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MI Golf Holidays

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05

Nov
Mon

Jim Flick: "A Teacher's Teacher"

Golf Digest Teaching Professional Jim Flick worked with his share of stars, but he got as much enjoyment connecting with the average golfer.

05

Nov
Mon

Video: Golfers Who Give Back

Golf Digest Photographer-at-Large Walter Iooss Jr. photographs Michael Phelps, Michael J. Fox, Bill Clinton, and Morgan Freeman for four covers of the December 2012 issue, which celebrates the men and women who use golf as a vehicle for giving back.

04

Nov
Sun

What Augusta and Chinese teen might mean for golf

By John Strege The walls are crumbling around what was once America's most exclusive men's club, what with women and children now given the run of the place. More or less. The Augusta National Golf Club will invite a 14-year-old boy to play in the Masters next spring, this in the wake of having conferred membership on Condoleezza Rice, its first female member. What next, public play days? That said, the greater story here is not that China's Guan Tianlang, by virtue of his victory in the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship on Sunday, will become the youngest ever to play in the Masters. Instead, it's the latest example of what might happen should China embrace golf other than superficially. Guan, who turned 14 less than two weeks ago, won by a stroke a tournament created by the Asia Pacific Golf Confederation in conjunction with Augusta National and the Royal and Ancient for the purpose of growing the game in the region. As an incentive, the trophy for winning is a Masters invitation. Thus Guan will become the second Chinese 14-year-old to play in a major championship in a 10-month period. In June, Andy Zhang played in the U.S. Open at the Olympic Club. What each also has in common is that they train, at least part of the year, in Florida. Golf remains largely an elitist sport in China, though it is growing; the number of courses there has increased from 170 to nearly 600 in the last eight years, according to a story by China Daily. We asked Dan Washburn, an expert on golf in China and a contributor to Golf Digest and Golf World for his thoughts on what impact Guan might have on Chinese golf. His email response: "Guan's historic achievement certainly can't hurt golf's prospects for growth in China, but the obstacles the sport faces in the country are real. It will be interesting to see how much coverage Guan's Masters adventure attracts in China beyond the niche golf publications. Even Feng Shanshan, winner of China's first major, struggles for recognition in her home country. "Golf is going to grow in China -- there is no doubt about that. Trying to predict how fast or to what heights, however, is a fool's errand. But if this drumbeat continues -- Feng, Zhang, and now Guan -- Chinese golf is soon going to be hard for the world to ignore, no matter how far from the mainstream the sport continues to be in China." If China does begin to tap its golf potential, well, consider what happened to women's golf when Korean parents began sending their daughters en masse to train in the U.S. China might not similarly dominate a men's game that has substantially greater depth and international influence, but it might upend the balance of power and put Asia on equal footing with the U.S., Europe and Australia. Guan, meanwhile, has been playing golf in the U.S. at least since 2005, when he finished fourth in the six-and-under division of the Callaway Junior World Championship in San Diego. He won the 11-and-12 division of the tournament by 11 strokes in 2011 and tied for 22nd in the 15-to-17 division in July. His introduction to international golf at the elite level came last April, when he was 13 and became the youngest player in European Tour history, at the China Open (he missed the cut). The story received considerable attention in precincts other than the U.S., to the point that the British bookmaker Ladbrokes offered 1,000-to-1 odds that by his 18th birthday he'd be ranked No. 1 in the world. Don't bet on it. Beyond that, don't bet against him. Among those Guan defeated on Sunday was Australian Oliver Goss, a quarter-finalist in the U.S. Amateur and the winner recently of the Australasia Tour's Western Australian Open. Guan, of course, won't win the Masters in April, perhaps sparing, to which freelance golf writer Dave Andrews jokingly alluded on Twitter, Augusta National from having to serve Happy Meals at the Champions Dinner in 2014. But he will make history and headlines, helping fulfill the Asia-Pacific Amateur's mandate, to grow the game, possibly doing so in ways that would have been unimaginable only a few years ago. Follow @JohnStrege !function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs");

04

Nov
Sun

Guan, 14, punches ticket to Masters with Asia-Pacific win

By GolfDigest.com StaffAt this rate, Augusta National should think about putting a crib in the Crow's Nest.With his wire-to-wire win in the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship Sunday in Thailand,  14-year-old Chinese prodigy Guan Tianlang has earned an invitation to next spring's Masters, where he will become the youngest competitor in the event's history. Guan, who will be 14 years five months next April, will be two years younger than Matteo Manassero was when the Italian played in the 2010 tournament."I'm so excited. I'm really happy to become the youngest player at the Masters and looking forward to going there. I don't know what's going to happen there, but I know I just want to do well," said Guan, whose closing 71 was good for a one-stroke win over  Pan Cheng-tsung of Chinese Taipei.Guan, who is 125 pounds, trains three months a year in Florida.

02

Nov
Fri

Could Keegan & Co. have a case against the PGA Tour?

By Alex Myers Earlier this week, Keegan Bradley said he would fight a potential ban on anchoring putters, and he encouraged fellow tour pros to join his cause. But would he and other golfers who use long putters have a case? Apparently, they might, says attorney Jeff Rosenblum of the Memphis-based law firm of Rosenblum and Reisman. "It's a potential legal issue. . . . There are ways to challenge," Rosenblum said. "Would it be a frivolous lawsuit? No. Would it be a good investment? That all depends." Photo by Getty ImagesRosenblum has experience dealing with the governing bodies of golf. Three years ago, he represented Doug Barron, the first golfer to be penalized under the PGA Tour's drug policy. Despite the fact that this case would involve the USGA and R&A first implementing such a rule that would then be imposed by the pro tours, Rosenblum said, "There's not a whole lot different than the anti-doping issue, really." Related: See what clubs are in Keegan Bradley's bag What could be different, though, is the number of players such a ruling would affect, and just how effective Bradley is at rounding up fellow golfers to take their cause to court. "It makes more sense if 10 millionaires get together and say 'we want to contest it,'" Rosenblum said. "Legally, the last guy on the Web.com Tour has just as much standing to sue as Keegan Bradley or Tiger Woods. The practical reality is, though, it's extremely expensive." Related: Webb Simpson shares his belly putter tips In other words, the push back has to come from players who are very confident their cause is worth it and probably not from guys like Barron, who fought his drug fight alone and who happened to go back and forth between belly and conventional putters this past season on the Web.com Tour. As Rosenblum pointed out, cases against sports organizations -- like the recent one involving the NFL and "Bounty Gate" -- are becoming more common. Leagues and commissioner's can't just arbitrarily change/make rulings, but instead, must prove that there "is a nexus between the rule and the game and a need for the rule." Rosenblum said that if a case like this ever went to court, it would probably be heard by a federal judge, "who doesn't care about the politics involved." Even if a trial were to be held in Jacksonville, Fla., the headquarters of the PGA Tour. What could make that more complicated, however, is if golf's governing bodies decide not to make the ban across the board. For instance, what if established players like Bradley and recent U.S. and British Open winners Webb Simpson and Ernie Els could continue to anchor, while tour newcomers are forced to putt with a more conventional method? That seems unlikely, but as Rosenblum said, "It's amazing how decisions and compromises are made to keep things out of court." Follow @AlexMyers3 !function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs");

02

Nov
Fri

The Syllabus: Remember us?

By Ryan HerringtonThis is the eighth time I've written The Syllabus this fall, but it is the first time I've mentioned the name of one particular men's program, which is pretty amazing when you think...

02

Nov
Fri

Why Mickelson playing TaylorMade doesn't concern Callaway

By E. Michael Johnson The fall/late/silly season is a period where lots of prototype equipment crops up, equipment deals for tour pros are speculated about and (sometimes) acted on, and players sometimes pop a...

02

Nov
Fri

Fitness Friday: Homebound workout

By Ron Kaspriske There are times when the weather is so bad, getting to the gym is not possible or practical. Yet, sitting at home with nothing to do can drive you crazy. With...

01

Nov
Thu

5 in 5 = No. 1 for Cal men

By Ryan HerringtonAfter California's victory at the Isleworth Collegiate Invitational, the Golden Bears easily retained their No. 1 ranking in the latest Golf World/Nike Golf men's coaches' poll, earning 24 of the 25 available first-place...

01

Nov
Thu

USC women's next to claim No. 1 ranking

USC's victory at the Stanford Intercollegiate left an impression among the voters for the Golf World/WGCA women's coaches poll. The Trojans followed up two earlier third-place finishes with the win in Palo Alto to help...