Goodbye Michelle

Image by mharrsch via FlickrSo Michelle Wie missed the cut at the Women's Open, thanks to a 9 on a par 4. Her third place finish in 2006 is her best showing so far but we haven't seen the last of her in USGA events.
The big question is "When will she grow up and stop using past injuries as her excuse?"
I am so tired of reading the reports of yet another missed cut or sub-standard performance. Does she actually think up the stuff she says or is it spoon fed to her by her handlers. All she actually needs to say is "I didn't play well and I'll be working on my game until I get to the next event." Admittedly that would be the same interview over and over and over again, but it would be better than listening to the inane drivel that she spouts now.
Don't get me wrong, I'm a big believer of Michelle's potential to bring new interest to the LPGA Tour but she comes across as such an air head, which as a Stanford student she clearly isn't.
I picked the wax museum picture on purpose because that's how she appears to be - a wax dummy with a pre-recorded voice. Hopefully she will start to listen to her sound bites and get some maturity in her communications skills.
I'm still expecting great things from Michelle Wie but she needs to stop whining and start winning.

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US Women's Open

Image by Getty Images via DaylifeThe US Women's Open starts tomorrow and Annika Sorenstam is the emotional favorite as she bids to become only the third woman to win four titles.
As this will be her final year on Tour, she would love to go out with a Major title.
Lorena Ochoa is is the process of recording the best year ever for a woman professional. She may go over the $4 Million mark if she continues her early form.
Michelle Wie is an outsider's pick. Her lack or tournament experience this year probably will prevent her from winning but she's in good form and will probably post a top ten finish.
A crowd favorite will be Paula Creamer, probably the best US golfer at the moment and it is only a matter of time till she wins her first major.
Hoping ti make the cut this week for the first time is my student, Joanne Lee. This wiil be her third consecutive Open and she's looking for a strong performance against the strongest field in Women's golf. Go Joanne!!!

Finally, It's not about Tiger !!

Image by Getty Images via DaylifeI know, I've been writing regularly about Tiger for the past 10 days - but really, he deserved it.
Time for a new topic though.
Nice to see Stuart Cink win one this weekend. It's hard to believe that it's been 4 years since his last victory, plus he's one of the good guys.
Nike is having a great year, the first two majors plus numerous other wins. They are getting serious about being the number one company in golf. Titleist, Taylor Made and Callaway will need to sharpen their design and marketing pencils if they want to stay ahead of the Nike surge.
I've been playing the Nike One ball for about a year and prefer it over the Pro V.
I use the Nike driver, fairway wood and hybrids and would play the irons if not for my allegiance to Henry-Griffitts.
Nike are also rumored to be interested in acquiring a putter company, their putter offerings are currently the weak link in the line up but watch out if they buy Yes or another similar high end putter line.

No relief for Retief

Image by Stewart Ho via FlickrRetief Goosen was struck by lightening as a kid and blown out of his clothes. This is the reason given to explain his lack of personality and may also explain why he made a complete ass of himself this week with his comments about Tiger.
Asked about Tiger's US Open victory, Goosen suggested that Tiger was making more of his injury than was actually true - "Nobody really knows if he was just showing off or if he was really injured. I believe if he was really injured he would not have played" said Goosen.

When the true extent of Tiger's injury was revealed on Wednesday, Goosen back-peddled somewhat - “I was being light-hearted,” he told The London Times. “No one but Tiger knows how badly hurt he was. But if he was really badly hurt, he would have withdrawn, wouldn’t he?”

No Retief, you would have withdrawn and that highlights the difference between you and Tiger. You can't imagine playing hurt because like many other Tour players you've become over-payed and soft. Tiger can't imagine giving up and I for one can't wait to see him return and continue to kick your sorry butt for many more years.

Maybe next time you'll wait for the facts before you open your mouth and spout a bunch of garbage about someone else's injury, who do you think you are - Johnny Miller?

Economic Effects of Tiger's Injury

Image by Getty Images via DaylifeDid you stop to consider the wide ranging effects on the economy that will result from Tiger's forced absence from the game?
Attendance at tournaments will be lower, affecting gate receipts, food and beverage sales and merchandise sales and requiring less staff for the events. Sales tax receipts will also be down.
TV advertising revenues will be down for the events that Tiger would have played. Golf fans who only tune in to watch Tiger will find something else to do and may be lost from the golf audience forever.
Less people will be inspired to try golf, resulting in less equipment sales, less lessons taken and less rounds played.
This may be an early knee-jerk reaction but several of my clients have said that they won't watch golf again till Tiger returns and I must admit that my enthusiasm for the remaining two majors has waned significantly.
Has one athlete ever had such an economic impact on the US economy? I doubt it.
So get well soon Tiger, we need you, your country needs you and the economy needs you.

Tiger's bitter/sweet victory

Image by sammiemo via FlickrSo now we know the price that has to be paid for the greatest US Open in history.
Six months without Tiger!!
A broken leg and a torn ACL couldn't stop Tiger's assault on a 14th major championship. We are told that he knew about the stress fractures and decided to play anyway. We can only imagine the pain he played through and the mental discipline that was required to keep playing.
Some will say that he was crazy to play and some will say that it was the greatest performance in modern sports history.
I'm not sure where I stand on the issue. Obviously the injury had already been sustained, he knew that another surgery was necessary and he would probably be out for six months whether he played or not. If that's the case then it was an incredibly courageous performance.
If playing made the injury worse then the decision will be second guessed for ever.
In reality the general public will never know. Tiger will keep the full details to himself and his victory will become part of the Tiger legend.
Tiger, we will miss you for the rest of 2008 and we can't wait for your return - perhaps at Torrey Pines for the 2009 Buick!!

What about the Ladies

Image by Getty Images via DaylifeI know, I know, it's been Tiger this and Tiger that for a week now and some of you are reminding me that there are other Tours besides the TGA of Woodsmerica.
The LPGA swing back into action this week ahead of next week's US Women's Open where I have more than a passing interest in the results since my student, Joanne Lee, will be playing in her third Open in 3 years.
Michelle Wie has qualified and could be a factor as she has been playing much better of late. However she would not be considered as a good bet to win since she has not played very much tournament golf in the past 8 months because of being a freshman at Stanford University.
Annika and Lorena will be the favorites and I'm sure that Annika would love to top off her final LPGA season with another US Open title.
As you watch the play from Interlachen you will see many things that would do well to emulate.
Few of us will ever have the strength or talent of a Tiger Woods but we can swing like an LPGA player in many ways.
I had the pleasure of attending the last two Opens with Joanne and the most noticeable thing about the way that most LPGA players swing is that they concentrate on turning fast rather than hitting hard. Their swings are very balanced and co-ordinated which is a huge advantage if you are not tall or muscular. Also, a co-ordinated swing is easier to repeat whan you only play once a week.
So watch and learn, it's fun to see the men smash it 320 yards but realistically you're never going to be able to do that. However, perhaps you can emulate the women and hit it 260 straight down the middle.

Tiger Wins, now what?

Image by thegordons via FlickrSo now it's official, Tiger is the 2008 US Open Champion and this was the most exciting US Open I've ever seen. All credit to Rocco Mediate, what a great competitor - he never gave up, but Tiger isn't the number one player in the world for nothing. He showed us that even playing hurt he is a force to be reckoned with.

The question now is "Will he play in the British Open?". Frankly I doubt it, we may not see him before the PGA Championship in August where he is the defending champion. This time he will make sure that his rehab is complete and that he's completely cleared by his doctors.

As for Rocco, doubtless he's disappointed but he seems to have a realistic handle on the enormity of what he achieved. He rose into the top 50 in the World Rankings and that will give him access to opportunities that he never had before this weekend. He may also have just played himself onto the Ryder Cup team where he will be a great asset for the USA. If Paul Azinger doesn't team Rocco and Tiger on the first day he's crazy.

Tiger - The Legend Grows

Image by Jim Epler via FlickrIn almost 40 years as a golfer, having attended many Majors and having watched hundreds of televised golf tournaments, I've never seen a more thrilling 6 holes of golf than Tiger played at Torrey Pines today.
In obvious pain from his recently repaired left knee, Tiger overcame a deficit of 5 strokes with 6 to play.
In 13 previous US Open starts he had only two eagles, today he had two eagles in 6 holes. One can only imagine how far ahead he would be if he was 100% healthy. This was a performance to rival Ken Venturi's Congressional win and Hogan's post car crash wins.
Unfortunately, win or lose tomorrow, we've probably seen the last of Tiger for several weeks. I will be very surprised if he even returns for the British Open. If this week was a regular Tour event he would probably not have played, but it's a Major and Tiger lives for Majors. I just hope that he doesn't miss the rest of the season, having re-injured his knee.
Only time will tell but for now I'm more excited about tomorrow's final round than I've been in years.

Amateur's in the Women's Open

Image via WikipediaOne of the notable things about this year's USGA Women's Open will be the number of amateurs that qualified - one of my student's qualified for the third consecutive time as an amateur.
At the San Diego qualifying site, 9 of the top ten qualifiers were amateurs, the exception being Liselotte Neumann, a former Open winner.
Last year at Pine Needles, 4 amateurs made the cut. I'll be surprised if any amateurs play on the weekend at Torrey Pines.
The presence of great amateurs is a good sign for the long term health of the game and it's a great incentive to juniors coming up on the ranks to see that they have a change to play in the national championship as they are grooving their games for the pro ranks.

US Open Week

Image by Getty Images via DaylifeSo it's US Open week and Tiger is back after 8 weeks away from competition. He played horribly and in true Tiger fashion managed to scrape in with a 72 which included some of the greatest par saves in Open history. He's obviously rusty but he'll be right there on the weekend. I expect him to win the event despite his lack of play.

US Open Week - Dream Time

Image via WikipediaFor the guys, this is US Open week and for many of the women it's Open Qualifying week. Thousands of people enter the USGA Open Championships and play for the few spots that remain after the exempt places are filled. They are following their dreams.
One of my students is playing today in one such qualifying event, hoping to qualify for the third consecutive year. Whether she is successful or not, she represents the new breed of teenage female golfer vying to knock the veteran players from their perches at the top of the women's game.
No wonder Annika is retiring. She's had her day in the sun, won her majors, made millions and now she's going to concentrate on raising a family and perusing her business interests.
Perhaps the most important aspect of Annika's retirement is that she opens up a spot in the field for another player, someone trying to establish themselves in this great game and maybe one day win a tournament, or a major or the Grand Slam.
Perhaps it's time that the LPGA and PGA Tour should take a look at the number of exempt spots that are available each week. I know that the crowds want to see Tiger, Ernie and Phil rather than Joe Bag-of-Doughnuts but there are too many boring cookie-cutter players out there making a great living and providing no excitement or added value to the game.
Let's have 9 spots available through Monday qualifying every week. Some LPGA events have done away with Monday qualifying in favor of sponsors exemptions which is a shame and could easily be rectified by reducing the number of exempt players or by increasing the size of the field.
9 more players is only three more tee times. They don't need to have more players making the cut and so it won't cost any more but it might just allow someone to fulfill their dream of playing on Tour.

19 Year old Wins a Major

Image via WikipediaYani Tseng moved one step closer to LPGA Rookie of the Year honors when she won the McDonald's LPGA Championship today. The Taiwanese youngster survived a 4 hole playoff against veteran Maria Hjorth to capture her first LPGA win with a clinching 6 foot putt on the fourth playoff hole.
Yani became the second youngest winner of a women's major and looked extremely cool in the process.
So why is it that the winners on the LPGA Tour are getting younger. Seems like the same phenomenon as occurred in women's tennis in the 80's.
Is it because girls mature earlier or because the talent pool is smaller? Whatever the reason it's a great win for Yani and a big boost for golf in Taiwan.

How consistent is consistent?

Image by Getty Images via DaylifeOne of the most frequent comments from a new client is that they want to be more consistent, but what exactly does that mean? If you want to shoot 80 every day you probably need to find another game because that isn't a realistic goal.
You can check the PGA Tour statistics every Monday and you will find that at least one player that made the cut had a 10 or more strokes variance between their low and high scores.
This week after three rounds, Boo Weekley has already recorded a 65 and a 75.
If the best players in the world, playing on immaculately maintained courses and with the best equipment are susceptible to these fluctuations, maybe you shouldn't be so hard on yourself.
It's also not unusual for a Tour player to have a 17 to 20 stroke difference over the course of a season. So enjoy each day, take the rough with the smooth and don't make a catastrophe out of the high scores.

UPDATE - Tim Clark shot 64, 76 for a 12 shot difference.

The proof is in the Putting

Image via WikipediaMy last two blogs were about custom putters and the SAMS Putt Lab. This one is about my own results. One of the key elements that I discovered about my own putting was that I did not have enough "rise angle" so that my putts were actually starting with back spin rather than topspin.
I already have a custom putter so I worked on my stroke for three days - about 20 minutes per day. Today I played golf and had 25 putts for 18 holes !!!!!
Obviously one round is not a statistically significant sample but in 38 years of golf I've only had 3 or 4 better putting days and they occurred when I was playing and practicing daily.
Don't wait another minute, call for your putter and stroke evaluation now!

SAMS Putt Lab

Image by Getty Images via DaylifeI have recently started using the SAMS Putt Lab as part of my putting instruction and putter fitting services. This is a really remarkable tool for measuring the putting stroke and making acurate comparisons between different putters.
Sometime a putter fitting can be somewhat inconclusive because of the inconsistency of the golfers stroke but with the SAMS unit I can determine the exact results of a particular stroke and compare it to the same stroke with a different putter.
Once the golfer has receive the custom fitted putter the feedback and training module of the SAMS system helps to ingrain the new, improved stroke.

Custom Putters

Image via WikipediaI was surprised yesterday by someone's reaction to the concept of a custom fitted putter - "Why would I pay $800 for a stupid putter?".
My reaction - "You paid $500 for a moronic driver that you use 14 times per round and $1200 for idiotic irons that you use 25 times so why would $800 for a stupid putter be outrageous when you use it 33-40 times per round?" Needless to say he bought the putter, especially when he saw that he could actually aim it at the hole and make more putts. I didn't point out that this actually made it more expensive because he would be using it less !!
Do you think that Tour players use off the rack equipment? Of course not, their clubs are fine tuned to the nth degree.
So don't keep wasting strokes on the greens, get a putter fitting today.

Michelle Wie - Is she back?

Image by Getty Images via Daylife6/3/08 - Against many predictions, Michelle Wie finished a tournament under par for the first time in a year. Admittedly it was on the European Ladies Tour, against a much weaker field than a regular LPGA event but it's a great step in the right direction.
Sources at Stanford credit her relationship with a Stanford basketball player for her re-discovered enthusiasm for golf.
Whatever the reason, she is good for the game and as she matures as a person and as a player she could fulfill her potential to be one of the best in the game.