Barnicle Commentary -- Golf

Golf is lots of things. It's hard to play, but fun to play. It's a game that makes many men -- and even some women -- crazy. It's a sport where people delude themselves that they might get better by buying just one more new driver or using a different grip.

It's a game where the ball actually sits there on a tee -- teasing, not moving, waiting to be hit. It doesn't change speeds or curve away, but it's still almost impossible to consistently drive the thing straight down a fairway. It might be the only game where a single shot or one decent swing during 18 nightmarish holes is enough to bring you back again -- and again.

Golf can cause otherwise sane people to become totally delusional. One thing that might help put golf into perspective? And make you realize there's nothing wrong with admitting to being a high handicapper or a weekend hacker? Take a peek at some of the best in the world as they go to work at the Deutsche Bank Championship down at the TPC Course in Norton. A lot of these guys look just like you. They wear the same clothes, use the same clubs. They're not big, they're just great.

And here's the number one reason to get a ticket to this tournament: the opportunity to be an eyewitness to Tiger Woods, Brad Faxon, Vijay Singh or any number of other professionals blowing three-foot putt, making a lousy shot, putting a ball in the water, swearing under their breath and looking disbelievingly at what the game of golf just did to them -- same thing it does to you, just on a far more frequent basis.