Hoffman win's Ann Arbor Women's Championship: Entries at an all time low

Sarah Hoffman tees off on the 10th hole at Leslie Park Golf Course, Sunday, en route to victory in the Ann Arbor Women's Championship.

Sarah Hoffman followed up her opening round 75 with a second round 77, then defeated Minjoo Lee (who fired a tournament-low, final round 74) in a playoff to win the 2009 Ann Arbor Women's Championship Sunday at Leslie Park Golf Course.

The win came in a year where the women's tournament had an all-time low number of participants. Only 27 women teed it up this year to vie for the title, a disturbing downward trend that wasn't lost on the golfers.

Hoffman herself expressed her desire to have more college and high school golfers play in the tournament to beef up the field and make it more competitive. "It would be nice if more girl's my age played." She said.

Long-time tournament participant, and former champion Susan Macinkowicz also expressed her concern at the dropping numbers of participants. "I don't understand it," Macinkowicz said, "it's such a great course; one of the best muni's I've ever played, and they do such a great job...it's just a great couple of days." 

The upcoming men's championship in mid-July, once immune from low participation numbers, has fallen in recent years as well. Less than five years ago, the tournament field of 156 would fill in less than a week once it opened to non-residents (the first week to enter was limited to residents only) and it wasn't unusual to have as many as 20 golfers on waiting list to get in the field.

The past two years that hasn't been an issue. With fields in the mid-140's, it was still the largest local tournament, but the days of making sure to enter early seem to be over.

I entered the men's tournament on Saturday, a good three weeks after entries were being accepted. In year's past that would have been too late, but this year I was only entry number 77. With only three weeks until the tournament tees off, that's less than half of last year's field. It's makes me wonder if the field will even hit 1oo for this year's championship.

Why this is happening and what is the solution? After all, despite the dour economy, recreational golf rounds are way up at Leslie Park the past two years, even as tournament fields plunge. 

Is the entry fee just too steep? ($150) Are local players too intimidated to play tournament golf? Is a three-day tournament too long for most players?

I'd like to hear from local golfers to see what they think. Let's start a forum right here to see if we can solve this problem. 

 

Golf Gallery: Barton Hills Country Club

The Barton Hills Country Club clubhouse. The famed, Ann Arbor club will host the annual match play championship between 8-man teams from Jackson County and Washtenaw County this Sunday, June 28th.

Open Week - Phil just keeps on breaking our hearts

(photo by Lon Horwedel)

Phil Mickelson must have been born in Cleveland. There can be no other explanation. Nobody can finish second in the U.S. Open five times, can they?

Yes, they can. Mickelson did it today for a record fifth time. He's like watching the Cleveland Browns, or this year's Cleveland Indian's bullpen. Somehow, someway, they'll blow it. You're never quite sure how, you're just sure they will. I'm never comfortable watching the Tribe, Browns or Mickelson when they have a big lead, because I know all three of them can snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in incredible, almost unbelievable ways.

This week, my beloved Indians blew not one, not two, but three 7-run leads in one week. On their current 6-game losing streak, they've lost four games they were leading going into the 8th inning. 

A few years back my other beloved Cleveland team, the Browns, managed to lose to the Bears when they had a 14 point lead with 38 seconds left in the game - and the Bears were out of timeouts! One Hail Mary, a successful onside kick, followed by another Hail Mary, and the game was tied at 21. The Browns then tossed an interception on the second play of overtime, which, of course, was run back for a touchdown sending the Browns to a 28-21 defeat.

That's it, right? No team could possibly lose more incredibly than that. Wrong. The very first game the next season it appeared they beat the Kansas City Chiefs in a close after nearly sacking the Chiefs quarterback, only to have him heave the ball in the air to an offensive lineman behind the line of scrimmage who was then shoved out of bounds as the clock expired. 

It sure seemed like the game was over. Browns win their opener right?  Chalk it up, 1-0. Only one problem. One of the Browns linebackers, Duane Rudd, had taken off his helmet to celebrate what he assumed was a victory. Wrong! Rudd was penalized for excessive celebration and since the game can't end on a defensive penalty the Chiefs got one more play. With the yardage they gained from penalty, they now were in field goal range, and with no time left on the clock, they calmly booted the field goal to beat the Browns by a point. Now, I had seen it all.

Phil Mickelson is the golfing equivalent of professional sports in Cleveland. You want so badly for the guy to win, but you just know he's going blow it somehow - maybe that 5-footer he's gonna miss down the stretch, or that drive he'll blast out of play. Why can't he just make those damn putts like Tiger does? Why can't he just hit a fairway when he needs to? Why do we all get so caught up in a guy none of us even knows?

Probably because we feel like we do know Phil. He addresses media members by their first names in post-round interviews. He admits when he's done something idiotic (Winged Foot meltdown). He doesn't make excuses. He seems like a genuinely, good guy. Plus he lives on the edge. He'll make a load of birdies, but he'll make an equal load of bogeys - or worse. He's fun to root for because he pulls you into his battles emotionally. 

Tiger? We don't worry about Tiger. If he comes in second it's because he "didn't have his A-game." But if Phil comes in second it's because he just couldn't finish the deal, or someone else stepped up and delivered - or a combination of the two (Payne Stewart '99, Retief Goosen '04).

Today was no exception. With his wife Amy giving plenty of ammo for that Hollywood ending (she wanted the Open trophy in her hospital room when she begins cancer treatments next week) NBC had to be licking their chops when Mickelson stuck his approach to 5-feet on No. 13, then actually drained the eagle putt to vault himself into a tie for the lead.

"If he can only stick one in their on 14 (a short, 127-yard par-3) and make it two in a row," we all thought, "then the tournament is his!" 

Fools! That's what we are - fools. He had us sucked in and we all fell for it. "It has to happen," we thought, "this is the year he finally breaks through." The last time he blew an Open he was on the verge of winning his third straight major before he made a mockery of the 18th at Winged Foot. Surely he's learned his lesson from that debacle. (He hasn't won a major since).

Phil hit a good, if not great shot into 14, but lazied a putt down to the hole that never had a chance. 

"That's okay, nothing wrong with par." We thought. 

Then he hits a ball into the rough off the 15th tee. 

"That's okay, he's drawn a good lie." We thought. 

After reaching the back fringe in two, we all breathed a sigh of relief. But then he does it - again! Phil leaves his first putt some 5-6 feet short of the hole. 

"Noooooo!!!! What are you doing Phil?" we all scream at the TV. 

Just like the Tribe in the 8th inning or the Browns in the fourth quarter we already know the outcome. He'll miss the putt; not only miss it, but blow it 6-feet past the hole. Amazingly he jars the comebacker for bogey. Even more amazingly, he jars a 10-footer for par on the next hole. But the damage is done. He's now a stroke behind Lucas Glover and on No. 17, Mickelson, who supposedly has this great short game, can't get it up and down for par, missing yet another 6-footer.

Needing a birdie on 18 to have any chance, Phil bombs a drive nearly to the green. With the hole cut right up front you just know he's going to hit one of those ozone-scraping lob wedges that will sit down right next to the hole for a tap in birdie. Right? 

Wrong. 

Instead he tries to spin back a low-flying wedge that doesn't come back at all, leaving Phil a 30-footer for birdie, which, of course, he runs past the edge of the hole just close enough to make you groan.

"Damn, he did it again." You think to yourself as Glover takes Phil's trophy out of Amy's hospital room and plants it firmly on his mantle and in the history books.

Two short putts cost Phil once again. And really, can we stop saying Phil has this awesome short game. Yeah, he pulls off an amazing flop shot from time to time and he can hit it backwards over his head off the steep face of a bunker. But just as often he tries something stupid, like a flop shot from the front fringe when he has a million miles of green to work with where he could just as easily hit a standard bump and run. Then, if he chunks it and leaves himself with a 50-footer for par, nobody questions his decision making. And that's not even touching on all the missed short putts he never seems to make when he needs them. 

Maybe one of these days Phil will drain those 6-footers for par. And maybe one of these days the Browns will go to the Super Bowl and actually win the damn thing. And maybe the Indians will do the same in the World Series. Phil did, after all, break through and win the Masters after years of near misses. But somehow this U.S. Open thing is different. Somehow it seems to leave some golfers permanently snake bitten. Just ask Sam Snead, Tom Lehman and Colin Montgomery - they'll tell you how cruel it can be. And so can Phil.

 

Slow Play - The Scourge of Golf!

Please let me finish my round before the snow falls!

First off, let it be known there's almost no place I'd rather be than a golf course. That being said, it doesn't mean I want to spend more than four hours playing a round of golf - check that, no more than three and a half.

For me, golf is a game of flow - a game of rhythm. And nothing breaks that rhythm more than a lack of basic etiquette from slow-playing golfers who insist on ignoring the obvious - that being the fact they are holding up play.

The other day, for example, I played Leslie Park Golf Course in Ann Arbor, relatively carefree for 12 holes. Then, on the 13th tee, I ran into a twosome - one in a cart, one on foot - who took more than 10 minutes to hit their approach shots to the green. 

"No problem," I thought to myself, "I'll just play through when I catch them on the next tee. Well, by the next tee the walker had joined his partner on the cart in an effort to speed up their pace. 

"Good," I thought. "Problem solved." Normally a twosome in a cart is equivalent to one player walking. But not so with this twosome. For the remainder of the round, with no one in front of them, and no one behind me, I was forced to wait on every single shot. 

As luck would have it, the offending twosome stopped by the putting green near the 18th hole to practice even more following their round (I guess the numerous occasions they hit more than one ball during their round, despite the fact I was waiting behind them, wasn't enough practice). But that was okay because it gave me a golden opportunity to confront them after I finished my round.

They must have sensed my frustration because when I approached one of the players with steam rolling off my collar the first thing he did was apologize for holding me up. This was a real head scratcher. If you knew you were holding me up, then why in the hell didn't you just wave me through?

At any rate, I told the fellow it was perfectly fine to wave faster players through, in fact, preferential - especially when there is nothing but open real estate in front of him and behind me.

So what constitutes slow play? How do you know if you are a slow player? 

Let's face it. Slow play is like being a bad driver (car, not a golf ball). Nobody thinks they're a bad driver, even if they are, and nobody thinks they're a slow golfer. But are you?

To help you find out, Here's a test you can take, much akin to the "you just might be redneck" quiz made popular by Jeff Foxworthy.

1) Do you take more than one practice swing on anything other than a shot of less than 100-yards? If you do, you just might be a slow golfer.

2) Do you drive a golf cart, rather than walk? Sounds crazy, but you just might be a slow golfer.

3) If you do play your rounds from a cart, do you wait for your partner to hit his shot before driving to your ball? If you do, you just might be a slow golfer.

4) Do you stand in one spot while putting your headcover back on your driver, rather than walking, or driving to your ball while completing the task? If the answer is yes, you just might be a slow player.

5) Do you put your bag, or park the cart, on the opposite side of the green from the next tee's location? If you answered yes, you just might be a slow player.

6) Do you ever find yourself driving the cart back toward the tee box instead of toward the green? (I'm amazed at how many times I see golfers in carts, I thought were out of range, suddenly heading back toward the tee box for no apparent reason, giving me even more head-scratching moments). If you do, then you just might be a slow golfer.

7) Does your twosome take more than 3 hours and 15 minutes to play a round of golf? (and that's on foot) If yes is your answer, then you just might be a slow golfer. If you play longer than that as a twosome in a cart, then you are a slow golfer!

8) Do you find it necessary to stop at the turn to grab a bite to eat even when there are golfers behind you? If you answered yes, then you not only are a slow golfer, you don't have any etiquette either.

9) Do you line up every putt from three different angles as if you were playing in the U.S. Open and plum bob 3-footers even though you don't know what the hell plum bobbing is or how it works? If yes is the answer, then you might be a slow player.

10) Do you hit mulligans on more than just the first tee and do you write down your score before the leaving the green, or God forbid, stand by the hole while looking back toward the tee while trying to recall each shot (all 10 of them) by counting with your finger in a ziggity-zag fashion from the brutal 50-yard sideways tee shot, to the three you left in the bunker, to the four-putts you took from 15 feet?

If you answered yes to this one, you already know the answer.

So folks, let's speed up play by eliminating those four practice swings on every shot (you only have so many swings in a lifetime, why waste em?) and counting your strokes on the green and lining up those two footers. Move toward the green at all times. You don't have to be by your partner when he hits his shot, you can be by your ball and still watch. It's called "ready golf." It's a cool concept where players hit their shots in short succession, thus speeding up play, and it works everywhere on the course - even on the greens!

Put your clubs back into the bag while walking to your next shot. Visualize what you're going to do before you even get there, then you can pull the trigger much quicker and stay in the flow. It works, try it.

And most importantly remember this, it's only a game and you're probably not as good as you think. So as my good friend John once said (and he was a good player). "Miss it quick!"

Golf Gallery - Open Week continues: Sergio Garcia, toast in New York to the toast of New York?

 Sergio Garcia's boyish charm has worn thin with many golf fans. His last trip to Bethpage brought catcalls from the New York faithful who tired of Garcia's grip, then re-grip, then re-grip, then re-grip again ritual, before finally hitting his shot (Garcia was in the midst of a swing change). "Just hit the ball, Sergio!" rants came from the gallery of impatient Long Islanders. Sergio's response? The middle finger salute.

Have the last seven years softened the tension? After the first two days of play, it would seem so. Still, if things don't go Garcia's way, he's bound to verbally lambaste both the crowd and the course, as he recently did at Augusta and last year's PGA at Oakland Hills (see photo above). The best part about the PGA Tour is the game within the game - petty, though it may be.

(photo by Lon Horwedel)

Golf Gallery • Open Week - All eyes on Tiger and Phil

Phil Mickelson tees off at Oakland Hills C.C. in Bloomfield, Michigan, during the 2004 Ryder Cup. Oakland Hills last hosted the U.S. Open in 1996, won by Steve Jones. Mickelson has come close in several U.S. Opens, most notably in 1999 where he lost to the late Payne Stewart on the 18th hole when Stewart jarred a 15-footer to save par and beat Mickelson by a stroke, and in 2006 when he blew the Open with a double bogey on the last hole at Winged Foot. Toss in a near misses at Shinecock Hills and Bethpage Black and Mickelson has tasted stinging defeats in four of the last 10 opens. Will his return to Bethpage this week finally net Mickelson an Open trophy? We'll know by Sunday. (photo by Lon Horwedel)

Tiger has shown a flare for the dramatic and no amount of shutters clicking early seems to matter to Woods who will be looking for his second Open title at Bethpage Black this week, and his fourth overall, including last year's Hollywood ending at Torrey Pines where he beat Rocco Mediate on the 19th hole of a Monday playoff - all with a bum knee and a broken leg. Now fully healed, Tiger had a U.S. Open-worthy performance at The Memorial two weeks ago hitting all 14 fairways in the final round en route to his second win of the year. Will Sunday yield another major for Tiger? We'll know by Sunday...or maybe Monday if rain continues on Long Island. (photo by Lon Horwedel) 

Golf Gallery - U.S. Open week • Could be a wet one at Bethpage

The University of Michigan's Lion Kim walks through the rain on the first hole at Inverness during last month's NCAA Men's Golf Championships. Inverness last hosted the U.S. Open in 1979 when Hale Irwin hoisted the second of his three Open trophies. (photo by Lon Horwedel)

Golf Gallery - U.S. Open week - The Bridges of Inverness

The quartet of walking bridges that crisscross the Inverness Club in Toledo, OH., site of the 1979 U.S. Open won by Hale Irwin. It was Irwin's second of three Open Championships. (photo by Lon Horwedel)

Golf Gallery - Tiger's first Open, Oakland Hills, 1996

Tiger Woods, then an amateur, blasts out of a greenside bunker on the 14th hole at Oakland Hills Country Club during the 1996 U.S. Open. (Photo by Lon Horwedel)

Course Review - Radrick Farms, Ann Arbor

 Par-5, 490-yard, 5th hole at Radrick Farms.

There are some truly great golf courses in and around Ann Arbor, and Radrick Farms, off Geddes Road, certainly ranks as one of the best.

The problem, I suppose, is that only a very select minority of local golfers ever get a chance to play the jewel of a course. Owned and operated by the University of Michigan, unless you are a faculty or staff member (or know one) the best chance you have of getting on the course is to play in a GAM qualifier or some other tournament hosted by the course. But, if you are lucky enough to get a chance to play Radrick, you won't be disappointed.

Designed by famed architect Pete Dye, Radrick opened for play in 1965 (maybe that's why I like it so much, we were born the same year). It was Dye's first course design, or so the story goes, and you might say he came out of the gates swinging (although rumor has it that upon a revisit several years later, he didn't like the course much; he thought the greens were too severe). Of course most folks are their own worst critic, so I'd like to share my thoughts on Radrick and leave Pete out of it.

One of the coolest things about Radrick Farms is if you didn't know it was there, you would never know it was there. It is, without a doubt, the most secluded golf course in Washtenaw County, even more so than Barton Hills Country Club.

Sitting well back off Geddes Road, the entrance to Radrick easily could be missed in the blink of an eye. There are no large signs; no holes visible from the road; no gigantic clubhouse to make you do a double take, just a little sign on a stone wall that comes up on you so fast there's a good chance you may put your car up on two wheels as you negotiate the sharp turn into the driveway at a high rate of speed.

But oh what a driveway. It's kind of like a poor man's version of Magnolia Lane. A very long, tree-lined drive that takes you well away from Geddes Road; away from civilization - almost to another time. So much so, you half expect Bobby Jones to be waiting for you in the parking lot dressed in knickers, toting a bag full of old  hickories.

Before you even tee off, you realize this place is special. Except for the birds, it's a very quiet place. Even the gas-powered golf carts seem strangely silent. There is a "no playing through" at Radrick; a rule that seems a bit odd, but seems to work. Rather than wave faster groups through, slower players are told to pick up their balls and move to the next tee to keep things moving. Strange as it sounds, it seems to keep all the golfers civil.

As cool as the funky rules and the long entrance drive are, the course itself is also incredibly nice. Starting with the first hole, Dye's layout takes the golfer on a very well thought out route through the rolling country side. Despite being nearly 7,000 yards from the tips, Radrick is very feet friendly. Almost all the tees and greens are close together, making for a very efficient walking round, if you choose to go that route.

Radrick starts off with the longest (530-yards) but certainly not the toughest, par-5 on the course. And honestly, who doesn't like starting off their round with a relatively easy par-5?

But after getting you settled in, Dye throws a nasty one-two combination with holes No. 2 and No. 3. 

The second hole is a doozy of a dogleg left that can play really short, if you cut the dogleg, or really long, if you block it right or have a nasty slice. A fairway wood hit straight off the tee may be the smartest play, leaving you little more than a mid-iron into a severely sloping, elevated green.

If you're still standing after the first punch at No. 2., the third hole will try and finish you off with the 465-yard, dogleg left, par-4 that requires a blast of a tee shot just to have a clean shot into the green. A green that slopes just as much as N0. 2 but is twice as big. Just for good measure, there's a Sahara desert-sized bunker guarding the front left of the green. 

Once you drag yourself off the canvas, Radrick lets you breathe for a few holes with the fairly easy par-3, fourth, and the very short, risk-reward par-5, fifth hole. Probably the signature hole on the course, No. 5 requires only a straight tee ball to give the better golfer a fairly easy shot into the green setting up a possible eagle try. Of course, the problem is hitting that straight tee shot. With a very narrow landing area and plenty of trees to gobble up any eager beaver trying to cut the corner on the right, the fifth hole is a little tougher than it looks. The green itself takes up roughly two zip codes, so you better have a firm grasp on your yardage for your approach shot or you may need your caddy to set off a flare while tending the pin as you settle in for your two-day journey of a putt.

Just when you think you can get your round back on track, Radrick tosses another long par-4 your way, followed by what I think is the toughest par-3 on the course. At 213-yards, N0. 7 not only is long, but just plain hard. As if to offer an apology, Dye then gives you two extremely short par-4's in No.'s 8 and 9.

On the back nine, Dye gives the golfer more of the same, fairly easy holes followed by some fairly tough ones. But isn't that what a good golf course design is supposed to do? With Radrick, Dye has done just that. The course may beat you up a bit, but if you keep it in play, stay patient and keep the ball below the hole, it also gives you an opportunity to score.

The par-4, 13th, and the par-3, 15th, really stand out on the back as two of the better holes. Thirteen is another hole where you'd be better served leaving the driver in the bag. Even the 3-wood I hit the day I played, sailed through the fairway and wound up under a tree. It's a great hole that doglegs hard to the left from out of the middle of the woods. It looks like a hole from up north, in fact, it seems out of place compared to the rest of the course.

No. 15 is a great par-3 measuring somewhere between 171 and 183 yards depending on where you tee it up. From an elevated tee box several feet above the green, it looks as if a good throw could put the ball on the green, but just to spare your rotator cuff, and actually play the game by the rules, try picking two less clubs than what you think you should hit and swing away!

The final three holes at Radrick are solid, if not spectacular. Maybe that's the reason for all the fountains in the water hazards. I'm pretty sure they had nothing to do with Pete Dye, but who knows. Water fountains aside, No. 16 is another par-5 that's short on length (511 yards) but plenty tough nonetheless, thanks to narrow landing areas, water running down the entire left side, and... surprise!... a gigantic green.

No.'s 17 and 18 are a pair of back and forth par-4's that are medium in length, but not horribly difficult. No. 18 seems like it should be a N0. 13 or something. Not that it's a bad hole, it's just not a terribly exciting finishing hole. Bone straight, with a fairway that funnels almost all shots into the short grass, N0. 18 isn't long enough to be a killer, but it's no pushover either.

The green is very large, and sloped, just like all the others, only now you've been putting on those same greens for 17 holes, leaving you with the very real possibility of making a birdie if you play your cards right.

When you finish your round, you'll find that the 18th hole is in an odd location, as in, not exactly a stone's throw from either the clubhouse or the parking lot. No matter, the round itself should have been so fulfilling you'll be scheming some way to get back there again as soon as possible to do it all over.

Just remember this one tidbit of information as you leave the course and drive that long driveway back to civilization: Geddes Road is at the end of that drive, and there are cars driving by on Geddes Road; sometimes lots of cars; usually very fast. But they haven't just finished playing golf at one of the most relaxing places in Ann Arbor, so be careful as you pull out into the real world again, or you might just end up having your front bumper ripped off by a passing motorist who cares little or nothing about golf, or how great a round you just had.

Golf Gallery: Flag Day - 7th hole, Huron Hills Golf Course, Ann Arbor

Changing the pin location on the 7th hole at Huron Hills in Ann Arbor. Happy Flag Day!

Golf Gallery - Foursome from Canada, 16th hole at The Majestic in Hartland, Michigan

Hey...fellas, do you mind if I play through?

Golf Gallery - Polo Fields C.C., Ann Arbor

Par-3, 12th hole at Polo Fields C.C. in Ann Arbor, MI.

Golf Gallery -Pecan Valley, San Antonio, Texas

Early morning on the 9th hole at Pecan Valley in San Antonio, Texas, site of the 1968 PGA Championship won by Julius Boros over Arnold Palmer and Bob Charles.

I've decided to start a new feature I'm calling "Golf Gallery." 

Since I've spent more than half my life as a photographer, and even more than that as a golfer, I figured it made perfect sense to combine my two passions and post a golf-related photograph every day, starting today.

Prints of all the photographs posted are copyright of Lon Horwedel. If you would like to purchase an 8 x 10 color print of the posted photograph, contact me at lonlostboy@yahoo.com.

 

The price for each print is $25 which includes shipping.

The photographs also are available for commercial use, where it applies. Contact the same e-mail address posted above for information on commercial usage.  

Golfing with a true warrior

Brent Newhouse, founder of WeekendWarriorGolfer.com, tries to figure out if he's pulled the right stick on the 171-yard, par-3, 15th hole at Radrick Farms, Wednesday, June 3rd.

Life can be screwy. You do everything you're supposed to: go to college, get a job, get married, buy a house, start a family and settle in for what you hope will be a long, healthy, and somewhat prosperous life and then, with little, or nor regard for your future plans, it comes crashing down on your head.

 

Because of the dour economy that is ripping the guts out of our country right now and absolutely crushing the state of Michigan, that story line is all too familiar for a lot of us - me included. Yes, I'll be on the bread line come July 23rd when the Ann Arbor News closes for good after 174-years in the business.

Without knowing it, the same story line played out in symmetrical fashion across town for Brent Newhouse, a fellow golf enthusiast, who had to come to grips with losing his job last June at Pfizer where he worked several years as a supervisor in operations.

What to do? Certainly it's a question that I, Brent, or anyone else who ever lost their job has to ask. For Brent, the answer was not going to be move to Connecticut where a lot of the Pfizer employees were relocated. Still, with a wife and a 2-year-old, he had to do something, but what?

The what turned out to be WeekendWarriorGolfer.com, a new website founded by Newhouse that launched earlier this year. The site is aimed at the "regular guy" golfer looking to play a course that offers both enjoyment and value. Newhouse can relate, because he feels like he's that "regular guy."

Brent and I got together Wednesday morning (June 3rd) at Radrick Farms in Ann Arbor to play 18 and talk about everything from the economy, to courses we love, to his decision to stay in Michigan and gut it out.

We had a great time playing one of my, and his, favorite courses (a review on Radrick to follow) but we had an equally great time just being outdoors, strolling a quality chunk of real estate, enjoying what I would call a perfect day for walking a golf course.

In fact, one of the first things Newhouse told me was how much weight he's lost since getting out from behind a desk to start his new venture of playing and reviewing golf courses. 

For some, it may sound like a cake job, but when you take into consideration the fact that Newhouse not only plays the course, but also has to write, take pictures, sell advertising (which can be a tricky proposition so as not to look as if the review has been bought and paid for) and put it all together in a user-friendly package, well; it's not as easy as it looks.

Still, Newhouse wouldn't have it any other way. His loss of employment has opened up a world where he can chase a dream. A pursuit, he says, made all the easier by a wife who not only supports his new venture, but also encourages him to follow his dream on a daily basis.

Launched in January, the site focuses mainly on courses in Michgan, but also includes other gems that Newhouse has played, like Pebble Beach and Whistling Straits in Wisconsin. It's important to Newhouse to try and tell it like it is when he reviews a course. He wants golfers to know what a course is really like - and not just the golf part, but the whole deal. From the parking lot, to the pro shop counter, to the beer you might drink at the 19th hole, Newhouse wants you to know not only how badly a long, double dogleg par-5 is going to kick your butt, but also if the guy behind the counter was a jerk, or if the hot dog at the turn was the best you ever had. And since he's working for himself, he'll give it to you straight, regardless of the cost of the course, its ranking, or its reputation. 

He does this with a course rating system called the Five F's: as in Fee, Friendliness, Fringe (amenities) From First Tee to Handshake Factor, and Fun. The site also features product reviews, contests forums and feature articles.

But why go from a high paying gig at Pfizer, to the relatively unstable world of the web? "People think it always has to be about money," Newhouse said, "but I'm a hundred times happier now than I was then... I was miserable as hell sitting behind a desk all day."

Before the day was done, Newhouse and I extolled on why we love golf so much and it dawned on me that many folks enjoy the game for the very same reasons we do. Yeah, there's the camaraderie, but Newhouse also enjoys the feeling in you get in your hands from a well-struck iron, or the joy you feel when you peel off your golf shoes at the trunk of your car after walking 18, and slip back into something -anything - that's more comfortable.

He wants golfers, and more importantly local Michigan golfers, to know that despite the horrid situation we've been plunged into economically, don't give up the golf. Instead, embrace the golf, make golf be your escape. Save your money wisely, but don't forget to get outside and be human - breathe a little - hit the ball; walk; walk some more, then hit it again.

Brent Newhouse is most likely a golfer just like you- a weekend warrior. He doesn't pretend to be anything more than that, but he gets it, he really does, and he wants you to get it to.