This is the last post I’ll make about the Tiger Woods situation.

Image: victor.lund/Flickr

I stumbled upon this post today while visiting Pete Wilson’s (my pastor) blog, who linked to it.

A guy named Mike Foster from People of the Second Chance posted about Tiger’s scandal, and the media’s never-ending insatiable desire to tear down those it builds up.

I’ve written about my disgust with the nature of this coverage both here and here.

Anyway, I thought I’d re-post Mike’s thoughts here. Christmas is just a few days away, and this season always reminds me of the importance of grace. I like his fifth point the best.

Mike Foster writes:

1. You have so many words that you can share in a day. Decide whether they will be about blessing or cursing someone.

2. When someone is caught in a scandal, I visualize two buckets that I can fill. I can add to the “Shame Bucket” or the “Second Chance Bucket.” Sometimes my first/easy/fun/human nature response is to fill the “Shame Bucket” so I have to work harder not to do that.

3. For all you online peeps…write your articles, blogs, tweets, and comments as if the person in crisis (and their family) were reading it. Why? Because they do! And the jokes, snarky comments, sloppy facts and flippant remarks hurt people. Instead, devote your computer keyboard to the restoration of people.

4. Refuse to participate in the gossip session around the water cooler. Or better yet, jump in and turn the conversation towards grace and second chances. Btw, just plan on being called a “buzz kill” and not invited back to any more social functions.

5. Realize we are either part of the judgment problem or the grace solution. But we can’t be both. So choose wisely.

To read Mike’s entire post, visit his blog.

This does not look fun to me. (Image: BPPhotography/Flickr)

I’m not a fan of cold weather golf. Does anyone really enjoy it?

I was reminded of this fact on Saturday. The plan was to play nine holes with my father-in-law and two family friends on Saturday morning. After my morning run, in 24 degrees no less, I started figuring that golf might be unlikely. The high was supposed to be around 40 degrees.

Sure enough, when we got out to the course, the greens were still frozen and the wind was still whipping. The course was closed. Even if the course was open, who wants to play in that?

Other than the ocassional family outing, I pretty much avoid playing golf this time of year. Between November and March, I probably play twice. I find it painfully unpleasant. My shots travels shorter distances, my hands sting after every shot, and my scores generally suck.

Besides all of that, there’s just plenty of football to watch.

Image: Keith Allison/Flickr

So Tiger’s gone.

He’s taking an indefinite leave from the game to hopefully repair his family and a smidgen of his public image.  As much as I’ve been disgusted with the media coverage of Tiger’s downfall, the story itself is pretty disgusting as well.

I really don’t know many of the details. And I’m not lying about that. I honestly don’t care. All I know is that Tiger apparently had a lot of women on the side. Whether it’s one woman or a dozen women, Tiger has some serious infidelity issues.

One sponsor (Accenture) has already bailed. Woods is nowhere to be found. And the sport of golf is finding itself in a nightmare situation. Just a few months ago, I wrote a post for Armchair Golf about how the PGA Tour needed to develop a plan for the post-Tiger era. They’ve found themselves in this situation much earlier than I imagined.

While I hardly believe Woods will be gone for long (in fact, I still think he’ll play at Augusta), Tim Finchem and the Tour is going to get another small sample of what life without Tiger will be like. I think it’s going to be ugly. Ratings will suck. He’s a nice guy, but Phil Mickelson can’t carry the PGA Tour.

Regardless, the game goes on. And it is a great game. Golf existed before Tiger, and it will carry on when he’s gone. Granted, on a smaller scale. Tiger Woods is one of the world’s most recognizable figures. And, his personal life aside, what he has brought to the game of golf is immeasurable. He’s changed the game forever.

And, if you don’t mind, I’m going to take a brief spiritual turn here. As the media, the public, and pretty much the entire world throws stones at Tiger, I will just say that the whole situation makes me quite sad for his wife, his kids, his mother–and, yes, even Tiger.

At the foundation of my faith, Christianity, is grace and forgiveness. And while I can’t put myself in the shoes of anyone close to him–none of us can–I will say that I’m not going to sit back and lob bombs at the man while he is down. I’m sure his wife has unleashed hell on him–and deservedly so. More sponsors may drop him–and deservedly so–because image equals money in their world. And the media hasn’t had a field day like this since O.J. Simpson.

A cute little blog post making fun of Tiger would only add to the white noise. I’ll leave that to the tabloids. I think he deserves a second chance at some point, assuming that he actually recognizes the extent of the mistakes he’s made. And I think he does.

Let’s hope Tiger gets his tattered personal life back together and returns to the game soon…for his own sake. In the meantime, let’s hope he receives a little grace and forgiveness along the way.

Related: Tiger Woods: The Blurred Line Between News And Gossip

This ghastly photo of a shirtless John Daly has Game Under Repair's traffic through the roof.

So I logged on to my blog on Tuesday and noticed a tremendous spike in blog visits.

Tuesday’s traffic was more than six times the normal amount, much of it directed to a one-year-old blog post about John Daly. I investigated the situation and found out Daly has lost 115 pounds since last year. He’s shockingly thin. When you do an image search for John Daly, my blog comes up quickly. There lies the reason for the high traffic.

While working as a writer for Dave Ramsey’s website, I’ve learned a little about search engine optimization (SEO), which is basically the practice of using key words and terms to bring people to your site via search engines like Google.

I’ve used some of those tricks on my blog, but this John Daly post is quite interesting. It’s amazing how a short 200 word post I wrote in about 10 minutes over a year ago turns into the most popular all-time post on my blog.

So…thank you, John Daly. Your story about extreme weight loss has brought thousands of new visitors to my blog.

Carry on Big John.

In case you care about golf, not Tiger Woods gossip, here’s a bit of golf news for you.

The PGA Tour’s 2009 version of Q School just wrapped up.

Grizzled Tour vet Jeff Maggert told Q School to make him a sandwich. (Image: fortsonre/Flickr)

Troy Merritt led the way at -22 to take medalist honors and finish ahead of Tour veteran Jeff Maggert. Interesting that Merritt has never played in a Tour event and Maggert is the proverbial grizzled veteran with a Ryder Cup appearance on his resume.

Q School always has its share of heartbreaks and meltdowns. Just ask Joe Daley. Or read John Feinstein’s Tales from Q School.

This year’s story comes from James Hahn. Hahn needed a two putt from 65 feet (now that’s difficult) to earn his card. He left the long putt 10 feet short, missed the clinching putt by 2 feet, then proceeded to lip out his third putt.

Maggert, Neal Lancaster, J.P. Hayes, Joe Ogilvie, and Chris Riley were the former Tour players who re-earned their Tour cards. David Duval, Todd Hamilton, and Shaun Micheel were three former major champs who failed to qualify.

Click here for a list of 2009 Q School graduates.

The frustrations of playing with Pre-Shot Routine Guy can be summarized in one sentence: Will you just hit the freaking shot?

It’s not that Pre-Shot Routine Guy has a pre-shot routine. Most decent golfers have one. The problem with Pre-Shot Routine Guy is that he worships the pre-shot routine—so much so that the pre-shot routine takes precedent over the shot itself. And his scores will testify to this fact.

Sergio Garcia, the king of the pre-shot routine, has earned six waggles. Read the pre-shot routine guidelines below. (Image: almadenmike/Flickr)

Pre-Shot Routine Guy, much like Golf Channel Guy, is worried about his image. He’s watched Tiger, Phil, and Sergio stand behind their golf ball and intently gaze down the fairway with a focused squint.

He’s watched them slowly walk up to the ball, eyes still focused on a tree 300 yards away. He’s watched them plant the left foot, then the right foot, before tilting their head downwards, eyes back on the ball. He’s watched them waggle the club confidently while they continue to alternate their focus between target, ball, target, ball. Pre-Shot Routine Guy knows the drill.

When he swings, though, it all goes south. But that doesn’t stop him from consistently taking 60 seconds to hit every single shot, making his playing partners scorn the pro shop for ever pairing them with this golfing nightmare.

In an effort to help out Pre-Shot Routine Guys, and to speed up pace of play on courses across the world, I developed these pre-shot routine guidelines about 10 minutes ago. You see, here at Game Under Repair, we’re not just about identifying problems. We offer solutions.

Basically, the lower your handicap, the more waggles you earn during your pre-shot routine. The guidelines are as follows:

No handicap: One waggle. Use it wisely.

Over 30: Two fast-paced waggles.

20-30: Three fast-paced waggles.

10-20: Four medium-paced waggles. Don’t get cocky.

5-10: Five waggles. Only use them all if you must.

0-5: Five waggles. Do you really need more?

Scratch: Six waggles. With six waggles, you better hit it like Sergio.

Bottom line: You’ve got to earn your waggle. If you consistently shoot in the mid-80s, then feel free to get your waggle on—four waggles per shot. But a 135? One waggle, my friend. One waggle.

Welcome to the pre-shot routine hierarchy. You’ve got to earn your keep here.

Previous Golf Pet Peeves:

#9: Cell Phone Guy

#8: The Intrusive Golf Course Maintenance Worker

#7: The Drunken Wedding Party

#6: The Distance Exaggerator

#5: The Golf Channel Guy

#4: Stewart Cink’s Green Shirt

#3: The Mulligan Golfer

#2: The Shot Jinxer

#1: The Shot-By-Shot Recap Golfer

Excuse me while I throw up.

Since hearing about the Tiger Woods situation on Saturday morning, I’ve been reminded why I hate the media. And, no, not because it’s “liberal,” because, the fact is, both CNN (“liberal”) and Fox News (“conservative”) both have something to sell and it usually isn’t objectivity.

The reason I disdain the media is because 50% of media coverage these days is gossip. Whether it’s John and Kate, Tiger Woods, Taylor Swift, Alex Rodriguez–or you name the the latest 15-minute-famer–most television hosts would rather discuss some reality contestant’s one-night-stand more than [insert anything that actually matters here].

Image: scubaeddie32/Flickr

Look, I’m not naive. Tiger Woods is one of the world’s most famous people. He’s an icon. If he allegedly gets in a wreck in his driveway at 2:30 in the morning and passes out in the street with cuts all over his face, then, yes, that’s going to make news.

But somehow, probably with the dawning of the internet age (I’m doing my part), our society has turned news into a voyeuristic obsession to know everything about everyone who is more famous and makes more money than we do.

It’s sad, really.

I’ve done it. Heck, I listened to the radio today while two idiot sports talk hosts speculated for 15 minutes about what Tiger was up to at that hour. We thrive on it. You’ve got to watch National Geographic or the Food Network just to get away from all the gossip nonsense.

Massive websites and companies exist with the sole purpose of finding out who A Rod is sleeping with and where Kanye West ate dinner last night. But we’re buying it, or else they wouldn’t be selling it. And we’ve been eating up this Tiger Woods story.

So let me say this: I don’t care. Tiger Woods is not my president. Tiger Woods is not my pastor. Tiger Woods is not my family member. Tiger Woods is not my friend.

I like Tiger Woods as a golfer. He’s always been one of my favorites, actually. I’ve built him up quite a bit on this blog in the last 18 months. I really like the guy. But I don’t know anything about him. Nothing. Tiger Woods’ personal life is not my business, and Tiger Woods’ personal life in no way affects my job, my marriage, or anything else that matters in my life.

If it turns out that the pedestal couldn’t support Tiger and his lack of judgment, then that’s our fault for placing him on the pedestal in the first place. He’s got issues just like the rest us.

Maybe not the same stuff, and maybe not to the same degree. But we’ve all got baggage, no? Tiger’s just got a lot of money to hide his issues–or, maybe in this case, to put a big fat nationally televised spotlight on them.

As I said, I’m not stupid enough to think this isn’t going to get covered. It is THE Tiger Woods, after all. But the morbid rubbernecking with this story is flat out disgusting. And, the fact is, we know very few facts outside of scumbag gossip websites. But as long as they get the web traffic, they’ll keep on posting.

In sum, don’t give in to the gossip. And if it’s all true–whatever “it” may be–take a deep breath and realize that Tiger Woods is just a dude who is really good at a game. That’s it.

Your neighbor Bob the candlestick maker is probably a much better person than Tiger, or any other athlete, ever dreamed of being. That’s not a slight to Tiger; it’s just reality. Celebrity does not guarantee morality.

***

Several years ago, I had an article published on this exact topic from a Christian angle. But the subject wasn’t Tiger Woods; it was Michael Vick and baseball players on steroids. Read “When Heroes Fall.”

Enjoy the turkey and the football.

This Thanksgiving brings two guarantees for me.

First, I will gorge myself on fried turkey over the next four days, but hopefully not to the point that I undo all of the health benefits from having run in two half marathons in the last two months.

Second, my Georgia Bulldogs will unfortunately get throttled by Georgia Tech in the 2009 version of “Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate.” Call me a pessimist, but I’ve never been more certain of anything. This doesn’t happen often, so Tech should enjoy the upperhand this year.

If you’d like to read about golf with a Thanksgiving twist, something I simply don’t have the creative juice for today, then check out ESPN Golf Writer Jason Sobel’s “99 reasons to be thankful.“

See you next week.

Welcome to Game Under Repair’s yearly nugget of news about the LPGA Tour.

Life isn’t so good on the LPGA.

With the economy continuing to suck, corporations are choosing their sponsorships more prudently. Apparently, professional women’s golf isn’t high on the list.

This week, new LPGA Commissioner Marty Evens announced that the LPGA Tour would be cutting back its slate of events in 2010. The 24 scheduled events are three less than the total number in 2009 and mark the least amount of events on the LPGA Tour in 40 years.

Of the 24 events, only 13 will be hosted in the U.S., with the season opening in February in Thailand and Singapore.

If the LPGA wants to drum up more corporate support in the States, then hosting 11 events overseas might not be a good plan. But my guess is that the LPGA is pretty desperate right now, and an official event in Singapore is better than no event at all.

Join me again sometime in November 2010 for my next update on the goings-on of the LPGA Tour.

I’m going to be honest: I’m not a well-traveled golfer.

I’ve played at a lot of nice courses over the years, thanks to high school, college, and summer tournaments. But outside of that, about 95% of the golf courses I’ve played are in my former home state of Georgia. Since moving to Tennessee last March, I’ve probably made it to about 10 courses here. I guess I’m just a creature of habit.

Maybe I’m an optimist, but I see some type of golf vacation in my future. The future could be ten years away, but it’s the future nonetheless.

Pinehurst tops my wish list of golf vacations. (Image: deltaMike/Flickr)

Here’s a few of my vacation targets:

Pinehurst: Is there a better golf destination in the world?  With 8 courses on the resort, a spa and plenty of shopping for the wives, plus a world-class hotel and restaurant, does it get better than this?

Scotland: I’m a Bruce, so Scotland is a no-brainer. Italy and Scotland are the top two countries on our must-visit list, even if I never play golf. That said, it’s hard to pick just one course from Scotland—St. Andrews, Carnoustie, Turnberry. It’s a long list.

Pebble Beach: This one is going to happen one day, maybe sooner rather than later. Maybe I can even work up a second round at Spyglass Hill.

Spain: I’ve read a little about La Manga Las Lomas Village lately. The resort has been named European Golf Resort of the Year several times. With three outstanding championship courses, this is as good as European golf gets.

So those are a few of my wishlist destinations. Any suggestions?