In recent years I’ve noticed a trend in which golfers are taking carts instead of walking more and more often.  In many ways, this is very understandable.  A lot of courses are simply not made for walking.  They wind their way through housing developments or up and down hillsides with considerable distance between the green and following tee box.  There are also a lot of people who, because of age or a disability, struggle to walk the approximate four miles over the course of four hours.  In other cases, the golf course and/or weather practically mandate that a golfer take a cart.  This may be for the golfer’s own good or to help the course sell as many greens fees as possible. 

At the same time, I see many instances in which the option of walking is available and people elect to ride in a cart.

The  Bridgestone Invitational arrives for its yearly visit to Firestone Country Club next week absent two notable players, Tiger Woods and John Daly.  While the absence of Woods, who has turned Firestone into his own personal playground the last several years, will certainly be noticed, the absence of John Daly is mostly a relief. 

Daly, who competed at last weekend’s Open Championship at Royal Birkdale, has become a bloated car wreck of a person and a player.  The fact that he’s mostly an afterthought on the PGA Tour is truly addition by subtraction that most players would gladly admit.  He’s been a distraction by any measure and about as poor a representative of pro golf as you can imagine.  And that was before the video of him playing shirtless at a Branson, Missouri course made its predictable trek through the internet. 

There will always be a segment of the population that considers Daly a refreshing alternative to the rather staid, almost automaton nature of most pro golfers.  More is the pity because all that mentality does is enable Daly to continue to play the doofus unabated and put off such minor matters as maturity and self-discipline for another day.  If you think that’s harsh, consider the unfortunate exhibition he put on at the Open Championship. 

I had the opportunity to play a couple rounds of golf at the new Legacy course at Sweetbriar in Avon Lake earlier this summer when I visited home.  If you grew up on the west side of Cleveland, like I did, Sweetbriar was one of those staple golf courses that you played rather frequently.  It’s recently been expanded and remodeled to navigate through the new housing development in the area.  Personally, this isn’t my favorite layout for golf, but the houses don’t come into play so often that it’s a distraction.  (Not that the houses ever should come into play, of course.) 

The front nine has been around for about five years now, so it’s not necessarily “new.”  The problem is that playing 18 holes required pairing this nine with one of the original nine holes, which, frankly, aren’t kept up as well as the Legacy holes.  With the second Legacy nine now open, you’re able to get the full experience of a new golf course. 

Still, that doesn’t mean the two nines are very similar to one another.  In fact, they have a number of differences that degrade the flow from front nine to back nine.  What is the reason for these differences?  Different designers for each nine.  One of the more notable differences is found on the greens. 

Padraig Harrington successfully defended his Open title at Royal Birkdale north of Liverpool, England, becoming the first person not named Tiger Woods to win consecutive times at the same major since Nick Faldo at the Masters in 1989 - 90. 

Yes, it does seem important to mention the recuperating #1 player in the world, as his absence was definitely noticed, but that is not to say that Tiger would have won had he been present;  after all, he couldn't beat Harrington last year at Carnoustie.  

The entire tournament reminded one more of Winged Foot in the 2006 U.S. Open, where it was looking as if the winner would be the man who melted down the least.  That pattern led to the unfortunate event where the leader from each day faded the next. 

Robert Allenby, Scottish Open winner Graeme McDowell and Rocco Mediate all followed top Thursday rounds of 69 by shooting 73 on Friday.  36 hole leader K.J. Choi's two stroke lead vanished on the front nine on Saturday, putting him in the second to last group on Sunday, tied with Harrington, trailing Greg Norman by two. 

Norman was the feel good story of the tournament, making a most improbable comeback at age 53. 

It was only after my brother and I made our trip to Scotland in 1990 that this week’s event – The Open Championship – (British Open to most) became my favorite event to watch on TV.

Once you’ve played those courses and experienced that kind of golf, it gives you an appreciation for the way the game was played . . . and invented to be played . . . centuries ago. We play a very different game here in the States than they do over there. Ours is an airborne assault, a dart game of sorts, where every shot is designed to be hit high, with spin and stop where it lands. This is very different from the ground game that defines golf over there.

One of my favorite memories of that extraordinary adventure was from Turnberry, where a ‘pearl of wisdom” was laid on me by my caddie. My brother fancies himself a comic of sorts and derives great pleasure from telling stories and jokes in the appropriate accents. So we’re walking down the fairway and he turns to our caddies and says in his newly-developed Scottish accent, “So boys, what do ye think of our ‘Scautish’ accent?”, to which my caddy replied:

“Aye, ye Americans. Ye do to the language what ye did to the game.”

ONE HUNDRED FIFTY-SIX GOLFERS will be vying for it over the next four days. It’s been accidently struck by the golf swing of five-time champion British Open Tom Watson. It’s held various libations consumed by winners over the decades. And it once sat on Ben Curtis’ television for a week so the unlikely Open Championship winner could see it every time he sat down to watch the tube.

I’m referring, of course, to the silver Claret Jug, the most prized and recognizable trophy in all of golf. And, by far, the oldest. The Claret Jug has been awarded to the British Open winner since 1873 when it replaced the Championship Belt.

(The Open Championship has been contested since 1860, in case you were wondering.)

FORTY-PLUS HOURS OF TV COVERAGE are on tap for the British Open this week at Royal Birkdale in Southport, England. It’s TNT on Thursday and Friday, and a combination of TNT and ABC on the weekend. All times are U.S. Eastern Time (ET).

Thursday, July 17
7 a.m. to 7 p.m. ET on TNT

Friday, July 18
7 a.m. to 7 p.m. ET on TNT

Saturday, July 19
7 a.m. to 9 a.m. ET on TNT
9 a.m. to End of play ET on ABC

Sunday, July 20
6 a.m. to 8 a.m. ET on TNT
8 a.m. to End of play ET on ABC

Dubbed "The Monster" by Arnold Palmer after he triple bogeyed the 657 yard par five 16th hole there during the PGA Championship, the name stuck, and that is what people now affectionately call the South Course at Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio.  Host to over 70 major golf championships, the South Course is one of the finest tests of golf in America, and that's where we take Tee It Up Ohio for this week's show, which will air Wednesday night at 10:30 on STO.

The best players in the world will all be at Firestone in August for the Bridgestone Invitational, and we'll give viewers an intimate look at the course.   Tune in to see how Mike Cairns fared on the famous 16th hole, and also see the only thing in the world that Mike and Tiger Woods have in common during the rule of the week.

AS I WATCHED HIM STRIDE UP the 72nd fairway at Royal Birkdale, the thought occurred to me, “Why didn’t he win another major?”

I flipped on the Golf Channel last night as they were airing one of their classic highlight programs, the 1976 British Open at Royal Birkdale, also this year’s Open venue.

Johnny Miller’s final-round performance in that Open was phenomenal. Johnny fired a 66 to overtake 19-year-old Seve Ballesteros and leave the great Jack Nicklaus and Masters champion Raymond Floyd in the dust.

In true Ballesteros fashion, Seve was knocking the ball all over England. Paired together, Nicklaus and Floyd played well, though, closing with 69 and 70, respectively. But Miller looked like he was playing in Tucson, taking dead aim at flagsticks and running in birdies with his Bulls Eye putter and jabby stroke. He even chipped in for an eagle on the 13th hole

As I’ve gotten older, I’ve begun to feel a little pain in my fingers of my right hand if I really get down into an iron shot and dig a deep divot. Early stages of arthritis I guess.

I’ve sure hit my share of irons shots in my life. Aggravating that is that our turf in this part of south Texas is pretty firm, even when it’s wet from rain.

So, I’ve begun to try to re-train myself to pick the ball a little more cleanly with my irons to reduce the wear and tear on my body so that I can play this great game that I truly love . . . for the rest of my life.

I see it as “preventive maintenance” for my golf game. Making a change like this is not easy, but I’m getting there. As I work on this transition, it’s interesting that I’m seeing some side benefits of this more clean contact in addition to the reduced stress on my hands.