When you go hit balls to prepare for a round is it to loosen your muscles or to unload all the bad shots before you play?
K. Eig
December, 2011
Pregame Warm-Up?
3
Who Are These Guys?
During his charity event in Portland that attracted many active PGA Tour, Champions Tour, and retired pros and golf dignitaries, Peter Jacobsen and professional Nico Bollini
regaled the audience with a series of golf swing impersonations that are guaranteed to make you smile. Many of the culprits they captured were in attendance which makes it kind of a roast.
Secret In The Dirt caught this on video and to share it with their audience. Some of the impersonations are old Jacobsen favorites-Lee and Raymond- but there are a few that Nico does which are rib-tickling entertainment. His Corey Pavin and Colin Montgomerie impersonations are classics.
(Click here to enjoy the Secret In The Dirt video of Peter’s Clinic)
Secret In The Dirt
Fall 2011
Tiger Is His Own Man
As I have watched the saga of Tiger Woods unfold for twenty years the question continually occurs to me, who is actually making the decisions, who is really responsible for running the Tiger show?
John Feinstein, in this Golf Digest article “No One Tells Tiger Woods What To Do” excerpted from a new book, says that his experiences with the man leave no doubt in his mind that the buck stops with Tiger….period.
As you will read Feinstein has a history of confrontations with Team Tiger over the years. Starting early on he was critical of the well publicized controlling influence of Earl Woods on Tiger’s early development. He took Tiger to task in his articles a number of times for public behavior he considered unprofessional. Things like canceling appearances at tour events where he was granted sponsors exemptions, declining an invitation from President Clinton to appear in a tribute event to the late Jackie Robinson, or trying to control access of the media to players at tour events. None of this criticsm sat well with Tiger Woods or his handlers.
With so many people benefiting from the rising Tiger star, tour sponsors, fellow players, and even the media, it was rare to hear anyone articulate criticism of Tiger and his public behavior. Truth is, Feinstein was consistently right in what he was saying and the public conversation would have been much more balanced if more writers had done the same.
Feinstein was confronted on this by members of Team Tiger to no avail and eventually had a number of conversations with the man himself on a series of incendiary subjects. As usual, Feinstein did not hold his tongue and faced up to these challenges without hesitation.
In a conversation with Tiger on the core subject of Earl’s influence he said:
“I really don’t think your dad is different from any other pushy, grab-the-bucks father,” I said, “except for one thing: You’re his son. So, I give him some credit for your genes because you’re smart enough and tough enough to deal with everything he’s pushed on you and still be a great player. Most kids aren’t that way. I think you’ve succeeded in spite of your father, not because of your father.”
Throughout the article Feinstein cites incidents of public behavior that grabbed the golf headlines where the decision that created them consistently points back to the controlling influence of Tiger himself. He leaves little doubt that Tiger is his own man and that, or better or for worse, Tiger has been the guy responsible for shaping his public image. Pull up a comfortable chair, take a read, and decide for yourself.
(Click here to read John Feinstein’s Golf Digest article on Tiger Woods)
John Feinstein
December, 2011
Revelations
As reported on Yahoo Sports today, a few people have taken notice that with the passing of Kim Jong II, North Korea’s Supreme Leader, one of the greatest proclaimed golfers of our generation has grabbed a burger at the turn and is off to the back side.
In 1994 it was reported by reliable North Korean sources that Kim Jong, in his first round of golf ever, made 11 holes in one on his way to a 38-under par 34 over 18 holes at the 7,700-yard Pyongyang Golf Course. This was more than just fairways and greens!!
Here are some of the public’s lamentations on possible effects of his passing as they appeared on Twitter today.
“Look at it this way: With Kim Jong Il dying, everybody will be moving up one spot in the World Golf Rankings,” noted Dan Daly in a Twitter posting.
Others pondered the golf showdowns that never happened.
“Kim Jong-il’s passing means LukeDonald is now indisputably golf’s world no.1,” Tweeted John Mackay. “Congrats Luke. Just a shame it wasn’t settled on the course.”
“Golf world mourns the passing of the prodigious world leader never to win a major,” Tweeted Shaun Hinds.
Even Paddy Power tweeted that “The world has lost a golfing legend, we’re 1,000,000/1 for any PGA player to beat Kim Jong Il’s record round of 38 under.”
Some saw hope for Kim from beyond the grave, Rick Reilly posting, “Just in from North Korean state news agency: Kim Jong Il’s corpse shoots 54, incl 6 aces.”
Nick Howell pondered what might have been, saying his record round “Could’ve been even better if his ball hadn’t stuck under the windmill on the eleventh.”
Alistair Barrie was shocked there was not more mention on golf websites, noting, “No one seems remotely concerned that the world’s greatest golfer has died.”
“With passing of Kim Jong Il, sports world may have lost greatest golfer of all time,” tweeted HuffPost Sports.
“The golf world mourns the loss of Kim Jong-Il. Routinely scored 3 or 4 aces every round according to state run media, so it must be true,” wrote Len Berman.
Ray Ratto had his suspicions, tweeting “don’t fully buy this Kim Jong-Il golf story. Surely the Callaway people would have sent him a hat, a shoulder patch or something.”
In a timely post with Christmas approaching, Chris Scoular said, “The North Korean equivalent of finding out Santa isn’t real must be finding out Kim Jong Il didn’t invent the hamburger or shoot a 38 in golf.”
Yahoo Sports
December, 2011
Master Of Fashion
Ian Poulter, ever the fashion maven, made sure his IP black shirt and favorite plaid trousers would look resplendent with the yellow blazer they give you for winning the Australian Masters. Then he went out and shot a masterful 67 at Victoria Golf Club in the final round of the JBWere Australian Masters to complete his outfit.
In relatively benign conditions for the Australian Sandbelt region, Poulter’s solid ball striking and putting led to 65-68 as he comfortably led the tournament at 8 under after the first two days. On Saturday Geoff Ogilvy, who grew up down the street from the storied Royal Melbourne and Victoria Golf Clubs, used a entire childhood of local knowledge to his advantage. He rocketed up the leader board with eagle, birdie, birdie on the first three holes and had 9 birdies and an eagle on the day shooting a blistering 63 to take the lead at 13 under par.
As we saw at the Presidents Cup a month earlier, the northern breeze provides the stiffest defense to these Sandbelt courses and the final round would not yield the kind of scoring the players enjoyed the first three days. The wind played havoc on everything from tee to green and even more so on the putting. There were lots of incredulous head shakes after balls seemed to veer inexplicably off line on their way to the hole.
Ogilvy’s jeweled carriage turned into a pumpkin on the back side on Sunday as he made two bogies and a double in the last six holes to take himself out of the hunt. Poulter, on the other hand, eagled the opening hole to tie for the lead and made three more birdies on his way to 15 under and a 3-shot victory. Ian seemed to comprehend the wind effect better than most making a ream of testing 5 to 15 footers to save pars and keep the competition at bay. Through the week he hit over 70% of the greens and was under 28 putts a day on greens that seemed to confound most of the field.
Good bet the yellow blazer will be added to the IP Fashion Collection come spring. He certainly looked handsome in it. On the golf course Ian Poulter Fashion Statements generally speak for themselves. This week his clubs were on the same page as well.
December, 2011
Bad Temperament
Gallery
This gallery contains 3 photos.
Nothing in golf generates more of this than missing a three-footer. Most famous for this was Terrible Tommy Bolt, of blessed memory. ______________________________________________________________ “Tommy Bolt’s putter has spent more time in the air than Lindbergh.” Jimmy Demaret ______________________________________________________________ After missing … Continue reading
His Writing Is The Cure
“Tim, thank you very much. When you rattled off that list of credits, you left out my cure for polio, but I’ll excuse you for that. You got all those other things in there.”
Dan Jenkins response to Tim Finchem’s introduction and announcement that he would be only the fifth golf writer in history to be inducted into the Golf Hall of Fame.
Jenkins then concluded with:
“Thanks to all those people that called in with having nothing better to do. I can’t wait until May 7th when you put some (indiscernible) on my shoulder and give me a saber.”
(Click here to read Bill Fields Golf Digest article “Honoring a Prose Pro”)
December, 2011
TaylorMade Introduces Rocketballz…….Seriously!!
The golf world is a twitter with the buzz created by the TaylorMade’s introduction of their new line of metal woods, hybrids, and irons for Spring 2012 called “Rocketballz”. They claim these clubs are engineered to provide “the first significant innovation in relation to COR (coefficient of restitution) ball speed since the introduction of steel construction to fairway club in the 1980’s”. Apparently, according to the pros who have demoed these puppies, the ball rockets off the club face like an X-15 in heat. So they get their name.
The double, triple, and quadruple entendres are already percolating across the golf media in relation to the introduction of this name. It took some real kishkas for the TaylorMade higher ups to “support” this moniker for their new line of clubs. But it is clear to me it did not take sophisticated focus groups to know who they are selling these things to……men….big, burly men who have no shame about flaunting their wares.
Taylor Made Rocketballz Driver
Men will not only embrace this name but they will brag on it. When a guy cranks one out there about 270 and one of his admiring buddies pipes in “Wow Joe, what you got there?”, he will proudly bellow without hesitation “Rocketballz”. It will be in the mind of the beholder to determine what piece of equipment he is referring to.
The marketing of this line has endless possibilities. I personally think John Cleese should spearhead this campaign in a dark coat and an oversized fedora playing the role of the “TaylorMade mohel” consecrating these new implements. The rumor has not been confirmed but I believe that these can be bought with circumcised or uncircumcised head covers.
Mark my words, there will be billboards this spring with Dustin Johnson proudly brandishing the “RBZ” belt buckle with his stock white pants and royal blue Adidas shirt …..probably with a sultry Natalie Gulbis hanging on his arm.
The TaylorMade guys are no dummies-sexual imagery sells. I see cross marketing possibilities-commercials with a couple of 17 degree hybrids sheepishly sticking out of the Cialis bath tubs basking in the setting sun.
December, 2011
Aussie Days At Night
If you did not get enough of the Australian Sandbelt from the President’s Cup then your golf fix for this week is some late night quality time with the remote viewing of Golf Channel’s broadcast of the JBWere Australian Masters beginning at 8:30 EST Wednesday. The third leg of the potential Greg Chalmer’s Slam is taking place at the Victoria Golf Club where he will be trying to add to his startling wins in the Australian Open and Australian PGA the past few months.
Victoria's Spectacular Par 3 14th at 156 yards (www.geoffshackerford.com)
The field includes the world number one, Luke Donald along with your household collection of Australian pros like Geoff Ogilvy, Robert Allenby, John Senden, Rod Pampling, and James Nitties. The quality of play should be high as these guys have shown they know how to negotiate the rugged playing conditions and warp speed greens presented by these links style courses.
Geoff Shackelford reveals in a wonderful Viewmaster review of this third gem of the Australian Sandbelt courses that Victoria Golf Club has many of the same characteristics as her more famous sisters at Royal Melbourne or Kingston Heath. Mike Clayton, who has done renovations on many of the Australia’s finest layouts, has brought this one back to life removing trees and restoring the sandy areas that give these courses their distinctive charm. Shackelford describes in great detail a course with “green complexes that offer a mix of extreme and subdued surfaces, with the par 3’s standing out as some of the most intriguing on the course”.
Imaginative Short Par 4 15th at 315 yards (www.geoffshackelford.com)
There could be some lingering verbal mud wrestling between Geoff Ogilvy and Robert Allenby resulting from their Spat Down Under after the Presidents Cup and be prepared to strain to understand the always entertaining golf terminology of the Aussie golf commentators. This should be four nights of splendid golf from down under.
(Click here to read Geoff Shackelford’s review of Victoria Golf Club)
Geoff Shackelford
http://www.GeoffShackelford.com
December, 2011
December Golf
December always holds some mild-enough days. Sunshine glints like a thin shell of ice on the upper side of the bare gray twigs, the sky is striped like blue bacon, a tardy line of Canadian geese wobbles its way south, and the air is delighted to be providing oxygen to some plucky sportsmen.
The foursome, thinned perhaps to a mere threesome or twosome, meets by the boarded-up clubhouse, exhilarated to have an entire golf course to itself. There are no tee markers, no starting times, no scorecards, no gasoline carts — just golf-mad men, wearing wool hats and two sweaters each, moving on their feet. The season’s handicap computer has been disconnected, so the sole spur to good play is rudimentary human competition — a simple best-ball nassau or 50-cent game of skins, its running tally carried in the head of the accountant or retired banker in the group. You seem to be, in December golf, reinventing the game, in some rough realm predating its modern refinements.
The ball even smartly struck, has a deadish sound…..The balls themselves are apt to be those at the bottom of the golf bag pocket, the scarred and dirty orphans of the season…… Excuses abound, in short, for not playing very well, and the well-struck shot has a heightened lustre as it climbs through the heavy air and loses itself in the dazzle of the low hibernal sun. Winter rules legitimize generous relocations on the fairway, and with the grass all dead and matted who can say where the fairway ends.
A lovely leniency, that is, prevails in December golf, as a reward for our being out there at all……There is a misty woodsmoke feeling to the round, the savor of last things.
…….. By then the nassau has been decided, and dusk has crept out of the woods into the fairways…..Ice has found its way into your golf shoes; the fingers on your right hand have no feel; your face hurts. Time to pack it in…..
The last swing feels effortless, and the ball vanishes dead ahead, gray lost in gray, right where the 18th flag would be. The secret of golf has been found at last, after eight months of futilely chasing it. Now, the trick is to hold it in mind, all the indoor months ahead, without its melting away.
John Updike
December Golf
Golf Dreams-Writings On Golf
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