I have a method…..

I played a college tournament one day at Meadowwood golf course in Spokane, Washington. We were down by double digits going into the tournament and needed to make up ground. In college tournaments, it is very easy to talk to your teammates as you play adjoining holes or on tee boxes as you wait. Word travels fast as to who is playing well and who is not. Which team is slipping and which team is charging.

This particular day, we were charging. I was the anchor that day and was the last of our team on the course. I knew that it was going to come down to my score in the end. I got to 18 at about 2 over. Not my best by any stretch, but competitive in the team scoring format.

I have shot under par before. I have felt pressure and have rose to the challenge. I have also sunk from the pressure that I put on myself. This day was a little different. When I hit my second shot short of the green and charged my chip 4 feet past to end up with a ticklish down hiller, I felt pressure like I had never felt before.

So here I was, nowhere near my career round, and my HANDS WENT NUMB???!!!! I don’t mean numb like it was a bit cool and my finger tips were tingly, numb as in can not feel the putter in my hands. I was able to get the putter back and hole the putt and THEN feeling returned to my extremities. Since then, I equate pressure with numb hands.

So here it is, the fool proof way to spot the sandbagger….

Ask him/her how they played. If they don’t give you some form of “Man I had the best round of my life, it was as if everything just clicked and my swing felt great. In fact, my hands went numb I was so nervous over a couple of those putts.” They are a sandbagger. If the answer is to tell you the shots they left out on the course….you have your man.

Call the handicap board and let them know that a guy that just bested his handicap by 5 thought he played bad. Tell them that you have a cheater in your group. Better yet, tell that guy that he is cheating himself, and the rest of the field, with his sandbagging.  Trust me, if it were “my way” the punishment would be much greater.

Sandbagging hurts everyone, but identifying the culprit is the first step to stopping the problem. If you know someone is a cheater, and they know you know, they might just stop.

Lets hope!

If you did, you were witness to a historical day in the golf world. We had 2 happenings that were almost unreal.First we had Ryo Ishikawa do something that had never been done in a major competitive golf tournament. Ryo shot 58 en route to winning The Crowns in Japan. It was a round with no bogeys (of course) that included a missed 7 footer that might have put him in company with nobody else.

58 has been shot before, but never in this fashion. If you can remember, Shegheki Maryuma shot a 58 in qualifying for the US Open one year.

The difference is that this was shot on an actual major tour in an actual 4 day tournament. WOW!!!!!!

Throw in the fact that he is 18 years of age and………well, are there even any words for that???

I heard a great joke during the Quail Hollow tournament, while something else historic was happening, that made me laugh. As the commentators were talking about Ryo’s round, one of them said “We all have shot 58 before, it is just that it happened somewhere around the 14th hole.”

Put that into perspective for a moment……let it sink in the significance.

The second historical moment ended with a 6th consecutive 3 on the back 9 at Quail Hollow as 20 year old Rory McIlroy won his first tournament on US soil.

He shot 62, to set the course record, and blitzed the field in the end.

The history might be his age, it might be the course record, but I think it is something beyond that. I think it is something I maybe have never seen.

Rory muddled through the first two rounds to make the cut ON THE NUMBER. In fact, he was 2 off the cut with 3 to play on Friday. Let that sink in as well.

Rounds of 66 and 62 moved him from out of the weekend to next year’s defending champion.

Amazing. Simply amazing!

The youth movement might be in full swing, and, for at least one day, it was served!

transitive verb

For those that are not sure of what I speak, playing through is when one group of players, playing faster than the group in front of them, overtakes and “passes” them to continue playing at the pace they were playing at. Nothing seems to be more misunderstood or looked at in a worse light, to some, than playing through.

Having a group play through yours is not a commentary on your ability as a golfer or on your status as a man or woman. Allowing a group to play through yours is not a “weak” decision and should not be a strange situation or incite nervous feelings.

If your group is having a blast playing golf and is the slowest group in the history of mankind, WHO CARES?? You are having a good time. Just let every group in the world play through and allow them to have fun at their own pace so that their time is not hampered by your fun.

You will hear every golf course in the world speak out against slow play. The reason for this is monetary. Obviously, if you can pump people in and out there is more opportunity for added revenue. But would they need to if the slower players allowed faster players to play through? I argue no.

But most people do not let faster players play through. They look at as some kind of attack on their ability or something. I contend that allowing a faster group to play through is something that you should look at as noble and friendly. If you know when and where to let faster groups play through, you won’t even have to alter your pace or the pace of the faster group.

The best place to let faster groups through are the par 3 holes. Your group can tee off and once ALL of your group has reached the putting surface, wave the faster group behind you up to play. They will all hit and finish their putts and cruise right to the next tee which will keep both groups pace through the playing through process.

If a par 3 hole is not available in the next few holes, I find that waiting on a tee for the faster group works very well. When the faster group approaches, allow them to tee off and play in front of you. This does not mean that your group can not hit their balls off the tee until the faster group arrives. Just let the faster group know where you hit your tee shots and I can GUARANTEE you that they will make every effort to NOT hit your balls.

Playing through can make a round of golf much more enjoyable for every group involved and will allow you to play the game at the pace that makes you enjoy it best. Let’s erase the stigma that playing through somehow makes you less a golfer and focus on playing better. We don’t all play best at the same pace. Find your pace and recognize that others are not on the same pace. Golf will be much more fun.

Today we lose one of the dominant players of the last 10 years on the LPGA Tour. Lorena Ochoa retires at age 28 (if I were only so lucky ha ha) with a resume that already guarantees her enshrinement in the LPGA hall of fame.

She rose to stardom faster than just about any player before her and won darn near everything she played in for about 4 years. It was domination like Annika had, and like nobody has since.

Losing her is a huge blow for the LPGA while they struggle to find marketable stars to carry the brand. While the sex appeal is there in players like Gulbis, the current “heavy hitters” on their tour are predominantly not American.

The players on the LPGA tour are fantastic. I would suggest watching some events. In fact, I find that watching them play is better for my game and equipment choices than watching the PGA tour is. After all, I hit it about as far as most the LPGA women do……….though they kick my butt in scoring.

The injury to Paula Creamer was never so big as right now for this tour.
Good luck in your future endeavors Lorena, we will miss you!

Then I caught a highlight and WISHED I would have recorded the golf.Had you heard of Brian Davis prior to yesterday?

If you still don’t know who he is, Brian Davis is the reason golf is the greatest sport in the world.

See, Brian Davis went into a playoff with eventual winner Jim Furyk for the coveted plaid jacket and a PGA victory. If he were to win said playoff, it would be Brian Davis’ first PGA win and would ensure security of his PGA card for the next 2 years, among other cool stuff, like $1M+.

Things have a strange way about them though.

See, Brian Davis hit the worst shot of his week on the first playoff hole, the 18th at Harbor Town. That is the cool hole with the lighthouse for those that need the iconic surroundings to refresh their memory.

You CAN NOT go left at any stage on 18 at Harbor Town. Brian Davis decided to test that theory this day. He over cooked his approach shot and was quickly on the beach.

Furyk ended up with 6 feet for par when everything went a little haywire.

Davis lined up his shot from the hazard and drew the club back. He fired his ball about 30 feet past the pin and IMMEDIATELY called a rules official over.

Golf is so different from any other sport. There is no 5 man crew watching the action for every infraction. There is no ref walking with the players ensuring that they follow the rules to the letter. Golf does not have such enforcers.

YOU are the enforcer of the rules. YOU are responsible for what you do, the rules official with every group is there to interpret the rules and to ensure that you proceed under the rules that you need to in order to complete play.

So it was not too shocking to have Davis call the official over, what happened next was something that, while it shouldn’t be, was somewhat shocking.

Davis had broken a rule. Nobody saw it and a slo-mo replay was needed for even a seasoned tournament player to find it, but Davis knew it.

On his back swing Davis had brushed a reed in the hazard which is a violation of the rules and HE was alerting the official that a infraction had been committed and HE was the culprit.

This is why golf is so great. He basically cost himself the tournament on something that he could have easily taken with him to a second playoff hole (maybe Furyk makes his 6 footer and its all over anyway, but we will never know).

Davis was not about to let that happen. Integrity is something that you can not turn your back on. Davis was not about to turn his and he should be applauded for it.

While Michelle Wie whines and complains about every rules infraction (a rant for a different blog) this guy cost himself a chance, albeit a long one, at his first PGA victory.

Kudos to you Brian Davis. All respect to you sir.

*****For another great story of integrity, see JP Hayes at Q school, not for the faint of heart******

I don’t really have much beyond that.

This years Masters tournament was nothing short of amazing.

For those of you that know me, you are going to be amazed at what I am about to say……I am finding myself liking Phil more and more.I will explain later, but I am starting to be a fan.

This Masters will always go down as the “one that reinforced my sudden liking of Phil.”

Congrats lefty, you deserved it!

What I saw got me thinking…………..

Thursday at the Masters was one of the best days I have ever seen in my life of watching this event. It got me wondering how I would rank the days and where this one would rank in the history of the best days I have seen.

I should probably quantify that this might not mean the lowest rounds, or the best round, or even the most memorable, but the overall experience is what I am commenting on. The start to finish, every shot kind of thing that makes a day of golf so endearing and memorable.

Thursday is certainly in there……………..

The first one that comes to mind has to be the final round of the 96 tournament. This is the one that is first in my mind. I was, and still am, a huge Faldo fan and was, like everyone else in the world, convinced that the tournament was over the moment that Norman fired off a course record 63.

Little did I know that I would wake on Sunday and watch what some will call the greatest collapse in the history of the game.

Being a Faldo guy, I loved it. In fact, I remember that round, now, for Faldo’s final round (67) rather than Norman’s defeat.

The second day that comes to mind is the “In YOUR LIFE” moment with Tiger at 16. Those that need reminding, check this out here.

Gotta put 86 in there with Jack, though I was young then and it did not burn into my memory as much as others.

What about Phil’s first? What a wacky jump that was.

Which brings me to yesterday. Where does that rank?

First, there is only one difference between that day and all the others. Can you figure it out? I will help you, yesterday was the only one that was not a final round.

In fact, yesterday was the most memorable non-final round at the Masters I have ever seen. It was amazing.

3 guys all scored the lowest in their career at the event (Tiger, Freddy, and Tom Watson.)

This was the day where everyone made putts. Everyone made shots. There was a log jam on the leader board for a while, and the best of the best were all in contention at the end of the day.

I will remember Thursday very fondly. I will remember Fred hitting shot after shot perfectly. I will remember Tom Watson’s interview after his amazing round. I will remember Phil plodding along to be right there. I will remember Thursday of the 2010 Masters as one of the best days in Masters history.

I will also remember one of the best shots I have ever seen in golf. Aside from Tiger in the Canadian Open from the bunker (THE best shot I have ever seen), we saw one of the best shots in a Masters Tournament, ever.

That shot Tiger hit from the left rough on #9 was something that only a handful of players can do. The fact that he not only hit the shot, but then made the putt is something I would bet only HE can do.

This is going to be a fun weekend……….have fun!

The Superbowl is upon us!

I am a football guy, and the Super Bowl does NOT match up to what this week means. This is the best sports week in the year……..by a looooooonnnnnnngggg shot.

This week has taken on a new light, of course. For those of you that follow me a bit, you will know that I have stayed away from the whole “Tiger stuff” sans covering his press conference, and I will continue that.

I will certainly comment on his play, that you can be sure, but I am so sick of the rest of it I can scream.

So this year is probably the most intriguing Masters since 1997 and it is a result of the same man ha ha. I am so excited to see how everything plays out.

I have picked Robert Allenby in my prediction column, but we all know what I chose him. My other choices are Jim Furyk, Phil Mickelson, and Lee Westwood. No matter who wins I will be in the same place I have been for the last 4 years or so.

Right in front of my TV, my buddies Tony, Matt, Brandon, wife Julie, and anyone else that wants to join. We will have our feet up on a cooler full of Corona with enough lime to flavor the entire water supply for the state of Washington.

See, this tradition started a while back…………the “Tiger chip in Masters” to be honest. I was living in Vegas and was headed to my new buddy Tony’s place to watch the tournament. Tony had just been bit by the golf bug, full on, and it was our first time watching a golf tournament together.

I picked up a 12 pack and headed his way. He, Jeanne, and I sat there the entire day and watched in amazement as Tiger battled Chris Dimarco. It was the start of a “tradition unlike any other” and it has stuck.

I have flown to Seattle while I was living in Vegas for this tradition. We have been at his place, my place, other friend’s places. It is all the same though. We sit, uninterrupted through the whole thing, sipping Corona and chatting up both their, and our games.

So this is my Super Bowl. Not because of the sport or because of the commercials, but because of the tradition, both on screen and off.

This is going to be a great week………….enjoy.