May 2013
1 post
My Shot: Butch Harmon →
This Butch Harmon interview is awesome. Dude still has the golf bug after all these years.
February 2013
6 posts
Why Long Distance Golf Shots Aren't Important For... →
Shane Bacon at Yahoo:
Long drives are fun, but go to any website that had a recap of the best golf shots of 2012 and find me one booming tee ball that made the list.
PGA Tour Will Ask The USGA To Drop Anchor Ban... →
Something depressing about this. I really think that putting is about a free swing, not having the club stuffed against your body.
I also find it amusing that pro golfers in favor of the ban say there is no evidence that it helps. If that’s the case, then why fight so hard for it?
If the USGA can’t pass this rule, then what can it pass? Does the PGA Tour just take over and make all...
Tiger Loses To A Guy He Beat 75 Times In A Row →
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The Most Amazing And Underappreciated Thing About... →
The fact that Tiger Woods changed his swing multiple times in his career is generally seen by the golf elite as a baffling mistake.
His Butch Harmon-swing in 2000 is widely regarded as one of the finest ever.
If you can get past the fact that he has changed his swing, and just think about the fact that he has changed it and still performed at the highest levels of the sport, it’s pretty...
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REVIEW: Mahogany Run Golf Course, St. Thomas
Mahogany Run is the only course on St. Thomas. So, if you’re there on vacation and want to play golf, you’re playing here.
Luckily, the course is fantastic. It’s a short course packed with interesting angles and great views. While the greens fees are a tad steep ($170 during the day, $115 twilight) it’s worth it. I mean, what else are you going to do? Sit around on the...
January 2013
7 posts
The Best Explanation For Why Golf Growth Stalled →
It’s an economic problem, according to Titleist CEO Wally Uihlein:
1990 to 2000 was the most innovative decade in the game’s history, yet during this period, golf participation in the U.S. and Europe flatlined. Golf is a game of the middle class, and golf has a demographic issue. In the Western world, today’s middle class is the same size as in the early 1990s.
Rory Gives Up On His Nike Putter After 18 Holes →
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The Key Takeaways From Rory And Tiger's First...
I watched just about every minute of the Abu Dhabi tournament with Rory and Tiger.
They both missed the cut. Tiger missed because of a strange, semi-bogus ruling about an embedded ball that led to him getting a two-shot penalty after the round was over. Bummer for the people that paid an estimated $4 million for both of them to show up!
Anyway, here are the high-level take aways from the first...
The First Rory-Tiger Nike Ad →
It’s pretty great. But, you will be very sick of it this season when it’s playing over and over.
"In short, you should try harder all the time." →
How to get more birdies. (In theory.)
A Look At Rory McIlroy's New Nike Clubs →
If you really want to dork out, these guys got an exclusive look at Rory’s new club set up.
October 2012
2 posts
Great story on Obama the golfer. For the equipment geeks, there’s this:
Few details are given to the White House press corps about Obama’s golf game. When asked for the POTUS’ handicap, press secretary Jay Carney likes to joke, “That’s classified.” The president usually decides to hit the links a day or two in advance, weather permitting. Reporters hear about...
Why Tiger Fails At The Ryder Cup →
I believed he failed in the team events because his partners were just as intimidated playing with him as they were playing against him in singles. Meanwhile, his rivals were less scared because they had a partner to take some pressure off.
September 2012
1 post
The Best New Phrase On TV
Watching this week’s tournament I fell in love with a new phrase that I keep hearing the TV people say. At least the phrase is new to me.
“Speed slot.”
This is supposed to be a part of the course that if you hit it just right off the tee, the ball just flies down the fairway. As in, “Oh yeah he hit the speed slot and now it’s just taking off.”
When...
August 2012
4 posts
Grantland on Tiger:
The truth, cutting and searing as it works its way against the overnight narrative, is that Tiger Woods’s game is in great shape now, and — *gulp* —we have little doubt he’ll win a major next year. (Or maybe the year after that.) Tiger Woods is still good at golf, OK?
Michael Bamberger On Tiger's Weekend Issues →
“The problem is both fundamental and nearly impossible to fix. He wants it too much.”
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Tiger
It was a mixed year for Tiger. He made incredible progress. A year ago he looked totally lost. This year he won three tournaments and managed to put himself in the mix at the last three majors.
It feels like either next year he takes the next step and gets over his weekend major issues, or he’s just gone forever. It’s very hard to believe he’s going to go another year without a...
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Rory
He’s the world’s best by a mile. His win at the PGA was brilliant.
He can attack the course with his length and accuracy. He’s good at putting and good at chipping. He’s fearless. He’s only 23. (Which probably helps with fearless thing.)
But, he’s not like Tiger. He’s not a robot. He’s more emotional. That’s what makes him exciting and...
July 2012
1 post
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"I don’t have anything against Sean Foley... →
Man, Brandle Chamblee really doesn’t like Sean Foley’s work with Tiger Woods.
April 2012
16 posts
Tiger Woods Answers Your Questions!
A new and clever way to avoid the press.
The PGA Tour Embarrasses Itself →
PGA Tour asks Gawker to take down a video of a sound guy tripping because, “Gawker used the most substantial, important, and commercially profitable portion of PGA TOUR’s content.”
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New Tiger Blog Post
Weird contradictions from Tiger:
I have some work to do, but I’m going to take some time off and not look at the clubs for a while and then get back after it. I know what to work on. It’s just a matter of getting out there and doing it. Just putting in the reps and the time. I just wasn’t able to do it at the Masters.
He needs the reps, but he’s taking time off?
As for...
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Tiger’s next tournament is at Quail Hollow on May 3-6.
Unless Tiger Woods commits to New Orleans or San Antonio, it will be 3 weeks before he plays competive golf again.
— Kelly Tilghman (@KellyTilghmanGC) April 11, 2012
Odd decision. The dude needs to play more.
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Silly New York Times
Karen Crouse at The New York Times on Bubba’s effect on the recreational game:
The danger of presenting golf, however unintentionally, as such a maddening, mercurial game is that it may make people cool to its charms. Who wants to go to the time and trouble, not to mention the expense, to practice 12 hours a day when you can just sit at home and play virtual golf?
This is moronic. I suck...
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Paul Azinger:
“Tiger’s antics this week were an embarrassment to the game, to the membership at Augusta … I was really disappointed to see him carry on that way. He’s not trying to endear himself to anybody. And after he won Bay Hill I thought, ‘here we go again, this is going to be Tiger just kicking butt and taking names.’ I don’t know. I thought he acted like the south end of a...
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Tiger Woods has a problem most professional golfers don’t have. He can’t remember which swing to use when.
“You’re never past it. You’re never past it,” he said Sunday. “With all the different changes I’ve made in my game over the years, you’re never past it. You’re still always working on little things. I know the big things that we’re working on are done, but it’s the little things, too, now....
"Bubba Watson’s swing is from another planet." →
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Why People Love Bubba
A few tweets from golf writer Robert Lusetich:
Dug up a few Bubba-isms. Does he ask his caddie for swing help?: “He’s not very good. That’s why he’s a caddie.” #masters #golf
— Robert Lusetich (@RobertLusetich) April 9, 2012
#Bubba: “I don’t want a team of people behind me showing me how to swing on computers. I like to figure it out on my own.”...
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Why Did Rory Play So Poorly?
Rory McIlroy did not win the Masters much to my surprise. Why? He didn’t play well.
Why didn’t he play well? No idea. But, two friends suggested that playing with Sergio Garcia on Saturday didn’t help. Garcia admitted after the round that he doesn’t think he’ll ever win a major. That sort of negativity can rub off on McIlroy.
This photo sort of sums it up. They were...
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The Best Story At The Masters →
It would be really cool if Fred Couples can keep it going.
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The Weekend At The Masters
Now that we know Tiger is out of it, let’s look at who is in it. Basically everyone still has a shot. But there’s only one golfer that matters.
It’s Rory McIlroy’s tournament to lose. It’s possible someone comes out of nowhere to get him, but I find that hard to believe.
Photo via Masters
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Hank's Reaction
Hank Haney with the best reaction to Tiger’s round:
Glad its not me RT @bradforpar:will Foley be getting the silent treatment today? #Masters
— Hank Haney (@HankDHaney) April 6, 2012
In “The Big Miss”, Haney says when Tiger had a bad round he would be curt with Haney and basically say, “You fix this mess.” Sean Foley is certainly getting chewed out at the range.
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Meltdown
Tiger completely lost his game and his mind today in the words of Nick Faldo. The crazy thing about his round is that it should have been much worse. Another golfer would have totally blown up. Instead Tiger is at +3. Still, he has no chance at winning.
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The Masters
The Masters starts tomorrow. The rain is coming down hard, changing the course, making it a “birdie” course, according to Phil Mickelson.
On a “birdie” course I like Rory McIlroy to win.
March 2012
19 posts
3 tags
Geoff Shackelford Gives "The Big Miss" A Glowing... →
Big praise:
However, in time The Big Miss will be considered a landmark tome in the already crowded bookshelf of classic golf books. Had Jack Grout or O.B. Keeler written a similar warts-and-all book about their days beside the legends whose lives they helped shape, or had Ben Hogan relied on a book-writing swing instructor for “coaching,” we’d be richer for insights that no “authorized” book...
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The New York Post Has The Best Reaction To Tiger's...
Via Business Insider …
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Tiger's Win Is Great News For Hank Haney
Ironically, Tiger’s win is good for Hank Haney, which is bad for Tiger.
Haney’s book, The Big Miss comes out tomorrow. Tiger’s win brings him back to the spotlight, which should help sell more books.
I’m sure Tiger is thrilled about this.
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Tiger Wins
I’m in the Mike Wilbon camp when it comes to declaring Tiger “back.” I want to see him win a major before I say he’s back. Or, at least, I’d like to see him win a few tournaments.
That said …
He won the Arnold Palmer Invitational with relative ease. All the other tournaments he played in this year it seemed like a real grind. This week he was splitting...
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Hank Haney Was Only Paid A Base Of $50,000 To Be...
Hank Haney was paid peanuts to be Tiger’s coach:
Haney said he felt as though he had won the lottery when Woods called him in 2004 and asked him to be his swing coach. He was paid $50,000 a year, plus a $25,000 bonus for Woods winning a major.
Photo via Flickr/TheGordons
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The Golf Business Is A Small Business →
TaylorMade is paying $70 million for Adams golf. I normally write about big technology companies. For them, $70 million is pocket change. I’m always a little stunned at how small (and crappy) the golf business really is.
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Tiger Woods' Dream Of Being A Navy Seal Ruined His... →
Doug Ferguson of the AP with more leaks from “The Big Miss”
Haney also tells of a woman who approached him during an outing in Minnesota last year. Her husband was a Navy SEAL in California and told her Woods came in for training in 2007 at a Kill House — an urban-warfare simulator — and “got kicked pretty hard in the leg, and I think he hurt his knee pretty...
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Tiger on Good Morning America talking about the Masters: “I’ll be there don’t worry about that.”
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TaylorMade is making hockey sticks now.
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What It's Like Being An Obsessed Golfer →
Perfect description from David Owen:
I had trouble sleeping last night, as I often do before I play golf. Even now, twenty years after I took up the game, waiting for golf still feels like waiting for Santa Claus. During the season, I set my alarm for 6:00 on Sunday mornings—unnecessarily, because I’m usually awake and squinting at the dial by 5:00 or 5:30, if not by 4:00: isn’t it time to put...
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Tiger's Okay
Got good news from doc tonight. Only mild strain of left Achilles. Can resume hitting balls late in week and hopeful for next week.
— Tiger Woods (@TigerWoods) March 13, 2012
I guess this is a good thing. Still a scary reminder of how fragile his health is.
