Tiger and Sir Charles

It has occurred to me recently that two very different golfers are working on swing changes at the same time I am: Tiger Woods and Charles Barkley.
     Tiger's quest is well-documented. He is working on the third major swing change (and thus the fourth different swing) of his career, with new teacher Sean Foley. His struggles are obvious, as he continues to confound the experts with his wild swings between brilliant and ordinary (and occasionally downright ugly) golf. It's been interesting to listen as commentators talk about how he is still occasionally reverting to his old swing habits, especially under pressure. His struggles reinforce how difficult it is to "unlearn" deeply ingrained habits. This is especially amazing when you consider how many hours and resources Tiger has no doubt poured into trying to groove his new swing. He remains very much a work in progress. (A new interview with Sean Foley is here.)
     Charles Barkley's struggles are also well known; even Hank Haney couldn't permanently fix the amazing and amusing massive hitch in his golf swing. So rather than continue to try to fight it, Sir Charles is reportedly (according to numerous sources, including Haney himself) learning to play left-handed. Yes, that's right. Just like The Whiffler.
     His new backhanded swing, however, is apparently not yet ready for prime time, so he continues to play his public rounds right-handed. Meanwhile, he reports that playing lefty has helped him enjoy the game again in a way he hasn't been able to since the full-swing yips first set in.
     Will he be successful making the switch? Based on my own experience so far, my guess is "yes" – so long as he's willing to put in the work. Based on the video evidence below, he still has a ways to go.

Brandel Chamblee: Rickie "Gets It"

I love this, what Brandel Chamblee said about Rickie Fowler on the Golf Channel's "Morning Drive" show today:

It’s so rare when somebody like him comes along, and it’s very, very early in his career, he has yet to win – and yet he wields star power like someone who’s won 12, 15 times and a couple of majors. It’s the way he goes about what he does, as much as what he does. He’s just a very appealing golfer. He plays fast. His golf swing is unique. He plays shots … I heard yesterday when it came time to warm up, the contrast to Ben Crane, he (ben crane) was out there, and he had all these devices, and he was going through a very regimented practice session before he played, which is fine. That’s what Ben Crane does and it works for him. And Ricky came out and hit 10 or 15 shots and was ready to go. And that’s what’s neat about the kid, is that he’s a sharp contrast to the sort of homogenized look that exists in golf today.

[Question: “What does that mean when people say he gets it?”] Well, he understands the best way to play golf – and you know, this is my opinion – is to go out and to try to hit shots. There’s this … it’s the “big lie” to me, that you can go out there and swing perfectly. And I understand why guys do it. Literally, they’re trying to play this game in the most organized fashion. There’s so much money out there at stake, and if you can stay on Tour for a long time, you can get ridiculously rich. So what are you gonna do? You’re gonna work out, and you’re gonna get a sports psychologist, and you’re gonna get the video camera, and you’re going to take all these lessons … you want everything to just be perfect. And Rickie’s like no, I’m going to go out and I’m going to hit golf shots. I’m going to go out and I’m going to hit it high and I’m gonna hit it low, I’m going to draw it, I’m going to fade it. And I think … I don’t think, I know it’s because of the way he was taught the game. His teacher was very much into hitting golf shots. And that’s why he plays fast. Because he’s not out there thinking about a pre-shot routine. And he’s not out there thinking about swing mechanics. He’s out there thinking about golf shots. And it’s … you know, look. We’re not ready to put him in the Hall of Fame yet, but … when you watch Michael Jordan play basketball, you’re watching a guy who yes, he spent all these hours practicing. But it looks like art. It just looks like an athlete. And Rickie, he just looks like an athlete when he plays golf.

It meshes really well with something I've been thinking a lot about lately as I try to groove my new left-handed swing. And that's this: that the purpose of practice is to groove your swing to the extent where you don't have to think about it when you're out on the course competing. On the course, especially when the pressure's on, you don't want to be thinking about where your elbow is or what plane your swing is on or what your hands are doing. You want to be thinking about where you want the ball to go, what you want it to do.
     Think about throwing a baseball. Sure, a throwing motion is a lot less complex than a golf swing (to me it seems that way, anyway), but the principle is the same. If you're scooping up a grounder and getting ready to make a throw to first, you're not thinking about you're technique, you're looking at that first baseman's mitt and thinking about the ball smacking into the center of it. It should be the same thing with the golf swing. Yes, that's a very hard thing to achieve. And it probably applies more to professionals, who spend hours and hours on the practice tee than to people like me who (historically) have done most of their "practice" out on the course. But if you want to really improve, it makes a lot of sense.
     One of the things my new coach, PGA Professional Carl Unis, has told me is this: "An amateur practices until he gets it right; a professional practices until he can't get it wrong."
     Exactly right. A lofty goal, to be sure, but something to strive for.

From the "SIM" Journal

A few excerpts from the very beginnings of my "Scratch in the Mirror" Journal ...

Tuesday, Sept. 28, 2010
     I went online to Golf Outlets and found some really cheap off-brand lefty putters. They look nicer than the Hippo [a cheap putter I found at a golf shop]. The one I have my eye on is a Odyssey two-ball knockoff – a “Texan” (same brand as Jack’s clubs!) for $12.99. Add $6.99 shiping and you get $19.98 – two cents cheaper than the hippo – and no sales tax!

     I think I may need to go for it.

Wednesday, Sept. 29, 2010:
So I did it – I ordered the putter. Does that mean there’s no turning back? Probably not, but it is a step in the direction of commitment. I’ve been imagining how I’ll set up my putting drills in the basement. I’m afraid I’ll get bored – that’s the pattern. I’m thinking 100 putts a night? And maybe throw in one of those “I have to make 20 in a row from four feet” kind of deals for good measure. I’m just not sure. But it’s easy to imagine hitting 10 or 15 putts and then getting “distracted” and just start whacking putts and not thinking about it. But maybe that’s OK at this stage, because my first step is just to get used to that left-handed motion. But then, if I get used to that motion with crappy technique that defeats the purpose – and sabotages the project before it even gets going.

Monday, Oct. 4, 2010:
I’ve realized that I probably should start out (putting) with some sort of a plan for instruction. Even just playing around with my existing putting stroke, I realized I don’t really know if I open and close the face or not. That is, whether I should be swinging the putter in a slight arc around my body or try to keep it square the whole way, like a pendulum (as Steve Stricker appears to). I think I probably do open/close it during the stroke, but only a little. The key is, I think, that I don’t think about it. I hope thinking about it doesn’t mess me up! ...

As it happens, the current issue of Golf Digest has a 30-page putting section. So I think I might just start there. I took a look at it at lunch today and wouldn’t you know it, one of the tips (from Dave Stockton, Phil’s and others’ putting guru) is to practice putting with just your left hand [or right hand, for a lefty], because it’s so important! I was already planning to do that! And it’s nice to know that this bit of information sort of backs up my theory.  ...

Putter came today! Jack [my then-8-year-old son] and I went to the putting green at Brown Deer for about 45 minutes – we closed down the joint. ...

For my lefty putting, I thought about going cross-handed. That would be easy, right? Basically my right-handed putting grip, swinging the other way. But that seemed like cheating or something. I’m intrigued by putting grips where the hands are almost on top of each other. That kind of makes sense to me because it makes your arms symmetrical, and it seems like your shoulders would be more level, which makes sense. In fact, I’ve seen grips that take this to the extreme with a very wide putter grip that you grasp with two hands [on opposite sides], with palms facing each other. This makes a lot of sense. I’m not one to consider something so unconventional (no belly putters or “broomsticks” for me, either!). So I’m trying it with a grip where my hands overlap quite a bit, but the left hand is still low. ...

I figured out right away that I’m having a lot of trouble seeing where I’m lined up. On a number of occasions, after lining up a putt, I would hold the putter in place while stepping behind it to see where I was aimed – often not where I thought I was. In general, I think I was more often aimed to the right of where I thought I was lined up. Some of this may be the unfamiliar putter, but I think more of it may be that I’m not used to lining up a putt with “that side” of my face. I think there’s a big dominant eye factor.
     I practiced mostly 5-6 footers, trying to concentrate on just making a smooth, straight stroke. I also practiced some using only my right hand, which a lot of times felt actually easier than using both hands.
     My results were fairly mixed. There were times when it felt fairly natural to putt left-handed, and other times where it felt completely foreign.

Review: "Tiger vs. Jack"

"Exhaustive."
     That would be one word to describe author and fellow blogger Phil Capelle's epic work, Tiger vs. Jack: Golf's Greatest Rivalry. Other words would be "comprehensive," "thorough," and "impressive."

     Capelle sets out to tackle an oft-debated question: "Who is the game's all-time best player, Tiger Woods or Jack Nicklaus?" You don't have to look too far to find a variety of opinions on the matter. But you'd be hard-pressed to find anything close to the in-depth look Capelle takes. Not content to simply add up the major championship victories, Capelle considers such factors as strength of competition, performance in different "types" of victories (blow-out wins, close wins, comeback wins, high-scoring, low-scoring, good-weather, bad, etc.), quality and consistency of golf swing, what he calls "contender finishes," the role of teachers and caddies, and even the role that luck has played in their 32 combined major championship victories. Just for starters.
     Along the way, Capelle makes a few surprising (and sure to be controversial) points, including the case for why Bobby Jones's Grand Slam season in 1930 is "the most overrated feat in golf history":

"Here's why: the fields at the amateur events were watered down by the absence of the pros. And, at the U.S. and British Amateurs, the top amateurs of the other side did not compete." [page 24]

But don't take his word for it. Here, as throughout the book, the author offers plenty of numbers to back up his claims.
     And though he limits his best-ever discussion to the modern era (1958-present), he also makes a strong case why the great  Walter Hagen should be credited with 16 professional major victories instead of the 11 the record currently shows. This would, of course, put him squarely between the Golden Bear and Tiger on the all-time list.
     If you're not a statistics junkie, there may be a few sections of Tiger vs. Jack you'll want to skim rather than read thoroughly. Capelle goes deep with his analysis on many topics. But what makes this 480-page tome (including the appendix and comprehensive index) so noteworthy is that all the information, and then some, is there if you care to dig in.
     It's clear that Capelle has a deep and abiding respect for golf history. He thereby avoids falling into the trap of giving greater weight to events that have occurred more recently, as you so often see in listings of "all-time great" teams and athletes in various sports. If anything, Capelle is biased to the opposite, perhaps looking back on occasion with an overly romanticized view of the past. But it's to his credit that he makes his biases known up-front. He grew up watching the Golden Bear dominate golf and makes no secret that he's a fan. His analysis is so quantitative and objective, however, that it's difficult to believe his admitted affections have affected his conclusions.
     What are his conclusions? I'll not spoil the movie here. But here's a hint: He takes a solid stand on the issue while also conceding that the closing argument has yet to be written.

Tiger vs. Jack is available at Amazon.com or through the author's website, www.capelleongolf.com.

"Scratch in the Mirror"

Those who have been paying attention (is anyone still paying attention?) may have noticed that lately I've been posting a number of items about lefties – more specifically, natural righties who play golf left-handed, and vice-versa. That's because that's the subject of the book I've been working on – and what's been drawing my attention from blogging. I've decided that it's time to merge the two a bit and start blogging about the project. So here's the working introduction to Scratch in the Mirror: Right-handed Lefties, Left-handed Righties, and the Search for the Perfect Backhanded Golf Swing. By Mike Zimmerman. (You may notice that this earlier post was actually an earlier version of the introduction.)
     Please don't hold back with your opinions. I can use all the feedback I can get!

Scratch in the Mirror – Introduction

Want to win a few bets at the 19th hole? Ask the others in your foursome how many lefties have won major championships in golf. Your knowledgeable friends will say three: Bob Charles, Mike Weir, and Phil Mickelson.
    Imagine their shock and surprise when you tell them – as you hastily collect your winnings – that none of those guys is a real lefty. Each is actually right-handed, but plays golf from the sinister side.
    Now imagine their rage when they realize you’ve tricked them. Fisticuffs ensue. Since you’re outnumbered three-to-one, they easily beat you to a pulp and take back their winnings. They also take your watch and the rest of the cash in your wallet, just for good measure.
    Man, who are these guys!? Why you would want to play golf with three jerks like that is beyond me, but who am I to judge another man’s friends?
    Later, in the ER, you tell your wife what happened and she asks the obvious question: “Well …? If not Charles, Weir, and Mickelson [your wife is very knowledgeable about golf; that’s why you married her], what is the right answer? Have any actual left-handers ever won a major professional golf championship?”
    A smile creeps across your bloodied face, but you wince only slightly at the pain. “Johnny Miller,” you gasp. “Greg Norman. Curtis Strange. Nick Price. David Graham. Byron Nelson.”
    A hush falls as doctors, nurses, assorted orderlies, and the little old lady in the waiting room stop what they’re doing and draw silently closer, hanging on your every word. Everyone is astonished by the revealed wisdom that has already passed your swollen lips, but you’re not done yet. With strength fading, you summon another breath and whisper, like Charles Foster Kane spitting out “Rosebud”: “Hogan.”
    A nurse faints. In the hallway, a bedpan crashes to the floor. Across the pond, a chill wind blows through “Hogan’s Alley” at Carnoustie.
“They’re all naturally left-handed,” you explain. “They only play golf right-handed.”
    A tear runs down your wife’s cheek as she turns to the attending physician and says, “Doctor, my husband is obviously delirious and in great pain. Can you do something?”
    Shaking his head with a sad and concerned look, the doctor lowers a mask to your face. Moments later the room goes dark and all is quiet.
    In retrospect, maybe you should have just stuck to the conventional wisdom. Or at least made the stakes a little lower.

• • •

More Stricker Whining

Not Steve Stricker whining ... me whining about Steve not getting enough love!
     I just don't understand why Matt Kuchar (who I love) seems to get so much more buzz for 2010 than Steve Stricker. The latest was in Alan Shipnuk's Mailbag at golf.com. When asked to name the top five players in the world right now (ignoring the official world rankings), he answered Kaymer, McDowell, Westwood, Furyk, and Mickelson/Kuchar (tie).
     Everybody talks about top 10s. Fine. Kuchar had 11 in 26 tournaments (.423), but Stricker had 9 in 19 (.474). Kuchar won the scoring title, but by a whisker over Stricker (69.61 to 69.66). Kuchar won the money title (4,910,477 vs. 4,190,235), but again when you look at it per-tournament, Stricker comes out ahead, 220,500 to 188,900 (rounding off). Stricker (1,697 points) finished well ahead of Kuchar (1,437) in the regular season FedEx Cup standings. Plus, Stricker had two victories in 2010 to Kuchar's one. I'll give the majors to Kuchar, who finished ahead of Stricker in all four, including two top-10s. All in all, it's very close. But overall I'd give Stricker (whose season was shortened by injury) the edge between the two.
     I suppose the disparity is at least in part because Kuchar is younger and his comeback story is fresher. He's an extremely likeable guy who has developed into a very fine player. Stricker's been back at the top for a while now, and if anything is trending (ever so) slightly downward. Kuchar, on the other hand, seems to still be on the rise.
     But they're both great guys, good family men, and fine players. I hope they both have monster years!

(By the way, posting at Whiffling Straits has been erratic lately, to say the least, as I've been concentrating on a book project. But I'll try to pick up the pace a little as the season gets going.)

Inspiration

Posted without further comment ...



(Hat tip: golfdigest.com, Local Knowledge blog)

Tiger vs. Jack

Fellow blogger Phil Capelle has a new book out! In Tiger vs. Jack: Golf's Greatest Rivalry, Capelle takes issue with what he calls the "overly simplistic" notion that Tiger will replace Jack as golf's greatest player once he surpasses Jack's total of 18 major professional championships. In his view, "the quality of competition, the rules of the game, equipment, and course conditions are among the ever changing factors that must be weighed when debating who is the best."

     Whiffling Straits will post a review of Tiger vs. Jack once we've had a chance to read it. In the meantime, you can learn more or purchase a copy by visiting Phil's website: Capelle on Golf. It is also available here at amazon.com.

A Visit with Sir Bob Charles

Over the weekend, Sir Bob Charles, the first left-handed golfer to ever win a major professional championship, the 1963 Open Championship, became the first person inducted into the New Zealand Golf Hall of Fame. The new hall of fame was inaugurated in honor of the 100th anniversary of New Zealand Golf.

We here at Whiffling Straits are intrigued by Sir Bob – and not just because he won the first major championship contended in my lifetime. It's also because he's not really a "left-hander." He's a natural righty who plays golf, as he prefers to call it, "backhanded," standing on the right side of the ball and hitting to his right. Recently, we had the honor of speaking to Sir Bob in his native New Zealand – about his backhanded approach to golf and his big win in July 1963.

(Image: Condon/Getty Images, via pgatour.com)

Whiffling Straits: How did you come to be a right-handed person who plays golf left-handed?
Bob Charles: Well, I’m just doing something that comes naturally. It’s instinctive for me to grip with one hand, to pick things up, grip anything with my right hand. But when it comes to putting two hands on anything, I automatically put the left hand below the right hand. For example, if I pick up a rifle, I put the left hand belowthe right hand. If I pick up a pool cue, I put the left hand below the right hand. A spade, an axe, everything I do with two hands, I put the left below the right. And swing obviously … with an axe I swing it over my left shoulder, a rake … you know, that’s just natural. 

WS: I had read in Sports Illustrated that your parents were both golfers and lefties, and that’s how you came across your first set of left-handed clubs, is that correct?
BC: Well, yes, that’s correct. Actually my mother started out as a right-handed golfer and she switched to becoming a left-handed golfer. My father is the same as me. He’s right-handed with one hand, but with two hands he puts the left hand below the right. 

WS: Was it because of them that you started playing left-handed?
BC: Why did I start playing golf standing on the right side of the ball? It felt the most natural way to me. I play all ball games. I’m fascinated with all ball games. I’ve got my own tennis court here on the farm, I’ve got my own pool table in the house, I have a ping pong table, so … my father was a very good sportsman, and had a good eye, instinct for ball games. He was just playing what was natural for him. He played cricket, he was a good cricketer. He bowled right-handed, batted left. If you use baseball as an example, he and I both would have been right-handed pitchers and left-handed batters. 

WS: Do you think there’s an advantage for a right-handed person to turn things around and play left-handed golf?
BC: I think a lot depends on whether you’re left-eyed or right-eyed. You see, I don’t consider myself a left-handed golfer. I’m a back-hander. I prefer to use backhand, I play a double-handed backhand. I stand on the right side of the ball, I hit the ball on the right side of the clubface and I’m hitting to my right. Now when I’m lining up a putt, I’m looking at the hole and the ball with my strong right eye. So, I’ve got a feeling … well, it’s not a feeling. I’ve got a theory I suppose is the best way of describing it. If you’re left-eyed you should be a right-handed putter, if you’re right-eyed you should be a left-handed putter. I think you get a better perception, better depth perception. If I’m looking to my right, to my strong side, visually I get a better picture looking right than looking left. 

WS: What do you remember most about that (British Open) victory?
BC:There’s a lot of things. Let’s put it in context, we’re going back how many years? Well, 47 years, aren’t we? Of course, the field: the best players of the day were there. Nicklaus was there, Palmer was there, Player was there, Peter Thompson was there, Kei Nagle. They were the leading players of the day. I had won at Houston just the month before, so I arrived there full of confidence, having won my first tour event in the United States. So in effect, those five players I mentioned were probably the only ones I had to beat.
     Nowadays of course things are quite different. What I’m saying is, the quality was there but there was no great depth to the field. Whereas today, instead of just five players, you’ve got 50 players to beat. So, as a fact, [I arrived] full of confidence, I had a great week. Putted particularly well. And of course the 36-hole final [playoff] with Phil Rogers was a little bit of an endurance contest, as you can imagine, playing 72 holes in two days. And I think I was the fitter of the two. Then, Phil Rogers would never consider himself to be one of the fittest people in the world. And my putting continued through the final and I think I won by, what was it, seven shots.

The Year in Pictures

How cool is this photo?

As someone who loves photography, I really enjoyed browsing the "2010 TOUR Photos of the Year" galleries at pgatour.com. The editors asked their three staff photographers to each pick their favorite 10 photos from the 2010 season. The photo above of Arnie, Jack, and Gary is by Chris Condon, taken at the Big 3 fund-raiser for the Mountain Mission Kids at the Olde Farm Golf Club on June 8.
     "These guys don't get together very often and it was a pleasure to be a part of this event that raised a record amount of money for charity," Condon comments.
     You can view the rest of the pictures, along with comments from the photographers, from all three galleries (including those of photographers Stan Badz and Caryn Levy) here.

Mike Small is Big Time

Steve Stricker says his former teammate Mike Small is doing an "unbelievable" job as coach of the Fighting Illini men's golf team. If Steve says it, it must be so – and the stats back him up. Small's Illini, the two-time defending Big Ten Champs, finished the fall season ranked 9th in the country in the Golf World/Nike Coaches Poll and claim the reigning NCAA men's individual champion and Big Ten Player of the Year, Scott Langley, among their ranks. In 2010, Small was named Big Ten Coach of the Year for the third time (2002, 2009).

     On the course, Small is two-time defending champ at the PGA Professional National Championship – he's won the tournament a record-tying three times overall. He's also won a remarkable nine titles at the Illinois PGA, including the last eight straight.

     That's why the staff here at Whiffling Straits was so honored to have spoken recently with Small about playing, coaching, and what the future holds, both for him and for his exciting Fighting Illini team. 

UPDATE: Coach Small made the cut on the number this week at the Children's Miracle Network Classic at Disney World, the final official event of the 2010 PGA Tour season. He shot a 2-under 70 on Thursday and followed that up with a bogey-free 71 on Friday. He held fairly steady on the weekend, shooting 71-74 to finish at 2-under for the week in a tie for 65th place. Nice job, Coach!

(Image: Small with his 2010 PGA Professional National Championship Trophy. Montana Pritchard/The PGA of America.)

Whiffling Straits: Is it unusual for a college coach to play as much competitive golf as you do?
Mike Small: I don’t think anybody does it to my level. A lot of [college coaches] played in the past, on tour, but they seem not to have success once they start coaching. When I started coaching, I didn’t think I’d be playing this well or this much. So I didn’t really plan on it. But the way I’ve played, it just kind of evolved.

WS: What kind of challenges does that present?
MS: It actually presents a lot of them. It makes things really confusing. But I think there are a lot of positives that come out of it that outweigh the negatives. The negatives are, obviously, family time, away from home, I’m gone a lot. Coaching is my number one gig, my full-time thing, that’s what everything kind of revolves around. But at the same time, playing at my level, or trying to play, is an advantage to our program. It’s a niche that we have that kind of helps separate ourselves from other schools. I tell people we don’t have the ocean, we don’t have the [warm] weather, that a lot of other programs have … but every program has to kind of have a niche, a fit. And we run our program, approach our program from a player’s perspective, somebody who’s still playing. [Because] all these kids aspire to play on tour someday.
     The positives behind it: being out there and still being in the game, competitively, learning the new stuff that’s on the cutting edge in golf when you’re on the PGA tour, playing in events, equipment-wise. I’m bringing information and knowledge back to the players that most coaches get second-hand. So to get that first-hand is always nice and it helps our development.
     I always do my schedule around my coaching, but I have a very understanding AD – and my players are very understanding; they get a kick out of it. So when conflicts do arise, I have to make the decision based on what’s happening. But if we’re playing in a tournament that’s not as big or as prominent, or I can be gone when I need to play in a tour event, I usually can go. But that doesn’t happen very often at all. I try to have coaching be number one and playing be number two. And that’s the way I schedule my time professionally.
      But with the family, and being gone a lot, it is tough. But they get a lot of advantages, too, being a coach at a major university, and also being able to play on tour. Like this next week we’re going to Disney World for the tournament. The whole family is going. So it will be fun to go down there and spend some time, kind of relive the old days of playing, and then our fall season is done. Where it gets tricky is with recruiting. Because coaches recruit every day, all day, almost. And I do that on the road, juggle two things at once.
     But to wrap this whole answer up, personally I think it makes me better at both. Because if you do something all the time, 100% of the time, you get a little stale and burn out on it. I think coaching, if I’m coaching all the time with the guys, all spring, and I know I have some tour events coming up, or the PGA of America event coming up, in early summer, it kind of gives you something to look forward to and it gives you a fresh clear picture … you don’t get stale. There’s no repetitive stuff, there’s always something to look forward to, and vice versa. When I’m out playing for a week or two, I’m always looking forward to coming back and talking to the guys and see how they’re doing, and see what we can do with their game. I think my patience is better, I think I’m fresher at what I do with both of them. I’m not on edge or stressed out with just one job.

WS: Does it help you feel like one of the guys?
MS: Yeah, I think so. Normally I only play about four or five events a year. So I don’t really play a lot of tournaments, but I space them out so I stay involved. But it’s weird, the last 7, 8, 9 years, I’ve played so well in the PGA of America events, and the Illinois events, the Illinois Open, the Illinois PGA, I’ve been winning them. And it’s always in the news, and people are reading that and thinking I’m always playing. But I’m really not. I play four or five times a year.
Now this year I’ve played more. And next year I’ll play more. And like in 2006, I played more, because when I won the National Club Professional Championship – or the PGA Professional National Championship, what it’s called now, the PPNC – I get all those exemptions the following year. So I’ll play 11 or 12 events in those years, and this coming year, because of the exemptions. I’ve been fortunate to play well and get some media attention, so it seems like I’m playing a lot.

WS: Is it tough to keep your game sharp, to find time to practice?
MS: Yes. It’s getting harder and harder. I’m getting older. My kids are at an age now there are more things to do with them at night, school, and their activities. And yes, finding time to practice the last few years has gotten tougher.

WS: At this level of the college game, what do you primarily work on with your players?
MS: It’s probably more mental game, course management, scoring – scoring attitude and aptitude they have to have. But we’ll work individually on their golf swings if we need to. But if you’re a top 20 team in the country and you’re recruiting kids where you need to build golf swings, you’re recruiting the wrong ones. At this level … major college golf is not a golf academy. We need to teach these kids how to be players. And how to be tournament players and how to score and deliver a score. The golf swing is obviously a portion of that, but they should hopefully have good fundamentals when they come here.

     What we spend a lot of time on is ball flight, distance control, short game, getting command of our short game, increasing the number of shots they have. Most of them have five or six different shot around the green when they come in, if that many. You need to have 20-25 to be good. We [work on] how to handle course conditions, the mental approach to the game, mental toughness, mental competence, how to handle different situations. And I think that’s where we tie it all together.

Happy Birthday, Gary!

Gary Player turns 75 today. Earlier this year, I predicted:

Gary Player, the Jack LaLanne Perry Como of professional golf, will celebrate his 75th birthday on November 1 with a 40th anniversary release of his album, "Gary Player Sings."

As far as I know, this is not going to happen. In the absence of a Gary Player serenade, however, here's a link to an interview at golf.com, which includes this enlightening snippet about Martin Kaymer:

"I like his manner, and the way he shaves every day."

Yes, Gary Player is unique, a man with his own way of thinking and of doing things. After I made the above prediction, I posted this reflection on "The Legend that is Gary Player." An excerpt:

I find Player absolutely fascinating. He has an inspiring backstory, having grown up dirt poor in South Africa, where his father was a miner. His mother died when he was 8. He's gotten where he is today by working harder than anybody in the history of the game (even Hogan, by my estimation), both on and off the course. The winner of nine (yes, nine!) major championships, he was an amazing player, even as he labored in the shadow of Palmer and Nicklaus. Because of the "golden era" in which he played, I think he sometimes doesn't get enough credit today for what he accomplished on the course. Who knows how many majors he would have won had he peaked in, say, the 1980s?

That's two more majors than Arnie! Yet, who comes more readily to mind as one of the greatest players of all time? Probably Palmer over Player – a common perception that's really not supported by their respective records.
     So happy birthday, Gary! May your stature one day grow as large in the minds of fans as it already is in your own!