August 2007

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In the last couple of weeks, I’ve thought about selling this blog.

Want a golf blog ? Email me or leave a comment and we can talk.

I’ve also thought about adding to the type of content we create around here.

Is there something golf related that you’d like to read more about, but can’t find ?

If you like to “listen” to your content, what would you like to hear. Doing a podcast or series of audios would be pretty easy to facilitate.

Remember, if you don’t help plan, you can’t complain and get away with it.

If Tiger’s such a great physical specimen, how in the hell do you get “mentally and physically drained” from playing golf 4 days a week ?

Most of us work like sled dogs for 5-6 days a week and then play golf all weekend and we’re not supposed great physical specimens, like he’s supposed to be.

We have construction workers, in my industry, who work 6 days a week for 8 to 12 hours a day, in the same heat and they don’t get the option to take a week to rejuvenate and make the push to work hard the following week.

I thought this was supposed to be the playoffs ? In all the playoffs I’ve ever seen, if you don’t win every week, you get eliminated. I think the PGA Tour should make it mandatory to play every week of the playoffs or you’re out.

Afterall, he’s in great shape isn’t he ? Can he not work 4 days for 4 hours a day ?

Maybe this was a setup all along. Just maybe Timmy F. set it up that the Barclay’s, which is at a venue that El Tigre sucks at, was the first leg of the playoff.

That way, Tiger gets a week off, to rest up from his working 4 days playing golf for 2 weeks in a row, and dodges this venue and doesn’t have it as the last leg of the playoffs, which would almost guarantee he wouldn’t win.

Smells kind of fishy doesn’t it ? Tigergate ! That’s what this is.

If there’s justice in the Universe, Tiger won’t win the FedEx Cup and Timmy F. will cry his wittle eyes out.

Oh, by the way, this was just written for entertainment purposes and as link bait. Don’t get all psycho and start cryin’ and whinin’ in the comments section. I know Tiger deserves a week off and yes, he’ll win the FedEx Cup because he’s the best golfer in the world, right now.

EDIT - I’m not the only one who’s disappointed with Tiger’s no-show -

http://www.golfdigest.com/magazine/blogs/localknowledge/2007/08/let-the-fedex-c.html

EDIT #2 - Looks like Tiger felt pretty spry after all -

http://www.nypost.com/seven/08292007/sports/tiger_pitch_ad_nauseam.htm

Believe it or not, I just found a blog written by the good people at Golf Digest.

Local Knowledge looks to be a compendium of bloggers from Golf Digest.

The bad thing is they link to several golf blogs, including one we built, The Wedge Guy. The bad thing is they don’t link to me here on Travelling Golfer !

I’m gonna read ‘em for a few weeks anyway and see how they do at keeping me entertained.

I watched the entire last round of the PGA Championship. I watched all of the post-round coverage I could stand.

In the interview room, Woody called out all of the media types for fawning all over Tiger. He was absolutely right.

Inga Hammond, from The Golf Channel, said ” … Tiger’s dominating victory.”

Dominating ? He won by two measley strokes. If Woody had made one more putt, Tiger would have had to make par on 18, which he did, or there would have been a playoff.

That’s hardly dominating.

Woody shot lower scores than Tiger two of the four days. They tied one day and obviously, Tiger’s 63 lead to him shooting a lower score than Woody one, single, solitary day.

That’s hardly dominating.

I’m no big fan of Tiger, as you can see, but he’s a heckuva player. He makes the most of his opportunities, most of the time.

He’s obliterated the field in the event at Firestone, the week before the PGA. Obliterated. Dominated. Decimated.

But in the PGA, if it was anyone besides Tiger, they would have said ” he held on to win by the slimmest of margins. “

Why does everybody fall all over themselves to pimp Tiger ? He wouldn’t walk across the street to pick you up if you were laying there bleeding.

If the media were to spend one week calling him out for all the on-air swearing, which we heard again, thanks to those mic’s that are everywhere, he’d be as pissy as a wet cat.

Great role model. Hit a poor shot and curse God. That’s a great system to teach our youth.

I’ll guarantee you this, if he were to be treated the same as Woody and Phil, he’d quit talking to the media. His ego wouldn’t be able to stand it.

Even Faldo quit criticizing him. After Tiger big-leagued him and gave him the cold shoulder, Faldo jumped on the bandwagon and fawns all over him now.

EEEEWWWW ! I’d rather quit golf and start watching NASCAR than give in to that primadonna.

I got an email about this event and then the CBS broadcast team also did a short piece about it, during the PGA Championship, so I thought I’d help out.

Please link to the site and write about it if you can.

Here’s the email:

” I have an incredible story that I believe will be an excellent fit in your
blog.

Not sure if you have already heard about this, but Dan Rooney is an F-16 fighter pilot in the Oklahoma Air National Guard and a PGA Member that is preparing to launch Patriot Golf Day on September 1, 2007.

Dan has served two tours flying F-16s over Iraq and, being familiar with the devastating losses some families have suffered due to their loved ones´ service to their country, he was determined to find a way to help them through the power of golf.

Dan’s true passion for this cause has garnered the attention of some pretty big supporters in the PGA of America and USGA.

Patriot Golf Day is a program that is asking golf facilities for a $1 donation on top of every green fee received, or in the case of private facilities, for a donation from every club member who tees off that day.

It’s that simple. As you may know, more than $3 billion charity dollars are raised every year through golf. He is simply a man who wants to make a difference for families of fallen soldiers through the game that he loves. A great story on Dan appeared in the August issue of Golf Digest.

Rooney is out at the PGA Championship all week and just took David Feherty up in his F-16 for a story that will be a part of the in game PGA
Championship coverage. I have attached a release from the PGA of America, that is encouraging golfers to rally behind Dan and his amazing cause. “

” America can come together in the spirit of golf and have a dramatic impact. We have an opportunity to make a difference for the families that have made the ultimate sacrifice. ” - Dan Rooney

For more info, click thru to the Fallen Heroe’s Foundation website.

And as a veteran of 6 years in the US Armed Services, I ask you to join me in donating to this great cause.

We all remember the magical putting and play by Mark Calcavecchia that won the PODS Championship back in March.

He had two putters in his camp that week. A prototype that Ping had sent him and a Redwood Answer that he’d bought in a store because it felt good.

Well, I’ve got the same symptoms that the 26-year PGA Tour veteran suffered from - none of the putters in my camp, and there are many, many in there, feel good to me.

I’ve hit the ball well most of the year, but my putting has sucked out loud.

Back in March, Calc said, ” I was in a major putting slump. And we all know the story about the putter, the store bought putter, and it looked good to me. It’s called a Ping Redwood, which is their milled version of their Anser, which Scotty Cameron and everybody else in the world copies. But it looked good to me, and I figured something out.”

When I read that, and I admit to scouring the ‘net looking for divine intervention with my putting, I searched high and low for the tip and finally found it -

” I guess it was Friday morning, when I was hitting some putts on the putting green. For some reason it dawned on me to pull more with my left hand. So then I kind of loosened up my right-hand grip and tried to putt basically left-handed with my right hand just on the putter for guidance, and here I am.”

Okay. Pull more with left hand, loosen right hand, buy a $240.00+ putter and win a tournament. No problem.

I also searched for more info on Redwood putters and figured they’d be very expensive after that Miracle on Grass and here’s what I found -

The Redwood series, which came on the market in late 2006, is milled from 303 stainless steel. Three models are available — the Piper S, the Zing and the Anser, which Calcavecchia used. The putters got their name from Ping founder Karsten Solheim’s home in Redwood City, CA, where he made the first Ping putters.

” I just kind of look at it and see which one looks less ugly to me, “ he said about choosing which putter he will use for a round. ” It’s basically what I putted with all of my career, just that it’s an Anser. ”

As you might imagine, Calcavecchia plans to keep the Redwood in play.

” It earned it’s way for quite a while I think, “ he said. ” Hopefully I can just keep with the same thoughts and feel that I had the last three days. It’s earned bag time for a while, even if it goes south. I know I like the putter, and I know I can putt with it, so that’s about three-quarters of the battle. ”

By the way, he sent the prototype back to Ping.

Now, I’m off to find a golf equipment store and see if I can find one that “feels” good to me.

A new device created by a certified hand therapist at Howard Therapy, LLC provides superior treatment for sports-related wrist pain.

For professional athletes, wrist injuries are serious setbacks. Standard therapy for the most common type of athletic wrist injury is rest, immobilization, and treatment with NSAIDs, followed, if necessary, by arthroscopic surgery. Bottom line: an athlete is out of work while the injury heals. This can cost an athlete hundreds of thousands, even millions of dollars. Which has been proves as wrist-injured, top-ranked golfers Michelle Wie and Phil Mickelson have demonstrated in recent tournaments.

After a week in which five patients showed up at with the same problem, hand therapist Wendy Howard became determined to find a better and faster solution. Each had an injury common in many professional athletes: a wrist injury in the triangular fibrocartilage complex (TFCC). She soon realized that no brace or splint on the market fully addressed the pain and grip problems associated with these TFCC injuries, and applied her 17 years of physical therapy experience to the creation of something completely new.

“Ninety-nine percent of all wrist splints,” Howard says, “are developed by large companies with marketing in mind. Only one percent of wrist splints come from people who are the experts in human anatomy and splinting.”

After a year of research and testing, Howard developed the WristWidget, a device that stabilizes the wrist, but allows full range of motion to the wearer’s hand and thumb, a critical feature for athletes. Lightweight, waterproof and comfortable, the WristWidget is much smaller than most wrist splints, about the size of a wide wristwatch band.

Its unique design stabilizes the two bones of the forearm, the ulna and the radius, taking over the role of the TFCC ligament so it can heal. The Wrist Widget’s straps are adjustable to avoid the temporary hand or finger nerve irritation caused by the pressure of conventional wrist splints.

Designed to withstand the demands of the high-impact world of professional athletes, the WristWidget has been used successfully by over 1,000 wrist-pain sufferers from all walks of life. It’s suitable and affordable for anyone suffering from wrist pain. Satisfied customers include golfers, snowboarders, surfers, bowlers, and tennis players.

Clinical testing of the WristWidget with 170 patients at Howard’s clinic has shown an immediate reduction in pain and an immediate increase in
wrist-related strength for all 170 participants. To be included in the
study, patients exhibited at least one of the symptoms the WristWidget is designed to treat: TFCC-specific injuries, ulnar-sided wrist pain, or wrist pain associated with gripping, weight bearing, or rotation.