Lockers - What is the point?

Ian Poulter and Tiger Woods lockers

My club has 750 members so lockers are in demand. After being on the locker waiting list for 4 years I finally got mine yesterday. I dashed down to get my key and was chuffed to find I had a ground level one, no need to lug a big bag above my shoulder. I was also pleased to see my big bag fitted snugly in.

So there I was all pleased with myself when i started thinking of the practicalities of it. When I finish a round of golf I like to clean my clubs in my own time, so the clubs would have to come home with me anyway. I also go to golf from home so I'm properly dressed when I arrive. I drive to and from the club so its easy to throw the clubs in and out of the car.

So I think my locker is a white elephant. The only time i can think of it being any use is the one day of the year where i play and then get drunk afterwards but even then a taxi would take my clubs.

Who has lockers and can anyone tell me what use I can make of mine now that I have finally got one?

Discovering the secret of your swing

I went to the range last night and managed to get a bay with a mirror for once. Just loosening up and realised that at the top of my back-swing the club-head was aiming about 15 degrees left of the target line. Possibly explains why I have been blocking so many shots left all summer.

So I adjusted my swing accordingly which as a consequence led to my right shoulder staying closer to my body and then proceeded to hit glorious shot after glorious shot.

Now Im under no illusions that this will translate onto the golf course in any way, we have all been there before. But it sure feels good at the time.

But my question is has anyone ever had this kind of eureka moment which has actually been exactly that and led to a massive improvement in their game, or maybe just led them to understanding their swing better?

Personally I think the main reason I was hitting it so well is because I'm off to Scotland on a four day golf trip tomorrow and felt totally loose and relaxed. Which would lead to my second question, how can you take your range head (and what I feel I've learned) to the course, I'm not great at doing that - always way too tense for the first few holes.

Is golf an expensive game?

How much have you spent over the last twelve months on our glorious game?

It's been an unusual year for me as I got back into it properly and bought a whole set of clubs so I have spent approx £600 on clubs, currently paying £65 pm on membership and will probably spend £60pm on drinks and a bite after the game. then of course there are days playing in societies and the like at other courses.

Golf balls? I'm guessing in the region of £200 for the year.

Total estimate for the last twelve months - £2,500. Ouch!

Keeping warm in winter

Now we're into the cold weather of winter,. what little tips do you guys have for keeping warm?

My personal favourite is a flask of tomato soup spiced up with a bit of chilli powder.

Hip flasks are another obvious one, what do you have in yours? I'm partial to a little nip of port.

PUTTING THINGS IN PERSPECTIVE

Hopefully, the events of Sept. 11, 2001 have put the importance of golf into the proper perspective. Yeah, you may miss a chip or putt that costs you that chance of breaking 70, 80, 90, or even a 100, but the reality is that, in the great scheme of things, your score is not as important as you once thought it was. YOU are alive and able to play. Other people can never play again. When things get tough, appreciate the fact that you're able to be out there golfing. Enjoy life's good times and rise up to its challenges. You should still care a lot. Still try to do your best. But the fact is -- life is real, golf is JUST a game.

Golfers you hate or dislike

1. Stewart Cink - This annoying 'bald' man cannot be forgiven for denying Tom Watson Or Lee Westwood a Major Championship. He must be the most dislikeable man in golf.

2. Jim Furyk - Another annoying 'bald' man, Jim is surely one of the most annoying golfers of all time, the 5 steps back before he putts out routine is ridiculous. Who can stand Jim Furyk?

3. Dustin Johnson, yeah do he can hit the ball miles, but he must be one of the most boring men in golf, lets hope he cannot win the USPGA.

4. Monty. A moody and unfaithful man, who blames everything except himself for his failings; a trait which i despise. Has underachieved for years by not winning a major.

5. Sergio Garcia. Over-rated golfer with a temper, whose popularity is based solely on one major performance (his duel with Tiger) and his Ryder cup performances. Tinkers way too much with his swing, shows he does not have the mentality to win big.

Practice out of divots

When practicing at a driving range that has real grass and turf, you should practice a few iron shots out of your divots. Why? Because there are divots on courses. Golf is a game with many imperfect lies on the course, and you might need a confidence boost to know you can pull off a shot from a bad lie. Also, hitting iron shots out of divots requires a downward blow, not an upward scoop. It's good practice to work on the fundamental of hitting down on irons. Finally, you will have more confidence on good lie shots, because, you will have already proven you can hit from bad ones. It always happens. Big match. Key hole. You hit a perfect drive, yet end up in a divot. Now, instead of panicking, you'll do well. You'll have practiced it.

Grip easy in traps

One of the biggest mistakes you can make when hitting from a sand trap is to grip the club too tight and lose your control over where you want to strike the sand to get the ball out. Watch a professional golfer in a trap. Often times, you’ll see a very smooth, graceful swing approximately one to two inches behind the ball and a smooth follow through – not a violent smash at it. In order to be in control of that swing, you can't grip the club so tight you lose that finesse. It’s not a power shot. Grip the sand wedge as easily and as smoothly as you would on a twenty or so yard pitch shot. Take it easy. Grip it easy. Smoothness. Control. Successful shot.

Is Rory McIlroy overrated?

There is no doubt that Rory McIlroy will be a very good player for years to come, but I have to say there seems to be a lot of hype around this young player. My question is "has he done enough to justify this hype since 2007"?.... sure his career is littered with top 10 finishes and 2 wins but when you compare his record to a genuine sensation like Martin Kaymer and his 8 wins including 1 major the hype begins to look over blown.

I remember when Rory first came out on tour and Chubby would say things like: next world number one is Rory McIlroy or Rory will dominate the game for years to come. He may well dominate the game for years to come but at the moment he looks more Sergio Garcia than Tiger Woods and to put that level of expectation on a player so young is unfair in the extreme, particularly from quarters that are supposed to protect the young man.

It could be said that last weekends Alfred Dunhill Links Tournament was the perfect example of what it takes to be world number one... you had several different approaches and I think they each tell a story.

1) Lee Westwood - apparently chasing down the No.1 spot contended all week until his calf was clearly failing however it was his attitude that impressed me. He was just out there getting it done. He knew that in any field he had a chance that weekend to go out and be world number 1. Despite a no doubt deserved celebration following a fantastic performance in the Ryder Cup.

2) Martin Kaymer - Never going into a tournament thinking anything other than win... taking to the course 3 days after the Ryder Cup and winning with ease. Pure class. Astonishing performance and a clear indication of his undoubted mental strength to go with the immense talent.

3) Tiger Woods - Work in progress swing, lots of work to do at home on the range and despite the closing europeans on his No.1 position, like a fine michelin starred chef, he wont send his talent out until it is ready or unless he feels he can win. Heads home to do some work.

4) Rory McIlroy - happy to tell the watching sky viewers that he has enjoyed the celebrations, was unable to get up for a practice round following the deserved celebrations and finished outside the top 50. That is the attitude of a young man not the future world No.1.

My point being that at the moment Rory is a huge bag of potential, he is young and enjoying the trappings of a multi millionaire, he has endless comparisons to Tiger Woods and carries a weight of expectation around with him. This is my problem, unfortunately sky commentators seem prepared to blow this tiger comparison up as much as possible "he is better than tiger woods was at the same age" is a familiar chime.... he is not... not close.... at the same age Tiger had won everything there was to win in the amateur game several times over, won 2 times from 8 starts including 5 consecutive top 5 finishes in his rookie year as a 20 year old, and to top it off within one year of turning pro and at the age of 21 he had won the Masters at a canter before going on to win a further 4 times. Going to a tournament after the Ryder Cup and several heavy nights celebrating would never enter Tigers mind, he simply would not be there unless he could prepare properly and compete for the win. that is what sets a great champion apart from a champion.

Tiger Woods is and was unique, Rory cannot now emulate his record in terms of chronology but he can and will set his own records, but there are currently better young players plying their trade in the professional ranks. Don't get me wrong he is fantastic a real genuine major winner elect with a swing that is seriously good looking.

I for one hope that the hype surrounding him will be fulfilled but is it justified or fair?

Keep your tempo during winter

During the winter months, when you cannot play or practice very often, you can still do some exercises to maintain good timing and swing tempo. This exercise is called a tempo-check. All that you have to do is count to seven while you are swinging. Begin counting, at a comfortable pace, at the start of your swing. By the time you reach the finish of your swing, you should have reached ‘seven’ in your counting. Repeat this exercise and you will have improved swing tempo when you return to the golf course.

Martink Kaymer is Something Special

After watching Martin Kaymer now win three consecutive tournaments (4 including the Ryder Cup), I begin to wonder just how long it will be before he gets to the top of the rankings. He played unbelievably well again today and just makes things look so easy. He also has the great mental strength to cope under pressure hence the nickname ' ice man ' . The commentary team today also believe that he will win many, many majors and will stay at world number 1 for a very long time.

I just wanted to create this post to see what all you huge golf fans think of Martin and what he will achieve and his potential. Because many people today seem to be talking of Westwood and only him. Perhaps rightly so as he deserves to be no1, but Martin Kaymer for me is a very special player. One that others are going to have a very hard time stopping.

PUTTING FOR QUARTERS

Sometime before a round, on the practice green try putting against a friend for money, say a quarter a hole. Nothing during a round will be as difficult as the crucible of having already faced pressure putts against your playing patner. Making a tough five-footer? Having to lay a long putt from distance? If you've already practiced it - you can have the feeling of "been there, done that."

Laura Davies Does It Again

Laura Davies wins Open de España Femenino

One of Britain’s all-time greatest golfers Laura Davies shot a final round of level par 71 to win the Open de España Femenino and claim her 76th career title at Flamingos Golf in Benahavís on the Costa del Sol.

This is Laura's fourth title this season on the LET (Ladies European Tour) winning in Austria, Germany and New Zealand. With todays win it also means that Laura Davies moves from 3rd to 1st in the LET’s 2010 Henderson Money List. Davies has finished 1st on the Henderson Money List on seven occasions (1985, 1986, 1992, 1996, 1999, 2004 and 2006) and going for an eighth.

Davies is also positioned 1st in the standing for the European Solheim Cup team. Davies is the only player to have played in every Solheim Cup match from 1990 to 2009.

In 2004 Davies was the first woman to compete in the men's European Tour, entering the ANZ Championship in Sydney, Australia. She failed to make the cut, finishing second to last.

Laura Davies is arguably the greatest English female golfer of all time and one of the best in the world. Now age 46 Davies is playing some of the best golf of her career and shows no sign of stopping.

The Ryder Cup Should Have Category A Status

The Ryder Cup trophy

I cannot understand why the Ryder Cup is not afforded 'Category A' status in the ITC Code on Sports and Other Listed Events.

The Ryder Cup currently has only 'Category B' status, which means it can be shown by a pay TV channel, provided that highlights are available on free-to-air channels.

Surely, it should rank alongside the FIFA World Cup, the Olympic Games, the FA Cup Final, the Grand National, etc and live coverage on terrestrial TV be mandatory.

Project X 6.0 Flighted Shaft

The rifle 6.0 shafts are comparable in flex to somewhere between s300 and x100 on the Dynamic gold scale. When compared to a 5.5 (which is generally rated as around s300ish) it's obviously a firmer shaft.

The difference in flighted and non-flighted is purely the launch angle that they generate through the set. The shorter irons give a lower launch for accuracy/flight control and the longer irons a much higher launch for distance in the air.

They suit a powerful/aggressive swing rather than a smooth one at the rating that they have and are a fairly heavy shaft.

In terms of hitting down/sweeping... I would say that a hitter would get more from these than a sweeper.


Personally I don't like the Project X. I think it feels very harsh at impact compared to the standard rifle I use.

On top of that a lot of people think they 'feel' stiffer than a regular rifle. But that's very personal.

A Trip Down Memory Lane

Things that I remember in my golfing lifetime.....

1.62" balls

The first metal drivers

Seve's fist pumping on the 18th at St Andrews

Torrance with his arms aloft after holing the winning putt in the Ryder Cup at the Belfry in 1985

Diamond pattern Pringle jumpers

Leather gloves that lasted about 3 weeks.

Par 4's over 400 yards were considered long!

Waterproofs that weren't!!

Wound golf balls that made a lovely 'click' when you hit them

Wound leather grips that needed washing often

2 woods (brassies)

Tiny headed wooden drivers with plastic face inserts

Brown Rubber Spiked Dunlop Golf shoes with kilties on them

Sets of clubs with pro's names on them (Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player)

Dunlop Warwick Golf Balls in red wrappers for 4/6 (22 and half pence)

Annual Subs of £3

Have you got any more to add?

Donald ‘saviour of classics’ Trump

Donald Trump posing with golf club

As much as I dislike all aspects of Donald Trump's project in Aberdeenshire his desire to hold an open championship does pose an interesting question.

For me it is centred around how much I value pro golf and how important pandering to pro golf is over maintaining the game for the everyday player. My first reaction to his desire to hold the open at his new Aberdeenshire course was ‘the man's a fruit loop, the open should never leave the classic venues’.

My second thought was why should a second rate course get the honour of holding the open above classics like St Georges and TOC. However if you think about it, the current pro game is so far removed from the roots of golf, is this really an issue?

I am not sure if this idea holds but I am starting to think that the future of the open should be at venues like Trump's, Castle Stuart or Dundonald. Changing the 17th at TOC certainly strengthens the argument for me. I have a fear that in the coming years as the ball gets more an more out of control the classic courses on the open rota may be altered to the detriment of 99% of the people who play them, i.e. the average golfer, for the benefit of the pro’s coming to town every 10 years.

I see using these new courses as a preservation technique to make sure the work’s of Harry Colt, Old Tom, JH Taylor, Hawtree, Fowler and Mackenzie remain intact for generations to come. This of course ignores the fact that future generations may not benefit from some of the rarest dunesland in the world. But hey, what’s more important golf or the environment?

If pro golf needs a goofy course like winged foot to have a tight finish topped with more than a smidgen of farce I propose Trump's dunes as the perfect golfing super bowl venue.

PGA Tour: Taking A Week Off

Tiger Woods: driven to drink

The Tour, not me.

The PGA Tour concedes this weekend's television viewing to Football, NFL and College varieties, and we have to wait until next weekend for the Tour Championship at Atlanta's East Lake GC.
And then, when the Atlanta dust has settled and $10M has been won, not to mention the $295K minimum bounty that goes to each of the 30 combatants, we'll be back for the final five events of the season, the Fall Series and lots to play for.

Although next week's field are secure with their "playing privileges" for 2011, there are a number of well known golfers striving to reach the magic top 125 on the money list. Assuming this year's threshold to be about $800K, the following are among those who still have money to make:
Duval, Imada, Curtis, Baddeley, Sutherland, Baird, Austin, Stenson and Stroud are currently inside the top 125.
And these are on the outside looking in:
McCarron, Byrd, Weir, RS Johnson, Quinney, Quigley, Goggin, MacKenzie, DiMarco, Pampling, Jeev Milkha Singh, Owen and Chopra. Oh, and Daly of course.

The first Fall Series event, the same weekend as the Ryder Cup, is the Viking Classic in Mississippi, to be followed intermittently by stops in Georgia, Las Vegas (Martin Laird's title defence), California and Orlando.
But some of these players have been sharpening their games on the Nationwide Tour, Daly and Chopra, MacKenzie and Mallinger, Stroud, Goggin and Quinney, while others are using the Nationwide as a rehab stop prior to returning to Tour business. Rich Beem for one. And Carl Paulson for another.

You don't remember Paulson? Only six years ago he was a Tour regular, the 54-hole leader of The Players. But back injuries have kept him off Tour for more than five years now. He has a Major Medical Exemption for 2010 which will doubtless be carried over to 2011, but it's become a different game in his absence and we'll watch his progress with interest and best wishes.

Some other thoughts on recent events:

*Those disparaging the validity of a World Ranking system based on 2 years' results that still has Tiger Woods at #1 will have been interested to see Vera Zvonareva climb from 8 to 4 on the one-year WTA Rankings following her defeat in the US Open Tennis final. Meanwhile, winner Kim Clijsters slipped from 3 to 5.

*Paul Casey's case for inclusion in Montgomerie's Ryder Cup Team has earned a lot of ink. Given that support of the European Tour was clearly a factor in the Team "picks", it is worth noting the number of 2010 "European Tour" qualifying events played by some golfers:
Casey and McIlroy: 12
Donald and Poulter: 11
Harrington: 9
Rose: 6

*There will be continuing arguments about qualifying for the European Team, but there is surely a case for remembering that some European Tour golfers who have seldom played in the States have played pivotal roles in earlier European wins.
Mike Cowan was caddying for Fred Couples when Christy O'Connor Jnr laced his 2-iron 200 yards to the Belfry's 18th in 1989: "One of the most phenomenal shots in the history of the game," said Fluff, whose man Fred flared a 9-iron wide of the green.
Rafferty, James and Canizares were among others to win that day, and the recent list of successful Euro-only players is well known.

Is it possible that the esprit de corps, so famously a part of European victories of the past, is less a force when the contestants are playing against those they play with week in, week out on Tour? The Presidents Cup effect??
Regardless, it will be interesting to measure the relative successes of the Molinaris, Fisher and Hanson in Wales.

Past year's Nationwide Tour events have featured European golfers enjoying success, Richard Johnson leading money-winner just three years ago, the same year Martin Laird "graduated". Gronberg and Bjornstadt earned Tour cards on the back of Nationwide success last year, but few Europeans have competed this year, Jonas Blixt and Gary Christian the only full-timers and neither close to their card at present.

But you know that the stars of tomorrow's PGA Tour will mostly come from the Nationwide, and Chris Kirk, Kevin Chappell and Jamie Lovemark are certain to be Tour regulars next year, likely all making quite a splash.
As is Tommy Two Gloves Gainey, third in money won and who would bet against him following in the footsteps of Boo Weekley a few years ago? Both earned their cards perhaps before they were ready, went back to the Nationwide to consolidate their earlier success and, in Boo's case the rest is history. Gainey's coming to a tournament near you. Or at least me.

Dream partners? Nightmare opponent?

Of this year's Ryder Cup teams (including all the potential candidates for US wildcards);

a) Who would you most like to partner in foursomes and fourballs?

b) Who would you least like to be playing against?

I think Luke Donald is an ideal foursomes partner and Rory McIlroy for fourballs.

I'd hate to be up against Steve Stricker - he's super consistent, but yet even if you beat him it somehow doesn't quite have the kudos of beating Woods, Mickelson or Furyk.

Camilo Villegas - A future major champion?

Watched the USPGA with interest last week and the man I followed most closely was Camilo Villegas as he is my favourite golfer and I had a few euros on him... This guy played really good golf all week and only for a few silly mistakes would have won this tournament! He really rallied on day 4 and had he to par 9 and 10 of his final round he would have found himself in a playoff... Ifs and buts I know but still it was a really good performance from him!

Anyway what I am wanting to know is do you think Camilo will win a major? I think next year he will definately challenge in at least one of the majors and I will be very surprised if he does not win a major in the next couple of years...
Thoughts?