Friday Follies

Spanning the globe to bring you the wide world of...well, whatever.  We've got stuff piling up, and there seems to be an emphasis on the silly, so let's go with that:

Trick Shots, Putter Edition - We had some fun a few days ago with the hundred-foot 3-footer, so this guy from Australia figured anyone can do it with a single golf ball:

The guy from Elie (a quaint old links not far from St. Andrews)  swears he got that one on the first take, but this Aussie admits it took a few attempts:

"Brookwater has a heavily sloped practice green so I thought 'why not?' The putt was about six feet, but I hit it about 20 feet past, up the hill and back in the hole. It took me about 10 attempts."

And when the two balls finally dropped into the cup?

"The people on the club balcony thought I was a bit weird when I high-fived myself!" Field said.

From the extensive "These Guys are Better than Us" files, comes this long-drive competition between the two best German golfers on the planet (Sorry Sandra Gal, you're only the sexiest).  Mercedes Benz sponsored this and, not surprisingly, the younger man won with a long drive of 232 yards.  Wait, I hear you saying, I can hit it that long...did I happen to mention what club they used?

My favorite part was when Langer decided he needed more loft.

This Week in Golf Commercials -  The problem with watching too much golf....correction, one of the many problems with watching too much golf is the shear repetition of the commercials.  For instance, if Omega wants to run a Rory spot 612 times over one weekend, couldn't they at least cut more than one version of it?

Though for the record, Employee Number Two is a big fan of the Cialis al fresco side-by-side bathtubs that seem to materialize out of nowhere, because isn't that just like your life?  Digressions aside, Shackelford gives a shout-out to this well-made HSBC golf commercial with the premise that golf is everyone's game:

It's really quite well done, with a great series of short clips of golf and faux golf in the widest raage of environments.  How it's effective in selling banking services, well that eludes me.

Timing is Everything:  Two items have appeared that appear to be perfectly timed, the more substantive of them being the posting at Golf Digest of excerpts from Mark McClusky's new book, Faster, Higher, Stronger: How Sports Science Is Creating a New Generation of Superathletes--and What We Can Learn from Them.  One of the subjects he covers is te introduction of the ProV1 golf ball:

The first week the new Pro V1 model ball was available for tournament play, in October

2000, forty-seven players switched from their previous ball. That sort of wholesale equipment change was unprecedented in the history of golf. How fast was the transition across the sport? At the 2000 Masters, fifty-nine of the ninety- five players used a wound golf ball. One year later, only four players used one. By the end of 2001, not a single tournament champion on any of the world’s major professional tours had won using a wound ball; the rout was so comprehensive that Titleist stopped making them at all.

 Like many breakthrough advances, Titleist didn't even know what they had happened upon:

The invention of the Pro V1 started out as a little bit of an accident. The company’s engineers were just trying to combine some of the technologies in their balls for amateur golfers with the ones in their pro models, and they stumbled upon the construction of the Pro V1. From that point, its refinement became a process that involved five years of prototypes and endless testing at the company’s facility in Massachusetts. “We didn’t have a clue what we really had at the time,” recalled Bill Morgan, the company’s head of golf ball development, in a 2013 interview. It took a day in which a hundred of the company’s sponsored pros used the prototype ball -- and gave it rave reviews -- for the company to fast-track it into production.

That's often the way these things go with research.  Now we all know the significance of the ball in the distance explosion, but there are some that believe it's all that time in the gym.  Surprisingly, one of those science -deniers is Augusta National Chairman Billy Payne, who must be looking forward to stretching his wee golf course to 8,000 yards with this from an interview while he was in Australia:

“You know the kids keep getting longer. I really think for a four or five-year period we blamed it on the equipment,” Payne said. “I really think it’s the conditioning of these young kids.”

“You know they come to the game now much more athletic than they were in the past.”

Nothing to see here folks, please move along.   Shack uses gym rat Chesson Hadley and his 291 yard driving average as a rebuttal, but I'd remind folks that many have vested their hopes in Augusta National to save us from this mess by introducing a controlled Masters tournament ball.  I'm guessing that we can rule that out at this point, since the lads would only spend more time at the squat bar.

Sawgrass Tree, RIP - Seems like only yesterday that we lost the Eisenhower Tree, now comes word that we've lost the oak that overhangs (overhung?) the 6th tee at TPC Sawgrass:

The overhanging Live Oak to the right of the No. 6 tee box, which has impacted tee shots

over the years, recently developed a large crack in its trunk due to old age and disease and became a safety concern due to the weight of its overhanging limb, thus necessitating removal of the tree today. 

"The Live Oak on the sixth hole was one of the more recognizable trees on the golf course and influenced the tee shots of amateurs and professionals alike from the time the golf course opened in October of 1980," said PGA TOUR Commissioner Tim Finchem. "Unfortunately, over time it became more fragile and susceptible to disease. Just recently, a significant fissure developed in its trunk, making it a safety concern. There simply was no way to save it, as much as we would have liked to."

It was a great tree, one that really shouldn't effect amateurs tee shots and yet did all the same.  Mostly it induced a pull, not beneficial to a scorecard.

The World According to Freddie - I'm not sure whether this helps or hurts his chances of being named Captain, but this was our Freddie after his Pro-Am at the Charles Schwab Cup:

With the U.S. team having lost six of the past seven Ryder Cups and the PGA of America creating an 11-man task force to right the ship, Couples' name has been thrown out as a potential captain. 

The 55-year-old is definitely interested, but also thinks everyone is overreacting to American failures in the event. 

"I don't think anyone should panic. I don't think we need a 'task force,'" Couples said, employing air quotes. "I don't think we need the PGA of America straining about this. What I really think they need is to get players that have been on a lot of these teams to get a feel for what kind of captain they need."

What, no video of the air quotes?   Freddie himself would be the low-ket, just let the guys play kind of captain, and we could do a lot worse.

'Tis the Season - It's Halloween, and Golf.com has noted the date with a monster mash of a gallery Golf's Horror Stories that'll induce a few chuckles.  There's no consistency to their themes, as it spans the range of human indignity from Scott Hoch (as in, you know what) to Joe Daley (boy, they get a lot of mileage out of that one) to lighting striking players.  But it remind us of the epic meltdowns of Norman and Calc, not to mention Pablo Larrazabal's improvised swim in Malaysia after being swarmed by hornets, so it's good fun.  

Pablo Larrazabal takes "relief."

Pushbuttons, The Fisking Thereof

Are you, dear reader, familiar with the term "Fisking?"  No particular reason you should be, though it was a thing back in the day.  Here's the Wikipedia definition:

The term fisking is blogosphere slang describing a point-by-point criticism that highlights perceived errors, or disputes the analysis in a statement, article, or essay.  Eric S. Raymond, in the Jargon File, defined the term as "a point-by-point refutation of a blog entry or (especially) news story. A really stylish fisking is witty, logical, sarcastic and ruthlessly factual; flaming or handwaving is considered poor form.

The term comes from Robert Fisk, an alleged journalist for The Independent, whose relationship with the truth was one of convenience.  Hence he was subjected to many such fiskings, and did not come through any of those unscathed.  So, let's party like it's 1999.

The reason for this trip down memory lane is that our Shackelford engaged in the closest thing to a fisking I've seen in many a day, the subject being a couple of PGA of America documents making the rounds.  I assume these were sent to officials responding to inquiries, but I don't know how wide the distribution list might be.

The first is titled GOVERNANCE STATEMENT ON REMOVAL OF PGA PRESIDENT TED BISHOP, and far too many pixels died in the effort.  It drones on at considerable length, and I caution you to have a caffeinated beverage handy should you unwisely decide to venture in.  Let's sample a few of the tastier bits, with Shack's reactions appended.  And just to make things completely confusing, I'll engage in some fisking of Shack's fisking of.....I'm sorry, where were we?:

The role of the office of President of the PGA of America is to represent the

membership and further the mission of the organization. The statements made by Ted Bishop were not a sentiment that represented the viewpoint of the Association and it was in direct conflict with our very mission of growing the game across all communities.

In fact, those remarks made on social media completely contradict the strong actions our organization has recently taken to create more opportunities for girls and women in the game. We have made significant strides in many ways to be more welcoming, inclusive and diverse including the creation of the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship scheduled for next summer, the rapid growth of PGA Junior League Golf, and the early success of the Drive, Chip & Putt Championship. 

Just last week, the PGA hosted the 3rd annual Sports Diversity & Inclusion Summit, with eight other major sports organizations in attendance. To have led such an important gathering and, within 24 hours, not have acted the way we did through the removal of our President, would have made the PGA look hypocritical and completely out of touch.

On a Friday in the fall when people are going to high school football games, carnivals, Octoberfests and college weekends, here's guessing most of the world's population was not going to couple the Diversity & Inclusion Summit with a Ted Bishop Tweet. I know, big limb there.

I'm actually sympathetic to them in the first two graphs and agree that Bishop's postings were completely beneath the dignity (we're wearing out this word) of the President of the PGA.   But the last graph gives away the game, as we thump our chest over diversity summits and the like.  So while punishment is warranted, it's the overreaction that has dominated the third through sixth day of the story.

We likely would be facing intense scrutiny far beyond the world of golf had we not moved at a rapid pace.

Well, that is correct in the sense no one increased scrutiny of your financial statements of board make up or membership make-up. I'll even predict that the PGA of America and PGA Tour will continue to be confused my most major media outlets outside of the sport. Another limb!

Hmmmm....so it's more important to be quick than to ensure that the punishment fits the crime?  Noted.

Instead, our swift action has been roundly applauded by the LPGA and KPMG, our partners in the upcoming KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. In their public statement, the LPGA noted, “The PGA of America's quick and decisive action sent a strong message - reinforcing a consistent belief that with so many positive gains being made among golf's leading organizations, there is simply no room nor willingness, to take a step backwards.” 

In addition, Christine Brennan, a highly regarded sports columnist for USA Today, tweeted the following: “A top male sports official is ousted over sexist remarks. First time I've ever written that sentence.”

She also told Golf Channel: “I would now say that golf is now a leader in the fight for women and sports. And we couldn't have said that 48 hours ago. That’s how big of a watershed moment this is.”

Watershed moment? "I have to go now, Duane, because  I'm due back on the planet Earth."

OK, I like the Woody reference as much as the next pedophile, but I think Shack might have missed the layup.  I would have gone with the fact that it's not until 2015 that the PGA of America will deign to sponsor a women's event.  Did that come up at the Diversity and Inclusiveness Summit, Pete?

We have all heard of the term “teachable moment,” and this certainly qualifies as such. But it’s not just a teachable moment for PGA leadership – it is for everyone associated with the PGA of America. The words we say and write, especially with the enormous power of social media, can shape opinions and, in some cases, can define careers. And often in very negative ways. As we learned in this instance, it can cost you your position.

Does anyone really think this was a teachable moment, other than to teach the PGA's volunteer officers to stay off of social media?

Geoff, thank God they couldn't help themselves from using that hackneyed phrase.

There's lots more of that drivel if you're having trouble sleeping or applying for a job as a corporate diversity officer somewhere.

Here's Shack's introduction of the second document:

A separate PR document sent to the various directors, officers and "others" was labeled "Ted Bishop Removed Pushbuttons."

Pushbuttons?  Talking points is the term of art, no?

Q. What gives the Board of Directors the authority to take such an action? 

A. The Constitution of the PGA of America is very clear with regard to the Board of Director’s authority to take action due to an emergency situation in the best interest of the Association.

Emergency? Were lives in danger?

 Well, in their world Geoff, anything that threatens the gravy train is Defcon-5.

Q: How is Ted Bishop’s comment different than other similar comments about women that often go unnoticed and unpunished? 

A. Context and responsibility of the role is critical to consider. We cannot comment on the statements that any other organization or individual makes. The role of the office of President of the PGA of America is to represent the membership and further the mission of the organization. The statements made by Ted Bishop were not a sentiment that represented the viewpoint of the Association and it was in direct conflict with the very mission of the PGA of America of growing the game across all communities.  

I feel so much better now that the game will grow. Though it would have been fun to blame Ted Bishop for golf's continued lack of diversity and gender imbalance for the next 20 years.

Yeah, this will put an end to gender-related slurs amongst men, as never more shall we hear, "Nice putt, Alice."  Although if it was the Foot Golf grow the game initiative that got him fired, I might be more sympathetic.

Q: Was this the last straw? Is this one of many moves Ted made that angered the Board? 

A: Ted always been an outspoken President, that has not changed. The Board’s decision was based solely on the insensitive gender based comments Ted made on social media last week.

Well at least we got that part of this cleared up. No double secret probation for Ted. That in itself is shocking.

Yeah, nothing to do with the Ryder Cup or the anchoring ban or the finish of the PGA.....I'm sorry, what was the question?  At least they're not acting defensive...

'Dis and 'Dat

We've got more for you on Bishopsgate, but lets first dispense with the accumulated backlog of stories on other issues.

Task Force Momentum - Looking for feedback on the progress of the Ryder Cup task force? With a hat tip to Woody Allen, it's only a notion right now, but with continued hard work we might turn it into a concept and later turn it into an idea.  Rex Hoggard informs us after speaking to Davis Love that this task force, repository of all our hopes and dreams, has made such good progress that they might actually consider, you know, meeting:

While plans for the first meeting are still being formulated, Love said the task force is

trying to meet the first week of December with a second gathering tentatively scheduled for the first week of February during the Farmers Insurance Open in San Diego.

OK class, who can tell me the significance of those dates?  Anyone?  Bueller?

That first week of December would be the date of the Hero World Challenge and of course the latter is the event at which one Eldrick Woods first pegs his ball each year.  So the task force that will save us can only meet around one member's schedule, clarifying that nothing will be changed without his sign-off.  So instead of wasting everyone's time, why don't we just name him Captain?

Rio Jumps the Shark -  The farce that is the construction of the Olympic Golf Course continues to frustrate and amuse, and one can only feel compassion for Gil Hanse and his team.  But as with the task force above, Olympic Golf is our last best hope to save our sport because....well, that's the part that eludes your humble correspondent.  Those above my pat grade see a huge spike in the growth of the game, whereas I see analogies involving dogs and fleas... I'm just not great at this vision thing...

So the latest is this:

The judge wants to know if they agree to "immediately" move three holes and redesign part of the course to make way for a wildlife corridor that will help preserve a local

nature reserve, a demand made by local prosecutors. 

The public prosecutor's office is taking on the city government and the golf course developer in a lawsuit that contends environmental rules were breached in building the course, which had been billed as one of the highlights of the Rio Games. 

In the decision announced Monday, judge Eduardo Antonio Klausner denied a request to give more time for the two sides to negotiate and said the city and the developer have five days to confirm whether or not they'll re-design the disputed sections of the course.

You'll note the absence of a decision on the grounds of the lawsuit, as the Judge seems unencumbered by any legal niceties.

A hat-tip to Shackelford for the spot-on Christ The Redeemer photoshop effort, which I'll speculate we'll have further use for in the coming months.  I spent a couple of moments trolling his comments to see if there was a source credited, and found this perfect comment:

If only the world's best golfers had other opportunities to compete against each other on a big stage, we wouldn't need the Olympics.

 Amen, brother.

This Week in Trick Shots - While it's true that I couldn't name a second Finnish professional golfer other than Mikko Ionen, it appears from this video that there may be more on the way:

There's lots of good stuff in the second minute, and I absolutely LOVE the golfers with trollies in the background utterly oblivious to the juggling performance being filmed.

This Week in John Daly News - Loyal readers know my disdain for John Daly, the circus act that won't end.  I really wish people would stop giving him press, because that feeds into this perception that he remains a fan favorite and justifies bestowing extremely scarce and valuable sponsors' exemptions up his unworthy carcass.

So naturally I'm going to, you know, give him press...  First, he apparently played golf with someone named Jessica Alba:

Frankly it's sufficiently disturbing that I know who he is...am I supposed to know her?

Next, Alex Myers finds it necessary to post this video of Daly and Kenny G. covering Bob Dylan's Knockin' on Heaven's Door, and he characterizes the former as sounding "Pretty good:" 

Who is this Kenny G. he speaks of, and is he so obscure that he can't afford a complete surname?  Lastly, Daly posts this photo with Yao Ming:

John Daly        ✔ @PGA_JohnDaly

Follow

I look like a Mini Me?! @YaoMing #MissionHills #China #thisguyisbig #andimnosmallguy

10:04 PM - 27 Oct 2014

Actually, the best reason to post on Daly is to link to this ESPN gallery of Yao Ming photos with other athletes, including my favorite here:

That's Yao with an actual former NBA player, specifically Mugsy Bogues.

Bishopsgate - Day Five

Jaime Diaz is in the building.  Not literally of course, but golf's finest writer not named Jenkins has a piece at GolfWorld that fills in the time line of Bishopsgate, and things get curioser and curioser...

Like me, you've probably been wondering why the man would insert himself into a blue-on-blue fracas:

Those festering feelings became heightened last week as Bishop was spending a few

days with Nick Faldo at the six-time major winner's golf academy at The Greenbrier in West Virginia. Things came to a head last Thursday night after Bishop had seen Ian Poulter's autobiography that included sharp criticism of Faldo's captaincy of the European team at the 2008 Ryder Cup.

"I've become friends with Nick and seen the great work he does with kids," Bishop says, "so when I saw another player from today's game showing a lack of respect for an icon of the sport, my emotions absolutely got the best of me. My comments were directed totally in that vein."

The alliteratively festering feelings were that the PGA had  abandoned Captain Watson after the loss at Gleneagles and the notorious presser.  The reader can decide for him or herself how much credit is deserved for the underlying motivation to "protect" a friend.  And for those curious as to his state of mind mid-tweet, there's this:

Bishop had no second thoughts about his choice of words for more than an hour. But before joining his party for a 7:30 dinner at the hotel, Bishop went into a restroom and, while checking his phone, saw tweets calling him a sexist. 

"To be honest with you, there was no hesitation when I typed 'Lil Girl,' " Bishop says. "Because I kind of grew up in a generation where when my dad hit ground balls to me in the back yard, if I pulled my head up, he told me I was fielding like a girl. But in that restroom at The Greenbrier, the light went on, and I thought, Oh my God, I didn't even think about that. How stupid could I be? I felt like throwing up." Bishop adds: "I was for inclusion of women in the R&A and for their equality in the game. I'm not a sexist."

I'm mortified every time my 93-year old father calls a waitress Hon, but there is a generational aspect to this no doubt.  

For me there's two additional takeaways from the Diaz piece.  First, as per this excerpt, the PGA quickly morphed into the CDC and isolated Bishop from the press:

Bishop immediately erased the offending tweet and post. On his way to his table, he received a call from the PGA of America's senior director of communications, Julius Mason. Bishop said Mason told him that Golf Channel had asked the president to appear on "Morning Drive" to address his social-media mistakes. "But Julius said that the PGA had spoken internally and thought I would be better off not doing any interviews," Bishop says. "Julius said, 'Let us release a statement on your behalf.' " 

Mason subsequently released a statement that read, "Ted realized that his post was inappropriate and promptly removed it." Bishop recalls seeing it and telling his wife, "You know, I'm not crazy about this. There's no quote from me, and there's no remorse in this whatsoever."

There's more, but to be fair I do think that we have to strike the allegation that he didn't show remorse.  The there's this:

From l-r, Bevaqua, Sprague, Bishop and an unidentified man at the Ryder Cup.

Later, in a private call, Bishop says that Sprague told him whether he resigned or was removed by the board, he would be unable to serve as an honorary president, would never be recognized as a past president, but could continue as a PGA member.

"I said, 'Wow,' " Bishop recalled. Rather than resign, he decided to make a statement to the 21-person board in a 4 p.m. teleconference. "I apologized to the board, reiterated that I had very much wanted to make a public apology. And I said I don't think the punishment fits the crime. And that doesn't mean I don't have remorse for what I did. Trust me, I abused my platform. I know I made a huge mistake. I'm the first to say that. I let my personal feelings for two guys get in my way, and used a bad choice of words in trying to convey my frustration." 

The statement was over in five minutes. Bishop says he received no feedback or comments, recused himself from further proceedings and hung up. About an hour later, after sources say the vote came in with no votes in favor of Bishop retaining office, Sprague called Bishop, urging him to resign. "If I do that, I make it easy for the PGA of America," Bishop said he answered. 

Bishop says Sprague then said, "Well, it will save your career, save your reputation." Bishop says he adamantly responded, "No it won't. My reputation has already been ruined. As far as my career, I'm going back to run my golf facility [The Legends]. I'm not going to run for another office in the PGA. So there's nothing in it for me to resign."

I like that "Resign or we'll fire you" threat, and either way you'll be a non-person for the rest of your career.  I do have one quibble with Jaime over this, which just happens to be his lede:

As Ted Bishop began recounting the details of the 22-hour period in which his presidency of the PGA of America—commonly considered the most transformative in the organization's history—swiftly unraveled last Friday, it didn't escape him that his demise was entwined with the event that he had hoped would bring his tenure its culminating glory: the Ryder Cup.

I'm not so sure about that "Commonly considered" point, as I've discussed previously.  I'd love to

have a beer with Jaime and hear his case for transformation, which seem to largely rest on having fought a losing battle over anchored putters.

What's crystallized in my thinking in the last day or so is that the tweet and Facebook posts were inappropriately undignified for the CEO of a major golf organization, who should maintain his dignity (there's that word again) and stay above the petty fray of a Euro Ryder Cupper and his former Captain.  We don't expect our CEO's to engage in social media locker room taunts, and he made the classic mistake of punching down.  But the sexism angle is a really thin reed....

But Ted made some people unhappy, whether it was his outspokenness during his term or his all-in bet on Tom Watson, but when presented with an opportunity to publicly humiliate him they seized it with gusto.  

Now that we've got that out of the way, shall we return to our main objective in life, that being to make fun of the New York Times?  Karen Crouse weighs in with her weekly golf piece on Sunday and it's non-stop giggles:

All you need to know about golf in the 21st century is that Lucy Li and Ted Bishop were two of 2014’s biggest newsmakers in the sport. At 11, Li became the youngest player, male or female, to compete in this country’s showcase event and acquitted herself honorably on the same Pinehurst No. 2 course that the week before had chewed up and spit out the likes of the men’s major winners Bubba Watson and Jason Dufner. 

The diminutive Li made big girls everywhere proud by competing in that event, the United States Women’s Open. Bishop, the ousted P.G.A. of America president, reminded big girls everywhere of golf’s ingrained sexism. When Bishop chose to disparage one man, the English golfer Ian Poulter, on Twitter by calling him a “little girl,” he effectively demeaned all women, including his own two daughters and granddaughter.

Karen, the fact that you think he demeaned all women should be your first clue that you've been marinating in the culture of the Times for far too long.  

Bishop, who was removed by the P.G.A. board with one month left in his two-year term, may have been childish to engage Poulter, who had written critically of two of the sport’s legendary male players, Tom Watson and Nick Faldo, on social media. But make no mistake: His choice of pejoratives is so common in country club golf’s social circles that it very likely was not a salvo that stirred debate during cocktail hour.

Yes, it is very common, so perhaps taking to the fainting couch is a tad, you know, overwrought?  And that fact, as discussed yesterday, that women also call us little girls a mitigating factor?

It was telling how many people in the game were slow to react to Bishop’s comments. The L.P.G.A. waited until after Bishop’s forced departure before releasing a statement that said, in part, “With so many positive gains being made among golf’s leading organizations, there is simply no room, nor willingness, to take a step backwards.”

Gee Karen, I didn't realize it was a timed event.  I don't know, maybe unlike the Times they didn't think that the Republic was threatened by the tweet, or perhaps they were even willing to accept an apology for a social medi faux pas?  But at Times we can't allow that, can we?  Because that would threaten our mandate of arbiter of social norms...

Sheesh, and by the way, it took the Time 72 hours to opine on the story, so they don't even meet their own manufactured standards of responsiveness.  Read it if you must, but I hate to give her any hits on that nonsense on stilts. 

Dateline Bishopsgate

When last we checked in with our heroes, Ted Bishop was on a train for Siberia and hundreds of entry-level employees at PGA HQ were airbrushing his visage out of two year's worth of May Day parade photos.  

One item that I hadn't seen when I last posted was this statement from the LPGA that Shack added as an addendum to his Friday post:

LPGA STATEMENT ON PGA OF AMERICA/TED BISHOP

The PGA of America’s quick and decisive action sent a strong message - reinforcing a

consistent belief that with so many positive gains being made among golf’s leading organizations, there is simply no room, nor willingness, to take a step backwards.

So, a silly locker-room taunt is a step backwards for womynkind?  Mike Whan has seemed to be a sensible sort during his term as LPGA Commish, but why does the LPGA even wade into these waters?  Per Jaws, we're gonna need a bigger fainting couch.

There is no doubt that Bishop's tweet and Facebook post was beneath the dignity of his office, though I'd hasten to add that much of Bishop's two-year term falls into that same category.  But by Day 2 of the story you could start to feel the backlash, as people looked around and perhaps realized there isn't much there there.

First, Jay Coffin discloses his own misogyny:

Two years ago my son, 6 years old at the time, was loafing in a YMCA-league soccer game. Absolutely loafing. When the game was over, I walked over to him and told him I was disappointed he didn’t try harder and that he was playing like a girl.

It turns out his wife wasn't crazy about the analogy, though in her defense their daughter was within earshot.  But here's the gist of the piece:

Golf Channel made attempts to reach several of the most respected women in the game and nearly all did not feel comfortable enough to comment. 

Annika Sorenstam released a one-sentence statement later in the day. Nancy Lopez spoke softly. Golf Channel’s Paige Mackenzie made pointed comments on both Morning Drive and Golf Central. Prominent PGA of America member Suzy Whaley spoke strongly and eloquently and was the least afraid to tackle the issue. 

“Obviously, I was extremely disturbed by it,” Whaley said on Golf Central. “There were extremely insulting and sexist. 

“For me to hear comments that are derogatory about young girls, or insulting, just because you are a girl, is offensive. Our board of directors took swift action. The PGA of America finds it quite critical to be inclusive and we will continue to do so moving forward.” 

Everyone else? Radio silence.

Yeah, can't blame them there.... the link above has the video of Paige Mackenzie's comments if you must.

Alex Micelli caught up with Derek Sprague, Bishop's temporary replacement, who had this to say:

Twenty-four hours later, Sprague sat in his office at Malone (N.Y.) Golf Club as the interim president of the PGA. 

"It has been a whirlwind," he said by phone Friday night after having orchestrated Bishop's removal. “This is a dark day for the PGA of America. This is the first time in our 98-year history that this has been done."

Wait, isn't calling the day dark, you know, racist? 

Weathervane James Corrigan, with an evening to review the bidding, seems now to think the PGA might have gone overboard:

This was as quick and as complete a fall from grace as any official in the game’s long

history. In a couple of clicks on to Twitter and Facebook - in which he lambasted Poulter for daring to criticise the Ryder Cup captaincies of Sir Nick Faldo and Tom Watson - Bishop signed his own P45, as well his own excommunication order from the game’s corridors of power.

However, far from feeling any empathy with Bishop, a controversial, outspoken character who always polarised opinion, the LPGA Tour on Saturday welcomed his ousting.

There's more for those that have the stomach, but little doubt that the PGA has taken a one-news-cycle gaffe and provided a week's worth of ridicule.  Does anyone happen to know what a P45 is?

My funniest moment of the weekend was a discussion of this subject in the Willow Ridge pro shop.  In noting my own personal failings on the subject, having called Kent a little girl for not coming out to play on Friday, our shop assitant Lynn added the coup de grâce in noting that "He isa a little girl."  As with use of the "n" word by black, she has immunity but the reader will still grasp my point.

And, lest you're consumed with pity for our Ted, we have a clarification of his status from the PGA of America indicating that My Trotsky analogy might have been a tad overwrought:

Ted will enjoy the same rights and privileges of all PGA members, including the ability to attend PGA of America events. He will continue to be recognized as the 38th President of the PGA, and his record of service during the time period which he served will remain intact. Due to his removal from office, he will not serve on the Board of Directors in the role of Honorary President, nor will he be granted the rights and privileges of a Past President in our governance structure.

Does that clarify things for you?  My reading is that he's not in danger of an ice pick to the head (how great for me that I can use my vast knowledge of Russian history here), but he'll not be terribly welcome at said PGA of America events.

Misogyny Loves Company

Talk about the gift that keeps on giving...

In drafting Thursday's 137th Ryder Cup post I had meant to include a silly item involving Ted

Bishop, President of the PGA of America.  The reader will hopefully recall that on the Friday broadcast from Gleneagles, which by now feels like the Mezozoic Era, Sir Nich Faldo called Sergio Garcia "Useless: on the 2008 Ryder Cup squad that Nicky helmed.

Now that Ryder Cup took place in the aftermath of Sergio being dumped by Greg Norman's daughter and the favored Euros were soundly beaten by the likes of Ben Curtis and Boo Weekly, but until now there hadn't been much blue-on-blue violence.  But Sergio's current teammates were outraged on his behalf and made their displeasure with Faldo known.  And in his just released autobiography, Ian Poulter attempts to settle the score on behalf of the Spaniard:

"Faldo has lost a lot of respect from players because of what he said. There were plenty of things a lot of the players were unhappy with at Valhalla but none of us criticised him. He may find that begins to change now.”

When your opponent is fighting, the best thing to do is to pull up a chair and enjoy the show.  But this is all pretty mild stuff in the cosmic scheme of things, the more so because Poults seems really to be motivated by protecting a teammate.

Now Mr. Bishop enters stage left,  with this tweet:

There was also this Facebook post:

"Used to be athletes who had lesser records or accomplishments in a sport never criticized the icons. Tom Watson (8 majors and a 10-3-1 Ryder Cup record) and Nick Faldo (6 majors and all-time Ryder Cup points leader) get bashed by Ian James Poulter. Really? Sounds like a little school girl squealing during recess. C'MON MAN!"

Now a quick detour in the story to demonstrate how life imitates performance art.  Having heard only that he deleted the tweet and Facebook post and apologized, I managed to escape the office on Friday afternoon and headed out to hit a few balls and maybe play a few hole.  As is my practice, I walked through our pro shop and asked Kunta Kente if he wanted to come out.  His response was that "It's kind of cold", even though it around sixty degrees out.  You see where I'm headed with this, don't you, as I instinctively called him a little girl and offered to let him play from the red tees.  I make no claims of originality, it's just in the nature of how boys talk to other boys. 

So imagine my surprise to find out that Bishop was fired a mere 30 days before the end of his two-year term.  And not just fired, but he is to be expunged from the record books in a manner befitting Leon Trotsky after his 3&2 loss to Joe Stalin in the 1924 Vladimir Lenin Succession Round-robin:

Bishop said that in addition to being removed from office, the PGA of America has told him he would not be allowed to become the Honorary President or be recognized as a Past President. "Today, all I have left is my PGA membership and that will always mean the world to me," Bishop said

Really?  We're treating this as a hate crime, are we?  

Another slight digression to remind ourselves that people have been falling all over themsleves to congratulate Bishop on his consequential term.  We had this fawning profile of him in Golf Digest, in which he was characterized as a "Disruptor," presumably meaning that as a compliment.  It was there that Pete Bevaqua, CEO of the PGA, had this to say about his good friend Ted:

"(He was) the right person at the right time” while saying “the way he's wired helped us get things done that would otherwise not have gotten done,”

Now Pete is saddened....because you know, diversity, inclusiveness, yada, yada, tada....

I like this reaction from NFL Commish:

When reached for comment on the firing of Ted Bishop as President of the Professional Golfers' Association of America, National Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell reacted with shock. 

"Seriously?" Mr. Goodell said. "He called someone a 'lil girl'? That's all? That's it? I mean, sure, his termination is merely symbolic since his term is almost over, but still, seriously?

 Now your humble correspondent has never been much of a fan of Mr. Bishop, who has always seemed to me the Chuck Schumer of golf (the signature characterization of Sen. Schumer being that the most dangerous place in the world is between a microphone and him.  Thus I was quite bemused by the attempts at hagiography, which included credit for his "Principled stand against the banning of anchored putter."  I'd be willing to stipulate that that stand was principled if someone could only explain the principle involved..  To me the USGA and R&A treated him as an unwanted gnat to be flicked away dismissively, but per haps your mileage varied.

But having angered the PC Gods, folks are now free to say what they think (or to pile on, depending how you see things).  Steve Pike at The "A" Position won't be getting a Christmas card from the Bishops:

In the past – under the autocratic regimes of past PGA Chief Executive Officers Jim

Awtrey and Joe Steranka – presidents were kept on tight leashes. Bishop was tough to tame. He said what he thought – regardless of how ill-timed or moronic – and apparently believed the role of PGA president was that of some kind of powerbroker. He went head-to-head with golf’s true powerbrokers, including PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem and R&A Chief Executive Peter Dawson, and always came out looking like a junior varsity benchwarmer playing against the varsity. 

Often in the past two years Bishop appeared to be more interested in furthering his own career than furthering the cause of his organization and its 27,000 members.

That's pretty much how I see it, though I would have avoided the "M" word.  James Corrigan is never without an opinion, and here's a few of many:

It is funny, however, that Bishop did not revert to name-calling when Phil Mickelson

delivered his withering critique of Watson's captaincy techniques in the immediate aftermath of the 161/2-111/2 defeat at Gleneagles last month. That's because it was Mickelson, and Bishop would never put down the popular left-hander, even if he thought he was being disrespectful. Ah, Ted still wants to be friends with Phil. 

That tells you everything you need to know about this official, whose term is blessedly in its last few months. If truth be told - it will not be - the PGA of America cannot wait to be shot of this wretched self-publicist. 

During his two-year tenure he has gone out of his way to grab the spotlight, choosing to take on the R&A and USGA through the media with his opposition to the long-putter "anchoring" ban and lending his association's support to some crackpot scheme to make the game more appealing by enlarging the hole to 15 inches.

Geez, James, tell us how you really feel.   There's quite a bit of speculation to be found about his motives, the logic seeming to be that his defense of Faldo relates to the abuse his captain took in the aftermath of the Gleneagles Götterdämmerung.  I'll leave that determination to the team of forensic psychiatrists currently en route from Vienna.

I'll close with my favorite little sound bite from the matter, from prospective PGA of America officer Suzy Whaley.  Whaley is only the second woman to qualify to play in a PGA Tour event (the first was the female Babe), and Shack quotes her as reacting thusly on Golf Channel:

“For me to hear comments that are derogatory about young girls, or insulting, just because you are a girl, is offensive,” Whaley said. “Our board of directors took swift action. The PGA of America finds it quite critical to be inclusive and we will continue to do so moving forward.”

Was his comment derogatory about young girls?  That's certainly not how I took it, but we're all such delicate flowers these days... Or maybe misogynists just stick together.

We can all agree that his comments were juvenile and ill-considered.  But while I've never been a fan of the man, isn't making him a non-person an extreme sentence for a petty crime?

Viral Golf

The kids like to speak about videos and memes going viral, and we've got a couple of those for you this morning.

Everyone has had this video, and thanks to thos that have sent me the link.  It's alternately called the longest 3' or 4' putt, and I just want to know where shotlink is when you need it:

Of course we'd all like to know how many takes it took...

The second virus is this rather dramatic photo:

Here's the background from the Guardian:

The two radically different realities, just metres apart, was what greeted a dozen or so migrants caught on the triple fence that marks the border between Spain’s north African enclave of Melilla and Morocco on Wednesday. After 200 had tried to scale the fence, Spain’s interior ministry said 20 people had made it to the enclave and another 70 remained perched on top of the fence for several hours. 

The photo was taken by José Palazón, of the migrant rights group Pro.De.In Melilla, after he noticed that some of the migrants had got caught on the fence in the area overlooking the golf course.

Here's the nut graph:

Each year thousands of Africans – many of whom have spent years travelling across north and sub-Saharan Africa – try to reach Europe by making it past the fortified fence that separates Morocco from the Spanish enclaves of Melilla and Ceuta. Many of them spend months living in makeshift camps on the Moroccan side, waiting for the opportunity to rush the fence.

It is quite the contrast, and a stark reminder of how lucky we all are.

That's all for now as work beckons...

Ryder Cup Ad Nauseum

Talk about an evergreen.... the Ryder Cup is truly the Blogger Full Employment Act of 2014.  Mind you, it has been helping the readership numbers any...

First up, a hearty thanks to Maggot for the link to one of the more interesting takes on Ryder Cup strategy from Stephen Meyer at, of all places, Forbes Magazine.  Like me, you've probably been wondering whether the Yerkes-Dodson Law has an applicability to the current circumstances, and I'm going to keep you in suspense there for a moment.

Here's his framing of the issue:

A couple assumptions: First, our Ryder Cup players are placed in a position similar to that of the early astronauts. In “The Right Stuff” Tom Wolfe revealed that the seven Mercury astronauts – the cockiest, most sneeringly confident fighter pilots on the planet – were terrified all the time. Not of dying. That was no big deal. They were scared of “screwing the pooch” – making a dumb mistake that would compromise a mission while the whole country was watching. 

The whole nation is watching the Ryder Cup golfers, and they’re in mortal fear of screwing the pooch.

I think I like the cut of this man's jib....what a great analogy, and you can readily analogize how the Ryder Cup is to professional golf as the Apollo program was to military air services.  It takes them out of their comfort zone and makes them oh so very scared, you know, of "Screwing the pooch."

A second assumption is that the leader of a team can influence the pressure team members feel. All good leaders continually ask, “What’s the optimal amount of stress I should apply to my team?”

See where we're going with this?  And now, without further ado, let's see how Yerkes-Dodson explains it all:

And you thought I was just yerking your Dodson above...Here's how Meyer explains it:

Above is the “Yerkes-Dodson Law,” which shows the connection between performance and stress as an inverted U-shaped curve. It shows that on the left side of the curve, increasing good stress – or eustress – boosts performance. But at a certain point, at the top of the inverted U, “eustress” turns into “distress” and performance starts falling off.

You say eustress, I say distress, let's call the whole thing off.

Through the lens of Yerkes-Dodson, Watson’s behavior might have been creating too much distress and not enough eustress. He didn’t seem to realize that pressure and performance are correlated, and that a captain’s leadership style influences stress levels. (I say that knowing full well that if the team had beaten the Europeans by winning nine of 12 matches on Sunday, the headlines would have read, “Tom Watson: Tough-Love Motivational Genius!”)

And no discussion of the Ryder Cup would be complete without addressing the pods:

Consider why Azinger decided on the pod system. The inspiration came to him as a bolt of lightning one day while watching a documentary about how Navy SEALs break units into small groups. In training they eat, sleep and play together. Then they go out and fight together. Think about that. The Navy SEALs pod system was created to help people function in the most stressful environment you can imagine. Yes, breaking special-forces units into pods creates bonds, builds trust and enables teamwork. But those are all inputs. The output is that soldiers in pods don’t panic in the chaos and confusion of battle. 

Azinger intuitively understood that Ryder Cup golfers are totally exposed in a high-stakes war. If you asked them, “Would you rather die or miss a straight, uphill, three-foot putt that lost the Cup?” they’d bargain with you. “Could you re-ask that question and make it a downhill seven-footer with 18 inches of break?”

Now I think his discussion of stress is on point, and I'll remind you that one of the golf writers (there's no time to dig through all the posts for the direct quote) made the point that Watson seemed to deliberately increase the stress on his players, to ill effect.

But let me also share this, before I forget:

No one can prove why the Europeans, who are subjected to the same pressure, routinely beat the U.S. in the Ryder Cup. The best explanation I’ve ever heard is that Europeans teams naturally break themselves into stress-modulating, pod-like groups based on nationality. Much of what the pundits talk about – especially pairings – probably doesn’t amount to a hill of beans.

That certainly wasn't true in 2014, as only England had a pod's worth of players and Rose was famously paired with a Swede, yada, yada, yada.

This also caught my eye:

Flashback to 2008 when the U.S. last won the Ryder Cup using coach Azinger’s pod system. In his book, “Cracking the Code: The Winning Ryder Cup Strategy,” Azinger never explicitly says that the pod system was designed to alleviate stress. He mostly talks about how team building, bonding, camaraderie and support can get a small group “to gel as a single… unit.” George W. Bush in the book’s preface suggests Azinger’s biggest task was to get a bunch of talented superstars to “sacrifice their own goals for the betterment of the team.”

Hmmm...anyone remember that '08 team?  Here it is:

Phil Mickelson

Stewart Cink 

Chad Campbell

Anthony Kim

Kenny Perry

J.B. Holmes

Hunter Mahan

Jim Furyk

Boo Weekly

Ben Curtis

Steve Stricker

Justin Leonard

Anyone see a prevalence of superstars?  Excepting Phil, not a one to be found... Yes, Azinger did a great job of melding them into a team.  But it was a uniquely "meldable" team, with six rookies and I doubt that anyone other than Phil and Furyk had been on a winning team.

I think that anything that makes the guys comfortable and shields them from stress is great, but it's still mostly an individual game.  They played the underdog card extremely well that year, but they also had Europe's version of Tom Watson as captain of the favorites.

So, let's do the pods in 2016 and get that out of our system.

In other Ryder Cup news, Commissioner Ratched has come to our rescue.  First, the diagnosis:

“The U.S. in recent years has been winning the Presidents Cup (against the

Internationals) because of their strength in foursomes, and yet they’ve been getting killed in Ryder Cup in foursomes,” he said, noting the Americans’ 7-1 deficit in the alternate-shot format in an eventual 16 1/2 - 11 1/2 loss this year. “It doesn’t make a lot of sense. You can’t play foursomes down 7-1 and think you’re going to win the cup."

Maybe they're only adequate in odd-numbered years.  Plus, no mention of the fact that the U.S. has been better in foursomes than fourballs in recent years.  But on to the solution:

The answer? Finchem says playing more foursomes would help. The format has not caught on in the U.S. but is more popular in the U.K. and Ireland. Finchem warmed to the idea of creating some foursomes exhibitions on the PGA Tour. 

“One of the silver linings on these things would be if foursomes golf could develop some traction in the U.S. We are strapped for (open) weeks,” said Finchem, who acknowledged the possibility of “a little side event” that could include foursomes.

 That couldn't hurt, but when would you do it?

Finchem also mentioned the possibility of a special Monday pro-am that would feature a pro and amateur paired in foursomes.

Thud!  Yeah, paired with an 18-handicap on Monday, that's the ticket.

And in miscellaneous Ryder Cup personnel news, Shack gets a kick out of the Pairing of Webb Simpson and Bill Haas in the first two rounds of the McGladrey, suggesting that perhaps they can talk about Webb's pleas to Captain Watson for his pick.  How'd that work out for you, Webb?

And the Captain himself has emerged from his time out.  You might know that Watson is a proud son of Kansas City, so his appearance last night in full regalia probably shouldn't surprise anyone:

And the good news is that his team won't have to play foursomes in the World Series.

In his discussion of the potential Monday morning foursomes pro-ams, Shack reminded us of his distress when the Northern Trust Open at Riviera closed the Tuesday practice round to spectators for reasons I didn't fully understand (financial, something about more money for the charities).

But in response to a request in the comments, he posted this photo of his first L.A. Open practice round in 1974:

That's his dad Lynn, former UCLA and Laker basketballer, on whose shoulders Geoff sits.  Very cute, no?