Women's Western Amateur underway at Lancaster Country Club

The Women’s Western Amateur rolled into Lancaster Country Club Monday for the first of a six-day stay with Emily McLennan, a rising junior at the University of Tennessee – Chattanooga and Eunice Yi, a rising sophomore at Georgia Regents University posting dual 1-under par 71s to top the leaderboard on the first of two qualifying days.

     McLennan and Yi were the only two players in the field of 144 to finish under par on the 6,201-yard lauded William Flynn design. That’s surely an indication of what type of test Lancaster CC will provide one year from now when it hosts the U.S. Women’s Open.

     McLennan, the reigning Tennessee Women’s Amateur, Southern Conference champion and a native of Queensland, Australia and Yi, from Evans, Ga. will attempt to secure medalist honors as the top qualifier among 64 who will enter the championship flight of match play, which begins on Wednesday.

     Nineteen players from Pennsylvania are in the field at the Women’s Western, eclipsed only by the U.S. Amateur in status among women’s national amateur events, including Shannon Gramley of Sharon, Pa. and Shady Side Academy, who posted a 1-over 73 Monday.

     Other Pennsylvania residents include Erica Herr, a recent Council Rock High North graduate and New Hope resident bound for Wake Forest University in the fall. Herr opened with a 4-over 74. Herr’s younger sister, Madelein, shot 88. Allison Cooper of Harrisburg also shot 74. Ashley Cassidy (79) of Doylestown, Emily Gimpel (79) of Lafayette Hill, Kate Granahan (80) of Allentown, Amanda Ploener (80) of Chadds Ford and Aurora Kan (83) of Boothwyn will battle for spots in the 64-player championship field Tuesday.

     The Women’s Western Amateur, held continuously since 1901 and featuring former champions Patty Berg, JoAnne Carner, Nancy Lopez, Beth Daniel, Cristie Kerr and Stacy Lewis is free and open to the public. Check out www.wwga.org for complete scoring and more info.

Nate Oxman

Editor

PhillyGolfFiles.com

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Remember…Bobby Jones was a Professional

Masters week is an appropriate time to remember tournament founder Bobby Jones, who dominated his era as no one has ever done and there are a bushel of numbers to illustrate the point. Numbers such as Jones’ winning the four majors in 1930, the Grand Slam of the U.S. Open, British Open, U.S. Amateur and British Amateur.

His record shows from when he won his first U.S. Open title in 1923 through his 1930 U.S. Amateur win he played in 20 major championships and won 13 times.

Let that sink in for a moment…playing as an amateur against professionals of the caliber of Gene Sarazen and Walter Hagen he won 65 percent of the time.

And then he quit. He had climbed his personal Everest and the only direction he could go from there was down.

Besides he was tired, worn out from the strain of playing at such a high level as well as from the travel which in the 1920s was arduous, many days and nights on trains or steamships.

There also was another important factor in his decision, Jones needed money. He was not independently wealthy and while an amateur he couldn’t play for pay. He had to generate an income from his fledgling law practice and other ventures to support his wife and children.

Therefore, a month and a half after winning the U.S. Amateur for the last time he sent a letter to the USGA announcing his retirement from championship golf and renouncing his amateur status.

As a professional Jones most certainly could have commanded huge fees for exhibitions just as Walter Hagen was doing or he could have played for prize money on what passed for a professional tour in the Depression years of the 1930s. But reflecting the times any money he won would have paled in comparison to the potential exhibition income.

So he did neither. Jones sent the letter because he knew the USGA rules strictly defined what constituted being an amateur and he was planning to make money from ventures related to golf so he would have been in violation. This in spite an earlier ruling by the USGA that money Jones received for a column appearing in several hundred newspapers did not somehow violate his amateur status. Inconsistent to be sure but probably more a reflection of the prevalent opinion a journalist was above the common drudgery of earning money from the game in contrast with lowly professionals.

And Jones was not about to sell his endorsement of some product just for the sake of making money. In fact his best known project wasn’t an endorsement deal at all but an immensely popular series of one-reel instructional films shown in movie theaters entitled “How I Play Golf.” Even today these films are worth watching, filled with information about the golf swing though Jones disliked what he called the “corny” story lines transparently centered on him giving lessons to movie stars.

His most profitable venture was getting into the club business and he became intimately involved with the design of the club line bearing his name manufactured by A.G. Spaulding Company. Interestingly the fact Jones autograph-model clubs had steel shafts was a major factor in sealing the demise of hickory shafts…”If Bobby says steel is OK, it must be.”

So the bottom line is according to the Rules of Golf Bobby Jones, the greatest amateur golfer of all time, was not allowed to be an amateur any longer.

Images courtesy of the USGA.

Standard bearers for the 1930 U.S. Amateur at Merion Golf Club.

Arch rivals and great friends Gene Sarazen and Bobby Jones.

Bobby Jones in 1936 after his competitive career was over.

Drawing of Jones in 1929 before the Grand Slam

ED TRAVIS | Golf Opinion & Commentary

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Duo Cart

By ED TRAVIS

Alphard Golf based in Hong Kong has been making pushcarts for almost 15 years but chances are you haven’t heard of them because they were making them for other companies in the pushcart business. That’s changed with the introduction of their Duo Cart and this is one you should take a serious look at if thinking about purchasing a new “trolley.”

The Duo Cart is both a golf bag and a pushcart with four wheels that fold up compactly in two simple steps to go into a car trunk. How compact? It’s the same size as a cart bag. When folded the dimensions are 13” wide by 46” high by 18½” deep. Also as you can see from the pictures the wheels are nice and large so rough terrain is no problem—this cart is very stable. And should you need it, the squeeze operating brake is on the handle.

The bag is made of durable material with a 9½″ top, 14 club dividers and nine pockets, one being velour lined for watch and wallet and another a really roomy apparel pocket running the entire length of the bag.

Lots of very nice touches are standard in the Duo Golf Cart such as a 6-drink cooler pocket with a drain in the bottom and a handle that’s adjustable for height and angle plus there are accessories such as an umbrella clip and drink holder. Alphard tells me a GPS holder and cart seat will soon be available.

However, I’ve saved what I think is the best feature of the Duo Golf Cart for last. The wheels pop off in about 10 seconds converting it into a cart bag so you can walk or ride as the situation requires.

For now the Duo Cart gives you a choice of three colors, black, red or navy those more colors should be on the market soon. The price is a value as well at $279.95 on AlphardGolf.com.

ED TRAVIS | Golf News & Opinion

Golf Illustrated

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Tight Lies - An Icon Returns

Tight Lies – An Icon Returns

By ED TRAVIS

Adams Golf not only resurrected the name Tight Lies from two decades ago but has also updated the design of the fairway that made their reputation and became one of the most popular fairways ever. Many of the features that made the originalTight Lies the choice of recreational and professional players have been retained but with the addition of the crown and sole slots pioneered by Adams.

"In the ever-present pursuit of maximum distance, today's fairway woods have become mini-drivers - extremely difficult to hit from anywhere other than from a tee," said Justin Honea, Director of R&D. "The low profile design places the center of gravity (CG) below the CG of the ball, making it easy to hit the ball in the air. The unique tri-sole design makes it easy to hit from a multitude of challenging lies and then we added a refined Cut-Thru Slot design so this new Tight Lies is twice as hot as the original. It's the perfect blend of playability and performance."

Adams thinks the new Tight Lies will be as revolutionary as was the original giving players the club that will get the ball out of virtually any lie and become the go-to club on par-5s and long par-4s. The new Tight Lies will be launched initially as a 16 degree 3-wood with other loft options available later.

According to 8-time major champion and Adams Golf staffer Tom Watson, "With the new Tight Lies, we've got a 3-wood that you can control, you can hit it out of bad lies. The most important thing for me is to know how far the ball is going to go, and with the new technology, here with Tight Lies, we can hit it where we want it to go and that's what you want in a golf club. Man, that's all I want."

In addition to the refined Cut-Thru Slots of the new version a hallmark of the original Tight Lies was the low-profile, upside-down design and it is back. This allows for a very low CG - below the CG of the golf ball, making it extremely easy to hit the ball in the air so golfers will see at once how easy it is to make solid contact from even “challenging lies.”

Adams also used the original Tight Lies tri-sole to reduce interaction with turf and help shots from the fairway, rough, sand - even tight or bare lies.

Tight Lies fairway woods will come standard with the Bassara Eagle graphite shaft by Mitsubishi Rayon. Tight Lies Tour willfeature the Aldila Tour Blue shaft. The Men's Tight Lies and Tight Lies Tour models will feature a matte black finish, while the Women's model will feature a matte grey crown. All models will include the familiar white half stripes low on the shaft that were also featured on the original. Tight Lies fairway woods will ship mid-August and will have a retail price of $199.99, and $229.99 for the Tight Lies Tour.

Photos courtesy Adams Golf

ED TRAVIS | Golf News & Opinion

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