nature of the course, you'll want to...

Hit 'Em Long and Straight!

THE STRANGE TALE OF BOB HUDSON THE GROCER

by Doug McAllister

As the Ryder Cup approaches this weekend, I thought a bit historic sentimentality was in order.

Ever hear of Bob Hudson? Me neither and yet it is highly possible that without him there would be no Ryder Cup this week! Really? Apparently so!

Thanks to a wonderful article by James Achenbach that was recently published in Golf Week Magazine, I learned about this unlikely golfing hero. If you love the Ryder Cup you should know about him as well.

The year was 1947. Seems that the Ryder Cup was on the ropes following World War II. The event hadn't been played in a decade. Interest waning on both sides of the Atlantic. No money available to fund the event or bring the British/Irish team over for the matches scheduled to be played that year at the Portland Golf Club.

Enter Bob Hudson. Hudson, never better than a 16 handicapper, was, nonetheless, passionate about golf, explaining that, while his well-to-do friends put their money into yachts, he put his into golf.

To make a long story short, Hudson apparently almost singlehandedly funded the 1947 event. He paid for everything, the price of passage of the British team to the States, their hotel rooms when they arrived — all expenses! And he did the same for the American Team as well! The remarkable article can be read in its entirety at http://www.golfweek.com/news/2010/sep/27/bob-hudson-ryder-cup-portland-golf-club/.

Now, the lesson.

There seems to be no record whatsoever of Bob Hudson — at least that I could discover — arising from searches on the Internet, other than Mr. Achenbach's excellent article. Surely Hudson had to have some semblance of an ulterior motive. Did his wholesale grocery business benefit from his generiosity, just as FedEx's did this past weekend at the culmination of this year's uber-event that so prominently bore FedEx's name? Not that I could discover. Surely a comprehensive biography would pop up on Wikipedia or on some other online encyclopedia. Try as I did, I could find nothing!

Marvelous!

In short, here was an individual who benefited the game at the grandest of levels who seems to have been content that the Ryder Cup continued on! Bob Hudson apparently didn't step forward after first calculating the ROI that he would enjoy. No. Apparently he stepped forward as a golfer, one dedicated to the game and its continuity at all levels and in all arenas!

For me, the story of Bob Hudson will make the matches this weekend that much more meaningful.

With that in mind all of us should be more inspired than ever to...

Hit 'Em Long and Straight!

JIM FURYK SAVES THE (PLAYOFFS) DAY

by Doug McAllister

And just like that the PGA Playoffs and the FedEx Cup are redeemed! At least for today.

As noted in my last post, I was more than a bit skeptical about how things might turn out this year. Fortunately the new guys fizzled and a tried and true tour veteran rightfully took his place at the pinnacle of this year's golf world.

But, aren't we supposed to welcome new greats to the game? Didn't Jack Nicklaus, Ben Crenshaw, Payne Stewart, Ernie Els and many, many others have to win their first BIG ONE somewhere and sometime?

Sure they did, but none of them did it by sneaking in the proverbial back door of the current "lottery loaded" PGA. The FedEx Cup, with its complicated points system and its unreasonable weighting of the final four events, is the latest in a long line of snotty and materialistic MARKETING-BASED programs, supposedly designed to bring golf to the forefront. It's all about money any more. Golf, the game, is secondary.

I had to laugh as during today's event one of the suits from FedEx was interviewed. Nothing but transparent business posturing! The guy probably wouldn't know a real golf ball if it hit him in the back of the head. All he could talk about — and I was absolutely amused at how unabashedly he laid it out there — was how the FedEx Cup was nothing more to the main sponsor than a pathetic marketing ploy. He said nothing about FedEx's dedication to promoting the good of the game. No! It was all about how the event and FedEx's participation therein was adding to the company's illegitimately bloated bottom line!

Even more telling were the interviews with the players. When each was asked whether they knew during the course of play where they stood in the points tally, each laughed off the system as being wildly complicated. How true! Each would have needed a statistician walking the course with them along with their caddy! In the end, the common statement by each was something like, "I came here to play the best golf I could and really didn't have time to be worried about where I stood in the points tally or calculating which shot would win things for me." Good for them!

And, what if Golf doesn't need to be brought to the forefront? What if Golf was just fine and dandy before everyone and their dog decided that the game was the latest chic fashion statement?

Which brings me back to Furyk's achievement. Here we have a golfer's golfer. No weirdo glamor or pretty-boy face that everyone is trying to get a piece of. Just a steely-eyed game designed to do what it did for Furyk this weekend and all through the year and Playoff series. Minus, of course, his being inappropriately and shamelessly disqualified at the Barclays. But that, my friends, is another discussion entirely.

Everything about Furyk seems to be...well...unattractive. Except for the results he achieves! And no apologies necessary! His hawkish looks. His gangling physique. And swing coaches have been commenting on his unorthodox swing since he hit the tour. You won't find him on glitzy ads for Gillette razors. You won't see him on billboards, wistfully staring off into space, stupidly contorting his wrist so you can't miss seeing his Tag Heuer watch! You won't see his face staring back at you from posters stumping this or that golf brand. As I said, no glamor. No glitz.

But that's what makes Jim Furyk so beautiful! His notoriety — what there is of it — comes from his performance on the greens and fairways of whatever event he is currently playing. Furyk plays golf because it's as much a part of him as his eyes or feet or elbows or heart!

Player of the year 2010? Unquestionably! If the honor goes to anyone else it will be a major injustice to Furyk and to the game.

Enough said! HELAS!

FEDEX CUP WIN = BEST PLAYER OF THE YEAR? NOT HARDLY!

by Doug McAllister

With the Tour Championship in full swing (some pun intended) at East Lake in Atlanta, thoughts turn toward wrapping up the golf year. With that the focus naturally turns to what a FedEx Cup win really means.

A couple of posts ago, I shared thoughts about the excellent article by John Feinstein in a recent issue of Golf World magazine. You will recall that it is Mr. Feinstein's opinion that the PGA Playoffs are — cutting right to the nerve — a sham! As I have considered it, I have come to completely agree.

Think about the top 30 now playing in the culminating event of the PGA Playoffs. Who is there and who really could be classified as a top player — let alone PGA Player of the Year? Okay, we have Phil Mickelson. Kudos to Phil. Big check mark there. We have Ernie Els — new inductee into the World Golf Hall of Fame! Congrats! Ditto. Ditto. Jim Furyk, Retief Goosen, Geoff Olgivy and Zach Johnson — all past Major Championship winners as well — are in the field. Check. Check. Check. Check.

Then we have Steve Stricker, a consistent journeyman player who has arguably paid his dues. Check!

And then things start to get really dicey! Many others in the field — chiefly the Dustin Johnsons, the Charley Hoffmans and the Matt Kuchars — are here as "lottery winners." Face it, they got lucky by winning Playoff event that dumped unreasonable jackpots of FedEx Cup points on players who, given regular season play, might have been lucky to be included in the Tour Championship field at all!

Sadly, the result of all of this is that the PGA has transparently become the latest sports organization to almost completely sell its soul to Mammon! Mammon? You know, filthy lucre, "The Almighty Dollar." Mammon!

And with all due respect to the players, the fault is not theirs. They belong to a sports association that says "Here's how it will be" and that's it. None would be expected to walk away from the lottery any more than any of us would be expected to slam our front door in the face of the Publisher's Clearing House representative standing there with a check as big as the door itself! So on they go.

What is left, though, is the sad reality that each of us, as golf fans, may be required to consider the year's final results with a monstrous asterisk floating in the back of our minds. Regardless of who wins the FedEx Cup, along with its inflated paycheck — unless, of course, Phil or Ernie or Retief manages a miracle finish at East lake — each of us is left to "qualify" the results. I can hear it all now. Something like this: "Yeah, Matt Kuchar is a good golfer. Wonder if he'll back up this year with a Major?"

An unfair sentiment? A consummately fair sentiment!

It was another World Golf Hall of Famer, golf writer Herbert Warren Wind, who stated in 1954, "A golfer's true greatness must always be measured by the number of Major Championships he wins." Hear, hear! Currently, despite the questionable marketing efforts of the PGA, the FedEx Cup is not recognized as a Major Championship. And — unless the PGA gets its act together and works out a system that fairly and accurately recognizes appropriate annual golfing achievements that warrant an invitation to the Playoffs and result in participation in the Tour Championship — here's hoping it never will be!

But, I'm abandoning my favored mantra that nothing that the PGA does matters to the heart and soul of Golf or that of each individual golfer. Apologies. After all, I'm only human.

But, keeping the proper golfing perspective in mind, take up your clubs, smell the grass and listen to song of the meadow larks that love a golf course nearly as much as you do and get out there and...

Hit 'em Long and Straight!

SEPTEMBER 20TH — AMERICAN GOLF'S "INDEPENDENCE DAY!"

by Doug McAllister

One can look back at the history of golf and spot important dates. Some on a world scale, others more bound to the American home front. (Or should I say Course front?) Majors won. Ryder Cup victories and defeats. Some triumphs. Others tragedies.

But for all American golfers there is but one date that should stand out above all others. This date was — in my view — the day that America became a legitimate golfing presence. Like the American Revolution and July 4th, 1776 go inseparably together, American golf and September 20th, 1913 should go together like ... well ... dimples and golf balls! What's so special about that date? Some of you know, but for those who don't...


AN MOST UNLIKELY "TRIUMVIRATE"












Harry Vardon (left in photo) was considered by many to be the greatest Englishman to play the game. Arguably he till is. Up from the most humble of beginnings, Vardon would amass a championship record that included winning six Open Championships (a record that still stands today). The Vardon grip was named for him.

In 1913 he might have lost a step or two but was still considered a major golfing threat to the fledgling United States Open being played that year in Brookline, Massachusetts. Although not as shining a star in the golfing firmament, Vardon's friend and partner, Ted Ray (right in photo) was nearly as formidable an opponent as was Vardon. So when these two British giants came to the States with the intent of carrying away the U.S. Open Championship most believed them capable of doing it.

I won't go into additional biographical detail for Vardon and Ray. Suffice it to say that they were preeminent golfers and champions — as golf writer, Bernard Darwin would later put it — "Two Goliaths" that struck fear into the hearts of most of the competitors of the day.

Which brings us to the third member of the trio in question.

Francis DeSales Ouimet (at center in photo) was, in every sense, a golfing "David" when pitted against the gigantic foes considered here. Not a golfing hack in the least, Ouimet was a champion in his own right having won the Massachusetts State Amateur and other events. But to consider the notion that he could stand with the likes of Vardon and Ray was something that no one seriously entertained.

THE GREATEST GAME EVER PLAYED

And so it was that the fray was joined and, in the end, a three-way tie resulted at the 1913 U.S. Open. A playoff was scheduled for September 20, 1913 and included Vardon, Ray and Ouimet. The story is one that has been appropriately told and retold. In my opinion, the best accounts are to be found in the book The Greatest Game Ever Played by Mark Frost and in the excellent Disney movie of the same title with Frost contributing the screenplay.

It is history that every American golfer, at least, should know about.

It has been appropriately argued that, without Francis Ouimet and his unlikely victory at the Country Club in Brookline, there would have been no Bobby Jones. No Arnold Palmer. No Jack Nicklaus. And, if we must, no Eldrick Tont "Tiger" Woods. Oh, sure things might have rolled out in subsequent years to legitimize golf in the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave. But Francis Ouimet was the perfect hero to give golf the boost into America's sporting mainstream that it needed. American's dearly love the underdog — especially when he is a stripling 20-year-old and one of their very own.

In the end, Ouimet was able to proudly raise the U.S. Open trophy high, having defeated his two professional foes in classic style. And, like all good stories, Ouimet, Vardon and Ray remained fast friends over the course of their lives.


PUT IT ON YOUR CALENDAR — REMEMBER IT!

And so, September 2oth, which just happens to be today, should be a day that is inscribed in ink on your collective calendars. Commemorate it just as you would the 4th of July. Why not? After all, prior to Ouimet's striking championship, British golfers dominated championship golf in these United States. No, we have no record of them wearing red coats or harassing the citizens of Boston. But isn't it fitting that, in 1913, a golfing George Washington stepped forward — in the same vicinity as the famous military shots heard round the world! — and put golf solidly on the map of the American sporting psyche!


Pick up Frost's excellent book. Watch and enjoy the Disney movie.

Get out there today — on this day of days in American Golf — and celebrate! What better day to tee it up, waggle proudly at the thought of our golfing history and...

Hit 'em Long and Straight!

A WEEK OFF: A FEW RANDOM THOUGHTS

by Doug McAllister

What a void a week off from the regular PGA schedule makes. I guess that the thought is the 30 who have qualified for East Lake need time to regroup, to rest and to get ready for the finale.

Given the fact that I wasn't able to spend my Saturday following the latest event, I found my mind entertaining a few random thoughts about the Playoffs, the game generally and, with the Ryder Cup just around the corner, about my favorite golfer of all time, Payne Stewart.


THE PLAYOFFS

I have to admit that my thoughts today about the Playoffs and the FedEx Cup were spurred by a rather astute article in this week's issue of GolfWorld magazine by John Feinstein. Tucked in the very back of the issue, the article provides some rather eye-popping facts about the current playoff system.

Did you know that, should a player finish a legitimate Grand Slam during the course of the calendar year — all four majors during the same annual season — he would garner only 2,400 points toward winning the FedEx Cup? But isn't 2,400 a pretty impressive number? Not when compared to the 2,500 points that the winner of a single Playoff event receives. That's right, Matt Kuchar won 100 points more for winning The Barclays than he would have won had he completed the Grand Slam! Ridiculous!

Even more ridiculous is the fact, so eloquently communicated by Feinstein in his article, that Charley Hoffman garnered the same 2,500 points for winning the BMW and never hit a single shot in any of this year's Major Championships. That's correct! Hoffman could walk away with the FedEx Cup — a trophy positioned to represent the best player on tour this year — without having qualified for a single Major. Preposterous!

I had never really put 2 and 2 together here. It's mind boggling to admit that the Playoff seems to be as broken a process as it is. Oh yes, the Player of the Year honors are not inseparably tied to the FedEx Cup, but shouldn't they be? Should someone this year win the FedEx Cup and not be the Player of the Year, that would certainly begin the debate in earnest!

Read Feinstein's article if you get the chance. You'll, perhaps, come away as I did, with the notion that the PGA these days is far, far more about money and not nearly enough about real golfing excellence and achievement.


GOLF'S STAYING POWER

But, as I've noted ad nauseam in past posts, Golf's staying power is as far from the workings of the professional ranks as Earth is from Pluto (that is is the second-largest known dwarf planet in the Solar System (after Eris) and the tenth-largest body observed directly orbiting the Sun. Originally classified as a planet, Pluto is now considered the largest...er...but I'm woefully off track!).

Think of it (again). Whether Eldrick misses this year's BIG DANCE or whether Camillo Villegas switches his clubs from Titleist to TaylorMade or whether John Daly's golf pants can actually trigger seizures among viewers in the gallery IS TOTALLY IMMATERIAL! That's right! Not one of the seemingly earth shattering scenarios can straighten your slice or sharpen your ability to read a hard-breaking putt or add twenty yards to your drives.

Want to know why? Because Golf is as personal to you as your own fingerprints. If you're a true golf aficionado the PGA could go to Pluto and you would keep on playing the game just as you always have. Think about that. If your satisfaction of the real game of Golf depends on the workings of the PGA it's time to hang up the clubs and join Roosevelt Grier's online crocheting club!


THERE WILL NEVER BE ANOTHER PAYNE STEWART

Owing to the lack of a tournament today, I popped in a recording of the 1999 U.S. Open at Pinehurst #2. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. I recall watching the tournament back in '99. The drama of Payne's final round. His amputated rain jacket. Stewart's long, sweet swing. The final putt. Magical stuff then. More magical still when one realizes that Payne had just a few months left to live.

Since '99 it's been interesting how much Payne's legend has grown. TV specials. Biographies. Special foundations and funds in Payne's name. Remarkable!

Payne's class, especially when juxtaposed against recent goings on in the lives of various Tour players, is sorely missed in far too many ways. For one, no doubt — if Stewart were alive — we wouldn't be tolerating Corey Pavin at the helm of this year's Ryder cup venture.

But despite the fact that Stewart's life was so rudely snuffed out over a decade ago, there are those who forge on in the same spirit. I miss Payne because he was one of the rare few on Tour who seemed to be able to separate Golf from the professional game. He was also able to put Golf and life in the proper perspective. One need only watch the end of his triumph at Pinehurst in '99 — as he clutched Mickelson's face and wished luck for Mickelson's imminent fatherhood and offered the counsel that fatherhood was the BIG DEAL — to know the truth of that!


With that, HELAS!

EVEN FOR TIGER, IT'S DRIVE FOR SHOW AND PUTT FOR DOUGH. OR IS IT?

by Doug McAllister

As Tiger makes an early exit from this years PGA Playoff series, the excuses begin to buzz like flies near a cow pie! The Tiger-o-philes are quick to explain why the #1 player in the world is completely justified in his paltry play over the past few months, generally, and his dreadful play in the past few weeks, particularly: Give him a break! He's retooling his swing. You don't do that overnight. It can take months! He's got a new coach. That's why Tiger is a bit off his game. If golf were totally about driving and approach shots — the full-swing shots apparently being addressed presently by Coach Foley — I would probably wholeheartedly agree. But it isn't.

We've all heard the old cliched adage, "Drive for show and putt for dough." Quite simply the meaning here is that, regardless of the steps taken to get to the green, the real dividing line between those who win and those who don't is how the putter is working. Right?

Walter Hagen's version of this was, "Three bad shots and one good shot still makes par!" And you don't have to be a genius to note that the one good shot he was talking about was invariably a putt.

Let's face it, Tiger has never been a straight shooter from the tee. Far from it. He sprays the ball all over the course. What used to make Tiger unbeatable was his ability to scramble in and sink Hagen's good shot — the winning putt.

So what is all of this nonsense about Tiger needing time to reengineer his swing in order to win? Take a look at the putts he's missed of late. He's seen far more than his share of makeable putts and, truth be told, he has simply blown too many of them.

Or am I missing something here? Has Foley got Tiger changing his putting stroke as well? I haven't noticed bizarre new grips for Tiger. Unlike Vijay Singh, who lately changes his grip with every putt, Tiger is using the same setup, the same grip and, with the exception of a some play at the Open Championship earlier this year, the same putter.

So let's all take a deep breath and face the facts: Tiger is where he is right now because his confidence is totally blown! That's it and that's all! Foley will work with Eldrick. They'll go through the process. It will take whatever time it takes and...Voila!...without confidence it won't amount to a hill of beans! Tiger is where he is because his idyllic little life was shattered by a series of really stupid decisions and not because he somehow wore out the swing that literally set the world of golf afire in 2000.

Let's stop all of this nonsense about Tiger's losing streak is fine because he's "working things out." Let's face the music and own up to truth that Tiger just can't put his head where it needs to be right now. And — oh, yes — can we please stop with the stupidity that Tiger's slump is destroying the collective health of the Game of Golf?!

Want to realize the truth of that? Get out there, yourselves, and...

Hit 'em Long and Straight!