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Hi, my name is Marc P.  I started playing golf semi-seriously 7 years ago when I was invited to join a local league.  I had played once or twice a year for 15 or so years before that and considered to have a nice looking swing.  Decently athletic I figured I could take on and conquer the game of golf…boy was I wrong.  I started to play frequently and hit the range farely often and at first saw much success as I drove my scores from the 120’s down to the high 90’s low 100’s in roughly a years worth of play.  I had it figured I would be in the 80’s by the next year and I would never be farther from the truth.  Natural talent can only take you so far some times and I would stay at my level for the next 5 years.  I got to the point where I couldn’t handle it any more, I was going to quit.  That’s when I finally realized something, sometimes you need to see that you aren’t as good as you think you are.  I went to a swing coach who basically told me I was close but no cigar.  We made some changes and I have over the last year dipped my score to the low 90’s.  I broke 90 once so far and hope I can continue to improve with some more practice with the putter/short game.  It took me 6 years to figure out that you drive for show and you putt for dough.  Anyway if I have any wisdom to impart to all you golfers who struggle out there is this, you are never as good a golfer as you think, so go find a golf coach who can help you be as good as you think you are!

As I watched the Barclay’s tournament this past weekend I couldn’t help but think that it was history in the making, but something was missing.  Oh I remember, the best golfer of our time skipped the first tournament, Mr. Tiger Woods.  I’m guessing when they designed this format they figured everyone would play the final four tournaments…wrong.  I saw Ernie Els was skipping the next tournament to see off his kids to school…off to school?  So $10 million dollars doesn’t entice these guys as much as the PGA would like us to think.  To much money flows at the top of the respective sports any more.  It’s all business and barely any heart any more.  It used to be that you played for the glory of being called the best.  Oh well, guess Steve Stricker and K.J. Choi will have to battle it out for the Superbowl of golf…sounds like a winner to me. 

Tiger Woods has proved once again he is the best of our era, maybe even all time.  Just when we thought his baby girl would doom him from winning a major this year….whammo he smokes everyone at the PGA in Tulsa.  You could see it coming, winning the two previous tournaments (Isn’t that five at Firestone now) and how close he was in the first three (roughly 4 strokes from winning all four majors).  Johnson, Cabrera, and Harrington all had fluke wins and are keeping the inevitable just a little further off….18 majors and Jack moving to second place.  I know it is hard to match people from different eras but Tiger would certainly hold his own with the likes of Bobby Jones, Hagan, Palmer, or Nicklaus in my book.  Soon there will be no more discussions as he cruises on by and wins over 100 tournaments in his career.  Oh and the billion he will earn on the way isn’t bad either.