New golf feature will cater to all levels

To call what I do on the golf course a golf game is a lie.

I don’t have a golf game. “Game” has a positive connotation. What I have is a golf travesty. It’s a golf disaster. In fact, using the word “golf” is a distortion of the truth.

I felt it was important to put forth that disclaimer before I introduced a new feature called Master Strokes that will run in the sports section for the next six months.

I’m not a golfer and I don’t aspire to be one. You can’t accuse me of trying to foist my likes on the reader. You can accuse me of pandering to reader interests. Guilty.

Just because I’m not crazy about chasing a little white ball into a hole, doesn’t mean I fail to recognize the popularity of the sport in our area.

If you doubt golf’s popularity in our area, try this experiment: Call a local public course midweek and ask for a weekend tee time. That’s laughter you hear on the other end of the line.

Master Strokes provides useful, easy-to-follow golf tips to help readers lower their scores and improve their game. I’m all for that. Maybe it will make some of our nastier callers a little less cranky.

Created by Phil Franké, staff illustrator for Golf Tips magazine, Master Strokes has something for golfers at every level. We will run a panel on Sundays, Tuesdays and Saturdays.

Franké collaborates with contributing writers from different parts of the country, all of whom are certified PGA teaching professionals who rank among the top 100 golf instructors in the nation.

“From amateurs to the most competitive players, all golfers have one thing in common: They all want to lower their score,” says Franké. “Reading just one day’s panel could give someone a tip that could help them improve their game.”

Franké is the staff illustrator for Golf Tips magazine and has created golf illustrations for The New York Times, Simon & Schuster, Golf magazine, and Golf Illustrated. His work has also appeared in Time, Sports Illustrated, The Wall Street Journal and other national publications.

Master Strokes will run with staff writer Steve Bergum’s Saturday golf column, which starts this week. Bergum focuses his column on area professionals, area courses and trends in golfing.

Bergum actually can golf, which makes him annoying but also well-suited to keep up on our busy golfing community. When Bergum complains about his golf game, I just roll my eyes.

Perhaps with a few dozen tips from Master Strokes, I can begin to feel his pain.