Live TV golf back in the game

Posted on by Alexander Rose

After weeks and months of absence, pro golf is back on tour, back on telly and back in our hearts. It was about time, if you’d ask me.

2020 is a crazy year. It has been so far and seems to continue to make its way into history books on so many levels. Life, as we know it, came to a halt and so many beautiful factors of daily things were taken away from every one of us—including golf.

Not only was golf forbidden to play, it was of course also for the professionals, hence there was no live TV coverage for such a long time.

But that changed now. With the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial Country Club we have the first of pro event back in live TV. The PGA Tour being first out there, made a good effort with teasing the crowd in social media, as this tournament will–as all the others to come in the near future–be played under some new circumstances: Played without spectators, to start with.

I haven’t had much time to sit in front of the TV lately myself with this new COVID-19 home-office and child-care situation, but I seriously support the idea to bring pro golf back into play and back onto the screen.

I love my golf.tv subscription and can’t wait to see some of the events kicking in here on this side of the Atlantic, starting with a so-called “UK Swing” with six consecutive events in the UK, as announced by Keith Pelley, European Tour commissioner. Please read here.

golf on tv: the greatest game ever played (2005)

Posted on by Alexander Rose

tonight, i came home from work at around 9pm, my girlfriend had been to london and i had no appointments for the evening… so what to do? there’s still this golf movie i wanted to see, i thought to myself, and that’s exactly what i did. i used the opportune moment and watched shia labeouf in “the greatest game ever played” from 2005.

the plot is easy but based on a true story: a young working class boy, francis ouimet, is addicted to golf and works as a caddie in an upper class boston golf club. he admires harry vardon, a famous british golf player which has kind of a similar background. francis has huge golfing abilities and plays some successful tournaments but both his family and the establishment oppose to let him live his dream.

after giving up this sport in favour of working in a “real” job and to fulfill the family’s wishes, he gets the chance to play the qualification for the US open. no need to explain that he makes it to the final round and climbs the leaderboard just to a leading three-some, harry vardon included. the decision is postponed as all three have the same score and a 18-holes play-off is played the following day.

at the end – you might have guessed correctly from the picture – francis takes the lead, the pot and all the fame. he’s won against his family, the upper class, his own barriers and earns much of respect.

the film is light, has some nice pictures but it’s not knocking somebody’s socks off. it’s a bit of a bagger vance story and outlines some interesting ancient golfing facts, but i’m not sure whether it can reach it. but since this is a true story, which makes it a bit more interesting, check out francis ouimet at wikipedia and watch this trailer to make your own opinion:

Continue reading golf on tv: the greatest game ever played (2005)

golf on tv: caddyshack (1980)

Posted on by Alexander Rose

when was the first time you came across a golf movie? and – not less important – what would you really consider a golf movie? some guys taking their sticks to the course to play some holes? no, not really. what i had in mind is films which main topic has something to do with the game of golf. i think about about “tin cup”, “bagger vance”, “the greatest game ever played”, my personal first golf movie “happy gilmore” and last but not least, the choice of many of you: “caddyshack”.

this film is crazy, yes it is. funny and a bit embarrasing as well. but it fits the time! starring chevy chase, rodney dangerfield, ted knight, cindy morgan, the brilliant bill murray and many others. the setting is an elite country club that… let’s say: faces some hard times!

from my perspective, it wasn’t bill murray’s best role. but he must have liked it, since bill was one of the major scriptwriters for this movie and he wrote the role of karl spackler just for himself. so you might think that bill is as crazy as his film role. but don’t listen to me. watch the movie! as you read this, you might be interested in golf, then caddyshack is real must-see since it’s 30 years old and already a classic. here’s the movie trailer:

golf on tv: the avengers (1966)

Posted on by Alexander Rose

today, i came home from work, made myself comfortable on my couch and was zapping through the channels on tv. normally i start over again when reaching channel 20 or so, but today i made my way through all special-interest stations and finally reached arte. it’s a german-french culture station that is normally not my first spot to look for interesting tv stuff. but today, two men playing golf in monochrome awakened my interest.

it turns out that this was an episode of “the avengers” of 1966 that is called “the thirteenth hole”. john steed (patrick macnee) and emma peel (diana rigg) are playing and investigating on the golf course. for golf fanatics this might be quite an enjoyable amusement – exciting and funny at once!