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by G. Rennie

This past Saturday I was tuned into the CBS coverage of the third round of the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow. Stewart Cink was on a back side green, the 16th I think, when one of the commentators mentioned that Stewie hadn’t been in the winner’s circle for some time, going on three years, and that last win was the Open Championship in 2009.  A great achievement for Cink, for sure, was the win at Turnberry but it also was a huge disappointment for much, perhaps, most of the golfing world when he took down Tom Watson in a three hole playoff.

As Stewart stood over that putt, and then the next, and the next (he wound up with a four putt) it occurred to me that it might be a cosmic karmic payback if the Open Championship proved to be the last win in Cink’s professional career. I’m not wishing that on him but if it does play out that way, I’d chalk it up to a rebalancing of the golfing universe.

The induction ceremonies this Monday at the World Golf Hall of Fame produced a fair share of highlights most notably Peter Alliss’ hoisting of a single finger salute to a critic from his past. The fallout from that gesture shouldn’t obscure the quality of his speech which was filled with wit, expressions of gratitude, and rambling anecdote. This all reminded me of how much I always enjoyed his commentary and how the current crop of golf commentators working for CBS and NBC is absent anyone approaching his ability. Gary McCord is the only gent working for the networks who has the unforced flow and storytelling knack that were stock for Alliss.

 A lot has been written this week about that big Love In down in Houston that was part of the Insperity Champions Tour event. “The Greats of the Game” featured nine illustrious golfers now a bit past their playing prime who competed in a tournament within the tournament. The Greats played a scramble format in threesomes and, from the look of it, had a ball doing it. But their fun was matched, maybe exceeded by the record crowds who watched on the grounds as well as a vast TV audience. Billed as the likely last time the Big Three would ever play together, it was photo op time for everyone, including a legion of pro golfers from the Champions circuit who came out to view and cheer.

I enjoyed is as much as anyone – these three immortals of the game having fun on the course. That’s what struck me the most. That they truly loved the game and, in that respect, they weren’t any different than you, or me or any of the millions of hackers out there in love with the game. At one point Jack picked up a coin on the green used as a marker and casually tossed it to Gary who fumbled it, then picked it off the green. Just like my regular group, just like us.

by Jeff Skinner

Pete Dye’s handiwork will be getting plenty of attention this week at The Players Championship.  Dye’s has an amazing talent.  At the TPC Sawgrass Stadium Course he built his most famous and infamous course simultaneously.  The island green seventeenth is perhaps the most well known par three in golf while at the same time being the most diabolical.

Dye has designed dozens of top courses that have hosted majors, Ryder Cups and PGA Tour events.  Harbour Town, The Ocean Course, Whistling Straights and Crooked Stick are examples of Dye’s high end work.

But you don’t have to play on tour or fork over three hundred bucks to get a taste of Pete Dye and his immense talents.  The best kept secret on Dye’s resume sits in a quaint town in central Connecticut at Wintonbury Hills Golf Course.

Wintonbury Hills is rare find indeed.  It’s a municipal course designed by a world class architect that’s affordable and a joy to play.  Owned by the town of Bloomfield, Wintonbury is laidout over rolling hills near Hartford.

A golfer could be excused for being anxious about teeing it up on a Dye course.  After all, some say Dye delights in embarrassing the best golfers in the world so what chance would the average player have at one of his tracks.  But that’s the joy of Wintonbury: it is extremely playable.

Click on image to enlarge: Bloomfield can thank writer Brad Klein for Dye's help

There aren’t any railroad ties, waste bunkers, bulkheads or island greens.  But there are plenty of demanding holes that are well maintained and challenge every level of golfer.  For a Dye course there is a noticeable lack of severe penalties but that doesn’t mean there isn’t trouble to be had.

The course plays firm and fast with a flavor of links style golf on many holes.  At the same time there are parkland holes and on first glance there seems to be little trouble off the tees.  But as you approach the greens you’ll find that Dye trademark: greens that can drive you crazy.

The greens are Wintonbury’s defense and they do a great job of protecting the course.  The greens have multiple levels and plenty of contours that sweep an errant approach down into one of the many collection areas.  The greens are surrounded by swales and moguls that can be friend or foe as a little bit of local knowledge goes a long way at Wintonbury.

Once on the greens you’ll be challenged on each and every putt.  They roll true and play fast and could certainly have been more penal if someone hadn’t had a tight rein on Mr. Dye.  The bunkers surrounding most greens are extremely small, as are all the bunkers on the course, no doubt an effort to keep maintenance costs low and play moving.   To make Wintonbury a typical Dye nightmare all that is needed is to enlarge those bunkers.  But I’ll take this version of ‘Dye-Lite’ any day of the week.

Wintonbury is a Billy Casper Managed property and is well run and expertly managed.  The staff is courteous, helpful and professional.

For any golfer that doesn’t have a tour card Wintonbury Hills is the best way to get a little taste of Pete Dye without any of the pain or embarrassment.

Wintonbury Hills Golf Course  206 Terry Plains Road | Bloomfield, CT 06002

by Jeff Skinner

This week started off with the Hall of Fame Inductions and ends with one of the biggest tournaments of the year, The Players Championship.  The Players usually gets the strongest field of any tournament including the majors.  Check out some of the top shots at The Players Championship.  A few lines from The Players have made their way into the lexicon of golf.  Hal Sutton’s “Be the right club today” and Gary Koch’s call of Tiger’s putt “Better than most, better than most” have joined the ranks of “Cinderella Story” and “Be the ball” as quotes heard every day on the golf course.

by Jeff Skinner

It was an entertaining night at the World Golf Hall of Fame induction ceremony.  The five inductees, Hollis Stacy, Sandy Lyle, Dan Jenkins, Peter Alliss and Phil Mickelson all gave heartfelt speeches with Jenkins and Alliss showcasing their collective wit.

Phil had a few light moments as he thanked the fans:” I want to thank the fans because the fans have made this such a fun ride.  There have been a lot of highs and a lot of lows that we’ve shared together.  There have been a lot of times where I’ve struggled, and it’s been their energy that’s helped pull me through.  I’ve tried to reciprocate by launching drive after drive in their general direction.” 

Jenkins had a great opening line, “I’ve read they put me up here first because Tiger Woods and I have an early tee time tomorrow.”  He also had a great closing line,” The first one is going to be, “I knew this would happen.”  But I’ve got a better one.  The better one is you guys hold it down here, I’ve off to the next great adventure.  Thank you all.”

But it was Peter Alliss who brought down the house with his closing story about a school teacher that never thought he would amount to much.  “So it’s time to‑‑ I could waffle on for another four or five hours.  I just want to say this:  I think of it often because I did leave school early.  I was quite bright, but I remember my last report which was sent home.  We had a headmistress that my modest school was called cross by house school.  She was a Mrs. Violet Weymouth, and she was a short Welsh woman.  She always had a cigarette dangling out of her mouth and the smoke used to trickle up here, and you could see where the smoke went.  There was sort of a brown line up there.  But she was‑‑ you didn’t mess about with Mrs. Weymouth, I can tell you that.  I’m always staggered today where I read that children go to school and beat up the teachers.  They wouldn’t have done that in my day, I’ll tell you.  But I remember the last report she sent back to my parents, and it went something like this:  Peter does have a brain, but he’s rather loathe to use it.  His only interests appear to be the game of golf and Violet Pretty, a girl I liked.  She never knew about Iris Baker, but they were the two that introduced me to some of the ways of the world, for which I’ll be eternally grateful.  And although we were very young, I wish to God we could do it today.
I fear for his future were the last words she wrote on my report.  So mom and dad died a long, long time ago, and if there is such a thing as heaven and if people do look down, well, mom, dad, here we are.  Look at this lot.  Look where I’ve been, look what I’ve done.  Never worked very hard at it.  But it’s all fallen into place.  Lovely family, lovely wife, looks after me, shouts a bit occasional.  But they are remarkable.  They put up with all my nonsense, and I love them dearly.
And Mrs.Weymouth, if you’re there, (holds up middle finger).”

It was as wonderful night for the inductees, their family and friends.  Click here for a transcript of all their speeches.

By Jeff Skinner

1.  This past week Paul Goydos served as a host on The Golf Channel’s Morning Drive and he did a great job.  He’s honest and funny, not shy about his opinions and has a wonderfully weird way of looking at things.

2.  Great Sunday for Rickie Fowler.  You have to love this kid.  He plays quick, works the ball like Trevino and acts like a pro.  His win makes all four of ‘The Golf Boys’ PGA Tour winners.  Oh no, here comes another music video.

3.  John Huh and Bud Cauley have earned their way into The Players Championship with both rookies having great seasons.  Cauley is from Jacksonville so maybe he’ll get some home field advantage at Sawgrass.

4.  There’s so much discussion about Tiger’s old swing, new swing and old habits versus new habits and “feeling uncomfortable.”  Maybe it’s just that he is human after all.

5.  So Ryan Moore gets assessed a penalty for his ball moving on the green as he was preparing to putt.  Moore was as surprised as the rest of us to hear there wasn’t really an effective rule change after all.

6.  I beat Tiger up for blowing off his pre-tournament press conference at Quail Hollow but here’s an interesting number.  Over the years Tiger has had 1,076 press conferences as compared to 322 for Phil Mickelson.  He still should have attended.

7.  Good to see Fred Funk finally win after a two year drought.  Funk has had a tough three years as he battled a staph infection, had a knee replaced and needed two thumb surgeries.  Freddy is one of the good guys and this is a sweet win for him.

8.  Quail Hollow is one great golf course and it’s too bad we have to wait until the 2017 PGA Championship to see a major there.

9.  D.A. Points was the old man in the playoff at 35.  Rory turned 23 on Saturday and Rickie is 23 also.  There’s no problem with the future of the PGA Tour.

10.  Rory must have had his Cheerios for breakfast this week.  He led the field in driving with an average of 330 yards and he was scary long on Sunday.  His three wood off the tee in the playoff went 339 yards, well past the drivers of Fowler and Points.  That’s just sick.

Bonus.  Cheers to Rickie Fowler for mentioning his old teacher, Barry McDonnell who passed away last summer, classy, very classy.

Bonus.  Congrats to this year’s World Golf Hall of Fame Inductees.  Phil Mickelson, Hollis Stacy, Dan Jenkins, Sandy Lyle and Peter Alliss will be inducted in tonight’s ceremony.  We can see some of the festivities on The Golf Channel tonight at 10:pm EST.

Bonus.  For me the highlight of the weekend was getting to see Jack, Arnie, Gary and Lee tee it up along with the other “Greats of the Game.”  Today’s players are amazingly talented and a thrill to watch but nothing compares to watching those guys.  It doesn’t get any better than that and I hope we’ll see them all there again next year.

by Jeff Skinner

Orange, very bright orange, ruled the day at Quail Hollow today.  Wearing his traditional Sunday orange, Rickie Fowler finally earned his first PGA Tour win in a very exciting finish at The Wells Fargo Championship.  Fowler held off Rory McIlroy and D.A. Points in a one hole playoff after the three finished tied after 72 holes.

Fowler started the day three strokes behind hometown boy Webb Simpson who struggled today and shot his highest round of the week to finish in fourth.  The tournament boiled down to a three man race over the “Green Mile” as the last three holes are nicknamed.

All three of them played the final three holes in one over par but it was Points that really felt the wrath of the eighteenth.  He had parred the eighteenth all three previous rounds and hadn’t made a bogey since the thirteenth hole on Friday.  He had a one stroke lead going into eighteen but his approach from the rough settled in a bunker and he couldn’t get it up and down.  His bogey dropped him to fourteen under and into the playoff.

All three seemed relaxed on the eighteenth tee and they hit excellent tee balls.  But it was Fowler’s wedge from 132 yards that was the shot of the tournament.  He stiffed it to a little more than four feet and with Points and McIlroy far from the hole Fowler was in command.  His opponents both made four so Fowler was left with the most important putt of his career.  His new ‘left hand low grip’ worked just fine as he rolled his birdie in dead center.

It may seem like Fowler was overdue for a win but he is only 23 years old.  This is his third year on the PGA Tour and this win came in his 67^th Tour start.  Fowler has good success at this tough site that will host the PGA Championship in 2017.  In three starts he has a T6, T16 and this very sweet win.

Fowler is one of the most popular golfers on tour as his fashion forward style, immense talent and old school brand of play makes him a favorite among players and fans alike.

Fowler has been close before but had failed to close out the tournament.  That was not the case today as this former phenom has earned the title of PGA Tour Winner.

by Jeff Skinner

For a few hours yesterday it seemed like the 60’s or 70’s as the “Greats of the Game” transported us back to their time.  A time when Nicklaus, Palmer, Player and Trevino dominated the game and set professional golf on a path to where it is today.

Thousands cheered from the first drive to the last putt and every pitch, chip and wise crack in between.  In what turned out to be an historic day for both fans and the players alike The Greats of the Game at The Insperity Championship was a resounding success.  And not just for the fans.  Player, Palmer and Trevino all raved about the day and even Jack Nicklaus who normally avoids these nostalgic outings summed up the way everyone felt, “We had a blast.”

Click here for Alex Miceli’s story.

As the nine greats that took part in the exhibition played their rounds they were joined by dozens of regular Champions Tour players as they joined the ranks of the fans to follow these icons.  Andy Bean choked up as he said, “It’s because of these men that we all have jobs.”

Click here for a slideshow of the day.

Player, Palmer and Nicklaus spent their round needling each other and joking between shots but when it was their time to hit, it was all business.  And they all delivered some great shots with Palmer’s 20 foot birdie putt on the eighteenth a fitting end to an amazing day.  And yes, they won the match.

I sat with my sons as we watched my greats play and the significance of the day wasn’t lost on them.  They’re too young to have ever seen any of them play serious golf but certainly know their impact on the game they love.  We cheered as Nicklaus stiffed an iron, Player split the fairway and Palmer sank that final putt.

These men made golf in the modern age.  And generations of golf fans owe them a great debt for the way they played and for the example they set as sportsmen and role models .  If we are lucky we’ll get to see them again and again.

by Jeff Skinner

We all have a chance to see golf history today as The Big Four of Gary Player, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Lee Trevino are back on the course together again.  At The Champions Tour Insperity Championship they will tee it up along with Don January, Miller Barber, Gene Littler, David Graham and Dave Stockton in a little get together called “The Greats of Golf.”

They certainly have that name right, these guys are some of the greats in the game.  No group of golfers is more recognized as having a bigger effect on the game.  Certainly, their records on the course speak for themselves but it is also the way they conducted themselves as gentlemen both on and off the course.  They lived as true gentleman and sportsman in all their endeavors.  Their collective impact on the game is immeasurable and a group of men like this will never be seen again.

This very well could be the last chance we get to see them together on a golf course.  It will be telecast as part of the Golf Channel’s coverage of the Insperity Championship at 6:30pm EST today.

In 1990 the PGA Tour may have been looking to cash in on the trading card market and released a set of trading cards of the PGA Tour and Senior Tour players.  Here are scans of the Big Four from my sons “1990 PGA Tour Pro Set, Special Inaugural Set.”  All of the Big Four had graduated to the Senior Tour, as it was known back then and all of them were looking like they were ready to take each other down.

There’s sure to be some friendly rivalry among them today but just seeing these icons with a club in their hands once again is enough to make an old golfer misty eyed.  We won’t see the likes of these men any time soon.

by Jeff Skinner

Tiger Woods missed the cut at the Wells Fargo Championship yesterday and while it may send shockwaves through Charlotte it shouldn’t be shocking.  Woods continues to struggle with retaining the swing changes he is going through and while this is disappointing it highlights an amazing fact about Tiger.  This is only his seventh missed cut in 281 PGA Tour events.  No one has a record like that, not Phil, not Arnie and not even Jack Nicklaus.

Tiger says he still reverts to his old swing habits and has to force himself to get to that “uncomfortable” position before he can hit it well.  “It all has to do with my setup,” Woods said. “If I get over the golf ball and I feel uncomfortable, I hit it great. It’s just that I get out there and I want to get comfortable, and I follow my old stuff, and I hit it awful. All the shots I got uncomfortable on, I just said, ‘I’m going to get really uncomfortable and make it feel as bad as it possibly could,’ I striped it.’”  Even hackers like us realize that most changes feel uncomfortable at first and it takes a long time to feel at ease with the change.

“If you think about it, with Butch (Harmon) it took me two years and with Hank (Haney) it took me almost two years before old patterns are out,” said Woods. “It takes time to get rid of old patterns. It takes hundreds of thousands if not millions of golf balls, but eventually it comes around. I’ve had my share of successes, and I know it’s coming.”  Millions of golf balls?  He better get back to the range.