StealthTrader

Dominating the game means consistently winning golf tournaments. The reason Tiger, dominated is because he'd win a Major in conjunction with 5-7 wins that same year. He did not simply pop-up on a streak and win a few Majors. He won 79 times on the PGA Tour and he has the highest win percentage relative to total starts than anybody ever has - including 18 WGCs - a number so impressive that even Brandel, refuses to talk about it much. That's dominance. When Rory, reaches Major win Number 9 or 10, then it will be time to seriously sit down and start discussing how much longer he'll be able to remain dominant in the game. Right now, he's accomplished a mere 28.5% of what Tiger, has accomplished in Majors. Give it time. He can't possibly "dominate" anything right now, when the world's best of the best is still on tour. When Jack and Tiger, were on the same tour together, there was absolutely zero doubt in my mind about who was the dominant player. Jack Nicklaus, with 18 Majors, regardless of what Tiger, was doing at the time, made him the most dominant player in the game - bar none. However, when Jack, left the tour it was Tiger, who stepped into that void and filled it with becoming the fasted man alive to 79 PGA Tour wins, 18 WGC Championships and 14 Majors and that's not including all of the major stats records that still stand as all time historical events in the game of professional golf. People may not like Tiger, personally because of the mistakes he made in his personal life. However, nobody, regardless of how badly they want to see Tiger, fail to reach Jack's all-time record of 18 Major wins, can take away one ounce of what Tiger, has accomplished thus far in his career. And, until somebody steps up and wins at least 14 Majors, there cannot possibly be anyone on par or even remotely in the same Galaxy with Tiger Woods. It is like this: - Jack, is sitting out there on the edge of the Milky Way Galaxy all by himself with 18 Majors. - Tiger, is riding along side the NASA Kepler Probe, discovering new worlds as it approaches the edge of the Milky Way. - Rory, with today's victory has basically placed himself slightly beyond Saturn, but well within our own solar system. In other words, before Rory, starts "dominating" anything, he's got to get out of our solar system which is something both Jack and Tiger, have done a very long time ago. When Rory, reaches number 10, we can "begin" the conversation about his "dominance."

Quite frankly, I think it is idiotic for Brandel, a player who never even sniffed a Major win during his entire career and thus; a player who knows nothing about what goes on in the mind of another player who has won such events 14 times no less; to feign standing in judgement of a guy who is and was many light years ahead in terms of skill, mental focus, raw talent and the desire to win. When I hear Brandel, ripping on Tiger, I get the distinct impression that he's jealous - pure and simple. Jealous that he never had the kind of ability that Tiger has and jealous that he never amounted to anything in the game of golf over the course of his career. I did not even know Brandel's name, until the Golf Channel hired him. Furthermore, from a purely technical standpoint, Brandel, could not be more WRONG! Tiger, got "steeper" in his golf swing precisely to relieve pressure on his back and lower body - which was taking a pounding with his old swing. Tiger, is steeper, but so was Jack, when he put on some age and so do most PGA Tour Players when they put on some years. Why? Because, they don't hit it as long as the younger players could behind them and they need to keep up. How do you keep up? You lag the club longer and compress the ball more by coming in steeper. Brandel, should know this, if he was the "expert" that he comes off as on the Golf Channel. Tiger, talked about this MANY years ago with Peter Kessler, during a one-on-one sit down with the former Golf Channel legend. Tiger, said that he could hit the ball even farther, if he lagged more and flipped the club. But, he said that his accuracy would not be as good, if he did that. Tiger, knew how to increase distance many years when he was blowing it past everyone on tour, but because he was already long enough and his body was healthy, he never had to resort to lagging the club that much. Did Brandel, tell you this? No, of course not. Brandel, is only interested in stoking fires for the Golf Channel - but he looks ridiculous to those that have been paying attention each time he does it. Nobilo, had it spot on and it should not take a rocket scientist to figure it out. Tiger, is "not healthy." That sums it up in a nutshell. You can play football injured. You can play baseball injured. You can play basketball injured. You can play hockey inured. You can't last for very long trying to swing a golf club with a serious back injury and Brandel, should know better. Golf requires a sound Mind, Body and Soul. Tiger, is still working on the Body. He's always had the Mind and his Soul is at peace in a new personal life with his children and Lindsey. His Body needs to catch up with his Mind and Soul. But, that will ot happen until he takes the necessary time off to heal properly. He's got just five (5) more tournament to win. Five more Majors and he probably has 6-8 years remaining tops with 4-5 really good competitive years. That is 16-20 shots at winning five (5) more championships. At that point, he's the greatest to ever lace up a pair of spike. Period. Right now, there is no one even remotely close to achieving what Tiger, is set-up to achieve in his career thus far. That much should be abundantly clear to even the biggest Tiger Haters on the planet. Phil Mickelson, is the closest and as much as I really like Phil, that ain't saying much. Rory, has a long, long, long way to go before he becomes the consistently dominant player in the game, as Tiger, has proven himself to be over the course of almost 20 years now. People need to wake up and put the present into proper context by looking at history and figuring out who actually has done what and for how long. Jack is Number #1. Tiger is Number #2. Everybody else is a distant 3rd right now. Everybody else.

That's cute. Or, is it insanity? - Fasted man alive to 79 PGA Tour Wins - Record for Lowest Scoring Average in PGA Tour History - Highest purse in PGA Tour History - Youngest Career Slam in PGA Tour History - Only player on the planet to have won all four (4) Majors in a row - Record holder for number of consecutive cuts made - Longest continuous reign as World Number #1 in PGA Tour History - 18 WGC Championships - 2nd longest winning streak in PGA Tour History Oh, I almost forgot: - 14 Major Championships Wake me up when somebody else wins at least 10 of them in the Tiger Era.

It has everything to do with his new shaft position just before impact. He's always had patches where he would spray the golf ball off the tee with his driver. The difference now is that those exact same shots will be amplified off the tee - because the compression is so much better. It just makes sense. Put more force behind the ball - ball go far. - Get too far out in front of the ball with your hands when you are actually trying to hold a longer L-Position - ball go BIG TIME left. - Get caught too far behind the ball with your hands when you are trying to hold a longer L-Position - ball go BIG TIME right. - Get the hands in-sync with the hip rotation when you are trying to hold a longer L-Position - ball go exactly where you want it to. If Tiger, can work this out with Sean, you will see a lot more fairways hit and a lot more shots into greens like you say on the 18th today. The rest will be putting and when he starts getting a higher number of realistic birdie puts, more of them will start to fall and it will be off the races again in search of Jack's 18 Majors. If he cannot work out this new compression issue - its going to be very tough for him to get pin high enough times during a tournament, to give him enough looks at birdie. If you go back and look at when Tiger, was dominating the Tour, he was always doing two things: a) Landing the golf ball pin high from the fairway. b) Landing the golf ball under 14-17 feet on a consistent basis. He's has never been the kind of player who needed to time the unhinging of his left wrist. Holding a longer L-Position, now forces anybody who has never had that swing before (it does not matter who you are) to inject timing into the unhinging of his left wrist. That move is new to him and he is admittedly struggling with normalizing that action. Go look at Sean's motions as he models what he wants Tiger, to do on the practice range. He's modeling an exaggerated delay in releasing the left wrist. That's a timing issue by definition. Tiger, used to call it "flipping the club" back when he used to describe what he did not have to do with the golf club. Today, in order to relieve some pressure from the left side of his body (protecting the left knee and ankle), he's swinging more slowly/deliberately. To get the ball to travel the same distance as it used to with a slower and more deliberate swing, he has to maintain the wrist-cock and allow the club to "whip" at the bottom more than he ever has before. That's why you see more iron shots landing either too long or too short on the green and that is why you see T-shots either being pulled further left, or pushed further right - than ever before. They will figure something out eventually. But, it has to be something that he feels comfortable with on the course and in the heat of battle. It is NOT an easy fix. Try implementing the same move into your own swing and prove it to yourself. I've tried it and I can hit the ball a lot further - but I'm all over the place off the tee-box and I'm either too long or too short into greens from the fairway. I've never been a "flicker" or "timer" of the club. So, that move is a difficult one for me to get used to. Forcing a longer L-Position is a "trust" issue. You simply have to trust it. And, that's not easy when the shot matters and you are still not fully comfortable with it.

Quote: Originally Posted by mvmac In case you guys didn't see it, Bubba Watson goes "Happy Gilmore" on the first tee Bubba, had an outstanding day today and I'm glad he played consistently. I just hope the consistency remains throughout the week - that was my only problem with him being on the Team this year. Bubba's oscillations between good and poor golf is one of the widest channels of performance on tour. When he's on - he's really on. But, when he's off, he's almost comical. Contrast that to Rory. When Rory, is off - he's just missing it, but he's missing it very consistently. But, when he's on - he's won't be too far away from his game when he was off. It is the wide channel of volatility in Bubba, that I thought would hamper the Team a bit. I hope he holds it together for three days. If he does, he can't be anything but a huge asset.

It is fairly straight forward as you can see - just as long as the players follow their "trajectory" coming into the tournament. That's what I look for. The question is always: What's a players true trajectory coming into an event. My call on the majority of the players was pretty much accurate. The true exceptions were Tiger and Colsaerts - only two players and that combination (if you cared to notice) was the very combination of players that made the difference in my overall call for the U.S. being "Up 3" at the end of Friday. So, in the final analysis, the very two players that did not follow their incoming trajectory, were the very same two players that ended up making the difference in the final score. Coincidence? No. Coin toss? Not quite. The more stable the inputs to a predictive algorithm, the higher the probability for seeing an expected result. It depends on what your algorithm looks like - that's all.

- Rory and GMac, did what was expected in the morning, but faltered in the afternoon. One of the biggest surprises for me on Friday. - Phil and Bradley, did what was expected both in the morning and the afternoon - no surprises for me. - Dufner and Zach, played solid in the morning and contributed as expected. - Tiger and Stricker, have to be the biggest disappointment for Friday, although Tiger, tried a patented comeback near the end of the afternoon session. Overall, the picks were fairly on target with the exception of Tiger/Stricker. So, at the end of the day, the U.S. is up by 2, not 3. I'll take the 2 Up any Friday, for a good start. If I can get the player slots for Saturday, then I can call those as well.

Yeah, and he even held a share of the lead at -6 under when play got suspended due to "darkness" today. The whole Lee Janzen thing blows my mind. Its a bit like the whole David Duval thing - which also blew my mind. Which was nothing like the John Daly thing, which never really blew my mind at all. I honestly expected Lee Janzen, to have five (5) majors and 40+ wins by now - including one (1) player of the year and maybe one (1) FedEx Cup. Where did I go wrong. I liked everything about Lee, and still do. I wish him all the best.

Hmmmm. Rory and GMac are going to be very tough to beat. Phil and Bradley should be able to take Luke and Sergio. Dufner and Zach is the easiest pick of all. Tiger and Stricker will have very little trouble with their opposition. I've got the U.S. Up 3 after Friday. Any takers?

Funny. I thought it translated to "Sexy Looking Golf Course." Learn something new everyday, I guess. I would love to have a "City" like that sitting in my back yard. I'd play her every single day. Courses that look like that, just inspire you to want to go out and play some Golf. It looks like one of those "feel good" courses.

- North Americans - South Americans - Central Americans - Canadian Americans. Canada, is part of the "New World" and thus considered part of the Americas. - Brazilian Americans, if you include part of the North Western portions of Brazil, which is also considered part of the Americas. It means a lot to be an American. We are a very diverse people.

I think you are right and for some of the same reasons why I would have selected Hunter, over Bubba. Lee's a great player, no doubt. But, if you look at his overall demeanor this year - especially during the FedEx Cup, he seemed very tired and very lethargic - just not very much into golf, really. He seemed a bit aloof during post round interviews and somewhat distracted. I just thought he was worn out at the end of a long season, after not playing particularly very well heading into the FedEx Cup. On the other hand, Paddy, always seems engaged and connected to everything around him. He would have brought some energy to the European Team, at a time when it will need it, having to play on U.S. soil. His quality of play can be very high under the right conditions and I think that putting him inside a team environment, just might have been the thing required to light his fire and spark some good game out of him. I really think that the Westwood pick is going to be one (1) of the reasons why the Europeans loose this year. There will be many other reasons, but I just don't think Westwood, has very much more to give this season. He looks like he needs a long vacation in the off-season.

My only problem with Bubby, as opposed to Hunter, is the stability required for Team Golf. I'm sure no one on the U.S. is outwardly complaining about Bubby, and in fact probably all believe that he's a good fit for the team. I just believe that Hunter would have been a bit more stable and has the level of play that would help the U.S. Team. Hunter, may not have had the stats that Bubba, had this year - but Hunter also demonstrated that he was starting to me in the right direction during the FedEx Cup. At one point during the FedEx Cup Points Season, Hunter Mahan, was at the very top of that leader board, and Bubba, was behind him in the number two spot. I think that when you consider Hunter's earlier play during the season, coupled with Bubba's inconsistency at all times during the season, Hunter brings a bit more stability to a Team environment. When building a "Team" - you have to look at more structural components than just individual play during the regular season. Hunter, would have provide some additional structure to that kind of environment.

True, but while liking Tiger Woods, as much as I do, I'm not at all impressed with his performance in the Ryder Cup. His Number #1 dominance will never be replicated in my lifetime, no doubt. I agree with you on that score - it has been one heck of a Number #1 ride with Tiger! However, his performance during the the Ryder, leave much to be desired. Had he not won as many times as he did this year, I'd be saying that he should not even be on the Ryder Cup Team. Of course, you can't keep the best of the best down for very long and that's why he has multiple wins this year, yet again for the umpteenth time in his career. I think the problem in the past with Tiger, and the Ryder Cup, has been the fact that it come late in the year. Tiger, had to have spent an enormous amount of energy winning 74 times on the PGA Tour over the years, including 14 majors and 16 WGC events and those years where he won 5/6/7 times a year for multiple years. All of that has to take an emotional toll at the end of the golf season, when really - winning on Tour is the most important thing on your annual agenda. Then comes the Ryder Cup, at the very end - after you have spent all that energy beating up on everybody in sight earlier that same year. It must have been somewhat melodramatic for Tiger, over the years. Maybe even something on the level of an NFL Pro Bowl for Tiger, the Ryder Cup (maybe). Nobody expects to see any real big hits in Hawaii, during the Pro Bowl. In fact, they way they play the game today, they basically Red-Shirt everybody on the field during most of the game and the fans know it. The fans are basically there just to see all of their favorite players on the field at the same time. Nobody expects big hits anymore, or all out play. That does not make Tiger, a non-team player. It is just the reality of giving your all over an extremely long golf season and then reaching what amounts to an "All Star Golf Tournament" for the Europeans and the United States. However, having said that ---------- I think the "Fans" have turned up the heat AND the expectations for the players in the Ryder Cup, over the decades, making it a very heated contest. With Tiger, exploding onto the scene back in 1997, with his dramatic history making win in the Masters, he began to introduce the game of Golf to people all around the world, given the television coverage and the changes in satellite television networks. People from all over the world, were able to see his star rising and that got millions of people around the planet interested in playing and watching golf on a level had not been seen before, given the technology in use. Now, the Ryder Cup, gets a visit from Celebrities from outside the world of Golf and a level of television coverage world wide that it never had before. Couple that to the Fan/Amateur golfer now buying billions of dollars in golf equipment each and every year, the global reality of having two teams from two different continents and it brings something of an Olympic flair to it. Its no Super Bowl, by any stretch of the imagination - but its growing bigger each and every year. When you put a hot player like Rory, on one side and a perennial Hall of Fame Titan like Tiger, on the other - you spark something special that people want to see. Having it played on a course that looks downright Sexy, like Medinah, looks today - and you unleash a firestorm of interest. A Side note: I've never seen Medinah, look this darn sexy. That course looks good enough to EAT!

Two Players that I don't think should have made either Ryder Cup this year: - Bubba Watson - US Team - Lee Westwood - European Team Neither of them have played impressive golf this year, and both of them are on a downward slope currently. I would have preferred to see Hunter Mahan , instead of Bubba Watson. I think when comparing the two, Hunter, would have brought more "stability" and less "frantic" play to the team event - which is what you will need to win. I think the remainder of the U.S. Team is pretty solid this year. On the European side, I don't see Francesco Molinari, adding much to fuel the Europeans to victory at Medinah, either. In 2010, they tried to put Molinari, up against Zack Johnson/ Hunter Mahan (foursomes), Cink/Kuchar (fourballs) and Woods (singles) - and he ended up 0-2-1 . Instead of Bubba, I would have put a more stable Mahan, up against Molinary, as much as possible - just to remind Molinary, of 2010. A psychological advantage that might matter in the points spread. We'll see.