I Wish Jack Would Ring Tiger

There's a new commercial out where Tiger's peers--if we can call them that--talk about his incredible 79 PGA tour wins. Even Phil, with 42 wins, was willing to take part and pay homage to the great Tiger Woods. 

But, in view of Tiger's rather dismal return to competition, this commercial might just end up being the postscript to his incredible career. I watched a piece where Greg Norman talked about Tiger's return and believes that, while Tiger will probably win again "somewhere in the world," he will likely not challenge Jack's Major record. The clock is ticking, according to the Shark, and Tiger's opponents are less intimidated and seventeen months improved from the last time Tiger competed. In fact, many of the top competitors were still in school when Tiger last won a Major.

There's no doubt that Tiger intimidated the hell out of his opponents. Most of them, if Tiger was in the field, were pretty much beaten before they teed it up. They knew--and what's more imortant is that Tiger knew--he was that much better. Then along came a little-known Korean who ran Tiger down in a PGA championship and the man who could not be beaten with a lead in a Major became the man who for eleven years couldn't be beaten with a lead in a Major.

Tiger has never been the same since that defeat. He hasn't won a Major since. Now, you can blame it on injuries. You can blame it on swing changes that haven't helped. You can blame it on the fact that the guy who seemingly never missed a six footer now misses plenty of them. Or you can blame it on all of these things. But the fact remains that Tiger is not the same cat he was when he won his last Major on one leg. The other players know it, and Tiger knows it.

We can hope for a great resurgence from Tiger, but I think the best we can really hope for is one magical win like Jack had in 1986. The golfing gods seem to be willing to let the great ones have one last moment of glory. And if that's the best we can hope for, it will still have been one helluva run.

The nice thing is that we seem to be seeing a kinder, gentler version of Tiger Woods. He smiles more. He's seemingly more comfortable with the media and the other players. I must confess that I like the new Tiger better. Now, if he'd only start playing fades off the tee, like Nick Faldo suggests, maybe he can win a few more. Jack wrote about why he preferred the fade, even though he sometimes played the draw. I wish he'd give Tiger a ring.

Legend Oaks Golf Club

I played Legend Oaks Golf Club near Charleston, South Carolina. I really enjoyed playing this course that features wonderful live oaks, cyprus swamps, birds and even some gators despite the cool weather.

Kathryn walked the course with me, armed with her trusty camera.

Pine Forest Golf Club

I played Pine Forest Golf Course near in Summerville, South Carolina with my buddy, Marvin. It's a good layout with fairways lined with pines, plenty of water and tricky greens in which they must have buried a lot of elephants. 

Unfortunately, it was cart-path-only due to some recent heavy rains, but we managed to thoroughly enjoy ourselves anyway. We were joined by Mike, a retired Navy diver who lives in the area. Marvin took advantage of his stroke a hole and won three and two. His game has really improved since the last time we played and we might just have to renegotiate the strokes if he keeps it up. 

That's one of the things I really appreciate about golf. You can have a close match with anyone provided the strokes are right. Marvin didn't think it was much of a victory, considering he received 18 strokes. But I had to remind him that, up until now, I had been regularly beating him despite the strokes. I also reminded him that no match is fun unless it is closely contended. Giving him those strokes forces me to play my best if I hope to win.

Kathryn walked with us and took some photographs.

Keep Calm and Keep Hitting It

One of the things you tend to notice with good players is their calm attitude on the golf course. While they may get angry at a poorly played shot, that anger quickly disappears as they plan the next one. They are able to manage to play just about every shot as an entity unto itself, rather than allowing a bad shot, or even a run of bad holes, throw them off their game.

In part, that ability of good players to keep their composure and remain calm is due to their confidence in their abilities. But I think it's more than that. I think good players understand that a round of golf rarely goes according to plan. You will have some good breaks and some bad breaks; you will hit some good shots and some poor shots. But good players know that, if they just stick with it, rarely will a round end in a disaster, and often a round started badly can end well. And it is the finishing of the round is all that counts.

Bobby Jones pointed out that the best advice he ever received was from Harry Vardon, who said, "No matter what happens, keep hitting the ball." That needs to be our mindset when we set out to play every round. We need to be determined to keep plugging away through the good times and the bad until we hole the final putt.  If we really throw ourselves into the game; and manage to play one shot at a time--giving every shot our full attention--we will finish our round tired from the effort, but content in knowing we gave it our best shot. And that, after all, is all any of us can do. In fact, accepting that all we can do is the best we can with what we have to work with on any given day, should help us weather the ups and downs inherent in playing golf. 

Some of my best rounds have started with a bogey. You just never know what can happen if you can remain calm and be firmly resolved to keep on trying--to keep on hitting the ball--no matter what happens out there.

Missing It in the Right Places

I had played Dunes West for the first time several days ago with Hank, managing to end up with four sevens on my card. Playing a course for the first time can sometimes be a bit tricky and a bit embarrassing. That's what separates the really good players from the guys who might play pretty well on their home course, but often find themselves unable to score on a strange course.

I am pleased to say that I played Dunes West three more times; breaking eighty every time and breaking par with a 71 on my last outing. Playing different courses is great for your game because it forces you to think your way around a layout that often calls for different shots into different greens. What we sometimes fail to give the top pros credit for is their ability to quickly size up a new course and shoot a good score. It isn't easy to do. Skill alone won't necessarily cut it on a new course. You have to very quickly learn where to "miss it" on every hole, or you can find yourself making some big numbers.

Golf is a game of misses. The guy who manages his misses, and misses it in the best spots, is the guy who will likely do the best. And this involves good planning, as well as execution. In the end, the guy who knows his own game, and is able to adapt his play to a variety of golf holes, is the guy who can do well taking his game on the road. It doesn't just come down to mechanical skill. In the end it always comes down to course management. And only experience, or a good caddie, will teach you how to manage your misses. 

That's why I think Bobby Jones was right on the money when he recommended that serious golfers seize every opportunity they can to play different courses under different conditions. That's the only way to really grow as a player--even if it sometimes means making a few sevens.

Dunes West Golf and River Club

I played Dunes West in Mount Pleasant, SC, near Charleston. I joined up with Hank, a snowbird from New Jersey, who now winters in Mount Pleasant. It was a beautiful day for January and Hank and I thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

Dunes West is a traditional low country design by Arthur Hills, with fairly generous fairways lined with pines, lots of water, sand and undulating greens. It's all right there in front of you and, provided you use your head, is probably a course that can give up a good score. 

In my case, I lost my mind on four holes, making sevens-- two of them, thankfully, on par fives. You certainly can't recover from four sevens, especially when you can only manage two birdies. The secret to low scores, at least for old fellas like me, is as much the ability to avoid big numbers as it is the ability to make birdies. As you get shorter off the tee, and now can't reach par fives in two and have fairway woods into some of the long par fours, you have to learn to manage your misses. Today I did a very poor job of that.

Hank, on the other hand, managed his game very well. He let me know where he was intending to try to play his shots, often leaving the second shot short of the greens and relying on his wedge and putter to get the job done, rather than trying for something heroic. He really played within himself and was rewarded with his fair share of pars. He was also very consistent off the tee, missing only two fairways. 

I'm sure Hank was quite happy with his game and we might just hook up for another run at Dunes West. It's gettable--we just know it is. 

The staff at Dunes West are very friendly and welcoming. I'm quite happy to have purchased a five-play package there. If, by the end of five rounds, I'm still making sevens, I'll have to blame it on what's going on between my ears. Because it's certainly a fair and enjoyable test of golf. You've simply got to miss it in the right places--like any other golf course.

Bobby Jones on Common Sense and Short Shots

In golf, as in life, common sense isn't always that common. This is especially the case when it comes to the short game.  For the average golfer within 75 yards of the green is where they really start to waste shots. And from pitching distance and in is where they can, with a little common sense, start to shave some strokes from their handicap.

Consider what Bobby Jones had to say on the subject in his book Bobby Jones on Golf:

    "Once I was playing with a man who was scoring in the high nineties; yet, to give a sample of his play, on each of two holes, five hundred yards in length, his second shot stopped within forty yards of the green. When anyone who has played golf for any time at all scores above ninety, the reason can be found in his work around the greens. Of course, older men, who cannot get the needed distance, and the wild fellows, who knock the ball entirely off the course from every tee, are exceptions. Most of the others who play regularly manage somehow to get the ball within short pitching distance of the green in two shots. It is only then that they really begin to throw away strokes.

     An important part of short play is judgement; selecting the right club and the right shot. Many unnecessary losses are incurred because the player attempts shots that are too exacting--pitching too close to bunkers, and trying to chip cleanly from sand. Not content with a fair average result, too often he will try something that he has not one chance in one hundred of bringing off.

     The short shots ought logically to be the easiest to play; in fact they are, if the player can only keep relaxed. The mechanics are simpler, and the effort considerably less; but the closer one gets to the green, or to the hole, the more difficult it becomes to keep on swinging the club. Those who have no trouble lashing out at a full drive with a fine free swing tighten up in every muscle when confronting a pitch of twenty yards.

     In playing a pitch, chip, or shot from a bunker near the green, there is one significant difference to be noted between the method of the expert player and that of the duffer; in one case, the swing is amply long, smooth, and unhurried; in the other, it is short and jerky, because the club has not been swung back far enough.

     It is a mistake to attempt a steep pitch with backspin when there is ample room for a normal shot. The more spectacular shot may be more exhilerating when it comes off, but the average result will not be so good. Every added requirement of timing, control, and precision will tell in the long run against consistently good performance.

     It is demonstrably more difficult to control a shot with a club of extreme loft than with one of moderate pitch. Therefore, the clubs of extreme loft should be left in the bag until the need for them becomes well defined. Nevertheless, whenever it becomes necessary to pitch over a bunker or other hazard, the lofted club must come into play. It is always safer to play a normal shot with a club of adequate loft than to get fancy with a club with a straighter face. But the player who always pitches up to the hole might as well have a hazard in front of him all the time; he does not know how to take advantage of his better position.

     There were two circumstances that would induce me to haul a nine-iron (this was written before the advent of 60 degree wedges) out of the bag for use from a lie in the fairway. One was the necessity for pitching over a bunker or other obstruction, when I could not stop the shot with any other club played in a normal manner; the other was a heavy lie from which I knew the ball would take a lot of roll, no matter what I did to it.

     Of course, the lie is always a circumstance of importance when one is deciding how much roll to expect. The proper order of procedure is to visualize the shot, determine where the pitch should drop and how much roll it should have; then to select the club and attempt the shot that should produce this result. Always favour a strightforward shot, and go to a more lofted club only when the necessity for stopping the ball makes this necessary."

Those sixty and sixty-four degree wedges have really enabled expert players to become deadly from 75 yards and in. In the hands of the average player they often result in some dramatic misses. So, as Bobby advises, around the green always take the least lofted club possible and give yourself the best possible margin for error. Once again, the short game is not about how; it's how many. And the easiest shot is the best shot to play if it's the score you're concerned about.