Golf Ledger on Sat, 8 Sep 2001 00:41:38 +0200 (CEST)


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[Nettime-bold] September 07, 2001 Newsletter


Title: The Golf Ledger - June 29, 2001

Inside the Leather

Maximum Failure
Associated Press - News Corp., the media conglomerate run by Rupert Murdoch, is officially suspending its only golf publication, Maximum Golf. It first hit newsstands just over a year ago sporting slightly edgier content aimed at a younger golf audience. Freelance writers have been notified that Maximum Golf would officially suspend publication as of the September issue.

Lucky and not so lucky
Associated Press - Snake bitten superstar Phil Mickelson picked up $500 in a friendly wager with Mike Weir. He bet that Jim Furyk would hole a bunker shot for par during the seven-hole playoff against Tiger Woods in the NEC Invitational. Mickelson, who never seems to have any luck on the course sure seems to have quite a bit off it. Last year he predicted the Ravens would win the Super Bowl before the start of the season and raked in over $500,000.00.

Daly business
Munich, Germany - The BMW International is by no stretch of the imagination a tournament of epic proportions. As for John Daly, however, playing in any event has an enormous impact on his superstar status. Big John fired a final round 66 to overtake Padraig Harrington on the last hole to win the BMW sponsored tournament. Congrats to Daly as we wish him continued success on his comeback.

The King still reigns
Golf World - Golf World's Business Index of popularity among golf personalities is complete for the second year in a row, and The King is still tops in most fans heart's. Arnold Palmer was selected the most popular/likable personality for the second year in a row with Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods finishing 2nd and 3rd. The Index measures familiarity, likeability and credibility. Surprisingly, the struggling Fred Couples finished 5th in the ranking for the second year in a row!

Instruction

Playing the Wind

Amateur and professional golfers alike all have trouble with Mother Nature. There are no exceptions to this rule. The trick is to learn how to turn the effects of organic conditions into an aid.

Typically the greatest natural weather deterrent to a golfer is wind. Rain, snow and hail certainly can affect ball flight but none are played in as regularly as a cool zephyr, so for the purposes of our reader base we will be restricting our efforts to the aforementioned.

For the most part golfers in coastal areas are more adept at playing in stiff, breezy weather, but even those in Tennessee Valley should be learning how to account for the bedeviling effect of this cruel handicap.

Here are some keys to playing in the wind that should help to keep your scorecard in double digits and closer to par:

  1. Club selection - When playing into a headwind, for every five miles per hour the wind appears to be blowing choose one more club. Use the opposite philosophy for hitting with the wind, but DO NOT trick yourself into believing the wind can help you carry the ball 250 yards with a four iron.
  2. Swing plane - Unless you are a single digit handicapper, do not swing any differently than you normally would. If you are an accomplished player, then be sure to always take a simple ¾ swing to avoid getting too much air under that ball.
  3. Look for Tree Tops - Although the wind may appear to be blowing into your face, it does not necessarily mean that it will be doing the same thing 50 feet in the air. Look at the tops of nearby trees to indicate what direction the wind is actually blowing.
  4. Balls - Choose a lower spinning ball when playing in the wind. The new line of low trajectory, low-spinning golf balls perform better in the wind then high spinning, accuracy balls.

The wind can become your friend if you let it. Simply account for the wind by knowing where it is, how much it is blowing and how well you trust your judgment.

And for the record, if you find yourself desperate for advice on snow, lighting or hail...seek help immediately at your local 12 step program for golfers anonymous because you have it bad!

Review

Readers Choice

The collective voice of The Golf Ledger faithful has spoken. In the last issue we concerned ourselves with finding out how you, our readers, felt about the Captain's Picks for the Ryder Cup Team.

Although our resident columnist still holds a fascist point of view on this subject, it appears that y'all like the way things worked out.

Here are a just a couple of comments from our readers:

"Leave them alone. That's why they are called the captain's picks."
W. Duncan.

"...consider Paul Azinger, a great golfer who fought and conquered cancer. Consider too Scott Verplank, a great golfer who continually copes with adult diabetes through an insulin pump that sits on the back of his trousers. Are Paul Azinger and Scott Verplank apt to infuse their team with the sort of cosmic glue which led Ben Crenshaw to make a prediction that seemed all too out-of-touch with reality? YOU BET THEY ARE! Now, in the words of Captain Curtis Strange, 'let's kick their a--!'"
B.B.

These sentiments are hard to ignore! We are hoping for a cleaner match this year than the stained imprint left by so many cleats pounding over Olazabal's line two years ago. That was ugly!

Good luck to our men at the Belfry, and more importantly, as this is a gentlemen's game above all else, good luck to all the participants. We can only pray that this year's Cup will be half as exciting as the last!

The Last Word

Rah rah friggin rah!

Every two years we all wax patriotic in the game of golf for some brief sense of solidarity about how proud we are to be American Golfers. Yeah!

Why should we not? We are proud American's, aren't we? It means something to actually bond with other competitors in the spirit of righteous indignation to the Europeans. Doesn't it?

Let us contemplate this for a moment. When we watch the Master's, do we really root against anyone making a putt? More than likely we have an ambiguous sense of obligation to chivalry, and we keep our feelings locked inside, even though our favorite golfer may not win as a result of his opponent heroically draining that 10 footer. So we are faced with the eternal question once again.

Is how we root for the Ryder Cup the truth in how we feel about golf, or is it just a phony neanderlithic attempt at team unity?

My guess? We all need to come clean. We really want our favorites to win all the time, and we all have a couple people we like to watch lose. Sorry Colin. The dignity of the game need not be compromised, of course. It's not like we will be hearing, in union, a crowd yell "Noonan" or "Miss it." But the time has come to drop our hypocritical sense of devotion to gamesmanship.

Gamesmanship is about being honest on the field of play, and adhering to the rules as they have been established. It is not for not having an opinion about who you would like to see win.

So for all you wisea#$ football and hockey fans out there, here is your personal invitation to become a part of the new era. When in the privacy of one's own home, or at you're favorite watering hole, don't be afraid to cut loose with a hooray when Mickelson misses his next chance to win a major. If he is not your guy, who cares!

Be sure however to keep your cheering to a low roar as you never know if a golf brawl might break out. I mean, who hasn't seen those infamous fringe clearing brawls that have become famous the past few years? Those are sportcenter classics!





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