ST ANDREWS, Scotland--Michelle Wie has had a tough time hitting fairways this year, so when her caddie, David Clark, suggested she hit the ball down an adjacent fairway during her practice round Tuesday at the RICOH Women's British Open, she couldn't help but be amused.

"It's the most interesting course I've ever played," Wie said of the Old Course at St Andrews, which is hosting a women's professional golf event for the first time this week. "Just watching it on TV and actually playing it, it is a completely different course. I had my caddie and David [Leadbetter, her swing coach] telling me to hit it this way and that way, actually aim at another fairway. And the greens are very strange. They're like Mt. Everest along the ledges."

Asked what she remembers most about watching the men's British Open at St Andrews on TV, Wie laid down her game plan for this week.

"Well, obviously, I've seen Tiger play here," she said. "He made the golf course seem like a real easy course.

"My goal is to play like he did in 2000, and not to hit any pot bunkers for all four days. That is the way to play this course. If you hit in a pot bunker, you have to chip out."

It's been a year full of pot bunkers for the 17-year-old Hawaiian. Just last August, Wie headed to Royal Lytham & St. Annes as a favorite to capture the British Open title, having come off a strong second-place finish at the Evian Masters. This year, she's celebrating the fact that she shot an under-par round at last week's Evian Masters in France. Her second-round 71 last Friday broke a string of 24 consecutive rounds in which she shot over par. Still, Wie struggled home, posting rounds of 84 and 76 on the weekend to finish at 16 over par, a 31-shot difference from last year's Evian.

In her two major appearances this year, Wie, who broke her left wrist in January because of a bad fall while jogging, finished dead last at the McDonald's LPGA Championship (by 10 strokes) and had a WD at the U.S. Women's Open. Wie was 17 over par after 27 holes at Pine Needles before she withdrew--citing her injured wrist--causing many members of the media to question whether she came back too soon.

"I don't feel like I came back too soon," said Wie, who will begin her freshman year at Stanford University in a few weeks. "I felt like I took off enough time. It was hard for me to sit another minute watching golf on TV. I had to be out there, and I don't think it would have helped me to rest a lot more because I gain a lot of my strength hitting golf balls. The experience of playing golf again, playing in tournaments and being in competition, I just have to be out there. It's been a very slow recovery."

It was a very upbeat Wie who faced the media yesterday after her practice round. Perhaps buoyed by last week's performance during the first two rounds of the Evian, and knowing her wrist is close to 100 percent, Wie wouldn't rule out her chances this week.

"I think that if everything works out...if I hole a few putts, stay out of the pot bunkers like Tiger did and, obviously, keep it in one of the fairways out there...I think I'll be good," said Wie.

Photo: Getty Images

ST ANDREWS, SCOTLAND--Morgan Pressel doesn't like to make predictions. So when asked during her practice round Tuesday what the winning score might be at this week's RICOH Women's British Open, she would only reveal, "it all depends on the wind and the conditions."

She does know this: she won't be shooting 23- or 24-under, which she's been known to do on the Tiger Woods video-game version of the Old Course at St Andrews. And that's over 18 holes. "I own this course on Tiger Woods [PGA TOUR 2007]" she says, explaining how she's able to drive the green on most of the par-4s and putt for eagle.   

They'll be few, if any, eagle putts this week at the Old Course, which will play to a par of 73 and 6,638 yards for the women. The winds make it hard to get close to any of the pin locations, and players often face blind shots both off the tee and into the greens. And then there's the matter of those 112 bunkers scattered about the course, most of which are not visible off the tee.  Luck also plays a big part. As Pressel discovered on the par-4, 381-yard 16th hole Tuesday, even a seemingly perfect drive can end up being bad. After a five-minute search for her ball, she discovered her tee shot in one of the Principal's Nose bunkers on the left side of the fairway.

"Hopefully, I'll get the good bounces once play begins Thursday," said Pressel, who owns seven top-10 finishes in 15 events this season, including her first LPGA win (and major) at the Kraft Nabisco Championship back on April 1st. "A lot of the holes play into a crosswind, so you have to be able to draw or fade it against the wind. On No. 7, the fairway is about five yards wide; it's like threading a needle. There's just a lot of tough holes out there."

Pressel grew up playing on Bermuda-grass greens in South Florida, so she naturally favors a course setup where you can fly the ball to the hole. At St Andrews, you have to do just the opposite and keep the ball on the ground as much as possible. Case in point, the par-5 14th hole, appropriately named the "Long" hole since, at 523 yards, it's the longest hole on the Old Course. After coming up short of the green on her third shot, Pressel tried to pitch the ball over a steep mound at the front of the green and ran her approach to the back. She then took out her 50-degree wedge and bumped it into the slope.

"It's similar to Pine Needles (site of last month's U.S. Open) in that creativity is very important around the greens," said Pressel. "You pay no attention to the pins here because you have to get the ball on the green first."

Pressel doesn't have the length off the tee that many of this week's top contenders, such as Lorena Ochoa and Suzann Pettersen, have, but she is straighter than most. That might prove to be a bigger advantage than length this week, according to Martin Hall, Pressel's swing coach.

"I think she's got a really good chance this week," said Hall. "She hits the ball so straight, she can avoid the bunkers off the tee and get it relatively close to the pins."

Lorena Ochoa was so excited to get to St Andrews this week, that the first thing she did upon arriving in town late Sunday night was head straight to the 18th green at the Old Course. There, at approximately midnight, she and her brother Alejandro got out of their car and took their first glimpses of the Old Course. What they saw was magical, perhaps even a gift from Old Tom Morris: the 18th green and fairway were almost entirely illuminated by a full moon.

"We could see all the way down past the Swilcan Bridge," said Ochoa, who earlier Sunday finished one stroke out of a playoff at the Evian Masters in France. "I just couldn't wait to get here."

The next morning, Ochoa went out by herself to get a first-hand look at the historic venue, which is hosting a women's professional event for the first time. The world's No. 1-ranked player admitted to having a few goosebumps as she came off the 18th green, which was again aglow, only this time because of some rare sunshine.

"It looks so different on TV," says Ochoa, who is seeking her first major championship and fourth LPGA title this season. "It's amazing. There a couple of holes where the greens are 80, 90 yards long. I've never seen anything like it."

Ochoa's plan will be to play as much of the course as possible before Thursday's first round, "to get used to those 30-, 40- and 50-yard putts." She'll be relying heavily on her caddie, David Brooker, to keep her out of the more than 100 bunkers (112, to be exact) that dot the Old Course. Brooker, who hails from Yorkshire, England, has played the course once before and walked it several times.

"If we're not in any bunkers, we have a pretty good chance of winning," says Brooker. "It takes a lot of good luck out here. Luck plays more a part at St Andrews than any other course I've ever seen. The moundings in front of the greens and on the greens, you can hit good shots that turn out bad. Luck also plays a part in the bunkers because when the ball hits the face, it doesn?t roll back into the middle of the bunker like it does in the U.S. It nestles up right near the face. You might have to play out backwards or sideways."

Ochoa has finished in the top 10 in all three majors this year (T-10th at the Kraft Nabisco; T-6th at the McDonalds LPGA Championship; T-2 at the U.S. Women's Open), but for the 25-year-old Mexican to cash in and win her first major title this week, she'll need to be steady on and around the greens.

"It's a new kind of golf," said Brooker. "I know she's played links golf before, but out here there?s going to be a lot more putting from off the green, a lot more 150-foot putts."

Photo: Getty Images

One of the great tragedies of golf in the early part of the 21st century was the 2005 Open Championship at St. Andrews. While the world's oldest event managed to identify the world's best player -- Tiger Woods -- the manner in which the world's most famous venue was presented would surely have had Old Tom Morris spinning wildly in his grave.

For one thing, that Open was surely the first in history to be 'played' on four courses, there being tees on the Old, the Eden, the New and, most ludicrously, the Himalayas putting course. And for another, the Old Course, the model for strategic and intelligent golf the world over, was suddenly all but swamped by long grass. All, of course, because of the often silly distances today's leading men can hit their super-charged golf balls with their super-charged clubs.

The Old Course is -- or should be -- golf's most interesting venue. As the ultimate and original links, it showcases perfectly a form of the game that is largely lost to the top-level players. If one takes the view that the longer the golf ball spends on the ground, the more interesting the game becomes, then a fast-running Old Course is the definitive work on the subject. In comparison, your typical PGA Tour venue is a child?s colouring book, one where all the crayoning gets done between easily defined lines.

In its purest sense, the Old Course offers little or no restraint to a player's imagination and flair. On almost every hole there are choices to be made about angles, positioning and ball-flight. On the very best holes, the very best players have a chance to separate themselves from their competition by dint of their ability to first see the strategic options, then choose the right one for them.

Sadly, there was little of that back in 2005. On a links where the punishment for less than strict adherence to the perfect position has always been a more difficult angle into the flag -- one offering the good player an opportunity to distinguish himself from the less-good -- the rough reduced everyone to the same hapless level. Does anyone really think that the virtual elimination of the risky recovery shot makes golf more exciting? This was point-missing on a grand scale.

Happily, things are going to be very different this week. Hosting the best lady golfers in the world for the first time in its long history, the Old Course is going to be shown in its most interesting light. As former US Open champion Geoff Ogilvy recently pointed out, the ladies are going to be "playing the course like we are supposed to." Where the leading men are able to either blast their drivers way over the fearsome pot bunkers, or lay up well short of them, the shorter-hitting ladies will be forced to hit their drivers from most tees and thread their way between the hazards.

"The Old Course is going to be a fascinating test for us all,"  agrees Scotland's number one player, Catriona Matthew, who played a practice round over the Old Course a couple of weeks ago. "The bunkers are going to be right in play for us, much more than they seem to be for the men these days. They seem to whack right over them. In contrast, we?ll have to 'take them on' and try to manoeuvre our drives between the bunkers. Which is what it is all about around here."

Hallelujah. Proper golf on a properly set up course. I for one can't wait to watch it. -- John Huggan.

The pressure of great expectations can sit heavy as an elephant on an athlete's back. Natalie Gulbis may be slender, but when I interviewed her for our March 2007 cover story,  I could sense that pressure to win weighing her down. She was about to enter her sixth year on the LPGA Tour and was still looking for her first Tour victory. She was SO OVER the "Anna Kournikova" comparisons (all looks, no titles); when I brought it up, she answered politely--something about being "flattered by the comparison"--but I could sense her thinking, "next question!" All the trappings of a successful athlete--the beautiful home, the big bank account, the calendars, the many endorsements--mean little in comparison to the sweet (and legitimizing) taste of victory, and in hoisting the Evian trophy, Gulbis proves she is, to state the obvious cliche, more than just a pretty face. And so I wonder if this win is sweeter than her achievement in 2005, when she become the first player in LPGA Tour history to take home $1 million in a season--without winning a tournament.

Up to this point, this season hadn't been going well for Gulbis. First, she and her swing coach, Butch Harmon, parted ways (apparently her dad and Butch weren't seeing eye to eye). Then a back injury (she hasn't specified what the problem was exactly) forced her to withdraw from two tournaments and sidelined her for several weeks. She missed three cuts and had three top-20 finishes.

So her victory, quite honestly, came as something of a shock. In her post-round interview, she said that taking time off to heal her back gave her a chance to work on her swing and just chill out--though if you read our profile of her from March 2007, you'll see that she clearly has trouble sitting around, doing nothing. She also said that she was furious at herself for not winning the Evian in regulation, and surely having to endure a play-off against a Korean player brought back unpleasant memories of last year's Jamie Farr, when she lost to Mi Hyun Kim on the third hole of a sudden death playoff. Yet this time, she was displaying a new confidence--and an even less-orthodox swing, her body more bent over than ever (hey, that extra veterbrae has its advantages!)

But this time, history did not repeat itself in sudden death. We are thrilled for Natalie, and her parents, and the LPGA Tour, which surely must be quite pleased that its poster girl is now a champion, too. Now that the elephant is off her back, I have a feeling we'll be seeing more of Natalie in the winner's circle.

While this week's Evian Masters in France is a favorite, if not THE favorite, tour stop for the LPGA players, it takes a back seat this year to the Ricoh Women's British Open, played next week at The Old Course at St Andrews. It will be the first women's professional event held at The Home of Golf, and the players are eagerly anticipating its arrival.

"I think it's a big, big, big deal," said Annika Sorenstam who, as a 19-year-old in 1990, won the St. Rule Trophy, a 54-hole amateur event staged annually over the Old and New courses.  "I think it's a huge step for women's golf to play there. I mean, the history St Andrews has with the men playing the Open there, I think it's wonderful.  It's an amazing place, so I'm going to enjoy every minute of it."

"I think everybody's very excited to go over there.  I mean, it's St Andrews!" said American Paula Creamer, the world's 8th-ranked player who made her first visit to St Andrews back in April. "To have the first Women?s British Open there in 2007 is kind of odd, but it had to happen sooner or later.  Women's golf right now is stronger and is becoming more popular.  Places like St Andrews are witnessing that."

You can witness history in the making, too, by checking out our site and tuning into TNT and ABC's coverage of the year's final major. TV listings are as follows:

• Thursday, Aug. 2: 10:00-11:59 AM ET, TNT
• Friday, Aug. 3: 10:00-11:59 AM ET, TNT
• Saturday, Aug. 4: 1:30-3:00 PM ET, ABC
• Sunday, Aug. 5: 1:00-3:00 PM ET, ABC

I am also fortunate enough to be making my maiden voyage to Scotland next week and will blog  live  from St Andrews beginning on Tuesday.

In the meantime, please  share your thoughts in our special comments area or on our blog during this historic event. How do you feel about the world's most famous course opening its doors to women? Has it been a long time coming or do you feel the timing is just right?

We also want to know who you think will walk away with the trophy come next Sunday. Will Lorena Ochoa finally break through and win that first major? Will Annika snap her winless streak in 2007? Will Michelle Wie make the cut or possibly event contend? Let us know!

I'm not sure what season I'm dressing for some mornings.  Sure, I can attribute this problem to global warming and erratic climate changes, but honestly, not knowing what season to dress for is just an occupational hazard. When it's Spring and Summer I find myself working on fashion stories for Fall and Winter and vice versa.

Take today, for instance. It's a typical New York City July day -- about 80 degrees and very humid. In my office, racks of cashmere sweaters, corduroy trousers and puffy wind vests surround me. With a little help from the climate control center of our office building, I can close my eyes and imagine a brisk fall day, perfect for nine holes, and slowly I start to put together outfits that will appear in the November/December issue of GFW.

This brings me back all the way to March and the first time I saw the J. Lindeberg golf collection for Fall 2007. Mixed in with the rack of slim cut polos and golf pants my eye fell immediately on the Magda dress (pictured; Polyester/Spandex, $252).  I would lovingly refer to it as the bubble dress, while some of my colleagues at Golf for Women called it the who-wears-this-dress or that-ugly-sack-thing-I-wouldn't-be-caught-dead-in. I can understand where those comments come from. My colleagues had not spent the entire month of February pouring over the Fall '07 fashion runways.  And it is also very likely that many of them have not paid much attention to the onslaught of voluminous dresses that dominated the said runways and streets of NYC. And like the Magda dress, I recognize that the NYC fashion world is securely tucked away in its own bubble.

I know that most of you will see the picture and sneer or shake your head. For me, it's not about the dress. It's about the future and what this dress represents. It manages to capture two trends from mainstream fashion and aptly adapt them for the golf course. The first trend is the ever-present dress trend and the second being volume and shape.

Fashion is always looking to the future and for a long time it felt that golf fashion, in addition to being an oxymoron, was just stuck in a time warp. In the past six years, I have seen the blooming of some beautiful golf designs, so when I see this dress I know that it can only exist on the fringe of the golf world (or in Europe) for now. What I like about this Magda dress is its potential. Can this dress inspire one of the younger hipper golf brands like Lija, Birdie or Verdina? In their hands could this dress be reworked or used as a starting point for something equally fashionable and golf course friendly?

Believe it or not, this dress has sold out from the showroom. I can't promise that you'll come across it at your local pro shop. Maybe most of the shops that picked it up are in Europe.

So tell me: Do you love it, hate it or just don't care? Have you noticed a change in the offerings for women at your local pro shops? Are you happy with the changes? What are your thoughts on women's golf fashion in general?

When Sergio Garcia first hit the scene with that famous running leap in the 1999 PGA Championship, I was an instant fan. The kid had game, he had spirit, and he wasn't afraid to take on the best in the world. But in the years since, the Spaniard has said and done enough bratty things on the golf course (thrown a shoe, spat in a cup, danced a jig after winning an exhibition match, intimidated rules officials, etc.) to cool me off considerably. Even during the last two Ryder Cups, where he played brilliant golf and almost single-handedly won the trophy for my home team, my cheers were tinged with a sense of "God, I wish he didn't have to gloat so much."

Then, last week, after not making much noise in a tournament all year, a new Garcia emerged. He was acting mature and playing smart. He wasn't getting ahead of himself and he putted brilliantly. He seemed to be the only player having fun out there at Carnoustie, but he wasn't rubbing it in everybody's face. By Sunday, I was really rooting for him. Then he lost, and I sympathized. I felt for him. And in the back of my mind, I thought, "Anybody who ever disliked Sergio Garcia must now have a soft spot for him." Almost the way Greg Norman's public tide turned after his crash at Augusta in '96 -- love him or hate him before that, you had to feel bad for him after.

But rather than taking the high road and telling the world know how badly he felt about letting the biggest moment of his career slip away from him, Garcia went back to being that petulant little boy again. In his post-round press conference on Sunday, he blamed everybody -- and everything -- but himself for the loss (didn?t you get the sense he seriously thinks he's cursed when he said, "I don't know? I'm playing against a lot of guys out there, more than the field"?). Next time, I hope El Nino opts to not say anything at all. It may keep him from losing so many fans.

Tiger Woods' niece, Cheyenne, was one of a record five African-American girls to qualify for the U.S. Girls' Junior Championship this week at Tacoma Country and Golf Club in Lakewood, Wash. The 16-year-old Woods, who reached the round of 16 in 2005, was joined by Sadena Parks, 17; 16-year-olds Blair Bonner and Beth Sellers; and Ginger Howard, 13.

None of the five players qualified for match play, which begins today, with Woods shooting scores of 77 and 78 on the par-72, 6,363-yard layout. But the fact that five African-American golfers qualified for the championship is encouraging news for minority golf in the United States. Despite Tiger Woods' 12 major championship titles and increasing fame and fortune, he remains the only African-American playing full-time on either the PGA or LPGA tours.

Reigning U.S. Women's Amateur champion Kimberly Kim, that "other" teen-ager from Hawaii, fired rounds of 62 and 72 to take medalist honors. Among the other players to qualify for match play were 12-year-old Alexis Thompson (72-68), who last month became the youngest player to compete in the U.S. Women's Open, and Madison Pressel (69-73), the younger sister of Kraft-Nabisco winner Morgan Pressel.

For full coverage of the U.S. Girls Junior, including scores, player bios and photos, go to the championship's official site.

Putting woes led to a weekend of heartbreak for both 27-year-old Spaniard Sergio Garcia (left) and 22-year-old Japanese star Ai Miyazato (right) in their individual quests to register a "W" -- he in a major, she in LPGA Tournaments.

Garcia, who has 16 PGA Tour and international victories but  is 0 for 35 in major wins, led throughout the 2007 British Open until he missed a 10-foot par putt on the final hole of regulation play Sunday. That forced a playoff between him and Padraig Harrington, who went on to claim the claret jug.  "I still don't know how that par putt missed," Garcia lamented in his post-championship news conference. "I'm still trying to ask myself, trying to find an answer on that."

Miyazato was also left shaking her head as well Sunday in the HSBC Women's World Match Play Championship. A legend in her native country, she has racked up 14 victories on the Japanese Tour. But while she earned seven top-10 finishes in 2006, her rookie year on the LPGA Tour, overall she has been winless in 43 tour starts. Like Garcia, she seemed on her way to victory as she advanced last week. But in the final round, she missed a pivotal 8-foot par on the 15th hole as Seon Hwa Lee made her birdie putt, and two holes later Lee clinched the match play championship.

"That was a very important putt," Miyazato admitted afterwards in her press conference.

Reading their stories, I was struck by their similarities -- she started playing golf at age 4, he at age 3. Both had stellar amateur careers (she won the 2003 Miyagi TV Dunlop Ladies Golf Tournament, he won the 1995 European Amateur Championship). Both cite fathers who have been very influential in their lives. And both had important wins undone by putts. I really felt for them as they each struggled to look ahead, sounding like any one of us after a tough round. "Just have to get better, I guess," Garcia shrugged.

"Maybe I need to practice putting," echoed Miyazato.

It is turning out to be quite a controversial 2007 British Open. In addition to the allegations of steroids use  made by Gary Player on Wednesday, a senior R&A member was forced to step down Friday after the media publicized racial remarks he made at an annual golf writers' dinner. But here's the part of the  news report that really got me:

"The speech followed a toast proposed by the former BBC golf correspondent Tony Adamson which included a joke about a player punching his wife in the mouth."

That's a joke? I think anything but -- I'd love to hear Tony Adamson's explanation on that one.

I just attended my first Duramed Futures Tour event, the Cigna Golf Classic at Gillette Ridge Golf Club in Bloomfield, Connecticut. What a treat! After attending a LPGA Tour event earlier this year, I can now say that Futures Tour events are just as exciting. They may even be more worth your while.

Here are five reasons everyone should watch a Futures Tour event:

1. The players sport a variety of funky, unique styles. I think the pictures below say it all. The young professionals (the average age out here is 25) out here are the most excited, eager golfers you'll ever meet, and many of them communicate it through their clothes.
2. All of these women, who dream of competing on the LPGA Tour...well, they got game. And now that the LPGA has purchased the Futures Tour, the two entities will work as one. The top 15 women on the current Futures Tour money list definitely have the talent to compete on the LPGA, and it will be exciting to watch them duke it out to get there. Past players have proven this: Meghan Francella, who earned her way onto the LPGA Tour this year after placing 5th on last year's Futures Tour's money list (she won $39,416), beat Annika Sorenstam in March in a playoff at the Mastercard Classic in Mexico; and Angela Park, the current leading rookie on the LPGA Tour this year, earned her card after playing on the Futures Tour for one year. And you may have heard a thing or two about Lorena Ochoa, who graduated from the Futures Tour in 2002 after topping the money list. Who knows: 2008's next LPGA Tour star is probably in the top 10 on the Futures Tour right now.
3. All spectators, in essence, get an "inside-the-ropes" pass. Quite frankly, that's because there aren't too many ropes (just around the greens). Everyone I walked with in the crowd last weekend couldn't get over how close they could get to the players, how easily they could watch their games, and how wonderful it felt to be able to walk down the fairway behind a group.
4. You can chat with many of the women after their rounds. These golfers (many of whom have just turned professional) will do anything to connect with the fans and build a positive image. They're in training to be pros! That means lots of smiles, warmth and approachability.
5. Admission is free! Need I say more?

If you're interested in finding a Futures Tour event near you, here's the schedule.

Kelly Cavanaugh, a 24-year-old from Torrance, California, was a New Mexico State University Aggie and turned professional in January, 2004.

Mollie Fankhauser, a 26-year-old from Columbus, Ohio, turned pro in 2004, right after graduating from the Ohio State University.

Jessica Shepley, a 24-year-old from Oakville, Ontario, graduated from the University of Tennessee and turned professional in January, 2005.

Kim Welch, a 24-year-old from Sacramento, California, turned pro in 2005, right after graduating from Washington State University. She¹s shown here wearing her signature scarf around her head.

In a move that many have been anticipating for some time, the LPGA Tour announced today that it has acquired the Duramed Futures Tour, effective immediately. The announcement was made today by LPGA Commissioner Carolyn Bivens at the HSBC Women's World Match Play Championship in New Rochelle, NY, along with Futures Tour President and CEO Zayra Calderon. While the Futures Tour has been the official developmental tour of the LPGA since 1999, it was operating in a licensee role with the league. Read the full announcement on the LPGA Web site.

It's fantastic news to see the development tour officially in the LPGA family. Calderon and her staff (which includes Vice President of New Business Development Tracy L. Kerdyk, an LPGA Tour alum, and Lisa D. Mickey, Director of Communications and a former Golf for Women senior editor) have worked incredibly hard to build the Futures Tour into a professional and sponsor-worthy product. The quality of players and tournaments continues to get better and better, reflecting the growth and excitement of women's golf. Hopefully, the acquisition will result in increased exposure for the Futures players, similar to that enjoyed by the Nationwide Tour under the PGA Tour. Golf for Women is doing its part: read our latest feature, an online exclusive about life on the the Futures Tour and last week's CIGNA Golf Classic by Assistant Editor Ashley Mayo.

I love my home course, Longshore Club Park in Westport, Conn.--especially this season, after a massive restoration of the course has given players brand new tees and bunkers on every hole, and several trees have been removed. It's now a short but devious track that is so much fun to play, and having a flat surface to tee off from really makes a difference.

The par-69 layout used to have only two tees--the blues, which measured roughly 5,900 yards, and the reds, which came in at around 5,100. After the remodeling, it now has four tees, measuring (in round numbers) 4,400, 5,000, 5,600 and 5,900 yards. Since I play the course to a par 69 (women have the option of making four of the par 4s into par 5s, resulting in a total par of 73), and since I'm typically playing for money with my guy friends who are teeing off from the relatively short 5,900 yards, I tee off from the yellows (the second set of tees, at just over 5,000 yards) and still find it a fair test. I'm an 11 handicap, I drive the ball about 200 yards (a little farther on a good day), and I usually shoot in the low 80s from these tees. Oh, and I was once a competitive junior player and a Swedish PGA teaching professional. In short, I?m on the better end of the spectrum of women players at this course. Yet every time I go out to play there on a weekend, I see women who can't hit the ball farther than 120 yards playing from the third set of tees, the whites, at 5,600 yards.

For instance, this past Sunday, there was a woman in the group ahead of me who literally couldn't get past the reds on several holes, but she still insisted on teeing off from the whites. On one par-3, she nailed her tee shot with a driver and still didn't make it halfway to the green. My friends and I kept scratching our heads. What was she trying to prove? Why would she torture herself unnecessarily? And why, on a crowded Sunday, would she play from tees that would make her hold up play for everyone else, the pressure of which surely must have added to her misery?

The only answer I can come up with is that she's one of "those" women golfers. You know who you are--you're the passionate, committed player who thinks that you need to prove to everyone else how good you are. You wouldn't dream of playing out of turn or not putting out on every hole, you know every Rule inside and out and you wouldn't be caught dead having a drink with a member of the 9-holers group. I salute your love for the game and your commitment to playing well, but I want you to take a deep breath and face some facts. Nobody cares about what tees you play from. No one will think less of you for choosing a shorter yardage. And in the case of a course such as Longshore, you need to consider much more than yardage when determining what tees suit you best. On paper, it may look short, but each hole is a minefield of bunkers, water hazards, thick rough and trees. Strategy is key to scoring well here, and even from 4,400 yards--the very forward tees--it's a darn tricky layout. You're never going to get any better if you don't give yourself at least a chance to approach the green in regulation with something shorter than a 3-wood.

So here's my advice to you: forget about any yardage minimums you've set for yourself. Forget about what the other 18-holers may say. And start playing the course the way it was meant to be played. That's why the town spent $2.3 million on remodeling it.

I just got off the phone with Nancy Lopez. I was interviewing her for an upcoming article about her pool workouts, which she's used to lose almost 40 pounds in the past year.

I've always admired Nancy (who hasn't?) but I came away from that interview with a new respect for her. After several years of semi-retirement, Nancy has returned to the LPGA Tour, competing against players decades younger than she is. She decided to come back because she's feeling physically better and wants to see how her 50-year-old body holds up--and because she just can't get the competitive bug out of her system.

She's competed in four tournaments so far, and has missed the cut in all of them. Not exactly a fairy tale plot line, but think about it: The woman who arguably remains the most popular woman golfer of all time puts her ego on the line--and comes up short. She goes out in front of thousands of fans and shoots in the low 80s...and keeps on doing it. And stays upbeat about it. And is taking her first swing lessons EVER from someone other than her late father because, as she told me:

"I'm very motivated to play and let next year be the year to see if I can really compete. I?m not discouraged, I know I have a long way to go. I have the desire to work hard and play and take the humiliation that I have taken. I've hit some bad shots, it's very humbling. The fans that come out, I don't want to disappoint them. I'm trying to find that 'Nancy swing' again."

When was the last time any of us took a risk like this? We're all so afraid of failing that we play it safe. Not Nancy Lopez. Here's hoping she finds that Nancy swing again.

Eli Manning, NY Giants quarterback and younger brother of Super Bowl MVP and Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton, participated in a charity putting competition in Manhattan last Wednesday to promote the HSBC Women's World Match Play Championship,  taking place at Wykagyl CC in New Rochelle July 19-22. Since the contest was being held at Grand Central Station, a few blocks from our GFW offices, I decided to walk over and check it out.

When I first arrived, there were actually more New York sports media members than spectators. This led a fan behind me to exclaim, "Wow, I can't believe it! Eli Manning's in front of me and no one's here! If this was the Paramus Mall, it would be packed!"
 
After fighting my way through the media crush (see picture above) and listening to all those incessant football/Tiki questions (You can read more in these articles from the Daily News and New York Post), it was finally my turn to get to the golf.

My biggest question: Why was a man who plays football involved with a women's golf event?

He laughed, then said, "Well, it's really just teaming up with HSBC and they do so many things for golf -- obviously, they're part of the women's world match play, and they also do The First Tee, teaching the core values of life through golf to young kids and as an athlete, I think sports are so important to kids and communities..."

Okay, we get the idea. So I congratulated him on his recent engagement to longtime girlfriend Abby McGrew and asked: Does your fiancee play golf?

"She does not."

Does she have any interest in learning to play?

"She says she does, one day. We'll see."

Does he get out on the course with Peyton?

"We do... we get to play a few times a year. We try to get together with my dad [Archie] and my two brothers [Peyton and oldest brother Cooper] -- get all the boys out there."

Then he compared golf to football ("Visualize the shot. I always try to do that in football -- you visualize the throw.") and my four minutes was up. As he was led away to begin the putting tournament, I could only hope that the women's match play championship would inspire Eli, who claims to play once a week during the off-season, to get his fiancee to join him or "the boys" next time, perhaps even in squeeze in a round before summer training camp begins July 28 in Albany.

About a month ago I found myself on a whirlwind trip that started in Orlando, FL and concluded in Ballantyne, NC by way of Belford, SC. In a little under four days we managed to photograph Annika Sorenstam, Pia Nilsson, Lynn Marriott, Krista Dutton, Dana Radar and Karen Palacios Jansen for various instruction articles that will appear in upcoming issues of GFW.

During these "instruction" trips I have the distinct privilege of transforming whatever ladies' locker room we happen to be using into something akin to a specialty boutique replete with a hair and make-up station. Each outfit you see pictured in a Breaking 100|90|80 story is usually selected from two giant racks of clothes and anywhere from 10-20 pairs of golf shoes! Try to imagine what FIVE of these shoots back to back entail. It is my sole responsibility to procure all of these clothes, package them up and travel with them. (If you had the misfortune of meeting me during the weeks leading up to the shoots, the time when I was getting everything together, chances are you would meet my grumpy alter-ego!)

I would absolutely deny this (especially to Dave Allen, our instruction editor and the mastermind behind this grueling schedule), although it is the absolute truth: I look forward to every single moment of these trips and I quickly forget just how much work they can be.

For starters, it never gets old to have ANNIKA SORENSTAM know who I am (in the last year I've worked with her on six different photo shoots!) I am never not in awe just being in her presence. She doesn't even have to speak to me, there's something about her energy. Secondly, I get to bond with these incredible women of golf about...fashion! There I said it, the dreaded F-word of the golf trenches. I know these women are athletes but they are still women, and I get to see a different side of them-- a private side, the one that stands in front of a full length mirror with a tilted head and a scrunched nose evaluating a reflection. I get to talk with them about what they like to wear on the course, what golf brands they love, which ones they hate, how to minimize this or maximize that... I give tips on fit and  proportion, the right hem length, the right bra and the hottest golf shoes. In return I get to see a side of golf that's not available to the general public.

When I return to the office, it usually takes me a couple of days to get back into my usual sport of monitoring every aspect of the fashion world. It's like coming down from a high -- back to the reality of unrealistic trends, highly covetable and overpriced shoes...Soon enough I find my office groove again and before I know it I find myself wondering what Pia & Lynn would think of a particular sweater vest, or how Krista would look in a golf dress, would she even wear one if she had the chance? I see this as the convergence of my two worlds. There's the flighty, highly superficial but also very inspirational world of fashion and then there's the strong, practical world of golf clothes for women.

When my coach at the University of Virginia, Jan Mann, called me last February to tell me she was retiring I was devastated. Such a drastic change unsettled my team, especially because we all came to depend on coach Mann for guidance. Although I had graduated last January (I finished in 3 ½ years), I couldn't imagine the University of Virginia golf team without Coach Mann. She jumpstarted the program back in 2003, when Sally Shonk, Leah Wigger, Lindsay Robinson, Rachel Smith, Michele Graham, Kira Mayo and I made up the inaugural women?s golf team at UVa. And in four short years, Coach Mann led us to two NCAA appearances and a ranking as high as 7th in the country.

Since that shocking phone call, I've noticed there's been quite a lot of college golf-coach turnaround during this summer's "off season," as several Division I universities across America have signed new coaches to train their women's golf teams. For starters, Kim Lewellen, the former head coach at East Carolina, has been selected to replace Coach Mann. You may know Lewellen as the fit, energetic contestant on The Golf Channel?s reality show, "The Big Break." Her hire made all of us feel (a little) better about Mann's retirement.

Kevin Williams has been selected to succeed Lewellen as East Carolina's head women?s golf coach. He returns after being the head men's and women's golf coach at East Carolina from 1995-2005.

Arguably the most controversial resignation this year has been Georgia's former head coach Todd McCorkle. According to an article by TGC, he quit after women on his golf team accused him of inappropriate sexual behavior, and it shocked the world of college golf. It occurred right before NCAA regionals last May, and interim coach Veronique Drouin led the number two Bulldogs to an eighth-place finish.

Kelley Hester, a UGA graduate, has been hired to replace McCorkle as Georgia's head women's coach. Since her days as a Bulldog, Hester has been a professional player, a professional teacher and a head coach at Mercer, UNLV and Arkansas, where she led the Lady Razorbacks to four NCAA regionals and two national appearances. 

Former Arkansas assistant coach, Shauna Estes, will replace Hester as the Lady Razorbacks' head women's coach. She has been at Arkansas for 5 years, and in May she was named the national assistant coach of the year.

Susan Watkins' resignation as the University of Texas' women?s head golf coach has created quit a long domino effect. Martha Richards, a former Texas assistant golf coach from 1998-2000, has been hired to succeed Watkins. Richards comes straight from being the women's head coach at Vanderbilt, where she essentially rebuilt the women's golf team. Not only did she lead the Commodores to the NCAA championships four times in seven years (2002-04 and 2007), but also led them to two top-10 finishes. She was awarded the SEC Coach of the Year Award in 2003 and 2004.

Greg Allen, the University of Arizona's former head golf coach since 2000, will fill Richards' shoes at Vanderbilt. During his time at Arizona, Allen coached the current number one LPGA golfer Lorena Ochoa plus nine other All-Americans. Allen is looking forward to moving closer to his family, as he grew up just 90 miles from Vanderbilt.

Just this week, Shelly Haywood was appointed Allen's successor as Arizona?s head women's golf coach. Haywood was previously Arizona's assistant women?s golf coach for the past three seasons.

As you can see, this summer's "off season" has been anything but a break. I'll continue to update you on the never-ending coaching switches.

I just came across this interesting profile of 23-year-old Australian Nikki Garrett, the 2006 Ladies European Tour Rookie of the Year who intends to try to qualify for the LPGA Tour this fall. Read the article to learn more about Garrett and tell us: Who do you think will be the next "big thing" in women's golf?

Those of you who watch The Golf Channel may know that I moonlight there quite a bit these days. I host a travel show, Golf With Style: Global Challenge, and I do a weekly equipment segment on the Monday-night instruction show The Turn. But neither of those gigs could have prepared me for the sheer madness of my new show, Fore Inventors Only. A sort of American Idol for golf entrepreneurs, it's a reality show that seeks to unveil the next great golf invention, and I am one of the judges (just don't ever call me Paula).

Over a period of three months last winter, GC producers conducted several open auditions around the country for golf inventors hoping to appear on FIO and compete for a grand prize that includes the production and airing of an infomercial on GC and shelf space on GolfSmith stores nationwide. Over 1,000 Willy Wonka Wannabees crawled out of the woodworks, bringing every strange golf gadget you could ever imagine (and a few you couldn't -- what would you say, for instance, to the concept of a gyroscope on a shaft? Or a bunker rake you can fit in your pocket? Don't knock it, just stay tuned), and the producers invited roughly 100 of them to come on the show. That's where Top-50 instructor Billy Harmon, PGA Tour player Fulton Allem and I came in. Our job over the first seven episodes is to whittle the field to five contestants who will appear on the live finale on September 4th. At that point, America will vote for the ultimate winner. And I don't envy them the job -- it's going to be a tough call.

Shooting this show has been one of the most draining and fun experiences I've ever had. As those of you who caught the premiere last night could probably surmise, it wasn't exactly smooth sailing all the time (and those of you who didn't see it, don't worry -- there are plenty of re-runs all week; you can check the programming schedule). I've never argued so much with any two people as I did with Fulton and especially Billy, and that says a lot considering the, um, loving but combative family I grew up in. I have the utmost respect for my fellow FIO judges and hold them both in the highest possible regard, but their logic on certain things just drove me bonkers (vote through a timing device that shows when fives minutes of lost-ball search time is up? What golfer is going to buy that when they have a perfectly good watch?). So yes, there was a lot of bickering.

When we did agree, it was usually on the insanity of an invention or inventor. I've always known that golf attracts all kinds of characters -- it's one of the things I love about this game -- but I had no idea just how many nut jobs play this sport. And the rejected inventors weren't all graceful in defeat. It got to a point during shooting where I avoided going to the bathroom for fear of running in to someone who may not have appreciated my honesty in deeming his battery-powered toothpick/tee a non-starter. I guess, in the end, that's what makes for good TV. And in all fairness, the show also features several amazing people with genius products, and I feel privileged to have met each and every one of the 100+ contestants. Once the season winds down, I can be more specific as to my personal favorites on this blog. 

I'm the editorial production director at GFW, and have been taking golf lessons for the last year. You might ask, why I would start playing golf now, at the age of 44? When my only real exposure to golf had been hitting a ball through a windmill or into a clown's mouth?

It began over dinner one evening in early December, 2005, when a friend announced that she wanted to learn to play golf. Stunned, my response was, "What in hell for?!" She and I have known each other for over 20 years and during all that time, there'd never been a single word about golf. But she revealed that her male colleagues over the last few years had asked her to join them on golf outings and she'd had to decline because she didn't play. Eventually they stopped asking her to join them. This became an issue because business was being discussed on these outings and decisions were being made, without her input or suggestions. So I thought that for her birthday the following May, I would look into lessons for her. Her only condition was that I go with her. I said yes, although at the time I had  no intention of actually doing so.

Then, in February, 2006, after two years of freelancing,  I accepted a permanent position with Golf for Women. Considering I was now working for a golf publication, my feelings had changed and I wanted to take lessons too. I consulted with Senior Editors Stina Sternberg and Dave Allen, and they suggested I stay local. I found a public course and scheduled a five-lesson package for both my friend and me at the Harbor Links Golf Course in Port Washington, N.Y.

Armed with borrowed clubs, we headed off to our first lesson that May. What a sight we must have been! You see, my friend and I are not what you would call petite. We prefer the word "Rubenesque!" That's me on the left in the picture below:

A year later, what I can say? My short game isn't too bad ? it must have been playing all those windmills. Getting to the green is real work, but I have mastered getting out of bunkers. I spend a lot of time in the sand. Mulligan has become my favorite term.

My friend is much more aggressive (compulsive is probably a more accurate word) than I am. I'm happy if I just hit the ball and it travels more than five feet. She's more determined to play with the "big boys." She consistently hits it at least 125 to 150 yards, though I must say I putt better than she does. This is a point of contention. She can be a bit competitive?just ask her about the one and only time I beat her on the 9-hole course!

We're sticking with golf, as frustrating as it can be, and we're still taking lessons. My friend has gone on a few business outings, the first after only six lessons, and she beat her boss by one stroke! Her goal now is not to pick up and play side by side. My short-term goal is to learn how to drive the ball?I have no distance, no flight, nothing. Long term, I would like to be a decent player, but for now I'd settle for not being embarrassed out on the links.

We try to play at least 9 holes or get to the range at least once a week. We do have a lot of laughs, and the crew and instructors at Harbor Links know us well now (I'm not sure if that's such a good thing). Sometimes I think my instructor wants to take a club and beat me over the head with it.  Mastering this tough sport of golf has become a quest. But here we are: two Rubenesque women on a mission.

Bear Sterns CEO Jimmy Cayne has been accused of spending too much time working on his game instead of concentrating on his firm's recent struggles. Maybe he's just trying to improve his ranking on Golf Digest's CEO List (he's currently sits T-124). However, it looks as if the extra practice hasn't paid off:  Check out his scores on GHIN.

As much as I love summer?longer daylight hours, backyard barbecues, clam bakes, etc.?I dread the 100 degree temps and steamy humidity.  After walking nine holes?or, as a New Yorker, enteri