Bruce Meadows on Golf: Popular Sonoma County Columnist Returns to Cover Game he Loves

By Bruce Meadows

When I took an early retirement from the Santa Rosa Press Democrat in late 2007, I had hoped to continue my weekly golf column.

I had written the column for more than 25 of the 30 years I worked for the newspaper, having built up what I believe was a loyal and dedicated following. I really enjoyed getting the word out on local and national events, but more significantly, on local golfers and local events.

The idea of providing readers — golfers and otherwise — stories they would definitely not read anywhere else was a constant source of enjoyment for me and, I found out, for the readers as well.

After two months of writing the column, the Press Democrat opted to discontinue it. I had hoped the newspaper would provide some kind of local golf coverage but it never really happened. I think the absence of that kind of column has left a void in the local golf community.

For a short time I resumed the column for a local sports website, but never really found a home.

Now, thanks to Patch.com, my golf column appears to once again to be alive and well. It will appear in a number of patch.com sites, such as Healdsburg.patch.com, Sonoma.patch.com, RohnertPark.patch.com, Petalumapatch.com and hopefully in a site where you live.

Seeing how this is the first column for Patch, it is obviously a work in progress. But I feel now as I did all those years writing for the Press Democrat, that there is a need to provide information on local golf and golfers as well as things outside this area that influence the game.

I have always tried to keep players current on what was going on in the community, be it tournaments or innovative offers from local pros or golf course operators. In these economic times, courses have to be creative to get golfers to tee off at their place.

But I also felt the need to include the personal stories, ones that gave golfers a forum, exposure they might not otherwise have.

A woman once wrote to tell me about her 76-year-old father shooting his age; a father contacted me about how he and his son had both scored holes-in-one the same week.

I recall one man writing to tell me he scored his first ace at Bennett Valley Golf Course in Santa Rosa, only it happened when he was playing alone and it was almost dark and nobody saw it but him.

A woman called to let me know how golf had helped bring her family together. Instead of her husband playing only with his buddies on Saturday, the whole family would go to a family-friendly course once a week, and the father, mother, son and daughter would tee it up together. The indication was they may have lost some balls, but rediscovered their family.

These were stories that were not the kind you might find on Sports Center, but they were real local stories about real people.

I enjoyed writing about youth golf programs like the one promoted by Robert Braun at Fairgrounds GC in Santa Rosa, or Jimmy Stewart at Tayman Park or educator Paul Nikol, who created a nationally-acclaimed "Golf at the Elementary Level" (GEL) to benefit kids who might otherwise never hold a golf club.

It was encouraging to see youngsters be exposed to the game at an early age and continue playing, some in high school, some even in college. A few fortunate young people actually received golf scholarships to help further their education.

PART OF MY REGULAR COLUMN was a "birdies and bogeys" feature in which I would single out courses, pros, local golfers for praise or criticism. If you felt you were disrespected or ripped off at a local course, you could write me about it and, after giving the other party a chance to respond,  the word would get out.

We conducted surveys, asking golfers to pick the best course, the best par-3, the best teaching pro, the best 19^th hole, etc. and then we published results. These surveys proved extremely popular and helped identify the good, the bad and the ugly, and maybe proved to be an incentive for some courses to shape up.

In this new venture, we want to incorporate the things we felt worked in the past, and also add anything that might help local golfers now and in the future. We also want to feature local players, programs, courses who do things right and some who don't.

In short, nothing is out of bounds -- pun intended -- in this column, whether it be about a local course overcharging, a rising young golf star, bad golf jokes or your thoughts on Tiger Woods.

I will take your comments and, when necessary, contact appropriate golf pros and golfers to get their opinion.

The old column was obviously about golf, but it was also about more than scores and statistics.  It was about people, golfers, and I think just about everybody has at least one story to tell, whether they realize it or not.

I think while providing golfers and other readers important information about the game itself, sharing these personal stories is one of the reasons the column resonated so much with local golfers.

Sometimes a golfer would write about something that had happened to him or her, figuring it had never happened to anyone else. But when that story ran, others were often quick to point it definitely had.

That being said, I am once again seeking your help, your ideas, your stories, your complaints and your kind words about golf and golfers.

Author Thomas Wolfe published a novel in 1940 entitled "You Can't Go Home Again." And while there may be some truth to that, I think we can recapture something that's been missing in this area when it comes to golf.

I'm also reminded of a quote most recently attributed to hockey great Wayne Gretzky, who reportedly said, "you miss 100 percent of the shots you never take." I like that quote and hope you think about it when you're pondering whether to write to me. Regardless, e-mail  me and let me know what you think.

IN FUTURE COLUMNS, I will endeavor to explore as many aspects of golf as I can.

On the minds of plenty of golfers right now is how much it costs to continue playing the game, whether it be for rounds of golf, equipment or simply the time required to play 9 or 18 holes.

I will be in touch with a number of people who have considerable insight into the game, like CourseCo's Tom Isaak or Empire Golf's Rod Metzler, to talk about where the golf might be headed and what can be done to make it better.

If you have any questions you want addressed, please contact me and we will take it from there.

I spoke with Jimmy Stewart, GM/head pro at Tayman Park GC, a classic 9-hole facility in Healdsburg., the oldest course (1921) in Sonoma County.

Stewart grew up with the game of golf as his family built, owned and operated a course in New Jersey. He played in college (Houston) and on the Asian pro tour and has spent time working for well-known golf course architects Ronald Fream and Robert Trent Jones.

Stewart concedes rounds are down, revenues are down but ponders where the fault lies. "For one thing, this year we have had 21 weekends rained out opposed to five in 2009," he said. "It was our wettest spring."

Stewart also thinks golfers are aging, "stalwarts of our men's and women's clubs are playing less and less; the new generation is not as serious, less rules-oriented and wants to have a good time."

He adds that while Tiger Wood attracted a lot of new or fringe golfers to the game, "his woes may have turned off a lot of people."

Golf, insists Stewart, is not an easy game, instruction has become way too complicated and teaching the game the way the pros play it is not the answer.

Finally, the ailing economy is a factor, with fewer jobs, less disposable income. A $50 round, says Stewart, "is not where it's at." We'll look into this aspect more in the coming weeks.

Check out Tayman's web site, www.taymanparkgolfcourse.com for more information, click "golf school" and for simplified golf instruction, be sure to look at the "Swing the Circle" item or go to jwstewart@swingthecircle.com.

(Bruce Meadows on Golf will appear regularly at onoma.patch.com To contract Bruce with golf notes and news, e-mail: meadows.patch@gmail.com)