Muncle
05-02-2008, 03:45 AM
http://www.thevillagesdailysun.com/articles/2008/05/01/sports/sports02.txt
Villagers star in CBS' Sunday golf show taped at Lopez Legacy
By STEVE TRIVETT, DAILY SUN
THE VILLAGES — It’s a show coming soon to a television set near you.
There will be a cast of Villagers in lead roles: starring Terry Shackelford as “Sally,” Jim Gibson as “Tom” and Gary Stebler as “Jeff.”
And if you aren’t careful, you might actually learn something you don’t know about the rules of golf.
“The Rules of the Game II” will be hosted by CBS’ Bill Macatee and Bobby Clampett with a special guest appearance by Nancy Lopez at 2 p.m. Sunday — an hour before CBS begins its coverage of the PGA Tour’s Wachovia Championship.
The show was filmed at Lopez Legacy Country Club on April 14-16 and was produced by Juma Entertainment — the same organization that did the television production of the Shoot Your Age tournament last year at Palmer Legends Country Club.
Throughout the interactive show — you can play along on your home computer — there will be questions and answers about the rules of golf, along with re-enactments of situations where the rules come into play.
And there are rules that even the best players in the world don’t know or understand.
“A lot of times, the rules are confusing,” Lopez said. “Out on the LPGA, we are able to call in a rules official if we need one, so a lot of the players don’t study the rules as much as they should.”
Same thing goes for the PGA Tour.
“PGA Tour players are some of the worst when it comes to knowing the rules,” said Clampett, who played the PGA Tour before becoming a part of the CBS announcing crew. “I missed three of the questions last year, myself.
“Nobody knows them all.”
Actually, Bobby, somebody does know them all.
Kendra Graham, the former director of rules and competition for the U.S. Golf Association, served as the show’s technical director and head script writer.
“Some of the rules are hard to understand when you read them,” Graham said. “That’s why we’re doing the reenactments.
“It’s much easier to understand them if you see them.
“We’ll try to show some of the rules that are broken most often and we’ll also discuss some of the changes that have been made to the rules.”
And that’s when “Sally” and “Tom” and “Jeff” moved to center stage.
For two days, Shackelford, Gibson and Stebler hit shots from behind trees and out of bunkers, looked for lost balls, took penalty drops and went through about every possible situation that a player may face during a round of golf.
Like the scene when Gibson and Stebler were talking to each other in the fairway: In one instance, the conversation was legal. In another instance, the same conversation would be against the rules.
And while all three are accomplished players in their own right, all found it to be an educational — and fun — experience.
“It was just fantastic,” Gibson said. “I learned some things that I didn’t know. There were some rules that I wasn’t sure about before that I’m very sure about now. It was fun being involved with the whole thing.”
It was even fun for Stebler, who according to the script had to shank a shot off a golf cart and onto the green — something he pulled off in just three takes.
“That may have been the hardest shot I’ve ever had to make,” he said with a laugh. “I almost got a windshield with my second try.”
But he did get to show the good side of his game when he sank a 45-foot putt.
“All of us have learned something that we didn’t know,” Stebler said. “Plus, it was exciting to part of something like this.”
Ditto for Shackelford, who put her experience as a professional musician — she performs at various venues in The Villages as Terry Torres — to good use in her stage presence before the camera.
“Playing music in front of a lot of people is no big deal for me because I’ve done that my entire life,” she said. “But swinging a golf club in front of a television camera, knowing that a lot of people are going to be watching, was a new experience.
“It was exciting.”
And, according to Clampett, it also makes for great television.
“When people turned it on last year, they didn’t turn it off,” he said. “The ratings for the “Rules of the Game I” were equal to or better that those of the tour event.”
One of those watching last year was Macatee’s father.
“My father called right after the show last year and he was almost beside himself,” Macatee said. “The first words out of his mouth were ‘I didn’t know that.’
“I even learned a lot, and I’ve been broadcasting golf for a long time. But you have to remember that when I’m back home playing with my friends, one of the first questions on the first tee is ‘how many mulligans do we get?’ ”
Not when are under Graham’s watchful eye.
“We’re even going to bring up what has come to be known as the Stewart Cink rule,” she said.
During play at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, Cink — whose parents Rob and Anne live in The Villages — was disqualified after he stood in a fairway bunker before hitting his ball, which was lying outside the bunker. His shot then went into a green-side bunker, and his caddie raked the fairway bunker, before Cink hit from the green-side bunker. The next day, Cink reported what had happened to a rules official and he was disqualified from signing a wrong scorecard because he had not assessed himself a two-shot penalty in violation of Rule 13-4a.
During its annual meeting during the Masters — two weeks after the Cink disqualification — the Joint Rules Committee, consisting of members of the USGA and the Royal and Ancient Golf Club (the governing body for golf outside the United States), released a new interpretation of the rule that states that no penalty should have been incurred.
“The rules of golf have always been fluid,” Graham said. “They are reviewed periodically, and this is the newest change.
“That’s the reason we’ve included it in this year’s program.”
The show is being sponsored by The Villages.
“This is also a chance to show off what we have here,” Lopez said. “I can remember when we were first building the course, and how far it has come since there were just piles of dirt everywhere.
“The quality of golf we have here is amazing. This gives us another chance to show it to the rest of the world.
“Plus, it’s more fun to play the game when you know the rules.”
Villagers star in CBS' Sunday golf show taped at Lopez Legacy
By STEVE TRIVETT, DAILY SUN
THE VILLAGES — It’s a show coming soon to a television set near you.
There will be a cast of Villagers in lead roles: starring Terry Shackelford as “Sally,” Jim Gibson as “Tom” and Gary Stebler as “Jeff.”
And if you aren’t careful, you might actually learn something you don’t know about the rules of golf.
“The Rules of the Game II” will be hosted by CBS’ Bill Macatee and Bobby Clampett with a special guest appearance by Nancy Lopez at 2 p.m. Sunday — an hour before CBS begins its coverage of the PGA Tour’s Wachovia Championship.
The show was filmed at Lopez Legacy Country Club on April 14-16 and was produced by Juma Entertainment — the same organization that did the television production of the Shoot Your Age tournament last year at Palmer Legends Country Club.
Throughout the interactive show — you can play along on your home computer — there will be questions and answers about the rules of golf, along with re-enactments of situations where the rules come into play.
And there are rules that even the best players in the world don’t know or understand.
“A lot of times, the rules are confusing,” Lopez said. “Out on the LPGA, we are able to call in a rules official if we need one, so a lot of the players don’t study the rules as much as they should.”
Same thing goes for the PGA Tour.
“PGA Tour players are some of the worst when it comes to knowing the rules,” said Clampett, who played the PGA Tour before becoming a part of the CBS announcing crew. “I missed three of the questions last year, myself.
“Nobody knows them all.”
Actually, Bobby, somebody does know them all.
Kendra Graham, the former director of rules and competition for the U.S. Golf Association, served as the show’s technical director and head script writer.
“Some of the rules are hard to understand when you read them,” Graham said. “That’s why we’re doing the reenactments.
“It’s much easier to understand them if you see them.
“We’ll try to show some of the rules that are broken most often and we’ll also discuss some of the changes that have been made to the rules.”
And that’s when “Sally” and “Tom” and “Jeff” moved to center stage.
For two days, Shackelford, Gibson and Stebler hit shots from behind trees and out of bunkers, looked for lost balls, took penalty drops and went through about every possible situation that a player may face during a round of golf.
Like the scene when Gibson and Stebler were talking to each other in the fairway: In one instance, the conversation was legal. In another instance, the same conversation would be against the rules.
And while all three are accomplished players in their own right, all found it to be an educational — and fun — experience.
“It was just fantastic,” Gibson said. “I learned some things that I didn’t know. There were some rules that I wasn’t sure about before that I’m very sure about now. It was fun being involved with the whole thing.”
It was even fun for Stebler, who according to the script had to shank a shot off a golf cart and onto the green — something he pulled off in just three takes.
“That may have been the hardest shot I’ve ever had to make,” he said with a laugh. “I almost got a windshield with my second try.”
But he did get to show the good side of his game when he sank a 45-foot putt.
“All of us have learned something that we didn’t know,” Stebler said. “Plus, it was exciting to part of something like this.”
Ditto for Shackelford, who put her experience as a professional musician — she performs at various venues in The Villages as Terry Torres — to good use in her stage presence before the camera.
“Playing music in front of a lot of people is no big deal for me because I’ve done that my entire life,” she said. “But swinging a golf club in front of a television camera, knowing that a lot of people are going to be watching, was a new experience.
“It was exciting.”
And, according to Clampett, it also makes for great television.
“When people turned it on last year, they didn’t turn it off,” he said. “The ratings for the “Rules of the Game I” were equal to or better that those of the tour event.”
One of those watching last year was Macatee’s father.
“My father called right after the show last year and he was almost beside himself,” Macatee said. “The first words out of his mouth were ‘I didn’t know that.’
“I even learned a lot, and I’ve been broadcasting golf for a long time. But you have to remember that when I’m back home playing with my friends, one of the first questions on the first tee is ‘how many mulligans do we get?’ ”
Not when are under Graham’s watchful eye.
“We’re even going to bring up what has come to be known as the Stewart Cink rule,” she said.
During play at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, Cink — whose parents Rob and Anne live in The Villages — was disqualified after he stood in a fairway bunker before hitting his ball, which was lying outside the bunker. His shot then went into a green-side bunker, and his caddie raked the fairway bunker, before Cink hit from the green-side bunker. The next day, Cink reported what had happened to a rules official and he was disqualified from signing a wrong scorecard because he had not assessed himself a two-shot penalty in violation of Rule 13-4a.
During its annual meeting during the Masters — two weeks after the Cink disqualification — the Joint Rules Committee, consisting of members of the USGA and the Royal and Ancient Golf Club (the governing body for golf outside the United States), released a new interpretation of the rule that states that no penalty should have been incurred.
“The rules of golf have always been fluid,” Graham said. “They are reviewed periodically, and this is the newest change.
“That’s the reason we’ve included it in this year’s program.”
The show is being sponsored by The Villages.
“This is also a chance to show off what we have here,” Lopez said. “I can remember when we were first building the course, and how far it has come since there were just piles of dirt everywhere.
“The quality of golf we have here is amazing. This gives us another chance to show it to the rest of the world.
“Plus, it’s more fun to play the game when you know the rules.”