Many players hit thin lobs and pitches when they try to help the ball into the air. Your pitching wedge has about 50° of loft, and your lob wedge around 60°. Believe us, they'll hit the ball in the air. Swinging down and through the ball and the ball will pop up with some spin. Trust the loft on your clubs and stop thinning the ball over the back of the green.
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Mickelson Dropped
Phil Mickelson has been dropped from Saturday's morning fourballs.
Phil Mickelson has been dropped from Saturday's morning fourballs by US captain Hal Sutton, presumably as a result of failing to win a point in his first two matches. His playing partner for those matches, Tiger Woods, will partner Chris Riley in the second match against Darren Clarke and Milton Keynes' very own Ian Poulter.
Bernhard Langer, on the other hand, is ensuring that his remaining rookies, David Howell, Ian Poulter and Paul Casey all play their first matches, while retaining the successful pairings of Garcia/Westwood and Monty/Harrington. Montgomerie will maintain his record of playing in every series since Kiawah Island in 1991, a span of 30 (and counting) consecutive Ryder Cup matches.
Giving rookies their first game in fourballs, as opposed to foursomes, is a shrewd move. It gives them a chance play their way into a match, without the pressure of knowing that every stroke they play is crucial. It also gives them marginally more Ryder Cup experience; they'll hit 60-70 shots in fourballs, and roughly half that in foursomes. Those extra few shots may count for a lot come Sunday.
Inhumane, but Funny
Someone has a sickly funny sense of humor, and doesn't want to meet any golfers in dark alleys.
You're standing on the tee box, fancy driver in your hands. You've been hitting the ball fairly well, and you stare down the open par five. You take a deep breath, and all the stress and worry of the round - your swing, your alignment, the three-putt on the last hole - disappear. You wind up in your backswing, and come down with a smooth, fluid motion.
Your driver sings as you make contact with the ball, and the little white devil just leaps off the clubface. Straight, long, you watch the ball hit the fairway and roll. You smile - no, you beam. Your chest swells and you pick up your bag and take the walk to admire your Shot, with a capital "S".
You walk up to the ball, and look out at the green, thinking to yourself, "If I hit my three wood from here, I could …" Glancing around, you see the sprinkler head and walk up to it to get a range to the green, when you realize that the greenskeeper is a sadistic bastard.
I was using my RSS reader to grab images from Flickr with the tag of "golf" when this image popped into my Inbox. Honestly, I'm glad the groundcrew at my club doesn't have this cruel sense of humor. After hitting that Killer Drive, and feeling like I could take on the green in two, to look down and see that on the sprinkler head …
Okay, who am I kidding? I'd laugh my proverbial ass off.
Europeans Stretch Ryder Cup Lead
After a 3½-½ advantage from the morning fourballs, Europe stretched their lead to 6½-1½ in day 1's afternoon foursomes.
Despite the alarming amount of bleach in their collective hairstyles, Team Europe stretched their lead to 6½-1½ after day one following a 3-1 victory in the afternoon foursomes.
The talking point will of course be the pairing of Woods and Mickelson, who lost their second match of the day. Three up after 4 against Darren Clarke and Lee Westwood, the "Dream Team" were pegged back to all square by the 10th, and fell 1 down on 11, where they remained until they won the 17th. With the momentum seemingly on their side on the 18th tee, Mickelson hit a wayward drive into a position from which Woods could only drop and punch out down the fairway. An average wedge by Mickelson's standards left Woods with a 15-footer for bogey, which he missed - double bogey. After Darren Clarke left his par attempt within gimme range, matchplay's cardinal sin of losing a hole to bogey had been committed, giving the Europeans the hole and the point.
Well, That Hurt…
The US Ryder Cup team gets spanked in the early morning four-balls.
What was that about the importance of the four-ball matches?
Most people would think that, if you pair together Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods - unquestionably two of the best golfers in the world - that they'd win their four-ball match. Sadly for the US Ryder Cup team, nothing could be further from the truth. Woods and Mickelson lost their four-ball match two and one to Colin Montgomerie and Padraig Harrington, capping off a morning of four-ball losses and a European lead, 3½ to ½.
The US Advantage
Fred Funk sports US Flag golf shoes in Thursday's practice round.
Ok, the US team is definitely going to win the Ryder Cup. Check out the shoes Fred Funk donned in Thursday's practice round. Apparently he hiked up his pants every time he got to a green so everyone could get a good look. The crowd loved it, of course. It would be great it they were standard fare for all the US players.
Woods/Mickelson Vs. Montgomerie/Harrington
Lineups for the Friday matches at the Ryder Cup are set.
Friday morning, 8:10am local time to Bloomfield Hills, MI is the scheduled time for Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson to tee it up against Colin Montgomerie and Padraig Harrington. This is the best of the best going head to head. It should be a good one.
The other three matches of the day:
Darren Clarke and Miguel Angel Jimenez vs. Davis Love III and Chad Campbell
Luke Donald and Paul McGinley vs. Stewart Cink and Chris Riley
Sergio Garcia and Lee Westwood vs. David Toms and Jim Furyk
Follow the leaderboard live here.
Callaway PreOwned Clubs
Check out Callawaypreowned.com for great deals on preowned Callaway clubs.
I'd just like to put out on the table my recommendation for Callaway's website for certified preowned clubs. Callawaypreowned.com has great deals all the time, very low shipping costs, and what I believe to be the most important thing, a solid return policy. If the club(s) are returned within 15 days in the same condition you received them, you get a full refund. After that, their buy-back program kicks in. Return within 30 days, get 90% back; 60 days for 80% back and 90 days for 70% back. It's practically renting the clubs, but in this day and age where feel is so important, it's great to get a good deal, but knowing you can reject it if it's not right without a significant penalty is comforting.
