This is Insane

Want to hear (or read) a ridiculous stat? Well you don't have a choice if you're still reading. Tiger Woods is obviously the number 1 ranked golfer in the world. Phil Mickelson is the number 2 ranked golfer in the world. There's nothing shocking about that.

Here comes the insane part. Notah Begay III, who went to college with Tiger, is ranked number 958 in the world. He happens to be closer to Mickelson in ranking points than Mickelson is to Tiger right now. That's how much better Tiger is compared to the rest of the PGA tour.

You would think with that far of a lead he was just take it easy but he probably wants the margin to be greater.

Winter Golf

Thursday is going to be our first winter round of golf. We're gonna brave the elements and see if we can keep playing during the winter months. Jersey is pretty tough but there's a local course that stays in pretty decent shape and it's a reasonable price.

I'm prepared with some discounted, thin clothed ski equipment, winter golf gloves, ear warmers, and 2 flasks of blackberry brandy. The brandy is purely for warming purposes but the forecast is 40 degrees and sunny. Hardly rough conditions. Check back for the round synopsis.

Life's Lessons on the Golf Course

The late, great Sam Snead once said, "If you cheat at golf, you cheat at Life."

Ben Hogan was very sick at one point. With his fate sealed he was asked how he felt regarding his condition, was he angry, disappointed, etc. He said he wasn't angry or disappointed at all. He stated the way he played golf was the way he lived life. When asked to explain what that meant he said, "Always play the ball where it lies."
What Ben Hogan meant was that the game, like life, has many obstacles. Even though he knew he was dying, to him his sickness was simply an obstacle. No matter what obstacle was in front of him in golf or in life, he always played the ball as it lied.

The truest meaning of these quotes is to always preserve the honor, integrity, and purity of golf and life.

How do They Shoot Under Par??

Seriously, how in the world do these guys shoot under par? For us hackers, if we shoot 20 over for a round it's considered pretty good. I've seen guys shoot in the 70's before and it's a grind. A big time grind, where they're mentally exhausted afterward.

The real skill comes with the fact that on any given hole you can only score 1 under par, 2 at most but that's not often at all. Even making birdies aren't a guarantee. Yet on any given hole, you can shoot an unlimited amount over par.

You can be even par with 3 holes to play and if you shoot 3 double bogeys in a row you've just gone from even par to 6 over par. It's too easy to blow up in a short time. Sometimes we'll shoot a triple bogey on the first hole and joke, 'Well if this were a tournament we'd be out of it already.' While it is a joke, it's a very true joke. This game is too hard.

Tiger

After watching Tiger’s dismantling of the entire PGA tour at the Buick Invitational after a 7 week layoff all we can do is appreciate what we’re witnessing. Mark my words; never in our lifetime will we ever see someone dominate golf like he is. I wish I was around to see golf in the 60’s and 70’s when great battles were going on.

While Nicklaus was clearly the best at that point, he would still get some guys to dethrone him occasionally, just for a bit of reality. Guys like Gary Player, Johnny Miller, Lee Trevino, Tom Watson, and of course ‘The King’ Arnold Palmer used to give Nicklaus a run for him money. When Nicklaus stepped onto the tee, you were pretty sure that he would contend and most likely win. When Tiger steps up to the tee, you can bet your house that he’ll not only win, he’ll step on people’s throats. Guys haven’t stepped up to Tiger at all. The last guy who really challenged Tiger was David Duval back in the late 90’s. Vijay did grab the #1 ranking for about a month but that was when Tiger was going through his swing change. There’s basically Tiger, and the rest of the PGA tour.

This is no disrespect to golfing legends but Tiger is the best ever, period. Bobby Jones, Ben Hogan, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, they would all take a back seat to Tiger. What we’re witnessing in golf is simply amazing. PGA tour golfers are unbelievable and Tiger makes them look like amateurs. It’s almost not even debatable as to who was the best ever. No one has dominated the game like he has. He’s not beating cab drivers out there, he’s stomping on the best in the world.

Anyone who says they’re sick of Tiger winning all the time is just ignorant. You’re reading it here guys, this is the year Tiger wins the grand slam. I’ll guarantee at least 3 majors. He’s got everyone mentally beat already.

Sit back and enjoy the absolute greatest golfer who ever lived. Tiger Woods.

Lost 7 iron

Fellow golfers, please tell me that there are some out there that have done something as stupid as I did two weeks ago while playing a round of January golf. Here’s the situation; I’m a walker when I play golf and only drive when I’m told to. This was a Saturday round of golf and we had to drive the course for place of play. Although it was cart path only. When are people going to realize that it probably takes longer to play a round of golf driving a cart when it’s cart path only?

Well when it’s cart path only and you don’t have any idea what the yardage is from where your ball is, proper etiquette is to bring a few clubs with you so you don’t have to trudge back to the cart because you don’t have the correct club for the distance, thus holding up people even longer than cart path only golf causes to begin with.

In my haste to get back to my cart after one of my spectacular shots (I had no spectacular shots that Saturday), I simply left my 7 iron on the course. I didn’t realize it until later that evening after a few drinks and dinner while cleaning my clubs. I went to the course the very next morning and checked in every single spot I hit a shot from and the 7 iron was nowhere to be found. Over the next 10 days I called the course daily, hoping someone would turn it in and to this point no one has and I’ve already ordered a new one.

Let me just say this, yes I’m an idiot but that is terrible golf etiquette to not return a club that isn’t yours. Especially one that’s part of a set. Hey jerk, what the hell are you going to do with another 7 iron? I’m not going to leave more clubs out there for you so you can complete the set.
Ok, a brand new driver, a wedge, or even a putter I could see RARELY getting lifted. Which even if you do that, you’re a douche bag and belong playing a sport where there’s no honor or integrity.

So I continue on, with a new 7 iron that I still haven’t received yet. My only hope for this guy’s soul is he put it in his bag, left early and forgot to bring it up to the pro shop and doesn’t even realize it’s in his bag. Which means in March I’ll get a call from the golf course saying they have it.

If I never get a call from the course with the club being returned, that is terrible karma for the poor sap who took it. He knows in the back of his mind that his golf game is shot because the golf gods will get him for that. If you took my 7 iron and happen to read this someday, you can point to this for the reason your game was shot to hell.
Until then, I’m off to grab a few winter rounds of golf using some thin ski clothing and blackberry brandy. Hit ‘em straight boys.

Bunkerphobia

Back to John Daly's book, "Golf My Own Damn Way" he talks about a way to practice your bunker play. He says next time you go to the practice range, stand in the bunker and take swings without the ball being there. Take about 20 swings hitting the sand and following through. The key is to follow through though. After getting the hang of it and paying attention to where the club enters and leaves the sand, try it with a few balls.

That's great advice from Big John. But once again, these pros just don't get it. WE DON'T HAVE ANY BUNKERS TO HIT OUT OF!!!!! If we're in a bunker, we're on the golf course. And if we're taking 20 swings in the bunker, a group behind us is hitting golf balls up our ass because we're holding up the course. I would love to take swings out of a bunker and practice.

So now I'm left to 'think' about taking 30 swings while standing in the bunker. Also I'm left to 'think' about where the club enters and exits the sand. Just as Big John says, I'm making sure I'm following through on my sand swings.

There's reasons why we don't get much better. We get better but nothing drastic. More to come as I get aggravated.

The Practice Range

It's about time someone acknowledged that the driving range isn't where we amateurs can get much better. In this months issue of Golf Magazine there was an article about the so called 'practice range'. I've been preaching about this scenario for quite some time. The article talked about the range not being a realistic place for getting better at the golf shots we're most faced with. We hit maybe 4 or 5 fairways in a round so why are we taking all these swings from a perfect lie. Here in Jersey we don't have grass to hit off of so we're faced with mats. No rough, no hardpan, no trees. That's 80% of the shots we're faced with. Basically we can only get better by playing golf a lot because that's where we're learning the repetition of these shots. We'll have about 5 flat lies per round and that's all we hit at the range.

For amateurs, the range is good for timing and tempo, that's all. Of the hundreds of different shots there are in golf we can't practice any of them at the range.

Club Distances

So I was just thumbing through John Daly's new book, 'Golf My Own Damn Way' yesterday when he came across club distances. He did mention that it's not easy for us to go to a golf course and just practice certain shots on some holes unless you owned a course (as he does) or had a membership to a club. He's the first pro to ever acknowledge that we just can't practice the same way pro's do.

However, he did say to go to the driving range and start hitting a bunch of balls with just one club, then track the approximate distance according to the flags. We're talking 50 swings with one club. Then move on to the next club and take note of the distance. It makes complete sense. There's just one problem, and this is the problem with pro's and pro teachers. We're hitting 3 year old golf balls that have been beaten, crushed, waterlogged, and mowed. Am I to believe that these golf balls at the local driving range are going to fly just as far as brand new Titleists? This is the frustrating part of golf and trying to get better at it. We can only know that info if we're standing on a par 3, we're given the exact yardage, and we hit 50 golf balls. But unfortunately, it's just not realistic.

I was at the driving range today, and I didn't learn a thing about my distances. There was a 30 yard discrepency depending on the ball and the wind. When will we amateurs be given affordable but necessary resources to help our game?

Welcome to my golfing NIGHTMARE!

Ok folks, here goes my attempt at a blog. It’s geared towards golf. Not golf instruction but the mental pains of it. I know I’m not the only one who feels this way so this is to make us all feel better. It’s just that the professionals on the PGA tour make this game look so easy and for anyone who’s been on the golf course, they know just how hard it is. The concept is very simple, get the ball in the hole. Why the hell is it so hard to do? This blog is basically a rant, but a social rant for everyone to enjoy and comment on.
I’ll admit that I’m addicted to golf. I could play golf every day if I had that luxury but I don’t. Golf is too expensive and in order to play, I have to work, which takes up most of my time. I do get out once a week during the season so I’m not deprived. I just don’t have the time or resources to practice.
So many things happen during a round of golf that we can all relate too. This blog is related to anything about golf. I will provide no instruction due to the fact that I suck and couldn’t help you since I can’t help myself. I finished the 2007 season hovering between a 16 and 17 handicap. This was also the very first season in my five years playing that I followed every rule exactly. I wasn’t too much of a rules breaker but I would sometimes fluff my penalty stroke instead of shoulder dropping. I would sometimes hit my penalty stroke from where the ball went OB instead of off the tee. I would play winter rules well into the summer. I’m done with that and you should be too. The game is that much more satisfying when you score well and stay honest.
With that intro, I welcome the 2008 season. Hopefully we’ll be getting out soon (I’m in Jersey where the season doesn’t usually allow us to play consistently until late April). Maybe we’ll catch a few warm days here and there before to keep our fire burning. I’ll be posting frequently, regardless if I get out and play, about all the nuances of this crazy game. You should be able to relate to most of my stories (frustrations) so please feel free to comment back. Hit ‘em straight!