With the Grace of God
At what was once regarded as the tender age of 23, Branden Grace has started his professional golf career with the results: Tied 14th, won, won – which surpasses even the explosive entry of Tiger Woods into the paid ranks. And while I am genuinely delighted for the lad, who must feel as if he has solved Fermatt’s Theorum at the first time of asking (the theorum, incidentally, states that: No three positive integers a, b, and c can satisfy the equation an + bn = cn for any integer value of n greater than two, and was unsolved for 358 years. Mathematics Ed), I hope he doesn’t get too carried with this flush of success. The history of the pro game is littered with the corpses of hot young tyros who initially laid waste to everything before them but whose light burned very brightly but for a hugely disappointing amount of time. And while I loathe the idea of becoming what my mother described as a Job’s comforter – the sort of person who tries to cheer up his friend in hospital, who has had a leg amputated, by pointing out that the man in the next bed wants to buy his slipper – I do hope that Branden has enough insight to recognise that a fabulous start doesn’t always lead to a wondrous finish.

People like Nick Dougherty, Marc Warren, Steve Webster, Chad Campbell, Kirk Triplett, Steve Flesch and Ty Tryone were all hailed as great prospects when they tasted early success but they now languish so far down the world rankings that even the thought of breaking into the top-100, as Branden Grace has just done, must seem an unobtainable fantasy, on a par with bedding Thandie Newton, Penelope Cruz and Jennifer Aniston on the same night, or even at the same time.

I offer such apparently pessimistic thoughts to young Mr Grace, as I like to think of him, for two reasons. First, his two victories have come in his native South Africa, which is a slightly different proposition to winning when a large percentage of the world’s best players are lined up against you. Second, those initial successes can come awfully easily, while subsequent victories, once you come down from cloud nine, can be elusive, to say the least. I truly hope that this apparently likeable and clearly talented young man goes on to ever greater achievements but, while it is important to savour his victories, he also needs to be mindful that he is just at the start of a long and arduous road.

Three cheers for the big man
Paul Lawrie is one of the good guys. And while we are lucky in golf with the quality of its protagonists (compare the behaviour of any pro golfer to someone like Mario Balotelli, to pick just one Premiership footballer at random), some manage to elevate the profession of pro golf even higher still. Paul Lawrie is one such man. He remains firmly grounded in the Aberdeen location in which he grew up and learned to play the game so well, and while many golfers are committed to ploughing much of their energy back into the game that has given them so much, Lawrie does it with an enthusiasm and vigour that few of his peerrs can match.

Eleven years ago he founded the Paul Lawrie Foundation and now comes the news that this Foundation is to be the new sponsor of the Scottish Boys Championship. One of the beneficiaries of Lawrie’s mentorship over the years is David Law, who won that championship in 2009, has subsequently turned pro and said: ‘Personally, Paul has helped me out a lot, not just financially but it’s also the time he has got for me. Whenever I’m struggling with my game, he’s at the other end of the phone for me, even if he is abroad. For sponsorship and other things like that, he has been terrific.’

Lawrie has never been the easiest interview, not because he is in any way ill-mannered but because his natural shyness and acute sense of privacy means that he finds it difficult to talk about himself. And yet despite this he is always approachable, courteous and forthcoming. He has also had to endure seemingly never-ending remarks to the effect that he didn’t win the 1999 Open Championship but Jean Van de Velde lost it, which ignores the fact that, over one of the most brutal Open layouts ever seen, he shot a matchless 67 on the last day and then demonstrated his talent in a superb four-hole playoff, in which he birdied the last two holes at Carnoustie, among the most difficult of any in the world, having been sat in the clubhouse for over two hours. Paul has won six times on the European Tour, which elevates him well above the standard of journeyman, or of a fluke major winner, and at the beginning of this season has started to find some real form, especially with the putter. If there is any justice in the world he will win several more times and enhance his status as one of the best golfers Scotland has produced.

Tip from Paul
I was lucky enough to attend a clinic that Paul hosted a few years ago at Gleneagles and one of the things he said has stayed with me ever since, and I think is excellent advice for we amateurs. He said that the transition from backswing to downswing should never feel like you’re hitting the ball but simply be as smooth a transition as possible, with the feeling that you’re gradually accelerating. And when your game gets stuck with a succession of bad shots, forget all about technique and just think about rhythm.

Quote of the week
The next time you see a good player stalking backward and forwards on the green, do not be led away by the idea that he is especially painstaking, but rather pity him for a nervous individual who is putting off the evil moment as long as he possibly can
Ted Ray

With thanks to Richard W. from Tavistock.  And his spaniel of course.

Early skirmishes
Those of you old enough to remember (and that’s a fast dwindling group) or, more likely, with some knowledge of 20th century history, will know that in the first six months after we opened hostilities with Germany in 1939 there was a period called the Phoney War. After the drama of announcing our intention to take on the Hun, nothing much happened but there remained a sense of anticipation. A stupid analogy, I know, but the start of a new golf season always reminds me of those events of more than 70 years ago because, despite all the expectations and hopes we are presented with – well, not very much. On the European Tour we have a few tournaments in South Africa, what used to be called the Sunshine Tour but, with the greatest respect, the fields are not representative of the best players in the world. Of course South Africa has some fine golfers but it does not have great strength in depth, which is why people like Louis Ooosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel (and before them Retief Goosen and Ernie Els) tend to become serial winners on home turf. And the US Tour, meanwhile, takes itself to Hawaii for a few weeks during which the players have a wonderful time, I’m sure, but the quality of opposition they face (and the courses over which they play), while worthy, is not the stiffest competition they will meet during the season.

You will search the leaderboards in vain for names like Luke Donald, Lee Westwood, Rory McIlroy, Martin Kaymer and Adam Scott – the top-five in the world as I write, and there is equally no trace of lower-ranked but marquee names such as Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Ian Poulter, Graeme McDowell or Sergio Garcia. On the other side of the Atlantic they know that things don’t really get going until the Tour hits the US mainland, and over here it’s the Middle East desert swing that brings out the big guns. In the meantime, we at least have some pro golf to watch after the Christmas and New Year shutdown but it’s not quite the same.

Worrying trend?
And although the world’s two main golf Tours have started, in a fashion, neither the European Senior Tour, nor the LPGA Tour, has yet published their 2012 schedule, which must be worrying, to say the least. The Ladies European Tour kicks off with the Gold Coast RACV Australian Ladies Masters; from February 2-5 but that’s a co-sanctioned event, as are the few immediately following, and the LET doesn’t really get going until March 22 with the Lalla Meryem Cup in Morocco. The Tour’s website does say there is a ‘potential event’ on March 1-4 but that just means that there’s still a big hole in the schedule.
There is no doubt feverish activity going on right now to attract more sponsors and pad out what is looking like a rather thin calendar of events but to be still looking to fill a gap that is only eight weeks away sends out a less than positive message.

Crystal-ball gazing
It is inevitable at this time of year to turn our thoughts to the season ahead, especially as it’s a Ryder Cup year, and try to imagine what the next 12 months will bring to us golfers. So let’s start with Mr Ryder’s biennial competition, which it pains me to say, I think will be won by team USA. In the post-Celtic Manor euphoria of a dramatic win, we can perhaps forget just how close it was in 2010 and how reliant we were on Graeme McDowell’s intestinal fortitude coming down the stretch, and a crucial mistake by his opponent. The reality is that the competition has become so close and competitive that home advantage is more and more becoming the pivotal factor.

In women’s golf, Yani Tseng will continue to dominate – she’s too good, too young for the rest – and Lexi Thompson, an astonishingly mature teenager who pounds the ball for miles, will catch the imagination of fans everywhere, and win in the process.

Sadly I think that Phil Mickelson’s decline will continue and that Luke Donald will come nowhere near emulating his exploits of 2011, simply because they were so remarkable that they cannot be sustained. Tiger will win again and be in the frame for at least a couple of majors but I don’t think he will win one, although if he is to threaten Jack’s record (and winning those last four to tie the great man will be as difficult as winning the first 14) he needs to strike soon.

As for Lee Westwood, to get that major bogey off his back he just needs one of the big four events to coincide with the week in which his putter behaves itself and if he doesn’t lift a major in 2012, I fear he never will.

Quote of the Week
The great anxiety of the moderate player when making his stroke is to get the ball properly lofted, and in some obstinate cases it seems to take several seasons of experience to convince him completely that the club has been specifically made for the purpose and, if fairly used, is quite accurate
Harry Vardon

“This year the weather was kinder than last year as regards playing golf. Last year my balls froze. It’s not easy playing with frozen balls.

However, it did give me lots of excuses for my appalling play that Xmas . Balls bounced everywhere because of the hard ground or disappeared completely into snow drifts or failed to even reach the temporary greens  (terrible at the best of times).

Playing off of rubber mats is a joke if you’re six foot three as your legs (and frozen balls) have to be on the ground whilst your little white ball is balanced on some horrible piece of miniature rubber tubing. It’s also too cold to grip the club properly.

There was also the wind (read into that what you will).

The only thing that didn’t mind the elements was my GoKart.

So, I returned happy after the “game” knowing that there were many reasons for losing so many balls , playing to 12 over my handicap and having frozen balls.

This year though, not so good – the weather has been mild.

No snow.
No ice.
No frozen ground.
No frozen balls.

…and yet I played the same. 12 over my handicap, lost loads of balls, swore a lot and then of course , there was the wind (read into that what you will).

I’m going out again tomorrow. Thank heavens I got loads of balls for Xmas .
My GoKart likes mild weather too.
I reckon that’s because the GoKart doesn’t have frozen balls to hinder it.

Good Winter Slogan that; “GoKart…the only electric trolley that can’t freeze your balls”.

Good to see that fist pump again
Whatever you may think about Tiger Woods, unless you’re a complete sadist, it was surely good to see him win again at the weekend. After grabbing the halfway lead it looked as if everything was back to normal but of course, this Tiger is a very different animal to the magnificent golfing machine we admired between 1997 and 2009. So when he had a third round 73 in the Chevron Challenge to fall back into the pack I feared the worst but a last day 69 was just good enough – more impressively, he birdied the last two holes, from 15 and six feet respectively – to snatch the title from his playing partner Zach Johnson.
The shame is that Tiger is not now scheduled to play again until next month but at least he’ll have something to smile about over Christmas.

Drama once more
Just as the FedEx Playoffs on the US Tour consistently underwhelm, the Dubai World Championship seems always to provide an exciting finale to the European Tour season. By winning the UBS Hong Kong Open, young scamp Rory McIlroy has put just a little bit of pressure onto Luke Donald, who for some months has apparently been a shoo-in to top the Race to Dubai money-list. Should he manage to hang on and clinch that title, Donald would be the first player ever to top the money lists on both sides of the Atlantic in the same season, which would be an astonishing achievement. And he’s still favourite to do that but if Rory should win in Dubai, and Luke finish outside the top-eight, then the Englishman would be tripped at the last hurdle.

The long and short of it
During a trip to Lisbon last week I played, among others, a course called Penha Longa which, because it has many uphill approach shots, reminded me once again of a phenomenon I have observed many times before, in myself and other handicap golfers. And this is, we almost always leave our approach shots short and very rarely go through the green. It is as if we know that beyond the putting surface lurks all manner of danger; wild beasties perhaps, or half-naked sirens waiting to lure us to a sticky end. The reality, of course, is that the back of the green is often a sight more friendly than the front. Water hazards, bunkers and the like are usually between you and the flagstick, so a much safer option is to take more club and guarantee reaching the putting surface, or even going beyond it.
One explanation for us coming up short is simply that we’re not consistent and, for whatever reason, we don’t make the clean strike that is the mark of a good shot. But what I am talking about is the occasions when we do hit the ball as intended, and it still doesn’t reach.

Think about standing in the fairway, knowing your ball is about to come up short and I would guess that your most over-riding emotion will be disappointment. But now imagine that you have hit the ball absolutely flush, and it’s clear that it will fly the green, what do you think your emotion is now? I would predict that it’s fear, and that you will hop from foot to foot telling your ball to ‘get down’ or ‘sit’. It’s fear of the unknown. You can see the problems short of the green, but through the putting surface you don’t know what awaits you.
Well, that’s my theory.

TigerWatch
As of December 5, 2011, Tiger Woods is ranked 22nd in the world

Quote of the week
The chief reaction among amateurs to poor putting, it seems to me, is exasperation, combined with a sort of vague hope that, by some kind of mini-miracle, it will all have gotten better by the next time they play.
Jack Nicklaus

Does this look like an interested face?
Writing about golf is my job, and one which I enjoy very much. But like all jobs, there are the odd bits you would rather not do – explain the intricacies of the FedEx Playoff scoring system, for example, or think too deeply about some of the things Tiger Woods has been up to, or interview Sir Nick Faldo, under any circumstances. Added to this short list, I have to confess, is the requirement to show the slightest bit of interest in the Presidents Cup.

There are two main reasons for my resistance. First, it’s a competition that was created, rather than one which evolved, and that’s usually a recipe for failure. As a contrast, consider the Masters. It was initially a private, invitation-only event but for a number of reasons – the high regard in which Bobby Jones was held, the magnificence of the course on which it is played, the ‘shot heard around the world’ by Gene Sarazen in its second staging – it quickly achieved an eminent status that lifted it above run-of-the-mill tournaments and eventually led to it being regarded as golf’s fourth major. In stark contrast, no matter how many times the Americans tell us that their flagship PGA Tour event, the Players (which they now insist on labelling THE PLAYERS) is the game’s fifth major, the rest of the world looks down its nose, says ‘Yeh, right’ and ignores this patently ludicrous claim. So it is with the Presidents Cup, which America would love to believe has the same stature as the Ryder Cup but this level of significance, importance or relevance exists only in the addled and deluded minds of a few people at the US Tour – and I’m not even convinced that they believe it.

The second reason I just cannot get interested in the competition is its predictability. It has now been staged nine times and the scoreline for America reads: Played nine, won seven, tied one and lost one. Such one-sidedness hasn’t been since our own pantomime villain Frank Bruno climbed into a ring with the barely-controlled beast that was Mike Tyson at the peak of his considerable powers. In order for a sporting contest to generate interest, drama or excitement, there has to be a contest, not a lop-sided demonstration of superiority – which is why this season’s Formula One Championship, for example, has been about as interesting as the contents of my handkerchief.

The Americans, of course, don’t care. To them, winning and the supposed glory that accompanies it is all that matters – which is why they ludicrously describe their season-ending baseball event as the World Series, despite it being contested by only three countries – USA, Canada and Puerto Rica.
And so they continue to shout from the rooftops that the Presidents Cup is a major sporting event of global significance when it is, in fact, a less than mildly diverting sideshow of interest only to the participants.

Time to leave the stage
Having mentioned some of the bad parts of writing about golf, it would be remiss not to emphasise that these are far outweighed by the good. And of these, one of the best experiences of all was the opportunity to walk around Muirfield with John Daly during a practice round for the 1992 Open Championship. He had won the previous year’s US PGA Championship at Crooked Stick in blistering style, with a combination of raw power from the tee and delicacy on and around the greens, so I wrote to his management company to arrange an interview at Muirfield and when I met the man at the clubhouse he said: ‘Why don’t you just walk with me and we’ll talk on the way.’

Despite his new status as major winner he was modest, unaffected and far too trusting for his own good (he made a number of unthinkingly injudicious remarks that I didn’t include in my article because he would have been crucified). It was apparent that he didn’t have the aptitude for a life in pursuit of academic or intellectual enlightenment but that was fine – not all pro golfers are bright and most don’t need to be.

Because I liked John so much I have watched with ever-increasing sadness the emotional car crash that his life has become and have very reluctantly concluded that this may now be the time when he should quit the game. He won’t, of course, so perhaps various tournament organisers around the world should make the decision for him. With a current world ranking of 676, John can only play on sponsor invitations but he insists on biting the hand that feeds him. Two weeks ago the Man-child that is Daly walked out of the Australian Open, ostensibly because he had run out of golf balls, having deposited six or seven into a water hazard (people kind of lost count). But the real reason is that he was earlier slapped with a two-stroke penalty for playing the wrong ball out of a bunker – an elementary mistake for someone of his experience. He then made such hasty and half-hearted attempts to clear the fatal water hazard on the 11th hole that it was obvious he was trying to lose his remaining golf balls, to give him an excuse to leave the course. But as usual with John, his cunning plan was so transparent that it fooled nobody. He was, incidentally, seven over par after 10 holes.

Various golf Tours, tournaments and fans around the world have indulged Daly over the years and always been prepared to give him another chance but I really do think that if he will not accept the reality that it’s time he retired, we should perhaps make the decision for him.

TigerWatch
As of November 21, 2011, Tiger Woods is ranked 51st in the world

Quote of the week
When a putter is waiting his turn to hole out a putt of one or two feet in length, on which the match hangs at the last hole, it is of vital importance that he think of nothing. At this supreme moment he ought to fill his mind with vacancy. He must not even allow himself the consolation of religion.
Sir Walter Simpson