Europe Has Us Beat

Every two years there is this competition between the United States and Europe. This contest is called the Ryder Cup. It all started way back when in 1927, with just the US and Great Britain. It slowly changed over the years and it extended to all of Europe instead of just Great Britain. Anyways, these past few Ryder Cups haven't been in the Untied States favor. In the past ten Ryder Cup's Europe has won eight of them. With winning this years cup put them in a three year win streak. To some people that don't really care about golf probably don't see what the point in this is, but to me and to all the other fans out there its awful. Especially this last cup was pretty embarrassing to be honest. They just got they ass's handed to them losing 16 1/2 to 11 1/2 points.

But that score wasn't as bad as the 04 and 06 Ryder Cup's losing both years with the score        9 1/2 to 18 1/2. The one in 2004 was actually held here in Michigan at the Oakland Hills CC. Surprisingly though we are still winning with the record of 25-12-2. In the very beginning when the Ryder Cup was created America was dominate. From the beginning 1927 all the way to 1983 Europe only won three and tied one. But then again the Europe team back then only consisted of Great Britain and Ireland. Once they extended the team to all of Europe it completely switched on us.

Mainly golf is just an individual sport, but during the Ryder Cup that is not the case. The captain of each team has to plan and match players who they would think would play well with each other. There are different types of play at the cup. There is Fourball, Foursomes and then Singles. In Fourball and Foursomes two teammates are paired with each other and go ahead against two other on the opposing team. It may seem like it would be easy to just throw players in wherever but there is some strategy to it all. It all depends on how everyone plays and their own style of play. Every single person on the team are really great and are on the team for a reason but there are a few that standout and those players will most likely play the same type on the opposite side. The weekend overall is really exciting to watch. The next Ryder Cup is back here in the US in Minnesota. I really would like to go and I'm going to try to. I'm just going to have to wait and see.

Course Bucket List Part 2

 

So last week I talked about the golf courses I would like to play at in Michigan. That list is pretty realistic for me. Well, more realistic than my list of courses across the nation and world. There are so many amazing courses out there in the world. My list mainly consist of courses in the US, but I do have one outside of the country that I just dream of going to.

 One of those is St Andrews Old Course. It is the oldest and probably one of the or the most prestigious golf course in the world. My life would probably be complete if I played there. The bridge right there in the picture to the right is well known across globe to every golfer. Its called the Swilcan Bridge and every golfer walks across this 700 year old bridge on the 18th hole to close the round off. This course has been around since 1400 they say. Its history and its a public course so I could play it whenever I take my spontaneous trips to Scotland. Ha jk..

Now the one that I have on my list for in the US are probably the most well known ones in the country. Augusta National is located in Augusta, Georgia and is one of the most famous courses in the nation and world. In 2009 it was ranked the number one golf course in America out of a hundred. It still remains in the top ten to this day. It opened up in 1933 and to me it is by far one of the best looking courses I have ever saw..on the computer and on TV that is. It is home to one of the major championships in the PGA, The Masters. It's been host to The Masters since 1934 and it won't ever change. Other than St Andrews this course is my second course I dream of going to. The only about this course is that it would probably be the hardest to ever play at. Since it's a private course, only members can play on it and to become a member you would have to pay a lot of money.  The picture below is one of the iconic holes on the course called Amen Corner. 

Course Bucket List Part 1

Everyone has a bucket list and want to accomplish things before they die. I have one too, well I have a few aimed in different categories. For the golfing aspect, I have a course bucket list. It is what it sounds like. I have quite the list of golf courses I want to play at before I die. I find this list to be challenging because not only are the courses extremely expensive, but not all of them are open to public. So i do have a few bumps in the road. The list is at least categorized by state and country. Believe it or not Michigan is home to a few very nice courses that are well known.
Starting with the number one golf course in Michigan. Crystal Downs (picture above) is in Frankfort. The course sits right between Lake Michigan and Crystal Lake. So you get a view of both lakes during your round of golf. It was ranked tenth in the United States for best golf courses by Golf Digest. Which makes me want to play it even more. But a downfall of the course is that it's a private course. So it would be extremely hard for me to at least touch the practice greens. Next up is the course that I've been practically drooling over for years now. Arcadia Bluffs,(picture below) located right on Lake Michigan in Arcadia. This course has had me in awe ever since I saw it in a golf magazine. It is ranked 3rd in Michigan according to Golf Digest. Just looking at pictures of it shows how beautiful the course is. I couldn't imagine what it actually looks like in real life. Good thing about this course is that it is a public course and I could go there whenever I wanted. I just need to save around $150 and I can play all eighteen. The reason why its so expensive is because the course is one of the best in the U.S. as well. It was rated one of the best public courses in the U.S. at 10th and ranked 24th for the best courses in the country. I am going to golf there one day, way way in the future. First, I need to have that money to blow on one round of golf, but most important I need to improve my golf game. Quite frankly, I suck a tad bit to much to be golfing there just yet.

My Clubs

When I started golfing every week I was using some old used clubs that used to be dad's. I still have them to this day in my closet. They have a new role now. Kill every spider that crawls in my room or in the entire house. But anyways, I used those Spaulding Irons for like one year until I couldn't take them anymore. Along with my irons I also had an old Ping driver that my uncle gave me. The irons truly sucked way to much so I saved up some money and bought me a completely new iron set. I did my research and tried to find the best set for the cheapest amount. It really didn't go very well. I came to the conclusion that golf clubs aren't cheap, so I gave in and just bought a brand that I have heard of before. Adam's golf was the brand that I bought and when I bought them I felt like a little kid on Christmas morning. I was beyond happy with them and I broke them in the following day at the Reese golf course. I wasn't happy with them the first day, in fact I was actually beyond pissed off about them. I could't hit the ball straight with my life depended on it. But, I just had to get used to them because after a few times using them I was hitting the ball better than every.

My Ping driver was the next thing to go. It just had no more juice left in it and it wouldn't go far at all. So for Christmas one year I got a new TaylorMade Burner driver. By far the best present I have ever got. I didn't care how cold it was outside that day I went out there and hit a few just to see how it felt. The ball made a nice ping noise right when it came off the club head. That driver was my new baby and I didn't let anything happen to it. All that was three years ago and I have worn out my driver. It's now a dead driver and it doesn't nearly go as far. It's sad to think that but I need to invest in a new one. My irons are due up for a next set as well. They just don't cut it anymore and I a new set. my dream set is a titleist set. I've seen the new MB Irons and I would love to have them, but they are the most expensive irons out there and are mainly used by the pro's. Being truly honest, I am no where near a pro status. So having a set of those is just a dream.