The Goofy Game of Golf/Life Searching for the Answer

Today’s blog is going to discuss careers gone south. Golfers that had more than just modest success on the PGA tour, and then went into career ending slumps. None of this is meant to be critical of these players because they accomplished more with their golf games than 99.9% of the golfing poputlation. I think this just shows how goofy this game can really be. One of the things I find interesting with this, is many of us complain about how no matter what we do, our over all games do not improve. Most of us do not go into slumps of this magnitude. If I wrote about all the players that this has happened to this blog would be a book. I will make a list of players, which is not complete by the way, at the end of the blog which can be looked up at various sites which one can read about. One of the things that would trigger a slump would either be a very disappointing loss but more intriquing would be a career defining win. The most talked about slump of recent memory is David Duval but he is not alone. Here are what I find to be the most interesting.

Ian Baker Finch  1991 British Open Champion. Hits the ball great at the range but simply can not play after 1994. His career came to end when he shot a 92 in the 1997 British Open.

Bill Rodgers  1981 British Open Champion. Miss the cut in 11 of the last 15 majors he played. Left tour at 37 burned out.

Chip Beck  Long time tour player, Shot 59, Top 10 Money winner, contended in majors, great attitude according to Bob Rotella. Missed 46 straight cuts sold insurance had some minor success on senior tour  

Todd Hamilton 2004 British Open Champion 2004 PGA rookie of the year. Never won again. He had only one really good year but here is what I find interesting  about the Hamilton slump. When the Momentus swing trainer first came out the poster boy for the product was David Duval. When Duval started slumping who became the new poster boy. None other than Todd Hamilton who credited the Momentus for helping him win the British Open. Obviously this device (which I love by the way) does not prevent you from going into a prolonged slump.

Shaun Micheal  2003 PGA Champion Shaun made a brief comeback in 2006 where he blamed disfunctional testicles as the reason for his poor play. A new meaning to, he didn’t have enough balls to hit that putt. Testosterone supplemnetation gave his career a very brief lift.

Curtis Strange This one pains me more than most. I really like Curtis Strange. When he was at the top of his game you always looked at him as just one of the boys. He swore, he was a great competitor, and you just felt like you could go and have a few beers with him after a round. He won the U. S. Open back to back in 1988 and 1989. Then he had to go write a book with the unfortunate title of Win and Win Again. Why was this unfortunate. Because he never won again. Nothing, not even the Senior Tour.  I have never read the book and I guess I never will.  

As I said these golfers are not alone. Here are just a few more examples.

David Frost, Sandy Lyle, Steve Jones, Jodie Mudd Billy Mayfair, Tom Purtzer, Jim Gallagher Jr. John Huston, Steve Pate, Steve Flesch, Chad Campbell, Jeff Maggert Roger Maltbie, Dan Pohl,

The list really just goes on and on. Some golfers went into prolonged slumps and made brief comebacks. The one that comes to mind in this catagory is Cory Pavin. After winning the US Open his game went south for a long time. I think this is what makes this game  goofy for just about everybody no matter what level of golf you achieve. One thing is for sure, it is definitely mystifying.                            

Today’s post is going to be different than originally planned. I will expain next week. I am going to discuss a stat on tour that I have mentioned before, that I find very interesting. I am a big baseball fan and of course stats are at the heart of the game.Stats are used in baseball to help teams play better and win more games. The PGA tour keeps stats now, but certainly not as long as baseball. . There is one stat that Dave Pelz mentions in is putting books, that PGA pros make 50% of their putts from 6 feet. I have never seen anyone dispute this stat and it has been around a long time. However, how many times during the last round of the tournament have you seen a graphic on Sunday about the leader of the tournament or someone close to the lead, that says he has made all of his putts from 7 feet. Just as recently as Big Phil’s victory in Phoenix,  he was something like 24 for 24 on putts from 7 feet or less. Now granted that accounts for putts of 2 and 3 feet, but even if he had only 10 putts from 6 to 7 feet, he made them all. That means that someone is close to 0 for ten in order to make the 50% average. I would say, that it is a fair assumption, that the guys that are at the 0 or 1 for 10 level are probably missing the cut. What, if any conclusions can be drawn from such stats. Despite all the ball striking hoopla is the real reason that people win or lose on the PGA tour is the ability fo make 6 foot putts. I am not saying it is, but it is food for thought. I would think this less if the winner was making 75% of his 6 foot putts. That would mean that the poorer putter would be making 25% to get to the 50% tour average. I think it would be fair to say that over the course of 36 holes that a player would have about 10 putts between 5.5 and 6.5 feet. With the best and the worse 9 to 10 strokes apart, there is the cut line. Now what can the everyday player take from such a stat. Lets face it, if a pro is making all his 6 foot putts I don’t think he is making them by letting them die in the hole. You can’t bang 6 foot putts into the back of the hole, but I think its time to take a new attitude about this length of putt and hit them in with more authority. I also think this shows that the pros are not afraid to shoot a high number. These pros that are in the less than 10% range maybe missing the cut one week but  maybe the next week they are in the hunt. They know in the early going they  have to make this length putt to get into contention, and to hell with the consequences. Having said all that I still not too sure about the meaning of such diverse stats.However, what kind of scores would you rather shoot. Four rounds between 78 and 82, or rounds like this, 86,71,84, and 70. So when you are watching the golf on Sunday be looking for that phenomenal stat, 100% makes on putts of 6,7, or sometimes even 8 feet or less. Remember the tour average is 50%. Back to goofiness next week. Although that stat is pretty goofy, don’t you think?           

For the next few weeks, I am going to discuss the things, that I think make this game so goofy. This week will be famous swing changes. Everybody gets worked up, when a big time player changes equipment, like Rory has just done. I say no big deal. Equpment can be made to any specs these players want. What I find  more fasinating, is when great players change their coaches and swings. The guy that started it all, and to me, the only one that really made the right descision, was Nick Faldo. Faldo was nothing more than a middle of the road European tour player who had blown a couple of major championships and had been given the moniker, Nick Foldo by the wonderful British press. Then after a major revamping of his swing, Faldo became the No 1 player in the world and won six major championships. The greatest swing changer of all time of course is Tiger Woods. He has had four swing changes. We will call his first swing his college swing. This swing would only be able to win him one NCAA individual title, three straight U.S. Amateur titles, and one Masters title by a paltry margin of 12 strokes. I have often wondered what would have happened, if he would have just stayed with that swing. However, after the Masters he and Harmen sat down and decided “Hey lets change that screwed up swing”. So off they went and after a couple of slow years,(remember that), Tiger went on a tear. From August of 1999 to the end of 2003 he won 7 majors and 33 total PGA tournaments, duing the Harman era. Then they had a falling out, so sad. Then comes Hank( I’m going to be taking notes for my back stabbing book) Haney. Again, after a couple of slow years when everybody was saying” you should have never left Butch, you should have never left Butch”, Tiger went on to win 6 majors and 32 PGA tournaments, from 2004 until 2009. What a difference a coach makes.  Then after Tiger crashed his SUV, and there was the rumor that Haney tampered with the brakes(Just kidding), Tiger has had to go to his fourth swing with Sean Foley. What has happened? Tiger has had a slow couple of years. What a shock. People are still talking about Harmon . Well, let’s look at Harmon, and some other famous players, who have come to him. First off big Phil. Phil has been with Harmon since 2007. How has he done. Twelve wins and one major. The six years before Harmon, twelve wins and three majors. Greg Norman went to Harmon after almost winning 5 major championships in a row but could only muster one, the British Open. After Harmon one major the British Open again and Harmon was his guru during his final round collapse at the 1996 Masters and that was essentially, the end of Greg Norman. Two of the more amazing swing changes in recent years has been Padraig Harrington and Graeme McDowell. Harrington won the 2007 British Open and then followed that up with a repeat win in 2008 and then won the 2008 PGA. Then you read about him going through a swing change. Same thing with McDowell, he wins the 2010 U.S. Open and beats Tiger in one of those end of season world championship events and then he changes his swing. What the hell is this? It is easier to figure out choking. It is the heat of the moment. But this is a guy sitting down for breakfast with the box of wheaties,  with his picture on it, just after winning a major championship and thinks, you know I think I am going to change my swing. If that doesn’t make this game goofy, nothing will, but we are just getting started.       

All right, we are into February and hopefully the 2013 golf season is just around the corner. I have been discussing what I consider the real controling factor in the golf swing, the turning of the shoulders. In order to accomplish this we just make our golf swing with the arms folded across the chest and then repeat the procedure with the golf club in hand. One little trick to expedite this is to have the golf club against your chest, being held by the fold of the 2 elbows and then just take the club with your hands  and make a golf swing.  One swing with the club going across your chest and then one regular swing with the club in your hands. Now here is what I expect to happen and what I hope to accomplish in the 2013 golf season.

I expect my ball striking to continue to be good, if not better in 2013.  I do not look at this as an experiment any more. This is a better way of going about hitting the golf ball. Remember this is a muscle thing not a technique thing. You can apply the shoulder swing to any method you want. Stack and Tilt, Natural Golf, Harmon, Haney, Leadbetter,or any other method that catches your fancy.

The one thing I did not do with this method is really get into working the golf ball, which I think is essential to really good scoring. My basic shot with this method was a slight fade and I really did not get into drawing the ball.  That will be the first objective this year is to get back to drawing and fading the golf ball.

The second objective will be developing a solid reliable chipping and putting method. Naturally during the winter rest away from golf, I have been working on some ideas and unique techniques which will be tested early this year. That will be one of the keys to my early scoring, or lack of scoring. As you well know I used many swing things that had high hopes and then went to the invisible trash can.

It will be just a matter of time now, and I will be hitting the links again. Over these next couple of weeeks or so I thought I would just have some fun and write about what makes this game so God awlful goofy. Lets hope for an early spring. 

This week I am going to discuss the tweak that didn’t work, and why this method is not good for chipping and putting. The thing that amazed me when I made a golf swing with my arms folded across my chest was how my legs seemed to move automatically into the correct positions during the swing. So I went on a quest to find out what muscles were controling those legs. I spent a good 15 to 20 hours reading neuro anatomy textbooks and golf books that described what muscles were being used in the golf swing.  I ran into a real problem. The golf books that described the muscles that were used in the golf swing, described muscles of the legs and arms as in active process. With the shoulder swing the muscles of the arms and legs are passive. When you went to non golfing textbooks the muscles actions were described when a person is standing erect. You talk about dry reading. I was having flashback college nightmares. Naturally you are not standing erect when you make a golf swing. After much reading I came to this conclusion. The muscles that are responsible for turning the trunk are the internal and external obliques and a few other muscles of the lower trunk. My tweak was to think of the obliques turning and stretching on the backswing, and releasing on the downswing. In the beginning this worked quite well. Because I was not thinking of my shoulders , eventually my arms started to take control, like the evil twin brother. I went back to just thinking of my shoulders making the turn with my left shoulder turning down and under my chin on the backswing and then my right shoulder turning back to ball and under. Naturally with my shoulders attached to my arms this brought them back under control. It is the shoulder turn that should control the swing. I tried to incorporate this shoulder turn into my chipping and putting. I had more success putting with this method than chipping. In the long run I did not do that well with either using the shoulder swing. I think the reason is because chipping and putting are such short and very precise shots that you simply can not take the hands and arms that much out of the shot. Next week I am going discuss some of the things I need to improve and implement on both the full swing and the less than full swing for the 2013 season.

Let’s continue with the shoulder golf swing. What will happen to your golf swing when you try to keep the arms from having any influence. The one thing that will happen is your swing will become more upright. This will be a natural occurence which you will not have to think about. Because of this you should stand just slightly closer to the ball, no more than about one half inch. The other thing that will feel a little strange, will be the all important transition phase of the swing. When you make your golf swing with your arms folded across your chest your swing will be controlled by turning your left shoulder down and around under your chin, and then to start the downswing you will bring the right shoulder down and around toward the ball. This is what you will try to do, but what will happen is you will still feel your lower body intiate the downswing. Naturally, this is what is supposed to happen. It just seems to happen anyway even though you think you are initiating the downswing with your right shoulder. Obviously do not fight this, and I can not explain why this happens, but just be thankful that your subconscious has taken over and your legs are leading the way. In the beginning of doing this swing, I would try to fight this, by stopping or trying to control my lower body. When I allowed the lower body to do what it was supposed to do the results were phenomenal. You still think of  your right shoulder turning down and back to the ball  and the rest will take care of itself. Now to those pesky arms. To see what those arms are suppose to do on the backswing this is the first drill to do. Take your address position, fold the arms and start your backswing but only turn your shoulder about 10 degrees and stop. Then release the arms and see where they are. Fold them back and turn another 10 degrees and release. Continue the process until you make a complete backswing. Now you know where your arms are going to be during the completion of the backswing. On a normal backswing when it is completed the arms will continue to raise up to their destiny at the top of the swing. Believe me they will move. There is no way you will be able to stop them at the same point as the shoulder turn and nor should you want to. Just remember the more you make a golf swing with your arms folded acrose your chest the more you will get the feel of this very very simple swing. Then grab a club and repeat the feel with that restricted follow through. Next week I will discuss the unsuccessful tweak and why this did not work as well for putting and chipping.

We are having unbelievable weather in the Burgh. Unfortunately, I am having unbelievable health, as I have had the flu all week and did not get to play this weekend. I am feeling better, but not good enough to slosh around 18 holes, even though it is in the 60’s in January no less. So lets get into what I consider now, to be the controlling factor in the golf swing. The golf swing is controlled by the turning of the shoulders. To get the feel of this swing and all the benefits that go with it, you simply take your address position, fold yours arms across your chest and make your golf swing. That’s it, see you next week. Just kidding, the flu bug has to have a little fun. To see how much this type of swing controls the legs, here is the first drill. Do the same thing, except just think of your legs moving correctly. On the backswing have that left knee go to a place about 6 inches behind the ball and on the downswing kick that right knee in toward the ball. Now look at how you can make those legs move quite nicely, with little or no shoulder turn. In other words even though you are doing great leg work in the golf swing your shoulders were not forced to do anything. Now, go back to the original swing with the arms folded across your chest, and now just think about turning that left shoulder down and going underneath your chin on the backswing. I defy you to try and keep your left knee from turning to a point beyond the ball. You can do it all right,  but it takes one heck of an effort. When the left shoulder moves properly without any undue influence from the arms it forces that left leg to move in the proper way. The same goes for the downswing. If you initiate the downswing with the right shoulder turning down and back to the ball, it will force that right knee to kick in at the right time. When you make this swing with the arms folded across your chest, make sure you make a complete golf swing. At the end of the swing release the arms and this will be the follow through position. No more follow through’s with the club wrapped around your neck. Make a swing with your arms folded across your chest and then take a club and try to repeat the swing as close as possible. There are five benefits from the shoulder golf swing.

The shoulders will automatically turn 90 degrees to you spine angle.

Your tempo will slow down

The legs will move automatically

Hips turn proper amount

Your arms will remain under control barely

What about the arms?  Theorectically, with this swing you would think that on the backswing the arms would only move about hip high. Trust me they won’t put up that. We will talk about arms a lot more on the next blog. The key is to practice that golf swing with the arms folded and make sure arms finish in the position at the end of the swing they were, when you swing a golf club. This  is the Leadbetter Pivot drill if you need some illustrations but it is much more than that. It is the golf swing without any conscious influence of the arms and the legs. Remember I am not saying the arms and the legs are not important in the golf swing. Its when you TRY AND USE THEM that the golf swing goes out of control. Next week we’ll talk about the arms more, the beginning of the downswing, and some drills to help make the shoulder swing easy.

Back in the Burgh this week after a great trip and Christmas visit with the grandkids. Did not get to play any golf this week because of holiday duties, but this week our weather is looking none too bad, so maybe  a round or two may get played this week. This week I thought  I would write about the recent ruling that will eventually ban the use of the belly putter and the long putter. I admit, I haven’t read a lot of articles about the rulings but the one thing that I haven’t seen discussed much, is why now. These two types of clubs have been around for a long, long, long, long time. Phil Rodgers used a belly putter in the sixties no less and the long putter has been around since the early eighties. So is this what dictates the rules of golf. Its not the method, but how much success the method creates, that determines if it should be banned or not. If this was such an offensive way to get the ball into the hole, why wasn’t it banned in 1985 or 95. Its not like these are new ideas. I think the ruling bodies of golf,namely the USGA, do as much to deter people from playing golf as they do to promote the game. There is no question there should be 2 sets of rules in golf. One set for the elite 300 to 400 PGA and European pros, and another set for the recreational player. All other sports have different rules at different levels.  Some rules that should be changed are out of bounds, tapping of spike markes, lost ball and more lenient ground under repair which would allow a player to take his ball out of a divot. The USGA does nothing to really help speed up play. Changing the above rules would speed up play. I am still more mystified by the timing of the rulings  than anything else. Was it ok for older guys to use these methods but when the younger players started to resort to belly and long putters,the USGA just couldn’t take it. Do they really think these methods give an unfair advantage to the ones that use it. If they  do, then shame on them for taking this long to do something about it and for letting them continue to use these implements for another 3 seasons. How will Tiger ever win another major with all these belly putters around for the next 3 seasons. Holy shitballs! Well as I said before it looks like I might be able to get a couple of rounds this week and next week will be a year in review. See you then.