I think that if you asked most Americans who’ve played golf in Scotland to name their favorite course, about 7 out of 10 would say Turnberry.

The Ailsa course—where Tom Watson beat Jack Nicklaus in the 1977 British Open, nicknamed the “duel in the sun”; where Greg Norman won his first major championship, in 1986; and where Watson nearly turned back time to win the Open Championship in 2009—is an absolutely magnificent layout, famous for its dunes, lighthouse, and brilliant setting along the Firth of Clyde.

So you would think that if a Golf Road Warrior, or any other golfer, were offered the chance to play the Ailsa, he would. But sometimes we have to take one for the team and sit it out. Let me explain.

The weather on Day 4 of our Scotland sojourn was, in a word, horrendous. Howling wind, pelting rain, bitter cold—the trifecta of yuckiness. Especially when one is looking at four or so hours carrying one’s own bag. This was my fourth visit to Turnberry and it seems as if every time I’ve been here, the weather has been awful. (Okay, that’s not really true, but the last time I played Ailsa I was bundled in so many layers I looked like the Michelin man with a baseball cap.)

Plus we’d had a five-hour ride from the Kintyre Peninsula after that crazy late night celebrating the re-opening of The Royal Hotel in Campbeltown. Honestly, as a Golf Road Warrior, sometimes I felt like a reservist. Or maybe 4-F. Battling the elements as well as my faulty swing just wasn’t going to happen. So I passed.

GRWs James Mason and David DeSmith played in the deluge and they are now my heroes. Anita Draycott and I chose to tackle the game in a different way, with a quick lesson in how to play links golf at Turnberry’s Colin Montgomerie Links Golf Academy. Situated next to the lovely clubhouse—which serves both the Ailsa and Kintyre courses—the academy features covered hitting bays as well as classrooms, shop, and TaylorMade Performance Lab for club-fitting. And while the pros there are happy to help fix any part of your game, their specialty is teaching golfers the shots particular to links golf, such as the low punch, bump-and-run, and long putts.

Anita and I spent about an hour with Michael Sweenie, a young Scottish pro who looks a little like Tour player Paul Casey. He started by explaining some of the fundamentals of playing the seaside courses, most of which deal with wind. The basics are to keep the ball low and to take as much spin off it as possible so it doesn’t upshoot or sideshoot, which is when the wind takes over and throws shots every which way. As Michael put it, “links golf is primarily played along the ground,” which means learning to hit it low and long. Straight helps, too.

The basics are fairly simple: 1) ball back in stance (although each person has to find his/her own best position); 2) create a stable base by standing a little wider and leaning the upper body slightly forward; and 3) a shorter, more compact swing. It sounds easy, and when Michael demonstrated, it was. But trying it myself—and worse, seeing the swing on video—proved slightly traumatic.

As I began to get the hang of it, Michael also said that it was likely the same basic tenets would help my full swing. Notably making a shorter, slower, less stressful swing. He was absolutely right (we talked a little about the bigger swing change I’m working on), and occasionally the two lessons nicely overlapped.

I also asked about hitting a lower, more punched driver: Michael said the swing changes are the same but also warned that such a play is very difficult for most golfers, who tend to hit their tee shots with way too much spin. And then we talked about judging the distance on low punch shots: “Yardage goes out the window on 99% of these shots,” he said. “You have to play the course.” In other words, it’s a matter of feel and scoping out the terrain in front of you.

We didn’t talk much about other shots, but I’ve certainly been hitting lots of little bump-and-runs and other low running chips while in Scotland. Again, the tasks are to look closely at the ground that needs to be covered, to choose the right club (usually one with much less loft than what we’d used a home for an air ball), and to make a slow and easy swing. It’s hitting those shots well that I find to be the most fun on a links course.

One shot we didn’t talk about—mostly because the weather conditions were so foul that we didn’t want to leave the warmth of the indoor hitting bay—was the escape from a pot bunker. But I already knew the answer to this one: If you find yourself in one of those nasty little hazards, just get out!

I’ll have the opportunity to try all these shots, and more, over the next two days as the Golf Road Warriors play two terrific links courses. But that’s to come. Right now the only lie I want to hit into has four pillows and a big, fluffy duvet.

For more on Golf Road Warriors Scotland, take a look at the website.

Start with Lewis Black. Hard as it may be to believe, the stand-up comedian is a golfer. Not a very good one, by his own admission, but like the rest of us he’s bitten by the bug. When he talks about his game now, he begins to rant, rave, and fulminate just as he does on stage and on “The Daily Show” when talking about government, politics, and other less important topics.

I learned this while interviewing Lewis for a Q&A that appears in the June issue of Golf Digest, available in a few days. He’s a very funny, very bright guy, with interesting things to say about the game and other subjects in the interview. I hope you’ll look for it.

Since I’m a Lewis fan, I drove to Turning Stone, the resort/casino in upstate New York last week to see him live. Besides the obligatory casino-type amenities, Turning Stone, part of the Oneida Indian Nation, has three terrific golf courses (by Tom Fazio, Robert Trent Jones Jr., and Rick Smith), two fun par-3 courses, a luxury spa, and a “golf dome” for teaching and practice. For a little while it looked as if Lewis and I would tee it up the morning after his show, but the weather—unusually warm for spring just a week before—turned cold and nasty. It actually started snowing.

So I went to the dome instead, where there are two great teachers—Marty Nowicki and Brian Rogish—who I heartily recommend if your game is, like mine, a bit needy. Definitely worth the time.

Working on his game in the hitting bay next to me was Goose Gossage, the former New York Yankee pitching star and current Hall of Famer. We’d met at Lewis’ show the night before and spent about two hours talking about baseball, golf, family, and just about everything else. A truly nice guy—and another golf fanatic—Goose was at Turning Stone to play with some VIPs. Although he’d come from his home in Colorado, it was too cold and nasty even for him. The dome was the perfect solution.

The connection in all this, of course, is golf. Great courses at Turning Stone, which I’ve written about before. The upcoming Lewis Black interview in Golf Digest. Goose Gossage, there to play and work on his game. And me.

And that is why I love this game.

Here is a link to an article that appeared on the Yahoo sports site by a friend, Dave Seanor, who used to be the Editor of GolfWeek magazine. He writes in various places and is worth searching out because he says interesting things like this: Even if Tiger Woods does return to past form, the game of golf will not be saved.

I could not agree more. Dave has numerous facts and figures to back up his contention. Let me offer a few more, most of which are somewhat anecdotal.

I remember very well when Tiger turned pro, the “Hello, World” commercial, and the following uproar. To his credit, Woods immediately quieted any negativity with an amazing run of golf in the second half of the 1990s and a good part of the 2000s.

However, as I never tire to pointing out to people who want to talk about the “Tiger Effect,” at almost exactly the same moment that Tiger turned pro in 1996, the game started to slip. And by that I mean participation. There were, as Seanor points out, a few blips of golf activity, particularly among African-Americans. But rounds started to go down, the number of players went down, and the golf industry started a long, painful swirl into a toilet bowl of economic trouble that it is still not out of.

Where Tiger had a huge effect was, of course, on television. Viewership numbers soared, sponsors came a-runnin’, purses went up, and the PGA Tour started minting millionaires who barely recorded any top-10 finishes during a season. Good for them and their pensions, but not good for golf. And certainly not good for the rest of us, the real golfers who keep the game going and—unlike the pros—actually pay for clubs, balls, tee times, cart rentals, shoes, shirts, etc. (As I was just reminded again last week by someone at one of the major equipment manufacturers, tournament success does almost nothing to drive equipment sales. Figure that out!)

But participation? Down, down, and down some more. This year’s PGA Merchandise Show back in January showcased its usual “cautious optimism,” a phrase I’ve been using for so long I should have it tattooed on, as should all the other gearheads breaking their jaws trying to put on a brave face.

I hear that equipment sales are up this year, as are rounds played. I certainly hope so, not only for my benefit as someone who tries to make a living covering the golf world, but for those people who will discover a truly great game.

I hope they are driven to give it a try because of people like Bubba Watson (Masters champion) and Tom Watson (doing TV ads for The Greenbrier Resort). And because condos and second homes are a steal at some phenomenal golf communities and resorts, equipment has never been cheaper and more technologically advanced, courses are (mixed emotions here) making deals to fill up the empty tee sheets, and the game, while not easy, really can be—as Bubba showed—an act of joy and creativity.

And not, as Tiger Woods seems to demonstrate week after sullen week, that it is the outdoor version of going for root canal.

Personally, I’d love it if Tiger won more. He gets me excited to watch because he is an amazing athlete. But will his success translate into a golf resurgence? Ain’t gonna happen.

P.S. For more on Tiger, take a look at my review of Hank Haney’s book, “The Big Miss,” which takes us as close to Tiger as we’re every likely to get. It is eye-opening, but certainly not heart-warming.

Define overweight anyway you want—body-mass index, too much belly falling over the top of your pants (what a friend calls “dunlap disease”: Your stomach dun lap over your belt), or your clothes don’t fit. You know when you’re overweight and most of us are.

So says golf’s leading food and weight-loss coach Larry Jacobs (left), who offers a program aimed specifically at fellow golfers. About 35 years ago, Jacobs was suffering “incapacitating belly pain” that no doctor or ER could identify. It took two years to find a nutritionally aware physician who suggested it could simply be a particular food not agreeing with him; they soon determined that Jacobs was allergic to eggs. After his disabling pain vanished he was inspired to learn all he could about food, health, and fitness, and help others suffering similar conditions.

The original plan wasn’t specifically designed to help clients lose weight, but as they identified and eliminated problem foods, Jacobs noticed they were getting smaller and feeling better overall. So his program eventually became more about helping people with big bellies rather than bad bellies—with an important difference.

“I don’t like the word ‘diet,’” he says. “Diet means eating less, counting calories, and trying to defeat your hunger: If that worked we’d see a lot more thin people. Whatever ‘weight’ people lose that way, maybe half is fat and the other half is muscle and water, which you don’t want to lose. And eventually they get hungry again, revert to old habits, and put back some, all, or more of the weight they’d lost.”

Jacobs’ program—conducted through teleseminars that can be attended online or over the phone—begins by helping each individual identify his or her problem foods. He is very specific about what to give up temporarily and what can be eaten (as much as one likes) in the first two weeks. His information on “Eating Clean” is delivered in two-week intervals.

“I make a big promise: I can show any golfer how to go from being a fat storer to a fat burner in two weeks or less without dieting, calorie counting, or starving—guaranteed. In the first session, I temporarily take people off a handful of very common foods that statistically cause difficulties, foods like nuts, dairy, and a few others. When you go off those it’s amazing what happens to how you look and feel. And there are 50 or 60 foods that you can eat with no restrictions. It’s about eating clean, eating the right proteins, the right fats and oils, the right carbohydrates and starches, the right beverages. Since food is the foundation, when you finally get that right the results can be amazing.”

For golfers, Jacobs breaks the day into a front nine (morning) and back nine (afternoon/evening), and says that just as in a round of golf, you can make a lot of pars, birdies, even the occasional bogey or other.

“If you get a good breakfast and some physical activity early it’s like being under par. But if you screw up and don’t get your exercise, that’s a bogey. But just being a few over par isn’t going to ruin your game or your handicap, and you have the rest of the day to salvage the round. Even if you make a double-bogey you don’t give up the game; you get back to trying to make pars.”

There is much more to the program, explained in great detail at Jacobs’ website, thingolfer.com. His next series of seminars begins on February 15^th, and is being offered at half-price. They always sell out.

Larry Jacobs gives new meaning to “thin to win.”

That middle ground is also home for instructional training aids, some with more straps and buckles that a dominatrix’s guestroom. But no matter what one thinks of the products (and over the years I’ve seen many that were just silly), you have to feel compassion toward the creators who sincerely want to help the golf public play better.

Which isn’t to say it’s all hooey. As technology has improved—especially video cameras and computer software—the aids have improved as well. Every golf geek is now overloaded with data and research on the swing and desperately trying to make sense of it all, looking for the holy grail of lasting improvement.

A few days before the show began I attended an outing run by TourEdge Golf, a clubmaker that deserves closer scrutiny for its high-end Exotics line (particularly lightweight woods and hybrids, like the new XCG5, right) and more bargain-priced club lines like Bazooka. For someone new to the game, it’s hard to find a better deal in quality equipment.

Joining TourEdge was a potpourri of golf companies including Sun Mountain (terrific outerwear, carts, and bags—that’s the new superlightweight KG2 bag, bottom), Innovex and Polara balls, SkyGolf (state of the art GPS devices and clubfitting technology called Swing Labs), and Medicus. This last company made a name for itself with training clubs that featured a hinged shaft (below) that “broke” when the swing went off-plane or otherwise fouled up.

From those humble beginnings Medicus has become a big player in golf training and has made a commitment to identifying what makes a good swing. Two of their teachers—and I apologize for not getting their names—presented what they called the five commonalities of great players, five best practices that Medicus will endeavor to promote with training aids.

I’m just reporting what I heard, but it should get all golfers thinking—and practicing.

1) Steady Head. Make that “basically steady,” as the head shouldn’t move more than an inch during the swing.

2) Weight Forward Coming Down. That is, the body’s weight should move to and stay on the front leg in the downswing. How much? 80-95% of the body weight should be over the front leg at impact. There’s also, they say, a direct correlation between weight forward and handicap.

3) Flat Left (Forward) Wrist at Impact. Higher-handicap players tend to break or “flip” their forward wrist toward the target at impact rather than keeping it flat. Think of it this way: The hands should lead the clubhead to and through the ball.

4) The Path of the Sweetspot Is A Diagonal. A little confusing, I know, but this is about swinging on plane and actually thinking of the clubhead moving on a diagonal path, not straight back and through. The only way to bring the sweetspot flush into the ball is from the inside coming down.

5) The Clubface Controls the Ball. This one amazed me as I’d always heard that the first part of a ball’s flight was the result of swing path and then how the ball moved (left, right, straight) was caused by the angle of the clubface at impact. According to the Medicus research, 85% of the ball’s entire flight is due to the clubface angle at impact.

Medicus is selling a simple training aid—it looks like an overly long yardstick—called Vision Track (that’s it in use at the top of the page). It helps fix numbers 4 and 5, which strike me as the most difficult elements to improve because they are the hardest to see. Hence Vision Track. I haven’t tried it yet, but I’m certainly intrigued. You may be, too.

There have been 59 PGA Merchandise Shows and I’ve been to the last 28. While I’ve obviously missed a few, I’m willing to bet that it’s rarely been more difficult after a show is over to know where the golf industry is headed.

According to the official tallies, more than 42,000 visitors looked at wares from more than 1,000 exhibitors. More than 6,000 people attended Demo Day. I shudder to think how many balls were hit.

Yet inside Orlando’s Orange County Convention Center the atmosphere was less than robust. Maybe it’s just my aging eyes, but the aisles never seemed too crowded, the booths rarely stuffed. Even the fashion section—which has grown year after year as “hard goods” has shrunk—was quieter than I remember.

I’ve been hearing for years that the show is no longer about writing orders or significant product introductions. I describe it like a high-school reunion: A chance to see how everyone looks and perhaps more important, to note who didn’t attend. It’s also a great chance to catch up with old industry friends, of which I’m happy to say I have many.

So what was there to see? I noticed a few trends, which I’ll mention here and follow up on over the next few days. There are always dozens of products worth describing: Check out the stories I’ve already posted and you’ll see what I mean. There will be more to come so please keep checking back.

The big news of the last few shows has been in technology, and that remained true last week. I love geeky products like Swingbyte, a tiny device (right) that clips to the clubshaft and sends a frightening amount of data on your swing to an iPad or smartphone. The GolfBuddy Voice is a new GPS unit, about the size of the ipod shuffle, that speaks out yardages. It will be available in the spring.

There’s also great work going on in clubfitting (perhaps the most overlooked tool in the game), nowhere more interesting that at Swing Labs, which can tell after just 15 swings if your clubs are right for you. They say the average distance gain for 90% of the golfers they work with is 10 yards.

As noted, there are few big introductions at the show in clubs and balls. My inbox receives press releases announcing new gear almost every week. But it was a chance to actually see and touch some of the new stuff like TaylorMade’s RocketBallz, Nike’s VrS, Ping’s i20, Callaway’s RAZR Fit and RAZR XF, and TourEdge’s XCG5, plus new balls from Titleist and Bridgestone among others. Among the lesser-knowns, the innovative short-game system of clubs from SCORGolf (shown at top) is fascinating, while the balls from Innovex are pretty damn good for half the price of big-name pellets.

One area of surprising change is footwear. Ever since Fred Couples began wearing what looked like skate-boarding shoes the golf-casual trend has taken off. Fred’s brand, Ecco (left), is leading the charge with new looks and technology both above and below the sole. I loved the insanely comfortable shoes from True Linkswear, while there were designs both new and retro from adidas and Nike (which I’ve already written about), and a company called Barefoot BERBS. At the more traditional end of the scale, it’s hard to make shoes that look and feel better on and off the course than those from Allen Edmonds.

Slight tangent here: Looking at the new shoes and traction systems I couldn’t help but recall the big stink that accompanied the introduction of softspikes about 15 years ago. Golfers fretted about slipping either while swinging or walking down clubhouse steps. Guess those problems slipped away.

Retro was also big in the fashion aisles. Being a child of the ‘60s I waxed reminiscent at the new Arnie line from Quagmire (below). If you fondly remember the Munsingwear penguin, small collars, real polyester, and shirt pockets with flaps (to say nothing of the cigarette packs in those pockets), then check it out. There are also some fun t-shirts there, as there are from Linksoul, a new company from fashion legend John Ashworth that further enhances his reputation for style and quality.

Another aspect of fashion, hardly contained to the soft-goods arena, is color. Everywhere I looked was color: blindingly bright, almost luminescent, an appropriate wonderful world of color in the town that Disney built.

Cobra/Puma has staked its claim to orange, thanks in part to staff player Rickie Fowler (above, in orange of course), and actually displayed its new clubs surrounded by Florida’s favorite fruit. There were brightly hued grips and balls, too. And in the fashion aisles the entire spectrum was on display, an absolute rainbow in every booth. From industry leaders like Ralph Lauren and Greg Norman to the new blood at Abacus and Sligo, it was a ‘60s Technicolor explosion tripping through the traditionally staid game, like Hunter S. Thompson and Tom Wolfe teeing it up while dropping acid.

Which begs a question: Do dynamic colors signal a coming upturn in the economy, a leading indicator of bright times ahead? Or do we turn to a pulsating palette when times are tough and we need something to stir our souls? Like when the groundhog sticks his head above ground in a few days, does effervescent color mean many more months of economic winter or can we expect a spring-like rebirth?

No matter how the golf economy does in the short term, I’m not alone in worrying about where the game will be 5, 10, 20 years down the line. As always, the PGA Show featured numerous lectures, panels, and initiative launches regarding golf’s future. I hardly heard it all, but amid all the gum-flapping and finger-wagging was one fact, stated by Jack Nicklaus, the greatest player of all time, that gave me pause: Speaking about his own family, Jack said that of his 22 grandchildren, only 1 has any real interest in golf.

If that’s the future of golf then color me blue.

In my nearly 30 years in golf, including more than 18 at Golf Magazine, one of the saddest things I’ve learned about those who play the game is that they don’t do all they can to get better. Sure, they read books and magazines and ask their friends for advice. But they rarely take the most important step to true improvement: Working with a golf pro.

There are countless reasons for this, including cost and time. But talk to real golfers and what you learn is that many think, foolishly, that they aren’t good enough to get professional help: They’re embarrassed.

I know, it makes no sense that they are reluctant to show their less-than-perfect swings to the very people who can make those swings better. But it’s true.

So my first suggestion is obvious: Find a golf pro—at your club, the local driving range, a resort or golf school—and take a lesson or two. Forget your fears and commit to a little work. You’ll know pretty quickly if you are comfortable with the pro, if he or she speaks language you can follow, understands your game and what you’re trying to do, and truly wants to help you get better and have more fun.

Suggestion number two might be a short cut to number one: Check out Tom Patri.

Tom (that’s him, above right) has been one of Golf Magazine’s Top 100 Teachers since the program began back in the mid-1990s. At the time, he was Director of Instruction at Westchester Country Club (where the old Westchester Classic used to be played). He’s worked with hundreds of men’s and women’s Tour players, club professionals, top juniors, and amateurs. He’s also been honored by Golf Digest, and named Teacher of the Year by the Metropolitan PGA and South Florida PGA sections, and twice by the Southwest Florida PGA.

The man can teach. Plus he’s a good guy.

And through the miracle of modern technology, he’ll even come to you.

Go to Tom’s website and check out his very cool On Line Video Academy. If you have a video camera or a smartphone, you can send him a short clip of your swing and he’ll send you back a video analysis. For $75, Tom will analyze your motion and faults and respond with full audio, video, graphics, and drills.

If quick, it’s easy, and it’s private. (Packages are available for multiple lessons.)

Tom also teaches in the New York area during the summer and the rest of the year at his academy in Naples, Florida, which is a pretty nice place to spend a week or two this winter, warming up in the sun and heating up your game.

I’m sorry, but I don’t understand the problems some people have with long putters. They violate the spirit of the Rules? And driver heads the size of Volkswagens don’t? Perimeter-weighted irons don’t? Performance-enhancing shoes don’t? Tees with hair-brush bristles don’t?

It’s been years since I’ve tried a long putter, and I didn’t like it. But that’s just me, and that’s now. I’m happy with how I’m putting with a conventional-length model. Now. But should that change for any reason I want the option of something different that might restore my enjoyment of the game.

And since my belief is that any enforcement of the Rules should flow from average players up (rather than from pros—a tiny percentage of those playing golf—down), I see no problem anchoring a longer putting shaft to one’s forearm, belly, sternum, or almost any other body part for that matter.

The long putter also could be a big boom to the golf equipment industry. Nearly all the major manufacturers are making them. TaylorMade just announced that it tripled its fourth-quarter forecast for sales of belly and long putters, predicting it will sell five times as many in 2011 as it did in 2010. “We can’t make these putters fast enough” is the official statement.

Among the TaylorMade pros already using a long putter are Retief Goosen, Martin Laird, Spencer Levin, Scott McCarron, Blake Adams, and perhaps most amazingly, Jim Furyk. If Furyk, who used to be deadly with a short putter, has decided to go long there must be something in it. As well as a warning to us all that putting is mercurial at best, maddening at worst. So why shouldn’t we have a technological cure?

It’s also hard to overlook the long-wand success this year of Adam Scott, Bernhard Langer, Webb Simpson, and Keegan Bradley. Others who’ve given it a try include Ernie Els, Vijay Singh, and Tim Clark (shown at top at the Masters!). Even Phil Mickelson tried a belly model earlier this year, while Michelle Wie (right) tested one almost as tall as she is.

Maybe you’ll be next?

If you are curious about how to use a long putter, check out this YouTube video of putting guru Dave Stockton offering some tips.

And if you still think long putters are the devil’s work, let me know. I’m curious to hear your argument against them. They certainly can’t make golf on TV any duller.

Someone has a pretty good idea for attracting new golfers to the game: Free Instruction.

Crystal Springs Resort, in western New Jersey, is the newest home of a David Leadbetter Academy, and one of the way the folks there are settling in as nice new neighbors is offering free one-hour golf clinics for beginners, especially novice adults.

There are clinics for hotel guests, social/sports club members, and also total beginners off the street at some of the resort’s various locations.

Yes, this is only one resort, and it’s not exactly around the corner (the resort is little more than an hour northwest of New York City). But it’s a great start, and a great way to keep the instructors busy a few hours a week while possibly getting a few people interested in the game.

Let’s hope other resorts, golf schools, private clubs, etc. follow this example.

What’s wrong with the pros’ games as compared to ours? For the vast majority of us who play weekend, slap-it-around golf, just about everything. Because golf is their livelihood, the pros aren’t playing a game, they are working, so they must treat golf like a job: We have other jobs, so if golf isn’t fun for us we shouldn’t be wasting our time.

Furthermore, the courses the pros face are ridiculously long and hard. Plus, they constantly tweak and change their equipment (which they get for free, if you didn’t already know). And since they practice practically every day, how they swing, how they think, and how they perform are pretty much out of our range of possibility.

If you need any more proof of that last point, I give you Ray Romano, Charles Barkley, Rush Limbaugh, and whoever else becomes a “Haney Project.”

However, Rory McIlroy’s other-worldly performance at Congressional last weekend does offer two lessons for real-world golfers.

First, play fast (or at least faster). McIlroy moves around the course the way we’ve always heard the Brits do. No drawn-out routine, no multitude of practice swings. Step up and hit it. In fact, McIlroy was ready to go so quickly that NBC’s cameras often missed the rigamarole we’ve gotten used to seeing before pros pull the trigger.

That’s because he doesn’t have any rigamarole.

How many times have you played behind an incredibly slow foursome and joked, “I didn’t know they were playing the U.S. Open at Goat Track Muni today.” Watching Rory play ready, set, go was like watching someone move briskly—and properly—around the local publinx. Yet I’ll bet the blokes back at Holywood GC, his home course in Northern Ireland, still thought he was dawdling.

Second, it’s time for fans in this country to stop carrying a torch for American golf. McIlroy’s victory along with his youth—as well as the performances of the non-Americans who finished behind him, including Jason Day, Louis Oostehuizen, Charl Schwartzel, even Sergio Garcia (an old man at 31)—should remind us all that golf truly is an international game, perhaps the most world-wide and world-wise of them all. The leaderboard had nearly as many flags as the United Nations, something we should be applauding, not appalled by, if we want golf to rise out of the economic doldrums it’s in here at home.

While in the US private clubs and public tracks are closing faster than new ones are opening, we need the game to spread, grow, and thrive elsewhere. American golf is stuck at the halfway house having gotten fat (and a little stupid) by trying to eat too many hot dogs too fast. We have to let the rest of the world play through until we’re back in shape and back on course. In the meantime, if there’s no one else playing, the game is doomed.

So thank you, Rory, for teaching us a thing or two about golf. Now, are we smart enough to listen to and learn from some kid? I hope so.