Golf Spelled Backwards

That's not a headline you see every day, eh? But then, the story of Garth Stirrat isn't your everyday story. Stirrat had served for six years as the CEO of the New Zealand Professional Golf Association (NZPGA), until resigning earlier this year. Within the past couple weeks he started a new job as the head of the New Zealand Hotel Council. Now he's resigned from that position as well. Why? Because of some earlier "positions" he held. Using the alias "Steve Parnell," Stirrat took part in some pornographic photo shoots and was a performer in a pornographic video shot in 2003. Steve Parnell? Dude, if you're gonna go porno, at least show some creativity with your alias. Even George Constanza came up with "Buck Naked." From New Zealand's Sunday News : "I don't know what to say," said Southern North Island area manager Zayne Boone, who appointed Stirrat. "Obviously we need to make sure that the way in which we c...

Here's video that some dude shot of his TV screen as ESPN was showing highlights of the bear that crossed the fairway at the 2008 U.S. Senior Open. It's kinda like "Blair Bear Project."

Mike Souchak, age 81, passed away Thursday in Florida. He was born in Pennsylvania, went to college in North Carolina, lived for a while in Michigan, then spent the last 35 years of his life in Florida. He had no connection to Texas, really, except that he seemed to enjoy playing golf there. Souchak won 15 times on the PGA Tour, and among those 15 wins wins were: 1955 Houston Open 1955 Texas Open 1956 Colonial 1964 Houston Classic And his victory at the 1955 Texas Open is legendary: He set all kinds of scoring records that week - for nine holes, for 18 holes, for 72 holes, for score in relation to par. This bio of Souchak goes over those records and other elements of Souchak's career. Here's an excerpt from an old Sports Illustrated article describing the conditions in San Antonio that week in 1955: In Texas, there was mud. So much of it that the players hit their tee shots off mats all week. Where there wasn't mud, the ground was frozen. "The weather th...

I kid you not - that's the logo for the Jalapeno Golf Classic on the Futures Tour, the "Triple A" of women's professional golf in the U.S. The tournament is played a stone's throw from the Mexico border, in McAllen, Texas. A jalapeno pepper. Wearing a sombrero. And, for some unknown reason, yellow high heels. The golf course may not be a spikeless facility, but heels are ridiculous. You know, this little jalapeno character strikes me as a great mascot for the tournament, given the tournament name and location. But using it as the event logo seems a little ... unprofessional. There's a minor-league baseball team in San Antonio named the Missions. Their logo incorporates the Alamo. But they have a mascot called Henry the Puffy Taco (don't go there). During the 7th inning stretch, Henry - a guy in a giant taco suit - comes out and races kids around the infield (the kids always win, natch, when the taco falls down just before reaching home plate). Ma...

I love stumbling on connections across time in the game of golf, especially when they are unexpected. The photo at right shows Francis Ouimet at the 1913 U.S. Open, and beside him his caddie, 10-year-old Edie Lowery. That tournament, that year, was the subject of the book by Mark Frost called The Greatest Game Ever Played, and the movie of the same name. It detailed the stunning victory by the previously unknown amateur Ouimet over the titanic Harry Vardon and highly accomplished Ted Ray in a playoff to win the U.S. Open. Mark Frost now has a new book, this one entitled, The Match: The Day the Game of Golf Changed Forever. The book tout I ran across begins this way: In the year 1956, Eddie Lowery, a wealthy supporter of amateur golf, bet George Coleman, an equally important figure in the sport, that two of his car salesmen could beat any other two players in a game of golf. Eddie Lowery. Could this Eddie Lowery - the wealthy car salesman in California in 1956 - be the sam...

I played today a course where I've played probably 50 times previously, and as recently as 10 days ago. The 18th hole is a 180-yard par-3, a very simple hole. As I stood on the tee, however, something jumped out at me: a small but steep-sloped bunker, right smack in front of the right side of the green, was staring me right in the face. When did they put that thing in? I was absolutely positive this bunker did not exist when I played this hole just a week and a half ago. And boy, what a difference it makes in how the hole sets up, how it looks from the tee. When I finished playing, I stopped in the clubhouse to ask about the bunker. "When did you put that in?" I asked. "It's always been there," the pro told me. Whaaaa? It's always been there? Wow. I would've sworn that bunker was brand spankin' new. Obviously, in the 50 or so times I'd played this course, I'd never hit into it. It had never even been a concern. It couldn't have ...

Who the heck is "Count Yogi," and what does he have to do with golf? Count Yogi was an enigmatic - some would say mysterious - golfer born in the early part of the 20th century who barnstormed the country playing exhibitions, conducting trick-shot shows, and occasionally playing real tournament golf (although not on the PGA Tour). He was also, some claim, "the best golfer you've never heard of." A golfer who had "the secret" to playing better golf. You might say he was the Moe Norman of an earlier time. As you can see from the photo, Count Yogi - whose real name was Harry Hilary Xavier Frankenberg - was an odd duck. He sometimes played in a cape and turban, as in the photo. There's a golf instructor today who sells the Count Yogi way of playing golf. "Golf's greatest secret finally revealed," his Web site says. It also says Count Yogi is "the most imitated man in golf history." I'm not sure how someone can be ...

Who was the slowest PGA Tour player ever? One candidate for that title is that it was Cary Middlecoff (called "Doc" Middlecoff by his peers because he was a dentist). The "My Shot" interview in the May issue of Golf Digest is with Doug Ford, a two-time major champion. Ford tells this story about Middlecoff: "To win the 1955 PGA Championship, I had to beat Doc Middlecoff in the 36-hole final, and the secret to my winning was a chair. Doc was as slow a player as ever walked this Earth, and I had my son carry a chair for me to sit in when it was Doc's turn to play. That chair saved my legs. Playing the 14th hole, I was 2-up with five to play and was closer in two than Doc was in three. When we got to the green Doc lit a cigarette, and he didn't putt until the whole cigarette was gone. The gallery really got on him, but you couldn't rush Doc. I didn't care. I just sat in that chair. I won the hole and eventually closed him out, 4 and 3." ...