Woods Wins in Japan’s Dunlop Phoenix

Tiger Woods entered the last round of the Dunlop Phoenix ten strokes ahead. To say he was going to win was a foregone conclusion is an understatement of Woods-ian proportions.

TigerHe hasn’t won since February. He’s slumping, he’s hurting, he’s got a DVD, and he’s… got a ball and chain. Tiger Woods folks, the former World Number One, has won a tournament! Granted, it was against a no-name field in Japan, but he won by eight.

Woods shot a final-round 67 (3-under) to win the Dunlop Phoenix by eight, his first win since the Accenture Match Play Championship in February and his first ever win in Japan. Woods, finishing at 16-under 264, beat second-place finisher Ryoken Kawagishi, who bravely fired a final-round 65. K.J. Choi also fired a 65 to finish at 6-under 274. Woods’ last stroke-play victory was in October 2003.

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Annika Again in the ADT

Annika Sorenstam bogeyed the first hole of sudden death but hung on to beat Cristie Kerr for her eighth/tenth win of the year.

AnnikaHo hum. Annika Sorenstam wins another tournament. It’s become old news, as we said two days ago when she built a one-shot lead after the second round of play. After Cristie Kerr forced a playoff with a 4-under 68, Annika bogeyed the first hole of sudden death to beat Kerr’s double bogey from a splashed-down approach.

Sorenstam made it interesting, yanking her own 7-iron approach into the spectators, but two-putted from eight feet for the win. “It wasn’t as pretty as the previous holes,” Sorenstam said. “A win is a win. By the end of the day, the trophy is in my hand. I’m happy.”

The victory marks Sorenstam’s 56th career win and into fifth all time. She’s now also the first three-time winner of the LPGA’s season-ending championship.

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Putter Forward

Put the ball forward in your stance to hit the ball with a smoother roll.

Your putter is designed to get the ball rolling smoothly. You diminish its ability to do so if you play the ball back in your stance. To roll with topspin, putts should be struck – like your driver – with a slightly ascending trajectory. Put the ball just forward of center in your stance to ensure that this is happening.

There are times to play the ball back, too: when your ball is against the fringe or a cut of rough, for example. Hitting down on the ball introduces backspin, which causes putts to skid and slide offline and with less control.

A Real Hell Hole

Weequahic Park Golf Course, contender for worst golf course in the US.

For years, golf publications have inundated us with lists of the best courses that can be found in America as well as the rest of the world. These numeric lists are always accompanied by a few choice quotes and some carefully manufactured PR photos, usually taken at the break of dawn, to accentuate the landscape.

Rarely do we find out which courses are the worst of the worst. A possible contender for the title may be Weequahic Park Golf Course. This public muni located in Newark, New Jersey was listed as the #4 hell hole by Maxim. Not because of the ripped up tee boxes or the unkept greens but because of the three bodies found there over a six–month period between then end of 2002 and April 2003.

Nanotech Golf Balls

We’re not talking about microscopic golf balls, but golf balls based on nanotechnology.

NanodynamicsSo many golf inventions come from Buffalo, New York. There’s the, uhhh… and the, uhmmm… well, never mind. NanoDynamics, Inc. of – you guessed it – Buffalo, New York have reportedly come up with a golf ball that can correct its own flight path. It’s no miracle cure, but the ball supposedly corrects slight drifts and wobbles by better channeling the energy received from the clubhead.

Says CEO Keith Blakely, “It also behaves much more controllably on a putting surface, which is how we hope to get interest on the pro circuit. It has a reduced tendency to break. It doesn’t pop or jump or roll.” NanoDynamics has apparently not only conquered the slice, but gravity as well.

The ball is expected to sell for $7 to $8 apiece in the spring of 2005, though the ball has yet to be submitted for USGA approval. NanoDynamics has set up a site at ndmxgolf.com to show off their balls.

Shoulder Alignment

An open stance is one thing. An open pair of shoulders is another.

It’s true that tour pros often align their feet left of the target. An open stance makes it easier to clear the hips, generating tremendous lower-body drive and power. Many amateurs take an open stance as well, but they typically do so not to obtain power, but to try to make the ball go left. Most amateurs slice.

Pros don’t slice with an open stance because their shoulders remain square. Oftentimes an amateur feels “closed” with square shoulders (particularly if their stance is open). Shoulders can also open up when you take that “one last look” down the fairway in your preshot routine.

Check your shoulder alignment in the mirror. For righties, you shouldn’t see your right shoulder at all – it should be behind (and slightly lower than) your left shoulder.

Augusta National Denies… a White Man?

Augusta National denies rumors that a membership was part of a deal to lure Steve Spurrier to the University of South Carolina.

logo_masters.gifWell, it’s not so much that Augusta National has denied entrance to anyone, though I’m sure there’s been plenty of that. This time, they’ve denied rumors that a membership for former University of Florida and Washington Redskins football coach Steve Spurrier was any part of a deal to get Spurrier to coach the University of South Carolina Gamecocks.

Rumors have been flying around the Internet that since Hootie Johnson, Chairman at Augusta National, is a USC graduate and former football player there, that a possible membership would be part of a deal to lure Spurrier to Charleston. Johnson says otherwise.

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Burton Golf Club-Lok Bag

The Club-Lok golf bag from Burton Golf will keep your clubs safe.

burton_clublok.jpgI’ve heard plenty of horror stories of people dropping their golf bag in the rack outside the pro shop, running into the bathroom or some such activity, coming out and finding clubs or even their whole bag missing. To try to curb this kind of theft, a new and interesting twist on golf bag design is here from Burton Golf called the Club-Lok golf bag, incorporating the Club-Lok Golf Club Theft Prevention System.

Utilizing a normal club organizer top with fourteen graphite shaft-friendly openings, the Club-Lok incorporates a hidden security system comprised of fourteen pairs of clamps which, when locked, prevent club removal. It appears from the animation on the product’s web site, that the locking feature basically prevents the club grip from sliding through the opening of the clamp. I suppose this is fundamentally secure since grips are kind of hard to get off by yanking on the club head.

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Titleist to Casey: You’re Stupid

Englishman Paul Casey, following his “Americans are stupid. I hate them.” comment has lost his Titleist sponsorship.

Titleist LogoEnglish Golfer Paul Casey may have attended Arizona State, may be coached by an American, and may be dating an American, but he’s no longer a favorite of Americans. Casey’s recent comments about Americans (specifically “Americans are stupid. I hate them.”) has cost him more than a warm welcome when he plays the PGA Tour next season; it’s cost him a sponsorship with Titleist.

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