‘Hey, let’s go play 12’
Really enjoyed listening to golf architect John Harbottle III talk about what he did during his re-model at White Horse Golf Club, and also what he had to say about the state of the game.
“There are no really new ideas in golf,” he said. “It’s just old ideas being done better.”
Among the ideas being bantered about now are the shortening of golf courses, or making alternative courses.
“Two of first golf courses in the world — Prestonwood and St. Andrews (in Scotland) — were 12- hole courses,.” Harbottle said. “They played more British Opens at Prestonwood than any other golf course. They don’t play it anymore because it’s too short. Orginally, it was a 12-hole course.”
Just like St. Andrews.
You played a round of 22 — the first hole, 10 out toward the sea, then you played the same 10 and finished on the last hole.
In the mid-1770s, they converted four of the holes — two on the way out, two on the way back and that’s how golf became 18 holes.
“It had nothing to do with how many shots were in a bottle of Scotch,” Harbottle said.
Here’s my story on the changes at White Horse.
Adrian best in events U.S. used to own
Bremerton swimmer Nathan Adrian is the best sprinter the U.S. has, but he remains a bit of an underdog when compared to the world’s best.
“This is almost un-American,” writes Jen Floyd Engel of FOX Sports.
“I am trying to bring it back,” Adrian told her. “I am trying my hardest to make it America’s event again.”
So why did it stop being our event?
“That is good question,” Adrian said. “I think it’s maybe a little bit of a bigger deal in some other countries to be a sprinter. For instance, France, to be a French 100 freestyler, you are a household name. In Australia, you know, to be a 50 or 100 guy, you are a household name. Look at Cesar Cielo in Brazil, he is their Olympic hero. It is a big deal.”
Time for leather helmets?
It sounds silly on the surface, but former WSU and Seahawks defensive lineman Chad Eaton might have the answer to all of this crazy football safety stuff and concussion talk that’s dominating the airwaves and sports pages these days. Eaton was asked how you fix the problem.
He said it’s time to go back to leather helmets.
Nobody’s gonna want to mess up their pretty faces and stick their head in there like they do now, he said. Or something like that.
It’ll never happen, but if you can take the helmets out of play, then you’re going to solve a lot of problems.
The concussion crisis has also hit girls soccer. NBC News aired an eye-opening report on a news segment this week. Check it out here.
