Soaking up the tug of golf on TV

This is when watching the PGA Tour is cruel.

Oh, it’s bad enough watching guys hit 6-irons 205 yards, give every putt they hit a chance to go in and wear slacks that never wrinkle.

Now we’re stuck here with our annual dose of winter (which means if we ever get to play again we’ll be hitting pitch shots off turf that feels like a wet towel) and the tour guys have found the green grass and the sunshine.

They’re in Palm Springs this week playing golf on what looks like something Hollywood created. It’s almost too green, too blue and too perfect. It’s brighter than Samuel L. Jackson’s sweaters.

You don’t need high-definition to feel the tug of golf in warm weather and in a setting even Martha Stewart couldn’t improve.

Until recently, we’ve been able to cope with the off-season. The weather has been fairly mild, allowing us to keep playing on dormant fairways, and the holidays always distract us enough so that golf isn’t all we think about.

But now, two months before we can hope the Bermuda starts turning green in our fairways again, we have to nourish our golf jones from the couch or the bar stool. There’s always the temptation of a golf trip to some place warm, sunny and overpriced but the economy is suddenly worse than John Daly’s reputation.

We should consider ourselves fortunate. Winter doesn’t last long here. It tends to come and go, like most of our putting strokes, lasting a week or two at a time. The folks up north won’t be playing golf again until the azaleas are blooming at Augusta.

Right now, we’re feeling their pain – and living vicariously through Robert Gamez and D.J. Trahan.