Under The Microscope: Camilo Villegas Birth Date: 7 January 1982 Height: 5’9’’ Weight: 11 stone 6 pounds Turned Pro: 2004 Brithplace: Medell...
Under The Microscope: Camilo Villegas
Birth Date: 7 January 1982
Height: 5’9’’
Weight: 11 stone 6 pounds
Turned Pro: 2004
Brithplace: Medellin, Colombia
College: Univ. of Florida (2004, Business)
PGA Tour Victories: (2) 2008 BMW Championship, THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-
Cola.
Camilo is already is a legend in his native Colombia. Colombian TV bought the rights to air 30 PGA tour golf events when he started in 2006. Known as the “Spider Man” for his unusual method of crouching down to read putts. Featured in the July 2006 issue of GQ. Says the article in GQ, "He's got a closet full of tight trousers, a set of boxer's biceps and more screaming female fans than Justin Timberlake.". His brother Manny has also recently featured on the PGA tour.
What’s In The Bag
Driver
The new Cobra Speed S9-1Pro S driver. It has a 44-inch Matrix X-flex shaft.
Fairway Woods
The 3-wood is a Cobra Speed LD. Bent strong to 14 degrees. Camilo likes to hit his fairway woods high and the Speed LD creates the perfect spin to do so.
The 5-wood is also a Cobra Speed LD, bent 2 degrees strong, and cut really short for extra control and use from the rough.
Irons
3-iron. Is Cobra Carbon CB with Rifle Project X Flighted steel shafts, 7.0. Different from all the other irons, with more weight on the bottom to help get the ball up in the air easier.
The 5-iron-PW are King Cobra Pro CB. Camillo uses slightly longer shafts due to a more upright stance after a recent swing change. The 4 iron has been removed to make room for a 63º wedge.
Wedges
Wedges: Titleist/Vokey Spin Milled 53º, 58º and 63º degrees. Vokey grind the edge of the wedges square especially for Camillo.
Putter
Putter: Customized orange and blue (Florida Gators) Scotty Cameron by Titleist. Circa 62 No. 3 made of German sta
inless steel.
Misc
Ball: Titleist Pro V1 marked “CV” always in orange
Marker: Australian 50 cent because it’s visible from both sides of the line of the putt.
Four Lads In a Car- Castleknock Golf Club
Its great to be back on the “Four Lads” trail for the new season. Our first review of the year happened almost accidentally back in February. Jaded after a journey from Mayo to do a job in Dublin city centre I called pal Mark Howell to see if he was up for a few holes somewhere. “Meet you on Dame Street”, he said, “We’ll be on the tee in Castleknock Golf Club in ten minutes”. Down to Heuston Station, straight through the Phoenix Park, out through Castleknock village. Sure enough we got there on time. 
On entering Castleknock Golf Club, the first thing you see is the hotel; it’s not related to the club but shares the land and adds to the visual impact. The drive in whets the golfing appetite with plenty of water and large undulating greens on show.
We were joined for the round by Mark Lynch, Sales and Marketing Manager with Castleknock, a towering figure more suited to triple crowns than triple bogeys. Mark’s driver was an original antique Big Bertha from which I deduced he doesn’t get to play much, but he could still spank it 15 yards past us every time.
The first hole in Castleknock is a very clever par four. The hole seems long from the tee with water all down the left and trees flanking the right. It leaves you sweating over your very first shot which is a clever little touch. It’s an optical illusion really, the hole is short and there is more room out there than meets the eye. From there you’re off a very enjoyable journey through designer Jonathon Gaunt’s imagination. At 6700 yards the course is not long; some holes like the fifth are very short so if you’re a 12 handicap or under, you should try it from the back. I really enjoyed all of the par-3’s. They are framed beautifully with water and bunkers aplenty and play very long and tough. I bet you wont make par on the third. Unusually the ninth and 18th holes are also
par-3’s which share a green on front of the clubhouse.
The plus points of Castleknock Golf Club are manifold. Firstly, it’s one of those year round “bone-dry” places and the greens are absolutely excellent. Peter Lawrie who represents the club on tour claims they are “The best in Ireland” and running at 12 on the stimpmeter at their quickest in the Summer, he may well be right. Second, though the facilities still boast all the little luxuries we got used to during the boom, the golf is very affordable with open days of €30 aplenty. Check out the offers on http://www.castleknockgolfclub.ie/. You will always get a tee time and pace of play is brisk.
So next time you’re in Dublin City for work or to see a match and looking to get out for a quick few holes at an affordable rate, be sure check out Castleknock Golf Club.
Bloggy Underfoot- Happy Gilmore To Change Handicap System
With all hell breaking loose in the Dail and some statue toppling predicted soon, a leaked memo has emerged describing how Labour propose to tweak the R&A handicap system for the sake of fairness and to increase the tax take. Here’s what we got a hold of.
WE WOULD LIKE TO INFORM ALL GOLFERS
Should the labour party be in government after the next general election, Happy Gilmore proposes to introduce some major changes to the game of golf.
This is only a preview as the complete rulebook is being written now. Here are a couple of basic changes.
Golfers with handicaps:
- below 10 will have their green fees increased by 35%
- between 11 and 18 will see no increase in green fees
- above 18 will play for free and even get a check from the club/course played
The € amount put in for bets will be as follows:
-for handicaps below 10 an additional €10
-between 11 and 18 no additional amount
-above 18 you will receive the total amount in the pot and you do not even have to play.
The term “gimme” putt will be changed to “entitlement” and will be used as follows:
-handicaps below 10, no entitlements
-handicaps above 11 to 17, entitlements for putter length putts
-handicaps above 18, if on green, no need to ever putt, just pick it up
These entitlements are intended to bring about fairness in scoring so that the final scores of all players will be about the same.
In addition, a player will be limited to a max of one birdie and/or six pars, any excess must be given to those fellow players who have not yet scored a birdie or par. Only after all players have received a birdie or par from the player making the birdie or par, can that Player begin to count his score again.
The current R&A handicap system will be used for the above purposes but the term ‘net score’ will be available only for scoring those players with handicaps 18 and above. This is intended to ‘redistribute’ the success of winning by making sure that in every competition the above 18 handicap players will post only ‘net score’ against every other player’s gross score.
These new Rules are intended to CHANGE the game of golf. Golf must be about Fairness Only. It should have nothing to do with Ability.
Dr. and The Medic: Rolling Putter
Problem
You lift the putter off of the ground just after contact with the ball.
Cure
Stay down throughout the entire stroke. Do not allow your forward wrist to hinge or push the putter into the ball.
Therapy
Imagine that there are wheels attached to the bottom of the putter. During your forward stroke, you want your hands slightly ahead of the putterhead. This way it almost feels as if you are allowing the club to roll through your stroke. This will allow you to drag the club through the ball instead of pushing it. Remember to keep your wrists quiet throughout the stroke.
I Want One Of Those: Taylor Made R9 Driver
The days of buying a club and changing your swing to suit are rapidly drawing to a close. The Taylor Made R9 is the first of what is sure to be a plethora of player adjustable drivers. Simply bring to the range, move the clubhead into 8 different positions, adding or decreasing loft, opening or closing the face. Also adjust the three moveable weights (1x 16gram and 2 x 1 gram) and you’re getting 24 drivers in one and as a result, you can amend side-by-side flight by up to 75 yards.
Tailored Shorts
Fancy Reviewing Ireland's Top Courses For Free With The SpinDoctor???
It can sometimes get lonely reviewing Ireland's top courses for the Irish Examiner. I look at the empty seat in the buggy beside me and think hey! why don't loyal Irish Examiner readers share in the adventure.
So if you're available at short notice, up for a bit of fun, have a handicap of 18ish or better, then e mail me your name, address, club/society and handicap and contact details and I will include you in my reviewing panel.
E-mail me on examinerspindoc@eircom.net or text 087-3140467. (e-mail is better)
Each week I will e-mail the panel, let you know what's coming up and if the date suits, e-mail me back. I will choose the players in the fairest manner possible. Brought to you by the SpinDoctor's one man economic stimulus package to promote Irish golf!
Hank Haney’s Toughest Test
The show every one is talking about at the moment is the Golf Channel’s reality show “The Haney Project” featuring Tiger Woods' swing coach Hank Haney. In it he get the toughest challenge of his life, trying to fix the crocked swing of basketball legend Charles Barkley. With regular appearances from Barkley’s friend Tiger, the show provides an in depth looks at the methods used by arguably the world’s best coach. In a recent episode Haney revealed the incredible "Tiger workout" schedule which goes on for, wait for it, twelve hours!
Tiger’s Aussie Blow-up
Tiger Woods didn’t face the usual barrage of questions about his fitness last week at Bay Hill but rather the rapidly growing controversy regarding his appearance fees. The announcement of his first trip to in Australia since the President’s Cup in 1998 was quickly followed by news of a $3 million appearance fee, half of which will come from taxpayers in the state of Victoria.
Woods defended the appearance money saying, “Most of the guys get appearance fees to play around the world. I’ve played all around the world and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed going.” At least Tiger is going to do some work before grabbing hard earned taxpayers money, not like some people I know.
Seve Still Battling
Seve Ballesteros said his spirits were “still high” before facing into a fourth round of chemotherapy as he continues cancer treatment. The five-time major winner has already also had four brain surgeries to remove the brain tumour. Blood tests from his third round of chemotherapy showed that he still required further treatment which began three days ago.
Birth Date: 7 January 1982
Height: 5’9’’
Weight: 11 stone 6 pounds
Turned Pro: 2004
Brithplace: Medellin, Colombia
College: Univ. of Florida (2004, Business)
PGA Tour Victories: (2) 2008 BMW Championship, THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-
Cola.Camilo is already is a legend in his native Colombia. Colombian TV bought the rights to air 30 PGA tour golf events when he started in 2006. Known as the “Spider Man” for his unusual method of crouching down to read putts. Featured in the July 2006 issue of GQ. Says the article in GQ, "He's got a closet full of tight trousers, a set of boxer's biceps and more screaming female fans than Justin Timberlake.". His brother Manny has also recently featured on the PGA tour.
What’s In The Bag
DriverThe new Cobra Speed S9-1Pro S driver. It has a 44-inch Matrix X-flex shaft.
Fairway Woods
The 3-wood is a Cobra Speed LD. Bent strong to 14 degrees. Camilo likes to hit his fairway woods high and the Speed LD creates the perfect spin to do so.
The 5-wood is also a Cobra Speed LD, bent 2 degrees strong, and cut really short for extra control and use from the rough.
Irons
3-iron. Is Cobra Carbon CB with Rifle Project X Flighted steel shafts, 7.0. Different from all the other irons, with more weight on the bottom to help get the ball up in the air easier.
The 5-iron-PW are King Cobra Pro CB. Camillo uses slightly longer shafts due to a more upright stance after a recent swing change. The 4 iron has been removed to make room for a 63º wedge.
Wedges
Wedges: Titleist/Vokey Spin Milled 53º, 58º and 63º degrees. Vokey grind the edge of the wedges square especially for Camillo.
Putter
Putter: Customized orange and blue (Florida Gators) Scotty Cameron by Titleist. Circa 62 No. 3 made of German sta
inless steel.Misc
Ball: Titleist Pro V1 marked “CV” always in orange
Marker: Australian 50 cent because it’s visible from both sides of the line of the putt.
Four Lads In a Car- Castleknock Golf Club
Its great to be back on the “Four Lads” trail for the new season. Our first review of the year happened almost accidentally back in February. Jaded after a journey from Mayo to do a job in Dublin city centre I called pal Mark Howell to see if he was up for a few holes somewhere. “Meet you on Dame Street”, he said, “We’ll be on the tee in Castleknock Golf Club in ten minutes”. Down to Heuston Station, straight through the Phoenix Park, out through Castleknock village. Sure enough we got there on time. 
On entering Castleknock Golf Club, the first thing you see is the hotel; it’s not related to the club but shares the land and adds to the visual impact. The drive in whets the golfing appetite with plenty of water and large undulating greens on show.
We were joined for the round by Mark Lynch, Sales and Marketing Manager with Castleknock, a towering figure more suited to triple crowns than triple bogeys. Mark’s driver was an original antique Big Bertha from which I deduced he doesn’t get to play much, but he could still spank it 15 yards past us every time.
The first hole in Castleknock is a very clever par four. The hole seems long from the tee with water all down the left and trees flanking the right. It leaves you sweating over your very first shot which is a clever little touch. It’s an optical illusion really, the hole is short and there is more room out there than meets the eye. From there you’re off a very enjoyable journey through designer Jonathon Gaunt’s imagination. At 6700 yards the course is not long; some holes like the fifth are very short so if you’re a 12 handicap or under, you should try it from the back. I really enjoyed all of the par-3’s. They are framed beautifully with water and bunkers aplenty and play very long and tough. I bet you wont make par on the third. Unusually the ninth and 18th holes are also
par-3’s which share a green on front of the clubhouse.The plus points of Castleknock Golf Club are manifold. Firstly, it’s one of those year round “bone-dry” places and the greens are absolutely excellent. Peter Lawrie who represents the club on tour claims they are “The best in Ireland” and running at 12 on the stimpmeter at their quickest in the Summer, he may well be right. Second, though the facilities still boast all the little luxuries we got used to during the boom, the golf is very affordable with open days of €30 aplenty. Check out the offers on http://www.castleknockgolfclub.ie/. You will always get a tee time and pace of play is brisk.
So next time you’re in Dublin City for work or to see a match and looking to get out for a quick few holes at an affordable rate, be sure check out Castleknock Golf Club.
Bloggy Underfoot- Happy Gilmore To Change Handicap System
With all hell breaking loose in the Dail and some statue toppling predicted soon, a leaked memo has emerged describing how Labour propose to tweak the R&A handicap system for the sake of fairness and to increase the tax take. Here’s what we got a hold of.
WE WOULD LIKE TO INFORM ALL GOLFERS
Should the labour party be in government after the next general election, Happy Gilmore proposes to introduce some major changes to the game of golf.
This is only a preview as the complete rulebook is being written now. Here are a couple of basic changes.
Golfers with handicaps:
- below 10 will have their green fees increased by 35%
- between 11 and 18 will see no increase in green fees
- above 18 will play for free and even get a check from the club/course played
The € amount put in for bets will be as follows:
-for handicaps below 10 an additional €10
-between 11 and 18 no additional amount
-above 18 you will receive the total amount in the pot and you do not even have to play.
The term “gimme” putt will be changed to “entitlement” and will be used as follows:
-handicaps below 10, no entitlements
-handicaps above 11 to 17, entitlements for putter length putts
-handicaps above 18, if on green, no need to ever putt, just pick it up
These entitlements are intended to bring about fairness in scoring so that the final scores of all players will be about the same.
In addition, a player will be limited to a max of one birdie and/or six pars, any excess must be given to those fellow players who have not yet scored a birdie or par. Only after all players have received a birdie or par from the player making the birdie or par, can that Player begin to count his score again.
The current R&A handicap system will be used for the above purposes but the term ‘net score’ will be available only for scoring those players with handicaps 18 and above. This is intended to ‘redistribute’ the success of winning by making sure that in every competition the above 18 handicap players will post only ‘net score’ against every other player’s gross score.
These new Rules are intended to CHANGE the game of golf. Golf must be about Fairness Only. It should have nothing to do with Ability.
Dr. and The Medic: Rolling Putter
Problem
You lift the putter off of the ground just after contact with the ball.
Cure
Stay down throughout the entire stroke. Do not allow your forward wrist to hinge or push the putter into the ball.
Therapy
Imagine that there are wheels attached to the bottom of the putter. During your forward stroke, you want your hands slightly ahead of the putterhead. This way it almost feels as if you are allowing the club to roll through your stroke. This will allow you to drag the club through the ball instead of pushing it. Remember to keep your wrists quiet throughout the stroke.
I Want One Of Those: Taylor Made R9 Driver
The days of buying a club and changing your swing to suit are rapidly drawing to a close. The Taylor Made R9 is the first of what is sure to be a plethora of player adjustable drivers. Simply bring to the range, move the clubhead into 8 different positions, adding or decreasing loft, opening or closing the face. Also adjust the three moveable weights (1x 16gram and 2 x 1 gram) and you’re getting 24 drivers in one and as a result, you can amend side-by-side flight by up to 75 yards.
Tailored Shorts
Fancy Reviewing Ireland's Top Courses For Free With The SpinDoctor???
It can sometimes get lonely reviewing Ireland's top courses for the Irish Examiner. I look at the empty seat in the buggy beside me and think hey! why don't loyal Irish Examiner readers share in the adventure.
So if you're available at short notice, up for a bit of fun, have a handicap of 18ish or better, then e mail me your name, address, club/society and handicap and contact details and I will include you in my reviewing panel.
E-mail me on examinerspindoc@eircom.net or text 087-3140467. (e-mail is better)
Each week I will e-mail the panel, let you know what's coming up and if the date suits, e-mail me back. I will choose the players in the fairest manner possible. Brought to you by the SpinDoctor's one man economic stimulus package to promote Irish golf!
Hank Haney’s Toughest Test
The show every one is talking about at the moment is the Golf Channel’s reality show “The Haney Project” featuring Tiger Woods' swing coach Hank Haney. In it he get the toughest challenge of his life, trying to fix the crocked swing of basketball legend Charles Barkley. With regular appearances from Barkley’s friend Tiger, the show provides an in depth looks at the methods used by arguably the world’s best coach. In a recent episode Haney revealed the incredible "Tiger workout" schedule which goes on for, wait for it, twelve hours!
Tiger’s Aussie Blow-up
Tiger Woods didn’t face the usual barrage of questions about his fitness last week at Bay Hill but rather the rapidly growing controversy regarding his appearance fees. The announcement of his first trip to in Australia since the President’s Cup in 1998 was quickly followed by news of a $3 million appearance fee, half of which will come from taxpayers in the state of Victoria.
Woods defended the appearance money saying, “Most of the guys get appearance fees to play around the world. I’ve played all around the world and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed going.” At least Tiger is going to do some work before grabbing hard earned taxpayers money, not like some people I know.
Seve Still Battling
Seve Ballesteros said his spirits were “still high” before facing into a fourth round of chemotherapy as he continues cancer treatment. The five-time major winner has already also had four brain surgeries to remove the brain tumour. Blood tests from his third round of chemotherapy showed that he still required further treatment which began three days ago.
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