While 01.01.10 can’t get here fast enough for many inside golfdom, 2009 gave us plenty to enjoy. Among the highlights:
-Automatic upgrades
-Window seats (because the economy is killing automatic upgrades)
-In-N-Out Burger (other than a round at Cypress Point or Torrey Pines’ North Course, it’s the best reason we can think of to be in California)
-Ballentine’s (Solana Beach, Calif., watering hole with a postcard view of Del Mar Race Track and the world’s best fish tacos)
-Breakfast on the veranda at Augusta National
-The road less traveled (which led to the hidden Scottish gems Shiskine Golf and Tennis Club and Dunaverty Golf Club)
-Starbucks
-Match Play Wednesday (best “hump day” of the year, official money division)
-Masters Wednesday (best “hump day,” unofficial money division)
-Heritage Monday (after the tension that is Magnolia Lane, Harbour Town is a welcome respite for players and press)
-Transitions Championship Tuesday (after the muddy mess at Bathpage, TPC River Highlands was a paid vacation)
-BMW Championship (because Chicago may have the greatest concentration of quality golf on the planet)
-Ford Focus rental cars (the Sync option combined with an iPod makes any drive bearable)
-ShotLink (enough numbers to feed the inner-baseball junkie in all of us)
-BBC Radio at the Open Championship (the only place you will ever hear this exchange – commentator No. 1 “Monty is putting on a sweater, is it getting cold out there?” commentator No. 2 “No, he’s just a wussy.”)
-Automatic presses
-PGA Tour Q-School (the most emotional week of the year comes without a cover charge)
-Courses that allow walking
-Non-conforming grooves (because the game is still hard for most of us)
-U.S. Golf Association senior director of rules and competition Mike Davis (because only Davis could have found a silver lining at Bethpage)
-Short-game practice areas (because it’s the best place for most amateurs to save two strokes a side)
-Four-hole playoffs (because if Lucas Glover stumbles at the 72nd hole at Bethpage we could still be there trying to crown a champion)
-Wednesday press conference at Memorial with Jack Nicklaus
Happy holidays.