Hey folks,

Thanks for visiting GolfUncensored.com and for your continued support of the site.  While blogging the past two years has been a fantastic experience, I’ve decided to take a little break from it in 2012 to go work on my game a bit (which is admittedly more than a little rusty).

Check back later in the year as I plan to pick it back up.  In the meantime, best of luck with reaching all of your golfing goals in 2012.

Fairways & Greens,

Matt

Poppy Hills, CA: Playing Golf Alone... with the Birdies & Birdies

There I was, sitting on the hotel bed, having just completed an extraordinarily fulfilling 18 holes of golf at Spyglass Hill, faced with an option that many of us have faced at one point in our golfing history: do I want to play golf tomorrow if it means playing by myself?

After posing this question, I quickly realized that I haven’t been confronted with this scenario in quite a number of years. I always seem to have golfing buds to play with, whether it’s a nice Saturday round with my roommate, an early morning weekday round with a few friends or one of our twice-a-year golf trips with our group. Finding someone who is willing to tee it up with my typically hasn’t been an issue.

But I found myself over 300 miles from home in arguably one of the most beautiful golfing areas in the country (if not the world) grappling with this question. I was coming off a poor scoring round (87) but had hit enough good shots to pique my interest and had already begun anticipating my next round.

After bandaging my toe (the walk at Spyglass kicked my butt), I jumped onto GolfNow.com and found an early-morning tee time (60% off!) at Poppy Hills, a course of which I have heard great things but never played.

The red “Purchase Tee Time” button was practically jumping off of the web page, and I had to make a decision. As I began the pros & cons list in my head, my hand – in a move almost disjointed from my brain – clicked the purchase button.

‘Thank you for your purchase. Your round is non-refundable.’

Well, I guess I’m playing golf tomorrow!

I was dropped off at the course around 6am while it was still dark outside and the club was just opening. A couple of die-hards were already practice putting in the dark, and I headed inside to see if the kitchen was open. A super-sweet woman named Sandy invited me to a table and handed me a menu. She poured me the best coffee I had experienced all week and took my order.

As I was enjoying my bagel & lox, I was already beginning to slip into a relaxed mindset. As I took another sip of coffee, my travel companion called in a panic, not able to find parking at the nearby Concours. This only further solidified my decision to spend the day alone on the golf course instead of amongst 40,000 at the car show.

After a nice little practice session on their range by myself, I headed to starter. To my surprise, the nice starter told me that I could go off by myself. At 7:00am I striped my first tee ball down the center of the fairway and was on my way.

The next three hours included some of the most enjoyable moments that I’ve experienced in a long time. I was alone, my surroundings were quiet and I only had myself on which to focus. Heck, I could even play a second ball on some shots for practice.

A few groups who went off really early before me were kind enough to let me play through. I noticed this about golfers: typically they are very nice to fellow golfers who are playing alone.

On hole #15 I met a semi-retired gentleman working on the course. We had a really nice conversation, the kind of conversation that was genuine and not rushed. He told me about his recent hole-in-one that only he “and God” witnessed, and I then proceeded to hit my 215-yard 5-wood to 20 feet (and later make the birdie putt).

I finished the round in under 3 hours and shot an impressive (for me) 79 from the tips. I had such an enjoyable experience that I decided to replay another 18 (for a great price of $40).

This round I was paired with a really friendly retired veterinarian also from L.A. While the experience was completely different than playing alone, I had a lot of fun and followed up with a 2nd 79 for the day.

On the way home I was thinking about the day, thinking about how much I loved playing golf by myself. It took me back to junior high school when I played countless hours by myself as a junior golfer at the local country club. I had forgotten just how much I enjoyed the experience of playing golf by myself.

I just returned from a 4-day trip to Monterey Bay, California. What was originally planned as a vacation to attend the 2011 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance with a little golf thrown in turned into a legitimate golf vacation with a quick drive-by to check out the Concours.

And I have to say it was a near-perfect vacation.

The Town, The Inn & The Cars

On Thursday morning, I hopped in the car with Tom from ConcoursBlog.com en route to Carmel-by-the-Sea where we stayed at The Colonial Terrace Inn, a neat little bed & breakfast located less than a mile from Ocean Ave., the main business district street of Carmel. Like most inns in Carmel, the Colonial Terrace was quaint, homey, a little dated but people-friendly. The beds were very comfortable which for me is the most important aspect of an inn and probably the best feature of this one. The staff was quite friendly, happily offering me bandages (for a golfing toe injury) and wine glasses (for some vino to soothe my golfing toe injury).

The town of Carmel is extremely quiet, hands-down the most quiet town I’ve ever visited (and a far cry from the traffic-laden streets of Los Angeles). Walking down the street you can hear the ocean waves from pretty much any street, regardless of whether it’s night or during the day. The town was ‘bustling’ which for Carmel standards meant one couple quietly walking down every block; however, on Ocean Ave. which is near all of the businesses, many people were out in force to soak up the fine automobile glory that is the Concours week. You see, once a year this town of about 14,000 people gets infiltrated with car-goers during Monterey Auto Week. Car aficionados rev up their babies and take to the street to show off and congregate for their collective automotive passion.

While I’m far from a car aficionado, I did at least appreciate the passion with which these car owners treat their fine automobiles. And the cars were quite attractive as well. Thankfully my travel companion Tom has an almost encyclopedic knowledge of cars, so I could ask him my favorite question: “how much is this car worth?”

And the top car for auction this year was auctioned off for $16.39 million. That’s million. Seriously.

The Dining

We ate out every meal, and the restaurants ranged from okay to fantastic. On the fantastic end of the spectrum and our favorite restaurant was an Italian restaurant called Il Fornaio. While most Carmel restaurants are very small and dated, Il Fornaio was not only spacious but had a contemporary flair. The restaurant was filled with people which gave it a great energy, and the food was fantastic, especially the pasta dishes which seemed to be completely homemade. As an added bonus, we were randomly selected to be Il Fiornio’s “Table of Honor” for the night. One table is selected for this honor and given VIP treatment, including complimentary bottled water, a tasting of appetizers and dessert. Needless to say this solidified our choice of Il Fornaio as our favorite restaurant in Carmel.

Our most frequented restaurant was The Gallery Cafe at Pebble Beach. As their website says, they are “a favorite with early risers” of which we took full advantage by arriving daily prior to their 6am opening to ready for a day of golf. Their coffee is fantastic, and the vegetable frittata was the perfect protein-packed pre-golf breakfast.

The Golf

Pebble Beach Resorts has five golf courses: Pebble Beach, Spyglass Hill, The Links at Spanish Bay, Del Monte and Peter Hay. Pebble Beach is obviously the most famous, followed by Spyglass as a close second. The fact that I’ve been watching both of these courses on TV for years as part of the PGA Tour AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am was the true foundation for my excitement to play golf in Monterey. Because they were aerating Pebble’s greens during this week (and because the 18th fairway was closed due to the Concours), I opted to play Spyglass and Spanish Bay, their #2 and #3 courses, respectively (promising myself that I would finally check out Pebble next year).

Day 1 included 18 holes at The Links at Spanish Bay which is a links-style course where accuracy is essential. Many of the holes either border the ocean or offer an ocean view, and it has the feel of a wind-swept old-school Scottish course (although luckily for us the wind decided to keep calm during our round). Be sure to bring plenty of balls as every hole has waste areas that literally swallow balls for breakfast, lunch and dinner. If you’re lucky enough to find the ball, hitting out of the waste area is prohibited. Fine with us. We’d prefer to drop in the fairway anyway. Overall, while Spanish Bay probably wasn’t quite worth the $295 total cost, it was very enjoyable and a perfect round to begin the week.

Day 2 included 18 holes at Spyglass Hill. I got paired with 3 other golfers who were in the semiconductor business, one of whom even had a home on the course. They were great guys which added to the enjoyment of the round. After a long warm-up on the range, I teed off in really cool and really moist conditions, and after almost birdying the first hole, I immediately fell in love with the course. It is exactly what you would expect. The first 5 holes are insanely picturesque and all have ocean views. Beginning with hole 6, the course heads inland and offers a completely different tree-lined experience. Spyglass is a true test of golf for the serious golfer. There’s not much more to say other than it was one of the most beautiful golf courses I’ve ever experienced, and I will go back. No doubt.

My golfing for the week was planned to be over, but the little devil (or angel?) on my shoulder kept telling me to play a third day. So I did what any respectable golfer would do: I jumped onto GolfNow.com and booked 36 holes at nearby Poppy Hills.

I didn’t know much about Poppy Hills except by name and that it had previously been one of the courses in rotation for the PGA Tour tournament. The experience of the club is definitely more laid back than at Pebble Beach, but as soon as I walked in I was instantly impressed with their entire club – the clubhouse, the service, the food, the operation. After a great breakfast served to me by the very nice Sandy (who treated me like her son), I teed off by myself and played one of the more enjoyable rounds that I can remember. The course is nothing short of fantastic. The greens are big, the condition was lush and the course is very playable. This unassuming but fantastic course will definitely make my “must-play” list during my next trip back to Monterey.

The Conclusion

Driving back to L.A. I was reflecting on the past four days, beginning to plan my trip back next year. While by no means inexpensive (especially during Concours week), a long weekend trip to Monterey is a must-make trip, especially if you’re a golfer. Experiencing 17-mile drive and the beautiful seaside landscape is one that I wish everyone to have. It’s almost impossible not to be present when experiencing the ocean water hitting the rocks. The only thing better, really, is to make a birdie while experiencing the ocean water hitting the rocks (which happened to me, I swear).

As a Director of Marketing, I’ve had the opportunity to be part of the process for TV spot production, and I can say that I don’t think I’ve ever seen a commercial so strange, so uncomfortable, so weird. It got me thinking… what was the agency who created this spot thinking?! Do they typically put out such low-quality spots? Did they really think it was worthy of airing? Or did they intend to make the commercial this bad so that people like me would talk about it?

So what is it that makes this spot so bizarre?  Let’s break it down.

The terrible script – When lines like “Charlie, what’s up with those big grips you got there” and “If you beat me with these big grips, I’ll wear a dress the next time we play” are delivered with the smoothness of a 3rd grader, then you know the spot is cable-bad.

The low production quality – It’s what you get when you take ‘actors,’ gather them at the local muni, grab a video cam, point and shoot. I especially love how the logos on the hats made it through to the final spot.

The horrible editing – The long pause at the 0:10 second mark keeps us on the edge of our seats, and the three guys turning their heads at the 0:19 second mark is priceless.

The forced chuckle – What good cable-only spot would be complete without the forced emotion such as this heartfelt chuckle at the 0:16 mark?!

The awkward actor – The reaction on Charlie’s face whenever he stripes a shot? You can’t buy that look.

The inappropriate joke – And, of course, the entire premise of the spot is a literal knock-off of the tired, banal “you play like a girl” joke that can be heard at golf courses around the country. Haven’t we heard this joke (in person) a million times? And oh isn’t a joke rooted in male chauvenism just utterly hilarious!

The verdict? My guess is that this kitschy, home-spun approach was intentional so that it would get our attention and we would tell our buddies about it. After all, recall is one of the key metrics to determine the effectiveness of an ad, and let me tell you this is one ad that I will not forget.

Now that we’ve all seen it, I’m going to go watch Golf Central where I’m sure to hear about JumboMax more than a few times.

Why? Because sometimes you just need to chuckle.

The best part of his warm-up routine is not the knee circles or the wrist stretches or even the cigar. The best part is the expression on his face. You get the sense that Miguel doesn’t care one tiny bit what other people think about him.

It really is a beautiful thing.

[Video Source: YouTube]

The British Open

The (British) Open used to be my least favorite major to watch.

There, I said it. May The Golfing Gods, Shivas Irons and Sam Snead’s ghost all come down to strike me over the head with 1-irons and revoke my golfing privileges for the rest of my life.

But I bet I’m not alone here. I know some of you agree with me. The lack of sun, high winds, horizontal rain and tricked up golf courses make for an over-hyped golf spectacle that leaves us scratching our heads, wondering how much luck really is supposed to determine a golf tournament (not to mention quietly glad that we’re on our comfy couch instead of over there in the rain).

However, something changed for me this year. Something shifted in my view of the British Open.

The shift happened during Sunday’s final round. The first page of the leaderboard was filled with guys who all wanted to win badly, guys to whom a win would mean so much. To Mickelson, winning would be one more notch on his way to a career grand slam. To DJ, winning would be retribution for recent majors gone bad. To Fowler, winning would justify the hype and jump-start his career. And to Clarke, well, winning would mean everything.

And in the end the trophy went to the guy to whom it would mean everything.

In what other tournament can pros nearing the twilight of their careers rise to the top? What other tournament negates any distance advantages and instead puts a premium on shot-making, patience and course management? The Open isn’t about hitting it straight like in the U.S. Open or having a hot putter like the Masters. It’s about leveraging skills that a tour pro accumulates over the course of a career, skills that he still has but that most venues say aren’t as worthy as long balls and hot putters.

Recent Open resurgences included Watson and Norman, guys who most of us would have written off. But that’s what makes The Open exciting. The idea that a 42, 50 or even 61 year old could win a major championship is what distances golf from other sports and what adds a dimension to The Open that makes it more special than the other majors.

Watching great golf is fun. Watching great golf in a major championship is more fun. But watching great golf in a major championship when there is a dimension of emotion and human significance is what we as golfers look forward to most.

So I turn off The Golf Channel’s post-round coverage, a little sad about The (British) Open being over, and for the first time in my golfing life, excited about The Open next year.

You know who they are. They are the golfers who notice everything, who hear every noise, notice every slight movement, and constantly get upset when the shot isn’t executed up to his standards.

In an early round of the Ballantine’s Championship last week, Lee Westwood was utterly pissed* (*upset, not drunk). Not once, not twice and more than three times he scowled at photographers and the crowd for interfering with a shot. It got me thinking about this rarely talked about aspect of pro golf. What’s up with all the negativity?

One phenomenon about pissin’ & moanin’ is that it comes in waves. It rarely happens just once. A golfer will have several moments throughout a round where a poor shot will be the result of any and every possible factor outside of oneself. It’s as if every other golfer playing at the same time on the same day has a different set of circumstances under which they are playing. It’s almost as if the gallery, the media and mother nature have collectively decided to descend upon this one player on this fateful day and ruin their every move.

The other convenient phenomenon about pissin’ & moanin’ is that it completely relinquishes any and all responsibility from the golfer himself. Push-sliced a drive 30 yards into the trees? It must have been that cameraman taking the shot in the middle of your backswing. Missed that 2-foot putt? It must have been that invisible spike mark that only you – with your deft perception and hawk-like vision – can see. How convenient, Mr. Pro Golfer, because it obviously can’t be you with your mad skills and overflowing talent that would result in poor execution. Never!

So who are the biggest culprits – those guys who time after time frown, scowl, sigh and blame?

Lee Westwood at last week’s tournament comes to mind. Did you see how many times in an early round he immediately stared someone down after executing a poor shot? How convenient that this completely disappeared in subsequent rounds. The photographers and crowds must have received a memo: “You were all mean to Mr. Westwood yesterday, so please keep quiet during his shots.” They must have listened because Mr. Westwood went on to win the tournament.

Sergio Garcia also comes to mind. What we can appreciate about Sergio’s pissin’ & moanin’ is that there is a solid layer of disgust as its foundation. Now granted the U.S. crowds (especially those New Yorkers) gave it back to him, only serving to fuel the flames and create a dreaded pissin’ & moanin’ vortex that is very difficult to break. The only thing he could have done to break it is to take a big sabbatical and try another sport (and I think we can all agree that this approach has been working out swimmingly for Mr. Garcia).

Tiger Woods is an interesting golfer to assess. He would definitely win the award for “Most Improved Pisser & Moaner.” The old (and great) Tiger was the epitome of positivity, regularly gracing us with that big white-toothed grin and fist pump that knock out any negativity and keep the sun shining. The new (and less-improved) Tiger, however, is a completely different story. It’s either all-or-nothing with him, and more often than not he pisses and moans his way to a top-20 finish. You all know the reaction: as soon as the ball leaves the club he yells “Tiger!”, bends over a little at the waist, tucks his head down and scowls as if he has just drank a gallon of spoiled milk.

But the ultimate pisser & moaner is none other than Mr. Craig Stadler. Granted he’s pretty much retired from the game, but nobody in the history of the sport would piss and moan his way around a golf course like Stadler. It was amazing how he could not get upset over just a mediocre shot, but how upset he could get after even a good shot. And when he hit a perfect shot tight to the pin? His expression was one of a slightly satisfied yet somewhat disgusted embarrassment.

As long as there are golfers playing the sport, there’s one thing for certain: pissin’ & moanin’ is here to stay. So here’s to wishing you all a healthy and much-needed dose of positivity.

[Photo Source: Flickr - Eugene Goh]

Bajamar Golf Resort: "Pebble Beach South of the Border"

My golfing buddies and I recently packed our clubs and headed down to Mexico for our annual Bajamar trip.  When one thinks about a Pacific Ocean golf resort with spectacular ocean vistas and challenging golf, Pebble Beach typically comes to mind. Not many people would think of Bajamar.

This self-proclaimed “Pebble Beach south of the border” is a surprising little gem of a golf resort located in the Baja area of Mexico. If you like ocean golf (and let’s face it, who doesn’t), then this place is for you.

Bajamar features three 9-hole courses – Oceano, Visa and Lagos – each with its own unique character. Oceano is clearly the star of the three and includes five ocean-bordering holes that grabbed our attention every time we drove up to them.

Because of proximity to the ocean, the wind played a factor in shotmaking which is what gives the course some teeth, but the course is also very playable for most golfers (note: bring enough golf balls). The grounds crew keep the resort in quite good condition which was a nice surprise given we were some of the only golfers at the resort.

The staff at Bajamar were extremely friendly and thankful that we came to visit. The food at the golf course was quite good, and the staff even drove the food out to us on the course. Having warm breakfast burritos with homemade tortillas delivered to us after putting out on the first hole was a really nice touch, especially given our 7am tee time and 36-hole day.

We rented a 6-bedroom casa overlooking the course and the Pacific Ocean in the gated Bajamar community. The house was fantastic, well-priced, and waking up to a view of the Pacific Ocean through the window never got tiring.

For dinner we headed to nearby La Fonda, an authentic Mexican hotel and restaurant with fantastic food and a really fun atmosphere. This is a must-experience restaurant and boasts some of the best lobster I’ve ever experienced.

Driving across the border from California can be a bit of an adventure, but its not enough to deter us from taking this annual trip to our beloved Bajamar. Just don’t forget your Passport as you will need it to get back into the United States.

Bajamar website: www.bajamar.com
LaFonda website: www.lafondabaja.com

Tiger Woods

Last week, Tiger Woods did the media rounds to promote EA Sports new video game, and we got more of what we’ve come to expect out of Tiger – guarded, inauthentic minutes of nothingness.  It was painful to watch.

Let’s face it, this video game can practically sell itself given it’s association with Augusta National (being the first video game to feature the esteemed Augusta course). But Tiger did what any good mega-star athlete would do, and he graced the media with his big-toothed grin so that more media outlets will cover the game and more people will buy it.

Except that big-toothed grin by which we’ve been enamored for the past 15 years is nowhere near as shiny as it used to be.

His so-called Morning Drive appearance consisted of nothing more than Tiger sitting alone in his own enclosed room talking with Erik and Gary about the video game. Why couldn’t they have set up the game in the studio so that it’s not so disconnected from the hosts? The separation was bizarre.

Then Tiger goes on Jimmy Fallon’s show, and we got more of the constrained demeanor. If it wasn’t for Fallon’s joke about thanking Tiger for all of the great material over the past year, the interview would have been a major snooze-fest.

When I was down at Torrey Pines in January, it was amazing to see just how disproportionate Tiger’s fan base still is. It seemed as if over 80% of the fans at the entire event were following Tiger. Like swarms of bees, we continue to be fascinated with him, his game and his life.

But what we’re really fascinated with has disintegrated to nothing more than a symbol. We really aren’t fascinated with Tiger the person; we’re fascinated with what Tiger symbolizes. The achievements, the rise, the epic fall and the question mark cloud surrounding his game.

As a person, Tiger is more boring than ever. He says nothing that’s unexpected, nothing remotely authentic, nothing insightful.

Tiger’s quotes are fed to him and regurgitated in a robotic way. Quotes like “It’s tough being a single father” are meant solely to appeal to the general public and get them to like Tiger the person again. By making Tiger’s struggles more common and relatable to the every-man, we are supposed to re-connect with him again.

Sorry, but I’m not buying it – not when Tiger goes on Fallon and talks about his ridiculous mega-mansion and force smiles his way through an interview.

Nobody wants Tiger’s game to return more than me. I want him to be dominant again, to rule the game of golf to the extent that he did for so many years. But Tiger the person is a different story. Until he completely transforms his being, stops spoon-feeding meaningless quotes to the media and starts being more authentic, I will continue to happily separate Tiger the golfer from Tiger the person.

And I have a hunch that I’m not the only one who will do so.

9. Norman Doesn’t Believe that Tiger Can Break It – Cites age as one of the reasons.  You know, ’cause 35 is sooo old.

8. Kaymer on Top, Replaces Westwood – And everybody in the golf world collectively sighs as if to say “finally.”

7. Driver Head Theft – Do you think the club manufacturers expected this when they designed the adjustable heads? It’s all very screwy if you ask me.

6. John Daly Sues Honda Classic – for “injury” while trying to stop his backswing when a spectator used a camera. John, you’re an idiot.

5. Trevino on Woods: “Get rid of all these people” – Is Trevino referring to the demons inside of Woods’ head? If so, how does one go about getting rid of these?

4. Golf Channel & NBC – The two join forces to make golf more engaging.  Judging by their recent special with the expert analysts, they’re off to quite the good start. Bring it!

3. Real Housewives of the PGA Tour – Seriously?!?!

2. Westwood Would Rather Be #1 Than Win A Major – And I’d rather help an elderly person across the street than win the Mega Million lottery.

1. Legendary Broadcaster Frank Chirkinian Passes Away – In four words or less: rest in peace.