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.

I wrote about the Phoenix Open a few days ago in this blog, so I now provide this update.

The Global Golf Post carried a headline this week:  “A Sobering Look at the Phoenix Open.”

Too bad organizers have not had the guts to provide that “sobering look.”

And the word “sobering” matters here.  For the major issue in Phoenix, as noted below, is alcohol.

The PGA Tour also has not yet gone on record in requiring changes to this tournament run amok.

Which means no one has yet said what they will do to on the major issue making the tournament become a spectacle gone awry:  The amount of alcohol available to spectators.

Without limits, there is no way to bring the Phoenix Open back within respectable bounds.

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On a positive note, I add this additional point about golf:  Traditions.

One of them is that golfers keep their own score.  Which separates golf from ALL other sports.

When I serve as a starter on the 1^st tee in golf events sponsored by the Oregon Golf Association, I usually say something like to the golfers:  Unlike any other sport, you will be keeping your own score.  Think of baseball, tennis, basketball, football, soccer – in all those sports, someone other than you keeps your score.  In golf, the scorekeeper is you.

One of my on-line golf publications put it this way:

“The world of golf prides itself on the values of honor and integrity, a testament to the sport’s enduring tradition where professional golfers keep their own scores.  This unique aspect of golf has always set it apart from other sports, emphasizing personal responsibility and honesty.”

All of this came to light this weekend when, after his second round when he made the cut at the Genesis Open, pro golfer Jordan Spieth was disqualified for having signed an incorrect scorecard.

Importantly, Spieth took personal responsibility for the error.

But a friend of mine who follows the golf scene asked this question:

In a pro golf tournament, with walking scorers in every group, transmitting the correct score of each player ( and each shot), why did Spieth even have to sign a handwritten scorecard?

It’s a good question, but, for me, the only answer is that keeping your own score is part of golf traditions – and it is important to honor traditions that make sense as I think this one does.