Just got pics from Barrie Trainor who is packing his bags ahead of travelling to Wentworth to takes his place in the field for the BMW PGA Championship. Barrie’s clothing sponsor Kartel provided the kit which also proudly carries the logos of Golfbidder and golfcentraldaily.com.
As part of the contract Barrie has to:
Shoot 64 on Thursday then hunt down Tim Barter for a Sky Sports interview to flash the logos
Track down Rory McIlroy in the players lounge and get a pic of him kissing the golfcentraldaily logo. Should be easy!
Get a photo taken of Bruce Critchley in a headlock with logo showing.
Great news from golfaholics this morning about Augusta National bowing to pressure and embracing women members. Here is Billy Payne walking back from the first tee with his hammer after installing this sign with conditions.
I’m sure you’ve heard about Dan McLoughlin who is spending 10,000 hours to get from never having hit a ball to being on the PGA Tour. He’s trying to prove a theory that if you practice like mad you can be an expert. You decide.
Have you heard about the round of 55 shot by Rhein Gibson a couple of days ago. I initially thought it was a hoax but now one of his playing partners on the day Ryan Munson has written this account of what happened and several people witnessed. Gibson plays the GolfWeek Tour and won the Oklahoma Open on the same Oak Tree course back in 2010.
Here’s the link to the full article on golfpigeon "Still playing?" was the message that Rhein Gibson sent to me at 7:13am on Saturday, May 12th, 2012. There had been hours and hours of rain overnight Friday and earlier in the morning. River Oaks Golf Club was wet, but it wasn't closed. "Of course", I responded. After all, the regulars of this group miss very few Saturday morning rounds of golf. Rhein Gibson, a rangy 26 year old from "down under" is very familiar with River Oaks; it is the home club of Oklahoma Christian University, the program that brought him from Australia to play college golf. He is now a member of the club, but he is also an aspiring PGA TOUR golfer. The Golfweek National Professional Golf Tour is Rhein's first step towards the accomplishment of that dream and it keeps him on the road in many cases for 3 weeks at a time. Rhein's ball striking is incredibly solid and he can roll the putter as well as anyone. In the game of golf though, sometimes they fall and sometimes they don't. On this day, they would fall. The group began to trickle in for the 8:15 am tee time that would start on number 10 due to the Saturday "dual-tee" scheduling. There was no particular rush as the driving range was closed due to the muddy conditions caused by the rain, so warm-up time would be limited to rolling a few putts on the practice green. River Oaks number 10 is a tricky par 4 because the green is guarded on three sides by a pond that punishes approach shots that are too short or too long. Rhein carded a fairly pedestrian par after a 3 iron, a wedge and 2 putts. The par 5 number 11 allowed for Rhein's first swing with his brand new Cleveland Classic driver that had arrived a couple days earlier. BOOM! No, not even BOOM comes close to describing this ball as it left the tee box. Rhein's drive was right down the middle and longer than a politician's speech. He turned, looked at us, and just giggled. "Good luck catching that one." He had a 4 iron into the 555 yarder. His approach found the green and his putt was stroked purely. The ball fell in for an eagle.
Great story from the Daily.com about the PGA Minority Collegiate Golf Championship that took place last weekend.
Pictured are the poor, disadvantaged, minority women of Bethune-Cookman who won for the second time in three years. Most of the team is made up of European's; Austrians, Spanish and British girls rescued from a continent gripped by recession, debt, political uncertainty and Simon Cowell.
The Championship was created by a group of wealthy African American businessmen, to encourage and give minorities the chance to play competitive golf.
“All of your golfers are white,” said Renee Powell, only the second black woman to play on the LPGA Tour told the coach only to have it pointed out that Bethune-Cookman is made up of 94.3% African-American and 1.5% white students.
Shrugging her shoulders Powell added, “If you’re a young black golfer, you might decide you have to play a little harder. After all, you can look at it this way: Those white girls are minorities at their school.”
Fair play to LPGA Tour player Sophie Gustafson who is comfortable enough with her stuttering to make a joke of it on Twitter after watching Kevin Na's waggling pre shot routine.
She tweeted:
''Between Na's routine, (Charles) Barkley's swing and my speech. We would make one hell of a threesome.''
Trevor Immelman and Sean O'Hair were walking around the putting green like children that had lost it's mother. That's because another one of their IMG Managers, Jon Wagner, had left gigantic sports marketing company IMG.
The defections started last season when Mark Steinberg left, taking Tiger Woods with him.
Pic: Jon Wagner pulling his wire
Wagner was only one of three managers who left the company mired in problems prompting Immelman and O'Hair to cut ties too. IMG Worldwide went straight to court and was granted a temporary restraining order to keep Wagner from taking on either player as a client.
IMG's number of player representative employee's has dropped from 40 to 12 in the last year, though Luke Donald remains with the company.
Florida- Tim Finchem PGA Tour boss today publicly congratulated Kevin Na on his elongated pre shot routine at The Players Championship and called on fellow pros to slow down.
“We need all PGA Tour players to take a leaf out of Ben and Kevin’s book. What’s the hurry? The longer a player takes over his shot the less time we have to cut away back to the stooges in the studio or show some stupid aerial shot of that Goddamn blimp” Finchem Said.
“Imagine the possibilities if Rory McIlroy or Tiger Woods took a minute to waggle and back off over every shot; we could lay Peter Oosterhuis off permanently and burn Snoopy 2 like the Hindenburg. The savings on hair gel and helium would be immense. So pretty please with sugar on top, slow the f*ck down guys.”
So you're faced with a 60 foot double breaking putt, over a hogs back and looking very vicious around the hole. You circle it, survey it, plumb line the putter, close one eye, even give it the spiderman, but come up dry on a read. Then you do what we all do when we haven't a clue, hit it straight at the hole and hope for the best! Inevitably it breaks horribly where you least expect and tails off wildly, missing the hole and crossing the border into three putt country. It's called a Salman Rushdie, an impossible read!
Wouldn't it be great if golf was like rally car driving and we all could have a co-driver sitting beside us with the pace notes, yelling out exactly what's up ahead, preparing us for every bend?
Last week I met the world's best green reader. This man can look at ANY putt, read the breaks exactly and predict with absolute certainty the correct line the ball needs to be putt on to hit the centre of the hole. So good is he at reading greens, he is at every PGA Tour event and even employed by the Golf Channel to place that superimposed line we've all seen on TV showing the correct line of every putt. So who is he?
Meet Mark Sweeney, an American with roots here in Ireland and inventor of Aimpoint; a technology and teaching that succeeds in decoding green reading. So what effects the line of a putt? The length of it, the speed, the slope encountered along the line and the angle at which the ball travels over that slope. After years of work Mark has solved the complex equation involving these variables using a little bit of physics, a sprinkling of trigonometry and a secret dash of spy satellite technology. With every green on the PGA Tour rota now meticulously scanned and surveyed, Aimpoint and the projected putt line you see on TV is never wrong. Never!
Left to Right: Doc, Donal Scott, Mark Sweeney, Gareth McShea in the Quay’s Pub, Galway. Hey it was 11am!
Of course like all technologies, once mastered, work begins on making them smaller and simpler, available to everyone. And it's no different with Aimpoint. For the touring professional and caddie in tournament play Aimpoint exists as a book of laminated charts no bigger than a strokesaver. You will often see either thumbing through the chart when lining up a putt. When Rickie Fowler won at Quail Hollow his caddie was using Aimpoint Charts, our own Padraig Harrington uses Aimpoint on the practice green to verify all his reads.
There's also an a pretty swish iphone app which uses the phones internal gyroscope and can be used in practice. It's is rarely advertised but practically every touring pro and caddie worth their salt have been through the Aimpoint training program.
In Southern Ireland Mark Sweeney has entrusted PGA pro's Donal Scott and Gareth McShea with delivering the Aimpoint program. A session of eight participants held in Munster last Tuesday was attended entirely by PGA professionals, initially sceptical but ultimately astounded at how accurate the system operates on every putt. The cost is €100 for the two hour training program and the charts required to implement it on the course.
So there it is, Mark Sweeney the world's best green reader and inventor of Aimpoint. Your virtual co-driver on the greens!
Contacts
Check out the Aimpoint facebook page for more details on aimpoint check out www.aimpointgolf.com.
udesign by Callaway, is an online customisation tool, gives golfers purchasing a RAZR Fit® Driver the ability to design their own version of the Company’s new club that is already in the hands of Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els and Alvaro Quiros.
The website http://udesign.callawaygolf.com/ Features an innovative and easy-to-use online interface for customers to select their own colour choices on RAZR Fit’s clubhead and grip, as well as a myriad of shaft model and other custom configurations.
Accessible to virtually customise RAZR Fit drivers for both Men and Ladies models, the udesign by Callaway process begins with the selection of a right-handed or left-handed clubhead and a range of loft and colour choices. With each selection, the RAZR Fit image on screen modifies in real time to embody the latest design choice. After making a colour selection, advanced customisation options detailing the choice of stock or after-market shaft, its flex, length, grip model and wraps follow.
Phil Mickelson chose powder blue and gold in honour of the Chargers. Callaway staffer Alvaro Quiros commented “Give me one in every colour and I will match my driver with my apparel.”
Callaway’s RAZR Fit Driver has a new introduction retail price of £329.00 and the udesign by Callaway personalisation and customisation features an additional fee of £40
Udesign, via the Callaway Club Configurator, offers customers something no other golf manufacturer has ever offered before: the ability to choose your own grip, shaft, clubhead and clubhead colour, that is a perfect match for your game. It’s another way that Callaway is taking adjustability further and helping every individual golfer.
PLACE YOUR ORDER:
Step 1: Customise your driver to your own personal specifications from the many options available within the udesign configurator.
Step 2: Print off /e-mail the details to yourself and then contact your nearest Callaway stockist (click on link to find your nearest Callaway stockist if necessary) to place the order.
Step 3: Wait just circa 7 days to collect your customised RAZR FIT udesign Driver from your Callaway stockist
PAYING FOR YOUR ORDER:
Step 1: Customised Head, Headcover and Grip options. There is an upcharge of £40 / €50 (or local currency equivalent) for all udesign Drivers Vs the standard RAZR FIT Driver and the total amount (including the standard driver plus all customisation upcharges) is payable to your local Callaway stockist at time of ordering.
Step 2: Custom Shaft Options. Because of the sheer number of different shafts (and the variation in their price), we have given an indicator (standard / premium / super premium) of shaft cost within the configurator to keep things as simple and as clear as possible. While the final shaft price will be determined by your local Callaway stockist, it is important to note that several shafts (including the specially selected RIP NV in the standard Driver) come at no extra up charge.
Anne Marie Kennedy from Yoga For Golf Ireland is our teaching bay contributor. Anne Marie works with Ireland’s elite amateurs, training them to maximize their flexibility, and power in their game through yoga. For more details check out www.yogaforgolf.ie
Golf Benefit: This cat/cow pose is a really good pose for warming up the back, helping to maintain a healthy spine. It stabilizes posture within the swing and engages hip mobility creating additional power. It builds strength in golfers’ wrists affecting grip which maintains proper club face angle and alignment. Practice this pose regularly and you will never have a sore back after your round.
Instruction: Begin on hands and knees, making sure the wrists are directly underneath the shoulders and the knees are directly underneath the hips. Keep the fingers spread and the palms flat. Exhale, tuck the chin towards the chest, tuck the tailbone under (creating a posterior pelvic tilt) and arch up the back like a scardey cat. Inhale, tilt the pelvis out (anterior pelvic tilt), dip the belly (increasing the arch in the lower back), roll the shoulders back and take the gaze forward. Repeat 7-10 times coordinating the breath with the movement.
HP Byron Nelson Championship, TPC Four Seasons Resort, Irving, Texas,Purse: $6,500,000
Winner Alright: Last week we tipped Ben Curtis to tied second at 140/1.
Keegan Bradley 21/1
Defending this week in only his 43rd tournament on Tour. Last week at the Players hopefully saw the end of Keegan’s mini slump of two missed cuts in New Orleans and Quail Hollow. Last years winning total was four under as the field battled winds of 30 mph all week. Bradley won after a a sudden death playoff with Ryan Palmer.
Jason Day 27/1
After a top 10 at Quail Hollow I tipped Jason to perform at The Players but he ended up missing the cut by one shot. Rather than write him off however I’m going to give the Aussie another shot this week as his game is tailored made for this Las Colinas layout, especially if the wind blows as it has done for the past two years. Day needed only 101 putts when he won here in 2010 and went 69, 67 at the weekend to finish fifth when defending last year. Surely a change in fortune is on the cards this week.
Jason Dufner 20/1
The Zurich Classic winner took a week off before returning to the fray at The Players but struggled to find his form throughout. Dufner however can be major threat again this week, as he tends to thrive on tougher courses. One of the few players to break par in the final round last year, he ended up in a tie for eighth. Those who waggle their clubs are not popular on Tour right now, but for Jason we’ll make an exception!
Ernie Els 30/1
Winless since December 2010, the odds on Ernie Els are a healthy 30/1 and ever increasing. Els has decided to include this event in his schedule after bypassing it for the past number of years. Though he missed the cut at Sawgrass, three top fives in his last six starts, including being second to Dufner in New Orleans, is impressive and Els is a master in windy conditions. I think he has circled this event as one at which he can break through again.
Best Of The Rest
Don’t discount last weeks winner Matt Kuchar 15/1 for a second. The man is so laid back he can continue to produce good golf on a course where he tied for sixth last year.
With three top 10’s in his last six events Brian Davis 55/1 returns to a happy hunting ground at TPC Four Seasons. Davis has top 10’d twice out of the three cuts he has made here with a best of solo second in 2009 behind Rory Sabbatini in benign conditions. If the wind is low this week, Davis will certainly be one to watch.
Jeff Overton 50/1 followed an opening 78 at Sawgrass with a 69 but missed the cut on 3 over. I had expected more from the Ryder Cupper who seems to be on the way back up after early season top fives at The Transitions and in Houston. Jeff tied for second here in 2010 and shot a 64 in the opening round last year on his way to tied eighth. I expect a good performance.
And finally is he’s in the mood after another top 10 last week at The Players, keep an eye on Carl Pettersson from 32/1. A recent win at The Heritage and a second in Houston, 2012 is turning out to be a bumper year for the bumpy Swede. Faded at the weekend last season but not before some impressive stuff in the opening rounds.
Congratulations to Matt Kuchar who retains his composure down the stretch to claim The Players Championship at Sawgrass. Here's all the highlights from the final round.
Why don't the majority of Tour Players shout Fore? Because they are hoping for a good kick off the crowd. Here's Harris English felling a patron at The Players Championship. Ouch!
As part of the contract Barrie has to:
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