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FEATURE • Metropolitan Tee
Times would like to extend our thanks to
the many advertisers we have every year.
Without their dedication we could not
bring you the best local, regional, and
national golf information for the state of
Nebraska. Please frequent these dedicated
companies and golf courses. Let them know
that you appreciate what they are doing
for the game. Benson High School,
Bent Tree Golf Course, Brad Johnson
Photography, Brad Johnson Computer
Support, Bucket Boy Graphics, Chili Greens
Golf Course City of Omaha &endash; Golf
Division, Cox Communications, Devils Tower
&endash; Wyoming, Dodge Riverside Golf
Club, Eagle Hills Golf Course, Eagle Run
Golf Course, ESPN Radio, Fontenelle Hills
Golf Club, Golf USA, Golfviews, Iron Horse
Golf Club, Jay Welters Handmade Cigars,
Keep Omaha Beautiful LaVista Falls Golf
Course Lake Ridge Golf Course, Modis
Corporation, Prairie Golf, Quarry Oaks
Golf Course, River Wilds Golf Club
Riverside Grille Schmidley's Driving
Range, Stone Creek Golf Course, Superior
Spa & Pool Table Creek Golf Course,
The Players Club, Tiburon Golf Club, Tiger
Tom's Pub, Woodland Hills Golf
Course • If you are not
intending to play golf this fall and have
already put up your clubs for the year,
you are making a huge mistake. This is
without a doubt the best time of the year
to play. Cool mornings and calm afternoons
are usually the norm for late September
and October. On some courses you have to
put up with recent aerations and leaves,
but, a call ahead can give you the best
golf at courses that have few trees and
completed their aeration in early
September. So, get out there and see if
the weather holds for you to play golf in
every month through May of next
year. • When looking for
that hard to find gift for your
significant golfing partner, don't forget
to shop at one of the outstanding vendors
listed above. Their customer service and
prices are guaranteed to give you the best
for your spending dollar. • It would appear
that Landscapes Unlimited is on track with
their vision of becoming a leader in the
golf course development and ownership
industry. They have recently added Pacific
Springs to their local list of Arbor
Links, The Players Club, and Shoreline
Golf Courses. According the their vision
statement they expect to have an ownership
interest in at least 40 courses by the end
of year 2005. • Have a great
holiday season and Metropolitan Tee Times
will be back next year with some new
surprises for its readers. Don't forget to
write golf-fore-um@cox.net with your
stories, jokes, or comments. We love to
hear from you and if we print any of your
stories or jokes, you can receive a years
subscription to Metropolitan Tee Times.
FEATURE By Bob Hall, When I started my
career in golf course maintenance they
were called sand traps. Later I heard the
term "kitty litter" and also the "beach".
Today the politically correct term is
bunker or sand bunker. No matter what you
call them they are one of the more
controversial subjects in golf course
discussions. Too much sand, not enough
sand, too wet, too soft or hard as a rock
are some of the things I hear. The crazy
thing is that I can hear all of those
comments about the same bunker on any
given day. I think many people
forget that bunkers are, by definition,
hazards. After all, playing a recovery
shot from a hazard is not always a
pleasurable experience. This is not to say
that bunkers should not be maintained
properly, but bunker maintenance is
usually not considered as important as
greens, tees, fairways or even rough. The
quality of bunker performance is not just
a function of maintenance. Architectural
design and the physical properties of the
sand play a big role. Drainage of bunkers
is a huge problem on golf courses and many
hours can be spent trying to solve these
problems. Motorized sand rakes have
contributed to faster maintenance of the
sand, but have also contributed to the
deterioration of bunker conditions through
compaction and damage to edges. If only
every course could afford to maintain all
bunkers by hand. Would we all be happier?
The greens might not get mowed but the
sand would be great. The bottom line is that
every course management team has to decide
what priority bunker maintenance has in
the overall performance of their course.
It should be directly related to the
desires of the players at each course and
the budget money available to do the
job. FEATURE 2004 RYDER CUP History will not soon
forget the 2004 Ryder Cup. I was fortunate
enough to be at Oakland Hills Country Club
to watch this debacle in person. A group
is only as good as its leader, or in this
case, its Captain. I respect Hal Sutton
and hate to second guess any decisions he
made, but a 18 _ to 9 _ finish leaves me
no choice. On Wednesday he let Phil
Mickelson take the day off. Thursday, Phil
Mickelson chose to practice alone on the
North Course. Not a bad idea, except the
matches were played on the South Course.
The pairings were not
only a shock to the us, they were a
surprise to the team. Sutton kept the
pairings from the players until the
afternoon before play and did not consult
them on their thoughts. In 1991, Captain
Dave Stockton knew most of his pairings
three weeks prior to the matches. He
notified the players and asked that they
start playing practice rounds (in regular
tour events) with these partners and even
requested they practice the alternate shot
format. Stockton believed the most
important things in pairing players was:
compatibility, similarity in golf games,
and the ball they used. It is no wonder
NBC analyst Johnny Miller recently called
Stockton the "best U.S. Ryder Cup Captain
ever." Sutton paired Davis
Love III and Fred Funk together Friday
afternoon in the alternate shot format.
Davis drove the ball nine miles and Funk
barely hit it past his shadow. There are
not two people on the entire team with
more opposite games and personalities.
Playing from Funk's drive, Davis was
hitting a 6 or 7 iron into greens he
practiced hitting wedges into. He also paired Tiger
Woods with Phil Mickelson in both matches
Friday. They were the two best U.S.
players on paper. Turns out it was toilet
paper. If Sutton splits them up, they are
playing for a total of four points on
Friday, not two. Tiger and Phil had no
chemistry and rarely spoke to each other.
Mickelson was using new equipment by way
of a lucrative contract attempting to get
the new company exposure during the
matches. I watched him hit some shots with
the new clubs that would make a 20
handicap blush. Including a crucial drive
on #18 that bounced off the fence (that is
bad in golf). I spoke with an insider
who, along with assistant Captain Jackie
Burke, had to convince Hal Sutton to play
Chris Riley with Tiger Woods Saturday
morning in the four-ball matches. This was
a no-brainer. They drilled Ian Poulter and
Darren Clarke 4 & 3. After this match,
Chris Riley told Sutton he was too drained
to play again in the afternoon. He only
played 15 holes! He also told the press he
had never played the alternate shot format
and felt another player may give the team
a better chance. What were these guys
doing in the practice rounds all week?
Maybe I should give Riley credit for
practicing on the right golf course. What
is happening here? I will credit the
Europeans for playing great golf. They
drove the ball better and holed more
putts. They were much more cordial and
engaging with the crowds and appeared to
thoroughly enjoy themselves the entire
week. The Americans kept to themselves,
most staring straight into the ground.
Look for some serious changes at the 2006
matches. Hopefully, with proper
preparation and guidance our players can
come together and get this Cup
back! After spending the week
at Oakland Hills Country Club for the 2004
Ryder Cup, I learned the
following: 1) The Ryder Cup means
more to the European Team. 2) David Howell is
apparently a Professional Golfer (went
1-1). 3) American players are
pampered. 4) The Ryder Cup means
more to the European Team. 5) Miguel Angel Jimenez
has a really bad hair-do. 6) Chris Riley may need
to join a gym. 7) The American Team
had better looking spouses . 8) The Ryder Cup means
more to the European Team. |
