GWRX is an extremely popular golf related social media outlet. I have been a member since 2007 and have participated in their forums sporadically.
As with any social media outlet, sometimes people get in some heated conversations and say things that may not be “socially” acceptable or deemed “offensive”, even if they are not.
That is “par for the course,” you give, you take, and move on, nothing personal until it gets personal.
As with any moderated forum, moderators are supposed to enforce the rules, but they are to be enforced equally and unbiased. That is not the case with the moderators at GWRX.
On many occasions I have reported abuse posts which they choose to ignore, giving me no choice but to defend my self in the open forum.
As a result, I get the warnings while the individuals who I reported continue to spill their vile comments without repercussions.
I am a very thick skin individual, but when you start to question my patriotism and my loyalties, I will fight you to the end.
My credentials and what I have done for this country speak for themselves and I will not allow some faceless individual tarnish my reputation.
The management at GWRX decided that they were going to suspend me for defending myself, so I decided to cancel my 15-year association with them.
I am posting this, not because I care about GWRX, but because this illustrates why I have so much disdain for social media and the cowards it protects.
Having rules mean nothing when the rules are selectively enforced, and this is how GWRX operates.
GWRX is cesspool and, in my opinion, encourages cyberbullying. The owners do not care, and they should be ashamed of themselves.
USGA CEO, Mike Whan Photo courtesy of socalgolfer.com
As the LIV Golf Series continues to light hairs on fire among the professional golf organizations, United States Golf Association, CEO, Mike Whan held a press conference at Brookline, Massachusetts.
I personally think, Mike Whan is probably the most competent CEO the USGA has had in a long time and almost got me convinced to rejoin such organization.
That was until I listened to his press conference.
I liked the fact that he defended the right of those players who qualified to participate in the tournament.
After all, the U.S. Open is an “open” championship, meaning anybody who qualifies, and meets the USGA requirements, earns the right to play in it, regardless of if they are a LIV, PGA, DP World Tour, or just an amateur player.
During his press conference and addressing LIV, he was quoted as saying, “at the end of the day we ran this championship by asking ourselves, did those people (LIV players) disqualify themselves from the 2022 Open? And we believed the answer was no, and that’s the decision we made.”
About moving forward and LIV players. “It would be a lot of hypotheticals for me to get what LIV is going to be by the time we’re talking about this next year, but as we would any year, we’re going to definitely reevaluate field criteria. We would any year.” “We will take a look at what the landscape looks like.”
When asked if LIV players could be banned from future U.S. Opens, his reply was telling, as much as it was disappointing, “Yes.”
Here Mike Whan is absolutely wrong, and he knows it.
The U.S. Open is that an “open” championship. Anybody who meets the USGA criteria, be a professional or an amateur golfer, has the opportunity to attempt to qualify, and if fortunate enough to qualify, on to the tournament.
The USGA also offers a plethora of exempted categories in which players do not have to qualify at local venues.
To suggest he would consider banning LIV players from participating in the U.S. Open regardless of if they earned the right via exemption or qualifier, is contrary to the concept of what the U.S. Open is all about.
Keeping the best players who have earned a right to play our national championship from playing the tournament does not grow the game. The USGA should know better and act accordingly.
If not, then might as well rename the tournament and called it the U.S. Open Invitational.
The LIV Golf vs The PGA Tour saga continues, but it has finally taken a turn where I never thought the PGA Tour or anyone else would go; 9/11.
A group of 9/11 families felt compelled to send letters to those players who chose to joined LIV, as if these players were responsible for the death of over three thousand Americans at the hand of terrorists.
Before that, the widow of journalist Jamal Khashoggi demanded golfers participating in the LIV Golf League to be banned from major tournaments.
In other words, the world of professional golf has gone full blown political.
This is not new. This has been a trend since the start of the Ukraine War when governments around the world and sport organizations began to ban Russian and Belarusian players from participating in world sporting events, just because they happened to be Russian or Belarusian.
I think Commissioner Monahan is a stupid man, but to use the events of 9/11, and its families, as a tool to pressure the players, is shameful.
The truth is the Saudi Arabian government has never been charged or convicted with anything in connection to 9/11. The 9/11 Commission could find no solid connection between the Saudi Arabian government and the events of 9/11.
We may not like it, but those are the facts and everything else is just emotional conjecture.
Commissioner Monahan decided to crawl from under the rock he has been hiding and was asked by Jim Nantz why the players could not do both, LIV Golf and the PGA Tour.
Jay Monahan was quoted saying, “I guess I would answer the question by asking a question, ‘why do they need us so badly’? Obviously, they do not need you Jay, otherwise they would have never left.
He went on to say, “Those players have chosen to sign multi-year lucrative contracts to play in a series of exhibition matches against the same players over and over again.” So, it is about the money for Jay, not about some legacy mumbo-jumbo.
Monahan went on to claim the best players in the game were at the RBC Canadian Open, which is not true, it was a relatively weak field.
“True competition creates the profile of the world’s greatest players,” and LIV golf players continuing to play the PGA Tour would be to let them “free ride.” “In protecting our loyal members, we can’t allow (LIV players) to free ride off that.”
A “free ride”? These players bring revenue to the tour. A “free ride” is a ridiculous statement to make.
Does he think people pay to see him at an event or they pay to see Dustin Johnson? This is how disconnected Monahan is from reality.
I am used to Monahan’s ridiculous statements, but where he crossed the line was when he decided that it was a good idea to use the events of 9/11 to justify his outrage.
He was asked about the Saudi Arabian government backing of LIV Golf and “potential” dilemmas for players who accepted the guaranteed money to play.
Monahan responded by saying “It’s not an issue for me, because I don’t work for the Saudi Arabian government. It probably is an issue for those players that chose to take that money.”
Is Monahan suggesting these players work for the Saudi Arabian government? Can this man be really this stupid?
He continued, “Why is this group spending so money recruiting players and chasing a concept with no possibility of return? How is this good for the game we love?”
The PGA Tour does not have an exclusive ownership of the game of golf, anybody is welcome to seek or start any kind of venture they wish. Monahan is afraid because more players are taking the plunge and LIV Golf is a real threat.
Why does Jay Monahan not complain about players who are sponsored by Nike? Nike makes their products in China, who by all accounts, is also a murderous regime and operate their factories under slave like conditions.
Yes, the Saudi Arabian government human rights record is nothing to brag about, but the hypocrisy is too big to bear.
The New York Post reported a coalition of 9/11 families sent letters to representatives of Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau, Patrick Reed, and Kevin Na, accusing the golfers of sportswashing.
When asked about it, Monahan said, “I think you’d have to be living under a rock to not know there are significant implications. Two families close to me lost loved ones.”
Then he goes on to cheapened their memories by equating their tragedy to the PGA Tour fight against LIV.
I do not need Jay Monahan to lecture me about 9/11 or its implications. I spent fifteen years of my life flying all over the world to prevent another 9/11 from happening.
Monahan using 9/11 as an excuse to move his agenda against Greg Norman is demeaning and an insult to the memories of those victims and their families.
He added, “have you ever had to apologize for being a member of the PGA Tour?” Now that he mentions it, he should apologize to the millions of law-abiding Americans fans and law enforcement officers.
After all, it was the PGA Tour, under his leadership, who gave an honorary tee time to George Floyd, a convicted felon, domestic abuser, and drug addict.
Folks, you know our society has hit rock bottom when institutions like the PGA Tour are willing to go the 9/11 route to fight for the survival of their monopoly. The PGA Tour and Commissioner Monahan should be ashamed of themselves, but we already know they have no shame to begin with.
Some of the quotes were courtesy of Sports Illustrated and Morning Read.
The Inevitability of the LIV Golf Invitational Series
PGA Tour Commissioner, Jay Monahan. The man who gave LIV legitimacy. Photo courtesy of golfwrx.com
Yes, LIV Lives!
The Saudi funded golf league and Greg Norman have to say thank you to Jay Monahan, and the fools at the Golf Channel, for giving legitimacy to a golf event that many people did not know anything about or even cared.
A month ago, very little was known about LIV, other than in golf circles. I asked my friends, with whom I play golf on a daily basis, and they did not know what LIV was all about.
Human rights hypocrisy aside, the PGA Tour has introduced LIV to the masses by constantly whining about it and by Jay Monahan flexing his muscles with threats and silly commentary.
To go even further, the commentators at the Golf Channel have been carrying the water for the PGA Tour by demonizing the players and calling a player like former U.S. Open Champion, Graeme McDowell, a “has been” for participating in the LIV Golf Invitational Series.
Damon Hack and his sidekick, Eamon Lynch, sound like two idiots whining about the money and belittling the players. Instead of giving the audience a legitimate argument, they are doing the dirty work for the PGA Tour while sounded petty in the process.
I always said, if the PGA Tour wanted LIV to go away slowly but surely, they needed to stop talking about it, say “good luck” and move on. But Jay Monahan disdain for Greg Norman was much stronger and his ego was even bigger.
As I have said before, I am sure this will end up in the courts and it will be a long, boring, and destructive process, for the PGA Tour.
I always like to remind my readers, while the PGA Tour and the Golf Channel want to claim the moral high ground, let us not forget, the PGA Tour gave an honorary tee time to convicted felon and domestic abuser, George Floyd, at the Schwab Challenge event.
Sure, the Saudi government has a dismal human rights record, but China also has a deplorable human rights record and PGA Tour players have no problem wearing golf apparel made in sweatshops by child labor and under horrible working conditions. Spare me the outrage Mr. McIlroy.
So as LIV prepares to host its first event in London, let us not forget, Jay Monahan and his minions gave legitimacy to a golf league people knew nothing about.
Have you gotten frustrated with your putting from time to time? Have you tried to fix the problem by giving your trusty putter a timeout? Who has not done that, I know I have.
I am a good putter. I average 1.6 putts per hole, which is below the Sky360 worldwide average of 1.9 putts per hole, but I wanted to lower that average and my quest began.
One thing that always frustrates me is to line up a putt, stand over it, and hit it offline. For the longest time I have beat myself trying to figure out why this was happening.
After reading Stan Utley’s book on putting, I have always drawn an alignment line on the ball or have used the one already printed by the manufacturer.
I do not know if this happens to some of you, but I spend more time adjusting and readjusting the line than hitting the actual putt.
For some reason, it always looks different when I am standing over the ball and makes me second guess my reads. More times than not, the putt goes offline or barely makes it inside the cup.
I decided to change things around, first started with my grip. I went from the Stan Utley’s putting grip to the Brad Faxon’s putting grip. Nothing wrong with Utley’s method, I just wanted to revamp my whole putting stroke.
But the most significant change I made was to ditch the alignment line on the ball.
My reason behind the change? I was already spending enough time reading the line, figuring out speed and breaks, and using the alignment aid on the ball was becoming more of a hindrance than an aid.
By not using the line on the ball, I can concentrate in properly aligning my body, picking the correct line, figuring the break and speed of the putt, all without having to worry about if my ball is properly aligned.
If I do the above things correctly, the ball will go where I want it to go.
If you have a flangeline or an alignment aid in your putter, you can use it to align your putter, not the ball. After all, putter alignment aids have been around for a long time, way before golfers started to draw lines on their golf balls.
Give it a try, you will be surprised how much it frees up your mind, relaxes your putting stroke, speeds play, and help you make more putts.
