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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Nine Roles at the Open Championship

In “Open Championship: The Movie,” here’s who starred and who only got cameos.

ProfilesWatching the 2007 Open Championship was a little like viewing a good action movie. There were heroes getting their teeth kicked in and coming back to win the day. There was comedy and drama. There were plenty of car wrecks and explosions. And at the end of the gauntlet, an evil ogre waited.

You can’t have a good movie without a great cast, so here are my picks for each of the nine leading roles from this year’s Open Championship.

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Windy Knoll Golf Club (Springfield, OH) Review

After a slow start, Windy Knoll blows you over with a good challenge at a reasonable rate.

Windy Knoll LogoIf ever a course name evoked a certain image, well, I suppose “Windy Knoll” does a pretty good job. Set just a touch out of the way and west of Columbus, OH, Windy Knoll lives up to both halves of its name. With flat farmland to the west, the direction from which the prevailing wind blows, the subtly mounded “links-style” course will vex players when the wind is up and offers a stern test even in rare calm conditions.

I played Windy Knoll in early July on a breezy day. Read on to see whether it’s worth a visit the next time you’re looking for a new course to play.

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Gary, Steroids, and Golf

Gary Player becomes the latest past champion to assume the position of soap box philosopher.

Thrash TalkPerhaps the only thing more tedious than watching 43 rehashes of the Van de Velde incident is listening to an old lion reminding himself he can still roar. Gary Player’s comments on performance-enhancing drug use on the professional golf tours certainly got a rise out of the news media. And although an exciting finish to a thrilling championship happily drowned out The Black Knight’s clatter, I think the issue is worth a closer look.

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