If your idea of golf is two guys whispering about a bunch of duffers in really lame
clothes for five hours, you’re not alone. To be honest, watching hair grow can be more
compelling than televised golf. But, for a couple of dollars you and your friends can have
a really good time hacking your way around a public course. For some real fun try
imagining your student loan officer’s head as the ball. There’s no law requiring you to
wear garish colors and unnatural fibers, but it might enhance the experience.
Size Matters: Oversized clubs are making a big impression on the golf scene this
year. Most companies offer enlarged club faces on both their irons and woods, in some
cases to comedic proportions. The bigger clubs, like oversized tennis rackets and
aluminum baseball bats, have a much larger sweet spot, providing a more forgiving shot
maker. The oversized golfer has less of a chance to miss-hit a shot and therefore less of a
chance of ending up in the adjacent fairway. To compensate for the bulked up club head,
shafts have been slightly elongated, in effect creating a longer swing. But, if you think
miraculously you’ll be able to out-drive John Daly with you’re new clubs, you’re
mistaken. The big clubs do not, as one might believe, add much power to a swing. They
do, however, improve the accuracy and the consistency of all your shots.
Culture Club: Every golfaholic shares one cultural totem: the movie Caddyshack.
The 1980 film is more a collection of individual comedic performances than a coherent
narrative. Chevy Chase is amusing for a change as the laid-back clubmember Ty Webb;
Rodney Dangerfield makes you forget Ladybugs as the obnoxious Al Czervik; and the
late Ted Knight gets all red in the face — a precursor to his role on Too Close for
Comfort — as Judge Smails. But it’s Bill Murray who gives the virtuoso performance as
Carl the groundskeeper. Carl’s mutterings (“18th hole at Augusta,” “Cinderella story”)
are forever ingrained in the minds of anyone who has ever swung a six iron.
Place to Putt: Bermuda boasts the most golf per square mile in the world with eight
championship golf courses crammed on the tiny Atlantic island. The best golf bargains
are at two of Bermuda’s government-owned courses — Ocean View and St. George’s. A
round of 18 at Ocean View is only $25 and an incredible $12 after 3:45 in the afternoon.
While the game is the same, the British influence is evident in what people wear to the
tee. Sansabelts give way to Bermuda shorts and knee-high socks. For more information
call the Bermuda Department of Tourism at (800) 223-6106.
Profile: Tiger Woods, the current U.S. National Amateur champion, is no stranger to
all this publicity he’s getting these days. As a two-year-old he was putting with Bob Hope
on the CBS Network News, and at five he was hanging out with John Davidson and the
gang on That’s Incredible. When he was three, while his peers were eating dirt, he was
shooting a 48 on a nine-hole course. Since then he has perfected his chops on the USGA
junior circuit winning an endless number of tournaments and accolades. Today, Tiger’s a
19-year-old sophomore at Stanford who after finishing his round at this year’s Masters,
hopped on a plane back to Palo Alto so as not to miss any more classes. As the amateur
champ he is invited to PGA events, but don’t look for him to turn pro any time soon, at
least not until he finishes school.
Golfing Greener: Golf itself is not the most environmentally friendly sport. While
swinging a club doesn’t do much damage outside of the occasional divot, a lot of grass
and trees are grazed in the construction of courses to make way for shorter grass and
different trees to be planted. However, golf’s moving toward greener pastures; many
courses have wildlife preserves and several landfills are being converted into courses.
Here’s what you can do to keep those courses green and clean:
· Buy tees made out of recycled or biodegradable materials instead of wooden ones.
· Carry your own bags, use a pull-cart or hire a caddie. This way you avoid using a
golf cart that expends electrical energy and pollutes the air.
· Recycle your balls. Decent used balls sell for as little as 50 cents.
