O-For Weekends

It's not the first and it'll not be the last...
Headed into the weekend full of anticipation.
Canadian Open, Senior British Open, or own
Club Championships, and the Jays on a roll -
playing the worst team in the Majors....Oh boy !
So...Mike Weir played well, but not well enough
to break the spell and become the first Canadian
to win our Open in 54 years...Anthony Kim, my
pick heading into the final day faded in the Oakville
sun...well at least he didn't drown in an Oakville
monsoon...
John Cooke managed to mismanage his three stroke
lead on the final 9 to miss out winning the Senior
British Open...
and the Jays with the chance to sweep the lowly Seattle
Mariners dressed like the pre-Cito Blue Jays Sunday
and lost 5-1...time to start another winning streak...
I'm a big beleiver in that old "never give up" attitude.
But sometimes even the right attitude isn't enough...
Heavy sigh....Disappointment is part of the game.
I went into round two of Oakfield's Club Championship
having put together a couple of weeks of pretty respectable
golf ( for me ). Saturday I messed up the front nine due to
some ( three of them ) pretty questionable shots off the tee...
But I hit the ball well otherwise and that was enough of a
base from which to rally.
I was really quite pleased with being even par on the back...
Sunday it just wasn't there....no excuses...loose swings,
lack of concentration...after 9 holes it was clear - there
would be no magic...there is a fine line between playing well
and a round that rips your heart out....the line I drew
was thick and bold and the result ugly..ugly..ugly...
Funny game golf...some days diamonds - some days -
well - something a little less precious...and when all is said
and done - when they write the history of the world this
weekend will bearly get a mention...as a matter of fact -
my weekend didn't even make this morning's paper...
Could it be that worse things happened ?
This morning I woke up with a smile on my face and
another rally lingering somewhere not too very far
away...
Happy Trials...

Focus...It's All About Focus...

So I'm sitting here thinking...and one incomplete thought closes down
making room for another...and another and another...
I'm waiting for the second round of the Club Championships...tee time
is 12:50...it's gonna be 29 degrees and humid as all get out...
perfect...I'm built for days like this...I'm thinking today will be a good
day to shoot the temperature..in fahrenhiet...Having said that -
could've easily done that yesterday...unfortunate double on the
second hole...unforgivable bogey on the eighth hole...and then
that potentially disasterous triple on the ninth...
the problem with golf is that the ball usually goes where you hit it.
So I finished the front nine six over...as a seven handicap that doesn't
leave me a lot of "giggle" room on the back...So I bogeyed ten...three
putts from twenty feet...
In years past my natural tendency would have been to either freak
out and get angry - or either just give up and drag my arse around
the rest of the golf course discouraged. Yesterday for some reason
I managed to dig deep and stick to the game plan and see what
happened. I went par, birdie, par, bogey, par, par, par birdie...
I finished even par on the back - and six over for the day...never
give up...you just never know what might happen.
So with all this behind me - and glowing with the turnaround in
fortunes - I made my way to the scorer's table after having
compared notes with the playing partner who kept my card.
I was really pleased...I mean really pleased...until that is the
scorer asked me..."Don you're 55 aren't you ?" You can laugh
here if you like...I had to think about it for a second.
We often discuss how player A or player B might be wise to
take advantage of the "Senior" option of playing from the
forward tees...the course can get long when you're getting
"up there." Up until that precise moment in time when
reflecting upon the question just posed to me I had never
considered "me" to be one of those who had the option.
I'm still a kid for Pete's sake ! Funny thing...Charlene
came home from work last evenning and as co-incidence
would have it - she was dealing with a customer - Charlene
sells furniture for Leon's - when the customers little
daugher looked at Charlene and told her Mom - "She
looks like Nannie." Both of us face to face with the same
reality on the same day...so much for any goals of
playing quarterback for the High School Football team.
Having said all that life is full of blessings. Charlene's really
fit and I still manage to haul my carcass around 18
holes carrying my clubs - and we are going to be
grandparents ! The first pictures of the first female
grandchild in the Grose family in three generations
have now been published - and if you've seen my
Facebook profile picture, I think you'll agree - she is a
looker ! I can't make up my mind which side of the
family she favors but that doesn't matter...she's
got two wonderful parents, four most loving
grandparents and a sister whose just about the
best little person I have ever met. We're all
getting together with Uncle Tyler and " More Nannie"
the end of August and I for one, can't wait.
Just before I close - Anthony Kim will win the
Canadian Open - and I'm hoping John Cooke
wins the British Senior Open...
I'm off to drink a couple bottles of water and
hit a few balls into the net to get ready for this
afternoon....If anyone finds my tan, striped golf
cap please let me know..I can't win without it...
Happy Trials....

Let's Shed No Tears for the Shark

It says plenty about the man's skill, his instincts, and his
bearing that Greg Norman could arrive at the Open Championship
without benefit of recent competition - and be there, leading the
pack entering play in the final round. It says plenty about his
legend that just as many that were surprised by his success
heading into the final turn, so desperately wanted the Shark
to prevail.
I was not among them. I was heartened by Norman's play in the
first three rounds - and heartened too that there was no evidence
of lingering shadowy gremlins from his Augusta meltdown
in '96. He played well...and that was good. It was good for
golf that without a Tiger someone else was there to refocus
the spotlight...someone like Greg Norman had to surface to
grab the headlines so the 08 Open Championship was not
remembered as the Open without "the star."
But if Norman had won it would have been the ultimate insult
to the current crop of international top golfers.
I was very happy when Padraig Harrington surged on the final
nine to repeat as Open Champion. Harrington doesn't get much
attention on this side of the Atlantic - and in earlier years was
often criticized for not seeking out the media spotlight - for
being too serious - for appearing not to be accessible enough to
those who cover the game. While others were granting endless
interviews, signing autographs, and posing for photo ops, Harrington
has worked on his game. With two majors to his credit, Harrington
is now arguably the best Europe has to offer...I like Harrington.
He's earnest, unpretentious, dedicated and focused. Like Tiger,
immediately upon having secured his second Open title, he talked
about his next job being to reset his goals...Padraig Harrington
is a worthy Major Champion indeed - interested most in getting
better - with his sights firmly set on whatever comes next. I believe
the Open 08 ended in the only fitting way it could.
The Canadian Open starts today at rain-soaked Glen Abbey in Oakville.
Every ounce of my being wants Mike Weir to shake off his loss to Vijay
when last the Canadian Open visited the Abbey - and become the first
Canadian to wear our crown since ...what...1954 ? It's not right.
Gotta go...need to go get a new pair of rain gloves...club championships
this weekend and Saturday's calling for....rain...could the Weather Network
be wrong ? Hope so..but I'll still get the gloves.
Happy Trials...

They Are Giving Him What ?!?!?!

The Toronto Maple Leafs are going to be a much improved
NHL team next season...Lemme see...they paid Darcy Tucker
9 million dollars to turn in his jersey...he promptly cashed
in his freedom for another 4.5 million to play in Colorado.
Colorado also picked up a goalie from the smouldering
ashes of the Leafs of 07/08 to whom the Leafs paid a
working man's career earnings to take a hike. Kyle Wellwood
found a home and near million dollar one year contract
in Vancouver and the Leafs have spent another King's
ransom replacing their expensive spare parts with the
spare parts of others...the Leafs are typical of the 29
NHL Teams that are not the Detroit Red Wings.
In the absence of any answers - do something to make it
look like you are building a contender...I'm guessing with
the exception of Tampa Bay and maybe Pittsburgh most
teams are investing heavily in make-up to hide their embarassment
for having no clue how to build a machine to counter the
mega beast in Detroit....sad times...sadder still that we will
continue to watch and some will even continue to pay to
attend NHL games...Something struck me watching the
madness of Free Agency that struck July 1st.
Now even fringe players are signing multi million dollar
contracts based on a single good season - or even a marginal
season. What the hell was the NHL lockout about just a
couple of years ago..Salary Cap ??? In the blink of an eye
NHL teams are paying their players more than they were
when the owners shut it all down in an effort to rein in their
own blind, stupid spending. Clearly the NHL is not going to
alter it's approach until it's in ruin.
The NHL, Major League Baseball, Football, Basketball...
They are all nuts ! They have gone berserk !
It's not sports - it's entertainment...the same thing is happening
in the entertainment industry. Adam Sandler, Will Ferrell, Jim
Carrey all Hollywood icons...sorry...tens of millions of dollars per
movie ?
In a society where healthcare was free for everyone, the aged
were well taken care of, education was turning out sophisticated
and capable career people ( who didn't owe $ 50 - $ 100 thousand
in student loans ) and our streets and highways, and infrastructure
were well maintained, I would have no problem paying our
entertainers handsomely.
Sports and Entertainment are a sad reflection on the state of our
society.
I beleive most people - I will say Canadians have thrown their
collective hands in the air in surrender feeling completely
powerless to influence our direction. We are completely out of
touch with our government - to the same degree as our government
is completely out of touch with us. Our government spends
the majority of our tax dollars not helping us - but playing an
intricate shell game - creating and funding useless institutions
with billion dollar budgets that represent the government's
own unique currency passed from the hands of one politician
to another...
The vast majority of our politicians - I'm reluctant to use political
leaders - I suspect honestly think they are on a noble quest.
But playing the game long ago eclipsed functioning in an
environment with links to the values upon which western
cultures and certainly North American society is based.
Maybe not yet...but soon..." The Times They Are A Changing "
We turn this thing around and right the ship or we will crash upon
the rocks of the shore as surely as the ill-informed of our ancestors
just a short few hundred years ago...
Do you ever watch Austin City Limits on PBS Saturday nights ?
John Prine was featured back in April...I was never a huge fan
back in his hay day but I've got to tell you...watch for a repeat
performance. How could you not like songs entitled " Crazy As A
Loon" and "Some Humans Ain't Human." He's nearly as cynical
as I am...
British Open coming up next week...can't wait...
Till next time....bless.