Year: 2009

Simon Johansson Analysis

This golfer has some ambitious goals, and I’m going to try to help him achieve them.

Swing CheckSimon Johansson has been playing off an on for 20 years and has only recently rediscovered his passion for the game. Now, he practices for close to 20 hours a week hoping that he can one day:

  1. become a scratch golfer.
  2. win at least local tournaments.
  3. turn pro.

Considering his ambitious goals I certainly have my work cut out for me.

I would describe Simon’s swing as being very deliberate. He has a nice setup and hits a lot of good positions but his swing plane definitely leaves some room for improvement.

Read on to see Simon’s swing and the fixes I’ve outlined for him.

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Five Questions

Enquiring golf minds want to know.

Trap Five LogoWell, my golf game is officially a mess this week. My number one trick this spring is to only play decent golf on one nine and blow up on the other… as in 10 strokes or more over the other side. What the heck?

That is just the start of the questions I have about golf this week. Here are five questions that most people would consider more important than the state of my personal golf game.

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A Presidental Address

In which our hero stands before his adoring public, platform, and priorities.

Thrash TalkIf you haven’t heard, we’re in a recession here, folks. Likewise, even the most casual devotee to any form of golf media has been bludgeoned with the news that private golf courses/ clubs have been suffering for quite some time. Now that I have established myself as the conduit of extremely obvious information, on to the business at hand.

I am, certainly, not in any position to give a “State of the Game,” or “National Golf Convention” address. Were I, however, appointed acting “President of Golf in America, Overseer of all Private and Public Golfing Establishments, Tours, Equipment Manufacturers, Governing Bodies, and the Golfing Media,” I would stand behind my podium, before my adoring public (think Kennedy in Berlin, or the Obama Inaugural Address) and deliver something resembling the following:

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Scorecard Golf Statistics Software Now at 2.0

Track your statistics to get better at golf.

ScorecardThis is one of our off weeks from doing the Golf Talk podcast, so I wanted to take the opportunity to talk about the recent release of some golf statistics software – Scorecard – which was just bumped to version 2.0 with some well-requested features.

In the interest of disclosure, I’m a partial owner of the software company that makes Scorecard as well as one of the developers/designers for the software. It’s not free ($29.95, or $14.95 for upgrades from 1.x), and thus, I make a bit of money from the sales of Scorecard.

As I said, Scorecard 2.0 was just released with several user-requested features, including full nine-hole support for both statistics and handicap calculation, per-hole user notes (so you can document what clubs you hit or anything else you’d like), and graphing of over 35 statistics (with markers).

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FootJoy Adds ICON Shoes to Collection

FootJoy says goodbye to one era and perhaps starts another.

Bag DropThe folks at FootJoy aren’t resting on the laurels with the release of they SYNR-G shoes from just a little while ago as they’ve now added their ICON premium line to their stable of shoes.

Taking some of the best technology from their DryJoys, Reel-Fit, and SYNR-G shoes and incorporating some higher-end leather, the ICON shoes are a contemporary, updated look to your base saddle and wingtip style of golf shoes with a few other styles tossed in for kicks.

Many view the ICON line as a replacement to the Classics line of shoes, but FootJoy is quick to point out that though they may occupy a similar price range, the ICON line is really a fresh new step in the company’s history.

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Volume One Hundred Ninety

Michelle Wie still wants to play at the Masters, Ian Baker-Finch comes out of retirement, and another Amateur wins on the European Tour

Hittin' the LinksHello golf fanatics and welcome again to another round of Hittin’ the Links. Maybe it’s me but golf this weekend seemed a tad bland. I didn’t even watch any of the final rounds. Perhaps I am just gearing up for the U.S Open next month.

Anyway, there was still a lot going on around the world of golf. We first say goodbye to longtime on course commentator Bob Rosburg, then see what ridiculous thing came out of Michelle Wie’s mouth this time, and check out the player turned caddy, turned player, turned caddy again. Also, we investigate some Asian Tour problems, see what Ian Baker-Finch is up to, and do a wrap-up of this week’s tour winners. Read on!

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Lessons Learned Last Week

Last week gave us plenty to ponder.

Trap Five LogoLast week was a pretty good one in golf. With the Players Championship for the PGA Tour and the Michelob Ultra Open at Kingsmill taking place concurrently, there was a lot of good golf to watch. And even if you can’t follow it on TV, the college golf season is building to a climax.

In a way, it was the perfect lead-in to the summer. There are a lot of questions waiting to be answered. Last week may have raised more than it answered and that means some interesting months ahead.

Here are just a few of the topics that came to light last week.

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Only Two Majors

The FedExCup formalizes a hierarchy of tournaments. Why not take it a step further?

Thrash TalkPerhaps, it has happened in a somewhat ham-handed fashion; nevertheless, it has happened. With the advent of the FedExCup, the American public has been presented with a formal ranking of PGA Tour tournament prestige, or worth (at least with reference to this particular system, which, given its ten million dollar annual prize, is a pretty influential system).

The merits of the system itself aside, I propose that there are really only two “Majors,” and that the rest of the tournaments are filler. Really, though, every tournament ought to strive to create its own culture, history, and prestige (in short, marketability). However, the absence, presence, or overabundance of such does not necessarily make any particular tournament a Major.

What does then?

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Golf Talk [Episode 114]

If Tiger used to be about a +8 handicap index, what is he these days?

Golf Talk PodcastHenrik Stenson wins at TPC Sawgrass while Tiger Woods and Alex Cejka play their final rounds like a pair of muni-course choppers. Also, Cristie Kerr wins, Lorena stumbles, Michelle Wie finishes 15th, Tiger’s drug tests, smoking on the golf course, and a whole lot more in this episode of Golf Talk.

You can subscribe to the RSS feed for our podcasts here or download Episode 114 as an MP4 file. For those who want to subscribe to us in iTunes, click here.

For this week’s Show Notes – links to articles we discuss in the show and additional information – just read on.

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