5 Fab Things to Do During Masters Week

All the action in Augusta, Georgia during Masters Week is not inside the ropes.

The city comes alive during the week and there are some activities I recommend when you're not roaming the carpet-like fairways at Augusta National. Even if you're one of the unlucky ones who can't even scrounge up a ticket even for a practice round, you can still immerse yourself in all the frivolity and fun that is Masters Week.

Here are some great things to do:

Enjoy Steaks and Frosty Brews at TBonz Steakhouse--It's a popular hangout for players, caddies and golf industry types during Masters Week. The "Godfather of Soul", James Brown, loved TBonz and there's all sorts of J.B. memorabilia around the restaurant. Menu highlights include hand cut steaks (try the Drunken Ribeye with Kentucky Bourbon Sauce or the Black & Bleu Filet topped with broiled bleu cheese crust). The ribs and chicken are pretty darn good, too.

Visit with John Daly in front of Hooters--It's a tradition unlike any other. Every year during Masters Week, John Daly parks his luxury RV in front of the Augusta Hooters on Washington Road. J.D. hasn't played in the Masters since 2006, but he still comes to Augusta every year to hawk everything from t-shirts and head covers to hats and towels. He stands in front of his bus, usually smoking a heater, and chats with fans while he makes sales. If you buy something, large or small, Daly happily takes a picture with you that's worthy of any Instagram or Facebook post.

Party On at Augusta Commons--Scheduled for April 5, 2017 in downtown Augusta at Augusta Commons, ParTee on the Green is a dance party for all ages. The music encompasses beach, soul, pop, jazz, reggae, R&B and funk. The entry fee is only $3 in advance. 

Feast at Champion's Retreat--This ultra-private club offers the "Southern Culinary Experience" to the public with an amazing menu that includes Low Country, New Orleans Cajun and Creole, Carolina Calabash style, Charleston Raw Bar, Texas Dry Rubbed BBQ, Florida and the Keys influences, Mid Georgia BBQ and classic Southern Soul. Beer, wine and liquor included. Enjoy nightly entertainment while smoking cigars and sipping bourbons as you celebrate Masters Week. Thursday-Saturday 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. (open seating). Reservations are required. Price is $125 plus tax per person, which includes food, beverages and gratuity. Call Champion's Retreat at 706-854-6977 for reservations.

Dine With the Locals--Two of the most popular local restaurants are The Boll Weevil Cafe near the Riverwalk, where shrimp and grits, fried green tomatoes, pasta creole and homemade desserts are the draw and Luigi's, a mainstay since 1949 and Ben Crenshaw favorite, which has to-die-for Lasagne and it's legendary Toasted Ravioli with Meat Sauce.

Best Event to See Golf Legends

Fortunately, most of golf's living legends congregate in one place annually at the Ritz Carlton Golf Club in Orlando.

From Jack Nicklaus, Lee Trevino and Hale Irwin to John Daly, Nick Price and Nick Faldo, the fairways are teeming with golf icons at the PNC Father Son Challenge, which is staged every December. The unique tournament joins 20 of golf's legends with their son or daughter in a professional competition.

If you want to see some of golf's biggest and most popular stars up close and personal, I highly suggest you attend this tournament. The stars are very approachable off the course and the crowds are limited so you're often just a few feet away on tee boxes and greens from some of the greatest players who've ever picked up a club. Better still, the tickets are very reasonably priced.

The Ritz Carlton Golf Club, which sits behind The Ritz-Carlton, Orlando and JW Marriott Orlando hotels at Grande Lakes Resort, is fairly flat and an easy walk so you can stroll along with the greats. An excellent resort course, it was designed by Greg Norman.

I've attended the tournament for several years and it's easily become one of my favorites to enjoy and celebrate the great game of golf. No other sport celebrates its great players like golf.

This year the team of John Daly and "Little John" Daly stole the show, so to speak, with their brightly colored pants/shorts, friendly demeanor and long balls off the tee. The tournament winners were David Duval and his stepson Nick Karavites, who out dueled Fred Funk and his son Taylor and Retief Goosen and his son Leo.

Some of the other greats who teed it up at the 2016 PNC Father Son Challenge were Raymond Floyd, Larry Nelson, Vijay Singh, Curtis Strange, Lanny Wadkins, Lee Janzen, Sandy Lyle, Bernhard Langer, Stewart Cink, Steve Elkington and Mark O'Meara. All the participating pros must have won a Major or a Players Championship to be part of the field.

The absence of Arnold Palmer was clearly felt this year. Arnie absolutely loved the tournament and participated seven times. Palmer was instrumental in launching the event more than 20 years ago.

Baseball has its Old-Timers games and football greats gather at the Pro Football Hall of Fame every year, but golf has arguably the best way to see and enjoy its greatest stars--it's called the PNC Father Son Challenge.

See you there next year!

Top 10 Golf Fashion Don'ts

Golf fashion has evolved rapidly in the past few years.

I mean, just look at Rickie Fowler in his fluorescent outfits, John Daly in his Loudmouth pants and Hunter Mahan in his rapper style golf hats...

Let's face it, though, popular PGA Tour pros can get away with it.

Others can't.

Like these guys...

1. Wearing Your Shirt Out to Hide Your Gut--Nothing says, "Hey, I'm trying to camouflage my massive boiler/beer gut" like guy who wears his golf shirt over his belt.

2. Oversize Non-Golf Belt Buckle--Wearing a buckle sporting a skull or beer company logo might be more appropriate at Daytona Beach Bikefest. On the golf course, ya might want to tone it down a bit.

3. Cargo Shorts--If you're a college student, vacationer on a safari or ornithologist, you're welcome to wear cargo shorts. If you're on a golf course, not so much.

4. Golf Sandals--Can we just leave sandals to surfers. Just because you're in the bunkers all day, doesn't mean you have to sport this footwear.

5. Jeans--It's a great American fashion statement, but just not on the golf course. The fabric doesn't breathe well, there is no pocket room for golf balls, tees and markers and they make you look like a ranch hand with a golf club. Other than that, I guess they're ok, right?

6. Hawaiian Shirts--Please save these for luaus and backyard barbecues. They never looked good on Duffy Waldorf and they don't even look that great on Hawaii golf courses.

7. Visors--Please leave the visors to Brandt Snedeker, Phil Mickelson and Steve Spurrier.

8. Watches--Unless your "Phil the Thrill" scoring some big endorsement dollars for wearing one, you don't really need a watch to tell you how slow the group in front of you is moving.

9. Knickers--Should only be worn by those participating in a hickory stick tournament or by the goofy emcee at a charity golf tournament. Please leave the knickers (plus fours) in the closet.

10. Matching Hat and Shirt with Masters Logo--It's okay to wear a shirt or even hat separately, but when you wear both at the same time it screams: "Hey, I went to the Masters, you didn't, and you wish you could be me."

Twitter: Top 10 Golfers to Follow

The next best thing to following big name golfers in tournaments is, of course, to, uh, follow them on Twitter, right?

If you want to read and respond to some of the best tweets in the golf kingdom, try some of these:

1. Ian Poulter (@IanJamesPoulter)—Poulter takes great pride in his Twitter banter and you never know what he’ll come up with from day to day. He’s brash and sometimes annoying, but always interesting.

2. Paul Azinger (@PaulAzinger)—The outspoken “Zinger” comments on everything from politics to golf and other sports. He’s never dull.

3. Stewart Cink (@stewartcink)--He has an amazing 1,157,740 followers so he must be saying something interesting on a regular basis.

4. Rory McIlroy (@McIlroyRory)—The young Irish phenom seems to drone on incessantly about his great girlfriend, tennis star Carol Wozniacki (@CaroWozniacki), but also has personal tidbits about his daily life.

5. Bubba Watson (@bubbawatson)—Known for his offbeat tweets like “View of 16^th hole in Bermuda from jet ski”, Watson keeps you posted on his great life.

6. Natalie Gulbis (@natalie_gulbis)—The LPGA’s glamour girl keeps you updated on her life on and off the course and always provides a lot of eye candy with great photos.

7. John Daly (@PGA_JohnDaly)—Nobody lives a wilder life on the PGA tour than J.D. He was made for Twitter because you never know where he’ll be and what he’ll say.

8. Rickie Fowler (@RickieFowlerPGA)—One of Tour’s rising young stars, Fowler’s interests go well beyond golf. He sort of over tweets on the Oklahoma State Cowboys (where he attended college), but he’s still a good one to follow.

9. Brittany Lincicome (@Brittany Lincicome)—Good behind-the-scenes LPGA information available here. Lincicome and LPGA’er Christina Kim (@TheChristinaKim) recently got into a highly entertaining Twitter dust up.

10. Tiger Woods (@TigerWoods)—He has the most followers in the golf industry (2,718,053), but he never seems to say much that’s enlightening or interesting. Here’s a classic mundane tweet by Tiger: “Amazing first visit to Turkey. Thanks Turkish Airlines, event organizers and fans. Very special place and a really fun event.” Yawn.

Best and Worst PGA Tour Golfers to Watch

Best Player to Watch

There's nothing like the "oh no" moment when the television camera in the tower focuses on a slow and annoying golfer playing in a PGA Tour event.

Watching one of these agonizingly methodical pros work through a seemingly endless pre-shot or putting routine drives me crazy. These guys really know how to ruin good televised golf.

Here's my list of  favorite players to watch and some of the worst culprits of slow, hard-to-watch golf:

BEST-Mark Calcavecchia--The ultimate shotmaker, "Calc" is also a fast player. In 1992 in the final round of the Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass, he played a round with John Daly in 2 hours and 3 minutes.

BEST-John Daly--I've followed Daly on the course for years and he never, I mean never, stands over a shot for more than a few seconds. Better still, love him or hate him, he's exciting to watch with his exaggerated driver swing that goes way past parallel and his phenomenal wedge play.

BEST-Rickie Fowler--You gotta love Fowler. Put a stop watch on him and he typically takes less than 15 seconds to hit a fairway shot or a putt. (once he steps over the ball). In a world dominated by technically obsessed pro golfers, Fowler is a feel player brimming with confidence. I find myself wanting him to succeed and rooting strongly against slow players.

WORST-Jim Furyk--I like Furyk. He's one of the classiest guys on Tour. In fact, he generally plays at a steady pace on the fairways, but once Jimbo reaches the green he goes into slow motion. The worst is when he stands over the ball about to pull the trigger only to step away and reevaluate. When Furyk gets to the green, I'm heading to the fridge for a brewski.

One of worst slow play culprits

WORST-Sergio Garcia--Right behind Kevin Na as one of the slowest players on Tour, Garcia has actually improved somewhat over the years. Back in 2002 at the U.S. Open at Bethpage he was heckled unmercifully by the rowdy crowds put off by his endless waggles. He solved that problem but still takes way too much time before hitting a shot or putt.

WORST-J.B. Holmes--You never like to bum kick a guy that's come back from brain surgery, but Holmes is one of the slowest players on Tour. That said, I still like to watch the guy because he's got serious game.

BEST-Dustin Johnson-He's the ultimate lock-and-load guy who plays fast in the fairway and on the green. You've got to follow Johnson in person on the course to get a true appreciation of his athletic ability. He's got tremendous flexibility and it's a joy to watch this guy off the tee.

BEST-Rory McIlroy--Fortunately the World No. 1 is a fast player. To be sure, I never get tired of watching that beautiful, natural swing of McIlroy's. Just think, we've got another good twenty years of watching Rory.

BEST-Phil Mickelson--I enjoy watching Mickelson play because he respects the game on so many levels. He's a relatively fast player on the greens and there's nothing like watching Phil hit a "hero" shot when he's in trouble ala his 6-iron on the 13th hole at the 2010 Masters.

WORST-Kevin Na--You're the champ, big fella. Na has the reputation as the slowest golfer on the PGA Tour. He takes forever on the fairway and the green. You sometimes think he goes through his endless pre-shot routine just to jack with fans. Who can forget Na at this year's Players Championship with his never ending waggles. Five, six, seven waggles.....just hit the freakin' ball will ya. Glaciers move faster than this guy.

WORST-Tiger Woods--You can't argue with success (14 majors and 74 PGA Tour victories), but Woods likes to take his time. While it was tolerable when he was dominating, now it's just annoying. This guy grinds over shots with the best of them. He analyzes every shot like it's his last and while that may be good for his game, it's boring to watch over four days.

Where's John Daly?

With all the media fireworks created by Rory’s ascent to No. 1 in the world, Tiger’s Achilles issues and Phil’s march to the Masters, John Daly has disappeared from the PGA Tour limelight.

The last time we heard much about Daly was at the Australian Open in November when he created a stir by smashing a series of shots into a lake and saying he had run out of balls.

With no PGA Tour card and reliant on sponsor’s exemptions, Daly has been spanning the globe to play in a wide variety of tournaments. In January and February, J.D. teed up in Qatar, Dubai and India. Daly withdrew from the Avantha Masters in New Delhi after injuring his elbow in the first round.

Daly said on “Twitter” that his “elbow snapped”.

Reportedly healthy again, you can see Daly near Tampa this week. He plays in the Transitions Championship at Innisbrook Resort. Daly now resides nearby in the Clearwater area. He played in the Transition’s pro-am on Monday with Rays hurler David Price.

The following week, it’s back overseas again for tournaments in Morocco and Sicily. Daly has more stamps on his passport than an international jewelry salesman.

No matter where he plays these days, the 44-year old Daly hasn’t been doing well. He’s only made one cut in five tournaments in 2012.

Pay close attention when you’re watching the Transitions Championship because you might not even recognize the once rotund golfer. Daly now weighs 187 pounds.

You can see the svelte Daly at the Masters next month. He won’t be on the course, however.

He’ll be in Augusta hawking his merchandise.

Anybody need any Loudmouth pants, “Being John Daly” t-shirt or signed hat ?

5 Worst (But Most Successful) Golf Swings

There's one major difference between your hacker's swing and the list of gentlemen on my list of worst golf swings. They've managed to win millions of dollars with their less-than-technically perfect swings, and you probably don't have a dime to show for efforts. Check out my latest post at Golf Partners Online to see who made my list.