How Interested in the FedEx Cup Are You?

Written by: Tony Korologos | Friday, September 5th, 2014
Categories: (British) Open Championship • PGA Tour • Pro Golf • Rory McIlory • Tiger Woods

This week’s BMW Championship marks the third of four events in the PGA Tour’s season ending FedEx Cup. The FedEx Cup is the PGA Tour “playoffs” which awards its winner a nice payout of $10,000,000 and $5,000,000 for second. The origination of this playoff series came as a result of the PGA Tour trying to entice the big named players to compete in late season events. This is an effort to keep fan interest (and of course revenue) up longer in the season. It has worked for the most part, but not as well as they’d hoped as many players still take an event off.

I find my interest in the FedEx Cup is not terribly high, perhaps slightly higher than an upper end Tour event like THE PLAYERS (always spell that in ALL CAPS, it is what they do). I may watch some of the final round of the Tour Championship out of curiosity to see who wins the big money and who chokes it away, but my interest is not near that of a major championship like the Masters, U.S. Open, or Open Championship.

Events

The Barclays
Deutsche Bank Championship
BMW Championship
TOUR Championship by Coca-Cola

I’m curious to know what your level of interest is. Does a player who has won the Cup mean anything more to you than one who has captured a regular Tour event? Can you name the player who won it last year, or perhaps the year before without searching in Google?

Played With a Golfer Cursed by the Yips – WOW

Written by: Tony Korologos | Thursday, September 4th, 2014
Categories: Golf • Hackers • Miscellaneous

Yesterday I was the guest of a relative at the swankiest private course in town. I get to play there perhaps once per year and always look forward to it. I don’t typically play well there and I’m not a big fan of the architecture of the course. Maybe if I played better there I’d be a fan of the course design, but that’s a discussion for another day.

My cart partner was a 2nd cousin, a solid 9-handicap who hits the ball quite well. Unfortunately this poor chap is cursed with the yips.

What is the yips?

From Wikipedia:

Yips or the yips is the apparent loss of fine motor skills without apparent explanation, in one of a number of different sports. The technical term is focal dystonia.

What this translates into for golf is the inability for the golfer to control the putter, especially on short putts.

It was very difficult to watch my 2nd cousin putt. Even if he was putting for birdie from five feet, he would three putt. The first putt would miss by a foot or so, and he would badly miss the one-footer. On one hole he actually double-hit a two foot putt. I’ve never seen anyone double-hit a putt and I hope I never see it again!

Eventually the group was giving him putts, saying “that’s good” in order to not have to watch him miss putts that were even under 10 inches.

He asked me for advice and the best I could come up with was to swing the putter with his shoulders, keeping the hands and wrists quiet. It seemed his hands and wrists would twerk, jerk, flip, and spazz out on those short putts. Either the advice didn’t work, or he chose not to try it during the round as the yips and putt problems lasted all day.

I thought perhaps I had the chip-yips because my short game is so bad. I realized that I don’t have the chip-yips after yesterday. I’m actually in control of my shots. I hit the chips and pitches solid and crisp, as I intend. My issue is not having a feel for distance control.

I feel bad for ANYONE who has the yips. This is the first time I have witnessed the yips. I’ve heard about it before, but seeing it in person left me (as they say in the UK) gobsmacked.

First Look (Pun Intended): SportRx Prescription Sports Eyewear

Written by: Tony Korologos | Wednesday, September 3rd, 2014
Categories: Golf Accessories • Golf Gear
Tags: Golf Sunglasses • SportRx

I’m near-sighted (not short sighted!). Objects farther away than about five feet start to get blurry for me. That means with the naked eye I can’t really track a golf ball’s flight much beyond 150 yards. In the 2-3 years since I got some transition lenses on two pairs Ray Ban glasses, I’ve been able to happily see the ball as far as 250 yards or more. The problem with those Ray Bans is that they’re not sporty, or designed for sports. I can see the edges of the glasses, and they’re not well suited for the visuals one encounters on the golf course with regards to contrast, definition, contours, and subtle details like reading greens.

Transition prescription sunglasses on Oakley frames by SportRx

Thanks to SportRx out of San Diego, I’ve recently put some real sports sunglasses into play with my custom prescription. I’ve been using them for the last few weeks during golf rounds, driving around town, and doing other outdoor activities like hiking. SportRX can fit popular brand named sunglasses like Oakley, adidas, Nike, Bolle, Smith and many others with prescription lenses. This is such a great thing. I can now have a sports style and performance but not compromise being able to see!

As an added bonus, these prescription Oakley sunglasses have lenses which transition. The lenses start as a lighter yellow and go to a dark brown in direct sunlight.

I’m still testing out the glasses and will post a full review soon.

First Round With the Monsta Golf Ball – Shot a Monsta Score

Written by: Tony Korologos | Tuesday, September 2nd, 2014
Categories: Golf Balls • Golf Gear
Tags: Golf Balls • Monsta Golf

Monsta Golf Balls

Boy am I thrilled to be able to play golf without wincing in pain on every shot. Eight days ago I got a cortisone shot on the right tennis elbow. Yesterday marked the first pain-free round I’ve had in 1.5 months.

Finally I had the chance to begin testing the new Monsta Golf balls, another premium golf ball offering from a small manufacturer. This one can certainly compete with the big boys in terms of feel, performance, and durability.

I had intended to take a snap of the Monsta ball I played with yesterday, but now I can’t find the damn thing! I played 18 holes with it, then lost it in my garage! You’ll have to take my word for it. The ball has almost NO sign of wear from 73 shots. Ok sure, I don’t typically scuff golf balls with my putter, but you get the point.

More testing to go before I can post my review but initial results and impressions are that this is a great golf ball. My +1 score of 73 would back that opinion up nicely.

What’s in the Bag (WITB) – River Oaks Club Champion Tony Korologos

Written by: Tony Korologos | Tuesday, September 2nd, 2014
Categories: Golf • Golf Accessories • Golf Apparel • Golf Balls • Golf Clubs • Golf Equipment • Golf Gear • Hackers • Miscellaneous
Tags: Golf Balls • golf clubs • Golf Equipment

By popular demand I’m posting the official “what’s in the bag” for my 2014 club championship at Sandy, Utah’s splendid River Oaks Golf Club. It took me a while to get the photo because I needed it to be “official,” thus having the Golf WRX watermark on it. The photogs at WRX are so busy shooting every golf club and golf bag on the planet and putting their watermarks on them, that it took me a while to get this photo. As you can see, this photo is true and authentic since it has that WRX watermark. Enough about high end photography and on to the meat of this journalistic brilliance.

I’m very happy to have won the 2014 club championship at River Oaks. I’ve been a member of the club for many years and won my first championship there in 2005. This year’s championship seemed to fall in my lap as the field was narrowed down to a few left standing, and I managed to outscore the closest competitor by 13 shots. Yes, 13 shots. In the land of bogeys, the par man is king.