This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all of my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

Here, even if it’s redundant and late, I add my impressions of the 2021 Ryder Cup.

I do so after watching nearly all of three-day event conducted at the Whistling Straits Golf Course in Wisconsin.  The Ryder Cup is my second favorite golf event to watch.  The first, of course, is the Masters.

Kudos to the U.S. Team for its resounding win in this Ryder Cup.

As for the impressions:

• How did the U.S. Win?  Various commentators will argue for one point-=of-view or another.  Was is that U.S. Captain Steve Stricker made all the right moves in his home state, Wisconsin?  Was it that Europe Captain Padrag Harrington made all the wrong ones?

No! 

It was because the U.S. Team played better on this weekend than the Europe Team.  They played fewer shots that the Euros.  Simple as that!

There is no assurance that U.S. dominance will continue overseas two years from now.

• The leader of the course development in Wisconsin, Herb Kohler, has done for that state what Michael Keiser has done for Oregon with Bandon Dunes.  Both Kohler and Keiser put states on the map for great golf, thereby gaining international recognition.

• It’s hard to me to argue with the efforts of NBC and the Golf Channel to televise the event, except for this:  There were far too many commercials, one on top of another.  So much so that, after a time, I had the lyrics of the commercials memorized.

I found myself wishing for the Masters Golf Tournament where tournament and television officials convince advertisers to accept only about one commercial an hour.

Finally, on the last hour of the last day of the Ryder Cup, this approach worked.  Rolex, to its credit, allowed more than an hour of commercial-free golf coverage.

So, in all of this, did the U.S. come together to play “team golf” when players usually fend for themselves week-to-week on the PGA Tour.  The answer is “yes,” at least this time around. 

Younger players had their first-time experience with the pressure of the Ryder Cup, as it was said many times on television “without the scar tissue of the previous losers.”

Good for the U.S. – at least in this time around.

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And this unrelated footnote:  As drivers of cars, we’ve all heard the phrase, “Click-It, or Ticket.”  And, we’ve clicked our seat belts.

Well, how about this:  “Mask-It or Casket.”  Now, fix your Mask!