Golf Tips & Quips

I got to the scrimmage portion of my practice session and I was hitting the ball really well. That is until I got to the one hole that always gives me trouble. I can play this hole as short as 105 yards or I can move back to where I can play it to 165 yards.

When I play the hole short I have no problems. The tee box sets up so that it is a straight shot into the green. Two bunkers guard the green on either side and it falls off over the back to an area that is 7 feet below the green. Not too difficult from this position. I still have to make the shot but there is not much to think about. Just hit it straight.

Problems arise however when I move it back to the 165 yard range. From this distance I actually tee the ball up from the tee box that is going in the opposite direction. From this angle, the green is off to the right a little bit. For some reason I have trouble getting myself properly aligned from this position.

When I am practicing I always lay down a club like Ian Poulter does in this video. It really helps to get myself aiming down the right line. When I have the the club down, I have no problem hitting a shot to a target that is off to the right. The shaft is there so I just trust that I am properly aligned and make the shot.

If I have to hit the same shot without my alignment aid, I struggle mightily. I feel like my stance is too closed and I have trouble completing a proper one-piece takeaway. I come across my body and hit a humongous hook. It happens every time I get to that hole.

Maybe it became mental after a while, but I also believe that poor technique or actually not knowing what to do is the main contributor of my poor performance on this particular hole. When you have poor mechanics or lack of knowledge, there is no way you can be confident in what you are doing. Especially in a game where everything is a matter of inches.

I often hear professionals say that a certain hole doesn't fit their eye. This is what is happening to me. I just don't feel comfortable. Rory McIlroy has been in the news recently for thinking about skipping the Players Championship held at TPC Sawgrass. It is considered golf's 5th major, but the 21 year old star says he may not be there in 2011. This is what he said about Pete Dye's infamous layout...

"I don't like the course," McIlroy said on the eve of the Dubai World Championship, the final tournament of the European Tour season. "That's one of the reasons I'm undecided whether to play it or not.

"It's a Pete Dye course. It creates angles, a bit like Whistling Straits," he said. "He designed that course as well, where the tee boxes are sort of lining you up in the wrong direction. Visually it's very tough off the tee. It makes you feel uncomfortable because it looks like you've only got a little bit of fairway to hit but actually once you get up there, it's a little bit wider. It's just very demanding visually," added McIlroy.

Dustin Johnson is back in the winners circle. After a whirlwind of a season, Johnson kept his composure down the stretch at the BMW Championship to take home his second win of the year. Johnson finished with a birdie and a par on the final two holes, fending off a hard charging Paul Casey.

I'm a big fan of Johnson. I like his style of play. He is a big hitter and he has great touch around the greens. He has putted well this season and it seemed as though his name was always in the mix at the end of a tournament.

Johnson has experienced a lifetime of lessons in just this one year alone. He had the collapse at the U.S. Open in which he was within a few shot of winning his first major. There was the incident at Whistling Straits that cost him a chance at capturing the PGA Championship.

A lot of other golfers would have faded into the obscurity after going through what Johnson has. Not Dustin. It looks like he is going to be a contender for years to come. He has made his first Ryder Cup team. He has four wins already on the PGA tour, and he came very close to winning two majors in 2010. This guy is the real deal.

With Tiger failing to make it to the final stage of the FED-EX Cup Championship, and Phil seemingly not wanting to take over the number one spot in golf, Johnson may sneak his way to the top of the ladder. But there is nothing sneaky about Johnson. Everyone stops to look when he has a driver in his hand. With his continued good play, all eyes will be on Dustin Johnson for some time to come.

Have a great round and always hit your target.





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Are you kidding me!?!? Seems like I am beginning a lot of post like this lately. This time I am in disbelief over the outcome of the 2010 final round of the PGA Championship. Dustin Johnson stepped up to the 18th tee with a one shot lead over Bubba Watson and Martin Kaymer. All Johnson had to do was par the hole and he would win his first major championship.

Simple enough. Unfortunately, this was the final round of the final major of the season, at one of the hardest courses known to man, and it happens to be littered with bunkers of varying shapes and sizes. One of these "bunkers" proved to be Johnson's undoing.

Johnson hit his tee shot into what seemed to be a trampled dirt patch. As he got to his ball there were people standing in the sandy earth surrounding Johnson errant ball. He was left with over 230 yards to the hole. A tough shot from the fairway. Even tougher from this precarious lie.

Johnson weighed his options and chose to go for the green. He went through his normal pre-shot routine which includes grounding his club and struck the ball. He overshot the green and found himself behind a mound. Now he was playing for bogey to join Watson and Kaymer in a playoff. Johnson got up and down and he was heading to the playoff. Or so he thought.

As he was leaving the green Johnson was approached by a rules official who explained that they were checking to see if he had grounded his club in a bunker. What! A bunker? What bunker? Apparently, that sandy patch that he had hit his second shot from qualified as a bunker. Pete Dye strikes again.

I heard a quote from Dye, the legendary course architect. He said, "...golf isn't a fair game, so why should I build fair golf course." Nothing is truer when having to face "Bunker Straits". There was nothing fair about what happened to Johnson. I was upset the ruling at first, but after hearing the explanation, I completely understand. It still stinks, but I understand.

This is the Local Rule that the PGA of America Rules Committee made available to each of the competitors before play began at Whistling Straits:

Bunkers: All areas of the course that were designed and built as sand bunkers will be played as bunkers (hazards), whether or not they have been raked. This will mean that many bunkers positioned outside of the ropes, as well as some areas of bunkers inside the ropes, close to the rope line, will likely include numerous footprints, heel prints and tire tracks during the play of the Championship. Such irregularities of surface are a part of the game and no free relief will be available from these conditions.

It looks like there is going to be an exciting finish to the 110th playing of the U.S.Open at Pebble Beach. Over the past three days we have looked at the keys for winning on this very difficult course as discussed by Michael Breed on The Golf Fix. The keys areas are:

1.)Drive the fairways
2.)Know how to hit a knock down shot
3.)Have a good wedge game
4.)Make the putts.

Putting was a big story during the third round. Tiger Woods made a charge posting a 66 to finish in third heading into the final round. He did it with ball striking and clutch putting. He birdied the last three holes and we finally saw the "Tiger fist pump" that we had become so accustomed to seeing.

Ernie Els made a charge climbing up the leaderboard thanks to his touch on the greens. Els is looking to win the U.S. Open for the third time. It has been thirteen years since he won his last Open and he is looking to take his place amongst the elite again.

Graeme Mcdowell needed only 13 putts over the final 10 holes to keep himself in contention. He had a few blips in his round but his timely putts kept him in the final grouping with Dustin Johnson. Mcdowell is playing with great composure despite being out driven by Johnson by some thirty or forty yards off the tee.

As I eluded to, Johnson is bombing it with his driver. No one in the field comes close to him in distance. He his also shown a great short game that has kept him in the lead entering the last eighteen holes. He has won twice at Pebble Beach, winning the last two AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am championships.

Johnson displayed great composure around the green with his wedges and made some clutch putts coming down the stretch. It seemed like everyone including the television analyst were waiting for him to falter, but he never did. He just kept making putts.

I grew up playing basketball and coached for a while during college. The team that wins the close games is the one that makes their free throws at the end of the game. When a team has the lead, they will be fouled and put on the line on purpose in order to stop the clock. As long as you make the free throws you shut the door on your opponent.