Controversy struck the exalted Augusta grounds of the Masters golf tournament on Friday as Tiger Woods put himself at risk of disqualification. It all began with a situation in which Woods had the extraordinarily bad luck of bouncing his ball off the flagstick on the 15th hole into the water. Instead of dropping his ball
"as nearly as possible" to it's original position, Woods dropped it a couple of yards back. In an interview after the round, Woods said:
"I went back to where I played it from, but I went two yards further back and I took, tried to take two yards off the shot of what I felt I hit and that should land me short of the flag and not have it either hit the flag or skip over the back." Woods signed his scorecard without assigning himself the two shot penalty the rules of golf require for an improper drop.
The following day, the Masters Rules Committee ruled that Woods would not be disqualified for signing an incorrect scorecard, justifying it by using a new rule that allows tournament committees to waive rules infractions called in by TV viewers, even though the intention of that rule was to prevent disqualifications based on tiny movements of the ball or sand imperceptible to the golfer but visible on close-up HD shots.
Many in the golf world were
outraged at both the ruling and the fact that Woods didn't withdraw himself from the tournament. Nick Faldo suggested it would be
"the manly thing to do." [more inside]
posted by fairmettle
on Apr 14, 2013 -
71 comments
If ever there were a question about the ballooning scale of America's prison system, the Louisiana State Penitentiary provides an answer. It has its own
golf course.
posted by Chrysostom
on Nov 7, 2012 -
25 comments
"I had these clubs when I was a young bachelor, hair down to my shoulders, tearing up the town in a 1990 Volvo 740 SEL with the sunroof open and the road before me like some great American Dream ready to be snatched, the way candy is from a baby, or a kiss from an easy and drunk woman."
Writer
Marc Lewis is
selling his awful golf clubs.
posted by mattdidthat
on Jun 29, 2012 -
21 comments
For those kept off the links -- particularly those with windmills -- by Irene,
a flash alternative (via Kottke). Needs ice cream, but otherwise oojah-cum-spiff (via Wodehouse).
posted by Clyde Mnestra
on Aug 27, 2011 -
16 comments
One more thing to ease our collective guilt:
Organic Golf. "Opened eight years ago, the club is thought to be the only completely organic golf course in the United States, its 18 holes groomed without the use of a single synthetic pesticide, fertilizer, herbicide or other artificial chemical treatment."
posted by Xurando
on Aug 17, 2010 -
8 comments
Twirdie allows you to play golf via twitter. Type a word and swing: the strength of your shot is proportional to the number of times the word has been tweeted in the last 20 seconds. A project of Twitter game outfit
Local No. 12, whose SXSW presentation "Playing with 140 characters" is available
here. (Via the just-concluded 2010
Games, Learning and Society conference here in Madison.)
posted by escabeche
on Jun 11, 2010 -
20 comments
Tiger Woods will return to competitive golf today, teeing off at the
Masters at 1:42 EDT today. ESPN will carry the tee shot live, then begin full coverage at 3 PM. Last time Tiger returned from a long break due to surgery, Nike's ad was
lighthearted. This time, things are very different, and the
new ad released yesterday definitely has a different tone, invoking the words of Tiger's late father, Earl Woods. Of course, some in the media are going to keep teeing off on Tiger's scandalous affairs, including this
new revelation of a tryst with a neighbor's 21-year-old daughter.
posted by msacheson
on Apr 8, 2010 -
119 comments
Bush interview with Politico: "For the first time, Bush revealed a personal way in which he has tried to acknowledge the sacrifice of soldiers and their families:
He has given up golf."
posted by CunningLinguist
on May 13, 2008 -
121 comments
Disc golf- like it's ball-and-club cousin- challenges the player to navigate the obstacles of a pre-designed course from tee to basket, with progress being marked by the distance of your throw. It's my favorite way to enjoy the outdoors- and most courses are free to play! The sport is easy and fun to get into, yet provides an exhilarating challenge to players of all skill levels. You can play to relax, socialize, or win, depending on your style.
What is disc golf, and
where did it come from?
With over 1000 courses in the US alone, you should have no problems
finding a course in your area.
Pick out some discs, grab a few friends, and go get throwing! Here are
some tips for new players.
[more inside]
posted by baphomet
on Apr 3, 2008 -
53 comments
He stands a mere 5'1" but can drive a golf ball over 330 yards, and this past weekend he became the
youngest player in 50 years to make the cut and play on
a PGA Tour event. The golf media is ready to embrace Tadd Fujikawa as its Next Big(!) Thing. Of course, it was
quickly noted that the amateur Tadd outplayed, upstaged, and overshadowed another young Hawaii-bred golfer who did not make the cut at the Sony Open: the 17 year-old
Michelle Wie, who turned pro at age 16 and is raking in an estimated $10 million in endorsements from Nike and Sony (
but maybe we shouldn't break out the Hater-ade over that...). Michelle is widely known for drawing huge crowds while unapologetically ruffling feathers as she attempts to play in various men's tournaments.
Her critics note that she hasn't won against the
Ladies yet, let alone the men, and is no longer deserving of the hype. Thus the parade of talented and ambitious youth continues to plunge into the waiting, toothy embrace of marketing execs worldwide, shouldering the dreams of their parents and weathering the barrage of the critics' cynical ink...
posted by krippledkonscious
on Jan 17, 2007 -
16 comments
Extra! Tabloid photographs from the Los Angeles Herald Express (1936-1961), showing
celebrities,
fashion,
tragedy,
(early) CHiPs, and
babes with guns.
Via the
Virtual Gallery at the LA Public Library, which has many other fine exhibits, such as
California in the 20s, the
1932 Olympics,
celebrity golf, and a wonderful collection from the
golden age of travel posters.
posted by Gamblor
on Jul 28, 2006 -
15 comments
How the hell did Fuzzy sink this
hole-in-one?! It hangs for looooong seconds in the rough, then
accelerates directly to the hole. I swear, there were magnets involved!
Quite possibly the most amazing hole-in-one ever.
posted by five fresh fish
on Jun 4, 2006 -
54 comments
There's an excellent
two part dialog between
Bill Simmons and
Malcolm Gladwell on ESPN's Page 2 this week. The two cover a wide variety of topics such as writing, how a kid with no TV from the middle of nowhere in Canada can be a sports fan, the NFL, the economics of sports, and everyone's favorite NBA GM Isiah Thomas.
posted by togdon
on Mar 3, 2006 -
13 comments
Urban Golf. I normally get bored quickly with golf games, but the urban twist makes this shockwave game pretty entertaining. (Just ignore the Jaguar logo and the occasional product placement.)
posted by brain_drain
on Jun 7, 2005 -
15 comments
If it didn't happen on national television [wmv] (
mirror [wmv]) you would have thought it was faked like that
LeBron ad.
Well if
Wieden+Kennedy isn't already working on it, they surely
will be shortly. "... they have a
Nike-sponsored golfer wearing a Nike shirt, a Nike hat, Nike golf shoes, using Nike clubs, held in hands covered by Nike gloves, hitting a Nike prototype golf ball that was chipped onto the green, rolled, turned, rolled some more, then teetered on the edge of the cup with that Nike "Swoosh" turning and facing the television cameras for a full 1.5 seconds."
posted by pwb503
on Apr 12, 2005 -
59 comments
Shotgun Golf. Hunter S. Thompson has an idea for Bill Murray. I'm not sure it would check out with the NRA's
Gun Safety Rules, though.
Other people have been
creative when it comes to shooting things with shotguns. The combination of
shotguns and
golf has even been done before, although in a very different way.
Fire at will!
posted by PhatLobley
on Feb 16, 2005 -
16 comments
Ever hear of Fred Funk, Tom Lehman, or Jim Furyk? All three are currently
tied with a certain
female golfer who posted a +1 score today.
The question is this: should female golfers be allowed to qualify and participate in the PGA? I mean, they already have their own
league.
Actually, the same argument was used back
in 1947.
posted by graventy
on May 22, 2003 -
44 comments
