Perspective from the 19^th Hole 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.

This is one of five departments I run with a free hand to manage as I see fit because, you see, I am a management guru.

The other departments are the Department of Pet Peeves, the Department of “Just Saying,” the Department of Good Quotes Worth Remembering, and the Department of Words Matter.

So, Inquiring Minds want to know:

IN SOCCER:  Why so many players fall to the ground, either on their own or when they run into another player, then lay on the ground writing in seeming pain and clutching a leg?

Of course, sometimes the pain is real in a game that is played on the run.  And, if that is so, call the medical staff. 

But, at other times, it appears the players are just grasping for air or taking a sort-of timeout.

I saw this on numerous occasions as I watched the Paris Olympics, which just ended Sunday.

IN DRIVING 16-WHEEL TRUCKS:  Why do so many trucks stop on the side of the roads leading out of rest-areas on major highways?

As I travel north and south on I-5 in Oregon and California, I see this all the time.

Why?

Perhaps someone smarter than me – is there anybody? – will fill me in.

IN GOLF:  Why don’t rules officials call more slow-play penalties on professional golfers?

Most players – not all, but most – exceed the allotted time to play their next shhot, which is 40 seconds after they arrive at their golf ball, with a 10-second add-on when there is something unusual about the next shot…say the golfer is close to a tree, etc.

The professional game often takes longer than five hours to play 18 holes.  Yes, five hours!

It shouldn’t take that long, no matter how much money rides on each stroke.  But, until rules officials begin to issue warnings or penalties, nothing will change.

I have written about this before and my suggestion is that golf adopt a shot clock.  It can be done by having a golf cart, with a shot clock on the back, follow every group, then use the clock to measure times.  It happened once in what came to be called “The Shot Clock Masters” in Europe.

With the shot clock, one violation gets a warning.  And, then, further violations either cost stroke penalties, or in the most extreme cases, disqualification.

Good idea.  Pro golf in the United States should try it.