Readers Tee Off:
Letters to the MichiganGolf.com editor

One man's opinion

I again read an article about Stacy Snider winning the Michigan PGA Tournament this past summer. I can only say Political Correctness is well and good. The young lady, who appears to be a fine woman golfer, played from tees that were over 1100 yards shorter than the men. What would have happened if she played from the tips like the men or if the men had played from her tees? We would not have heard the name Stacy Snider.

Although we have many other important issues in the world I couldn't help but laugh over the gushing in the article over her "achievement." It really means nothing until the playing field is level for all. Women can't compete against men if it is indeed level because they don't have the strength. Please, Annika Sorenstam played well in the recent skins game but she would be an utter failure on the PGA tour because she would make few cuts, make little money and disappear. The skins game was a lark not a tournament in which players were battling for their golfing survival.

I realize that most people won't actually write what they feel for fear of being bashed but I have yet to meet a sports enthusiast, including many women, who believe the hype involving women attempting to compete against men is little more than a bad joke because of the usual "tricked up" playing field. The media of course is duty-bound to play it up in order to make some people happy and not be labled as insensitive. Common sense and logic loses everytime.

I'd love to "compete" in a baseball game that allows one team only one out in their inning or allows one team to move the fences in 150 feet because women players just can't reach the seats while batting. The fences go back when the men are batting of course. We'll laud the women who hit home runs at the contrived distance and marvel at how they can compete with men. Rubbish.

Jim Bielaniec, via email

Arcadia Bluffs falls a bit short

Regarding your recent review of Arcadia Bluffs: I played there with friends as part of a vacation we took to the Traverse City area in late June. No doubt about it, it's a beautiful course with some spectacular views, and many of the holes are well-designed and challenging but fair.

However, several of the greens are much too difficult with their severe undulations and/or multiple tiers considering the approach shots needed, especially for those unfamiliar with the course. They seem to reflect a design-for-design's-sake point of view. And on the first tee we were given a lecture by the starter about keeping up the pace of play - i.e., stay close to the group in front of you. We had twilight tee times (4 and 4:10 on a Sunday), which at that time of year should have left plenty of daylight. But we were immediately behind an outing, and to be kind, they were pathetically slow.

We finished just before total darkness descended, at almost 10. And not once did we see a ranger or players' assistant out there to monitor play. Overall, we figured the experience rated about a 5 or 6 on a scale of 10.

Maurice L. Mitterling, Walden, NY