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.

Many of us who live part of our lives in the California desert were concerned that the American Express Golf Tournament would be shelved by the powers-that-be on PGA Golf Tour management.

But, no.

The good news is the AMEX – as it is called – will be coming back next year.

Good news rests here for several reasons:

• The AMEX represents solid economic development for the region.
• The number 1 golfer in the world, Scottie Scheffler, will be able to return to the desert to defend the title he won earlier this year.
• And, for me?  I will be able to attend the tournament again, which is held on one of the courses in three-course rotation only a couple blocks from our home in La Quinta, California.

Credit should go to Larry Bohannan, from the Palm Springs Desert Sun, for reporting that the AMEX is alive and well.

Here are excerpts from what he wrote:

• After months of uncertainty over the PGA Tour’s slimmed-down 2027 schedule and which tournaments will and won’t survive, there is now one certainty:  The American Express will be played for the 68th consecutive year in the Coachella Valley.
• The American Express is the first tour event to have its dates officially announced for 2027.  As one of the early season events, the American Express needs to start working with golf courses, sponsors, hotels, and other tournament vendors to put the tournament together just 10 months from now.
• The American Express started in 1960 and was hosted for decades by entertainer and desert icon Bob Hope.  But the event’s future had been in doubt after PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp began talking in 2025 about a smaller tour, shrinking to perhaps 25 events from the more than 40 played in 2025.  The AMEX could have been shelved.
• In 2026, American Express sponsored a $9.2 million event with a field of 156 pros and 156 amateurs playing on three courses in La Quinta —  the Pete Dye Stadium Course and the Nicklaus Tournament Course at PGA West, and La Quinta Country Club.

Now, as for the notion of economic development, what is the measure of success?

Official reports suggest that the golf tournament generates somewhere between $20 million to $24 million in positive annual economic impact for the California desert.  The event attracts 65,000 to 70,000 spectators annually, driving tourism, boosting hotel occupancy, and benefiting local restaurants and businesses. 

And, of course, while not part of the above summary, I, too, spend money at the AMEX, which is money well-spent as I often walk over to La Quinta Country Club.

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.

I guess I could have said that the blog is designed to open the Department of Pet Peeves, one of five departments I run with a free hand to manage as I see fit.

Because, of course, I am a management guru.

That said, I retained the alternative blog headline above rather than just opening the Department of Pet Peeves. 

In retirement, one of my favorite pursuits is to continue writing, so it is important to point out my idiosyncrasies.  Writing is something I did in all my professional jobs, so it is relatively easy to continue.

Usually, I write just for myself because I get a lot of satisfaction in the process of putting words on paper, albeit on my laptop, which is always close by.

If few others read what I write, no matter.  I am not trying to influence them, though with friends, I do enjoy talking about subjects like golf, politics, and religion as I write about those subjects.

As I have noted before, I like words better than numbers, charts, graphs, or even photos.

So it was that a story in the New York Times captured my attention as it appeared under this headline:  “The art of the verb.”

Here is one key paragraph:

“…I’m fascinated by the tremendous power of verbs — language’s little fireballs — to shape how we understand the world.  Verbs rule communication.  Many linguists go so far as to see sentences as extensions of verbs with other accouterments.”

I agree.

Without perfect achievement, I always have thought about trying to use “active verbs.”  Sometimes it doesn’t work, but, if you try, you’ll find they often make writing better – “language’s little fireballs.”

So this is one of my pet peeves — when writers don’t take time to use active verbs.

On to other of my idiosyncrasies – or pet peeves:

• Don’t use the phrase “centering around.”  It is not possible.  You can “center on,” not “center around.”

• Don’t mispronounce etc. – it is not “ec-cetera.”  It is “et-cetera.”

• Try to avoid using too many abbreviations.  Why?  Just my choice.  For example, this means that I spell out the titles Senator and Representative, not Sen. and Rep.  It also means I spell out the title Governor, not Gov.  Same with months of the year.

• Special capital letter rule:  It’s easy for many people to use too many capital letters in what they write.  But let me cite an example where I think a capital letter is appropriate and inappropriate:  The word “Administration” when it applies to the federal government as in, for example, the Bush Administration.  That was and is appropriate.  However, when it comes to Donald Trump, I decline to apply a capital letter to the Trump administration because there is no way Trump administers anything as he flies by the seat of his pants.

• Spell out %:  I always spell out the symbol %, as in 10 per cent, not 10%.  Why?  Just a personal preference, much like abbreviations.

• Try to avoid words that end in the letters “ize.”  Such as the word prioritize.  Say this instead – “decide what is most important.”  Or, another example.  One of my former business partners often used the word “catalyze.”  I have no idea what it meant.

• Don’t use nouns as verbs.  A couple examples.  The word “helm” often is used these as in “he helmed the ship.”  No.  The ship has a helm.  It is a noun.  Or, the word, “golf.”  As in “he golfed his ball.”  No, he hit his ball.  Golf is a noun.

• In sentences you write, make sure the noun agrees with the pronoun.  When a sentence like “the committee” did “their” work appears, it is called a pronoun agreement error.  That’s because a singular word – “committee” – is used with a plural pronoun – “their.”  Don’t do it.  It may sound okay, but it is wrong.  The pronoun should be “its,” as in the “committee did its work.”

• The words “between” and “among.”  They need to be used correctly.  Yesterday, a Wall Street Journal headline writer said this:  “Why U.S. Allies Are Caught Between War, Trade and Trump.”  Impossible.  You cannot be caught between three things.  The word should have been “among.”

Now, if anyone reads this, aren’t you glad you know that all this matters to me.

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.

An article in the Wall Street Journal prompted me to write about this subject and to share my wisdom on “gimmes.”

If you want to stop reading now, I fully understand.

But I’ll continue writing.

Here is how Mr. Google defines the word “gimme” in golf.

“A ‘gimme’ putt in golf is an informal agreement to concede a very short putt (usually within 1–2 feet or “inside the leather”) during casual play, allowing the player to pick up his or her ball and count it as holed without taking the stroke.

“It is meant to speed up pace of play but is not allowed in official stroke play tournaments.”

More detail:

• Distance:  Generally considered “inside the leather,” referring to the distance from the putter head to the bottom of the grip (roughly 18–36 inches), although 1–2 feet is safer.
• When to take:  Typically used for bogies or worse in friendly matches to keep pace.
• When to avoid:  Never take gimmes in competitive stroke play, tournaments, or for eagle/birdie putts.
• Match Play:  In match play, a gimme is officially called a “conceded putt” and can be given by an opponent at any time.
• Etiquette:  If you have to ask if it’s a gimme, you should probably putt it.

Beyond this detail, gimme putts can be controversial.

Back a few years ago, where I play golf in my home, Salem, Oregon, gimme putts were sometimes “taken” from about six feet from the hole in the “senior game” on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  Those are not gimmes and note the word “taken” – they are a “takee.”

It got so bad that, at one point, those in charge of the senior game suggested putting marks on all putters to designate the term “within the leather.”  It didn’t come to that, but came close.

Further, in so-called casual or gentlemen’s games, gimmes should not be taken when money rides on the outcome.

When money is not at stake because you are playing “for the love of the game” with friends, no one should care about gimmes.  I don’t.  Plus, if a player already is three or four strokes over par on a hole, gimmes speed up play.

Again, back home at the course I play in Salem, I have heard that women who play never give gimmes.  They require all balls to be played into the hole. 

Which, of course, is within official golf rules.  Kudos to these ladies.

Enough for now on gimmes which, of course, in world affairs, is a hugely important issue.

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.

To repeat one of my pet phrases, I like words better than numbers, charts, graphs or, even, photos.

That’s just the way I am built and, as the introduction to my blog notes, I dealt with words in all my professional positions.  Now, I do so, as well, in retirement.

So it was that I came across two great paragraphs by two acknowledged  excellent writers whose work appears in the New York Times, as well as elsewhere – Maureen Dowd and Thomas Friedman.

Without further ado, here is what they wrote:

Maureen Dowd:  “Sucking up to Donald Trump, self-crowned sun king, is a Sisyphean task. Trying to keep up with his whims, his revenge plots, his insatiable need for slobbering praise, his disdain for the law, will always be a losing battle.”

She wrote these words as she commented on the firing of two officials seeking accolades from Trump – Pam Bondi and Kristi Noem.

Thomas Friedman:  “In short, we are watching what happens when you put into the Oval Office an impulsive, unstable man who ran for president largely to get revenge on his political foes. Then he surrounded himself with a cabinet chosen for its handsome looks and its willingness to put loyalty to Trump over loyalty to the Constitution.  Add to that Republican majorities in the House and Senate willing to write him blank checks, and it all eventually leads to sloppy, undisciplined decision-making, including starting a huge war in the Middle East with no plan for the morning after.”

Friedman wrote these words as he worried that Trump has no way out of a war he created on a whim.

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.

……….I wrote this blog in 2025, but post it again this year, 2026, because it heralds a great fact for Christians, Christ’s resurrection……….

**********

My wife and got back an hour or so ago after having the privilege of attending a 6 a.m. “Sunrise Service” at the church we attend in La Quinta, California, Southwest Church, now called Well-Spring.

To use a play on words:

• We were able to watch the “sun rise” to the East on a cloudless morning.
• We were able to commemorate the “son rise,” the monumentally critical fact of Easter because we can have a relationship with a risen Savior, the son of God!

In some ways, I hesitate to use the word play above because it carries the risk of de-emphasizing this reality.

But, at the same time, if the word play helps to tell a monumentally important story, good. 

Last year, I read with interest a column that appeared in the Wall Street Journal under this headline:  “Easter Merits More Handel’s Messiah:  A Christmas favorite, the oratorio has more to contribute to Holy Week celebrations.”

Here is how the column started:

“We wouldn’t celebrate Christmas without Easter — Christ’s birth has no meaning if he didn’t rise from the dead — but Easter gets short shrift.  Not even a federal holiday, Easter season is marked more by tacky testaments to spring than any meaningful traditions.  It is also deprived of one of the most beloved works of sacred music:  George Frideric Handel’s Messiah.”

The writer went on:

“To many Westerners, Handel’s ‘Messiah’ is as embedded in Christmas pageantry as ‘The Nutcracker’ ballet.  The 18th-century oratorio is performed in churches and symphony halls around the world in December.  And justifiably so:  Its jubilant account of the Nativity is Christmas music non-pariel.

“But the oratorio wasn’t written for Christmas.  Charles Jennens, the English librettist, wrote to a friend in 1741 that he hoped Handel would put his text to music and ‘perform it for his own benefit in Passion Week.’  

“As it turned out, ‘Messiah’ debuted in Dublin a few weeks after Easter in 1742, but for years in Handel’s lifetime and after his death it was performed around the holiday.”

The fact that Wall Street Journal editors gave space to a column such as this is a credit to the Journal.

“Somewhere in the unbroken decades of performances since,” the writer added, “the Messiah became a yuletide industry while showing up much less at Easter time.  London, where Handel lived and is buried, has some performances for the holiday.  

“But searching the internet for a Holy Week performance in New York, Chicago or Washington, only one:  A sing-along at the Latter-Day Saints’ D.C. Temple.  This is a pity, because ‘Messiah’ captures the pathos of the battle with sin and death that represents Easter more than any springtime flower or garden rabbit.

“The latter two sections of the three-part work — with Jennens’s lyrics drawn entirely from Scripture — give an account of Christ’s sacrifice, victory and second coming.  Handel’s text-painting, guiding listeners’ emotions, is an excellent aid for experiencing the weight of the biblical narrative.

The writer ends her column the way I hoped:

“But besides testifying to facts that require faith, ‘Messiah’ also bears witness to a hope that results from that faith.  The feeling is personal:  ‘I know that my Redeemer liveth,’ sings the soprano in one of the work’s sweetest solos, ‘yet in my flesh shall I see God.’

“It is also unassailable.  Easter seals the promise of eternal life, revealed at Christmas but unfulfilled except through death and resurrection.  Thus, quoting the apostle Paul, ‘Messiah’ can say what is ours to proclaim as well:  ‘O death, where is thy sting?  Oh grave, where is thy victory?’”

For my part, I love the Messiah and always stand when it is sung at our home church in Salem, Oregon – and that occurs at the end of an annual Christmas Eve service.

But I hope the Messiah can become part of Easter, too.  Very appropriate to celebrate the “Son Rise.”

As we are doing this Easter in La Quinta, California.

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.

No one knows the answer to the question in this blog headline.

Not Donald Trump, who proved he doesn’t know what he is doing or what the future holds when he said almost nothing coherent in a nationally-televised speech to Americans this week.

I didn’t expect anything credible and Trump met my expectations.

Thomas Friedman, a national writer who’s work appears in the New York Times and elsewhere, wrote about Trump’s folly this week.

Here is how he started his most recent column:

“If it wasn’t clear before, it is undeniable now.  President Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel started a war with Iran assuming that they would trigger quick and easy regime change.  They vastly underestimated the staying power of Iran’s surviving leadership and its military capacity, not only to inflict damage on Israel and America’s Arab allies, but also to close off the most important oil and gas shipping lane in the world.

“This is imposing serious harm on the global economy, including the U.S. stock market, and Trump has no clue how to get out of the mess that he has created by starting a war without thinking through the implications.”

It is tempting for me just to reprint Friedman’s entire column, but, instead, I’ll post excerpts, starting with…

• It is actually embarrassing to watch the American president flip-flopping around, from telling us that the surviving Iranian leaders have pretty much agreed to his every demand, that the war is close to being over and Trump won, admitting that he has no idea how to get the Strait of Hormuz shipping lane out of Iran’s grip.
• If America’s Western allies, whom Trump never consulted before the war, won’t send their armies and navies to do the job for Trump, then it’s too bad for them, he says:  We have all the oil we need.  That is, unless Trump decides to “obliterate” — his favorite word — Iran’s industrial base and desalination plants until Iran says uncle.
• In short, we are watching what happens when you put into the Oval Office an impulsive, unstable man who ran for president largely to get revenge on his political foes.  Then he surrounded himself with a cabinet chosen for its handsome looks and its willingness to put loyalty to Trump over loyalty to the Constitution.
• Add to that Republican majorities in the House and Senate willing to write him blank checks, and it all eventually leads to sloppy, undisciplined decision-making, including starting a huge war in the Middle East with no plan for the morning after.

Friedman says Trump is a “man-child playing with matches — the world’s most powerful military — in a gas-filled room.”

Beyond that, Friedman says “we have a secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, who holds extreme Christian nationalist beliefs and, last week, reportedly held a prayer session at the Pentagon in which he prayed for U.S. troops to deliver “overwhelming violence of action against those who deserve no mercy.”

So, while Friedman is not in charge of anything, what would he do to end the war?

This:

“Trump should set aside his 15-point peace plan — which would be ridiculously complicated to implement — and reduce it to two points:  Iran gives up its more than 950 pounds of nearly bomb-grade highly enriched uranium, and in return the United States gives up on regime change.  Both sides would then agree to end all hostilities.”

Unless something like this happens, Friedman put it this way:  “We are all going to get what Trump deserves, which is more fighting in the Middle East with no reliable end in sight.”

And, to repeat this excellent paragraph from Friedman:  “In short, we are watching what happens when you put into the Oval Office an impulsive, unstable man who ran for president largely to get revenge on his political foes.”

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.

As my wife were reading the Bible the other morning, we came across a verse that, beyond its application to life in general, could apply to my favorite sport, golf.

11 Timothy 2:5 says this:

“…anyone who competes as an athlete does not receive the victor’s crown except by competing according to the rules.”

See. 

Life. 

And golf.

Golf is the only sport where competitors call rules violations on themselves, in contrast to many other sports where those playing the game try to get away with violations.

Some examples:

• In 2024 Tour Championship, during the third round, Sahith Theegala believed his club touched the sand in a bunker on his backswing, a violation of Rule 12.2b.  Even though TV cameras could not confirm it and he had no video evidence, he reported the violation to officials, resulting in a two-stroke penalty, which likely cost him a massive payday.
• In the 2025 Travelers Championship, during the third round, Russell Henley called a one-stroke penalty on himself when he noticed his ball move “a dimple to the right” as he took his club back.  Despite being in contention for a $3.6 million check, he stated, “I just felt it was the right thing to do,” and used it as a teaching moment for his son.
• In the 2010 Verizon Heritage, in a playoff against Jim Furyk, Brian Davis called a two-stroke penalty on himself after his club touched a loose reed (an illegal, moving, man-made object at the time) in a hazard on his backswing.  He and the rules official, didn’t see the infraction at first, but Davis took the initiative to admit it, giving up his best chance for his first PGA Tour win.
• In the 2011 Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship, during the first round, a high-definition, slow-motion video replay showed that Padraig Harrington’s ball had moved slightly, a fraction of an inch, when he removed a loose impediment.  While the infraction was technically found by TV, Harrington’s acceptance of the penalty, despite it being imperceptible to the naked eye, is a frequently cited example of adhering to the rules, even when it feels unfair. 

Back to the Bible reference.

So, the Bible says “play” life according to the rules, though also recognize that you are a child of God based on what God offers you – free grace – not because of abiding by rules.

And, play golf by the rules.  It’s how the game should be played.  Call a penalty on yourself if you know you committed a violation.