This and That

Sorry for the delayed blogging today, but Herself invited me to join her morning game, and you wouldn't have me pass up that would you?

Oddball Stuff - Just a few odds and ends to work up some momentum for this post.  First, I go up to the range yesterday afternoon and I'm hitting next to Richard Kind.  That's not quite as unexpected as it might seem, as Amazon is filming a new series at Willow Ridge called Red Oaks, the setting for which is a country club.  The series stars Jennifer Gray, Paul Reiser and, yes, Richard Kind.

He's best known for recurring roles on Mad About You and Spin City, but he's the kind of character actor that you recognize but can't come up with a name.  I happen to know his name because a few years ago at work I was asked to interview an analyst candicate that was his double.  I couldn't do justice to the interviewee because I spent the whole time trying to come up with the actors name....  Small world.

Next, see if you can guess why this is an issue:

Talks aimed at resolving the CalMac ferry dispute have been described as "bitterly disappointing" by a union. 

The RMT said progress had been slow on the issue of jobs and working conditions during "difficult" discussions held last week. 

And it warned that fresh industrial action cannot be ruled out as a further two days of negotiations get under way.

The entire staff of Unplayable Lies is headed to Askernish in August, on the Island of South Uist in the Outer Hebrides.  CalMac is the ferry service involved in getting there, and I am reliably informed by good friend and fellow traveler John Coupland that there is no Plan B.

Lastly, the above-referenced Herself has been playing beautifully this summer, noticeably longer through the bag and with no shortage of short-game props.  However, this morning on our front nine was the first time she's ever beaten me on a nine....gross.  She shot 41 (par is 34) and...well, I didn't.  But this isn't about me, except for being about how I'm going to get my clock cleaned in Scotland....

Open Detritus - More afterthoughts on a great week...first, Martin Kauffman takes ESPN to the woodshed:

Given that, Monday’s weather-delayed final round of the Open should have been one of

ESPN’s finest days producing golf. It had all of the elements – Jordan Spieth, a stacked leaderboard, the surprising amateurs – of a great final round. Just fire up the cameras and show us the pictures, guys. 

But that’s not what ESPN does. My continuing criticism of ESPN’s Open coverage in recent years is that the weekend rounds sometimes look like studio shows, particularly during the first few hours. It actually seemed marginally better on that count this year – a full hour of coverage must have passed before I screamed at the TV – but there was way too much chatter and way too few golf shots shown. Van Pelt, who perhaps had too much Earl Grey before going on air, was particularly voluble. On Twitter he referred to the early coverage as “setting (the) table,” as if viewers tuning in on Monday morning to watch history play out needed tutoring. It’s an unnecessary exercise.

I had been complimentary of them earlier in the week, but also found them quite intrusive on Monday.  Though unlike Marty (I can call you Marty, can't I?), the one I'd single out is Curtis Strange.   I needed a legal pad to write down all the inanities that came out of his trap....

Though credit is due for this:

ESPN showed 358 shots during this period which worked out to 1.23 strokes per minute - a sizable increase over the ESPN shot rate of 1.01 from the 2014 Open Championship.

This was also a higher shot rate than I tracked for CBS from the 2015 Masters and Fox 

from the 2015 US Open, but trailed the rate that NBC showed during the 2015 Players. The Masters post contains links to the shot charts I did for the 2014 majors.

One shot a minute seems kind of chintzy to me, but I'm just a humble blogger...

And on the subject of announcers, Peter Alliss  is coming in for some criticism from the SJW's.  This from an unbylined Telegraph report:

Alliss, 84, had already sent social media alight on Sunday night with his comment about young Irish amateur Paul Dunne being hugged by his mother as he came off the course with a share of the third-round lead. 

"Ah, that must be mum," said Alliss. "Perhaps he likes older women. I don't know but I hope I got the right one." 

And this when Zach Johnson's wife Kim was shown congratulating her husband.

As the camera focused on her, Alliss mused about how the couple would spend the prize money: "She is probably thinking - 'if this goes in I get a new kitchen'," commented Alliss.

Being a little cheeky there, Peter....but c'mon all you oh-so-serious types, do things like this really matter to you?  I cringe every time my 94-year old father calls a waitress Honey, but that's just how gents of that generation grew up speaking.  I rather doubt that Kim Johnson was offended, and who knows, maybe she does need a new kitchen...

Next, Joel Beall takes on the issue of whether the Old Course is still up to snuff:

Depending on your definitions of "venerable" and "archaic," the golf world is not

honoring its elder.

St. Andrews is an institution, a breathing beacon of the sport. Unfortunately, the way the players and press are discussing the consecrated grounds, you would think the Old Course was a muny pitch-n-putt. Or worse, Chambers Bay. 

Every five years, St. Andrews takes center stage on the rota of Open courses. And every five years, you can count on the blasphemous premise to be raised: has the Old Course become an antiquated venue?

I'm gonna go with no, but Joel ignores the obvious issue that arose this week, namely green speeds.  Scoring has been remarkably consistent at the Old Course (Faldo won in 1990 at -19), and will always be dependent upon the weather.  But that has been accomplished with ever firmer and faster greens, and we're now at a point where we can't play in the wind, which is the essence of an Open Championship.

Paul Dunne went the way of most surprise contenders, and his chunked wedge on the first hole was painful to watch.  But that which does not kill us makes us stronger, so he would seem to have a bright future, over which some luminaries are quibbling per Brian Keough:

Graeme McDowell sees few reasons why Paul Dunne shouldn't give the Walker Cup a miss and take the leap into the professional ranks as soon as possible. But Pádraig Harrington believes he should remain amateur and play at Royal Lytham and St Annes in September, if he’s selected. 

Asked his advice, Harrington said: “You know, he can be a pro all his life. The Walker Cup only comes around not very often. I think golf in the Walker Cup and turn pro then.”

Gotta go with Paddy here, as the Walker Cup is a great event and will establish friendships on both sides of the pond that will last a lifetime.  I always hate to see the youngsters rush things and miss out on seminal experiences.  I don't take professional success as a given, and I'd like to see him savor his success before moving up several weight classes.

How's this for a great call?   

Peter Sanders has worked with Johnson since 2012 -- as well as a handful of other PGA

Tour pros -- by analyzing his numbers on the course. But in that time, he's never done what he did before Johnson arrived at the Old Course. Let's just say Sanders was feeling pretty good about his client's chances. 

"I usually send a weekly 'report card' to each of my players, and their team with a snapshot of what they did well and not so well," said Sanders, who is the creator of Shot By Shot, a program that helps track and analyze any golfer's stats. "After the John Deere, I sent a note to Zach's team saying, 'NO report needed. Zach should go to St. Andrews with the supreme confidence that all parts of his game are at their best.'"

When I sat at a table with stats guru Mark Broadie at the Met. Golf Writers' dinner, one of the questions I asked was which Tour players have most embraced statistical analysis, Zach's was one of the names he noted.

How did you all react to the Road Hole this week?  I'm not sure how I felt, and engaged in a back-and-forth with good friend Glenn on the subject, he having the advantage of having been there.  No doubt it played brutally difficult, as Sean Zak captures:

Our on-site correspondent

Often called the “toughest hole in golf,” 17 played .655 strokes over par throughout the event, nearly half a stroke tougher than the next toughest hole. 

The Road Hole surrendered just nine birdies and produced 203 pars, 217 bogeys and 43 double bogeys or worse after being played 472 times over four rounds.

More bogeys than pars: check.  More double bogeys than birdies: check.  At one point it had a higher stroke average than the fifth, which is an actual Par-5... and this from the winner is quite true:

Johnson had a clever way of summing it up on Thursday afternoon. According to Golf Channel's Rex Hoggard, when Johnson was told there had been no birdies on 17 that day, he responded: "That's not right, the group in front of us all made 4s."

But what was missing was play from the road and against the stone wall...  They kept the rough left of the fairway under control this year, which the consensus favors, the logic being that if you allow these great players to reach the green from a lie in the rough, a certain percentage of them will only get themselves into deeper trouble.

What I saw was an endless succession of players playing short of the green, a good many of them because they couldn't reach it.  This was undoubtedly true during Mondays play (not in playoff though) when the hard left-to-right wind had them aiming for the second fairway.  From there many simply couldn't reach, and an equal number didn't even try... but that left us watching the entire field attempting to two-putt up that slope, which became a tad tedious...

Now the hole seemed to play into the fan all week, though I believe that is the prevailing wind (I'd be happy to have Mark W. correct me if I'm in error).  So, as an exit question, have they made the Road Hole so long that it's lost it's character, if not its bite?

And if you didn't catch it on the broadcast, do give this ESPN feature on The Old Course Hotel a look.  Lots of new information, including that the hotel's administrative offices are housed in the old railway shed.  Can you say "Incoming"?  I thought you could...

Golf in Black and White - Gary Player has long lost any filter he might have, but see what you think of this comment:

"We need Tiger Woods. Why? He’s a man of color. We need a black champion. Go to

Africa, where we’ve got all these young black kids used to seeing a white guy as the champion. Now they’re getting inspired; they’re sitting in front of their TV sets. It inspires them; it gets them interested in golf. Asia wants to see a man of color. So there are many reasons besides being so charismatic. I don’t know if anybody in the world today can play like Tiger Woods did."

I don't know, I found Michael Jordan and Lebron James pretty inspiring... But the truth is that since Tiger burst on the scene in 1997, there's really scant evidence that he created any new golfers.  There's little doubt that he put some eyeballs in front of TV screens, but that's a different thing...

 No, Next Question - Here's the header to a John Strege item I've no need to read:

Canadian Open at Glen Abbey and one of Tiger's greatest shots: Could he hit it today?

For those of a nostalgic bent, he's referring to this shot:

 And even if he could hit thst shot on a Sunday these days, it would be at 8:30 a.m.