Tag: Sony Open

Live by the club, die by the iron.

Live by the club, die by the iron.

2014 started with a bang, rather a swish of a golf club.  Hawaii is golf central in January.  Everyone from Barack to Vijay come to the Islands to hit our beautiful links.  My first two weeks of the year are filled with the smell of grass, the pain of walking 18 holes plus an additional 18 holes, and the sound of…well…nothing as pro golfers are too sensitive to the sound of the camera shutter or the sound of anything else.  An NBA player or Premiere League footballer can be screamed at during a free throw/kick…but a golfer?  Well, silence is the only way to oppose this noble and elite sport.

Kapalua

My week spent at the Kapalua course for the Tour of Champions in Maui was hell.  The hilly greens could easily be a ski resort and hiking is the only way to really describe covering the action on this course.  The outstanding views of Molokai are touchable from many of the holes and all considering the current weather pattern on the mainland (Jan 2014) there is no better place to be…just don’t ask my knees, thighs or calves the next day.  What a pain!  Hoisting 400mm f2.8 up hill is no fun.

My next assignment is the relatively flat Waialae Country Club course for the Sony Open staring Wednesday.  Its warmer, not as scenic but there are no hills.  However, there are many more golfers to cover and be sensitive about ensuring an errant camera shutter disrupt their concentration.

Mr. Obama, above, started my year on the first at Mid Pacific Country Club.  The club is one of the few Mr. Obama can play at where the public can actually catch a glimpse of him.  Most of the courses he now plays in Hawaii are secluded and difficult to get to but Mid Pac’s 18th hole sits on a public street across from a popular hiking trail.  Obama, hat askew, hit off the fairway onto the green and made a long putt that would make any golfer proud.  All considering he’s played about 12 rounds of golf during his 15 day Hawaiian vacation, he should be able to make all his putts!

 

A wide view of the 18th

A wide view of the 18th

Every year I am hired to photograph the Sony Open.  I’ve made a bit of a name for myself shooting golf as I’ve done it for a few years and I learned from some of the very best shooters.  Stan showed me how to sit on the first tee and get great, clean tee shots, Chris showed me how to position myself for anticipation, Sammy showed me how to walk up and down the course, and Grayson showed me how to hustle.  I mean hustle.  So I know my golf or at least pretend to.

Do I like shooting golf?  Eh…  Its tough shooting round after round of golf for days on end and when we had more than one tournament here, it was super hard to get motivated to follow these super sensitive” golfers for hours on end.  By the end of any tournament, the last thing I want to do is be out in the sun, see grass, or anything to do with little white dimpled golf balls.  I usually stay sick for a few days after as all the sun, pollen, pesticides, and the weight of my cameras breaks me down.

Yet, I get a shot like this and it all feels worth it all.  Its not the best but it sure makes me feel I can really see the world happening around me.  Sure, its just a sports shot, and not a great one at that, but to know I walked up and down a course for four days in the rain, sun, and humidity carrying three cameras, a heavy 400mm lens while slathered in sunblock…and get a shot like this…makes me feel like I’ve come along way from time time I first walked into a club house.  Thank you, you men of golf, who taught me how to see golf…and thank you Steve Grayson…not a golf tourney goes by here in Hawaii without your memory recalled in laughter, professionalism, and fear.

Did anyone ever hear the chimp story between him and Sammy?  HA!

If many of you don’t or didn’t know Steve Grayson, he was a great GREAT man who knew his photography.  He once said he was one of the only photographers who was able to walk through South Central LA during the OJ riots with camera and taking pictures.  I mean, look at him!  Would you mess with that man?!?

Grayson sent me this shot of him and the hotties of the golf world.  I bet those women were more happy to be seen with him that him with them.

In January 2008, Grayson passed away.  Its been three years now and we still talk about that man of men, a giant among us who crawl through the grass to get that shot.  We will always remember your bad plaid shorts.