At Disney, it's hard to focus on pressures of golf

text size

Morse/Getty Images

Stephen Ames found a lot of magic in his golf game in the Magic Kingdom in 2007.

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to hit drives like Bubba Watson? Me, too.

If you take a break from the Children's Miracle Network Classic presented by Wal-Mart this week to visit Walt Disney World, you can do one better. Check out the Rock'n Roller Coaster, and you will know what it is like to be the ball.

More

• John Maginnes column archive • Give us your take on Facebook

The ride shoots you straight uphill and reaches 60 miles an hour before you have a chance to blink -- leaving your stomach back at the starting gate never to catch up. This and many other awesome exhibits are all on display at Disney's MGM Studios where everyone from the game's best to average hackers are stars.

When you get off the roller coaster you are just steps away from the Tower of Terror. Every PGA TOUR player is far more familiar with hotel rooms than they care to be -- but this is no ordinary one.

It is an intricate ride with a horrifying twist. From the top of the hotel you can see all the way to the Magnolia Course where someone will find the magic Sunday afternoon. As you gaze and wonder, though, you are plummeted back to earth like I was on the money list in 2003.

Before you leave MGM Studios you've got to check out the stunt driving show at the back of the property. I have seen some Champions Tour caddies who think they are pretty good behind the wheel of their golf carts but they don't have anything on this high-speed, action-packed automotive ballet. The hair-raising excitement would even impress Steve Williams who has been known to run a few laps of his own back home in New Zealand.

Of course, if you are a TOUR player with young children then the bulk of your time will probably be spent at the Magic Kingdom. Shoot, several young players whose careers were shot into orbit this year weren't tall enough to ride Space Mountain a few years ago. Anthony Kim and J.B. Holmes were just wide-eyed kids, fresh out of college, about 15 minutes ago. Now they are star attractions on the PGA TOUR and Ryder Cup veterans. Mr. Toad's Wild Ride doesn't have anything on these guys.

A decade ago, these kids were in grade school, standing behind the ropes like the kids watching the Mickey Mouse parade going down Main Street USA. Today they make their livings inside the ropes as part of golf's grandest attraction and kids look on in wonder at their accomplishments.

Add Camilo Villegas of Colombia, Spain's Sergio Garcia and the rest of the 20-something winners on the PGA TOUR this year and you begin to realize a couple of things. One is that the game is getting younger and fresher. The other is that it truly is a small world. Now sing a verse of that song -- it will be stuck in your head for the rest of the day.

Don't be mad, though, it's better than the Hannah Montana song that lodged itself into your frontal lobe over MGM Studios.

Walt Disney World, like the PGA TOUR, is constantly reinventing itself with fresh talent. Part of the allure of Disney, though, is the fact that while much has changed over the years the strength is in the staples. New stars come and go but no one has ever considered supplanting the Mouse at the head of class. Except for Donald Duck, that is. On the PGA TOUR this year our mouse went down with a bad wheel but we have had a lot of Donalds rise to the occasion.

Vijay Singh led the parade through the FedExCup, and now, he can buy a lot of Disney stock with his earnings. Padraig Harrington won two majors proving that some dreams come true more than once.

This year on the PGA TOUR has been as wild as the animal adventure safari at the Animal Kingdom. If you can rouse the kids and get there early you won't have to wait too long and most of the bigger animals are up and awake.

You will get close enough to smell them. But if you are headed to the golf course to watch Davis Love III and Fred Couples resume their own comebacks applaud appropriately but don't try to smell them. They don't like that at all.

Disney is always exciting for kids of all ages. The Children's Miracle Network Classic adds to the already abundant magic. Stephen Ames capped his season off last year with high-fives from Mickey and the gang and received one of the coolest trophies in golf.

Even the guys whose years end on a sour note with q-school on the horizon will smile at the sight of Mickey and Minnie dancing up the 18th fairway on Sunday afternoon. This is, after all, the happiest place on earth.

OK, you can stop singing "It's A Small World" now.

John Maginnes is a columnist for PGATOUR.COM. His views do not necessarily reflect the views of the PGA TOUR.