Golf Life Coach

Golf Club: Partner-Partner, Finals Recap

hoser — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 02:01:28 +0000

It’s been several months since I last posted. I recently started a new job, and I remember now how work can get in the way of golf and life. Still, I wanted to make sure that the saga of the Partner-Partner was shared, as it was quite a day.

We luckily made it to the finals, going extra holes against a 20 handicapper with a crazy hot putter. The finals were against Zone and Coach, who are 2 great guys, and 2 pressure putters. I figured we had nothing to lose, and somehow open up Par - Birdie - Par - Par, giving us a 3 hole lead. At this point, I figured things were going well and I felt good about my game. Probably too good. The golf gods giveth, and they taketh away. They took it away. I got too confidant and lost the swing for a bit. My partner, Tom, was able to hold them off for a bit. Zone somehow bounced a ball out of the creek on 7 onto the green. C’mon! The rest was kind of a blur until the back 9. Match got tight, and we were only up one going into 16. Tom hits long over the green, and I hit to maybe 15 feet. At this point, the putter is questionable (too many pressure putts over the summer - had to switch to long putter afterwards). I say to myself, screw it, just hit the putt, and somehow got a winder to go int for bird. 2 up. We’d need it. 17 is a nightmare for both Tom and I normally, and death under pressure. Both in the water, lose hole to a par. Go to 18, 1 up. Hit a drive, and approach on. Just need to 2 putt from 20 feet to win. Hit the first putt only 12 feet! Hands are a bit shaky. Hit the second, never a chance. Ugh. Extra holes again.

On the 19th hole, I have to punch out after my tee shot, and leave a 8 footer for par. Tom is in the left, greenside bunker in 2, and Zone is just short of the green in 2. Zone is a great chipper, but somehow ended up hitting it too hard and leaving a 5 foot downhill putt. Tom is in the bunker he was in earlier in the day (he thinned it out of there twice). He hits the best bunker shot under pressure since Tom Watson. Leaves himself 2 feet uphill. I miss (of course). Zone misses. Tom makes. Championhip.

Golf Tournament: 2009 Solheim Cup Observations

hoser — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 23:40:33 +0000

The Solheim Cup was a great success…amazing energy, 2 evenly matched teams, and all full of people that truly appreciated the opportunity to play in such a prestigious event.

- Christie Kerr has an amazing putting stroke. If Sergio or Vijay had that stroke, both would have more tournaments and majors. Guaranteed.
- You can think what you want about Christina Kim, but that is a person whom I’d want on my team. She was fiery, respectful, and fully engaged.
- I like Paula Creamer. She can lead the LPGA for the next decade if she can bring that play to the course every week.
- The US should play South Korea next. That would be a great match. Play it there, let these women show us what they are made of.

Golf Tournament: 2009 PGA Championship

hoser — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 23:36:19 +0000

Y. E. Yang won the PGA, doing what no other professional golfer has ever done in taking the lead from Tiger. Amazing accomplishment to hit those shots in that situation. His English may not be great, but you better believe that he was well aware of the situation, time, and place. It turns out that he was a weightlifter in his younger days, same as KJ Choi. I wonder if that aspiration is common in Korea. More importantly, it amazing to think about the mental strength of a weightlifter who may have more effort / pressure in a shorter time than a golfer and golf swing. Amazing.

Golf Club: Partner-Partner, Semi-final Recap

hoser — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 01:50:23 +0000

Well, the next round, which was the semi-final round or Final 4, was even more interesting than the great escape of round 1. My partner, Tom, actually got a full night of sleep, so already I figured we’d be better off than the previous round. I was worried about this upcoming match because the 2 guys were playing were 19s on the course, meaning that they got strokes on every par 3. If you’ve even played someone who got a stroke on a par 3, you know that the odds are stacked against you. To make it worse, Tom got strokes on every par 3 except for 1, #17. In my mind, I’m thinking we need to be up by at least 1 going into 17. So, we play the match, and it’s played to a standstill on the front 9. I’m thinking that we only have 6 holes to get at least 1 up. I don’t tell Tom, because I knew he would tell me that I’m thinking too far ahead. #10 tee shots started off well, but little did we know that one of our opponents, Joe, was about to go on a tear. He went ahead and shot a back 9 38, getting up and down from 100 yds like it was nothing. Joe got a long putter this year, and he is deadly with it. I ended up buying a long putter after watching that. Back to the match, Tom and I ham and egg’d it, and we barely kept up with Joe. Just like I predicted, we came to 17 all square. Joe and his partner hit first, and put it on the green, easy two putt range. Not good. Tom and I had to go pin seeking since a Net birdie was all but assured. Of course, the flag was on the short side, and Tom ended up in the creek while I ended up behind the hazard line in the rocks. 1 down, 1 to play. Not good. So, after the tee balls on 18, we were in trouble. I was under a tree, Tom was chipping out of the woods. Tom and I looked at my ball, and it wasn’t that bad a lie. Only issue was the situation of the match. I was choosing between 8 or 9 iron, and surprised myself by picking the 8. told myself, good rhythm, don’t worry about where it goes. Hit it, lost sight of it. I knew I hit it well, but not sure about the distance. Ended up 8 ft from the flag. Whew. A gimme par later, and extra holes again. On the 19th, I had a 4 footer to win it. Started it outside the cup, never give up the cup from that close. On to the 20th. On this hole, I ended up hitting a good shot in front of the drinking crowd that started to gather. The rest of the hole was a blur as I was trying to not think about the match, and just hit good shots. Next thing I knew, I had a 3 footer for par, but the other guys were in with double, so a gimme win. Funny how pressure works when you’re playing with house money. On to the finals…

Golf Joke: Playing Golf with Stevie Wonder

hoser — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 00:41:31 +0000

Not too tasteless…funny. Apologies in advance to Mr. Woods and Mr. Wonder.

***

Stevie Wonder and Tiger Woods are in a bar. Tiger turns to Stevie and says, ‘How’s the singing career going?’

Stevie replies, ‘Not too bad. How’s the golf?’

Woods replies, ‘Not too bad, I’ve had some problems with my swing, but I think I’ve got that right, now.’

Stevie says, ‘I always find that when my swing goes wrong, I need to stop playing for a while and not think about it. Then, the next time I play, it seems to be all right.’

Tiger says, ‘You play GOLF?’

Stevie says, ‘Yes, I’ve been playing for years’.

Tiger says, ‘But — you’re blind! How can you play golf if you can’t see?’

Stevie Wonder replies, ‘Well, I get my caddy to stand in the middle of the fairway and call to me. I listen for the sound of his voice and play the ball towards him. Then, when I get to where the ball lands, the caddy moves to the green or farther down the fairway and again I play the ball towards his voice.’

‘But, how do you putt?’ asks Tiger

‘Well’, says Stevie, ‘I get my caddy to lean down in front of the hole and call to me with his head on the ground and I just play the ball towards his voice.’

Tiger asks, ‘What’s your handicap?’

Stevie says, ‘Well, actually — I’m a scratch golfer.’

Woods, incredulous, says to Stevie, ‘We’ve got to play a round sometime.’

Stevie replies, ‘Well, people don’t take me seriously, so I only play for money, and never play for less than $10,000 a hole. That a problem?’

Woods thinks about it and says, ‘ I can afford that, OK, I’m game for that. $10,000 a hole is fine with me. When would you like to play?’

Stevie Wonder says, ‘Pick a night’

Golf Thoughts: Results from Round 1 of the Member:Member Tournament

hoser — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 14:12:02 +0000

Well, my partner, Tom, and I competed in our club’s Member:Member tournament. This was a team competition, best ball, with full handicaps as of the beginning of July handicaps. It is in a single elimination bracket format, seeded by team aggregate course handicaps.

What a stressful tournament. After working all night and not sleeping, Tom was ready to go on the first day. We managed to play ourselves to dormi down, with 3 holes left. Strategically, probably not the best place to be. I felt I was playing well, but had some issues trusting my new swing. I have been working on tempo and rhythm, and trusting it under pressure. Not the best environment for it, as I noticed that my swing shortens under pressure, and I don’t have a way to get through that yet. But, it’s all I had, so I played it. Somehow, we won 16, got extremely lucky on 17, and played well on 18. Tom woke up on 18 and won it with a par. Winning in that manner gave us the sense of playing the rest of the event with house money, lowering the overall pressure. More from the next round in a bit.

Golf Tournaments: British Open Thoughts

hoser — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 14:45:56 +0000

Well, the storybook ending of Tom Watson winning at 59 years of age did not come to be. I wish it did. It did not, and we should focus on what happened, as with any golf tournament. For Cink, he made birdies on the back 9 on a major championship Sunday, including 18 to eventually force the playoff. He played the 4 playoff holes in 2 under par. Guy does that, regardless of what his name is, he is a great champion. If the other guy was, say, Lee Westwood, today, we would be talking about one of the greatest finishes in Open Championship history. Instead, we are sad that our hero, Tom Watson, did not win. All you ask for is a putt to win. Tom had that. Sometimes they go in, sometimes they don’t. The ball and the hole don’t know who hits the putt. I wish they did.

http://www.golf.com/golf/tours_news/article/0,28136,1911642,00.html

Random Thoughts: BMW Z4 is for real…

hoser — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 14:00:41 +0000

The new BMW Z4 is for real. My wife had attended the 2009 Northeast Bimmerfest @ Paul Miller BMW. She is a BMW enthusiast with an award winning 2001 BMW 330ci. I can barely drive manual. Her car is one of her passions, and I support her in this. It’s important in a relationship to understand what are must haves to the other person, and make sure that those things are supported. Hundreds of great cars from hundreds of enthusiasts. The great thing was that the showroom was open, and in the corner was the 2009 Z4. Rest assured, the trunk can fit 1 set of sticks. The rest of the car is pure fun. The roof is low, and the car is low, and the sports feel is high.

Golf Swing Thoughts: Tempo is everything!

hoser — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 13:58:36 +0000

Tempo, rhythm, sequencing. Whatever you call it, it is the most important thing in playing good golf. I recently had an annual tournament at my club, where my friend Tom and I were defending champions. The tournament format is great; it’s 2 days, and each 9 is played in a different format. First day is Best Ball and Alternate Shot, second day is Scramble and Aggregate. Tom and I were in good shape after the first day, but I could feel tension in my swing. During the scramble, we were grinding just to make pars, and I could feel even more tension and worse tempo. Unfortunately, from my younger day playing more active sports, I tried harder, meaning I swung harder. This made things worse. By the time we hit the Aggregate 9, I knew I didn’t have a swing. I missed a 1.5 foot putt on the first hole for bogey, and things went south from there. After that disaster, I returned to the course determined to find my swing again. Vinnie, our pro, has been on me about rhythm and swinging too hard for a long time. I was lucky enough to play a round with him, and I was amazed at a 72+ year old man was as long as he was with such a smooth swing. That did it. I was going to smooth myself out. I became a believer. I have been trying to stay fluid and commit to the shot. It’s been difficult since I have a tendency to swing hard, but good range time has helped. It’s also true on putts and distance control. Trust your rhythm. Make sure you can find it uder pressure. I’ve been shooting much better in some rounds, and I am sure consistency will come. Lesson learned, tempo is everything.

Golf Video: Phil’s backwards out of the bunker shot…

hoser — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 22:59:43 +0000

What do you get when you put a ton of natural talent, a 64 degree wedge, and great golf creativity? I guess you get Phil Mickelson with a shot that you’d never think was possible, you’d never try, and you’d never hit as close as this guy. Amazing, this guy is good.