The Beginning Of The End To My Golf Season

It's already begun. This past Thursday night Stinky Golfer Dog shows up at my house, beer in hand, ready to watch the first NFL game of the season. This will be the official start to my favorite time of year...football season.

Every year, immediately after the Super Bowl, I find myself already anxious for the start of the next season. It's not just the fact that I love the sport itself. It's everything that goes along with it. Getting together with friends to watch the games, the fantasy football leagues, maybe a few pools here and there...and of course a Super Bowl party.

However, I guess the start of the football season is a bit bittersweet as well. As much as I love it, it also means my golf season (as little as I played this year) is coming to an end. Football marks the nearness of autumn, with winter soon to follow. And being that here in CT we've already had a few sub-70 degree days, winter may be here sooner than expected.

But it's the fact that this weekend, the first of many this this season that a few buddies will head over to my place to watch the games and stuff our faces rather than playing golf on a Sundays, tells me something about where golf stands in my sports life. As far as my buddies and I watching football, I've mentioned before that we don't get together to watch golf .

When it comes to fantasy sports, I've been participating in fantasy football for over 15 years now. But fantasy golf? I took my first shot at it this year and was bored with it by week 3. I don't really know enough of the players on the tour, and I don't follow the tour closely enough to care. So fantasy golf quickly becomes dull.

But what about a pool or some type of wagering? That always makes things much more interesting. Well, it simply isn't common enough for golf. I'll get into Super Bowl pools as well as some regular season pools or random wagers. But golf...no one cares enough. And if someone approached me about a golf pool, I'd probably do it. I bet on everything. Hell, I even put a few bucks in on the Home Run Derby this year! But no betting equals no additional interest.

But obviously, the most important part of football season is the games themselves. I desire enough to watch the games that, from this weekend on, golf is now limited to Saturdays only. If golf is going to be played on a Sunday (and that's a BIG if), it will be limited to nine holes only and must be played locally or early enough that I can be home in time for the start of the games.

I love playing golf. But one of the things I love most about it is the camaraderie with my golfing buddies. Just hanging out with my friends on the course, having a beer and some grub afterward are part of what's great about getting out and golfing. But watching the games with my friends provides the same camaraderie and includes the non-golfers. Not too mention the other factors mentioned earlier and even more excitement and interest is provided.

But as much as I love football, it can't actually take the place of being out on the golf course with my pals. Well, on Saturdays anyway...

Swing 'til you're happy!

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Why I Suck at Fantasy Golf

I've played fantasy football since 1998 and I'm not too bad at it. I usually make the playoffs and the year our prize money was at its largest, I won the entire league. Needless to say, my overall winnings outweigh my overall entrance fees.

So when a golf buddy asked me to join his fantasy golf league this year, I figured why not? Anyway, there were a few advantages to his league - First; there were only 5 people in it (better odds for me to win). Second; I knew two or three of the people had never played fantasy golf before (same boat as me). And third; it was free - so what did I have to lose?

Despite never playing fantasy golf before, I figured how hard can it be? You just pick the top-ranked players every week and hope the odds pan-out. Au contraire. Turns out fantasy golf is a whole lot harder than it looks.

First of all, you can't just pick the same players every week, because in my league (Yahoo!) you can only use a player 9 times. So now I have to mix and match. The only problem with that is I have no idea who many of these players are! Stinky Golfer Chris has posted about this issue and he's right - if the media wasn't so hung up on Tiger, I may be a better fantasy golfer!

Anyway, not knowing many of the tour players, I've relied on the "expert" picks. And when you start reading-up on fantasy golf from the experts, you realize these guys are choosing players each week for a multitude of reasons. For example, they won't start a player who is hot because he historically doesn't play well at a particular course. Or even in particular weather!

Now I'm sunk. Not only do I not know many PGA Tour players, but I don't really follow the PGA Tour to begin with! How am I supposed to know how a particular player has done at a specific course? That's just too much research for me.

Oh and I'm having a hard time remembering to change-out my players too. In the NFL, players tend to play every week (unless they're injured or on bye). So if you forget to change your lineup, chances are your team will still be intact enough to give you a shot at winning anyway. But not in golf. Not every player plays every stop on tour, so if you forget to check, you can (like me this week) have no golfers from the previous week playing in the tournament this week! That translates to a big fat goose egg for my weekly score.

But there's more. In football, there's only one game a week. In golf, the tournament lasts four days. So there's an opportunity to switch starters with bench players after the first, second and third rounds. The problem is, I can never remember to do it! I'd set my lineup on Wednesday and check how I did on Monday...only to learn two of my four starters missed the cut on Friday! That led me to set a reminder on my phone for Friday night at 10 PM to make sure my starters actually make the cut for the weekend!

It doesn't matter - I have no business playing fantasy golf. Of the five that started-out in our league, only three have kept it up (myself included). And of those three, I'm last. It's pathetic. I play golf, I write about golf, I love golf. But I suck at fantasy golf. But, I signed up and I will compete till the end of the season.

Speaking of that, the summer session is about to begin - another 13 weeks of me stinking-up the fantasy golf links. Joy.

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