Golfer In Kilt

Moving my blog

2011-06-01T15:13:00.000-05:00

I've been using Blogger for a couple of years now, but I've grown very tired of the editing tools that are available. It adds blank lines at random after I've added a picture to my blog.

Consequently, I'm moving on to Wordpress. Please find me there, at http://golferinkilt.wordpress.com/.

Keep'em in the short stuff.

Give Tiger A Break

2011-06-01T09:34:00.009-05:00

Boy, golf media is one fickle group. The drastic turnaround in their attitude towards Tiger Woods is entertaining to watch, but leaves them with very little integrity left. In addition, their analysis is in my mind generally incorrect.

(Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)

The big question is usually phrased along the lines of "When will Tiger win again?" or "Is Tiger playing well enough to win?". Most of the answers I hear are "Don't know" and a resounding "No". I think this is a result of the commentators being blinded by Tiger's history of incredible excellence rather than an objective look at statistics, and I personally disagree strongly to both answers.

My answers would be "It could be any given week" and "Yes, definitely".

If you look at Tiger's recent performance, and ignore the fact that the stats are for him, you'll find the following:

Five top ten finishes in his last nine tournaments, going back to the end of last year.
Finishes of T4, T10, T24, and T33 in his last four tournaments prior to his premature withdrawal from The Players.

Just looking at those numbers, not knowing the player, you would definitely say that he's playing well enough to win. Players with much poorer track records win touraments all the time.

To further dissect his game we can look at his stats for the year.

He ranks 13:th in GIRs, in spite of being 186:th in total driving. This tells me his ballstriking is better than people give him credit for.
This is confirmed by him being 1:st in approaches from 125-150 yards (when it comes to distance from the pin), and 4:th in approaches from 150-175 yards.
He's 25:th in scoring average.
I found this particularly interesting: He's 17:th in scoring average before the cut, and 19:th in scoring average on Sunday. This is offset by a third round scoring ranking of 174:th.

So, his iron play and scrambling is solid. Even with his poor driving and putting he's been scoring reasonably. All he needs is for one of those two elements to improve just a little bit and he'll be competing every week as we're used to.

Having said that, if you look at the OWGR (http://www.officialworldgolfranking.com/players/bio.sps?ID=5321&name=Tiger&Rank=13&TotalPts=194.27487) you will see that his drop in ranking will continue even more rapidly going forward if he doesn't start winning. Nine of the next thirteen events that are going to drop off the formula are either first or second place finishes.

At the beginning of the season I predicted that Tiger will win this year, and that he will win the PGA Championship. I'm sticking with this prediction.

Keep'em in the short stuff.

Quality Byron Coverage

2011-05-27T08:48:00.004-05:00

I highly recommend everyone checks out my buddy Tony's coverage of the HP Byron Nelson Championship this weekend. He's live and on the ground, and gives great insight and perspective both as an amateur golfer and a fan. It's all at http://www.hookedongolfblog.com/.

Keep'em in the short stuff.

Bridgestone Ball Chat

2011-05-25T10:33:00.005-05:00

I decided to go about finding a lower price ball to be my standard ball rather than the tour-level V1 and 330 permutations I've been abusing over the last year or two. I decided to give Bridgestone's online ball fitting a try. Big surprise, it came up with the most expensive ball they make. So I poked around to see if there was any further information about which of their e-series balls, (at the lower price point) might be a good fit for me, but there was none. Then I noticed their site offering to chat real time with a representative. Having used these types of services before, I was sceptical but I gave it a shot. Lo and behold, I got a very prompt response, and got to have a very in-depth conversation with a staffer who clearly knows quite a bit about what makes golf balls behave a certain way and about their products specifically. "Seamless Jim" was friendly and funny (meaning he got my obscure references), and he got me exactly the information I wanted. He even answered my generic questions about ball terminology.

(No, you won't get to chat with Adrienne Ferreira on the Bridgestone site. I just know I won't find a better excuse to include a picture of the letter-reading hottie from their commercials in my blog)

At the end of the conversation the site offered to send me a transcript of the chat to my email box for my records, which is a nice service.

I highly recommend you give this service a shot if you'd like to have a candid conversation about ball technology. It's like having a product specialst at your beck and call.

Keep'em in the short stuff.

P.S. Do NOT Google "Ball" and "Chat". There's really no telling what kind of a site you'll land on.

Major Props to Salina Municipal

2011-05-23T13:08:00.004-05:00

Every now and then in life we come across a diamond in the rough. In Swedish we call this a "Smultron-ställe", so named after the very tasty miniature strawberries that grow wild. To a golfer, a place like this may be a course who's inner and outer qualities belie the expectation based on it's appearance and location.

I came across a place like this last week, when I stole away from a set of very elaborate High School graduation events to play a quick 18 holes in Salina, KS. I didn't know anything about either of the local courses, so I decided to give the Muni a shot. I couldn't have been more pleased. First, the course itself: 18 holes at par 70, with the Blue tees measuring 6,500 yards and the Whites 6,212 yards. The two nines are fundamentally different in character. The front nine is pretty flat and open; while the back nine don't have a flat hole in the bunch. The rough is open, and it's easy to locate your ball even if you miss the fairway. There is no water, and the biggest risk is where OB cuts fairly sharply into the playable areas on three holes of the back nine (two of which I found with my own ball). The holes are close together, making it a great course to walk, and I did note several walkers when I was out. I would caution you to make sure you mark your own ball, as there's a good chance it'll wind up on a different hole if you're not accurate. For as early in the spring as it was when I was there (temperatures in the upper 40s), both the greens and fairways were in VERY good shape. The greens rolled true and consistently, and the fairway was dense. Secondly, the people were great. Very friendly staff in the shop, and the groups I came across on the course were very prompt and courteous about letting me play through. Thirdly, the practice facilities were very accomodating. A large putting green that appeared to be very consistently prepared as compared to the course. They also had a well manicured pitching and sand green, as well as a large range. The course also has a close connection with the First Tee program. Salina is located where I-70 and I-135 intersect in East-Central Kansas. You may or may not have much reason to be in that neck of the woods, but if you do I highly recommend this course for a casual round. Their website is http://www.salinamuni.com/. Keep'em in the short stuff.

Seve is taking a turn for the worse

2011-05-06T15:33:00.001-05:00

According to the official website of Severiano Ballesteros, his "neurological condition has suffered a severe deterioration." While no details are available, it appears it's getting to be very dire straits for one of the true legends in professional golf.The European Open is in Spain this week, appropriately enough, but it's turning out to be a double edged sword. Players like Olazabal and Jimenez are not talking to reporters, and there is public mourning going on. "This had to be the saddest competition in terms of ambiance today. I've never seen anything like it."said Spanish Open spokesperson Maria Acacia Lopez-Bachiller in an AP interview. If you're not familiar with Seve, I recommend re-reading Jaime Diaz' piece from Golf Digest last year (http://www.golfdigest.com/golf-tours-news/british-open/2010-07/seve-ballesteros). My own tribute, for all it's worth, is in the form of a cocktail (golferinkilt.blogspot.com/2010/07/britis...rtini-seve-tini.html). All in all, it's a bit of a bummer day.

Golf Writing Snobbery

2011-05-06T15:03:00.002-05:00

I was just informed by an unnamed golf tournament that they don't have enough space to allow web writers and bloggers to receive credentials to their tournament. This, of course, after the fact that The Colonial opened their doors to me last year, and I had a great time at their event (http://golferinkilt.blogspot.com/2010/06/my-day-at-colonial.html). And I know that organizations such as Golf Writers of America still stick to their old-fashioned standards of writers having to have been published in print in order for them to even be considered for membership. And as much as I dislike it and disagree with it I guess I can sort of understand this mind set, if it's applied consistently. But then Golf Digest, one of the biggest Golf publications in the world, publish an article that's made up almost exclusively of tweets by one of their writers. I like the tactile sensation of reading a paper, but why would I bother if most of their golf and sports pieces are from newswires that I read 12 hours ago? If you're going to put yourself up on a pedestal, you need to provide the kind of content that justifies it. If you just print electronic content that some generic news service published, how in the world can you look down at other writers of electronic media?

A Four Dollar Ball Cost Me Four Weeks

2011-05-04T16:41:00.002-05:00

So I was out playing golf with a good friend from The Golf Space about a month ago. We were having a great day, when we got to the tenth hole. I faded my drive into someone's yard at the side of the course. The ball was almost close enough to reach with my driver, but not quite. I'm on my tippy toes and full finger reach, leaning over the steel fence between their yard and the course. STILL can't quite reach the ball. So I sort of thrust myself forward and up, and finally that buys me the extra fraction of an inch I needed to knock the ball in the right direction. My chest smarts a bit, but I give it a rub and go on, and don't think much of it. I don't, that is, until the next time I try to swing the club. It is VERY painful, both on the backswing and on the downswing. I grin and bear it for about another four holes, but in the end I had to walk off the course. I get home and put a lot of ice on it and take a handful of Nuprin. By now I realize it's not my stomach muscles that's hurt, it's my lower right side rib. Three days go by, and it doesn't get any better, so I decide to go to the doctor. It's fractured. It's friggin' fractured. Four to six weeks of recovery. I'm now at about four and a half weeks, and I finally was able to swing a golf club a few days ago. It's not pain free, but at least I was able to hit a few balls without grimacing in pain. I'm SO getting a ball retriever.

The 1,000 Yard Group

2011-04-08T07:40:00.002-05:00

Day 1 of the Masters is in the books, and the lasting impression that's going to stay with me is watching the group of Quiros, Woodland, and Vegas play the back nine Thursday afternoon. Their distance is legendary, and I'm sure there were more than one hole where their combined drives measured 1,000 yards, but all of these mad bombers have a lot more depth to themselves and to their game. Firstly, all three of them have won tournaments this year, so clearly their golf games are more complete than you may think. Vegas hit a tricky curling putt for eagle on 15, and then almost made another rainbow on 16. Woodland absolutely stuck iron shots on both 16 and 18 to where he just had a tap-in for birdie. My buddy John made the comment that Quiros' tree-shot on 14 looked like something we would do, but it's very unlikely that we would have gotten away with just a bogey like Alvaro did, sinking a key 20-footer to limit the damage. Then there's the way they played; talking the whole time, joking and laughing and taking their Body English and Body Spanish to new heights with every shot. The crowd really seemed to connect with them. Of course, it's easy to have fun on the golf course when you're playing well, and they were definitely doing that. The three of them played the last six holes a combined twelve shots under par. Woodland alone was six under for his last six holes, and Quiros is obviously in the lead. Credit also needs to go to the course. This is part of what's magical about the Masters tournament, and about Augusta: While it's extremely challenging, a player who gets hot has the opportunity to make up a LOT of ground at the very end of the tournament. This is going to be fun. Keep'em in the short stuff.

My 2011 Masters Picks

2011-04-07T08:22:00.001-05:00

I know the tournament is already underway, but here are my picks for the Masters this year. As usual I make four picks, and I force myself to be a little more creative than just picking four out of the top six players in the world. I pick one player from the top ten in the world, one from the next ten (11-20), one from the next ten (21-30) and one player ranked above 30 in the world. GREAME MCDOWELL (#5) – Won the US Open, ruled the Ryder Cup, and swashbuckled with Tiger at the Chevron. Had a run of eight tournaments at the end of 2010 and beginning of 2011 where his worst finish was T13, so his game appears to be in very good shape. He has already shown he won’t be intimidated by any venue, any situation, or any other player. HUNTER MAHAN (#18) – Five top tens already this year, and a winner twice last year. T10 and T8 in the last two Masters. LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN (#22) – Already a winner this year, and two wins last year, including The Open. T18 and T16 in his last two tournaments here in the US shows that his game is in good shape. If he can get the driver dialed in the way he did at St. Andrews last year he’ll have a distinct advantage in approaching the greens. ANTHONY KIM (#40) – I picked him to win the Masters at the beginning of the year, and I’ll stick with it. Played lights out last year until his injury, then never really recovered. Started out 2011 playing well with T19, T13, and 6:th place finishes, then hit a rough spell, but played well last week. I’d love to see him with a big Augusta logo on his belt buckle on Sunday. Keep’em in the short stuff.

Interesting Masters pairings

2011-04-05T12:20:00.005-05:00

With all due respect to the Shell Houston Open, the end of their tournament marks the beginning of one of the truly great periods in all of sports: Masters Week. This morning the pairings are out, and here are the groups I'll be paying close attention to (all times are ET): 8:40 AM - Watney, Scott, and DJ. All young big hitters who have won recently. Other than Phil and Tiger, Dustin is probably getting as much press as just about anyone this week. 9:13 AM - VanPelt, Wilson, and Laird. Bo is a great ball striker who I've been a fan of for some time, and Wilson and Laird are winners this year. 9:24 AM - Day, McIlroy, and Fowler. For not having won yet, there sure is a lot of talk about Rickie. Rory's game fits Augusta like a hand in glove. 10:19 AM - Kuchar, Kaymer, and Westwood. If you had to pick one group to bet money on to win, this might be it. 10:41 AM - Woods, McDowell, Allenby. There are a lot of questions about whether Tiger can win this event this year, with the way he's been playing. In my mind he most definitely can! Having said that, McDowell is probably my favorite to win it all. He's playing well, and he thrives under pressure. 12:53 PM - Stricker, Donald, Couples. Many are picking Luke to win, and Freddie is always going to be dangerous. If anyone's going to "Pull a Jack" this year, he's it. 1:59 PM - Woodland, Quiros, Vegas. Between the three of them they may average a combined 1,000 yards in driving distance. Keep'em in the short stuff.

My job hunting tips

2011-03-30T08:45:00.005-05:00

BE POSITIVE This is alpha and omega, both for the purpose of having a successful job search and for your own personal health. Nobody wants to hire someone who's down, and if you don't think your attitude shines through in an interview you're fooling yourself. Being positive on a daily basis isn't always easy, but it's a hell of a lot easier than trying to dig yourself out of the kind of a hole you might auger yourself into if you let your negative feelings dominate. Fake it if you have to. Science has proved that if you display the outward signs of a positive outlook for long enough you will eventually genuinely get that attitude back, even though your feelings were not authentic at the outset. SMILE ON THE PHONE People can hear the difference even if they can't see your face or your posture. EXERCISE To me this goes hand in hand with a positive outlook. Be strong. Be confident. APPLY, APPLY, APPLY A couple of years ago I applied to over two hundred postings on line and only got two automated receipts in return. These days it's been my experience that more companies are doing a better job of monitoring who's applying to positions, and some are quite prompt in getting back to the candidate. This includes large companies like Chase Paymentech. POST, POST, POST Put your resume out there in as many places as possible. Another recent trend I've noticed is that rather than posting a job a recruiter just goes out to try to find a good resource from online resumes. This is actually how I got the position I'm in now. FEED YOUR EGO While money is obviously a factor when you're out of work, there are still small things you can do to make you feel good about yourself when you're heading into an interview. Get a haircut. Get your nails done. Buy a new tie. Get your shoes polished. Dye your hair. You should know yourself what makes you feel better about yourself. BE PREPARED TO ANSWER THE "SO TELL ME ABOUT YOURSELF" QUESTION Early on I would just more or less reiterate what was on my resume; my job experience in reverse chronological order. I found that the conversation went a lot better after I decided to not stick to this "script" as much. I grouped my experience into three areas (IT Compliance, Technical work, and IT Generalist work), and summarized it that way. Then I went on to outline three personal traits that I would bring to the new position (problem solving, customer service, writing). I found that this flowed a lot better and gave me a much greater sense of energy than just starting "Well, in my last job I ...". SHORTEN YOUR RESUME. THEN SHORTEN IT EVEN MORE. Managers just don't read them. Make sure the right keywords are there. I had a recruiter complain that I hadn't highlighted my certifications enough in my resume. They were a standalone bullet in the second paragraph. MAKE YOURSELF BETTER Job-related training is obviously ideal, but there are significant benefits to your attitude even in non-job efforts. Watch the Spanish channel an hour a day and see how much more you can pick up this week compared to last. Sit down at your kids keyboard and see if you can pick out a song from the dusty stacks of sheet music. Work on your golf game. WRITE THANK-YOU NOTES Common courtesies aren't all that common any more. It's another way to make yourself stand out. One of the job offers I got was a direct reply to the thank you note I had written several weeks earlier, after my interview. It may or may not have made a difference, but at a minimum it made it very easy for the hiring manager to contact me. KEEP A JOURNAL I kept a blog on blogspot where I journaled every job I applied for, every email I received or sent, every call I made or received, every time I updated my resume online and every interview. I found this to be very helpful for a number of reasons:

At the end of the day I could look at the list and feel like I accomplished something.
I sent the link to my wife, and it served as additional motivation to know she may be looking at it any time.
It made it very easy to truthfully answer TWC's questions about the number of job search activities I had in a week.
It served as a reminder by allowing me to go back in time to see who I hadn't heard from in a while, so fewer opportunities slipped through the cracks.

Be aware, be very aware

2011-03-07T15:41:00.003-06:00

The mental aspects of golf is something that appears to hit home and strike out equally with all levels of golfers. There are pros who consider themselves "old school" and not in need of stuff like that, and there are 30-handicappers who swear by it. My own maturity in this area has been slow, but thanks to books like "Zen Golf" I have started to improve in this department myself, and for this hacker the benefits have been significant. It's a wonderful journey to start being aware and able to manage the things that go on in your own noggin, and the non-golf implications to this maturity may be even greater than what it does for me on the course. I'm not a teacher, nor a writer in this area, but what I can share with you is a concrete example that has helped me significantly. To demonstrate, I will discuss the three phases of awareness that I migrated through in order to make progress. The problem is related to the thoughts you get popping into your head when you're partway through a better-than-average round. You start to think about what your final score might be. Maybe this will be the first time you break 90. You think about what your handicap will be after this round, or whether you have a chance to win the tournament you're playing in. Invariably, your level of play drops drastically and irrepairably. Phase 1 - Not-so-blissful Ignorance At this point, you usually don't realize these thoughts are getting into your head until it's too late and the round is over. Looking back you sort of have an idea what was going on, but at the time you were way too busy and you had way too many things going on in your head to notice these warning signs when they first pop up, much less actually do something about it. Phase 2 - "Oh, shit" Awareness As you start to read about these topics and think about what's going on in your head you eventually get to the point where you notice when your head starts drifting in the wrong direction. The problem is, you don't know what to do about it other than to go "Oh shit, here come these thoughts again." Phase 3 - Awareness and management You will notice that at no point will I discuss what to do to avoid these thoughts, or how best to get rid of them. That's because you can't. So what to do, then? You need to train yourself to recognize your thoughts and emotions without labeling, judging, or fearing them. You just observe what's going on just like you would observe a car driving in and out of your line of sight. The second part is to be able to get your mind into the right state before the next shot. Advanced methods include just clearing your mind, but most of us have not practiced enough meditation to be able to do that at will. What has worked for me is to have a pre-swing routine and a swing thought specific to the shot I'm about to play that I focus on. The bad thought doesn't go away, but by having something positive and productive to think about it's of less consequence and of less impact on my game. It may or may not be for you, but I highly recommend you at least take a look. Keep'em in the short stuff.

February Practice Log

2011-03-03T12:31:00.002-06:00

Well, February started out with a couple of weeks of ice and snow, but as usual in Dallas it melted off quickly and the temperatures got into the 70s in no time.

Fri 2/11 - 30 minutes putting indoors
Sat 2/12 - 30 minutes putting indoors
Sun 2/13 - 50 balls (9i)
Mon 2/14 - 50 balls (Driver)
Tue 2/15 - 45 minutes chipping
Wed 2/16 - 50 balls (8i)
Sat 2/19 - 45 minutes putting
Tue 2/22 - 50 balls (PW), 30 minutes pitching
Wed 2/23 - 100 balls (D, 6i, 3-ball, PW)
Thu 2/24 - 30 minutes chipping, 18 holes on Pitching Course.
Fri 2/25 - 18 holes at Oak Hollow, from the blues. Shot an 89 (42-47). Walked and carried. My game was fairly consistent, but fell apart a bit on the back nine. Got around 18 holes in two hours and 50 minutes. My handicap stayed at 12.2.

Progressive Swing Thoughts

2011-02-24T12:43:00.003-06:00

"Be the ball" Ty famously preaches in Caddyshack. It's a good line, one repeated millions of times on golf courses around the world, but as far as actual productive golf advice it's about as useless to the average golfer as recommendations about how far you should back up your sand wedge from 80 yards. I had a bit of a revelation on the range last fall, during a time that I was hitting the ball particularly well (for a 12 handicapper, anyway): The swing thoughts of a scratch golfer should not and could not ever be the same as that of a golfer of lesser skill. NOT EVER. I think this is why I flip right past most advice columns in golf magazines. Not only do I think it would be damaging to my game to try to implement advice from someone who's never seen me hit a golf ball. In addition, I think the things a pro or advanced teacher thinks about doesn't apply to most golfers.

When you start out you have to think about a million different things. "Never keep more than 100 things in your mind during a golf swing" Dr. Parent advices in "Zen Golf", but it sure feels like that would be quite a trick. "Left arm straight", "Keep your eyes on the ball", and "Don't move your head" are just a few. And you practice and practice, and you get a little better.

Then you eventually get to the point where you have these things pretty much down pat. Now you have to start worrying about things like body turn and tempo. Maybe someting about your swing plane or your finishing position. And you practice and practice, and you get a little better still.

Now you get into the rarified air where your swing thoughts no longer have anything to do with the physical aspects of your golf swing. I've played golf for 35 years, and I've only been there once. On the range last fall I found myself with only one thought: Visualizing, in super-slow-motion, the face of the club making contact with the ball. I hit Driver and irons, and I was making beautiful contact with the ball. The shots were effortless and straight, and I was smiling from ear to ear.

It was then that I realized that if I were to tell a beginning golfer to have the same image in their head would be an absolute disaster. They'd be lucky to make contact at all without focusing on all that other crap.

It was a lot of fun being in that place, and I'm working hard to be able to get back there.

And, maybe just maybe, I will one day be able to just "Be the ball".

Match Play picks

2011-02-22T13:11:00.003-06:00

There may be other places to do this, but I put my picks in on golfweek.com. I'll start from the back: I have McDowell to win it, with Casey, Hoffman, and Kaymer joining him in the final four. Here's how I predict a few other interesting matchups will go:

I have Molinari beating Westwood in the third round.
I have Monassero beating Stricker in the opening round.
I have Rory winning a couple of matches but losing to Jimenez.
I have Jimenez beating Furyk in the second round.
I have Van Pelt beating Phil in the third round.
I have Phil beating Rickie in the second round.
I have Tiger losing to Casey in the Quarter Finals.
I have Bill Haas beating a couple of bombers in Bubba and DJ, but falling to Tiger.

Keep'em in the short stuff.

Interesting pairings

2011-02-22T12:40:00.003-06:00

Other than the majors and a few other tournaments, this week's event is one of my absolute favorites of the PGA Tour season. I play a lot of Match Play in my personal outings, and this particular format is such a big part of the game's history as well. Here are some of the pairings I will keep a particularly close eye on as things get underway:

Poulter (3) vs Cink (14) - Battle of the former and current Twitter champion on tour.
Oosthuizen (5) vs. Van Pelt (12) - A couple of talented young ballstrikers. Watch for Van Pelt to have a breakout year this year.
Westwood (1) vs. Stenson (16) - Henrik may be as good a #16 as there has ever been in this event. Look for this one to go down to the wire, with gin-breath edging the herring-head.
Watney (8) vs. Kim (9) - I hope AK is healthy. Watney regressed a bit last year, but the talent is there.
Woods (1) vs. Bjorn (16) - It's Tiger. Of course we have to watch.
Watson (5) vs. Haas (12) - Talk about contrasting styles of play. Who will win, the tortoise or the hare?
Ogilvy (8) vs. Harrington (9) - The only battle between former major winners. Geoff is playing better right now. The verdict is still out as to whether Paddy will recover from his tinkering.

Keep'em in the short stuff.

Top 10 Drinking Games To Play While Watching The PGA Tour

2011-02-01T10:54:00.002-06:00

This list was inspired by the ever-excellent Shane Bacon of Yahoo Sports fame. He made a comment last weekend that a new drinking game would be to drink every time the commentators mentioned that Johnny Vegas was a rookie. His comment made me think about other things that happen ALL the time during a golf broadcast, and I came up with this list. I sort of focused on the irritating things that don't really need to be said, the stupid noise that they insist on filling the airwaves with. I've tried to make it as non-personal as possible, but I think you can figure out who I'm talking about most of the time: 10 - Drink every time they tell us about Miguel Angel Jimenez "Love for life" (He's a big ol' fat guy, he loves wine and stogies, he hits shots off the wall on the Road Hole, and he putts with his wedge. He's quite possibly the coolest guy on any tour right now. There are SO many more things to say about him than just that he "loves life".) 9- Drink every time they proclaim some young player as the next dominant player in the world. (Really, it's quite likely he won't be. I don't cheer for anyone to fail, but I know very few of the really really talented golfers have the mindset it takes to get to the top). 8 - Drink every time they mention Amy Mickelson or Bubba's Dad, or some other non-golf topic du jour (It's cold of me to list this, I know. This is what we call "reality". It's tragic and inspiring and emotional, but we really don't need to hear about it every time that player is in a shot.) 7 - Drink every time there is a comment about JD's or Smurf's clothing. (They've been wearing this stuff for years, folks, it's not exactly revolutionary.) 6 - Drink every time they mention how Tiger today is not the Tiger of yore. (He'll never be that dominant again. Get over it.) 5 - Drink every time they mention how long guys like Dustin Johnson and Bubba Watson hit the ball. (We know, they're studs, you don't have to marvel about it every time.) 4 - Drink every time a commentator says something like "You could see he pulled that shot" when the ball lands left of the target. (If you could see it, why didn't you say something before the ball landed? You just sound like an idiot.) 3 - Drink every time some swing guru tries to analyze a swing, without being able to make a point in any way (It's usually in the form of a comparison to their old swing, or an explanation why a certain shot went a certain way. It's usually quite useless.) 2 - Drink every time some former great player makes it clear they were better than today's players. (You were great in your day, guys. These guys are great in their day. Your role is not to lift yourself up to put them down, but to analyze the game.) And the number 1 drinking game to play while watching professional golf on TV is: 1 - Drink every time a commentator says a player is going to make this putt/chip, with utmost confidence, and the player then misses it. (I'm not sure what they think this adds to the broadcast.) DISCLAIMER: Don't be a f*cking idiot. This is a f*cking joke. Don't even f*cking think about suing me if you play one of these games and your liver fails.

Practice Log - January 2011

2011-02-01T10:02:00.003-06:00

This is a new thing I'm going to do this year: I'm going to publish my practice log for every month of the year. I figured this way I'll be more motivated to work on my game, and to work on the right things. Firstly, let me say that I firmly believe in time on the range being the key to improving my game. I know some golfers spend a lot more time on the course than on the range, but I know if I did that I would not improve significantly at all. For me, the best ratio is 3-4 trips to the range for every round I play, and at times it's a lot more. I only get out to play a couple of times a month, so I feel like I owe it to golf to have my game in as good shape as possible. There are times I go to the range a dozen times between rounds. It doesn't hurt that I LOVE going to the range. I thoroughly enjoy hitting buckets, putting, and chipping alike. It's one thing to hit one good golf shot, like you would do on the course. It's quite another to be able to hit good shot after good shot after good shot, like you might do on the range. It's VERY satisfying to me. So here goes. Living in Dallas is wonderful if you're a golfer, as we had some very nice days even in January, so I've been able to stay somewhat active:

1/4 - 45 minutes, putt and chip
1/13 - 100 balls
1/26 - 1 hour, putt and chip
1/27 - 100 balls
1/28 - 30 minutes chipping, 18 holes par 3 pitching course.
1/29 - 18 holes, Los Rios GC, Plano, TX.

I shot a 94 from the blues, which overall I'm OK with. I had an abysmal start to the round. My handicap remains at 12.2.

False alarm on Lefty rules violation

2011-01-30T17:58:00.002-06:00

When I saw Bones tend the flagstick for Phil's third shot at the San Diego Open my first thought was "He's not allowed to do that!". I distinctly recalled a recent magazine article that talked about the flag being tended and pulled for a shot from off the green, and the article was quite clear in its assertion that this was not allowed. So I looked up good ol' Rule 17 in the Rules of Gowf, dealing with "The Flagstick". Rule 17-1 deals with tending the flagstick. It states "Before making a stroke from anywhere on the course, the player may have the flagstick attended, removed or held up to indicate the position of the hole. If the flagstick is not attended, removed or held up before the player makes a stroke, it must not be attended, removed or held up during the stroke or while the player’s ball is in motion if doing so might influence the movement of the ball." So, Phil is in the right because clearly Bones was attending the flag prior to the shot. The article in question clearly deals with the situation where someone's hitting a shot that's not expected to go in, and someone runs up to jerk the flag out of the hole.

State Of The Tour

2011-01-26T22:00:00.002-06:00

I'd be the first to admit it; I'm an absolute 100% golf geek. I read about golf and I practice golf and I watch a hell of a lot of golf on TV. Knowing I allowed myself to drop off the radar for the past six months or so, let me throw out my thoughts about what happened at the end of the 2010 season, and what my thoughts are about the 2011 season:

I think the major winners of 2010 will have more impact on the future of professional golf than any set of major winners since 1994, when Els and Olazabal both won their first majors. We know how talented Phil is, and I think Martin, Louis, and Greame will be competing for top honors for a long time to come.
I think no golf contest has looked better than The Open at St. Andrews in 2010, in HD. With the sun setting on the course it was absolutely gorgeous.
I think DJ has some significant golf karma coming back his way, after the debacles at Pebble and the PGA. He'll will a lot, and he'll win big.
I think Tiger will come back with a vengeance, and win a major and at least a couple of tour events. His game is too good, his focus too strong for him to blank out for another year. I think he wins the PGA in Atlanta.
I think this is the year Lee Westwood just runs ramshod over the rest of the pro players the way we've gotten used to seeing Tiger do in the last decade. I'd say he wins a major and three to four tour victories. His game and his mindset is just too solid to fail at this point. I think he'll take The Open at St. George's.
I think Martin Kaymer wins the US Open this year. It's a very Prussian setup, and nobody is better prepared to play it than he is.
I think AK wins the Masters this year. He has the game and the mindset to make magic happen at Augusta. He has more Seve in him since, well, Seve.
I think this is the year that the old-school PGA pros like Furyk and Stricker start to fall behind. We saw it last year with Perry. Their generation is finally gone. The tour now belongs to the likes of DJ and Sean O'Hair and Hockey Hoffman and The Smurf and Bubba.
I think by the end of the year Rory's swing will still go down as the best in the business. And he will still look a LOT like Danny Noonan in Caddyshack, or Danny Boyd if you read golf related comic strips in the 70s like I did.
I think Bo Van Pelt is the dark horse on the PGA Tour in 2011. He's very VERY good.

That is all.

State Of My Game

2011-01-26T21:32:00.002-06:00

A precious few of you may actually be following this blog, and if you do you would know where this story is coming from. For the newcomers, allow me to summarize: Picked up the game around 13 in the old country (Sweden). Got to a 9 handicap by 17. Moved to the US. Played on HS and minor College teams, somewhat sporadically. Allowed non-golf life to get in the way and didn't play much for about 15 years. Had back surgery in the late fall of 2008. Bored, I asked someone to bring me the box of golf books I had in the attic. Started reading, and fell in love with golf all over again. Been working on my game fairly ardently throughout the 2009 and 2010 seasons. In 2009 I was having a hard time breaking into the 80s consistently. I'd shoot an 89 on a par 71 or a 91 on a par 72, but rarely would I beat the imaginary bogey man. For 2010 I set myself the goal of being at a 11 handicap by the end of the season, and being a sub-10 handicap by the end of the 2011 season. In 2010 I played much better. Clearly the work I did in 2009 carried over, and I started beating the bogey man with fair regularity. In mid summer I lost my job, which had a neutral impact on my golf game. I did have more time on my hands to practice and play, but I also had less money laying around the cost of practicing and playing. I had bought a card at my local driving range, and I continued to use that up, and I was able to get a couple of really good rounds in in the middle of the beautiful Texas fall. Here's another twist I threw at my game around this time: I started walking and carrying my bag, and I moved back to the blue tees from the front ones I had been playing in my beer rounds. Now, walking and carrying at age 45 is never going to be easy. I had several new playing partners ask just how old I was, and be shocked that I'm "still carrying". I did explain to them that I was "carrying AGAIN". It also takes a bit to get used to the different pace of walking the course when everybody around you is driving a cart. The first couple of holes are the toughest, then you settle into a routine. Even so, all these things considered, I played some of my best golf EVER in these rounds. I shot an 85 and an 82 from the back tees while dragging my own bag across the course, and my handicap plummeted down to a 12.2 mark. MOST satisfying. Not to feign superiority, but the only term I could come up with for these rounds is "real golf". You walk the course, you carry your bag, you play from the appropriate tees. I'm still out of work, so there's no telling what 2011 will be like. One of the key parameters that's allowed me to improve my game over the past couple of years is that I had a driving range just minutes from work. I could go there for lunch and pitch for 3o minutes, or hit a small bucket of balls. The importance of touching the clubs regularly can NOT be overstated. I still think I can get into the single digits this year, as my goal was at the outset of 2010. In addition I've added another long term goal for my game. Going into my 46:th year at a 12.2 I would like to get to a 7.4 handicap by the time I'm 50, so that I could enter into the US Senior Amateur Championship. I mean, really ... how cool would it be just to be able to compete for a spot? I love my golfing friends, and I love the game and it's players and fanatics. Until we meet again: Keep'em in the short stuff.

Well, Obama did his

2011-01-26T21:25:00.002-06:00

President Obama delivered his "State Of The Union" address this week. And Tiger Woods is making his return to professional golf. And the kilted one had done what I hoped never to do, allow myself to fall completely off the radar into the ethereal ether. So I'm going to try to wrap my head around golf and life once again, focusing on the state of my game and the state of the tour. Some golf writers focus strictly on their own game, and tips and techniques to improve it as much as possible. Some write strictly about the tour, but as a reader I'm somewhat left to wonder about what kind of a golf game that writer enjoys on his own weekend. The good ones cover both.

Golf and Life

2010-11-30T20:14:00.003-06:00

Well, the Kilted one has been in a bit of a slump for a few months here. It's mostly job related. Got laid off, and I've been busy selling my soul to the highest buyer. I've been keeping a very positive attitude, but it's still a drawn out and challenging time in one's life. I think men have a harder time being laid off, as on an instinctive level we feel like we're inadequate if we don't provide for our family. Sure, friends and relatives are all very nice, saying all the right things, but we still feel like sh*t. As with most everything else that happens in my life, there's a tie to golf. Several ties, actually. Firstly, I just haven't had enough time, energy, and mostly peace of mind to write about golf. Job hunting in the internet age is almost a 24/7 proposition, and it takes every bit as much of your time as having an actual job. The difference is, you leave a job to come home. You're never far away from another jobhunting step. Being out of work is tremendously tiring. On the days when I have an interview I'm just shot for the rest of the day. Science has proven that being out of work is more stressful than ANY job you can have. Then there's the peace of mind bit. Writing about golf is a luxury for me, and without having the lower rungs on my hierarchy of mental needs in place I just haven't been able to get myself to the point where it was even possible for me to put words on paper (figuratively speaking, of course). I go back to a partial round of golf I played back in 2003. I was deep in the throes of buying a new house, and my buddy was expecting his firstborn any day. We got about as far as 12 holes, and then we had to walk off the course. Our heads just weren't in the game, and if they're not 100% on the next shot there's just no way to either have fun or play well. I remember my dad saying the same thing about a couple of instances where life got in the way of a good round. I mean, that's what we love about golf, right? It's not that it's relaxing, in and of itself. Are four foot downhill putts relaxing? Are long water carries relaxing? Are plugged lies in the bunker relaxing? Of course they're not. The key is that while you worry about all those ups and downs of a round of golf you don't worry about anything else that's going on in your life. You don't, because you can't. Then my mind swings around to some of the professional tour players who have had extra-curricular things on their mind this year. Tiger and Phil are the obvious ones, but there are many many pros who have life's strikes and gutters threaten their mental 300. I've never dealt with a loved one having cancer, but I have gone through a divorce. The fact that these guys are even able to be basically competitive at all is a tremendous testament to their innate talent and strength of will. I've been very lucky through my rough spot here that it was by far the nicest time of the year in the Dallas area, and I was able to spend some time on the range and on the course. My game is actually in pretty good shape. The OU - Texas challenge in the beginning of September was the highlight, again dominated by the Sooners. After that I made a move back one tee, to the blues from the whites, and I started walking and carrying my sticks. It took a bit to find a new rhythm, but my game has flourished. I have finished the season with a couple of rounds in the low 80s, and my handicap is at 12.2. I still think about golf all the time, quite literally. I've been watching a lot of the tournaments at the end of the year, and I think the pro game is in very good shape right now. Right now I'm on a short-term consulting gig, and even though it's not permanent it's enough to stop the financial bleeding and let things break even for a bit. I'm hoping to get back into my writing. I've also read some significant golf books, and those of you who know me know how much I love golf lit. I look forward to re-acquainting myself with my old friends in the golf community. Until then, keep'em in the short stuff.

My Ryder Cup Picks

2010-09-07T08:53:00.003-05:00

Corey Pavin's announcement is only minutes away, and here are the four players I would pick if I were in his shoes: TIGER WOODS - Still #1, and playing better every week. Always an intimidating name in a lineup, no matter what the Euros say about him. STEWART CINK - Hasn't won since The Open last year, but he has been playing well of late, and he's a good clubhouse presence. He has Top-20 finishes in his last four events, which include a WGC event, a major, and two playoff events. SEAN O'HAIR - Another player who hasn't won this year, but he's been very very close. Six Top-12 finishes in his last 10 events. His MC at the PGA was bothersome, as he seemed to be trending up leading into the tournament, but I still think he has the game to contribute. CHARLEY HOFFMAN - He looked great this week, and he's been playing well leading up to this tournament as well, with three Top-10s in his previous five events. If this win was a one-off he wouldn't have a chance to make the team, but he was trending in the right direction previously as well. Here are a couple of close candidates, and why I decided to leave them out: LUCAS GLOVER - No wins since his US Open at Bethpage last year. This year he has three top-10s and seven MCs. I just can't get fired up about having him on the team. ANTHONY KIM - Nobody is a bigger AK fan than I am, but I just can't do it. One T76 and four MCs since his return. Makes you wonder if he rushed back before he was really ready. I know he'll be heartbroken if he is left out, as he cares about this competition as much as anyone else on the planet. ZACH JOHNSON - One win, at Colonial this spring, but only two finishes better than T21 for the rest of the year. He'd be a steadying influence on a young team, but I just don't think he's playing well enough right now.

Bummer Summer

2010-09-06T14:21:00.002-05:00

One of the first new terms I learned when I first came to this country as a 17-year old attending High School in Goddard, KS was "Bummer Summer". I think my buddy Alan was referring to someone who had to work all summer. Well, it's been that kind of a summer for me. I won't get into all the gory details, but it's been a combination of kid stuff and work stuff. On the upside I'm very lucky to have my health and to have the love of my live by my side through these chellenging times. I've still been watching a lot of golf, and practicing and playing a fair amount as well. I just haven't had the peace of mind to sit down and write about it. I'm making an effort to get back into it, as I realize that it's as good for my mind to write as it is for my body to exercise. I'm hoping to be able to catch up with assorted commentaries over the next couple of days. I have enjoyed some of the great play I've seen on tour over the last month and a half. I have also enjoyed some of my best play personally in this time, and I have had some interesting swing revelations in my time on the range. In addition I have had the pleasure of reading a very significant golf book in this period, and I look forward to writing about all these things very shortly. Right now it's Monday afternoon, and I wish everyone a happy Labor Day. The Deutsche Bank is on from Nawton, Mass, and I will be tweeting as I watch the rest of this tournament. I look forward to reconnecting with all my online golf friends. Keep'em in the short stuff.

Interview with Josh Karp - Author of "Straight Down the Middle"

2010-07-22T13:38:00.002-05:00

I reviewed "Straight Down the Middle" a few weeks ago. http://golferinkilt.blogspot.com/2010/07/book-review-straight-down-middle-by.html. Subsequent to reading the book I've had the pleasure of exchanging several emails with the author Josh Karp. You might enjoy getting to know him as I have, so I edited some of our conversations into an interview. FIRSTLY, ON A NON-GOLF TOPIC, HOW DO YOU GET TO BE A SOX FAN LIVING IN THE NORTHERN SUBURBS OF CHICAGO? I am surrounded by Cubs fans. I like them individually (some of my best friends) but despise them collectively. My grandfather was a Cubs fan who absolutely and completely hated the Sox because he was a fan of theirs back in 1919 when they threw the world series. That was it for him. He wouldn't even watch the AL unless it was the all-star game or the series. I probably became a Sox fan just to drive him nuts. IT'S BEEN ABOUT TWO YEARS SINCE YOU WROTE "STRAIGHT DOWN THE MIDDLE". HOW HAS YOUR JOURNEY BEEN PROGRESSING SINCE THIS TIME? DID YOU BREAK 80 YET? No, not yet. I only played about 10 times last summer because after 2 years of being paid to play golf part-time the party was over and i had a hard time justifying getting out on the course. That said, I’ve had a few 80s the last two summers. I'm trying to play about once a week this year and i'm finding that even without playing as much as i would like, my game has improved in just about every way except for breaking 80. I've managed to sail past the point of implosion when i open 6 over after 3. when i get in the zone or get hot, i don't think about it in a way that will destroy the feeling, and most of all - even though i want to shoot the lowest score - I've detached from results pretty effectively. HOW HAVE YOU CONTINUED TO APPLY THE LESSONS YOU TALK ABOUT IN THE BOOK? Well, the three biggest things I take away from what I learned are this: 1) Don't keep score. I still do, but not with the avidity (if that's a word) that I once did. I can play hole to hole without thinking about what I'll have for nine or 18 and if I am counting things up it doesn't create pressure in the way it once did. 2) Loosen your grip. This is kind of related to #1 and also has improved my game immeasurably. I hit the ball so much better and even when I'm falling apart I remind myself to loosen my grip and it seems to help. and 3) Maybe most importantly, I try to go out and have good swings and enjoy swinging the club, kind of letting fortune take over. Last week was a good example. I was playing in a charity tournament with my dad, my uncle and a friend of my uncle's. It was a shotgun and i opened 6 over for what would be holes 7-9 on the back. After this I calmed down and started playing really well. I was maybe one over after 6 or 7 and hit a really nice drive and 2nd shot on a par 5. I was 130 away and grabbed my 8-iron, my 125-140 club and hit a great shot, felt perfect, was flying directly at the stick, etc. Even though the ball sailed 10 feet past and rolled off of the back of the green I was still happy with how well I hit the ball and how good it felt. This positive experience kind of negated any disappointment at not putting for birdie. IN THE BEGINNING OF THE BOOK YOU DISCUSSED HOW YOUR SEARCH WAS RELATED TO IMPROVING YOUR GOLF AND YOUR LIFE, BUT IT SEEMS THAT TOWARDS THE END OF THE BOOK IT WAS ALMOST EXCLUSIVELY ABOUT GOLF. WAS THIS A CONSCIOUS DECISION? I think I kind of got tired of writing about my anxieties and they began to genuinely subside as the journey went on. I had that moment flying out of Scotland where I felt completely free of everything. It didn't last, at least not in that pure of a state, but that was a huge turning point for me. I tried to tie it up in the conclusion by acknowledging that I probably wasn't going to morph into Bing Crosby, but that I was going to continue to meditate and to keep slogging away at both golf and enlightenment. I FOUND IT FUNNY HOW YOU WOULD TRAVEL TO VISIT ALL THESE DEEP THINKERS AND SPIRITUAL FOLKS TO GET THEIR ASSISTANCE WITH THE MENTAL ASPECTS OF YOUR GOLF GAME, AND THE FIRST THING THEY DID WAS TO TAKE YOU OUT TO THE DRIVING RANGE. WHAT DID YOU THINK ABOUT THIS AT THE TIME? That was pretty much the deal. It was one of the things that i thought was hilarious about the entire idea and genre of books, and something I really wanted to explore, this idea that golf and life are somehow linked. Since I'm a journalist I'm pretty much a born cynic, which is usually just an idealist with a bad case of disillusionment. I was fairly dubious about all of it while also kind of believing it and having experienced it in bits and snatches during the course of my having played the game. In the end I think that golf is about as close to spirituality as I will find. I'm unlikely to meditate on the range again, unless I'm with a Shivas Irons outing, but I surprised myself with how I was able to buy into it. AS I READ SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE BOOK I FOUND MYSELF CONSIDERING A PARADOX: DID YOU HIT GOOD GOLFSHOTS BECAUSE YOU WERE IN A "HAPPY PLACE", OR DID YOU FEEL LIKE YOU WERE IN A "HAPPY PLACE" BECAUSE YOU JUST STRIPED A SIX-IRON. HOW DID YOU HANDLE THIS CONUNDRUM? I think it may be both. I was much more likely to stripe a six-iron if I wasn't thinking about my swing or worrying about where the ball would go, while striping the same six iron at a bad moment would definitely improve my mood. The difference was that in the past it would have made me happy and I'd have immediately started worrying about my putt. I learned to take in and appreciate each shot for what it was. The two are pretty well connected to each other and hard for me to separate. IT SEEMED YOU WERE THE HAPPIEST ON THE COURSE WHEN YOU CHOSE TO NO LONGER CARE HOW WELL YOU PLAYED, YET AT THE SAME TIME YOU HAD A VERY SPECIFIC GOAL IN MIND AS FAR AS YOUR GOLF PERFORMANCE. HOW DID YOU RECONCILE THESE TWO DIRECTIONS OF EMPHASIS? There is an amazing correlation between the amount I care about my score and the score I actually shoot. This year I've had some weird schizophrenic rounds of 50-38, 39-48, 40-49, etc. The difference between the nines corresponds to the amount I am thinking about my score or how hard I am trying. When I finally give that stuff up things get much, much better without my having to do anything but swing a club and forget about the rest. But, there is a lot of paradoxical stuff in the book and within the genre. I think that's what attracted me to it. How can one get what they care about by not caring about it? Sounds insane, but is absolutely the truth. The more you do and the less you try, the more good happens. SOME ASCRIBE TO THE "THINK ABOUT NOTHING" THEORY, WHILE OTHERS ADVOCATE WE SHOULD HOLD ON TO SOME FORM OF A SWING THOUGHT AS WE GO ABOUT HITTING A SHOT. WHAT'S YOUR OPINION? I ascribe to the idea that I should focus on nothing. If i do focus on something, it is generally a feel. I want the swing to feel good. It needs to be a thought that is vague enough so that I can't obsess about it. I've never done well with guided imagery and visualization. I'm much, much better off working on something that's difficult to quantify.

Product Review - Kentwool Socks

2010-07-15T14:54:00.003-05:00

If there's technology in socks then clearly there's going to be technology in everything related to golf. Kentwool was founded with the intent to "create the world’s best golf sock. The innovative result is a one-of-a-kind performance product that delivers an unexpected edge for serious golfers." Kentwool socks are worn by Bubba Watson and Jonathan Byrd on the PGA Tour and Jenny Gleason and Kristy McPherson on the LPGA Tour, among other professional golfers. THE TECHNOLOGY Kentwool's socks are made of high grade "superfine" wool, which they spin themselves and combine with both natural and synthetic materials to get the properties they seek. The Socks I tested were very low, which I like, and they also make a regular crew height model as well. They have extra padding in the heel and toes for increased comfort. THE VERDICT: BIRDIE I did two tests with my socks, and I ran them through the wash a handful of times inbetween (in order to avoid the naturally good feeling of any new sock compared to what's in my golf drawer). When I opened my package my first thought was that there was no way these socks (their XL size) would fit my size 14 loaves, but I was wrong. The fabric is very flexible, and the socks fit snugly on my feet. The first time I wore them I played 18 in near-100 degree temperatures. In my second test I wore them for several hours at the range, again in very warm temperatures. Although the Kentwool socks feel thick on your foot they're very cool to wear, every bit so as any other sock I've worn. The padding make the sock feel very comfortable, and it helps to secure the shoe on your foot as well. It feels like your foot is molded into the shoe. After several washes my socks looked a little fuzzy, but their soft feel and flexibility were retained.

The Hack Shack - The Open

2010-07-15T14:19:00.003-05:00

This week I and my fellow Hack-Shackers discuss Goydos' 59, golf at St. Andrews, who we like at the British Open this week, and how our own game is going. PAUL GOYDOS SHOOTS A 59, AND STRICK WINS THE JOHN DEERE AT A RIDICULOUS 26 STROKES BELOW PAR. HOW SIGNIFICANT IS THIS? STEFAN: I love "Sunshine", but he gets a slight asterisk next to his score. Par is 71 on this course, and they were playing "clean and place". This essentially means every iron shot is teed up as long as it's in the fairway, and we all know Goydos hits a lot of fairways. The other three 59s were on par 72 courses. Strick can shoot darts with the best of them. JEFF: How can you not like "Sunshine" Goydos? The guy is a quote a minute. I do think this is pretty significant, despite that it was on a par 71 course. These guys play PLENTY of par 71 courses throughout the year, and still this is only the 4th time it's ever been done in history. How can you not say that's significant? STEFAN: Oh, it's definitely significant, and nobody's a bigger Goydos fan than me. Earlier in the week I was keeping my fingers crossed for a Goydos/Mediate pairing on Sunday. They would have HAD to put a mic on those guys. JACK: Whichever way you look at it, a 59 on the PGA Tour is a 59. Incredible stuff, even though Paul Goydos was the last guy I had down to achieve such a feat. Imagine if Stricks could have gone one better on the Thursday and matched Goydos: a pair of 59s on the same day! Now that would have been significant. TONY: That round shows you how good any regular middle tier tour player could be on any given day. They're so beyond low handicap amateurs it is sick. How funny is it that Stricker shoots a 60 in the first round and was in 2nd place? The scores last week were very Bob Hope Desert Classic like. I don't mind a tourney or two a year where they go super low like this. Perhaps that balances out the high scoring of the US OPEN. Any company who provides gear for Goydos has been quick to jump on the bandwagon, from ball manufacturers to club manufacturers. I think I even saw a press release from Goydos’ toothpaste manufacturer. WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS, FEELINGS, EMOTIONS ABOUT ST. ANDREWS? TONY: The home of golf. The whole town is all about golf. I can't wait to go. Planning on going next July. My best friend has played the old course and walked the grounds at Augusta National. He tells me the feeling he gets at the old course is far beyond what he felt at the Masters. As big a Masters fan as I am, I found that hard to believe but I'll wait until I stand on the 1st tee at the Old Course before I judge what he said. I love the old course and the links style golf. I play very well on links courses and I love the creativity and shots that can be played, especially ones which run and follow the contours and rolling hills. STEFAN: I've never been there, and maybe I'm building it up too much in my mind, but for me it's the Mecca of golf in every sense of the word. It's like a portal through which all other golf experiences get funneled. Growing up in Sweden we were big Seve fans, and his win there in '84 put it on the map for us. Then you add Bobby and Jack before that and Tiger a couple of times after that, and you can't beat it. I'd love to see the Ryder Cup played there one day, maybe for the Centenary in 2027. JEFF: Overall I'm not a "huge" fan of links style golf, but have to respect these players that go and can completely change their game to accommodate the course and conditions like that. St. Andrews IS the Mecca of golf and I'd give my right arm to play there some day. It's created so many historic moments over the years and I love that The Open goes back there so often. I love watching the guys tee it up on the road hole. JACK: First things first, I think St Andrews is slightly overrated as a course. Don't get me wrong, it's fantastic, but Turnberry and Royal Birkdale stand out as two better Open Championship venues I've had the privilege of playing... not wanting to brag or anything. As an Open Championship venue, however, you can't beat St Andrews. In fact, I'd go as far as saying that it's the best major venue by quite some way. The atmosphere, surroundings, fans, architecture, EVERYTHING: the place is just so special. Close your eyes at the last hole and you can almost envisage yourself on the fairways with the game's greats - the sense of history is palpable and somewhat overwhelming. TIME TO MAKE YOUR PICKS. I SAY WE PICK ONE PLAYER FROM THE TOP 10, ONE PLAYER FROM 11-20, ONE PLAYER FROM 21-30, AND ONE PLAYER RANKED ABOVE 30 IN THE WORLD ACCORDING TO OWGR (http://www.officialworldgolfranking.com/rankings/default.sps). IF YOU'RE NOT PICKING TIGER OR PHIL, LET US KNOW WHY NOT. (EDITOR’S NOTE: THOUGH THIS CONVERSATION WAS POSTED AFTER THE START OF THE TOURNAMENT, THE PICKS WERE MADE ON WEDNESDAY) STEFAN: I'm basing my picks in part on the fact that with the exception of Nick Faldo the recent six winners at St. Andrews have been some of the longest hitters in the game (Jack, Seve, JD, Tiger). - LEE WESTWOOD (barely edging Rory and Tiger). Beware of an injured golfer. This tournament will be a stern test to his psyche, after his performance at the US Open. He's won here before on the Euro tour. - JUSTIN ROSE (just ahead of Paddy). I know it's supposed to be some sort of weird taboo to win the tournament before a major, but the way he has been playing he has to have loads of confidence at this time. - DUSTIN JOHNSON. You know how when you hit a bad shot with a certain club on a hole you're bound to get that very same shot on the next hole? Well, for Dustin it's another Major, and obviously a test of his psyche as well. - ANGEL CABRERA. He has the power and the experience to do well here. It's about time for him to come out of nowhere to win a major again. I think Tiger will get another Top 10 here, but I think Phil will struggle. He's just so in love with his own game. The power of his drives, and the freaky flop shots he throws up there. I think he's blinded to the kinds of shots he's going to have to hit in order to do well at St. Andrews. JACK: Top 10: Tiger Woods, who else? Yeah yeah, he's streaky, but he's got to win sometime soon. This is his favourite track, and it shows in the fact that he's hoisted the Claret Jug here on the past two occasions. He'll make it three in a row if you ask me.11 - 20: I'm with Stef on this one... Justin Rose. Made a name for himself at this tournament back in '98 at Royal Birkdale and, based on current form, there's no reason why he can't go a few better and win the thing.21 - 30: Sean O'Hair, anyone? Love Sean's game and after a decent finish at St Andrews in 2005, I think he'll be turning a few heads come Sunday afternoon. You heard it here first.Outside 30 - Ross Fisher. Sure, this guy's dull as dishwater, but he can't half play golf. Let's forget the fact that Fisher made a hash of thing at Turnberry last year, because he's got the length and patience to contend again this week. JEFF: From Top 10 in OWGR - Lee Westwood He's primed and ready for his long-awaited first Major. After the Masters I said that I didn't think his first would be Pebble, but that St. Andrews would be. So I'll stick with that. He's a Major Championship shark, and he's playing the best golf of his career. I think he's the guy to beat this week. 11-20 in OWGR - Justin Rose - The OTHER Brit who is absolutely on fire right now. Rose is finally starting to live up to all of that potential and I would not be surprised at all to see him win this week. He'll certainly have the crowds behind him. 21-30 in OWGR - Geoff Ogilvy - Ogilvy hasn't been playing the best of golf this year, but to choose from this small select group of 21-30 in OWGR, I like his chances seeing his T5 finish in 2005 at St. Andrews. Outside of Top 30 - Sergio Garcia - I know this can be somewhat laughable, but since 2001 he's finished in Top 10 SIX times at The Open. I just like him as an outside reach/sleeper pick. I didn't go with Tiger or Phil for pretty obvious reasons. Tiger, as we've seen has had some issues with the putter, and you just don't know what you're going to get with him lately. Phil, doesn't exactly have a great track record at the British either, as much as I'd love to see him win. TONY: 1-10: Lee Westwood (arguably playing the best golf of anyone on this planet right now and will have great support from the galleries)11-20: Padraig Harrington (total stud, knows how to win Opens)21-30: Sean O'Hair (like the kid)30+: Angel Cabrera (love his attitude and he's mega long) WHAT IS SOMETHING YOU'RE WORKING ON WITH YOUR OWN GAME RIGHT NOW, AND HOW IS IT WORKING OUT SO FAR? STEFAN: I've come to the realization that I need to spend some time in the practice bunker, so I started that last night. It was ugly. My regular muni doesn't have a lot of sand on it, which is nice for two reasons: 1) It doesn't have a lot of sand on it, and 2) I can wear my golf sandals to play there. When I go to a course with more bunkering (like Bali Hai last month) I tend to struggle. In addition to the difficulty of the shot there is also a lot of variation from sand to sand. My focus is on taking a consistent amount of sand with a shallow swing. I realized last night that bunker practice takes a lot more out of you than almost anything else you do on the range. My plan was to hit a small bucket after about 45 minutes of bunker practice, and I barely made it through the bucket because I was worn out. JEFF: I have played golf for over 23 years and despite playing on high school and college teams with coaches who would give "tips", never had a formal/official lesson. But still got down to a 4 handicap at one point. About 2 months ago, I decided to finally take a lesson with a pro. I know there were some things in my swing that needed to be worked on. He identified 2 off the get-go. I take the club back too far, and I'm lazy with my hip turn. The club going back too far is something that is difficult (at least for me) to correct. It's so mental to tell yourself to stop, when for 20 years you've been used to that backswing. I've been hitting the range a lot and working on it. I see much cleaner and pure contact with that shortened backswing (as well as consciously firing my hips through), but my tendency now is to pull the ball a bit, and sometimes hit it fat. It's all a timing thing I think at this point, and just hitting the range on a regular basis I'll hopefully get it down to where I can build that "repeatable" swing for better ball striking. Keep'em in the short stuff. ______________________________________________ The Hack Shack is a group of golf fans and golf bloggers who like to comment on the current events in the world of golf. You can get to know us better in our introduction http://golferinkilt.blogspot.com/2010/06/introducing-hack-shack.html. On the electronic internets we can be located as follows: Tony’s blog is http://www.hookedongolfblog.com/.He also runs http://www.thegolfspace.com/.His twitter account is http://www.twitter.com/thegolfspace. Jack’s blog is http://dudewheresmypar.tumblr.com/.His twitter account is http://www.twitter.com/dudewheresmypar. Jeff’s blog is http://www.goodwalkgolf.com/.His twitter account is http://www.twitter.com/jpalopoli. Stefan’s blog is http://golferinkilt.blogspot.com/.And his twitter account is http://www.twitter.com/golferinkilt.

A British Open Martini - The "Seve-tini"

2010-07-14T20:28:00.004-05:00

You would think a Martini based on the British Open would have Gin in it, and I can see your point. But I think that what we'd drink at Royal Liverpool and what we'd drink at St. Andrew's are two completely different things. Gin is the official drink of the British Empire. Gin is wonderful. On a hot day, a Gin 'n' Tonic or a Gin Pixie (Gin and Sprite) is a perfectly wonderful beverage. But it's not Scotland. Everybody knows about Scotch, but this concoction intends to introduce you to a quite marvelous Scotch-based liquor called Drambuie. It's thick and sweet and syrupy, and absolutely awesome on a cold day. The most popular cocktail using it is a Rusty Nail, which is half Drambuie and half Scotch. I was all geared up to celebrate Seve's return to St. Andrews this year. The Golf Digest feature last month brought tears to my eyes. Growing up in Sweden, we claimed Seve as our very own world-beater, and the stories of his shots and accomplishments were nothing short of legendary in every sense of the word. He was "El Hombre" before Tiger got out of diapers. Then sadly, his health has prevented him from attending this year's celebratory event. Knowing what I know about Seve the man, that tells me he's close to death, because there are very few things that could have prevented him from going north this week. So, here's a tribute to Seve the best way I know how: A Martini. Like Seve's game it's strong and surprising and sweet and unpredictable, all the while combining the flavors of Scotland and Spain.

RECIPE:

1 oz Drambuie

1 oz Cuantreau

2 oz Belvidere Vodka

INSTRUCTIONS:

Combine ingredients over lots of ice in a shaker.

Shake heartily.

Wait a minute.

Shake heartily again.

Wait 30 seconds.

Pour into your favorite Martini glass.

Decorate with a slice of orange, and golf accutriments.

Enjoy

"Viva Seve !!!"

British Open Picks

2010-07-14T15:53:00.003-05:00

Going forward I'm going to use the following criteria to pick who I think will do well in golf tournaments: I will pick one player in the top 10 of OWGR (www.officialworldgolfranking.com/rankings/default.sps), one player in the next 10, one in the third 10, and one player ranked above 30. I'm basing my picks in part on the fact that with the exception of Nick Faldo the recent six winners at St. Andrews have been some of the longest hitters in the game (Jack, Seve, JD, Tiger).

LEE WESTWOOD (barely edging Rory and Tiger). Beware of an injured golfer. This tournament will be a stern test to his psyche, after his performance at the US Open. He's won here before on the Euro tour.

JUSTIN ROSE (just ahead of Paddy). I know it's supposed to be some sort of weird taboo to win the tournament before a major, but the way he has been playing he has to have loads of confidence at this time.

DUSTIN JOHNSON. You know how when you hit a bad shot with a certain club on a hole you're bound to get that very same shot on the next hole? Well, for Dustin it's another Major, and obviously a test of his psyche as well.

ANGEL CABRERA. He has the power and the experience to do well here. It's about time for him to come out of nowhere to win a major again.

I think Tiger will get another Top 10 here, but I think Phil will struggle. He's just so in love with his own game. The power of his drives, and the freaky flop shots he throws up there. I think he's blinded to the kinds of shots he's going to have to hit in order to do well at St. Andrews.

Book Review - "Straight Down the Middle" by Josh Karp

2010-07-12T20:51:00.004-05:00

If it's true what I've heard that Jerry Garcia actually carried a 12 handicap at Olympic in the 70s then "What a long and winding road it's been" may well have been written about a struggling golfer's journey similar to the one Josh Karp took in writing this book. He's all over the place. He visits Zen Masters and martial artists, authors, physicists, and philosophers, and his travels take him to Scotland and Wisconsin and points inbetween. Going on the supposition that what works in golf also works in life, he tries to improve his handicap in both fields.

THE AUTHOR

Josh Karp is a native and resident of Glencoe, Illinois, in the high-faluting northern suburbs of Chicago. After college he stumbled around in marketing, law, and baked goods before getting a journalism degree from Northwestern. In his own words. he "found something that he was not bad at". His written pieces have appeared in Salon, Premier, and the LA Times, and he's the author of "A Futile and Stupid Gesture: How Doug Kenney and National Lampoon Changed Comdey Forever". He currently teaches journalism to other students who presumably are not bad at it either.

THE STORY

Josh first played golf in sixth grade and hacked his way around golf teams in high school and college. He wasn't very good, but then neither were his teams. As an adult he found himself carrying an 18 handicap and a more than healthy dose of curiosity and open-mindedness about methods which may help his golf game.

Inspired by books like "Golf in the Kingdom" and "Zen Golf" he sets out to further explore the links between Zen Buddhism and meditation to success on the golf course and in life.

He explores the "effortless swing" of Yoni Zaluski, and Steve Yellin tries to help him get "in the zone". He spends time with Doctor Joe Parent, and an assortment of other thinkers of varying magnitude. He visits Buddhists in Scotland, and the Shivas Irons society's outing in Wisconsin.

By the end of his travels and travails his handicap is down to 11, and he's gotten very close to one of his goals, to break 80.

VERDICT: BIRDIE

Josh's writing is very casual and personal. At times it's painfully intimate, and at other times it's uproaringly funny. Deep philosophical concepts are described in very matter-of-fact terminology, and he doesn't let the fact that he writes about spirituality keep him from dropping the occasional F-bomb.

"This is psychic power, mind over matter. It's high-level shit. When you hole out a chip, sink a long putt, or paint a picture that flows directly from your mind to the canvas - that's the creative unconscious. For guys like you and me - it's pretty much magic. For Tiger, it's normal."

His journey is inspiring in it's honesty and candidness, and his descriptions of his adventures are colorful and moving:

"His shots make almost no noise. They say that Sam Snead's irons sounded like the door of a Rolls-Royce being slammed. Mine are loud as well, but never like a Rolls. More like a Buick on good shots, and akin to a Yugo being sideswiped by a Gremlin on the bad ones."

If you're at all intersted in the mental side of golf, and if you have an open mind to the pseudo-magical, non-plane aspects of improving your golf game then "Straight Down the Middle" will touch you deeply. Even if you're not into these things you'll still be very amused.

Open Championship groupings

2010-07-12T09:07:00.002-05:00

The groupings are out for The Open this week, and here are some of the highlights: Fernandez-Castano/Moore/Schwartzel - Very talented young players. I've been a fan of Charl since the beginning of 2009. Poulter/Els/Cink - Two winners this year, along with last year's Champion Golfer. Woods/Rose/Villegas - Clearly the premier group. Rose is as hot as anyone right now. Tiger will do well just to keep up at the rate he's going now. Harrington/Ishikawa/Watson - Interesting mix of cultures and eras. It would be surprising to see Tom compete again, but who knows. Paddy has been a disappointment this year. He ended last year playing so very well, but it hasn't transferred. Casey/Cabrera/Fowler - Is it time for Angel to jump up and win a major again? Is Casey over his injuries? How will Golfer Smurf do on the links? Jimenez/Westwood/Scott - We'll really see how tough Lee Westwood is, after his huge disappointment at the US Open. Jimenez won last week, and Scott has been playing well also. Montgomerie/Mickelson/Goosen - Interesting mix of personalities and styles of game. ESPN's broadcast starts at 4:00 AM ET on Thursday. Might as well sleep on the couch Wed night.

Book Review: "The Match" by Mark Frost

2010-07-01T23:41:00.004-05:00

I picked the right time of the year to read this book. It just fit very nicely to take in a book that is largely about Ben Hogan and Byron Nelson while the PGA Tour was playing it's Dallas events that are so closely tied to those golfing greats.

"The Match" is about a round of golf played on Cypress Point in 1956, which pitted a pro team of Hogan and Nelson against the top amateurs of the time Harvie Ward and Ken Venturi. The round was played during the buildup to Bing Crosby's clambake, which at that time was a major event on the PGA Tour.

"The Match" was published in 2007.

THE AUTHOR

Mark Frost is a bestselling author as well as a producer and director in both TV and movies. He worked on such significant creations as Hill Street Blues, Twin Peaks, and Fantastic Four. Other books about golf include "The Grand Slam" about Bobby Jones, and "The Greatest Game Ever Played" about Francis Ouimet's US Open victory.

THE STORY

In the 1950's, the golf world was still debating whether the game belonged completely to the professional tour players, or if there was still a chance the amateur game could be competitive. Bobby Jones had retired decades earlier, and nobody had stepped up to be the champion of the amateur cause.

The money on the PGA Tour was growing, but it was not a sport in which you were able to accumulate great personal wealth. If you were very good, you could make it go around, but that was about it. Some in the golf community held on to the amateur ideals with great passion and fervor, while others had hitched their wagon to the pro train.

Eddie Lowery was a San Francisco car dealer, and a rich one at that. He was also a great fan of golf, and amateur golf in particular. He often employed top amateur talent at his dealership, and his support made it possible for them to attend the major amateur tournaments and to work on their game.

In one of the many parties leading up to The Clambake in 1956 he got into an argument with fellow rich guy George Coleman. Eddie claimed that his best amateur players could beat any two professionals. George and Eddie decided to put some money on it, and George went about finding himself a couple of pros. Lucky for him, he was close to the Texas golf contingent, and he was able to round up none other than Byron Nelson and Ben Hogan.

"The Match" is about the ensuing game. Every shot is covered in great detail. Interspersed with the retelling of the round the author covers the personal history of the four golfers, as well as how their lives turned out after this round.

VERDICT - Birdie

I must admit, when I first heard about The Match I was a little sceptical. It's a book about one round of golf. Surely there's no way to make that spellbinding in any way.

Well, Mark Frost manages to do just that. By weaving the personal histories of each of the players in and out of his retelling of the round itself he keeps every chapter fresh and the story moves forward at a very comfortable pace. His writing is casual and easy to read.

As I was reading it I had to wonder how much of this story was truly real. Because of the setting and the participants, it sort of felt like "Magic and Bird One-On-One at the YMCA on the corner". At the end of the book he retells the research he did in writing the book, and by all accounts it's a true representation of a great day of golf. I think he would have been better served to have this documentation up front.

I highly recommend "The Match" to any golfer or golf fan.

The Hack Shack - AT&T National

2010-07-01T17:33:00.002-05:00

WE'VE HAD SOME TIME TO LET THINGS MARINATE FOR A BIT: WHAT ARE THE IMPRESSIONS FROM THE US OPEN THAT YOU THINK WILL STAY WITH YOU THE LONGEST? Stefan - Pebble continues to be one of the most beautiful places in all of golf. Great win for McDowell. I've liked him since watching him with Rory in the World Cup last year. I go back and forth on that 14:th hole, whether it's fair or if now and then professional golfers can just stop the whining and play the thing. Tom Watson walking up 18 was very memorable. I still maintain Tiger is not far away from being his usual world-beating self. Jack - I thought it was a pretty memorable US Open. I love Pebble to death and, no matter how much players whinge about it, I still feel the same: you just can't beat that place as a Major Championship venue. Woods is not himself, but I love the fact that he still has the ability to put the spark and electricity back into a tournament and its galleries with one round. Anyway, this one was all about McDowell for me. He left himself enough breathing room to make a few mistakes on Sunday, and walked away the worthy winner. Jeff - I think this year's US Open was great. You can't get a better venue than Pebble Beach, and having Tom Watson there made it that much more memorable. It was great to see him not only be there because of his history at Pebble/US Open, but because he deserved to be and played quite well, all things considered. That 14th hole is insane and I'm up in the air if it's fair or not. I've heard fom Tour players that they say while it's unbelievably difficult, it's also very fair. But maybe it's those guys just not wanting to make waves! I also thought the little 7th hole added some excitement. Nowhere else in the world do you see a 100 yard par 3 give the best players in the world such a headache. It was great to see Graeme McDowell play well and hold off the big guns of Woods, Mickelson, and Els. He's been knocking on the door for a while and it was nice to see him break through. Hopefully the 2010 Open will be remembered more for his steady play under pressure, than Dustin Johnson's complete meltdown. Tony - I thought it was a good open but not a great one. I loved how the USGA had Pebble prepared, with the long grass around the bunkers and the difficulty level of the greens. The cool thing about this course's length and setup was that it brought the whole field into play, not just the bombers. That being said a bomber (Dustin Johnson) was on the brink of winning the thing until he realized he was leading the US OPEN on Sunday and completely lost it. When he hit that shank/flop on #2 I knew he was toast. I almost fell out of my chair. Regarding 14, I'm of the belief that it was fine. If all the players play the same hole in the same conditions that is fair. I personally like US OPEN golf and seeing the big boys struggle. It makes me feel like they're actually human. I wonder how much easier 14 would have been if the players could have played it with square grooved wedges? What I thought was most notable on Sunday was that everyone at the top of the leaderboard, including McDowell, gagged. Nobody within reach made a run at it. It was just that McDowell gagged the least and calmed himself down enough to pull it off on the back nine. Tiger, Phil and especially Ernie all had good chances to win the thing but they all made mistakes. Both Tiger and Phil had terrible putting days. It sounds like a broken record, but Tiger's putting was "not Tiger like." Phil has been hot and cold in US OPEN with his putting historically so it wasn't as big of a surprise to me. The one person who didn't gag and was very impressive was Gregory Havret, who shot the best final round of those on page one of the leaderboard. His swing looked as good as any I've seen. I wonder if that was a flash in the pan or if we'll see more of him. I love Tom Watson. I followed Tom around on Tuesday at this year's Masters practice round. He was so cool and nice. I think it is amazing that he made the cut in a US OPEN at that age and it shows how much of a stud he is. WHERE DO YOU THINK TIGER'S GAME IS AT THIS TIME, AND HOW DO YOU THINK HE'LL DO THIS YEAR AND IN THE FUTURE? Jeff - Never having been a huge Tiger fan, I'm somewhat enjoying this levelling of the playing field. Like Jack, I think his game is around 75% back. But I'm not sure we'll ever see the Tiger of old again and the domination he once displayed. I think he'll win this year, but I'm not feeling it for the British. His mental sharpness is obviously not what it one was, and the British is coming up pretty soon. However, you can't discount the guy's two top 4's in the Majors so far, playing well below his "A" game. Jack - I'd say his game is at about 60%, which is obviously nowhere where he wants it be. Funny thing being is the fact he's played nowhere near his potential and still managed to finish tied 4th in both of this year's Majors! I think that says all you need to know really. Only a matter of time before he's back winning Majors in my opinion. If he can steady the ship in the next few weeks then I'd say the outcome at St Andrews is a formality. Stefan - I think Tiger's game is closer than 75%. I know Johnny Miller won't agree, but there's a lot of things I don't agree with that loudmouth on. Tiger's ballstriking at the US Open was as good as anyone else's. Having said that, I don't think we'll ever see the kind of domination that we witnessed ten years ago, but I felt that way before his injuries, surgeries, and personal upheaval. That domination was the outcome of him taking a giant leap in terms of strength, fitness, and work ethic over the bulk of the PGA players at the time. Now, the rest of the tour has caught up in a lot of these regards. In a way this makes it a lot more interesting, because now we'll see if his pure talent is enough to maintain his #1 status. Tony - Having gone through a divorce over the last few years (fortunately and unfortunately) I can sort of feel Tiger's pain. The difference is that my ex didn't get what is looking like it could be 3/4 of a billion dollars. That process had a very negative effect on my game. Even the slightest bad break, like a lip out, would finish me off for a round. My handicap has gone up a great percentage over the time of my divorce and stress, and my frustration level has been the highest ever. My psyche has been fragile. My divorce is now over and I'm trying to get my game back. Despite what some may think, Tiger is human and this has and will have a negative effect on his game for some time to come. Will he win a major this year? Many thought he'd win at Pebble because it set up so great for him and he had such a dominant win in 2000. He didn't. Those same pundits are saying he should dominate at St. Andrews because he plays that course so well. I have a tough time with that. As good as he is, he's not as sharp mentally as he has been in his winning ways. In "Open" situations you can't afford to make small mistakes. He himself said he made "three" mental mistakes in his final US OPEN round which cost him the tournament. I thought he made more than that. DO YOU THINK THE MEDIA IS SPENDING TOO MUCH TIME COMPARING TIGER NOW TO TIGER TEN YEARS AGO? Jack - Yep, but that was inevitably going to happen, what with his injuries and personal life revelations. Pretty pointless drawing comparisons if you ask me: every great athlete has his or her prime years and we can't expect it to last forever. If you asked today's pros, I'm sure the majority of 'em would give an arm and a leg to have Tiger's current, 60 - 75% game! Bottom line being that Tiger can still compete week-in-week-out, even if he's not as dominant as he used to be. Jeff - Never having been a huge Tiger fan, I'm somewhat enjoying this levelling of the playing field. Like Jack, I think his game is around 75% back. But I'm not sure we'll ever see the Tiger of old again and the domination he once displayed. I think he'll win this year, but I'm not feeling it for the British. His mental sharpness is obviously not what it one was, and the British is coming up pretty soon. However, you can't discount the guy's two top 4's in the Majors so far, playing well below his "A" game. Stefan - I agree the media is spending too much time looking into the past. If I have to hear "that's not the kind of missed putt we would have seen from the Tiger of old" one more time I'm going to put a Titleist through my TV. But I think this is another expression of the laziness of the mainstream golf media. It's much easier to re-hash some old Tiger comparisons than doing some actual research and maybe possibly tell us who the f*ck Gregory Havret is. CHRISTIE KERR WON THE LPGA CHAMPIONSHIP LAST WEEK, AND VAULTED TO #1 IN THE WORLD, THE FIRST US WOMAN TO DO SO. HOW SIGNIFICANT IS THIS? Jeff - It is kind of hard to believe that she is first isn't it? I think it's pretty significant but it was only a matter of time with all the good young American female golfers coming up through the ranks. Just watching the Solheim Cup, you could see the talent there and then with Ochoa retiring, you had to figure. It will be interesting to see how long Kerr holds on to the spot. Tony - To me this isn't significant at all. I don't follow the LPGA tour much. I doubt I've watched any LPGA since Annika retired. I don't find watching or following the LPGA to be interesting. Jack - The fact that she's the first women's world number one is surprising more than significant in my opinion. Can't believe it's taken this long! Saying that, I'm not sure how long it'll last, what with Ai Miyazato being on fire this year. Will be interesting to see those two (amongst others hopefully) battle it out over the next few years. Stefan - It's significant, but only for the wrong reasons. We should not have to get excited to finally have an American #1. Between that bit of statistics and the 7-month drought between American winners on the LPGA Tour (that's a total of four events, you know), it's no wonder they're in dire straits financially. IF this triggers an increase in interests and it motivates other American players to raise their game, then it's definititely significant. Otherwise, it may be the answer to a trivia question in 2018: "Who was the first and last American #1s on the LPGA tour?" Until next time, keep'em in the short grass. ========================================= The Hack Shack is a group of golf fans and golf bloggers who like to comment on the current events in the world of golf. On the electronic internets we can be located as follows: Tony’s blog is http://www.hookedongolfblog.com. He also runs http://www.thegolfspace.com. His twitter account is http://www.twitter.com/thegolfspace. Jack’s blog is http://dudewheresmypar.tumblr.com. His twitter account is http://www.twitter.com/dudewheresmypar. Jeff’s blog is http://www.goodwalkgolf.com. His twitter account is http://www.twitter.com/jpalopoli. Stefan’s blog is http://golferinkilt.blogspot.com His twitter account is http://www.twitter.com/golferinkilt. For more information about us as people and golfers, see http://golferinkilt.blogspot.com/2010/06/introducing-hack-shack.html

Introducing: The Hack Shack

2010-06-30T11:11:00.002-05:00

The Hack Shack is a group of golf fans and golf bloggers who like to comment on the current events in the world of golf. Our first discussion is going to be this week in advance of the AT&T National, and our next conversation is in two weeks before The Open. On the electronic internets we can be located as follows: Tony's blog is http://www.hookedongolfblog.com/. He also runs http://www.thegolfspace.com/ and his twitter account is www.twitter.com/thegolfspace. Jack's blog is http://dudewheresmypar.tumblr.com/, and his twitter account is www.twitter.com/dudewheresmypar. Jeff's blog is http://www.goodwalkgolf.com/, and his twitter account is www.twitter.com/jpalopoli. Stefan's blog is http://golferinkilt.blogspot.com/, and his twitter account is www.twitter.com/golferinkilt. In order to let you better get to know us, we have put together a few introductory questions about us and out game. WHO ARE YOU? Jeff - I'm currently a daytime corporate lackey (tie and all) who is secretly planning a hostile takeover of Jason Sobel's life. I started GoodWalkGolf.com in October of 2009 as a creative outlet to write about my passion for golf and never thought it would turn in to what it has and the amazing individuals I'd meet through it. Jack - Golfer. Writer. Blogger. Purist. Sceptic. Human. Tony - One of the original golf bloggers (circa 2004). A golf blog cockroach which won't die no matter how many dangerous chemicals and high scores it endures. Rock & roll drummer, dad, low single digit handicapper with bad short game, web geek. Stefan - Ex-pat Herring-Head. I love music, mostly various generations of punk and ska combinations. I watch a lot of movies, and love movie quotes. I'm a husband and father. I support my golfing habit by performing dull IT tasks in a dull IT cubicle. I'm spiritual but not religious, and I mix the occasional mean Martini. WHAT'S YOUR GOLF GAME LIKE? Jeff - As a passionate golfer for almost 25 years, who seems to get to play less and less golf each year, my game seems to gets worse and worse. A one time collegiate (Div II) golfer with a 4 handicap, all I can do is estimate that I'm probably about an 8 at the moment while getting in a maximum 15 rounds of golf per year. Jack - Shoddy, punctuated by rare moments of Ballesteros-esque brilliance. Handicap? Cough cough questionable 12 cough cough. Tony - I play about 100 rounds per year. Low score: 68. Hole in one: yes. Lowest handicap index .9. Currently a 3 and trending up. My putting is my strength. Chipping is bad, like having the chip-yips. My bad back doesn't allow me to make much of a turn but my granny swing can poke it out there respectably. Stefan - I took up the game around the age of 12, and played regularly throughout college. After college I hit a lull and didn't play regularly for about 20 years. The bug bit me again at the end of 2008 when I was recovering from back surgery and spent my days plowing through the favorite books in my golf library all over again. I probably play 2-3 times per month, and practice 8-10 times a month. I love going to the range. I'm happy when I beat bogey golf, and my current handicap is 14.

WHO ARE YOUR FAVORITE HISTORICAL GOLFERS? Jeff - My all-time favorite golfer is Payne Stewart. He carried himself with so much class and had more charisma than any other golfer you see on Tour today. Not to mention his style and that buttery swing that just made you jealous to watch. Jack Nicklaus was also my introduction to the game of golf. My father bought me his videos and we watched him on TV all the time and in the beginning I tried to emulate his swing. One of my earliest golfing memories is watching him in the '86 Masters when I was 11 years old. Jack - Ben Hogan for his all-round greatness, ball striking ability and five lessons on the modern funtamentals of golf. Chi-Chi Rodriguez for his swagger and style. Tony - Bobby Jones is my all time favorite historical golfer. He did so much for the game and all as an amateur. He also created my favorite course and favorite tournament: Augusta National and the Masters. Jack Nicklaus is next on my list. Having met Jack I was impressed with how nice he was. Other favorties: Old Tom Morris, Arnie, Tom Watson, Dave Stockton, Lee Trevino. Stefan - Walter Hagen, for his innate sense of style and class and for his powers of recovery on and off the course. Bobby Jones was probably the most purely talented golfer ever. He achieved incredible feats, and capped it with that jewel we know as Augusta National. Tom Watson was my idol when I first started playing, and he hasn't given me a reason to waiver from that ever since. WHO ARE YOUR FAVORITE CURRENT GOLFERS: Jeff - I really like the youth movement we are seeing right now on Tour. Guys like Rickie Fowler, Anthony Kim, and Rory McIlroy are showing us the future of the Tour. Then there's a whole host of "older" twenty somethings that are carving their niche as well. Guys like Ricky Barnes, Hunter Mahan, and Dustin Johnson. However, I've been a Mickelson guy for as long as I can remember. He's sort of like a modern day Arnold Palmer with the way he gives back to the fans. I still remember when I was 16 years old at a PGA event in my hometown, Mickelson was a rookie on Tour (I think maybe 22 years old?) and I was watching him hit on the range. When he walked up I asked for his autograph and he was the friendliest guy, he invited me up to the putting range to stand with him as he worked on his putting... and of course he signed my hat too. Jack - Rory McIlroy. I could watch that swing of all day. Also a big fan of Welsh young gun, Rhys Davies: his skills with the flatstick beggar belief. Tony - I have a love/hate relationship with Tiger. I love Tiger the golfer and hate Tiger the phony. I'm a Phil fan. His talent level is sick. Love to watch Freddie because his swing is smooth and fluid, just like mine. Stefan - I'll watch Freddie or Ernie hit golf balls any time, anywhere. Spectacularly smooth swings, and both of them are good guys. I like Calc for his sense of humor. I like AK for his swagger (and because he's a Sooner AND a Lakers fan, and he lives in Dallas). Tiger and Phil are clearly the best two players in the world right now, but I'm not a huge fan of either. Until next time, keep'em in the short stuff.

COURSE REVIEW: Bali Hai; Las Vegas, NV

2010-06-29T19:39:00.003-05:00

Both Bali Hai and Royal Links (as well as Desert Pines) are part of the Walters Golf empire in Las Vegas. Both are some of the more highly renowned courses in the area, but outside of that these corporate cousins couldn't be more different. While Royal Links is demure and conservative in appearance, Bali Hai is flashy and tropical. The bunkers at Royal Links are sometimes as deep as they are wide, and strategically located, while Bali Hai's sand traps sprawl for hundreds of yards and take on a beach like appearance. They're as different as, well, Scotland and Bali themselves are.

THE NUMBERS

Bali Hai plays to par 71. It's over 7,000 yards from the black tees, about 6,600 from the gold, 6,156 from the white tees, and 5,535 from the reds. At my 14 handicap I played from the gold, and found it to be quite challenging. The holes vary greatly in length, and you're forced to use many different parts of your game to score well.

From the gold tees par 3 holes vary from 123 to 224 yards, par 4 holes range from 305 yards to 466 yards (with four being over 450 yards long), and the par 5s are between 495 yards and 539 yards. Water is in play on 8 holes.

LOCATION

For convenience from the strip in Vegas you can't beat Bali Hai. It's located less than a mile south of Mandalay Bay, right on the strip itself. In some ways this is very cool. The Vegas skyline glitters in the distance, and it's not every day you get to line up your tee shot by aiming for the Luxor Pyramid. You can even see the famous Las Vegas sign on a few of the holes.

However, this location comes with a few drawbacks. It's located right across from the airport, so flights thunder overhead every couple of minutes. Several holes also butt up against I-15, so on those holes you have significant traffic noise as well.

APPEARANCE

Visually you couldn't ask for more out of any land locked golf course. It's a truly beautiful golf course. Over 4,000 palm trees line the fairways. Water is arranged in ponds, streams, and little water falls. The large, sprawling bunkers look like they were always there, and they just built the course around them. Rocks and native plants are used strategically, and all in all the design elements create a very consistent feel throughout the course. The gorgeous clubhouse is the visual centerpiece for three of the holes.

There is one design element that's in place at Bali Hai that I have not seen anywhere else, and that's sand bunkers that transition seamlessly into the water hazard. There is no rock wall or platform of railroad ties or anything. With the size of these bunkers, it looks very much like a really nice, really private beach. If you don't think about how difficult it must be to maintain such an arrangement it's quite natural looking.

QUALITY

I believe they had just sanded the greens when I played, so they were not as good as one would expect. I found them sluggish and inconsistent, and I putted worse than I have in several months.

Sand hazards take up a lot of space on this course, and as if this is not a challenge enough I found the sand to be quite inconsistent. It's very fine grain stuff, but the playability varied greatly depending on whether it was dry, wet and raked, or just wet. I'm by no means a good bunker player, but I lost several shots because I had a hard time predicting how it was going to play.

The fairways were great, very consistent and you just knew you were going to have a good lie anytime you could find the fairways with your tee shot.

SIGNATURE HOLE

I don't know if it's the official signature hole or not, but the short par 3 16:th hole (pictured) is the one I will think of first when someone brings up Bali Hai. Only 123 yards from the gold tees, it's slightly downhill to an island green with the clubhouse behind the water. It's didn't hurt that I was able to hit the green.

APRES GOLF

The clubhouse is centrally located, and large without being austentatious. It's Polynesian design fits very nicely into the tropical theme of the course. The pro shop is well stocked with logo merchandise. Food is provided by their award winning restaurant, Cili, and the facilties have sufficient space for both banquets and small weddings. I had a burger after my round, and it was spectacularly good.

RANGE

There is a driving range of sorts. It's one of these systems that automatically tee up the next ball for you. I don't know if these systems use a heavier ball than the normal golf ball, but it sure felt like I was hitting concrete. Also, the range hits into a net about 30 yards away, AND the range faces into the morning sun so there's very little chance of seeing even which direction your ball goes.

SUMMARY

A challenging and diverse layout, beautifully architected, in a truly unique location. The service was spectacular overall, and the weaknesses I found were by no means show-stoppers.

Spackler Foursome

2010-06-21T23:12:00.004-05:00

So we're playing our bi-monthly round with the usual suspects. Ale-man and Stout-man. Snoop and Trainwreck. Different walks of life, connected through links and relationships near and far. We make tee-time reservations under the name Spackler. We LOVE Caddyshack. The last time some guy showed up in a kilt. If we can't come up with a better theme for our outing, that's our fallback.

(that's Ale-Man tending the flag, and Stout-Man trying to make a short putt)

So this last round I decided to get in touch with my inner Ty, and Ale-Man reached out for an ugly orange shirt and matching ugly orange hat to channel his Danny. Trainwreck got his Spackler on, and a good time was had by all.

US Open thoughts

2010-06-21T22:36:00.004-05:00

Big props to Greame McDowell for his glorious victory in the US Open at Pebble Beach. Put your name right there next to Nicklaus, Watson, and Woods. You've earned it.

(most excellent photo by Robert Matre ... www.robertmatre.com)

The USGA is probably happy with a winner who didn't lose as much against par as his competitors. I can respect that. I can respect it, but I sure don't like it. I prefer the roars of Augusta to the groans of the US Open. Now, I don't want them shooting -25 to win the thing, but I do want the course to hit the kind of a balance where a hot player can shoot -5 on the back nine on Sunday to make a run for it. There are a lot of more senior golfers than Greame that are kicking themselves after this tournament, as it truly was ripe for the picking. Phil. No check. Tiger. No check. Ernie. No check. Maybe the course just didn't allow for a run, but there were plenty of clean opportunities that went wasted as well. It's not ALL on the course. That 14:th hole is bullshit. I know you like hearing that too, you sick bastards. I know everybody has to play it just the same as everybody else, but for crying out loud; let's give these guys a chance to shine, won't you? Two players shot 66s in this tournament. They're the two highest ranked golfers in the world. Coincidence? I dont' think so. For one, I'm too old to believe in coincidences. Secondly, Phil and Tiger just showed what can be done when they're hot. They are a head above everybody else. Writers are saying this may have been one of the last shots for Ernie, but they're predicting a long and glorious future for Phil. They're both 40. Let's face it, we have NO idea how their future is going to fare. Right now I'd pick Tiger above either of them at St. Andrews. I feel for DJ. He will need a large dose of confidence to rebound from this experience. If he keeps going back to this week he may never contend in another tournament ever again. Kucher's 68 was very nice, but he had nowhere near the pressure of the final groups. We saw what it did to Glover and Barnes last year. I know Lucas came around to win it, but after 9 holes it sure didn't look like he was going to. My GOD does that course look fabulous. I guess it's $495, and you don't even need to stay in the Lodge in order to play any more. I've already made requests for my 50:th birthday. Having said that, it looked a bit rough over the weekend. At times it was very difficult to discern the hole from the splotchy patches on the green. It didn't help that the broadcast was less than stellar. I felt like they focused on the wrong thing at the wrong time too much, and they wound up missing some of the action. Luckily Miller put his foot in his mouth again, so that's all everybody is talking about.

Seve Month

2010-06-21T21:55:00.004-05:00

Allright, I'm upping the ante on GolfChannel's 7-day celebration of really friggin' fantastic golf events. I know there's a lot of golf to be played between now and The Open at St. Andrew's, and I know I've been critical of tournaments and organizations who in the past have toed the line of their week-long moment of fame as being disrespectful of the prior tournament. But this is not about a tournament. Mind you, if it WAS going to be about a tournament, The Open at St. Andrews is probably the one I'd pick. But it's not about that tournament and all it's history, and it's not about that POS course that everybody wants to play but nobody truly likes to play. It's about the man. It's about Seve.

Most people acknowledge Severiano Ballesteros as being one of the true geniuses of the short game in golf. I can't possibly argue with that. What most everyday US golf fans don't realize is just how mythical Seve is to all European golf fans of my generations (born in the mid-sixties).

Seve was one of the first continental European golfers who went on to be true world-beaters. And I'm from Sweden. My country isn't even on the continent. But sure as snot, we claimed him as our own as true as if he'd grown up in Hassleholm. When he'd come to play in SEO, he would draw record crowds, regardless of who else was playing.

He's a top-10 golfer of all time, and like Hogan much of his career was curtailed by injuries. He's right up there with Hagen and Jones and Benjamin and Nicklaus and Faldo and Watson and Woods. In his career Seve won 91 pro tournaments, 50 of which were on the European tour. He still holds this record. With five major championships he's only exceeded by about a dozen other golfers.

You know he's been sick. I don't know about you, but the article in last month's Golf Digest brought tears to my eye, and I almost never cry about golf. This year he's agreed to participate in the celebration of 150 years of British Open golf by participating in a four-hole tournament on The Open week. He won the British Open at St. Andrews in 1979 in spectacular fashion, the same way he played every round of golf before or since.

Without further ado, welcome to SEVE MONTH. Four weeks dedicated to a true living master of the craft of golf. I'd love to hear your Seve stories and your Seve memories. I will try to do my part by recounting the story of his life and the Top 10 Seve Moments of his career.

Truly, in every sense of the word, I'm not worthy.

Ramblings From The Rough

2010-06-17T09:10:00.003-05:00

I know the USGA is obsessed with making the US Open courses difficult and challenging, but I still feel like they should give good players a chance to make good shots if their game is on. By all accounts, there are some approach shots that just have no chance. If the best players in the world chose to plan for the right miss rather than hitting a good shot you've gone too far. Everybody is gaga about the past US Opens at Pebble, and I can't disagree with history. It's been spectacular. What I do disagree about is the intuitive leap to the conclusion that because of this history this year's winner must be of the same caliber as those in the past. If we learned anything from last year's majors it's that any one out of about fifty golfers can win this thing if they get hot for four days. One week after my best round in a couple of decades I had my worst round in years. Got to love this game. I blame it on the a-a-a-a-alcohol. Clearly the USGA doesn't read my blog, or they'd know they shouldn't pair Furyk with Cabrera. Watching them play together at Colonial was PAINFUL. El Pato had his tee in the ground on the next hole by the time Furyk putted out. I go back and forth about whether I'd rather play Pebble Beach or Cypress Point if I had the opportunity to only play one. I found it interesting how everybody gets on Lee Westwood for not being a good closer, but they give Phil credit for his five second place finishes at the US Open. I read that Phil has been within four strokes of the lead heading into the back 9 on Sunday six times in the US Open, and he's shot over par all six times. Even my wife is excited about Erik Compton playing in this US Open, and she doesn't give a rat's ass about golf. Does anyone have the stats on if there's been a grandfather pairing in the US Open like this year, with Tom Watson having Ryo and Rory bouncing on one knee each? Happy 40:th Phil. I turned 40 on crutches (due to a snapped achilles tendon), so I'm glad to see he's doing much better than I was at that age. I love how everybody were so very ready to launch David Duval's career recovery bandwagon after last year's US Open. How did that work out for you? Who will be this year's recovery surprise? Garcia? KP? Ty? Ogilvy? Immelman? Earlier this week I had a premonition about Phil holing out a chip on 17 on Sunday to beat Tiger for the win. Golf writers everywhere would just cream their pants. "Finally, an easy story". That is all.

2010 US Open Picks

2010-06-16T22:24:00.003-05:00

It's the eve of the US Open at Pebble Beach, and it's time to pick another fab four who I think will contend this week. At Augusta I had Tiger, Lee, Charl, and DJ. For a while on Friday they were all still under par, but by the time the weekend rolled around the youngsters had frittered away as if pulled by a Death Star homing beacon. My picks for the US Open have been modified a couple of times over this past week. I initially had Dustin Johnson again in the mix because of his good play at Pebble over the past two years, but the more interviews I heard the more it became clear that Pebble in February and Pebble in June are two animals who are so distinct from each other as to only be related by the rules that govern the play. I still love DJ's game, but I think it's too loose for a US Open venue. Any pro in the country would tell him he needs to stabilize that left leg to play consistently. Then I had Paul Casey as one of my top four. I felt like he had a unique combination of power and precision that would work well at this event. In the end, I think he's still not 100%. So here goes, in no particular order, my picks for the 2010 US Open, and why.

LEE WESTWOOD - In my mind he's played more consistently good golf over the past 12 months than anyone else. He has the complete game. He's long enough to compete on any course, and his shotmaking with the irons is as good as anyone's.

In addition to this, I love his attitude. He's not letting the writers get him down about his near misses, but rather he's taking positives from being that close in the first place. Lee loves the course, and that's good golf karma.

JIM FURYK - Two wins this year, and a US Open title already on his resume. He's foremost an accurate player, but longer than people give him credit for. They're saying this is a shot-maker's course this week, and there's nobody I'd rather have hitting golf shots for me Jim.

LUKE DONALD - Luke's a player who's stock has risen as this week has gone by. He has one win and seven Top 10 finishes this year, and he's gone T2, 1, 3 in his last three starts. He's no longer just a verb (Usage: "He's just Luke Donalding it, he's not even working hard ..."), but a bona fide contender.

TIGER WOODS - Yes, Tiger. He's a victim of his own incredibly highly set bar. If he's not beating people by 15 he's over the hill. Well, I don't know a lot of golfers who could play 4 rounds at Muirfield with 3/4 of their game and not go above par. If he tweaks his game just a bit he'll beat the world by five shots. By all accounts, his game is coming along just nicely, and that's trouble for everybody else.

EVERYBODY ELSE

PHIL - I really don't know how he continues to play as well as he does in the US Open. His game doesn't fit these courses at all. I feel like Phil is obsessed with distance off the tee, and he's sacrificing a lot of control and accuracy in the process. At Colonial he was booming his drives 20-30 yards past already long hitting Bo Van Pelt, but Bo was the one with the Top 10 finish, and Phil had to leave early.

STRICK - I don't think he's long enough. It's almost as if the game has passed him by. He's deadly with the wedge, but he's having to hit seven-iron where others are hitting their wedges, and that's no way to win a golf tournament.

ERNIE - I loved seeing him get a couple of wins this year, but he's been inconsistent afterwards. I'm a huge fan, and if he's in contention I'll be cheering for him all the way, but I just don't see it this week.

POULTS - Another guy I like (even though he cheers for Arsenal), but after the Match Play his game has gone in the toilet to the tune of T24, T37, MC, T10, MC, MC, 76, MC.

RORY - Best chance of a sub-25 player, but I don't think this is his time. I give him a good shot at The Open or the PGA later on this year.

10 hours of coverage tomorrow. I'm psyched.

Kilted Golf Haiku #2

2010-06-16T22:22:00.001-05:00

You're putting better But don't tease the Golf karma Or three-putts will come

Kilted Golf Haiku #1

2010-06-10T10:33:00.003-05:00

A troublesome lie

The blades of grass grabbing at

The blade of the club

(photo courtesy of Getty Images)

COURSE REVIEW: Stonebriar/Fazio course; Frisco, TX

2010-06-07T21:07:00.003-05:00

If you live in a major metropolitan area, and you have not yet discovered the infinite joys of the "urban escape", then I highly recommend you send me an email and I'll tell you all about it. It's just fantastic. I know it's silly and financially irresponsible to spend over a hundred dollars for a hotel room that's located less than 15 minutes from where you live, but MAN can it be a good time.

For me, one of my new favorite places to escape off to is the Westin in Frisco, TX (less than 30 minutes north of Dallas). The hotel itself is nice, and the pool area is wonderful. The area has a lot of restaurant and bar opportunities, but mostly I like it because I get a chance to play the Fazio course at Stonebriar CC.

This is my second time playing this course. I find that just playing a course once doesn't really give you the opportunity to appreciate it, as you're too busy finding your way around. By the second round I'm a lot more able to make an objective assessment.

THE DEAL

Let me start right there. The course is part of the private Stonebriar CC, but guests of the hotel are allowed to play (for a fee, of course). The best deal is the Stay 'n' Play package, which at the time of the writing of this blog was $179 for one golfer, which included one breakfast (best to be left behind for The Missus to hit the buffett around 11:00 AM).

THE DESIGNER

Tom Fazio has over 120 course designs to his name, he has more courses ranked in the Top 100 in the US than any other designer, and he's been awarded Golf Digest's "Best Modern Golf Course Architect" three times. Born in 1945, he's a throwback to the Alister MacKenzie school of thought whereby a golf course should naturally fit into it's surroundings. Having said that, he did manage to move 600,000 yards of dirt to construct this course. He also feels that a good course should be challenging to the good player but still playable for the average player. This assessment is fairly universally agreed on.

THE COURSE

Firstly, it's a Par 72 course. Am I the only one who's a stickler about this (on tour or at the local muni)? From the blues it's over 7,000 yards; from the whites it's a bit over 6,600, and from the Reds it's around 5,200 yards. The course stretches over wetlands to the west of the Westin hotel in Frisco, TX. It was ranked as the #6 public course in Dallas/Fort Worth by the Dallas Morning News in 2009, ahead of such notables as the TPC Four Seasons (home of The Byron).

The fairways, as a whole, are fairly forgiving and in good condition. If you miss the fairway by a bit you're likely to get a good bounce back into the short stuff. If you miss it by more than that, you're going to be up among the pine trees, or in the 5-foot deep wild grass, or in the next fairway (should you be so lucky).

I have a feeling that the more I play this course the more I will appreciate the little nuances of the design. The bunkering is very strategic, and visually appealing. The sand is perfect, and very playable.

The greens have a reputation as being very fast, and I guess they are, but they're also very true. I'm not a good putter by any means but I found a very distinct sense of confidence on these greens. If you get hot, you can make a LOT of putts here.

BEST HOLES

There are a couple of really good, really challenging shortish par four holes on this course.

The first one hits you once you catch your breath after the easy downhill #1 hole. #2 is a dogleg right hole that's uphill on the tee shot and downhill back to the green (378 yards from the white tees). There are good bunkers in the fairway, and the green is protected by a couple of deep bunkers, a clump of trees to the left, and a creek about 30 yards in front of the green to catch any weak approach.

The view towards the green as you get to the crest of the fairway is spectacular. This hole ate my lunch the first time I played it, but I managed a tap-in bogey this time, hitting the green-side bunkers on my second shot.

The most scenic hole on the course is #11 (pictured above, 379 yards from the white tees). A big pond to the right is about all you see off the tee, but the hole is fair as it curves to the right around the water. Big volumes of sand are at hand if you try to cut the corner and don't hit it well enough, or if you bomb it straight and go through the fairway. More sand is located to the right of the green, but at least there is the option of a safe fail to the left of the green, void of either ocean or desert.

IN SUMMARY

A great course for players of all levels. It will challenge the good players, especially from the blues, but it's still playable for a more average player. It's well maintained all around, and the service from the Pro Shop in the hotel to the starter is nothing short of immaculate. If you're visiting the area north of Dallas and have some time on your hands I highly recommend this hotel for your expense report and this course for your golf game.

The Full Monty

2010-06-04T15:07:00.002-05:00

So, our dear dear friend Colin Montgomerie is admitting to an affair now. This is the same guy who made public jokes about Tiger not playing in the Ryder Cup because "there wouldn't be enough room for all his mistresses", right?

Monty has always rubbed me the wrong way. From walking in other golfers' putting line to sticking his arrogant foot in his mouth, I've just never been able to see a lot of redeeming qualities in him. And I'm a guy who can see redeeming qualities in Sergio Garcia, so you should know I'm pretty openminded. The big discussion today can loosely be umbrella'd under the heading "Where is the outrage?". Writers who slammed Tiger to the ground is now called on the carpet for not doing the same to Monty. It's just a matter of time until someone plays the Race Card and claims Monty's getting a free ride because he's white while Tiger's is the scary evil black man who's taking all our women (I paraphrase, of course). Race has nothing to do with this. IF Monty gets a free ride (and I'm not sure he is), it's for this reason: Just look at the dumpy fellow !!! Tiger is incredibly rich, famous, popular, athletic, and good looking. Monty is, well, somewhat famous. From the point of view of charm and looks, he's a lot more like the lager louts down at the pub than the golfer on the cover of a video game. Monty having an affair is like Billy Joel cheating on Christie Brinkley. It's Puffy calling a 900 number in the shower while married to Jennifer Lopez. It defies explanation, and it makes us shake our head back and forth in a very Lewisblackesque manner. WTF?

Quite Possibly My Favorite Golf Picture Of All Time

2010-06-04T09:47:00.005-05:00

There are fantastic shots of beautiful holes and courses around the world, there are snapshots of supremely talented golfers executing impossible shots, and there are snapshots that capture moments in time that are as exciting as any in all of sports. How could you possibly pick one to be your favorite? How do you compare the waves crashing against the shore at Pebble with Jack sinking a birdie putt on 17 at Augusta in 1986? Do you prefer a full metal Tiger fist pump or an aerial view of Cape Kidnappers? For me, strangely, the picture that I keep coming back to is neither of the above, but a casual picture of Lloyd Mangrum lighting up a cigarette after a round at Augusta.

(Photo courtesy of Ron Watts Private Collection/Edwin Watts Golf) More than any other picture, this captures the coolness and the style of the game of golf. Lloyd Mangrum is in many ways a forgotten figure when you talk about golf in the 40s and 50s. Coming out of Texas, as it seemed half the tour did at this time, he won 35 tournaments, including the 1946 US Open. Mangrum was highly respected by his fellow professionals. Byron Nelson called him "The Forgotten Star", and Bing Crosby said he possessed a combination of "Rhythm, balance, and style." Mangrum won two Purple Hearts during WW2, and declined a pro job at an Army golf club which would have allowed him to avoid combat. His best golf was after the war, when he rattled off ten straight Masters Top 10 finishes, and five straight US Open Top 10s. Maybe it's the mysteriousness of the picture that makes it so alluring. Like Howard Hughes, he gives the impression that he might be anywhere in the world 24 hours from now. Nobody has covered this period in golf better than Dan Jenkins, and for all the amazing stories he tells about life on tour at this time, you'd have to think the stories that are still untold are even better.

My Day at The Colonial

2010-06-01T11:16:00.001-05:00

It's VERY early Friday morning, and for starters it's odd to get up at five o'clock in the morning, and to be heading to a golf course, but to not be worrying about how I'm going to be playing today. But the Colonial is in town, and JD is going out in one of the very first groups, so I need to hit the road. As I'm enjoying my breakfast burritos the moon is clear and full in the sky. If it's that clear in Texas at the end of May, I'm thinking it's going to be hot. I was right. I get to the grounds around 7:30, and head straight for the practice tee. The course looks absolutely gorgeous. I'm not the kind of a golfer who gets to play courses like this on a regular basis, and I must say I was thoroughly impressed by the condition of the course. Nobody likes the look of bunkers, right, but LORD these bunkers look beautiful. Intimidating, yes. Ball-sucking, yes, but also beautiful. They're clean, and crisp, and perfectly maintained, and an absolute pain in the ass of any golfer who gets up close and personal. On the practice tee are all sorts of talented golfers and major winners, such as Paul Casey, my countryman Henrik Stenson, Trevor Immelman, and Angel Cabrera. I love watching pros prepare for their round. Shot after shot appears to this 14-handicapper to be absolutely perfect. I know they're not, but they sure sound and look like the real thing. My plan is to split my day between John Daly's group, the Furyk/Cink/Cabrera group, and watching Phil. This is not necessarily because those are my favorite golfers, but they were lined up pretty well one after the other starting on the 10:th tee. I chose to bypass the keg of Coors Light in the media center at 7:30 in the morning, and I go about catching up with JD at the Colonial. I get to the 12:th tee and I ask if John has played that hole yet. There was not a glimmer of doubt in the answer. Everybody who were standing around that tee knew exactly where JD was, and how close he was to their location. From a sporting point of view he hasn't been relevant in years, but the people of Fort Worth, Texas knew exactly when this golfer was going to get to their vantage point. This was not a surpise to me. The golf fans who are my friends in Dallas, and the golfers I work with, they all love John. Hell, I'm no differnt myself. His personality, his talent, and even his failures makes him the kind of a person and athlete that this state can relate to in a big way. And at eight o'clock in the morning on a Friday, I don't think anyone had a bigger following than John Daly. JD's hitting the ball well, with a lot of confidence, but not the kind of control he needs on a course like Colonial. His 125% swing is not really a good fit here, but he does a great job of scrambling for pars here and there, which is one of the things a good player has to do. Walking with his group, I'm amazed at the amount of support he's getting. Volunteers who allegedly haven't said a word all day now go out of their way to call out to JD. I stick with their group for about five holes, and then hang out to let the Cabrera group catch up to me. It's a totally differnt dynamic to this group. I like them both, but Jim Furyk and Angel Cabrera may have been as ill suited partners as you will find. Three major winners, partnered with Stewart Cink, this group also attracts a lot of crowd attention. The fans are a lot more demure, and the most entertaining aspect of this grouping is to see how far towards the next tee Angel Cabrera can get by the time Furyk putts out. I think if they both were to play a round on their own without any contention Angel would finish a good two hours quicker than Jim. You can tell Angel is antsy, as he's ready to march down the fairway before his partners are even done teeing off. Watching and hearing Angel hit a golf ball is a thing of beauty. He's very natural, and he makes great contact. His iron shot into the green on 18 for a tap-in birdie was magnicent. I join up with Phil's group, including Dallas resident Y E Yang and hard hitting youngster Bo Van Pelt, on the third hole (their 12:th for the day), and Phil is already in trouble. After mostly pars on the front nine he's missed the fairway way right, and he's got major tree trouble on the dogleg left. He manages to get through the fauna with nary a few leaves to spare, but makes a bogey. On the long par 3 fourth (247 yards on this day), Phil launches an IRON but again looses it out to the right. A good pitch, but a missed putt, and another bogey. On the fifth hole Phil goes with an iron off the tee, for no apparant reason. It's a long par 4, but not tight enough for either of his competitors to play anything remotely that conservative on their first shor. This feels a lot like the kind of experimentation he put us through at Torrey Pines a few years ago, where he absconded from the driver, and still had a hard time keeping the ball in the short stuff. Well, this time he left a long iron way out to the left, and had no choice but to punch out and settle for another bogey. By the time a few more holes go by it's clear the world #2 is not going to make the cut. I know he's won here twice, but The Colonial is really not a good fit for Phil's game. This is a tight course with small greens. Most pro players seem to like it, but it definitely puts a premium on accuracy. It's no surprise at all that a guy like Zach Johnson is doing well. The weather over days one and two has been hot and void of wind, which is unusual for any Texas golfer. At slightly over 7,000 yards and a par of 70, the course is ripe for the picking if there's no wind, and the scores reflect it.

The Colonial - Preview

2010-05-26T21:43:00.003-05:00

This week the PGA Tour concludes it's Texas Swing with it's Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial, or "The Colonial" for short. No offense to the fine sponsors from Crowne Plaza, I give them props for keeping the name Colonial in the official title, but when a tournament has been around as long as The Colonial has it takes more than a sponsor to change the vernacular. Few events on tour have as much history as The Colonial, and the tournament is a living testament to the fact that it's quite possible for a good old tournament to not only survive but to prosper, to be successful, and to attract a world class field. You don't have to play on some new-fangled course with the letters TPC in it. You don't have to have a Greek urn as a trophy and call yourself World something or another. And you don't have to trick out your course to put the cut line at a handful of shots above par. Look at The Colonial, and you can see that you can get it done by being respectful of the past heroes and appreciative of the current heroes, and by putting in front of them a golf course which has been liked by professional golfers for decades. HISTORY The tournament has been played at the Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, TX since 1946. Only The Masters has been played longer on the same venue. The event has it's origins in the 1941 US Open, which was played on the course and which was very well received, and the Invitational tournament was launched shortly thereafter. The connection between the tournament and hometown hero Ben Hogan was established before the event even became official, as Hogan considered the Colonial CC to be his home course. Hogan won the first two tournaments held, and three more subsequently. In the history of golf few golfers have dominated an event the way Ben did at "Hogan's Alley". Other winners through the years includes Arnold Palmer, Lee Trevino, Ben Crenshaw, Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson, Phil Mickelson, Kenny Perry, and in 2009 Steve Stricker. Only Hogan has won the event more than twice.

THE COURSE The Colonial CC was founded in 1936 in part as an argicultural experiment with bentgrass greens in the Metroplex area. Attempts to lay them at an existing course failed, so Marvin Leonard contracted John Bredemus and Perry Maxwell to design Colonial. The course plays to 7,054 yards and a par of 70. It's known as a shot-maker's course where distance isn't always rewarded, but it's generally very well liked by all types of players. The hardest hole is #5, a beast of a par 4 at 481 yards, and the last in a series of holes known as "The horseshoe" that are generally thought to be the most difficult stretch on the course. The average score over the past 25 years on this hole is 4.259. THIS YEAR'S EVENT In 2010 the tournament has drawn an elite field which includes Five of the top ten in the world rankings, and six of the top ten money and FedEx Cup point earners for the season. In addition, the last five major winners and 15 of the 22 winners this year are in the field. Put names like Mickelson, Stricker, Furyk, Poulter, Casey, Clark, Johnson, Kuchar, and Crane on a leaderboard; make them play a fair traditional layout in warm Texas weather, and it's bound to be a treat for golf-fans everywhere. Watch for the "Pink Out" on Saturday, when fans (and players) wear pink to honor the battle against breast cancer. This young tradition was started last year to honor Amy Mickelson's battle, as Phil had to pull out of the event.

BOOK REVIEW: "Golf Sonnets" by James Long Hale

2010-04-19T20:03:00.004-05:00

It's been a good year so far from a Golf Lit point of view, as I've had the pleasure of reading not one but two books of original golf poetry. Today's offering is "Golf Sonnets" by James Long Hale. In his own words, the author is "an avid amateur golfer who freely gives and gets Mulligans, understates his handicap, and desperately needs the proceeds from this book to cover his losses. He owns seven drivers, five putters, and his widow enjoys gardening." This charming little book is roughly the size of a golf course yardage guide, and it contains 18 very well written golf poems of very disciplined, consistent syntax. The syncapation is quite Prussian, and the author clearly has wrestled significantly with the content in order to make it fit his meter. The end result is funny and witty and insightful, and it's clearly the product of a mind who spends many hours a day thinking about the game of golf.

Each poem covers one aspect of the game, such as "The Equipment", "The Swing", or "The Course". About "The Attire", as an example Mr. Hale writes:

"But now, for some, Golf's merely an excuse

To dress like pimps on Forty-Second Street;

With fuchsia pants and shirts of bright chartreuse,

And alligator wintips on their feet."

SCORE

Birdie. "Golf Sonnets" is a great gift idea, to golfers and non-golfers alike. It's an easy read without being simplistic, and the straightforwardness of the rhymes masks the complexity of the construction.

For more information about "Golf Sonnets", please visit http://www.golfsonnets.com/, or send an email to the author at info@golfsonnets.com.

Four Horsemen Of The Augustalypse

2010-04-08T07:49:00.003-05:00

As the tournament is minutes from kicking off, here are my aces in the hole this week:

DUSTIN JOHNSON He obviously has the power, but the rest of his game is underrated. He's won this year, and although he's dropped off the radar a bit after his win he did have three straight Top 20 finishes before his win. CHARL SCHWARTZEL One may be tempted to dismiss his two early victories in Europe as they were against less than stellar fields, but then he's come to the PGA Tour and he's landed T9, 2, and T3 in four events. His game is definitely primed, and he doesn't seem to be suffering from much of a culture shock in America. LEE WESTWOOD Lee may be playing as well as anyone in the planet over the past six months. He has a 1, T3, T3, 2, T9, and T8 in his last nine tournaments. His ball striking will allow him to not only get the ball on the gree, but to get it in the right part of the green, which is key at Augusta. TIGER WOODS I really don't expect him to win, but I still give him a better chance to win than almost any other player in the field. He's physically healthy, and by all accounts his ball striking is good. The question marks are pressure putting and basic competition experience. While I'm at it, here's why I'm picking these four over other some of the other names that are bandied about: Strick - I just don't think he's long enough. When you are forced to hit Augusta's green-inside-the-green it's key to have as short a club as possible in your hands. I know non-bombers have won at Augusta, but it's more the exception than the rule. Phil - He has the game to win, but he's been too inconsistent this year. Maybe he needs Tiger around to bring out the best in him. Furyk - Not long enough, and with the exception of his win he's been inconsistent as well. Casey - I don't think he's 100% healthy. Augusta will kick your ass if you go in with less than your A-game. Poults - He had a great run going at the end of last year, but he's struggled with inconsistency this year. Ernie - We didn't really see his double wins coming this year, did we? I'll be cheering for him, but I don't know that he's all the way back yet. It's one thing to reach the winners' circle, quite another to maintain that level of play. Having said that, he was going to be my next pick. Ogilvy - He should do well here, with his short game, but I think he's distracted right now. He's the kind of a player who might benefit from having to play a bit loose, and he could get on a run. AK - He's playing well, and I'm very happy to see that. A LOT of things have to go right to win a tournament. In addition to playing lights out you have to have that little bit of luck to separate yourself from the other handful of players who also are playing lights out. It's not likely he'll A) Reach that level of play again this week, and B) Have all those things go right for him again this week.

Robert Matre Golf Photography

2010-04-06T09:11:00.004-05:00

I think everyone is familiar with the term "Addition by subtraction", but sometimes that phrase comes true in surprising situations. Take the element of color in golf, for instance. To me, it's a critical aspect of my visual enjoyment of golf. The green of the grass. The blue of the sky. The white of the ball. The blinding white of the all-too-inviting sand traps. Hell, even the red of Tiger's polo on a Sunday afternoon. It's all part of what makes me love this game so much, whether I'm playing or watching it on TV.

Consequently, the idea of B&W golf photography never held much appeal for me. What's the point, right? Well, in my travels throughout the Twitterdom I've come across a photographer who's forcing me to change my mind.

His name is Robert Matre, and his B&W photographs of all aspects of the game of golf are absolutely astounding. He does take color pictures as well, but it's his B&W shots that appeal to me the most. Maybe it's like reading a book instead of watching a movie, where your mind has to fill in the blanks, and that makes it more enjoyable.

Robert's photographs are sometimes unconventional, at times quirky, occasionally challenging to the eye, but always interesting. His portfolio includes shots of top players at major tournaments, but also a casual visit to a local municipal driving range. His creative muse drives him to utilize all the equipment in his bag, from extreme wide angle lenses to the bazooka-like telephoto lenses we're used to seeing around sporting events.

Robert's photographs can be found at http://www.robertmatre.com/, and on twitter he's www.twitter.com/robertmatre. He's not only a great photographer, but a huge golf fan in general, and I highly recommend you check out his work.

Rickie Fowler - Old School?

2010-04-04T18:41:00.006-05:00

I exchanged a couple of tweets with young Mr. Rickie Fowler (www.twitter.com/@rickiefowlerpga) this week. He complained about his errors on the course. I asked him if they were mental mistakes or bad swings. He said they were a little of both. I recommended "Zen Golf" for the mental side of golf (as I do to anyone who will listen). Rickie replied, and I quote: "na that stuff isn't for me...thanks though...I'm an old school guy."

This, obviously, got me thinking. Of all the words I'd use to describe Rickie's style and game on tour, "old school" is not really anywhere near the top of the list. I don't think it's even ON the list. At times Rickie looks like a smurf with better hair than Adam Lambert. Of course, he also looks like the kind of a golfer who can win several tournaments a year for a long long time. So, before I get to my final messages back to young Mr. Fowler, let's have a bit of fun, shall we? Let's play "How Old School Is Rickie Fowler":

Rickie is as old school as the 18 hole golf course.

Rickie is as old school as the carved wooden tee.

Rickie is as old school as the gutta percha ball.

Rickie is as old school as Walter Hagen. (Dude, the guy had a second limo carry all his clothes)

Rickie is as old school as the "8-iron".

Rickie is as old school as the steel shafts.

Rickie is as old school as Jimmie Demaret.

Rickie is as old school as long slacks.

Rickie is as old school as the polo shirt.

Rickis is as old school as the golf cart.

Rickie is as old school as a cooler full of Miller Lite attached to your golf cart.

Rickie is as old school as the Ping Anser putter.

Rickie is as old school as Doug Sanders.

Rickie is as old school as the sansabelt slacks.

Rickie is as old school as "metal" woods.

Rickie is as old school as Jack Nicklaus' putter in the '86 Masters, which looked more like a sledgehammer than a putter.

Rickie is as old school as graphite shafts.

Rickie is as old school as the half-liter driver.

Rickie is as old school as Jesper Parnevik.

Rickie is as old school as the belly putter.

Rickie is as old school as Payne Stewart.

Rickie is as old school as the soft spikes.

Rickie is as old school as Ian Poulter.

Rickie is as old school as the hybrid long iron.

Rickie is as old school as finely grooved wedges.

Rickie is as old school as Loud Mouth pants.

So, on to my closing comments to young Mr. Fowler:

1) Please take blog "with all due respect" (like your namesake Ricky Bobby would say). I love your game, and I love your style, and I'm cheering for you every week you're teeing off.

2) Dude, you're not "old school" ... but that's OK. The history of golf is full of people who advanced the technology and style of golf, without being disrespectful in any way of the people who came before you.

3) If you turn your back to improving your mental game, you'll never be more than just another really talented golfer who didn't live up to his expectations. I know it's cool to say you're an old school guy who don't need any work in the mental side of golf, but on the level you're competing at that's like saying you'd rather play with Persimmon woods, because that's all you've ever used. It shows narrow-mindedness and short-sightedness. Hell, even Yogi Berra knew that "golf is 90% mental, and the other half is physical".

Having To Eat A Bit Of South-African Crow

2010-04-02T09:44:00.006-05:00

A few months back I talked about some of the big names that hadn't won anything in 2009 (http://golferinkilt.blogspot.com/2010/01/biggest-golf-losers-of-2009.html). One of them was Ernie Els, about whom I stated "Ernie changed swing coaches in 2008, after working with Leadbetter since 1990, and he has not truly regained his edge since. Ernie just turned 40, and one would have to wonder if time is running out on one of the best looking swings in the history of golf". Well, clearly I was wrong, and nobody is happier about this than I am. He's now won twice in a row on difficult courses with world-class fields. I love having that silky smooth swing back in contention on a regular basis. As a tall golfer myself Ernie is one of the few pro players I have a chance to pick up a few moves from. I can read Hogan's fundamentals until I'm blue in the face, but the fact remains that my left leg weighs more than Hogan does, and I can never do the things he talks about in the book. I took a few lessons last year, and at one point my pro showed my swing next to Ernie's on the computer. This was quite humbling, to say the least, but also very inspirational. I've said many times that there's nobody I'd rather watch hit golf balls than Ernie and Fred Couples. It really doesn't matter what the competition is. And now they're both at the very peak of their game, which makes it even more exciting. On a personal level Ernie comes across very genuine, and he's clearly had to deal with some significant personal hardships. The fact that he's come out of it all swinging (literally) and performing at the very highest level is a testament to his talent and perseverance.

Twins Separated At Birth (special non-golf edition)

2010-03-31T09:46:00.002-05:00

Book Review: "The Kiss That Caused My Slice" by John Ducker

2010-03-25T21:10:00.003-05:00

I love hearing from creative golfers who chose to express themselves in some way other than just another book about some golfer of yore or the magical swing plane discovery they made on some driving range in Omaha, Nebraska. John Ducker, fellow member of The Golf Space, has produced a great book of short little golf stories, told poetry style. Think of it as "Homer meets PG Wodehouse". The author clearly is a devoted golfer himself, and his passion for the game comes through in every piece he writes. His book has 18 stories in it, one for each hole on the golf course. Each little story is accompanied by a gorgeous picture of a golf hole from a course you've never heard of. The stories are told in rhyme, and they're light-hearted and funny and well written. At times they made me laugh out loud, and even my non-golfing spouse enjoyed the parts I read our loud to her. Some of John's stories stem from his own play on the course, and some are sheer fantasy. A handicap-1 playing fortune-teller makes an appearance, as does Madonna, Prince, and Michael Jackson (John is clearly a child of the 80s, which I can relate to). There are cavemen playing on a 20-hole course, and subtle pop culture references throughout. SCORE: Birdie. Creative, unusual, and stemming from a deep-seated passion for the game of golf in general as well as the author's own golf game. It's well written and entertaining. "The Kiss That Caused My Slice" is a great addition to anyone's golf library, and it may be just the sort of thing that turns your literature-loving significant other onto the game.

What Makes a Good Golf Blog

2010-03-13T15:55:00.001-06:00

There has been quite a bit of talk on the tweet-wire and in other blogs over the past weeks about what makes a good golf blog. I can't think of a better way to voice my opinion on the matter than in my own golf blog. I know I have no right to tell anyone else what they should like, or what's "right". This is about the kinds of blogs I like to read, and conversely about the kind of a blogger I want to be. So, for lack of a better way to organize these thoughts, here are my rules of blogging. Some are things writers should do, some are things writers shouldn't do. Some are basic, some are pretty touchy. They're in no particular order, but the more of them you hit the more I'm going to like your blog. 1) Don't use your blog to try to sell something or some service. I'm not interested. Really, I'm not. 2) Spelling, usage, and grammar. We may be the best hydrated generation in the history of mankind, but we're the worst writing generation as well. I don't need "U r", and I don't need "their" where "they're" is correct. I don't need "here here", when "hear, hear" is the correct response. And know the difference between "effect" and "affect", please. 3) Don't fall for the "easy story" temptation. There was a lot of this going on last year. From KP winning the Masters to Tommie winning The Open, there were easy stories all over the majors last year which did not materialize. As a writer, you have NO RIGHT to complain about how the tournament ends, all you should do is to cover it. 3a) Don't write about Tiger if he's not the story this week. He's the greatest. We know. The fact that he's working with his swing coach right now is not a bigger story than who won last weekend's tournament. When he plays, which he does rarely, he's the story. Other than that, please apply rule 3. 4) Play the game. I play the game. I love playing the game. I struggle with my game. I want to hear about your struggles with your game. This makes it a lot more real. I want to hear about your missed putts and your shots of the year and your shanks and about your solid iron play. 5) Don't be a news-linker. I don't rely on your blog to keep me up to date with the latest and greatest golf news. There are trained professionals who do this a lot better than you ever will. Just because you link to some article from golf.com or Yahoo Golf or GolfChannel with a full five word prefix doesn't make you a good blogger. It just makes you a glommer-onner. If you want to comment on current golf events I would suggest that you, well, actually COMMENT on current golf events, not just link to somebody else's article. 5a) Keep it personal. I can get news and mainstream media from a lot of other places. Your job is to put your personal twist on A) Current golf events, B) Golf history, or C) The state of your own golf game. If you can't do either of these three, you're in the wrong business. 5b) Tell us about your diamonds in the rough. When you do find a cool, unique golf spot on the electronic Internets, do let us know about it, and let us know why you like it. This does NOT include the "Tiger's not playing next week" blog with a link to golf.com. 6) Pictures. Golf is a very visual game. Whether your story is about a golfer or a golf hole, a picture of it does a great deal to carry the story forward. While a pictures may not literally take the place of a thousand words, that particular saying didn't spring out of thin air either. 7) Have a friggin' sense of humor. Golf is a lot like life in this respect: If you can't approach it's ups and downs, it's birdies and sand traps, with an even keel you're just being blown to and fro by the slings and arrows of outrageous golf fortunes. 8) You're not Hank Haney. Unless you're talking about the way a certain technique has helped your own personal golf game, don't avalance us with glorious golf tips and other magic pills sure to cure our slice, yips, duffs, blades, three putts and chili dips. Guess what? You can't fix our golf game through a blog. At best you can tell us what worked for you, and we can then make the decision as to whether to apply that to our game. 9) Don't be TMZ. We love golf, and we love golfers. That doesn't mean we have an immersurable need to know everything there is to know about every golfer's private lives. While it's true that pro athletes who make millions off endorsements for public consumer products don't have a right to request privacy when it fits them, that doesn't mean us golf fans want to know and hear your opinions about every single thing that goes on outside the ropes.

Research shows pro golfers are pussies

2010-03-03T11:12:00.003-06:00

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FL After intense and thorough research into recent PGA Tour tournament play, a team of scientists from the University of Florida at nearby Gainesville have reached a startling conclusion to be published in an upcoming issue of the Florida Journal Of Science: Pro golfers who play on the PGA Tour are actually vaginas. “Pussies, to be more exact.” Spokesperson Harry Fitah clarifies. “Anatomically, a vagina and a pussy are the same thing, but the word ‘pussy’ has added connotations to it which apply in this case.” The study was triggered by the disturbing trend in the 2010 season of players laying up with their second shot on reachable par 5 holes, only to finish in second place. The subtitle to the study is said to be “If you’re not first, you’re last.” Dr. Fitah goes on to explain some of the the specifics of the study: “We compared several physiological and psychological aspects of professional golfers and female reproduction organs. The evidence was surprising and overwhelming.” “Let’s take it from the top, so to speak: The head of a golfer is much like a clitoris. Where as a golfer’s head and face is generally very tough to find, covered by headwear and sunglasses that appear to have been permanently attached to the player’s head, a woman’s clitoris is also very difficult to find and rare to appear in daylight, hidden from view by a hood that actually is permanently attached.” “Then we look at the insides, and find more similarities: A vagina is mostly soft and mushy on the inside, and it becomes wet when pressure is applied. Similarly, the insides of professional golfers is quite pliable and spongy, and we very rarely found even as much as a backbone. Several of our researchers actually commented that the fact golfers stayed vertical was a scientific marvel on par with the question of how bees fly.” But apparently all hope is not lost. Since many of these conclusions are drawn strictly based on observed behavior, the trend can be slowed and eventually reversed if golfers follow the highly scientific treatment prescribed by Dr. Fitah and “Grow a pair.”

(A respectful tip-of-the-hat to The Onion ... www.theonion.com)

Rowdy Crowd at 16

2010-02-26T14:45:00.001-06:00

Thanks to Jason Sobel for forwarding the original picture. Guess I'm just a photoshopping Son Of A Bitch.

More people who were separated at birth

2010-02-26T08:48:00.002-06:00

No offense intended, and I know it's a crummy picture of Poults. He just looks like he's about to ask for a glass of milk.

No Work, No Haggis

2010-01-28T21:50:00.002-06:00

(Traditional Zen Story, paraphrased by Golfer In Kilt.) Old Alister MacGregor had come over from Scotland, and he had been the Superintendant at The Dunes GC for more than half his eighty year long life. Though he's now officially retired he still lived above the pro shop, and he still insisted on helping the ground staff around the course. Every single day , rain or shine, you'd see him out there weeding the sand traps, pruning the shrubs, or clearing the clippings off the green.

The rest of the staff felt sorry to see the old Super working so hard at his old age, but they knew he would not listen to their advise to stop. One day they all decided to take matters into their own hands, and they hid his tools from him.

That day Mr. MacGregor did not eat. The next day he didn't eat, nor the next after that.

"Maybe he's angry because we hid his tools," the ground staff theorized. "we'd better give them back to him."

The next day, old Mr. MacGregor was back working with them, side by side, and again eating all his meals as usual. After dinner that day he explained:

"No work, no Haggis."

"Of Course" - Golf Cartoon

2010-01-27T10:41:00.002-06:00

I’m always on the lookout for new, original golf media creations. After all, there are only so many books I can read about the swing plane or bios about some old golfer. This week I’ve gotten to take a look at not one but two such creations. The other one is a book about golf poetry I will review shortly. I stumbled onto a production group called Skadaddle Media from the tweet-wire. They think of the relationship with their audience in terms of a Jager Bomb. Oh, and they also like to needle Bubba Watson. One of the things they’re working on is a golf cartoon called “Of Course”. It’s about a regular foursome, and about the conversations they have on the course. The animation is primitive, but the real entertainment is in the verbiage, as they strive to capture the very personal nature of some of our conversations during a round of golf.

I spoke to Todd, who’s one of the creators and voice actors in the show. He refers to it as “Blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moments of intimacy”. The core of the show are the comments we make during a round but which we probably won't make under any other circumstances, and topics which definitely falls under the “What happens on the golf course stays on the golf course” category. And then we come home and the wife asks what we talked about, and the answer is “Nothing”.

He also explained the production process, which I found very interesting. They record the conversations in the cartoon while actually playing a round of golf. They have microphones on them on the course, and then they edit the sound and put the cartoons on top of them. They have a basic topic in mind for a particular show, but most of it is ad libbed as they get into character and tee off. He said they found this method to give it a very authentic feel, much more so than if they wrote a word-by-word script. Also, it gets them on to the fabulous Eagle Falls course at the Fantasy Springs Resort in Palm Springs Valley, and if that’s not a good boondoggle I don’t know what is.

The show starts March 1:st on FoxSports.com. The guys are clearly huge golf fans, and I encourage everyone to check them out on line and when the show starts.

LINKS:

Skadaddle Media - http://www.skadaddlemedia.com/

Of Course (including trailer) - http://www.facebook.com/OfCourseGolf

Eagle Falls - http://www.eaglefallsgolf.com/

Fantasy Springs Resort - http://www.fantasyspringsresort.com/

The Joy Of A Two-Inch Pencil

2010-01-22T09:34:00.003-06:00

This morning I wore a fleece vest I haven't worn a lot recently. As I headed out the door I put my keys in the pocket, and I found a short little scorecard pencil in the pocket. I smiled. I played GOLF the last time I wore this vest. Friggin' Sweet.

It was the last time I played the Haney 9-holer with my buddy. Walked 18 holes in 3 hours. Played poorly, but had a great time. Went on to the bar to watch the football games over a burger and a couple of beers.

You know you're onto something special when even little reminders like this can change your mood in an instant.

Maybe it's finding a scorecard in a stack of papers you clean up. Can you ever throw it away without first checking how you played that day? Maybe it's finding a tee under your seat in the car. Don't you always put it between your fingers as if you were placing a ball into the ground? Maybe it's hearing someone at work talk about a course you've played before. Do you not think back to the last time you were there?

I'm leaving this pencil in here. Who knows when next I'll need a surprise. My day is getting better already.

Secret Love Child

2010-01-18T10:27:00.006-06:00

The secret love child of Gary McCord and Nick Faldo has been identified ...

Oliver Wilson Q&A

2010-01-13T08:31:00.001-06:00

Oliver Wilson is a four-year pro from England who's currently number 41 in the World Golf Ranking. In 2008 he earned the dubious honor of becoming the first player ever chosen for a Ryder Cup team without a professional victory under his belt. He finished 7:th in the European Order of Merit in 2009, still without a victory.

Oliver was stuck in an airplane on Heathrow on his way to Dubai. While he waited for the de-icing to kick in he launched an informal Q&A with his Twitter followers. Here are a few of the answers:

Q: Who's your best mate on tour?

A: Jamie Elson

Q: Are you playing here in the US. If so, what events?

A: I'll be over in February. I'm playing WGC Matchplay, Doral, Masters, Players.

Q: What is your favorite club?

A: My "Heaven Wood", the best utility club I've used. Had it for a few years.

Q: Are you sad there's only one competition in England on the European Tour?

A: Very much so! They will be back soon, though.

Q: Draw or fade?

A: Fade, all day long.

Q: Any good rookies to look out for on tour this year?

A: Sam Hutsby. Jamie Elson too, although not strictly a rookie.

Q: What's your favorite golf course in England?

A: Notts Hollinwell GC

Q: Who do you think will be the world number 1 this year?

A: Absolutely no question: Tiger Woods

Q: Who do current British players consider to be the greatest British golfer of all time?

A: Nick Faldo

Q: What's the best show you've played as a pro?

A: Driver off the deck at Gleneagles to seal my place on the Ryder Cup team in 2008.

24 hours on Planet Twitter

2010-01-12T19:39:00.001-06:00

What can I say; I'm not exactly what you would call an early adopter when it comes to technology. I like it enough, but it's just not that important to me to be on the bleeding edge. My TV is 15 years old. I still buy CDs rather than downloading. I love music, but don't have an iPod. And, more to the point, I have worked in the IT field for over 20 years but before last year I had never ventured into the myspace/blog/twitter/facebook world. I've had my blog now for about a year, and it's going pretty good, so last night I decided to take the next step and start tweeting.

Now, I'm not on Twitter because I want to tell the world I just burned a log, or had a beer, or saw something really exciting. My life is really not that interesting to anyone. I just want to see what the fuzz is all about, and if it can be a fun way to keep up with the people in and around the sport of golf. I was intrigued by the ability to send commentary directly to the golf celebrities who are on this infrastructure. Got to say, it's a LOT more fun than commenting on some article on Yahoo Sports. I told Anna Rawson that if my buddy knew she did Yoga he'd be an even bigger fan than he already is. She replied and said she's just getting into it. Cool. I told Ian Poulter to quit complaining about the weather in Orlando. He replied and said he knew, but that it's really been rotten lately. Very cool. I asked Billy Horschel which Pings he plays, and he gave me the run of what's in his bag. He plays a G10 driver, just like me. Coolness. I sent various and sundry messages to people like Rickie Fowler and Christina Kim and John Rollins and Jason Sobel and Bubba Watson and Natalie Gulbis. John Daly is following ME (and 41,362 other close friends). Outside of golf I reached out and touched Eddie Izzard, Mythbusters, and The Ellen Show. So far it's been fun. Time will tell whether I stick with it or get bored. Eventually I will probably weed out the contributors who's input I really don't care about, and will settle on a few people I follow closely.

The Biggest (golf) Losers (of 2009)

2010-01-06T08:35:00.003-06:00

As we enter into a new year and a new golf season it's commonplace to talk about who the big winners were in the past year. Who won for the first time? Who won multiple tournaments? Who won by the biggest margin? I think that this is one year when a major story can be told about who DIDN'T win golf tournaments in the year. There are some fairly substantial names on this list, and I thought I'd go through some of them and discuss whether I think their trend will continue to plummet or whether they'll bounce back. For lack of any other system I'm going down the World Golf Ranking (which has a very interesting and useful site ... http://www.officialworldgolfranking.com/). PADRAIG HARRINGTON, IRL (ranked 6) - Paddy's swing work is very well documented, and his 2009 is truly a tale of two separate and disparate halves. He missed eight cuts before he even got to The Open. A tie for 65:th at Turnberry was no real indication that things were changing, but then somehow his game started to click. After The Open Paddy finished in the top six eight times, but somehow failed to win any of them. Paddy is going to be fine. He has the mindset and now the re-vamped swing to compete for majors against any competitor and any odds. I expect him to have as good a year as anyone on tour. SERGIO GARCIA, SPA (12) - It was only a year ago that we were discussing the mathematical possibility that he would overtake Tiger as the world's number one. Fresh off a couple of victories at the end of 2008, he seemed primed for a great year. 2009 started promising enough with a couple of top-tens, but then he wouldn't reach that plateau again until The Open. By the time the year was done he only had seven top ten finishes to his name, with his best performances a couple of 4:th place finishes. Sergio did not look like a happy camper in 2009. His putting was off, and he's going into the new year injured. Unless he can find a source of peace for his soul he won't be able to do much with the ball, and he won't be a threat again this year. ERNIE ELS, S.AF (17) - 2009 was the first year since 1993 that The Big Easy didn't get a W, and the first time in 18 years that he fell out of the top ten in the world ranking. Eight top ten finishes was all he had to show for his 2009 season. The latter part seemed to be better than the beginning, as he was competitive in the PGA Championship and came close to winning the HSBC Champions tournament in China. Ernie changed swing coaches in 2008, after working with Leadbetter since 1990, and he has not truly regained his edge since. Ernie just turned 40, and one would have to wonder if time is running out on one of the best looking swings in the history of golf. CAMILO VILLEGAS, COL (24) AND ANTHONY KIM, USA (25) - Both are young, flamboyant players who rose to the top with a couple of impressive victories each in 2008. Both were hailed as some of the new faces in golf to challenge the old guard, but for one reason or another they failed to build momentum in 2009. Camilo only had five top ten finishes in the year, with his best being third at the Buick early on. AK had four top tens, the most memorable of which was his dismantling at the hands of Tiger at the AT&T National. Both are young enough and talented enough to bounce back and compete for majors in the next five years. The big question mark with AK is his focus. He constantly gets knocked for lack of work ethic, and for partying too much. Over the course of the year he said several times after a good round that "I've been working really hard this past month", but the end results would indicate differently. VIJAY SINGH, FIJI (26) - Like Ernie, another aging former world number one. Vijay got hurt early in the year, came back too fast, and never really recovered. Coming up on his 47:th birthday, Vijay has been holding off father time in amazing fashion, winning 10 times from 2005 to 2008, but his 2009 included six missed cuts and only three top ten finishes. It's hard enough to maintain form and health at his age, but to repair the body and regain the form is infinitely more challenging. I would be very surprised if Vijay proves to be a consistent factor at the highest level again. SO, in conclusion I guess my prognosis is good for three of these losers and not so good for three of them. Only time will tell. Time, however, is exactly what's working against some of them.

Kilted New Year's Resolution

2010-01-06T08:33:00.002-06:00

I hope everyone in TGS and elsewhere in golf had a wonderful holiday. Mine was very low-key, but I went out of my way to re-charge my batteries both physically and mentally, and I'm ready and looking forward to a great 2010. I'm not typically one for making New Year's Resolutions, and the ones I make I normally don't keep, but for 2K10 I'm going to not only make one but make it public as well: I will write about golf consistently. I thoroughly enjoyed blogging about golf last year, and I appreciate everybody's feedback, but it was very much a roller-coaster year as far as the frequency of my postings. Some months I had as many as 15, but other months I had less than a handful.It's obviously easy to write about golf in April and June and July, when majors are on everybody's mind, but if I am to be able to look myself in the proverbial mirror I need to be able to find ideas and stories week in and week out. I need to do this regardless of whether a tournament presents a neatly packaged fairy-tale finish, or whether it's a bit of a dud. Anyone could have waxed poetically if Tom Watson would have won The Open last year. It's a lot more challenging to cover Dustin Johnson winning at Pebble in a rain-shortened tournament. Even though I'm still doing this as a hobby, I guess it's called being a Professional. To make it a craft. To be a reporter rather than a supporter. I caught a lot of the end of the year review pieces on TV and in writing, and it really bothered me how consistently broadcasters and journalists alike complained and whined about the major winners in 2009. This includes writers I have a lot of respect for. You should never lose track of the fan inside, but I feel like they were not being fans of a particular golfer, they were fans of the easy story. Kenny Perry winning his first Major. Lefty coming back from his layoff and winning the US Open. Tiger, well, any time. If you're a reporter it's your duty and job to report on what happened, not complain about what didn't happen. If you're a writer, you should be able and willing to write well about any conclusion and to extract a spirited piece even if the dominoes don't necessarily fall the way you would expect. At the core of it all, it's about the game of golf, and the game is greater than anyone in it. It always was, and it always will be. It's about putting the ball in the hole 72 times in four days. The game was greater than Bobby and Ben and Jack and Arnie, and it's greater than Tiger and Phil today.

C'mon, Man !?!!

2009-11-30T08:58:00.002-06:00

(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

2009-11-25T14:30:00.002-06:00

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

2009-11-21T20:47:00.002-06:00

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

2009-11-15T20:39:00.003-06:00

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

2009-11-14T12:03:00.003-06:00

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 ...

2009-10-29T09:44:00.002-05:00

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"

2009-10-06T11:25:00.002-05:00

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?

2009-10-02T09:30:00.006-05:00

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

2009-09-24T09:06:00.000-05:00

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

2009-09-22T09:42:00.002-05:00

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.

Golf clothing for all climates

2009-09-17T15:19:00.000-05:00

There's no shortage of good looking and functional golf clothing on the market, but for most part it's very homogenous looking, and oftentimes quite pricey. I've started going in a different direction, and that is the general outdoors companies that cater to hikers, campers, skiers, etc. I have found that these companies offer good looking and high quality clothing for considerably less than most golf wear. For the record I have two distinct factors that play into my clothing selections: 1) I live in Dallas, TX, where it's very hot for a very long time every summer. 2) I'm 6ft7 tall. Eddie Bauer sold a fantastic breathable zippered polo shirt last summer. I bought one, and liked it so much I bought four more in different colors. They were only $30 a piece, and they're very lightweight and comfortable even in very hot weather. It's what I'm wearing in the OU - Texas picture a few blogs back. I have several pairs of shorts from Columbia, and they're all good. I'm particularly fond of their Titanium fabric, which is very lightweight and strong. I think the people at Columbia are closet golfers. Their commercials are all about climbing Pike's Peak, skiing the Vasa Race, or hiking the Appalachian Trail all the way to the Buenos Aires trailhead. Not a golf ball in sight in any of their catalogs. But in all their shorts there's a small hidden pocket inside the front pocket, which just happens to conveniently fit a golf ball in it. Coincidence? I think NOT. For headwear I also have sizemic challenges, as I carry around a size 8 noggin. REI is my source for all sorts of headgear, from bucket hats to wicking ballcaps to visors with sweatbands. While it doesn't apply much in Dallas, all these companies also make comfortable and breathable clothing that's intended to allow you to keep moving around even in considerably cooler temperatures. If I could only get Keen to start making golf shoes I'd be all set. Either way it's good to know when you have to go on a 50 yard hike into the rough to look for your ball that at least you have the right gear on.

Tiger stat of the week

2009-09-16T09:52:00.003-05:00

I've been on the "Tiger is the best ever" bandwagon for several months now, and this fire had more fuel added to it this weekend. Tiger won number 71 this weekend, leaving the field in his proverbial dust. He's now two wins away from catching Jack for second place on the all time win list.

(Photo courtesy of REUTERS/Jeff Haynes)

They flashed a stastistic on the screen last Sunday that was pretty significant. Tiger won his 71:st tournament when he was 33 years old. Both Jack and Sam Snead were 42 when they won their 71:st.

That means Tiger is nine years ahead of their pace when it comes to wins. NINE years.

I think Tiger is focusing too much on winning majors. Even when you're the best player in the world, which he clearly is, a LOT of things have to happen just the right way for you to win one of these four tournament. A quick look at the four winners will reveal just how random it can be. I think Yen is the only major winner with another win this year. Tiger's won more tournaments than the four of them combined.

Red River White Ball Shootout

2009-09-14T16:56:00.004-05:00

I and the three guys I most regularly play with call ourselves The Bushwood Boys (for obvious reasons. If it's not obvious to you, don't read on. You won't like my sense of humor). As we only play every couple of months we usually pick a theme for the outing, such as "Football", "The Masters" or "American Lager". We played last weekend, and as it was the opening of the college football season we decided to have that be our theme. We quickly figured out that two of us are Oklahoma fans, and two are Texas fans, and it was very quickly game ON with the trashtalking.

That's Chris and I in the Crimson, and Doug and John in the burnt orange. The game of the day was best-ball skins.

THE WAGER

We don't like to play for money, so we had to come up with something a little more creative but still something that will spur us on. We decided that the losing team will have to wear the winning team's apparel the next time we play. If you know anything about the OU - Texas rivalry, you will know that this is a BIG deal.

THE COURSE

We played the Lakes course at Firewheel in Garland, TX. It is a tricky layout with lots of chances to lose balls. We've all played there before, and the course was in very good shape.

THE ROUND

While the Lacey Longhorns played very consistently, the Spackler Sooners started out a bit more up and down, but in this format that's not necessarily a bad thing. We drew first blood on the third with a birdie, a few more skins on five, and after nine holes OU were up by nine.

Driving to the 10:th tee Chris and I agreed that we had to win the next skin soon, to determine the match, or the pressure would mount exponentially with every hole. After a couple of tied holes we are able to wrap up the contest on the 12:th hole. We get a couple more on the 14:th, and now our goal is to keep a clean sheet.

We start talking out loud about this prospect on the 16:th tee, and all of a sudden the contest gets more heated. We all concentrate very hard on the last couple of holes, but neither of us is able to gain an advantage. Two well played pars split 18, and the final score is 14-0. We in red obviously think this score will be repeated in October.

THE LINE OF THE DAY

We've just made a mess of the 14 hole, and we're having to wait to hit our next tee shots. As the sound of empty beer cans and ball sleeves lands loudly in the trashcan Chris says "I don't know why we're not playing better". Obviously, you had to be there.

THE AFTERMATH

Of course, then OU goes and loses to BYU in the first game of the season, and our ability to rub it in goes out the window.

State of my game

2009-09-03T11:23:00.003-05:00

I started this golf season back in March, as soon as I was cleared to start swinging after my back surgery. I wanted to take the game more seriously, because I know it's a lot more enjoyable when you play it well. I had a few goals in mind, some of which were general in nature, and some of which were quite specific. With the exception of a period in which I was travelling a lot and work was getting in the way I've been able to practice just about every other day, alternating putting, short game, and buckets. The graph came out of Golf Digest, and I think Mashie submitted it to the site several months ago. I found it very interesting to compare my goals to how different handicap levels perform in the various categories.

Since it's now been six months, I thought it might be time to take a look at these goals and see where I'm at:

"HIT THE FAIRWAY MORE OFTEN THAN NOT"

There's just something beautiful about a well hit drive bounding down the fairway. Most of the time I'm happy just to know where my ball IS after I hit it. I bought a new driver in the spring and I have been spending a lot of time working on it. In some of my recent rounds I've hit 9/14 and 10/14 fairways, so I feel like this is coming around.

By the way, I count the first cut of rough as fairway. On some of the courses I play you'll get a better lie from there than the fairway anyway.

"HIT THE GREEN MORE OFTEN THAN NOT (WHEN HAVING A CLEAR SHOT FROM 150 IN, OR FROM A TEE BOX)"

My short irons have always been my strong suite, and they still are. I hit my 8-iron from about 155, and I've been striking the ball very well in this range and in. On a recent round I hit 10 out of 15 in this category. Two of the misses were only a few yards off the green, and two misses were good shots with the wrong club, so I really only had one poor shot out of 15 opportunities.

On a recent visit to TopGolf I hit 18 out of 20 greens in a range from 50 yards to 160 yards.

"GET UP AND DOWN MORE OFTEN THAN NOT (FROM A REASONABLE LIE CLOSE TO THE GREEN)"

As I look at the chart above it's clear that this goal is quite advanced, and it has also turned out to be my biggest challenge. I'm getting better, and I think I will continue getting better as my putting improves, but I still have a long ways to go.

"NO MORE THAN TWO THREE-PUTTS PER 18 HOLES, AND NO MORE THAN 36 PUTTS OVERALL"

Another weak area, mostly due to my poor long putting. I think I've made some breakthroughs, and look forward to trying them on the course again. In my last round I had two three-putts and 32 overall, which was by far my best putting all year. Before this round my lowest putt-count was 37, and I had never had less than four three-putts.

"SCORE BETTER THAN BOGEY GOLF ON AVERAGE"

My last four rounds have all been just a few strokes above bogey golf, on different courses. I'm quite consistent, and I think I'm very close to meeting this goal. I think a lot of my challenges here are mental, as I start thinking about my score with several holes to go, and I've had several instances of poor play towards the end.

HANDICAP

I did not have a specific handicap goal, because I didn't know how the calculations worked here in the States. Right now my TGS handicap is about 20, and in my buddy's handicap engine I'm a 15. I've set myself a goal to be a single-digit handicap player by the end of next season.

OVERALL

I'm just having a blast getting better. Playing golf under any circumstances is wonderful, but when you're hitting it well it's quite divine. I love going to the range, whether it's hitting drives or putting or pitching, and that will definitely help me stick with it.

Four Majors, Four Memorable Shots

2009-08-28T10:41:00.011-05:00

As the dust is settling from the year's last major, and as we head into the first playoff weekend I think it's approprate to take a quick look back. Another thing that's happened is that the whining and moaning about the outcome of the majors has started to die down. Oh, what story lines we had going this year. What tremendous commentary our esteemed golf writers could have composed. Instead they stand there with their mouths open, looking every bit as incredulous as Jim Mora (and I paraphrase): "Research? Are you kidding me? Research?"

THE MASTERS

"Kenny choked" they all said, which isn't fair to him nor to the eventual winner. The ever-popular Kenny Perry led by two shots with two holes to go, and for some reason he starts playing conservatively when he's been hitting the snot out of the ball all day. Phil and Tiger played together, 7 shots off the lead at the start of the day, and made such a run that they came within one stroke of the lead at one point. The quiet and steady Chad Campbell played the last seven holes in -3 for a strong 69.

But don't take anything away from Angel Cabrera, the hard-hitting, chain-smoking, no-hablo-ingles Argie with a smile as wide as the Parana River. He went two under in the last five holes to put pressure on the leaders and to position himself to get to play for the championship. And once he was in the playoffs he was locked in. His second shot into 10, given the pressure and the circumstances, was as good an approach as we've seen all year.

In the end the Augusta cronies had to scurry to dust off the 52-Long jacket that's been sitting in the closet since 1982.

US OPEN

Phil Mickelson's lovefest with NY reached a new zenith as he returned to the tour after taking time off to be with his cancer-stricken wife. Both he and Tiger were in contention, and that always adds an edge to a major. Whereas all the focus was on the course leading into the tournament, as play started it was all about the weather. As it all turned out, they were probably lucky to get the tournament done in the five days it took to finish.

Then we had the completely unexpected yet highly talented players that rose to the surface like some obscure fact in a Pop-up Video. David Duval? Ricky Barnes? What year is this?

Lucas Glover shared the big lead with Barnes going into Sunday, and they both faltered early as they combined to go eight over par on the front nine holes. Glover turned out to be the steadier of the two as he settled down and played the back nine in even par to hold off the charges from the pack.

The most memorable shot of the tournament may have come from Hunter Mahan on 16. He was just a few strokes behind the lead and hit a perfect shot into the green. It was so perfect that it hit the flagstick hard and bounced off the green, where he was unable to get up and down to even save par. A two-shot swing, and he was out of the running.

BRITISH OPEN

I'm fifteen years younger than Tom Watson, and I can't even fathom playing golf for four straight days. Much less doing it on a world class course under British Open conditions. Yet there was Tom, looking every bit like the aging love child of Alfred E Neuman and David Letterman, holding the lead after day two and day three, and continuing throughout Sunday's play.

By then Tiger was already home in Florida, having missed only his second major cut as a professional. During a particularly rough stretch on Friday his best swings came when he slammed the club into his bag after yet another errant shot.

The tall and twittering Stewart Cink shot a brilliant 66 on Thursday, and hung in there with near-par rounds on Friday and Saturday. He played early on Sunday, and posted -2 to take the clubhouse lead with several groups left to play.

Everybody else fell off and it came down to Tom Watson making par on 18 to beat Cink's score. Three indifferent strokes left him a ten footer for par, and what followed can only be described as possibly the worst putt in Tom Watson's career. He left the clinching putt not only short, but also veering off to the right by a good foot off the line.

The four-hole playoff between Cink and Watson turned into a cake-walk for the kelly-clad Stewart, as he beat Tom by six strokes over the four holes to claim the claret jug.

PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

There were more surprises near the top of the leaderboard in this tournament, but this time the names were huge and the element of surprise was only due to the fact that they'd been struggling for most of the year. Three-time major winners Els, Singh, and Harrington were all oh-fer 2009. They were all chasing Tiger, who opened with a 67 and stayed in the lead through days two and three.

On Sunday Tiger led by two, and was paired with YE Yang, the smiling Korean who had beaten Woods three years ago in Asia. Of all the big names on the board, few people gave Yang a real shot at the championship, even in the unlikely scenario that Tiger would let the peloton catch up to him. Yet by the time they got to the back nine it was a true two-player race, mano a mano, as everybody else who were close fell away.

Yang took the lead with a brilliant chip-in for eagle on 14, and he was able to avoid mistakes every bit as effectively as Tiger avoided making putts to close the gap.

Coming to 18 Yang was still only up by a shot, and the tournament was still very much in the balance. That was until Yang's second shot, a towering 3-hybrid over trees and bunkers that landed 12 feet from the hole. Tiger missed the green and YE made the putt for a "comfortable" three shot victory.

Ping Hybrids

2009-08-20T14:59:00.002-05:00

I've been looking at picking up a couple of hybrids to replace my 3 and 4 irons, since I'm not able to hit those clubs reliably, and I have a gap in my hittable range from 180 (5 iron) to 240 (5 wood). Being a Ping guy I've tested the G10 hybrids a couple of times, and like them a lot. Ping just released their new G15 hybrids. I haven't tested them out yet, but as you can see from the pictures below the club has been completely re-engineered. The G10 looks a lot more like a small wood, with a face that reminds you of the old Tight Lies by Adams Golf. The G15 looks a lot more like an iron, but with a bulge on the back of it. It might make a difference that the G10 pictured is 18 degrees while the G15 is 23, but I still think they've put a LOT of changes into this club.

Sunday night, after the last interview

2009-08-18T14:43:00.003-05:00

Looks like Tiger took his second place finish pretty hard.

SKYY IN THE TIGER !!!

(Photo courtesy of Ale-Man Productions)

Moment of Putting Zen

2009-08-07T07:38:00.003-05:00

Those of you who have been following my ramblings here this year know what a difficult time I've had with my long putting. Three-putts are commonplace, and I've been suffering from a complete lack of confidence. In short, I don't have any idea what I'm doing on long putts in any way, shape, or form.

How bad is it? Try to imagine all life as you know it stopping instantaneously and every molecule in your body exploding at the speed of light. Total protonic reversal. It's bad, I tell you.

I've tried short putters and long putters. I've tried putting lefty and putting righty. I've tried big fat heavy heads and tiny little blade heads. I've tried a variety of stances, and a plethora of grips. Nothing's worked.

The last time I played 18 at Firewheel I shot an 89 on a par 81 course. Bogey golf, which is a pretty good score for me. What was bothersome was that in this 89 I hit 8 fairways and 9 greens in regulation, but I had 40 putts for the round. According to statistics I've seen this means my long game was about like a 9 handicap golfer, but my putting was like a 36 handicapper.

So I'm out at the greens working on my short game last night. A bit of putting, and a bit of pitching. Some more putting, and some chipping. My putting is again poor. My pitching is spotty, which isn't all that surprising because I haven't been playing a lot over the past month. My chipping is ....

Hey, wait just one God damned minute !!! Why is it that I can chip-and-run a six-iron from the fringe a LOT closer and with more consistency than if I were to putt it from ten feet closer on the green? Tried it again, from the other side of the green, with more good results.

You know how all the big shot short game teachers tell you that you should chip with your putting stroke? Well, I've never had enough faith in my putting stroke to take this advice, so I've sort of come up with my own chipping method.

So, at a loss as to how to explain this conundrum I decide to try putting with my chipping stroke, and HALLELUJAH !!! Lo and behold, I start stroking the ball beautifully. I putt my six balls to different holes and different distances. All of a sudden I can truly feel how I need to hit the putt, I roll ball after ball up to within feet of reasonably long targets. It was BY FAR the best long putting I've ever done. It's the first time I can recall having an actual "touch" for the distance.

I don't remember thinking about much as I was hitting the ball. Mostly just "go up there and get the ball close to the hole."

As darkness was bringing my practice to an end I wrapped it up on a true high, hitting my six balls all to within five feet of the hole from a good 30 paces away, downhill and with a six-foot break. This may not mean much to those of you who are actually good putters, but to someone like me it was absolutely astounding.

And believe you me, I was grinning like Billy Bob Thornton after a fifth of Jack.

I can't wait to practice again, and I can't wait to get out on the course again. I've been around golf long enough to know there's a very real possibility that I will never again recapture this feeling, even with the exact same methods and equipment.

But, maybe just maybe I've stumbled on something here. To be continued ...

Jinx In Kilt

2009-08-04T08:53:00.001-05:00

One day after I wrote my last blog, about what a bad idea it is for John Daly to have another reality show, the guy shoots 88. He had 25 strokes more than Tiger. 25 !!!

Must see TV, no doubt.

Thanks a LOT GolfChannel

2009-07-30T14:30:00.003-05:00

Most golf fans are happy to have John Daly back on the tour in somewhat regular fashion. He's played well for stretches here and there, and by all accounts he's stayed on the straight and narrow. He's obviously wearing fabulous pants. I thought it funny a few months ago when he was playing in Europe and wore raingear over his pants. Big headlines: "JOHN DALY WEARS BLACK PANTS". So that's all well and fine. Why oh why does GolfChannel now have to shine an even brighter spotlight on this guy? He's trying to play it straight, inside the ropes as well as outside. The last thing he needs is some bogus pseudo-reality show around all the time. Do you think they really want to see his boring life, or are they there because there could be a train-wreck at any given moment? I think it's asking for trouble, and the fallout could be disastrous. At best it's irresponsible journalism, and at worst it's manipulative and self-centered. Meanwhile, nobody's asked me to come up with names for his show, but here are a couple of options off the cuff:

Daly Show
Old No. 7 at 8 (Eastern, 7 Central)
Happy Hour with JD
JD and Diet
The Loudmouth Speaks
The John
The Round Mound of Career Rebound

I'm sure there are others ...

Try spinning THIS

2009-07-08T15:09:00.003-05:00

We all are very able to find faults with the PGA Tour and their players. The blogosphere is full of comments about who should play which tournament, why nobody cares if Tiger isn't playing, or the length of Faherty's shorts. But put yourself in the NFL's cleats this offseason. Below is a graphic of today's headlines, with summarization of the basic facts related to some of the headline. This is not a summarization, it's what's going on right now. The only story that's remotely positive is the report of the commissioner's attempt at climbing Mt. Rainier. It makes me very thankful to only have to worry about whether someone's going to play in Milwaukee or Scotland in two weeks.

Ramblings from the Rough (7/8)

2009-07-08T10:49:00.002-05:00

As if Kenny Perry didn't have enough sympathy support for The Open after the way he carried himself at The Masters, now it's revealed his mother has cancer. All the best to the family. At this time Kenny is still planning on playing in The Open. Tiger took a dig at George Steinbrenner and the Yankees before the AT&T National, using Yankee Stadium as the worst case scenario of escalating ticket prices. Good move of Tiger to let all servicemen in free, and good for the PGA Tour that a majority of tournaments let kids under 12 in free. Great PR move.

(photo by AP)

A word about Hunter Mahan. This guy's going to win soon, and once he does I think he'll start winning a lot. He has an uncomplicated swing, and cool demeanor. Three straight in the Top 6, along with five Top 20s in the beginning of the year. He had eleven Top 20 finishes last year, so he's definitely putting himself in position to win.

A couple of writers are throwing Mahan into the category of other golfers who were mowed over and left rolled up in the fetal position by another Tiger victory, but I feel like his situation was different last week. He came from so far back and posted a great number. It's not like he should have been expected to shoot a 61 to tie Tiger. He truly did everything he could on Sunday. Having said that, we CAN add AK to that list. He was clearly not up to the challenge on Sunday. Glad to see he's healthy, but he still has a long ways to go before he's a consistent threat week in and week out. I'm re-reading "Zen Golf". It's so good I don't even know that I'd be able to write a review of it. It's going to be one of those book I always want to have around. The lessons apply very much to life as well as to golf. More bad news for the Mickelson's. Phil's mom was also diagnosed with breast cancer, and will undergo surgery next week. Again, many good vibes to their family. The USGA are openly discussing having a course where par varies from day to day on the same hole depending on where they put the tee boxes. Have they completely gone off the deep end? It's not like players would play the hole any differently, and it wouldn't impact the end result other than the winning score in relation to par. Bad BAD idea. This week's indication the economy may be getting better: A convoy of four trailers carrying Beemers to the local dealership. Everytime The Open comes back to Turnberry I think back to Tom Watson's victory over Jack in 1977. He shot 65-65 on the weekend to beat Jack's 65-66 to win by one. Bowling balls!!! The Waggle Room blog has a picture of a golf bag that got hit by lightning. A pretty convincing argument for not being anywhere near if that were to happen. The LPGA seems to be in some kind of tailspin. They lost another sponsor, and there's a rumor that a group of top players wrote a letter stating their lack of conficence in their Commissioner Carolyn Bivens. This is very unfortunate, because inside the ropes there has been some very good golf played, and they have some great new talents that are playing well. Hell, even Michelle Wie seems to be improving every week (T23, T10, and T3 the last three weeks). I don't know about you, but I'm actually going to pay attention to the US Women's open this weekend, which is a first in a long time. Golf quote of the week: "Golf is assuredly a mystifying game. If would seem that if a person has hit a golf ball correctly a thousand times, he should be able to duplicate the performance at will. But such is certainly not the case." (Bobby Jones). The Devil Ball blog on Yahoo sports has been documenting a list of their top 18 golf holes in the game. It's good reading. The move to ban fans who yell "Get in the hole" at golf tournaments is gaining momentum. Couldn't agree more. That is all.

Tiger Stats with Tiger Stripes

2009-07-06T10:01:00.007-05:00

As Hunter Mahan signed his scorecard Tiger had roughly six holes of golf left to play, with the score tied and nobody else realistically within reach (including would-be Tiger-killer Anthony Kim). All Tiger had to do was to avoid bogeys on some holes where trouble was within fairly easy reach, and somehow find a birdie along the way. Tiger's play down the stretch was a showcase of control and concentration, in the end he was able to pick up the one stroke on par that he needed for the victory.

(photo by TIM SLOAN/AFP/Getty Images from Yahoo Sports)

Now, one shot over a 72 hole tournament is a very miniscule margin, to say the least. Mathematically it's a fraction of a percent, and in golfing terms there were dozens of places where Tiger may have lost a stroke or Hunter could have gained one. In order to appreciate Tiger's greatness we can't just look at one tournament, but we need to take a step back and look at a larger body of work. When you do, you will realize that we'd better pay attention, because we're watching a domination of titanic proportions.

It's not that he won by one stroke this weekend, or at Memorial, or at Bay Hill. It's that he just keeps finding ways to win much more frequently than anyone else in history. Over the past two years he's won 7 times out of 14 stroke play events, an amazing win rate. And when he doesn't win, he's usually close by, and he almost never crashes out and finds himself with time on his hands on the weekend. Not counting the US Open shortly after his father died Tiger hasn't missed a cut since 2005. As a point of comparison, Phil Mickelson has missed eight cuts in the past three years, and Padraig Harrington and Vijay Singh have missed 11 cuts each in that time frame. While it's true that most players play in more tournaments than Tiger does, you're still comparing their numbers to a goose-egg. Tiger is currently riding a 19 tournament streak of Top 10 finishes (again, looking at stroke-play tournaments) that goes back two calendar years. In the last five years, Phil's longest streak like this is four tournaments, Paddy's longest is three tournaments, and Vijay's longest streak is also three tournaments. I feel like this number is the most impressive of all at this time. Given how deep the PGA Tour is right now, to consistently keep yourself in the Top 10 out of 200 of the worlds very best golfers is truly astonishing. It's unfair to compare Tiger's performance now to his ridiculous domination in the beginning of the century. At that time he took the tour by shock and awe, raising the bar in ways reminiscent of when Babe Ruth took the home run record from 29 to 54 in one year in 1920. The rest of the tour has had some time to catch their collective breath and adjust their training, preparation, and focus to try to catch up, and a new generation of golfers is coming up who's never known a tour without Tiger as the dominating force. The fact that Tiger's still wins at the rate he does is truly remarkable. I lived in Chicago during the 90s, and I consider myself lucky as a sports fan to have gotten to witness Michael Jordan's domination of that decade, leading the Bulls to six championships. I feel like in watching Tiger play right now we're watching a very similar performance. I love Jack, and Bobby, and Ben and Arnie; but I can't imagine anyone convincing me right now that Tiger isn't the best ever.

Golf in HD

2009-07-02T15:19:00.000-05:00

Could someone get a message to the Golfchannel makeup artists and inform them that as Nick Faldo turns sideways the back of his neck gets exposed? This means you may want to cover this rusty-looking red-neck area of space with the same magic stuff you used on his face.

Think this might be a little distracting?

2009-06-30T15:48:00.002-05:00

Aaron Stewart, the son of the late Payne Stewart, played Pinehurst as part of the North and South Men's Amateur Championship. Here's a picture of him putting in front of a statue of Payne in his famous victory pose. It scored pretty high on my creep-o-meter.

Book Preview: "I Hit the Ball Great at the Driving Range, but ..."

2009-06-29T21:52:00.003-05:00

Everybody's favorite Chicago-area Big Lebowski fan, BeeZee a.k.a. abzgolf a.k.a Brian Zipse, has given me the honor of previewing a manuscript for his burgeoning book "I Hit the Ball Great at the Driving Range, but ...". It's a compilation of "Dear BeeZee" columns on a variety of topics.

(artwork by JT Munson)

THE AUTHOR

Brian Zipse lives in Tinley Park outside Chicago with wife and baby daughter. He's a Master Teaching Professional with the World Golf Teaching Federation, a status only attained by 300 of that organization's 18,000 members. He has been teaching golf for 10 years, and he's a contributing writer to Universal Golf and The Green Links Pages. Brian's website is www.abzgolf.com.

THE BOOK

The subtitle to the book is "The Best of Dear BeeZee", and it can be best thought of as 72 holes of golf oriented "Dear Abby" type columns. The questions and answers cover all aspects of improving both the enjoyment and the performance of amateur golfers. It deals with the mental side of the game as well as with physical and technical aspects.

To a golfer who's coming back to the game after a lengthy absence he recommends: "Most beginners would improve faster if the first motion they tried with a golf club was to swing it at chest level, like a baseball swing ... after this is comfortable, bring back the ball. Make the same easy motion, letting the ball get in the way. Yes, the golf swing can be as simple as letting the ball get in the way."

Another golfer has a problem with roller-coaster performances, and not being able to stick with what he knows is right. Brian's advice includes "Get off of this merry-go-round now! By constantly looking for a fix to your golf swing and then abandoning this fix as soon as it stops working, you are in essence not learning, not building, and you are inviting inconsistency to be your golf partner."

Those of us who pay attention to Brian's comments in the various The Golf Space forums know how passionate he is about helping golfers play better and enjoy the game more. This passion is evident in the advice he provides. For most part his tone is positive and encouraging, but at times also stern when that's called for. He definitely has the kind of temperament any good teacher needs.

The writing is casual and easy to read. I wish Brian the best of luck with the book, and with his continued contribution to the promotion of the game of golf.

You're entering a world of pain

2009-06-26T09:11:00.001-05:00

Sometimes a story comes along that show us why stereotypes are there in the first place. While stereotypes are never 100% perfect, they rarely evolve out of thin air either. A golfer has a slow-play argument with the threesome in front of him. It continues for several holes, and spills into the parking lot at the course. The complaining golfer pulls a gun and tells them "If I feel threatened, I am morally obligated to destroy you." The guy is 73 years old. It would happen in Texas. I'm sure it had something to do with Vietnam somehow, at least in his demented mind. The man in the black pajamas. A worthy (#&$)@(#&$ adversary. http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/2009/06/25/0625golfer.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=52 Moral of the story: Let the guy play through next time. Life's too short.

Golfer I Didn't Know - Brian Vranesh

2009-06-24T12:33:00.002-05:00

When most people think of Q-School they may think about former winners who are trying to get back to their winning ways, or about hot young talent trying to get their tour card. Occasionally a club pro makes a run at a career as a player. Then there are guys like Brian Vranesh, who was able to rise above his "do anything play anywhere" 10 year long existence to gain entrance to the big tour at the end of 2008.

Brian was born in 1977 in Northridge, California, where he still resides. He's 6'5" tall, and weigh 180 pounds.

In 10 tournaments on the PGA Tour in 2009 he's made two cuts. His best finish was in Memphis recently, where his scorecard included two 66s and he took 39:th place.

Some of the players Brian are close to on tour include Charley Hoffman and Pat Perez.

Brian has also played in five Nationwide Tour events this year, with his best finish being second place in Louisiana in March.

Brian is getting married this December, in Las Vegas.

In this week's tournament Brian is teeing off at 8:35 AM on Thursday.

TopGolf Review

2009-06-23T09:57:00.003-05:00

I first found out about TopGolf in checking out a profile at The Golf Space, and soon thereafter I overheard some people at work talking about it. It seemed almost like a mystical, magical place, where the ground knew who just hit that golf shot that landed next to the target.

Well, the end result is exactly that, but the method is a lot more straightforward, and one of the cooler uses of technology I've seen in some time.

It starts at the factory. Maxfli embeds microchips into Top Flite golf balls as part of the manufacturing process. These chips send out a unique signal that can be sensed outside the ball. You plug your TopGolf card into the machine when you get balls, and the machine slowly drops one ball at a time into your basket. The reason it's a slower process than at the normal driving range is that as it gives you the ball it also registers that particular ball as belonging to you.

You then go to the mats, and before you hit each ball you run it through another sensor. A video screen tells you what your target is, or which game you're playing with your buddies. You hit your ball towards graduated targets with a handful of different point categories depending on how close to center you hit, and then you get points based on how well you do. Think a "closest to the flag" contest at the range, but without the arguing. The further away the target is the more points you get for hitting it.

The games you can play can be wide open where you just gather as many points as possible, or it can direct you to specific targets depending on your skill level. Up to five players can participate in any game at any time.

All the mats are shaded, which is huge in Dallas, and there are waitresses who are very adept at bringing out food and buckets of cold beer and other libations of your choosing. The bar inside has many electronic televisions, and there are golf instructors available.

The cost is $3.50 for 20 balls, which is a bit high but still very reasonable for an urban driving range in the Dallas area. The Dallas location is fully lit and open until midnight on Friday and Saturday nights. There are three locations in the UK, and three in the US (Dallas, Chicago, Washington DC).

If you like golf and you live in or you visit one of these places, I highly recommend you stop by. The staff will explain everything to you, and you'll find the time just run away from you.

Hmmm, I wonder what the weather will be like

2009-06-22T13:50:00.003-05:00

This pretty much eliminates "The Weather" as a topic of casual conversation in Plano, TX this week ...

My First Bridgestone Experience

2009-06-19T09:51:00.001-05:00

Tony was absolutely raving about playing the Bridgestone 330 balls a few months ago, so I thought I'd give them a shot myself. Keep in mind that my shot-making and ball-striking is a lot more inconsistent than Tony's, so I won't be able to provide an exact impact on my game, but here are my thoughts after playing it once: Firstly, I played the 330-S ball. I'm a roughly-20 handicap, and my swing-speed is about 105 with a 7-iron. Distance wise I would say I hit an 8-iron approximately 150 yards. Traditionally I've played Pinnacle, and recently I've been playing the Pro-V1x.

Initially I got the impression that I had a lot more spin than normal even on very short chips and pitches. I noticed this even on the pitching green before the round, which was shots of no more than 15 yards off the green.

My second impression was that of seeing my iron shots fly 10-15 yards over the green. I would say I had significantly more distance on all irons.

On this particular course I don't get to hit driver until the 4:th hole, and I felt like the ball went further than I expected based on the kind of contact and swing I put on the shot. I had at least 3 300+ yard drives into a slight headwind.

In short, until proven otherwise, I have a new favorite ball. I just have to re-calibrate how far I hit my irons.

Bushwood Black Warning Sign

2009-06-17T13:48:00.002-05:00

I didn't even know they had a Black course at the Bushwood Country Club, but it appears that they do.