PGAProfessional.com Blog
Archive - 2010

Entry moved to new location, "Estimating yardage when off center" in the "Ask the Pro" section

Entry moved to new location, "CSS - Huh?" in the "Ask the Pro" section

Entry moved to new location, "Graphite-Hybrid confusion" in the "Ask the Pro" section

Entry moved to new location, "Pluralization, hyphenation of 'hole in one'" in the "Ask the Pro" section

Entry moved to new location, "The effect of lie angle" in the "Ask the Pro" section

Smile into your spleen with golden yellow light.

Dont' worry, this is meant to be cryptic. It's basically just a reference (from Taoism) to treating your body kindly.

Congratulations to the European Ryder Cup Team. Well played.

Wow!   $1,350,000 (Furyk's first prize in the Tour Championship) sounds like a lot of money

Entry moved to new location, "What does a strong grip look like?" in the "Ask the Pro" section

Entry moved to new location, "How is the Ryder Cup Captain chosen?" in the "Ask the Pro" section

Entry moved to new location, "Does the ball go farther on hot, humid days?" in the "Ask the Pro" section

Entry moved to new location, "Does the ball go shorter in cold weather?" in the "Ask the Pro" section

Entry moved to new location, "'Cupping' and fixing a hook" in the "Ask the Pro" section

Okay, go ahead and add Martin Kaymer to the list of... unexpected major winners in the July 20 post. Interesting year.

Speaking of which: additionally, an interesting year at the majors for Dustin Johnson. Perhaps the cliché‚ "anything that doesn't kill you makes you stronger" will apply and he will be back with a proverbial vengeance. I would enjoy seeing that.

Entry moved to new location, "High and low side, above and below the hole, top and bottom" in the "Ask the Pro" section

Wow, Graeme McDowell and Louis Oosthuizen as Open Champions. Actually, if you think about it, there have been quite a few Cinderella stories over the last few years.

One of my students told me they had not started keeping score yet, because the boxes on the card were not big enough. So I went ahead and turned it into a cartoon in my entertainment section.

That is actually a great place to be. If you are at that level don't even think about scoring for a while, just keep focusing on your lesson concepts, awareness, execution and feedback.

G E T   O F F   O F   T H E   P H O N E

Entry moved to new location, "Which golf ball, or type of golf ball, should you use?" in the "Ask the Pro" section

Well, now that Graeme McDowell has won the U.S. Open what interesting potential there is for a double whammy, with the British Open coming up. As well as he is playing, and with the enhanced confidence that surely must come from winning a major championship, he is in a good position to win the next one too, no?

And don't you just know that, as an Irishman, he would certainly love to win "The Open" even more than the U.S. Open. If he can avoid all the distractions that must come from his win at Pebble he may have a really good go at the British. I look forward to seeing it.

BTW: McDowell wins the U.S. Open (huge news) and the following day a local newspaper in my area prints (on the front page) a prominent photo and story, not about how McDowell won but about how Dustin Johnson lost. Tasteless. Inexcusable. No wonder they're going out of business.

All righty then: looking forward to the U.S. Open this coming weekend at Pebble Beach -- which is in my general neck of the woods. Though, saying that Pebble is in my neck of the woods is like calling San Diego the Los Angeles area.

But hey -- not to jinx things and turn them dull -- isn't it ALWAYS a great U.S. Open when it's at Pebble Beach?

Oh, and while I'm at it I better make sure I remember Father's Day, heh heh heh

Entry moved to new location, "2 degree hook, or closed, face" in the "Ask the Pro" section

Entry moved to new location, "Should you use a 'chipper'?" in the "Ask the Pro" section

The amount of wasted energy and resources, trash and waste of all kinds, consumer behavior and unconscious action is terrifying. We are just blowing it. The more I learn, the more I try to do to less negatively impact the environment and to improve my own actions. Rather than tell people what I think they should do, now and then I will just start posting what I am doing or thinking about, hoping that it will help.

I read The Story of Stuff website, then No Impact Man, by Colin Beavan. That was a great start. I thought I was already pretty conscious about conserving energy, resources, recycling, etc. But I have a long way to go.

I eat out almost never. I found out that most paper coffee cups are not recyclable. So having my own reusable mug or cup with me when I'm out will be my next step.

I have my own reusable cloth grocery bags. I do without a bag whenever even remotely possible, if I buy something other than groceries. I'm interested in learning more ways to improve.

Don't worry, I'll still post mostly golf stuff but every now and then I'll sneak in some green stuff too.

Entry moved to new location, "Should you invite yourself to play with others?" in the "Ask the Pro" section

Entry moved to new location, "Shaft butt and grip core diameters, .580, .600" in the "Ask the Pro" section

Entry moved to new location, "Working Man's 4" in the "Ask the Pro" section

Congratulations to Mr. Mickelhoffer for a nice finish. Great par on 11, great birdie on 12, great... wait a minute, that shot from the trees on 13 was very entertaining, and turned out very well (even though it only yielded an anti-climactic birdie), but we know that it could have turned out virtually any old way at all -- like, say, the 18th at (what was it, Winged Foot?), so we'll go ahead and call it like it is: unnecessarily risky, and thank your lucky stars you got away with it, P.M. Those stars know you have had your share of incidents where it did not turn out so well. I guess if you roll the dice enough times some of them are bound to be winners, right? (Especially if you have that kind of raw material to gamble with.)

A very uncharacteristic display of impatience and assumption on that second putt on 14 for Tiger... not that it would have made any difference in the end, but... that's not him. Fourth with a disgusting (by his standards) performance -- huh.

Anthony Kim - whoah!   Dude was on FIRE!

It rained around here all day, so the entertainment was well appreciated. On to the next...

Hooah, the Masters! Here we go. Like there was ever any doubt that Tiger would show up. As if somebody that maniacally goal-driven would ever let something as insignificant as public badgering and bad vibes interfere with his objective.

If you want to dramatically increase the chances of his winning just try to make his life a living hell. Pile on the media attention and the negative comments. Upset him with pathetically petty questions in interviews and basically demand that he cower and grovel and apologize for his behavior from now until forever. Doing that will almost guarantee that he will win. If you want to increase the chances of anybody else winning, leave him alone immediately.

I look to Tiger to show me the best golf he can produce. He comes through on that. I do not look to Tiger to be a role model for me or anybody else. To expect anything further of somebody who is that accomplished in one aspect of life is asking too much, I think. Humans are imperfect. But in one area, he is the closest thing to perfect that we are aware of so far. I say leave him be and let him keep doing it.

Here's hoping this will be a spectacular Masters! Enjoy.

Entry moved to new location, "Problem being laid off" in the "Ask the Pro" section

Entry moved to new location, "Handicap strokes playing from different tees" in the "Ask the Pro" section

Entry moved to new location, "Practicing on the course before a tournament" in the "Ask the Pro" section

Entry moved to new location, "A swing, a miss, a hole-out and the score" in the "Ask the Pro" section

At this year's Monterey event there were some negative comments about Poppy Hills and some positive comments about Monterey Peninsula Country Club. It has been many years since I have played MPCC, but it was always my favorite course on the Monterey Peninsula -- and the best greens I ever putted on in my life (didn't actually help me MAKE any more of the putts but the experience was a 10 on a 10 scale). So I would agree that MPCC rocks and it's really great that it is back in the tournament. But Poppy Hills is a great golf course too. If it doesn't drain well or something, just fix it, right? I have always thought very highly of Poppy Hills, so I would cast a vote to keep it in the mix as part of the event somehow, even if just rotationally. Thumbs up for Poppy.

Entry moved to new location, "Handicaps, match play, how many stokes to give, etc." in the "Ask the Pro" section

Grooves shmooves... snooooze.

Speaking of grooves, though, here's an idea. Professionals should have to start playing with NO grooves on ANY club -- completely smooth faces side to side and top to bottom.

It would actually have very little impact in most situations where the grass was short and dry. But where the grass was long and/or wet HOOAH! The ball would shoot off the face in much more random directions, making the game even more unpredictable and exciting -- like what most golfers typically experience.

I can just hear the interviews... "Well, luck just wasn't with me today."  Oh... wait... that sounds kind of like what they say already, sometimes. Nevermind, I guess.

Entry moved to new location, "Golf Rules, etc." in the "Ask the Pro" section

Wow, it's raining a lot around here lately. Glad to know that all my students are working on their strength, flexibility, mental games, etc., during this relative "down time" -- and reading and re-reading my books to deeply ingrain the right concepts, for ongoing reference and to reinforce the things we've been working on. Of course, even though it is damp chilly, uninspiring weather, I too have been hitting the gym, eating high quality food, stretching and doing Qigong -- generally setting a glowing example. It's an ideal world.

And on a less facetious note, certainly we are all sending positive chi in various forms to the people in Haiti. Best wishes for speedy recovery and healing.

So it appears that I am now the last person in my vast sphere of interaction that does not own (and has never owned) a cell phone -- quite an accomplishment, really. And, of course only from this vantage point, can I see the complete insanity of the entire rest of the world. To wit, I briefly glanced at the television while standing in someone's living room the other night. In the miniscule time I was there I witnessed 2 commercials for cellular service (different companies), one for a video game which showed people on cell phones in the background, and then back to the main program, which was a stand-up comedy routine all about texting and using the cell phone. When I pointed this out to one person there they looked at me like I had told them I was breathing. "And your point?" their look seemed to say. (If you're thinking the same thing nevermind, you can stop reading this.)

Then, when I got home, I put in a rented DVD movie and literally had to sit through 13+ infuriating minutes of advertisement before getting to the actual movie (I won't say which movie it was, but it sounds kind of like Horace Papsmear and the Horrible Fear -- this is a movie that I had paid to rent, and the introductory material was not able to be forwarded through -- I hate that!). We accept this as okay? No, how about if you pay you are shown the movie - only. If you are willing to sit through the mass of commercials then you get the whole thing for free -- in other words they pay YOU to watch the commercials. I have not stopped shaking my head yet (hopefully at least I am burning some calories by doing so).

Jeev Milkha Singh and the homemade swing. That's got a pretty nice ring. Don't you thing?

Just around kidding, and certainly no disrespect intended to Señor Singh, who seems to be rather well-functioning, if not exactly the owner of a move of beauting.

Anyway, I can't remember who it was that I heard on TV talking about him and his homemade swing. But he just kept making that weird move and doing well... go figure.

Let's R-O-O-O-O-CK!

Okay, so I'll start a blog and see how it goes. Let me know what I can do to make it better.

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