Improving Your Game

The game of golf can be broken down into five components. We’ve done so – and given you our best tip for each – in this week’s Trap Five.

Trap Five LogoGolf can be broken down into all sorts of things – wrist cock, spine angle, short game, long irons, trouble play, mental aspects, rules and their benefits and penalties, and so on. For this week’s Trap Five, we’ve broken the game of golf into five main areas – the mental game, iron play, chipping/pitching, driving, and putting – and ranked them in order along with the single best tip we can think of to help you with that aspect of the game.

Quick, before you look, which order do you think they came in?

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Retief Goosen

Goosen isn’t the chattiest Tour player. Most of the time he lets his game do the talking.

ProFilesRetief Goosen has the perfect demeanor for both golf and poker. Getting a read on him is not unlike looking at a book written in Sanskrit. His emotions don’t run too high or too low. His steady-as-it-goes approach that has paid him dividends in golf.

Currently ranked 5th in the world he has just come off a victory at the International proving again to himself and the world that he can win. Any doubt about his ability to win would have never entered the picture, had he not stumbled in the final round of this year’s U.S. Open. Goosen, after all, is Mr. Clutch.

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The PGA Championship

Baltusrol is being called a beast this year. According to the numbers, Tiger should be able to tame it and win this year’s PGA but there are a few other golfers that could make a run at it.

The Numbers GameThis year’s PGA is being held at Baltusrol. The numbers are already rolling in. 7,392: The longest par-70 in PGA Championship history. 500: Two of the par fours will be longer than this. 647: The length of #17… which happens to be 17 yards longer than it was in the 1993 US Open.

So you get the picture. This year’s PGA will be a test for sure. Predicting the PGA this year may be a bit more complicated than picking the long hitters. As I’ve talked about previously, there are more important things than mashing the ball 300+ yards… but it may help a bit this week and is factoring into my predictions.

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Solheim Cup a “Humbling” Experience

The LPGA and LET team captains consider their final selections for the exciting biennial Solheim Cup held next month in the U.S.A.

Since there is no LPGA Tour event this week U.S.A. Team Captain Nancy Lopez took hopefuls out for a practice round in Indiana where the U.S.A. will compete against Europe for the Solheim Cup. This biennial matchplay event is the LPGA’s answer to the PGA’s Ryder Cup and is considered to be one of the most prestigious events in women’s world golf.

It’s the U.S.A. versus the rest of the world. Will America dominate?

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TaylorMade r5 Dual Driver Review

The TaylorMade r5 Dual drivers incorporate design elements from the successful r7 Quad drivers in a bigger clubhead. The new design has both benefits and drawbacks.

TaylorMadeTaylorMade Golf has surged to the top of the driver marketplace over the last few years. The company which first popularized the modern metalwood fell off the pace a bit in the late ’90s, but rebounded strongly with its 300 and 500 series titanium drivers. TaylorMade successfully followed those products with the r7 Quad driver, which stands as one of the most-played – and most-imitated – drivers on tour and at retail.

This year, TaylorMade applied some of the design principles of the r7 Quad to the new r5 Dual series. We had a chance to take one of the r5 Dual models for an extended test drive. Read on to see what we thought.

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PGA Championsip Preview

The top golfers in the world head to Baltusrol for the PGA’s final major championship of 2005.

pgachampionship_baltusrol_logo.jpgThe PGA Championship is the final major championship of the year on the PGA Tour, and it will be played at Baltusrol Golf Club this week. As usual, there are numerous storylines heading into the week, and it will be exciting to see how everything unfolds. Tiger Woods is at the top of the list of stories once again. Woods will be looking to win his third major of 2005 and the 11th of his career.

A win this week will put Tiger in a tie with Walter Hagen on the all-time list of major championship victories. So far in 2005, Woods has finished first at The Masters, second at the U.S. Open, and first at last month’s British Open. Tiger is arguably playing the best golf of his career, and he will be the unanimous favorite at Baltusrol this week. Out of Woods’ 10 major championship victories, two have come at the PGA Championship.

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On the Ball with Common Sense

The distance debate rages on, but at least one voice of common sense has poked their head through the clouds.

GolfObserver has an article worth reading:

It’s not just about the ball. It’s about players who have pushed themselves farther than technology has taken equipment. It’s about the endless hours in the weight room, long runs and stretching. About balance in your diet. About a new generation of focus that’s often hard to fathom.

Right on.

It’s Put up or Shut up Time

Sergio Garcia will finally get the monkey off his back at the 2005 PGA Championship at Baltusrol.

Thrash TalkThe final major championship of the 2005 PGA season is here already! It seems like it was just yesterday when Tiger was narrowly defeating Chris DiMarco in a playoff to win his fourth green jacket. After that, it was on to the U.S. Open, where Michael Campbell gave us the major championship surprise of the year. Retief Goosen had an awful final-round collapse, and Campbell outlasted Tiger to win his first major. And just last month, Tiger struck again at the British Open. Mr. Woods worked his way around St. Andrews beautifully on his way to winning his second career grand slam.

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Volume Twenty-One

This week’s links are sure to put a smile on your face! Enjoy.

Hittin' the LinksSo the PGA Championship starts on Thursday, and I couldn’t be more excited. I like this major because there is always a no-namer that can contend and even win (see: Rich Beem, Shaun Micheel). This year, my pick is Tiger because I think he’s the hottest player in golf. My long-shot pick is Ian Poulter. I like his game and he’s played well in the majors and on U.S. turf.

Leave your picks in the comments. Now, on to the links.

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