OLD FORGE, NY – Everyone just calls him “Stevie U,” and the joke is that the U either stands for “unspellable” or “unpronounceable,” depending on usage. But Stephen G. Uzdavinis, (that’s “YOOZE-duh-VENUS” for those of you scoring at home), a.k.a. Stevie U, is living his Adirondack...
Thank you to Joe Harvis, the National Ski Council Federation, and the folks at the North American Snowsports Journalists Association for all their help syndicating my Mount Sunapee article. Joe, you really made it look great. Here’s a link to the NSCF site. From the article: “Money...
Border War! Vermont vs. New Hampshire Skiing Part 8 – Mount Sunapee —by Jay Flemma Special to Slave to the Traffic Light Adventure Magazine— [Editor’s Note: In a wonderful bit of synchronicity, this piece is published on Jay’s 16th anniversary of becoming a sports writer. Through the...
Dustin Johnson won what the entire world hopes will be the only Masters Tournament ever contested without patrons, delayed by a pandemic disease. But take away the Coronavirus masks, turn the color of the trees back about six weeks, and look at Augusta National Golf Club and the 2020...
Augusta National Golf Club announced Monday that 2017 Masters champion Sergio Garcia informed the club he would not participate in the event after the positive test result.Sergio Garcia joins Joaquin Niemann as players to withdraw from the 2020 Masters after testing positive for COVID-19...
I feel it, and I believe in it: the same sense of community responsibility for the good and welfare of tiny, but plucky Magic Mountain that every one of its myriad fans shares. Tucked between southern Vermont’s Bromley, Stratton, and Mt. Snow – all much larger and far more corporate...
A big thank you to both the National Ski Council Federation and Joe Harvis for running my Powder Ridge article. Also big thanks to the North American Snowsports Journalists Association for linking to it via social media! Next up: The Indispensable Guide to a Coronavirus Ski Season See you...
I went to college in Connecticut, and I’ve skied all my life, but I’m chagrined to admit I never heard of Powder Ridge until I started watching Hell’s Kitchen. Yes, that Hell’s Kitchen: the TV cooking show where Gordon Ramsay terrorizes, humiliates, and outrages the chefs under him as...
Golf Course Trades did a remarkable job with my Green Lakes article. This one was fun, especially because I got a bunker named after me. You read that correctly. When you hole out a bunker shot, you get the bunker named after you. That’s Rule 36. (Rule 35 is have fun…)...
We’re enjoying a brilliant, blazing fall here in the North Country (it was 81 Saturday), and while there’s still more than just the dying embers of the golf season left, we’ll be starting our winter sports coverage imminently. Of course we’ll be continuing our...
Ski season is finally upon us! No the snow has not fallen here yet, but it’s time to get ready. We’ll be publishing updates on Covid-rules for ski areas this season, along with more profiles in our Border War series. But for now, the National Ski Council Federation ran my...
What makes a truly great 18th hole? Easy: It must be a summation of all that came before. The most iconic courses in the world finish with the grandest of flourishes. Some prefer the grandeur of a majestic, sweeping par-5 so the golfer has a chance to close with a birdie. Others prefer 18...
It’s its 97-year history, and over the course of six U.S. Opens, this is the only time you can’t say “Winged Foot won this Open.” 27-year old Bryson DeChambeau claimed the 120th U.S. Open with a closing 67 and total of 6-under, breezing past third round leader Matthew Wolff, who finished...
Tiger Woods was among seven former U.S. Open champions to miss the cut at the 2020 U.S. Open. In clear but windy conditions at Winged Foot Golf Club’s West course, Woods followed Thursday’s milquetoast 73 with a ghastly 77, 10-over par, four shots over the cut line and 14 back of leader...
On a cool, windy day, Winged Foot turned the tables on the 2020 U.S. Open field, playing almost three strokes harder than Thursday’s opening round that saw record red numbers for a U.S. Open played over the fabled West course. Only three players broke par on Friday, and just seven more...
On a day when a soft Winged Foot surrendered its lowest scores ever in a U.S. Open, Tiger Woods let his round slip away late, culminating with a ghastly double bogey at 18. As we go to press, Woods’s 3-over 73 has him in a tie for 70th, eight strokes behind leader Justin Thomas. Woods’s...
The recent news that the USGA has selected Pinehurst No. 2 as its first anchor site for future U.S. Opens and a new museum was met with widespread joy and acclaim. “In an effort to expand its impact in golf and extend its mission to champion and advance the game, the USGA will establish...
This week mighty, venerable Winged Foot Golf Club hosts its sixth U.S. Open, 13th USGA event, and seventh major championship, (it hosted the 1997 PGA). The par-70 layout will play to a bloated 7,477 yards; seven of the twelve par-4s are 467 yards or longer. It also features 4-1/2 to 7-1/2...
For everyone who relishes U.S. Open week for its sheer bloodthirstiness, welcome to Winged Foot West. It just became your new favorite course. Like will-o-the-wisps feeding off the agonizing cries of their dying victims, everyman golfers will spend this week, pointing at the pros and...
—Of cruel and mighty Winged Foot now to you I sadly sing And all the lost and broken men who felt her deadly sting Who wander now as shadows in her darkness ever more To roam her haunted passageways forsaken and forlorn But chief among the cursed souls that in that valley dwell A...
The USGA just announced that fabled Pinehurst in North Carolina will become the first “U.S. Open Anchor Site” and host the 2029, 2035, 2041 and 2047 U.S. Opens, in addition to the already scheduled 2024 event. The decision accelerates the USGA’s strategy to stage its premier...
This news broke just as we were prepping for the PGA Championship, and it was expected once the PGA of America announced the same thing. The USGA announced that there will be no spectators at stately old Winged Foot for the 2020 U.S. Open. From the announcement: In partnership with the...
There were former major champions, seasoned veterans, and long bombers dominating the leaderboard all week, but it was a kid from Cal who swooped in with a final round 64 to win the 102nd PGA Championship at San Francisco’s Harding Park Golf Coursed. 23 year-old Collin Morikawa finished...
Usually a truly great golf course builds to a crescendo, with its 18th hole being a grand summation of all that came before. Winged Foot, Oakland Hills, Pinehurst No. 2, Pebble Beach – each of those all-World finishing stretches has one thing in common – stern challenge. Sometimes...
At 8-under China’s Haotong Li is your surprise leader at the halfway point of the 2020 PGA Championship at San Francisco’s Harding Park, but two-time defending champion Brooks Koepka is part of a six man log-jam tied for second just two shots back. Playing in early warm and windless...
Roars? What Roars? Silent, Crowdless 2020 PGA Championship Has Players Non-plussed —“Oh, you should see the Coliseum, Spaniard. 50,000 Romans watching every movement of your sword, willing you to make that killer blow. The silence before you strike, and the noise afterwards, it...
2015 PGA Champion Jason Day and journeyman pro Brendan Todd each fired 5-under 65s in round one of the 2020 PGA Championship at Harding Park for a one shot lead over a gaggle on nine players that includes two-time defending PGA Champion Brooks Koepka, as well as former major champions...
My golf buddy Ector and his wife Marta are in NoCal this week and brought their golf clubs with them from L.A. I played Casa de Campo with Ector, and had a blast. He’s one of those guys that you don’t care what he shoots, because he’s so much fun to play with, (even though he shoots 120)...
Back in 1974 while covering Super Bowl VIII, writer Hunter S. Thompson discovered that all he had to do to make deadline was to take the Super Bowl article he wrote the previous year, change the name of the losing team from “Washington Redskins” to “Minnesota Vikings,” and fax it in to...
California golf conjures up fond reveries of golden sunshine, rhythmic waves lapping peacefully at rocky shorelines, and flagsticks snapping briskly in the breeze, silhouetted nobly against the blazing sunset… …just not at TPC Harding Park. Let’s see: Olympic Club, Meadow Club...