Did they go overboard in making sure that they didn’t get to many low scores out? – who knows. I will tell you this, and I promise you. the pin locations were brutal to unfair for so many holes to play that hard. As for Phil. who knows. I will say this. he drives the ball brutal for a pro, and in this Open when you keep missing fairways you will pay the price. He did.

The Tour has gone to an easy setting upon courses where driving the ball is nowhere near that important, and that’s a shame as far as I’m concerned, and I’m a genius tonight. Their view on very little rough is wrong. Driving should be just as important as the rest of the game. Just because these bombing fools have no clue how to hit it straight, why don’t you occasionally force them to learn? I haven’t done the homework on this next statement, but I’m willing to bet you that if you look at the overall U.S. Open Champions, you will notice that there are very few real aggressive players that are winning very often. Palmer & Mickelson might be the best players who have won a lot and were/are very go for broke players, and yet they have only one title to their name and that one was a fluke comeback victory. Opens are for patient patient ball strikers who wait it out. Jack & Hogan have a boat load of titles, and that’s their game.

Now, for the important news. Me. I played a full 18 and it was ugly, but I finished, 77. However, I’m pleased with what’s happening at the moment. The leg still lets me know it has fire in the belly, but it’s not constant which makes me believe for the first time I will actually be able to work on the game and find out how much better I can get. I won’t know for sure for about 2 months, but I am confident. Less pain is allowing me to turn more and that’s a really good start to improving my swing and improve my distance. I was hitting balls today and was getting real ball flight for the first time in 4 years.

I just had my 4 year mark a week or so ago and I will tell you it doesn’t get much better with time. It sucks as much today as it did 4 years ago. I live on now and then because that’s what you must do. I will fight and enjoy the battle till I go belly down.

Now on another personal note – it’s good to know I’m still an idiot when it comes to the opposite sex. I trust and then you get drilled right in the back. I’d like to telling you it’s the hole in my head from the flight through the RV Windshield, but I did the same things when I was a “no hole headman”. I’m thinking of giving Munch power of attorney with the massive amounts of money I have.

The good news is I’ve figured out a new form of grip & stroke that will be a big time winner, if I’m right. Tomorrow I will find out when I use it on real greens and go from there. It’s not crazy radical, but it’s a system that allows anyone who thinks too much, has no rhythm in their stroke, has the slight right hand stab move.  If so, they will all improve. If not, the dream didn’t work.

Ken

Now, let’s go forward to the media and their part in all this. They are blowing this up cause that’s what they do best.  Sergio should be giving credit for at least telling the truth. He hates tiger and tiger doesn’t like him either.  So what, it happens. Now the tour, if they are true to their position, should fine Sergio for saying negative comments about a fellow player.  Mr. Tim once told me that it’s an automatic fine when you critique another player – although I’m starting to think he just meant me. I don’t want you to misunderstand me, so I will say this.  Tiger may be not be a whiner and a cry baby like Sergio is, but I truly believe Sergio is a better person in the big picture.  We all have our negatives (I’m stilling adding all mine up), but I promise you, tiger is not as good an overall human being.  As a golfer, tiger is stupid good, but I truly feel has a person he has failed miserably – besides the flaws we all know about. Maybe I expect too much from him, and if I do I’m wrong, and would apologize. He cares more about his golfing legacy than what he could’ve accomplished as a person. He is smart enough to have done it both ways. Think about it for a second. He has enough fame, clout, power and money to have done so much for, whatever field he wanted to work on. Name one another person who could call anyone on the planet and actually have the person take the call or call you back. I’m poorly trying to say he could’ve developed a team and a massive amount of people to come together and done something really big. Very few people like that come along. It’s just a shame.

I’ve failed miserably as a person so please don’t take this as a I’m better than him shot. When I get healthy I’m going to improve and keep improving myself even more. I think that’s all we can do.

Ken

Anyway I’ve come to the conclusion the TPC of today has to be changed to try and make it the great track it was 20 or so years ago. The players are only hitting 3-6 Drivers away and that’s just not right. To determine the best player you need to for force them into hitting driver or pay the price by not and hitting a much longer club into the green. The amazing thing is there is plenty of room out there and I’m amazed those dopes haven’t done it yet. The decision should be driver or 3wood and not 3wood vs. iron. Playing in May reduces the wind so that’s so much easier also. 17 used to pucker your ass I’m telling you, and now it’s a baby boy. And 15, bring pucker back to the hole. Make the fearless wonders think.

By the way, I would like to ask our TV boys if the boys of today are so fearless, why do they need their caddies, managers, physical fitness, and most important the brain doctors so much?  My theory is that so many of them rely on others to do so much for them that, come crunch time, they really don’t know how to do on their own, ‘cause they’ve never been on their own. Clearly there are players that do know how to win, but I’m referring to the many ones that seem to just throw tornados away down the stretch.

I’m going to to talk about the Sergio thing and just say its him at his finest. He whines about his errors instead of just saying, I blew it – I heard the noise and had plenty of time to back off and regroup but didn’t so instead of putting the blame on me I’ll put it on whomever. We all do it and I’m sure I may have to. It’s weird because you’re over the ball and you know what just happened and you tell yourself to back off, then don’t. So now you fork it up and you can’t blame yourself so you blame whatever it was. However, to say what he said afterward is pure Sergio and just babyish at best. If I manage to remember what I was going to say I’ll get back to you.

Amazing my best tornado there [1990 The Players Championship -3 71, 69, 70, 75 = 285 5 $52,687.50 http://www.databasegolf.com/players/player_bytournament.htm?samid=GreenKen01&tid=29 ] was the week I hit it so bad it’s wrong to call me a pro. I drove it so far right off every other tee it was laughable. Back then I had to hit drive unlike today where I could’ve just 3wood it off every tee. Anyway I remember making bogey on 18 after David Eger gave me the worse ruling on planet earth (this was right in the middle of the ping lawsuit and I got every fine and bad ruling you could imagine), so I finished and I remember thinking, well at least I won’t be in the last group and keep embarrassing myself. Then they told me they were doing threesomes due to weather. It was scary bad the shots I hit in the last round – Lund and Johnny thought I was choking, but it was simply me all 4 days. That week Phil or Seve at their best couldn’t even have come close to me in the up & down world.

Ken

As I said couple years back that one day Colin Mountagumpy would be elected. I totally disagree with that 100%. He is clearly a top golfer, but doesn’t deserve to be given Hall status. When you have played as many events as he has and never won on The Tour, you don’t deserve it.  I understand many will say it’s a World Hall and he won the order of merit 7 years in a row, and I give him credit for that, but not Hall status. Fred Couples is borderline also, and he got in because he is loved so by the media, which is strange because Fred in his hay day was not a very friendly soul. Today he is, and if he behaved today like does back then he would’ve achieved mega star status I believe. However, if we are going to give majors an absolute to getting in The Hall, he does deserve it because in my opinion the hardest and best event to win is the TPC, and he has 2 of those, so that would be a definite. Think on this for a second, only one player has won the TPC more than twice, so if that doesn’t show you how hard it is to win nothing else will.

I saw another stat today that I was amazed at.  In the 1^st 300 events, Tiger won like 28% of events and Sam Snead won 25% and Hogan like 24% or close. Let me make this perfectly clear. For Snead & Hogan to be able to have accomplished that in that era is stunning. The equipment and the conditions were so pathetic that for a guy to win that much is crazy good. I know people say that we’re not so deep in players back the,n but I promise you that the equipment and condition far over shade the lack of stud muffins.

Now I’ll jump to the Vijay lawsuit [ http://espn.go.com/golf/story/_/id/9254933/vijay-singh-lawsuit-sticks-pga-tour ] and the timing. Vijay like most golfers, is all about himself. His lack of regard for the game of golf is pathetic – to do it today was purely personal and only wanted to shove it right into Finchems’ face. He has butted heads with The Tour forever. I’m sure that most of the time The Tour and Deanne & Finchem were probably wrong, but that’s my guess only. The Golf Channel has been saying how the players are going to be giving him the frozen needle, but trust me when I tell you that he doesn’t give a fly fart about that. I will say this, and who knows how you are going to interpret this, but so be it. I’m amazed that a writer hasn’t tried to do a funky kind of research project. I’ll use Vijay, but you can do others. Since The Tour started doing a doping policy, I would ask this. Has any player’s level of golf dropped significant since the ban?  Have there been players who are suddenly having all sorts of physical issues? Those 2 issues might be able to tell you something. Vijay has beat his body up by hitting more balls than God himself. Late into his 40’s he was beating the hell out of balls, his exercise, and players all at once, was it age that caught up to him where for the last 4 years or so his body has gone to hell. I have no clue, but I’m just amazed that a body could handle hitting so many balls and then just go bust. I personally feel like when you look at Norman, who was a workout nut, and then you add all those balls, it has to catch up to you sooner or later. He now has a surgical operating room named after him. The golf swing has been proven to be the worst possible repetitious act you can do to your body, much less over-doing it like pro golfers do. I have no clue whether a Tiger who has injuries up the gazoo has done anything to help repair the body or whether anyone on Tour has, but I do know this. Why wouldn’t have you taken stuff that wasn’t illegal if it helped your body heal faster and allow you to work out more or hit more balls and then not feel it the next few days?  I’m not saying Tiger, Vijay, Ken Green, Calc and Freddy ever took diddly, but I’m curious when you add up all the categories and then evaluate them.

I do think that the Champions Tour and the LPGA should play a team event together. Ok… this has been too long, so I’ll stop and comeback.

-Ken

5-3-13 11:16am: “Quick Day2 update on the surgery. Right now the Dr. is very happy & feels like it will be a success. I’m excited, but cautious. The electric zapping that I’ve had for 1422 days has been in remission so to speak for 43 hours, so that’s the lottery for me right now. We won’t know for sure till all the swelling goes down, and then we put the leg on in a month or so. I’m still confident that maybe they have finally resolved this issue and I can be as normal as Ken Green can be so to speak. Munch is going crazy because he can’t figure out what’s wrong. He knows something is up ‘cause I can’t move out of bed, but he’s as impatient as I am. Anyway, I’m probably not making much sense but so far I’m excited that maybe we can get back to normal and I can move forward and do some good things with this hand that was dealt.”

5-1-13 5:19pm: “All went well as of right now.  Without getting ahead of the game, I currently do not have that constant electrical zapping that I’ve had for 1422 days & that’s an unbelievable feeling. We will know more in a couple of weeks but he really thinks it’s a good sign.  I know it’s amazing to not feel the elec. zaps but I’ll be patient b4 I say we have it covered & done.  I’m not saying anything yet, and only telling my friends before for I open my mouth.  Don’t want to jinx it I guess.  It’s amazing feeling right now & I want to shout off the top of Everest but I’ll wait.”  

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

FIRST LEARNED OF THIS BACK IN FEBRUARY 2013:

KG’s Blog Post #169 – 2/13/13am (Going to have Peripheral Nerve Surgery)

A dear friend of mine recently gave me the name of a doctor in Georgetown who about 6 years go developed this unique way of dealing with nerve pain. Peripheral Nerve Surgery to be exact. In a nutshell, he takes the nerve or nerves who are creating stupid pain and pushes them into the muscle which in turn acts has a prisoner to the pain and doesn’t allow you to feel the pain. In a rare statement of honesty, he tells you that to-date they are about 65% successful in stopping the pain. After sending him my history, he has determined that I’m definitely a candidate for the surgery. Has of this moment I’m simply waiting on him to give me a date to do his thing. I’m trying to not get too excited that for the first time I might be able to live without pain. We’ve done so many procedures to date that haven’t worked, 7 to date. I can only tell you that I’m running out of ability to handle the pain so this is clearly perfect timing. Although in my view way too much time has passed, I refuse to believe that I can’t still do so many good things with the “story” of all that has occurred.

When the pain disappears, I can then move on and be the psychotic and whacky Ken Green who will devote his time to simply trying to help anyone in need. Take care my friends, and for those of you in the north know that winter is almost done and your swings will soon haunt you and you will love every minute of it.

Ken

KG+Mike Reed: Rnd1=67 Rnd2=69 -8 (10^th place out of 17 – Raphael Div. 36 holes)
NOTE: Ken & Radar are in the Raphael Division, which for some crazy reason doesn’t show under “Full Leaderboard” – you need to click “Raphael Leaderboard” at the top right, which takes you to here: http://www.pgatour.com/champions/tournaments/liberty-mutual-insurance-legends-of-golf/leaderboard2.html 

KEN COMMENTS FROM BLOG #170 3-6-13:

“Mike Reid has asked me to bring him down again in the 2nd Div. of The Legends in Savannah at the end of April [Apr26-28 http://www.pgatour.com/tournaments/s504 ]. I’m honored that he would ask me and, despite not playing much, I will battle like Munch chasing a duck. As soon as we finish I will drive up to Washington DC with my dream girl and go get cut up.”

KEN COMMENTS FROM BLOG #172 4-23-13:

“I’m in the whatever mode, as I’ve done so little with the game for reasons you already know. However, that can sometimes turn out to be a blessing as when you expect little you often receive more. The course is as good as I’ve seen it, but soft which plays right into my hands with my massive power skank tee shot. I’m going with a new putter as the old one filed for divorced and sadly the judge ruled in her favor and gave her all the kids to sell and ruin another golfer.”

KEN COMMENTS FROM BLOG #173 4-26-13 (Fri Rnd1=67):

“It was a windy day at Savannah for sure. That may actually helped us because I don’t make a whole lot of birdies to help Radar, but when the wind is up the birdies don’t come so easy. With that said it was a fairly acceptable round of 67. I only had one birdie but it was a damn good shot from 180 to 7 ft. and I did make 3 pars when he was in Oscar bueno zone. I also had some pucker bone putts that should’ve gone in, but that’s golf I suppose. The fact that I can’t spin the ball like I used to hurts in the wind because that means it’s even harder to try an judge how the ball will react when it hit the green.  Mike played well, and I hope I can get him 3 birds tomorrow and, who knows, maybe we can shoot a 64 and see what happens. Pain level wasn’t awful with only one monster Oh-my-God moment, but the fact that I’m loaded up may also be a factor, but who knows on that department.  Only 5 more days to see if I pick off the big prize.”

KEN COMMENTS FROM BLOG #174 4-27-13 (Sat Rnd2=69, Finished -8 10th place):

“Day 2 felt like I was being wished on by the dragon gods of Komodo Island. Golf gives you days where nothing goes right, and today was it in a nutshell. I opened up by screwing up 3 straight chances to help and they were all the basic edges. My speed was off just a bit and it cost me big. My speed was off cause I was nervous & pressing. The fact that I don’t play much completive golf showed in the fact that normally you don’t worry about zip in the beginning of your round, but I was hoping to get us off to a good start & I didn’t because of slight tension equals edges. Then it was press press press, which equals more edges. I had 8 putts for birdie from 15 feet and made only one, but was so forking close on the others. If this surgery works, it will be interesting to see once I get back into the everyday playing and stop worrying about things because it will have already been taking care thru playing and practice that this type of nervous errors won’t happen. In a nutshell, my biggest concerns are getting strength back, creating more spin which will give me more consistent iron distance, and relaxing with the putter. They seem impossible today, but I know in my stupid don’t give up heart I can get these points back. I can’t say enough about Mike for continuing to play with me. One standup human being. Only 3 more days.”

If this [May 1^st] surgery works, it will be interesting to see once I get back into the everyday playing and stop worrying about things because it will have already been taking care thru playing and practice that this type of nervous errors won’t happen. In a nutshell, my biggest concerns are getting strength back, creating more spin which will give me more consistent iron distance, and relaxing with the putter. They seem impossible today, but I know in my stupid don’t give up heart I can get these points back.

I can’t say enough about Mike for continuing to play with me. One standup human being. Only 3 more days.

Ken

[ The Legends of Golf, Champions Tour, Savannah, Apr26-27 Raphael Div. 36 holes

http://www.pgatour.com/tournaments/s504 KG+Mike Reed ]

NOTE: Ken & Radar are in the Raphael Division, which for some crazy reason doesn’t show
under “Full Leaderboard” – you need to click “Raphael Leaderboard” at the top right,
which takes you to here: http://www.pgatour.com/champions/tournaments/liberty-mutual-insurance-legends-of-golf/leaderboard2.html 

Mike played well, and I hope I can get him 3 birds tomorrow and, who knows, maybe we can shoot a 64 and see what happens. Pain level wasn’t awful with only one monster Oh-my-God moment, but the fact that I’m loaded up may also be a factor, but who knows on that department.  Only 5 more days to see if I pick off the big prize.

Ken

[ The Legends, Champions Tour, Savannah, Apr26-28 www.pgatour.com/tournaments/s504 KG+Mike Reed ]

[ The Legends, Champions Tour, Savannah, Apr26-28 www.pgatour.com/tournaments/s504 KG+Mike Reed ]

My surgery is on May 1st and I can’t express to you how nervous and important this is. Four years of zapping has worn me out and my ability to withstand is at an all-time low. I do however truly believe this is going to give me relief. I’ll spit back at you in a couple of days so be good. It was good to see Scott win, but I’m still not a fan of Williams and his behavior.

Be good,

Ken

- – - – - – - – - – - – -

BTW, we had fun with reminiscing about KG’s opening lead-typing 68 in his 1^st Masters in ’86…  We’ll, lest you forget, with a little luck he would have WON it in ’89.  (I was there, and I’ve never seen him hit so good and be in such Total Control of his game)…

SEE:  “Ken Green’s 1989 Masters Diary – Green finished tied for 11th in ’89”

(This article originally appeared in the April 1990 issue of Golf Digest.)

http://www.golfdigest.com/magazine/2009-10/ken_green_mastersdiary1989