About Gary Slatter
Venerable Canadian golf pro Gary Slatter discusses his opinions on the state of golf, golf course design and construction, teaching and more, based on a lifetime in the business. 
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With Gary Slatter. A blog with opinions on the state of golf, golf course design and construction, teaching and more, based on a lifetime in the business.
2011
You are browsing the archive for 2011.
A tale of shopping
Last week we were in Florida, Orlando for our family reunion, Boca Raton to recover. Before we left I bought New Balance walking shoes at the local Sports Mart outlet. The first pair were 50% off the regular $89, the second pair were a further 50% off, two pairs for just under $70.00. In Orlando ... read more »
Bunker Month
November has turned out to be bunker month on TV. Last week we watched Royal Melbourne host the President’s Cup matches between the USA ‘s PGA TOUR players and the Greg Norman ALLSTARS. Unfortunately Greg proved again that Australian players don’t stand up under pressure, not since Gallipolli. But the course was the star, and ... read more »
as usual, LORNE is right, however
In today’s GLOBE AND MAIL Lorne Rubenstein’s piece (not a column as it’s too infrequent) is about the dirth of coverage given Canadian professionals in the most recent PGA TOUR events. Lorne is right, as he always is, however I feel Golf Channel doesn’t deliberately ignore Canadian players – they try to cover as much ... read more »
How bad is Tiger’s golf ?
as Jay Leno might say it: “How bad is Tiger’s game right now? It’s so bad that three Canadians finished ahead of him in a PGA TOUR event.” Congrats to their fine play! We hope they do great in the next two events on the 2011 Tour.
The DUNHILL is the best tourney for spectators
The DUNHILL LINKS CHAMPIONSHIP, version 2011 finished on Sunday past, is to me the best possible professional golfing event to watch in person. Why – great field (5 of the top 6 in the World Rankings, plus countless others), great courses (Carnoustie, The Old Course, and Kingsbarns), not crowded (first three rounds very light, final ... read more »
Sven “Tumba” Johansson has died
Before Annika, before Salming, there was Sven Tumba, maybe the best hockey player from Sweden, and also maybe the pioneer of Swedish and Russian golf. He’s passed on at 80, hope he gets lots of games with Seve, Moe, and Rocket Richard. Carolyn and I met Sven in 1974, at LaManga in Spain. We were ... read more »
Is Shag the perfect muni test?
Can an old pro (scratch) and his wife (16 hdcp) enjoy playing a 5181 yard (tips) par 68 golf course? The answer is yes, we haven’t so much fun since Lido closed in Oakville. Shaganappi Point has 27 holes, a Nine and an Eighteen Hole Course which is different from 3 nine holers (at least ... read more »
Alberta’s Public Course Ratings
SCORE GOLF has a fine publication now at most golf courses and bookstores (for $7.99 or less) called CANADA’S PUBLIC COURSE RANKINGS. They have an excellent panel of 114 course raters from across the country, and to me they have come up with a very useful set of provincial rankings, and more importantly, each province ... read more »
Solheim Cup
Today’s Solheim Cup was excellent televison, and a great finish, in spite of the weather and golf course. It’s sad, to me, to see events like this and the Ryder Cup played on poor courses when in Europe. Seeing the water pooling on the greens makes one see the great advantage links courses can provide ... read more »
Have the Tour Standards passed by Phil’s game?
Cog Hill has been one of my five favourite courses since I first played it in the late 1970s. Over the years I have managed to play the Chicago classic almost every year, although not in the past five, since the PGA owners (Jemsek family) hired Rees Jones to “update” their wonderful Dick Wilson tract. ... read more »
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