Inspired by Golf & Life and Sharing My Experiences & Insight.
Awesome Youth Golf Clinic at the Web.com Tour Championship at TPC Sawgrass… 8 tour players including Jacksonville’s own Russell Knox(Lt. blue) and Nick Rousey (Orange). That’s me with Jaxson the Jaguar mascot and that’s the American Flag flying over Champions Circle thanks to Tiger Woods win at the THE PLAYERS Championship! (Facebook Post with 5 Pics, Andy Reistetter, 9/24/13)
I had a great time at The First Tee of North Florida yesterday… great facility, great program and support team and most importantly great kids. Played 9 holes with Coach Tony, Blair, Charles & Chase. This is a good golf course that is OPEN TO THE PUBLIC with a great practice facility and inexpensive darn right cheap greens fees, walk for $10! Hope to see you Wednesday night at The Clubhouse at TPC Sawgrass for the Taste of Golf benefiting The First Tee of North Florida! (-: (Facebook Post with 3 Pics, Andy Reistetter, 9/22/13)
What better place to announce a “Journey to Olympic Golf” than at the International Network of Golf (ING) 23rd Annual Spring Conference at Reunion Resort in Orlando, Florida?
What better place to meet people than at an “International Network of Golf” function especially if you are planning an international charity raising golf trip like “Journey to Olympic Golf (JTOG).”
Golf’s “Granddaddy” of networking organizations, ING is “where media and the golf industry connect.” Not only did I benefit from three outstanding educational seminars addressing key areas in the game and business of golf (Wellness, Social Media Marketing and Golf Club Technology), I met some wonderful people who took an interest in my JTOG venture. Here are just a few of them.
Nancy Fox (The Business Fox, Networking Expert & Author) showed me how to embrace the opportunity to develop and nurture relationships over the four-day ING conference. As part of the Social Media Marketing panel she shared her experience, strength and wisdom on how to build successful business relationships, in person and on line. I highly recommend her book Network Like a Fox and the associated workbook. Find her now, she can help your business inside or outside of golf!
Horschel Rocket celebrating winning putt on the 18th looking more like a rodeo cowboy than tour astronaut! Photo Credit: Chris Graythe/Getty Images
Billy Horschel, who grew up on Florida’s Space Coast, was like a rocket in the golfing world that everyone knew was ready to take off sooner or later. The final Space Shuttle mission ended safely when Atlantis returned home on July 21st, 2011 at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. The Horschel Rocket reached a new altitude with his first PGA TOUR win in New Orleans icing the victory with a lengthy birdie putt on the last hole.
Like a night liftoff, all you needed to do was find a nearby spot and watch the brilliant light emerge from the horizon, cross the skies and disappear into the heavens above. For the Horschel Rocket all you needed to do was find a comfortable spot and turn on your TV. If you missed one episode there was another one right behind it.
In only his 61st PGA TOUR event, Billy-the-Rocket broke through after testing the atmosphere in gradual steps along the way. Ten years ago, the now 26-year old won back-to-back Space Coast Golfer of the Year awards as he made his way through Bayside High School in Palm Bay, Florida. Palm Bay is not far from his home in Grant which is not far from Melbourne on Florida’s east coast. There was the 61 he shot at Sandpiper Golf Club. Also there was the honor roll and National Honor Society for the acclaimed, but not highly acclaimed, young golfer heading for the University of Florida in Gainesville.
Playing for longtime Gator Coach Buddy Alexander, Horschel shot 75 his first competitive round but won his first collegiate individual medal before his freshman season ended when he tied for first at the NCAA West Regional. He qualified for the U.S. Open the following summer, played on the 2007 Walker Cup team and went on to win three more times in college including the Southeast Conference Championship his senior year.
T4 finish for Horschel at 2012 Q-School earned him the opportunity for lunar success on tour in 2013. Photo Credit: Jeff Golden/Getty Images.
How many rockets take off in life but fail to pull away from the gravity of early success and expectations? This is where the Horschel story becomes the story for all aspiring youngsters whether in golf or life.
After missing the cut in his first four PGA TOUR events (two as an amateur, two as a pro) over a three year period, Horschel earned his tour card and his first paycheck ($25,000) with a 7th place finish at Q-School in late 2009.
His rookie season on tour in 2010 was a shortened season due to injury and subsequent surgery on his left wrist. He made no cuts on the PGA TOUR in four attempts and only one of five on the Web.com Tour. The early PGA TOUR play, late Web.com play season to rehabilitate the wrist finished well with a T27 at Q-School.
With a tour card to supplement his Major Medical Extension (MME) in 2011 he made 11 of 25 cuts on the PGA Tour with two Top-10s at Reno-Tahoe and Frys.com coming late in the season. Falling short of making the MME number, finishing No. 140 on the Money List and a T104 finish left Horschel with conditional status on tour for 2012.
More importantly, the guidance system was adjusted late in the 2011 season after a pair of 64s to open at Sea Island in the Fall Series was followed by a 70-75 on the weekend.
PGA TOUR Champion Billy Horschel in New Orleans. Photo Credit: Chris Graythen/Getty Images.
“I think 2011 at McGladrey hurt the most. Playing a golf course I played a lot in college, my coach (Todd Anderson) being up there, a lot of family and friends. I didn’t play very well. But what hurt most was the way I handled myself on the golf course. It was pretty pathetic in my mind. I got called out on it from family and friends, and I don’t like doing anything wrong in front of my family or my friends, and that was a big turning point.”
Consistency came in the 2012 season making 15 of 17 cuts. One very bright spot illuminated the career to come for Horschel when he holed his last shot, a 91-yard wedge for eagle in Mississippi on a Saturday in July. That shot and a Sunday 1-under 71 was good for solo third, his career-best at the time.
Conditional with a Money List No. 147 finish but once again refueled with a T4 finish at Q-School, Horschel headed back on tour in 2013 with consistency and confidence. Early on there was a T11 at the Humana and a T10 in Phoenix, both capped off with a Sunday 67. Then there was the Sunday start and Monday finished 85 at Bay Hill that was quickly followed by a Sunday 66 a week later in Houston to finish T2. Top 10s in Texas and Hilton Head put Horschel in the proper orbit for his win in New Orleans.
Horschel in 2006 U.S. Open at Winged Foot GC. Photo Credit: Erza Shaw/Getty Images.
“All the other close calls, none of them put a scar on me at all. I think it just gave me more motivation to work hard and get that first victory. I took more positives away from all of those than any negatives. I played well. It just wasn’t my time.”
“I was finally able to do my thing on the final round and not worry about who I was playing with or what the people in front of me or behind me are dealing with. This is something that I’ve wanted since I’ve turned pro, and I’ve always felt I was good enough to win out here. I just felt I had to check every box.”
Every box on the checklist for takeoff has been checked. Ignition. Countdown complete. The Horschel Rocket is now in orbit for all to see.
CLICK here for video interview of Andy Fox
Andy Fox’s ‘Out Fox Cancer’ Website
Andy Fox explaining his cancer screening foundation and how to outfox cancer.
I met a great guy at the Arnold Palmer Invitational tournament at Bay Hill this year! His name is Andy Fox and he is a great guy for reasons other we have the same first name.
His story is inspirational, something that could have happened to any of us. Happily married with two young boys he had his wisdom teeth removed. There was still pain and then the doctors found Stage 4 cancer. Seventeen years ago he was told he had a 10 percent chance of survival.
Andy Fox has outfoxed cancer and through his cancer screening foundation he is using a peer based system to raise awareness. He believes in the Fs—family, faith, friends, fitness and being forward-looking.
“Get rid of the rear view mirror,” says Andy Fox. We can all do that!
Sad news today with the passing of Marilyn Smith, one of the greats, a legend of the women’s game of golf! Spent a beautiful morning with her in her home in Phoenix during the 2013 WMPO courtesy of her neighbors & friends Jackie & Frank Abel. We exchanged books and just talked about her career and how wonderful life is! What a beautiful spirit, so clear and present she was—delightful in every way! An original founder of the LPGA; 2 Majors, 21 LPGA wins, World Golf Hall of Fame Member. Lived to 4 days shy of 90; what an amazing lady! God Bless Marilyn Smith! John 14:2-3: “In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.” (Andy Reistetter, Facebook Post with 1 Pic, 4-9-19)
Golf Writer Andy Reistetter continues his exclusive “Play-Write” series with a round at the Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course, site of this weekend’s American Century Celebrity Championship. The playground between Lake Tahoe and the forested slopes of the High Sierra will be occupied by the likes of Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley and Ray Romano. With boaters tossing footballs back-and-forth to celebrity quarterbacks on the lakeside links, the 23rd rendition of America’s golf gala is not-to-miss television on NBC. Join Reistetter as he plays one of Fazio’s best designs and gets excited about this year’s premier celebrity tournament.
Aerial of Edgewood Tahoe. Courtesy of Celebrity Golf.
We all think of “golfing heaven” as someplace above the clouds where all golfers eventually go and play endless rounds on beautiful courses in perfect weather. If you ever have played golf in the High Sierra then you know that, like some par-5s, doing so is “reachable” right here on earth. Specifically this weekend, the “stars” align and come down to earth where we can see them play up close and personal at Edgewood Tahoe.
I found Edgewood Tahoe on my way to the U.S. Open this year, the day they had a media press conference with two veteran Tahoe celebrity golfers Ray Romano and Hank Haney and two first-timers Miles Austin (Dallas Cowboy wide receiver) and David Justice (two-time World Series champion).
I was the Prince of Basil Thai in Carson City!
After an incredible dinner at The Basil in Carson City, Nevada and a comfortable night at the Carson Valley Inn in Minden, I made my way up to golfing heaven via the NV-207 Kingsbury Grade Road. While the name does not sound spectacular, the view is as you take the switchback highway up to the lake nearly 1,500 feet above the valley floor.
As I ascended, all I could think about is that there is a whole lot of water up there being held back by a bunch of rocks. The average depth of Lake Tahoe is 1,000 feet. With a maximum depth of 1,645 feet, the reality is that the bottom of the lake is lower than where I slept the night before in the valley.
View I awoke to at the Carson Valley Inn!
To completely disorient me, the Daggett Pass at top (elevation 7,334 feet) is not the mountain top. Once you arrive at Edgewood Tahoe, Monument Peak at 10,067 feet, which is the Heavenly Valley Ski Area, towers over you and Lake Tahoe. The offseason there is a ski heaven that complements golf heaven in the summer. Does it get any better than that?
There are no professional golfers in Lake Tahoe this weekend competing in the American Century Celebrity Classic. They are “across the pond” competing in the (British) Open in England. Not that golfers like Tiger Woods are not celebrities in their own right.
Road to Tahoe and I know there is a lake up there!
Technically, this is a Celeb-Am (Celebrity-Amateur), not a Pro-Am (Professional-Amateur). Nevertheless, this is the “major,” where sports and celebrity entertainers compete for the right to be called the best American golfer in America—that is not a professional golfer.
Are you as confused as I am? Aren’t they all athletes and celebrities?
There are a lot of professional athletes that would like to become professional golfers. It seems most of them are quarterbacks as there are 10 entered in this event by my count—Chris Chandler (Atlanta Falcons, lost 1998 Super Bowl); John Elway (won last two of five Super Bowls with Denver Broncos); Jim McMahon (won two Super Bowls with Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers); Carson Palmer (2002 Heisman Trophy); Aaron Rodgers (2011 Super Bowl MVP with Green Bay Packers); Tony Romo; (Mark Rypien (won 1992 Super Bowl with Washington Redskins); Alex Smith (San Francisco 49ers); Vinny Testaverde (1986 Heisman Trophy); Joe Theismann (won 1983 Super Bowl with Washington Redskins) and Billy Joe Tolliver.
Mr Hickory Golf at Edgewood home of American Century Celebrity Classic on Lake Tahoe.
Wait, isn’t he an actor from Chickasaw County that jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge? Actually, Tolliver was a good quarterback and is a regular competitor at the American Century Championship, winning the tournament three times in 1996, 2005, and 2010.
Rick Rhoden, a former Major League Baseball pitcher, pursued golf as a second career and played on the Champions Tour with three career top-10 finishes, the most recent in 2006. He is the most prolific winner at Edgewood Tahoe, winning the American Century eight times, most recently back-to-back in 2008 and 2009.
Actor Jack Wagner became the first non-professional athlete to win the Celebrity Championship in 2006 and repeated the feat last year.
Even though there are about 10 guys (sorry Brandi Chastain) that can win it, this year’s favorite is Tony Romo and he is endorsed by Rick Rhoden. From ASAP Sports:
With Terry Knight, Bill Cottrill, and Vince Mastracco at Edgewood Tahoe!
“I think Tony’s probably the best guy of the group that’s come up in the last five or six years. He’s a good player. It wouldn’t surprise me if he won. I think he’s going to win a few of them before he gets through playing,” said Rhoden.
As far as my experience playing Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course, well it was as spectacular as the scenery. The course design is really a Fazio PLUS with Uncle George doing the original design that opened in 1968 and nephew Tom renovating the course for the 1998 season. The first nine lead the golfer up a gentle slope through tall, towering pine trees while the second nine bring you quietly down to the lake. In a tranquil state, one plays the par-3 16th on the lake and putts out on the final green as gentle waves slap along the shoreline.
I wore knickers for the memorable round and played the iconic 16th with hickory-shafted golf clubs. Though considered a modern era golf course, Edgewood Tahoe seems to take you back to the early days of golf—water side, classic layout and playing the game for fun and having fun!
Mr. Hickory Golf at the par-3 17th at Edgewood Tahoe.
Wagner’s testified to the reason why Edgewood Tahoe and the celebrity event are so popular (via ASAP Sports):
“It’s an event unlike any other. I think anybody involved with it, celebrity‑wise, is grateful to come here, not only have we become friends but it’s an event that I think the public looks forward to, people plan their vacations around, and certainly all the guys that play in this event plan their summer around.”
Sounds like “golfing heaven” on earth to me. Go if you can and if not, experience it on NBC this weekend!
Andy Reistetter is a freelance golf writer as well as a Spotter, Research and Broadcast Assistant for The Golf Channel, NBC and CBS Sports. 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 the 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.
Friend Andy Reistetter on Facebook or contact him by e-mail at AndyReistetter@gmail.com
Golf writer Andy Reistetter attended his third straight World Golf Hall of Fame Induction Weekend and came away once again with insight, inspiration and indelible impressions. Hopefully, you had a chance to attend in person or watch on Golf Channel. If not than join Reistetter and enjoy the highlights of a fantastic Induction Class that is pure class.
WGHOF Class of 2012: Dan Jenkins, Phil Mickelson, Hollis Stacy, Peter Alliss and Sandy Lyle.
All five members of the Class of 2012—Dan Jenkins, Sandy Lyle, Hollis Stacy, Peter Alliss and Phil Mickelson—went into the Hall of Fame together but it seemed like there were two different classes; both good and honorable. The same notion must have been in the minds of the World Golf Hall of Fame staffers as the five inductees were grouped in a threesome and a twosome for the afternoon media interviews.
The two pedigrees were those that played the game at the highest level and those that brought that playing to us in terms of writing and television broadcasting for the last six decades.
Lyle, Stacy and Mickelson were elite amateur golfers that went on to win celebrated professional tournaments. Lyle won the Brabazon Trophy (sort of England’s equivalent of the U.S. Amateur but all stroke play) and went on to win the 1985 Open at Royal St. George’s, the 1987 PLAYERS Championship and the 1988 Masters. Stacy won three consecutive U.S. Girls Juniors before going on to win three U.S. Women’s Opens and another LPGA major at the time in 1983—the Peter Jackson Classic.
A casual media interview with Lyle, Stacy, and Mickleson.
Mickelson at age 20 won a professional event as an amateur and at age 41 is still a competitive factor on tour with four majors—three Masters and the 2005 PGA at Baltusrol.
While Hollis sat between Sandy and Phil in the afternoon session and referred to herself as “the door between two roses,” she really is the third rose of the group.
The Hall of Famers spoke of their induction being “about the journey and the process and not the destination.”
Phil recalled the inspiration of fellow Hall of Famer Seve Ballesteros, who died almost exactly one year ago. Hollis verbalized what family means to her and spoke of the vivacity of her presenter and little sister Martha. Sandy admitted his game has gone south since his prime in the 1980s and spoke of being happy that he can stop in the Hall of Fame for the rest of time.
If there was one thorny (and funny) moment it was when Sandy told the story of getting a call from George O’Grady, the CEO of the European Tour. His immediate thought was that he said something wrong about something. “I thought, not Monty again.” Once Jack Peter, the CEO of the World Golf Hall of Fame came on the line, the man never selected to be a European Ryder Cup Captain knew he was to receive the highest honor in all of golf.
Alliss and jenkins, both very funny men!
Jenkins and Alliss did play golf but that was not the determining factor as they were selected via the Lifetime Achievement category.
Jenkins came from a golfing family, began playing at age eight and was a scratch golfer for Texas Christian University (TCU) in his hometown of Fort Worth. Alliss came from a professional golfing family—his father Percy finished in the Top-10 of the Open Championship 10 times and played on four Ryder Cup teams. Peter followed in his father’s footsteps and had five Open Top-10s and played on eight Ryder Cup teams. Together they were the first father and son pair to play in the Ryder Cup.
Jenkins is only the third pure golf writer out of the 141 members in the Hall of Fame.
He followed Bernard Darwin who was inducted in 2005 and Hebert Warren Wind in 2008. Both of their inductions were posthumously—Darwin’s only three years after his death. “I am flattered, delighted and stunned, but I will take it,” Jenkins told me at the Masters. “They got a live one. I thought you had to be dead to get in.” Hence, Jenkins made a reference to being thankful to be “a vertical human being” early in his acceptance speech.
There are 73 living members. The youngest is Se Ri Pak at age 34; the oldest is Ken Nagle at age 91.
As golf writer O.B. Keeler covered Bobby Jones, so did Dan Jenkins cover Ben Hogan.
He was in the right place at the right time.
He grew up where Hogan and Byron Nelson grew up. Born right after the stock market crash that triggered the Great Depression, Jenkins, being a smart aleck, would rewrite WWII stories on an old typewriter his aunt found in the attic. When he graduated high school he knew that he wanted to be a sportswriter and went to work for the local paper. By the time he graduated from TCU he had the job full time and was there to cover Ben Hogan all through the 1950s.
“(Hogan) had more to do with my career than anything, got me covering the majors in 1951. He was great to me. Nothing but great to me,” said the man who has covered 210 majors and still counting. He played golf with Hogan 40 times. “I’d go out to watch him practice (at Shady Oaks), and he’d say let’s go.” Hogan would typically shoot 67 to Jenkins 75.
Outside Phil’s WGHOF locker!
Jenkins told me that he never thought Hogan was the same player after his playoff loss to Sam Snead in the 1954 Masters. “Ben Hogan, the club maker has more on his mind than Ben Hogan the golfer and wasn’t quite what he was.”
After Hogan won three majors in 1953 he started the Ben Hogan Golf Company. Instead of just focusing on beating the golf course and trying to win, he now had to think about how to turn making golf clubs into a financial success. As Trevino pointed out, when something else is on your mind, that could be the difference between winning and losing.
I guess Dan Jenkins never stopped being a smart aleck—and thankfully for us, as he brought us The Dogged Victims of Inexorable Fate and Dead Solid Perfect.
Perhaps the terminology should be “smart alliss” going forward because Peter Alliss stole the show with tales that took us back to another generation or two. We all love his English accent and phraseology:
“I stopped playing sensibly in 1974.”
“My father was a golf professional and I followed on.”
Peter Alliss, Member of the World Golf Hall of Fame is authentic and speaks his mind.Andrew Redington/Getty Images
When you are 81 years old, you tell it like it is, whether it is your thoughts on Tiger Woods, or a salutation to an old teacher (Mrs. Weymouth) at the end of the night. I do wonder if Commissioner Tim Finchem will ever have that conference on “conduct unbecoming if not for Alliss then for someone else.”
After his unexpected remarks congratulating and thanking Phil Mickelson for uplifting the image of golf both on and off the golf course, I wondered what his words will be in four years for the next inductees who grace the same stage and occasion.
Yes there were two classes inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame. Now that I think about it, the best adjective for the entire Induction Class of 2012 is not “pure class.” The word I would use to describe this class is “authentic.”
Authenticity is good for the game of golf and all who seek its highest honor.
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 a couple of 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 by e-mailing him at AndyReistetter@gmail.com
