Andrew Rice Golf

Posts Tagged ‘augusta national’

Scott and his New Driver

Last weekend we saw a tremendous back nine battle at Augusta National between Adam Scott and Angel Cabrera. There was so much to note, that little was made of the fact that Adam had a brand new driver in his bag – the Titleist 913 D3 (9.5 degree) with a Graphite Design Tour AD DI-8 shaft.

Scott's One of One DI 8 Black

Adam has used this shaft for a few years now and only upgraded the clubhead to the latest Titleist model. His shaft is the only one of its kind – built especially for him. The shaft is built in the same manner and includes the same technology as all other Tour AD DI 8 X flex shafts, but he requested the color pattern and they agreed to build it, but just for him. Legend has it that even Tiger Woods, who uses the Tour AD DI 6 ( a lighter version), asked for the same color pattern and was turned down!

Adam’s driver shaft weighs in at a trimmed weight of just over 80 grams and measures out to a playing length of 44 3/4″. Here is Ian Fraser from Modern Golf sharing a few interesting notes on the club:

I also wanted to mention that I am honored to announce that I have been named a TrackMan University Partner.

From TrackMan:

TrackMan University Partners are highly respected members of the golf community and they share our enthusiasm for the TrackMan technology and data parameters. TrackMan University Partners will be invited as guest speakers at Users Conferences, Certification Workshops and / or other TrackMan events.

TrackMan University Partners

I am very excited and look forward to sharing my knowledge with you for many years to come.

I also wanted to let you know that my last day of teaching at Berkeley Hall before departing to Atlantic GC for the summer will be Saturday May 11th. I will start teaching at Atlantic on Saturday May 18th.

As always thanks for reading!

Augusta National Golf Club

Major season gets under way this week. Thank goodness it’s that time of the year again – Masters Week! Here are my ramblings and predictions for the week.

These sites will help you keep track of all the action:

Masters.com (this site is truly exceptional)

Which even includes a live feed from the driving range.…..!

Golfweek.com

Golf.com

Golfdigest.com

“Tuesday Clippings” /  “Wednesday Clippings” / “Thursday Clippings” /“Saturday Clippings” / “Sunday Clippings” segment from Geoffshackelford.com

Thursday’s pairings have been released.

Here’s the outlook for the weather:

A heavy storm rolled through Augusta early on Tuesday morning.

Here are the odds:

Augusta National Snow

Augusta National 2011

Augusta National in Winter

This year I am having a hard time seeing how Phil can lose. I certainly would not have said that last week, but finishing with 63, 65 on the weekend in Houston must really have his confidence up. And he has always been a streaky golfer! For some reason I like Martin Kaymer too and my sleeper pick is Martin Laird.

Your 2011 Champion....

The other majors this year are the US Open at the newly renovated Congressional, the British Open at Royal St. Georges and the PGA Championship at the Atlanta Athletic Club.

If your weather is horrible and you’d like to get away and play a little golf of your own you may want to look to Hawaii. Of course you’ll need Hawaii tee times.

Enjoy the golf and check back often for updates of interest.

Today I had the privilege of playing every golfer’s dream course  – Augusta National. While I did not play as well as I would have liked as you can tell from the pictures it was a beautiful day and who can complain when you’re on God’s gift to golf!

The course seems to be weathering the cold winter well and there are a few new, yet subtle changes. In addition to the new practice grounds from last year, the 11th and 17th greens have been resurfaced.

Take a look at the ALBUM I created and enjoy. As you well know it is a special place!

Here are pictures of Augusta under a blanket of snow in 2010 and here are my pictures from earlier in 2010.

Mickelson is Master again! (AP)

Eighteen of the last nineteen years the winner has come from the final group out on Sunday at the Masters; Tiger has never won a major championship when coming from behind on a Sunday; Phil has three majors while Westwood only has a handful of close calls; we should have seen it all along – this was Phil’s event to win or lose and when he grabbed the event event by the scruff of the neck on the 13th hole Sunday with an emphatic six iron from the trees, he showed he had clearly opted for a courageous and thrilling victory!

While watching the broadcast I could not help but think back to the “old” days when players had legitimate shots at making eagles and birdies on the inward nine that always made for the most exciting finish in golf. The difference this year was that players seemed to have that ability on the front nine as well. I eventually lost track of all the eagles being made in my giddy stupor over how much fun this golf tournament was to watch. From the freak pine stamen event on the second green, to Tiger’s hole out on the 7th, to the most fun sand shot I have ever seen (Westwood, also at the 7th) the front nine gets my vote as the most thrilling nine holes of any major championship in recent memory.

If only the powers that be at Augusta National could comprehend how much the golf community enjoyed seeing Couples, Watson and Langer have a chance; how much we enjoyed watching the youthful passion of Anthony Kim shoot 31 on the back  to be in with a chance; and most of all some of the memorable shots that were played from the most improbable places on the golf course. This course set up, coupled with the near perfect conditions, made for a Masters of old - one where the roars replaced the groans and red replaced black on the large manually operated scoreboards. Please keep this balance between difficulty and achievability because it was so much better than what the last few years have held. Who cares what the winning score is? A week from now no one will remember. You got it right this year (with a little help from Mother Nature!).

Here are a few interesting points I noticed:

Choi and Woods were in sync all week (Tielemans/SI)

• KJ and Tiger played together all four days and matched each other on the scorecard every day. I wonder when the last time that happened was?
• The Phil Mickelson “pine stamen” incident on the 2nd green was the freakiest thing I have ever seen on a putting green – watch the footage here. Bobby Jones always spoke about destiny; what did this mean? Absolutely nothing in the end.
• Jason Dufner birdied the last three holes (16, 17 and 18) on Friday to make the cut at +3!
• When Anthony Kim gets hot lookout! I doubt if there are many players, Tiger included, who can match him shot for shot.
• Sergio Garcia scored 154 (+10) on the weekend in perfect conditions. Whaat? How can a golfer with such talent underachieve so well? It must be due to the fact he is playing against more than just the other golfers in the field each week…. Bad, bad attitude.
• It was good to see Adam Scott and Trevor Immelman hang in over the weekend and both finish in the top twenty.
• Y.E. Yang is a tough customer and never even got a glimpse or a mention – even after a solid 70 and another top ten finish in a major.
• Matteo Manassero is a name that we will be hearing for a very long time time. Not only did he post an excellent final score, but he did exceptionally well in most of the stat categories. He hit the second most fairways for the week!
• I find myself completely unable to root for Tiger Woods.

Stats for the top five finishers: (out of 49 players who made the cut)

Driving Distance

Mickelson 2nd / Westwood 6th / Kim 38th / Choi 42nd / Woods 19th

GIR

Mickelson 5th / Westwood 1st / Kim 10th / Choi 4th / Woods 17th

FIR

Mickelson 45th / Westwood 43rd / Kim 46th / Choi 24th / Woods 38th

Total Putts

Mickelson 13th / Westwood 36th / Kim 6th / Choi 5th / Woods 3rd

Quote of the Day goes to Phil Mickelson when asked about the difference between a great shot and a smart shot:

A great shot is one that you pull off and a smart shot is the one you hit when you don’t have the guts try it!

A Friend in Need..... (Getty)

Complete Final Leaderboard

Putt Like Phil by Dave Stockton Sr. (Phil’s new putting coach)

What’s in Lee Westwood’s bag

This Masters Week was Hard to Beat by John Steinbreder