More Postcards from Mamaroneck

By: Jay Flemma


Split Attention

Edoardo Molinari, who’ll play with Tiger Woods and defending champion Michael Campbell today, has been gearing up for his date with Winged Foot for a while. “I started preparing for the U.S. Open just after the Masters. I wasn’t driving the ball well and in the U.S. Open you have to hit the fairways. So I have been focusing on this tournament for five weeks. It’s such a tough test. There is a stretch where things are more decent – on four through seven you’re not hitting 3-woods in for approaches and on 11 it’s short, but other than that it’s very tough.”

With the World Cup being played simultaneously, Molinari has been following his second favorite game and favorite team closely. “I’m watching the results when I can. I love the game I was a middle defenseman for his local soccer team while back in Italy growing up. His eyes flicker and his smile grows as he says “Forza, Italia (Go Italy!)”

Your Money’$ Good in Mamaroneck

U.S. Open, New York Prices
Ticket: $95
Baseball Cap: $25
Head Cover: $19
Ladies’ Straw Hat: $29 - $45 (depending on brand)
Shirt: $75-$125
Foldable Chair: $32
Yardage Guide:$8
Program: $10
Poster: $25
Framed Poster: $295
Chicken Sandwich: $8
Panini: $8
Hey! Pastrami!: $8
Brat: $5.50
Bag of Utz: $2.50
Cheeseburger: $6.50
Bud $5
Amstel: $6.50
Soda: $2.75
Ice Cream Bar: $4

Another Classic Open Course

Bill Fallon of both Oakmont and the USGA provides a great look at what we can expect when the U.S. Open returns to another fabled and difficult venue. “They have the greens running about 13-13.5 now for the members and it’s still the only course besides Winged Foot where the membership will say ‘Let’s make it harder.’ ”

Lee Trevino echoed this sentiment saying, “Oakmont is the only place where you could call up the club and say we wanna have you host the Open and a week later they’d be ready to go. They’d just have to slow the greens down.”

Since launching his first golf writing website in 2004, http://jayflemma.blogspot.com, Jay Flemma’s comparative analysis of golf designs and knowledge of golf course architecture and golf travel have garnered wide industry respect. In researching his book on America’s great public golf courses (and whether they’re worth the money), Jay has played over 220 nationally ranked public golf courses in 37 different states. Jay has played about 1,649,000 yards of golf – or roughly 938 miles. His pieces on travel and architecture appear in Golf Observer (www.golfobserver.com), Cybergolf and other print magazines. When not researching golf courses for design, value and excitement, Jay is an entertainment, copyright, Internet and trademark lawyer and an Entertainment and Internet Law professor in Manhattan. His clients have been nominated for Grammy and Emmy awards, won a Sundance Film Festival Best Director award, performed on stage and screen, and designed pop art for museums and collectors. Jay lives in Forest Hills, N.Y., and is fiercely loyal to his alma maters, Deerfield Academy in Massachusetts and Trinity College in Connecticut.