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Tis the Season at TPC Sawgrass for the Web.com Tour Championship!

September 30, 2015 By admin

Tis the season at TPC Sawgrass for the Web.com Tour Championship!

As a golf aficiondo, I am very fortunate to live in Northeast Florida. Not only is TPC Sawgrass home to the PGA TOUR organization, it is also home to THE PLAYERS Championship in the Spring and the Web.com Tour Championship in the Fall. In between there is the late Summertime Junior PLAYERS Championship and of course in the Winter this is a Mecca for snowbird golfers from the north. But right now, this week at tis the season at TPC Sawgrass for the Web.com Tour Championship!

This is the Final of the Web.com Tour Finals. Hope is still alive for 25 more golfers to earn their 2015-2016 PGA TOUR cards. For World No. 1 and No. 1 on the Fed Ex Cup Points List, Jordan Spieth down to No. 125 Jeff Overton, a tour card for next year is a done deal. Breathe, relax and take a holiday until the season opener in two weeks at the Frys.com Open at Silverado CC in Napa, California.

Life size mural of Carlos Ortiz, 2014 Web.com Player of the Year, hangs in the Media Center.

For the 2015 Web.com Tour Season Winner, No. 1 on the Money List after the 21 regular season events, Patton Kizzire down to No. 25 Patrick Rodgers, their main mission is done having earned their golden 2015-2016 PGA TOUR card, same as the Top 125. Well not exactly, the 4-week Finals series is a chance to improve their ranking going into the PGA TOUR season, the best they can do is to be right there immediately following the Top 125. For full field 164-player events it might not matter but for smaller fields and invitational events with limited daylight hours it can matter a great deal. Breathe, relax and spin the wheel one more time with only upward possibilities.

In the Merry Mixup of Nos. 126 to 200 from the PGA TOUR and Nos. 26 to 75 from the Web.com Tour there are 25 additional tour cards at stake this week on Dye’s Valley Course at TPC Sawgrass. After the first three Finals events, Chex Reavie is at the top of the Finals Money List and Jhonattan Vegas is at the bottom of the additional Top 25.

Only $253.57 separates lucky now Johnny Vegas from Billy Hurley III, $641.42 from Scott Langley and $1,871.42 from Andrew Yun. The total purse this week is $1,000.000 with $180,000 to the winner, $27,000 for solo 10th place, and the last person in the money potentially winning $2,000. So if Vegas’ luck runs out and Langley makes the cut, holding all other things constant (which never happens even in engineering school with PV-nRT), Langley gets the tour card, Vegas does not.

So it will be an exciting week on the golf course, the Finals’ Final of the Qualification to earn a tour card if you will, but not the old Q-school, to see who comes through at the end. Off the course it will be another amazing week, as the pictures will attest to, for tis the season at TPC Sawgrass for the Web.com Tour Championship and the exciting conclusion of the Finals!

Wouldn’t you love to walk into the President’s Cup Library at the TPC Sawgrass Clubhouse and register with Kelli (L) and Kathy (R) as a player for the Web.com Tour Championship?

With Darling Darlene in her diner feeding the volunteers in 29 THE PLAYERS Championship, 7 PGA TOUR Championships and now 5 Web.com Tour Championships.

Players this week tend to go in and out of the front door of the Clubhouse to get to Dye’s Valley but have hopes of walking out this tunnel next May.

Filed Under: Hickory Golf, PGA TOUR Golf

Charlottesville’s Keswick Hall has History, Personality, & Golf to Dye for!!!

September 8, 2015 By admin

Communications Manager & Resident Historian Patricia Castelli has thoroughly researched the history of Keswick Hall and written a book about it.

Came across a gem today outside Charlottesville, Virginia called Keswick Hall! Interviewed Resident Historian Patricia Castelli (property dates back to 1912) and PGA Head Golf Professional Eric McGraw today. Playing the new Pete Dye design that opened last fall tomorrow morning! Excited to say the least. (Facebook Post with 7 pics, Andy Reistetter, 9-8-15)

Full Cry is the name of the golf course! Not a fox hunter but sure I will be crying fully and loudly tomorrow!

Keswick Hall dates back to 1912 when it was know as the Villa Crawford.

Communications Manager & Resident Historian Patricia Castelli has thoroughly researched the history of Keswick Hall and written a book about it.

PGA Head Golf Professional Eric McGraw’s father worked for Ben Hogan and he works for the man who bought the AMF/Ben Hogan Company Bill Goodwin.

This is a 5-star luxury hotel with an infinity pool.

Where the infinity pool ends, golf on the Pete Dye designed Full Cry golf course begins!

A links-like Pete Dye design… intriguing to say the least…

This is a 5-star luxury hotel with an infinity pool.

Where the infinity pool ends, golf on the Pete Dye designed Full Cry golf course begins!

A links-like Pete Dye design… intriguing to say the least…

Keswick Hall dates back to 1912 when it was know as the Villa Crawford.

Full Cry is the name of the golf course! Not a fox hunter but sure I will be crying fully and loudly tomorrow!

Filed Under: "Play-Write" Golf Courses, East Coast Golf Journey

2015 DSGO: Maggert the Magnificent Wins the 2015 Dick’s Sporting Goods Open!

August 30, 2015 By admin

Jeff Maggert, the 2015 DSGO Champion with his trophy, in the Media Center after a bogey-free 66 seized his 4th win of the year!

Jeff Maggert, the Champions Tour star of 2015 , won for the fourth time, including two majors, closing with a spectacular bogey-free 6-under 66 at the municipal owned En Joie Golf Course in Endicott, New York. Under firm and fast conditions all week long the winning score of 14-under par was lower than all but one of the first nine Dick’s Sporting Goods Opens (DSGO).

Maggert did the hard work easy birding six of the first ten holes then finishing with eight straight pars as the next best score out of the final two threesomes was a 70 by playing partner Ian Woosnam. Goydos was Maggert’s closest pursuer on the back nine but his last birdie came at the par-5 12th and his tee shot on the difficult par-4 15th found the water right. After a good pitch on the short par-4 16th Goydos missed the short birdie putt and was unable to drain two makeable birdie putts on the way to the clubhouse and a solo second place finish.

The video scoreboard congratulating Jeff Maggert during the Awards Ceremony on the 18th green.

Corey Pavin put on a gallant charge all day recording his fifth birdie with no bogeys with a masterful chip in at the par-3 17th to get within two strokes tied with Goydos. The UCLA bruin was drawing his tee shots for distance and hitting a power fade for control off the tee all day long but his tee shot on the 18th found water left and he finished with a disappointing double bogey to fall to a T3 finish With Ian Woosnam, David Frost (71), Peter Senior (65) and Jerry Smith (67).

Second round leader Rod Spittle shot a 74 to finish T12 while his playing partners in the final pairing John Huston (72) and Scott McCarron (75) failed to make a charge. Spittle had four bogyes and only one birdie. The 2011 DSGO Champion Huston’s demise was a 5-iron right on the par-3 7th that found water and resulted in a triple bogey while McCarron started with a bogey on No. 1 and suffered a triple bogey on the 15th hole. This year’s low tournament round was a 64 versus last year’s historic 59 on Saturday by Kevin Sutherland.

The Stack Family of Dick’s Sporting Goods being honored by Broome County Executive Debra Preston.

Maggert the Magnificent joins the tradition of champions in both the Champions Tour’s Dick’s Sporting Goods Open and the PGA TOUR’s B.C. Open. The first as professional golf came to Broome County in 1971 was Harmon. It was his first and only win as he went on to become the famous golf instructor, author and television broadcaster. World Golf Hall of Famers Tom Kite, Fred Couples, and Bernard Langer have won at En Joie.

Local professional golfer Richie Karl won here in 1974. I remember that one at age 14 running out to see him sink a 35-foot birdie putt on the 15th green, the first hole in a playoff with Bruce Crampton. Joey Sindelar won in 1985 and while Mike Hulbert won in 1989.

From Nancy Lopez’s clinic earlier in the week, to the Johnny Hart Memorial Christian Fellowship Breakfast on Thursday, to the Lady Antebellum concert on Friday night it was another memorable Dick’s Sporting Goods Open in the Valley of Opportunity, Hart & Faith.

Large crowds turned out all week at En Joie.

There was outstanding competitive professional golf once again at En Joie, the golf course originally built by built by George F. Johnson, the benevolent owner of the Endicott-Johnson Shoe Company. Mr. Johnson loved the game of golf and couldn’t see any reason that his employees shouldn’t love it as well. Well the relatives of those workers do love the game and come out to support one of the best events on the Champions Tour.

Jeff Maggert closed his champion interview, when asked what was the best thing about returning to the Triple Cities area, with “it’s nice to see things haven’t changed.” With plans to retire in my hometown of Binghamton, New York I agree wholeheartedly with Maggert the Mangificent, the 2015 DSGO Champion.

2015 DSGO: Admittedly Addicted to Spiedies at the Dick’s Sporting Goods Open

August 29, 2015 By admin

My spiedie salad at Ely Park triggered my week long addiction to spiedies at the DSGO.

My earliest childhood habit that I can recall is going on family picnics out to Chenango Valley State Park. It was a daylong affair of playing games, swimming and satisfying the hunger created by exercise by eating spiedies. I can remember the routine of hunting for wood, starting the fire, adding the charcoal and lovingly cooking the spiedies in the special spiedie sauce. I readily admit that I became addicted to spiedies at a relatively young age.

En Joie-ing a spiedie on the run at the 14th in the DSGO!

Spiedies give me tremendous energy and this week is just another example of their spirited effect on me. My first day here was Monday and I started off with a visit to Ely Park Municipal Golf Course. Not to golf but to have a spiedie salad for lunch up in the bar restaurant now referred to as cafe bar. The spiedie salad was delicious as you can see in the picture.

Maybe I should do a food column? Thanks to Lupo’s on the 14th tee here at En Joie I am now eating spiedies three times a day—late breakfast compliments of the

Media Center, late lunch at the 14th compliments of Lupo’s and this evening a spiedie BBQ celebrating a dog’s birthday.

The Lupo’s team of Cole, Patti & Pat on the 14th. Spiedies Extraordinaire!

So is my life when home and addicted to spiedies. Throw in the tasty Filet Mignon sandwich at Lampy’s that always hits the spot and Mario’s Pizza onsite for the Wednesday (sausage sandwiches) and Thursday (meatball subs) Pro-Ams and here you have a food column for the Dick’s Sporting Goods Open. Oh I almost forgot the gnocchi and meatballs on Wednesday at the Oaks Inn. So far I have managed to stay clear of the reportedly exceptionally tasty french fries but it is still only Saturday.

No this is a golf tournament, a very important one as the Champions Tour winds down to the final Charles Schwab Cup stretch. Only five more events after the Dick’s Sporting Goods Open (DSGO) this week to see if close pursuers Jeff Maggert and Bernard Langer or someone else can overtake Charles Schwab Cup Points leader Colin Montgomerie.

Rod Spittle’s advantage is one stroke and 25 years in Corporate America resting his body as he looks for his second Champiosn Tour victory on Sunday.

In Round 1 on Friday Gene Sauers opened up with matching 6-under 66s. They were trumped by the consistent 68-66 play of Rod Spittle in Round 2 on Saturday which earned him a one-stroke lead going into Sunday’s final round. A sensational holed-out pitch on the 17th for eagle provided Spittle with the lift to keep ahead of the young Scott McCarron (71-64) and long hitting John Huston (67-68). With a historic 59 recorded here last year by Kevin Sutherland, another 64 on Saturday by Stephen Ames (72-64, two strokes back) and a firm and fast golf course, the final round promises to be a spectacular Sunday shootout. There are 20 golfers within five strokes of Spittle with a chance to go low and win the ninth consecutive DSGO.

While high on spiedies this has been a whirlwind week in the Valley of Opportunity, Hart & Faith—a.k.a. as the Triple Cities of Binghamton, Johnson City and Endicott.

Up at Ely Park with Ray Linsky checking out the original drawings of the golf course from 1925.

Champion amateur golfer Ray Linsky, who has won the most club championship titles of anyone up at Ely Park, surprised me with the original 9-hole course layouts from 1925 and 1933. In 1907, S. Mills Ely tendered to the City of Binghamton a 140 acre tract of land on Mount Prospect for park purposes. I had always assumed the golf course idea was tied to the Civilian Conservation Corps initiative after the Great Depression of 1929 which tied to the documented 1933 opening date of the golf course. With Ray’s discovery, the idea of golf in Binghamton has as much to do with the growth of the game in the Roaring Twenties as it does as a project to create jobs.

Ely Park is a special place to golf and enjoy life!

If you ever get a chance, go play Ely Park, perched high above the Chenango and Susquehanna River valleys on Mount Prospect. The view includes downtown Binghamton and the confluence of the two rivers that led to the development and prosperity of the area way back in 1802. Close to Heaven, Golfing Atop Mount Prospect is quite the golfing and spiritual experience. Jim Maggiore, a retired IBMer, and Mike McCann, a 20-year veteran of the Johnson City Fire Department, just came out with Golf in Broome County, a great book about professional golf at the B.C. Open and the Dick’s Sporting Goods Open.

I might be the ‘i’ in Dick’s but spiedies has two ‘i’s and me!

Time to head out to the 14th far another spieidie fixing so here is the rest of the story in pictures.

For the record, per Wikipedia, a spiedie consists of cubes of chicken, pork, lamb, veal, venison or beef. The meat cubes are marinated overnight or longer in a special marinade, then grilled on spits over a charcoal pit. The traditional method involves serving freshly prepared cubes of lamb, chicken, or beef on soft Italian bread, and occasionally drizzled with fresh marinade.

I am drooling now. Gotta go.

I am admittedly addicted to spiedies during the week of the Dick’s Sporting Goods Open.

With Coach Jorie Ftorek and the talented and fun Binghamton High School golf team up at Ely Park.

With authors Jim Maggiore (L) and Mike McCann (R) at their Barnes & Noble book signing on Tuesday night.

With Fred Funk Mike Goodes & Loren Roberts (R to L) at the Johnny Hart Memorial Christian Fellowship Breakfast on Monday.

Filed Under: Hickory Golf, PGA TOUR Golf

A Tribute to Mr. Perry, Kenny Perry’s Dad

August 28, 2015 By admin

Where else in America do you see an exit sign on a major highway that pulls you off to exit and play golf?

Remember when the Ryder Cup was held at the Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky?

The 37th Ryder Cup Matches were hosted by native Kentuckians Kenny Perry and J.B. Holmes. The United States captained by Paul Azinger won that year. I remember driving up to Louisville from Florida, passing by Exit 2 on Interstate 65 and seeing the sign for Kenny Perry’s Country Creek Golf Course thinking next time I am going to stop.

Fast forward six years and the same thing happened on the way up to the 2014 PGA Championship at Valhalla. This time I exited and drove in to see the golf course. Of course on the way down the winding road I drove slow and took quite a few pictures before even hitting the parking lot. Wouldn’t you? I mean it was as beautiful to me as Magnolia Lane at Augusta National. As soon as I drove into a parking spot who appeared next to me but Mr. Perry himself, the father of champion professional golfer Kenny Perry.

Mr. Perry simply appeared out of nowhere when I pulled into a parking spot at Country Creek.

What a nice man. He was so kind and treated me like any other golfer showing up at Country Creek—like family. In fact he took a couple hours, showed me the golf course and introduced me to his daughter Lydia. He offered to introduce me to Kenny who was downstairs regripping his clubs to compete in the PGA Championship. I declined not wanting to disturb a man hard at work at his profession. It was a remarkable experience and one I knew I wanted to write about some day.

Sadly, Mr. Perry passed over the winter and today I asked Kenny Perry a question about his father at the Dick’s Sporting Goods Open. The question and answer is included below courtesy of Julie Winn and Kim Giel of Tee-Scripts Interviews. I thought Kenny’s words interspersed with pictures from my visit would be the best way to honor and offer a tribute to Mr. Perry.

If you are in that neck of the woods I would highly recommend an exit and stop to play golf. I look forward to teeing it up my next time through Kentucky!

Here we go with Mr. Perry & Son…

Off Exit 2 it is not far to Country Creek, follow the signs!

Q. I’m based in Florida, took the road trip up to Valhalla for that 2008 Ryder Cup (inaudible) passed it by. Back up there last year for the PGA and I pulled in, and kind of unique, I’m taking pictures going in so I pull into the parking lot. Your dad pulled up alongside in a golf cart and just hit it off with him, spent two hours with him. He took me out to see the house (inaudible) with your sister and the wedding. Your dad was a great guy, I knew him for two hours, felt like I knew him for his whole life. What did he mean to you, to your game of golf?

KENNY PERRY: Well, he was my hero, he was my hero. Here’s a man who survived the Battle of the Bulge. He told me he was in a foxhole for 30 days, didn’t take his boots off. He was dug in, it was frigid. He said the Germans were blowing ’em all up all around him. He’s lucky he survived, he said.

The entrance to Country Creek… gentle, spirited and handsome like Mr. Perry.

He’s a tough guy and learned a lot of life lessons from that man. He’s fun to talk to. I mean, he had a lot of stories. He had a lot of life stories and he was — he was really competitive. He loved to play golf, but he loved any kind of board game, card game. Back home in Kentucky Rook’s a big game, it’s a partner game. He used to beat me mercifully [sic.] I’d be six, seven years, eight, I’d be bawling, I’d be crying, I’d be throwing the game at him. I remember distinctly picking the games up and throwing them straight at him because I’d be so mad. It was amazing, and it made me the person who I am today. I’m a nice guy, but I want to beat your brains out when I get on that golf course. I’m very competitive.

With Mr. Perry and daughter Lydia in the old tobacco barn, now a fabulous wedding reception hall.

He actually — I was probably 10 years old and he worked at Life & Casualty Insurance at the time, it’s now called American General. He was a divisional vice president and he did a lot of the, I guess the social events at night. He would bring the people in. He would have to supply the wine and the beer and the whiskey and all that, so in our house we would have these huge stacks of whiskey by the refrigerator. My dad never drank. I was like, “Hey, Dad, I want to try some of that.” I don’t know what type of whiskey it was or whatever. He poured me a shot of that and he said, “Just pour it down, just go for it.” And man, it lit me up, I was on fire. I remember to this day I went screaming, running around the house going, “I need water!” I was only probably 10 years old, I wasn’t that old. I haven’t drank to this day. That just tells me how smart that guy was, he broke me of the habit early. I guess he had seen a lot of problems with alcohol. That was pretty neat.

Mr. Perry’s congenial personality will be missed but his spirit undoubtedly remains around Country Creek.

But he worked five days a week. I have three older sisters and a little brother and we didn’t have a lot of money, but our time together was on the golf course on the weekends. He loved to play golf. He taught me how to play, and he was pretty much my instructor all the way up to my freshman year in college and then Norman Head took over when I signed at Western Kentucky to play golf there. So played golf there at Western for four years. Norman taught me pretty much until he passed away about 15 years ago. Now Matt Killen kind of took over, who actually he taught Matt Killen for a while. Matt’s a great young instructor now. He was voted one of the top new instructors a few years ago, so very comfortable with him.

Mr. Perry with Kenny Perry’s first set of golf clubs. Proud Kentuckians but prouder father and son there is none to be found.

But Dad would always go with me — when I qualified for the Tour in ’86, Dad caddied for me and he would always have a cigar. He was probably in his bib overalls with his cigars right in the front pouch. That’s my dad, he loved to smoke cigars. Everybody tried to get him to quit. He passed away in November an d he was 90 years old still smoking. I said, “Y’all leave that guy alone, let him enjoy what few years he’s got left.”

But he would always chart — he would walk with me on every hole and he would chart every shot, every putt, and he would kind of make notes for the 18 holes and then he would write a little something down, and he handed me the score card at the end of each night for me to just kind of go over. He was basically trying to teach me course management a little bit, where he thought I could improve or get better.

You know, it was — me and him, it was a great relationship. I thought the world of that guy. It was pretty neat. And I miss him. Losing him in November was tough, but he went out — he taught me how to live and he taught me how to die. He was out with my sister. He’s 90 years old, still drove, still lived by himself. My mom had passed away about eight years earlier and she had multiple myeloma cancer, but I was really worried about him once I lost my mom. But shoot, he was tough. He took over everything at the house, he took over. But he was out to dinner, he was at Cheddar’s, he was with my sister and her husband and they said he just leaned his head forward and that was it.

Kenny figured it out pretty well on Friday opening up with a 2-under par 70. Mr. Perry had it figured out right all along in life…

He always told me, he said, “I don’t ever buy green bananas, Son. I don’t buy green bananas.” That’s the way he looked at life. I tell everybody he was probably mad because he didn’t get to eat his rack of ribs and his sweet tea he had in front of him. Amazing man. Hopefully I’ll take some of that energy and that competitiveness and try to figure it out come Friday.

Filed Under: People in Golf

2015 DSGO & the Triple Cities; Still the Valley of Opportunity, Hart & Faith

August 27, 2015 By admin

Cartoonist Mason Mastroianni created this artwork for this year’s breakfast. One lucky raffle winner took it home after breakfast.

The Champions Tour event—the Dick’s Sporting Goods Open (DSGO) is in the Triple Cities of Binghamton, Johnson City & Endicott, New York this week. So am I, now 55, I am lucky to have three hometowns and be back where I belong and where I lived the first 17 years of my life. If you have a few minutes, let me tell you why this, the Valley of the Susquehanna River (and the Chenango River in Binghamton), is still the Valley of Opportunity, Hart and Faith.

On this, the fourth day of being back home, I set the alarm for 6:30 a.m. Up, I showered, got dressed and headed over to The Johnny Hart Memorial Christian Fellowship Breakfast, hosted by the Hart Family at the Kalurah Shrine on Dickson Street in Endicott, not far from the En-Joie Golf Course, host to the DSGO since 2007. I have always wanted to attend this breakfast and I guess today was the day for me to do so.

Isn’t it funny how things in life, at times, seemingly so disconnected in time, suddenly become focused, clear and connected again? It was a good breakfast but I couldn’t tell you what I ate. I can tell you why it was good, long after the experience, because as you know I am a note-taker, a journeying journaler for some 15 years now. A producer at the Golf Channel once called me a “golf voyager and documentarian,” and I like to quickly add that I only like to document what I voyage.

See, it’s all about me and it is all about you and once we figure that out individually then we can celebrate it collectively. Have I lost you yet?

With LaVon and Skip, a lovely Christian Couple in life!

I sat down at a table and met a couple to cherish with the names of LaVon and Skip Hausamann. His full name is Erwin Werner Hausamann Jr., that’s why they call him Skip. She was from Texas and he from Massachusetts so of course I was intrigued as to how they met and how they came to live in the Triple Cities on the Southern Tier of New York, about a three hours drive time upstate from New York City.

He was a drill sergeant in the Air Force stationed at the Lackland Air Force Base outside San Antonio, Texas. She grew up a Southern Baptist (though now a Methodist) in a small town of Rogers, Texas. Her family and her church reached out to serviceman by inviting them over for Sunday dinner. Her family invited him and though forbade somehow they connected and made a go of it. Next year they,a long with their three children and eight grandchildren, will celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary.

It was a packed house at the Kalurah Shrine for the 9th Annual Hartfest.

My thoughts of LaVon and Skip were interrupted by “It’s a joy to be with you,” the words of Emrys Tyler, the Teaching Elder of the Ninevah Presbyterian Church giving the Invocation, one of the most inspiring invocations I ever heard.

Of course, I knew who Johnny Hart was. Growing up I religiously read his B.C. comic strip in the newspaper each day. Remember newspapers? Yeah, and the Sunday comic section? I remember his cartoon characters on site at the B.C. Open, the old regular PGA TOUR event held at En Joie Golf Course from 1971 through 2006, though the final event was held at the Turning Stone Resort & Casino in Verona due to a flooded golf course. I wanted to know more about the person, his creativity and his faith.

In his Invocation, Elder Tyler delivered on all three of my wants as he started his invocation with a Johnny Hart story. Evidently Johnny baked his favorite lemon meringue pie for a friend’s party and while delivering it he dropped it on the guy’s driveway. He grabbed a fork, knelt down and started eating the now upside down pie from the bottom side. I could feel his sense of patient presence and humor. I could visualize him making the best of a sad situation. Why wouldn’t he?

Elder Tyler then took me to where I needed to be noting that sometimes our reality in life is flipped upside down—from slavery to freedom, from sorrow to joy, from darkness to light and from where we are today to eternity. Make it so in Jesus’ name. Amen.

With Mason Mastroianni. I laughed when he used the word awkward. His eyes seem to think I am a bit awkward too. I am!

After tuning out for a moment or two to once again assess my upside-down life, I came back to the present moment just as Johnny Hart’s grandson, Mason Matroianni, who has been doing the comic strip now for nine years after the death of the self-described title B.C. character in life, utter that they “did not skip a beat” in the transition. I looked over and smiled at Skip and his lovely wife wondering if I had somehow skipped a beat or two in my life?

CLICK HERE for a Video Interview with Mason Mastroianni, Cartoonist, B.C. Comic Strip

Listening to Mason I could see how the comic strip kept beating along even with the sudden and unexpected death of its creator. Mason’s message was humble and direct. His grandfather was the father figure in his life and taught him everything he knew about life. Like his grandfather he is at home here in the Triple Cities and lets life come to him and then turns it around, maybe turns it right side up, sketching it back to us in prehistoric terms we can all understand. He thanked us all for honoring the memory of his grandfather.

Right then I was actively targeting him for a post-breakfast interview. Somehow, Hart’s heart and humor, compassion and creativity, was passed along and enhanced. There was inspiration there. I am an inspiration seeker.

Fred Funk at the podium. Loren Roberts on the left with the microphone. Mike Goodes in the middle right where his dream and God took him!

The main show of the breakfast hour came alive with Champions Tour players Fred Funk, Loren Roberts and Mike Goodes on stage with live microphones.

Fred told the first story. Playing with Jack Nicklaus at Doral, golf’s all-time greatest player asked him to play a practice with him and Arnold Palmer the guy who popularized the game of golf. at the Masters. After eager anticipation, he did so with goose bumps, disbelief and standing ovations all day long. The 2005 PLAYERS Champion readily admitted he could only handle playing with one legend at a time. Two was too much. One at a time… makes sense…

Loren’s greatest golfing experience was partnering with Arnold Palmer in the 2007 Wendy’s Champions Skins Game. His entry ticket was being the Charles Schwab Cup Champion, Mr. Palmer’s was being the King.

If Arnold was Mr. Golf Personality & Performance, then Loren was Mr. Golf Perseverance. admittedly a late bloomer, his first win on tour came at Arnold’s Bay Hill in 1994 at age 38, twenty years after turning pro, thirteen years after getting his first tour card on his fifth attempt at Q-School. Then he properly defended his title to the extreme the next year and went on to win a total of eight times on the PGA TOUR and thiriteen times on the Champions Tour, including four Majors.

Some things in life and golf take time…

Mike Goodes has o 1 win (2009 Allianz), 22 Top 10s in 187 dream starts on the Champions Tour. Photo Credit: Google Images

Mike Goodes is like you and me, the ultimate dreamer and late bloomer—the dream of every aging amateur golfer. Never a golf professional or professional golfer until age 50. Maybe you have to dream to become a dream reality for others. His biggest thrill coming out on tour was finding out that the guys he was watching play golf on TV were Christians too.

We live in an upside-down world, don’t we?

As Fred Funk shared, the tour is really a traveling circus and there is a need to keep in touch with reality and stay grounded. Whether you are on the move and doing the moving or stationary with the world moving around you we all need to be grounded somehow, somewhere.

Where in our whirlwind world can we find that foundation for life?

It’s probably more of an emotional and mental challenge than a physical one in reality.

Golf is a selfish sport. Whether an amateur or a professional, if we are not playing it, we are practicing, if we are not practicing, we are thinking about it. There can be a fear of losing one’s skill, one’s talent, one’s ability to compete and succeed in golf and life. We are born, we grow, we live, we decline and then we die. How do you deal with that if you want to be in control of everything?

We all can easily get sidetracked in faith even if we were raised in a religious family was how Loren started to share his testimony of how he came to Christ. He was down and out of money, everything he owned was in his car and he missed another cut. He came back to his hotel room and got down on his knees and accepted that Jesus Christ had died for our sins.

Today may be that day. Coming to Christ will change the rest of your life and beyond. Photo Credit: Google Images

A new perspective and prioritization in life came upon him and others who have done so.

No longer was he identified only as a golfer and the score shot that day.

Somehow the damage golf and other selfish pursuits was now minimized.

Grounded in God and the Bible somehow calmed the whirlwind of the world.

If Jesus is in our minds we can only think of one thing at a time.

We see the big picture instead of only our own smallness.

We question our personal mission in light of God’s mission for us.

If we respect God’s will and live out our faith our mission will be God’s mission.

If you can do it, it is a gift.

We don’t have to be perfect in life. Why not be as accepting, loving and compassionate to ourselves as we are to our family and friends? Why not cleanse our hearts, minds and body of fear, resentments, dishonesty and our own egotistical self.

Johnny Hart, cartoonist and creator of the comic strips B.C. and Wizard of Id. 1931-2007 Photo Credit: Wikipedia

Remember what Johnny Hart would say—”God is God and you are not.”

Why not turn ourselves upside-down?

Chaplain Tom O’Connor the Benediction noting that in a few minutes we will all go our separate ways. I had already done that when I graduated from Binghamton Central High School in 1977. The theme of our prom was “We must go our separate ways.”

We do but not necessarily alone.

These are all inspiring words and thoughts that came to me during The Johnny Hart Memorial Christian Fellowship Breakfast

We can only play with one legend at a time.

We can skip through life and feel our hearts beat and our lungs breathe.

We can, as inspired by Wally Armstrong, take the Big Mulligan.

You take a mulligan in golf, why not take one in life?

Our best golf and our best life is in front of us.

The best golfer this week will win the Dick’s Sporting Goods Open.

What will you win this week?

The Triple Cities—still the Valley of Opportunity, Hart & Faith.

Amen.

With Loren Roberts, Mike Goodes and Fred Funk. It was an honor and a privilege to hear their testimony and be inspired to write this story. Grateful. (-:

Filed Under: Featured People, Hickory Golf, People in Golf, PGA TOUR Golf

Erin go Braugh: Wisconsin’s Erin Hills; Host of the 2017 U.S. Open Won by Brooks Koepka!

August 17, 2015 By admin

Golf Writer Andy Reistetter continues his exclusive “Play-Write” series with the host course of the 2011 U.S. Amateur (Kelly Kraft) and 2017 United States Open (Brooks Koepka) Championships- Erin Hills Golf Course. Located in rural Wisconsin a little more than 60 miles from Kohler and a little less than 40 miles from Milwaukee, Reistetter was invited to play Erin Hills the Monday after the 2015 PGA Championship (Jason Day) at Whistling Straits. Here’s his account of the diamond in rough that became the gem in the eye of the U.S.G.A.

CLICK HERE for a Video Interview with Erin Hill’s Rich Tock about the history of golf course and its relationship with the United States Golf Association which conducts U.S. Opens.

Erin Hills with Holy Hill in the distance.

It was as if I was in Ireland leaving the seaside course at Ballybunion and traveling inland a wee bit to Killarney to play a park-like course to experience all facets of Irish golf.

The beautiful countryside, known as the Kettle Moraine landform came to be as the result of glaciers and has dramatic elevation changes.

The town of Erin, dating back to the mid 1800s, has less than 4,000 residents and having a Guinness while consuming an Irish Patty Melt at the Tally Ho Pub on the main street near St. Patrick’s Lane is a “must do” along with playing golf at Erin Hills.

The Roman Catholic National Shrine of Mary is located nearby the golf course on Holy Hill and is the highest point in southeastern Wisconsin.

With limited sight lines, only steeples in the distance, no GPS and being jostled amongst the hills I became lost on my trip down from Kohler.

The vast openness at Erin Hills….

No problem as the locals are more than friendly in those parts of Ireland, I mean Wisconsin.

I found the spot to turn down what seemed to be a two mile winding, desolate entrance road.

I told Toto we weren’t in Wisconsin anymore.

The arrival was that magical.

Not a house or anything manmade in site anywhere near the golf course with the exception of the manor home that includes some guest rooms and a pub.

Do you need anything more in life?

The clubhouse at Erin Hills and the barn that serves as a pro shop.

A refurbished barn served as the pro shop.

My first realization about the golf course is that it is no inland park-like golf course.

Erin Hills is a seaside links without the sea.

Things had changed since I played the course shortly after it opened in 2006.

The design team of Dr. Michael Hurdzan and Dana Fry had made improvements in their original design with Ron Whitten of only a few years prior.

The words on the Erin Hills website say it all with respect to their design philosophy and the attitude of owner Andy Ziegler and his management team:

The fairway bunker on No. 2 is a thing of beauty whether your ball lies within it or not.

“As is the case with many great courses, Erin Hills was designed with the knowledge that it would be a work in progress, with refinements made after it was seen how the course actually played. Only arrogance and foolishness would have an architect believe that his work is beyond improvement before the course is even played. In its brief five years after opening, Erin Hills has been closed twice for significant work to the course. When Hurdzan, Fry and Whitten initially designed the course, they did so with the mindset of erring on the side of moving too little earth – a refreshing perspective after decades of heavy earth moving in the industry. While it is possible to return and push earth around, it is impossible to go back and return the ground to its natural state.”

With such commitment to the heritage and essential elements of the game it is no wonder Erin Hills is a “walking only” golf course.

The final approach to the majestic par-5 7th hole.

Like so many grand historic courses in America, Philadelphia’s Aronimink to name one, many trees had been removed to allow for more open, breath-taking vistas of the land on which the golf course rests.

Throughout the vast landscape separating the fairways is tall fescue grass with its whispery whitish tops.

According to my host Rich Tock, who runs the operations for owner Andy Ziegler, planting the fescue and growing it in to maturity is a four year process.

CLICK HERE for a Video Interview with Erin Hill’s Rich Tock about the history of golf course and its relationship with the United States Golf Association which conducts U.S. Opens.

While only three inches tall when planted the fescue grass, like Erin Hills reached maturity with the arrival of the 2011 United States Amateur Championship.

Kelly Kraft won the 2011 U.S. Amateur at Erin Hills. Who will win the 2017 U.S.. Open the first in the state of Wisconsin? Photo Credit: Google Images & Golfweek

Erin Hills was the first to host a U.S. Open in the state of Wisconsin.

Erin Hills was the sixth public golf course to host a U.S. Open following Pebble Beach (1972, 1982, 1992, 2000. 2010, 2019), Pinehurst (1995, 2005, 2014), Bethpage Black (2002, 2009), Torrey Pines (2008), Chalmers Bay (2015).

Mike Davis, Executive Director of the U.S.G.A. made some impressive comments on Erin Hills this past week.

“In terms of putting on a championship, there are none in terms of operations that is close to this.”

“Space, (there is) acre after acre of dunes with no trees where you can watch multiple holes.”

“Erin Hills has really turned out to be everything and more than we thought it would be when we first came here in 2004.”

“(The golf course design and setup) requires players to play every shot in the bag, (with) very Bouncy fairways where you have the element of what happens after your ball lands.”

“(at Erin Hills we) always have some wind (which) for good players adds another worry.”

“A golf course that is being universally praised this week at the US Amateur and it will keep getting better.”

Ringing the bell with my golfing buddy Sir Walter!

Davis went on to summarize that “Erin Hills is pretty much where we want it to be and very little will change for that 2017 U.S. Open.”

Echoing how much wind strength and direction can impact playing Erin Hills was Patrick Cantlay after his semi-final win on Saturday.

“It’s still very firm, and the wind was blowing early this morning, made some holes play much different. I chipped 3-wood into 8, and yesterday I hit 9-iron or pitching wedge into 8. So that’s just how much the golf course can change.”

The World No. 1 ranked amateur who lost in the final to Kelly Kraft went on to say…

“I like when it’s firm and fast. I just think you have to have much more feel, and you have to leave yourself in the right spot so it rewards knowing where you want to hit it and controlling your golf ball.”

Erin Hills, Host of the 2017 U.S. Open! Photo Credit: Google Images & U.S.G.A.

No one had to ask U.S. Amateur Champion Kelly Kraft is he likes the golf course at Erin Hills.

Someone did ask him if this was his best putting performance of his life.

“Probably pretty close, yeah.”

“Erin go braugh” is a slogan that translates to “Ireland forever.”

I think “Erin Hills go braugh” is a fitting thought as we celebrate play there in the U.S. Amateur this week.

We can look forward to an amazing U.S. Open there in 2017.

Andy Reistetter is a freelance golf writer as well as a research and broadcast assistant for the major golf broadcast companies. He spends time on all four major American golf tours: The PGA TOUR, Champions, Nationwide and LPGA Tours.

Reistetter resides within two miles of the PGA TOUR headquarters and home of The PLAYERS Championship at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach.

A lifetime golfer, Andy enjoys volunteering at the World Golf Hall of Fame and THE PLAYERS while pursuing his passion for the game of golf and everything associated with it. He can be reached through his website Andy’s Golf & Travel Diary or by e-mailing him at AndyReistetter@gmail.com.

Filed Under: "Play-Write" Golf Courses

JTOG: The Spirit of Olympic Golf, Born Again, Rio 2016…

August 6, 2015 By admin

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The Olympic Rings are at home at Glen Echo CC and so was I!

I am back in St. Louis at the Union Station Hotel and Glen Echo CC, host to the 1904 World’s Fair and the Summer Olympics, on August 5th, 2015, exactly one year from the Opening Ceremonies of the 2016 Summer and Golf Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Nearly two years ago I came here with my knickers and hickory-shafted golf clubs to officially kick off the ‘Journey to Olympic Golf,’ a 100-day, 14-country, 18,471-mile odyssey from the 1904 Olympic Golf in St. Louis to the new Olympic Golf Course in Rio that will host Olympic Golf for the first time in 112 years.

Torch and I were ready for the “Journey to Olympic Golf” after a great farewell at TPC Sawgrass.

Why?

Because the idea came to me as a creative journey to try to define something abstract and elusive as a feeling or an emotion, what defines the ‘Spirit of Olympic Golf,’ something that has not been experienced for 112 years.

How best to get to this new understanding?

Visit Olympic Cities—Atlanta, St. Louis and Mexico City along the way to the newest Olympic City of Rio to extract the spirit of the Olympics. Combine that with the history and tradition of golf, enhanced by first hand playing and investigative experience in those 14 countries along the way, to arrive at a new fundamental definition of the ‘Spirit of Olympic Golf.’

Nearly two years into this quest, now with only one year remaining before that spirit will be experienced by 60 female and 60 male Golf Olympians from around the world, I am closer, but not yet there to put my thoughts and feelings down on paper.

The beautiful 15th at Glen Echo CC was pivotal in George Lyons’ Olympic Golf triumph.

After reflecting back I point to the following three experiences of this “golf voyager and documentarian.”

The first experience to reference would be walking the fairways of Glen Echo CC, which are virtually the same as when the club hosted Olympic Golf in 1904. Only 75 golfers from two nations (3 from Canada & 72 from the United States) competed in a 36-hole stroke play qualifier with 32 golfers advancing to the 36-hole match play competition. Only one Canadian qualified for match play and he went on to win the Individual Men’s Gold Medal—George Lyon.

Mike Hulbert tapping his heart to indicate what the “Olympic Spirit of Golf” means to him.

The second contributory experience was from this (CLICK HERE) highlighted video interview with Champions Tour player Mike Hulbert. While many can and will argue that Olympic Golf is no more and probably much less than playing for one’s country in the Ryder Cup or the Presidents Cup, or even winning a Major Championship or THE PLAYERS Championship or a World Golf Championship (WGC) or a historically equivalent world-wide competition like the World Cup, I think Mike tapping his chest in a simple and genuine heartfelt gesture says it may be a whole lot more. One could start with the fact that 10,500 athletes from 205 countries will compete in the 2016 Olympics. Olympic Golf is different with an all-inclusive, world-wide, human spirit of which golf will only be a small contributing part. The ‘Olympic Spirit of Golf,’ I sense, is something bigger than golf and will define golf in a new and healthy way.

Suzanne Yost McCourt’s artwork ‘Journey to Olympic Golf.’

The third contributing experience has to be the artwork of Pebble Beach artist Suzanne Yost McCourt. Golf is in her genes as her father was a top-rank amateur from the Northwest that competed in the Masters at Augusta National and many Crosby’s on the Monterrey Peninsula. Only through the discovery of his golfing memorabilia long after his death was the ember of a golfing spirit reignited in her being that focused and transfixed her artistic genius to the game of golf. One example of what the ‘little girl in the red dress’ produced is this piece of artwork entitled ‘The Journey to Olympic Golf.’

Her neo-realism technique of art and documentation captured the essence of the 100-day, 14-couintry, 18,471-mile journey to Rio following the creative spirit through Olympic cities and around golf courses along the way. A sense of rediscovery, personal, sport and world-wide impactful is captured in the transformation of the hickory golfer to the modern golfer as the Olympic golf ball is teed up and swooshes from St. Louis to Rio. McCourt’s creation captures the essence of how far the game of golf has come in the last un-Olympic 112 years.

There is more to come. That Olympic golf ball is teed up and ready to soar on the Gil Hanse-Amy Alcott and around the world in one year when the first Olympic Golfer swings at it. Who knows what the impact on the game of golf will be?

In reality, these three contributions—the history and experience of Olympic Golf at Glen Echo CC, Mike Hulbert’s heartfelt gesture, and Suzanne Yost McCourt‘s artwork—capture the essence of the Olympics beyond the sports competition. This sentiment was well voiced by Paulina De Labra in this (CLICK HERE) highlighted Video Interview in Mexico City—any sport in the Olympics is as much about cultural and everyone that makes up our world community as it is about the sport. As Paulina says, “We are all only one kind of beings- human beings, defined by friendship and respect (of each other’s cultures). We are all the same with the right to create and to develop our dreams.”

Let’s dream, let’s let the ‘Spirit of Olympic Golf’ be born again. Let the Games of the XXXI Olympiad begin, in a year from now… and the ‘Spirit of Olympic Golf’ will materialize for sure!

Paulina De Labra articulated well in Mexcio City the spirit of the Olympics beyond the sports competitions.

With Suzanne Yost McCourt at the 2013 World Golf Hall of Fame Induction with her artwork of Inductee Ken Venturi.

Hickory golfers, including George Lyons, depicted in Suzanne Yost McCourt’s artwork.

Filed Under: Journey to Olympic Golf

Rancho Bernardo Inn: Why say No when YES! feels so Good?

June 30, 2015 By admin

Your arrival at Rancho Bernardo Inn is a bit secluded, relaxed and certainly welcoming!

There are golfing experiences that one easily remembers. My ‘stay n’ play’ at Rancho Bernardo Inn (RBI) in San Diego was definitely one for a variety of reasons—the golf, the people, the culinary delights and the accommodations for sure. Did I say the people? The staff for sure, the ones I saw and the ones I benefited from but did not see. But my hosts—Food & Beverage Director Jocelyn Kraus and Director of Golf Blake Dobson—were incredibly welcoming and a lot of fun to be around!

RBI, as it is affectionately known, has been around since 1963. It’s premier Buddy Bell-designed golf course, the same man who designed Torrey Pines, hosted the San Diego Open, a PGA TOUR in 1964 and the LPGA for several years. From there came national notoriety, a 10-fold expansion in guest rooms and most recently a $2.5 million renovation and the opening of AVANT, continuing its renowned fine-dining experience. There are old and new traditions when combined with the people certainly bring forth a unique and diverse spirit to a golf resort. So much so the locals are regulars too for dining, the spa, golf or just hanging out in the Veranda Bar.

With Jocelyn Kraus and Blake Dobson on the 18th fairway after a challenging and entertaining golfing experience!

Back to my exceptional personal experience with and compliments of Jocelyn and Blake. One can easily see where the source of the high standards and various facets of the guest experience comes— from within the personalities and leadership of these two directors.

CLICK here for a Video Interview of Jocelyn Kraus & a Tour of the Dining Options at RBI.

With a home on the golf course Jocelyn is never too far from work which works to the benefit of the guests at the Rancho Bernard Inn. Dining options at RBI start with AVANT, a forward thinking restaurant that goes beyond what other restaurants have in terms of facilities and menu. An intimate yet spacious demonstration kitchen complete enables Matt Sramek, Chef de Cuisine and Margaret Nolan Carvallo, Pastry Chef to show their skills to groups as large as twelve people. The menu, and I certainly agree with the words of their website: draws on the best of wine country dining and moves it forward with a contemporary California mindset. Vibrant, creative dishes and artisan libations are served to delight every guest. Even the cheese plate appetizer is extraordinary!

This was no ordinary cheese platter… and neither was the rest of my culinary experience at RBI!

The Veranda restaurant serves three meals a day starting with a breakfast buffet. The outside patio overlooks the golf course and there is nightly music in the fireside lounge. The Veranda Bar is the place to be and where I watched James Hahn win for the first time on the PGA TOUR when he outlasted Dustin Johnson and Paul Casey in a playoff at the Northern Trust Open. Afterwards, smitten by the golf bug of our childhood and inspired by what we saw on the television, my brother Dave and I went out to play a few holes. That’s RBI, as elegant and formal as you want or as casual and impromptu as you like. After all, don’t forget to check out the ‘Golf Grill at the Turn!’

CLICK here for a Video Interview of Blake Dobson, Director of Golf.

The picturesque first green at Rancho Bernard Inn. Will you par or birdie the hole?

On the golf side of the resort it is all first class as is evidenced by the golf course and JC Golf’s Blake Dobson. It was one of the most fun rounds of my life! As you can see in the video Blake is quite a character with a tremendous amount of golfing talent. That backwards putt between the legs, perfectly within the rules of golf by the way, was for a birdie on the uphill par-4 15th hole. The golf course is memorable with my favorite holes being the short iron over water to a tight green on the 9th, the semi-blind approach shot on the 15th (which Blake easily mastered), the short driveable par-4 16th and the ‘I-definitely-want-to-play-it-again’ complex uphill par-5 finishing hole. Plus the margarita cart is quite refreshing and unique in my mind as I have never seen one of those before! JC Golf, by the way, operates eight golf courses in all.

I think this was my room! So comfortable, spacious and luxurious!

As far as accommodations, they were awesome—luxurious, spacious and extremely comfortable. JC Resorts operates three other resort properties—Temecula Creek Inn in the Wine Country, Scripps Inn in La Jolla and Surf & Sand in Laguna Beach.

Now is the time to book your visit to the Rancho Bernardo Inn in San Diego. As Blake says—’why say no when yes feels so good?’ Enjoy!

CLICK here for an entertaining Video of my day with Blake!

Filed Under: "Play-Write" Golf Courses, Travel Golf, West Coast USA

NCGA & Poppy Hills is Getting Youth on Course!

June 28, 2015 By admin

Youth on Course in golf and in life! Photo Credit: NCGA & Poppy Hills GC.

There is something special about an amateur golf association like the Northern California Golf Association (NCGA) owning two of their own golf courses and then having a program called ‘Youth on Course’ where kids can play 170 different golf courses for five dollars or less. They, the organization, have been around since 1901. That was even before golf was last played in the Olympics in 1904 at Glenn Echo CC in St. Louis. NCGA, one of the premier amateur golf associations in the world, was the first to own and operate its own member course when Poppy Hills Golf Course came into existence in 1986. Both of their golf courses, Poppy Hills in Pebble Beach on the Monterrey Peninsula and Poppy Ridge in the Livermore Valley on the eastern edge of the San Francisco Bay area are included in the ‘Youth on Course’ program. That’s not only incredible, it is inspirational!

I played Poppy Hills before it closed and after it reopened. Completely different golf course, completely different experience!

In golf, as in life, some things change while other things remain the same. My apology for digressing a bit here to my childhood growing up in Binghamton, New York but hey this is a diary! Where I grew up in Binghamton, New York is far from Poppy Hills and Northern California. My father introduced me to golf at a very young age and we played together up at Ely Park Municipal Golf Course atop Mount Prospect. The golf professional Ernest Smith had designed the sporty 18-hole golf course in 1933 and nearly 30 years later a nine holer of all par-3s for junior golfers like me. I still remember the day I graduated from the small course to the big course.

Beautiful golf course, beautiful experience… you can walk and pull a buggy for your clubs if you like!

The first “world-class” golf course I ever played was the Robert Trent Jones Golf Course at Cornell University. My older brother Larry followed in RTJ Senior’s footsteps there taking the same courses and graduating with a degree in golf course architecture. He played on Cornell’s golf team and brought me up to play the course about the time I was turning into a teenager. I remember nearly holing a 5-iron on the par-3 second hole with the golf coach watching. I wish I could swing and play like that my whole life through.

What does that have to do with Poppy Hills and the Northern California Golf Association (NCGA)?

With Robert Trent Jones, Jr. at the NCGA headquarters at Poppy Hills Golf Course.

Interviewing Robert Trent Jones, Jr. at the NCGA headquarters at Poppy Hills Golf Course in February 2014 when Poppy Hills was shutdown for reconstruction. I have played so many of his father’s golf courses that I feel like I knew him too.

Nothing really other than the Cornell course was designed by the Senior Jones. In fact Jones grew up in East Rochester and became the first golf professional at Sodus Bay Heights Golf Club about 50 miles east of his hometown. His first golf course design in 1931 was the Midvale Golf Club right next to his hometown. Coming out of the Depression, he built WPA courses like Green Lakes State Park by Syracuse, New York in 1936. After WWII, Robert Trent Jones Sr.’s career prospered when he collaborated with the other Bobby Jones, the greatest amateur golfer ever, to build the Peachtree Golf Club in Bobby’s beloved hometown of Atlanta. All in all, the World Golf Hall of Fame member designed over 500 golf courses around the world in 36 countries.

NCGA Headquarters and Poppy Hills Golf Course conveniently located on one site in Pebble Beach.

The world has changed quite a bit over the course of the 20th century. Whether West Coast with the NCGA or East Coast in my hometown with the Triple Cities (Binghamton, Endicott and Johnson City) Golf Association (TCGA), golf being affordable and accessible to kids has remained the same thanks to organizations like the NGGA.

Playing the new Poppy Hills Golf Course after this year’s AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am was a sensational experience. Mind you that I played the old Poppy Hills for the last time in a rainstorm on a cold Crosby-like February day two years ago. I actually liked the old course as it was built according to the times of the 1980s—tough, tough, tough. I absolutely love the new course with its return to natural elevations, natural areas (less water and fertilizer needed) and limitless fairways with no rough until you reach the trees which I am more capable of doing than anyone.

CLICK here for a VIDEO Interview with Cole Handley, Head Golf Professional at Poppy Hills GC.

With Cole Handley in his office at Poppy Hills.

Who gets hired on as an assistant pro a couple of years before being informed of a course shutdown (which means no golfers, no job) and complete reconstruction, then becomes part of the crew driving a bulldozer and shaping fairways and green complexes, only to be promoted to Head Golf Professional upon reopening? His name is Cole Handley and his storytelling of his experiences from Thailand to Pebble Beach are extraordinary. He has seen Poppy Hills exterminated and rebuilt from the dirt up and will tell you not to miss the Poppy Hills experience for three reasons—the peaceful scenery, the incredible staff and the variety of fun shots that you will be challenged to hit on the new course.

Handley calls it “thinking outside the green,” use the land, never boring, tactical shot-making—better bring your imagination to Poppy Hills when you visit. Remember who designed this golf course for the second time—Robert Trent Jones Jr.—who recently joined his father Robert Trent Jones Sr. (whose first U.S. Open course design was Bellerive CC in 1959 for the 1965 U.S. Open) and his brother Rees Jones, the ‘Open Doctor,’ (who has renovated 12 golf courses to host the U.S. Open) as a U.S. Open contributor with his design of Chambers Bay. Maybe Poppy Hills was his warm-up or warm-down depending on how you look at it. Grab the opportunity when you can to play this exciting course.

CLICK here for Video Interview Introducing NCGA’s Richard J. Cerame and Kevin Merfeld.

With Kevin Merfeld (L) and Richard J. Cerame (R) on the deck at Poppy Hills.

With the NCGA headquarters on site at Poppy Hills there is some interesting synergy going on between the ‘grow the game’ and ‘play the game’ folks. The interviews of Richard J. Cerame, NCGA Marketing Manager and Kevin Merfeld, NCGA Assistant Director of Communications and Marketing clearing demonstrate the creativity of what is going on in golf in the northern part of the Golden Bear state.

CLICK here for Video Interview with Richard J. Cerame, NCGA Marketing Manager.

‘RJ’ hails from literally growing up on RTJ Senior’s first masterpiece of Midvale CC in Rochester, New York. and is bringing history to life on the golf course designated to be built on land reserved exactly for that purpose by Samuel F. Morse (not the telegraph guy) who founded the Pebble Beach Company in 1916.. The only Monterrey golf course completely in the Del Monte Forest. Cerame is fairly new to the new Poppy Hills and the NCGA but will not only market you a golfing experience but deliver it with “a private country club experience at an affordable price.”

CLICK here for Video Interview with Kevin Merfeld, NCGA Assistant Director of Communications and Marketing.

The Northern California Golf Association has been around since 1901.

Like Head Golf Pro Handley, Kevin Merfeld was a before-and-after guy at Poppy Hills during the reconstruction. Unlike the handy dozer-driving pro, Kevin saw the action at Poppy Hills with notebook and pen in hand, while handling his NCGA responsibilities. Here’s a young man who grew up in the area and is a product of the junior program and high school. He tried to walk on the golf team at USC (versus swinging into?) and after graduation the journalist major was a newspaper man before come home to the NCGA and Poppy Hills. Youth, like Kevin, in organization, like Youth on Course is a good thing!

Some things remain the same as they are changing. Poppy Hills is an example of that. Before and after golf course is totally different. Before and after organization behind the golf course and behind amateur golf in Northern California the same and getting better all the time. Not only have nearly 400,000 of those five dollars or less rounds have been played but over one hundred kids have been hired as caddies, half of that number as interns and over $600,000 given out on scholarships to college-bound youngsters.

Golf, raising charity dollars for kids helping them develop life skills and getting them out on the golf course is all natural for the NCGA and Poppy Hills.

In addition, the new Poppy Hills Golf Course joined Pebble Beach in 2014 to once again host professional golf at its highest levels with the Nature Valley First Tee Open on the PGA TOUR’s Champions Tour. I have always wanted to go to this tournament as it showcases First Tee kids playing with the professionals. Scott Langley won the pro-junior event in 2006 and became the first First Tee graduate to play on the PGA TOUR in 2012. Though the First Tee is way more than golf, it is about life skills and developing children to have a successful life wherever life takes them. With a goal of reaching twenty million kids in their first twenty years I am sure in the years ahead we might see a First Tee president in addition to a First Tee golfer winning on the PGA TOUR.

I have been a regular at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am since 2009 and have always stayed at the Portola Hotel & Spa in downtown Monterrey, my California home away from home. During February’s Pebble Beach week Poppy Hills ‘pops up’ at the Portola and brings their state-of-the art launch monitor for a fun little festival in the lobby with live music. I hope to ‘pop in’ one of these years in the fall or the Nature Valley First Tee Open.

Whether one grows up in Binghamton, New York or across the country in Monterrey, California or even today around the world in Asia or Latin America. golf is golf and the people and organizations behind the game are the same, with the same benefit to young people growing up.

Some things, apparently and hopefully, never change in golf and in life.