My partner and I were playing two different courses.

We started each hole on the same tee box, but from there, our paths diverged. The course I was playing was relatively well maintained; the one he was playing was as pockmarked as the face of the moon. My course was a decent test of golf; his was designed by a madman currently committed at Arkham Asylum.

Not surprisingly, given the state of the course, Paul was not playing well. The fairways narrowed at exactly the point where his tee shots landed. On occasion, the designer had seen fit to toss a fairway bunker right on his favored line.

Where Paul found the rough, it was unnaturally long. Even the sadists who set up the US Open had never attempted anything like he found that day. And when his ball landed on the fairway, it was nearly always in a divot.

The greens that he was playing were a nightmare. Cratered by ball marks, they made every putt bounce unnaturally. Spike marks – there seemingly were a large number of players wearing metal cleats on the plastic-only facility – directed his ball away from the hole.

I, on the other hand, was having a pretty good day. I realized that I couldn’t use my driver on every hole, so I hit a bunch of three and five woods. I saw a few divots—no more than you might expect – but none of them affected my swing. The rough was longer than the fairway, but that was just another reason to stay away from the driver. Bunkers made the course challenging. And the greens that I played were just fine; I never took more than two putts.

I had been paired with Paul by chance and the starter, and I doubt I’ll ever see him again. I’m curious, though, about his game. Was he a good player having a bad day? Is he a poor player who makes excuses to escape personal responsibility? Or does he have a natural inclination to see the worse that gets in the way of his game.

All I know is that if I had to play the course he was playing, I’d quit golf.

Dynacraft Avatar Chipper

One of the fastest ways to improve your scores is to improve your short game. Your average amateur misses a lot of greens, and then has to scramble for par or bogey.

Most players, when faced with a shot around the green automatically pull out a wedge. But while that may be the club of choice for pros, there are better options for amateurs. Chipping is one. Putt before you chip. Chip before you pitch. Pitch before you lob.

I’m generally good chipping with my irons. But like any other shot, there’s a trick to it. And you need to practice.

Another option is to get a specialty short game club—a chipper. You could leave out that lob wedge that you can’t hit most of the time ... or a long iron that you never really use (for me, that’s a five iron. For some reason, I’m never at five iron distance). You’ll use a chipper a lot more often.

The Avatar chipper has several features that make it practically foolproof. First, the unique gooseneck hosel design works to help prevent shanks—Hireko claims that is shank-proof. The non-offset design makes it easy to get the ball going straight. A wide sole prevents catching the turf.

To use it, just place the ball in the middle of your stance and take a normal putting stroke. The ball will pitch up and then start rolling.

I have a (now unavailable) version of this and when my short game is not working, often will stick it back in the bag. A chipper like this is very versatile, and you can use it from a variety of distances.

USA Today has an interesting snapshot today:

Among golf’s major, the PGA Championship has produced the most one-hit wonders—champions who have won only one major in their career.

PGA Championship - 31
US Open - 23
British Open - 21
The Masters - 14

We can speculate that the Masters has the fewest because it’s the youngest. But by that logic, the British Open should have the most. It also could have something to to do with the fact that, from its inception in 1916 through 1957, the PGA Championship was a match play event. A single bad day eliminates you from match play, while in medal play, you still have a chance to recover.

Titleist NXT Tour 2007

I’m more than a little behind on this one, but I just realized that Titleist has updated its NXT Tour ball for 2007. Titleist says that the new ball has a higher coverage 392 dimple design, and a staggered wave parting line (that, I suppose is to avoid any flight irregularities caused by a straight seam). The three-piece ball also has a new sidestamp that’s supposed to help with alignment on putting.

I was a fan of the original NXT, so I’m going to have to give these a try soon.

Stop the madness.

Apparently, a group of leftist bloggers are trying to form a union of bloggers. They think it will help them to get health care benefits; they also plan on collective bargaining and professional standards.

I’m having a really hard time wrapping my brain around this one. Collective bargaining with whom? I have a golf blog because I love to write, and I love golf. I work for no one, so there’s no one to negotiate with. (OK, so there’s Mrs. Golfblogger. But that’s not a negotiation. I just do what she tells me). I have ads, but if I don’t like Google’s terms, I’ll just go to a different ad agency. There are dozens of them out there.

Professional standards? Please. Some of these people are the ones who write on a regular basis about how Bush blew up the towers. And I regularly visit the grassy knoll with the latest PGA Tour conspiracy theory.

There’s some sense in the health care benefits thing. I suppose that if enough of them got together in a pool, Blue Cross would give them a better rate. But there are already any number of small business pools they could join. If their blogs are making money, they surely count as small businesses. GolfBlogger, for example is incorporated as an Limited Liability Corporation (but that’s more about liability issues than any potential profits).

And if they did manage to pull such a thing off, I wonder if the internet would suddenly become a closed shop. Would I have to join to blog? Would I suddenly have someone to answer to? And could I belong to more than one union at once. I’m already a member of the teacher’s union (we have a closed shop ... all teachers MUST be members.)

The whole idea is just nutty. The internet is decentralized and anarchic. Once people start imposing a structure on it, it’ll lose what makes it such a great thing in the first place.

Sunice Shoal Short Sleeve Waterproof Rainshirt

The golf season is short enough in Michigan that I can’t afford to let a little rain keep me off the course. I have a full Goretex rainsuit, but it frankly is too hot to play in during the summer. So I’ve been looking for a lightweight, shortsleeve rainshirt. I finally settled on this one, and got it today.

I can’t review it yet, because I haven’t yet played in the rain. But the fit is good, and it doesn’t restrict my swing at all (backyard experimentation). And compared to some others I’ve seen, it’s a good buy.

Rory Sabbatini is not making any friends. Earlier this year, he called Tiger out, saying that he was “beatable.” Tiger responded by beating him by five shots at the Wachovia. Yesterday, paired in the final round with Sabbatini again, Tiger beat Rory by eight.

And on Sunday, frustrated by the face that Tiger was lapping him on the course, Sabbatini took out his anger on a local firefighter.

AKRON — Rory Sabbatini has a reputation for saying what he thinks.

But apparently he doesn’t always like hearing what other people think.

A frustrated Sabbatini had a fan tossed out of Firestone Country Club on Sunday for making what seemed to be a rather innocuous comment.
Sabbatini, who earlier this year had said he thought Tiger Woods was “as beatable as ever,” had already gone from a stroke up on Woods to start the day to six behind after making double bogey at nine, a long par 4.

As Sabbatini headed for the 10th tee, Steve Banky of Cuyahoga Falls leaned in from behind a tree in the gallery to shoot a little barb the South African’s way.

“Hey, Rory, do you still think Tiger’s beatable?” asked Banky.

Sabbatini’s response? He told Bridgestone officials to, “Take this (expletive) out of here.”

So they did.

Later in the press conference, Sabbatini implied that the guy was drunk: “I guess a few too many beers were talking,” he said.

I think the firefighter should demand an apology. Or maybe sue for defamation of character.

It’s not the first time Sabbatini has made a total schmuck of himself. Two years ago at the Booz-Allen, Sabbatini got into a tiff with Ben Curtis on the course. Curtis was playing too slowly for Rory’s tastes, so Rory played ahead on the 17th and headed to the 18th, leaving Curtis on the seventeen fairway.

I suppose it doesn’t matter to Sabbatini because he’s wealthy and famous, but he’s going to get a reputation as an immature, spoiled brat. Several golf writers have noted that he’s among the least-liked by his peers.

For fun, some tournament should put Sabbatini and Sergio Garcia in the same pairing.