The British Oopen…

I was really looking forward to the British Open this year as it was headed to The Old Course at St. Andrews. I’ve been lucky enough to travel to the Home of Golf three times (played the Old twice) and have become quite interested and somewhat knowledgeable about the history and intricacies of playing the Old Course.

Then, when no one was looking, Louis Oosthuizen happened! Yeah, the weather played a major factor, all but eliminating those that got the unlucky end of the tee time draw, but this guy was the only one who really took advantage of getting that good draw when he lit it up on Thursday and Friday.
In case you didn’t notice, the “Double O” has a picture perfect golf swing and smokes it straight off of the tee, making negotiating St. Andrews much, much easier than those who were hoping that their wild shots didn’t end up somewhere unseemly (Philly Mick anyone?).

Unfortunately, Oosthuizen’s play (or was it everyone else’s?) made the tournament a terrible bore to watch for those who don’t  have the interest in the Old Course that I do, and even at that, it was hard to get real excited about watching when Oost was widening his lead every half-hour, and no one behind him was making any sort of run.

Many times, when an unknown wins a major, the media talkers immediately blurt out that “this will be the first of many,” or “this may open the floodgates on a superstar career.” I’m not jumping on that bandwagon yet, as some Open champions in recent memory have yet to really do anything of note after sipping from the Claret Jug (Ben Curtis, Todd Hamilton & Paul Lawrie to name three). Let’s let Mr. O get used to the wearing the mantle of  “Champion Golfer of the Year,” before we anoint him a contender for the crown.    

I’m already looking forward to 2015 when The Open (or Oopen for the next year) will return to St. Andrews. And if you call yourself a golfer, then you HAVE to make the pilgrimage to Scotland to experience  golf at its purest.

When you go to St. Andrews and take it all in, you’ll know why you play golf.

 

New Show, Good Fun

Enjoy our “best of” show from last week….Hey, everyone needs a break now and again.

Click on the logo & sit back and listen!

 

Your Thoughts?

Ok, I didn’t mind the “not so perfect-looking” conditions that the USGA delivered as promised for the Open. Remember, Prez Hyler is touting a more sustainable direction in golf course maintenance, and I’m all for that. What I don’t understand is why the US Open courses play at times like miniature golf, with balls landing on the green and then rolling 30 yards backwards into the rough when it wasn’t back-spinning to begin with. A little brown grass for sustainability is one thing…goofy golf where players can’t even aim at the flag with a wedge borders on ridiculous.

I, for one, do not enjoy watching the best players in the world playing safeties all day as they try to avoid making a 9. There’s trying to “identify” the best player (the USGA’s purported goal) and then there’s taking the skill out of it and having blind luck being the most important component in grabbing the big trophy on Sunday.

My challenge to the USGA (like they care) is to continue to promote sustainability and more realistic expectations from the golfing public while maintaining the reasonable playability of a particular layout. Meaning, give a player a chance to actually make a birdie on purpose, not by accident when a 50-footer happens to find the hole.

Congrats to Graeme McDowell for surviving the USGA’s version of waterboarding.

 

The Most Interesting Thing about the Open

Is not really the tournament this year. It’s how the USGA is directing the maintenance of the golf course. USGA President Jim Hyler has decided to use the Open at Pebble Beach as a statement about how golf courses should be maintained.

Hyler calls the current maintenance of golf courses, “unsustainable” when it comes to not only agronomic turf health, but also the impact on the environment. Hyler is promoting the thought that brown is actually “green” in terms of golf course maintenance. He feels that golfers at the local level have been seduced by how the courses on TV look, with their wall-to-wall carpet, perfectly manicured bunkers and green speeds that would be illegal in 20 states.

Hyler has directed the grounds staff at Pebble to NOT water the course any more than is needed to maintain the health (not the appearance) of the turf prior to and during the US Open. The fact is, a firmer golf course allows the layout and topography of the course to become integral to the successful playing of it, as opposed to the “flying it to the pin” mentality that many golfers -both pro & amateur- currently live by.

I can tell you that in Scotland (where I’ve been three times and the golfers know a little about the game), players are more interested in the layout and challenge of a course, and do not express, what I feel, is this unrealistic “no blade of grass should be out of place” mindset that American golfers cling to vehemently.

Should Pebble Beach this week appear a bit brown in places, I will applaud the efforts of President Hyler and the USGA in their effort to bring a more sustainable and ecologically friendly approach to golf course maintenance. If they, and ultimately we who operate golf facilities, can get the general golfing public to buy into the fact that a course does not (and should not) need to look like museum art to be of high quality, then this first cannon shot by the USGA will be well worth it.

Golfers must understand that courses are prepared for weeks, and in the case of a US Open, years, in advance of the one week of television that they enjoy each weekend. I believe that they need to be realistic about their expectations of course conditioning, especially when you take into account that everyone wants to play as much golf as possible for as little money as possible. The disconnect there is gigantic!

I’ll be watching this week. But it will be for this reason as much as for that of seeing who will win. BTW….my pick? Lee Westwood.

Enjoy our National Championship.

 

Cool, New Technology

Golf club techno geeks need to check this out. Matt King, Master Optimizer at Xtreme Performance Golf, has cooked up a really cool new way to optimize the performance of your clubs.

It’s the Opti-Vibe Tour Lock System that allows the golfer to add counterweights inside the shaft of the club to improve feel and performance. XPG’s focus is on Optimal Shaft Weighting Technology and according to their website, “Optimal Weighting Technology produces a more consistent, tighter contact dispersion with the clubface raising the “power transfer ratio”. This results in greater distance, improved accuracy and better club feel.Testing shows that optimizing the weight of a club also known as ng the “power transfer ratio”. This results in greater distance, improved accuracy and better club feel.”

Check out their website at www.xtremeperformancegolf.com where you can learn all about OWT. You can even watch a video where Matt explains the Opti-Vibe Tour Lock system.

With the Opti-Vibe system, you can make your “old favorite” work even better for you on the course! A great idea available at an affordable price…now that’s different!

 

Guaranteed to lower your score!

It’s the “nearly famous” 4 in 4 lesson series available only at www.golfitupradio.com. The 4 in 4 is guaranteed to lower your average score by AT LEAST 4 strokes per round in only 4 weeks.

The 4 in 4 is one of the most popular programs we’ve featured on the show over the last five seasons and is, without a doubt, the gateway to lower scores.

Listen online at our website by clicking the logo below.

Get all of “the good stuff” when you listen to Golf it Up Radio with Jay  & Tod!

 

No Golf, Just Thanks

On this Memorial Day Weekend, we pause to thank and remember our veterans who have served our country proudly. We all owe them a moment of our time this weekend in appreciation of all they have
given.                                       

God Bless America!

 

The 4 in 4 series begins

Another great show is right here for your listening pleasure.
This week we begin an encore presentation of our nearly-famous
“4 in 4″ score reduction program, designed to lower your average score by at least 4 strokes in 4 weeks!

Listen to “Golf it Up Radio” each week and get “the good stuff.”

At www.golfitupradio.com you can enter contests to win great prizes, listen to online only golf instruction tips and purchase your own GIUR golfwear.

Golf it Up!

 

Another Fun Show

Season 5 is shaping up as a fun one! We have tons of “the good stuff” lined up for the show in 2010.

You can listen to our latest show right here.

http://www.golfitupradio.com/Shows/Current-2010/MP3-GIUR%205-12-10.mp3

Have it easy!

 

Cool Drivers from Nike

     Had to pass this along to all of the club geeks out there. Just yesterday my Nike guy, Scott Lentz, took me out to the range to show me the customizing capabilities of the Victory Red & SQ Machspeed drivers with the Str8 Fit technology.

     With the adjustable hosel, these drivers can be set open, neutral or closed (doable in other drivers as well), and they can also be set up with flat, neutral or upright lie angles (quite unique). With the turn of a proprietary wrench, you can change out shafts to meet your specs, and then can customize it even further with the proper face and lie angles. 

     It was cool to watch my ball flight change as Scott changed the specs on the clubs. The Victory had a bit more of a flatter ball flight and the club felt really solid and stable through impact. The Victory also features the Compression Channel behind the face (that’s the red groove in the sole of the club). The Channel allows nearly the entire face to have the trampoline effect, giving you up to 80% of your regular distance when you catch one way off from the sweet spot.

     The SQ with the square head just looks fast sitting behind the ball. The ball seemed to really jump off of the clubface, producing a little higher launch angle. In both cases, I was carrying the ball quite well into a fair breeze.

                             

     If you’re in the market for a new “weapon” this season, check out both of these offerings from Nike. You’ll also get the magic wrench with the driver so you can take your time and “build” the driver to your specs at the range before taking it to the course.

     Take advantage 0f technology!