Bucket of Balls

Best Masters Ever

"I've got a turtle head poking out."

Wow!  What was everybody else doing on Sunday afternoon?  Most golf fans must have been glued to their TV sets, watching the most competitive final round in the Masters that I can remember.  8 to 10 guys were in contention and at one point, even my boy Tiger Woods was sitting on top of the leaderboard.

Couple of quick hits:

"Maybe I should've pulled a Jay Cutler."

• Rory McIlroy turned into a droopy-eyed armless child (kudos to Charlie Sheen for that one!).  That kid is a great golfer but unfortunately for him, he dropped like a par of 60-year-old saggy titties coming out of a wonder bra.
• Adam Scott and Jason Day fought hard!  Both guys finished strong and did the best they could.  Scott’s par save on 17 was amazing under the pressure, especially that 20-foot or so putt.  Would Rory have played better if he had played with Jason Day again?
• Charl Schwartzel won with his putter.  Guys that win golf tournaments do it with their putters and Charl’s last 4 putts made the difference.  Unbelievable exhibition!  And how solid was that drive on 18?
• Tiger is back!  He drove the ball consistently and his iron play was dead-on, except for 13.  He just couldn’t make putts on the back!  I was going crazy when he missed his eagle putt at 15!  Let’s be honest.  He had a chance on Sunday after a phenomenal front nice, but he lost it with a 74 on Saturday.  Just sniffing the leaderboard on Sunday had to feel great after being down 7 going into the final round.

Throw McIlroy in with Dustin Johnson and Nick Watney (both giving up leads in 2010 majors) as young guns who didn’t bring it when they needed to.  Goes to show how mentally tough it is to focus on the task at hand.

Shout out to the KGT golf league that I played in this past weekend at World Houston Golf.  Awesome day to play and had a blast.  There next event is in a few weeks.  I’ll post more information next week.

Mickelson wins the 2011 Shell Houston Open

Arnold Palmer Mastercard Facebook Promotion

Bay Hill gets underway today.  (Tiger Woods is back in action!)  Besides great golf this weekend, Mastercard is raising money for the Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children and the Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women and Babies.

You can help by just “liking” the Arnold Palmer Invitational Facebook page (facebook.com/arnoldpalmerinvitational).  For every “like” through March 28th, MasterCard will donate $1, up to $200,000.

Do You Need Hole in One Insurance?

Anyone out there planning a tournament?  I recently ran across a company that provides hole-in-one insurance for golf events: National Hole-In-One Association.

If you’re in the market, give them a jingle.

About National Hole-in-One Association:

The National Hole-In-One Association, with offices in Dallas and London, is the world’s oldest and largest provider of hole-in-one insurance and prize insurance for golf events as well as other prize services. We benefit thousands of charitable organizations each year. Our hole-in-one insurance is perfect if you are having a large, small, corporate or charity golf event. Our hole-in-one insurance,and all the services that come with it, will give you the assurance that your event will make you look like a golf pro!

Funny Golf Video

Have you all seen the iPhone 4 versus HTC Evo video that went viral last year?  If you haven’t, then put on a diaper and then watch it cause you are going to pee your pants.

In the same vein, Mole and Meares sent me a similar video, but with a golf theme.  Any one who golfs regularly will laugh their ass off.  My favorite line:  “Do I need to bring my own rake?”

You Eat Pieces of Shit for Breakfast

Hip Turn in Golf Swing

Hey, I think I may have realized why I suck at golf and why I have such a problem combating my over-the-top swing.

It’s my god damn hips!  Check out this video.  I think it might change my life.

Congrats Bubba

"Who says I have long arms?"

Did anyone watch the first network-broadcasted PGA Tour golf event of the year – the Farmers Insurance Open*?

I watched a little bit on Saturday and the last hour or so on Sunday.  Bubba Watson made some huge putts, especially the one on 17 from about 12 feet out.  How can you not like what this guy is all about?  Just after his win, an emotional Watson reminded us how tough it is to win on tour, knowing that another lefty is right on your heels.

Not sure about you, but I was shocked that Phil didn’t go for it on 18.  Reading a little about his decision, it appears he didn’t have the right lie for a hybrid or a 3-wood.

Back to Watson.  Not only did he knock down 2 huge putts on 17 and 18, he showed tremendous poise on that hole 17 flop shot out of the thick greenside rough and the sand out from 18.  Those are tough shots without any pressure, let alone when an 800 lb gorilla (not literally Phil) is on your heels.

Tiger showed up for a couple days, but unfortunately lost it on Saturday.  I still expect him to come back strong this year (5 wins and 1 major).

Looking forward to next week at the Waste Management Phoenix Open.

Here are a couple of stories about Bubba Watson’s win:

Yahoo Sports (Doug Ferguson)

The Golf Channel (Rex Hoggard)

* is it just me or can anyone else not get that Farmers jingle (we are farmers…) out of their head?

Golf Club Thriver

(guest author Brian Blackburn, aka The Club Ho)

Well I bought a new club and am going to share it with you… it’s called a thriver, which I will get back to.

First let me say I carry a driver, 5 wood, and a 3 hybrid as my longest clubs.  I can’t hit a 3 wood off the fairway with any dependability, and seem to hook any fairway wood off the tee.

When I am on a tight driving hole and want to leave the driver in the bag, I end up dropping all the way to a 3 hybrid, which loses me somewhere in the neighborhood of 40 to 50 yards, a big jump to club down.  Plus since I know I have to go all the way to 3 hybrid I tend to hit driver more than I would normally, especially when the hole is a bit longer.  This lack of an option has me sometimes playing too aggressively or sometimes too conservatively.

I had been playing around with choking up on my driver for more accuracy and it seemed to help some.  While browsing the web I came across some people talking about building a thriver, which is a high lofted driver usually 12 on up to 16 degrees.  Most people seemed to go close to 15 degrees like a three wood.  Typically it is cut shorter to around 3 wood length, or 43″, some less some more.  So essentially a thriver is a cross between a 3 wood and a driver.

The main thing is to have something shorter and higher lofted than your driver as a go to club for drives where accuracy is essential or for those days when your driver is just begging you to snap it in half!

A few things I have learned, if you trim the butt end of a shaft it will stiffen slightly, so keep that in mind during shaft selection.  If you want regular flex, you want one that is a bit soft for a regular or possibly a senior flex. Just depends on where you want it to end up.  I chose a senior flex, and now it feels just the same flex as my regular flex driver.  But you know how different shaft manufacturers vary all over the place with respect to their flex ratings, so you have to guess a bit.  For faster swingers, you probably want to err on the side of stiffer since accuracy is the foremost consideration here.

Also when you take a couple inches off the shaft, your swing weight is lowered, so again, if you pick a driver that feels a bit heavy to begin with, you may be fine, many people end up trying lead tape, but it seems you need quite a bit to make up for two inches of shaft.  It is also possible to have lead added inside the club head, or so I have read.

I bought a Tour Edge, Bazooka Geomax driver, 14 degree in senior flex ($39.00 on Ebay).  I just lopped off almost an inch and a half from a 44” shaft and re-gripped it.  I did not worry about the flex or swing weight, but like a said, I picked a heavy and flexible club to start with, and it feels fine to me.

Now one drawback to this club is making room for it in your bag, since most people use a full size (460cc) driver head which is usually hard to hit off the fairway.  Some people were using an older (smaller) driver, or just a lower profile face to keep the option of hitting it off the deck.  For me, it’s like I am carrying two drivers as I am not likely to ever hit this thing off the fairway.

RESULTS SO FAR

Just the driving range, two trips so far, but it seems to be a pretty hard club to miss.  In fact I find it easier off the tee than my 3 hybrid, but you know how the driving range does not always carry over to the course.  It has a very high ball flight and ends up maybe 15 or 20 yards shorter than my driver which is 10.5 degree and 45 inches.  I am pulling a very seldom used wedge out of my bag to accommodate this club, which I am certain will get plenty of play.  This club should have me hitting one club longer on my approach shots versus my driver, but if it stops me from hitting one or two balls OB or into a hazard, it will certainly save strokes for me.  Time will tell and I will follow up with real results next time I play.

Putting Setup and Grip for Success

Every now and then I’ll turn on the boob tube and watch a little The Golf Fix on Golf Channel.  Not sure if I’d ever want to go golfing with Michael Breed though, he has so much energy it seems like he’s ready to explode at any moment.

Found a good putting video on set up from him.