Washington Golf Alert

Tim Finchem Hates Washington

A visceral, red-hot hatred. Why? Not clear. But it's the best reason I can come up with for his trashing of PGA golf in Greater DC.

Here's an update on the soon-to-be-former Booz-Allen, from AP in USA Today:

... The uneasy undertone stems from the PGA Tour's decision to move the tournament from the spring to the third weekend in September starting in 2007, offering a regular but less prestigious spot on the calendar. Booz Allen Hamilton chairman Ralph Shrader, feeling his company couldn't have the "world-class event" it wanted in the fall, decided not to renew the sponsorship contract.

Booz Allen's three-year deal expires with this year's tournament, June 22-25, leaving in limbo the tour's only stop in the Washington, D.C., area. ...

Drawing a marquee field in September will also have its challenges. Skinner expects the tournament to be played the week after the Presidents Cup and Ryder Cup in alternate years, which might appeal to top players who didn't qualify for those team events. Also, Skinner said the PGA Tour is putting together "a package of incentives to get players to play in the fall," although he didn't have details....

Let's just call it the Disgruntled Loser's Cup and be done with it.  We'll have to bribe players to appear at the non-beloved Avenel so they can be watched on cable goliath The Golf Channel while begging the Redskins to schedule an away game. Thanks Tim!

Paging Tin Cup

Oh, how I love The Golf Channel's infomercials. Today they're showing an alarming system backed by Ernie Els, of which the Rockroller is just one tiny part.

Again With The Golf Ball

Last time I heard this mentioned it was from Jack Nicklaus; now the New Zealand Herald runs a story with Colin Montgomerie talking about changing golf balls to rein in long hitters:

...Eight-time European No 1 Montgomerie was among several players at the BMW Championship to applaud the changes masterminded by Els [at Wentworth].

 

But he said golf's rulemakers had to take a step back and provide more long-term solutions to thwart the continued advance in golf club technology which helps players power the ball vast distances.

 

"We are reaching a point where a decision has to be made," Montgomerie said.

 

"We cannot keep spending money using new land. We don't have to, we have an option. We can change the ball.

 

"I have said it for years and I'm not alone in my view."...

Monty talks about a larger golf ball and one with fewer dimples. Larger will help--not so long ago, The Royal and Ancient had a smaller ball than the USGA, and all things being equal the smaller one flew farther.

"Never" is a big word, but I don't see Monty's or Jack's revisions happening any time soon. There's such a deep link between golf technology and marketing..good luck with that.

Technorati Profile

Memorial Day 2006

Today, it's about this.

Field Notes: Virginia Oaks

Virginia Oaks in Gainesville, Va., is an upper-middle course in Greater Washington terms--a cut above the Brambletons and Algonkians of the world, even though it snakes through a high-end housing development, but not up to the crazed heights of a Renditions or Raspberry Falls. In sections it's exceptionally hilly, and most recreational golfers will want to ride even when carts are not required (weekends before 2 p.m.). Don't be fooled by the first hole, a par 4 whose pan is mainly level and looks a bit cramped, snaking just enough around the left to obscure a clear view of the green from the tee. Yes, there are some blind shots throughout the 18 holes, but not to an extreme degree (and I hate blind shots). Virginia Oaks has some beautiful vistas including glimpses of Lake Manassas and the gazillionaire's Robert Trent Jones course. Some of the fairways are rippled with moguls and the greens are varied, devilish, and completely fair. The course was in terrific shape the day I played except for some irrigation or drainage work on the last third of the 18th fairway. Naturally this was the only hole where I managed par. A fairway hit, a green in regulation, two putts---who knew.

The photo does not convey the full terror of the par-5 10th, which starts with a blind shot over a dramatic sloping, curving fairway--I snapped it with the tee well behind me, recovering from the shock of having found my ball exactly where I aimed it. The "S" formed by this hole snakes uphill to the left toward the green. It's a roller-coaster ride, but it's also the kind of hole that makes a lot more sense the second time you play it.

My round made more sense the second nine that I played--and as I said above, I finally found a par. I use FairwayFiles.com for the stats.

'This Isn't Social Golf'

So, like, back off. The quote is from local amateur Pat Tallent in a Washington Post brief about the Metropolitan Mid-Amateur, which he won at the Army-Navy Country Club. Tallent is a 52-year-old--maybe's there hope for me yet.

Tallent sealed victory on the last hole by hitting a recovery shot out of the rough from 175 yards to within four feet of the pin, then two-putted for par.

No. There isn't.

Washington Golfer's Toolbox

Local resources include:

Swing, The Washington Post's online guide. Interactive map with local courses, feature articles, equipment reviews, tons of content.

Waggle.com, a website filled with regional golfing resources including hundreds of course reviews and updates on local events.

The Washington Post Sports section on Mondays. Buy the hard-copy edition and most Mondays you'll find golf course discounts. I haven't done a survey, but tragically, most seem to be for weekdays. Not always though--I saw a recent Bowling Green (Front Royal, Va.) discount for $25 on weekends after 1 p.m., compared to the usual $39.

Pros 'N Hackers magazine. This is a good quirky regular-Joe publication on its own merits, but I'll bet most of us subscribe to get the discounts offered every issue. I'm counting 21 discount coupons in the May, 2006 edition. The best deals are for weekday play, but many are for weekend afternoons. One random example: As of this post the excellent inland links course Bristow Manor, outside Manassas, charges $65 a round on Saturday and Sunday mornings; the Pros N' Hackers discount was for $35 anytime Monday through Thursday and Friday, Saturday and Sunday after 1 p.m. Other discounts are available when you subscribe. This year I chose the $49.99 option, which included a round "any day, any time" at the new Laurel Hill in Lorton. That's a $79 round during prime time weekends.  A similar deal, with a few restrictions but still usable on weekends, was offered as of post time for Renditions in Davidsonville, Md., which normally peaks at $89 a round. You can also pay $20, forget those deals, and just get the regular monthly discounts. Nine issues a year. You'll find free copies, absent all the discounts, available at many local driving ranges and courses.

GolfStyles Washington is a higher-end publication that's part of a chain. If you like reading about luxury golf vacations and the downside of country club memberships, this is the monthly for you. Well-edited with some useful directories and relentless updates on its "Solstice Survival" 54-hole competitions. Free subscription.

SkyCaddie by SkyGolf. Why am I including a national product on this local list? Because SkyGolf, a GPS-based handheld device that maps distances to greens and hazards, has a ton of local tracks in its database. You can search that database without spending a dime. The unit costs around $349, and annual subscriptions run from $19.95 to $59.95 a year, depending on how many courses you want in your library (sorry--I mean Sky Vault. Kind of like Fort Knox, where you may need to go after paying for everything). I'm addicted to mine.

Golfwits is another mapper I've used. Plenty of local courses on their list too. They have both PDA- and downloadable hard-copy maps--print it out, cut it up, staple it together, stuff it in your pocket. Though not GPS-based, the hard-copy color maps I've used are visually easier to navigate than the adequate SkyCaddie display (other than the simple but very usable graphics for the greens, SkyCaddie hazard instructions are sometimes inscrutable). Even without digital readouts of your yardage, these are very useful aids, especially if you choose the option to mark 100-, 150-, and 200-yard arcs from the green. If you use the PDA software, you can compile a depressing complexity of stats on items like greens in regulation, sand saves, and lost golf balls "good" double-bogies.

TeeTimes.com Pay $26 a year and book times up to 14 days in advance. Biggest drawback: Limited courses in this area. On the Virginia side, as of May 25, 2006 you'ree limited to to Algonkian, Brambleton, Burke Lake, Forest Greens, Generals Ridge, Greendale, Jefferson District, Laurel Hill, Oak Marr, Pinecrest, Pohick Bay, and the two Twin Lakes courses (Lakes and Oaks). That's much better than nothing, but I count 67 courses in my own NoVa/DC/Maryland directory. I see nothing in Tee Times for the Disctrict of Columbia, and 11 courses in Maryland, but over towards Ocean City and the like. Other Virginia courses are available around Williamsburg. TeeTimes.com is in several other states, with a decent selection in the Pinehurst/Sandhills region and some in North Carolina's Outer Banks. There's a special section at TeeTimes for Northern Virginia courses, so pay attention when you sign up.

Singles Golf DC if you're, you know, single. Also known as the Washington, D.C. chapter of the American Singles Golf Association. I don't have any experience with them (yet), but judging from their current schedule they're very active with regular weekend and mid-week outings and clinics, a number of which are concluded with post-golf analysis at local watering holes.

'A Glorified Qualifying Event'

From WTNH in Connecticut, a brief about saving what used to be the Greater Hartford Open:

He says it's justice that the tournament has gained new life with a new sponsor -- St. Paul Travelers -- and a spot on the summer schedule beginning next year. He says he'll be back for this year's tournament next month in Cromwell.

For a while it looked as if Faxon would go down as the final defending champion in the popular event, which began in 1952 as the Insurance Open and evolved into the Greater Hartford Open.

But Buick announced earlier this year that it was pulling its sponsorship after this tournament. The PGA planned to make it part of the secondary "Fall Series" of tournaments, a glorified qualifying event for professionals still in need of a PGA exemption card.

Yep, and that's what the Washington DC area is looking at after this, the last year of the Booz-Allen. If local organizers manage to find new sponsorship, we won't even be part of the ludicrous Fedex Cup. The only thing separating the post-Booz Allen from the Nationwide Tour will be the prize money. Here's a summary from the PGA:

Once the FedEx Cup season concludes with THE TOUR Championship Presented by Coca-Cola, the TOUR will enter the Fall Series, featuring six to seven official money tournaments that will determine the remainder of the 125 players eligible for the next year's FedEx Cup. The entire series will be telecast on The Golf Channel.

Every single mind-numbing stroke--promise? 

That's PGA golf for you, folks--in two short years we go from Sergio Garcia winning at Congressional to The Home Shopping Channel cable TV.

In the fall.

Did somebody egg Tim Finchem's house or something?

Single-Axis Golf

I love fiddling with my swing, and though my scores suggest that's not a great idea it's one of the main reasons I enjoy this pastime. There is not one perfect way to swing; the clones turned out by most of today's swing schools are effective but so were Lee Trevino, Jim Thorpe, and Arnold Palmer. A modern swing coach witnessing their forms, especially those of Trevino and Thorpe, would pass out from shock, and some still do when they see Jim Furyk.

None of these guys uses a single-axis swing (Thorpe may be up to a quadruple-axis), but in the spirit of golf diversity I point you to the Single-Axis Golf site. There are separate sections on Natural Golf, the Ideal Mechanical Advantage, the Heard Super Swing, Big Grip Golf, Graves Golf, and the aptly named That Other Method. Photos, video clips, and a lively forum where a current discussion concerns a golfer who finally found a swing key that works after 35 years of experimenting. So according to that I've got about 25 years to go.

From that link, here's the tip:

On your backswing merely pull with the middle fingers of your right hand (right handed golfer) against the shaft / thumb of your left hand. What you are doing is creating the angle (90*+) of the clubshaft to the left arm and a flat left wrist. Try to feel the leverage of this pressure point creating pressure against the heel pad of the left hand. You may be able to work in a push of the left heel pad to really force the angle.
When I say "merely" I am understating, you "really" have to pull to create this leverage. (beads of sweat cascaded everywhere) The first few buckets, and in fact for the first few weeks, my right bicept was getting very tired. The straighter you can keep your left arm the better - tension seem to be everywhere- definitely no "loose" arms. (After six weeks of doing it, I can now achieve it without as much tension in the arms, in fact at times I can get pretty loose and more clubhead speed is appearant. but definitely work with tension first.)

As you swing down, do everything you can try to keep the tension and hence the angles and DO NOT RELEASE, let the whole arm triangle assembly sort of rotate down and around. Feels different, if not, you are not doing it properly.
Another visualization, when you pull against the club/thumb, feel as if you are forcing a straightening the left arm and never letting it relax.

Also, if you are not used to letting your left arm rotate through on the downswing, you may have to overcreate the sensation. Insure that the back of your left hand is in line with you left arm (flat), no cupping. I started with the feeling that - from the top of the back swing - the back of the left hand immediately feels like it's flat and facing the ground just off my right (back foot). This seems to force the right elbow into the the side (very nicely). If you then carry the whole assembly through impact, the angles will be maintained. DO NOT FEAR holding the angle for a seemingly ridiculous amount of time. And in order to hit the ball, you will find your body providing the necessary bending....

Yes. It's just that simple.

'I Made Seven Good Shots'

That's the great line from Annika Sorenstam, who was in contention at the Sybase Classic Sunday before a triple-bogey on a par 4 with an elevated green. It was one of those I can do that moments for recreational golfers, watching Sorenstam's ball roll back to her feet three consecutive times after trying to pitch onto the 9th's green. The Golf Channel ruined our sense of this golf calamity, speeding up the video in an attempt to be cute because reality was apparently too boring.

Anyway, cheers to Sorenstam, who did strike all seven shots on that hole very cleanly. Here's a link to a New York Times account of the contest, which rightly focuses on winner Lorena Ochoa. Ochoa is Mexican and reporter Lynn Zinser focuses a bit on the golfer's pride in representing her country on the tour. This is a bit much, however:

But as Ochoa has roared to the top of the Tour's money list, winning the Sybase Classic at Wykagyl Country Club on Sunday with a final-round 66 for a five-under-par 208, she has become impossible for the non-Spanish-speaking crowd to ignore.

Like no English-speakers following the LPGA have ever heard of Ochoa until now. Please.