Tees2Greens on Golf

August 2009 - Posts

• Why Does Tiger Woods Feel Like a Loser?

  For the most part, golf is an individual sport. You win or lose by your own means unless you’re playing Jean Van de Velde, but that’s another story, or is it? Tiger Woods has won five times in 2009 and that alone puts him in elite company. He has 70 career wins and 14 majors at last count, and although he needs to win five more majors to pass Jack Nicklaus, even if he never played another round of golf, he will be considered the first or second best player to ever tee it up. So, how is it possible for Tiger not to feel good about 2009?  The answer is expectations.  It’s like Zeus playing Texas Hold’em; he expects to get a Royal Flush every hand, therefore four aces are disappointing.  Tiger, and the rest of us, expected that he would simply will his way to at least one major win in 2009. After all, he had won the U. S. Open playing on one leg the previous year, hadn’t he? Tiger not winning a Major is a lingering disappointment for one and all. Perhaps, at this point in his career, Tiger is only one of the lesser golf gods, and like Hercules and Apollo must serve Zeus, Tiger must also wait his turn to climb Mount Olympus. Still, it is difficult to wait, so the world’s number one player has decided to play round one of the FedEx Cup, The Barclays, which is an interesting choice since in his five previous appearances his best finish is a tie for 13th. Perhaps the Sirens of history have cast their spells and blinded him to the fact that The Barclays is one of only three PGA Tour events in which he has made at least three starts yet failed to win. Sure Tiger wants to win the FedEx Cup, but does he expect to win it? That’s a very different question. Is confidence and expectation the same thing, or does one make you play well and the other make you crazy when you don’t succeed at the level you expect? Frankly, all of this may have nothing to do with confidence or expectations and could be something as simple as Tiger reading the rules and realized that FedEx points do not reset for the playoffs, as they have in past years, so a player carries his point total -- and advantage -- into The Barclays. However, points are quintupled in all the Playoff events (a win is worth 2,500 points as opposed to 500 for a standard Regular Season event), meaning big moves are expected throughout the four-event stretch, perhaps even culminating with a showdown at The Tour Championship. Let’s face it; Tiger will arrive at The Barclays with top-10 finishes in 11 of 12 stroke play events and five victories under his 2009 belt. If that doesn’t build confidence I don’t know what does. On top of that, I’m sure he remembers that he won the whole FedEx thing in 2007 and then missed the 2008 Playoffs because of knee surgery. Would winning his second FedEx Cup restore his expectation and heal the wounds left by not winning a Major in 2009? Not really. I love FedEx and I love cups. I use one to deliver important papers and the other to drink my morning coffee, but I don’t use them as a set. Tiger may very well win the FedEx Cup. He may set a world record in winnings; they may even ask him to become President of FedEx; but that won’t change the fact that he did not win a Major in 2009. That’s the trouble with being a golf god, you never get a Royal Flush every hand, even if your name is Tiger Woods. Posted Aug 27 2009, 02:25 PM by Sam 'Bogey' Johnson with no comments Filed under: Sam Johnson, Tiger Woods, FedEx Cup, 2009

• How To Play Faster

  My appologies for the re-run of the following article.  I need to leave town right away on family business.  As much as I love writing this letter, family does come first.  So until next week... I play fast, many times too fast. Those are the times when I lose my focus, abridge or completely abandon my pre-shot routine and hit a shot without considering strategy, as well as hit the wrong club because I didn't want to waste any time walking back to the cart for the right one. I try not to walk ahead of the guys I'm playing with, but sometimes I'm not paying attention and do just that. I find that I do these things not when the pace is fast, but when the pace is slow and I am trying to get everyone moving a little faster. It's ironic that it is the frustration of playing too slow that makes me play too fast. When I've got ten minutes to read a putt I might walk up and hit the ball without ever reading the line. I understand that those things are my fault and if I would just play my game and keep my focus I would enjoy the game a lot more and certainly score better. And, besides, what's the hurry? The answer is, of course, rhythm. I believe that it is hard for anyone to maintain a good rhythm when playing at an inconsistent pace, and for me playing at a consistent pace is important. If the game doesn't flow organically, at a natural pace, I'm dead. Obviously it is a self-inflicted death. No one made me abandon my pre-shot routine, or forget about strategy, or putt without reading the line, but still it happens and at the end of such a round I am questioning everything about the game. I understand slow play from a thirty handicapper. I don't like it, but I understand that it takes more time to hit the ball that many times. However, I am less forgiving of the ten handicapper that plays at the pace of a thirty handicapper. Just this past week I was watching a group in front of me play at an incredibly slow pace not because they were terrible golfers, but because it appeared that they didn't know how to play fast. If that foursome is reading this article here are some tips about how to pick up the pace: 1. Warm up before you arrive at the first tee. I understand that we are all getting old and therefore we need more time to loosen up the old bones, but for God's sake do it before it's your turn to tee off. It may not sound like much but when four guys take an extra two or three minutes before they tee off it adds up quickly. 2. Don't watch your partner hit. At least don't watch him hit when you could be getting to your ball. Obviously, don't walk in front of your partner, but when possible go to your ball. It's okay to watch your partner from there. You can even cheer. 3. Don't go to your ball without a club. If you don't know the yardage take more than one club. It drives me crazy to see a guy standing at his ball without a club waiting on his partner to bring it to him. It makes me crazy to watch a guy walk to his ball without a club then walk back to the cart to get a club, then walk back to his ball. 4. Be ready to play when it is your turn. While you are waiting on someone to hit, you should be thinking about your shot. If it is not distracting other players you can take your practice swings. Don't wait until it is your turn to think about what you are going to do. 5. If you are 300 yards from the people in front of you it is okay to hit unless you are Tiger Woods. No one advocates hitting into the group in front of you, but be realistic. If there is no way you can hit them then swing away. 6. Do not mark a one-foot putt. Unless you are playing in the U.S. Open, or some other important tournament, I can't think of any reason to mark a one-foot putt. Putt the ball and get out of the way. 7. Agree to play ready golf. There are times to keep the game formal, such as when you are playing in an important tournament, but when it's you and your buddies there is no need to stand on ceremony. On the first tee agree to play when ready, it will move the game along. 8. Don't take a practice putt after your group has finished the hole. If people are standing in the fairway waiting to hit and you take a practice putt you deserve to be hit into (just kidding). 9. Don't run off the green, but don't dilly-dally. Put the pin in the hole and walk briskly off the green. It is okay to high five, joke, heckle, smile and talk about the putt you made or missed, just do it while walking. 10. Don't fill out your scorecard standing near the green. People are waiting to hit and they don't want to hit you so most of the time they will wait until you drive away. Fill out your card at the next tee so the game can continue behind you. To the guys in front of me last week, I don't want you to play at a pace that prevents you from enjoying the game, after all that's why we are out there. However, I would appreciate you at least trying a few of the tips mentioned here. Who knows, perhaps you'll enjoy the game even more if you establish a good rhythm. To other fast players like me, don't be a jerk and spoil your own game and everyone else's game as well by hitting into the slow players. Take a deep breath and repeat the following, the slowest round ever played is better than no round at all... if you relax. Posted Aug 16 2009, 09:13 AM by Sam 'Bogey' Johnson with no comments Filed under: Sam Johnson, Course Etiquette, Slow Play, Fast Play

• The Marshal Arts and Club-head Speed

  Tiger Woods won his seventieth tournament; Padraig Harrington choked; Jack Nicklaus sighed; John Rollins won the secret golf tournament in Reno, and the PGA Championship returns to Hazeltine this week. Now that you’re up to date, let’s talk about something important… me. Jamie Pipes is a PGA Golf Professional working for UST Mamiya, a long time friend and supporter of me, and the nonsense I sometimes write. As the guy who works with PGA players such as Stewart Cink, Davis Love III, and dozens of other golf professionals around the world, Jamie is used to looking at swings and matching them to the perfect golf shaft. In addition, Jamie also tests all of UST Mamiya’s new products from concept to launch. Forget Iron Byron, Jamie uses real golfers to test every shaft. When I asked him why, he said, “Machines don’t care about feel - only golfers do.” I tell you all of this not to pump-up UST Mamiya. Heck, Stewart Cink just won the British Open playing UST Mamiya’s AxivCore shaft, so needless to say, they’re doing great without me beating their drum. My point is that Jamie is a terrific golfer and knows a thing or two about the golf swing, which is why I stopped him in the hall the other day and asked him to look at my swing. A cynic might say that I was looking for a free golf lesson, but that’s another story. “Why am I having a hard time driving the ball past the ladies' tees?” I asked. “I know I’m getting old, but I’m still six foot one and weight 190 pounds (granted, I should weigh about 175 pounds, but that’s another story, as well), so why can’t I out drive a five-foot four-inch, 130 pound LPGA player?” I’m not asking for Tiger Woods' power. I’m not even asking for Cory Pavin, or Michelle Wie power, but I would like to out drive five-foot, four-inch Joo Mi Kim, who averages 247.3 per drive. I don’t mean to sound like a sexist, but I’m pretty sure I could take Ms. Kim in a cage fight if she promises not to use any of that kung-fu stuff.  “Follow me,” he said, and we headed off to the hitting cage. “You’re not going to like the answer,” he offered up before I had even taken a swing. At the cage he handed me a driver and asked me to swing the club with my right hand only holding the shaft upside down with the grip on the bottom. After I made only about three swings, he asked me to turn the club over and grip the club normally, still using my right hand only, and make three more swings. “You’re golf muscles are weak, which means that you can’t generate enough club head speed.” “What are you saying?” I asked him to repeat, hoping that I heard him wrong. “Let me put it this way, I’m taking Joo Mi Kim in that cage fight, with or without kung fu,” Jamie explained rather callously. How could this be? I work out, not hard, but nevertheless, a workout is a workout, right? Not so explained Jamie. “The golf swing has its own muscle group, and the best way to work that group of muscles is with a weighted club. Playing a lot of golf helps, but you need the extra weight to grow those muscles. The stronger your golf muscles are, the easier it will be to increase your club-head speed, and in the end that’s what it comes down to, club-head speed.” “So, what you’re telling me Jamie is that it’s not realistic to think that I can lie around all week, not practice, not work my golf muscles and expect to hit the ball a long ways?” “Correct” Jamie answered. “But what about my perfect swing technique? Doesn’t that counteract a missing muscle or two?” I implored. “I’m still taking Joo Mi Kim's swing over yours on the fairway and in the cage.” Posted Aug 12 2009, 09:17 AM by Sam 'Bogey' Johnson with 1 comment(s) Filed under: Sam Johnson, Tiger Woods, Stewart Cink, AXIVCore, UST Mamiya, Jamie Pipes

• Golf as a Stimulus Package

  Rightly or wrongly, golf is known as a country club sport. It doesn’t matter that most rounds are played on public courses. It doesn’t matter that you and I don’t have a company picking up our membership dues and green fees. It doesn’t even matter that golf tournaments help raise more money for charity than the NFL and NBA combined. If you listen to Washington and the likes of John Kerry and Barney Franks, golf is the crowning jewel of conspicuous consumption. Forget the billion dollars that U. S. golf tournaments have donated to charity, the Buick Open has got to go. No good deed should go unpunished. The world will survive without the Buick Open, but will it be a better place? So, what did golf do to become the whipping-boy sport of 2009? It has sponsors, a la the Buick Open. I suppose indirectly, through Northern Trust, Wachovia, Buick and other tournament sponsors, golf has benefited from the $787 billion stimulus package, and apparently, that makes golf the AIG of sports. As my sainted grandmother used to say, “Horse-s---! It is grossly unfair to paint golf with the same brush as Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan and the rest. I guarantee you that nobody running a golf tournament got a bonus in 2009. The truth is, every golf tournament in the country has seen their revenues decline in 2009, and that’s okay. The men and women volunteers that sell the tickets will have to work harder to meet their charitable commitments, and they accept that.  Just don’t group golf with the likes of American International Group (AIG), which received $170 billion in taxpayer bailout money then promptly turned around and paid its executives $165 million in bonuses. Golf isn’t that stupid. Golf may not represent every man, we understand that, but just because it isn’t baseball, apple pie and Chevrolet, that doesn’t mean it’s just for rich guys. Golf is expensive, but have you checked the cost of a ticket to a NFL game lately? Golf is not an elitist sport, but it is not a contact sport either, unless you count the club hitting the ball. Generally speaking, nobody in golf gets their uniform dirty, or gets knocked out unless they don’t press the bet on the last hole. Sure, golfers sometimes wear pastels, but golf has its bad boys, too; perhaps no one is as brash as Terrell Owens, or with the knock out punch of UFC’s Randy Couture, but watch out for Boo Weekly when he three putts.  I read somewhere that during the Great Depression the movie industry flourished because movies helped people get their minds off of their problems. I think golf has the same qualities. There's nothing like going to the range and pounding balls to get your mind off of what ails you. I believe that the best thing about golf is who you are playing with, and at the end of every round I realize that the company and the conversation was much better than my game.   My golf prescription is not intended to make light of the real problems that many people have in these trying times, but I hope we can remember that now and then it does the soul good to relax. Golf doesn’t need a stimulus package; golf is a stimulus package. However, after watching all of the hoopla over baseball’s All-Star game, I would like to see if the President could be talked into hitting the first tee-shot at the PGA Championship. Relax and tee it up Mister President, better tee times are ahead. Posted Aug 06 2009, 10:38 AM by Sam 'Bogey' Johnson with 1 comment(s) Filed under: Sam Johnson