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 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.

One of my friends took issue with I wrote yesterday comparing millions of dollars in charitable donations made by the PGA Tour with what I contended was zero made by LIV, the rival tour.

He sent me information saying that LIV, in fact, had committed $100 million to a new global corporate social responsibility platform.

Well, I responded, why would I want to let a new fact intrude into my perspective, which, put simply, is that I favor the PGA Tour over LIV.

These days, facts are not often allowed to intrude into points of view, especially in politics.  Right?

But, seriously, I told my friend that the information he sent was helpful, that I would accede to it, and that I would stop arguing that charitable giving is a measure of differences between the two golf organizations.

My friend and I talk about lots of stuff, not just this golf issue, and we enjoy the interchange, no matter whether we agree or disagree.

However, on the PGA Tour vs. LIV, I still hold these views:

·      I favor PGA tour COMPETITIVE golf over LIV exhibitions.

·      I continue to wonder how players who made millions using the PGA tour as a platform can now find their way clear to disavow that platform and move to LIV.

·      And, I hope that negotiations between the two rivals can occur, but the only way that has chance is if LIV mouthpiece Greg Norman exists the scene.  He carries so much animus for the PGA Tour, cultivated over many years, that no one wants to sit down with him, especially to consider the future of golf.

So, in a genuine nod to my friend, I will throw away one of my arguments against LIV – charitable donations — and focus on others.