The Women's Open the Olympics and My Game

I am not sure the Olympics needed golf or that golf needed the Olympics. At this point, I want to say, "I told you so." But I did.  I never believed it would be a big draw for top line pros. Don't get me wrong; I love the Olympics, especially Track and Field. Golf already has huge tournaments, the majors, and no matter how hard anyone tries, the Olympics would not be a major, thus making it nothing more than a world-class exhibition, with little money involved. 

Most believe playing for one's country is a great honor, which it would be. The problem is, once again, golf already does this.  I am glad that many good players will partake, but I believe that after the 2020 games, golf will quietly go away. Maybe if they would have made it part of the games fifty or sixty years ago, it would be more important today, but that's a story for another time.

One last comment the Women's U.S. Open was terrific, except for the sand penalty. Once again, too late. I liked the rules better when the TV was not such a big part of them.

Meanwhile, the golf game is good, or as good as it can be for a 68-year-old. Oh - and the garden is looking good.  

Contemplation on a Hiking Day

Miguel Angel Jimenez - a Very Flexible Man

Like many golf fans I have long been intrigued by Miguel Angel Jimenez. Doesn’t look like he is in the best of shape, and there are always photos of him drinking and smoking cigars. He is partying while the rest of the tour guys seem to be running, lifting, resting, meditating, visiting with their personal sports psychiatrists or any number of stroke loosing activities.

But players on tour refer to him as the Mechanic, and for a reason. He is good, and can adjust on the go, he can easily fix things with his swing when needed and even if he is 50 he can still play with the young guys. Last year he became the oldest winner ever on the European Tour breaking the record of a 49 year old winner –oh, never mind, that was him also.

It is well known that he doesn’t practice much, other than hitting some balls before he plays, so what is his secret?

Flexibility, he seems to be blessed with it. Watch the video below, forget what he is saying just take a look at the 50 year old and see how flexible he is, that is why golfers, above all else, must stretch and stay flexible.

 

http://www.golfchannel.com/news/grill-room/video-jimenez-leads-group-stretching-class/

 

Miguel Angel Jimenez one of my favorite golfers!

Els,Singh, and a Wraparound Tour

Vijay Singh signed a multi-year contract to endorse Hopkins Golf. Vijay will wear a Hopkins Golf logo on his visor or hat, carry a Hopkins logo on his bag, and most important, play the company's wedges.

Hopkins CEO, Greg Hopkins, is the former CEO at Cleveland Golf, Vijay played there stuff for many years.

Ernie Els meanwhile has switched from Callaway to Adams and will play all Adams stuff. I’m betting this will let him find a new putter, one he actually feels comfortable with, and back to Titleist, no more Callaway or Taylor Made balls.  

Not sure about the new wraparound tour. So what is a wraparound schedule, a schedule that begins in one year and finishes in the following year. For example, a tour season that begins in October 2013 and finishes in September 2014 is one that uses a "wraparound schedule." Which is exactly what the PGA Tour is doing beginning with its 2013-14 season.

What it really means – tournaments in November and December that are supposed to be meaningful. (But its football time and limited field tournaments are tough to watch)

Indoor Winter Practice

And old golf adage say’s most golfers practice too much, too little or just plain wrong. If you are not sure what to practice, start at about three feet and move out from there. A majority of all shots in a round are from 100 yards and in, practice hard from three feet to 100 yards and you will get better.

Best thing about this you can work on your putting stroke indoors, watching football. But make sure it is repeated and repeated, same setup, same takeaway and same smooth stroke.

Anyone else watching architects week on the golf channel, good stuff?

Winter Golf - You Bet

Played in shirtsleeves Tuesday and last night we had snow and zero temperature early this morning. But then again that is life in Wyoming, ski in the morning and play golf in the afternoon.

If you have not tried it yet, http://www.golf18network.com/, is terrific, try it. Deep discounts for golf in whatever area you wish. I have no connections with these people, just wanted to let you know about a great golf deal.

-JUST FOR FUN-

 Every Saturday morning, Josh headed to the golf course. It didn't matter what the weather was like. It could be raining and 40 degrees, but Josh didn't care. It was off to the course, every single Saturday morning for than ten years.

But one Saturday, Josh finally met his match with the weather. He got up early and drove out to the course, hoping the weather would improve by the time got off the first tee. But once at the course, he knew he couldn’t do it. It was just a few degrees above freezing, and snow was spitting down steady and icy cold.

For the first time in years, Josh headed back home on a Saturday morning.

His wife was still in bed when he got there, so he took off his clothes, snuggled up to his wife's backside and said "Terrible weather out there."

"Yeah," his wife replied, "and can you believe my idiot husband went to play golf

 

 

Another Year in Golf

Well the majors are over for the year. Phil won, Tiger did not. But mark my words, Tiger will win one next year. Jason Dufner might win another also, I don't think he is a flash in the pan. Now back to my own game, still working to get the handicap down to singles.

Played Today

I am starting to feel better, finally, after a month of the worst sinus problems in all my 65 years. Couldn’t breathe, couldn’t hear (my wife says it was even worse than my normal selective hearing), tough time sleeping and got little or no work done. Hope to be back blogging in a few days, the nice weather here in eastern Wyoming is helping. See you in a week or so.

Neil

I did make it out to the course today, hit the ball OK. Not up to walking but my cart was fine, enjoyed the sunshine and the fresh air.

Stretch Your Way to Better Golf

People, usually older people, might ask, “when is a senior citizen a senior?” and the best answer, should be “when they think they are senior.” Don’t let it happen, fight it off, head to the golf course or your favorite walking or biking path forget about the easy chair and TV, save that for later in the day.

Keep the senior tag away by staying active. And if you are active you need to stay fit. Playing golf is a great way to stay fit, but once a week will not be enough. Fitness is ongoing and something that needs to become a daily habit for seniors, just like it was when we were little kids.  If you only play once a week, swing a club for a few minutes on the off days, walk, bike, stretch, twist and turn, stay ready to play again.

One of the keys to fitness is to stretch daily. Yes, daily! It will take you only a few minutes to get them done, but the improvement in your fitness and to your golf game can be fast and you might be surprised at how much better you feel. The time invested (usually not more than 15-20 min a day will be well worth it.

Stretching exercises alone will energize even the stiffest joints and muscles. And will help you body and soul.  Stretching does not have to hurt burn or be difficult, in fact it should be kind of easy. If the stretching exercises are difficult, they are not correct!

Google some stretches today- try, golf stretching, or stretching for senior citizens, for a start and you will find some very good and easy, workouts, What are you waiting for golf is just around the corner, get started.

 

Bill Murray Warm up

Bill Murray Warm up

Golf announcers know some things but they don’t know it all, and they proved it with their comments last weekend on Bill Murray’s baseball swing warm-up before hitting driver. This is not a bad thought process warm up; the baseball swing is a great reminder of weight shift.  Getting weight forward becomes increasingly difficult for senior golfers. Although it may look unusual the move is good. Back foot weight to front foot is important to distance with the clubs. If you would like to use this warm-up it might be a good example to make it look half baseball and half golf. That way the playing partners will not ask what you are doing.

In that same vein, teachers now are saying to do away with the weighted club swing as a way to increase swing speed. Maybe, but it is still a good stretch exercise for senior golfers. I would not suggest that you use it on the course, better to use in the off season. I even swing mine like a baseball bat, you got it, working on weight shift.

Ball Flight

Help the ball doesn’t go where I am aiming! We have all heard someone (never ourselves) say something like this. Here is what the ball will tell you after you hit it.

·        Club head speed determines how far the ball will go – this can be a problem for older golfers, stay fit, work on swing balance and swing the clubs, or at least one every day.

·        Where the clubface points the ball will go – more armatures are prone to closing the face, especially on Irons and opening the face (slice) with the driver  (pulling irons and bending the driver into the right side woods)

·        The path the club travels tells the golf ball where to start out. The club face angle will tell it where to continue.

·        The angle the club takes to approach the ball determines the trajectory (high or low) of the shot.

“What other people may find in poetry or art museums, I find in the flight of a good drive.”  Arnold Palmer

 

Tee It Forward

The tee it forward movement is a great idea and one I hope more courses find the time and place to let people tee it forward. Of course I am an old guy that doesn’t like hitting a three wood second shot into a par four. 

According to the tee it forward people if your average drive is only about 220 you should be playing courses around 6,000 yards or less. I think it would help if the forward tees would keep par threes at 165 yards or less also. It is really no fun to hit three or five wood on a par 3.

Also seems to be a men only idea, I see many women, maybe past their golf prime, who would love to tee it forward.

It’s still a great idea but there are problems, like the following example. This example would be someone like me playing a par five with a (20 or 30 something) single digit handicapper. He will be hitting from the members tees and some old guy, like me, will play it forward.

The hole we play will be - Par 5 - 520 yards

His tee - 520 yards – drive 300 – distance to green 220 yards, a hard 4 hybrid

My tee - 450 yards – drive 220 – distance to green 230 yards, can’t reach with anything

See the problem? We are in approximately the same place after shot #1, but shot number two is still too long, but even this old golfer does not want to play par 5s that are 390 yards long  (my 220 drive and  a 170 yard 4 hybrid). So tee it forward, just not too far.

*Special note - I can still hit it 250 on occasion, and hit my three wood 215.  On the above example I would have about 50-90 yards left with my third shot to hit the green in regulation. (Not Bad)

Down wind, downhill, hard fairways, I can reach about 500 in two. Not bad for a 65 year old 12 handicap.

Vijay Singh admits to Using a Banned Substance

Move over Lance Armstrong and Ray Lewis to make room for PGA star Vijay Singh, who admited to using a PGA Tour banned substance.

He said, “While I have used deer antler spray, at no time was I aware that it may contain a substance that is banned under the PGA Tour Anti-Doping Policy,” then went on to say, "I am absolutely shocked that deer antler spray may contain a banned substance and am angry that I have put myself in this position."

Not sure I would like to spray anything in my mouth, several times a day, scrapped from deer antlers in New Zealand. So why did he use it? Deer-antler spray and pills contain a hormone called IGF-1 that is thought to help muscle recovery.

A cofounder of the company, that supplied Vijay, told Sports Illustrated, “Their antlers are the fastest-growing substance on planet Earth . . . because of the high concentration of IGF-1. We've been able to freeze dry that out, extract it, put it in a sublingual spray that you shake for 20 seconds and then spray three [times] under your tongue. . . . This stuff has been around for almost 1,000 years, this is stuff from the Chinese," SWATS (the company) calls their product natural, like a food, but it is banned by the NCAA and every major pro league according to SI.

So what is IGF-1?

IGF-1 is an insulin-like growth factor, a hormone that naturally occurs in the body and circulates in the blood, thus helping the body heal faster. Would it also help a person play better-stay tuned, we will find out soon.

This afternoon the Waste Management, Phoenix Open starts and as of this morning, Vijay has decided not to play.

 

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Getting on the Front Foot - and Tiger Too -

Well Tiger has one in the bag. Every time he has won the Masters he has a win before, now he is ready. Once again he looked pretty good until round four, then just held everyone off. Not a bad way to win.

*Today – The proper way to get on the front foot*

Now a few words about going from the back swing to the golf or hitting swing. Too many golfers look like they are chopping wood (poorly) with this movement. Here is a simple drill to help. (Once again this drill can be done in your back yard, and you don’t even need a ball, but you will need a club).

Place your feet together while hitting a few shots. If you do not coil the upper body onto your right side in your backswing and let it release naturally on to your left side in your golf swing, you will lose your balance. If it is real bad you can even fall down. If you don’t get hurt that will be really funny and you will have learned something about your swing.

Especially for people that want more distance this is a great drill. Despite all that is said and done about getting more distance and more accuracy on each shot you must properly shift from back foot to front, or nothing will help’

Easy drill, add it to your practice format.

 Until next time - have a great round!