And We're Back from Mexico...With an Epiphany
by Ryan Ballengee on Jun 2, 2010 10:02 AM EDT
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PrintAfter a week in Mexico, my new wife and I are back in the United States. We had a lovely honeymoon in Riviera Maya. I highly recommend that you spend some time there during your life, perhaps even during the PGA Tour's event at Mayakoba (which we were taxied past several times). Our beach was incredible. The all-inclusive thing is something I might never be able to live without. The Mayan ruins at Tulum really put our place in history and our collective progress into serious prospective. And dolphins are quite enjoyable to swim with when they are trained with a dog whistle and bribed with small fish.
Honestly, I didn't catch much - if any - golf in Mexico. I heard that Zach Johnson won Colonial primarily because the XM Satellite Radio on our AirTran flight home told me so. And, yes, I did enjoy the PGA Tour radio station. Now if only they would carry The 19th Hole Golf Show. If Chris DiMarco gets a show, why not me? Just sayin'.
But, while I was away, I did a lot of thinking (well, ok, like an hour on the plane) about Waggle Room and its future. Professional golf is a great topic and I enjoy covering it hopefully as well as anyone else. At the same time, though, it hit me - in yet another instance - that golf is very much about more than pros inside of the ropes. It's about you and me, when we play, the club slamming, smoking cigars (or swigging Bud Lights), and everything that goes into the life of a player. There is a whole life to playing golf that is fun to share.
Part of the epiphany about what I do is that I don't always tell enough stories. Yeah, we break news. We dish about players' techniques, tournament sponsors, and the like, but those are rarely prose. They're one-liners, short-sighted, and zingers. Everyone loves a zinger, but golf really is great because of its characters and the stories that happened to them - or that you swear they invented.
So, the bright light idea is that Waggle Room should have more stories. More of my stories. More of yours. Let's talk about our golf lives. They won't get in the way of me bitching about the things that happen inside of the ropes, but it might make us feel like we're the ones in the spotlight every now and again.
It's great to be back!
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Ryan, weclome back.
Glad to hear you had a great honeymoon. I think you have a great idea, I’ll start. Ok…….ahh…..well……gee…..I mean……darn…….shoot——-writers block…..I’ll get back to ya.
The Saints ARE the SUPER BOWL CHAMPS....WHO DAT!
OH MY LORD !!!!!!! How did you get through customs with an Epiphany ? You hid it in the tequilla bottle, didn’t you. :-)
Sounds like a fun trip – but tell the truth – you were wondering if you could land a wedge on top of one of those pyramids. Looking forward to hearing more stoires and seeing pictures.
oh – XM would give you a show slot like DiMarco’s…all you have to do is spend 18 years on the PGA Tour with a handful of wins and some exciting finishes at The Masters. :-)
Welcome Back !!!
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
Welcome back Ryan..
My wife and I stayed at the Moon Palace up the coast at Cancun for our 25th…loved every minute of it. When my old head gets together, I’ll send a story…
think thats a great idea, cheers
Glad to see you back, Ryan. You were gone so long I started to wonder if you had abandoned us.
Not every thought-provoking topic has to begin or end with a Tour player, so your tequila-induced epiphany is as good an idea as any other.
"(I)f you think you've got an inside track to absolute truth, you become doctrinaire, humorless and intellectually constipated." Saul Alinsky
"There once was a story about a man named Jed"
An Old Mountaineer that barely kept his family fed. Actually, I don’t think Jed played golf.
Nevermind.
Greetings from the Memorial @ Muirfield Village. I watched Stricker on the practice range yesterday. He looks like he is ready to play this week. He has had a tough start this year. I ran into Tim Clark @ the clubhouse. ( he is a shorty ) I have been a fan of his for quite a while and I told him so. He says to me, I get that from people all the time and I appreciate the support that the fans give me. And I’m like thinking to myself, “come on Tim, I’m spilling my guts out here” LOL He asked me who else I follow on tour besides him, so I gave him a short list of who I go with regularly on the Fantasy Golf League. He was like, They have such a thing ? I said yep and I had picked him 6 times so far this year including this week. He says, “I’ll do my best for ya mate” Saw Jack but didn’t get to talk with him. I was at a large gathering last night and literally bumped into Boo Weekley (my fault) he turns around, smiles and I apologize and he starts talking to me about fishing. Must have been my new fishing hat I got up in Maine last week.
Ok thats all I have for now. Should be a "Fan"Tastic tournament this week. jumpn/progolf
"pain is only weakness leaving the body"
NICE !
Sounds like an exciting start to the week.
Did you get to watch the skins game ? Tiger looked like he was swinging free and easy. (then again – who doesn’t when they play 10-13 in four straight 3’s ?)
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
I didn't have time to see the skins game.
I did spend about 2 hrs total watching down at the range though
A few of my crew arrived in late yesterday due to weather related airport delays and I had to scramble to fill in for them. Today is the opposite, I have a full staff sitting around answering phones during the rain delay. The forcast doesn’t look much better for the balance of the day, windy at 20 MPH, thunderstorm chances all day and on and off rain.
"pain is only weakness leaving the body"
By the way,
Play was suspended about a half hour ago due to heavy rain. Suppose to rain most of the day. What a nightmare for softening up the course for the week.
"pain is only weakness leaving the body"
A nightmare for who ? That’s a really cool course. Fast and dry, the short hitters get a ton of run-out on tee shots, so they play their accurate short irons in. A wet course softens the greens so their longer clubs hold – and th bombers have to be extra careful not to spin balls back off the greens.
"this ball will fit in that fairway"
It's not going to be fast and dry today or tomorrow.
I’m with ya there on the extra run that the shorter players need, so I guess a wet course is a nightmare for them.
"pain is only weakness leaving the body"
Hey Jumpin....your there to work
so leave the rums and cokes alone….lol…..STUB
Stinks here today weather wise.
A great day for Phil shooting a 67 along with Letzig, Sabbatini and Romero. Justin Rose in the Clubhouse at 65. Very muddy on the course today. I spoke wih Sabbatini for a few minutes this afternoon. He’s one crazy dude. Said he feels great about his game this week and admits he has struggled for the first part of the season after finishing second at the SBS early in the year. He added that his wife is feeling better from her heart condition and that makes him feel better as well. The weather forcast is looking a little better for tomorrows round.
"pain is only weakness leaving the body"
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