Use the Whole Tee

Use the whole tee box to maximize your chances for a good shot.

The 156-yard par-three fourth hole drives you nuts. You hit your 8-iron 150 and your 7-iron 165: what club do you use? You factor the wind, the pin position, and you’re almost sure that you can hit your 7-iron, but you still think it’ll go too far. This is a time to use your noggin – and the rules – to your advantage.

The teeing box is as wide as the tee markers and two clubs (your longest club) deep. Tee the ball back two clublengths to more closely approach your 7I distance, and position the ball to the left or right to hit into whatever breeze might exist to take a bit of distance off. Then, swing with confidence!

Keep it Shut

We take a break to offer you words of advice: finding someone who cares about your golf game is difficult!

Today’s tip is very simple: keep your mouth shut. Very rarely does anyone want to hear about your golf game. Today’s tip is a humorous one from Dilbert.

Of course, the folks on this site are a rare exception! We love to talk about golf!

Awareness and Creativity

Good players use creativity and awareness of the situation to their advantage on the course.

I was late in watching The Big Break II on the Golf Channel again this week. These baseball playoff games lasting until midnight and later are killing me and my regular viewing schedule. Anyhow, I wanted to note something about this week’s competition. My absolute favorite challenge so far in this whole series was the elimination challenge from this episode.

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Putt Aerified Greens

Putt on aerified greens to groove a smooth-rolling stroke.

In the fall, many courses aerify their greens. Little (or not so little) holes are punched all over the place. Good putters still putt well on aerified greens, their balls seeming to float over the holes. Bad putters become worse.

What makes for a good putter on aerified greens? Find out. Your putting stroke on smooth greens will improve as well.

The Never Ending Season

Ernie Els is upset with Tim Finchem over the “never-ending PGA Tour season.”

A good read over at GolfToday concerning the never-ending PGA Tour “season.” A juicy little tidbit from the article reports how the Tour office sent Ernie Els a letter imploring him to cease his globetrotting ways. Needless to say, The Big Easy is pretty pissed off about it.

Way to alienate one of your top draws Finchem.

Wedge Distance

Pitching drills help you learn distance control.

You’ve got a 35-yard wedge shot, but have no idea how hard to hit your wedge. If you don’t have the time to apply the Dave Pelz school of thought here (four different swings, four different wedges, 16 distances), then there’s another way to help develop the feel necessary for these shorter shots.

Start with your highest wedge, and hit a ball about ten yards. Try to land your next shot with the same club on top of the ball you just hit. Try to land your next shot on top of the second ball. Keep working your way out until you reach about a 3/4 swing, then drop down to your next club and start over again. Work your way through the clubs you typically pitch or chip with and you’re well on your way towards learning the feel for your wedges.

Isabelle Beisiegel To Try PGA Q-School

Isabelle Beisiegel will attempt to qualify for the PGA Tour.

Isabelle BeisiegelAfter just one season on the LPGA tour, Isabelle Beisiegel is ready to try the PGA tour. She has paid the $4,500 entry fee for the PGA Tour qualifying tournament that starts October 19th on the Greg Norman course at PGA West in La Quinta, CA.

Don’t get your hopes up, however. Isabelle tried to qualify for both the Nissan Open and the Buick Invitational this year, but didn’t even come close.

Get all the juicy stats and other details in the AP report.

HSBC World Matchplay – Round up

Ernie Els wins his 6th HSBC World Match Play Championship, along with the £1 million prize cheque on his 35th birthday.

Els with trophyErnie Els continued his amazing record in the HSBC World Match Play Championship with his 6th victory in the event. He beat Lee Westwood in the 36-hole final by 2&1, and in doing so eclipsed the record of five wins in the event previously held by himself, Seve Ballesteros and Gary Player.

Neither Els nor Westwood played their best golf in the final, but both players contributed to a tense and exciting match; such is the beauty of match play. Two down playing the 33rd hole, Westwood stiffed his approach shot to move within one of Els, but three-putt bogeyed the next to hand the advantage back to the South African. Els closed out the match in now typical fashion, holing a 15 footer to halve the 35th hole and take the match.

For the first in the event’s history, the losing semi-finalists did not play off for 3rd and 4th places. Instead, the players were separated by a bad haircut competition, Jiménez’s curly mullet narrowly beating Harrington’s dodgy bleach.

Continue reading “HSBC World Matchplay – Round up”

Sweep the Driver

Woods and irons require different kinds of shots. Sweep your woods to become more effective.

The driver remains one of the most important clubs in the bag. Besides your putter, you probably hit your driver more than any other club in your bag. Unfortunately, your driver requires a slightly different swing than your irons. With the driver, you hit the ball while the clubhead is ascending. You “sweep” the ball off of the tee, while with the irons you hit down on the back of the ball.

Grouchy Golf has Swingvision shots of Ernie Els’ hitting the driver and, for comparison, Tiger Woods hitting an iron. Notice how high on the clubface both shots are struck.