The Future of the Game of Golf!

In Baseball they have minor league—in hockey they have the Juniors and Minor Hockey—in Football they basically have the SEC (just kidding) and in Golf they have the Web.com Tour Championship at Craig Ranch in McKinney, Texas.

This used to be called the Nationwide Tour, but Web.Com took it over shortly after August the announcement of the field that was going to participate in this tournament.

Its late October, in North Texas, the weather could be anything from warm and sunny to cool and bright—to the most awful of storms.

The Golf Gods are smiling on the tournament—great weather so far- just a bit cool, and the winds have died down from earlier in the tournament.

Names that you need to keep an eye on for the future of Golf, this are the guys that will be chasing people like Vijay Sihng, and Tiger Woods, along with Phil Mickelson.

This tour has gone through their growing pains over the years, starting out as the Ben Hogan Tour, to the Nike Tour, Buy.Com tour, then Nationwide Insurance took the naming rights—and then in Web.com took the naming rights earlier this summer and will be the title sponsor for the next 10 years.

In North Texas, where golf is pretty prevalent, having high school stars and in some cases College athletes go on and become stars on the big PGA Stage. Such as the Late Payne Stuart, or Case Knolt (both out of SMU), what about Scott Verplank, growing up in North Dallas, being a volunteer at the Byron Nelson Golf Championship when he was younger—and then headed off to Oklahoma State winning on the NCAA stage and then on the PGA Tour, including winning the Nelson in 2007 nine months after Lord Byron passed away!

This “under” tour, is a great showcase for the younger players to make their Tour Card, without having to go through the grind of the “Q” Schools! Though they are still around, this tour provides a way for the players to earn money, and the top 25 who finish in the money get their tour cards.

The course in McKinney works to the advantage of the long hitter, it’s a long course, not so much a shot makers course, such as Colonial is in Fort Worth, but more like the TPC course in Las Colinas, but don’t take that one lightly or this one for that fact. Craig Ranch TPC is a tough par 71 course, and when the wind does howl down from the north or in the summer months from the south—it changes how you chose your clubs and what type of shot you have to make, to get the score!

Long hitters are great—but if you play the game of golf, the old adage of, HIT FOR SHOW, PUTT FOR DOUGH!

These young men out on the course today are finding out just what it means to make the short game work for you. 250 to 300 yard drives look great on TV but that is not what is going to win tournaments. You have to put the ball into that little round hole on the shortest of grass on the course! Yes that’s obvious but it is still the name of the game!

The other thing about golfers that some might have noticed, they are the nicest guys out there in the sports industry! They take the time to talk with reporters, as well as fans, they don’t mind signing the autographs, they don’t mind chit chatting with youngsters standing in the gallery, they have fun, they have a smile on their faces, and they enjoy the life of the tour!

Refreshing at best to see someone who has the opportunity to make a pretty good living, and not really have to flaunt it!

Oh yeah well there is still Tiger Woods, who make a pretty good living and at times has been surly, but after a bit, I would probably be the same way as well.

However, golfers are still better dressers, and they have a better attitude when they are in public!

The Web.com tour will be here in North Texas, and with the help of the Salsemanship Club of Dallas, this tournament will be able to funnel more players into the fold of the new generation of golfers and maybe another superstar will emerge and bring the game another bright star!

Just a thought!

Its Called-- a Collapse!

Yep -- that's what they call it! A colossal collapse!

The Texas Rangers, most likely pulled off the biggest failure since last years Red Sox, or maybe even Greg Norman's Masters el-foldo back in '95!

No matter, what happened the last several weeks of the Texas Rangers 2012 campaign, will go into the history books, as a study in futility from players, who for the most part led 178 days in their division!

Twice to the World Series, (twice losing) and twice the Defending American League Champions, and as of today-- they are at home watching the rest of the playoffs with other teams, including the Atlanta Braves, who were also eliminated from the playoffs by the Defending World Champions, St. Louis Cardinals.

We could sit here and dissect each player and, break down where the trouble laid, or we can look at the final game of the season against Oakland and point a finger at a certain center fielder, but no matter what the demise was, it all boils down to, the Rangers hit a slump that came at the absolute worse time in a teams drive for the post season.

Players go through slumps, and teams go through slumps, but the truth is, no one should point a finger at the manager! Ron Washington has led this team for seven years, and for the last three, he got the Rangers into the post season and twice he took them to the dance and gave them a chance to win!

Last time I remembered... Washington was not on the mound throwing pitches, he was not out there running in the outfield or fielding in the infield, he didn't run the bases and he didn't swing a bat-- thats why he has 25 other guys out there doing that, and getting paid to do it well!

So where does this team go from here? Hmmm good question. Do the Rangers make a solid offer to Josh Hamilton, even though he was booed quite loudly at the game against Baltimore for the last spot in the Wild Card Play In Game...  its hard to think that just because he went 0-4 on that night that the crowd would turn on him.

Frustrated! YES! I can see that, but to boo the guy in his stadium, and loudly too! It was just two years ago, that Hamilton missed a good portion of the season, only to return for the post season play and be a integral part of their getting to the Series against the San Francisco Giants... then just a year ago, not only injured, but had to deal with the death of a fan that he tossed a ball to up in the stands-- he came back and led the team along with Beltre and Cruz to the promise land once again, only to lose in game six and finally in game seven in St. Louis! Yes heart breaking, but for 40 years, this team only tasted the playoffs three times prior to Ron Washington getting here, and they were 1 for 9 in those games against the Yankees. 2010 came along-- and those dreaded Yankees came tumbling down to Neftali Feliz and a fast ball to get strike three on Alex Rodriguez to end the game, get the Monkey off the back and send the Rangers to the World Series for the first time in franchise history!

So now, with all the "nay" sayers out there, that want Hamilton gone, or Washington gone, or Michael Young gone... really? thats your answer!

These Texas Rangers are fine-- there will be some fine tuning, and I am sure that there will be some changes, and yes a real possibility that Hamilton might leave, and that new faces will arrive, and we will have another chance at the West, and the playoffs, oh and lets not forget, we now get the Houston Astros in our division, and there are at least a third of our games to be seen in the central time zone! Now thats worth getting excited about! That, and the fact that, unless the Astros do a major overhaul, the Rangers might just get 12 more wins added to their totals after they faced their I-45 foe! (No offense to my friends in Houston but lets face it, you lost 100 games this year!)

Another season is over, and the fall winds are blowing in, and the attention of the Metroplex will now turn solid to the Dallas Cowboys, and their problems!

Speaking of the Cowboys! I just wanted to add this thought!

Cowboys Stadium! I have covered games in that building, mainly though high school and college games, not so much a Cowboys game, though I can imagine what that is like anyway!

But after watching the Cowboys play recently on a Monday Night against the Chicago Bears, I am concerned that this stadium doesn't lend itself to being what Jerry Jones thought it would be when he built it.

Its a shrine, its a temple, its a cathedral! All in one! And people inside that building act like it. There is no noise other than the canned music that the entertainment provides, and thats used primarily to wake the fans up from their slumber because the product on the field ain't worth watching!

Jerry! Get rid of the Dancing girls in the end zone-- your dancers are called Cowboy Cheerleaders-- why bring in competition for those ladies, get rid of the Cars and Trucks in the end zones as well-- this is not the Auto Building at Fair Park nor is this the State Fair Of Texas! Get rid of the fountains, and if you wish to hang art in the building then build an art gallery not a FOOTBALL STADIUM! There is NO HOME FIELD ADVANTAGE INSIDE THIS BUILDING!

Corporate America, does not care about the guys on the field, the FANS DO, yet they can't afford the tickets, parking or concessions! The guys with the Black American Express Cards can, and they might buy the tickets-- but they aren't your fans!

And another thing-- instead of spending all that money on the "entertainment" experience for the fans-- why don't you pay more attention to the product between the hash marks and that might bring the noise level up a few notches!

Just a thought!