It's Not The Ball, It's The Swing

I'm going to wave this story in the face of one of my golfing buddies, who we'll call Mr. High-and-Mighty Titleist:

MAMARONECK, N.Y., June 12 -- Phil Mickelson has played Winged Foot, site of the 106th U.S. Open, at least 10 times over the past six weeks as he attempts to win his third straight major championship.

During one of those practice rounds, his longtime caddie, Jim "Bones" Mackay, walked up to one club member and wondered what the U.S. Golf Association was going to do about all the lost balls still buried in the strangling rough.

"We kept finding all these Precepts and Top-Flites everywhere," Mackay said on Monday. "It's so thick, you take a step and you find another golf ball."..

Top-Flites! At storied Winged Foot!

I've played Top Flites regularly and right now I'm playing something even cheaper, which I'll save for another post. Yes, cheaper than a Top Flite and quite good. Ah, but you say, look at your scores--of course you play cheap balls, because don't take this personally but you suck. I don't take it personally. But my blowups aren't because of the ball I play--they're either from erratic short work or oddly unreliable woods (the latter used to be automatic safe plays). I'm coming around, and as I hover just above 100 I'm reportedly in the middle range of most recreation golfers. And for most of those guys, frankly the difference between a Top Flite XL or a Titleist is how much money they'll have left over for beer.

The best ball you can play is this: The same one all the time.