On Flickr, awakenphotography took this picture of her family on the range. I thought it was such a great shot, I had to post it.
Here’s a link to more..
She’s got a gift…
-Dave
Archive for August, 2008
Another quickie.. Found this cool link while perusing the Golf Channel’s website. If you were ever curious what clubs your favorite player hits, visit the link and select the player. Here’s the link: What’s in the bag?
Been crazy busy this week, so not a whole lot of time to write but Congratz to Vijay on his 4th Barclay’s win. That win scored him 11,000 FedExCup points putting him in the lead with 109,500. I’ve always been partial to Vijay, his swing is ridiculous.. True story, I was at the range and tried to mimic his swing, hit the ground and my back hurt for a week..
Oh, here’s another comic from Penny Arcade.
Enjoy!
-Dave
One of my fellow golf bloggers from across the pond wrote a pretty good article on playing shots from the rough.
The Ultimate Rough Recovery Guide
I think it’s a relatively new blog, I found out about him via digg. I haven’t been reading for too long, but so far, he’s been writing some pretty good stuff.
Today’s my wedding anniversary! Wish me luck! 
-Dave
Patriot Golf Day started last year on September 1st, 2007. It is a fund raiser started by Major Dan Rooney, an F-16 fighter pilot and PGA professional. It was created to help support the families of fallen soldiers from Iraq and Afghanistan. Last year, in only a 24 hour period, Patriot Golf Day raised 1.1 million dollars to help aid those families.
This year from August 29th, 2008 - September 1st, 2008, golf clubs from around the US are participating in the event. Some golf courses will add an extra dollar to their greens fees and others will ask players for donations.
In addition to the greens fee, Taylor Made is auctioning off a limited edition r7 Driver.
Taylor Made Limited Edition Driver
At least 29 courses from the Central Florida area are participating and you can find a complete list of them here.
We need to get more courses added though. We’ve got to show everyone that Central Florida Golfers appreciate the sacrifices that our fellow citizens have made. Contact your local course and tell them to sign up for this event. Here’s a link you can forward to them.
If your like me and you are unable to hit the links that weekend (sigh), you can still and you should donate! Click here to make a donation.
Please do whatever you can to help this cause!
-Dave
The Orlando Magic Championship for Charity Golf Tournament takes place on Friday, September 19th with a shotgun start at 9am.
This years event is hosted by the Orlando Magic Youth Foundation and it takes place at the Ginn Reunion Resort on Arnold Palmer Legacy & Tom Watson Independent Course (which is also home to the Annika academy).
Looks like it’ll cost $625 per player with a minimum of two players at $1250. Pretty pricey but, hey, it’s for a good cause. There’s an expected turnout of about 200 people, included in those people are Magic players, coaches, TV and radio personalities and my personal favorite, Magic dancers! Either one of those courses would be a real treat to play, I’ve had my eye on the Tom Watson Independent course for a while. Of course, I tried trading my first born for a tee-time there and they declined, something about not enough perceived value…. If your in a very giving mood, click the link at the top of the post and sign up.. Oh, if you need an additional player, I SUPPOSE I could join you, you buy the round, I’ll buy the drinks!
-Dave
Read an article discussing optics and their application to putting, pretty amazing stuff.
All the colors, shapes and dots found on putters aren’t some designers way of starting a new trend in golf nor are they some nifty marketing ploy to make some putters stand out more than others, well, not totally.. They are in fact the results of some mad optics scientist working for club manufacturers being paid in spare body parts (see Frankenstein..).
Whenever we look over a putt, everything we see, the ball, the cup, breaks and contours in the green, the perceived line, golf channels putt-line (sponsored by Mutual of Omaha) are only as real as the image constructed in our heads. The brain is constantly assembling and reassembling information provided by the windows to our souls. There are labs all over the place where scientists are diligently working to help us improve our putting game (talk about priorities). They’ve come up with multiple theories about eye dominance, convergence, etc… Rather than go into all of that, we’ll keep it short and say that the top of the putter has three primary functions; to get you to position your eyes directly over the ball, to aim the face along the target line, and to influence the type of stroke you make.
Dr. Alan W. Reichow, Nike’s director for vision science says “Golfers are the most visually sensitive athletes, suppressing all the noncritical information, like a part that reflects more light than the alignment aid, is essential to letting a golfer maintain a comfortable focus.” Nike developed the IC series putters which the color contrast — white against green is it’s central optic element.
But there are other optical illusions to help with putting, longer sightlines, staggered discs (originally developed by Odyssey, now being expanded on by Fussell Putters) are created to help a golfer visualize the putt line. Other tricks have been developed to only be noticed if a golfer is swinging incorrectly, like Profound putters featuring orange stripes that are only noticed if your eyes are out of position.
“Not everyone’s eye is drawn to the same part of the putter,” says Blair Phillip, director of R&D for Yes! Golf. “We’re starting a study that will hopefully show a correlation between a person’s focus and his or her aiming tendencies.”
Dr. Craig L. Farnsworth, an optometrist who has worked with many professionals says there are four types for aimers, horizontal aimers who aim the leading edge, verticle aimers who aim the sightline like an arrow, golfers who aim a combination of the two, and everyone else who have no aim and putt all over the place.
To find out which type of aimer you are, you can get a teaching pro to use a laser putting analysis tool to help you figure it out.
There’s a list of putters on the site at the bottom of the article, that gives a run down of their optical benefit.
Dave
I was referred to this group from a gentleman I met through Stracka.com.
They’re an amateur golf league called Amateur Golfers of Orlando who meet every third Sunday of the month. They’ve got about 140 members and have been around for 35 years.
It looks like there’s an annual fee of $34.00 and they only accept the application and payment through postal mail.
I’m not sure if sandbagging is a big concern with these guys, they require proof of your established handicap. Now I guess it really depends on the proof required to see if it’s a concern. If you do not have a handicap, fear not, just estimate what you’d shoot on a Par 72, 6200 yard course.
Their next event is on Sept. 21st at the new Dubsdread. There might be some tee times on Golfnow.com closer to the date that could save you some cash.
This is good timing for me, I’ve been looking for a league to join and now I’ve found one and it’s pretty cheap! I don’t know if they get discounted rates but I’m going to check into it.
I’m still looking to start a new league and this should be some good exposure and experience.
Each tournament features a set of side cash games you can take part in.
Par Three Challenge
Gross Skins Game
Net Skins Game
Blind Bogey
I checked the USGA website and it appears that this form of gambling is allowed to amateur players. Here’s the link; Golf Rules.
If you decide to join up, shoot me an email.
I’m also trying to form up a new Orlando Golf League via Stracka.com. If your interested, follow the link above, create an account and join the Orlando Golfers group.
Later folks!
Dave
One of my favorite fellow golf bloggers wrote a 27 page document all about the Ryder Cup. It’s a very good read, pretty entertaining and informative. He’s offering it for free for anyone who cares to read it.
Here’s the link.
Show this man some love for all the hard work he’s put into this.
Later folks!
-Dave
European Ryder Cup captain Nick Faldo believes that Padraig Hartington’s recent individual success will mean he brings something ‘very special’ to the team. The Irish golfer will be the only current major champion at the Ryder Cup after he followed up his British Open success by winning the USPGA Championship on Sunday.
Before I go any further, let’s talk about this victory. In winning by two shots, Harrington became the first European golfer to win the USPGA since Tommy Armour in 1930. That really is a wonderful achievement from a man who is playing the best golf of his career right now. He showed tremendous composure to clinch the win over Sergio Garcia and Ben Curtis, both of whom finished two shots behind the Irishman.
There were three crucial moments for Harrington that epitomized everything that is going right with his game at the moment. On the 16th hole – before which all three players were tied for the lead – Harrington holed a crucial 12ft par putt to stay amongst the leaders. Then, as Garcia and Curtis bogeyed on the 17th, Harrington sunk an eight foot putt to go down the last with a one shot lead. The final moment occurred on the 18th green; the Irishman amazingly holed a putt from 18ft to secure par as Garcia bogeyed once again.
In terms of golf betting, not many fancied him to win this one before the tournament but it was Harrington’s title and boy did he deserve it. It’s performances like this that results in Nick Faldo valuing him so highly in terms of the Ryder Cup. The European captain said he was ‘delighted and impressed’ with the 36-year-old’s performance at Oakland Hills.
Harrington now sits above Lee Westwood on top of the European Ryder Cup rankings and it appears he could be targeted by the US team in Kentucky. Boo Weekley has said that Harrington has a ‘target on his back’ and that it will be an ‘honor to beat him’. Justin Leonard– who is set to make his first Ryder Cup appearance since 1999 – recognizes that Harrington is Europe’s best player at the moment and one he ‘looks forward to challenging’.
It will be interesting to see how Harrington handles the tag of ‘Europe’s finest’ and being the ‘man to beat’. I’m not sure it is something he will be entirely used to in the Ryder Cup. However, after his achievements of the last few weeks, who is to say he won’t deal with it in his usual calm and composed manner? Nothing is beyond Padriag Harrington at this moment in time. He went to America and won the USPGA, so he can go to America and help Europe win the Ryder Cup.
Looking at Ryder Cup betting, there is no doubt that Harrington’s team are the favorites to secure a fourth consecutive win. Paul Azinger even admits this is the case. The American captain says that Team USA will be taking the underdog role in this year’s tournament for the first time in many years. He also stated how the pressure is on the Europeans as they have ‘everything to lose’ in these matches.
In response to these comments from Azinger, it has to be said that if the way Padraig Harrington handles pressure is anything to go by, I don’t think Team Europe have too much to worry about.
Thomas Rooney - Freelance Sports Journalist
Doesn’t that just figure? Kid nails an Ace on his 3rd round of golf….
He wasn’t keeping score, he was using a borrowed club and a borrowed bag and on the 6th hole, from the ladies tee, he hits a driver that lands on the green and rolls 10 feet for a hole in one.
The club pro at Mandan Municipal Golf course located in Bismark, ND mention that he’s been playing golf for 42 years and has yet to nail an ace. He’s quoted saying “I’m 46 years old and I’ve been playing since I was four and I’ve never made a hole-in-one, and I’ve made a lot of money playing golf.”
His name is Allan Saylor and he and his friend Ethan Luck, didn’t realize what a big deal it was. The players behind them witnessed the shot and by the time the kids got back to the club house, everyone knew about it. The club pro Patrick Windgard approached them and asked them how their game was and they informed him of the shot, confirming the story.
Poor kid, that’s typically a once in a lifetime deal and he didn’t get to savor it…. Now he’ll spend his life trying to do it again and like the rest of us, become a slave to the game..
Boy, 11, fires ace in just his 3rd time golfing