I’ve never been much of a conformist, having been raised in those liberal 70s. New Year’s Resolutions aren’t for me; the line is so crowded that I can hardly see my way to the “Top Of The Line” resolution stands. I prefer Halloween, the holiday that falls less than a week after my birthday, so here’s my 2011 Halloween Rez: The Weekender.

It’s a trite title, I know…do your best to replace it in the comment fields and I’ll change it at the drop of a mask, errr, hat! I’m going to make the supreme effort of finding one-half of one of those 48 hours that make up Saturday and Sunday to write about EVERYTHING going on in the world of golf. If you search my allusions on Google, Bing or Ding-A-Ling, you’ll find copious articles on the topic. Here goes nothing, Danny! (or is it “Well, T’anks fer Nuttin!!)

*Luke Donald’s quest to win Player of Year potentially gets jobbed by jingoistic PGA Tour. 1 year after Rickie gets Rookie of Year, PGA Tour adds Asian Tourney to POY race (but only if the winner is a Tour Member) and delays mailing of ballots;

*The future of Fall professional golf at the highest level is…yep, Asia. Don’t know what the weather is like in that sector of the planet, but the economic climate is incredibly supportive. Besides, would do our ethnocentric pros a world of good to feel what it’s like to be the foreigner for a month at a time;

*Western New York so far has been immune to the course-closing epidemic that hit the country about five years ago and has yet to subside. Given that we had between 5 and 10 new builds from 2000-2010, they’ve come up with incredibly creative ways to turn a profit. The municipals courses, like public schools, are safe. The privately-owned, public access ones are the ones that will always have to work at it, which leads us to …

*Westwood. The club at the corner of North Forest and Sheridan was sold this year and is rumored to beheaded toward a semi-private designation. Tax codes and other designations notwithstanding, how does this weekly schedule sound: Monday-AM outing shotgun and PM closed for work~Tuesday & Wednesday-reduced (12 minute tee times) public play~Thursday-Sunday-Private/Members Only. From my perspective, would the members really be out there from Monday to Wednesday? If they like, they can use the pool and tennis courts (keep those private) the first three days of the week. Restricting tee times and charging $55 will limit play to those who really want and can, play.

*Belly Putter…if you work long enough at it, you’ll get it. Why? An XM radio host (I think it was John Maginnes) hit the nail on the head…because you’re practicing!! Most bad putters don’t practice putting during off-course hours. When they show up to the first tee, they might have just hit a few dinkers on the practice green, hardly the calibre of preparation that made them good at their professional career, so why should they have a remote chance of finding the hole on their 1st, 2nd or 3rd efforts?