America at The Masters

The Masters is here. Golf fanatics like myself are glued to the screen. That is where I am headed as soon as I finish writing. This year is a dandy. The old Augusta course, after a few years of playing soft and easy, is hard, fast and the wind is swirling in the pines, reminding the players that Mother Nature is still the boss.

The old guard is gone. Tiger is out indefinately. Phil Mickleson missed the cut. Ernie Els knocked himself out on the first hole, and all the old Champions, with the exception of the remarkable Bernhardt Langer, are gone.

The new guys are here and boy are they surprised. Ricky Fowler confidently said that this was his year. He missed the cut. Jason Day, World's #1 looked totally befuddled, saying that he was hitting good shots but they just were not going where they should. Jordan Speith is clinging by a very thin thread to the lead and sounded badly shaken at his Friday play. Actually, his 2 over par was not bad in the windy conditions, but his fall off from the 6 under Thursday rould shook him. That's golf. A day's reward will often give way to unpleasantness. The game is humbling.

Rory McIlroy, in 2nd place, had a very sane reaction to his 2nd round. He seemed amazed that he survived it and surpised that he managed a 1 under.

This is why I love golf. Not only is the game difficult, not only do you see great skills displayed, it shows you the mental make up of the players. Bobby Jones said that golf was mostly played on a 6 inch field between your ears. He was right.

So, in just a few minutes, I will be glued to the set, watching what should be quite a show. Oh, and there is a bonus. The Augusta National course is one of the most beautiful bits of landscaping on Earth. Covered with azaleas, dogwoon, redbud, jasimeine, nandina, all set in a backdrop of tall loblolly pines and little creeks and ponds, on a land full of bumps and hills, it is worth watching for its beauty alone.

Update: I wrote the above on Saturday morning and am posting it on Sunday morning. In the meantime, surprisingly little has changed. Bernhardt Langer, who at 59 has the physique of a 15 year old gymnast, is hanging in. Jason Day is 3 back and still seems slightly befuddled. Rory McIlroy is only 5 back after a bad Saturday. At the end of the round interview, he looked ready to weep and said that Sunday he would be shooting at all the pins, a recipe for disaster at Augusta. Jordan Speith looked shell shocked after finishing bogey, double bogey to turn a 4 shot lead to 1 shot. Who will win? Who knows. The wind will be down but the greens will be hard as cement and  fast and slick, like putting on glass. It will be fun to watch.  

American Sports - Bigger, Stronger is Not Always Better

I have watched, the last 2 days, the Tournament of Champions PGA event from Hawaii. More and more, golf is becoming a power game. How far you can hit it? How strong and how fit are you? These are often the major topics of the commentators. It is impressive to watch guys bang it out there 350 yards, but there is more to the game than that.

Proof? The leader is last year's phenomenon. Jordan Speith. Jordan is a slightly longer than average driver, barely longer than average. McElroy. Dustin Johnson, Jason Day and many other players can bomb it 40 and 50 yard past him, yet Jordan was player of the year, won the Masters and the US Open and finished 4th at the British Open and second at the PGA. How? Skill combined with thought. By planning the round, by being consistent and by being a fine chipper and a superb putter, he can more than  compensate for the lack of power. The Game is mental and he is as tough as they come. You win at Golf by avoiding mistakes, minimizing the effects of the bad shots everyone hits, and taking advantage of the opportunities that arise. Power, while nice, is not always an advantage. When long drivers are off and spraying the ball all over the course, they do not score well.

Golfers now, we are told, spend countless hours in the gym. If you want to do that. fine, I guess, but think of two things. First, the past greats of the game, for the most part did no such thing. Second, look at Bubba Watson. Bubba is as long as anyone, maybe longer, but by no means is he a great muscular guy. Actually, he is quite slender. Now, I am sure he does something to stay in shape, but his power doesn't come from hours in the gym. Instead, Bubba just seems to have an instinctual feel for how to get the most out of his swing. His power is the result of impeccable timing, each part perfectly coordinated to produce the utmost results.

An example of the limits of power and training is Tiger Woods. Tiger always had power, even when he was a skinny young man and that power, like Bubba's, came from the timing of his swing. Time went by, he became obsessed with fitness and muscle, and guess what? He got very little more distance. Then, as he became more and more bloated with muscle, the injuries started, and with each injury he spent more and more time in the gym. Finally, almost inevitably, he tore up his back. After surgery? Back to the gym, back to the course, and back to surgery, twice, and now, possibly through with the game. You can overdo exercise, and, unless you are planning a career as a power lifter, you need to use great care in the drive for power. Golf, like many other sports, is more that power.

Why this emphasis in Golf. Simple. They want to be as noticed and make as much money as other sports figures. Baseball and football, have over the years, placed more and more stress on power. The results? Season ending injuries in football  have become common. In the past, football players got beat up a lot but most made it through at least most of the year without catastrophic injury. Now, it is quite common for player to be out for the year before pre-season is over.

Same with baseball. Pitchers are constantly dealing with bad arms when in the old days, they pitched often, went deeper into the game (yes, they used to pitch the whole 9 innings, frequently). Position players got banged up and pulled muscles but missing months at a time was unheard of. Too much muscle is not a good idea. The building of unnatural muscle mass does not make you a lot stronger and those muscles are easy to tear. Also, in baseball, like golf, the drive for power causes other skills to falter.

Remember, in any sport, power is nice, to a limited degree, but how strong you are is not the issue. The important thing in any game of skill, especially at the professional level, is who wins.