The city charges $27 to play 18 holes with a riding cart

The city charges $27 to play 18 holes with a riding cart for those 55 and older or children 8 to 17 during the weekday. Other adults pay $38 to ride in a cart for 18 holes during the weekday and $42 on the weekend.City officials have talked about a long-term goal to build another 9-hole course as part of a plan to build a park on the west side of Murfreesboro, but many at the VA club question why it can't remain open until the future one is ready."If the city wants to build a new golf course and grow and promote the game of golf, how many people is the closing of this facility going to turn away from golf or prevent them from having access for the game of golf?" Davis asked.Davis noted that the Bogey Player’s Albatross Shot course is also important to the medical center, which accounts for about 200 rounds from patients this year.Clinton doubts the city leaders will reconsider their decision to close the course."It's mind over matter," he said. "The city council don't mind, and none of us matter."Fellow golfer Dan Foster agreed."I'm not happy with our politicians up town," said Foster, who resides in the Walter Hill community and has a Murfreesboro address.Foster and other faithful VA course golfers question why the city is willing to subsidize other parks and recreational areas such as the greenway and swimming pools and sports fields but not willing to keep their course in operation."I can't afford to go down there (Old Fort Golf Club) and pay $30 to play," Foster said. "I can play five days here for what it costs me to play one day over there. When you are on Social Security, you can't afford that. This is the only place people can learn to play. I'm 74. I don't play as good as I used to. It's my exercise."I can't stand walking on the greenway. Nobody shared obtain pleasure in within the activity of R11 Driver pressures you here. "The Murfreesboro City Council will continue to examine its fiscal 2012 budget at 4 p.m. Wednesday in Council Chambers on the first floor of City Hall, 111 W. Vine St. The building, which is a block south of the Public Square, is part of Civic Plaza. Free parking is available in a two-story garage beneath the plaza, with access from Vine, Church and Broad streets.

Lee Westwood is world No1 in World Match Play opener

Lee Westwood is world No1 in World Match Play opener

Lee Westwood underlined his world No1 status with a crushing win over Denmark's Anders Hansen in the opening round of the World Match Play Championship.A run of six birdies in eight holes from the 4th hole set up a 6&5 victory for Westwood in the first of three round-robin group matches at Finca Cortesin in Spain.Luke Donald, the world No2 who can supplant Westwood at the top of the rankings if he wins the tournament, also started Why decide on custom made Fitted TaylorMade R9 Fairway Wood well with a 4&3 victory over the US golfer Ryan Moore. The world No3, Martin Kaymer, is also in the running for the No1 spot and benefited from late bogeys by the Korean YE Yang to beat him narrowly 2&1.Westwood did more than enough to hold his rivals at bay and put himself on course for a second World Match Play title. But Donald, who was an integral part of Europe's Ryder Cup triumph last year and won the world golf championship match play title this season, is relishing the prospect of meeting Westwood in a finale shootout."I would love to play Lee," he said. "It's more satisfying if you can take down the best player in the world."

Mickelson surrounded by European rivals

Mickelson surrounded by European rivals

The four-times major winner has been among the world's best for a decade but his bid to become world number one was blocked by Tiger Woods and he has failed, in ranking terms, to take advantage of his rival's decline.Instead of the Woods's era giving way to years of Mickelson rule, the top end of the world rankings Golf Difficulties Send Romo To Regular Job have since become more fluid and dominated by Europeans.World number one Lee Westwood and number three Luke Donald, both British, are in their 30s while German world number two Martin Kaymer is 26 years old.Northern Irishmen Graeme McDowell, ranked fifth, and Rory McIlroy, ranked sixth, are 31 and 22 respectively but Mickelson does not believe his best days are behind him.Mickelson, Kaymer or Donald can grab the top ranking from Westwood, with a victory at the Players, a tournament widely considered the "fifth major" by the players. Westwood is not competing this week.Mickelson, who won at Houston last month, said his approach to his game changes fundamentally once the Masters is over."My mindset changes after Augusta. It's not distance anymore; it's got to be to get the ball in the fairway. It'll be interesting to see if I'm able to do that this week," said Mickelson. "If I am, then I should be able to have a very good week because I'll be able to attack a lot of the pins and R9 Fairway Wood play some birdies."Mickelson won the Players in 2007 and believes that having that victory under his belt helps him psychologically."I feel a certain amount of pressure is taken off because I have won here. I can play a little more freely," he said."When you want to win something so bad, sometimes it can really inhibit your performance and that can be the case in a tournament as prestigious and sought-after as this one. Having won it, I think it helps."

Creamer looking forward to see golf return to Michigan

Creamer looking forward to see golf return to Michigan

Paula Creamer is among a growing group of golfing elite who’ve never played a professional tournament in Michigan.“When I was younger, I came here for a couple of junior tournaments,” recalled Creamer, 24, the reigning U.S. Women’s Open champion who conducted a clinic Monday in nearby in Bloomfield Clemson Selected For NCAA Golf Tournament Hills.There won’t be a single event on any of the three major golf tours — the PGA, LPGA or Champions Tour — played in the state of Michigan this year and Creamer says that’s just flat-out wrong. “This is a great golf spot,” she said. “I hope in the near future we get some tournaments out here, at least one to start off with. The big thing here is they support women’s golf. They love women’s golf and golf in general. That means a lot to the players, to come to a place where they feel welcome.” The LPGA Tour last came to the Detroit area in 2000 for the Oldsmobile Classic in East Lansing. This year, the LPGA doesn’t even go to Ohio, as the Jamie Farr Classic has taken a one-year hiatus while the city of Toledo plays host to the U.S. Senior Men’s Open.The Ford Senior Players Championship on the Champions Tour was last held in Dearborn in 2006, and the PGA shut down the Buick Open at Warwick Hills in Grand Blanc following the 2009 tournament, though the course is currently pursuing a Champions Tour event, which wouldn’t be held until 2013 at the earliest.

All three tours do visit Canada every year and Creamer has this year’s CN Canadian Women’s Open, slated for Aug. 25-28 in Mirabel, Que., pencilled in on her calendar. “The fact that we get to travel all over Canada is pretty special. It’s not just one place for us. Like here, golf is very big. People love watching golf and we get great crowds. We appreciate that. Every time we go there, it does feel like a major for us.” “The fact that I can walk into my house and see the U.S. Open trophy sitting on my kitchen table, yeah, that’s a little bit different. But for the most part, I think I want it more now than I did before, because having it, I love the taste of it."

SEVE FUNERAL ON WEDNESDAY

SEVE FUNERAL ON WEDNESDAY

A minute's silence and round of applause for Seve Ballesteros at a golf tournament is one thing, but when it comes before a tennis semi-final between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal then you know the world of sport has lost a truly giant figure.The death of the five-time major champion, former world number one and Ryder Cup hero at the age of only 54 - he lost his three-year battle with a brain tumour in the early hours of yesterday - How Can You Perfect Your Golf Swing even merited a tribute from the Spanish Prime Minister.Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said: "I would like to express my deepest condolences on the death of Severiano Ballesteros - one of the finest golfers of all time and a legend in world sport."Severiano represented a beginning and an end in the history of Spanish sport. His example paved the way for the extraordinary success our sport is currently enjoying."He was the mirror which Spanish athletes who have reached the pinnacle of world sport looked into. Severiano was loved and respected for his great charisma and strength, which he showed until the very end of his life."Golf does not become an Olympic sport again until 2016 after a break of more than 100 years, but International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge spoke about the golfing great too.

The regional government of Cantabria has announced that the funeral of Seve Ballesteros will take place at 1pm on Wednesday at the San Pedro parish church in his home village of Pedrena near Santander."Seve will be cremated at a ceremony that will be as intimate as possible and at a place that nobody will know," the Ballesteros family were quoted as saying. "That was his express wish. His ashes will remain at his estate, at his home in Pedrena."The golfer's brother Baldomero said in the report: "The funeral rites will be as simple as those for any neighbour from the village. He was born here and here he will remain."Miguel Angel Revilla, head of the local Cantabria government, said the region will observe three days of official mourning for Ballesteros.

Adidas and Blackstone bid for Fortune’s Golf Unit

Adidas and Blackstone bid for Fortune’s Golf Unit

Adidas AG (ADS) and Blackstone Group LP (BX) are among the companies vying for Fortune Brands Inc. (FO)’s golf division, said four people with knowledge of the matter. Sumitomo Rubber Industries Ltd. (5110), the owner of the Srixon golf ball line, also may submit a bid, said one of the people, who declined to be identified because the process is private. Offers are due May 9, and Fortune may negotiate with multiple parties in the coming Rory McIlroy Said Masters Is In Past weeks, another person said. Fortune’s sporting-goods business, which makes the top- selling Titleist ball brand and FootJoy golf shoes, generated more than $1.2 billion in sales last year. Potential buyer Adidas yesterday posted a 26 percent sales gain in its golf unit, fueled by the success of the new TaylorMade R11 club.

The shares rose 33 cents to $63.83 at 3:54 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The shares had gained 5.4 percent this year before today.

Buying Fortune’s golf unit would allow Japan’s Sumitomo to expand its own sporting-goods business, which includes tennis balls and Srixon. The company also manufactures automobile and motorcycle tires and industrial rubber products. Calls to Sumitomo’s U.S. offices weren’t immediately returned. Fortune is making “significant progress” on a spinoff of the home-products unit, to be called Fortune Brands Home & Security, Carbonari said on a conference call yesterday to discuss quarterly results. The company said then that first-quarter profit, excluding items such as restructuring costs, rose to 59 cents a share, topping the 51-cent average of estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Total sales advanced 8.1 percent to $1.76 billion, led by growth in the spirits business. Fortune’s history extends back to the 1864 founding of its predecessor by North Carolina farmer Washington Duke, according to Hoover’s Inc. The company expanded into home products in the 1980s and added seven liquor brands from Seagram in 1991. It has owned the Jim Beam distillery since the 1960s and exited tobacco in the 1990s

Rory McIlroy take the advice of Greg Norman

Rory McIlroy take the advice of Greg Norman

Rory McIlroy returns to the scene of his first PGA Tour title looking to regain his stride after a stunning blowup at last month's Masters. McIlroy finished with a scintillating 66 and course-record 62 last year to move from the cut line into the winner's circle at the Quail Hollow Championship, where Tiger Woods missed the cut with the worst 36-hole score of his career. The Northern Irishman experienced his own stomach-churning slide Woods Will Be Ready For US Open at Augusta. Leading by four shots going into the final round he soared to an eight-over-par 80 that put him 10 strokes behind winner Charl Schwartzel of South Africa. A week later he finished third at the Malaysian after yet another late collapse left him two shots back of the winner, Italian teenager Matteo Manassero. McIlroy, who turned 22 on Wednesday, said it was hard to avoid media altogether but agreed with the gist of the steer he was given by Norman, who squandered a six-stroke, final-round lead at the 1996 Masters. "You can't let other people influence what you're thinking and what you should do. I've taken my own views from what happened a few weeks ago and moved on, and that's the most important thing," he said. McIlroy will face a strong field starting Thursday that includes world number two Martin Kaymer of Germany and number four Phil Mickelson, last year's Wells Fargo runner-up, and Bubba Watson, who is fresh off Sunday's playoff win at the New Orleans Classic. The irrepressible McIlroy said he was determined to take positives out of the 2011 Masters and move forward. McIlroy said the lost opportunity only bothered him for a couple of days before he turned the page. "I'm fine. It was a great chance to win a first major, but it's golf. It's only golf at the end of the day," he said.

Bubba Watson thinks Tiger Woods is 'going the wrong way'

Bubba Watson thinks Tiger Woods is 'going the wrong way'

That kind of celebration for besting Woods is fading these days as it becomes more routine. And Watson thinks he knows why Woods is struggling: too much thinking."I'll just go ahead and say it. I think Tiger's going the wrong way," Watson said. "I think he's so mental right now with his swing. Just go ahead and play golf. He used to hit shots, he used to bomb it, he used to do all that stuff."In 1997, I think he did pretty good. He won Phil Mickelson VS Bubba Watsonthe Masters by 48 shots, whatever he won it by."Woods' last victory came at the Australian Masters in 2009. That was followed by a sex scandal, coaching changes, swing tinkering and now another left knee injury at the Masters last month that forced him to skip this week's tournament.Woods, who won at Quail Hollow in 2007, finished fourth in 2009, two strokes behind winner Sean O'Hair and one behind Watson.

Webb Simpson has earned Arnold Palmer's respect for the way he handled a bad-luck, one-stroke penalty Sunday.Simpson, winless on the PGA Tour, was leading at New Orleans by one shot and his ball was less than a foot from the cup on the 15th green when it moved. Simpson believed it was caused by the wind.It didn't matter. Since Simpson had already addressed the ball, he was assessed a one-stroke penalty. Simpson ended up losing to Watson in a playoff.The U.S. Golf Association said this week it's discussing modifying the rule. The 81-year-old Palmer, after a rare round of public golf in the pro-am Wednesday, thinks it should."I think they'll look into that properly and I hope they find something to do that will alleviate things like happened to Webb last week," Palmer said. "He really deserved a little better fate. But he handled it extremely well, and that's kind of the name of the game as far as I'm concerned."He handled it well. He's a good player and he will win down the road. That's the important thing."

Anya Alvarez had a profound impact on young lives

Anya Alvarez had a profound impact on young lives

Washington's Anya Alvarez has had a profound impact on young lives that extends well beyond her sport.A victim of sexual violence in her youth, Alvarez has used that life-altering experience as a platform to advocate against teen dating violence and abuse and for healthy relationships.She has spoken at high schools, has counseled teenagers and women, has appeared on the Dr. Phil television show and other broadcasts, regularly writes Rory McIlroy Was Not Ready To Win Mastersadvice and counseling articles for a website called Twodaymag.com and is embarking on a book project.Alvarez has talked publicly about being molested by a family friend when she was 9 years old and being raped at 16 by an acquaintance she had met just a couple of times.Shortly after the second incident, while in Idaho for a U.S. Golf Association junior girls tournament, Alvarez was encouraged by a counselor she met there to tell her story.

"Everyone experiences pain at some point in their lives. I think writing about your experiences — journaling, getting counseling — it's a huge thing for women and for men, too. Because you might not feel the effects (of abuse) right away. But there are what are called sleeper effects, where issues can crop up years later. So it's important to address things the right way when it's fresh in your mind. I'm a believer that time does heal things, but you have to take action at the same time."Sometimes it can be very hard for victims of abuse to show trust after going through such trauma, Alvarez says."It's important for women who have been sexually abused to know that all men aren't evil. Sometimes, you just run into the wrong person." Starting Thursday, the Washington Huskies, who have been led this season by Alvarez, will host 23 other teams in the three-day NCAA West Regional at the Washington National Golf Club in Auburn, Wash. The Huskies are seeded 13th in the regional.

Fastest 10 months in McDowell's Career

Fastest 10 months in McDowell's Career

Not a one is housed in the United States. The PGA Championship hardware is in Germany, home of Martin Kaymer. The British Open and Masters titles belong to South Africa's Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel, respectively.The U.S. Open trophy is in the hands of Northern Ireland's Graeme McDowell for another six weeks. McDowell, a hero for the Ryder Cup-winning European team last fall, is playing the PGA Tour this season. He was on hand for media day Monday at Congressional Country Club, where this year's U.S. Open will be played June 16-19.McDowell got his first look at the course that was the site for Callaway X22 Review at Pickgolfclubs.com U.S. Opens in 1964 (Ken Venturi won) and in 1997 (Ernie Els won). This Congressional layout can stretch to 7,574 yards, the second-longest Open venue behind the South Course at Torrey Pines in 2008."I'm very excited to come here to Congressional. Like I was tweeting out there today, it's nearly 7,600 yards, if Mike [Davis, USGA executive director and the man in charge of the course setup] wants to play it all the way back, which I hope he doesn't." McDowell said. "It's a great golf course. Aesthetically, it's beautiful, real old school, great trees, great definition, really well-bunkered, great greens; I mean, big, undulating. It's going to be a great test."

The year has been a mixed bag. He's No. 5 in the world golf rankings. He's played eight tour events and made the cut five times. He had three top 10 finishes (third, tie for ninth, tie for sixth) in his first three tournaments but has missed the cut in three of the past four tournaments, including the Masters and last week's Zurich Classic in New Orleans. McDowell is No. 50 in the FedEx point standings.

"I haven't been very happy with my game, my long game especially, and I'm certainly experiencing a bit of the rougher side of the game at the minute," McDowell said. "It was all going so well, it was all so easy there at the end of the last season… the game can beat you up sometimes, and I'm certainly starting to appreciate the good times now. You've got to enjoy them, and I'm glad I did last year.

Woods Has Been Rebuilding His Swing

Woods Has Been Rebuilding His Swing

Tiger Woods announced Tuesday that he will miss the Wells Fargo Championship because of a minor injury. Doctors have advised rest and cold-water therapy, and soft tissue treatment will also occur later this week. There is no definitive time frame for healing, but Woods hopes to be back in a few weeks.

Woods has been rebuilding his swing, and naturally, Sergio Has Long Way To US Open spending time away from the course can't possibly help him to get back to the form that allowed him to dominate the field and the sport of golf.Recently, Tiger updated the media on his health as he tries to get back to the course.When asked about his recent injury by emcee Chick Hernandez from Comcast Sports, Tiger was his usual, coy self, saying, "I feel good, how about you?" After Hernandez responded as most middle-age men do--I could lose a few pounds but other than that I am pretty good--Tiger went into a little more depth about the injury that will keep him out of next week's Wells Fargo Championship. "It was tough going," Woods said. "I was in a boot for five days, (and I) still have to sleep in a boot so I have been just kind of resting it."With the US Open in June, you have to wonder how sharp he's going to be once he gets on the course.Tiger has always been very surgical in how he prepares for major tournaments, and if he can't get out there at some of the lesser tournaments and really work on his game, then he's coming into a big time event with noticeable rust and that's going to hurt him.When you're rebuilding your swing, you want to get repetition and confidence in what you're doing. Tiger has no confidence in any part of his game right now, especially when he gets on the putting surface. He has looked hesitant and it has shown as he's made errors in ball striking and in reading the greens.