PGA Championship Chat

August 15, 2000

Brian Hammons, anchor of "Golf Central", answers questions about the sport of golf, golf courses and the upcoming PGA Championship.

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TheGolfChannel: Greetings golf fans and welcome to TheGolfChannel.com's PGA Championship Chat. Join the action as we take your questions about the final major of the year! Can Tiger defend his title? Will Sergio put on a show? There's plenty to chat about so fire away!

Brian Hammons: Welcome everybody to this chat! Everyone at The Golf Channel is excited about the re-launch of the site, and we're excited to be at the PGA Championship. I'm looking forward to the next hour!

Buffy: What are your hobbies?

Brian Hammons: My hobbies are chasing my three kids around. I try to play golf whenever I can, when my schedule allows. I enjoy sports - basketball, softball.I've been coaching my son's Little League and basketball teams, these days, more coaching than playing.

Buffy: What advice would you give to a beginner to improve himself?

Brian Hammons: If we're talking about a beginning golfer, my advice would be to take lessons, and stick with it. That's the fastest way to improvement. Being self-taught is a lot of work. Finding a good teacher and sticking with it is the best avenue.

NeoNion: People complain that golf takes too much time and some prefer to play nine holes. How common is this across the U.S.?

Brian Hammons: That's a common complaint. Even if you're fortunate to play quickly, it's a big time commitment. If you can squeeze in a quick nine, you can do that in two hours if you're lucky. But you don't see many nine-hole courses around anymore. I guess people are still playing nine-hole rounds, but you don't see it very much. It used to be more prevalent than it is now, but you seldom hear of it anymore.

Twinkle: Do you think the minority participation has changed over the years? And if so, how?

Brian Hammons: Absolutely! We've even seen an increase since Tiger Woods has been around. What he's done for the game has been phenomenal. Lots of minorities and young people have come to the game since Tiger has burst upon the scene. I like what Notah Begay has done for the game. He is a Native American, and he has done terrific things with the Native American community in Albuquerque, NM. Golf has become a sport for everybody. It wasn't always that way, but luckily for all of us it's a game that anybody can play now.

AgentZZZ: I need glasses on the course, but I am concerned about distortion occurring due to the lenses. I know a lot of golfers wear the Oakley's. They have a large selection of lenses to choose from. Is there a particular lenses that causes NO distortion?

Brian Hammons: There are so many good glasses sunglasses to wear while playing golf now. Bole and Nike now have different pairs you can use. They're all good, because they're designed specifically for golf. They're wrap-around sunglasses because it can be annoying to see daylight out of the corner of your eye. But there are so many choices now, it's hard to go wrong!

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