Where did Aaron Baddeley go?

[Kcas77]

Haven't heard anything about him for a while, wondering if you guys have heard anything about him.

[mrprovisional]

I just saw him playing TPC. It was a replay but he was shooting 1 over par.

[jamo]

As a past WM Open winner, he got a good deal of talk yesterday.

[Cussin hacker]

Stack and tilt has him off the leader board ;)

[Elvisliveson]

Actually he is off the Stack and Tilt. The last time he won he was employing it.

[walk18]

I never understood why he left it after it worked so well for him.

[michaeljames92]

I never understood why he left it after it worked so well for him.

Well the thing is he was at his best before he went to stack and tilt, winning back to back Australian opens and won in 2006 and 2007 with stack n tilt but since then hasn't done much. apparently he still uses aspects of stack and tilt with his current swing.

[iacas]

As if winning a dinky Australian event says much about you... He won PGA Tour events on S&T...; And his stats are again worse since leaving.

Doesn't change how "correct" the model is.

[michaeljames92]

As if winning a dinky Australian event says much about you... He won PGA Tour events on S&T...; And his stats are again worse since leaving.

Well he won the first Aus open as an amateur then turned pro the next year and won again. The fields aren't bad in Australian opens and you still have to play pretty good golf to win. Sure it is nearly not as good as a PGA tour event but you still have to play well.

Many people say Bads had a great swing before stack and tilt and it is clear he had success with it but for some reason didn't like it and decided to go back to his old coach. I never said Stack and Tilt was bad just obviously wasn't for him I suppose. In terms of his stats they do seem to be going up over the last 3 years or so.

[bogeyhitter25]

As if winning a dinky Australian event says much about you...

umm how bout some of these past winners: adam scott, tim clark, robert allenby, lee westwood, stuart appleby, greg norman, jack nicklaus, gary player, gene sarazen.

yea dude really dinky

[joepro23]

Big drop in the World Rankings...he went from 18 in 2007 to 166 now. He won in the past because of his putting and will probably win again because of it if his long game comes together. His other stats are terrible (53% fairways and 58% GIR, both well below tour averages). Also, he can't really get away with 53% fairways like some other guys because he only drives it 282. He just needs a consistent swing right now to get himself into position to hole birdie putts. He made the cut at the WM Phoenix Open which has a good field. It's a start I guess.

[iacas]

umm how bout some of these past winners: adam scott, tim clark, robert allenby, lee westwood, stuart appleby, greg norman, jack nicklaus, gary player, gene sarazen.

Uhhh, John Daly and Arnold Palmer won an event hosted in my home town. Doesn't change the fact that it was a dinky event. The Australian Open is easier to win than a Nationwide Tour event.

Big drop in the World Rankings...he went from 18 in 2007 to 166 now.

Ding ding ding. We have a winner.

Aaron may very well get better, but he got so far with S&T; but didn't commit fully to learning the "whys" per se, but at least expanded his knowledge somewhat and, if he's smart, will apply that knowledge to whatever swing he's doing now. Thus far he doesn't seem to be.

[jamo]

I think for everyone's sake, it would be advantageous to know when Baddeley was using S&T.; My educated guess: in the S&T; infomercials, Baddeley said when he won the FBR Open "last year" he was bombing it miles. Because he won the FBR in Feb. 2007, that should mean it was filmed in 2008. So he was presumably using S&T; until (possibly through, but I don't think so) 2008. Another possibility is that the infomercial was filmed in 2007 for use in 2008 and he was finished with S&T; at the end of 2007. Anyone else have any more knowledge on the matter? Like when he started.

[walk18]

I think for everyone's sake, it would be advantageous to know when Baddeley was using S&T.; My educated guess: in the S&T; infomercials, Baddeley said when he won the FBR Open "last year" he was bombing it miles. Because he won the FBR in Feb. 2007, that should mean it was filmed in 2008. So he was presumably using S&T; until (possibly through, but I don't think so) 2008. Another possibility is that the infomercial was filmed in 2007 for use in 2008 and he was finished with S&T; at the end of 2007. Anyone else have any more knowledge on the matter? Like when he started.

Andy and mike must feel at least a little bit vindicated. He was the poster boy for ST, left and hasn't done squat.

[iacas]

I think for everyone's sake, it would be advantageous to know when Baddeley was using S&T.; My educated guess: in the S&T; infomercials, Baddeley said when he won the FBR Open "last year" he was bombing it miles. Because he won the FBR in Feb. 2007, that should mean it was filmed in 2008. So he was presumably using S&T; until (possibly through, but I don't think so) 2008. Another possibility is that the infomercial was filmed in 2007 for use in 2008 and he was finished with S&T; at the end of 2007. Anyone else have any more knowledge on the matter? Like when he started.

Aaron started working on S&T; in 2006. The S&T; article came out in 2007, and S&T; was talked about a lot at that year's U.S. Open. He left in 2009. I'm not 100% certain of the exact months, but late 2006 to mid-2009 are the general dates so far as I know.

[Prairie Golfer]

Uhhh, John Daly and Arnold Palmer won an event hosted in my home town. Doesn't change the fact that it was a dinky event. The Australian Open is easier to win than a Nationwide Tour event.

I'm sure this will provoke a rant at the World Rankings people, but what the heck....

Michael Sim got 14 ranking points for each of his Nationwide Tour wins. Adam Scott got 32 for his Australian Open win. Steve Stricker got 34 for the John Deere Classic. I hope Aaron gets some good results soon.

[iacas]

Adam Scott got 32 for his Australian Open win.

PGA Tour and Nationwide Tour events are under-represented in the OWGR points calculations. Something about a "home tour" bonus as well as a "minimum field" bonus and some other things... it's all goofy, but suffice to say you can earn a lot of points playing in some pretty crappy events so long as they're not in the U.S.

[Shorty]

As if winning a dinky Australian event says much about you... He won PGA Tour events on S&T...; And his stats are again worse since leaving.

I watched every shot he played when he won both his Australian Opens, and they said a huge amount about him. He was just a kid - an incredibly cocky and overconfident one, admittedly, but a phenomenal talent in his late teens. The nation let out a collective groan when he thanked his "lord and saviour" in his victory speech, but his game was amazing then. He stupidly went to the Masters the following year thinking he was going to win, and basically thinking that the best three players in the world were himself, Tiger and Garcia. Downward spiral from there with a brief upward trend, peaking about two years ago when he probably was one of the best players on tour as long as you didn't have to drive within 20 metres of a fairway. His stats are pretty frightful - great putter - but probably a much better player than many Sandtrappers who don't have a reason for following Aussies would realise. He is almost certainly one of the most "talented" players out there - a nebulous term, I realise, when it doesn't translate into victories. His attitude doesn't endear him to his countrymen, much in the way that Allenby is heartily despised by many Aussie golf fans. We still like them to win, though!