Senior PGA 2010

Thanks for tuning in to my blog this week.  The Senior PGA Championship was an experience of a lifetime with all the scenic views and vistas.  Ben Crenshaw and Bill Coore designed a wonderful intricate golf course that everyone should play, because there aren’t many courses in the high desert of Colorado that have the varied challenges that The Colorado Golf Club puts a player through.   Drops in elevation with the brisk wind makes for challenging club selection, along with the bunkering that is very deep, penal, and well placed lends itself to many interesting and unusual shots.  Sunday I took an unplayable lie in a greenside bunker, which is the only one I’ve had in four or five years. This gives you an idea of how difficult the conditions are around the course. All in all, I enjoyed playing the course because it felt like a links seaside course, therefore, I think it will be an even greater test in the future as the course matures, and Crenshaw-Coore work out all the subtle nuances that can only be tested through many years of competition. 

Sunday I was fortunate to play with David Frost who hasn’t lost his short game.  He holed a long bunker shot, chipped in from forty yards, and got it up and down from the front and sides of many greens. The most memorable chip shot was on 18 in which he needed to get up and down to make the play off.  I asked him about it with a compliment, he stated that, “I had to use my 60 degree wedge to get the ball to stop.” The shot looked too hard but grabbed midway and slowed to about two feet of the hole.  David was stupendous with his short game, but this is when you are tested the most, and he came through very well under the pressure.  Early in the day, after running a beautiful chip just up to the cup from about 60 feet, I joked,  that shot was just average for his game, he just laughed, but knew he had hit a great chip.  He told me as we were signing our cards at the end of the round, “if I didn’t have a short game I would be a carpenter somewhere.”  I told him the world is in proper order with all the stars aligned with his game in great shape because he is so much fun to watch.  We had a wonderful time.  He mentioned to me that if I had made three more putts I would have won the event. Also, David offered me some advice to drop my putts in the front of the cup with slower speed would help me do just that and  hole more putts.  I mentioned that Seve Ballesteros had told me that once before, along with Scott Hoch, which prompted David to tell me that he learned how important speed is from Seve when they played a lot together early in their careers in Europe.  So when you get a chance, watch David a master at work around the greens.