Golf International Magazine Online

May 2006 - Posts

• Michelle Wie's Legend Beginning To Grow

  In a span of 12 hours, Michelle Wie made headlines in three parts of the world stretching across 12 time zones. She accepted an invitation to play the Omega Masters in Switzerland, which will make her the first woman to compete in a continental European PGA Tour event. A few hours later, the 16-year-old received a special exemption to the U.S. Women's Open in Newport, R.I., which is sure to infuriate Morgan Pressel and others who believe she should have had to qualify. And to complete this mania, Wie made history as the first woman to advance to the final stage of U.S. Open qualifying. Ever the drama queen, Wie was headed toward a double bogey on the 17th hole at Turtle Bay in Honolulu when she hooked her tee shot so far left into the trees that she hit a provisional. Someone found her ball, she managed to chip out sideways, then fired a 6-iron from 170 yards into 5 feet to escape with par. She wound up with an even-par 72 and was a medalist. How to celebrate such an eventful day? By cracking open the books, not a bottle of bubbly. "She missed school," said her father, B.J. Wie. "She started doing a lot of homework right after we came back from qualifying." The next stop on Wie's wild and wonderful ride is June 5 at Canoe Brook Country Club in Summit, N.J., site of the 36-hole sectional qualifier where she will compete against dozens of PGA Tour players for a spot in the U.S. Open at Winged Foot. Then she heads south to Bulle Rock outside Baltimore for the LPGA Championship, which starts June 8. "I think we're going to leave home on the 28th of May and fly to Baltimore and practice there for three days," her father said. "Then Thursday morning, fly to New Jersey and practice Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, nine holes each day to save her energy. It sounds like a lot, but she can handle it. She amazes me." Wie has been doing that for some time. For those who say she needs to win, Wie has redefined winning without hoisting a trophy. She didn't win the Sony Open, but her 68 in the second round at age 14 was the lowest score ever shot by a female on a men's tour. She didn't win the U.S. Amateur Public Links -- or a trip to the Masters that came with it -- but she reached the quarterfinals last summer and kept everyone watching and wondering. Along the way, these "victories" have turned her into the biggest attraction in women's golf, and probably the third-biggest draw in all of golf behind Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson. Name another player capable of spiking ticket sales or TV ratings. Against women, winning now seems to be a matter of when, not if. In her only two LPGA Tour events this year, she missed a playoff by one shot both times, one of those tournaments a major. That's what led to her free pass to the U.S. Women's Open. Had she been an LPGA Tour member -- the tour has a minimum age limit of 18 -- Wie would be No. 16 on the money list after two tournaments. The top 35 are exempt to the Women's Open. Keep in mind that her two LPGA events were five weeks apart. It will be easier to gauge Wie's progress this summer when she plays eight times in 15 weeks -- make that nine tournaments if she somehow qualifies for Winged Foot. The U.S. Open, however, remains a dream. Get used to Wie accepting exemptions to tournaments in Europe and elsewhere. By the time 2006 is over, she will have competed on the PGA Tour, LPGA Tour, European PGA Tour, Asian Tour and the Japan PGA Tour. About the only other golfer who keeps that kind of itinerary is Ernie Els. "Me and my dad were kind of joking that we're basically playing on all tours this year," she said. "I think it's awesome. It's always what I wanted to do." B.J. Wie first shared this vision at the start of the 2005 season. The plan was for her to become a global icon in golf, which she is now. He could see his daughter playing a men's or women's event in Europe, some in Asia. Most of her events would be on the LPGA Tour, but that doesn't mean she has to join. Wie gets a maximum of eight exemptions on the LPGA; given her global travels, that's all she needs. Take a close look at 2006. Her 14 tournaments include eight on the LPGA Tour, three on the PGA Tour, one each in Japan, Europe and South Korea. She made the cut for the first time against the men at the SK Telecom Open two weeks ago in South Korea. "I think we are following that blueprint," B.J. Wie said. "She likes it. The trip to Korea was fantastic. It was so much fun. As long as she has good health and good motivation, she wants to travel around the world like a global player, like Ernie Els." Wie will be under far greater scrutiny, but she has shown an amazing capacity to handle it. Some will complain Wie is taking a spot away from someone trying to make a living, and that is sure to come up at the 84 Lumber Classic in September as the PGA Tour season enters its final two months and players are trying to keep their cards. But if a guy can't earn one of the 140 or so spots in a tournament, he has no one to blame but himself. As much as the PGA Tour is charging title sponsors these days, the sponsors have a right to invite someone who will help them sell tickets. Winning the local qualifier for the U.S. Open will keep Wie in the news for the next three weeks. No one expects her to make it. But no one can be sure what will happen. These small victories only make her more popular in any time zone. Posted May 25 2006, 11:03 by Golf International with no comments Filed under: Golf International, Michelle Wie

• Play By Feel

  It's flattering to be known for having great feel. People think I play with a certain artistry, hit an entertaining variety of shots and make the game fun to watch. It's the kind of player I want to be. I was very lucky to grow up on a golf course, and one where my father, Victor, is the pro and my mother, Consuelo, runs the golf shop. The course is Club de Campo Mediterraneo. From age five I'd roam the course with a club in my hand and spend the afternoon trying every shot I could find. Or I'd take on members for Cokes in chipping games around the practice green. Two of my countrymen who are also known for their feel, Seve Ballesteros and Jose Maria Olazabal, had similar childhood experiences. I'm proud of my 'Spanish hands' and put a lot of trust in the tips of my fingers. But I'm not unique. Feel is something we all have. The way to bring it out is through practice and reacting like an athlete. I really like sports, both watching and playing. To me, feel in action is a tennis player sizing up a passing shot and in a split-second choosing either to break off a sharp topspin angler or completely fool his opponent with a soft, carefully placed lob. In football, it's an attacker seeing a momentary path through defenders and shaping the perfect shot past the goalie and into the back of the net. Golf's similar - you just have more time. Feel, especially inside 50 yards, comes from a familiarity with how a golf ball reacts when struck in different ways from different lies to different target areas. That might sound complicated, but it's amazing how much your brain can process if you let your imagination do its job. If you lay the groundwork by ingraining good technique with lots of repetition, you can develop the comfort and confidence to focus on the target and let your athletic instincts take over. That's when your touch will be most sensitive and when you will truly be playing with the greatest of feel. For me, feel begins with the eyes. I want to take in everything: the wind, the grass, the lay of the land, the bunkers, the firmness and contours of the green. As I process all of this, I can feel my body, and especially my hands and fingers, reacting with increased sensitivity. That's when I let what feels most comfortable determine what shot I will hit. I like to hit a lot of different shots, which means I often have multiple options. That can be a problem if I hesitate and think too much. But if I trust my instincts, I'll almost always choose the right one. Once I settle on the shot, I take a couple of practice swings looking along the target line. This helps me judge how hard I have to hit the ball. Most amateurs I see spend too much time looking down on their practice swings. No wonder they struggle with getting the distance right. Over the ball, I like to stay in motion, by waggling and gently rocking from foot to foot. This keeps me loose and connects me to my target better, so that my whole body gets into the rhythm and tempo of the motion I'm going to use. Dial in your wedges I've found that on chips and pitches, I can increase my feel by progressively gripping down the closer I get to the hole. It's something I picked up watching Seve, who will sometimes go all the way down to the steel. The principle is simple. The shorter the club, the easier it is to control. But getting the right feel for this system requires some practice, because gripping down makes the club feel that much lighter. The more I grip down, the closer to the ball I have to stand, which also makes me feel more in control. I even narrow my stance as the shots get shorter. This whole process of closing in on the ball increases my sensitivity for the shot. Gripping down and adjusting my stance also lets me expand my toolbox of shots. For example, if the hole is cut close and my mind's eye sees a low-flying shot that checks up quickly, rather than a standard chip, I can choke down on a lob-wedge, play the ball back and pinch it off the turf. The result will be a low shot with extra bite. Try adjusting your set-up and playing new shots. From 30 yards I grip down a few inches on my wedge and let my hands hang naturally from my shoulders. From 20 yards I grip a little further down and swing slightly closer. As I close in on the ball, I gain control. From 10 yards, at close range, my set-up is very compact, and my target is very small. I'm trying to hole this shot. Posted May 18 2006, 03:16 PM by Sergio Garcia with no comments Filed under: Golf International, Sergio Garcia

• Keep It Loose Like Fred Couples

  Do a 'Freddie' pre-swing. He always possessed one of the game's most languid swings, and in his prime Fred Couples (aka 'Boom Boom') was also one of the longest drivers of the ball with his LA-easy style. And Freddie is a great believer in the importance of stretching the shoulders before stepping up to the ball. You can always spot him a mile away on the course, raising his arms high up above his head, really loosening up the rotator muscles in the shoulders, ready to make a full backswing turn. So, as you prepare to drive, do a 'Freddie'. Take hold of your driver and raise your hands high above your head, holding that position for 30 seconds or so. Feel the stretch in your rotator cuffs. Doing this regularly during a round will get your shoulders ready to make a full and athletic turn. It will also give you a sense of standing up nice and tall, which is another plus for maximizing the width of your arc in the swing. Whatever your standard, you will hit more solid and more consistent shots if you focus on meeting the fundamentals head-on. A good set-up pre-sets the sequence of moves that you need to make in order to maximize your coiling motion and subsequent club head speed. Here are some of the key points you should look for with the driver: Angle your upper body away from the target slightly. This puts you in the perfect position to turn behind the ball For a long drive, set the club head a few inches behind the ball. That gives you a nice feeling of width and of hitting through the ball and collecting it on the 'up', which is vital to maximize the performance of modern deep-face, low-spin drivers and low-spin balls. Check that your head is comfortably positioned behind the ball and maintain a neutral grip, leaving the hands and arms relaxed and free of tension. Settle your weight evenly between the feet. Standing with too much weight on the right side is a mistake that can lead to a player over-using the hands and arms, and not turning the upper body effectively. With your weight split evenly, you are made more aware of a need to shift and transfer your weight effectively as you turn. Spread your feet to about shoulder width. That's plenty. Too wide a stance and you restrict your ability to turn, and get 'loaded' on to your right side. From the set-up, focus on exaggerating the backswing moves. Make as full a hip-and-shoulder turn as you can, allowing your head to ease to the right as you turn your back on your target. From the set-up position, where your weight is evenly split, feel it shift across as you use that right knee as a brace, winding and 'loading' into the right side. This exercise is great for players who have a tendency to hang back on the left side with a hint of a reverse-pivot. It forces you to rotate into your right side. The ideal combination is a full shoulder/upper body turn with a compact arm swing. Look at big hitters today like Els or Tiger. Over a stable leg action they combine a fantastic turn with a relatively short arm swing – and that's the key. The Power Move: Let it all fall 'in sync.' Get into the habit of stretching, checking your set-up position and making this full turn. Then comes the second – and crucial – stage of this exercise: from the top, feel the unit of your hands, arms, shoulders and club fall as one unit to get the downswing underway. No other movement is necessary. The left arm rides down and across the chest, while the wrists retain the full cocking that you achieved in the course of making your backswing. So, from the top, all you do is 're-rotate'. You have maximized your torsion, and you simply drop it all back into this power slot before unwinding your body (i.e. rotating your 'core') through the ball. In so doing you initiate a chain reaction: the left knee pulls away from the right as you squat or sit down into the downswing and the arms fall into the classic delivery position. That's the dynamic of a good swing. You simply rotate your upper body over the stability of the knees, and allow the arms to swing and be driven by the centrifugal forces you create. Full 'release' maximizes your speed on the ball The gist is that one good move leads to another, and that improving and maintaining the suppleness in your shoulders massively assists you in making the full turn and 'coil' that maximizes your club head speed. Here's one final thought that I guarantee will further help you to enjoy 'releasing' the club head freely. Always visualize your release as being a few feet beyond the ball, not at the ball. This is especially important with the driver and the long irons. The key is to focus on this long extension of the right arm through the ball, the right hand overtaking the left as you commit yourself to releasing the club head towards your target. As you freewheel, feel that you hit against a strong and positive left side, and that you catch the ball as the club begins its ascent. That will give you a great trajectory off the tee, and maximum distance. Working on these ideas to develop the athletic moves you need to make to drive the ball with confidence. You will appreciate the controlling role played by the shoulders, the timing that is so critical at the start of the downswing, and a sense of building acceleration gradually in time to put the heat on the ball at impact. All of this should lead you to the full and balanced follow-through position – a natural conclusion to a naturally dynamic swing. Posted May 10 2006, 10:37 by Stuart Smith with no comments Filed under: Golf International, Stuart Smith, Swing Tip

• Gambling a Huge Problem Admits John Daly

  John Daly says he has lost between $50 million and $60 million during 12 years of heavy gambling, and that it has become a problem that could "flat-out ruin me" if he doesn't bring it under control. Daly discussed his addiction to gambling in the final chapter of his autobiography, "John Daly: My Life In and Out of the Rough," to be released May 8th. He told one story of earning $750,000 when he lost in a playoff to Tiger Woods last autumn in San Francisco at a World Golf Championship. Instead of going home, he drove to Las Vegas and says he lost $1.65 million in five hours playing mostly $5,000 slot machines. "If I don't get control of my gambling, it's going to flat-out ruin me," he says in the book, co-written with Glen Waggoner and published by Harper Collins. The book got the attention of PGA Tour headquarters, and commissioner Tim Finchem met with Daly on Monday at the Wachovia Championship in Charlotte, N.C. Finchem said the book does not violate PGA Tour regulations, although "it is clear that he continues to be concerned about and grapple with significant personal challenges." "I have expressed to John the tour's concern for his well-being, as well as his ongoing need to uphold the image and standards of the PGA Tour," Finchem said. "While we will continue to enforce the regulations and policies of the PGA Tour, I have advised John of the tour's willingness to support him in his efforts to deal with his personal issues." The two-time major champion wrote that he has spent the last 10 years paying off gambling debts with his sponsorship income, hustling appearance money and "running myself ragged doing corporate outings instead of spending time with my family and working on my game." He recalled former Dallas Cowboys linebacker Thomas "Hollywood" Henderson telling him at a Tucson, Ariz., rehab center in 1993 that Daly would find something he loves as much as drinking, and that he would have to be careful. "The people around me ... were hoping, of course, that the 'something' would be practicing golf. No such luck," Daly wrote. "What I found was gambling." He said he owed $4 million to casinos in two years of gambling until he won the 1995 British Open at St. Andrews, his second major. That victory, and the ability to get handsome appearance fees, enabled him to pay off the debt. But the gambling continued. Daly three-putted from 15 feet on the second playoff hole against Woods at Harding Park. He headed to Las Vegas and lost $600,000 within 30 minutes. He said he took out another $600,000 line of credit and lost that in two hours. "And here's how my sick mind analyzed the situation," Daly wrote. "My sponsorship payments would be coming through in January, so I'd be able to pay everything off and get back to even by the beginning of the new-year. Everything's fine. Everything's OK. No problem. Hell, yes, there's a problem." Daly says he has taken more control of his life in the last six years. "I'm off those ... medications. I don't drink JD (Jack Daniels) anymore. I don't beat up on hotel rooms and cars as much. Only gambling remains a problem," he wrote. He said he plans to start at the $25 slots in the casinos and set a "walkout loss number," which would tell him it's time to leave. "If I make a little bit, then maybe I move up to the $100 slots or the $500 slots, or maybe I take it to the blackjack table," he wrote. "It's their money. Why not give it a shot, try to double it? And if I make a lot, I can ... "Well, that's my plan." Daly has been one of the most popular figures on the PGA Tour since he won the 1991 PGA Championship as the ninth alternate. He has five PGA Tour victories and career earnings of $8.7 million. Posted May 03 2006, 01:24 PM by Golf International with no comments Filed under: John Daly, gambling, Golf International