Frugal Fairways 1.0

Do you suppose that since Tiger Woods has declared slow play to be a problem, players will no longer dawdle over putts and agonize when they’re between clubs? No. J.B. Holmes (notoriously slow player, afflicted with a serious case of the twitches) is right. They are playing for a great deal of money, and they’ll take all the time they want. Fine. None of us are playing for that kind of money. There’s just no reason that a round of golf should take more than four hours. If you can’t play in under four hours when you’re not being held up, you have a problem. Here’s how to fix it:

Don’t stand on ceremony. Don’t worry about who has the honor; don’t worry about who’s away. If you’re ready, hit the ball.

Be at your ball, or be moving to your ball. This is especially true when riding. Don’t sit there and watch your cart-partner hit his shot. Unless you would be putting yourself in danger by moving to your ball, drop your buddy at his ball, let him grab a club, then head over to your ball. The fact that most recreational golfers do not do this is the reason that walking is no slower than riding when playing. When you walk, you tend to head straight to your ball.

If you do not have the cart sitting next to your ball, take several clubs. When you know the cart will not be near you, always take three clubs — the club you think you need, one more and one less. You don’t want to hit the wrong club if the wind kicks up, but you don’t want to walk to the cart either.

If you’re up near the green, take a few clubs and walk up. Especially if you are short of the green, or on the side of the green that’s opposite the cart path. You can be playing your chip/pitch while your buddy is parking the cart.

Line up your putt while the others are putting. Unless you’re farthest away from the hole, there’s no reason anyone should be waiting on you to line your putt up. Go ahead and stalk it from all four sides like Tiger does, but do your stalking while your pals are putting (like Tiger does).

Be sure to apply come common courtesy and some common sense when following these guidelines. Don’t move while someone else is hitting. You only have to stop for a second. And don’t put yourself in harm’s way when moving to your ball. If your ball is directly in your cart-partner’s line of play, pull off to the side while he hits, then get moving as soon as he makes contact.

Lee Trevino said “miss ‘em quick.” Please, for the rest of us.

As soon as NBC’s announcers made mention of the fact that Tiger Woods had yet to drop a putt of over 20 feet at Bay Hill, you knew it was good. If it were my Saturday morning game, we’d have given it to him. I’ve never seen a hex work in reverse like that one did. And good on Tiger.

I worry about the state of the tour when Tiger wins in a walk (like the Accenture), but Sunday at Bay Hill was great theater. A solid 67 by Bart Bryant forced Tiger to show that, once again, he’s just a little bit better than everyone else out there on tour. I’m also impressed with O’Hair coming back from those two early bogeys to make a decent showing, although he was never really a factor in the event.

So now the questions start. Can Tiger win 11 in a row? Can Tiger win all four majors this year? Can Tiger win every event he plays in 2008? As long as the rest of the field can keep things interesting, I’ll be sure to stay tuned.

If I were you, I’d start worrying now. I realize it’s early in the season, but we’re seeing a serious shortage of closers on the US side in 2008. Let’s look at the results so far:

Mercedes Championship - Steve Stricker fails to close, Daniel Chopra wins.

Bob Hope - Justin Leonard loses a four shot lead and gets lapped by D.J. Trahan. I’m not taking anything away from Trahan here (-7 in the last round isn’t exactly backing into a win), but Justin Leonard is a guy who has come up big in Ryder Cups before. I can only hope Trahan stays hot and plays himself onto the team.

Buick Invitational - Tiger Woods wins, as he should.

FBR Open - J.B. Holmes beats a rusty Phil Mickelson in a playoff. Had J.B. not washed one coming down the stretch, there wouldn’t have even been a playoff.

AT&T Pebble Beach - I love to see the pluggers win, but having Steve Lowery on the team doesn’t make me think we’re a lock.

Northern Trust Open - You never know which Phil Mickelson will show up.  Let’s hope he keeps this up.

Mayakoba - Brian Gay. Somewhat Steve Loweryesque.

Accenture Match Play - TW wins a few close ones, then boat races Stewart Cink. I’d feel better about J.B. Holmes if he’d taken care of Tiger. Cink claims he’s learned from the experience.

Honda Classic - A rock in the trap sinks Calc.

PODS - Makes me wonder what Cink learned from the Accenture. How to seal the deal? Don’t think so. Again, not to take anything away from Sean O’Hair, but Cink gift-wrapped this one for O’Hair.

Will Zinger make good on his idea of picking a hot Nationwide or Champions Tour player? At this rate, he may have to.

So why do this? Let’s face it, golf is expensive enough these days; there’s no point in paying more than you absolutely need to. But most courses run a deal once in a while, don’t they? What we’re aiming for here is sharing the knowledge of deals. If you know about a great offer, post it. If you’re looking for a place to play, search away.

And if you have something to say, let us know.