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.

Many of my friends will know what’s behind the headline on this blog.

IT’S MASTERS WEEK!

That means my favorite golf tournament of the year is under way at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia.

I will be glued to the TV or the Masters’ App Thursday through Sunday.

Usually, so will my daughter, Lissy, who lives in Woodinville, Washington, about four hours north of me in Salem, Oregon.  This year, however, she also is heading to Nashville, so she may end up using the Masters App most of the time.

Otherwise, she would be in her Masters’ chair with her Masters mug and exchange texts with me throughout the tournament.  Some texts still may come through.

Here are a few thoughts about this “best of all” golf tournaments as I anticipate it starting today:

MASTERS HISTORY/  What appears below was provided by Mr. Google

“Since 1934, the Masters Tournament has been home to some of golf’s greatest moments.  Amidst blooming azaleas, towering pines, and flowering dogwoods, the first full week of April ushers in a stage unique to golf and to sport.

“Over four days and 72 holes, the smallest field in major championship golf competes for a chance to capture the Green Jacket and a place in Masters history.  Take a journey down Magnolia Lane or stroll through Amen Corner, and explore the iconic traditions, moments and history of Masters Tournament like never before — past and present.

“Augusta National Golf Club was founded by Bobby Jones, the legendary amateur champion, and Clifford Roberts, an astute investment banker in New York.  Upon his retirement from championship golf in 1930, Bobby Jones had hoped to realize his dream of building a golf course.  

“Following a brief conversation with Clifford Roberts, with whom Jones had met several times during the mid-1920s, it was decided the Club would be built near Augusta, Georgia, provided a suitable piece of ground was available. Thomas Barrett, Jr., a mutual friend of Jones and Roberts, was consulted and recommended a 365-acre property called Fruitland Nurseries. An option was taken on the property for $70,000.  

“It was decided to establish a national membership for the Club, and Jones proposed Augusta National would be an appropriate name.  Construction on the new course began in the first half of 1931 and the course opened in December 1932 with a limited amount of member play. Formal opening took place in January 1933.

“Looking to provide a service to golf by hosting a tournament, Bobby Jones and Clifford Roberts decided to hold an annual event beginning in 1934. The final decision was made at a meeting in New York at the office of Club member W. Alton Jones.  Roberts proposed the event be called the Masters Tournament, but Bobby Jones objected thinking it too presumptuous.

“The name Augusta National Invitation Tournament was adopted and the title was used for five years until 1939, when Jones relented and the name was officially changed.  The first Tournament was held March 22, 1934, and beginning in 1940, the Masters was scheduled each year during the first full week in April.”

FROM GLOBAL GOLF POST/  Masters Champions Dinner 

In the hours before the annual Masters Champions Dinner, many reporters tried to get winners to unload on a major issue – LIV Tour vs. the PGA Tour.

To the credit of all the players, there appeared to be no takers.

Surely, there is tension around the LIV vs. PGA tussle.  But it’s best to leave that to another day and another place and allow the Masters to be what it is, which is one of the best – if not THE best – golf tournament every year.

JIM NANTZ:  A Masters musician

Jim Nantz is clearly one of the best broadcasters going these days.

I always look forward to two comments he makes when it is Masters week – “welcome friends,” and “a tradition unlike any other.”

Nantz just finished his last call during the recent the March Madness basketball tournament, something he has done for more than 30 years.  Then, with that over, he headed immediately to Augusta.

Rarely a day goes by, Nantz says, that someone doesn’t want to talk about the Masters with him.  It could be November in Green Bay, Wisconsin or July in Pebble Beach, California where he lives hard by Pebble Beach.  He says the Masters is like his “eternal flame.”

Get ready for another great Nantz call over the next four days.

FROM GOLFWEEK/  The 10 Toughest Greens at Augusta National

A better title for this article might be, ‘The 18 Toughest Greens at Augusta National,’ because the reality is that every putting surface on this storied course can give players fits.

GoldWeek:  “It all depends on where the hole is located and where a player is putting from.  Long putts, short putts — it doesn’t matter.  Twenty-footers can break 20 feet.  Three-footers can break 16 inches.  Just about every stroke that players in the Masters Tournament attempt with a flat stick can be fraught with peril.  You have to get both the speed and the direction right on every putt.

“Four-time major champion Ernie Els once six-putted a green at Augusta — from two feet.   In fairness to the course, Els was having an off-day.   But even the game’s best putters know that you need to be 100 per cent on your game if you want to avoid three-putting (or worse) at Augusta, which annually ranks at or near the top of the list of courses where the game’s best players three-putt most.

“It starts, of course, with the approach shot.  Augusta National is not a course where you can just shoot for the middle of every green in an attempt to ensure yourself easier two-putts.

“Again, depending on where the hole is located, the middle of the green may be the worst place to wind up.  You might even be wise to miss some greens entirely rather than face a near-impossible first putt.”

I am not going to take the time and space to list all the tough greens at Augusta.  Just what Golf Week calls the toughest — the par-three 12th would win the toughest contest hands-down.

As I reflect on the Masters, I remember fondly the trip my daughter and I took to the Masters in 2015. 

It was great to be there and to watch players we knew and, in some cases, loved.  It was a great father-daughter experience.

So will be the next four days!