Since my feelings about social media run similar to Ron Swanson, joining Twitter was akin to getting a bad tattoo while sober. Nonetheless, I’m on twitter. You can follow my incoherent ramblings and drunken stupidity @1golferincart where I seek to perform the Twitter equivalent of 4-putting from 10 feet.

First off- full marks to Henrik Stenson for winning both the FedEx Cup Playoffs and the European Tour Championship. To get hot like that when it counts, and be able to raise his game both in September and again in October-November is no small feat. From the system used, he won. Nonetheless, I keep wondering “is this the best system?” which led me, like many, to go have a few drinks and then go to my special thinkin’ place and work up a solution. It took me about 20 minutes. It’s fair, it’ll be easily understood by audiences, and it’s nothing silly at all.

To begin, I started by looking at playoffs in other sports. In the “big four” team sports in North America, a total of 54 teams out of 121 make the playoffs. That’s 43.9% or 44%. Less than half. In tennis, only the top 16 make the World Finals out of approximately 250 players on the circuit. In looking at the PGA Tour, factoring in past champions and current players, I came up with approximately 200 players (not counting Monday qualifiers). Half of that would be 100. However, in my system I’m all about helping certain events that don’t always get the best fields. So much like the Open Championship does, it’ll be the top 95 getting in, along with the top 5 players in the events immediately following majors (when they tend to suffer from depleted fields).

I’d use the first event and get down to the top 60. How do we do it? First- using what other leagues do, the top 10 players are automatically entered in the second week. It’s the first round bye. So from that, it’s rather simple- finish in the top 50 and you move on. In every other sport (including tennis) there’s no credit other than a first round bye or home game advantage for having a great midseason. A regular season is just that- this is the playoffs and it’s about winning when it counts.

The second event starts at 60 (top 50 from week 1 plus your top 10). Have to finish in the top 40 to move on to the 3rd event (so no more “I have a boo-boo…this course doesn’t suit my eye). If the top 10 guys can’t put it together here…too bad. You had 2 weeks to prepare. Much like the old Q-school days, if you can’t play then you’re out. The point of a playoff system is that you have to play your best golf at this point.

The third event is where I make things interesting. Instead of standard stroke play, the third event is a Stableford. The PGA Tour used to have a Stableford event. Under my system they do now. The top 16 move onto the PGA Tour Final or Tour Championship (same number as make the ATP/WTA Finals).

The fourth event is matchplay. Use the existing rankings that come out of the last event (see- there’s your reward for season-long excellence- a better seed in the final event). 1 plays 16, 2 plays 15, and so on. No math formulas, just win and you move on. You end up with one match for the $10mm first prize (I’d throw in a lifetime exemption). The average sports fan won’t understand the whole points thing, but two guys playing one match for $10mm? A true Final.

For the players who make the playoffs, there should be an incentive- your Tour card is guaranteed for the next year (that’s your reward for making the playoffs). I’d also grant automatic exemptions into the following year’s majors for anyone making the top 16.

So that’s my modest proposal. A playoff system that the average fan can understand and one that does what a playoff should do- build interest and have a Final day that rewards your champion.

Any time I do a course review, I try to write this for someone who hasn’t played the course, and try, to the extent possible, to present factual and balanced information about the course. So here goes.

Timbers at Troy is located in Elkridge, MD and is a partnership between Howard County with the course managed by Kemper Sports Management. The course has been open since the very early 2000’s (I played my first round there in 2003 and still have the scorecard-I have all my scorecards so when the Golf Channel starts their “Golf Hoarders” show…look me up).

For various reasons, Timbers has fallen off my rota of courses that I play, largely due to conditioning and their attitude about single golfers like myself. Even trying to get a tee time is brutally hard (their tee sheet the day I played was wide open…but if you’re a single…not happening). Nonetheless, I walked on and hoped for the best. The guy in the pro shop was friendly enough and got me on my way. There was no starter, so went off.

Unlike most courses, Timbers at Troy doesn’t give you a handshake hole; they give you a toughie from the start- a tight long par 4 with woods to the right and trees left. The day I played I noticed signs up touting that they were starting a project to improve their bunkers (good on them- their bunkers are currently in dire need of repair- you can argue about what kind of condition bunkers should be in- if you want to go the “natural” look I’m all for it…but if you’re going with a traditional tree-lined parkland course…they shouldn’t be like hitting out of rock-strewn paste). The second hole is a dogleg par 5; after that a couple short par 4’s before you hit their “signature” hole, a medium length par 3 that’s all carry over an environmental area. The 9th is a brutish par 5 with a semi-blind second shot uphill to an elevated landing area.

The day I played, the course was in mixed condition. Several fairways had clearly not fared well with the summer (June was one thunderstorm after another, July was all over the board and August has gone from cool to hot and back to cool). Despite this, I’ve played several tracks this month that are in much better condition. Greens were mixed as well- on some holes there were great, others they were a touch bumpy. I don’t know their aeration schedule but it’s probably happening later this month (their website didn’t have any information on this; if you plan on going my advice is to ask).

The back nine starts off with a brutish par 4 that requires a second shot over a hazard/environmental area to an uphill green. For me the best hole on the back 9 is 17; a dogleg par 5 that plays downhill and has a man-made lake on the left side of the green. A definite birdie opportunity and also a chance to ruin your round (everything a good par 5 should be). 18 is a longish par 4 that plays uphill (and longer). You can score here and make a number, but get wild off the tee and you can easily make double bogey or worse. You don’t need Tour length. You need acccuracy.

The problem with this, as you might imagine, is that pace of play can be diabolical on weekends (or anytime the course is busy). One thing they used to do (their new scorecards don’t have this) is a recommended tee box by handicap index; I’ve seen 20-handicappers play this course from the tips (it’s one of the places six hour rounds come from). The blue tees are just over 6100 yards and will give most golfers plenty of challenge (at that you’re looking at a 70.8 rating and a 134 slope).

The course has a pro shop that has hats, balls, shirts, and a few other items for sale. There’s a snack bar that has what you’d expect (nothing fancy but it’s perfunctory).

Timbers will always be a special place for me; my career best round came there (a 73 a few years ago), but like many things, it’s changed. I wish them well and hope that their renovations bode well and they end up with a course in tip-top condition. But given the options available to me, I just don’t know how many more times I want to be treated like a third class citizen because I’m a single (if you don’t want to take tee times for singles, follow the PB Dye example and spell it out).

Plus, if you’re sending people out in the morning on the back 9, they better be able to keep up (the day I played they put a bunch of slow-moving types…and just like that, things back up and your pace of play grinds to a halt). Your time par in the morning should be a lot faster than during middle of the day.

If you’re playing as a twosome, you could do a lot worse than Timbers at Troy. There are some fun holes, and most of the people I’ve met there are friendly and want to be helpful. You might do better but you could do worse.

Lost amid the buildup for the PGA Championship this week was news that the USGA TV rights package (which includes all USGA-conducted events including the US Open, US Women’s Open and US Senior Open) was awarded to FOX starting in 2015. Lost amid the glee of never having to deal with Chris Berman polluting my television during the US Open, was one tiny little issue- FOX has never produced nor aired a professional golf tournament in North America. Yes, BSkyB in Britain airs the US PGA tour as well as the European Tour (and the Ryder Cup), but their US coverage consists of using the US network’s feed.

When NBC acquired the rights from ABC beginning with the 1995 US Open, at least NBC had golf coverage (and Johnny Miller was already their lead analyst). FOX cannot say that, which means that their first coverage will be for the US Open in 2015 in Chambers Bay (which has hosted a US Amateur but never a US Open). They don’t have a producer (Tommy Roy and Lance Barrow handle this for NBC and CBS respectively), and they don’t have announcers.

So why did this happen? The only logical reason is money- FOX outbid NBC (John Feinstein, in his outstanding book “Open” about the 2002 US Open at Bethpage Black, detailed the negotiations between the USGA and the networks…his book revealed that NBC outbid ABC by several million dollars per year…and this was 1994 dollars).

It’s hard to see CBS or NBC allowing their announcers to go work for a competitor (and with Fox rolling out Fox Sports 1 and Fox Sports 2 later this month they won’t want to use other networks for coverage), especially with what I’m sure is no small amount of acrimony. So FOX is essentially starting from scratch. If I were running things, this would be what I’d do:

Host: Joe Buck. Novice to golf, but NBC uses Bob Costas in a similar role at the US Open. Name recognition and there’s that familiarity to boot.

Anchor: If FOX is serious, they should make a play for someone like Rich Lerner at The Golf Channel. While casual sports fans may not know him, your core golf audience does. If they have to bring someone in internally, I’d look at Thom Brennaman. Solid on baseball, and knows enough to punt to the analysts. Your wild card would be Vin Scully, who’s done golf and was pretty good. Question is does he want the gig and is he willing to travel? Which brings me to…

Main Analyst: Ken Venturi was and is the gold standard. FOX can go three directions:
1) Greg Norman. Norman tried to start a World Golf Tour (reaching out to FOX’s David Hill) in 1994…before the PGA Tour started the World Golf Championships. A light schedule of 3-4 events per year wouldn’t overly tax him (given his other business interests). He’s not afraid of speaking his mind.
2) Lee Trevino. Younger fans may not know him, but pre-Johnny Miller he worked on NBC’s golf (with Vin Scully). Your “core” audience knows him; he’s funny and always has a good story to tell. He’s won the US Open so he can speak to the pressure (and given his very modest beginnings he can speak to the “Open” part of said championships).
3) Jack Nicklaus. If you want name recognition Nicklaus is the gold standard. Like Norman, he’s already busy with his businesses but I suppose the question is would he want the gig? Only problem…he’s horrible on TV. Go watch him on the Memorial Tournament. I’m not saying he should show up with a fauxhawk and an earring but he’s not exactly known for being critical. I just don’t know if he’s able to give the viewer that expert opinion without needing 10 minutes to do so.

Hole/walking analysts:
1) Fuzzy Zoeller. Won a US Open. And a Masters. Okay, so there was the whole foot-in-mouth at the 1997 Masters, but he’s funny and I do think that would translate to TV.
2) Tommy Armour III. Knows the game. Funny.
3) Notah Begay/Paul Goydos. Both work for the Golf Channel, but I’d look at using them. Begay played college golf with Tiger Woods so he can be…well, not exactly quick to lay on the criticism, but both know the game and translate well to television.

It is interesting that while Fox Sports 1 has landed NFL, NHL, and MLB analysts, they’ve been silent on the golf front.

Either way, the 2015 US Open should be interesting.