Jack Nicklaus Please Help Save The Game

If you have read this blog over time, you know I'm a big fan of Jack Nicklaus, not only as a golfer, but for his views on the state of golf and what needs to be done to keep it great. Jack Nicklaus has done plenty for the game. If it weren't for him and Arnold Palmer, today's pros would only be making a small fraction of what they currently earn. He's also been a steadfast supporter and protector of golf's great tradition, sometime having to take unpopular stands to make his point.

So Jack, it's probably not fair that I ask you to do even more. You've done more than your share and have earned the right to live your 'golden years' in the manor you see fit and not hounded by the likes of me. But the game is in serious straights Jac, so I'm asking you to do one more thing for the game to keep it from following in the footsteps of so many other sports that are now mere shadows of what they once were.

And what is this herculean task I would give you? Figure out how to teach the average Joe and Jane how to play this game competently. Actually, that's too much to ask so I'll downsize the task, just figure out a way to teach us how to make decent full swings. If the average golfer could feel good about making a decent swing, I think he or she would learn to putt, chip and pitch on his own. I see golfer after golfer giving up the game because they can't make consistently decent contact on a full swing, even after years of playing and lessons.

Jack, you've shown that besides your prodigious playing ability, you understand so much about every aspect of the game. So who better to take on this challenge. And you'll give Tiger something to think about. Playing at the highest level is great, but can it compete with teaching at the highest level. You'd be giving the gift of this wonderful game to millions and help this sport move off it's now stagnant dime. You'd also ensure that there would be plenty of players for the golf courses you've designed. Right now, that's not a given since the sport hasn't grown its base in at least 20 years, yet new courses are being turned out faster than pizzas.

Jack, you've got the knowledge, the drive and the resources to take on golf's greatest challenge, one that's more difficult by a factor of 100 than matching Bobby Jone's Grand Slam, namely teach us poor amateur schmucks how to make a simple, effective and repetitive golf swing. Thanks, Jack - you're the greatest!

Best of Times and Worst of Times For The FedEx Cup

Tiger wins the FedEx Cup in grand style. What could be better for Tom Finchem, the PGA and Federal Express than to have the best player in the game win the inaugural competition? That takes care of the best of times. Now what about the worst of times?

First, the scoring system was of the wrong magnitude. As many times as the commentators tried to get you excited about what-if scenarios, it was still ho hum. Who can keep track or get excited about a scoring system that has tens and hundreds of thousands of points? We like small numbers for our sports.

Second, it's too much golf for one trophy. The top pros care about the Majors, everything else is a 'nice to have' not a 'must have'. The season already wears them out. And this time of year golf has to compete with the NFL and Major League Baseball. Like every pro sport in the last 50 years where a league president comes along who thinks he'll earn his legacy by extending the season, Finchem figures that more of a good thing is even better. Only if you have another major, but the problem is you can't just declare something important and have it be so. Others have tried and it didn't work for them either.

Third, Tiger isn't going to play in it next year. No, he didn't tell me that, but think about it for a moment. The tournament didn't live up to the hype. He's already won it. Next year there is the Ryder Cup to take even more out of him. And his daughter will be one year old and with Tiger's dedication to family he'll have all the more reason to skip it. He'll simply tell the PGA he's tired and banged up, needs to spend time at home and why not let someone else have a chance to win it anyway.

And there's another problem for the current FedEx format, namely a four tournament in a row competition plays into the hands of the world's best golfer. Other players get hot but it lasts only a tournament. Who's going to stay with Tiger over 288 holes? At this point, no one. Right now the rest of the pack hopes they can steal the occassional 72 hole tournament from him when he isn't looking, anything beyond that would be a miracle. Look at poor Phil, who you can argue is the next best golfer at the moment. He finally beats Tiger in a tourament on the last day, acts like he's got Tiger in the palm of his hand and can, therefore, skip Chicago and then is so far behind he's written out of the script after Day 1 at Eastlake.

The only hope for the FedEx is to rework the format. Even then it's going to be tough to make this work out. Here's my advice to the committee that will evaluate this. Whatever you come up with, run it by Tiger and see if he likes it. If he does, you can guarantee that the rest will follow. If he doesn't, then go back to the drawing board until you get it right.

Key To Hitting Down On Your Irons

For a full swing shot, I think hitting irons is the most difficult for the average amateur. There's something more natural about sweeping a fairway wood or hitting up with a driver. Good iron play demands that you trap the ball between the clubface and the turf. In other words you've got to hit down on the ball, which may be counter-intuitive, but it's also one of the most written golf instructions. So how does the average player learn this important technique?

Like many amateurs, I've struggled with consistently hitting down on my irons. Sometimes I blame it on too much practice on practice mats stuck on top of concrete, or playing munis that haven't seen rain for two months. But that's an excuse. When I do get a chance to play on a well manicured track, I still have trouble.

I've come to the conclusion that the biggest problem with hitting down on the ball is losing your spinal tilt. Change this critical piece before or at impact and it's impossible to hit down. You'll end up picking the ball at best or, worst, hitting it thin or fact. And you'll never get the trajectory or distance you should.

So how do you insure that you keep your tilt? As we all know, these things you can't just will, otherwise we'd all be scratch players. Sometimes you have to find another piece in the chain, that you can control and that ends up forcing the thing you're really trying to accomplish - in this case keeping your spinal tilt. I've discovered something that works for me and maybe will work for you too.

I've been concentrating on the palm of my right hand as it approaches the ball at impact, but before the wrist cock is released or the wrists rolled. When the hands approach the ball and the club face is about waist high with the toe pointing skyward and the shaft parallel to the target line, if the palm is facing directly at someone standing across from me and not tilted toward the sky at all, then my spine angle is likely to be correct. Try holding this angle for yourself and you'll see what I mean. If you change your spinal tilt it ends up affecting the position of your palm, because of the way the hand and arm are connected to the torso.

Try a swing in slow, slow motion. If your right palm is facing out as described above and not tilted at all upwards, where is your spine? Conversely if you tilt your palm slightly skyward you lose spinal tilt. To keep the palm of the right hand in the position described is not easy, you really have to stay down. You'll also get the feeling of 'covering the ball' at impact, something you've probably read about numerous times but, maybe, haven't understood.

This isn't a cure-all. You still have to swing on the right path, transfer weight, etc. But I believe it's absolutely necessary to staying down. It won't hurt your wood play either. Happy Golfing!

Can Clubs Make You A Better Player?

Not all clubs are created equal. Could Tiger use your clubs and shoot par - sure! But he can do better with his own clubs. And think of the pros that have switched clubs, ruined their game, and had to come running back to their old sponsor.

Of course this doesn't mean that new clubs will fix your slice or suddenly have you hitting down on your iron shots. Probably most of how you hit the ball has to do with the quality of your swing. But there is still enough variation beyond that to make club selection important. Certain types of clubs are better for certain types of games. If you are a 20 handicapper, you're not going to play better golf if you suddenly find Tiger's clubs in your car. If you're not hitting the center of your irons 9 times out of 10, then a perimeter weighted cavity back club is going to help.

And then there's the mystique of a club - how it looks to your eye, feels in your hands and whether it inspires confidence. Up until yesterday I have been playing the last 7 years with custom Ping I3 blades. The custom being an inch and a quarter longer, a bit more upright and oversize grips. I traded them in Sunday for a new set of Cleveland CG4 Tours with stiff True Temmper Actionlite shafts.

Of course I had to play them the same day. Never even went to the driving range. I LOVE them. I'd sleep with them except that my wife would make me and the golf bag use the couch. Are the CG4 Tours better than the Ping I3's? Darned if I know. I only know they're better for me. The again maybe it's just the fact that they're new and shiny.

I've got to add that the new clubs are not custom, they're straight off the rack. Not sure if I'll lengthen them or have the lie checked. I may change the grips, but even that's not a given. For now, I'm enjoying them too much just the way they are.

Perfect Your Swing With Position Practice

I can't tell you what the right way is to swing a golf club. I'm not a teaching pro and I haven't written any books on the subject. I'm not even a scratch golfer. I probably have 25 'how to' books in my own library, most of which I've been through numerous times. And God only knows how many 'how to' articles I've read in golf magazines over the years. BUT, I do have something of value to pass along - how to ingrain what you know.

First, you've got to come to grips with the basics of the swing via some means; a teaching pro, your scratch playing buddy, a book - something. From this you need to take away where the various parts of your body should be at: (1) address, (2) 90's into the backswing, (3) the top of the backswing, (4) 90 degrees into the downswing, (5) at contact with the ball, (6) 90 degrees past contact and (7) completion of your swing. I know this is a lot to ask of you, but you've got to get these right.

My advice pertains with what to do with this information. Practice holding these 7 positions every day for a few minutes in the backyard or in the house if the ceilings are high enough. Hold each position for a second or two. Your body will learn where it's supposed to be if you keep repeating the positions. So all you have to do is to figure out what they are. Good Luck

And here's the best tip I've had in the last month. It's from Tiger Woods website (www.tigerwoods.com under the Tips category). Hit your pitch shots with your chest! Not literally of course, but feel like it's your chest that's driving your arms and ultimately the club head. If you do this you won't quit on the swing and decelerate - the kiss of death. Thank you Tiger, I've saved myself a lot of strokes in the last month.

Daly's PGA Strategy

A lot has been written about John Daly's approach to this year's U.S. PGA Championship as well as his approach to golf in general. John very rarely takes the high road. He goes with what he feels, which is often high risk and low reward at best. Needless to say, the average PGA pro doesn't include overdosing on caffeine and nicotine in 100 degree August weather as part of his Southern Hills game plan. At the beginning of the week, most of them probably even chose practicing over gambling as their warm-up for Thursday's first round.

So, is John Daly out of his mind? Or more to the point, is his approach to trying to win a major wrong for him? Perhaps we can get some insight by looking at how Arnold Palmer played in his prime. Arny was a risk taker for sure. In many ways this is what appealed most to his legions of golf fans around the world. Arny was always 'charging' and making 'trouble shots' from impossible places often because he had just tried something foolhardy by anyone else's standards. In more than one tournament he tried to drive short par fours when the 'smart' play was iron of the tee for a routine par. Too often his strategy ended up in bogey golf. Many analysts have written that he could have won a lot more tournaments if he had been a bit more conservative.

When asked about this, Arny replied that risk-taking was his nature and what made golf interesting and fun for him. He concluded that if he'd been forced to play conservatively he never would have stuck with the game. I believe this speaks volumes about why players approach the game differently. As crazy as John Daly's approach to golf may be for the average pro, it may be what's right for him because it's the only way he finds the game challenging and exciting enough to keep his attention. Something to think about the next time you watch big Big John try to carry his drive 320 yards over a hazard when the other guys all lay up.

‘ESPN on ABC’ British Open Coverage

I don’t care how many media names are linked together, the ‘ESPN on ABC’ coverage of the British Open was poor. I’ve already talked about too many commercials so I won’t belabor that point. I’ve already talked about not telling the story, not selling the excitement, so I won’t go there, but what about showing a few shots from more than the top two tournament leaders and Tiger. For example, Mike Weir started Sunday just off the lead, but I don’t think there was more than one shot of him during all of Saturday. And where was Romero? Until his back nine on Sunday I didn’t even know he existed. Most golf fans are interested in more than just the two low scorers. I know it’s hard to keep a storyline going on 8 or 10 golfers at a time, but isn’t that what top coverage is supposed to provide. It’s not rocket science, if you had fewer commercials you could show more golf. Of course we all know that golf, like most things in life, is about the bottom line. Whoever is willing to pay the most earns the right to provide the coverage, regardless of whether they can do it best. Imagine building skyscrapers or bridges based only on the low bid.

However, what irked me the most was the interview with Jean Van de Velde. First, most everything on TV these days is focused on human failure. Producers have decided that no one in their right mind wants to hear about success. Golf coverage, in general, seems to be a bunch of commentators just waiting for the next golfer to choke. Success is under-played while failure is played up and repeated until you’re ready to swear off pop culture altogether.

But I digress. How dare the interviewer try to browbeat the seriously ill Jean Van de Velde into some kind of complete emotional breakdown. Talk about poor decision making, the producer of that piece ought to be enshrined in a prominent place in the hall of shame. Monsieur Van de Velde very clearly and graciously described his feelings then and now. This, however, wasn’t enough for the producers. I felt they wouldn’t be satisfied until the guy committed seppuku on screen. Adding further to the aggravation, they had to show footage of his collapse at least 5 different times on Sunday. ESPN or ABC or whoever you are, we get the picture, we know the story but this is now and that was then. Show us the live coverage, build the drama, explain the game, use the Swing Cam (or whatever it’s called), keep the commercials down and let us enjoy the terrific competition. You might also want to teach your commentators that what they don’t say is as important as what they do say. Great jazz artists discover this as they mature. The idea that ‘dead air’ is such a terrible thing has really made coverage almost unbearable at times. If it wasn’t one of the majors I would have turned it off!

One more thing for the commentators – you don’t have to pretend you know which way every putt is going to break. It doesn’t really add anything and we can all see the results and judge for ourselves. If we didn’t have to worry about line and speed, every putt would go in. We get it – don’t browbeat us! Telling us that there’s a big ridge across the green or that a put has about a dramatic break is a help because it helps paint the picture. Telling us your guess that a putt is going to break an inch left or right adds nothing.