golfweloveit

I saw this comical picture of The Beatles attempting to putt with irons on the cover an imported single of Eight Days A Week which my forefathers wouldn’t have seen in England. It was taken in 1963 on a Pete Dye course in Indianapolis in the grounds of the Indy 500.

They used golf courses just for photo locations as they had no interest in playing. Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields Forever had films shot at Knole Park in Kent and there was another photo shoot at Allerton GC near their homes in Liverpool. Lee Park GC in Liverpool was where John Lennon and The Quarrymen did their first audition to play at The Cavern Club in 1956.

The first two important factors in reading the green are its contours and its speed. Contours are the slopes and undulations which do not change. The pin position and the location of the ball will determine which contours will concern you. Look for the overall slope and drainage patterns in the surface – in many greens be aware that rainfall can come off the surface in several different directions. You need to work out only what will affect your putt on this green. There will be more contours on larger green and these can be gradual, strong, uniform or variable.

There are several types of contours. A deck is a flat area where the pin can be placed. Undulation is an area with several elevation changes in wave like form. The multiple changes in the degree of slope will affect the distance and direction of the putt. A bowl is a small depression on the green. A putt entering a bowl must allow for increased speed gained from the bowl’s downslope. Putting out of the bowl you will need to hit the ball with sufficient force to negotiate the bowl’s incline. A swale is an area of low lying, meandering green which generally slopes towards the edge of the green to ease drainage. The pin isn’t usually put there.

Speed is related to turf conditions, the type and grain of the grass and the weather. It can vary during the day. Speed can be measured by a stimpmeter, a metal device with a groove.A ball is rolled down the device onto the flat part of the green and then a measurement is taken how far the ball rolls. Slow greens are less than 7.5 feet, medium are up to 10 foot and fast is anything above that.Wind, sun and heat affect the speed of greens as does mowing and irrigation. Rain, fog and dew will decrease speed. The next element is the grain of the grass, identify the direction in which the blades of grass are growing – dull appearance the grain is growing away, will slow the ball down. Shiny appearance, the grain is growing towards the sun and will make the ball run faster.

The types of grass on the green will affect the speed. Many greens have a combination of grasses, for example when fast growing poa annua invades a bent or fescue green. The main types are Bentgrass – which grows in cool climates. It is a grass with fine blades which grow upright and often causes the ball to run fast. Bermudagrass grows in warmer climates and has a lot of grain. The grass grows horizontally and is generally slower than bent. Fescue grows in cooler climates and grows in groups with the blades developing sporadically. It creates slower greens and lacks a prevailing grain direction. Zoysia has very strong blades and appears in areas of Japan. Kikuyu grass will appear around a greens on some American courses. It tangles the club and is difficult to chip out of. Poaannua is a cool season grass which is bushy and a lighter green than bent. It creates a rough, bumpy surface and many greenkeepers try to control or eliminate it.

On the green look out for unrepaired ball marks, they can be mended under the rules without penalty. They will affect balls roll and cause it to bounce off line. Go to school on others putts watch how the contour and speed affects the ball’s journey. Observe how your own approach shot reacts as it rolls across the putting surface. It will help to bend down and have a look at the line near the hole, although the Camillo Villegas method is not recommended, I always marvelled at how he managed to do this in such tight trousers.

Rory as Mrs Crocombe

He can do an English accent as well as his ‘American’ one then

Happy Birthday to Jack Nicklaus, who is 79 today. And let us give thanks that the greatest golfer can still play at all. Thanks to stem cell therapy which he undertook in Munich two years ago, and the same treatment on his shoulder recently, Jack is now pain free for the first time since he was a teenager. He spoke to CNN last year about the revolutionary treatment that he underwent.

Jack had been playing through the pain all his professional career – he estimates he made 10 million swings – having cortisone injections for relief and, in his sixties, spinal surgery. A chance meeting with Dr Eckhard Alt at a party in 2015 led to Jack heading to Munich to the Isar Klinikum for treatment in February 2016. At that time he couldn’t play and could barely stand for longer than 10 minutes.

The day surgery under light sedation began with liposuction on his stomach to harvest fat, the stem cells come from the blood vessels. 3oz of fat was removed and it was strained with an enzyme to break down the fat to release 75 million stem cells. These were the  spun through a centrifuge and made into a concentrate which was then injected – 10 times in the back and 4 in the neck.

The pain subsided over the next few months and he is now able to stand and walk and play golf pain free. Jack says “I’m a believer. I think that stem cell therapy is going to change the direction of orthopedics totally. I will continue to play golf for as long as the stem cells let me”.

This week the huge PGA Merchandise show will take place in Orlando, Florida. Over five days a huge variety of exhibitors will display and a number of top PGA and LPGA pros will be making personal appearances. It’s the golf show in the world. This year we have the introduction of the British Golf Show which will take place at Wycombe Air Park, Marlow, Buckinghamshire on 17-18 May, It will have ‘something for everyone’ pre- registration is now open.

Greg Norman and John Daly made appearances. My favourite product is tge Finn Scooter available frim Sun Mountain Golf.

Adam Long, a 31 year old rookie who joined this season from the Web.com Tour, won the Desert Classic at PGA West on Sunday beating Adam Hadwin and Phil Mickelson by one shot with a birdie on the 72nd hole. He had played just five PGA Tour events previously, making only one cut, at the Safeway Open in October.

Mickelson dominated all the attention this week after having a -12 under 60 in the first round. He, Hadwin and Long played together in the final round and all were tied on the 72nd hole. Long hit his 6 iron approach shot to 13 feet then drained a right to left putt for birdie for a 65 and his first win in six starts, He had startrd the round with back to back birdies to go out in 33, then on the back nin chipped in for birdie twice. He said he had been learning the read from Mickelson’s putts and knew the putt on 18 was going to go in. Long becomes the third first time winner of 2918-2019.

“I really don’t know what just happened, but I’m thrilled” said Adam Long.

(He also said, if my lip reading is correct “holy crap!”)

Mickelson has now squandered four consecutive 54 hole leads. Yesterday he blamed his putter.

“Terrible putting day.Worst I can recal in a while. It felt awful with the putter, I just couldn’t get the ball in the hole”.

Last season’s transformed Zurich Classic of New Orleans was a big success, not just the new team format but the whole atmosphere, including the walk up music personally chosen by the players to reflect their personalities. Here are some of their choices:

Charl Schwartzel/Louis Oosthuizen: “Hakuna Matata” from Lion King

Jonathan Randolph/Trey Mullinax: “Just the Two of Us” by Bill Withers

Sung Kang/John Huh: “Bang Bang Bang” by Big Bang

William McGirt/Sam Burns: “Callin’ Baton Rouge” by Garth Brooks

Kevin Na/Byeong Hun An: “Make ’em say Uhh” by Master P

K.J. Choi/Charlie Wi: “Gangnam Style” by PSY

Tyrone Van Aswegen/Retief Goosen: “Africa” by Toto

Tony Finau/Daniel Summerhays: “Doo Wa Ditty (Blow That Thing)” by Zapp & Roger

Patrick Reed/Patrick Cantlay: “Eye of the Tiger” by Survivor

Greg Chalmers/Cameron Percy: “Down Under” by Men at Work

Billy Horschel/Scott Piercy: “Young Forever” by Jay Z ft. Mrs. Hudson

Cody Gribble/John Peterson: “Careless Whisper” by George Michael

Steve Stricker/Jerry Kelly: “As Good As I Once Was” by Toby Keith

Sergio Garcia/Rafa Cabrera Bello: “The Best” by Tina Turner

Justin Thomas/Bud Cauley: “Circle of Life” from Lion King (Carmen Twillie)

Shane Lowry/Padraig Harrington: “Beautiful Day” by U2

Russell Knox/Martin Laird: “Flower of Scotland” (anthem)

Brandon Harkins/Lanto Griffin: “Started From the Bottom” by Drake

Jason Day/Ryan Ruffels: “Down Under” by Men at Work

Justin Rose/Henrik Stenson: “Gold” by Spandau Ballet

Jon Rahm/Wesley Bryan: “DNA” by Kendrick Lamar

Jamie Donaldson/Ross Fisher: “Sweet Disposition” by The Temper Trap

Harold Varner III/Robert Garrigus: “Ebony and Ivory” by Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder

Alex Cejka/Ben Crane: “Here I Go Again” by Whitesnake

Xinjun Zhang/Zecheng Dou: “Believe in Myself” by Zero Point Band

LPGA Commissioner Mike Wahn spoke this week about the ISPS Handa Open which will be played in Melbourne 7-10 February. This is the first year it will be on the LPGA schedule and is co- sanctioned event with the European Tour and the ALPG Womens Tour and the PGA of Australia. Men and women compete together on the same courses – there are two at the 13th Beach Club. Top female players competing are Ladies British Open champion Georgia Hall, World No 6 Minjee Lee, Pernilla Lindberg, Melissa Reid and Joanna Klatten. As well as a large field of top Australian players including former US Open champion Geoff Ogilvy players from the European Tour already committed are Andrew ‘Beed’ Johnstonr, Paul Dunne, Nicholas Colsaerts, Victor Dubisson, Aaron Rai, Richard McEvoy, David Lipsky and Thomas Aiken.

“It’s time” says Mike Whan who disclosed in an interview this week that he and PGA Commisioner Jay Monahan have had an ongoing dialogue about mixed tournaments. He said that they had originally discussed a joint Tournament of Champions, but the new LPGA version held this week at Diamond Resorts is with a sponsor who wants to make the event a celebration and set the tone for the LPGA’s year ahead. It’s an important event for the LPGA which he plans a long future for. He felt that the PGA Tour’s Tournament of Champions was held too early. He said that prize money parity would only happen when TV audiences went up significantly – the mens tour currently have five times the audience. However they are now experimenting with four new events with different formats including a better ball team format with 64 teams. He said he went to the PGA Tour and asked them to share the process they used to set up the Zurich Classic. The sponsors for this new event, Dow, are very positive that fans will want to watch.

He said that the back to back mens and womens US Opens at Pinehurst was a good idea because there was a lot of interraction between the male and female pros exchanging coaching ideas. The IPSA Handa Vic Open has free admission for seniors and young people under 18 and just $10 a day for other spectators.

How different is this all from the made for television Men vs Women series which was filmed at Woburn in 1980 with Lee Trevino and Greg Norman vs Nancy Lopez and Sally Little, how patronising that was. I shudder at the memory. We’ve come a long way.

After a three year consultation process, described as “longer than Brexit”, the Golfing Union of Ireland and the Irish Ladies Golf Union separately voted on Saturday to establish a new national body – Golf Ireland – which will go live in January 2021.

The last two national golfing bodies in the world to govern by gender, the vote was 100% from the ladies and 94% from the men. It isn’t a merger, it’s the establishment of a new body representing 180,000 golfers. The Golfing Union of Ireland is the oldest national golf union in the world, established in 1891, with the ILGU established two years later, they had their 125th anniversary last year.

A joint statement from the chairmen of the two bodies said:

JOINT STATEMENT BY THE CHAIRPERSONS OF THE ILGU AND GUI BOARDS

“We are delighted with the outcome of the votes at our respective meetings, and thank everyone who has given this proposal their support.

“Bringing two strong organisations, the ILGU and GUI together to create a stronger, more influential organisation, Golf Ireland, will not only enhance golf in Ireland but will enhance Irish golf worldwide. The result today indicates that members of both Unions are in support of creating a new organisation which will be built around promoting core principles of equality, diversity, inclusion and excellence.

“The result today is a validation of the work put in by everyone involved. The input which has been received from our member clubs, our staff and volunteers, and everyone else who has in some way contributed to the final proposal should be recognised. The result of their efforts will be a new dynamic organisation, charged with the promotion of the game of golf, with a commitment to excellence and inclusivity.”

Clodagh Hopkins, Chairman of the Board of the Irish Ladies Golf Union

Iognáid Ó Muircheartaigh, Chairman of the Board of the Golfing Union of Ireland