By Tony Leodora

Nicky G, who has become the popular official gastronome of the GolfTalk Live radio show, doesn’t hold back any punches when it comes to discussing his greatest love in life – food.

“The food is so bad in Buffalo that they actually think wrestling with those greasy little chicken wings is good eating,” says Nick G, who in real life is Nick Giovanangelo, owner of Inside Jewelers on West Chester Pike in Broomall. “They need to come to Philadelphia to learn what real cooking is all about.”

Therefore, don’t invite Nicky G to your Super Bowl party and put a plate of cold wings in front of him.

“Forget about chips and salsa, or a big bowl of that white, gooey stuff that you’re supposed to dip a piece of hard broccoli into,” Nicky G says. “When you come to my house for Super Bowl, you get real food. The game isn’t until 6:30. You need to start eating at about 4, so you get a good base in you before the action starts.”

He also gives a viewing tip for the game.

“The best part of the day is that the television coverage of the PGA Tour event at Riviera runs right up to the start of the football,” he points out. “That way, you don’t have to watch all of that pre-game babble. It’s just golf, eating and football.”

For this year’s Super Bowl, Nicky G suggests a large pot of chicken cacciatore.

“In Italian, cacciatore means hunter,” he explains. “It’s the perfect food for a man’s day – a full day of golf and football. You can eat this, then watch somebody hunt down Peyton Manning and drive him to the ground.”

His special tip for this Super Bowl recipe is to use boneless chicken thighs.

“You can use boneless breasts if you have to have white meat, but the dark meat gives it extra taste,” he explains. “And the traditional recipe calls for bone-in chicken parts but at a football party, you have to keep your hands clean for high-fives.”

Here is his time-tested recipe:

2  medium onions, sliced

2  cloves garlic, minced

2  tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

3   pounds boneless chicken (thighs or breasts)

1  16-ounce can tomatoes, cut up

1  8-ounce can tomato sauce

1  medium green pepper

1  2 ½-ounce jar sliced mushrooms, drained

2  bay leaves

2  teaspoons dried basil, crushed

½ teaspoon dried rosemary, crushed

¼ cup dry white wine

    Hot cooked rice or pasta

In a large skillet cook onions and garlic in oil over medium heat until onions are tender. Remove onions; set aside. Add more oil to skillet, if needed. In same skillet brown chicken pieces over medium heat about 15 minutes, turning to brown evenly.

Return onions to skillet. Combine undrained tomatoes, tomato sauce, green pepper, mushrooms, bay leaves, basil, rosemary, 1 teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper. Pour over chicken in skillet. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes. Stir in wine. Cook, uncovered, over low heat about 15 minutes longer or until chicken is tender, turning occasionally. Skim off fat; discard bay leaves. Transfer chicken and sauce to serving dish. Serve over hot cooked rice or pasta. Makes 6 servings.

By Tony Leodora

Somewhere in the neighborhood of 15,000 people per day visited the close-to-1,000 exhibitors at this year’s PGA Merchandise Show in the vast Orange County Convention Center in Orlando. It sounds like it would be easy to get lost in a place like that.

On the contrary, it was impossible to get lost – because everywhere you looked you saw a familiar face from the Philadelphia area. Some were just walking the floor, as I was, but many more seemed to be stationed in a booth.

One of the first I saw was Frank Carroll, the Torresdale-Frankford CC member who has his manufacturing plant in Northeast Philadelphia. Carroll is the originator of the Greenkeeper soft spike, and a number of other golf accessories. But, his new Four Yards More golf tee, that debuted at last year’s show, really kept him hopping this year.

He had a very prominent position on a busy corner of main aisles and grinned when he reported, “We’ve been slammed every minute since the show opened.”

Busy, in a different way, was Dave Ostrow, of the Conshohocken-based Body Balance for Performance golf fitness program. He was stationed in the Golf Fitness magazine booth, with his stretching table and all of his little toys to help golfers play better golf.

He also was in demand because of a recent article featuring him and his Body Balance theories in Golfweek. The story, penned by well-known writer Jim Achenbach, credited Ostrow with innovative techniques for getting injured golfers back into playing shape, and keeping them in shape.

On the fashion front, two local companies were getting a lot of attention in the women’s apparel section of the Show.

Jo-Fit, a line of athletic-looking and performing women’s golf clothing, is the brainchild of Joanne Cloak of Bucks County. The company had one of the brightest booths in the apparel section, in part due to the bright colors of the entire line. Cloak, who was a gym teacher before getting into the garment world, reported that the secret to her success was “women like to look and feel like an athlete.”

Jill LaPierre bases her Glamorous Golfer jewelry business in Elmhurst, Pennsylvania, about 20 miles outside Scranton. Not only is her line of colorful golf bracelets beautiful, but the pieces are functional. The beads move and help women keep score.

Even though Debbie (Lafayette Hill, Pa.) and Spike (Linwood, N.J.) Smith have been out of the Philly area for some time, they are still familiar to a lot of people in local golf circles. Their Classic Golf Gifts business, based in Pinehurst, makes elegantly embroidered awards for tournaments and presentations. Their products are the coveted item at many member-guest tournaments in the area.

The only time I couldn’t find a familiar face all week was at night, in one of the local watering holes, when I was looking for someone to buy me a drink.

By Tony Leodora

ORLANDO – The annual PGA Merchandise Show has gone through an interesting evolution over the years. From its early days more than 40 years ago, when manufacturers’ representatives displayed their wares out of the trunk of their cars, the show has seen amazing growth.

By the turn of the century, big companies such as Callaway, TaylorMade, Titleist and Ping were erecting massive displays on the showroom floor, complete with sound and light shows and an array of celebrities. At night, lavish parties would take place in Orlando sites such as City Walk at Universal, Sea World or Planet Hollywood. Rock concerts would usher in the announcement of new products.

Then, the terrorist attacks of 9/11 struck America and the entire world changed. Certainly, the golf world changed along with it. Add a number of other economic, weather-related and corporate setbacks and one thing becomes painfully clear – the golf industry has gone through a very difficult decade.

Gone are the million dollar booths on the show floor. Gone are the lavish parties. For a few years, some of golf’s biggest names were also gone from the PGA Merchandise Show.

Thankfully, they have all returned to this year’s show, although some will appear in a limited role. The overall number of vendor participants is also down – no longer breaking the 1,000 barrier and down almost 20 percent from the all-time high of more than 1,200 vendors about five years ago. But there are those who argue that the overall quality of those vendors filling the aisles is better.

Gone are many of the outlandish products that crowded the show floor during the “gold rush mentality” days leading up to 9/11. Just as golf course operators learned that the “build it and they will come” mentality was a false theory, inventors no longer harbor a “build it and they will buy it” philosophy when it comes to golf products.

“If you don’t have a good, solid product in today’s market, you are just throwing money down the drain,” warned Frank Carroll, the golf accessory manufacturer based in Northeast Philadelphia, when he rolled out his new Four More Yards golf tee at last year’s PGA Show. The product withstood the initial test of buyers last year and has evolved into a solid sales producer in retail outlets.

Golf course architect Ron Garl has been attending the PGA Merchandise Show for more than 20 years. Although the event is a short drive from his office in Lakeland, Florida, he stresses that he would attend the show no matter where it was held.

“We realize that being a part of the PGA Show is a very important part of our business,” said Garl, speaking in an interview on the GolfTalk Live radio show last Saturday. “We’ve changed our approach a bit over the years but we stay as active as ever.

“For 12 years, we had our own booth,” he explained. “Then, a couple of years ago we combined with a few other people to form a group, the Golf Course Business Consultants. That increased activity at our booth. “

Andy Mears is president of Player’s Pass, a relatively new company that has been growing nationally in the field of providing discounted golf to its members. He is very direct in his assessment of the importance of being at the PGA Merchandise Show.

“You need to have some kind of presence at the show, whether that means having a booth or working the floor and visiting as many other booths as possible,” said Mears. “If your company doesn’t have a presence at the PGA Merchandise Show, then people think you went out of business.”

So, that is the choice of directives for the more than 40,000 people who will attend this year’s PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando – either man a booth, pound the miles of aisles … or get ready to wave good bye to the golf businesses who don’t budget the time and effort to make good use of the world’s biggest golf gathering.

By Tony Leodora

I’ve been to enough golf conferences and conventions over the years. They are all the same – early mornings, full days, late nights, plenty of eating and drinking and schmoozing. Most of the time there is a little bit of golf thrown in.

You come home from them feeling a bit beaten up – both physically and mentally.

Then I got smart. That hotel room – even in a nice hotel – is not always the best way to get through the week. Wait in line to check in. Wait for the elevator. Wait for a table in the restaurant. Wait in line to check out. Wait for the valet to bring your car.

It makes your work week even longer. And when your work week involves doing battle at the PGA Merchandise Show, the last thing you need is something that makes your work week longer.

For the last two years I have moved my headquarters to one of the properties that has been an integral part of our annual Golf Orlando Reports, presented by GolfPac Travel. I set up shop at Mystic Dunes Resort.

Located just off Rt. 192 in Kissimmee, the resort is an oasis in the tourist-plagued surroundings. Instead of a cramped hotel room, I have a huge two-bedroom condo overlooking a heated pool. There is a full kitchen, dining room and a large living room, with an overstuffed leather sectional and a large flat screen television. The condo is wired for internet access and has all of the upgrades you would find in the finest homes.

And it certainly doesn’t hurt that the Mystic Dunes golf course, one of the most unique and entertaining courses in the Orlando area, is right around the corner.

The course has a great driving range, a nice short game practice area and a classy clubhouse with a friendly sports bar and steakhouse.

Mystic Dunes is a timeshare resort, but its extensive inventory leaves plenty of 1, 2 or 3 bedroom condos available for rent each week. And now, as every property in the Orlando area tries to climb out of the economic slump, Mystic Dunes has deals that make it irresistible.

The Snowbird Special (good through March 31) starts at $79 per person and includes accommodations, breakfast and 50 percent off green fees for two people. You can’t live at home for less than that.

So, while the rest of the 20,000 people who will be attending the PGA Merchandise Show this week cram themselves into the tiny hotel rooms along International Drive and beyond, I will be living like I am on vacation at Mystic Dunes. With all the comfort at my disposal, I should have a foot up on the competition when I arrive at Orange County Convention Center each morning.

By Tony Leodora

ORLANDO — Even though Tiger Woods has been quieter than a mime lately, he is still making news around the world.

First, there was the grainy paparazzi photo of a hooded Tiger Woods, taken while he has been cloistered at a sex addiction clinic in Mississippi. I never really knew what the state of Mississippi’s niche was in American society. Now I know – it’s to teach golfers to keep it in their knickers.

Then there were the comments of Geoff Ogilvy, winner of the PGA Tour’s first event of the year, who competed in Abu Dhabi last week. He publicly counseled Woods to speak publicly before rejoining the PGA Tour – keeping the media circus away from the other players.

Amazingly, it has been two months since that fateful night that made headlines, just a few miles from, Mystic Dunes Resort, my headquarters this week for the PGA Merchandise Show. Despite, the time buffer, one cannot go anywhere in golf circles without eventually getting into a discussion about Tiger.

For two Saturday’s, on either end of the PGA Merchandise Show, I am doing live remote broadcasts from Mystic Dunes. Last Saturday I had Rick Smith, the director of golf at Mystic Dunes, as my guest.
As we chatted, during commercial breaks, conversation somehow touched on Woods.

“You know something really amazing about this entire Tiger mess,” said Smith, who has one of the finest and well-stocked pro shops in the Orlando area. “Almost the second the whole thing went down, we immediately stopped selling Nike apparel. I think I can count on my hands the number of pieces I’ve sold in the last two months. If it has a swoosh on it, people aren’t buying it.

“This probably hasn’t hurt Nike’s national sales too much, so far,” Smith continued. “But that’s because we already bought so much. I don’t think you will see many people restocking with Nike clothing.”

As can be seen, there are few sectors of the golf industry that remain unaffected by the Tiger Woods debacle. At least, until he faces the media and the public, then returns to the task of being the No. 1 golfer in the world.

By Tony Leodora

Nick Giovanangelo (Nicky G) is the owner of Inside Jewelers, one of the long time sponsors of the GolfTalk Live radio show. He has been a guest on the show a number of times and his recipes have become famous (such as his Hoagie in a Bowl, for Masters Saturday). Now he shows his versatility by preparing something inspirational during football season.

When the Eagles are in desperate need of a comeback, as they are after last week’s embarrassing loss at home to the Cowboys, Nicky G always relies on favorite chicken and sausage pasta dish. He recommends it as a game time meal.

Ingredients

1 lb. of boneless chicken breast

1 lb. of sweet or hot Italian sausage

1 bunch of cooked broccoli rabe

1 can of Cento tomatoes

8 oz of chicken stock

1 cup of white zinfandel wine

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. pepper

1 tsp. garlic powder

½ tsp. hot pepper seeds

1 tsp. basil

1 tsp. parsley

1 large onion

¼ cup of extra virgin olive oil

The Process

In a large fry pan, saute onion in olive oil.

Cut chicken into 2-inch cubes and add to pan. Cook for 10 minutes.

Add tomatoes, chicken stock and rest of spices.

Bake sausage for 20 minutes in oven at 375 degrees.

Cut into 1-inch pieces and add to ingredients in frying pan.

Pour wine over simmering ingredients in frying pan.

Cook on low heat for 30 minutes. With 10 min. left in cooking time, add broccoli rabe.

Cook one lb. of your favorite pasta, al dente.

Ladle the chicken and sausage mix over the pasta and top with grated locatelli cheese.

Feeds 4 to 6 people.

By Tony Leodora

For 15 years, an event known as the Freedom Trail Challenge has taken an elite group of players to venues around the world for its annual Ryder Cup-style competition. The event began as a competition between teams from Philadelphia and Boston – thus, the name – but has evolved into a friendly war between country clubs that are well-acquainted with each other.

To commemorate the 15th anniversary of this competition, which began in Ireland, it was decided that something special should be planned. For the first time, the event became a four-way competition between eight-man teams from Blue Bell CC, Plymouth CC, Cedarbrook CC and a mixed team named The World. To make the event even more special, it was held in America’s golf trip capital – Myrtle Beach.

Amazingly, with 32 players who have traveled extensively to play the game, there was a wide range of experience with Myrtle Beach. A few were regular visitors, making many pilgrimages to the Grand Strand over the years. Others had not been to the area in many years and were unaware of the upscale changes that had taken place. And a few others had never visited the area. What they all received was an eye-opening experience.

First, with the help of Century 21 Thomas Realty and golf housing expert Wren Harrell, the teams were placed in luxury accommodations on Ocean Boulevard in North Myrtle Beach. Three of the teams stayed in eight-bedroom, eight-bathroom houses that included gourmet kitchens, big screen televisions, a game room with a pool table and arcade games and spectacular views of the beach. The fourth team stayed in two equally luxurious adjacent four bedroom homes on a quiet cul-de-sac, just a short walk from the beach.

“There was a day when accommodations were the least important part of a golf trip,” said Jim Davis, captain of the Cedarbrook team. “But as you get older, you really appreciate a nice house during a golf trip. We had a blast in our house, cooked some meals, spent some time together. And, when we wanted to go out, we still could do that too.”

Being located in North Myrtle Beach put the group in close proximity to good sports bars that showed college and pro football games from around the country, keeping fans of many different teams happy. Oscar’s and Overtimes, both on Route 17, were prime choices.

Also, the North Myrtle Beach location put a number of top restaurants within close range. Martini’s, Chianti South and Umberto’s in Barefoot Landing were the top local choices. National chain restaurants such as Carrabba’s and Fishbones also were convenient and got good reviews. California Dreaming, with a nice atmosphere and some of the best ribs anywhere, proved to be a surprise winner.

Of course, the golf trip is really about the golf and the 15th Freedom Trail Challenge was contested on five of the best layouts in Myrtle Beach. Thistle, with its Scottish flair and new clubhouse, was the site for the Get Acquainted Tournament. The four official rounds were played at Tiger’s Eye, the Fazio Course at Barefoot Resort, Oyster Bay and Tidewater.

By Tony Leodora

For about the last 10 years I have served as a member of the Golfweek America’s Favorite Courses panel. Along with an assortment of golf writers, golf business people and various golf nuts we rate the courses that make up America’s Top 100 Classical and Top 100 Modern Courses.

The question I am asked most often is, “How did you get to become a rater?” Most people think the main qualification is to have played more golf courses than anyone else.

Of course, playing a wide variety of courses doesn’t hurt. I have now played a total of 694 … and have the scorecard from each one.

But more important is the hours spent in seminars, at conferences, in roundtable discussions and at the side of some of the brightest minds in the game. The ability to listen and absorb when in the company of architects, superintendents and professionals is probably the most important precursor to becoming a rater.

All that being said, most avid golfers would love to be a golf course rater … and they often do their own version of rating, every time they play a new course.

On a recent trip to Myrtle Beach, 32 very avid golfers played five days of competition on five different courses. The event, the Freedom Trail Challenge, has been played all over the world for the last 15 years. This was the first time the group had come to Myrtle Beach.

Oddly enough, some of the players were Myrtle Beach regulars, others had been to Myrtle Beach in the past but had not returned in many years, and others were making the first trip to the area.

The courses they played were all on the northern end of the Grand Strand – Thistle, Tiger’s Eye, the Fazio Course at Barefoot Resort, Oyster Bay and Tidewater.

The players were asked to rate the courses. Although the rating system was far from scientific, the results provided some interesting opinions.

There was not a huge difference in the rankings – all five courses received multiple first place votes.

However, three of the courses were faced with issues that would not always be evident, and that hurt their rankings.

Thistle was just coming out of overseeding and carts were restricted to cartpaths only. That made for a long, arduous round. Oyster Bay also was coming out of overseeding and the greens were unusually slow. At Tiger’s Eye the group played behind a large group of seniors playing an international competition with visitors from Great Britain. The pace of play was intolerably slow – close to 5 ½ hours for the round.

Those factors hurt the rankings for each of the courses. The final results showed Tidewater in first place, followed closely by the Fazio Course at Barefoot. There was a drop to a very close grouping of Thistle, Oyster Bay and Tiger’s Eye.

More important may have been the comments of the players, who all agreed there was no weak sister in the group of courses.

“I hadn’t been to Myrtle Beach in at least 15 years,” said Mark Freeman, a recent full-time resident of West Palm Beach, after moving from Blue Bell, Pennsylvania. “I was amazed at the quality of all five courses. Every detail, from the clubhouses, to the service, to the courses was excellent.”

“I found the biggest difference to be in the service,” said Florida golf writer Jack O’Leary, who was a regular to Myrtle Beach for years but has not been in the area during the last five years. “The assembly line approach to golf is gone. The courses really provide genuine service in every department.”

Henry Wadsworth from Blue Bell was one of the newcomers to the Myrtle Beach area and he admitted, “I couldn’t possibly rate the courses. To me, they were all really good. Each one had its own distinctive pluses. I honestly didn’t expect to find that kind of quality in Myrtle Beach.”

The South Florida contingent of Harv Hennessey, Tommy Williams, Jeff Burley and Roger Casserta may have had the most eye-opening experience. They enjoyed the restaurants and the nightlife as much as they enjoyed the golf courses.

“We had a couple of superb meals at Martini’s and Chianti South,’’ said Casserta, who is used to the finer restaurants of the Fort Lauderdale scene. “Myrtle Beach has come a long way from the days when all you could get was fried fish.”

“The layouts at the courses we played were really spectacular,” said Hennessey. “The architects used a lot of imagination to build interest into courses that were built on flat pieces of property. Each course had its own unique characteristics that made them special.”

For not being raters, this group of golfers did a pretty good job of rating the courses they played in Myrtle Beach. But, no, I’m not ready to give any of them my job as a Golfweek rater.

By Tony Leodora

Did you ever notice that the grass is always greener on someone else’s golf course.  At least that’s the way it seems when you hear some chronically complaining members talk about their home course.

The reality of the situation is that all golf courses have problems growing grass. Some of the problems are more complex than others, but nobody is exempt from the trials and tribulations of growing grass.

Trust me – after spending a number of years talking regularly with area superintendents – there is nothing boring about watching grass grow. As a matter of fact, the slightest triumph can be quite exciting, while any agronomic downturn can send an entire club into panic.

In the course of one golf season, I got an up-close look at three totally different situations. The first took place on the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Although it is a short growing season, the quality of the greens rivals anywhere in the country. Without heat, humidity and insect infestations, the superintendents in the UP can produce superior quality conditions, and use far less chemicals than in other areas of the country.

The Philadelphia area is a strange mixture of cool spring and fall conditions, with the danger of oppressive heat and humidity lurking every summer. We saw the disastrous effect of prolonged heat and humidity a few years ago, when courses throughout the region lost greens at an alarming rate. Fortunately, the last two summers have been much milder, giving superintendents a much-needed break.

In the Myrtle Beach area, that break almost never comes. Every summer is hot and humid. And the volume of year-round play never allows the courses to rest.

That’s why USGA Regional Agronomist Adam Moeller calls Myrtle Beach the toughest place in America to grow grass. In a recent interview on the GolfTalk Live radio show Moeller said, “Superintendents in the Myrtle Beach area have a very difficult job. They face a lot of challenges, yet they have to keep their courses in top shape 12 months of the year because visiting golfers are paying premium prices and expect the best conditions. The slightest slip can be a very costly mistake in Myrtle Beach.”

That is one of the reasons golf courses in the Myrtle Beach area are constantly experimenting with new strains of grass. Part of the reason is improving the quality of the putting surface. The other reason is trying to find a strain of grass which will withstand the weather and the traffic.

We all remember the old strain of bermuda grass that was the standard south of the Mason Dixon line. You could hear the golf ball scratch its way across the coarse surface. Slowly that grass has been replaced by a number of different grasses, either hybrids of bermuda or bentgrass.

Now, two Myrtle Beach courses have installed a grass that was developed for use in the tropics – and they both report good initial results. Rivers Edge, the wonderful Arnold Palmer design at the northern end of the Grand Strand in Shallotte, and Pine Lakes International, the area’s oldest golf course, have both turned to sea dwarf paspalum. They are both in the first year of the experiment but nobody seems to be complaining.

“We are extremely pleased with the initial results,” reports Rick Farrell, head professional at Rivers Edge. “The greens seem to be extremely healthy. We are still in the process of cutting them down and getting them up to speed. Once we do that, we think people will rave about the putting surfaces.”

Paspalum is a salt-tolerant strain of grass that can be irrigated with brackish water. On a course like Rivers Edge, that winds through the tidal marshes and is exposed to the weather off the ocean, paspalum minimizes salt damage.

Pine Lakes International, in the middle of Myrtle Beach, is much more sheltered from the effect of salt spray but management decided to go with the paspalum grass when the major renovation was done to the course this year.

While the old Pine Lakes layout was always a favorite, the condition of the greens was always a problem. That problem no longer exists, thanks to the new paspalum grass that provides a very consistent putting surface, with a minimal amount of grain.

“I always liked the old layout but I could play the new Pine Lakes course every day for the rest of my life,” said Jack O’Leary, well-know national golf writer out of Lakeland, Florida. “It is an absolutely marvelous design and the new grass should be a major improvement.”

No wonder the grass is always greener on the other course. They keep coming up with better grass.

(First in a series of daily Blogs on “The Road Trip” beginning November 11)

By Tony Leodora

The golf trip is the most exciting element of the game of golf. It is often what hooks a player on the game.

Any doubts? Just observe avid golfers on the eve of their much-anticipated annual golf trip. Children on Christmas Eve seem calm compared to these big kids.

For most of us, that first golf trip was probably by car – the economics of youth forcing four players into a small car, with clubs jammed in the trunk and a minimal amount of clothing rolled up in a duffel bag.

As we gained a bit more sophistication — and with the prosperity of the ‘90s generating plenty of disposable income — we started jet-setting around the world. Ireland, Scotland, Spain, the Caribbean, Hawaii and Thailand.

The economy of recent years has brought many golfers back to earth – or at least put the wheels of their car back on the road.

Constraints on time and money have brought the golf trip, via automobile, back into vogue.

Unfortunately, since many golfers were jaded by the comforts of travel during the ‘90s, they have forgotten how to properly plan and execute the driving golf excursion.

Road trips are an art form.

As a public service to those who are once again getting to the fairways via the highways, here is a helpful checklist of tips that will certainly make the golf trip more enjoyable. For the sake of comparison, we also will take a look at how we used to travel for golf in our (much) younger days.

Mode of Transportation

Then: A Volkswagen bus, that could not top 60 miles per hour when going up a hill, was the favored means of transportation. A road emergency company, such as AAA, was a must in those days.

Now: The mini-van is the preferred way to transport four golfers. There is plenty of room for clubs and luggage and the passenger seat even reclines, for those much-needed cat naps.

Finding Your Way

Then: The state map was the staple. By the way, no map has even been folded back to its original form by a woman.

Now: The GPS has revolutionized travel. Before, very few people knew where they were going. Now, nobody knows where they are going. Local tip: use www.gapgolf.org for tried-and-true directions to most private clubs in the Greater Philadelphia area.

Staying Awake

Then: Plenty of coffee was the norm but an apple was always good to have along. It has an enzyme in it that serves as a natural refresher.

Now: Red Bull, baby.

Snacks

Then: Heart surgeons are getting rich today because of our former road diet of Slim Jims, potato chips and fried chicken. At least we were smart enough to learn at an early age to NEVER take hard boiled eggs on a trip with a bunch of guys.

Now: Trail mix, carrot sticks, maybe a few protein bars seem to be popular for road trips. Of course, it is all too late – due to damage done in our youth.

Beverages

Then: Many of us must shamefully admit that most road trips began with a cooler full of beer.

Now: Plenty of bottled water is a must for a long trip. There is also another product called “Smart Water.” Judging by my friends who drink it, it is the greatest example of false advertising since the Three Stooges sold Brighto. “Brighto, Brighto, Brighto. It makes our bodies new.

We’ll sell a million bottles. Woo-woo. Woo-woo. Woo-woo.”

Traveling Music

Then: No road trip could be undertaken without a suitable assortment of music by the Rolling Stones, the Allman Brothers, Led Zeppelin and, for cult fans from Philly and Jersey, Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes.

Now: The music of yesteryear has been replaced by … uhh … absolutely nobody. Revert to list above. Crank up the volume on “Sympathy for the Devil” and watch out for the radar traps.

This Blog begins a series of Blogs on “The Road Trip.” They will be posted daily on this site.