"The nicest person you've ever met..."

Magnet #1172 - George Herbert Walker Bush

Is it weird that I kinda believe PGA TOUR Commissioner Tim Finchem when he calls Bush the First that? I mean, honestly, in this presidential portrait, the dude actually looks like the nicest person ever.

So, tonight, along with Frank Chirkinian, Ernie Els, Doug Ford, Jock Hutchison, and Masashi "Jumbo" Ozaki, the World Golf Hall of Fame inducted George Herbert Walker Bush (1989-1993).

Here's why.

What?

I know my limitations - and going on about golf is certainly not one of them! Though the write-up is actually an interesting read - I had no idea he was so involved in the game. I mean, I have a vague recollection of Bush on a golf course, but I feel like that's every U.S. President ever. Isn't it like a requirement or something?

Anyway, I'm just happy to have found something apolitical to magnetblog about for a more recent president! I feel like from Bush on, it's almost impossible not to get into their politics when talking about them, and honestly, I don't have the heart for any Dem/Rep debate.

It's a magnetblog, after all!

Swirling dervish

Magnet #779 - Amen Corner, Augusta, Hole 12

The second in our golfing trinity at Augusta is the Golden Bell, Hole 12, par 3, and only 155 yards.

I was thinking that with it being only 155 yards, it'd be fairly easy. (I can say this with absolutely no authority, since I've never been on a golf course to actually golf.) But, from what I understand, this hole has a supremely narrow green, with Raes Creek in front, and a bank of azaleas and Golden Bells behind it.

On top of that, hit that corner on a windy day, and man, are you in trouble!

Historically speaking, the original name of the tournament was the Augusta National Invitation Tournament, and it wasn't for another five years (1939) that they could convince Bobby Jones to go with the name the Masters Tournament.

I imagine that it takes years for any golfing event to build up an audience, so I'm betting those first couple of years it was Bobby and his buddies rounding up everyone they knew to come out to Augusta to watch some guys hit a ball around. But, even without being an official PGA TOUR event, judging by what I saw on tv this weekend, it's certainly well attended, with guesstimates being somewhere around 35,000 folks a day. Whoa. I can't even imagine.

Of course, now, I've got this insane urge to watch that cuteboy Jim Caviezel play Bobby Jones in Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius, and also to see that cuteboy Joel Gretch play Bobby Jones in The Legend of Bagger Vance. Then again, I've also got a hankerin' to see Happy Gilmore, Caddyshack and Tin Cup, too.

Shoutin' in that Amen Corner!*

Magnet #778 - Amen Corner, Augusta, Hole 11

Ok, ok. I'm taking the easy way out, but ya'll should know, I'm so far behind on everything - in work, in life, in getting timely information from the Paley Center. Moving on.

So when my friend brought these next three magnets back for me from the Masters, I took it as a sign from on high that I should use Amen Corner as the last three magnets that I'm behind! Tomorrow we'll be back in real time! Amen to that!

Augusta National Golf Club has a storied history that you can find here, but it was founded in 1934 by Bobby Jones and Clifford Roberts on the site of an old plantation in Georgia. The course itself is considered one of the most beautiful in the world.

So this magnet is Hole 11, a par 4 that's about 505 yards. It's the most difficult according to the PGA TOUR. It's the beginning of Amen Corner in the southeast corner of the course, made up of the second shot at 11, all of the 12th, and then the tee shot at 13.

I love that Hole 11 is called the White Dogwood because of all the White Dogwoods lining the fairway, that's sweet. Also, seriously. How is this course not in North Carolina with all those dogwoods!

*Amen Corner, dubbed so by golfer/writer Herbert Warren Wind in 1958. There's this whole debate around it, but supposedly, it was based on a song he knew as a kid at Yale, Shoutin' in that Amen Corner!