Andrew Rice Golf

Posts Tagged ‘ernie els’

In my opinion these are the five best active swings in the game today:

Charl Schwartzel

Rory McIroy

Jason Day

Gary Woodland

Martin Kaymer

Any thoughts? Anyone out there better than these five?

I would have to say that honorable mention goes to Luke Donald, Ernie Els, Louis Oosthuizen, and Jhonattan Vegas.

Jeff Rude from Golfweek gives a candid video interview to Ernie Els. Interesting to hear Els’ commentary about his ‘94 US Open win and the significance that Nelson Mandela and Arnold Palmer had for him that year.

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Well played Graeme! You played like you actually wanted to win while everybody else around you couldn’t wait to get their hands off the trophy.

My thoughts:

• Pebble Beach is great place, but I believe the course needs work. When 7 out of 84! of the best golfers in the world hit the 17th green (on Sunday) in fairly benign weather conditions there is a problem. When the shortish par 5 14th hole plays as the most difficult hole on any day there is a problem. No major changes required – it just needs to be made a little more playable. That being said I thought the course was beautifully set up for the week.
• Tiger’s stock is down once again after a week of better ball striking. Could somebody please teach him how to give a post round interview? Let’s start with congratulating the champion….! Much better swing though.
• Hank Haney (who was at Mission Hills in China during Open week) – if Tiger’s numbers were so much better with you than any other coach, then I would expect hordes of Tour golfers to be waiting on your doorstep now that you can teach golfers other than just His Highness.  How is that going for you? (BTW – don’t bother emailing me on this one)
• Ernie Els let another one slip from his grasp. Of the 17 full swings he made on the back nine, 8 were in the poor category and that’s not to mention a handful of makeable putts sliding by the edge.  I really thought he would pull it out.
• Phil was just plain flat!
• Dustin Johnson will be doing some soul searching today. He is a tough kid who has the ability to let things slide of his back and I firmly believe he will come back stronger than ever. To those who might blame his swing for the breakdown on Sunday, please be quiet – Graeme McDowell has almost the exact same left wrist in his swing and that held up just fine. It’s all about impact!
• Gregory Havret played the best out of all contenders on the back nine. He actually had a real shot at the trophy on the last two holes. Great looking swing and I found myself wondering why he doesn’t do well more often. Strange game we play! Did anybody think Steve Martin in Pink Panther during his post round interview?
• I loved the way Graeme McDowell chatted with the camera coming up the eighteenth hole. He showed confidence and personality. Not that any Irishman has been short on personality! He seemed friendly and likeable.
• Out of the last eight events on the PGA Tour there has been one US winner! Can you believe it – 7 out of 8 have been foreign. It is such a global game and in my opinion that only makes it more interesting.

Graeme McDowell’s Equipment

Happy Father’s Day - I hope you have been as blessed as I have with my dad, Bill Rice. What a truly great man. I owe everything in my life to you Willy – thanks.

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.

Perhaps two of the sweetest swings in all of golf – Mickey Wright (who gets my vote as the best swing of all time!) and a young Ernie Els.

Both these golfers are at or approaching the top of the backswing.  Notice how their right side is flush up against the 84 degree line.

These illustrations are just two of the 45 that you will see in “It’s All About Impact“. They will all sell you on the idea that preparing the body to get to impact is what the focus of the swing should be. After all, there are many ways to swing the club, but only one way to hit the ball!