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August 2008 - Posts

• Commissioner Carolyn Bivens

  Attention K-Mart Shoppers – broken Commissioner on Aisle 12.  If you are one of the 121 foreign players on the LPGA, please stay clear of that Aisle.  Once again, the Dictator Carolyn Bivens has gone overboard in the approach to a minor issue on the Tour. In case you missed it, earlier this week, the LPGA revealed its intention to insist that all players with two years seniority must have sufficient skills in speaking English. A team of evaluators will assess player’s communication skills including conversation, everyday survival phrases and “golfspeak.” Any player unable to pass a required skills test can be subject to suspension from the tour.  So I guess this means if you have a serious lisp or are a deaf and unable to speak, forget about becoming an LPGA player. Let me say, the reason behind the move is understandable.  The LPGA is having sponsorship problems.  They believe that the interaction between top players, many of whom are in that group of 121 foreign players, including 45 from South Korea, and the sponsors is of prime importance.  Further interaction between players and pro-am participants is just as important.  The way this is being handled is totally out of line.  Not only do I think it is illegal, but once again, the Commissioner, Carolyn Bivens, seems to be creating policies that are not in the best interest of the tour.  What makes me just as upset is that Ms. Bivens is no where to be found.  Every major news source was discussing this matter yesterday; sports talk shows around the country that never talk golf were spending hours on this issue as did The Golf Channel.  I kept waiting to hear from the Commish; I called the LPGA office requesting an interview and never heard back.  How can this be?  Can you imagine any other Commissioner not being front and center during this kind of debate? The rule should probably read all English speaking players must learn other languages.  Let me explain.  The only rights fee (monies paid by media companies to carry someone’s broadcast) paid to the LPGA is from the Asian market; in all other cases, the LPGA buys the time.  So in my mind, to keep the Asian broadcasters happy, I would think Paula Creamer and Natalie Gulbis should be learning Japanese or Korean or face suspensions.  Why be so dramatic?  I agree - all of us should learn other languages.  I agree that if foreign-born players want to help grow the game in America or want to try and increase their marketability, they should be able to communicate on other languages, but to tie this policy to suspension due to an inability to pass an exam reminds me a of time about 60 years ago in Mississippi. A good idea gone bad… seems to be a regular problem with the LPGA.  Incidentally, as someone that promotes the heck out of their tour, it bothers me greatly each time they do something this silly.  According to sources I spoke with, the LPGA never discussed instituting penalties with their players as they broached this topic.  Their heart is in the right place; their approach is like walking the plank. Paul Azinger announced on Monday that two of his four picks are locked in and that you’d have to search well outside the second 10 on the final Ryder Cup list to find their names.  Makes for an interesting discussion.  During a year when choosing process was changed so Captain Azinger could pick 4 instead of 2, the Americans can barely find one deserving to make the team.  Perhaps Azinger can call Faldo on Saturday night, the evening before Faldo goes public with his two picks, and offer a trade.  Maybe one more pick to Faldo for one extra point for the Americans?  I think that would serve our team better. Faldo, on the other hand, has a fistful of players vying for the remaining two spots.  As I said last week, I hope Monty gets a pick, but it looks unlikely.  Even Darren Clark, the fun-loving, cigar smoking, always smiling European may be outside looking in.  Paul Casey and Ian Poulter seem odds on to make the team.  Faldo seems to making a LPGA kind of move.  Rather than delaying his picks until September 2nd, the day after the Deutsh Bank (it concludes on Labor Day) as Azinger is doing, Faldo will make his picks Sunday at 1pm.  This could be a mistake, depending on how Soren Hansen, Oliver Wilson and Martin Kaymer play this week in the last European event. Anyway you look at it, Louisville in September is the place to be. Posted Aug 28 2008, 12:55 PM by Steven Gribin with no comments Filed under: LPGA, Steve Lowery, Paul Azinger, LPGA "English" Rule, Carolyn Bivens

• A Father’s Pride

  Well, I can finally say it, “I am getting old.”  I never thought it would happen.  I am so young at heart; except for the grey hair, everyone says I look great for my age; I still walk the golf course 85% of the time; I get along great with the younger players on the tour, so why do I, unfortunately, come to this sad conclusion?  The past few days, I drove the 1104 miles from Dallas to Bluffton, South Carolina, to enroll my son, Doug, into the University of South Carolina at Bluffton.  My son in college… that must make me ancient. It seemed liked just yesterday that I was pushing a stroller with my kid inside.  From his first tee-ball game to lacing up his first pair of skates to learn to play hockey; from buying his first small golf club to watching him break his collar bone in PeeWee football; from all the soccer games to his making the winning basket to beat the undefeated team in the champion game of the Highland Park Youth Basketball League… I have had incredible joy watching Douglas grow from a little boy to a young adult. Somewhere along the way, a very interesting thing happened - as the boy became a man, he chose some very important values, values that many are unable to choose.   During the summer vacation of his 16th year, Doug, along with a half a dozen of his high school friends, spent 4 weeks studying French at the University of Biarritz.  It was during that trip that my son made the decision to not smoke or drink.  Because of that choice, he took much grief from his friends.  You remember those days, right?  “Let’s go do this… or let’s go try that.  What are you afraid of?”  Well, Doug made his choice and stood behind that decision, taking plenty of crap from his friends.  It made me realize that Sandie and I, no matter how hard it was along the way, had raised an amazing son. Like many men, it is hard for me to sometimes show my true emotions to my oldest son.  The pride I have felt as he decided to take on the game of golf at the very old age of 17.  The pride I have felt over the last year watching Doug go through what most boys that take up the game go through at 12 and 13.  The pride I have felt watching him go through the 94’s and 95’s to get to the 84’s and the 85’s, to winning his first tournament.  There are not many 18 year olds that could have dealt with the levels of beginner golf at such an old age but Douglas Newton Gribin is not your normal kid.  Through all the difficult times, the normal crap we all go through as parents, the constants with Doug of telling the truth and taking responsibility for his mess-ups are always there.  Doug Gribin is an amazing young man, and while other boys his age are off to the first year in college, Doug has chosen to continue his path towards playing college golf by enrolling in the Post Graduate Program at the Hank Haney International Junior Golf Academy and taking just a couple of classes at USCB, putting off his real freshman year for another 6 to 9 months. So you go, Doug… keep doing your 10 hour practice sessions; keep handling the good times and the difficult times with the class of a 30 year old; keep chasing your goal; keep listening to Hank and never quit trying to capture your dream.  I know I don’t say it enough, but I am really proud of you and love you very much.  And I’ll keep getting older… of course your mom never ages. One closing note as we head into the Fed Ex Cup.  Last year at this time I was writing what a mistake the “Race for Cup” seemed to be.  I apologized the week after Tiger won the Tour Championship, the first Cup and ten million dollars.  As we enter the 2008 Fed Ex Cup without Tiger Woods, I am, once again, wondering where and from whom we will find our excitement.  Will it finally appear from Sergio? Could Padrig Harrington take another step towards solidifying his place as “the” Tiger chaser?  Can Phil find some inner strength and turn a miserable year into a $10 million payday?  Or will some unsuspecting Tour Player create some much needed magic as we turtle our way to the Tour Championship and the Fed Ex winner. In the middle of all this, we will get one of sport’s greatest events, the Ryder Cup.  Even without Tiger, I am really looking forward to this year’s Cup.  I truly believe our US team enters as a big underdog.  Over the next few weeks, USA Captain, Paul Azinger, will choose the four additional members of the team.  That alone will add some excitement to the first two tournaments of the Cup.  One thing is certain, Azinger needs to find a couple of very hot players to add to his team.  Who will answer the call?  We’ll have to wait and see. Posted Aug 21 2008, 12:51 PM by Steven Gribin with no comments Filed under: Steven Gribin, Paul Azinger, FedEx Cup

• PGA Oakland Hills

  Hope you are doing well... When it comes to Sports, God really helped the PGA last weekend.  Think about it.  Just how much time does he (or she if you ask most of my female friends) have for the major Championships?  In April, God is working really hard to get all those baseball prayers answered, his favorite sport; June rolls around and he definitely does not have time for the pro golfer because he is taking care of all the prayers of average golfers; July follows and he’s busy with parents prayers for the best summer vacations imaginable so he has little time for the professional golfer.  Finally August steps to our calendar and God usually has way too much on his plate with school starting. But this year, this year, God had time for the PGA.  Michael Phelps did not need his help; most of the baseball teams are through asking for miracles; the Redeem Team, the beach volleyball teams, the women’s softball and men’s baseball teams don’t seem to need him, so the PGA got their prayers answered over the weekend, quickly turning what might have been one of the worst PGA’s into one of the greatest. Everyone at the PGA, their employees, the players, the fans and the media, were all using every prayer we’d saved, asking him to bring rain. And he came through.  Boy did he every.  See, the PGA had spent many hours looking at the Farmer’s Almanac - you know, the book that tells you about weather over the last 100 years. It told them there would be rain all week.  They decided to set the golf course KNOWING the rain would come.  Oakland Hills, already one of the hardest designed golf courses in the world, was set up even harder.  Fast and hard and plenty of rough, added to already impossible greens made for near impossible conditions.  Without rain, Oakland Hills was quickly becoming a nervous proposition.  The players were doing more than mumbling, and the crowds were doing, well, nothing.  It was quieter than a tennis match.  In my first two days on the course, I heard a total of 5 roars. But He came through.  With the rain and the colder weather, Oakland Hills produced a tournament for the ages with three players, each from different levels of the game giving those in attendance and those watching on TV an amazing Sunday afternoon. Padrig Harrington (yes, I am gloating here, as I chose him to win in last week’s newsletter) came from 6 shots down: his win was the 3rd major in just 13 months, and we now have, without a doubt, the number 2 player in the world.  We have found the player that wants the spotlight next to Tiger.  What a comment he made after the Championship, “I can’t wait 7 months for the next major.” In Ben Curtis, we found a player that could deal with the next to impossible layout of Oakland Hills.  A player that loves hard courses; a player we never think about; a player, even in those NFL logoed shirts, flies totally under the radar but somehow managed to hang when all the others couldn’t handle the Oakland Hills design. In Sergio Garcia, we found a new man, a man who truly wants a major; a man who is now taking responsibility for his actions; a new Sergio.  What fun it was to follow him during his 41st attempt to get his first major.  Does he still miss putts? Does he still make that one silly mistake at the most inopportune time? Yes.  But for the first time, I saw him take ownership of those mistakes.  And mark my words: Sergio will win a major in 2009.  This was a great PGA.  It’s just too bad that without Tiger in the field, there were not more people watching on Sunday.  This is the kind of Championship that would grow the game.  It is a Championship I will not soon forget. Thanks, God, for taking the time to answer our prayers. Ok, before I start getting the feedback about the use of God in the above writing, please know I am just trying to have a little fun.  I know many of my listeners take God very seriously, but I hope you will allow me the little banter of fun.  And who knows, maybe I’m right, maybe God does have time for the prayers of golfers.  God knows, we all try to use him for that one putt to win our match.  I want to take a second and talk about golf at the Olympics. I am totally against golf in the Olympics.  It’s not that I don’t love golf, you all know I do, it’s just that I don’t like having any sport in the Olympics that already gives the world plenty of chance to have the best play together year round. It’s like Tennis in the Olympics, how silly is that?  We are going to see the same players playing in another event that we could have watched during any other month.  I truly believe the Olympics’ should be for sports that are not center stage.  When else do we get to see the greatest women’s softball players or the best badminton players?  Let’s leave the Olympics’ for those sports… I don’t need more tennis or golf, or even basketball for that matter.  I want Michael Phelps and archery. Finally, as we finish our summer vacations, I want to say how important these last three months were to me and my family.  I hate getting older (I just hate the alternative more) and with each passing year, I know that the summer vacations with my children are almost over.  So, take a few minutes to love your kids, they’re leaving the nest sooner than later.   Posted Aug 14 2008, 10:56 AM by Steven Gribin with no comments Filed under: Steven Gribin, Olympics, Sergio Garcia, Padrig Harrington, Oakland Hills, Ben Curtis

• 2010 Changes

  I have to say, I cannot wait. I cannot wait for 2010. I cannot wait to watch the best players in the world actually have a problem handling the rough. The USGA and the Royal and Ancient announced this week that the rules limiting the groove volume and sharpness of groove edges will change as of January 1, 2010. The good news for us as Amateurs is that the rules won’t change in top amateur events until 2014. So for 4 years I will get an advantage when I step to the tee with Professional golfers. Dick Rugge, the technical guru for the United States Golf Association said, "Our research shows that the rough has become less of a challenge for the highly skilled professional and that driving accuracy is now less of a key factor for success. We believe that these changes will increase the challenge of the game at the Tour level, while having a very small affect on the play of most golfers." How cool will it be to see a tour player have to work harder to hit the fairway knowing that being in the rough will actually become more of a hazard? For the past 25 years, golf manufacturers have made the game easier and easier for the professionals. Has it helped us? Perhaps in a small way, but grooves will only truly assist in the spin of a golf ball out of the rough if you have enough swing speed to make it happen. Most of our swing speeds are 10-20 mph slower than the pros. So the change in grooves will be more harmful to the tour player than to us as average players. The unanswered question is, “How much will this rule change take the longer hitters out of top spots?” Please understand the metrics of a Tiger or a Bubba. Image Fred Funk hitting a drive 265 yards on a line from the tee box to the left edge of the rough. It stays in the fairway. Now let’s take Tiger or Bubba. They hit a ball on the exact same line, 2 degrees off center. Their ball goes 330 yards. Guess where it ends up? See it’s not that the longer hitters miss more fairways; they have less area to hit. Imagine a funnel, how it gets larger the longer it is. The same is true for the long hitters. Will this rule affect them more? Quite possibly. That will hurt the game. My point? Well, I am on both sides of this fence. I believe golf should be harder from the rough and a bunker. Heck, in today’s game, tour players will aim for bunkers rather than the rough. We should just eliminate bunkers from courses, or use the Jack Nicklaus rakes… that will have a cause and effect. So even though I like guys not being able to spin the ball from the rough, I do believe we will lose some of the fun watching (dare I say) John Daly or other long bombers working harder to keep the ball in the fairway. I am glad the USGA finally took the step… it will be interesting to see what affect it will have on the Tours. Missing Tiger – Heard Tiger yesterday on ESPN Radio with Scott Van Pelt. TW said he watched on the last few holes of the Open Championship and none of the WGC. He also told Van Pelt that we would not watch any of the PGA. He said it would be too hard watching an event that he would be trying to win for a third consecutive time. When asked about coming back, Tiger said he was on schedule. Not sure what that means, but I really want to assume that would be The Master. How cool would it be to have him back in time to challenge for another Green Jacket? Practice Makes Perfect – I love my boys. I know, like most dads, I can be hard on them. I don’t care what they want to be, my only rule is “whatever you choose, pay the price to get there.” My son Douglas kind of messed around with golf for a number of years. He would work for a few weeks then move on to something else. He always talked about becoming a good golf; he just never was willing to pay the price to get there. Fifteen months ago, Hank Haney pulled Doug aside and started helping him. With his swing, sure, but more with an understanding of the game. In 15 months, Doug has had more ups and downs than most golfers have in 10 years. See, this is a fast track. Incidentally, you will all get a chance to see the ups and downs starting in September on The Golf Channel. Doug was chosen as one of the players in a new series called “School of Golf: Hilton Head Island.” Well, the 10 hours a day of practice, the 85’s to 80’s back to 84’s all paid off on Monday as Doug won his first NTPGA Masters event. I cannot tell you how proud I am of Doug. Not the fact that he won; the fact that he is paying the price. Congratulation, son. Who will win – The big thing on all the Golf Channel Shows now is picking the winners of the upcoming event. They pick a Dark Horse, a Contender, a Favorite. So here I go... For my Dark Horse - Well, I would love to pick Tommy Armour III. He is the second hottest player on the tour over the last 6 weeks; however, his 10 day vacation might leave him a bit rusty. I also like Bart Bryant. This is the kind of tournament in which he usually hangs close. But my pick is (drum role, please) Briny Baird. He is playing in his first major of the year, but he finished fourth at the Players and actually has the best finishing record in majors since 2004 among the field. For my Contenders – My personal favorite has to be Anthony Kim. The kid is making all my predictions come true; however, I am a little concerned about his putting from the Open. My other personal fav is KJ Choi. The problem here is lack of a decent 4 rounds played over the last couple of months. One of these days, both of these guys will get their first major win. That leaves me with Kenny Perry. The hottest player on the tour, this could be his week. It’s a lot to ask, but he seems to be a man to have the answers. For my Favorite – The odd-makers are hanging their hats on Phil at 9-1 and I believe he has a chance to be right there. He putted much better this past week, and for Phil, that is the biggest issue. Forget where he hits it… not important. Speaking of putting, you have to mention VJ and Sergio. If either can keep their putter hot for 4 days, they could run away from the field. I am, however, not secure in that feeling. So my favorite is… Tiger Woods… wait, that was a couple tournaments back. My favorite is Padrig Harrington to go back-to-back and be proclaimed the number 2 player in the world. There you have it. Please do not bet on my picks… I am usually very bad at this. What I am pretty good at is reporting from the Championship… So please do not forget… This Sunday morning from 8a to 10a on 103.3FM ESPN, The Golfers Home is live from Oakland Hills. Also, don’t forget to sign up for Frisco Lakes on the 13th! Posted Aug 07 2008, 01:45 PM by Steven Gribin with 1 comment(s) Filed under: Steven Gribin, Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Tommy Armour III, Anthony Kim, K.J. Choi, United States Golf Association, Dick Rugge