cougar978

I'm sure I've taken a few over the years as has everyone else. However, we don't have millions of dollars in prize money at stake.

I wonder what the producers yelled in Johnny Miller's earpiece when he all but accused Tiger of cheating without saying so. Funny he never mentioned it again afterward. After Tiger hit his ball in the water on 14, NBC showed an aerial view that clearly showed where the ball entered the hazard. I am curious to see the correlation of the aerial shot and where Tiger dropped

Easiest cure for the slice is as follows (worked for me when I was 13), courtesy of Harvey Penick: 1) Imagine you're playing baseball and at bat. 2) Aim at the second baseman. 3) Try to hit the ball over the shortstop. Works like a charm.

Guys who I would avoid: 1) Johnny Miller - typical BYU stuffed shirt (I would probably end up making a comment about Brandon Davies getting booted off the basketball team and then the Lobos blowing them out on their senior night just to get under his skin). *disclaimer: my handle does not denote BYU Cougar - it's my high school mascot* 2) Sergio - a whole lot of ego for a guy who hasn't won a major. 3) Corey Pavin - we would probably get under each other's skin. Guys who I would enjoy a pro-am round with: 1) Tiger - I could care less if he's arrogant, I just want to study how he operates on a golf course. 2) Rory Sabbatini - since he's a pariah on tour, it would be funny to hear him bag on all the other players. 3) Bubba Watson - see Tiger - I am interested in seeing his swing and course management close-up.

Let's see here... Augusta (would probably give me my best shot at playing well because it sets up to my game and I can putt fast greens pretty well) Other guys in my foursome: 1) My dad with a healthy back - he injured his back, had a spinal fusion, and can't play anymore. He really misses the game and hasn't set foot on a course since he got hurt in 2007. 2) Bill Bixby - I LOVED the Incredible Hulk when I was a kid, and found out he was an avid golfer in the mid to late 80s before he was diagnosed with cancer and passed away. 3) Tom Coyne - author of 'Paper Tiger'. I really enjoy his books and I figure he'd be good for a couple good stories from trying to qualify for the tour.

June 2009, 6th hole on the Deer Run Championship Course in Newport News, VA. Just out screwing off on a Sunday afternoon, got stuck behind a slow foursome on the 4th and 5th holes - started getting irritated with them after 5. They let me play through on 6 tee (540y par 5). Thanked them for letting me through, hit my drive about 310 down the right side. Pin's on the front right (green is 35y deep), so I have a 4I in. Make a unconsciously great swing on the 4, ball is laser-locked on the pin. Two drops and in for a double eagle. I turn around and yell back 'did you see that sh**?' I think they thought I was talking trash until I drove up and picked my ball from the cup and raised it up to show them I holed out from the fairway. Better than a hole in one, IMO.

Shot 71 Saturday with 6 birdies. Absolute SLOP. Didn't get any skins either.

I have a DCI Gold 2-iron in my bag, had it since I was in 10th grade - probably been through 4 shafts and countless grips due to wear and tear, still hits better than any hybrid I've ever tried out. Big reason I don't like hybrids is the ball gets up too quickly and tends to sky-draw. Any hole that has trouble left is out of the question with a hybrid off the tee, where with the 2I, I get it out there 220-230 with maybe +-20 yards lateral deviation.

Last weekend, I took the Amtrak from Newport News up to Washington to watch the Army-Navy game with my dad. It cost as much as a tank of gas to and from there + 20 per trip to upgrade to busines class. Playing Angry Birds for 4 hours beats the living shit out of fighting traffic up I-95 and the Beltway. That being said, I was thinking about getting up to Bethpage next summer taking the train. I remember in the station at Newport News, it said that golf bags were banned from being brought on board because the east coast trains (the ones that run between Boston and here) don't have baggage cars. Does anyone have experience being able to sneak your golf clubs on an Amtrak regional train? If so, please let me know.

Maybe his parents had to go broke to send him there - you never know.

I feel bad for the kid that flew in there from Hawaii to go 85-87. That has to suck.

I have had significant damage and reconstructive surgery on my left wrist over something stupid I did in college (comminuted left distal radius frx + displacement) which required 4 k-wires and they had to cut the bottom of my wrist open to hold the bones together to drill them back in place. Last November, I was playing in my league's weekly Saturday blitz, and I felt something pop in my wrist, kept playing, and ended up shooting 87 (my worst round in probably 4-5 years). Dr. said there were two bone fragments that came loose from the original fracture that were causing the pain and that it required another surgery. Not wanting to lose a summer's worth of golf, I developed a swing where my right hand does all the damage, and the only thing my left hand/wrist does is guide the club. When excecuted properly, it replicates Harvey Penick's 'Magic Move' where the right elbow moves toward the target during the downswing in conjunction with the weight shift and creates great contact with short irons, even if the shot is hit fat. The secret is to make sure you finish every swing equivalent with where the club is taken back on the backswing (i.e. if you're using a full swing, you want your wrists to hit the 10:00 position on the follow through after hitting the 2:00 position on the backswing). The main reason you want to do this is to protect your left wrist and let your right hand/forearm/wrist absorb all the damage done by the club making contact with the ball and ground/sand. You need to have STRONG forearms in order to make this work - I do 400 reps a day on a power grip along with 125 incline push-ups split up into 25 per rep x5 (I weigh almost 300 lbs, so it's like doing reverse bench-press without having to spring for all the equipment). You have to change your entire philosophy about hitting the golf ball and allow your right hand to dominate the swing. By doing this, you can dictate the trajectory of the ball by having your palm open, neutral, or shut at the point of impact - just imagine splashing someone in a pool and where you want the wave to go. Start out with hitting buckets and buckets of wedges and 8-irons, then slowly work your way up until you're comfortable hitting a driver. I adopted this approach in February of 2011, and ended up having my best tournament season ever this summer (two top 20's and a top 10 in city tournaments). I took 7th at the Norfolk City Amateur the weekend of 9/11 and had my second surgery on 9/19 to repair the bone fragments and re-attach part of the TFCC cartilage complex. Four days after my surgery, I got my pitching wedge, a broken-off graphite shaft I use for a target, and started hitting shag bags worth of one-handed 10-yard chips. The next week, I started putting with one hand, and became deadly with it (putting with your lead hand forces you to keep your head still during the entire putting stroke). I kept pushing myself to do more and more through physical therapy, and I've been playing golf again since the end of November. You probably want to have an orthopaedic surgeon that has specialized training in upper extremity surgery have a look at it - most ortho surgeons have limited knowledge about the wrist (the guy that did mine was fresh out of a surgical fellowship at Vanderbilt - I totally lucked out in getting him). Good luck.

I try not to throw clubs, but sometimes when I hit a shot that I KNOW I can execute 95% of the time and screw it up over doing something that I've conditioned myself not to do in practice, it warrants an iron or wedge chasing the ball up the fairway (I usually toss it 20-30y and make sure no one's in the way - I have seen people just hammer-throw clubs with no regard for where the club is going - that is dangerous). As for breaking clubs, it's $20 to get a new shaft and grip - reshafting isn't hard to do as long as you have the right equipment at home. I have a PhD in profanity when I'm in competition - even when I'm playing well. The year after I graduated high school, the New Mexico Activities Association instituted a two-stroke penalty for swearing on the course during high school tournaments. I think that may have had something to do with me . My biggest pet peeve is people that take chunks out of greens or slapshot missed putts off the green. People need to realize that green complexes cost tens of thousands of dollars worth of materials and man-hours to maintain.

My advice to him would be get your aim point, set up the appropriate grip for the shot you want, and hit the damn ball.

I think it would be a lot easier for a guy (especially a young guy) like that to translate near-success to doing well on the Nationwide Tour or mini-tours to try and get himself an exemption than it would be for a guy that was a big star early (or even a guy like Ty Tryon who had a world of expectations and then flamed out). I hate to single Tryon out because he seems like a pretty cool guy, but it has to suck going from having the golf world look at you like you're the next best thing in 2001 to having a series of injuries, bad play, and personal issues derail your career over the next 10 years to blowing up and shooting 78 the first round at Q-school. In his defense, it looks like he got it together yesterday with a 70, hopefully he keeps that upward trend going.

In the last clip, did the guy just lose his balance during a practice swing, or was that an out-and-out whiff? In 2009, I played my first tournament in eight years and dribbled my first tee shot about 50 yards down the left side in front of about 100 people. I was afraid someone was gonna ask me to drop my shorts. Ended up shooting 73 that day though, so it wasn't all bad.

I've never been to a Q-School, but my guess is the atmosphere with some of the older players trying to get their cards back is akin to the overall atmosphere in the 2008 film 'The Wrestler'. I really feel bad for some of the guys out there who used to be big names on the big tour that now may be living paycheck to paycheck.

1) Finish top 3 in a tournament. 2) Continue to improve putting such that putting average is less than 30 putts/round. 3) 50% or better sand save percentage. 4) 50% or better save percentage from 30y in. 5) 75% or better fairways hit. 6) 60% or better GIR.

Unless I have super-human healing powers, my last round of the year was 9/18. I had wrist surgery on 9/19.

I think the worst number I put up this year was 83. I had an 87 in November '11 (and I received a text message from a guy in my league with a picture of custom MyJoys on them - one shoe said '87' and the other said 'I SUCK' - tough crowd).

I had bone fragments taken out of my left wrist yesterday and am most likely done until 2012 - I would give my left nut to get back out there. Just appreciate the fact that you're healthy and can play.

First thing you may want to consider is what I call the 'crosshair drill' on a putting green. Putt 3 balls from 4 ft 3 times, then move back to 8 ft, 3 balls from 8 ft 3 times, then move back to 12 ft, 3 balls from 12 ft 3 times. Then, move to the left of the hole, back of the hole, and right of the hole, and repeat (the pattern looks like crosshairs). If you can get between 15 and 18 of 27 to fall on each repetition, you've done okay. Anything under 10, you know where your problem lays.

Played my best golf of the year both days and ended up with 73-74 and tied for 7th - I was a three-putting machine on the front nine Saturday, shot 39 with three 3-jacks and missed four birds inside 10 ft (two inside 5ft on the par fives), came back with a 34 on the back with a birdie on 18 that could have damn well been an eagle had my chip up onto the green not gotten a crappy bounce (short par 4). Before that, I lipped out at least five birdie putts inside of 15ft. If I make half of my birdie chances and don't three-putt my way around the front, I shoot anywhere from 64 to 67 and I'm in the last group Sunday. On Sunday, they cut and rolled the greens that were already putting about a 11-12 and tucked almost every single pin on the course. Went out in 39 again thanks to a missed short par putt on 6 (par 3 that blew a lot of guys up), a bogey on 7 after being pin-high in two on a par 5 (got too aggressive with a LW and ran it past the pin, off the green and onto a steep hill, short siding myself), and then I had my glove rip when I was swinging my driver on the 9th tee, lost control of the club, and hit a low hook into the water. Took my drop and pulled my 3rd shot to about 40ft and almost made the par putt. No huge mistakes, but just couldn't make any birdies. 10 is a short dogleg-right par 4 with some trees that are about 70-80ft tall protecting the dogleg - if you can hit a high power fade, you can get to the green. There's no point in laying up on that hole since the green slopes from left to right, making anything coming in from the left side want to bounce off the green. I drilled a driver toward the right side of the hole, and the ball ends up pin-high, but it's sitting right against a dead tree branch that's at least an inch in diameter. If I move the branch, the ball's going to move, so I have to play the ball off the dead branch. I opened the blade on my LW and tried to flop one, ball hits the branch and goes dead-left to the front left side of the green, leaving me with about a 30yd chip. Chip it to 5ft and make the putt for par. 11's a mid-length par 4 (about 425) with trees left and a pond right, I take the 'don't hit in the pond' swing and hit one about 320 down the left side, only problem is, I'm right behind a tree, about 90y to a front pin sitting on a crown behind a bunker, water right. I look at the shot, look at my fellow-competitor, and said 'I've always wanted to try this shot' (that shot being a hard LW with a shut face, try to hook it around the tree and onto the green, making it hold and stay out of the water). I step up, make a good swing, ball goes exactly where it's supposed to, and I have a 15ft uphill birdie putt which I proceed to lip out. Get up and down for par on 12 from a divot in the middle of the fairway (had to gouge one over the green and make another par save). 13 is about a 155y par-3 that has a severely sloped green from back-left to front-right, and the pin is tucked behind a bunker that's about 8-10ft deep. I take a 9i, put it on the right fringe about 15ft, and drain the putt. That spot is the only flat spot on this green, as the other guys in my group went bogey-bogey-double. Also, I was told after the round there were several four-putts on that green because of the placement of the pin. I hit driver-LW to about 15ft on 14, birdie putt goes halfway around the hole and spins out. On 15, they are having a hole-in-one prize of a new car. It's about 175y, downwind, pin is up against a backstop. I pull a 7i, hit it dead-freaking-on the pin, ball bounces once, grazes the pin, and goes 5ft past, giving me a lightning downhill putt that I am afraid I will have 10ft coming back if I get too aggressive. I barely tap the ball and almost made the putt, but it comes up 6in short, tap in for par. A guy in the NEXT GROUP aces the hole and drives away in a new Nissan Altima. 16's a short par 5 (490y) with OB and trees left and trees right. I hit a hard draw, ball hits a sprinkler head about 200y out, and shoots dead-left into a bunch of hard dirt and gravel. There's a ground-under-repair line painted about 6 inches away from my ball, but I'm on the wrong side and don't get relief. Had I gotten relief, I would have had a clean 7-8i in and a shot at eagle, instead I have to hit a hooded 5i around a tree trunk - I put it to about 60y, and the ball is sitting right on top of a mound in the fairway that got scalped by the guy mowing the grass today - another bad lie. I hit my 60 to about 20ft. Birdie putt was dead on line, but came up a foot short. Had about 40ft on 17, ran it right past the hole and had to make a 4-footer coming back. On 18 (same hole I almost eagled Saturday), I hit my drive into a greenside bunker that gave me about a 50y bunker shot. I decided to make a bunker swing with my gap wedge over taking a hard swing with the 60 (I normally use my 60 out of traps). I caught the 52 too good, it goes over the green onto a severe upslope, blade it back over to the front of the green, chip to 5ft, and miss the bogey putt for 74. A lot of good players got blown up Sunday by the difficulty of the pin placements (several guys were in the 80s, including a former mini-tour player that got his amateur status back last year) - winning score ended up being 137 and I came in with 147. I know finishing 10 shots back may not look close on paper, but I really had a shot this time and just couldn't get the ball to go in the hole.

I have probably played the strongest golf I've played since I was in college over Labor Day weekend - went 70-68-70-67 from Friday-Monday. This prompted me to enter in the Norfolk City Amateur, which is this weekend. I usually don't do last-minute entries, as I haven't played the course it's being held on in over a year and won't have the chance to until I tee it up Saturday morning. I know there have been some notable last-minute entries that have done exceedingly well in big tournaments (John Daly, 1991 PGA comes to mind) - just curious how some of you handle getting in to an event at the last minute.

If I am in a hurry to tee off and I have some scuffs in my bag (old cheapo balls I find in the woods that go into the shag bag), I may let a few rip off the driving range just to get loose. Hitting new pro v1s on a range is asinine.