Jay’s Plays! – NFL Picks Super Bowl edition
Well, we stand at 27-20-2 in teasers on the year, 76-22-2 overall.
It’s been a good year. Thanks go (mostly) to the Ravens, Steelers, and 49ers. They performed the best for me week-in and week-out. Had good runs with the Jets (till they ran out of gas), the Panthers (who kept getting lots of points, yet kept games close), and betting against the Lions and Browns.
THE SUPERBOWL TEASE
Giants +9 vs. Patriots
Giants-Patriots UNDER 61.5
The Giants are peaking at the right time. The Pats will run out of luck. Big Blue wins a laugher.
The Walla to Walla Tour – a Cybergolf Diary (Part 1)
Day 1 – The Road to Chambers Bay
Warm clothes? Check. Laptop? Check. Clubs? That’s a big check! And we were off to Seattle for the Walla to Walla Tour – golf in Washington state during the first week of January. The weather report called for highs between 45 and 25 degrees, with lows in the teens, but no snow, thankfully. So I added four layers of fleece purchased from the country’s truly great fleece clothier, Goody’s of Vermont, and braced for the cold. As the song goes, “Now and again these things just go to be done.” After all, the USGA was making changes to Chambers Bay in preparation for the 2015 Open and architect Robert Trent Jones, Jr. would be there with various USGA and Pierce County executives. I could also knock off two other courses on my list for my book, so this was a rare opportunity to get in a trip during what are ordinarily the doldrums of the golfing calendar, at least to a Northeasterner. I wasn’t going to miss this.
1:30 p.m. EST, Jet Blue, JFK Terminal, NYC
It was the worst middle seat of my life. In fact, it was the first middle seat of my life, and I drew a short straw like you hear about in Seinfeld sketches. The fat woman from India on my right reeked of B.O. and pungent spices. She pulled out a take-out box of Indian food, and immediately half the plane stank of curry and cumin.
Those of you that know me, also know that while I have a broad palate, I loathe Indian food: green mush, red mush, or yellow mush, and coarsely chopped mystery meat segments. No, thank you. As Vonnegut once wrote, never eat cuisine from a country that not yet had its day in the Sun both historically and culturally. That’s similar to the time my ex-girlfriend Britt made me try Ethiopian food. I took two bites of a dish made with something called “Magma Hot Tectonic Sauce” and set my whole body on fire. It sat in my stomach like a warm brick for three days; I didn’t feel like eating at all during that time. That’s a sure cure for famine in and of itself…but I digress.
The guy in the seat on my left wore far too much of a particularly sickly-sweet cologne. He smelled of freshly cut grass and limes. I hope he keeps away from open flames and beehives. He coughed all over me.
“Do you have a cold?” I asked him as he blew his nose, then hocked a loogey into a Kleenex.
“No, the flu,” he responded. Directly behind me the baby screamed in my ear, a piercing wail. I had six hours of this, and dinner was not served on the flight.
6 p.m. PST, Seattle
But the good Lord smiled on me. I survived the flight without getting sick, and after a particularly good experience with the attendants at Enterprise Rental agency (Free upgrade! Cheaper rate! Great service! We like people who like us!), I arrived at the home of Jeff Shelley, my editor-in-chief at Cybergolf and my dear friend. Arriving at his house after such a long, tiring journey felt like watching a golden sunset. He and his wife Anni, a wonderfully kind person who brings the Sun with her wherever she goes, welcomed me warmly.
“Great to see you, Jay,” Jeff beamed. “You must be famished.”
I was. Food, glorious food was exactly what I needed to wash away a long day of travel dust.
“Let’s go get some Indian food!” he said excitedly.
The irony was not lost on me. The Devil smiles at everybody all the time, all a man can do is smile back. So I laughed. How about Thai instead? And after a native-hot Thai beef salad and some Thai iced tea, I felt myself again. Well enough for four days of waking in darkness, choc-a-bloc interviews, long hours driving, and of painting all you readers a picture…one good word at a time. As one of my friends puts it, there’s a wild cry calling from the highway, like the sound of a ragtime radio. Keeping one eye on the rearview, the other on the road, welcome to the travelin’ show.
Day 2 – Chambers Bay
7:15 a.m. Puget Sound
The 5 a.m. wake-up call and hour drive were hell, but the sunrise was glorious. I’m as myopic as Mr. Magoo when driving at night. Want to take your life in your hands? Put me behind the wheel in darkness: Car-mageddon! The Garmin wasn’t useful at all, trying to take me around Robin Hood’s barn just to get to a place directly in front of me, and then falling off the dashboard into my lap time and again, so I used my handwritten directions instead. But my perseverance was rewarded. As I pulled into the parking lot the sky was slowly turning from a rich velvety purple to a royal blue, the course itself seemingly emerging from the Cimmerian fog of sleep to greet the new day as joyously as the golfers.
And there they were before me: eighteen precious jewels, each prim as a cameo, yet as cunningly and carefully designed as the many intricate facets of the gemstone. Yes, everything you’ve heard about Chambers Bay is true, and more so. It richly deserves the U.S. Open, and it will be a brilliant and memorable host for 2015 and (hopefully) many more to come.
Much of the thanks go to the single-minded dedication and tireless passion of former county executive John Ladenburg. When I write a more full analysis of the course, we’ll meet him in more detail. But John Ladenberg summed up his strategy for getting the USGA to pick Chambers Bay as the venue in one concise statement.
“Everything we did here, we did with one question in mind: Does this get us closer to or further away from getting a U.S. Open?”
And with that singular focus, the Pacific Northwest got its first National Championship in 120 years of American golf history.
Chambers Bay is built on the remains of and old sand and gravel quarry. Millions of cubic yards of sand were just waiting to be turned into perfect terrain for golf. Here were two of the most critical things you need to design one of the greatest golf courses in the world: sand for great drainage and easy shaping, and an ocean for views. No less a personage than Mike Davis Executive Director and Tournament Coordinator for the USGA said exactly the same thing.
Davis was actually at Chambers Bay this day, along with Bob Jones, Jr., much of the Chambers Bay staff, some Kemper Sports reps, and various county executives and departmental officials. A group of about 20 would tour the course and discuss changes to the course, particularly holes 1, 7, 13, and 18. I would play my round with Brian Simpson, one of the course’s assistant pros, and our two groups would meet up periodically during the round and compare notes.
Strictly as an aside, is there a better sports management group than Kemper? Possibly not. When you’ve got folks like Eric Christiansen, Simon Landon, Meg Godfrey running things not only do you get letter perfect arrangements, but a writer gets real information, useful and accurate, not warm over baboon dung half-baked by some chump who couldn’t write his name in the snow. Suzy Abrams Jones is another excellent pro over at Forgate C.C. and Tall Grass, but that’s a story for another day.
Though 1.4 million cubic yards of earth were moved and shaped to create the golf course, the site looks eminently natural. Robert Trent Jones, Jr. did a masterful job here; it is, arguably, his greatest masterpiece to date. I had the chance to ask Jones about the course after the round:
RTJ: Chambers Bay is a place where many true believers in golf and in golf course architecture came together and built a marvelous golf course, but also gave a gift to the Pacific Northwest…. It was a team effort to execute. It was like a symphony – everyone had their instrument to play, they hit all the high notes with both precision and passion, and together it created great links music….
It’s a big, vast, open golf course, with no water holes and no trees as hazards, with strongly contoured greens. The ribbon tees add flexibility in length and can be set up to accommodate wind or other weather factors. It’s a course for all seasons and it should play firm and fast.
JF: Why haven’t we seen a design like this from you before?
RTJ: It’s hard for owners to overcome their predispositions. Some people like what they’ve seen before and, as you said, they are afraid of change because that vision gets in their heads. Some designers take risks and they might not get the best reception, but you have to take risks. You can be different and still be dull, but you can also be different and unforgettable. If you’re going to be a leader, you have to take positions that are bold. Some people might like some of the holes or say they are unfair, but they have undeniable character.
Happily, Ladenburg and the rest of the Chambers Bay executives were more broad-minded than most, and welcomed all the undeniable and indelible character Jones infused into his golf holes. The routing winds in many directions, it’s not just two simple loops of nine. Winding and twisting within itself, it is as intricately conceived a routing as mighty Oakland Hills’s South Course, site of nine major golf championships. That’s rarified air. The tees, fairways and greens are all one entity – I have never seen any golf course in the world where the tie-ins between these features and are smoothly and flawlessly executed as at Chambers Bay.
The weather gave us a little bit of everything, all in the span of half a day. It stayed cold from sun-up to sun-down, but with the exception of one 40-minute squall that blew in when we were on 15 green, it was golfing weather, albeit in four layers of fleece and wick-away shirts.
Although every hole is great, and trying to pick “bests” or “favorites” is like giving a starving man a menu – you just want to look at it and say “okay” – to me, the best holes are 1, 4, 7, 12, 16, and 18.
I love false fronts and sides on greens, and the one at the first hole is one of the most severe in golf. Combined with a thumbprint in the green, on the left side which can actually help funnel balls of the green, poorly played shots can result in a 40-50 yards walk of shame for the hapless golfer. Again, from my interview:
RTJ: I like to open with Beethoven.
JF: What do you mean by that?
RTJ: Right away, you’re in for real music. You’ll be carried away on a strong, powerful, and moving journey complete with harmonies and percussion. You will ride the course you will not be coddled.
JF: Do you do that with all your courses?
RTJ: No, but I do that on the ones that are great properties that lend themselves to that, like the Prince course at Princeville.
The U.S.G.A. asked us to refine the entrance to the first green. I’m alert when I’m pushing the shot values, taking them to the edge, but then occasionally, you have to edit and refine like you and I do with poetry. The entrance to the first green was radical before the changes, and the green repelled the ball sharply left.
JF: I thought I saw a thumbprint in the left side of the green.
RTJ: Yes, there is a there a catcher’s mitt that would draw balls that were slightly mishit and send them almost all the way to the 18th tee. We want to give people options where to land the ball and yet have a seamless flow onto green. You still have to pick your spot where to land it on the approach, but you’re not going to get a random bounce any more.
The fourth is a short but severely uphill par-5 that wraps around a deep scrub-filled bunker, a waste area you must avoid at all costs because the lies in these areas are not the easy flat, simple lies you get in the waste areas you’ll see in Myrtle Beach. This is broken and uneven ground. If you get in there, there will be a penalty of a half-shot, possibly more. The fairway is rumpled and undulating, but also has steppes, flat areas you can play safely to tack your way up the hill to a tiny green perched on the edge of the hill.
The par-4 fifth cascades back down the hill. Feeling my oats after smartly playing my way up the fourth by hitting all those flat areas and scraping a par with a 1-putt, I came to the fifth tee with an audience of about 25, including Davis and Jones and every visiting dignitary.
Although I’ve known Jones for five years now and been to tournament with him, written about many of his courses, written poetry with the man and even worked with him as a lawyer, I had never hit a golf ball in front of him until then. So I didn’t need to hear the conversation that was certainly taking place.
“Well! Let’s see if Jay can play! No pressure!
So in front of everyone, I promptly hit a goofy slice into a bunker…the bunker on the adjacent fourth fairway.
“Hmm…” began one irreverent wag. “I guess that bunker is in play on this hole too.”
Hardy-har-har.
I tee up another ball without looking behind me and hit a good one, cleanly down the left side of the fairway, with a little draw. Not position A, but solid.
“Boy, the guy who plays after me sure is good,” I quipped. The tee box broke up in laughter. Oh well, if you can’t laugh at yourself, you can’t laugh at anybody.
The rest of the day was a joy. I got in the right fairway bunker on seven and almost never got back out, but didn’t fall victim to the false front which will drive the pros insane when they face it.
RTJ: Seven is a Cape hole off the tee. You have to have choose your line carefully in order to place the tee shot just over the Cape bunker, but not too far left. You want to be like Geoff Oglivy, a thoughtful player with control off the tee. He would love this hole and this course. Than you play over hummocks, which I call the Alps.
JF: I do too, and it place to a green that has a bowl-ish features.
RTJ: Exactly. I also call the two mounds the “Olympic Mountains.” The green is elevated green 50 feet above you, and if you play too far left off the tee, you get semi-blind shot. Play just over the bunker and you get a better view and angle to the elevated green.
I got my first par of the year at the scenic drop shot ninth, and first birdie of the year at the par-5 13th. In between, I was delighted to see the best green on the course at the short, but narrow and uphill par-4 12th.
Finally, we came to 18. I dropped a ball in Mike Davis’s new bunker, dubbed “Chambers Basement.” About 80 yards short of the green and 12 feet deep, with steep walls on all sides, it reminded me of a larger, deeper version of Travis’s coffin at the 18th at Garden City. I had heard only one person had ever reached the green from this bunker since it had been added. I took my 9-iron, determined to try to reach the green. My sand game is one of my strengths; I even made a sandie from Pete Dye’s fearsome San Andreas bunker at PGA West (Stadium Course), and had I been further left, where the face doesn’t cramp the airspace of the shot, I might have been even more successful. As it turned out, I got it out, though it hit the face in front of me, yet bounded about 40 yards down the fairway. But this time, I delighted my audience, instead of being comic relief. My pitch landed tight to the pin, checked and settled one foot to the pin. Finish with a flourish indeed.
This may be Jones’s greatest course to date, and though he’s in his 70s, he’s feeling his oats like a 30-year old. Word on the street is that the design he submitted for the Rio Olympics is another links-like masterpiece, with ribbon tees, wide double fairways, and great green and fairway undulations.
In the case of Chambers Bay, it clearly has more character and originality than the Straits Course at Whistling Straits (where Dye did an excellent job, yet wanted the nines to have a similar feel so pro golfers playing in majors who started on one side weren’t at a disadvantage than players starting on the other), is stronger than Arcadia Bluffs, and is proper rejoinder to Pacific Dunes, just easier to get to and more places to stay and things to do once you’re into town. There’s even talk of gigantic cruise liners camped off shore where patrons can stay. Imagine that: taking a cruise to a golf major championship! How’s that for a cool idea. But that’s your USGA under Mike Davis.
The rest of the afternoon was wondrous. Chatting with Bruce Charlton, the invaluable second-in-commend at RTJ2 Designs, and Mike Davis, who graciously sat for the first half of a long interview for my book, lots of spirited discussion with everyone for ideas to make the balls that roll back to the base of the Alps at seven not end up in divots, and general good feelings that only golf can bring: new friends to meet, old friends to greet, and that warm glow that only golf can bring.
I left as the sun set behind the Pacific. I wrote up my notes over sushi and sake, and got back to Jeff’s in time to unwind for an hour with him and Anni, and with Waldo the cat (a dead ringer for Morris from the cat food commercials) and Stella the Irish setter. In bed by 10; it’s another 5 a.m. wake-up call tomorrow, for another full day. It was a good start, but I was still a long way from home.
Next up: Gold Mountain with architect John Harbottle and Wine Valley
Jaime Diaz Wins 2012 PGA Lifetime Achievement Award in Journalism
Golf Digest senior writer Jaime Diaz has been named the recipient of the 2012 PGA Lifetime Achievement Award in Journalism. The San Francisco native, 58, will be honored April 4 at the 40th Golf Writers Association of America Annual Spring Dinner and Awards ceremony at Savannah Rapids Pavilion in Augusta, Ga.
For more on this story, visit Cybergolf’s coverage here.
We love Jaime here at AWITP. First we made him laugh when we grilled Fred Couples like a swordfish at the 2006 U.S. Open.
“This should be interesting,” he chuckled to Tim Rosaforte. “Jay’s gonna chat up Boom-boom. Let’s see what happens:)” What happened was hilarious:)
Then I made him spit up soda through his nose at the U.S. Open last year. He sat down on my right at a table in the lunch room, and then we were joined by five British golf writers. Well all of a sudden, they start grinning, saying how much I made them laugh with something I wrote about Tiger.
Let’s just say…it was colorful.
That did it! Jaime’s eyebrows hit the ceiling and he turned beet-red holding in his laughter.
One thing about the PGA of America: they know how to pick a super human being as well as a great writer. Just look at this list of past winners. Looks like a Hall of Fame group to me…
PGA Lifetime Achievement Award in Journalism Recipients
1991 Dick Taylor
1992 Herbert Warren Wind
1993 Jim Murray
1994 Frank Chirkinian/Bob Green
1995 Dan Jenkins
1996 Furman Bisher
1997 Jack Whitaker
1998 Dave Anderson
1999 Ken Venturi
2000 Jim McKay
2001 Kaye Kessler
2002 Nick Seitz
2003 Renton Laidlaw
2004 Bob Verdi
2005 Al Barkow
2006 Ron Green Sr.
2007 Jack Berry
2008 Marino Parascenzo
2009 Art Spander
2010 Dave Kindred
2011 Jerry Tarde
2012 Jaime Diaz
So congratulations, Jaime. You richly deserve it. The only thing that surpasses your talent as a writer…is what a flat-out great guy you are.
Enjoy your night at Augusta. You richly deserve it.
Texas Plus Scotland Equals Kelly Blake Moran
CENTER-LINE HAZARDS ARE THE ORDER OF THE DAY AT LEDERACH
Can you tell golf course architect Kelly Blake Moran is a Texan? He may not wear a ten gallon hat, but boy is he proud of the Lone Star State. Call him Amarillo Slim in a windshirt.
“And I’ll tell you another thing!” he roars disapprovingly. “Those Oklahoma teams that won those national championships a few years ago? I’ll give you one guess where half their roster is from.”
He doesn’t wait for an answer. “Texas, that’s where! If I had my way, those players that crossed the border would lose their citizenship and never be allowed back!” Funny thing about it is most of Texas is laughing and saying, “He’s right, you know.”
Moran is so proud of his Texas heritage, he even wore a jacket, tie and cowboy boots to dinner at fabled Muirfield in Scotland, while on a trip to see the great courses of the U.K.
Happily, Moran’s sense of humor and reverence for great design strategies is spilling over into his work and the results are commanding the attention and respect of the golf world. Half an hour north of Philly, his rough and tumble Lederach Golf Club, (pronounced “Let her rock”), is the most affordable and most interesting daily fee course in the region, possibly even in the entire Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Much of the course’s success in drawing players on a national, not regional basis is due to importing design concepts from St. Andrews, Royal Dornoch, Muirfield and many other great U.K. Courses.
“Not a day goes by when I don’t try to use something I learned at St. Andrews” he recalls fondly. “That is why I am going through the exercise of analyzing some of the green features at TOC on my website: http://kellyblakemoran.com/TOC%20Blog.html. There is so much to learn from that course that can be applied to my design approach and I am trying to get the most out of it through my experiences there.”
JF: How did you first get into golf?
KBM: The reason I got into golf was my parents belonged to a private club.
JF: Which one?
KBM: Odessa Country Club. That was back in the good old days when company execs got that as a perk. So I would go with my parents out on the course. I was eight when I started playing.
We had a special group of kids that played together, and we had a lot of success playing in high school, where we won state championship for Permian H.S. You know the movie Friday night lights? That’s really Permian! We were there at that time the when it was the most successful H.S. program in the country for a lot of years. We even had a lighted practice field.
JF: How good a player were you?
KBM: I was a 2 back then…not on the greatest course in the world, but we were good golfers. One year we won the championship and then senior year we came in fourth in the state.
Now I played football as well. So as a ninth grader, before I went to Permian, at the end of that season, my coach called me into the office and even though he wanted me to play football at Permian, I said I wanted to play golf. The coach asked me what I was shooting, and so I told him I was shooting 76-77. He said, “Son, that’s not good enough to play golf at Permian. You should play football,” but I knew he just wanted to send a warm body to Permian to play football, (or be a blocking dummy, however you wanna look at it). I knew he was B.S.-ing me because he wanted to look good to the Permian coach, so told him I wanted to play golf for Permian anyway.
JF: What position were you in football?
KBM: I was what they called a “split guard” or a pulling guard.
JF: But you’re thin as a rail? How were you a lineman?
KBM: I was the fastest guy in the school as a kid – I could play some cornerback too – but I got slower as I got older, so they had nowhere to put me. I still remember I weighed 130 lbs in 9th grade and I once had to go against a 200 lb. kid! The coaches rode me all week saying I’d get annihilated that game.
JF: What happened?
KBM: I kicked his ass. They ran the ball behind me all night, we beat ‘em 37-0, maybe 38-0. I didn’t even know the kid, but the coach had me hating him. He was just a big marshmallow. They said he was all tough? He wasn’t so tough!
JF: What made you decide to become a golf course architect and what did you do to follow that career path?
KBM: I started at UT architecture school. I made the freshman golf team there, but tired of competitive golf and never went back to play competitively. I went through six rounds of qualifying and I made the team, but I decided to move on. But during college, I really missed golf and wanted to get back – not to play, but to design. I realized someone had to be designing these courses, and I was already in architecture school, so I applied that interest in golf design to architecture and that’s where I got the idea to do it.
So I did some research and found out landscape architecture was a better degree to do that and UT didn’t have one, so I had to transfer to Texas A&M.
JF: And you didn’t get your butt kicked for doing that?
KBM: Oh, I did! I did! I’m almost certain they disallowed some of my credits because I was coming from Texas! It was such bull! I had to take summer school at Odessa College. They made me take English and History that summer and I’m sure it was punishment for not going to A&M in the first place.
JF: is that why your first sports loyalty is still the Longhorns?
KBM: Yeah, it is. (And Jay, I love your new Longhorns golf bag by the way…)
Actually my first loyalty was Texas Tech, that’s where all my family went. I had lots of family that live near Lubbock, and I saw a lot of games in Jones Stadium. I hated Texas back then, and I remember screaming at Earl Campbell. But my senior year I got invited to Austin by a friend, and it blew me away. Austin was the most incredible town I’d ever seen.
JAY'S NEW BAG HAS KELLY YELLING "HOOK 'EM!"
JF: So what happened after A&M?
KBM: I had heard of von Hagge in college and saw a golf course he did called Crown Colony in Lufkin, Texas, really nice course. So I contacted von Hagge to do an interview for a class project and Bob was kind enough to allow me to come into the office and interview him, mostly over lunch. (He was eating salad when I came in. I still have the cassette tapes form the interview, but I have nothing to play ‘em in.)
So as the school year went on I pursued him for a job and eventually they hired me as a draftsman and told me that there were no openings for designers. They strictly needed draftsmen – turning the sketches into formal routing plans for presentations. Well they got very busy so six months later I had my own project to work on.
JF: Where was that?
KBM: The Cliffs in a place called Possum Kingdom Lake. Then I became a partner and was there for 11 years, from 1984-1995. Then my wife and I decided to move to the northeast, near her family.
JF: What did he teach you about designing good golf holes?
KBM: Well that really came from Scotland. One of the other reasons I moved away to PA was also a desire on my part to not be a corporate entity, but a true designer, someone who interacts more with the construction and creation of what you design. In the corporate world there was separation there. I wanted to be out in the field more, creating what it was I wanted to design.
JF: When did you go to the U.K. to study the great courses and what courses in the U.K. did you visit?
KBM: I went in 2004 and again in 2007. The first time I saw the Old Course, Cruden Bay, Nairn, Royal Dornoch, and Brora. The second time I went, I went to the Old Course, Muirfield, and North Berwick. These trips gave me the confidence to be a little more bold and daring in certain features on and around the greens and to be bolder in the placement and the construction of the bunkers.
For example, the bunkers at Lederach are a little more rustic. They are steep faced and the faces are grass: not manicured, but a little more “rough.” There are different types of grasses too, and they are not meant to be perfect. I wanted them to feel like Scotland.
I also want the ground game. I delight in seeing guys play those shots. I also want players to have lots of options around the greens. I keep the fronts open and allow the entrances to create interest in those shots, lots of different shots around the greens.
THE CANTED FWY OF LEDERACH NO. 1
JF: What courses did you study here in America?
KBM: The ones that most impress me the most are National Golf Links of America, Yale, (Yale was a very bold property that had impressive greens), and then more recently, Yeamans Hall in South Carolina, and Country Club of Charleston.
JF: Did you play Mike Strantz’s Bulls Bay while you were down there?
KBM: No, but I did play Tobacco Road! I loved it through the greens. The greens were a mix, some bold, some a little more conventional as compared to everything before you got to the greens, but it was a joy to play.
JF: Who are some of your favorite architects and why?
KBM: I appreciate Macdonald because of what he did at National Golf Links. I appreciate Seth Raynor and his ability to manufacture those green sites and how he infused boldness around the greens with deep bunkering and great shaping in the putting surfaces. George Thomas wrote a great book – he has some real gold in “Golf architecture in America” regarding the Golden Age of Architecture and strategy in golf design, and great holes. I haven’t played a lot of his courses, only a few, but the book is very instructive.
JF: Other than your own designs, what are your favorite public courses to play in the U.S.?
KBM: I haven’t played too many when I’ve traveled, but in my area there are a lot, like Berkleigh C.C. in Kutztown, PA. Then for me, I’d say Reading Country Club.
JF: What public courses should my readers play to learn about great golf design and also have a great golf vacation?
KBM: You probably can’t get a better sampling than Bandon Dunes Resort. I don’t know how you to that other than Pinehurst. But you know what? Having grown up on not great architecture, I still had an appreciation for the game. People need to look for the courses in their area and find the special features there. That’s one way for them to improve their eye for architecture. It’s hard to teach that. I find it because it’s my job. Look for things that are unique and have character. Then go to St. Andrews – not just for the golf but for the town.
Your readers should not just try to cherry pick great courses, but also visit great places like New York City (Bethpage), and Chicago and its great public courses, and San Francisco. These places are where you get a flavor for the golf and the life of the region. For example, Sharp Park in San Francisco should be preserved not only for great architecture, but its history and environment. Travelling to play lots of great courses in great towns is more enriching than cherry picking the top 100 courses. Golf should be more about playing the game and meeting people and having enriching life experiences rather than racking up a number of great courses.
JF: Walk us through how you found the routing for Lederach.
KBM: I walked the land over and over. I spent four days in a row out there just walking.
It was a residential community, so I stressed to the owner that I needed to make the first run at the master plan. A land planner could try it, but he’d screw it up. They can’t lay out a workable golf course. I looked for the interesting features in the lower parts of property that I could capture, knowing that I had to have homes with good views of the golf holes. If there were no homes the course would be different. I had to find the areas best suited for the environment…there was no getting around it.
So I was walking the course, and there are lots of little creek areas that drain naturally well, so I incorporated them into the routing.
JF: What elements of courses from across the pond will we find at Lederach?
KBM: What you’ll find is wide openings into greens with broken terrain – terrain that moves, like swales and ridges, the blind bunker, and other bunkers that strategically make a lot of sense, but they aren’t constructed in an artificial way, but they fit into that position.
JF: There is a lot of center-line design as well.
KBM: Yes, there is, and that creates a lot of interest, character, and strategy.
JF: Tell us about “Large Marge,” your blind bunker on the third hole of Lederach.
KBM: I like that name! Good one, Jay! Yeah, Large Marge adds a lot of interest to the second shot on that par-5. It’s blind because you have to think. You have to make a bold play over or around it, or lay up. It’s blind because where it had to be positioned is where the hole goes over a ridge and into a swell. It’s shape required the face to be toward the green.
JF: Why were you brave and bold enough to try that?
KBM: It’s more that it makes the shot interesting. I wanted an interesting shot. Anyone can play a shot with no consequences. I wanted the player to think and then execute. I want people to play risk and reward golf. People remember that bunker after the round. You can also play the course 100 times and you’ll have a different shot on that hole with uncertainty when you get there, and that’s fun golf. That’s the beauty of the blindness, it raises doubt in your mind. So the bunker is in the best position for the slope and it has great strategy.
JF: What’s next for you?
KBM: Mexico. I’ve been doing reno work at a club in Central Mexico called Torreon. I’ve been working on the greens 7-10 days at a time.
It’s been a wild time. I almost got shot at during a soccer game we went to. They have a pro team in the town, and we went to a game and I guess there were some bad guys, some banditos coming through the area in vans, and they didn’t stop at a police road block set up at the game, so the cops opened fire. Well they were fully armed, and they came out of the van and returned fire with machine guns. We’re in the stadium when the machine gun fire breaks out, and though we were never in danger, the players ran off the field and we all ducked under our seats. We thought maybe they were trying to shoot their way in…we had no idea what the intention was.
That went on for five minutes, but eventually the gunfight ceased, they moved on, and we got ourselves together and walked out of the stadium. The minute the gunfire started the players left. It was scary. There were little kids frightened out of their minds. To have that happen was unfortunate.
JF: What is the strangest, zaniest thing you have ever had to deal with while trying to build a golf course?
KBM: Oh, that…
(Laughter)
JF: How about on a site?
KBM: Well again in Mexico at another course with a lot of water, they gathered all the crocodiles on the site in little canoes and roped them, and put them in the canoe one by one and transported them to a preserve a few miles away and – lo! and behold! – somehow all the crocs came back! So while I’m making site visits, I had to cross bridges and all they had installed were narrow pieces of metal to get over a 60 foot water way! So I’m on my hands and knees going across because I’m afraid I’m gonna fall and get eaten by crocs! I’m afraid of heights, and lemme tell you something – once you look down, you’re done!
JF: How can my readers tell the difference between a truly great golf course and a course that’s merely “pretty good?”
KBM: They need to pay careful attention to the green sites and the variety of pin placements and diversity of how to play approaches into the greens. That tells you a lot about whether you played a great course or just a decent course. Pay special attention to the green sites. So many courses are boiler plate, you don’t want that. You don’t want greens that are all the same. The greens and bunkers aren’t just dessert, they should be dinner as well, and evoke a response for you to play a good shot to make a good score. Eye candy isn’t enough.
JF: How much is too much for a public round of golf, and how do you know when you’ve over paid?
KBM: In my own view, normally I don’t feel comfortable paying more than $50-60. There is a lot of good golf out there for less money if you take the time to look for it. Berkleigh is a great example. I pay $30 for a really nice course with interesting greens. They even played an L.P.G.A. event there. I can also pay $75 for a country club for a day, but it better not be pedestrian with mundane greens and uninteresting bunkers. A fancy clubhouse with all those greeters and amenities? I don’t need it and it isn’t what I want.
JF: What is the first duty of a golf course architect?
KBM: To become as familiar with the land of your course as possible.
JF: You can take the pros to one of your public courses where they will play one hole for $100,000 of their own money. What hole do you make them play?
KBM: #18 at Lederach. Its short par-4, drivable, but it has water left, a green with pin positions that are really challenging, some may even say unfair, but challenging, and a center-line bunker. It has a safe route to the right. You can challenge the bunkers and gain a tremendous advantage, but if you are just slightly careless with your tee shot and it moves more left, you can end up in the pond. You have to be precise in order to go at the green. Or you can play conservatively, but have a more difficult approach into a green with significant slope and land forms in it.
JF: You just won the Masters. What do you serve for dinner?
KBM: Argentine Carne Asada BBQ. Not just Texas brisket for that occasion, but Argentinean beef.
Jay’s Plays – NFL Picks Conference Championship Edition
Congrats to the Giants who found another gear last night against the Pack. You know, the regular season Giants play to the level of heir competition, but they hit another level altogether in the playoffs. Do you know they’ve never lost a conference championship game? (4-0)
We went 1-1 last week in teasers, 3-1 overall, bringing the season totals to 25-20-2 in teasers, 72-22-2 overall. Here’s this week’s pick:
Ravens +13.5 at PATRIOTS
PATRIOTS-Ravens UNDER 56.5
Sorry, Pats, but now you will face a defense. Game, set, match, Baltimore.
If you feel squeamish about either of those, (I don’t) take the Jints +8.5.
Some of the Most Accurately Rated Courses in America
MIGHTY OAKMONT - A WONDER OF THE GOLF WORLD
On a Monday night in October 2006 Arizona Cardinals head coach Denny Green cemented his legacy in sports infamy with a tirade for the ages. His Cards had just blown a gargantuan lead to the Chicago Bears, and in his post-game press conference, he raved like a madman:
“The Bears are who we thought they were! They are who we thought they were!” he fumed in response to question after question. No Irish banshee wailed with more ferocity. Over and over again he raged.
“They are who we thought they were! You wanna crown ‘em, them crown ‘em! But they are…WHO WE THOUGHT THEY WERE!!”
Weeks later, Green was canned, and even the re-tread coaching carousel that brings back mediocre lugnuts like Norv Turner, Wade Phillips, and Cam Cameron time and again has shunned Green like a leper. But the tirade, however, has gone viral, spawning spoof after spoof. And it got me to thinking…
We always talk about what courses are overrated and underrated, but why have we never talked about the ones that are rated just where they should be? What courses are rated exactly right? What golf courses are…who we thought they were?! Let’s take a look. You wanna crown ‘em? Let’s crown ‘em!
Augusta National
It’s the first question everyone asks me: “Is Augusta National really all that great?” Yes, it is, absolutely. Wondrous golf course architecture, unmatched history worldwide, (excepting St. Andrews), and an apres golf that makes every day feel like Christmas, Augusta National richly deserves every golden laurel. It’s rated as one of the greatest courses in the World, and it lives up to its lofty reputation every day. Everyone loves Augusta. Everyone reveres Augusta. It’s the single most important golf course in America. It’s not under-rated. It’s not overrated. It’s exactly where it should be – the best, and we all know it.
Oakmont Country Club
Augusta National may be America’s most storied tournament venue, but Oakmont is my favorite. Wild, hurly-burly, canted greens, tilted fairways with side-hill lies, and a cloak and dagger claustrophobia due to rough in which you could lose Doctor Livingston, Private Ryan, Bigfoot, the Yeti, Amelia Earhart, Glenn Miller, the Roanoke colony and the crew of the Marie Celeste. It lives up to its reputation as America’s toughest tournament venue, but also as a century old masterpiece. Regarded as one of America’s most ancient golfing splendors, it’s as venerable as it is difficult. And nobody disputes that assertion.
“There’s no water at Oakmont and no real forced carries. It’s just a bastard of a course,” said quintessential Pittsburgh sports writer Marino Parascenzo. “[There's] no trees or ravines or waterfalls, but you stagger off the end and ask ‘What the hell just happened?’”
We all love Oakmonster, yet we all fear it. (Just like Led Zeppelin, but that’s an article for another day.) Everything you hear about Oakmont is absolutely true.
Bandon Dunes Resort
After decades at the top of the rankings lists of public courses, Pebble Beach was finally toppled from its lofty perch by the Bandon Dunes Resort. Now most magazines rate Tom Doak’s Pacific Dunes as the country’s best public course and they are probably right. Factor in the joyously fun Bandon Dunes course, the super-intelligent Old Macdonald, (basically National Golf Links West), and the cult favorite Bandon Trails, while Pebble Beach is left to wonder how Bandon raced past them like they were standing still. In a few short years, Bandon Dunes has taken the World by storm as the new, number one, must-play golf resort in America.
Caledonia Golf and Fish Club
11 AT CALEDONIA - (PHOTO BY CHUCK CORDOVA)
Ever since its opening in 1994 Caledonia has been ranked the number one public course in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, an area that now boasts over 100 public golf courses. Right out of the gate, it was heralded as the Gold Standard of the entire region, and it has held that position ever since without breaking a sweat. In fact, only two other courses are spoken of on the same holy whispers as Caledonia and one of those is the other Mike Strantz course in the area, True Blue, which is just across the road. (For those of you scoring at home, the other is RTJ, Sr.’s The Dunes Golf and Country Club.) Stately and refined in an area regarded as the reddest of golf’s red-light districts Caledonia is the snifter of fine cognac in a margarita town.
As an aside, there is a general rule for Myrtle Beach golf: never play a course that has an animal in its name, and that includes John Daly’s Wicked Stick.
Tobacco Road
Since we’re discussing Mike Strantz, we would be remiss to leave out what is arguably his most famous course. A few short years ago, Tobacco Road was voted “The Most Adventurous Course in America” and the pundits may be right. Even the savviest, most well travelled golfers are impressed with his creativity and courage in crafting a design that was so bold. Massive sandy dunes, bathtub greens, and a wild Pine Valley-meets-Ireland look and feel make most golfers say exactly the same thing:
“I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Sand Hills Golf Club
Remember those holy whispers I was just talking about? Well they become the Neptunian roil of a Gregorian chant when Sand Hills is brought up. Golf Magazine hailed Sand Hills as the greatest course built in the last 50 years and at the time that article was written, they were likely right. The Coore and Crenshaw design has become the finest trend-setter in golf, and now Ballyneal, Dismal River, The Prairie Club, and Awarii Dunes have opened as well, bringing even more pilgrims to the loneliest yet, most mind-expanding location in American golf – the sand belt which was formed tens of thousands of years ago when the middle of America was the bottom of the ocean floor.
It’s perfect terrain for golf: wild and unspoiled, remote and idyllic, stretching for hundreds of miles. The golf course itself is sublime, an inland St. Andrews. The course is regarded as the most important achievement in golf course architecture in decades, and golfers come from all over the world to recline on Ben’s Porch, and then go home feeling as though they have been to the Promised Land. The cultural importance of Sand Hills to golf cannot be understated. Since everyone loves and reveres Sand Hills, it is properly rated.
Cog Hill (Dubsdread)
Some courses are accurately rated because they are “truly great.” Others are accurately rated because they are “merely pretty good.” That’s Cog Hill: hitherto shalt thou come, but no further.
New York City’s great public course got a U.S. Open, (Bethpage Black), California’s great public course got a U.S. Open, (Torrey Pines), and Seattle’s great public course got a U.S. Open, (Chambers Bay). Now Chicago wants one, needs one, has to have one! Cog Hill can’t get a PGA Championship because Medinah and the PGA of America are now going steady like ’50s lovers. So they threw gobs of liquid cash into No. 4, hired Rees Jones, (“The Open Doctor”), to toughen it up, and approached the U.S.G.A. with a lot of Kumbayas about the Jemsek family – kind hearted philanthropists and Chicago city fathers to be sure – in the hopes that they could draw the U.S. Open…
…and then Erin Hills got the bid for 2017.
Dubsdread is just not that great a golf course. It’s not pretty at all. It’s not strategic at all. It’s not on sandy soil. It’s a long mundane slog that has only one thing going for it: It’s a lot harder than it was before. But if the 1990s and 2000s are showing golf anything, it’s that harder is not better. And Dubsdread’s design underlines all the design mistakes of the 1970s and ’80s, the Doldrums of Golf Design in American golf history: cookie-cutter greenside bunkering, bracketing bunkers in the fairway, boring penal architecture, lather, rinse repeat. For the last two years, the Tour players have hated Cog Hill. I choose that word with precision: hated. Phil Mickelson, normally the friendliest quote in the field, lam basted the course two years in a row and phlegmatic Tour nice guy Steve Stricker gave a once-in-a-lifetime negative assessment.
“A great golf course is a golf course that’s challenging for the good player but playable for the average player, and I feel like this is the exact opposite,” Mickelson said. “It’s playable. It’s fine for us…but the average guy just can’t play it.”
“It’s too bad. They need to get their money back,” added Stricker.
It’s one thing when Pat Perez or Robert Allenby cries like Nancy Kerrigan. It’s another entirely when Mickelson and Stricker complain. They know golf design.
Dubsdread is beloved in Chicago and rightfully so. (So are the Jemseks for that matter!) So the course is accurately rated for Chicago. But also, Dubsdread just can’t help but tread water well below truly great courses in the rankings lists…and there’s good reason for that. It’s accurately rated by the rest of the country as well.
Medinah No. 3
Speaking of Chicago, we have a similar scenario that developed at Medinah. At some point in the last few years, Golf Magazine, Golf Digest, and Golfweek have all come out and called Medinah the most overrated course in America (or really close to it). So forgive me for going all Chuck Klosterman here, but because everyone now recognizes Medinah as overrated, it is now, actually, accurately rated! (Even if it is only accurately rated by accident: this happens occasionally, the same thing is true of Tony Romo.)
Medinah gets to host Chicago’s major championships by default: it’s the only place in town large enough to hold 55,000 people, all the corporate tents, all the TV wires and equipment, and all the media, hooplah, and sundries. It’s not so tough any more, (Tiger ripped it apart twice, before he nuked his own legacy and made the label “Tiger won here” mean a lot less than it should). Other winners include Hale Irwin and Lou Graham, who are as exciting as dry-wall and spackling. The course has had more facelifts than Liz Taylor. It treads water in the same hinterlands of the rankings like Cog Hill, and if you think about it, this is perfectly logical: Medinah’s lukewarm historical significance is sensible.
Atunyote at Turning Stone Casino
BLARNEY STONE AND BOWZER - TWO LOUD MOUTHS LONG PAST THEIR SELL-BY DATE
What a crap-o-rama! More like Blarney Stone Casino. After debuting on top 100 lists and over-paying to buy their way onto the PGA Tour Fall Series, (i.e. the kid’s table), this overpriced, over-hyped, under-designed chump trap fell down the rankings like its parachute didn’t open and hit the ground with a thud that resounded all the way from Utica, New York to Ponte Vedra, Florida. When overweening ambition meets maniacal arrogance and greed fueled by gambling proceeds you get a simoniacal heresiarch of a golf course telling everyone stupid enough to listen that, “We are the Augusta of the North,” that they are better than “Kiawah Island, Pinehurst, Valhalla, Whistling Straits, Doral, and La Quinta. Nice Company,” and, “We’re angling to host a major and on that day Tiger Woods will sink a putt at Atunyote and I hope you are there to see it!”
I’m checking back with you now. How did that turn out?
Now they are remembered for telling everyone how great they are, for the Oneida Indian leader and facility over-seer Ray Halbritter trying to give himself a sponsor’s exemption to their second-rate tournament, and for getting themselves thrown off the schedule with two years to go in their contract when they tried to order the Tour to give them a better date in the schedule. After that, it was tough for anyone to take them seriously anymore. The stench of dysfunction by excess was overwhelming.
And there the course sits, a multimillion dollar boondoggle that charges $300 per round in a blue collar area of good hearted people who deserve better – a footnote in golf, and a noxious, noisy one at that. But really, they’re great! Just ask them! They may invite you to go see Sha Na Na play there on February 3rd. You might even get to meet Bowzer! That is if someone turns off the dork alarm long enough for people to hear the performance.
[The Author tips his hat to Chuck Klosterman and his "The Ten Most Accurately Rated Bands in History" article as the impetus for this piece.]
It’s the New York Post vs. Trump in Ferry Point Imbroglio
While I finish writing up all the notes from my trip to the Pacific Northwest, the New York Post takes Mayor Bloomberg and Donald Trump to task over the boondoggle that is Ferry Point golf course. what was supposed to be a high quality, yet affordable public golf course has turned into a jack Nicklaus signature design (read: mess), that will essentially be a taxpayer-funded Trump playground priced four beyond the means of most NYC public golfers.
From the article:
““We are paying [$184 million for] the project. Trump is getting a gift from a fellow billionaire, the mayor,” said Geoffrey Croft, of watchdog group NYC Park Advocates. “It’s unheard of that you don’t pay any money for four years.”
By year five, Trump will have to pay only 7 percent of the gross receipts, or a minimum of $300,000. And by year 16, he pays just 10 percent, or $420,000, to the city.
The city’s Franchise and Concession Review Committee is set to approve the deal today.
It will cost $125 to play a round of golf on a weekend day at the Ferry Point course, compared with $36 at other city courses.”
As usual, when it comes to the terrible mess that is public golf in NYC, the Parks Department is the problem.
Jay’s Plays! NFL Divisional Playoffs
Boy I love being right all the time. The Steelers hit the chamber with the bullet in it in Denver and the Giants clipped the Falcons’ feathers. Our season totals are now 24-19-2 in teasers and 69-21-2 over all.
We’ll get back to golf soon, but for now, here are this week’s picks:
HOTTER THAN AN IRON SKILLET
No we don’t mean the terrible restaurant chain, we mean games you can’t lose!
PACKERS -2 vs. Giants
RAVENS -1.5 vs, Texans
The run ends for both of these mediocre division champs. The Ravens may even find themselves in Indianapolis with a chance to do what the Steelers could not do last year…beat the Packers.
***Tat is the only pick I recommend playing this week. what follows is an UNRECOMMENDED pick for degenerates***
UNDER ARMOUR!
PATRIOTS-Broncos UNDER 56.5
RAVENS-Texans UNDER 44
Chambers Bay Rocks, Gold Mountain (Olympic) Terrific Value
CHAMBERS'S BASEMENT
So I’m 2/3 done with my NW trip to open the year. Great fun so far. I’ll more post pics when I get time, but for now I’ll get the ball rolling.
Chambers Bay was really wonderful. I really like Whistling Straits, I love Arcadia Bluffs, I really love Pac Dunes, but Chambers may be my fave of that crop. Fave holes included 1, 4, 7, 10, 11, 12, 17, and 18. Yes, I like the new bunker on 18. It’s murder. I went in and played a shot with a 9-iron. I got it out, but it hit the sidewall and only advanced 40-50 yards. I got that down in two though. There is no question in my mind it’s a stroke penalty if you get in it, but most shouldn’t get in it, because there is plenty of room around it.
They have dubbed it “Chambers Basement.” I like the name. Bob Jones cracked me up, because when I got out he asked, “how did you like your trip to China?” ;D
I like it, and I like it more that they are putting one more like it (only less severe) at 14 so it becomes a recurring theme to silence the criticism that “it doesn’t fit with the rest of the course.”
Gold Mountain was a great time. I played with John Harbottle and he really loves Macdonald/Raynor/Banks architecture. What a great value – $24 today. That’s amazing. You can play all day on a weekend now for $30. The highest rate in high season is $60.
It’s only his 3rd course chronologically, so he was sort of cutting his teeth back then, yet there are some cool things like a Redanish look on 12 and lions mouth with Eden features (his words) on 16. I also like 17. I think the best stretched are the The tee shots seemed a little repetitive, but one can’t complain about the value! It’s a great price for courses that have hosted USGA Championships.
NUMBER 9...NUMBER 9...NUMBER 9...
Memo From the Sports Desk: Enterprise 35 Avis 0!
So I’m working on my Chambers Bay write-up, but I have to heap loads of praise on those that help me get the job done…and that means Daniela (pronounced Dan-ee-YELL-uh), Lanae (pronounced Luh-NAY) and the good folks at the Seattle-Tacoma airport Enterprise rental agency.
We love professionalism and problem solving here at AWITP, and they were cheerful, thorough, smart, and fast. That’s how to run a rental agency…not like the predatory leeches at Avis Rental in New Hartford, New York, which is run by a violent, dick-headed grungepunk who couldn’t write his name in the snow, James McFetridge.
Enterprise gave me a great car at a solid rate. They helped me get unlimited miles when there was a screw up on the on-line application, and they cheerfully acknowledged when the car was only 3/4 full instead of dicking me over like Avis and McFetridge, who not only utterly failed in their obligations to me, but overcharged be $40, then yelled like a spoiled child.
So you can go to a place devoted to fair customer service like that run by Daniela – a blithe, bubbly blond, who’ll graciously help you with any issue that comes up, or you can go to a surly chump who’ll get in your face and throw customer service to the curb for a fast buck in an unethical and unsavory manner. You choose, but hey, it’s only your money.
Enterprise 35 Avis ZERO. “We Try Harder” all right…Try Harder at being blockheaded, disingenuous thieves.
Rant over, as you were.
Tour Announcement – Washington State
Bag? Check. Laptop? Check. Clubs? Check. We’re ready to launch our first of many tours this year for the Magazine, for Cybergolf, and for my first book.
This is a big one: tomorrow it’s Chambers Bay, site of the 2015 U.S. Open where we will play the course and interview Mike Davis – the head of the U.S.G.A. himself and get his thoughts on many topics, not the least of which will be public golf courses and the U.S. Open.
Then it’s off to Gold Mountain (Olympic Course) where we will play with and interview golf architect John Harbottle, who also designed Palouse Ridge, a hot new course which we’ll see on Sunday.
We’ll also get a chance to play a course taking the country by storm – Wine Valley. A Dan Hixson design reported to have excellent architecture and wondrous potato-chip greens.
So from Seattle to Tacoma to Walla Walla to Pullman, we’ll play the four best public courses in the state and report back to you, dear reader, so you can plan your next great golf vacation and save boatloads of money too.
After that, get ready for reports from Utah, NoCal, SoCal, The U.S. Open at Olympic Club, the PGA Championship at Kiawah Island (where we will also be reporting live each day from venerable Bulls bay!) Chicago for the Ryder Cup, and plenty of other places. We’ve even got readings and live shows planned for U.S. Open and PGA Championship weeks, so you can come and hang out in person if you’re in SF or Charleston, swing by for all the fun and hijinks!
Jay’s Plays! – NFL Wild Card 2012 Picks!
2-1 (and the loss was the degenerates only pick!) 5-1 overall brings us to 22-19-2 and a whopping 65-21-2 overall on the season. Ride the Jay’s Plays! They do you justice!
This weeks winners:
NOT SO WILD CARD GAME
BRONCOS +15 over Steelers
BRONCOS-Steelers UNDER 44.5
It’s official – the Steelers are the worst looking 12-4 team I have ever seen. Decimated by injuries (again!) the “Popsicles, spit-shine, and duct tape” Steelers make a habit of beating bad teams 13-9. They’ll fluster Tebow, who’ll Panic at the Disco against Dick LeBeau’s killer D, even if the Steelers put their popcorn salesmen and merch vendors out there. (Hell, those Pittsburgh guys are so tough, they could go 10-6!) Still the Steelers can’t score 24 unless they play the Nuns of Fatima, Our Lady Queen of Martyrs, or the St. Louis Rams.
SAINTS -3.5 vs. Lions
GIANTS-Falcons UNDER 54.5
The under has seriously outperformed the over this year for the first time in a while. Although a wild card, pencil in the Saints for a game two weeks from now at frigid Lambeau Field.
Week 17 NFL Picks – Jay’s Plays!
A 1-2 in teasers, 4-2 overall week leaves us at 20-19-2 in teasers, 60-20-2 overall. Let’s start the new year strong!
HOME COOKIN’ FOR THE VISITING TEAMS!
Ravens +3.5 at BENGALS
49ers -2.5 at RAMS
No one shrinks form the moment like the Bengwads. “Our stripes are prison stripes, yo! The Rams are more putrid than dinners from the Hang Shing Chinese restaurant in Forest Hills…or from Galik Ambersom’s “My Kitchen” restaurant…which should be renamed “My Filthy, Noisy, Lousy Kitchen.” Russian Cuisine…please…that’s as laughable as John Daly’s Book of manners.
JETS SPECIAL
Jets +7.5 at DOLPHINS
Jets-DOLPHINS UNDER 47.5
The Jets have enough O to cover and D to keep to the under.
BONUS PICK – ***FOR DEGENERATES ONLY***
BRONCOS +2.5 vs Chiefs
Chiefs-BRONCOS UNDER 43.5
No, I’m not subscribing to Tebow-mania, I just think the Broncs have enough to outlast the Chefs – yes CHEFS! – at home. 43.5 seems high, though I went only 2-2 in over/unders last week…flippin’ Bills turned into the Pats when no one expected! And the Broncos turned into the Rams!
Video of the Week and AWITP Plans for 2012
2012 will be a huge year for us: lots of travel, oodles of tournaments, reams of writing, and a wide variety of special guests and interviews. We have a big surprise to open the year with a bang. (Check in 1/1/12 for deets!) ‘Til then, let’s send out 2011 with some flat-out rock.
Merry Christmas! Have a happy, healthy, and holy holiday season!
And while the shepherds lay in their field an angel of The Lord appeared to them and they were afraid. But he said “fear not for I bring you glad tidings of great joy. For today in the city of David a savior is born and he will save you from all your sins.”
Then, suddenly the sky was filled with a great light and host of heavenly angels appeared and sang “Glory to God in the highest. And on Earth, peace. Good will to all men.”