Icewind's Ramblings

The Masters started today in Augusta and with it a return of two great champions, Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer for the honorary first tee shots.  We are off for a great weekend of chasing that little white ball around the hallowed grounds that is Augusta National Golf Club. Yesterday before the competition started and the hoopla of a returning Tiger Woods there was the usual press conference from the Masters chairman but it was not the normal talk with little meaning as Billy Payne did the right and necessary thing for all of those who love the game, the traditions, and keep The Masters what it is. For all his brilliance and leadership as the man in charge of the Masters, it is unlikely Billy Payne will ever do anything as masterful, as blunt and certainly as necessary as what he did Wednesday afternoon on the eve of the 74th edition of The Masters. In what was a stunning and rare departure for a Masters chairman, he not only admonished one of the players in the field for...

Elin Picked a Wedgie I find it interesting as more information comes forward in the continuing saga of Tiger Woods.  He is a very private person who for years now has developed his ‘brand’ presence while little is reported about his life off the greens. As most of us had finished the turkey, cleaned the dishes, and settled down to enjoy the time away from work news broke about the crash of the Cadillac Escalade and the injuries to Tiger Woods. At first things just didn’t seem right as the story broke on the east coast while many slept but here in Alaska it was still evening and the pop-ups on the internet flashed the early news of what happened . . . or did it? ‘Backing up’ out of the driveway . . . hitting the fire hydrant and then the tree . . . but why was there damage on the front of the vehicle?  Perhaps a quick getaway? Tiger unconscious in the car, a window broken with a golf club after a heated discussion and a neighbor’s call to 911, a quick trip to the h...

It has been one of those weeks at work so when I saw this story it triggered a funny memory from a vacation I went on last year to Mexico .  Now this is not a funny story so please do not take me as inconsiderate or mean when I look at this story from a slightly distorted viewpoint.  Feel free to comment and tell me that I am slightly demented to comment so vicariously on such a tragedy but I sometimes look at things from a weird perspective. While we were on vacation Scott and I played golf on a Jack Nicklaus designed course at the Moon Palace Resort and Spa in Cancun Mexico .  It was an early morning tee time as we were the first on the course that day.  The weather was going to be hot so we wanted to get out early and off the course by lunchtime.  The first rays of light were rising over the Caribbean Sea amongst the clouds to the east as we hit our ball off the first tee.  The grass was still slightly wet from the sprinklers that were sprayi...

Today I am sitting at a stop light waiting for the light to change and look in my side mirror and see this car approaching but not slowing down to stop. I could see the young girl looking down and realized she was using her phone to text message someone as she rear ended the car in front of her which was beside me. She had looked up just before impact so luckily she had started to brake just before hitting with some force to the vehicle. No one was hurt but I am sure both felt lucky that it turned out ok but not without more drama and comedy. The guy that was hit was upset and rightly so as he was minding his own business waiting like me for the light to change. The young girl on the other hand was also slightly upset for what ever reason, that fateful phone call to the parents about the accident, or that realization that messing with the phone had totally changed her day and possibly her life. I am not sure which but she got out of her car just as the guy did a...

It’s springtime in Augusta , Georgia which means the Masters Tournament is this Easter weekend. It’s that four day walk through the beauty and rolling hills that is the Augusta National Golf Club. For many it is hallowed grounds where past memories of golf’s finest tournament is played with a gallery full of people. In the South where I grew up it was a rite of passage each spring much like our beloved Iditarod here in Alaska . There are the familiar names such as Rae’s Creek and Amen Corner with each of the three holes that make the turn each year usually making or breaking Master’s Dreams on Sunday afternoon. The unique beauty that makes up that portion of the course inspires to bring out the best in the competitors. The flowers as a backdrop and the wonderful television shots of the Ben Hogan Bridge or the reflections of the Byron Nelson Bridge gives one a proper perspective of the gentleness of Bobby Jones the founder of this spectacular golf course. ...