Posts tagged golf

Well when you put it that way…

Golf isn’t for everybody. It’s not easy to learn, and it’s impossible to master. It’s expensive. It’s time consuming. It’s intimidating. It’s humbling. Its rules often defy common sense and some of its traditions are downright primitive. For the last 20 years, golf’s powers-that-be have tried to “grow the game” with all sorts of “initiatives” and pie-in-the-sky, if not delusional, promotions—with zero success.

- David Seanor, Former Golfweek editor and Yahoo! contributor on the current issues facing the game

It’s a rather bleak outlook wouldn’t you say? 

Someone will win one of these today… Happy Easter and Happy Masters Sunday

Someone will win one of these today…

Happy Easter and Happy Masters Sunday

Masters Picks

The Favorites

Rory McIlroy

  • Redemption



Tiger Woods

  • Well…another kind of redemption


The Dark Horses

It’s tough to be a dark horse and play in the Masters, so maybe a better title for this is the Non-Tiger-Rory-Phil Division


 Bill Haas

  • The reigning FedEx Cup champ already has a win this season and fits the mold of that guy in his late twenties/early thirties with a few solid wins under his belt and ready to breakout on the major stage




Geoff Ogilvy 

  • Fear the ‘stache!
It’s here…Masters Week

It’s here…Masters Week

I downloaded the audiobook version (for free, thanks to audible.com*) of Hank Haney’s highly anticipated book The Big Miss. It should be an entertaining listen on the iPhone while practicing at the golf course.   *Just have to remember to cancel my membership before the 30 free trial expires (good news is that you get to keep your one free download regardless of if you maintain your $14.95/month membership or not) 

I downloaded the audiobook version (for free, thanks to audible.com*) of Hank Haney’s highly anticipated book The Big Miss. It should be an entertaining listen on the iPhone while practicing at the golf course.  

*Just have to remember to cancel my membership before the 30 free trial expires (good news is that you get to keep your one free download regardless of if you maintain your $14.95/month membership or not) 

Yikes…watching the Tiger Woods press conference. Things got awkward/tense to say the least.  

Trying out the iPing putting app and cradle. It collects pretty good data but the only challenge is making sure that the iPhone and the accompanying cradle are perpendicular to the putter face. If it’s slightly off it could easily throw off the the impact angle information and raise your “putting handicap”. I’m also looking forward to trying out the skins game feature…seems like a fun way to practice putting (never a bad thing).

Trying out the iPing putting app and cradle. It collects pretty good data but the only challenge is making sure that the iPhone and the accompanying cradle are perpendicular to the putter face. If it’s slightly off it could easily throw off the the impact angle information and raise your “putting handicap”. I’m also looking forward to trying out the skins game feature…seems like a fun way to practice putting (never a bad thing).

“I could probably play it a thousand times and never make an 8.” -Kyle Stanley What could have been…that was a gut-wrenching finish to the Farmers Insurance Open. I know it’s counter-intuitive but my dad and I always talk about aiming at the grand stand behind the green and blowing it out the back, taking the free drop just off the green and then collect the ill-fated winner’s check photographed above.Instead, Stanley played the hole the traditional way, hit a decent a approach shot and fell victim to a tough break.  Hopefully he can get over that awful finish and win in the near future…he played to well for 71 and 3/8ths holes not to.

“I could probably play it a thousand times and never make an 8.”

-Kyle Stanley

What could have been…that was a gut-wrenching finish to the Farmers Insurance Open. I know it’s counter-intuitive but my dad and I always talk about aiming at the grand stand behind the green and blowing it out the back, taking the free drop just off the green and then collect the ill-fated winner’s check photographed above.Instead, Stanley played the hole the traditional way, hit a decent a approach shot and fell victim to a tough break. 

Hopefully he can get over that awful finish and win in the near future…he played to well for 71 and 3/8ths holes not to.

I’m sure there’s a joke about how this shaft will negatively impact your performance in a way that succinctly relates to LSU’s stagnant offense in the BCS Championship game….but I haven’t pieced one together yet. That being said, I thought it was a pretty cool design. It would look even better with a purple or yellow Golf Pride multi-compound grip as well.

I’m sure there’s a joke about how this shaft will negatively impact your performance in a way that succinctly relates to LSU’s stagnant offense in the BCS Championship game….but I haven’t pieced one together yet.

That being said, I thought it was a pretty cool design. It would look even better with a purple or yellow Golf Pride multi-compound grip as well.

Matteo Manasserro’s Golf Swing

Here’s a great in-depth analysis of Matteo Manasserro’s golf swing. As someone who fights the occasional hook off the tee there were a few things that I found helpful:

  • His right elbow remains “tucked” at the top of the swing which prevents the club from getting across the line at the top of the swing.
  • He has a “passive club-face” meaning that it remains fairly stable through impact. This will help taking the timing out of the swing and improve consistency.
  • Lastly, he mentions that the right arm doesn’t overlap or “pass” the left hand until well after impact…that will no doubt lead to fewer punch shots from the left trees.
Recap from The FedEx St. Jude Classic - Started off the day by following David Toms for a few holes. Even though he didn’t have his “A” game he still threw some darts with his wedges. He has such great tempo, even on his off days his is still fun to watch. - Next we dropped back one group and watched Lee Westwood, toonament leader Robert Karlsson, and Robert Garrigus for a few holes. Robert Garrigus’s putter is equal parts grip and shaft. The thing looks like a toy. It’s so small in fact, he keeps his putter in his umbrella pocket.  - After following that group for a while, we marched to the other end of the course to watch Geoff Oglivy and his group play. My initial observation was that, “damn, the dude has big feet” haha. Thanks to a couple wayward tee shots from the group ahead, there was time to kill on the 18th tee. It was interesting to hear him talk about the business end of golf with playing partner Jerry Kelly’s caddie. He noted that Titleist makes a $250million profit annually, but the parent company was worried about sending mixed signals to its shareholders, so they sold the company. (Fortune brands owns many liquor companies, including Jim Beam). I can’t imagine many other high profile athletes talking business mid competition. It was truly interesting. He mentioned one of the fringe benefits of Titleist’s previous owners was the access to free booze. No longer is this the case. After about a 5-10 min. wait he promptly puts his tee ball in the drink. So much for staying in the moment.  - We next followed the grouping of Sergio Garcia, Anthony Kim, and Retief Goosen. Every novice golf fan recognizes those names, so naturally the crowd following them was rather large. While they were putting and all the other patrons were watching them putt, Hilary and I would sneak to the next tee shot and got some great front row action. Sergio hit some tee shots that were absolute bullets. On the twelfth hole specifically, he hit a 3-wood off the tee that never got above belt high…it was incredible the carry it managed to have. Talk about wind cheater, I was in awe. -After watching one of the featured groupings we hung back and saw tour rookie and Bob Hope champion Jhonny Vegas tee off on 13. The guy murders the ball. He is built like a linebacker. He has been in a little bit of a slump lately but it was still incredible to witness.   - In the club department, the TaylorMade drivers were far and away the most played clubs out there. I was a little skeptical about the all white driver (a little gimmicky) but now I’m just plain curious.  - Hilary enjoyed checking out all the bling the players’ wives and girlfriends were wearing.  - Lastly, the quiet signs the volunteers used were pretty cool…

Recap from The FedEx St. Jude Classic

- Started off the day by following David Toms for a few holes. Even though he didn’t have his “A” game he still threw some darts with his wedges. He has such great tempo, even on his off days his is still fun to watch.

- Next we dropped back one group and watched Lee Westwood, toonament leader Robert Karlsson, and Robert Garrigus for a few holes. Robert Garrigus’s putter is equal parts grip and shaft. The thing looks like a toy. It’s so small in fact, he keeps his putter in his umbrella pocket. 

- After following that group for a while, we marched to the other end of the course to watch Geoff Oglivy and his group play. My initial observation was that, “damn, the dude has big feet” haha. Thanks to a couple wayward tee shots from the group ahead, there was time to kill on the 18th tee. It was interesting to hear him talk about the business end of golf with playing partner Jerry Kelly’s caddie. He noted that Titleist makes a $250million profit annually, but the parent company was worried about sending mixed signals to its shareholders, so they sold the company. (Fortune brands owns many liquor companies, including Jim Beam). I can’t imagine many other high profile athletes talking business mid competition. It was truly interesting. He mentioned one of the fringe benefits of Titleist’s previous owners was the access to free booze. No longer is this the case. After about a 5-10 min. wait he promptly puts his tee ball in the drink. So much for staying in the moment. 

- We next followed the grouping of Sergio Garcia, Anthony Kim, and Retief Goosen. Every novice golf fan recognizes those names, so naturally the crowd following them was rather large. While they were putting and all the other patrons were watching them putt, Hilary and I would sneak to the next tee shot and got some great front row action. Sergio hit some tee shots that were absolute bullets. On the twelfth hole specifically, he hit a 3-wood off the tee that never got above belt high…it was incredible the carry it managed to have. Talk about wind cheater, I was in awe.

-After watching one of the featured groupings we hung back and saw tour rookie and Bob Hope champion Jhonny Vegas tee off on 13. The guy murders the ball. He is built like a linebacker. He has been in a little bit of a slump lately but it was still incredible to witness.  

- In the club department, the TaylorMade drivers were far and away the most played clubs out there. I was a little skeptical about the all white driver (a little gimmicky) but now I’m just plain curious. 

- Hilary enjoyed checking out all the bling the players’ wives and girlfriends were wearing. 

- Lastly, the quiet signs the volunteers used were pretty cool…

Hush Y'll!

Tracking My Golf Stats in 2011

In true engineering fashion I will attempt to keep a more detailed record of my rounds this year in an effort to identify a more accurate idea of what my game’s strengths and weaknesses are. With the help of www.oobgolf.com I will try my best! Here’s a link to what the year’s stats look like so far.

I’m sure the golf gods will punish me for laughing at this, but it’s a nice reminder that we are all human. The nonhuman part of all this is that he managed to walk away with a par en route to a 66…

This is only a test.

This is only a test.

Old habits die hard…

Old habits die hard…