The Demise of Professional Golf

I was watching the first couple of tournaments recently and was astounded at how lackluster the field was. I would guess the ratings were in the tank, as the only things that would draw viewers were the warm venues. Personally, I tuned into the match between Sam Snead and Bob Hope instead of seeking out David Toms and Mark Wilson. Over at the Champions Tour, there was Brad Bryant apologizing for his 65, more surprised than anyone that he chipped and putted his way to the top of the leaderboard. Tiger hadn’t started his season yet, flying off to Dubai for a huge appearance fee and a joust with the crackerjacks of the European Tour. This blog has predicted he will win just about everything this year, and has advised him to do so then quit competitive golf and concentrate on his foundation. Bobby Jones did this, as did Byron Nelson, and they had no sex scandals to face down. Whether Tiger stays or goes, professional golf goes downhill. He could stay and dominate, or he could go and fade away. Either way, golf suffers. The current crop in their late 20s and early 30s are not strong enough to hold up the high bar of professional golf on all levels of accomplishment. Woods was the last of the lot, and look at the bloody mess he left behind, an irreparable heap of emotional horsecrap laying by the side of the road. And please, don’t feed me all the sanctimonious BS about Tiger haters. I don’t hate Tiger. I’m angry at him for taking himself down along with the game he built up.

Golf requires what the Buddhists call impeccability, which is

Winter Preparations: From Apps to Abs

Winter is a time to prepare for the new golf season, mentally and physically. Golf is tough enough for you to try to play much in winter. When I was a kid just starting to play the game in Philly, I’d put on three sweatshirts and play Cobbs Creek for 50 cents on frozen ground with 25 degrees temps. Cold? What cold? I felt no cold as the ball would roll about a million miles (as Rocco would put it), much to my delight. But that was then. Now, in my older middle age, my body and mind just can’t take the cold, wind, rain, and mud of winter, even in relatively mild northern California (I do get out a bit more this winter as we’ve had practically no rain and temps in the 60s so far). Instead, I watch the pros start off the season in Hawaii, swing a bit on my patio, putt  on the rug with a device that guides me into a slight open/close pendulum stroke, joined a gym, and have purchased some very helpful apps for my iPhone/iPad.

My favorite app is Golf My Way by Jack Nicklaus. I love Jack’s breezy, personal style, from filming made at the height of his powers back in the early

An Open Letter to Tiger Woods

There are two Tiger Woods. One is Tournament Tiger with the game face, with the head down, determined, focused, take no prisoners attitude, give no succor, defeat all comers, Sir Lanciliger who will even dally with whores to satisfy his desires. This Tiger ignores his fans, speaks only to his caddy, gives clipped interviews, considers no others, will go to any means to win, answers no questions, is in a state of recalcitrance. The other is Twitter Tiger, kicking back, smiling, one of the boys, joking, hanging, easy, cool, cap on backwards, T and shorts, playing with his kids, watching TV on a Saturday night by himself, helping Notah with his foundation, helping thousands, if not millions, of kids with his own foundation. Yes, despite the scandals and obnoxious behavior on and off the course, Tiger has continued to help children succeed and gain confidence with his very effective foundation. Let’s not forget that. He does not profit from this work, as far as I know. It is a self-less giving to the community that his father, Earl, and he started in 1996.

Woods is proud of his foundation, and rightly so. You can see it in his face when he is pictured with some of the kids he’s helped or leading a clinic. It’s that old Tiger smile, relaxed yet energized, humble yet excited for what he has accomplished, impassioned.

Here’s my advice to Tiger Woods, for what it’s worth, on this second day of 2012. As did Bobby Jones, set yourself the task of winning the Grand Slam this year. Upon succeeding and having a ticker tape parade in New York, retire from competitive golf, as did Jones, tied at 18 majors with Jack Nicklaus, and devote the rest of your life to the Tiger Woods Foundation. Judging from your last two tournaments, you could accomplish this. You’ve got your mojo back. Your name would be immortalized in the annals of golf for you would have done a noble deed, sharing the podium with Jack, and leaving the game a hero, as did Jones and Nelson before you. They decided enough was enough, putting ambition aside, assuming an emeritus role in golf’s highest echelons. Even if you didn’t achieve the Grand Slam, even if you fell short of Jack’s record, such an action would tell the world you are a man with a higher purpose than just to win golf tournaments. Your Foundation, and the children it helps, would still prosper, perhaps more so than now. And most of all, you would know and feel the spirit of your father smiling down upon you. Wishing you well in the New Year, Tiger. Thanks for helping all those children.

And you, dear reader, a very happy, healthy New Year. May this game of ours bring you continued pleasure and joy.

The Anchored Putter

Arnold Palmer says no. Sir Nick says, sure, why not. Keegan Bradley won the PGA with it, the first ever major won with a long putter. Adam Scott resurrected his career with it. As did Freddy Couples. It’s easier on the back. It takes the left hand, if held still, out of the stroke completely. It creates a pendulum action on par with a grandfather clock. But should it be legal? The King is very clear on this, saying that no golf club should be anchored to the body. Anchoring the club to the body, as with the belly or long putter, creates an advantage that a free swinging putter does not have. It removes a variable that has been with golfers since the inception of the game.  To hold the butt end of the club against the body provides a stability unavailable to those using putters of usually no more than 35 inches.

It’s a matter of confidence, which is at the core of successful putting. Putting simulates the movements of a pendulum, and a golfer’s skill is dependent upon how pendulum-like he or she can control the club. If the end of the club is fixed to the torso,

The Best Golf Film Ever

Golf in the Kingdom, the movie, goes deep into the heart and soul of the game. It’s the first golf movie I’ve ever seen where the main characters actually know how to swing a golf club. And nobody talks in cliches. There’s a realness to the film that stopped me cold and made me think even as I was watching, although I really didn’t want to think given the beauty of the landscape and the moody light of a Scottish links filmed, actually, at Bandon Dunes on the Oregon coast. The light and the landscape drew me into the film, while the dialogue held me spellbound. The game of golf was the keystone, of course, but life was the sun that kept it all energized. There  are few mulligans in life, where all strokes, even ones from a wayward waggle, need to be counted and accounted for. The skeptics derisively say, “Golf: it’s not even a sport.” And I reply, “That’s right: It’s a game, the greatest game ever played.”

It’s a game, like life is a game, unfair, cruel at times–it knocks you down,

No, it’s not a penalty, but…

OK, it’s not a penalty (as I’ve discovered from a number of readers who’ve commented), but why does one of the best players in golf history have to resort to looking in another player’s bag. Have you ever seen Nicklaus do it? Or Palmer? Or Player? Or McIlroy? Or Greg Norman? Or Hogan? Or Tom Watson? Or any of the other greats (OK, I’ll admit Snead might have)? TV would’ve revealed it. And why would Woods care what Zach is hitting? Their games are just a tad different.

He looked in his bag because the day before he hit into the water, and the man is so obsessed with winning, he’ll do something seedy like that, just to get a little edge. It’s true: a decision related to one of the rules of golf says a player can visually look into another player’s bag, but Tiger Woods checking out Zach Johnson’s bag to make his club selection? Come on. Give me a break.

What kind of model is that for a kid in the First Tee? In golf, we play against the course, and we can look at that course and the weather from all sides to Sunday. That’s part of the game: size up your shot and make your own club selection, not go nosing around in someone else’s bag. It’s legal but it’s unethical. It’s against the spirit of the game. It’s sneaky. It’s legal but it shouldn’t be. Spitting on greens is legal also, but should Woods and Garcia have done this when they did?

OK, Tiger, go ahead and keep your Chevron trophy, but play your own game, pal.

And one more thing: When Zach Johnson walked towards the first tee at the final round of the Chevron, he stopped to shake the hand of each tournament official who stood there by the grandstand. Class.

Tiger Woods walked to that same tee just after Zach and ignored all the officials. Ass.

Did Woods Cheat at the Chevron?

In the last round at the Chevron, as Zach Johnson and his caddie were busy discussing his shot at the par 3 15th, Tiger Woods took several steps forward to look into Zach’s bag and see what club he pulled. Club selection at this hole was critical as Woods dunked it into the water the day before. He did the same thing at the 17th. In fact Dottie Pepper, the on-course TV commentator, mentioned it on air at that point. The rule says you cannot seek advice from a competitor or his competitor’s caddie around club selection. My reading is that Woods should be assessed a two stroke penalty for this infraction. Therefore Zach Johnson should be declared the winner. The proof is on-camera and  readily seen  via slow motion play back.

Even if my interpretation of the rule in inaccurate, Woods had an ethical infraction that stains the game of golf once again. His action was aggressive and intrusive. He had no business looking into Johnson’s bag before he hit his shot, and before Woods followed with his.

This man is obsessed with wins and will resort to any means to achieve them. He was desperate for a win at this time, and his actions demonstrate this.

This was exactly my point in suggesting that Woods took steroids in ’08 to gain an edge in his march to more majors. This latest episode is a snapshot into the mind of a man blinded by his goals at the expense of others.

Final verdict, from my perspective: Tiger Woods cheated at Chevron and should be stripped of his title.

Here’s the scenario for the rule that deals with this (taken from golfcircuit.com):

SITUATION: Player asks opponent or competitor what club he just used.

SOLUTION: Depends on when and why the question was asked. A PLAYER MAY NOT ASK FOR ADVICE OR GIVE ADVICE. Advice is any information that could influence the player in his choice of club, or how to play the shot.
There would be no penalty if a player asked the question after he had already played his shot.
There would be a penalty if a player purposely volunteers information to change how his opponent is to play a shot.

Match play-the penalty for asking or giving advice is loss of hole. Let’s turn this around. In match play there is no penalty to the opponent if he answers because the player had already lost the hole when he first asked the question.

Stroke play-the penalty for asking or giving advice is 2-strokes. In this case if a player asks a question that would assist his play, he receives a 2-stroke penalty. Now, if his fellow competitor answers him, he would also receive a 2- stroke penalty.

Woods didn’t ask Johnson what club he was using, but he took it upon himself to look into his bag without Johnson knowing this. You decide.

The Drive, Revisited

The golf swing is essentially a whipping motion, and in order to maximize the whip, the shaft has to be right for you. I found this out recently during a swing analysis when I discovered that a senior shaft was ideal for me. The computer screen was showing 20-30 extra yards straight down the middle. For the price of new shaft (fifty bucks installed at my local golf repair shop), I could radically change my game. All I had to do was get over my reluctance to admit that I needed a senior flex. No small hurdle, that one. In fact, along with using white or senior tees, it’s probably the biggest hurdle in lowering one’s scores. And it’s nothing other than a thought, a perception, a view. Men have a tougher time getting older than women, I think. But golf equipment allows us to flow with the years, if we have the wisdom to accept and change. I took that club out to the range and I could see right away the ball was flying farther and straighter. Then I took it out to the course, and, sure enough, I was hitting one or two clubs less into greens. I was driving the ball about 220-230 instead of my usual 200-210. What a difference. And a whole lot more fun. And a better score by several strokes. A faster swing speed? Perhaps. But only because of the increased whip in the shaft. I haven’t gotten stronger, nor do I consciously swing the club any faster.

The whippier shaft does help me load up more efficiently. It increases my lag, and gives me just a split second more

Separation of Religion and Golf

I take exception to golfers referring to their evangelical announcements about how the Lord is so intently interested in their winning golf tournaments. The Lord has enough on his or her hands to waste time helping so and so play a game. And why would the Lord (a euphemism for Jesus Christ) pick out one born again golfer over another born again? I cringe every time I hear a pro praise the Lord for guiding his winning ways. Please, keep your religion to yourselves, boys. It has no place in championship golf as it has no place in the affairs of the government.

Webb Simpson is the latest in the line of evangelicals who uses his wins as a soapbox for how he couldn’t have pulled it off unless the Lord hadn’t helped him, implying the Lord knew the difference between a nine iron and a putter. Did the Lord help Gene Sarazen make that double eagle or invent the sand wedge? No, and The Squire

Guts, Glory, and Plasticity of Mind

How many times have you scored a triple bogey and essentially given up on the round? I’ve even stopped keeping score I’ve been so demoralized. Keegan Bradley, after chipping into the water, had a triple on the 15th hole on the last day of the 2011 PGA Championship–the first major he’d ever played in–and came back to win the tournament. That takes guts and courage and the ability to never say die, traits any golfer could use more of. These are traits of the mind, traits of character, traits of a person who can turn adversity into the seed of an equal or greater benefit. After Bradley’s triple, he was five shots behind Jason Dufner, a 34 year old journeyman. Bradley then birdied his next two, one with a 40 foot putt, and parred the 18th, arguably the most difficult hole on tour. He tied Dufner in regulation, a gutsy feat that has to be one of the great comebacks in the history of the majors. How he did it is a lesson we can all learn from.

Simply said, in golf, as in life, you never give up. Golf tests the resiliency of the mind to come back after disaster. The mind is conditioned generally to give up rather than come back and try again. It’s an organ of memory and we tend to remember the bad