EPIC Post

Sorry for the delay, but I hope everyone of Houston Links' readers enjoyed the holiday season, because I sure did!

Let's get to it.

One of the things on my Christmas List was a new pair of all-black golf shoes and a nice pair of slacks. I know, I know. My inner-child is disgusted. Anyway, I broke them in while in Austin with my cousin Dylan and brother-in-law E.Z. We played a quick nine holes at the venerable Hancock Golf Course in Austin. And I do mean venerable. Hancock claims to be the oldest golf course in the state. In actuality, it's the oldest golf course in continuous use. Hancock was the original site of the Austin Country Club. It was where Harvey Penick picked up the game. Pretty much everyone from Ben Hogan, to Byron Nelson, to William Howard Taft played there. It's the Austin equivalent of Gus Wortham. Like Gus it's a long way removed from it's glory days. Dad used to play there as a kid, and he said everyone used to derisively call it "Hardrock." It lives up to the moniker, but I later read that the conditions have improved. If that's the case I would've hated to see it before.

That said, it was a fun course with some neat holes. The funny thing is, Hancock, the lowest common denominator of the Austin golf scene (which was recently voted Best Golf City in the country), has more hills, elevation changes, blind shots and undulations than you would find in almost any course in Houston. There's just no substituting for the Hill Country. That's why I was actually pleased to shoot a 52. I took a nine on one hole when I smoked a 5-iron over a hill toward the green, only to crest the hill and discover the green almost 70 yards closer than where I though it was. Look out cars on 32nd street!

2008 is an exciting time at the magazine. As those who read our January issue will discover we've made a new hire. Mark Button left his post as editor of Avid Golfer Houston to become executive editor at Houston Links. He's really going to help us come tournament time and also do a better job of cultivating relationships with our advertisers and readers. Kevin was telling me the other day that when you work as hard as he, Kenny, and I do you don't have as much time to get out and press the flesh and put a face with the content that I hope y'all have been enjoying. Mark is going to change that. Plus, no more two-a-day USGA qualifiers for me!

Funny story about Mark. The first time I met him was at U.S. Open Sectional Qualifying at Lakeside in 2006. I was on my way to follow somebody, when he drove up in a golf cart and said, "Hey are you with Houston Links?" I told him that I was and he said, "Bastard." AG and HL, are competitors, you see. Mark was joking, and we exchanged pleasantries for a bit. But no one insults Alex Blair, so I've spent the time since then planning an elaborate prank that has yet to come to fruition. You'll RUE THE DAY, BUTTON!!! (I jest...or do I?)

Also from a business standpoint, we'll be discontinuing our free subscription service sometime in 2008. Hold your horses and let me explain. See, the most important this for us is that our readers who care enough about our publication to subscribe get the convenience of having their magazine in the timely manner. We pay good money to post office to ensure that your magazine gets there on time, but that hasn't happen. A lot of subscribers I talk to say, "Oh yeah I subscribe, but I pick up the magazine at the course so I can get it quicker." Most of the time, my parents in Sugar Land get the new issue after we've gone to press on the next issue, about the 15th of every month! That ain't right. So we'll be asking about $40 for a premium delivery service, which we hope to offset with some other benefits. This includes access to the magazine's content on the web (no more huge PDFs; website improvement will be big for 08), and access to all the photos we take at tournaments (no more waiting on me to e-mail them to you). There will be some other neat swag to boot. When it comes down to it, I think the product we put out every month merits this, and I hope you agree. But if you have some reservations, relax. This is still on the drawing board and we're not going to go forward with this until we know we can do it right. So please continue enjoying free home delivery service!

Add a new title to my Houston Links position of Managing Editor/ Photography/ Columnist / Blogger. Head Mover. Kevin redecorated the office with a new desk, new table for me to work on, and a newer, faster, sexier computer to help him work faster. Of course, who moved most of that furniture up to the third floor AND had to pull of a nifty bungie cord job to fit all that stuff into his truck? Yo. It was pretty awesome driving down the 610 feeder at 35 mph with my blinkers on, bed cover up, and tailgate down. Anyone see me? Kevin squared the deal with a sixer of Dunkelweizen, though. I'm a Shiner fan.

I read Game of Shadows during Christmas and gee did it make me paranoid about steroids in athletics. It really got me wondering about golf, and this year being the first year for testing. Before reading that book I was in the camp of "They need to have it for propriety's sake." I'm now in the camp of "Someone might be taking something." Dr. Bill Bryan wrote an excellent column about steroids and golf in our November issue. Here's where I come out on it: The same arguments on why steroids wouldn't help in golf were once used for baseball. "It's an a tempo thing. Muscled will get in the way of much-needed flexibility. It won't help hand-eye coordination." Sounds familiar, doesn't it? Here's the thing, you don't have to be a hulked-out bodybuilding wacko to benefit from the juice. Look at Andy Pettite. No one would have ever thought he used, but he did...to recover from injury faster. You can't tell me there are no golfers out there who wouldn't use HGH or another designer steroid to recover from an injury faster and have a shot at winning $1 million a year.

Can you believe this stupidity about Kelly Tilighman? Look, it was incredibly stupid. But when people are on the air for five hours talk-talk-talking stupid things happen. I refuse to believe that she said what she said with any racist intent. If she had said "mug" instead of "lynch" there would be no problem. Maybe she needs to put down the thesaurus, I don't know. Besides, Tiger and Kelly are friends, they've talked, he whole-heartedly accepted her apology, end of story. We don't need you involved, Al Sharpton! Golf Observer, one of my favorite websites has a good analysis of the situation.

COOL!

You've got to read this story about PGA Tour player Will MacKenzie. Party on, brah. Hope you can make it to SHO 2008.

That's all I have for now, have a wonderful day!