Royal St. George's - Sandwich

June 2006

Bond. James Bond. The famous golf match between James Bond and Auric Goldfinger is set at the fictional stand in for the Royal St. George's Golf Club (ranked #33 in the world) - Royal St. Mark's in the book. Ian Fleming served as captain of the club.

Natalie Gulbis In Esquire Magazine

June 2006

The Change

The women's golf tour is starting to look a lot less- and a lot more like the men's

By Chris Jones
July 2006, Volume 146, Issue 1

FIRST THERE WERE THE GARDENS OF AUGUSTA, and then there was Las Vegas.

A week after the men had golfed in golden light at the Masters, surrounded by azaleas, jasmine, and cherry blossoms, the women gathered behind the strip's casinos, back where they hide their ugly things, their parking garages and cooling plants. The women teed off from the tips of the beat-down Las Vegas Country Club, divided from the fast-food joints and condominium dip pools by a low stone wall and stretches of wire fence. The fairways burst into clouds of dust rather than divots; the greens were scarred by scorch marks, like airport runways. In Augusta, everything looked as though it had been trimmed with tiny scissors. In Las Vegas, everything felt as though it had been cooked under heat lamps.

Only the finishing hole had been halfheartedly dressed up, with a few rows of wilting flowers planted beyond the murky pond that protects the green. That was the sum of what the women were afforded as back- drop. They didn't have the luxury of tradition to fall back on, or the drama of built-in legend. (The nearest named bridge was in Lake Havasu.) They didn't have an orchestra to carry them into the next commercial break, and no roaring galleries were there to spur them on. Hell, on the first day of the Takefuji Classic, the Neil Diamond tribute at the Riviera drew better. The women were almost entirely on their own, left to generate their own electricity and provide their own scenery. Good thing for the LPGA, then, that it now boasts the likes of Natalie Gulbis and Paula Creamer and Morgan Pressel and a few dozen other cute young things waiting in the pipeline—young women with a gift for holding your eyes, first when they pull on their smoking kilts and kneesocks, and next when they laser their opening drives 280 yards straight down your throat.

LINING UP HER FINAL approach at eighteen, Juli Inkster, the forty-five-year-old Hall of Famer, tried to ignore time and the giant sign that loomed behind her, erected beside the towering Las Vegas Hilton. MENOPAUSE, it proclaimed in great red block letters, THE MUSICAL.

The proximity of this salute to "the hilarious celebration of women and the Change" is the sort of easy rim shot that has plagued the Lesbians Playing Golf Association since its birth in 1950. In the sometimes unkind years since, the jokes and stereotypes have stacked up plenty high: Why do women golfers wear so much makeup and perfume? Because they're ugly and they stink. But now, for every woman out here wearing cargo shorts and black socks, there is another wearing a tennis skirt. For every set of Eastern Bloc shoul¬ders, there is a pair of West Coast legs.

For any number of reasons beyond the obvious, that's the change worth celebrating.

"If you haven't seen the LPGA in the last couple of years, then you haven't seen the LPGA," says Carolyn Bivens, the tour's image-savvy new commissioner—and, remarkably, its first female commis¬sioner since its inception. "It's just such an exciting time, like we're finally at the start of something big."

As if to drive home the point, Las Vegas golf fans woke up Thursday to boundless blue skies and a dream threesome. First, there was the twenty-three-year-old Gulbis, a part-time bikini model from nearby Henderson, Nevada. Joining her was Creamer, the perky, fashion-forward nineteen-year-old who was named the tour's top rookie last year and might as well permanently affix "teen sensation" to the front of her name. And rounding out the group was Brittany Lincicome, a tanned twenty-year-old Floridian and the owner of the aforementioned kilt.

The three of them gathered at the opening tee, each in her short skirt and tight top, each with straight white teeth, each with long hair in braids and ribbons, each waving politely when her name was called out by the starter and followed by cheers. And then, just to make sure that we knew they were more than pretty faces, each fired her drive straight down the left-hand side of the narrow fairway as though from a cannon. They made the long walk to their balls like roosters, with almost ridiculous, preening postures. Sun-drunk spectators—most of them middle-aged men sipping from cans of Miller Lite—collapsed in their wake. Here, on the other side of the ropes, were their wildest fantasies come to life: three attractive women with legs as long as flagsticks, and Creamer's drive the shortest among them at a picture-perfect 277 yards.

From Title IX to Tiger Woods, the ex¬planations for the LPGA's youth move¬ment are nearly as legion as the bad jokes used to be. Annika Sorenstam's pitting herself against the boys at the Colonial in 2003 raised the women's stature, and so have sixteen-year-old Michelle Wie's man-sized drives. But perhaps most im¬portant, the women of the LPGA, almost en masse, have suddenly embraced a more real feminism: They have decided that they don't need to look like men to compete alongside them.

Gulbis is the most famous ambassador of the new breed because she's the most centerfold daring. For each of her rounds in Las Vegas, she showed up wearing the sporting equivalent of a Catholic schoolgirl's uniform, with charm bracelets on her thin ankles and wrists. Happily, she can also play the game—she earned more than $1 million last year to finish sixth on the money list—meaning that the young girls tripping up behind their drooling fathers could see plenty to admire in her, too.

A first-round double bogey on eighteen hurt her chances for her first tour victory, but a second-round 69 saw her easily make the cut. (Creamer did, too, after following up her opening-round 70 with a 64, leaving her a stroke behind Lincicome, who shot 68 and 65—numbers that most golfers can only dream of.)

"I definitely got some flak when I was just a top-forty player," Gulbis says—after sitting down for a satellite feed with Best Damn Sports Show Period—alluding to her early notoriety for putting out her own swimsuit line and calendar, as well as for dating Ben Roethlisberger, the quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers. "After last year, I think my game has started to receive as much attention as anything else." She looks sideways into the sun and smiles: "Maybe I'm getting ugly."

Um, no.

THE POPULARITY of the LPGA has grown in fits and starts for the past decade. First would come a groundbreaker, and a legion of followers and new fans would be pulled along in her wake. Until now, most of the invaders have been foreign: The English arrived here, trailed by the Swedes. Se Ri Pak showed up, and now more than thirty Koreans play stateside. The Japanese are in hot pursuit with the arrival of Ai Miyazato and the approximately seventy-five reporters, photographers, and cameramen who record her every move. Perhaps the Mexicans are next, what with the success of delicate Lorena Ochoa, who tied the Las Vegas course record with a first-round 63, trailed by a pack of flag-waving supporters (and cheered long and loud by the men kept behind the fences at the country club, patching stucco and laying clay roof tiles).

But the majority of today's young raiders don't need a green card to play here. They come from California and Florida and Texas, light-kissed girls who have, quite literally, put down their pom-poms and picked up sticks. Creamer was twelve years old when her school told her she could either cheer from the sidelines of football games or play golf, one or the other, never both.

"It was a difficult decision," she says today. "My friends couldn't understand why I wanted to play golf when the popular girls were out cheerleading. But I thought there was more of a future in golf. I thought I was better at it. When I'm on the golf course, I'm so focused and so driven.... I'm like a dark, mean shade of pink."

Ah, pink. Apart from her first round in Las Vegas, when Creamer wore bad-ass black, she looked as though she were sponsored by pink. She wore pink skirts, pink shirts, and pink ribbons in her hair; the shaft of her driver was pink; the grip on her wedge was pink; her bag had pink trim; she and her (male) caddie wore pink caps; her sunglasses had pink frames; during her last round, she even played with a hot-pink ball.

Pink, in all of its shades, has become her signature, and in that, on this tour, Creamer is a revolutionary. Because she won four events during her rookie season, and because, in the admiring words of Inkster, "she wants to beat everybody's brains in," she has earned enough respect to get away with what was once a sin.

At last, pink has been reclaimed. It is no longer weak or soft, and it is no longer the exclusive dominion of Hustler. Out here, in freethinking Las Vegas, pink is the new color of money.

LATE ON FRIDAY NIGHT, after the women had headed to the range or back to their hotels to ready themselves for Saturday's final round, I made for my favorite drinking hole in Las Vegas: the threadbare lounge inside Westward Ho, at the old end of the strip, where I could put ten dollars down on the bar and pretty Manuela would bring me eight ice-cold Heinekens and keep two bucks for herself.

Unfortunately, when my cab dropped me off next door at Slots-A-Fun, as instructed, I discovered that Westward Ho had become a smoking hole in the ground, waiting to be filled in by whatever huge, polished casino will take its place.

There is something about change even for the better that can be heartbreaking, and Las Vegas is no place to fall in love. There was a kind of sadness in seeing Juli Inkster with MENOPAUSE breathing down her back and the LPGA's older, pleated-pants-wearing players losing the one place where they found self-redemption. They are on the cusp of losing the genuine warmth of their cozy tour; it has started to disappear around them, leveled to make room for something with a little more neon.

You could feel it crackling on Saturday morning. "It's in the air," said Christina Kim, one of the tour's spark plugs, a funny, profane Californian ("I prefer sausage to tacos," she says on the topic of sexual orientation) who holds the record for the lowest score at any United States Golf

Association event, a 62 back in 2001.Although only twenty-two, Kim was so struck by the pace of change around her that last summer she began to feel old somehow. Not quite menopausal, but a little as though she was being left behind. Unhip, maybe. Or, perhaps as a girl who has always taken pride in being the life of the party, Kim suddenly felt as though she was missing out on the fun.

It was time, she decided, for a personal makeover. She's lost thirty-three pounds over the past couple of months, ditched her plain-Jane duds, and even tossed away her trademark—a massive collection of Kangol hats.

This year, she strutted through Las Vegas in a short white skirt, a tight black top, and funky red shoes, with her eyes hidden behind wicked-cool shades and her long hair held back by a colorful silk scarf. Fact was, formerly chubby Christina Kim looked fabulous. And having paid heed to Paula Creamer's squeaky-voiced counsel ("If you look good, you'll play good"), she was also in contention on Saturday—like Creamer, like Gulbis, like Lincicome—ready to give Ochoa a run for her money.

"The men still wear their long pants," Kim says with the hint of a sneer. "We're different."

Better than the men, even, the women are closing in on the balance that makes for the most beautiful golf, that equipoise between power and finesse, aggression and ease, grit and art. Their short games still might need a little work, and nobody would complain about being able to play on courses that are more oases than salt flats. But perhaps the change should stop there, as though teetering on the edge of a red desert cliff, allowing those things that have always been good about the LPGA to survive alongside the new and improved. Then everything—birdies and good skin and warmth and sand saves and long hair—would hang there perfectly.

It was just that perfect when Ochoa set up her final approach in the footsteps of Inkster, under a dying sun. On the fairway of the par-5 eighteenth, and with a two-stroke lead in her back pocket, she decided not to play it safe. Rather than laying up before the pond, she tried to clear it.

It was a risky play undertaken by a slight whisper of a woman, which made it seem all the riskier. But Ochoa dropped her well-launched ball safely long, and she followed it proudly into the gallery's embrace. A chip and a putt and she had herself one last birdie and the win, and the Mexicans who had been following her stormed the green in a big screaming gang, dousing her in a fountain of beer and champagne.

Lincicome had already finished third, Creamer in a tie for sixth, Gulbis in a tie for seventeenth. Each had earned a check. Each would have better liked to have taken Ochoa's place in the middle of the celebration, but watching from the gallery, seeing the champagne soak into the grass, they knew that this was nearly as good a moment for them. It was one of those moments that made the past feel more distant than it is and the future more limitless—as though, after all these years, there might soon be no more shame in golfers being girls.

Reprinted from Esquire.com

Podcast: Phil Mickelson's course management mistakes can help you play smarter, baseball swing versus the golf swing and become a better ball striker

June 2006

Click here to listen.

Barry and I discuss how Phil Mickelson's recent lapse of judgment at the U.S. Open can help me combat my own course management shortcomings.

With summer in our sites and most people playing more than one sport, we answer a letter from our email bag about the baseball swing versus the golf swing.

Also, stop swaying and become more consistent!

Continue sending your golf questions and comments to golfforbeginners@aol.com.

Subscribe to our weekly podcast through this RSS feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/golfforbeginners or through iTunes. Nextel/Sprint cell customers type http://www.mymbn.com/podcast/ in your web browser and click on "sports casts". Our station number is 1955.

Michelle Wie eclipses Annika Sorenstam in Forbes' 100 Most Powerful Celebrities. Tiger Woods remains in top five spot

June 2006

I can understand how Tiger Woods can be the highest ranking athlete among Forbes' 100 most powerful celebrities but Michelle Wie (74) trumping the number-one female golfer on the LPGA tour? Incredible!

Forbes "used a combination of factors including income, web references as calculated by Google (nasdaq: GOOG - news - people ), press clips as compiled by Lexis/Nexis, TV/radio mentions from Factiva and the number of times a celebrity's face has appeared on the cover of 26 major consumer magazines. Earnings estimates are for June 2005 to June 2006 and are dollars earned solely from entertainment income."

Wie's "buzz factor" is high right now coming off a run for a spot in the U.S. Open. Her face is everywhere and when you do a google search of Wie, 4,280,000 results can be found. That isn't counting the variations on the name "Wie". That and the $10 million in endorsements thrown at her before the tender age of 16 makes Michelle something of a phenomenon both inside the ropes of professional golf and in the eyes of the media.

Annika Sorenstam barely made the list (91), even after her venture into LPGA commercials with aging rock superstars and old, leathery "vampires". Her P.R. could use a bit of work although her cover shot on the latest Golf for Women magazine looks terrific! Perhaps her public image IS improving!

Phil Mickelson enters at at respectable 18 on the Forbes list which should make him feel a little less depressed after his recent collapse at Winged Foot.

The number-one most powerful celebrity is not a sports figure but none other than Tom Cruise. Although I try to dislike him, every time I see one of Cruise's movies I see that he is, indeed, a terrific actor. With over 40 million google searches, his weird behavior, controversial ideology and tons of movie credits to his name keep Cruise in the public eye. That's what it's all about anyway. It doesn't matter if it's good press or bad press, just get the attention!!! Right Tom?

Phil Mickelson and Colin Mongomerie implode on U.S. Open Sunday. Geoff Ogilvy claims trophy at Winged Foot

June 2006

Wow. I'm as devastated and as dumbfounded as Phil Mickelson today...well, almost. Winged Foot 1, Mickelson and Montgomerie a big fat 0.

Barry and I finished our latest podcast and posted it then sat for several hours watching the final round of the U.S. Open. After cheering Phil Mickelson for several hours with the probability of him adding yet another major title to his growing list, something peculiar happened.

Mickelson changed from "Masters Phil" into that golfer that never won a major (affectionately called "Friday Phil" by my coworkers because that's when he always makes his move). He chose a driver on the 18th, knowing full well that he only needed to get the golf ball out onto the fairway and then a possible long iron onto the middle of the green. If he would have missed the green and bogeyed he was sure to get into a playoff as Geoff Ogilvy saved par on both the 17th and 18th greens.

Instead, Phil did what he does best. He made poor club selections and then tried to be a hero by taking a long iron out of the woods and positioning the ball onto the green. He had been doing that successfully all day during the final round, making only a few fairways and continually getting out of trouble, so why not this time?

Well, we all know the outcome. I'll bet that Mickelson won't be taken seriously for a long time to come, no matter how many tournaments he plays and wins. Even if he is victorious in the final two majors of the year, this will be the most memorable for both Mickelson and his fans.

I felt sorry for Mickelson because of the months of work that he put into training for this major tournament. He knew what he did. As Phil stated, "I am still in shock that I did that. I just can't believe that I did that. I'm such an idiot."
Don't worry Phil, everybody makes mistakes...usually at the most inoportune times.

My friend who works at Winged Foot stated that the atmosphere was somber in the dining room as there was a big shindig setting up for Phil's victory with room for over a thousand celebrants.

I'll still keep cheering for Phil...and I hope that he won't be making judgment errors any time soon.

And please remember that not only did Mickelson falter...so did Colin Montgomerie, Jim Furyk, Padraig Harrington, Kennie Ferrie, Vijay Singh...and the list goes on!

Podcast: With Tiger Woods in absentia at Winged Foot, Phil Mickelson gains ground as U.S. Open favorite. Also, golf tips for better ball control

June 2006

Click here to listen.

Watching Phil Mickelson and Kenneth Ferrie in the final pairing at the U.S. Open at Winged Foot G.C. this week inspires Barry and I to address simple golf tips for better ball control.

As Tiger Woods sails into the sunset the remaining golfers struggle to keep the ball on the fairway.

Keep sending your golf questions and comments to golfforbeginners@aol.com.

Subscribe to our weekly podcast through this RSS feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/golfforbeginners or through iTunes. Nextel/Sprint cell customers type http://www.mymbn.com/podcast/ in your browser and click on "sports casts". Our station number is 1955.

Phil Mickelson uses special driver at the U.S. Open

June 2006

Phil Mickelson isn't fooling around this week at the >U.S. Open. He came to Winged Foot with a strategy. He had created a single driver "that was a bit shorter and had a little bit more stable head". Still a bit dissatisfied, Mickelson feels more comfortable with the "fade driver" that he "used at Augusta".

Not only has he removed a driver but his three-wood as well.

Lefty has also included another "wedge" because as Mickelson stated Tuesday in the USGA media center:

"...a new 64-degree wedge to help get it out of this rough with a lot less bounce and to help me hit higher, softer bunker shots. Because the bunkers are so deep here and there's so much undulation on the green, I want it coming in as soft as possible."

Mickelson's golf tips can help anyone's game. He really is a master out of bunkers and out of the short rough near the green. The average golfer can benefit from a solid golf game from within 100 yards.

Hoylake - The Royal Liverpool Golf Club - Far and Sure

June 2006

Wow!

Legendary. Historic. Welcoming. A classic golf course. World renowned history. Welcome to the Royal Liverpool Golf Club (ranked #72 in the world), also known as Hoylake after the town it is located in. It has been 39 years since the R & A has held the open championship at Hoylake and the world is in for a treat. The last open held there was before the massive media and television coverage golf receives today. This is one of golf's true gems and the opening will most likely be its coming out party to the modern era of golf.

Hoylake is the third oldest course on the top 100 list, built in 1869, it is pre-dated only by The Old Course at St. Andrews and Carnoustie. The first Amateur Championship was held here in 1885. The course has hosted the open championship ten times. This is one of the four courses Bobby Jones won the grand slam on in 1930, winning the open championship here that year. The clubhouse at Hoylake displays its history better than any other we've been to yet. Where else in the world are there the signed original winning score cards of Bobby Jones, Walter Hagen and memorabilia from two of golf's early historical figures John Ball and Harold Hilton?

The one knock you hear about Royal Liverpool is that it has too many holes that have out of bounds and in particular too many with internal out of bounds, known locally as 'cops' which allegedly makes for bad golf. There are 10 holes that have an O.B. My view is that the 'rule' among golf's cognoscenti that too many O.B.'s makes a bad course is complete rubbish and Royal Liverpool proves it. Even for a non-scratch golfer, such as myself, I didn't find that the O.B. came into play that often. When it does, it is very strategically placed and you are duly penalized for hitting a poor shot.

I played the course recently while it was being prepared for the open championship. Located about 15 minutes outside of Liverpool on the Wirral penninsula, you leave the City of Liverpool through the Queensway tunnel. The tunnel is over two miles long and winds its way under the Mersey in an unsettling fashion for those who aren't used to driving on the left side of the road. Once you pull into the course the dramatic clubhouse (pictured above) is most inviting. The course is behind the clubhouse and is dramatic. Half the grandstands were up and the course was re-configured with the new routing. The original first hole now plays as the third, the 17th plays as the first and the 18th as the 2nd. Holes 4 through 18 continue in the original order, previously having been the 2nd through 16th holes. I found every hole to be a good hole. The routing is interesting and varied. The use of bunkers is very strategic. For example, on the 4th hole, a line of bunkers on the left forces you to hit where the fairway narrows on the right side with no margin for error.

A hole we are adding onto our list of the world's best is the third (pictured above), formerly the first. It is a terrifying par four with a dogleg right. The tee shot doesn't look that hard, but it is. You flirt with O.B. on the right off the tee and aiming left leaves you a longer shot into the green or in the rough. The dogleg is sharp and after the turn in the dogleg the whole is ruler-straight, with O.B. all the way down the right. There are NO bunkers on the hole but it is one of the best par 4s in golf. I couldn't imaging how much harder it played being hole #1 without warming up first.

Holes 11-15 along the River Dee are georgeous as you overlook North Wales across the way. The day we played the course there was a 4+ club wind. You had to aim your tee shot on the 151 yard par three 50 yards left at the TV tower setup off the green in preparation for the open. And even then your ball was blown off the right side of the green. It was good playing Hoylake in its difficult wind-blown condition, which it has a reputation for.



The clubhouse is one of the most inviting, intimate and welcoming in the world of golf. They have a world class golf book library, memorabilia second only to the R & A and an awesome dining room with pictures of every club captain going back to 1885 wearing the red jacket bestowed on the office-holder.

Congratulations to the R & A for putting Royal Liverpool back in the rota. Now to really make things interesting drop either Royal Troon or Royal Birkdale and play the open here at least once a decade my friends!

Royal Liverpool should be ranked at least 30 places higher on the world rankings. Of the three world ranked courses on the Lancashire coast of England near Liverpool England, Hoylake is the best, easily a better course than both nearby Royal Lytham and Birkdale. Thus far, if there is one club overseas I would like to join, this is it. The place has it all.

As the club's motto says - Far and Sure!

Post Script - July 2006

Congratulations to Tiger Woods, The Royal Liverpool Golf Club and the R & A for hosting a fantastic championship. Hoylake proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that it belongs back in the rota with a regular spot. I look forward to visiting again and seeing Tiger's signed winning score card hanging alongside Jones and Hagens in the downstairs bar. Great courses produce great champions.

Podcast: Take the Golf Digest challenge, golf tips on improving aim and posture and Barry dodges another email "bullet"

June 2006

Click here to listen.

Improve your game by taking the advice of the best golf professionals in the world! Hank Haney, Butch Harmon, Phil Mickelson and more give golf tips based upon your game. Sign up for free playing lessons at golfdigest.com/challenge.

One of our listeners voices a greivance against Barry for the harsh words he called one of his playing partners on last week's podcast.

We also offer up golf tips on aim and posture.

Keep sending your golf questions and comments to golfforbeginners@aol.com.

Subscribe to our weekly podcast through this RSS feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/golfforbeginners or through iTunes. Nextel/Sprint cell customers type http://www.mymbn.com/podcast/ in your browser and click on "sports casts". Our station number is 1955.

World Ranked Courses Around London

June 2006

There are three of the world's top 100 courses located immediately near London: Sunningdale, Walton Heath and Wentworth (pictured above).

We begin our discussion of the heathland and parkland courses around London with a test.

Please rank in order of difficulty the following three walks:

1. The Bataan Death March in 1942
2. Napolean army's retreat march from the Russian campaign in 1812
3. Walking the Wentworth West Course

The Wentworth West Course (ranked #78 in the world) is part of the sprawling Wentworth estate in Surrey. Originally owned by the Countess de Morella, the development rights for the housing estate and golf course were acquired in 1923. The West course was designed by H.S. Colt in 1924. Today, Wentworth has a large golf footprint with three 18 hole courses.

The Wentworth housing estates are large and occupied by the jet set, to borrow an expression from the 1960s. Among today's leading European golf pros who live or have lived at Wentworth are: Ernie Els, Retief Goosen and Colin Montgomery. One of the attractions of Wentworth is its proximity to Heathrow airport, but it is also one of its pitfalls. I never take a golf cart and always pride myself on my ability to walk. When I played Wentworth it was on the spur of the moment on a trip to London. I was literally driving by the course and stopped in and asked if I could play. To my surprise, I got right out and carried my own bag. The terrain is demanding and the course is long and the walk wore me out. The estate grounds are idyllic especially the giant rhododendron plants and the way the roads and houses are set back around sweeping drives.

H.S. Colt is one of the architects whose designs I enjoy the most, but I wasn't enamored with Wentworth. Maybe it was the constant droning of planes overhead, maybe I was tired, but I found the course to be monotonous. Maybe my expectations were also set high after seeing the course so many times on TV during matchplay events; I suppose I expected more.

Wentworth also serves as the home of the European Tour and as a result the overall feel of the club is more like a resort or large corporate entity than a private club, which it also is. My preference is for more intimate clubs.

Walton Heath - Old (ranked #82 in the world) counts among its members four prime ministers including Sir Winston Churchill. The course has a rich history linked with the English aristocracy, founded by well-to-do Edwardians, the successful upper class, an elite of titled gentleman and prosperous businessmen. The atmosphere has always been one of high rank and impeccable social standing. Among its former members it counts: 26 dukes, lords, knights and honourables. In the early days nobody could be proposed as a member who was not 'received in general society'. It is the only English club that has had a reigning monarch serve as captain.

Green detail at Walton Heath

Walton Heath also hosted the 1981 Ryder Cup. The course itself is a lovely heathland course. It really shines around the greens with its contouring (pictured below). The course has no water or water views and limited greenside bunkering, which leads to a lot of bump and run shots approaching greens if you so desire. Like its more famous English course Royal Lytham, Walton Heath starts with a good par 3 and has a particularly good set of finishing holes.

The rough hewn land at Walton Heath

Walton Heath is on the world's top 100 courses due partly to its affiliation with five time open Champion James Braid who served as club professional between 1904 and 1950.

My preference for heathland courses strongly favors Sunningdale (click below to read the full review). If I had to choose among 10 rounds of golf to be played in the London area I would play Sunningdale eight times, Walton Heath once and Wentworth once.

By the way, the correct answer to the quiz is: 3, 1, 2. The last two holes at Wentworth play a combined total of 1,102 yards, enough to put your knickers in a twist. It's no wonder the nick-name of the West Course at Wenthworth is Burma Road.

Sorenstam versus Wie: the ratings tug-of-war, American Express' Women's Golf Week and golf tips on staying cool

June 2006

Click here to listen.

This is the week that we've all been waiting for. Will Michelle Wie qualify for the U.S. Open at Winged Foot and play golf alongside the top PGA players in the world?

We also consider Sorenstam versus Wie for a Celebrity "Ratings" Deathmatch. Why hasn't Annika stepped up and attempted to qualify for the U.S. Open?

ESPN will update Wie's progress every half-hour and The Golf Channel will have a special on Michelle on Monday evening. I guess they understand who gets the big ratings!

Attention all women! This is OUR week! Go to Play Golf America, find out which course is hosting American Express Women's Golf Week and attend! There are 565 facilities taking part this year offering a variety of activities from clubfitting and equipment demonstrations to golf apparel fashion shows and contests. I'll be playing scramble format at Pelham/Split Rock Golf Course in the Bronx and I hope to see you there!

A portion of the proceeds will be donated to Go Red for Women, helping women to understand and defeat heart disease. Every woman counts!

Barry and I also offer up our usual "slew" of golf tips. Playing happy golf takes on even more importance when you're playing people with whom you don't get along!

We also include some fun facts about the U.S. Open.

Keep sending your golf questions and comments to golfforbeginners@aol.com.

Subscribe to our weekly podcast through this RSS feed: http://feeds.worldgolf.com/stacy_solomon or through iTunes. Nextel/Sprint cell customers type http://www.mymbn.com/podcast/ in your browser and click on "sports casts". Our station number is 1955.

Royal Birkdale

June 2006

The best golf course in England.

NOT!

Royal Birkdale Golf Club (ranked #28 in the world), ranks as the highest ranked course of all of the nine English courses on the list. I adamantly disagree about its placement. I would say it's the best golf course in England after the following courses: 1. Royal St. George's; 2. Royal Liverpool; 3. Sunningdale Old; 4. Woodhall Spa; 5. Ganton; 6. Royal Lytham & St. Annes; 7. Walton Heath and 8. Wentworth West. While I'm not a math genius, I think that would make it the lowest ranked course in the country.

The course is not near enough to the ocean to give it any views and I don't think it has any truly distinctive holes. The course has hosted many Open Championships because the R & A likes the flat routing surrounded by dunes because it makes for good TV viewing. But don't mistake good TV viewing for a good golf course. They are not one in the same.

And what's up with that clubhouse? At first I thought it was just bad c1970s architecture. The clubhouse was actually built in 1935 and is art deco, having the look of a ship. But it just doesn't work. There is no sense of purpose or tradition to it. The interior spaces don't work either. White is a terrible color for the outside as it is too stark a contrast to the links terrain and it does not fit in with the landscape.

For a club formed in 1889 you would think you could get a better sense of history or tradition walking around the clubhouse. But the place is flat. Walking around the other English courses your spine tingles with excitement and history. The Bobby Jones perfect card at Sunningdale, the grandeur of Royal St. George's, the museum like quality of Hoylake, the traditions of Royal Lytham. Walking through the Birkdale clubhouse felt like walking through a hospital corridor. They have hosted two Ryder cups and eight open championships but they don't use it to their advantage.

Sorry boys, but Birkdale is missing that certain je ne sais quoi.

Halfway There - 50 of the world's top 100 completed!

June 2006

I recently returned from a golf trip to England and the trip marked a significant milestone in my quest to play the world's top 100. The lineup included many Open Championship courses: Royal Liverpool (Hoylake), Royal St. George's (Sandwich), Lytham & St. Annes, Royal Birkdale; and two heathland courses: Walton Heath and Woodhall Spa, the last course being so good I couldn't resist going back again, having played it last year.

When I have time I will post a more detailed write-up of each new course, but in the interim, having completed 23 of the 24 courses in G.B. and Ireland (only Loch Lomond remains), I would like to reflect back on how good golf in the British Isles is. First, the great courses are accessible to golfers who appreciate the game and respect their rules; Second, the post-golf experience has been perfected, sitting in the cozy smoke rooms and bars (scenes from Royal Liverpool below) enjoying friendship and camaraderie; And last, the respect for tradition and history that exudes from golf's shrines.

And I also appreciate the overall experience in Britain with the bad hair, brown bread, roundabouts and the good humor and wit of the people. It seems a shame to me that England is banning smoking next year as this will ruin some of the experience. I appreciate the heathland, parkland and links courses alike. Picking a favorite among them is proving to be difficult since the courses and clubs all have such different personalities.

This was the most difficult of my 10 trips across the pond since the wind was up. On many of the rounds we played you couldn't wear a baseball style hat because it would blow off and when putting your bag on the ground it to would invariably be blown over. Hitting a three wood from 135 yards to the green is certainly a novelty but you don't want to do it day after day, which we did on this last trip.

My rankings of the courses we played on this trip was:

1. Royal St. George's (Sandwich)
2. Royal Liverpool (Hoylake)
3. Woodhall Spa
4. Royal Lytham & St. Annes
5. Walton Heath
6. Royal Birkdale

and overall in G.B. and Ireland:

1. Carnoustie
2. Royal Portrush
3. Royal St. George's (Sandwich)
4. Royal Liverpool (Hoylake)
5. Cruden Bay
6. Royal County Down
7. Sunningdale (old)
8. Kingsbarns
9. Ballybunion
10. Turnberry Ailsa
11. Royal Dornoch
12. St. Andrews (old)
13. Woodhall Spa
14. Lahinch
15. Ganton
16. Muirfield
17. Royal Lytham & St. Annes
18. Walton Heath
19. Wentworth (west)
20. The European Club
21. Portmarnock
22. Royal Troon
23. Royal Birkdale

Top 100 Courses Played

June 2006

Current Status: 92 courses played

1. Pine Valley,Clementon, NJ, Yes
2. Cypress Point,Pebble Beach, CA, Yes
3. Muirfield,Gullane, Scotland, Yes
4. Shinnecock Hills,Southampton, NY,Yes
5. Augusta National,Augusta, GA, No
6. St. Andrews (old), St. Andrews, Scotland, Yes
7. Pebble Beach,Pebble Beach, CA, Yes
8. Royal Melbourne,Melbourne, Australia, Yes
9. Pinehurst (#2),Pinehurst, NC,Yes
10. Royal County Down,Newcastle, Northern Ireland,Yes
11. Sand Hills,Mullen, Nebraska,Yes
12. Royal Portrush (Dunluce),Portrush, Northern Ireland,Yes
13. Ballybunion (old),Ballybunion, Ireland,Yes
14. Merion (East),Ardmore, PA,Yes
15. Oakmont,Oakmont, PA,Yes
16. Royal Dornoch,Dornoch, Scotland,Yes
17. Turnberry (Ailsa),Turnberry, Scotland,Yes
18. Winged Foot (West),Mamaroneck, NY,Yes
19. Pacific Dunes, Bandon, OR,Yes
20. National Golf Links of America, Southampton, NY,Yes
21. Kingston Heath,Cheltenham, Australia, Yes
22. Seminole, North Palm Beach, FL, Yes
23. Prairie Dunes,Hutchinson, KS, Yes
24. Crystal Downs, Frankfort, MI, Yes
25. Oakland Hills, Bloomfield Hills, MI, Yes
26. Carnoustie,Carnoustie, Scotland, Yes
27. San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, Yes
28. Royal Birkdale,Southport, England, Yes
29. Fishers Island, Fishers Island, NY, Yes
30. Bethpage (Black), Farmingdale, NY, Yes
31. Chicago, Wheaton, IL, Yes
32. Royal St. Georges, Sandwich, England, Yes
33. The Country Club, Brookline, MA, Yes
34. Casa de Campo, Dominican Republic, Yes
35. Hirono, Kobe, Japan, Yes
36. Riviera, Pacific Palisades, CA, Yes
37. Muirfield Village, Dublin, OH, Yes
38. Royal Troon, Troon, Scotland, Yes
39. Olympic (Lake), San Francisco, CA, Yes
40. Portmarnock, Portmarnock, Ireland, Yes
41. Southern Hills, Tulsa, OK, Yes
42. Oak Hill (East), Rochester, NY, Yes
43. New South Wales, La Perouse, Australia, Yes
44. Sunningdale (Old), Sunningdale, England, Yes
45. Baltusrol (Lower), Springfield, NJ, Yes
46. Woodhall Spa, Woodhall Spa, England, Yes
47. Morfontaine, Senlis, France, Yes
48. The Golf Club, New Albany, OH, Yes
49. Kauri Cliffs, Kaeo, New Zealand, No
50. Royal Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia, Yes
51. Shoreacres,Lake Bluff, IL, No
52. Medinah (#3), Medinah, IL , Yes
53. Whistling Straits,Haven, WI, Yes
54. Royal Lytham & St. Annes,Lytham St. Annes, England, Yes
55. Garden City, Garden City, NY, Yes
56. Loch Lomond, Luss, Scotland, Yes
57. TPC at Sawgrass, Ponte Vedra Beach, FL, Yes
58. Inverness , Toledo, OH, Yes
59. Los Angeles (North) , Los Angeles, Yes
60. Maidstone, East Hampton, NY, Yes
61. Quaker Ridge, Scarsdale, NY, Yes
62. Ganton,Ganton, England, Yes
63. Camargo, Cincinnati, OH , Yes
64. Highlands Links, Nova Scotia, Canada, No
65. Kingsbarns, St. Andrews, Scotland, Yes
66. Winged Foot (East), Mamaroneck, NY, Yes
67. Harbour Town,Hilton Head Island, SC, Yes
68. Cabo del Sol (Ocean), Los Cabos, Mexico, Yes
69. Somerset Hills, Bernardsville, NJ, Yes
70. Durban, Durban, South Africa, Yes
71. Scioto,Columbus, OH, Yes
72. Royal Liverpool, Hoylake, England, Yes
73. Lahinch, Lahinch, Ireland, Yes
74. Bandon Dunes, Bandon, OR, Yes
75. Naruo, Osaka, Japan, Yes
76. Cruden Bay , Cruden Bay, Scotland, Yes
77. Valderrama ,Sotogrande, Spain, Yes
78. Wentworth (West), Virginia Water, England, Yes
79. Kiawah Island (Ocean), Kiawah Island, SC, Yes
80. Kawana (Fuji), Kawana, Japan, Yes
81. Spyglass Hill, Pebble Beach, CA, Yes
82. Walton Heath (Old) ,Tadworth, England, Yes
83. World Woods (Pine Barrens), Brooksville, FL, Yes
84. Ocean Forest, Sea Island, GA , Yes
85. Valley Club of Montecito, Santa Barbara, CA, Yes
86. Congressional (Blue), Bethesda, MD, Yes
87. Peachtree, Atlanta, GA, Yes
88. Wade Hampton, Cashiers, NC, No
89. Shadow Creek, North Las Vegas, NV, Yes
90. Cherry Hills, Cherry Hills Village, CO, Yes
91. Baltimore (Five Farms East), Lutherville, MD, Yes
92. Yeamans Hall, Hanahan, SC, Yes
93. El Saler, Valencia, Spain, Yes
94. Homestead (Cascades), Hot Springs, VA, No
95. St. George's, Etobicoke, Ontario, Yes
96. The Honors Course, Ooltewah, TN, Yes
97. East Lake,Atlanta, GA, Yes
98. European Club, Brittas Bay, Ireland, Yes
99. Paraparaumu Beach, Paraparaumu, New Zealand, No
100. Colonial, Fort Worth, TX, No