C'mon, Man !?!!

(in the voice of Steve Buscemi)

Does Tiger really think he has the right to privacy when he's reeled in hundreds of millions of dollars in endorsements? C'mon, Man !?!!

Did we really think Tiger's wall of invisibility and invincibility was going to last? Hell, even the Berlin wall fell eventually. C'mon, Man !!?!

Rumor has it that Elin aimed for the left rear window, but pushed the iron out to smash the right one. Apparantly she's been getting golf lessons from Tiger. C'mon, Man !?!

(Actually, I just made that one up)

Are we really shocked that Tee-Dub would fool around on someone as beautiful as Elin? I think it was P Diddy who snuck into the bathroom to have phone sex with some stranger while he was married to Jennifer Lopez. Billy Joel was married to Christie Brinkley, and he cheated on HER. For every astonishingly beautiful celebrity wife there's a husband who's tired of her. C'mon, Man !?!!

Did someone really say that going forward the TW on Tiger's hat stands for "The Whore" (i.e. this Rachel lounge lizard)? C'mon, Man !?!!

(I made that one up as well)

Just because you have no legal oblication to speak to the police, that doesn't mean it's a good idea (as long as you have nothing to hide). C'mon, Man !!?!

They say "Alcohol was not a factor". Why can't they just say he wasn't drunk (if in fact you tested his blood alcohol level, which they apparantly didn't). C'mon, Man !?!!

This story is just full of C'MON MANs ...

My Royal Links Experience

I'm the kind of golfer for whom the history and literary aspects of the game is a significant factor in my enjoyment of the game. I love the fact that it's been around longer than this country has, and I thoroughly enjoy the many different angles that golf writers have taken to approach this truly multi-faceted game.

Having said that, Scotland's where it's at. I've studies the links thoroughly, both from a historical and competitive point of view as well as how they came about and what it's like to play them. But Scotland is a long ways away, and I don't truly know when and if I'll ever get a chance to walk those hallowed fairways. In the short term, I spoiled myself and played a round at Royal Links when I was in Vegas last month.

And let me tell you this: For all of you who love Scottish golf, the people at the Royal Links REALLY love Scottish golf. There's a castle for a clubhouse. There's a Claret Jug as you pull in. There's a statue of Old Tom Morris. There's a sand trap called "Hell". There are copies of 18 of the best golf holes Scotland has to offer. There are 75 degree temperatures in October. Allright, so maybe they're skimping on some of the climatic realism, but I'm fully in favor of that.

Few objects on any golf course anywhere is as famous as the Swilcan Bridge, which players cross on the 18:th hole at St. Andrews. No golf fan can forget Jack's sentimental goodbye on his last round there in 2005 (see insert in bottom right). When I shared this picture with my dad in Sweden he promptly sent me a picture of him on that bridge when he played St. Andrews in 1996 (see insert in top left).

They take it a bit far when the tees are not red and blue but claret and royal. If I were to say that Royal Links is the Medieval Times of golf, I mean that in the nicest possible way.

But I heartily encourage you to see past what might appear to be glitchy gimmicks, because the course is truly fantastic. By all accounts, the holes are fairly authentic copies of some of the great holes we watch on the British Open every summer, from St. Andrews and Troon to Carnoustie and Turnberry.

The course is in great shape, the greens putt true, and it's a quite challenging Par 72 layout. The course record is 67, and is held by none other than Tiger Woods back in 2001.

So while I still hope for the day when I will tee it up in the true home of golf, this round did allow me to enjoy some of the good, bad, and ugly aspects of links golf.

I stuck an 8-iron to the middle of the Postage Stamp hole for an easy two-putt par. I weighed risk and reward to determine how much of the corner to cut off on the Road Hole. I got the kind of lie in a bunker where the only shot that was anatomically possible was straight backwards, and I felt lucky I had that option at all. I left a lot of shots in the deep bunkers, and lost several balls in surprising places, and was lucky to break 100. All in all it was a fantastic outing, and one I would recommend to any golfer, particularly those of you who share my fascination with the Scottish variation of the game. The only thing I would have liked to see is a copy of the 18:th hole at Carnoustie, but that's being really nit-picky.

Cute Culprit - Terminated Titleist

Our dog Gilly has quite the mouth on her, the little bitch. When we first got her, she destroyed more than a few pairs of shoes (that's what the kids get for leaving them lay around), and she'll make mincemeat out of the overpriced "indestructable" bones you buy in the pet store. As she's getting a bit older and we're getting better about keeping her occupied it's been much less of a problem.

With us she is very mouthy, but incredibly gentle, and she never bites us even a little bit, so that's good.

But I surely thought that a golf ball would be something she would not be able to get her teeth into. Imagine my surprise when I came home the other day and she was in the process of turning the ball into little tiny bits of scrapnel.

It's not just that a golf ball is hard, but being round I didn't think she'd be able to get a sufficient grip on it, but clearly she did.

I can't review this

Over the past year, I've had the honor of reporting on the quality of various and sundry golf publications on behalf of the http://www.thegolfspace.com/ site. I've certainly enjoyed this opportunity.

Before going any further, let me make sure I'd be the first to allow that opinions are like bottoms, divided, and a book (or movie, or album) that's great for one person may or may not be anywhere close to that of another person. Someone recommended a book called "How To Hit Every Shot", so I thought I'd give it a try. It outlines 101 different golf shots, and expresses methods and techniques for pulling each shot off.

If this book works for you, then I'm very happy for you. For me, I had a hard time getting over the atrocious writing and editing that allowed shot #2, "Power Fade", to reach the printed page.

Maybe I'm being picky, but I just don't think this is the kind of advice we should have to pay thirty dollars for. I love your money more than that. Here goes:

In the introduction to this shot the writer(s) state "Old-school instruction tells you to open your stance, point your clubface at where you want the ball to end up and then swing along your stance line. That's a lot to think about. There's a much easier way , and all you have to do is make your normal swing. Follow the instructions at right".

So far so good. Sounds like they're about to lay some severly slimmed down and simplified golf lessons on us. So I read on:

"Step 1 - Take aim at the left side of the fairway". Boy, this sure sounds a lot like you should "open your stance".

"Step 2 - Open the face". Given that your stance is already open (or aiming at the left side of the fairway), this pretty much works out to be "pointing your clubface at where you want the ball to end up".

"Step 3 - Hit the outside. Make your normal backswing and downswing." If I didn't know better, I would say this sounds like "swing along your stance line".

Now, I have no problem with a writer accepting that standard, accepted golf instructions actually were the best way to hit this shot. What I do have a problem with is the fact that they presented their instructional steps as representing a new and revolutionary way to hit this shot, but then they proceeded to take the same steps that they were very quick to put down in the introduction.

There may well be very valuable tips and techniques in this book, but I for one will have a VERY difficult time allowing them to sink in.

2009 Golf Turkey Of The Year Nominees

Tiger for pretending to care about promoting the sport of golf during the Playoffs, while never announcing where he'll play until the very last minute all year, giving promoters as little time as possible to advertise.

Anthony Kim for wasting a year of his golf career. Every time he'd have a decent round he'd say "I've been working very hard for the past month", but you know he hasn't.

GolfChannel, for shining a spotlight on John Daly's life, just as things were starting to come together for him.

The USGA for their stupid first round pairings in the US Open.

Any golf commentator who still claims that Tiger is rusty, even after six wins.

Carolyn Bivens, for setting the LPGA back 3 to 5 years.

Any golf fan who yells "Get in the whole".

Golf Digest for their lame picks in their US Open Challenge.

Sergio for his comments after the Masters.

Politicians for grandstanding and disrupting golf tournaments.

Every stupid, lazy golf writer all year who just wrote about Tiger instead of covering the actual story.

Lefty, for ... nevermind ... he didn't do a damned thing wrong all year.

Talk about your dream job ...

I came across a person in a golf forum on LinkedIn the other day. The job title was "Director of Business Development at Playboy Golf".

There probably are better jobs to have, but I sure can't think of any.

"Best Golf Drill Ever"

Golf Magazine (a.k.a. golf.com) recently celebrated their 50:th anniversary with a very nicely put together special issue about golf in the past half century. One of the sections they talked about was golf instruction, and how some of the teachings have changed drastically over the years while some haven't changed at all.

(Angus Murray)

They named the "Feet Together" drill as one of their best ever. It's supposed to provide the player with significantly more distance, while also improving your balance.

I've been incorporating this drill for about a month and a half, and the results have been very illuminating:

Firstly, it's surprising how much distance I've been able to get during this drill. I lose no more than 5-10% of my distance with my irons. This speaks volumes about how UN-important is to sway or slide back and forth during the swing.

Secondly, as a result of working on this drill I've made my stance more narrow. It's now closer to hip-width than shoulder-width. I feel like this is allowing me to load up my right leg during the back swing and move onto a straight left leg during the through swing with a minimum of moving parts.

Thirdly, I've played some of my best golf in decades after starting to include this drill in my range work. This may be a coincidence, but I'm getting too old to believe in a lot of coincidences.

I may be attributing too much of my recent good play to this drill, but the drill really really feels "right".

Was there ever really any doubt?

Wow. Tiger Woods won the FedEx Cup. I'm shocked, SHOCKED I tell you.

(AP Photo / Dave Martin)

While he wasn't as dominating as two years ago, the outcome definitely isn't much of a surprise.

When they started talking about the design of this contest in 2007 there was much talk about making sure that a greater number of golfers were going to compete, and that it wasn't just going to be an annual Tiger Woods Bonus Program. As it turns out the exact opposite is the case, and the FedEx cup is the only tournament where Tiger is more heavily favored than in a conventional 4-day tournament. Hear me out:

Tiger's the best player on the planet; there isn't much argument about that at this point. Even so, he doesn't have the lowest score on every day he plays. He doesn't even win every tournament he participates in (it just seems like it some time). But the longer you make the contest, the more likely it is that the cream rises to the top, and Tiger is victorious.

There's little doubt in my mind that Tiger will win EVERY FedEx Cup he participates in. His domination will be so complete that when he retires they will just name it the Tiger Woods Trophy. It will be his legacy to golfers of future generations. They will all talk about "The trophy with Tiger's name on it" the same way hockey players look at the names of greats of the past on the Stanley Cup.

So, the PGA Tour writes Tiger a check for $10 million every year. Given his contribution to the growth of the tour over the past 13 years, I think that's fair. If anything it's on the low side. I will refer to this competition as the TWBP until they officially put his name on it.

Congrats to Tiger for a well played victory, and a fantastic season. Congrats to Phil for ending the domestic season on a high. And congrats to the PGA Tour for putting together a very interesting and compelling playoff system.

In Defense of the Playoffs

Other than the age old questions like "Is Tiger better than Jack?" or "Which course would you most like to play?", few topics have inspired as much discussion as the formatting intricacies of the PGA Tour Playoffs, the FedEx Cup.

I have to say I'm loving what's going on right now, and what's been happening leading up to this week. The Cinderella Kid, Heath Slocum, barely squeezing in and then winning The Barkleys. Mr. Consistency, Steve Stricker, holding off an elite leaderboard to win the Kraut Bank. The Johnny Walker Blue of Golf, Tiger Woods, dominating the field at the Beemer.

Watching the numbers turn from red to green has been every bit as exciting as the watch for who gets to retain their tour cards in the Fall Series. But don't just take my word for it. Here's Mrs. Golfer In Kilt, who is NOT a golfer and NOT a sports fan, getting into how they got here and watching with keen interest to see if a putt is going to fall to allow a golfer to "Live to play another day".

Watching Snedeker yip his way out of the Tour Championship was as painful and enthralling as any train wreck. Luke Donald and Jerry Kelly made pressure putts on the 72:nd hole to grab the last two spots in Atlanta.

I'm very excited about this weekend, especially after a story this morning that speculated into the possibility of a double playoff on Sunday. They could have a playoff for the tourament, and if the chips fall correctly they could have a playoff for the FedEx Cup itself, if two or more players land at the exact same point total. Sudden death for ten million dollars? WOW !!

I'm really not going to get into the details about how the playoffs should be formatted. I think they should keep it the same way for a while, to get a true feel for the format, and to establish a baseline.

All I know is that I'm a huge fan of this year's iteration, and I can't wait for the games to begin.

Good swing to study - Alvaro Quiros

The stories about Alvaro Quiros are legendary, and although the young Spaniard has already captured three tournaments it's all about how far he hits the golf ball. He was the longest driver on the European Tour in 2006, 2007, and 2008, and he's on track to do it again this year with a titanic 315 yard average.

But if you think his swing is some freakish concoction of power moves designed purely for distance you couldn't be more wrong. He's tall (6'3") and athletic, and he gains his power from a very fundamentally correct golf swing, the kind of swing we all could benefit from studying.
Golf.com has put together a swing sequence on their website, and here are a few of the highlights:

• His setup looks a lot like Jack, with a straight back and lots of room for his arms.


• Full shoulder turn but very little hip turn.


• Beautiful lines where the club is an extension of his arms (shot 5 of 10 and 7 of 10).


• Smooth hip release.


• Belt buckle leading the swing (are you watching, Faldo?)

Note to self: Gimmicks don't generate power. A proper swing and consistent contact generates power.