USGA long-putter debate will be anchored in controversy

There was a time when I would have applauded the recent news that the USGA will take a look at whether to continue allowing golfers to anchor putters against their bodies. When long putters first started gaining popularity 20 or more years ago, I thought they violated the spirit of the game. If Sam Snead wasn’t allowed to putt croquet-style in the ’60s, how could golfers be allowed to use long putters, which were a much greater departure? At the time, I thought long putters slipped in while the keepers of the game were embroiled in their initial grooves squabble with the Ping irons makers. That was a revolutionary time in golf equipment. Not only were perimeter-weighted fancy-g... Full Story
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Courses and Travel
Fyre Lake: A heartland course with a lot of heart

 

It takes bold thinking to debut an upscale new golf course and housing development in this economic climate—even if it is a splendid Jack Nicklaus layout. That’s especially true if the course is in the Midwestern heartland, a healthy plane ride from year-round go Full Story

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Golf
Swimming against the GPS golf tide

  I know I’m going to eat these words sometime soon.  So I want to put them out there now, before it’s time to retract them.As we head into the 2012 golf season, I’m among a vanishing breed. I am one of the last dedicated golfers who play golf happily without a GPS.My Full Story

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Travel
Relax. . . you’re on the Italian Riviera

 

  SANTA MARGHERITA, Italy — We took the morning train from Rome up the Mediterranean coast, arriving by noon in this quaint Italian Riviera resort. I’ve always wanted to write a sentence like that. And it lived as good as it reads. Although Portofin Full Story