Let me preface this article with an old joke.

A police officer in a patrol car signals a speeding car to pull over to the side of the road. There are two young males in the front seat. When the officer walks up to the car, the driver rolls down his window and disrespectfully asks, "What's the problem?" The policeman grabs the smartass by his shirt, jerks him up, slaps him several times and shoves him back in his seat. The he walks around the car to the passenger side and taps on the window. The passenger rolls down his window and the officer grabs him by his shirt, jerks him up, slaps him several times and shoves him back in his seat. The passenger, mystified, asks, “What was that for?” The police officer says, "That's for when you get down the road a few miles and tell this other idiot 'Man, I WISH he would’ve tried doing that to me!' "

The point I make here is that it is easy to say what you would do in a given situation. But one of the greatest lessons in life that I have learned is that nobody knows for sure what they will do until they are faced with the reality. The parents of Michelle Wie certainly have their hands full when guiding the career of their fabulously talented child and it appears that they do not always see things as clearly as an outsider would, as they are emotionally involved. Surely they love their daughter and do not wish to harm her future. Unfortunately for them, the outside counsel they have received is from people whose primary motivation is money and many missteps have been taken.

If Michelle Wie was my daughter, this is what (I think) I would do for 2007:
- recognize that my child is financially secure for life and that now her development as a golfer is paramount.
- decide that she will be tutored or home-schooled through her senior year of high school to allow for maximum focus on her game and travel schedule.
- put focus on winning some women’s professional tournaments to build confidence.
- play the maximum 8 LPGA events allowed and petition the European Ladies Tour for membership or exemptions.
- recognize that her game is not yet ready for challenges to the men and therefore reduce her participation against them to only the Sony Open in Hawaii (giving maximum home course advantage) and perhaps one other tournament in Asia against a weaker field.

Up until now, the Wie camp has taken a dangerous & uncharted course and may have inflicted irreparable psychological damage on their prodigy by subjecting her to near humiliating beatings at the hands of male professionals. It is my hope that they change to a slightly more conventional route in 2007, play to young Michelle’s strengths and let her work her way up the ladder as far as her talent & mental strength will allow her to go.

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