How long will you keep your golf clubs ready for another round?

Sunny and in the 70s, with a burst of color taking over from green in some of the trees. The first day of October was lovely indeed for golf on the grounds of the Links at Erie Village in East Syracuse. I’d written on this blog how Kingpin and I had started this golf season…

It’s that special week when golf ends and bowling begins

It’s overlap week for me. It happens once a year, but only if the two schedules fall just right. Out with the golf league. In with the bowling league. Two days separate the end and the beginning. I’m glad that the days fall in a way that the finish comes before the start. When the…

At Dick’s Sporting Goods Open, families enjoy the atmosphere of Champions

There was a time that I worried about the future of professional golf on the southern tier of upstate New York. Sure, the PGA Tour had a long history at En-Joie Golf Course in Endicott, with a tour stop that started in 1971 as the Broome County Open. It changed its name to the much-catchier…

Would Shut Up, Stupid movement make Mashed Potato Guy stand down?

The hot topic bounced around the airwaves and cyberspace Monday. Sports media types just had to comment about the big mouth now known as Mashed Potato Guy. The topic roared again because so many members of that new breed of pro golf fans had roared this week at Oak Hill Country Club in Rochester, caught…

The ears find few bursts at Syracuse University FanFest, too much bluster at PGA tee boxes

Mike Waters and I took in FanFest from a different perspective Friday night outside Manley Field House. As the Syracuse University football followers crowded to the bleachers and stood along the fence to watch the Orange scrimmage as part of this celebration of a new season on the horizon, Waters and I stayed behind the…

It’s a week to appreciate the magnificence of Rochester’s Oak Hill

Good luck, best golfers in the world. You’re taking on Oak Hill for real starting this morning. I played the beautiful beast in Rochester a year ago this week, when the horde of professionals were gathering in Kiawah Island. The PGA of America already had an advance crew collected in an office on the stately…

It’s a long way to St. Andrew’s from Camillus Country Club

This morning-after following Phil Mickelson’s triumph at the British Open at Muirfield in Scotland, I was teeing it up to pay tribute at Camillus Country Club, a dozen or so miles to the west of Syracuse. It’s a hilly course. At one of the high spots, the members of CCC took the time to place…

Update: That empty lot is now rather sporty

A couple months back, I grumped loudly here about the folks who decided to use the empty lot between my house and the neighbor’s house as a dog-walking spot. You, friends, offered remedies such as motion-enabled sprinklers and stink bombs. OK, nobody thought of smell as a deterrent. It wasn’t my property, so I did…

A teen and a senior show that cream rises earlier, lasts longer

They say that viewed under the right prism, sports teaches us about life. I believe them. Take the results of two golf tournaments yesterday. On the PGA Tour, 19-year-old Jordan Spieth won the John Deere Classic, capturing a long and winding, five-hole playoff against wise veteran Zach Johnson — a major winner with a Master’s…

Maybe I did play one round too many this week

As we swept through the aisles of Wegmans for our Friday night replenishment yesterday, my dear wife Karen stopped short. We already had the rice pilaf, bagged salad, chicken breasts, Shake N Bake … This was an unfamiliar department. Seasonal or households or some such. Karen was looking at a doormat. And laughing. She threw…