Branden. Random? or a force to reckon with? Martin V considers.

Thought for the Day
He who laughs last thinks slowest

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 (more…)

We’re not the only ones who don’t like trolley bans…

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

Martin Vousden’s crystal ball for 2012

Thought for the Day
If your parents didn’t have any children, the chances are that you won’t either

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 (more…)

Rick Wakeman – Grumpy old GoKarteer.

Rock Legend, Rick Wakeman, oft seen on the fairways, who also tonks a decent drive. Introducing the Xmas Blog from a Grumpy Old Golfer;

“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”.

Martin Vousden – good to see the Tiger’s teeth again

Thought for the Day:
The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese

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 (more…)

Martin Vousden. Not impressed.

Thought for the Day:
Why do we press harder on a remote control when we know the batteries are getting weak?

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: (more…)