“For South Korean teen, golf comes first” plus 2 more |
- For South Korean teen, golf comes first
- Yes, it costs $5,000, but the Golf Links of Scotland is no ordinary golf book
- Golf historian, collector to share love of golf
| For South Korean teen, golf comes first Posted: 01 Jan 2011 04:03 PM PST Reporting from Seoul — Eom Jae-moon, a 17-year-old with an unruly mop of brownish hair, considers golf his savior.An overweight child, he was encouraged to work out at a health club, where he discovered an indoor driving range. Soon, his mother had to beg him to come home. He lost weight and quickly excelled at his chosen sport. And although he sometimes hates the sound of the 6 a.m. alarm and the hourlong bus ride to his golf academy, he loves the feel of a golf club in his hands. "I like the pressure of tournament golf, not knowing if you're going to win or lose; it's a rush," said Jae-moon, who has won one amateur tournament here. He practices constantly, sometimes an astonishing 15 hours a day, hitting 900 balls under the scrutiny of a personal coach, living and breathing the sport to the exclusion of all else, including subjects such as science and history. His only outside endeavor is practicing English on his daily commute. And that's exactly how his mother wants it. Challenging her son with a drill instructor's drive, Kim Han-mi directs his every move toward a possible future on the PGA tour. "If he doesn't do well at a tournament, I yell at him," she said. "If he loses focus and blows chances for birdies, I get upset." More than a decade after South Korean golfers burst onto the international scene, Jae-moon's tale illustrates the intense national pride in the success stories of recent years, but also an unsettling side to the country's mania for golf. In a nation obsessed with success, thousands of young golfers soon learn a tough lesson: More than just playing the game, they're expected to excel, turn pro and win tournaments, making their families proud. The schedules of many youths are managed as closely as those of Olympic-hopeful figure skating or gymnastics prodigies around the globe. "I always tell my son, 'We have to do more,' " Jae-moon's mother said. South Korea's pro-golf phenomenon gained momentum in 1998 when ex-shot putter Se Ri-pak won both the LPGA championship and the U.S. Women's Open, becoming the first female rookie from her country to do so. More than half a dozen South Koreans have since won majors in women's golf. This year, 43 South Koreans are thought likely to compete on the LPGA tour, or one-third of the 123 international players. In 2010, counting Korean American Michelle Wie, ethnic Koreans accounted for five of the top 10 money winners, including the top two spots. Although the men have enjoyed less success, young golfers here still savor South Korean Yang Yong-eun's defeat of Tiger Woods to win the 2009 PGA Championship. Today, 4 million South Koreans play golf, competing for space on 251 courses nationwide. In comparison, there are 2,500 courses in Japan and 18,000 in the U.S. Jae-moon arrives at school each day at 9 a.m., but he doesn't go to any classroom. In a largely unregulated industry, each golf academy decides how many outside academic subjects to offer students. Many provide few or none at all. With so few golf courses in the country, greens fees are astronomical, so Jae-moon is limited to three nine-hole rounds each week on an actual course. The rest of his time is spent in a vast center with indoor sand traps, driving ranges and putting greens. He often gets home at midnight or later. He limits seeing friends to one night each week, usually Sundays. There just isn't enough time. The teen's only act of rebellion came when he secretly got his ear pierced. His mother didn't like it, but the earring stayed. It was only after Jae-moon's coach frowned on the embellishment that he removed it. Recently, Jae-moon's mother almost ended his golf career, but not for her son's lack of a well-rounded life: He missed a critical birdie putt. "I gave him hell. I told him we'd send him abroad to study," she said. "If he was destined to play golf, he'd make more birdies. It wasn't an easy decision for me. We fought. He cried. He kept playing golf." Like countless other youngsters here, Jae-moon will soon leave for a month in Thailand, where warmer weather, not to mention the luxury of playing outdoors on actual course, allows for more real-world golf under the eyes of his coach. He can't wait to go. "Just knowing that I'm going to play golf makes me happy," he said. "I walk on the grass at the course and I feel good." This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
| Yes, it costs $5,000, but the Golf Links of Scotland is no ordinary golf book Posted: 02 Jan 2011 08:46 AM PST Iain Lowe didn't plan to make a $5,000 golf book. Lowe, a photographer based in St. Andrews, spent more than four years taking pictures of the hallowed links courses in Scotland. George Peper, former editor of Golf Magazine, provided the words and together they created a two-volume ode to links courses called Golf Links of Scotland. The first volume is a detailed tour of the Old Course, complete with aerial photographs of every hole and an overlay of the yardages with a pro tip on playing the sacred course. The second volume carries the same theme, but it consists of Lowe's and Peper's compilation of the 18 greatest links courses in Scotland. For Lowe the book started as a tribute to the Old Course. Once he gave his idea some more thought and spent even more time researching and taking photographs, he decided to create a limited-edition book that could never be rivaled. Lowe plans to only sell 150 books as a tribute to the 150th anniversary of the Open Championship, celebrated earlier this year at St. Andrews. And, no, there won't be a budget-friendly edition. "I examined all of the avenues with this," Lowe said recently at the Yale Club in New York City. "Once that I decided I was going to go limited edition with this it gave me the flexibility to go to the best people in their fields and hire them." Each book comes protected in a clamshell box. Lowe was going to have a simple design inside the box, but he instead added a stunning piece of detail. In 1923, the Royal and Ancient Golf Club hired Alister MacKenzie — the future course designer of a well-known golf club in Augusta, Ga. — to draw a detailed map of the Old Course. A friend of Lowe's recommended he scan a copy of MacKenzie's drawing inside the clamshell. The finished product gives readers an "ooh, ahh!" moment before they even open the book. Once inside the first volume, Lowe's photographs take readers on a tee-to-green tour of the Old Course. Lowe said he didn't simply want to have a book filled with beauty shots. Instead, he tried to capture the feeling of actually playing a round at St. Andrews. To get the right photos, Lowe used his own experiences playing the Old Course, plus the knowledge of caddies, teaching pros and groundskeepers to show the mystery and challenge of the Old Course, which is difficult to convey to people who haven't played it. For those who have played it, the photos will be a reminder of what it's like, Lowe said. The tricky part was capturing the atmosphere and the humps and bumps that give the Old Course its charm. Fortunately Scotland is blessed with long periods of low light, the optimal time for photographers to capture their best shots. The importance of shooting in low light is evident in a remarkable photo of the first and 18th holes at St. Andrews. The holes are side-by-side, but thanks to the setting sun, you can see the relative flatness of the first fairway compared to the rolling mounds on the 18th. "It's like two completely different courses next to each other," Lowe said. However, Lowe needed more than perfect light to get his pictures. He needed a helicopter. Over the course of four years, Lowe estimated he took about 12-15 helicopter rides, which cost between $30,000-$40,000 total. Add in the leather binding (by hand) with 23-carat gold-leaf inlay, plus the cost of printing the books in China on some of the finest paper available, and you start to see how a $5,000 book is made. However, the time and money Lowe spent hovering 1,000 feet in the air was worth it. The overhead pictures capture the amazing vastness of links courses, and they also allowed Lowe to do something unique with his photographs. Lowe wanted to include the yardages and lines of strategy for every hole, but that wouldn't allow readers to simply enjoy a great photograph of their favorite hole at the Old Course. The solution: The yardages and other notes were added to transparent overlays that cover each overhead photo. If you want to soak in the beauty of the 18th hole, you simply lift the overlay and you have an unobstructed view. The second book, a collection of the 18 best links courses in Scotland from classics like Carnoustie and Prestwick to newcomers like Kingsbarns and Castle Stuart, gets the same treatment, but instead of hole-by-hole tours of all 18 courses, Lowe's photos and Peper's prose highlight key holes at each course. "It's my honoring of the links courses of Scotland," Lowe said. "I have such a lot of fun on them. I really like photographing them. And I think we're very lucky that people so long ago laid out this ground, and they're so publicly accessible." Lowe's love of the links began during his time in the military. A photographer for the Royal Air Force for 23 years, Lowe was stationed at an airbase outside of St. Andrews running the photo unit. Due to his long tenure and a feeling that he wasn't being challenged, Lowe retired from the service, bought a house near the Old Course and plotted his future. Photography wasn't Lowe's only love. He played water polo and badminton. He was a ski instructor, and even led climbing expeditions despite battling vertigo. Lowe knew after the military that his future was somewhere in photography, but he had no inkling that he might become a golf photographer. He didn't even play at the time. His life changed one evening when he strolled down to the fence along the 18th fairway at St. Andrews. The sun was slowly setting and a small crowd was gathered around the course watching groups complete their final holes. Lowe looked down and saw a hand come through the fence and stroke the grass of the hallowed course. That small gesture sparked Lowe's fascination with the game, and it has stuck with him to this day. "It shows just how special this place is," Lowe said. Now that he's hooked on the game and makes a living photographing some of the greatest courses in the world, Lowe has a dilemma each time he walks out the door. "My conflict is I love my job so much that it's a very difficult decision whether or not to play golf or take a camera," Lowe said. "Nine out of ten times the camera wins. Because when that image comes back and it sparkles at you and really captures the drama and beauty and challenge of a golf hole, any golf course photographer will tell you exactly the same thing — it's like the perfect [golf] shot. It's what makes you go back again. But just like golf, we always leave a couple of shots on the course." (To preview the Golf Links of Scotland, or to order a copy, go to golflinksofscotland.com) This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
| Golf historian, collector to share love of golf Posted: 01 Jan 2011 05:00 PM PST  One part of Gary Wiren's collection of golf memorabilia showcases covers of the Saturday Evening Post, all created by artists in the style of Norman Rockwell.  Gary Wiren shows the Cermak trophy and a photo of Anton Cermak, former mayor of Chicago, who was killed in an assassination attempt on then-President-elect Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1933.  photos by KIT BRADSHAW/kit.bradshaw@scripps.com Even comic books feature golf at the time, and Gary Wiren, PGA master professional and internationally known golf instructor, shows some of the comic books that are in his collection.  phtoos by KIT BRADSHAW/kit.bradshaw@scripps.com With inspiration from a photo showing a variety of antique golf clubs, golf collector and PGA golf instructor Gary Wiren amassed a group of the clubs shown in the photo. The montage is part of Wiren's extensive collection of golf artifacts, from sculptures to tees, that will be shown from February to April at Lighthouse ArtCenter in Tequesta. Say golf memorabilia, and most people will mention golf clubs, golf balls, maybe even some photos of famous golf courses like Pinehurst, Pebble Beach or Augusta. Say golf memorabilia to Gary Wiren — award-winning golf educator, master member of Professional Golfers of America, the senior director of instruction for Donald Trump golf properties — and he'll have a completely different definition of golf-related items that collectors love. Sure, there are golf clubs. Wiren has special hidden closets with about 3,000 of these memorable golf clubs in his collection. And there are photos and paintings of well-loved golf holes, as well as examples of golf balls — about 2,000 of them — from the early days to the present. His first historical item was the book, "The Walter Hagen Story," and he estimates today he has 2,000 books related to golf. "But, he says, there are any number of interesting golf items, such as stamps, jewelry, sheet music, scorecards, advertising and silver. "There are comic books featuring golf, such as the 'Number 1 Famous Funnies,' of July 1934, which has a cover photo of Mutt and Jeff, with Jeff trying to play golf. I'm particularly fond of the golfer Walter Hagen, called 'The Haig,' and I have 'The Haig' sign from his home that's part of my collection." Wiren's appreciation of all things Hagen goes beyond golf, to his wife Ione. "After I first met Ione and finally started to date her, I found out she didn't know who Walter Hagen was. But for the first five dates, something about Walter Hagen came up at each date, either a radio remark about Hagen, or a newspaper article. And eventually, we met Walter Hagen." Wiren's fascination with Hagen and with the long history of golf has evolved into one of the largest collections of items related to golf in the country, perhaps in the world. On Feb. 17, Wiren will share some of this collection when an exhibit of golf memorabilia will go on display at Lighthouse ArtCenter in Tequesta. The exhibition will premiere together with golf art from some of the nation's finest painters, photographers and sculptures. The joint exhibits will run through April 6, with the opening reception at the ArtCenter on Feb. 23. On March 9, Wiren will present a lecture on golf and the interesting elements of its history at the ArtCenter, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. The exhibit came about because of a long-standing friendship between Wiren and Katie Deits, executive director of Lighthouse ArtCenter, who had formerly worked in the golf industry. The timing is no coincidence. The exhibit will be highlighted during the Honda Classic, Feb. 28 to March 6, at PGA National Resort & Spa in Palm Beach Gardens and will offer special admissions related to the Honda Classic during its run in northern Palm Beach County. "The location — think about how many golf courses there are in Palm Beach and Martin counties — and the timing is ideal," Wiren said. "First, we want people who are not golfers to find the exhibit interesting on many levels, sports, golf, culture. And then we want golfers to look at the excerpts of my collection and say 'I saw things I never knew existed.' "You can go look at a grand collection of golf clubs, and pretty soon you'd be bored, but if there is a story behind the club or there are items you didn't think to associate with golf, such as a collection of ladies' hat pins to hold down the large hats women wore at the turn of the century playing golf, then it is something quite different," Wiren said. "For instance, I have a trophy for the Cermak Policeman Tournament. It may look like just another trophy, but it has an interesting story. Anton Cermak was mayor of Chicago, and, in 1933, he was in a limousine with President Franklin Roosevelt, when someone tried to assassinate FDR. "The shot hit Cermak instead, and his dying words were, 'I'm glad it was me instead of you,' spoken to Roosevelt." Wiren is now selecting the items that will be displayed at the Lighthouse ArtCenter, items that have been seen privately by such friends as Warren Buffet, Bill Gates and Jack Welch. "I think it's something that people in this area will appreciate," Deits says. "The breadth and depth of Dr. Wiren's collection has appeal even to people who've never set foot on a golf course." The Lighthouse ArtCenter is located at Gallery Square North, 373 Tequesta Drive in Tequesta. It is open Monday through Friday, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is free for Lighthouse ArtCenter members and is $10 for non-members ages 12 and older. Saturday hours are from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Special exhibition, including the Gary Wiren Golf Collection and the Academy of Golf Art, are not included in the normally free Saturday admission. Call 561-746-3101 for information. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
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