Tees2Greens on Golf

December 2009 - Posts

• 2009 Was a Great Year For Golf and That’s Why I Hate Tiger Woods

  For 2010 I predict beans in Boston, Eskimos in Alaska and Tiger in divorce court. So much for the obvious. I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of keeping count of how many women pass through the Tiger turnstile, but more than that, I hate the fact that Tiger’s off course shenanigans ended up being the number one story in golf in 2009. As I said a couple of weeks ago, I don’t care if Tiger is dating the entire cast of Momma Mia; however I do care that Tiger has stolen the thunder from so many great stories in 2009. So, in no particular order, here is some well-deserved thunder. Tom Watson and Stewart Cink I loved watching Tom Watson trying to turn back the clock at the British Open. I hated that he looked like me when he missed the eight-foot putt on the 72nd hole, and somehow I knew that he had invested too much in the previous 71 holes to survive the playoff. I felt sorry for the Open winner Stewart Cink. Even though he slept with the Claret Jug under his pillow that night, he knew that most of the people watching wanted Tom to win. Life is hard and 53 year-old guys don’t make that putt no matter how much we want them to. Angel Cabrera, Kenny Perry and Chad Campbell I enjoyed watching Angel Cabrera, Kenny Perry and Chad Campbell at the Masters. It seemed like some kind of manifest destiny when Cabrera survived two terrible shots on the first playoff hole and somehow managed to get up and down, and then, unlike Tom Watson, one hole later he was trying on a green jacket sized 44 stout. This is Cabrera’s second major and he is rapidly becoming one of my favorites. Great talent, great power, and he looks like he is having a great time. I like that. Lucas Glover, David Duval and Ricky Barns It’s hard being the next big thing, but that’s what Lucas Glover has been for four or five years now. He had a great 2005 winning the FUNAI Classic as well as racking up six other top tens to boot. Since then he spent four years trying to figure out whatever happened to his game.  Well, at the 2009 U.S. Open he figured it out. He also had second and third-place finishes, finished 17th in the FedExCup standings, was a Captain's Pick for The Presidents Cup team and earned more than $3.5 million. There was a strange masochistic faction that wanted David Duval or Ricky Barns to steal Lucas’ thunder, but it was not to be. Still, even with the U.S. Open win, Lucas Glover is not a household name and for some reason I doubt that he ever will be, but as Rick said to Ilsa, “We’ll always have Paris” and Lucas will always be the 2009 U.S. Open Champion. Y. E. Yang Fellow Dallasite Y. E. Yang very unexpectedly became the first Asian-born player to win a major, and he did it with Tiger breathing down his neck, on one of the great golf courses in the world, Hazeltine. Here’s a guy that didn’t pick up a golf club until he was 19 years old and suddenly he’s holding the Wanamaker trophy. It’s the American dream with Korean sub-titles. By the way, Yang’s victory marked the first time that Tiger Woods failed to win a major after holding at least a share of the lead at the end of 54 holes. Tiger was so disappointed that later that night it took twelve cocktail waitresses to console him. Padraig Harrington Imagine that you’ve won three of the last six majors, which I suppose also means that you have lost three of the last six majors. I can only assume that was the logic for this Irish lad to come to the conclusion that he should change his golf swing. Starting the 2009 season with the rules for his new swing still taped to the side of his golf bag, Padraig promptly missed six cuts in his first 14 tournaments and had only one top twenty; still he persevered. Were this a movie Padraig would have then won his next 14 tournaments, and rode off into the sunset with the girl… yeah, right. However, all was not lost. Padraig finished 2009 new swing still in place, with six-straight top-10s, including two runner-up finishes at the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational and The Barclays. I can’t imagine what Padraig would have done to his swing had he won four or five of the last six majors. Anthony Kim The biggest non-story of the year was Anthony Kim going winless in 2009. Anthony may not be the next big anything and if that turns out to be the case he will only have Anthony Kim to blame. The way I hear it was that Anthony’s first year was hindered by too much party and not enough practice. In 2008, with a new agent and new endorsements in the bank, Anthony turned it around to the tune of two wins and several million bucks. I don’t really know if 2009 was a return to more party than practice, but hopefully there was a lesson in there somewhere for Anthony. However, I’m sure of one thing, the lesson is not to buy more diamond studded buckles. I’ve heard it said that youth is often wasted on the young and sometimes we forget that being young and talented is not the same as being young and mature… just ask me. I’m also an expert on being young and ugly, young and stupid and young and talentless. 2009 was a great year for golf, and I may never forgive Tiger for making everyone forget that. Posted Dec 30 2009, 12:06 PM by Sam 'Bogey' Johnson with 5 comment(s) Filed under: Sam Johnson, Angel Cabrera, Padraig Harrington, Anthony Kim, Tom Watson, Kenny Perry, Stewart Cink, David Duval, Lucas Glover, Ricky Barns, Chad Campbell, Y. E. Yang

• Golf And These Desperate Times

  This is a true story I wrote several years ago. Granted, it’s not “It’s a Wonderful Life” and Jimmy Stewart I’m not, but it’s the closes thing on these pages to a tradition. Happy Holidays. The logic seemed sound; I would surprise my wife with new golf clubs and lessons. It would be a great Christmas gift that she would use to gain an appreciation for the beauty and difficulty of the great game. Ultimately, that appreciation would translate into playing only when we were on vacation and in the meantime she would return to shoe shopping with a carefully crafted understanding of why I’m playing golf instead of retiling the bathroom. Perhaps I didn’t think it through. And, the look on her face on Christmas morning quickly confirmed that fact.  In her defense, I should say that she is not a violent woman, but had she been, I could visualize her beating me to death with a brand-new Ping five-iron that fateful Christmas morning. Obviously, her grip would have been a little strong because she had not taken her lesson as yet, but I would have been just as dead. Perhaps the situation was exacerbated by the sheer size of the package and the stupid smile on my face; but trust me, after a woman wrestles a giant package to the ground looking for who knows what and finds you know what, she is not very happy.  In all likelihood, the situation was made worse because I had just opened her package to me containing a $2,000 Giorgio Armani jacket that I had coveted for months. Don’t get me wrong, I love golf, but Armani defiantly trumps Ping. So, where is the lesson here? Is it to never buy your wife golf clubs and lesson for Christmas, or is there a bigger more profound message to be learned?  The answer is “yes” to both questions, but there is also a tactical question at hand.  Remember the circumstance; there I was on Christmas morning; I had just snap-hooked my drive into the deep woods. The easy thing to do would be to pitch it back into the fairway, take my punishment and move on, but I didn’t get to where I am by laying up, so I took dead aim through the trees and let it fly. Then, as the tears welled-up in her eyes, I boldly announced that her first golf lesson would be in Cabo San Lucas. It was like watching a great golf shot as her arms went around my neck. I saw the ball emerge from the hazard, land softly on the green and roll to within two-feet of the hole for an easy birdie.  Granted, I could have gone for an emotional eagle but that would have likely cost me a trip to Europe. Okay, I hear you.  It was a bad premise to begin with because I really don’t want to play golf with my wife or any other woman for that matter. It is not because it is a sacred game as much as it is because golf resides in a sacred place called “guy-time,” that most sacred of all places where we scratch, spit and cuss at will.  It is that place where your best friend nickname describes at least one of his inadequacies.  It is that holiest of places where you don’t care if your shirt is wrinkled or has a Gatorade stain down the front, or, you have terminal hat-hair; those things have zero importance in Guy-time. In a world filled with equal rights, women executives, and unisex barbershops, guy-time is in danger.  Once safe bastions of manhood such as golf, football and fishing are under attack and in grave danger of being neutered. The enemy of guy-time is women with their never-ending list of domestic chores and “us-time.” Mow the grass, fix the sink, and turn on the TV and watch “Dancing With The Stars” with me; is there no end to this assault? Reading the latest golf stats, perhaps it is too late for you and me. The number of people playing golf is not growing.  The simple answer is to make sure that you teach your son the great game of golf, and if that fails invite a NASCAR guy to play. These are desperate times. Posted Dec 22 2009, 09:09 AM by Sam 'Bogey' Johnson with 1 comment(s) Filed under: Sam Johnson, Christmas

• Christmas Swing From Sonic Golf

  A dedicated reader and professional golf junky recently sent this product review to me, and with Christmas at hand I thought I would pass it a long. I checked and no one received any money or any free stuff for this review… although if Sonic Golf wants to send me money I’d take it.   When I first received the Sonic Golf Swing system I was just as skeptical as ever, but you know me...if it’s after 2 am and the infomercial says I can be a better golfer, I am calling and ordering! Being a complete golf junky, I have basically seen every golf swing aid ever created. From the PGA merchandise show to homemade devices, I really have tried everything at least once! Now Sonic Golf is a bit different but it takes on the same persona as some swing aids from the past and gives it a new spin, look and feel. And it uses sound and motion to help ingrain a better swing! Teaching golf has, for the most part, relied on a teacher examining a person’s golf swing and focusing on the faults and trying to put needed changes into a perspective that each student can understand. Easier said than done! With Sonic Golf you can actually use sound to help your body understand the feel of a perfectly timed golf swing which is a tremendously helpful thing for both student and teacher and with this device you can actually practice these moves on your own to perfect your own swing. Contents Include: (I got the basic edition for this test drive, but they do have a Pro Edition and Solo Edition. For more information on those packages please visit sonicgolf.com) One RX-1 Receiver One SX-1 Transmitter 2 Golf Pride Grips One Roll of Golf Tape One Belt Clip Instruction DVD (mine did not work, but the web site has good information as well) Getting Started Guide Set up is a bit tricky and if you have not been well instructed in changing grips you may (as Sonic Golf suggests) take the equipment over to your local club fitter and have him/her put the grip on and fit the device onto the club. You will have to have the SX-1 Transmitter fit into the shaft of the club and secure it before you are ready to begin working with the device. Once I got the club set-up I was ready to give the Sonic Golf system a whirl! Sonic Golf is an audio feedback device and they would prefer you to use headphones while using the swing aid, it helps to hear the lower tones when swinging the device. I personally used my iPod buds, but the other editions come with earpieces. Now that I have the club set up (I used a 5-iron) with the transmitter and the receiver in my back pocket I was ready and I must tell you it doesn’t get any easier than taking a few swings to get the device performing. You will hear low tones when swinging slow and higher tones when swinging faster. Right from the start making my normal swing I noticed that my tempo was a bit slow and I was not accelerating the club at the proper point in my swing. One of the most important things in the golf swing is building consistency; we have all heard that many times before and Sonic Golf makes this as simple as repetition swinging and following the instructions of the training guide. Once you understand what you are going to be listening for and in what part of the swing, it’s very, very simple and the great thing is once you are ready you can actually hit balls while using the device. I thought it would be a hard to listen and hit balls but it really was not and the sounds keep you in tempo and concentrating on acceleration through impact. Swing fixed just like that!  So watch out everyone…Sonic Golf has given me the quick fix I needed to get my feel, tempo and acceleration back in tune! Oh and by the way, just in case you need any street cred for Sonic Golf… Vijay Singh used this device to help him win the 2008 Fed Ex Cup! “Sonic Golf has helped me tremendously. I always had a good rhythm, but I never had a consistent rhythm. It’s making my swing a lot more consistent, not just with the driver but the whole game. It’s one rhythm for the whole game instead of having a quicker rhythm for irons or slower rhythm for the driver.” – 2008 Fed Ex Cup Champion Vijay Singh Nuff said!   Posted Dec 17 2009, 11:45 AM by Sam 'Bogey' Johnson with 3 comment(s) Filed under: Sam Johnson, Christmas, Vijay Singh, Sonic Golf

• Will Tiger Ever Be The Same?

  Truthfully, I don’t care if Tiger Woods is shacked up with the entire cast of Momma Mia. Frankly, they deserve each other. The narcissistic behavior displayed by Tiger too often accompanies fame and fortune, just ask Bill Clinton. It is unfortunate that sometimes the rich and powerful forget the lessons of Julius Caesars who, to keep from getting too big for his toga, would have a servant ride with him in his chariot during triumphant parades through Roma whispering in his ear, “You are mortal great Caesar.” Perhaps Bob Dylan was right when he said, “Money doesn’t talk it swears,” but of course Bob was already rich when he wrote that. On the other hand, never being rich and famous myself, who’s to say how I would react sitting at such a tempting banquet table. At the very least, I hope I would be smart enough not to put my girlfriends’ phone numbers in my cell phone, but that’s another story. I don’t feel sorry for Tiger even though the paparazzi have now taken up permanent residence at his front door. Paybacks are hell, just ask Jon & Kate. I do feel sorry for his wife, who by the way is better looking than any of the other women, but in Tiger’s case, narcissism is apparently not about who, but how many. What’s it up to now, 11? Tiger’s kids are too young to know what’s going on, but at some point in the future Tiger will have to explain his actions. And, just in case you're listening, I suggest that posting a statement on your website is not a good way to explain why Mommy and Daddy are now sleeping in separate countries. For their sake, I hope their Tiger steps up to the plate and tells them what a moron he was. But frankly, there aren’t enough Spin Doctors on the planet to make this sound good to your kids. My inside sources on this story, better known as the grocery store tabloids, tells me that if Elin Woods decides to walk she’ll get $50+ million, but if she stays two more years she’ll walk with $80 million, but who’s counting. I can’t imagine her staying, but “Heav'n has no Rage, like Love to Hatred turn'd, Nor Hell a Fury, like a Woman scorn'd.” All of which got me thinking; what would I do for $50 million? But that’s another story as well. Putting aside all of the trash TV, paparazzi, and muckrakers like myself, it ought to be interesting to watch Tiger deal with the hecklers as well as every hooker with the price of a tournament ticket. I can’t imagine what he is going to say to the millions of young kids that idolize him? Oh well, just another day in the NBA. Will Tiger ever be the same, probably not, but I suspect that the golf world will forgive and forget what Tiger has done, because that’s what we do. After all, Bill Clinton is still running around the world collecting huge speaking fees, and Jimmy Swaggart is still on TV telling you how he’s been saved… again.  In the end this entire escapade will cost Tiger millions, but almost none of it will end up in the hands of the other women. Life is just not like that, and for some reason the other woman never understands that.   I don’t know if Elin will leave Tiger. I suspect she will, but who knows, she may have aspirations to become Secretary of State herself. In any case, life and golf will go on, but make no mistake about it; Tiger’s game will suffer because he is no longer infallible. In clubhouses all over the world golfers are whispering, Tiger is human. And guess what? We don’t like our gods, even our golf gods, to be human. Posted Dec 10 2009, 04:49 PM by Sam 'Bogey' Johnson with no comments Filed under: Sam Johnson, Tiger Woods

• The Argyle-Covered Underbelly of the PGA Tour

  Not all that many years ago TPC Craig Ranch in McKinney, Texas, the site of one of the second round Q-School tournaments, was a cotton field with a nameless creek winding through it north to south. And except for that nameless creek bed, the TPC Craig Ranch is a treeless, long, grinding golf course that punishes hackers like me and rewards the long-hitters, but that’s another story. As I parked not more than a hundred yards from the clubhouse, it struck me that were it not for all the PGA Officials scurrying around, this could have been a Members/Guest tournament at any country club. There were no barricades, no ropes, none of the lavish accoutrements that normally accompany regular season PGA Tour events. This was the argyle-covered underbelly of the PGA Tour. The pampering and money were one more round away.  I had come to this place hoping to gain an insight into the pressure-cooker called Q-school; what I didn’t realize was that there were so many different stories. I saw players without caddies dressed in sponsorless golf shirts, carrying their own bags standing next to well-dressed veterans of the golf wars like Brenden Pappas with his caddie helping him read putts. Brenden made the cut, the sponsonless golf shirt guy didn’t. There were young wives following young husbands and I watched them both live and die with every shot. I wanted to talk to one of the wives and ask what she was going through, but it seemed rude to invade those shared moments. I watched the faces of family members and friends who had come to support their guy and saw how they shared both the excitement and the frustration. And I watched singular golfers, who like gypsy orphans, played alone without family or friends, and it didn’t look like any fun at all. The first shot I saw was a flubbed chip shot, which was followed by a major expletive that would have garnered a fine had there been anyone around to hear it.  But there was only me. I walked up the tenth fairway and watched a guy I never heard of drive the ball 30 yards past the other two players in his threesome, one of which was Paul Stankowski. Paul made the cut, long-ball guy didn’t. I moved over to the twelfth green where I met T2G’s own Randy Smith, who happens to be Colt Knost’s coach. Colt’s entourage included his father, his high school coach, a childhood friend and assorted other folks who had stopped by to watch the local boy do good, which he did. After starting 70, 71, 70, Colt pulled out a final round 65 to secure a place in the finals, then he celebrated by heading to the buffet table. I met a nice young pro by the name of Niall Turner from St. Paul, Minnesota who shot 76, 68, 67 for the first three rounds and need a 69 to make the finals. Unfortunately he shot a 72 (better than any round I ever shot in my life), and finished 33rd, which is better than half the field, but not good enough. In the end, there were 23 players that made the grade at TPC Craig Ranch. Leading the way was Martin Flores with four rounds in the sixties for a 269 total. Included in the 23 guys that made it were Tommy Gainey, Paul Stankowski, Colt Knost, Brenden Pappas and Hunter Haas, as well as guys like Kelly Grunewald, J.J. Killeen and sixteen other guys you couldn’t pick out of a two-man lineup. The low round of the tournament was Colt Knost’s final round 65. The high round of the week was Wil Collins’ third round 79, which is also better than any round I ever shot in my life, however I don’t think he would take any comfort in that fact. Not everyone that had a caddie made it, nor did everyone with a sponsor on their shirt, but everyone that did make it earned it, and now they have to do it again. If Q-school isn’t the most difficult job interview on the planet then I don’t know what is. Therefore I have decided that I could never be a professional golfer; not because I don’t have the talent, which I don’t, but frankly I’d go broke buying Maalox, or possibly die of a heart attack… however, I do look good in the clothes and I talk a good game. Okay, I don’t look that good in the clothes. Posted Dec 03 2009, 10:41 AM by Sam 'Bogey' Johnson with 3 comment(s) Filed under: Sam Johnson, Q-School, Colt Knost, Randy Smith, TPC Craig Ranch