Jun
20
2010

A Visit to the 2010 Shoprite LPGA Classic

Posted by Double Eagle in Pro Golf

Over the years, I’ve been a spectator at a number of PGA Tour events. Despite the fact that I consider myself a big fan of golf, I’ve never attended an LPGA Tour event and I’m not nearly as familiar with the players as I am with the guys on the PGA Tour.

There are few benefits to living in New Jersey (don’t get me started), but one of them is that I’m only about an hour away from Galloway, NJ, home of the Seaview Bay Course where the Shoprite LPGA Classic is played.

Thursday, my brother called me at work and brought up the idea of taking a ride to Galloway to see the ladies play. It’s funny, even though this event has been played on the New Jersey coast for a number of years (I think it may have moved around here and there), it had never even occurred to me to hop in the car and go.

At that point, I was resolved to go, so I went to the tournament website and bought a couple of tickets and we headed down to see some of the second round on Saturday.

Without question, the verdict is that I had a great time.

First and foremost, have you heard the PGA Tour tagline, “these guys are good”?  Well, these ladies are good, too. They might not hit it as far as the men do, but I witnessed some great golf yesterday.

I also found that the ladies are much more accessible than their male counterparts. After finishing up, many took time to sign autographs. They seemed very personable and there were times when we were walking around the club house area and players were just going here and there. A couple of times, we were walking along, and looked at each other with the look of “wait, was that a player walking by?”

It has been my experience at PGA Tour events that the players there are kind of sequestered away somewhere and then they just appear and get inside the invisible rope wall and finish up and disappear. Sure, many do sign autographs, but the larger crowds make it more difficult to have a chance to get one, or even to get up close to the golf action.

That was another big plus. As a spectator, you simply cannot beat the proximity to the action that you can find at an LPGA Tour event. While we didn’t stay long enough to see the final groups play (hey, I had to get back and work on MY game), I found that it was easy to see the more popular players up close.

In fact, right after we arrived, we walked down toward the 9th hole, where Michelle Wie was finishing (she started the day on ten). Naturally, she has a larger gallery, but it was certainly not too big to prevent anyone from getting a pretty good view of play.  If you’ve ever been in a Tiger Woods gallery, you know what I mean.

We were standing right by the 9th green as she finished and we noticed that an autograph line was forming right where we were standing. We didn’t have any intention of getting autographs, but we figured we’d just hang out and see what happened.

After Michelle Wie finished, she took the time to sign autographs, making extra effort to make sure that she signed for the kids in the gallery. She signed for pretty much everyone and as she walked by us (she’s almost as tall as me!) my brother asked her to sign his program, and she did. He thanked her and she moved along, headed back up to the club house.

We were giddy like a couple of kids. It was probably pathetic to watch, but we were thrilled that we could so easily get an autograph from one of the most popular players, and let’s face it, her fame rivals that of many of her male counterparts.

Later on, we hung around the practice green and watched Natalie Gulbis and several other players get ready for their afternoon rounds. That’s where the golf geek in me really enjoys myself. As I’ve written about before, I absolutely love to watch professionals prepare for their rounds and see what kinds of things they do to get ready. I would have liked to hang out at the driving range for a bit, but the final groups were just preparing to head to the tee so there wasn’t going to be much activity at the range.

We headed home after walking around for a few hours, quite happy that we took the time to go. If you’re a golf fan and haven’t had a chance to attend an LPGA event, I wholeheartedly recommend it. And if you’re already an LPGA Tour fan and haven’t been to an event, then you’re missing out, big time.

There’s nothing like attending a PGA Tour event. I’ll be the first to say that. But because of the smaller galleries, you have an opportunity at LPGA events to get up much closer to the action and the golf is plenty enjoyable. In fairness, the galleries for the final groups were probably a little bigger than what we experienced, but judging on the number of people around the practice green when the final groups were warming up, I’m betting they weren’t too huge to keep anyone from getting a good view. At a PGA Tour event, sometimes it’s hard to get on the rail at the practice green or driving range let alone following the final group on the course, but when I watched Natalie Gulbis warming up, I was right on the rail less than ten feet away.

The bottom line is, I will definitely make it a point to attend more LPGA Tour events in the future and I recommend that you do too. It was great golf and great fun.

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There are currently 8 responses to “A Visit to the 2010 Shoprite LPGA Classic”

  1. 1

    TP Golf Online said:

    “Giddy as a couple kids” – that is hilarious because I was the same way last year when I took my daughter to a Canadian Tour event last year and Tom Stankowski (Paul’s older brother) gave her golf ball. I was more excited than she was and because of that my wife called me a geek.

    I also went to an LPGA even last year and watched them on a short par 4. It was long enough that they could not drive the green but short enough an iron off the tee and wedge to the green can set up a birdie. Virtually all players hit a wood off the tee and left themselves with a pitch from a slightly downhill lie. I was talking with a couple of the marshals on the fairway and said they had only seen two players lay up to have a full wedge to green. Both of these players hit the ball closer and both made birdies. One of the players was Laura Davies.

    Posted on June 21st, 2010 at 10:57 am

  2. 2

    Double Eagle said:

    Wow, that sounds like a rather surprising course management blunder to find so pervasive in the field. Laura Davies is the kind of veteran I would expect to make that smart play. Maybe players just have so much confidence in their short games these days that they didn’t think twice about hitting half wedges.

    Hitting it as far as possible no matter what that leaves for the next shot is something I expect to see on my course by most people on the weekends. Playing the course like a chess match is something I expect to see on the tours. Though, I’ve kind of seen that out of some PGA Tour pros on occasion too. Especially before this year when they had the more effective grooves and they could spin it from anywhere.

    Very interesting.

    Posted on June 21st, 2010 at 11:32 am

  3. 3

    Ross Weintrsub said:

    I’m more of a hacker than a golfer. I love playing, but hardly get the chance to get out. I’ve enjoyed watching the LPGA on TV as the players are quite competitive. Last year my 7 year-old daughter and I drove down to Havre de Grace, MD for the final McDonald’s Championship. We wished Lorena Ochoa luck, followed Paula “The Pink Panther” Creamer and then sat and had a great time watching a number of the best players. Afterwards my daughter got autographs from Paula and Sophie Gustafson, her playing partner. It was an amazing time. Yesterday my wife, son and daughter took me to the Seaview Resort to see the final round of the Shoprite Classic. Again we had an amazing time. My wife was blown away by how close we were to the action. I have to agree with everything that you said. It is worth going out to an LPGA event as the players have game and you can really see it up close.

    Posted on June 21st, 2010 at 9:37 pm

  4. 4

    Double Eagle said:

    It sounds like you’ve had some great experiences, Ross. Maybe we’ll run into each other at Seaview next year!

    Incidentally, I think I’m going to have to ride down and play the bay course later this year. I love that style of course and even though it was drying out a little on Saturday because of the heat, it looks like fun to play.

    Posted on June 21st, 2010 at 9:50 pm

  5. 5

    Charlie Wallace said:

    Hi Mike. Just wanted to say I really enjoyed your post about the LPGA event you attended recently. I like to watch women’s golf on TV (providing it doesn’t compete with a men’s event). Apart from anything else, many of the women are very attractive and without being sexist they are much more pleasant to look at. I’m a big fan of Michelle Wie and Alexis Thompson and there’s a whole host of amazingly good women plays. As a weekend golfer (not in the same league as you, my friend!)I find it particularly interesting to watch the tempo and pace of the women’s game. They don’t try to hit the ball hard, but it nevertheless travels some distance.
    By the way, see if you can find anything on Jin Jeong who won the British Amateur recently following in the footsteps of Sergio Garcia (who I saw win the event several years ago – on TV) and more recently the Italian youngster, Matteo Manassero who looks to be a real star. The thing to note about Jeong is his putting. He is absolutely BLISTERING and the BEST putter I have seen. Look out for him at the British Open later this year and the US Masters next year. There might be some YouTube footage of him. Worth a search and you could go the the Royal and Ancient website http://www.randa.org where there are some TV highlights (I’ve just had a look).
    Best wishes, Charlie

    Posted on June 23rd, 2010 at 6:07 am

  6. 6

    Double Eagle said:

    Thanks Charlie, glad you enjoyed it.

    Posted on June 23rd, 2010 at 11:44 am

  7. 7

    Double Eagle said:

    Charlie,

    By coincidence, I just saw the highlights of the British Amateur on the Golf Channel this afternoon. Man, you weren’t kidding about Jin Jeong’s putting. That was insanity. I’ll definitely be watching out for him in the future.

    Posted on June 23rd, 2010 at 9:33 pm

  8. 8

    Bethcharette said:

    Yes, I understand why the women in any professional sport MUST be more accessible to fans than the men.

    In basketball, for example, the Sacramento Monarchs of the WBA just declared bankruptcy. They tried to win team loyalty by being more accessible to fans, but there just weren’t enough of them (fans).

    Also, a 20 million dollar per year Kobe Bryant can’t afford to be mobbed by fans. Kobe is injury prone once having missed several NBA games with a hand injury caused by playing computer games.

    Same is true with many all womens sports.

    Folks just don’t seem to like to spend money seeing “record” holders who, in effect, aren’t REALLY the record holders for the species.

    Evon Goolagong, the tennis great, in a very candid interview with the Press, once said that the top 100 men players could defeat a top ten womens player because of the power they have.

    That means in today’s terms that Bjong Phau (ranked 100 in mens tennis) could probably defeat either of the Williams sisters two out of three sets.

    In almost any competitive area, women just aren’t as “good” (I am not saying skilled) for a lot of reasons, some of them having to do with the way women approach the world. And, I say “Viva La Difference.”

    Beth

    Posted on July 3rd, 2010 at 4:04 am

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