July 23, 2018--Mulligan Summit

In golf, when you hit a bad drive and your ball lands in the pond or deep in the woods, if other members of your foursome agree to your taking another shot without penalty and you do, it's called a Mulligan.  

It is named for an actual person, David Bernard Mulligan, who in the late 1920s played at the Winged Foot golf course in Mamaroneck, NY and was notorious for asking frequently for do-overs.

That's what Donald Trump is up to as he moves to schedule in the fall and in Washington another summit with Vladimir Putin. Or maybe at his Mar-a-Lago golf course. Perhaps the only place he can best Putin. But then black-belt Putin might insist on a Judo match. Vince McMahon CEO of the World Wrestling Federation I am certain would be happy to promote that.

Having to endure so much heat for wimping out at the recent Helsinki summit, Trump is not only trying to take back or redefine half the things he said publicly at their joint press conference and subsequently at last Wednesday's Cabinet meeting, ("would" was really "wouldn't" and "no" was "yes"), realizing this was not enough to take him off the hook (even Trump flunkies Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell managed to squeeze out a few choked words of criticism), Trump wants a Mulligan. And Putin will grant him one since he knows he can humiliate Trump again at a second press conference.

But then there is a possible other scenario. To me, a more interesting one--


At the summit, especially when dealing with the press, in WWF terms, Trump gets Putin to take a dive.

The meeting of course would be scheduled for a few weeks before the November midterm election to have maximum impact on the vote. 

The intention would be to pump up Trump's base (assuming they can be pumped up even more than they already are). To do so, Putin would have to agree to let Trump dominate the summit and its aftermath. Particularly to let Trump criticize him in public (Putin, though, would have to be allowed to roll his eyes). This would permit Trump to masquerade as the strongman he isn't and thereby rehabilitate his deflating persona. To shed the lingering image of him as Putin's lapdog.

Why would this be a good thing for Putin? Enough so that he would allow himself to appear to be diminished?

Out of public view (where the real action is) since Putin owns Trump and has been able to pull his strings for years, nothing would change. In fact, Trump's behavior as Putin's double-agent would be strengthened. If his image as commander-in-chief can be shored up, that would make him more effective when doing Putin's bidding. 

A stronger-seeming Trump would be a better cover story. It would make it less apparent that Putin owns him.

So look for Putin to play along. He will agree to come to Washington or Palm Beach in October for a Mulligan-summit and will let Trump strut around for a few days at his "expense."

If this is the emerging plan, I doubt that Trump without medication can pull it off. He will have a script but he is not good at following scripts and so expect the Mar-a-Lago do-over summit to turn out to be another fiasco. 

April 21, 2014--Fore!

Not only is Tiger Woods sitting out much of the golfing season but so are at least 5.0 million more. Those, the New York Times reports, who have stopped playing during the last decade.

And this has the golfing industry worried--golf courses and country clubs are suffering and so are the TV networks that broadcast golf: fewer players translates into smaller audiences which in turn translates into fewer advertising dollars. And that constitutes a big problem.

The networks are left to hope that Tiger miraculously returns to form (when he is doing well and is part of the final twosome during a tournament ratings double); but since golf courses have no equivalent silver bullet, many are turning to gimmicks to attract a younger population of duffers.

A favorite gimmick is to enlarge the physical hole form the current 4.25 inches to 15 inches, the size of a large pizza. Top-10 golfer Sergio Garcia likes the hole this size. Considering he has never come close to winning a Major, this could be considered special pleading or his endorsement the result of a handsome honorarium.

Sand traps are a special agony for the average golfer. Though the likes of Phil Michelson blast out of them without trouble, folks who hack their way around country clubs have been knows to take four or five strokes to extract themselves from a bunker and to break their sand wedges in frustration. So, a new rule would allow golfers to reach down, pick up their ball, and toss it onto the green. At least twice a round.

It's also OK on these souped-up courses to use juiced golf balls and clubs to make shots go further with less effort or skill.

If you remember when Bill Clinton was the First Duffer you recall he wasn't much good as a player and so, as Commander-in-Chief, he gave himself numerous mulligans--do over shots. If he hit his drive in the pond (he was especially adept at that), he'd allow himself a second or third attempt. All strictly against the PGA rules. But under the new rules being proposed to reattract golfers, especially younger ones, mulligans would be permitted and routine as would allowing golfers to place every shot on a tee, not just when driving.

TaylorMade-Adidas Golf in the process of redesigning 100 courses to make them more kid friendly because, as reported in the New York Times, youngsters are quitting the game after a few rounds because it's "too hard" to play courses as they are currently designed and with existing rules.

Parents are apparently upset that their little-ones are being frustrated. God forbid that any child should experience any frustration about anything. Including things that are hard to do. Which is half the point of golf--to try to excel at something difficult and learn to live with inevitable frustration and occasional bursts of excellence.

By the way, Sergio played in a tournament on a nine-hole nouveau course with anchovy-pizza-sized holes and shot a six under par. In truth, not that impressive.