When you come to think of it that is the secret of most of the great holes all over the world. They all have some kind of a twist. C.B. MACDONALD
Sam Weinman's interview with Hank Haney ghost Jaime Diaz offers more insights into the forthcoming book and Diaz's thinking in accepting a job that will vault him to Feinstein status with Tiger.
And you can also subscribe to Golf Digest podcasts on iTunes and it'll show up on your device as well.
Must read (for wannabe writers) Q&A with Dan Jenkins conducted by Jon Winokur at AdviceToWriters.com
One of my favorite writers, Golf Digest contributor and New Yorker staff writer David Owen, has created My Usual Game the website and a new blog. Bookmark it!
For Immediate Release...
PGA TOUR and USA TODAY Sports Media Group-Create Official Marketing Relationship
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – The PGA TOUR and the USA TODAY Sports Media Group announced today that they have entered into a five-year official marketing relationship through 2016. As part of the agreement, USA TODAY receives the exclusive U.S. rights to use the association and TOUR logos for sales and marketing purposes for the print and digital extensions of USA TODAY sports. The PGA TOUR will have the opportunity to purchase advertising at preferred rates and to develop several TOUR-themed special sections over the course of each year of the agreement.“The PGA TOUR is one of the premier sports brands in the world, and we’re honored that they’ve selected us as their partner, especially for the long term,” said Tom Beusse, President of the USA TODAY Sports Media Group.
“We welcome the opportunity to work with the USA TODAY Sports Media Group and look forward to developing our relationship and leveraging this platform to bring added value to our entire family of corporate sponsors,” said Tom Wade, Chief Marketing Officer for the PGA TOUR.
“The PGA TOUR is extremely forward thinking when it comes to creating value and impact for its sponsors,” said Merrill Squires, SVP, Leagues and Properties for the USA TODAY Sports Media Group. “They really understand the unique capabilities and assets we can bring them to help maximize great content and marketing opportunities for the PGA TOUR and its sponsors. We can’t wait to begin our collaboration with them.”
Steve Eubanks pays tribute to the late, great Jim Huber.
When Augusta National built its new driving range, he gave me a tour, pointing out every feature like a teenager showing off a new car. “You’ve got to see the new television compound,” he said. When I assured him that I did not, he said, “No, really, it’s the most incredible thing you’ll ever see: state of the art and they make it look like it’s been here a hundred years.”
It was no wonder Augusta National had Jim write and narrate their video essays. The guy could make a satellite plug-in sound like the greatest invention since the titanium driver.
Thankfully, I was able to return a small favor by encouraging him and answering questions during his foray into literature. His book, “Four Days in July,” about the 2009 British Open reads the way Jim lived: heartfelt, kind, and infectiously optimistic.
The majors won’t be the same next year, especially the post-round interview areas where Jim could always lighten the mood. The players will miss him, as will the fans. But his friends, of which I was blessed to me one, will never find another one like him.
Also worth checking out is Jim's great interview with Huber from this summer. You can access it here or check out the embed below:
I'm hearing great things about the UK Golf Illustrated's first issue and based on the preview this quarterly looks mighty impressive. (Make sure to use the full screen option in the preview.)
Anyone seen it yet? You can order it here.
Long overdue, much deserved and well received by his peers, Dan Jenkins becomes the sixth media member to join the World Golf Hall of Fame.
Bill Fields' Golf World bunker item that broke the news.
Doug Ferguson with the numbers and retrospective.
Jenkins, 82, will be only the sixth media member in the hall when he is inducted May 7 at the World Golf Village along with Phil Mickelson, Hollis Stacy and two other inductees who are to be announced Thursday in London.
His career goes from Ben Hogan to Tiger Woods, from the manual typewriter to Twitter, and Jenkins is still going. He previously worked for the Fort Worth Press, the Dallas Times Herald and Sports Illustrated, and he has been writing for Golf Digest since 1985. Jenkins also has written 20 books, including "Dead Solid Perfect."
"Being from Fort Worth, I would follow Ben Hogan and Byron Nelson anywhere," Jenkins said Wednesday on a conference call to announce that he was selected through the Lifetime Achievement category. "Since they're in there, I'm happy to be the third guy from Fort Worth so included.
"I'm delighted to be in such good company with the people who are already in there, especially the players."
The other five media members in the Hall of Fame are writers Herbert Warren Wind, Bob Harlow, Herb Graffis, Bernard Darwin and television producer Frank Chirkinian. They were inducted posthumously.
For some fun reads from the archives, SI goes into the vault for some best of Dan, Guy Yocom's interview is a must as is Jaime Diaz's 2005 tribute.
And some highlights from the transcript, starting with a elated and overjoyed Tim Finchem who surely wanted Dan in for years and just couldn't convince his fellow committee members of the health benefits derived from biennial readings of You Gotta Play Hurt.
TIM FINCHEM: Thank you, Jack. I was excited to have the opportunity to announce Phil Mickelson when we were in Singapore a few weeks ago and talk a little bit about his great career. I know that the recipient from the international ballot will be announced tomorrow in London by George O'Grady along with another announcement.
Today I'm very pleased to do something really fun, which is to recognize a unique individual for the lifetime achievement category, an individual who will be inducted into the Hall of Fame this May and rightfully so. That is Dan Jenkins. A legendary, how shall I put this ‑ writer, humorist, commentator, critic from time to time, a great part of what sports in the United States is all about and has been all about for many, many, many years.
Dan has had a spectacular career, and I think I should note that over the years the World Golf Hall of Fame has been very sparse in their recognition of people from Dan's craft, only recognizing the very, very best.
And now for Dan...
DAN JENKINS: Tim, thank you very much. When you rattled off that list of credits, you left out my cure for polio, but I'll excuse you for that. You got all those other things in there.
I'm delighted and flattered and overwhelmed to take a spot in there with my old friends, Herbert Warren Wind and Herb Graffis and people like that who actually covered the sport. I wish I had known Bernard Darwin, but I came along too late for him.
And we have a comedian on the line asking about memorabilia Dan might donate.
Q. Any Western Union clips?
DAN JENKINS: Right, yeah. I do go back that far, actually. I missed Postal Telegraph, but I was around for Western Union. They used to garble your stories pretty bad. Somebody told me one time they only improved them, really. That may or may not be true. But I do go back that far.
I went through the age of faxing, and now I'm in the computer age, and now I'm in the tweeting age. So I've covered a broad spectrum of ways to transmit thoughts and people want to hear or are outraged to hear at some times. Even though I was making a stab at humor, I don't think I ever wrote a line I didn't believe.
On where his sense of humor came from...
DAN JENKINS: Well, when you grow up in Texas and you don't like sports, they drown you, that's number one. If you've ever gambled at golf, which all of us did as kids and college and all of that, your sense of humor has to go with it because you get beat so often. It just came natural.
I understand golf is a religion to a lot of people. Never really a religion to me, but a great sports event. Any great sports event required a sense of humor. It just came natural. I don't try to be funny, but sometimes I think that way.
I've always told young people who asked me about sports writing and golf writing and stuff, when something great happens, like when an Arnold Palmer or Jack Nicklaus or Tiger Woods or Ben Hogan happens, you don't have to be funny, you just have to be accurate.
When you have to be funny is when you're on deadline, and somebody like Jack creeps up on you. That's when you have to tap dance because it doesn't make any sense. We have more and more of that these days, don't we?
Sadly, so true.
And the conclusion...
DAN JENKINS: Thank you very much. And thank you, again, Tim, and thanks to all of those people that called in with having nothing better to do. I can't wait until May 7th when you put some (Indiscernible) on my shoulder and give me a saber.
TIM FINCHEM: Thank you, Dan. We look forward to seeing you here in Florida in a few months.
**Garry Smits admits to idolizing His Ownself.
Dan's 82 now and hasn't lost the hop on his fastball — and still throws a mean brushback pitch when it comes to taking spoiled golfers, stonewalling agents, pompous governing body suits and money-hungry sponsors to task. You can still read his columns in Golf Digest the issue after major championships and his comments on Twitter (you can teach an old dog new tricks) show that Jenkins can say more in less than 140 characters than almost all of us in full-page stories.
Steve Elling refers to Jenkins as the "multi-media sportswriting icon."
Geoff Shackelford is a Senior Writer for Golfweek magazine, a weekly contributor to Golf Channel's Morning
Copyright © 2022, Geoff Shackelford. All rights reserved.
