LinksLifeGolf

by Jeff Skinner

All right golfers, it’s that time of year when we all vow that next year is going to be the year.  2012 will be the year we break 80, or the year we shoot par, the year we get to single digits.  You get the idea; it’s the time we vow to fix our troubled game.  There’s no better way to ensure that you will play better golf than to get in better shape.  To get started you need to stretch out those tight muscles.  Therefore, we give you the MAJ Fitness Program.  Here’s the Coolest Guy In Golf, Miguel Angel Jimenez with his world famous stretching routine.

Only the Coolest Guy In Golf could get away with that.  Visit Golf.com and their Top 10 Viral Videos of 2011, it’s good for a few laughs.

by Jeff Skinner

Do you like to play tough courses? Do you love teeing it up on the biggest, most difficult track you can find?   Well, look no further.  Golf Digest has lined them all up for you.  In January’s issue they have presented us with “America’s 75 Toughest Courses.” You like it rough? Be careful what you wish for.

1. The Ocean Course, Kiawah Island, S.C.
2. Pine Valley (N.J.) G.C.
3. Oakmont (Pa.) C.C.
4. Spyglass Hill G. Cse., Pebble Beach
5. Bethpage State Park (Black), Farmingdale, N.Y.
6. Whistling Straits (Straits), Haven, Wis.
7. TPC Sawgrass (Players Stadium), Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.
8. PGA West (TPC Stadium), La Quinta, Calif.
9. Winged Foot G.C. (West), Mamaroneck, N.Y.
10. Pinehurst (N.C.) Resort (No. 2)

Click here for Golf Digest article.

Click here for for a slideshow of the top 20.

by Jeff Skinner

Donald Trump is playing Santa Claus to New York City once again.  Trump has signed a deal with NYC to finish the troubled golf course at Bronx’s Ferry Point Park.

The beleaguered Ferry Point project has been in the works for fourteen years and its original developer quit the project years ago. New York City has failed to finish the project which is beset with cost over runs, environmental problems and even ties to organized crime.

Trump’s contract includes a 20 year license to manage the course and build a clubhouse for the facility.  As usual Trump announced the deal with his customary bravado. “This is an opportunity to have one of our country’s greatest golf courses right smack in the middle of New York City — an unheard-of opportunity.”  He also thinks that he will be able to host “championship tour play” at some point in the future.

Ferry Point Golf Course will at least have some big name panache.  It is a Jack Nicklaus Signature Design and is located near the Whitestone Bridge and will have a view of the legendary Manhattan Skyline.  It is also one of the few public golf courses that Trump has been involved in.  Usually Trump will keep his courses private and those public courses he purchases quickly close their doors to the public and become private clubs.

Trump has a history of rescuing New York City projects.  He finished construction on a city skating rink and now runs the city’s rinks and the Central Park Carousel.

Say what you will about The Donald, and we all do, he gets things done. In this case it may be worth listening to his bluster if it translates into a new golf course opening up, especially one within New York City.

Merry Christmas to All

Have a Great Holiday from All of Us at Links Life Golf

by Jeff Skinner

Golf Digest has a pictorial in this month’s issue titled “The 18 Most Annoying Golf Partners.” It is good for a few laughs and certainly rings true. There are plenty of guys that are so annoying on the course it makes you want to shank one at them as they yabber on their cell phone or schmooze with the cart girl.  My favorite from their list is “Ball Retriever Guy” but missing is just the plain old “Slow Player Guy.”  He is the scourge of golf and really is the number one most hated player ever.

by Jeff Skinner

A few years ago I picked up a used copy of Bernard Darwin’s “The Golf Courses of the British Isles.”  Many say it is the best golf book ever written and Darwin is revered as one of the greatest golf writers to ever put pen to paper. First published in 1910, mine is a reprint from 1988, Darwin’s splendid descriptions of the classic courses ring as true as if it was a first edition.  Reading it is like taking the ultimate golf trip to play those brilliant links. Now his words will be put to film in a 13 part, six hour series featuring  those magnificent courses.
There aren’t many details as to where and when it will air except for “coming in 2012″ but we have to hope The Golf Channel will get a chance to broadcast this.

Thanks to Geoff Shackelford.com for the link.