Category: Thrash Talk

Ask most non-golfers and they’ll tell you watching golf on TV is boring. That’s likely because without knowing how difficult it is to hit a four iron to fifteen feet under the pressure of tournament golf, it’s hard to appreciate the achievement. Add to this the announcers doing most of the talking spits out so much golf jargon during the telecast that most non-golfers would either be interested to learn more or totally turned off. Most fall into the latter group.

Still, somebody has to talk during the telecast, and currently golf has some decent personalities doing the talking. Later I will do a story on the lead announcers like Jim Nantz, but for now I want to focus on the analysts. To qualify for a golf analyst you need to have had a moderately successful golf career and it doesn’t hurt if you are slightly controversial and willing to speak your mind.

Continue reading “Analyzing Golf’s Analysts”

I believe that golf has gone through three distinct eras, with each of these eras defined by the equipment of their times. The three eras are: hickory, steel, and “metal.” The first two refer to shafts, while the third refers to the heads of drivers. There have been great golfers within each of these eras and a few like Tiger Woods pushed the era changeover to take place. I know that separating these eras as I have is a bit of an oversimplification, but nonetheless each is important in its own way.

I will be the first to admit that I do not know much about the hickory era. There will be some argument, but the greatest player from this era is likely Bobby Jones. Only if you are the truest of traditionalist will you play the game with the equipment from this era. I have used a replica of Calamity Jane, which is the putter used by Bobby Jones, and even that putter is pretty darn hard to hit. I can only imagine trying to hit a driver consistently along with the lousy golf balls from that era. Still, it is the considered by many as the start of the modern game as we know it.

Continue reading “The Three Eras of Golf”

Recently there has been a ton of discussion on the USGA decision to prohibit golfers from making a putting stroke by anchoring the club or their forearm to their body. For the first time in my life I was introduced to the term bifurcation. I know that my vocabulary should be better, but I needed to look up the word in the dictionary. For those like me, it means to divide into two branches, in the case of golf, one set of rules for professionals and one set for amateurs.

In the last few years the USGA has made two major changes to the game, one changing the rules on the grooves in an attempt to force players to curb the distance gains that have been made, and the recent putting stroke change. Many believe the groove change was a colossal failure, and I agree. It has done very little to affect how players score on the PGA Tour and just forced them to get new wedges. I have used wedges with the newer grooves and for a slower swing speed players such as myself and I do get less spin. I play with many plus handicap players and I see the new rule hardly affecting them.

Continue reading “Bifurcation… What the Heck Does That Mean?”

I am very blessed to be able to live in the California Bay Area which has a plethora of awesome live sporting events. We have 2 football teams, 2 baseball teams, a basketball team, a hockey team, a number of college football teams, and even a soccer team. The PGA Tour comes to our parts regularly for the Pebble Beach Pro-Am and now the Fry’s.com event. Every few years we get a US Open, at Olympic and Pebble.

This past weekend I went out to watch the Fry.com event a few miles from my house. What is nice about the Fry’s tournament versus the US Open is the total number of people who attend is far less and you can get closer to the action. Even when I spent some time following the leaders on Saturday I could easily find a good spot for viewing. While at the US Open there were so many people there that even with the players not in contention it was hard to get a view where you were not having to look over someone. Then if it were the disaster of the Tiger and Phil grouping then you had a mob on your hands.

Continue reading “High Definition Versus Live Golf”

In the last few years there has been an explosion of Internet golf instruction. It started as a small movement mostly on forums, and now has grown to a point where individual instructors now have their own sites and forums dedicated to instruction. What has sparked this wildfire you say? Simple answer? The slow motion video camera.

When I was growing up, I was quite lucky to essentially live on a range. I worked at the course washing carts so I would get free range balls. Many of the pros who worked in the shop would come out and give me some lessons. During this period, the pro would watch your swing a few times, give you a few pointers and then be on his way.

I would go on hitting hundreds of balls and after a while I would go back to having many of the same problems. I could never understand why. Today I know, without a camera to track my improvement I would slip back into all the bad habits I developed and never really improve.

Continue reading “How to Improve at Golf by Using a Camera”