Best and Worst
WHEN THE REAL Tour events stop, so do I, but before signing off for the season, I wanted to share my list of the best and worst of golf.
Best View
The nude beach below the cliffs along the 4th hole at Torrey Pines.
Sweetest Course
Interlachen, a Donald Ross masterpiece near Minneapolis, is as well manicured as Augusta and presents tantalizing options on every shot.
Most Overrated Course
Pebble Beach has four great holes, but the rest are only decent holes that are embellished by the ocean views.
Best Locker Room
The gargantuan showerheads at Westchester make you feel as if you're standing in the rain, and the big green bars of soap smell so good that I like to "borrow" five of them whenever I visit.
Best Hole
The 17th at Sawgrass is the only hole that pros and caddies start thinking about the week before they get to the tournament.
Comfiest Course
I love to relax in the 10-foot Jacuzzi in the locker room at Las Colinas.
Hole the Tour Could Do Without
The flat, straight and boring 500yard par-5 8th at Indian Wells is a giveaway birdie that does nothing more than get players from the 7th green to the 9th tee.
Hidden Gem
The Honors Course outside Chattanooga, Tenn., is the best course that has never hosted a Tour event.
Most Intimidating Drive
Crush a high power fade on the 465yard, par-4 6th hole at Innisbrook or your ball will carom left off the severely sloped fairway into rough so thick that pros are happy to advance the next shot 100 yards.
Bunker from Hell
During the PGA Championship many pros took two--or more--shots to get out of the cavernous trap that sits 30 feet below and to the left of the green on the par-3 17th at Whistling Straits.
*For 28 years--since May with his golden retriever, Woody--Gorjus George has drawn the yardage books that the pros use.
COLOR PHOTO
DAVID WALBERG (LUCAS, HARRINGTON)
COLOR PHOTO
GARY NEWKIRK/GETTY IMAGES (PEBBLE BEACH)
Pebble, overrated?
COLOR PHOTO
DIGITAL VISION/GETTY IMAGES (SHOWER)
Best rinse
COLOR PHOTO
MARK COWAN/ICON SMI (WHISTLING STRAITS)
Baddest bunker