I bring to you something you may never see again in your lifetime, the #1 golfer in the world four-putting the SAME hole twice in one weekend on the PGA Tour. This is the 12th hole at this past weekend’s BMW Championship:
Saturday:
Sunday:
No need to feel sorry for the young chap though. He still made it into the field of 30 at the Tour Championship, where he will have a shot at winning $10,000,000. The final 30 field is below, minus some big notables like returning champion Henrik Stenson and Phil Mickelson.
2014 Tour Championship Field
Day, Jason
Fowler, Rickie
Furyk, Jim
Garcia, Sergio
Haas, Bill
Henley, Russell
Hoffmann, Morgan
Horschel, Billy
Johnson, Zach
Kaymer, Martin
Kirk, Chris
Kuchar, Matt
Mahan, Hunter
Matsuyama, Hideki
McIlroy, Rory
Na, Kevin
Ogilvy, Geoff
Palmer, Ryan
Reed, Patrick
Rose, Justin
Scott, Adam
Senden, John
Simpson, Webb
Spieth, Jordan
Todd, Brendon
Tringale, Cameron
Walker, Jimmy
Watson, Bubba
Woodland, Gary
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
HOGWire – Golf Industry News
