After GOLF.com's main meal, here are a couple of leftovers that I, at least, am no less grateful for.

1.) TV's ON-COURSE FOOTSOLDIERS. Bless you, Roger Maltbie, Dottie Pepper, Judy Rankin, Billy Ray Brown and others who slog sweatily through tournaments while calmly correcting the blowhards up in the air-conditioned booths.

2.) THE AVERAGE GOLFER AND FAN. On Thanksgiving 2008, the sport of golf was under siege, lambasted as a haven for expense-account junketeers and corporate boondogglers. And, of course, the golf industry, like almost every other during the current downturn, is undergoing a wrenching shakeout, one that has put in particular peril many private clubs. But you, Joe and Jane Golfer, kept right on swinging.

According to DataTech, through September rounds were up over '08 (by 0.5%). With undimmed enthusiasm, you turned up in big numbers at tournaments; kept ratings strong for televised events; and made your voices heard on the blogs (including those on our site). In all, you provided the best rebuttal to the attacks of those looking to score political points off the embattled sport, demonstrating with every stroke that golf is vital to our society — economically, socially, recreationally and environmentally.