Andrew Rice Golf

Posts Tagged ‘michelle wie’

That’s all she wrote!  The 2009 “official” golf season is in the books and while there were glimmers of excitement, I felt like the year was not one to write home about.  Here are a few thoughts:

• Tiger Woods eclipsed the $10 million mark again – Steve Stricker, his nearest challenger was more than $4 million behind!

Steve Stricker

• No majors for Tiger.  If he does not win at Augusta next year I predict Hank Haney will be looking for some new students.
• Biggest surprises in the top 20 on the money list: Kevin Na; Z. and D. Johnson; Y.E. Yang; Brian Gay; Lucas Glover.
• How about this list of golfers outside the top 125: Chris DiMarco; Carl Pettersson; Stuart Appleby; Rocco; Chez Reavie; Johnson Wagner; Trevor Immelman; Ken Duke and multiple other tour winners.
• The highest finish on the money list for a golfer playing fewer than 10 events: Tom Watson who finished 114th after playing only 2 events.
• Brian Gay and Zach Johnson had breakout years.  Zach Johnson, in particular, showed that he has the potential to be a top 5 in the world player.

Brian Gay

• Kenny Perry, Phil and Steve Stricker had big years. They all won multiple times, but could not win the all important major championship necessary to be able to begin to challenge TW.
• Rickie Fowler will be at the final stage of Q-school. His haul of $570,000 in three events was not enough to earn a card.  There is a good crop of exciting young bombers who should get on tour for 2010 – look for Fowler, Lovemark or Stanley to make a minor splash.
• Watney, Casey and Geoff Ogilvy faded badly after promising starts.
• Furyk, Toms, Tim Clark and Els win the Close but No Cigar/Check Casher award for raking in tons of $$ without ever having the final say.  Furyk and Els seem to be making a habit of winning this annual award.

Tim Clark

• Players who Appeared Out of Nowwhere in 2009: Ross Fisher was the Robert Karlsson of 2008; Michael Bradley (where’d he come from?); Brian Gay; Mark Leishman; Matt Kuchar; James Nitties; and the biggest surprise of all Y.E. Yang.
• Players who Vanished into Thin Air in 2009, the “What was That Award?”: Aaron Oberholser (229); D. Hart (196); Shaun Micheel (180); Bart Bryant (167); and Trevor Immelman (156).
• The “UnderAchiever Award” nominees are: Vijay Singh; Aaron Baddeley; K.J. Choi; Anthony Kim and Adam Scott.

Aaron Baddeley

• The majors were a little uninspiring in 2009 with the winners being Cabrera, Glover, Cink and Yang.  With a little tweaking we could have had Kenny Perry, Phil Mickelson or a resurgent David Duval, the greatest victory of all time with Tom Watson at the Open and Tiger destroying all comers at the PGA.  I like the latter line up a little better.
• The greatest event of the year that never happened: The Barclays at Liberty National - Heath Slocum holed a par bomb on the 72nd hole to keep Tiger, Stricker, Ernie and Padraig in the club house and out of a text book 5-way playoff.
• Michelle Wie has finally won! Great news for both her and the sputtering LPGA.

Michelle Wie

• The longest hitter: Robert Garrigus (127).
• The straightest hitter: Joe Durant (182)
• GIR leader: John Senden (27)
• Best putter: Steve Stricker (2) I think this is a case for “drive for show and putt for dough!”
• Best Moment of the Year: Y.E. Yang’s birdie on the 72nd hole at Hazeltine in front of TW.

Y.E. Yang

• Classiest Player of the Year: Tom Watson at Turnberry.  It will be a long time before we see golf being played the way it was meant to be played, like the way Mr. Watson showed us.
• Worst Hole of the Year: The 72nd hole at Bethpage Black - when did you ever hear of a US Open Champion playing the final hole with a 6-iron and a wedge?

Bethpage Black #18

Predictions for 2010:

• Tiger wins a major after he boots HH (he goes it alone for awhile).
• Phil Mickelson makes a serious run at Tiger’s domination – he also wins a major!
• Ernie Els continues to make $$ and does not win a major – or any other US event.
• Tim Clark and John Senden win a PGA Tour event.
• Michelle Wie wins again.
• Annika Sorenstam plays more than one event on the LPGA tour.
• Lorena asserts herself as the queen of ladies golf – again!
• The LPGA tour actually finishes the season with the same commissioner it started the year with.
• Players who re-appear in the winner’s circle: Boo Weekley,  Jim Furyk, Sergio Garcia.
• The PGA Tour continues to struggle to find sponsors and finally agrees to lower purses at multiple events.
• The book “It’s All About Impact” becomes a hit and sells more copies than the publisher can print……;-)

Thanks for all your support this year.  Watch next week for a major Full Swing article.

It’s not easy to make a golf ball do this!  The question is – are you mad at the result or happy with the result? Do you snap the flag or celebrate a near miss? I would love to hear how you would feel about this outcome. If you are doing this on a regular basis then you must be doing something  right through the impact zone.

Knocking Down Pins!

(Thanks to one of my students, Steve Southern for this little gem)

A few things to Ponder:

• The golf ball spend 1/2000 of a second on the clubface during impact! So if you’re a single figure handicap golfer and you play 250 rounds a year, the ball spent 1 second on your clubface.
• Val Skinner interviewed Michelle Wie on the Golf Channel yesterday and asked her what her plan is for the weekend. Her response – “Well, I’m gonna hit lots of fairways, I’m gonna hit lots of greens and make lots of putts”………………..followed by a long pause as Val waited for something deeper than that. Thanks for that insight into the mind of a tour golfer Michelle.
• Alexis Thompson at 14 years old is in a tie for the lead at the LPGA event going into the weekend! She does not seem to be afraid of too much.
• Is there a PGA Tour event this week or is the season over?

Simple Alignment Aid

This must be one of the simplest, yet most helpful practice aids I have ever come across!

This teaching aid will greatly assist any golfer, not only with their alignment, but also provide an excellent visual image of what the swing path should be through impact.

If you are looking for a “high tech device” you are in the wrong place!  All you need is a 8-10 foot heavy piece of  nylon string available at any home improvement store and two golf tees.   Attach the ends of the string to each tee by burning off or tying and place the tees in the ground as illustrated.  There is no concern for a line that is ‘parallel left’ of your target here, as the string is placed almost directly on your target line.  It cannot be bumped off line or cause damage if hit during a swing.

The golf ball should be placed a few inches inside the string.  When hitting driver you can actually tee the ball up right on the string!

As you address the ball, not only will you be aligned correctly, but you will get a clear sense of what it means to swing “down the line.”   This handy device can be used for all shots, including work on your chipping and putting.

If PGA Tour players are using this, surely you too should give it a try!

• Place the tee closest to the target in the ground first and then back up and align the string at your intended target.
• Start hitting shots toward the front of the string and work the divots back along the inside of the string.
• The clubhead should never cross the string, either coming into impact or exiting the hit.  Feel the clubhead staying ‘inside the wall’ so to speak.
• If you think you don’t need this, trust me, you do!

Proper Practice!

Things to Ponder:

• What do Kenny Knox, Nolan Henke, Tom Byrum, Willie Wood and David Peoples have in common?  Besides the fact that they all played in the 1988 Greater Hartford Open (?) they are all playing on the PGA Tour this week!  There must be more competent golfers out there……
• Lance Ten Broeck (see above group) caddied for Jesper Parnevik in the morning and then played, shooting 71, in the afternoon!  Never heard of that before…http://www.geoffshackelford.com/
• Hey, David Feherty, ever heard the joke about two bullets, Nancy Pelosi and Osama?  Ever heard of a fellow CBS commentator called Ben Wright?  BTW Feherty is working the Valero Texas Open this week although I’m surprised he’s not playing!
• Michelle Wie still wants to compete against the men!  And I want to drive down Magnolia Drive in a red Ferrari and win the Masters….
• My pick this week, Justin Leonard, is looking good so far.  Go boy, go!
• I know of two teams in fantasy golf who picked Henrik Stenson and Ian Poulter!  How’s that for a $2.8 million pay day?