Alex B

Could you send out a "demo" analysis to show us what we'd be getting (and also demonstrate the proper camera positions, etc.)?

This is the place for your thoughts on the AT&T.; Looks like David Duval might have his annual top 10 here this year -- he's six under through 14 and tied for the lead. Or might he fade away quietly after a good first round for the second straight week?

How about this scenario -- 4 player tournament, 3 rounds long, repairing after each round into twosomes. Round 1: Player A: 69. Player B: 69. Player C: 71. Player D: 84. So in round 2, A and B play in the last pairing, C and D in front of them. C comes in with a 65 (and D with a 90 or something ). A and B each shoot 70. Now the scores are as follows: Player C: 136. Player A: 139. Player B: 139 Player D: 174 (?). Obviously C plays in the final twosome. How do we determine who his partner is (i.e., between A and B)? Do you ask which of them holed out first on the 36th hole? Coin flip? World golf ranking? Putting contest?

Yeah, his 3-putt on the 72nd hole at Turnberry last year was awful; the second putt, a 7-footer to tie, wasn't even close. He also babied that putt to tie on the 72nd at Torrey Pines in 2008 -- it wasn't quite left short, but it crossed beneath the hole about three feet too early.

There are probably several other reasons: -- TOUR events need to finish on time. If the US Open finishes on Tuesday, no one is going to get upset and slander the USGA; if some regular event finishes late, grumpy players make the tournament and the TOUR itself look bad. Lift, clean, and place facilitates play on days that might otherwise be washed out; it also speeds the pace of play, possibly preventing an early Monday finish. -- TOUR events want lower scores. Sure, a champion at -28 doesn't look good, but a champion at +4 looks worse. The average public likes watching players go low; lift, clean, and place gives ample opportunity for birdies in sloppy conditions (remember, Al Geiberger's 59 was shot under preferred lies) and ensures that scores don't drift too high (by erasing the mud-ball that hooks 50 yards and leads to double).

One Sunday morning, playing as a single, I joined up with a husband and wife. After introducing herself, the wife asked me, "Why aren't you in church?" (In response, I told her I was Jewish, which is half-true.) Not the best ice-breaker IMO. I'm an agnostic who sides with atheists. I don't concentrate on personal beliefs; I focus on more practical things, set my own standards, take responsibility for my own successes and failures.

Wow, you totally missed Zeg's sarcasm. He's saying that you unjustifiably limited the options to A, B, and C when many other possibilities exist -- for instance, that you're the one "burying your head in the sand" and "just dumb," to quote your choices B and C.

Phil's playing the Ping wedge to prove a point (i.e., to embarrass the USGA) recalls his actions during the 2007 FedEx Cup Playoffs. At the time, since the point system wasn't volatile, you could skip an playoff event and lose little ground in the standings (assuming you were in the top ten or so). In fact, Tiger skipped the first event -- yet comfortably won the Cup. Anyway, after conquering Tiger (and the field) in the second event, the Deutsche Bank Championship, Phil was briefly interviewed off the 18th green and asked if he would compete the next week. He didn't answer definitely, instead remarking , "My frustration from this past year came from asking for a couple of things in the FedEx Cup that weren't done, and not feeling all that bad now if I happen to miss [an event]." Phil said nothing else on the subject for two days, until he officially withdrew from the third Cup event, retreating from his earlier statement : "This decision was not an easy one to make and in no way is meant as disrespectful to the Tour or 'sending a message' to anyone." Even if you bought his new explanation (more family time), the entire affair had to leave a lousy flavor -- Phil gets angry (after winning an event, no less), scorns everything (an entire system) yet nothing (no specific individuals or decisions), and says no further; his few words are over-examined, and he comes across badly. This grooves ordeal has the same pattern: Phil and his arrogance take some ill-defined stand that brings no changes, other than making him look like more of a pompous jerk. Another note: fantastic interview (it's audio) with Padraig Harrington, who says the Ping wedges were easier to control -- at least for him -- out of the rough. He is undecided about whether to play the Eye2s this week.

Yeah, but — as Erik said — the analogy sucks. That isn’t close to what’s happening now. No one is breaking the rules — if anyone were, he’d be disqualified. There’s a loophole and players are taking advantage of it. What you’re really saying is that they’re breaking “the spirit of the rules”: If X is “cheating the game,” then anyone who performs activity X is a “cheater of the game,” i.e., he “cheats the game.” If you don’t mean cheating — which is obviously a loaded word — then don’t say cheating. Besides, what does “cheating the game” or “the integrity of the game” actually mean? Let’s define these terms better before we employ them as arguments. “Clearly”? You give no evidence of any causal link between the potential lawsuit and Phil’s actions. Again, no causal link. He could easily have just been a little off his game last week and played mediocre. It’s funny that everyone always tries to explain a single lousy performance. You know that day when you just play sloppily and shoot five over your handicap? Well, the pros have those days, too. Great. Guess what? Phil isn’t playing for you. He’s not playing for Lee Westwood, he’s not playing for the PGA Tour or the USGA. He’s playing to win — and if he finds a club that gives him a slight advantage, and that club is legal for tournament use, and he feels no moral qualms about using that club that would worsen his play, he can and should play it. EDIT: I know it's bad form to criticize without proposing a solution, so here's mine: do nothing. The issue will pass by once the season gets in full swing, and any major rules change will attract much attention. The media has paid so much attention to this matter only because of the lackluster tournaments and winners these first few weeks (Ben Crane, anyone?). Once the bigger venues — Pebble, the WGC, and finally the Masters — roll around, will anyone still be talking about grooves? Slap McCarron for a few K and move on.

From ESPN, this update from Scott McCarron: Uhh, sorry Scott. If activity X is [verb]ing, then one who performs activity X is a [verb]er. You may not have directly called Mickelson a "cheater" -- but you sure implied it by calling his actions "cheating." So please, please shut up.

Nice work Ben, keep up the good play.

You weren't all wrong, however: on June 13, 1982, Arnie won the Marlboro Classic (later the Bank of America Championship, which is now defunct) on the Senior Tour; the next week, Watson chipped in on 17 at Pebble and won the US Open. Too bad Bubba didn't get it done this week -- I was pulling for him. Also disappointed to see Tim Clark miss another short-ish putt on the 72nd hole (especially he was on my fantasy team this week).

Huh? My question said that, twice. I'm just curious to see how Goydos went about tripling par.

Paul Goydos rocked an 80 with a 9 (!) on the par-3 fifth? Wow -- worst score of the day by five shots. Does anyone know what he did on hole 5?

Well, you just implied the original definition of tragedy: a powerful/upper-class individual makes flawed actions that bring about his sudden downfall. Think Oedipus.

This should be called the procrastination thread. Anyway, for this video, watch 1:30-1:50 for the funny bit. I think the kid who, er, messes up was a senior -- and the game was on senior day. Ouch.

Yeah, what the tee does after impact doesn't matter. Unless it comes up and hits you in the face (which is possible, I assure you). Good evidence here:

Don't mean to resurrect an old dinosaur or sound like I'm gloating (which I guess I am ), but at long last I won! Pretty small field, but still impressive given the margin of victory.

Way to go, Ben! Very clutch 69 in round four to qualify on the number. Go get 'em at the next stage.

Driver: C . Short (210 max), crooked, and rarely solid. The only thing going is that, because of the lack of distance, wayward drives only miss the fairway by several yards. Fairway woods: B- . No distance control, and the potential for a wicked mishit (e.g., a skull or duck-hook) looms. Irons: B+ . Ranges from awful with long irons to money with short irons. Short Game: B . Seems that even the best shots never leave tap-ins, but six-footers. Need to work on touch. Putter: A- . A little streaky. Lag putting is weak, but solid five footers make up for it. Putts of 4-18 feet are very good. Inside four feet can get sketchy. Overall: B . Need to be a little more consistent and work on my driver as not to go one down after every tee shot and be scrambling uphill from there. It's funny how almost everyone, from the hacker to the plus handicap, ranks his game in the B range: somewhat content, but seeing the vast room for improvement.

Team Name: The Dinker.

Arnie ... wait, huh?

Twelve goals for 2010: 1. Top ten in club championship. Since I'm too old to play in summer junior tournaments, the club championship has become the central competition of my summer. Last year I competed in the first flight and finished middle-of-the-pack; I've gotten much better since then and right now, handicap-wise, am bordering on qualifying for the championship flight. Last year a score of 160 for two days finished T10. The perk: the top ten finishers are engraved on a plaque that is hung in the clubhouse. 2. Get longer off the tee. Right now I average about 200 yards with the driver, though I got it briefly up to 220 last summer. If I'm going to significantly improve, or be able to play respectably on courses over 6600 yards, I need to turn dink into dink+. 3. Sub 160 in a college event. Playing my first college golf tournaments this fall, I set this as my goal. Never got it done -- in the last tourney of the season, I doubled 18 (a straight par 4 of 320 yards!) for 161. 4. Lower handicap beneath 4. Three summers ago, I was a 10; two summers ago, a 7; last summer, I got down to 4.2 (before sliding back up to 5.4). I doubt the pattern will continue down to 1, but I'd at least like to crack into the 3s. 5. Practice what I'm bad it. This means working on long irons; this means figuring out (not just fooling around with) lag putting and different kinds of bunker shots. This also means learning about my golf swing and altering it, tasks I've neglected in the past. 6. Break par for 18 holes. Shot +1 from the tips at my home course last year and E from the white tees. Want to fire one round in the red. 7. Conquer those 385-420 yard par 4s. This range is where I lose my strokes to other players. I want to learn to hit greens with fairway woods; now, I hit them pretty solid but have little distance control. Mentally, my goal is to lay up when it gives me the best chance for par, even if I feel stupid doing it. 8. Keep making birdies! This was a central goal for 2009, and I was fairly successful until college golf in the fall. When I'm 15-25 feet away in regulation, I want to go for the birdie rather than bunting the ball close for a tap-in par. 9. Hit a par 5 in two. I got to the fringe once last year; my eagle putt lipped out. I've never had an official putt for eagle, however. My course has some inviting short par 5s... 10. Win my fantasy golf league. There's always the same three of us in the league, and we always finish in the same order, with me in second. I always start terribly and can't get over the hump. Not this year. 11. Get huge. I don't mean ripped or anything, just strong enough to improve my driving distance a little. Gotta choose the gym over the library a few times. 12. Putt 'em all. Too often I obey the rules until I start playing lousy, at which point I start skimping by taking putts and the like. At a good friend of mine said, "Every count strokes." Meta-goal: achieve seven (or more) of these twelve goals. Let's do this.

Wow, that was awesome! After a couple of gag-jobs (including one in which I fell from 67th to 103rd in the last 15 seconds), I finally made top 100 (76th place of of 640 players). 120.xx points.

3 points on Augusta.