Month: March 2013

Comparing the Old with the New

/ The Grateful Golfer / Leave a comment

Today, an article from The Unpolished Putter caught my attention.  It originally started on the subject of the top 16 golfers in the world and who could win a match play competition between them.  I will let you to read the article called Ben Hogan – An Insight Into A Legend for the results.  But this well written article sparked an idea in my mind about the comparison of the old with the new golfers.

When comparing old to new golfers it is important to keep in mind that it cannot be a straight comparison.  There are so many variables that it is almost impossible to derive a conclusive answer.  Here are some of the aspects that need to be taken in to account when trying to determine the greatest golfer of all time:

Clubs – the technology today is far better than 50 years ago.  Although Andrew Rice suggests that the actual club makes very little difference when the “sweet spot” is hit, the “sweet spot” is considerably larger now and thus clubs are more forgiving.

Ball – The golf ball  has changed significantly over the years.  Knetgolf.com provides the history of the golf ball and its composition is outline.  Technology in this area has out distance all other areas of golf.  The golf ball has been the single greatest advantage to the modern-day golfer.

Career Longevity – How successful was the player’s career?  How long did they play?  More importantly, what was his winning percentage?  This area can be a little tricky.  Today’s upward and mobile society allows players to compete in golf tournaments all over the world.  Players can move across the country in less than a day.  This is a huge advantage over golfers even 50 years ago.  Of course players must still win, but they also have more opportunities to be successful.

Image from: http://www.linkslifegolf.com/These are three areas that make the comparison between old and new golfers.  Regardless, players like Sam Snead, Ben Hogan, Bobby Jones, Harry Vardon, Francis Ouimet, Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Phil Mickelson, Sir Nick Faldo, Tiger Woods are all great golfers within their own right.  Is it really possible to compare them?

On a final note, most amateurs are not really influenced by these great golfers.  They are influenced by the person who introduces them to the game, a friend, local pro, or some person they randomly meet on the course.  For me it was my Dad, he introduced me to this great game, taught me etiquette  and showed me a few tricks!  Maybe these are people are the greatest players of all time, but never won a Major!

I am a grateful golfer.  See you on the links!

/ The Grateful Golfer / Leave a comment

This post by DimpleHead is hilarious. It is amazing how some trends get started.

joshlabell's avatarDimpleHead

Even in 2013 I know that some of my readers are not quite as social media savvy as others, and that’s ok, this is a judgement-free zone. But if this story doesn’t make you go and create a Twitter account, I doubt anything ever will.

It all started Thursday, March 28 at about 3pm when Deadspin.com posted this photo of Jason Dufner:

Apparently Duf was spending time at a children’s charity in Dallas as the defending champion of the HP Byron Nelson Classic.

Then Dufner’s fellow tour pro, Keegan Bradley tweeted the image. And the snowball was on its way. Here now is a collection of other tour pros and golf personalities “Dufnering”.

At this point, Keegan Bradley, the man who called our attention to the original photo tweeted: “Didnt even watch the basketball game was only worried about #dufnering Clearly more important” Clearly, Mr. Bradley has his…

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Are You Ready?

/ The Grateful Golfer / 6 Comments

Are you ready for golf season?  Are you ready physically?  Are you ready mentally? Are you ready with the right equipment?  Are you ready?  Are you ready?  Are you ready?

As the last of the snow leaves northern Canada, many golfers are frantically running around asking the these questions over and over.  The anticipation of playing soon is raising their anxiety level because after 5 months putting on their carpet, it will soon be time to hit the links.

Preparing for a golf season is something unique to each player.  Everyone has different ideas on how their season will unfold; they have dreams of the elusive hole-in-one; breaking 100 or 90 or 80 or even 70; or winning their local club championship (or flight).  So how does someone prepare for success in the upcoming season?

Some focus on fitness.  At Golfsmith.com, Brian Hill from Demand Media suggests that working on your upper body, core, lower body and flexibility is the way ahead. Callaway Director of Fitting and Instruction, Randy Peterson, talks about looking after your equipment, starting early and working on your short game in the early stages of the season.  At mindbodygolf.com, Rick Williams, a PGA member, tells how he uses various tools to keep fit and flexible during the off-season.  All of these suggestions and hundreds more can help prepare you physically for the upcoming season.  Personally, I believe staying fit for golf is a year-round process, but everyone has to decide for him or herself what level of commitment they are willing to put forth.

However, is fitness the only area that needs preparation?  How about being mentally ready for the up coming season?  Mental preparation is as important as physical preparation to succeed in golf.  Napoeon Hill‘s famous quote:   What ever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve is so true for golf!”  So what exactly does all this mean?

Dreaming of success on the links gets everyone excited.  At golf-mental-game-coach.com  suggests that preparing for a round of golf (which can be applied to the season) each player should establish their rhythm, preview their round, and have a game plan.  These three points can be very important to lowering your score.  At the Heart of Golf, Rick Semple lays out an off-season process to use mental imagery that will prepare anyone for swinging the clubs successfully at the start of the season.

If you are like most golfers, all of this can be overwhelming.  There appears to be no right or wrong answer.  However, preparation can be boiled down to one simple concept: managing expectations.  That is it.

Managing one’s expectations is the basis to an awesome golf season.  Before the season starts it is helpful to establish a couple of goals.  Make them reasonable, but something you have to work at to achieve.  Think big and do not worry about the details; they will take care of themselves.

For example, this year’s goal is to break 80.  Start to focus on this idea.  Just quietly think about breaking 80.  Do not dwell on the details, but just mull it around for a little while.  Next ask what part of your game you should work on to achieve this goal; your swing, short game, off the tee, etc.  Once you have selected the focus area, break it down further.  For example, if you have a tendency to three putt, work on your lag putting.  Finally, write down what you have been thinking.

Go through this process a couple of times.  After a short while, a realistic game plan for the season will unfold.  You will have managed your golf expectations, written it down (thus making it real) and reduced the mental anguish not changing anything, but expecting different results.

Golf is fun.  Each player has different goals, expectations, and aspirations. Regardless, golf is meant to be enjoyed.  How are you managing your expectations this year?

I am a grateful golfer!  See you on the links!

Golfing Superstitions

/ The Grateful Golfer / 6 Comments

Superstitions are a strange anomaly for golfers.  Regardless of your handicap, every golfer has a superstition or two.  They are all based around “luck” that we have no control over.  I would suggest that superstitions are more about our mental state and how we approach our round.  It is impossible to tell a person that when you spin around three times, jump up and down with your arms in the air, or turn your hat around after a birdie really will not help their game.  Regardless of what we say, superstitions are part of the game of golf – like it or not!

The Bleacher Report has a list of superstitions like:

  • Never use a red tee during your round of golf
  • Never mark your ball with any coin with a smaller denomination than a quarter
  • Never wash your ball if you are having an exceptional round
  • Carry a lucky club in your bag

These are just a few with many others.  Unfortunately, all these acts of craziness are created, stored and retrieved in 6 inches of real estate – the space between our ears.

better-golf-by-putting-better.com has an interesting article on superstition and is worth a read.  The article outlines may superstitions held by pros such as:  “Some golfers will only play with numbers one and three. Ernie Els regards the number two as unlucky and believes that there is only one birdie in each ball. South African Retief Goosen uses a ball with number four in the first round of the tournament counting down to number one in the final round. Vijay Singh goes in the opposite order.”  And we thought we were crazy!

Superstitions can be a positive or a negative.  I have several superstitions myself, but for the most part I try not to let them overrule my common sense.  For this, I am a grateful golfer.

So what do you think, do superstitions influence your game or not?

Where is Rory?

/ The Grateful Golfer / 2 Comments

As Tiger Woods won for the eighth time at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and vaulted to the top of the world rankings….where was Rory McIlroy?  One would figure that he would want to defend his world ranking, but I guess not.  So where was Rory?

According to Yahoo Sports, Rory was spending time with is girl friend in Miami.  Additionally, he was practicing at the Miami Municipal Golf Course hitting balls on the range.  He was cool and relaxed keeping his game tuned for next week.

Golfing Dweeb brought up some great points about journey-men golfers who have to grind it out from week to week.  He brings up points about how difficult it is mentally and how demanding it can be on your personal life.  Maybe Rory is playing select tournaments to make sure he has a well round life that he will always enjoy….everyone knows he has the talent to pick and choose.  Rory will have two-week rest (according to his website, he was not going to play at Arnie’s tournament anyway) before this weekends Shell Huston Open – will he be fresh or rusty?  I guess time will tell.

The question of the day is:  Is Rory McIlory doing the right thing by playing a bit less and being fresh for all the tournaments he enters?