December 2006

As is his custom, like his would-be-nemesis Phil Mickelson, Tiger has decided to skip The Mercedes-Benz Championship at Kapalua.

Once again, he puts skiing over golf. Like he does diving, shopping and several other activities that don’t pay him a plug-nickel.

But because some golf company, think Nike, has overpaid him already, he can now ski, dive and shop, when other golfers are out there supporting the season opening event and helping the sponsors get their money’s worth.

The sponsors to this event just got the shimmy stuck to them. Hard. With a sneer.

Does he have the right to not play ? If I want to debate stupid questions like this, I call you, so don’t even go there.

Does he owe it to golf, to the PGA and to the sponsors ? Yes.

Why did he really skip this tourney ? I’ll tell you.

‘Cause he can. And we let him do it.

Do the Jets ever say, uh, … we aren’t playing this week. No.

Do the St. Louis Cardinals ever skip the World Series ? No. Not when they have the chance to play.

Why did this drama queen do it ?

Maybe because it’s sponsored by Mercedes-Benz and he has a Buick. Bad choice, by the way.

Maybe it’s because he’s defending champ at Torrey Pines and wants to play his next event there to see if he can keep his streak, which is over as I see it, alive.

Maybe it’s because Stuart Appleby is 3-time defending champ at Kapalua and he knows he can’t beat Stuart in Hawaii and his streak will be over.

Maybe he’s got a little Paris in him and just wants to create a little buzz. Drama Queens do that.

Maybe the four months since his last PGA event just hasn’t been enough of a break from the action. Four months off from golf ? You’re kidding right. Maybe a neuro-surgeon needs a four month break, not a golfer.

I mean, he worked 15 weeks last year didn’t he ? And some of those were 4 day work weeks.

Whooooeeee ! How does he handle a schedule like that. Grind, grind, grind.

He says he needs the EXTRA three weeks off. I didn’t get a total of three weeks off last year, like most of you didn’t either.

Maybe we need to vote him off the Tour for a few years so he can really rest up and see if we miss him.

I won’t.

EDIT - 11:51 Pm - I heard a few hours ago that Tiger’s wife, Elin, is pregnant with their first child. I’m sure that has something to do with his decision to diss the Mercededs-Benz folks, but I still don’t have any slack for him. Sorry.

I just read that The Estate of Valerie and Ben Hogan has approved the release of never-before-seen 8 mm and 16 mm films containing many Ben Hogan golf swings. A three-DVD set, produced and distributed by McTee’s Champions, reveals the newly discovered Hogan footage in The Ben Hogan Collection™.

The Ben Hogan Collection features three DVD’s and was released in November. The first DVD, entitled ” The Ben Hogan Legacy “, is an in-depth documentary, featuring exclusive insights, anecdotes and never-before-heard stories from Hogan’s family and friends - including golf icons like Jack Nicklaus, Ken Venturi and Butch Harmon.

The second and third DVD’s, titled ” The Swing Revealed 1 ” and ” The Swing Revealed 2 “, feature extensive analysis from teaching professional Jim McLean. In ” The Swing Revealed ” series, McLean also revisits Hogan’s famous “ secret ” and his own X and Y Factor.

For more info, follow this link over to www.BenHoganCollection.com.

All online purchases include a free, interactive CD, titled ” The Swing Revealed Interactive “.

This CD features SportsPlayer™ Technology, which allows you to easily view and control the speed of several Hogan swings, on your computer.

Visitors to the website can also register to receive a free Ben Hogan Collection screensaver.

I just noticed that on my birthday, January 22nd, The Golf Channel is going to debut a new show from fitness guru Katherine Roberts.

It’s called The Turn.

In case you’re wondering where else you might have seen or can see more of Katherine, here’s an update :

You can see Katherine’s Fitness Tips every Monday night on Your Game Night airing on The Golf Channel.

Look for Katherine’s article in the December issue of Golf Magazine on how you can train your upper body to be strong like Tiger’s.

Katherine taught with Hank Haney in November in Scottsdale, and will be doing other golf schools with him in 2007 . Keep track of upcoming ESPN Golf School events with Hank Haney.

Did you happen to see that The Golf Channel announced its broadcast team for 2007 ?

Their lineup included six-time major winner Nick Faldo (Good) and the first, full-time female play-by-play golf commentator, Kelly Tilghman (Good). The rest of the team will include Peter Oosterhuis (Good), Mark Rolfing (Okay), Dottie Pepper (Good), Rocco Mediate (Okay), Rich Lerner (Whoop-de-doo), Frank Nobilo (Bad), Jerry Foltz (Bad) and Steve Sands (Bad).

Do you have problems controlling the distance of your chips and pitches ? Do you have difficulty making consistent contact ?

These are two of the most common causes of problems in the short game, and they often come from the same thing — a tempo that is too quick and/or a backswing that is too short. Because it’s a shorter swing and only a few yards have to be covered ( and we’ve been told WAY too often that we have to “accelerate through the ball” ), our tendency is to get too short, quick and choppy with our tempo and swing rhythm.

The good news is that the route to a “cure” is a single word — gravity.

That’s right . . . gravity.

The reason we have so much trouble achieving consistency of contact and good distance control is that we let our backswing get too short and then make a quick “jab” at the ball with the clubhead.

Get out a wedge and try this drill to help you achieve a smoother and more reliable swing tempo on the short shots.

Imagine a short pitch of only a few yards. Very slowly, take the club back to the backswing position you think is about right, then deliberately pause. Now, just think of letting gravity take over and drop your arms, hands and the club back to and through the ball.

Try this in your office or den a few times, then take the drill outside.

As you get a feel for allowing gravity to control the pace of your forward swing speed, you’ll find it much easier to make consistent contact and control your distance — for longer shots, just make longer backswings.

Try it, I think you’ll be pleased.

I’ve never seen a golfer who’s tempo is too smooth !

We here at Travelling Golfer are excited and proud to announce that Terry Koehler, President of Eidolon Golf has accepted our offer to guest blog for us.

Terry’s been involved in the golf industry for well over two decades and is a life-long golfer.

He’s designed golf equipment, directed the marketing efforts over one of the most respected names in golf, Ben Hogan Golf and now is the President of Eidolon Golf.

I’ve been a user of 3 Eidolon Golf wedges since January of this year. I’ve had the 52, 56 and 60 degree models in play for almost 12 months and the best thing I can do to let you know how much I love them is to tell you that one of my regular playing partners told me a couple of weeks ago that my wedge play this year has been phenomenal.

He hasn’t noticed my wedges are different than in years past. And I ain’t about to tell him my secret.

My sand game is almost scary good with the 60 degree model and the 52 is a chipping machine and from 100 yards and in, I’m way better than I deserve.

After acquiring my wedges, I struck up an email friendship with Terry and now we’ve added a new dimension to my blog and his golf marketing skills.

Terry’s going to add a new dimension to our content here at Travelling Golfer. As a guest blogger, he’s going to give us tips for our short game, info about golf equipment and whatever else he feels like adding to our conversation. He’s got free reign to write whatever he wants and I want to say thanks in advance and I want you to welcome him and send him a few comments to let him know you’re out there.

For a complete bio and to learn more about Terry, visit his Meet The President page over at Eidolon Golf’s website.

He and Eidolon Golf have my complete endorsement.

Look for a post from Terry tomorrow and plenty more to follow.

Did you happen to notice that John Daly finished dead-ass last in thr Target World Challenge, hosted by somebody who never gives in.

Dead-ass last and got $170,000 for his now famous I-give-up attitude towards golf.

How many times are we gonna have to watch him get an 8 on a Par 3 ?

How many times are we gonna have to watch him get a 12 on a Par 4 ?

He knew, even if he finished dead-ass last, he’d get his biggest check of the year. And so he did.

That’s just sad.

Now, because he’s a trainwreck waiting to happen, he’s gonna get 30 ( probably ) sponsors exemptions for 2007, so he can quit on the host and miss 15 cuts in those 30 opportunities.

I was John’s biggest fan … for way too many years. I watched him upclose and personal at Fuzzy’s Wolf Challenge. I watched him and Lenny and a couple of others play for … “fun”. I stood in line til Tommy Zoeller, Fuzzy’s brother, got him to give my kids an autograph. Still got it. It’s next to my autograph from Paul Hornung. One a Hall of Famer. The other, a Hall of Shamer.

Now he’s given in to way too many times, made way too many bad decisions and quit trying one too many times.

Can’t quit smoking. Can’t quit eating. Can’t quit marrying. Can’t quit gambling.

But he can quit trying to play each and every hole the best he can with the enormous God-given talent he has.

Until he quits quitting on himself and his legion of fans, I’m quitting on him.

Sorry John.

Hey Tiger, if you invite me to your tournament, I’ll play each and every hole like it’s the only thing in my life for that moment.

I wish John could do the same.

Peace John. I hope you find it … someday. I hope you don’t grow old, grow even fatter and find yourself wishing you’d actually tried … instead of giving in.

Thru an email from my new golf blog friend, Nigel, I’ve found and added to more blogs to the Travelling Golfer Blog Roll of Honor and Fame.

Illogical Golf Blog seems to be made up of several contributors, which i like, and looks to be worth your giving them a trial run in your RSS feed reader.

The other new addition, Going Pro Golf Blog, also has several authors and looks to be more about playing and getting better, rather than golf news.

Give ‘em a shot in your reader and maybe they’ll be just what you’re looking for.

Tell ‘em Mike sent you !

Since my good friend, whom I’ve never met, Freddie Couples is now pimpin’ ECCO golf shoes, I’m gonna look at ‘em for 2007.

I love my Etonic golf shoes with the G>SOK Technology, but a guy needs lots of options for his golf shoe collection.

I recently got an email from John over at the My Daily Slice Of Golf blog.

He added me to his blog roll and I’ve reciprocated.

Click thru and check him out and maybe he can bring a daily golf smile to your golf blog world.

Thanks for the link love John.