Sunday, February 18, 2007

The Sunday Trumpet---Tin Cup


Our friend Nightmare from Smells Like Bullshit is our reviewer for the week. However, Blogger is currently trying to eat his blog, and he asked me to post it for him. He's feeling understandably annoyed over the whole thing, so run over there and give him some sugar!





Yesterday I watched one of my all time favorite movies, Tin Cup, with Kevin Costner. It is a good movie and if you haven’t seen it I would suggest you go rent it or go buy it. I know Kev has taken a lot of shit for his last 10 movies or so, but I attribute that to his trying too hard, and not knowing when to quit, too long and sometimes silly.


But with Tin Cup, much like Bull Durham, it is a sports movie that he plays an affable, goofy, sports type guy. In this case he is a small time driving range pro that is trying to make a living in Salamone TX when he meets with his ex-golfing partner’s girlfriend, played by Rene Russo, then he tries to qualify for the US Open in order to win her heart.

Now I know that this is supposed to be about a movie or book, or a something else media related that you have heard, read, watched, or all three (and hated). I know and I get it, I DO have a problem with this movie.

The defining moment is at the very end of the movie where Kevin has a good shot to win the US open, IF he plays it safe. Naturally he has never played it safe and he sure as fuck never played it safe before. So for three days he tries to make a second shot on 18 that is a long par 4, with a water hazard. And for three days he has washed his balls. On the 4th day he finds himself ready to win the US Open and all he has to do is drive the ball long, lay up and chip in, and the open is his.

Well he has a real issue about not taking chances, and he goes with the 3 wood on his second shot, and once again tries to make the shot that has sunk him for 3 days previously. Naturally in true movie fashion, he DOES get to the green in two and would be putting for eagle…..If the ball would have stopped rolling down the green and into the water hazard. He invokes the right to a Mulligan….6 TIMES! and naturally he runs through every ball in his bag and nothing seems to work. He just keeps asking for more balls. So he runs through all of them and on the very last ball (dropping 11, shooting 12) and Hollywood kicks in again and he sinks it, from 200 yards out.

Here is my problem. Why if this asshole knows he doesn’t have enough club to make that second shot, why doesn’t he shoot a small club off the tee and then use a LARGER one on the second shot making it easier to get on the green? That has always bothered me. Use a fucking 7 iron (something they kept saying through out the movie, “I hit the 7 like Jon Daly hits the 3 wood”) THEN use the #1 wood and get on the fucking in two and putting for 1 under, winning the US open? Why doesn’t this happen? Is there a obscure rule that only professional golfers know about it? They aren’t allowed to play smart?

I don’t fucking understand it.

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4 comments:

Nightmare said...

Thanks Your hottness!

Me said...

Kevin Costner...uhmm...him of adolescent dreams...yumm...

Anonymous said...

For the trivia enthusiasts among us - most of the golf course footage was shot on The Forest, a new course at Kingwood Country Club in Kingwood, Texas, America just before it opened. There are 3 other courses there. And the bar where he drove the ball out through the door is actually the dining area of Kingwood Country Club. They took out a big plate glass window that overlooks the 18th on the Island Course. So named for the island green on the 18th. Anyway, the movie magicians turned the dining area into the bar. The little short guy that Costner was paired with the final day was the Kingwood Club pro. And the hole they showed him finishing on with the big white porch in the background was the 9th (I think) at Deerwood Country Club just a few miles from Kingwood CC. For what it's worth, I marshaled and started at KCC Forest Course for about a year and a half a year or so after the movie. Boy, did I play a bunch of golf. And I agree about the club choice the character made but after all, it was a movie.

John said...

Found this post when I was looking for the course in the movie. Thank you Myron, very informative. But a few comments about the post:

- The last hole was a par 5, and Cosner had to choose to go for the green to try and put for an eagle (-2), or lay up and try to get on to put for a birdie (-1). A birdie would have won him the Open, but an eagle would have given him the all time US Open scoring record (vs. Par).

That being said, since practically the entire movie is about taking crazy risks despite knowing the safe/smart decision, it makes sense that he goes for the eagle and immortality in golf history (one of those defining moments he kept talking about). It probably wouldn't make for much a dramatic ending if he just plays it safe and wins the open.

- He doesn't have the right to a mulligan. A mulligan is basically a redo without counting the previous stroke - which pros do not play. He has the right to a drop close to the water hazard, which he refuses to do six times in a row (I guess because of his mercurial nature). So instead he takes 6 penalty strokes and hits the same shot over and over again to prove he can make it.

- No one hits a 1 wood off the fairway.