Ever wonder what golf would be like if the hole was bigger? A lot bigger?? Check out Coca-cola Family Course in Northern Germany about 1.5 hours from Berlin. This one-of-a-kind approach to golf is at the SAS Radisson Fleesensee, a remarkable resort complex complete with everything from spas to ziplines to petting zoos (they have this bunny there that is so big I think it’s the offspring of a rabbit mating with a bear). The resort is great for families. It’s the kind of place where you could sneak away from your kids all day for golf and they wouldn’t ...

Even if Tiger Woods wasn’t crazy about the par-5 18th hole at Torrey Pines as a U.S. Open finishing hole before the tournament, there is no denying it’s the hole that won him his 14th major. It was also a key element as to why this year’s Open will be celebrated for years to come. The 18th at the newly built Twenty Ten Course at Celtic Manor in Wales, host of Europe’s next Ryder Cup Matches, is of similar breed. It’s a par 5 with numerous tee options, playing straight away to a green guarded in front by water. The only difference ...

24 hours later, I’m still digesting this U.S. Open classic… -Has anyone else watched the replay of Rocco Mediate’s tee shot on the par-3 3rd hole? I slow-mo’d it about ten times on my HD. The ball seems headed straight into the hole, until it rolled over some little piece of dirt - maybe it was from his pitch mark, maybe it was a speckle of goose poop. Whatever it was, it sent the ball off-line just enough to skirt right. That really should have been a hole-in-one. It probably wouldn’t have changed the inevitable outcome, but it would have made ...

After a captivating U.S. Open week at Torrey Pines, two things are certain: That was the most entertaining golf tournament I’ve ever watched (though I’m not going way of the horribly overused “greatest ever” label that the media and even you, the feeble readership, fall victim to too often in our instant gratification culture - as if any of us not around in the 1950s, or 1913 for the Francis Ouimet upset could accurately determine that). And the other: Rocco is Ryder worthy. Even after his runner-up finish and 6th place at Memorial, Mediate won’t be in the standings’ ...

What was originally billed as the Tiger vs. Phil Open has blossomed into something beyond our wildest imagination. I can already envision myself, grizzled old man on the porch, telling my grandkids the match of Tiger and Rocco at Torrey Pines. The game of golf couldn’t have asked for a better weekend of action. This isn’t David Vs. Goliath. This is the Terminator versus Rodney Dangerfield. Tomorrow, Rocco gets his wish. He will tee it off against the Alpha Male after playing ahead of him today. He is already smack-talking Woods in public call-outs in the media room. I hope ...

On the Golf Channel tonight, Phil Mickelson’s short game guru Dave Pelz is answering question after question about Phil Mickelson’s controversial strategy to leave driver out of the bag on day one of the U.S. Open - and what seems like any dry day at Torrey Pines this week. But I want to know what Butch Harmon is thinking. Mickelson went to Harmon shortly after his Winged Foot debacle, mostly for the celebrity teacher’s genius in shoring up the tee ball. Mickelson has had some success with Harmon but has also been hampered by injuries over the last year, so ...

I may not know how Phil Mickelson still has a full head of hair, or how a Detroit-area native like WorldGolf.com’s Chris Baldwin could hate hockey so much. But I do know how to calculate the winning score of major tournaments. Excerpt from my blog during Friday’s action at this year’s Masters: I am now introducing a new and simple mathematical formula that will predict the final score of the winner. Take whatever grim number the players are predicting and drop five shots. In this case, we’ll use O’Meara as the whistle-blower. Given his “3-under” prediction, I am calling a ...

I’m not sure if Tiger Woods is the fittest athlete like some magazines suggest, but at least he’s not an attention-milking drama queen like the Boston Celtics’ Paul Pierce and most other NBA players. As much as the NBA got its Celtics-Lakers “dream series", it’s becoming apparent the league is less of a sport and more of a sideshow, full of crybaby players and coaches. Tonight at game three, I suggest playing the “Rasheed Wallace” drinking game: take a drink every time a player makes an outburst after a foul is called (and reserve a bed in detox tonight in ...

The Ryder Cup’s most memorable moment of the last decade - on the Yanks side at least - is courtesy of Justin Leonard’s miraculous putt to clinch the 1999 win at Brookline. That was Leonard’s last Ryder Cup appearance and the U.S. haven’t come close to winning the cup since. Coincidence? Yeah, probably. But Leonard’s win at St. Jude’s should catapult him into at least the Top 10 standings for the U.S. Ryder Cup team. He’s played solid golf over the last year and a half and has contended in some big time tournaments. I don’t expect him to do ...

Next week’s U.S. Open is already getting plenty of buzz, thanks in part to the announced pairings in the opening rounds. The world’s top three golfers will play together: Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Adam Scott. And the hype is already all over the sports media, just as I’m sure the USGA intended. The LPGA could have one-upped them Sunday, and they didn’t even have to intervene and create a new pairings rule. All they had to do was let nature take its course and Annika Sorenstam and Lorena Ochoa would square off in a mighty duel in the final ...

Tiger Woods can rip hockey and follow the L.A. Dodgers and his boy Roger Federer all he wants, when he comes to metro Detroit later this year for the PGA Championship, he’ll be playing in Hockeytown, thanks to the Red Wings’ Stanley Cup victory Wednesday. Oakland Hills north of Detroit was supposed to be the venue where Tiger Woods went after the grand slam. After faltering at Augusta and undergoing knee surgery, it’s looking more likely he’ll come to the Detroit looking for his first major of the year. Few places in the world are as fanatical about golf ...

Sports Illustrated has just released its Top 50 richest U.S. athletes for 2007. Topping the list are two golfers: Tiger Woods and Michelle Wie. Wait a second, just kidding. It’s Tiger and Phil Mickelson. Tiger dwarfs over everyone on the list with nearly $128 million earned last year, including over $100 million in endorsements alone. Analysts estimate Woods is about two years away from becoming the first ever billionaire athlete. At second, Mickelson makes less than half of what Woods does at $62 million, $53 million of which comes from endorsements. There are four NBA players in ...

Bloomberg is reporting that airlines are discussing charging passengers by weight. Just when you thought airlines couldn’t get any more impersonal, it turns out they really do view you like a piece of meat. I’m a little biased as a short guy who only eats when imminent survival is on the line, but unlike the golfer-hating new standard of charging for a second checked bag, I’m in favor of this charge. It will be another incentive for the most overweight and gluttonous nation in the world to hold back on the McNuggets. And I think we can all agree that ...

Kenny Perry’s performance today in the final round of the Memorial was a thing of beauty. On a day where all the leaders seemed to falter, Perry coasted to a two-shot victory and $1 million payday. More importantly perhaps, Perry now stands to be among the favorites to join the U.S. team at the 2008 Ryder Cup in his home state of Kentucky. A Kentucky native, Perry has made no secret of his dream of playing on the U.S. team in his home state at Valhalla this fall. Captain Paul Azinger said earlier this week that for any player to ...