Excellent video on releasing the golf club through impact.

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Short on time or does the weather suck? Improve your game at the microwave

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Best Golf Joke of the Week.

Four old-timers were playing their weekly game of golf, and one remarked how nice it would be to wake up on Christmas morning, roll out of bed and without an argument, go directly to the golf course, meet his buddies and play a round.

His buddies all chimed in and said, "Let's do it! We'll make it a priority, figure out a way and meet here early Christmas morning."

Months later, that special morning arrives, and there they are on the golf course.

The first guy says, "Boy this game cost me a fortune! I bought my wife such a diamond ring that she can't take her eyes off it.

Number 2 guy says, "My wife is at home planning the cruise I gave her. She was up to her eyeballs in brochures."

Number 3 guy says, "Well my wife is at home admiring her new car, reading the manual."

They all turned to the last guy in the group who is staring at them like they all had lost their minds. "I can't believe you all went to such expense for this golf game. I woke up, slapped my wife on the butt and said, Well Babe, Merry Christmas! It's a great morning for either sex or golf".

And she said, "Take a sweater".         

 Great Winter Gloves

Augusta numbers stacking against Rory McIlroy’s tilt for US Masters and career grand slam

 

  Associated Press

To most golf fans, the biggest story line ahead of the 2015 Masters is “Can world No 1 Rory McIlroy win the season’s first major to complete a career grand slam?”

At Augusta National, the question is more prosaic: Will the field remain under 100 golfers?
As 2014 comes to an end, for the fourth time in five years, at least 90 players already have qualified for the Masters with three months of opportunities remaining before the field is set. 

Each time, Augusta National managed to achieve its objective of keeping the number of competitors in double digits.  By far the smallest field of the four majors, the Masters has not had more than 100 players since 1966. 

That is what Augusta National prefers. Club chairmen have talked about a small field creating a better experience. The original name of the Masters was the Augusta National Invitation Tournament.  But if the last eight months were any indication, this could be the closest call yet.

Of the 90 players who are eligible and expected to compete, 17 earned invitations by winning PGA Tour events that award full FedEx Cup points. 

• Stephen Gallacher wants to be first to Dubai Desert Classic hat-trick
• Rory McIlroy already preparing to master final slam target at Augusta National
• McIlroy wants to master Augusta sooner rather than later

That is up from 12 a year ago, a reminder not only that winning is difficult for everyone but that the PGA Tour is stronger and deeper than ever.

There are 13 chances for players not already in the Masters to win a full PGA Tour event and get in.  And because the World Match Play Championship has been moved from its traditional late February slot, top international players such as Henrik Stenson, Adam Scott and McIlroy are not expected to play much, if at all, before the US Florida swing. The other way to qualify is to move into the top 50 in the world ranking published on March 30.

Among those on the outside is Brandt Snedeker (No 58) from the PGA Tour. Tommy Fleetwood (51), Alexander Levy (53) and Francesco Molinari (55) are also outside the top 50, though they will face some of the European Tour’s stronger fields during the Middle East swing, which includes the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship, from January 15 to 18, and the Omega Dubai Desert Classic, from January 29 to February 1.

Also, the Masters has created a new spot for the winner of the Latin America Amateur Championship, to be played in January in Argentina.

A year ago, 90 players were eligible after the first cut-off in December. Seven players not already eligible won PGA Tour events, and Stephen Gallacher was added from the world ranking. Then again, one spot was reduced when Tiger Woods had back surgery a week before the Masters.

This year? It will be close. 

It starts with the Tournament of Champions at Kapalua, Hawaii. The field includes four players who won before last year’s Masters – Scott Stallings, Matt Every, Steven Bowditch and Matt Jones – and are not yet eligible at Augusta.

My Favorite Sunglasses Just Went on Sale!

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Golf Swing: A Simple Way to Fix Your Slice

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5 things to talk about with your buddies on the course this weekend.

By Alex Myers

From sports to TV to politics (OK, so mostly the first two), we offer five hot topics that are sure to liven up your round of golf:

  1. "The Interview": In an unprecedented move, Sony decided to pull this new Seth Rogan-James Franco comedy about assassinating Kim Jong Un after being hacked and threatened. The FBI has confirmed the threats came from the North Korean government, but many people are still upset the studio (and big movie theater chains) caved to the demands of those angry about the film's message. We're more upset North Korea didn't care as much about the release of Bubba Watson's latest music video.

Related: Our favorite golf movie scenes
 
2. "Homeland": Maybe this Showtime series can cover a similar type of cyberterrorism on Hollywood in its next season. If you gave up on this show after a disappointing third season, we don't blame you, but you really need to start watching again. Season 4 has been so good (Hopefully, we're not jinxing Sunday's finale) it deserves some sort of comeback player/thing of the year award. And CIA operative Peter Quinn has become the biggest badass on TV. We're convinced he could have handled this whole situation with North Korea by himself.
3. "Taken 3": Liam Neeson is another tough guy who could help us take on North Korea, but "Taken 3"? As in a third "Taken"? Seriously? Hollywood really is running out of good ideas.

Related: NBA stars who love playing golf
 
4. Rajon Rondo: After years of being on the trading block, the Celtics finally moved their talented guard to the Dallas Mavericks. As if the NBA's Western Conference wasn't stacked enough. Spurs, Warriors, Thunder, Clippers, Grizzlies, Mavericks, Rockets, and Trailblazers. FOUR of those teams will not make it out of the first round of the playoffs. Meanwhile, Golf Digest might be able to round up a pick-up team that could contend in the East. Speaking of fellow, um, colleagues. . . 


5. Kate Upton: The Golf Digest cover model was named People magazine's "Sexiest Woman Alive." Congrats, Kate! We're all so proud of you here! But please come back to the office soon. Those reports aren't going to write themselves. . .

Why Tiger Woods Will Win Again

Kiel Alderink December 15, 2014

The commentators on The Golf Channel said it perfectly, “Tiger Woods did not forget how to play great golf.” I agree with that totally.
Tiger Woods will be a force in golf again and very soon. He may never get to the level of dominance he once was because, let’s face it, the competition will not allow it. With the likes of Jordan Spieth, Rory Mcilroy and others, it would be too difficult.
In this article I will show you what hindered Tiger Woods over the past five years, why he was hurt so often, and how he is trying to copy what worked for him when he was dominant.
Let’s start with swings from 2000 vs. 2011.
Remember Tiger Woods in 2000? The Tiger Slam? He won the US Open by 10 shots and The British Open by 8 in route to winning all four Majors in a row. That is pretty impressive to say the least.
2011 was not quite as good. The greatest ever missed a few cuts. Tiger being Tiger, he still won two smaller tournaments. However, Tiger only had three Top 25’s. For most people that would be a successful year but we are spoiled with Tiger and tend to hold him to a higher standard.

Tigerstood much taller at setup and his arms hung outward slightly (pictured left) in 2000 vs 2011.

So let’s explore the difference between his great years vs. the last few years. One of the most noticeable differences is the setup. He stood much taller at setup and the arms hung outward slightly (left). The last few years he was much too tilted forward from the hips which makes the arms actually hang too inward.
Now, Tiger has always had a problem getting the club flat on the downswing and getting “stuck.” The theory behind the tilted posture and arms in was to make sure the club work more vertically. Read on to learn why this was good in theory but didn’t work that well for Tiger.
The starting position is so important in golf, I could write an entire book on it. You want to be tilted slightly forward from the hips with knee bend to support it. You also want enough knee bend and pressure in the ground so you can leverage the ground. Think of a basketball player shooting a jump shot, very similar. Being too upright is an issue as well. You do not want to be sitting back.

The taller posture on the left allowed Tiger to turn through the ball and get to a finish much easier. From this position his body and arms could move through the ball together which allowed him to control the face very easily and made him crazy accurate. In 2000 he was #1 in Greens in Regulation, because of that birdies, eagles, and about everything else. His putting stats were incredibly better because he hit a lot of greens and hit it close to the hole. In 2011 he was unranked in a lot of categories. 2013 he was 24th in GIR and because the proximity (how close to the hole he hit) wasn’t that good for him — he was ranked one of the worst putters on tour.
So why did the starting position hurt him? The more tilted you are in setup, the steeper the shoulder turn and swing plane. This was the theory for him the past few years to help him keep the club more in front of his body. It did get the club working more vertical. However, there is a lot more to the swing. The club has to be able to move on a arc all the way to the finish and your body has to move in a way to allow that. When your torso is so far over the toes, the legs can’t support it and he overuses muscles in his back. It is very stressful on your back to be in this position and especially when you start making forceful moves from here. Look at this…

Tiger Woods has always had a drop in his swing as well. This is not a bad thing as it’s how he loads a lot of power and pushes off the ground to unload that power. He creates tremendous force like this. Again this is a power move he has used his whole career. I am a firm believer that you can’t change your dominant power source. You just have to match it up with your body and have enough space to deliver that action. This means he needs to be taller in his swing so he has the space to extend his arms and swing to the target.
Hank Haney stated that he worked a lot on keeping Tiger taller through the swing. He had incredible stats in their run together as well. He won a lot.
Another issue with him being tilted forward as much and turning his shoulders as steep as he did; when he dropped, he had to arch his back away from the target. He had to create the space I was discussing earlier. This is not only extremely stressful on the body, he also couldn’t ever create the space to extend his arms out at the target, which is why he said he couldn’t get through the ball.

Look at the picture on the left and the amount of back angle away from the target. If you bend forward in posture then lean back to simulate this position, you will immediately feel what I am talking about. Now, this affects the swing greatly as well. When you have to create that space for your swing and back up like he is doing on the left you will send shots out to the right or hit big hooks.
In an interview after his last tournament before the break, Tiger said “I can’t get through the ball.” When you are that steep with your body, you cannot swing through, you will just lean backward and your arms swing out right of your target too much. Big Misses!

The good news is that the people are going to get what they have been begging for. Tiger and his new coach sat down and looked at the swings of old and are going back to his successful swinging days.
In his first tournament back, The Hero World Challenge, he looked good. People have been criticizing me for saying that but the truth is he did look good. He has a lot of short game work to do but he is going to be a threat again very soon. Remember, I am by no means claiming he will be dominant or break the major record (which I hope he makes a run at), I am simply stating I believe he is going to be a threat. Something he really has not been past few years.
Here is a look at the new Tiger:

The new setup and swing plane looks much like it did back in 2000. Taller and arms out slightly:

You can see on the left that his spine is a lot straighter and more in balance here. His shoulders are lined up with hips which make it easy for him to keep the club moving on a good path and not too much to the right. You can see on the right how far down the right shoulder is and past his toe line. The torso can’t keep turning from here and this will cause him to spray the ball.
It is my opinion but I believe Tiger will be back in the winner’s circle very soon. It’s a good start when you see him smiling because he can play golf pain free. If Tiger Woods can get back to where he can swing, he can start playing golf again. Then, we are in for…

View image | gettyimages.com

 Tiger Woods has many great years in him. It is coming very soon…

---

About Kiel Alderink

Cool video comparison of TigerWoods swing from 1978 through 2013.

Post by Essentially Golf.

This Weeks BSOW Goes to a Swing Training Aid.

If you get the urge to buy this please find a decent instructor instead and take several lessons for what you would pay for this straight jacket.

Best Golf Joke of the Week!

Two men ran out to the course for a quick nine after work. They get to the tee and see two ladies playing ahead of them.
 
One of the men complains that the ladies will slow them down and says he is going to ask if they can play through. He goes halfway to the ladies and turns back.

The other man asked what was wrong. The man said, "I can't go up there that's my wife and my mistress."

So the other man says he will go. He goes halfway and comes back. His partner asked what happened and the man replied, "Small world, huh?"

Have a great weekend!

Franklin Templeton Shootout: Preview

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Hank Haney praises Tiger Woods' new swing.

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This Weeks Winner of BSOW!

This weeks winner comes from none other than The Golf Channel.

How to Hit Down on the Ball!

One of my LinkedIn Groups with nothing but PGA Professionals in it had a discussion about this topic and it was unanimous that no good instructor would ever tell a student to "hit down on the ball" because 90% of the time the student would immediately pick the club up sharply and hit down like chopping wood.

We all know that you should hit everything but the driver in a slightly descending path, but telling someone to "hit down on it" is not how you do it.

The video they show is really very good for learning to hit down hill lies.  The BS is in the description:

Tip of the Week: Hit down for more solid strikes

By

Golf Channel Digital

November 27, 2014, 3:00 pm

 

Here's the link to the video:  Hit Down.

Play well and have a great weekend!

Ben Hogan Says He Was Not The Best Striker Of The Ball.

Post by Essentially Golf.

Tiger Chunks Them in the First Round!

Nobody is pulling for Tiger to make a Ben Hogan/Payton Manning type comeback more than I am, but the short game display that he put on yesterday has to give me pause.  We frequently see a player hit a bad chip or pitch coming down the stretch, but not this many in the first round.

This display wasn't caused by his swing or layoff.  This was caused by what was or wasn't going on in his head and that worries me.
 
Having had back surgery myself, I know how difficult it can be to adjust to it, but for months all I could work on was my short game.  It got better than ever.

Let's keep our fingers crossed.

My Man Dan Jenkins Is At It Again - The Ryder Cup Task Force.

The First Meeting of the U.S. Ryder Cup Task Force

With these 11, how can America lose?

Related Links

• U.S. tries to solve Ryder Cup with task force
• Captains Matrix: Passion + Humility=Victory
• Ryder Cup: Team USA: Down, But Not Out
• Who crashed the Ryder Cup conversation?
• Captains & players: Ryder Cup Reflections
• Five Ways To Improve The Ryder Cup
• The Best Remember The Ryder Cup

By Dan Jenkins

Follow: @DanJenkinsGD

Illustration by John Ueland

January 2015

Editor's Note: Our man's on a roll recently. First he scores the Tiger interview, now this* (*this, too, is complete fiction).

Tiger Woods brings a buzz back to golf

By DOUG FERGUSON (AP Golf Writer)  AP - Sports

.

FILE - In this Friday, Aug. 8, 2014 file photo, Tiger Woods winces after tee shot on the sixth hole during the second round of the PGA Championship golf tournament at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Ky. The last time Tiger Woods was seen at a golf tournament was at the PGA Championship when he missed the cut. He returns this week at the Hero World Challenge in Windermere, Fla. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson, File)

 

WINDERMERE, Fla. (AP) -- Tiger Woods didn't even have a club in his hand when he passed an important test Wednesday at Isleworth.

After hitting a fairway metal off the 10th tee, Woods gingerly stepped through a flower bed and then hopped down a 4-foot wall and trotted to the clubhouse to use the bathroom. It was that kind of leap - from a bunker at Firestone - that jarred back muscles and ultimately forced yet another injury-induced layoff.

His golf Wednesday wasn't too bad, either.

Woods swung freely and easily during the pro-am at the Hero World Challenge, his first time walking 18 holes since he missed the cut Aug. 9 at the PGA Championship.

''It felt good to be out there,'' Woods said. ''I took that much time off right after the PGA and built up my body and made a few adjustments on my swing and hit some good shots today.''

The real test is Thursday in the first round of an unofficial event with 18 elite players from the top 50 in the world, and one big buzz because of the tournament host.

Woods has slipped to No. 24 in the world. He never lost his ranking as golf's biggest draw.

''I think if he starts swinging it better and starts feeling good about what he's doing again, it won't take long for him to be at the top of the game again,'' Steve Stricker said.

Related Stories

1. Another restart for Tiger Woods The Associated Press
2. Returning Tiger solid in 'needed' pro-am round AFP
3. On the comeback, Woods has same expectations - win Reuters
4. Tiger Woods makes injury comeback at World Challenge golf AFP

This is the fifth time in five years Woods has returned from an injury, and the second time this year. He came back too early from back surgery in June and missed two cuts in the three events he played.
Health no longer seems to be the issue. The biggest question is the swing.

Woods parted with swing coach Sean Foley and has brought on Chris Como, who walked the pro-am with him and occasionally chatted with him in the fairway. Woods said he looked at tape dating all the way back to his amateur days and described his goal for a new swing as ''new, but old.''

Stricker saw him briefly on the practice range earlier in the week and felt as though he was looking back in time.

''Looks a lot similar to early 2000s to me, from the side when I was watching,'' Stricker said.

That was when many believe Woods was at his best. He won seven majors in a four-year stretch from 1999-2002, and no one was close to him in the game. Woods turns 39 at the end of the month, and he joked Tuesday that ''Father Time remains undefeated.'' He physically is not the same player he was at age 24.

What Stricker noticed was a swing that appeared more natural and less technical.
''Looked like the swing was going through a lot freer, like it was on a better path,'' Stricker said.
How long it takes for it to translate to low scores or even trophies remains to be seen. It took Woods at least a year before he was up to speed on wholesale changes under Butch Harmon, Hank Haney and Foley.

''This is what, his fourth teacher?'' Stricker said. ''I'm sure he's still going to have some issues going forward.''

The tournament has moved from Sherwood Country Club in California to the course that Woods called home for 16 years. Isleworth is considered a tough golf course, though there are more forward tees in play to help with gallery movement. Woods is used to playing it all the way back and smashing driver. He wound up in a few bunkers Wednesday that typically are not in play for him.
The field is missing the new No. 1 - Rory McIlroy - along with Adam Scott, Phil Mickelson and Sergio Garcia, who rarely play.

Zach Johnson beat Woods in a playoff last year at Sherwood after holing out for par from a drop zone on the 18th hole. Hard to imagine that would be the last time Woods had a top-10 finish. Then again, no one expected the back pain that led to surgery, and recovery issues that kept him out of golf the last four months.

His appearance has led to the most media interest in golf since the Ryder Cup. All 50 seats were occupied for Woods' news conference on Tuesday, with 30 more people lining both sides of the tent.

''As a fan of the game and a guy that admires what he's done, I would be interested to see what he does this week,'' Johnson said. ''Just glad he's playing and I hope he's healthy. That's the main thing.''

Here's What Tiger Woods Is Playing This Week For Those Who Care.

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Tiger really didn't like his 1997 golf swing at the time.

Tiger really didn't like his 1997 golf swing at the time. Here's what he said about it

By Luke Kerr-Dineen

Tiger Woods is making his competitive return after a prolonged absence due to injury and is doing so under the guidance of his new "swing consultant," Chris Como. And on Tuesday, he got everybody excited with all his talk about reverting back to his older, mid-1990s swing. 

"It is new, but it's old ... because I haven't done it in a very long time," Woods said at the Hero World Challenge.

"We looked at a lot of video from when I was in junior and amateur golf," he continued. "And it was quite interesting to see where my swing was then and how much force I could generate with a very skinny frame. How did I do that? That's kind of what we are getting back to."

That's all fine and good, but it seems Tiger might be looking back on his 1997 swing with some rose-colored glasses. In 2001, Tiger sat down with the editors of Golf Digest to write his best-selling book "How I Play Golf." At the start of Chapter 4, he spends the entire introduction running through a bunch of very logical reasons why he didn't like his mid-1990s swing -- the one he's trying to revert to now -- and why it needed to change.

Here's the crux of what Tiger said about his swing, just after using it to win the 1997 Masters:

One night, a week or so later, after the elation had started to die down, I decided to sit down and watch a tape of the entire tournament. I was by myself, so I was really able to concentrate on critiquing my full swing to see if there was some flaw I might be able to work on.

I didn't see one flaw. I saw about 10.

I had struck the ball great that week, but by my standard I felt I had gotten away with murder. My clubshaft was across the line at the top of the backswing and my clubface was closed. My swing plane was too upright. I liked my ball flight, but I was hitting the ball farther with my irons than I should have been because I was delofting the clubface through impact. I didn't like the look of those things, and the more I thought about it, the more I realized I didn't like how my swing felt, either. From a ball-striking standpoint, I was playing better than I knew how.

The Effect of Follow-Through on Your Shot.

Just a quick blog about a great quote I came across today!

I'm always amazed at how many people think what they do after impact can affect their shot.

What Should We Expect From Tiger Woods' Return? Plus, Jordan Spieth's Big Win and the Best Golf Gifts

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Watch Tiger Woods take his first recorded swing of the Chris Como era!

Watch Tiger Woods take his first recorded swing of the Chris Como era

By Alex Myers

Tiger Woods and new "swing consultant" Chris Como will make their competitive debut as a tandem this week at Woods' Hero World Challenge. But if you're wondering what Woods' new swing will look like, we got a sneak preview on Monday afternoon: 

 

  Of course, Woods and Como are still in the early stages of working together so "new swing" is a bit strong. But Woods does appear to have a wider stance and to be making a longer backswing than he was during an injury-plagued past season. As for his preferred shot shape with the driver? That doesn't seem to have changed -- at least, not yet.

Related: Meet Chris Como, Tiger Woods' new swing coach
"High or low cut?" Woods can be heard saying in the clip. "High cut?"

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We Have the Winner of this Week's BSOW Award

The winner of this week's BSOW Award is this video.  It wouldn’t have gotten my attention when it was posted Google+ except for the way it was captioned.  As soon as I read it my BS indicator went off.  It’s not that Trackman is not a neat tool, but the audacity of saying that all I've learned about the golf swing is antiquated and obsolete was just too much for me.

I read a lot of stuff in social media that reeks of BS, but I don't say anything because arguing with idiots is pointless.  After watching this video I want you to think about how information like this is really going to help you break 100 or fix your slice.

Here’s the caption: “Today's technology dismisses the old antiquated ways of diagnosing and fixing your golf swing! All golfers who inspire to improve must know what they're trying to achieve. Here is a great example:”.

I will grant that the person that posted it doesn’t mention golf in his bio anywhere and it’s obvious from his caption that he has limited knowledge of it.

One of the biggest problems in the game today is the over use of Trackman, video, etc.  It causes instructors and golfers in general to think that the golf swing is actually a series of positions instead of a fluid motion or swing.

When working with very low handicap and professional golfers technology can provide very useful information, but with high handicappers and beginners it is of very limited use.

That’s my rant for the week and I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!