LinksLifeGolf

by Jeff Skinner

The PGA Tour is like most businesses in these difficult economic times: it could use some help increasing its bottom line. There are some players that could help The PGA Tour this year deal with fewer dollars, less viewers and a “Tiger-less” season. We’ll take a look at some of the players that could have a positive impact on the tour this year.

Rickie Fowler is one of the young, new breed of golfers that may appeal to golf fans both old and young. After Fowler turned pro last year after his sophomore season at Oklahoma St. he went out and promptly finished tied for seventh at the Timberlake and took second in a playoff at The Frys.com Open. Not only does he have the game and a new PGA Tour Card, he also has the look and charisma that many complain most tour players lack.

Fowler looks like he may be more at home on a skateboard or a dirt bike. The truth is golf is his second love. His first was Motocross and he spent his childhood racing dirt bikes with his dad. He still takes the bike out and flies a few jumps but golf is his main focus now. His motocross ancestry may be a valuable asset in attracting younger viewers to the tour. While television ratings are sure to drop during Tiger’s hiatus, Fowler could be a link to the “younger generation” of fans that are borderline viewers. Fowler has the appeal that works for the “texting, Face Book, YouTube, Twitter” generation.

Don’t think that Fowler is just another pretty, young face. Sure he’ll develop his own gallery of young women that insist on following him on the course a la Camilo Villegas and Adam Scott, but his appeal goes beyond that. This young man has a game beyond his years. He plays an old school game. He is a player that is more concerned with feel rather than his mechanics. He uses an old school coach that has convinced Fowler that he can figure things out on his own. He is as fast a player as there is on tour. His approach is plain: get the number, pull the club and hit the shot. So far he looks to be a go for broke, gambling style player that isn’t afraid to try the high risk shot.

He may sound too good to be true: an attractive, skilled, young player that appeals to many demographics. My personal favorite characteristic about Fowler is that he plays fast. Fowler could be one of the new reasons people tune into the tour. He certainly can’t hurt the numbers and maybe he’ll give Stewart Cink some competition with his Twitter followers. If you don’t know what Twitter is, I have made my point.

By Jeff Skinner

Since the Super Bowl is taking place in Tampa this week we offer this alternative to all the pre-game festivities. After all, how much partying can a golfer take while they are in Tampa for the week? If you need a break from the non-stop parties, promotions and late night festivities, try a nice relaxing round of golf at one of the best courses in the area.

The TPC Tampa Bay has everything you need to get away from the insanity that goes with Super Bowl week. TPC Tampa is a wonderful facility that fulfills all your golf expectations. It is always a thrill to play on a course that the pros use as a regular tour stop. The TPC is home to the Outback Steakhouse Pro Am on the Champions Tour. Past champions include Tom Watson who won the past two years, Hale Irwin and some guy named Nicklaus. One of the unique aspects of the TPC is the elaborate locker room. The management at TPC puts brass plaques on the lockers with the names of all the past champions. I was changing my clothes right at Watson’s locker. Well, being a big fan of Watson, that made my day before I even went on the course.

The course was designed my Bobby Weed in 1991 along with Chi Chi Rodriguez as a PGA consultant. This is a true stadium style layout with many mounds and banks to allow for spectator viewing. Fortunately there are tees that vary from a slope of 119 to 135. This course has received many accolades from all the “Best Lists”. Golf Digest gives it four and a half stars and Golf World lists it as number eighteen on their “Best Public Courses” list. Number nineteen is Bethpage Black home of this year’s U.S. Open. That tells you how good this course is.

You can sense that you are on a quality course right away. The first fairway resembles a jigsaw puzzle piece that doglegs right and needs an accurate drive to the left side. The greens here are rather large and can give you many different hole locations. If this is Florida it must mean water. There is water on many of the holes and that makes shot placement very important.

Weed uses mounds and bunkers throughout the fairways to encourage a round that rewards target golf. Many greens are guarded by collection areas that funnel missed shots away from the green. This places a premium on your chipping game. Such is the case at number nine. Nine is a long dogleg left that needs a long drive to carry a series of mounds in the fairway. There are no greenside bunkers. Collection areas protect the green and keep balls from rolling up to the green.

The par five fifteenth tests your accuracy on your tee shot, your approach and yes, even your lay up. With not one, but two water hazards protecting the entire right side, straight is must on this one. Slicers beware on this one, you’re tempting the Gods if you half any slice on this hole.

The green complexes here disguise their level of difficulty. You’ll stand in the fairway and look to see a green with few or even no bunkers and think there is no danger. Think again. The subtle, rolling terrain surrounding the greens is as unforgiving as any bunker.

All tournaments hope for a dramatic finish on the last hole and TPC Tampa makes that very possible. It is a par four with bunkers that protect the left side and water defends the right all the way up to the green. Lose your drive right and your wet, lose it left and you may find the bunkers. This green has a bunker on the left and a spine that runs through the center of the green. The water is so close on the right side that you could putt into it. You can imagine the crowds that surround the green during the tournaments as you putt out and cherish your round on this course.

When you see the name TPC attached to any course you expect it to be a high quality course and a memorable experience. TPC Tampa is just that. The facilities are excellent. The clubhouse and locker room are great. The substantial pro shop is very well stocked with plenty of logo gear. The practice areas are what you would expect the pros to practice on. The people are courteous and helpful. The course is meticulously maintained with all the qualities of a tour layout. TPC Tampa delivers what you expect, a great day of golf.

By Jeff Skinner

Since the PGA and Champions Tour are in Hawaii now and the LPGA will be there next month I thought we could use a little bit of the Aloha spirit. There are few places on earth as beautiful or spectacular as Hawaii. With all the cold and snow covering us here on the mainland, thoughts of warm breezes and sandy beaches will surely warm us up.

There are many quality golf courses on all the Hawaiian Islands. On the North Shore of Oahu sits a wonderful resort, The Turtle Bay Resort. Turtle Bay is home to two quality courses, The Palmer Course and the Fazio Course. The Fazio course is the less renowned of the two. Palmer’s course, designed with his partner Ed Seay, has been host to PGA and Champions tour events and the LPGA SBS Open starts there next month.

The Palmer Course sits on some of the most beautiful land on Oahu. The course is built around a protected wetland, the Punaho’olapa Marsh. Water is in play on fourteen of the holes, but it is never the ocean. The staff at Turtle Bay likes to describe the front nine as a links type layout. I think the main similarity between a links course and the Palmer course is the wind. The wind on the North Shore can blow really. We estimated it to be a four club wind when we played. It was great downwind, but against it you really to struggle to get the right club.

Turtle Bay has been recognized with many awards and appears on several “Best Course” lists. The history of all the professional tournaments that have been contested here speaks to the quality of the layout and the conditioning of the course. The course was in great shape, fairways were perfect, greens were fast and true and the bunkers meticulously kept. The bunker sand was as fine as baby powder and results in a testing shot to recover.

You can certainly tell this is an upscale course. Playing where the pros play is always a thrill. Fortunately, there are five sets of tee and you can take your pick from 7218 yards to 5574 yards. We played the gold and that yardage is close to what the LPGA plays from. We had a ball on the course. I hear the course is rarely crowded on weekdays and that was the case for us. We had the course to ourselves and had a chance to enjoy the absolutely gorgeous surroundings.

The front nine gets your attention immediately. Trees and waste areas, bunkers and water and bunkers and doglegs and did I mention the bunkers? Playing a new course for the first time it is usually difficult to score well. Playing a course as challenging and as lovely as this, it is best to enjoy the beauty and not worry about scoring. Leave the scoring for the next time because you’ll definitely want to come back.

One of the things I enjoy is when each of the holes is named, not just numbered. That is the case at Turtle Bay. You get a nice yardage book with your greens fee and it has the name of each hole. Number three is the very aptly named “ Pa Abamanu” or the “Strong Winds of Kabuku”. It is a par five with water on the left and a bunker in mid fairway and plenty of mounds to contend with.

The back nine meanders through a jungle and a forest of ironwood pines. The scenery here will take your breath away. We had plenty of time to take some photos and look for a wayward ball or two. Many of the hole names on the back reflect the Aloha Spirit of Hawaii. “To Make Peace, To Have Patience” and “Healing Land” are a few that tell you that being here should be more that just a day of golf. If you spend any time on the Islands you are made aware that life and nature and spirit are very important to the native Hawaiian people.

Turtle Bay calls hole number seventeen the “signature” hole. It is a truly wonderful hole, but they need to change the name. It is called “To Forgive”, but it is anything but forgiving. Seventeen has a rolling fairway filled with mounds and fairway bunkers that cut across the fairway and back again to front the raised green. It is a pure target golf hole with the most spectacular view as you approach the green. A mere foot from the green is the beach and a postcard view of the Pacific. This is the scene you’ll remember forever, and isn’t that what this is all about. You pay these high green fees to play a course that the Big Boys play and hope to come away with a memorable experience. You get it here on the Palmer Course at Turtle Bay.

Overall, Turtle Bay is a wonderful facility. The Pro shop is expansive and the people are the extremely friendly and considerate. The range was the only area that was not up to the caliber of the rest of the resort. For me though, it is all about the golf and the experience. Turtle Bay’s Palmer Course was well worth it and rewarded me with a great day of golf filled with the Spirit of Aloha. I can’t wait to go back.

Staff Writer: Jeff Skinner

In the heart of New York States’ Hudson Valley, sits Garrison Golf Club. On a ridge overlooking the Hudson River, this Dick Wilson design has plenty of ups and downs, and a view of the Hudson River that may make it difficult to keep your mind on your game. Rolling hills and streams make this wooded property a real gem of a course. Garrison has many fine holes that offer a challenge to all levels of player.

Garrison opened in 1961 and prominent course architect Dick Wilson followed the lay of the land in forming this routing. Wilson designed many famous and popular courses. His work includes The Championship Course at Arnold Palmers’ Bay Hill Resort, The Blue Monster at Doral and La Costa in Carlsbad California. While most of Wilsons’ courses are in the South, he had no problem adapting to the landscape of New York. The natural contours of the hills and the winding streams that meander through the land combine to give you the feeling that you are here as Nature’s guest. There is no intrusion by the course upon its surroundings and it flows down and around and up along brooks and ponds and fieldstone walls. Nothing seems unnatural or forced and all the holes float along the land melding into a fine trip through the Hudson Hills. Wilson surely let the natural surroundings set the direction of these holes. Garrison’s management has taken a proactive role in maintaining a cleaner and safer golf course through its certification by the Audubon International program.

The village of Garrison played an interesting role in our Revolutionary War. Near this spot on the Hudson, Continental troops spread a huge chain across the river to prevent the British ships from advancing up the river. The surrounding area is now home to many well to do families that commute in to New York City via the Metro North Railroad or by car since it is just a little more than an hour into the city.

A traditional par 72 with two par 3’s and 2 par 5’s per nine and 6497 yards from the blue tees a good score will require plenty of shot making, a deft greenside touch and a couple of boomers off certain tees. The greens are meticulously maintained and roll very true. But be warned, that beautiful terrain you have been traipsing over means there are plenty of contours on the greens.

The First hole has you teeing off from a very elevated tee, with a very nice view, to a fairway that doglegs right. Enjoy this green it is probably the flattest one you’ll see all day. The next hole is so visually intimidating you may need to take a breath while you tee it up. Again you are teeing from a raised tee through a chute of trees down onto a sloped fairway guarded by trees left and right. After playing this hole a few times you will realize that this tee shot is really not that difficult. All you need to do is to drive it straight! The green here is not visually intimidating. It is just plain difficult. It is severely sloped from right to left with only a small flat portion at the back left. If you are fortunate enough to be on in regulation, two putts for par is still a challenge. It is these sloped, quick greens that keep par a well guarded reward for all players.

After a few twists and turns you’ll find the par four sixth. The number one handicap hole plays 389 yards from the whites (404 blues). It is a sharp left dogleg from a secluded tee that needs a right to left shot and a roll down a sloped fairway which rarely yields a level lie. From here you understand why this is ranked as the hardest hole. Now, you’ll need to hit a shot into a wide but shallow green off a sidehill, downhill lie over the lovely brook that fronts the green. Par here is treasured. The next hole, a lush, picturesque par five will give you a shot at birdie and a chance to appreciate the splendor of this strikingly beautiful hole. With a healthy drive you’ll be tempted to go for the green. Beware of that lovely brook that protects the right fairway and fronts the green. The stream bank seems to take joy in kicking short shots into the water.

On the next hole you start the climb back up from those delightful hills you have been roaming around. The eighth hole a long, uphill par three plays much longer then the 194 yard listed on the card. The green here is severely sloped in front and only less so in the back. If you are past the hole here, good luck. A three putt is definitely a possibility.

As a reward for surviving the front nine, Garrison’s tenth tee presents you with “the view”. Take a minute to revel in one of the best views of the Hudson you’ll ever find. Across the river to the west sits West Point, the United States Military Academy. West Point has educated presidents and generals that led and shaped this country. Grant, Lee, Custer, MacArthur, Eisenhower, Patton and Schwarzkopf are a few of the famous alumni. West Point’s Michie Stadium, which looks back at the Garrison hills, has been called the Best Place to watch college football in America. The spectacular show continues with a look to the north. You get a wide look up the Hudson River as it winds up through the hills of this scenic valley. This is how it looked to Henry Hudson when he explored this region hundreds of years ago. It is this dramatic panorama that draws thousands of visitors to the valley and keeps the locals thrilled to see it each day.

Once you realize that golf is the reason you came here, you’ll have to focus and tee off the par 5 tenth to a sloped but wide fairway. Here again the contours of the hills translates onto the green. A very deep but very sloped green awaits your approach. There are plenty of breaks on all putts on this green. The eleventh is the longest par four and needs a solid drive down the middle. The fairway drops off steeply to the left and slightly less on the right. The approach to the green is a distracting shot because of that wonderful view that forms the backdrop of the hole.

Over the next few holes the course flattens out and protects par with its doglegs, well placed bunkers and of course those sloping greens. This is the fun part of the layout. You’ll be able to attack some holes from a level lie but still have to be sharp to avoid the greenside bunkers. The par 3 fourteenth can play from 140 to 220 yards over a small lake that protects the entire front as well as the right side of the green. There is no safe area to the left and an old stone church that sits behind the green and roadway makes this tee shot quite intimidating. A par here is quite exhilarating.

The tee ball off of Garrison’s last needs a little extra pop and a bit of a draw if a par is expected on this par five. Sitting to the right of the fairway is an old stone well. It is a scene like this that makes this course so picturesque and a pleasure to play. The green is well guarded by four bunkers that sit next to this narrow but long green. Once you are on the green take sometime to check your line. While this green appears flatter then the rest, there are subtle breaks that each of the bunkers seem to influence.

A day spent on the course at Garrison Golf Club will give a player an exciting round that will most likely result in many fine and fun memories. This natural flowing layout has a feel to it that will stimulate the inner golfer in all of us. The grounds are wonderfully kept, the setting is magnificent, the course is challenging and the views are certainly worth the price of admission.

Garrison Golf Club
Route 9 at Snake Hill Rd.
Garrison, New York 10524
(845) 424-4747
www.thegarrison.com