ZappyAd

I think the captain's picks were a bit of an issue for the U.S. team. I heard something on UK radio (not sure if I remember the figures totally accurately) that said the European wildcards scored 9.5 points and the US scored 2.5 (all Finau?). That is a decision that sits with the captain and his leadership team so it is something that Furyk could have done to make a difference. You could argue that Tiger played his way in but tiredness was always going to be a factor - didn't he play 19 times this season which is as close to the max he played in a season at his best? Then add the fact that he won (and presumably celebrated) and it must have taken its toll. I guess he really really really wanted to play and it is understandable that he couldn't see his own potential fatigue so when asked I suppose he said yes I am definitely up to it. That is when the captain makes the call. Phil is a harder call to understand for me - he played well in Mexico at the start of the season but some of the rest of his performances have been really poor. He also hasn't looked in great shape imho (although that is never really relevant for him).

Given that the thread is getting a bit of activity I thought I would post an update on my specific situation. So far I haven't added a 7w into my bag. I'm a bit slow to upgrade clubs at the best of times so I spent about 18 months just living with the clubs I had to see if I could get a combo that works better. I eventually picked up a 4H from Benross which was (i) cheap relative to other hybrids (b) adjustable. My thinking was that it might work better out of the rough than a wood and so far it seems pretty good. I saw a second hand 9w going cheap near me the other day though and it did make me wonder...

Generally I think it is better to save golf swing advice for those people who are willing to pay you for it. For most of us that means nobody but even in the cases where someone is paying, I suspect it isn't always received well.

I work from home most of the time so spend most of my time barefoot. Just recently I bought some Merrell low-profile running shoes to try them out. They feel really comfortable so it got me thinking about what I could wear on the golf course. For most of my year the course is wet so grip is an issue and I'm not sure if very thin soles would work. But for the summer at least I am tempted to give my 'barefoot' shoes a go. It doesn't look like True Linkswear is available in the UK though. It is definitely something that you have to transition into slowly - even though I spend a lot of time barefoot around the house when you start racking up the walking miles it can make your muscles ache. I was reading a book on barefoot running just recently and one of the points they raised was that flip flops cause you to curl your big toe in a way that doesn't fit with how it is designed to work. I'm not sure if this is a big deal as (a) I don't wear them (b) a lot of people around the world seem to wear them as a main item of footwear, but in terms of general foot health it is maybe a thing.

I have some friends who go to urbangolf in the city. It has several simulators that you can use and you can get a course of lessons there too. I've never been but have heard good things from everyone that has been there.

Well done to Paul Casey - he's put in some good performances over the last few years in the tournaments I've watched and it was good to see him finally get a win. I also enjoy the little conversations he has with his caddy during the coverage. Obviously pretty impressed with the way Tiger is coming back. He seems a bit softer edged at the moment. Caught him smiling a few times during the round and the media people seem to think he is much more engaging during interviews. Will be interesting to see if this is the 'new' older Tiger or if he hardens up a bit as he gets more into contention. I did think though that a couple of times when he was picking the ball up or changing clubs around the green he looked like his back was bothering him. Not sure if he said anything afterwards but I wonder if it is 100%. Could be just the process of getting back up to speed with playing regular tournament golf - I hope it holds up.

I can believe this - I paid for a weeks access to sky just to watch the event (PGA app didn't have it in the UK). I watched Tiger play the 18th on the final day then switched off. And this is from a fan of Rickie who really wants him to do well. The only reason I watched this event was to see Tiger.

I'm not really a fan of his but I can buy the fact that your first win is a pretty emotional deal. He has had a lot of publicity in his career already and the weight of that must be pretty tough to bear. He went from being the next big thing that everyone was talking about to the next has been pretty quickly in his first year as a pro. To come through that, working your way up from the Web.com tour and then on to win an event deserves some credit. Not only has he bagged a million bucks for winning but he gets into the Open and exemption for the PGA next year? Getting emotional about that is fine as far as I'm concerned. I'm still not buying his scientist thing though.

Is a rule a rule if you can't tell when it has been broken? I think they need to do some rewording so that it is possible to decide whether it has been definitively broken or not from video evidence. Even something as simple as if your hand touches your shirt near your chest then that is deemed to be anchoring. Still want to putt that way? Then you need to wear a tighter shirt or move your hand further away. This whole gray area of 'my hand is close but not touching honest and I just feel more comfortable in a loose fitting shirt' just seems pointless. I know there is the whole 'golf is a noble sport and players will call fouls on themselves' thing but even so imho the rule making body should be independently able to determine if any of their rules are broken.

I've been watching the PGA tour this year on the PGA tour live app and it has been great. Currently it is $40 a year and I would definitely pay a bit more to watch more events and more of the final round. I think it is definitely the way to go - sports like golf should go direct to the consumer. It seems to me that the PGA could cause sky and the European tour a problem. I don't want to pay a large amount of money monthly to Sky to subsidise their premiership deal. And why would I bother about not really being able to watch the European tour when I can get more and more of the PGA tour direct to my device? The money the PGA must have spent on getting their broadcast capability set up is a wise investment imho. They could go worldwide with full coverage and grab a big piece of the global golf viewing pie. In comparison the European tour seem stuck in the Stone Age technology wise.

Could the rule not be something like no part of the club can be deliberately kept stationary during the stroke? Then whether you anchor or not isn't specifically the issue. A 'normal' stroke will always move the club but an anchored stroke will always try to keep it still somewhere. So if you are anchoring there is a good chance that you will be filmed at some point during a round keeping a part of the club still. And you couldn't justify a long putter technique that involves keeping something still because it breaks the rules, so players shouldn't even be doing anything near it. And players with normal strokes don't even have to worry about it because their stroke will automatically be ok. You could try to do an anchored stroke where you move the club around but that would defeat the purpose of that type of stroke in the first place. It would also be easier to prove an infraction because the proof depends on visual information.

I just bought a Weber Spirit 3 burner and so far (couple of weeks in) I am very pleased with it. I'm definitely on the gas over charcoal side of the fence based on my perception of the relative convenience and the fact that I prefer the 'gas cooked taste'. My big requirement though is that I can leave it out year round and not have to worry too much about it wearing out in a year or two. It remains to be seen how that works out. My previous grill had wooden shelves and they rotted away pretty quickly. All metal construction on the Weber seems a more sensible idea.

I started thinking about this after seeing a tour player being interviewed where he said he had a great round putting. The analyst back in the studio then pulled out his SG Putting stats and said it was about average. Made me wonder how the tour player who spends all his day looking at stats and practicing would not know what good looks like. Ok, so sometimes the brain tricks us into thinking we are better than we are, but maybe the stats aren't telling the whole story. My guess is that because SG Putting only takes distance to the hole into account it is missing a big part of the equation, namely 'magnitude and direction of break'. This means that a player can think they putted great because the made a lot of big breaking putts (and they actually did) even if SG Putting puts them at average. As an example if the tour average from 8 feet is 50%, I think that this probably breaks down to something like (made up numbers for illustration) - tour average for a dead straight putt from 8' = 75%; - tour average for a stinky left to right 3' break from 8' = 25%. So the break makes a big difference to your chances of holing the putt (obviously). It then also makes a difference to putting a rating on how good your approach shot was. Hitting a wedge to 20' with a straight putt slightly up hill is much better than 20' downhill with a huge break. Imagine 2 pros (A and B) playing together on the same course. They both leave themselves exactly the same distance from the hole on every approach shot and they both make the same number of putts. Player A always ends up with the straightest possible putt. Player B always leaves a putt with as big a break as possible. At the end of the round their strokes gained for approach and putting are going to be the same, but Player B will have had a much better putting day. Player A will have had a bad putting day but a great approach day. On average relative to the field etc etc you get a mix of good leaves and bad leaves on your approaches so there is probably a tour average for the 'amount of break' the SG Putting number reflects. But if you have an off wedge day where you leave the ball close but in the wrong spot all day but putt great to save your round, it doesn't look to me like Strokes Gained will reflect that. This is obviously an extreme example but I think it shows that SG around the green isn't capturing enough information to definitively say whether a player has a good or bad day putting. So maybe the tour pro does know something that the analyst doesn't.

I have a Nikon range finder and it really helped improve my scores. I have used GPS on a phone and never really found it convenient. I can see a watch might be better than a phone but I do tend to laser features around my target area, just to get a handle on where the best miss might be. When I come to replace it I will definitely go range finder again but this time with slope as I think that feature could also help me get better. Trouble is the Nikon isn't really showing any sign of wearing out so unless I lose it I might end up using it for a while.

At about 7 seconds there is a guy screen right in white who looks to be walking out of one. I think there is some kind of bank or elevation at the right side of the green and the bunkers are on the other side of it. The fairway comes in from the right side of the camera shot so it would make sense that the bunkers are oriented towards the incoming shots from the fairway. The guy in white has come up short right from the fairway and ended up in the bunker. Camera man is long left of the green from the perspective of the fairway.