Continuing with our Top 10 here are numbers 6 - 10.
6. The Masters Tournament. For me it is the Number 1 Major. Played each year since 1934 at Augusta National nothing will ever signal the opening of the golf season like The Masters. There are many vocal critics of the golf course, saying it's over manicured, too green, too long, just too much! I have had the good fortune to play Augusta on a number of occasions and in my opinion it is still the best golf experience in the world, bar none.
And none of the critics harping on matters come week 2 of April. The par 3 tournament featuring past champions and then 4 days of top drawer golf follow around Bobby Jones' place. The green jacket, the awkward closing ceremony in Butler Cabin, the schmaltzy music, Jim Nantz's "Hello Friends", CBS's coverage featuring actual golf (rather than ED drug ads) and a truly great golf course. It's the Masters.
7. Golf Literature. There are some great books written about the game of golf. History books, instructional books, architecture books, psychology books, business books, biographies. (we'll follow up some time with our favorite golf book list) Golf lends itself well to be written about - a simple, yet incredibly complex game played for centuries all around the world by all ages. My favorite golf book is Golf in the Kingdom by Michael Murphy - enough of a favorite to name the company after one of Murphy's characters, Seamus MacDuff.
8. Caddyshack. "Gunga la gunga", "so I've got that going for me, which is nice", "Spalding!", "looks good on you though", "pool and a pond...pond would be good for you"....stop, stop, we could go on for the rest of the blog just dropping memorable lines from the one, the only golf movie. Is there a real golfer out there who hasn't done their Bill Murray impression of caddying for the Dalai Lama? I even have Al Czervik's brazen entry with car horn blarring across the tee to Bushwood in his red Rolls Royce as my ringtone - you know the one!
It's golfs Citizen Kane and essential viewing every 6 months. "Be the ball Danny"!
9. Lists. Can you name the Top 10 tennis courts or soccer pitches in the world. No, not the stadium, the pitch! Doesn't really work does it. But with the game of golf arguments about the best hole, course, resort, public course, private course play out each and every day. The Golf Magazines are at the forefront with their Top 100 lists and the bi-annual architectural articles create endless comments and equal scorn. ( I should declare that I am on the panel for one of the Magazines, but am simply a lone voice amongst many)
The lists are great fun - simply that. They are a great way to list great courses on 2 pages and hopefully sell some magazines. No one course is really the winner, there are many great courses in the world and each of us has a preference for one over the other. There is no "Best Course in the World". The best is purely a personal preference. If pushed I would list Cypress Point at the top of my pile, but I'll also tell you I have 11 in my Top 10 confirming that I am tad confused. You can see my list at the bottom right hand side of the Blog.
10. The Icons. Arnie, Jack, Bobby, Lee, Ben, Byron, Tom, Sam, (yes, Tiger too!). Who did I miss?
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