Five Things You Might not Know About the FedExCup

144 Players. Four Tournaments. One Champion. A whole lot of questions.

Trap Five Logo“If you don’t know what to say, it’s easy to say something derogatory.” That’s a line from Stewart Cink regarding criticism of the FedExCup.

Although the final major of the year is taking place this week, there’s this other reportedly big golf story right around the corner. So I thought I’d take a few minutes to start sorting out this FedExCup deal we’ve been hearing so much about.

By the way, if the PGA Championship is “Glory’s Last Shot,” what does that make the FedExCup? “Glory’s Mulligans?”

When you mention the FedExCup, it seems like people have more questions than answers. How is it going to work? Why do 144 players make the Playoffs? How come Tiger is going to start the playoffs with more points than he’s earned?

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The 2007 PGA Championship: Staff Predictions

It’s time for our prognostications for the final leg of the slam.

Thrash TalkThis week brings us the final major championship of the 2007 golf season, and the Sand Trap staff is once again poised to deliver you the winner… and a few other things. Okay, so we’re oh-for-three on calling the majors so far this year (thank you, Tiger and Phil), but I have a good feeling about this one. After all, even a blind squirrel finds a nut every now and then.

Read on to hear our thoughts, and feel free to add your own!

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Golf Talk [Episode 067]

If you want Tiger to beat you, just insult him. That seems to do the trick. Stephen Ames and Rory Sabbatini now know better.

Golf Talk PodcastIt’s a week of firsts and manys. Lorena notched her first major while Natalie Gulbis won her first tournament. Tiger won his sixth event at Firestone and Tom Watson won his third Senior British Open. Plus, wins from Steve Flesch, Andres Romero, Jim Furyk. Rory Sabbatini mouths off and more in this week’s episode of Golf Talk.

You can subscribe to the RSS feed for our podcasts here or download Episode 067 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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Volume One Hundred Nine

I wonder what Rory thinks about the “New Tiger” now?

Hitting the LinksTiger Woods toyed with the field and Firestone Country Club looked like a U.S. Open venue with added length and ankle-deep rough. What is the aversion of tournament officials to birdie and eagle opportunities?

And it was a historic occasion as Lorena Ochoa won her first major at the Ricoh Women’s British Open at the Old Course at St. Andrews for the first time ever. Congratulations are also in order for Steve Flesch, who won the Reno-Tahoe Open by five shots.

This week we have a recap of the World Golf Championship-Bridgestone Invitational, Lorena Ochoa closes the deal with her first major, and Herbert Green relives the pressure of trying to win under a death threat.

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Not the Top Stories from the Women’s British Open

Saint Andrews and the LPGA are in the news. These stories aren’t!

Trap Five LogoStarting yesterday, the women of the LPGA are playing the Ricoh Women’s British Open at The Old Course in St. Andrews for the very first time. The R&A is even going to let them in the clubhouse (gasp!). It’s going to be an interesting week.

The course will play to a par of 73. The seventeenth, the famous “Road Hole,” will play as a par five instead of its usual par four. Ben Crenshaw was once asked why the Road Hole is the toughest par four in the world. “Because it’s a par five,” he said. A 453-yard par five should be reachable, but it has one of the more unusual green complexes in the world.

But the course par and a quirky three-shotter are probably not going to be the only unusual things we’ll see this weekend. That started me thinking about some unusual headlines that we might see (but probably won’t). Read on for my top five list of “not” top stories from the Women’s British Open.

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Golf Rants, Volume 1: Golf Instruction

Time to tee off on one of my pet peeves in our great game: instruction.

Thrash TalkAnyone who’s played golf for any length of time knows how difficult it is to improve. Therein lies the seed of my numero uno golf rant – modern golf instruction. As someone who’s tried it all, you might want to read what I have to say…it might save you some time and money.

My journey with golf began in earnest with a copy of Ben Hogan’s Five Lessons in an empty field on the grounds of Fort Gordon, an Army base in Augusta, Georgia, in 1989. Oh, I had been fiddling around with golf for a few years, but it was during my Family Medicine clerkship at Eisenhower Army Medical Center that the golf bug really bit. Maybe it was the warm spring air, or, more likely, the afternoons off to attend Masters practice rounds (I timed my spring schedule perfectly), but whatever the reason, I set off that spring to try to master the golf swing, and was pretty confident I could do it. Little did I know what I was in for.

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A Few Months Later: Stack and Tilt

Stack and Tilt: a fad or a little bit closer to a universal golf truth? We’d like your feedback.

Aaron BaddeleyThree simple words – Stack and Tilt – have done about as much to turn the world of golf instruction upside down as anything in recent memory.

It’s the move that led the U.S. Open through three rounds this year. It’s the move that’s led to the resurgence of the careers of a number of pros, including former Masters champ Mike Weir. It’s a move pros have been adopting in quantity, and a move amateurs have been adopting with sometimes remarkable success.

It’s also been a few months since the Golf Digest article first hit newsstands. I postulated that a lot of the early success amateurs were experiencing was simply a result of a temporary short-circuiting of their brain and that, eventually, the old swing flaws would return. Perhaps that was a bit short-sighted…

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Almost Everything I Know About Making Putts

I also know that 90% of putts left short don’t go in, but you probably already heard that one from Yogi Berra.

PuttingA member of our forum, after noticing that my putting stats are pretty good, asked me what tips I could offer to help others become a better putter. After thinking about it, I realized that being a “good putter” is more about the sum of the parts than any individual part. So, I wrote back to the forum member and said “I’ll write something up in the future and post it for all to see.”

This is the answer to that question. I can’t promise that this will help everyone become a great putter – though I believe great putters are made, not born – because this process is mine. Still, a piece or two can likely be adapted to fit anyone, and I encourage comments from others about the different things they do to make themselves good putters.

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Volume One Hundred Eight

Natalie Gulbis can now hold a trophy in her next swimsuit calender.

Hitting the LinksJim Furyk started Sunday three strokes behind Vijay Singh but quickly erased the deficit. He birdied two of the first three holes, then aced the par-three fourth on his way to shooting a final-round 64 for a repeat victory at the Canadian Open.

This week we have a recap of the Canadian Open, manipulating the rules of golf to your benefit, and a golfer’s odyssey through New Zealand.

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