U.S. Open Torrey Pines - 2008

This golf hat is a real gem.  It takes us back to one of the defining career moments of none other than Tiger Woods. The US Open at Torrey Pines took place in early June.  Woods was near the zenith of his career, an icon who practically ruled the sports world.  By some miracle of stamina, Woods came from behind to wind in sudden death.  He then stepped off the links for full reconstructive surgery of a blown out ACL in his knee.  How he managed those 91 holes at that memorable tournament is still more a matter of marvel and mind over matter than most of us can comprehend.  To be able to play at that level and win with a totally blown out knee is basically unimaginable. Woods would eventually fall far from grace in late 2009 when news of his harem of harlots swept through the world press and took the luster off the golden boy's brassy sheen.

Staging the USGA tournament at Torrey Pines was note worthy for on another aspect as this is a public course owned by the City of San Diego.  it is one of the precious few public courses that have ever been chosen for the honor of hosting this prestigious tourney.  We've assembled a few links here to help you understand and appreciate those days nearly three years ago.  They are listed below this narrative.

The hat itself is interesting.  It's black with a beautiful logo and tournament information embroidered on the front.  It's an official USGA hat.  Their logo is stitched inside the hat band.  We don't see too many black golf hats.  The logo is very evocative.  There's a windswept tree and a sun setting over the Pacific.  It's very well done.  We also like the word "Member" stitched on the back of the hat.  We don't wear black hats very often and we aren't sure when we will wear this hat on the course.  Perhaps we will wear it on a day when we're gambling that we will beat our mentor, Houn' Dawg.  If we win, a black hat will be very fitting.  If we lose, we can blame it on "that black hat."

Here's a general description of the 2008 tourney.

This is a more detailed account of the Woods victory.

Here's the Tiger Woods Wiki that puts this particular win in his career perspective.

This is the City of San Diego's governmental website for Torrey Pines.

Torrey Pines also has what's called an "official website."  It's considerably different than the city website.

Torrey Pines has a pretty interesting story in and of itself.  Click here for the Wiki on the golf course.

Green fees are only reasonable if you happen to be a San Diego resident.  Watch out if you are a non-resident!  Click here for the green fees.

Interestingly, teh area north of the golf course of the Torrey Pines State Reserve.  It's quite a special spot.  One has to realize that the original Torrey Pines golf course was built in 1957.  That's back when practically nobody cared about preserving the natural aspects of this stretch of coast.  It's quite the juxtaposition for the golf course to be sitting next to a slice of land that closely resembles pre-settlement California!  Click here for the Torrey Pines State Reserve website.

Every Retiree Needs a Collection

What are retired guys supposed to do anyway?  COLLECT STUFF!  It helps to have a theme for the retiree collection.  We've seen retired guys collect all sorts of weird stuff.  Me?  I finally decided it was gonna be golf hats.  That's not the same as baseball caps.  Heck, ANYBODY can collect baseball caps but only a chosen few can collect golf hats.  Ordinary Bubba Boyz would NEVER collect only golf hats--they would get laughed out of the Beer Belly Bar-Hardy Har, Har and wouldn't even be able to bum a burger bun.  Really, the only people who can collect golf hats are real golfers and pretend golfers.  I am a pretend golfer.  How do I know that?  Well, for one thing, I own a pretty good assortment of polyester and some golf clubs.  I even paid retail for a bag of tees.  Some of my golf balls have real high-fah-lutin' names on 'em, too.  That's how I know I'm a pretend golfer.  If I was a real golfer, I wouldn't care about collectin' no damned golf hats--I'd be too busy smackin' the daylights out of sum purty lookin' golf  ball and tippin' my caddy.  Right now, I can only afford to tip my wine cooler.  Right soon here, I'm gonna put up peek-shures of all my golf hats so we ALL enjoy them--not just Little Ol' Me.  What good would all them golf hats do sitting in some closet.  It's time they came OUT of the closet and showed theirselfs for what they are--GOLF HATS!

Now I know this question has been burning a hole in your brain: What makes a golf hat a golf hat?  Good question.  The first thing is that it has to have something to do with golf.  If it shows some thin guy swinging a golf club or some fat guy carrying a bag of clubs, it's a golf hat for certain sure.  If it shows a golf course, why there's your sign.  It might be about a golf tournament, a golf charity event or even a country club famous for its golf course.  Almost all golf hats have a distinctive shaped brim.  Ordinary Billy Bob Bubba Boy hats generally have a flat brim and the brim geometry makes the wearer look like a hick from the sticks.  Now a golf hat has a right smart curvature to it like somebody spent all day shaping it.  No golfer, even a pretend golfer would have a golf hat that didn't have a curved front brim.  There's some exceptions.  Real old duffers who drive expensive cars are allowed to wear flat brimmed golf hats but only if the hats are faux tweed.  People who wear those types of golf hats are the ones who pay all the bills so they can do whatever they want.  Well, there you have it--Golf Hats 101 for our overly par challenged readers.

Stay tuned ya'll for the debut of my Sports Illustrated Swim Shorts & Golf Hat issue--where short fat pretend golfers wear ill-fitting shorts and model goofy golf hats.