First Tee Course Reporters

text size

Editor's note: Sal Guardiola, Mike McGilton and Randy Ross will be serving as Course Reports from the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship on Tuesday and Wednesday. All three are members of The First Tee of Phoenix.

DAY TWO: CHAT WITH THE COMMISSIONER
By SAL GUARDIOLA

Sal Guardiola

Although our blog for day one was already written and posted, day one did not end there. I got to sit in on a press conference featuring Paul Casey who talked about how match play was a "bit of a lottery" and how he aimed to stay focused on his own game rather than that of his competitor. Following the conference, he came to speak with the First Tee Course Reporters personally where I asked him how he thought this tournament was going to compare to the Ryder Cup. His answer provided a lot of perspective as to what goes through the mind of a professional golfer during the Ryder Cup, which he described as a "completely different animal." He admitted that the Ryder Cup has been the only place he has ever been concerned about making contact with the ball on his first hole. The main difference he cited, and an immense one at that, was that in the Ryder Cup his entire continent was rooting for him while the United States rooted against him. Here, he said, it was all on him -- he was representing himself which made it a lot easier.

After a nutritious breakfast full of an array of different kinds of fruits, day two of the World Golf Championships -- Accenture Match Play Championship was officially underway. I was able to catch up with Stewart Williams, the chief meteorologist for the tournament. Unlike the weathermen you may find on the 5 o'clock news, Williams' job is a bit different. For starters, he does not work in front of a green screen waving his hand across different areas of the country. In fact, he only has to worry about a one- to two-mile radius surrounding the golf course. Also, the computer is his best friend. He has access to satellite images of the weather that are updated every 15 minutes or so. He also has a meter that measures the electric charge of the atmosphere which, here in Arizona, showed complete inactivity. Now, this job may not seem too demanding, but Williams provides his services at 26-28 events where sunshine is a rarity. He is the one in charge of letting officials know when it is time to stop play and when it is time to continue. Furthermore, even when the sky is clear, Williams pays close attention to wind speeds and directions so that officials can decide where to place tee boxes. In other words, this guy is kind of a big deal.

As the day continued I got the chance to watch some of the tournament and stand a few feet away from the ripped Camilo Villegas who ended up winning his match today. During some of the down time, I was able to speak with none other than the commissioner himself, Tim Finchem. In the words of my peers from the West Coast, he was a "pretty chill dude." This gentleman remained true to his easy-going nature and told us that he did support the new groove rule -- and going on to say that he thought it was a great attempt to bring value back to accuracy on the TOUR. Also he provided me with some insight as to what goes on inside the PGA TOUR board room saying that it basically does three things. First, it selects a person to run the company (Commissioner Finchem). Second, it approves of the strategies the Commissioner aims to implement so as to bring further success to the TOUR. Finally, it makes sure that everything is being done to bring the Commissioner's plans to life.

Overall the day was a complete success! I feel really blessed to have been able to experience this, and I want to thank Marc and Dan especially for taking the time to introduce me to the numerous invaluable people who work week in and week out to make the PGA TOUR and its coverage the phenomenon it is today.

DAY TWO: LEARNING ABOUT TV

By MIKE McGILTON

Mike McGilton

Welcome to the second day of the World Golf Championships- Accenture Match Play Championship. It was an enthusiastic day, getting to meet many people who are involved with the tournament. I was fortunate enough today to meet Stewart Williams, Steve Carman, Sean Howland, Bill Howard and most importantly Commissioner Tim Finchem. All of these people have huge parts into making the tournament run smoothly. So let's roll into what happened today.

The first thing I got to do today was meet the chief meteorologist Stewart Williams. He manages all weather problems for the PGA TOUR. He radios in to the head guys on TOUR and warns them if there is lightning or bad weather coming the course's way. His most important job is to tell the PGA TOUR when it is safe to go back out to play. It's a risky call, but he manages to get the job done. After I met Williams, I got to meet Steve Carman. He is a Rules Official for the PGA TOUR. He told me that he gets to determine how the course is set up. Carman sets up the grandstands and TV towers so that they don't interfere with the players. Then he showed me the official rules book. When I saw it, it blew me away. The book was so huge. It had to be at least 1,000 pages. Finally, I asked him his opinion on the new groove rule. He said it's a good decision and doesn't believe it will change the game at all.

Right after lunch, I got the privilege to meet Sean Howland, SHOTLink Operations Manager. He showed me all of the equipment for how they collect all the data on the golf course. On the course, there is a walking scorer with each group. They collect data on a little machine that tells if the player has hit the fairway or green. SHOTLink also has two different types of lasers. One is to see how far a drive went and one is to see how close the ball is on the putting green. Howland said that by using this new technology, the game of golf will grow even faster. After I got to see how SHOTLink works, I got to meet the commissioner of the PGA TOUR, Tim Finchem. He is a really awesome guy. He is very casual and very down to earth. He talked about how the PGA TOUR has come a long way since its start. He also told me about how the PGA TOUR Board is trying to make the game even better than it already is. When I asked the commissioner about the new groove rule, he just casually said, "It's no big deal. The players are so good, that it doesn't affect their play." Wow, I can't believe I got to chat with the commissioner!

At the end of the day, I got to see what I want to do for living. I got to see the broadcasting trailer. All I have to say about that is "WOW." When I met Bill Howard, he told me I was going to love it in there. And guess what, I had a blast. When I first went in, I saw how they put the scoreboard on the TV screen. It was amazing. People were yelling across the room, telling each other what needed to come on the screen next. Next, I went into the control room, where I saw how the director works. He tells the producer what player to switch to and then the producer tells the broadcasters what to say. It was amazing. There was so much commotion all at once.

I am so honored to be able to be a part of the Junior Course Reporters. This has been a big experience for me. I had so much fun both days learning what it was like behind the scenes. I would like to thank Marc and Dan for everything they have done. Thanks, guys!!!!

DAY TWO: TOPPED IT ALL

By RANDY ROSS

Randy Ross

I went home yesterday thinking that today couldn't possibly be as good. I was very wrong as today's events were about twice as good as yesterday. I started the day, once again, by walking into the media center. It was then that I got to chat with the chief meteorologist of the PGA TOUR. This was very interesting as he showed us the satellites that show the weather. There was not much to report on weather-wise because today was an absolutely perfect day. After talking with him we went to watch some golf.

We headed over to the first tee to watch some players tee off. It was then, that a very special opportunity arose. Standing not 10 feet away from me, was Tim Finchem, Commissioner of the PGA TOUR. I was lucky enough to chat with him for a few minutes. The best thing he talked about was the controversy over the few players using the Ping EYE2 wedge. He said that Ping filed an anti-trust lawsuit and won, making those particular wedges always legal on TOUR. He also said that this loophole needed to be closed in order to avoid any players having an unfair advantage. After this I met with a rules official from the TOUR. In golf the rules officials are only called in when a player doesn't know what to do, as opposed to football or basketball where there are multiple officials hovering over the players at all times. He said that in match play there is often more confusion over the rules because many rules result in a loss of hole.

After this we met with the geniuses behind SHOTLink. We toured the SHOTLink trailer where all of the data from the walking scorers is directed towards the websites and scoreboards. After this we went to a place on the course called the Patriot's Outpost. This is a hospitality tent for active and retired military and their families where they can get free food and drinks, and watch golf. After eating lunch here I went to the CBS broadcasting center, which was the best part of the day.

We met with Bill Howard, who works with broadcasting, in a dirt lot surrounded by trailers and satellites. He told us about what we were going to see inside the CBS broadcasting trailer so we wouldn't have too many questions about what was going on. When we went in they were in the middle of broadcasting and it was absolute chaos. There was one lady typing the small graphics that you see in the corner of your screen.

It was amazing how fast she had to type these corresponding with who is on air. Then I walked into the next room and saw the producer. He was telling his technical producer what hole to go to, then the technical producer would push a button and that's what the viewers at home would see on their television screens. At this point it was time for a commercial and you could hear Nick Faldo and Kelly Tilghman joking around in the booth off air. When they came back from the break Martin Kaymer, a fairly unknown player from Germany, had a putt to win the match. Kaymer made the putt to win, he was playing in the Ben Hogan bracket and the producer said "Ben Hogan Bracket", then about a second later I heard Faldo say the exact same thing.

For me today was better than the first day because I got to witness a live broadcast happen right before my eyes. The ridiculously short amount of reaction time you had to do something made everything completely chaotic. But that's also what made it exciting. I hope I get the chance to do this again, but for now, this is my last blog.

DAY ONE: TALKING WITH MARTIN KAYMER

By SAL GUARDIOLA

Excitement can be expected from anything with the word "Championship" in the title, and the first day at World Golf Championships - Accenture Match Play Championship provided just that for The First Tee Course Reporters. Helen Ross, the Chief of Correspondents for PGATOUR.COM, kicked off our day with an in-depth look into what we should expect from this experience and left us with the advice that our role is to "take [you] the reader by the hand" as we describe our day, play-by-play. Thus we begin.

I got the chance to sit in on a conference featuring professional golfer Martin Kaymer as the speaker. I did not recognize this gentleman, but after listening to the Q&A going on, I was able to gather that he was a young German man who resides in Scottsdale, Ariz., and recently made the move to No. 6 in the world golf rankings. Just like on television, the interview room was full of chairs, although surprisingly, most of them were empty. However, that also meant that the opportunities to get in a question greatly increased. I sat there listening to the media personnel asking questions when I thought, "Hey, maybe I could ask a question too." The door opened for me when there was a period of brief silence that resonated throughout the room. Using my First Tee Skills of speaking audibly and making eye contact with the person to whom I was speaking, I confidently asked Mr. Kaymer to what he attributed his recent jump to the world's top 10. Giving my question the same respect he showed others, Mr. Kaymer answered that his ability to take advantage of the reasonable winter weather of Scottsdale enabled him to keep sharpening his game rather than take the break that other players do when the snow season comes in. I left that conference with a strong sense of confidence, prepared to interview the world with my respectable inquiries.

Following the conference, I was able to speak with the muscular Chris Noss, personal trainer of Stewart Cink, Zach Johnson and several other PGA TOUR players. In his trailer we learned the controversial truth that you don't actually need big biceps to produce power when hitting the golf ball. In fact, bicep curls were not a part of any of the workouts Noss had his players endure as body part isolation was something he did not approve of. The only time he allowed the use of dumbbells was if as much of the body was put to work as possible during the exercise. His workouts are usually centralized around the themes of speed and movement, the key word for him being "biomechanics." He said that he implements three different types of workouts, each with a different goal in mind. The first workout is the "Power Workout" which is the most difficult and involves weights. The second workout is the "Plyo Workout" which focuses on using one's own bodyweight to train. The third workout is the "Functional Movement Workout" which involves emulating movements of the golf swing. This trainer's trailer was quite extraordinary. For such a small space, Mr. Noss was able to fit in an entire gym with various machines including treadmills, elliptical machines and spin bikes along with basic weights and medicine balls. Finally, he left me with the advice that if I wanted to gain strength for golf, I definitely needed to work out, and if I was to look for a personal trainer, I needed to find somebody who understands "flexibility with stability" -- or in other words, gaining strength while still being able to maintain balance and the swinging motion.

There you have it folks, day one of the Accenture Match Play Championship as told by Sal Guardiola. Stay tuned for tomorrow's blog!

DAY ONE: TRAINER GIVES GOOD ADVICE

By MIKE McGILTON

Welcome to the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship. Today, I was able to be part of the The First Tee's Junior Course Reporter program. It was an amazing day getting to meet many different people who are involved with the tournament, as well as some top TOUR pros. As the day progressed, I was fortunate enough to meet Helen Ross, Chris Noss, Chris Reimer and Wade, who builds TaylorMade golf clubs. I also was able to sit in on Steve Stricker and Martin Kaymer's press conferences. The day went by so fast, but I got to learn so much.

At the beginning of the day, I had high expectations of what we were going to do, and I was right. I first started off seeing what the media room was like. When I stepped in the room, it blew me away. There were sports writers from everywhere you could imagine, such as China, Japan, England and Ireland. All the sports writers were at work getting ready for the big day coming Wednesday. After I saw the media room, I got to see where the press conferences are held. The room wasn't as big as I thought, but it was amazing. There were three cameras in the back from different TV programs, such as Golf Channel, ESPN and PGATOUR.COM. In the front of the room, there was a podium set up for the players. It was pretty neat to see because it's so much different from watching them on television. So far, so good for this day of the Junior Course Reporter program.

At about 10 a.m., I got to sit in on Martin Kaymer's press conference. As he came in the press room, I thought to myself, "Wow, there aren't that many sportswriters in here." The reason for that is because sometimes sportswriters are too busy with one article or interviewing someone, they can't be every at one time. As the conference progressed, the interviewers asked Mr. Kaymer many questions about how he is now in the top 10 in the world golf rankings. He said it all pays off to the hard work during the winter, while he was living in Scottsdale, Ariz. Another reporter asked Martin if he has an advantage over the Americans in match play because in Europe they play match play a lot. He answered to that question as if it didn't bother him. After the press conference, I got to meet Helen Ross who works with PGATOUR.COM. She told me that she has worked for PGATOUR.COM for 14 years. She explained that the technology has changed by using many different devices to upload stats, videos and blogs. She also told me that PGATour.com has 22 people working on the website each day. She had much to say about her job, and I was very interested.

I was also fortunate enough to meet Chris Noss, the trainer for Stewart Cink, Zach Johnson, Camilo Villegas and Brian Gay. Noss had a total of seven victories with his players last year, including a major. Chris is very interactive with the players that he trains. Noss has a key to great success in exercising. First, you must do big compound work. He also said that more golfers use more feet while exercising. But, his biggest workout technique is not to stretch, but to do a lot of dynamic movement. Noss explained to me that dynamic movement is just stretching, but stretching with the golf swing. He also said that the body has to adapt to different exercises. If your body can't adapt, then don't do that exercise. Finally, I got to sit in Steve Stricker's press conference. Stricker is a very down-to-earth person, who loves the game of golf. In the conference, a blogger asked Stricker about him being No. 1 seeded throughout the match play tournament. Stricker just casually said it's no big deal. All of the matches are going to be interesting and hopefully it will go my way. Steve is very confident about going into this week and weekend and is aiming down to be the champ.

Today was an amazing day as a Junior Course reporter from The First Tee. I got to see behind the scenes of how a PGA TOUR event is conducted. It was a lot to take in for one day. There is a lot of preparation that goes into the tournament. But at the end of the day, everything goes down smoothly and one pro comes out the champion.

DAY ONE: EQUIPMENT TRUCK ASTOUNDS

By RANDY ROSS

In golf, the word Championship tends to get people very excited. I'm here at the World Golf Championships-Accenture World Match Play Championship, a tournament that lives up to its name. Going in I was very excited and had high hopes for the day's activities. First, I was shown the Media Center. At first look I was blown away to see roughly 50 people from around the world all typing stories on their native players. Media came from countries like Ireland, Japan, and Australia. I was then shown the interview room where I would later sit in on press conferences from Martin Kaymer of Germany, Steve Stricker of the United States, and Paul Casey of England. It was shaping up to be a very good day.

At about 10 a.m., Martin Kaymer came to the interview room for a press conference. After watching Martin handle all types of questions from about ten reporters I sat down with Helen Ross who talked about her experiences working with PGATOUR.COM. She gave us insight on how she would write a blog, and how you should "show" the reader what you saw. This has become easier to do with advances in modern technology. After meeting with Helen we went to meet Chris Noss, a personal trainer for Zach Johnson, Stewart Cink, and Camillo Villegas. He told us how he travels to 30 to 35 events per year depending on how many of his players were at each tournament. Last year, his combined players had seven victories, one of which was a major.

I would say the highlight of the day was when we visited the TaylorMade Tour truck. We met with one of the club builders who was very open about everything that they had. Describing the truck, the only word that comes to my mind is "spaceship." There were about 20 drawers full of every driver and wood head a TOUR pro could possibly want. Then directly across the aisle there were about 20 more drawers filled with iron, wedge and putter heads. The club builder had a Playstation 3 for the quiet times. He also told me that TOUR pros would come to lounge around on a practice round day. In fact, just about 30 minutes before, the club builder and Sean O'Hair were playing video games in the truck. The truck cost about $1 million dollars to make and must have had $100,0000 worth of equipment in it. I even got a TOUR quality hat out of this part of the day.

Today went past my expectations. I didn't think I was going to get to do as much as I did. I can only hope tomorrow is just as good. Or maybe even better!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SAL GUARDIOLA

My name is Sal Guardiola and I am 19 years old. I was recently accepted to the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communications at Arizona State University and I look forward to attending. As an active member of The First Tee of Phoenix since 2001 I have attained Eagle Certification. I have participated in programs with The First Tee all over the country including The First Tee Life Skills Academy in Kansas, the Walmart First Tee Open at Pebble Beach in 2008 and 2009, and The First Tee Walt Disney/Toro Future Leaders Form . This year I was named a First Tee National Scholar. I look forward to continuing to work with The First Tee as a coach and mentor to youth of all ages.

MIKE McGILTON

My name is Mike McGilton and I am 14 years old. I am in the eighth grade and attend Arizona Connections Academy, which is an on-line school. I am a member of the National Junior Honor Society. I am from Pittsburgh, Pa., and have lived in Chandler, Ariz., for almost five years.

I was diagnosed with Type I Diabetes when I was 7. My family has formed a non-profit organization called Strokes for Little Folks, Inc. which raises money for juvenile diabetes through golf activities. I am a member and compete in the First Tee of Phoenix, American Junior Golf Association (AJGA), Southwest PGA (SWPGA), and the Junior Golf Association of Arizona (JGAA).

I have been a member of the First Tee of Phoenix for three years. I am currently in the Ace Level which is the advanced classes. At the First Tee I have learned the nine core values, competed in many tournaments, including the Kloenne Cup two years in a row; and also do volunteer work. Before moving to Phoenix I was a member of the First Tee of Pittsburgh. I practice at the Raven Golf Club where I take lessons from Gary Wolf. I have won the Sportsmanship Award from the JGAA three years in a row. I would like to attend college and major in sports broadcasting and hope to be on the PGA TOUR someday.

RANDY ROSS

My name is Randy Ross. I am 13 years old and live in Phoenix, Ariz. I began playing golf when I was 5. I have played in the following tours -- JGAA, FCWT, IJGT, and AJGA. All of these organizations are highly regarded. I have also played in many First Tee of Phoenix events. I love going to The First Tee to see my friends, work on my game and volunteer.

The first Tee is a great organization. I have been going to the South Mountain site since I was 9. I love to help out with anything the coaches need. The First Tee has given me many great opportunities, but I would say the most valuable of which is the camaraderie of being there with all of the coaches and the kids.