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Yes, you heard me right. And the price may not be as bad as you think. The article details how two different folks tackled the project, each approaching it from opposite ends of the economic spectrum:
Depending on the level of technology you want, a complete build-out with turf, netting, screen, computer, software and projector will run you $3,000 at the low end and upward of $50,000 if you check all the option boxes.
This article is much more detailed than I expected when I began reading it. There are even some tips on how to improve the rig's performance.
Look, I know most of you won't try this. But it will let you see just how much the price of the technology has come down, and introduce you to the variety of available options that are responsible for that price drop.
At this rate, it might not be too long before building your own indoor driving range is no more expensive -- or complicated -- than buying and installing a really nice computer system...
And maybe replacing a window now and then. You know, when you hit that indoor hosel rocket that you won't admit you hit. ;-)
I have quoted times in previous posts that were apparently wrong. (Wow, me wrong. What a shock.) So this post is simply to make sure you aren't using my incorrect times and missing something you wanted to see.
Today I make my picks for this week's US Senior Open. Gene Sauers is the defending champion.
This week's major is being held at Salem Country Club in Peabody, Massachusetts. It's a Donald Ross course, first opened in Salem MA in 1895 and moved to Peabody in 1925. Among the events that have been played there, there have been two US Women's Opens (1954 and 1984) and the US Senior Open was there once before in 2001.
So a course like this isn't likely to produce a fluke winner. This is a quality course and, if you don't mind me overusing an old turn of phrase, we can be pretty sure that the cream will rise to the top. And who might that creamy goodness turn out to be?
Well, it's hard to make this kind of list without including Bernhard Langer. Ironically, he's only won one US Senior Open, back in 2010 at Sahalee. He's already got three wins this year, including the first two majors. Despite his record in US Senior Opens, it's hard not to make him the favorite.
Believe it or not, I have to put defending champion Gene Sauers on this list, even though he only has one win on the Champions Tour -- this major. But that win came at Scioto Country Club, which is another Donald Ross design, he was a runner-up in this event back in 2014, and he's been playing well coming in to this week. Maybe this major just suits his style of play.
Scott McCarron is $800k behind Schwab Cup leader Bernhard Langer, but that puts him #2 on the list. And he's playing some seriously good golf this year. Leave out his T23 last week, and you'll see him coming off three Top5s -- two of which were this year's majors (T2 and T5). You've gotta take him seriously.
Miguel Angel Jimenez. He's got a win and sits #4 on the Schwab Cup list. He's only got one Top5 since his win earlier this season although, granted, that was a T3 at the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship. But, with one exception -- his very first event of the year -- his scoring has been consistently between -8 and -13 all season. I think that score can win a US Senior Open.
And my flier... Fred Couples is coming off a win. And
though he hasn't played that much -- roughly half the starts of McCarron
(7 vs 12) -- he's got two wins and trails McCarron by only $9k. If his
back holds up, Freddie's dangerous!
And my choice is... surprise! I'm taking Jimenez over Langer this week. As good as Langer has been, US Opens (on any tour) seem to give him a lot of trouble. Jimenez's consistency should loom large this week.
Remember that, since this is a USGA event, the US Senior Open will be broadcast on FOX Sports 1 for the first two rounds and the regular FOX affiliates over the weekend. Thursday's broadcast should start at 2pm ET.
It's time once again for me to pick my "5 to Watch" at a major. This will be a busy week, however, with two majors to pick. Later this week I'll be picking for the US Senior Open.
Today I pick the KPMG Women's PGA Championship. Brooke Henderson is the defending champion.
The big story, as Tony points out, is that we will once again see the Rolex #1 ranking up for grabs -- this week by four players. So Yeon Ryu took that spot with her win in Arkansas last week, but Ariya Jutanugarn, Lydia Ko and Lexi Thompson can all potentially usurp her authority with a win this week.
Which brings me to my "5 to Watch." Ironically, neither Ariya nor Lydia make my picks at this major. The fact that Ariya hasn't played in the last couple of events bothers me. I can't shake the feeling that that there's an injury of some sort involved, although I've heard nothing to substantiate that. As for Lydia, I simply don't think she's quite got her new swing working on all cylinders yet. (Ask me again at the US Women's Open in a couple of weeks.)
Olympia Fields, the course for this major, is a long one (for the LPGA) clocking in at nearly 6600 yards. But as we saw with Brian Harman's performance at Erin Hills, length in and of itself isn't the determinant that so many believe it is. I'm keeping that in mind with my picks.
So Yeon Ryu was my pick to win the ANA back in March, which she did. And then she became the first two-time winner of the season last week in Arkansas. Her game has been magnificent all year. To be blunt, I'm not stupid. I'm putting her on my list again.
Lexi Thompson also makes my list this time. We can argue whether Lexi would have won the ANA had it not been for that ridiculous ruling that cost her four shots. (I'm not blaming the LPGA, they had to make the ruling. But that doesn't mean the rule they had to enforce wasn't ridiculous.) I think Lexi feels she's owed a major, and I expect her to play like it this week. I just hope she doesn't try so hard she gets in her own way.
Michelle Wie was my flier at the ANA, but she's no longer a flier pick. Her growing consistency this season makes her a solid pick on any course, but I think the critical aspect is that she clearly believes she can win now. I firmly expect her to have a chance at one of this summer's majors, and I see no reason that this one couldn't be it.
Likewise, Stacy Lewis is well on the road to the winner's circle again. Had it not been for So Yeon's 61 on Saturday last week, Stacy could have gotten her first win in three years. With her game in shape, teeing it up at her sponsor's major, I have to think that she (like Wie) is finally in a good place to make a run at another major.
And for my flier... wow, this is a tough one. I can think of several players who are playing well enough to take that extra step this week. But I'm going for someone who already has a major -- Mo Martin. Mo is probably the shortest hitter on the LPGA, but she's been playing some really good golf this season. Just call it the Harman Effect -- as accurate as she is, all she needs is one hot week of putting to grab her second major.
But in the end, my pick is a no-brainer. I have to pick So Yeon Ryu again. It's possible that she'll have a letdown this week, but even her bad weeks are generally Top10s. I like her chances to go 2-for-2 this season.
Since this is a major, GC (and NBC over the weekend) will give it some serious live coverage. GC's coverage starts Thursday at 12:30pm ET.
Around the wider world of golf: So Yeon Ryu set a few records as she became the LPGA's first two-time winner this season at the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship; Andres Romero won the BMW International Open on the ET; Fred Couples won the American Family Insurance Championship on the Champions Tour; Adam Schenk won the Lincoln Land Charity Championship on the Web.com Tour; Emma Talley got her first Symetra Tour win at the weather-shortened Island Resort Championship; and as I mentioned yesterday, Harry Ellis won the British Amateur Championship.
It's been a long time since someone won the Travelers Championship in their first try -- that was Phil Blackmar way back in 1985. And Jordan Spieth did his best to avoid breaking that record.
But somehow, in the midst of spraying his drives all over the place, he managed to tie or set some other records and give himself a chance to win after all.
Of course, he couldn't do it the easy way. Oh, no. He struggled to separate himself from his fellow competitors. I don't mean Boo Weekley or Patrick Reed, the early challengers, or even Charley Hoffman and Danny Lee, who managed to post just short of Spieth's score. He managed to elude those pursuers fairly well.
No, I mean Daniel Berger, who defended his title at the FedEx St. Jude just a couple of weeks back and said that he felt he should at least be mentioned in the talk about Jordan.
Well, he got his point across Sunday. Jordan could feel the Bergermeister breathing down his neck in the closing holes, and it took a well-played scramble from the sand at 18 just to get him into a playoff with Daniel.
Of course, as Daniel himself put it, "Jordan does Jordan things" and that's just what he did in the playoff, holing out an unbelievable long bunker shot for birdie and leaving Berger with a long, long, LONG birdie putt just to tie.
Needless to say, it didn't fall. Jordan snagged his second win of the season (his first was the AT&T, in case you've forgotten) and even seemed a bit embarrassed about it. As he said himself:
"If I was in Berger's shoes, I'd be cursing Jordan Spieth right now for the break off the tee and then holing a 30-yard bunker shot. That's a lot of luck."
But instead, Daniel tweeted that he just hoped, in a few weeks, to be chest-bumping Jordan the way caddie Michael Greller did. And he probably will, as his runner-up finish likely made him a lock for the Presidents Cup team.
In the meantime, Jordan Spieth snags another Limerick Summary -- and another record, becoming the first player ever to get ten of them before his 24th birthday. (Tiger may have gotten to ten wins quicker than Jordan, but I wasn't writing Limerick Summaries back then!)
Jordan's fairway play wasn't so grand
So he played his best shots from the sand—
First a sandie to tie,
Then a hole-out. That's why
He's on top… it's just not HOW he planned.
It's happened to all of us. We've got a good round going but something goes wrong. Suddenly it all goes spinning wildly out of control and all we can do is panic as the round goes to hell.
That's what happened to Dylan Perry in the finals of the British Amateur on Saturday. Although Harry Ellis played a steady back nine, Perry had roughly five chances to put Ellis away but simply couldn't do it.
Here's the deal: When they stepped onto the 34th tee, Perry was three up with three to play. I couldn't find the scorecards online but, as best I can tell, Perry went bogey-bogey-bogey in regulation, then bogey-double to lose on the 38th hole. On those same holes Ellis made five pars... and walked away with the British Amateur trophy.
I'm not going to criticize Dylan Perry. As I said, we've all been there, and Perry is just 22 years old and was trying to become only the third Australian to ever win this title. I agree with Golf Digest's article when they said "...he handled what had to
have been a tough defeat with a grace beyond his tender years." As Perry said (also quoted in Golfweek's article):
“I’m pretty bummed, but at the end of the day you’ve got to take the
positives out of the week. I played well all day, and down
the stretch that’s what pressure does to some people. It just wasn’t
meant to be, but congratulations to Harry. He played well down the
stretch so good on him.”
Hopefully he'll be able to put this behind him quickly and get some more positive results under his belt. Because even though he lost, a lot of players would have been thrilled just to be runner-up in the British Amateur.
When it starts going bad, sometimes you just suck it up and remember that life goes on. That's something we all need to remember.
Yeah, I know what you're thinking... and you're right. Sometimes "Seanspeak" gets a bit confusing. But here's the basic idea:
I originally heard about this type of research being done on prisoners of war who had survived their imprisonment. In order to keep from going crazy, many of them began to mentally play sports they had played before their imprisonment -- for example, a tennis player may have imagined playing an entire 5-set match. And when they were finally released and able to play again, they found that their play had actually improved because of the visualization.
Now you need to understand that they weren't just imagining a match. They were imagining each individual stroke, each individual sprint to the net, even each fall when they lunged for a save. They imagined what a stroke felt like -- which muscles were used, the effort it took to sprint to the shot, the motion of their arms as they swung the racket, and so on. In a way, they actually performed and felt every shot in every set.
This is what Sean is talking about. But since you have the range available to you -- since you can literally perform and feel every shot you imagine -- he's suggesting that you visualize the shot you want to practice. It doesn't matter that the range isn't actually the fairway bunker you're going to hit the ball from (to use his example in the video). What matters is that you imagine the details of making that particular shot as you make a physical swing motion, and swing the club as if you were actually hitting that sand shot.
Yes, it all sounds kind of touchy-feely, but it's a scientifically verified phenomenon. You can even do this in your backyard, without hitting any balls but still swinging a club. What Sean is recommending here is combining visualization with actual physical practice, in order to get the benefits of both. And it just might help you break through some of the roadblocks you face in your game.
It's all about conscious purposeful practice. Never practice mindlessly.
For weeks now, we've heard Jordan Spieth answer questions about his game. "I'm hitting it pretty good," he'd say, "but I'm just not making any putts."
Well, now we know why. Some idiot took his putter to Connecticut. Who knew?
The PGA Tour has asked their players to each play in one new tournament each year, to try and help the events that don't normally draw the big names. And because so many of the regular cast of attendees spoke highly of the event, Jordan and several other big names like Jason Day and Rory McIlroy decided to give it a whirl.
So in his first appearance at the Travelers Championship, Jordan promptly moved to the front of the pack with a 63, which is -7 at the TPC River Highlands course. And given that the greens there are poa annua, which isn't one of Jordan's favorite grasses to putt on... well, you've got to think that Jordan is liking that New England hospitality.
Jordan goes out early this morning, and the conditions are usually better in the morning wave at the Travelers, so maybe we'll get some idea whether Jordan really found his putter or just a very convincing imitation. But the fans are going to be thrilled no matter what happens and, based on what Jordan, Rory and Jason have said, Travelers scored pretty well themselves. It sounds like some of the big names may consider adding this event to their regular schedule.
First, a quick note of congratulation to Omar Uresti for his win at the PGA Professional Championship. For those of you who don't recognize the name, Omar was a PGA Tour player for many years -- he made 351 starts, in fact -- but he never won. That doesn't mean he has never won a pro tournament; he has five other wins -- two on the then-Nationwide (now Web.com) Tour, one on the Sunshine Tour, one on the Canadian Tour, and most recently he won the 2015 Southern Texas PGA Championship as a teaching pro. But he was runner-up in this event a year ago, and now he's got the title. Way to go, Omar!
This week the LPGA tees it up in the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship, where Lydia Ko is the defending champion.. As usual, Tony Jesselli has a preview of the event, so you can get the necessary numbers and stats from him. I'll just point out the storylines I think are most interesting this week.
First of all, Ai Miyazato fans will want to tune is, as this is Ai's first appearance since she announced her impending retirement. Ai's last LPGA win came at this event in 2012, so it's a place with good memories for her. I'll be interested to see how she does, as she seems to be at peace with her decision and that may free her up to play well here again.
The defending champ is looking for her first win this season. Many of Lydia's stats say she is playing better -- better even than last year, when she won five times around the world. But her best this year has been a T2 at the LOTTE, and that has allowed Ariya Jutanugarn to take over the top spot in the Rolex Rankings. With Ariya out of the picture this year (Tony says she is no longer scheduled to play), perhaps Lydia can finally make up some ground.
But the biggest question is whether Stacy Lewis can finally get back into the win column this week. Stacy went to school in Arkansas, as you all know, and this event has a strange distinction in her career. It was her first pro win -- she won the very first playing of this event back in 2007 as an amateur, but her win doesn't count as an official tournament because it was weather-shortened to 18 holes. And her last win also came at this event, in 2014.
For so many reasons, it would be appropriate if Stacy got her next win at this event, this week.
After a number of four-round tournaments, the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship is only a 54-hole event. The broadcasts start Friday on GC at 6:30pm ET. With so many potential storylines, even beyond the three I've mentioned, it should be a good show.
I think that Ray Floyd is one of the most underestimated strategists to have played the game. Here's a short section from his book The Elements of Scoring, where he talks about the importance of understanding angles.
Scorers know the most efficient route to get around a golf course. The key to keeping the ball in play and leaving the easiest possible shot is in understanding angles. Off the tee, take into account what your shot pattern is, and what side of the fairway it's best to be on. If the trouble is on the left, or you simply want to come into the green from the right, tee up on the left side of the tee. If the situation is the opposite, tee on the right. Generally, faders and slicers should hit from the right side of the tee, while drawers and hookers should start on the left. The idea is to give your curve the widest sweep possible to get in the fairway. On par 3s, give yourself the angle that gives you the most landing area on the green. If you're shooting at the pin, in general you should tee the ball up on the side opposite the area of the green where it's cut. The idea is to open up the green, expanding the size of the safe landing area on the putting surface. Angles are increasingly important the shorter and lower you hit the ball. If you are this kind of player, you can't carry trouble as well and will have to make use of openings between bunkers and hazards to roll up onto the green. Also, because your approach doesn't land as softly and carry as much spin as a player who hits it higher and farther, you need more room to stop the ball. Play your tee shots to create the angle that will give you the most green to shoot to, and try to avoid approaches that force you to carry a bunker to a tightly cut pin. Whenever possible, know where on the green the pin is cut before hitting your tee shot. The final angles are around the green. Unless you are particularly adept at the quick-stopping lob shot, make an effort to avoid missing the green on the side closest to the pin. This is called "getting shortsided." Favor the wide side, from which the recovery is easier because you have more green to play to. (p52-53)
As you can see, Raymond doesn't mince words; he just lays it out there clearly.
I recommend his book, simply because it's fairly compact and gets right to the point. The paperback is still in print so if you're interested in checking out, here's the link to Ray's book on Amazon. And no, I don't make any money if you order one. I just happen to think it's one of the better strategy books you can get.
First of all, ignore the yardage and take a club that will actually get the ball out of the rough. Obviously you don't want to hit the ball into a hazard because it didn't travel far enough, but neither do you want to leave it in the rough because it didn't travel at all!
Bill Schmedes III (the instructor featured in this article) also says you need to move the ball back in your stance at address. He specifically says "an inch and a half." It's nice when a teacher gives you a specific number. I suppose he means an inch and a half back of your normal ball position for the club you choose, not just an inch and a half back of center.
Coupled with the ball position change, he says to aim more to the right (for a rightie; more to the left for a leftie) because the rough will likely grab your club and cause a hook.
Finally he says to make sure you hit down on the ball. If you try to help it up, you'll come in too shallow and get too much grass between the ball and clubface. He has a short list of things that might help you do this more easily; you'll want to read the article and see which one will help you the most.
While few of us have to deal with fescue, thick rough is just a fact of life. This article should give you some tools -- and some hope -- for the next time you end up there.
Around the wider world of golf: Brooke Henderson won the Meijer LPGA Classic on the LPGA; Aaron Wise won the Air Capital Classic on the Web.com Tour; Robby Shelton won the GolfBC Championship on the Mackenzie Tour – PGA TOUR Canada; Jared Wolfe won the BMW Jamaica Classic on the PGA TOUR Latinoamérica; Chorphaka Jaengkit won the Decatur-Forsyth Classic on the Symetra Tour; Nicholas Fung won the Queen’s Cup on the Asian Tour; and Teresa Lu won the Nichirei Ladies on the JLPGA (bangkokbobby has details).
While the announcers kept talking about how Brooks had only one PGA Tour win, Brooks actually had a fairly large number of pro wins before Sunday. He had one on the ET, one on the Japan Tour, four on the Challenge Tour (the ET's version of the Web.com Tour) and, of course, one PGA Tour win. That's a total of SEVEN professional wins from all over the world, in all kinds of conditions.
Add in his 2016 Ryder Cup appearance, and it's pretty clear that Brooks Koepka was much more prepared to win a major than most folks believed.
It's that worldwide experience that gave him the tools he needed on Sunday. Everybody will focus on Brooks's prodigious length off the tee, but it might surprise you to learn that his length wasn't as important as most think. I pulled up the US Open stats for Brooks, runner-up Hideki Matsuyama and third-place finisher Brian Harman for comparison. (In case you don't know, weekly stats are available for all players in PGA Tour events by clicking their names on the leaderboard and choosing the "Full Scorecard" option.)
What I found is eye-opening. While the Driving Distance stat did show Brooks as the longest, it wasn't as great an advantage as you might think. For the week, Brooks averaged 322 yards, Hideki 308 and Brian 296. However, the telling stats are Driving Accuracy and GIR. For the week, it looked like this (the numbers in parentheses are their rankings in the field):
Harmon -- DA 80.36% (T22), GIR 77.78% (T7)
Hideki -- DA 76.79% (T37) , GIR 66.67% (T40)
Brooks -- DA 87.50% (T4), GIR 86.11% (1)
As you can see, it was Brooks's accuracy and not his length that gave him the advantage. And if you look at Sunday's stats in particular, it's easy to see why Brooks won. In GIR, Brooks hit 94.44% while Hideki could only manage 66.67% and Brian 77.78%. And Driving Accuracy was even worse, with Brooks averaging 85.71% while Hideki merely matched him and Brian hit only 57.14% of his fairways.
Brooks Koepka didn't bludgeon Erin Hills into submission as we expected the bombers to do. Rather, he picked and plotted his way around the course -- something the favorites who didn't make the cut failed to do. Such thoughtful execution of his plan deserves at least an equally thoughtful Limerick Summary.
Unfortunately, he'll have to make do with this one!
Wisconsin winds came up at last
And the battle to see who would last
Pushed the boys to extremes…
But then Brooks hit the greens
At a rate that could not be surpassed.
Let's take a break from the rumors of rain and the thunderclap of Justin Thomas's 3-wood to check out the LPGA event. The Meijer LPGA Classic is being held in Michigan -- just on the other side of Lake Michigan from Wisconsin -- and they DID get a lot of rain. The flooding was bad enough that the par-5 fifth had to be converted to a par-3 for the third round!
That didn't seem to dampen Lexi's spirits any. She has moved to the lead after her T2 (playoff loss) at the Manulife last week.
There was a 2-hour delay during Saturday's round, and the soft conditions made the US Open scoring look like a traditional Open. Lexi shot one of the many 64s that were carded, getting her to a 54-hole score of -15. But the four players tied for second (one stroke back) made some noise of their own:
Lee-Anne Pace carded a 61
Sung Hyun Park carded a 62
Jenny Shin carded a 63
Brooke Henderson must have felt like a snail after carding only a 67 (she had the lead by two when the day began)
Hyo Joo Kim is alone in sixth at -12 after a 65. And among the players tied for seventh at -11, both Michelle Wie and Lydia Ko shot 64s.
Lydia's score in particular interests me, simply because when Ariya Jutanugarn took over the Rolex #1 spot last week, she only had a .44 lead -- less than half a point. Ariya is only two shots back but, because the leaderboard is so crowded, that puts her all the way back at T18. I don't know exactly how the points get doled out, but it seems to me that Lydia can narrow the gap a lot with a good finish today.
If you decide to catch up on the LPGA before you watch the PGA Tour, GC coverage will begin at 11am ET and run till 3pm ET. That means you'll still have plenty of time to watch the leaders tee off on FOX's US Open coverage, as Stephan Jaeger and Shane Lowry tee off at 11:08am ET... and they're both part of the group at T51.
I know that sounds like a strange title but bear with me. This post may help you dramatically improve your chipping!
In late May I did a post called Dealing with Conflicting Wedge Advice. Recently Dana left a comment on that post asking about an article he read on "side-saddle chipping" and how it compared to the pop stroke I described in Ruthless Putting. (For those of you who haven't read the book, I devoted a chapter to Bobby Jones's pop putting stroke and noted that Jones also used it for chipping.)
I found the article at golf.com. It's by Stacy Lewis's coach Joe Hallett and it's called The New Way to Chip, and Turn Bogeys into Pars and Birdies. To be honest, I wasn't particularly impressed by it because it just looks like chipping from an extremely open stance. (See the photo below.) I also told Dana I'd do a post this week about using your wrists when you chip.
As I prepared to do that post, I realized I needed to talk some about how your lead shoulder works when you chip, and why your chipping problems can be caused by your shoulder. But as I started working on this post, I realized why Hallett's "side-saddle chipping" technique seemed so revolutionary to them. (I don't think they recognized it, because they never mention it in the article, and because some of the advice they gave makes no sense if they did. I'll come back to that later.) So here's what Hallett & Company didn't tell you.
I'll make this anatomy lesson as brief and painless as possible.
The drawing below shows the bone structure of one shoulder. (This is a right shoulder -- a leftie's lead shoulder -- but it works the same way for the left shoulder of a rightie.) Your humerus -- that is, the bone in your upper arm -- is actually a bit L-shaped, with the ball joint extending out past the main bone. In the drawing, I've put a huge black dot over the ball joint and an upside-down L for the upper arm.
When you address the ball for a putt or a chip or even a full swing, your shoulder line extends from the angle in the L of one shoulder, through the ball joint, along the black line to the other shoulder's ball joint and out to the angle of the other shoulder. You can see the lines for the lead shoulder in the small line drawing labeled "At Address" below the drawing. (Yes, that thick black line at the end of the "arm" represents a hand, which is presumably holding a wedge. Stop snickering!)
But when our intrepid golfer swings the club back to chip the ball, and he reaches the change of direction (in the second drawing), notice what happens at the ball joint. For your arm to cross your chest, the entire L shape of the upper arm rotates outward, so that the small part of the L is no longer in line with the rest of your shoulder girdle. This changes how the club is going to contact the ball when you actually chip the ball, unless you return the shoulder to the original address position.
In fact, this is one reason why some of you have a "chicken wing" finish in your full swing. Your elbow can only move up and down, in line with the bone in your upper arm. When your shoulder rotates to the position shown in the "Change of Direction" diagram, your elbow now points toward the target, not behind you as it did at address. And if you don't take measures to get your shoulder back in line, your elbow will STILL point at the target when you hit the ball. Do you follow me so far?
Although they may not realize it, that's the reason teachers want you to "cover the ball" and "keep your hands/the club in front of you" and all those other phrases they use to describe keeping your elbows closer to your side throughout your swing. In fact, that's the purpose of Ben Hogan's legendary elbow drill, as shown below. Keeping your elbows as close to your side as possible during the lower half of your swing forces your shoulders to rotate back into their original address position at impact. That improves your contact and accuracy.
Which brings me back to the Hallett article. Why does "side-saddle chipping" seem to improve a player's chipping results? Because it changes the lead shoulder's address position to match its "change of direction" position, and keeps it in that same position throughout the entire chip! Once you eliminate the extra movement, you basically lock the lead shoulder into the most extreme position of the chipping motion. Ta-daaa! Fewer compensations in your chipping motion, more consistent ball contact.
Do Hallett and his people understand this? I doubt it, because the article advises:
When you’d like to chip the ball longer distances or even pitch it, adopt a more traditional setup.
The more traditional setup won't lock the lead shoulder in place, and he doesn't tell you that you need to lock it in place. That's because he doesn't realize that's the strength of his side-saddle method. Rather than using two different methods to chip, I'd rather see you chip using Hogan's drill. You can chip, pitch, even hit knockdown shots using his drill -- a single technique that will benefit you all the way through your game. And you'll automatically use your wrists more effectively because the Hogan drill teaches proper wrist action as well. (Why? Because with your elbows close to your side, your wrists are automatically forced to bend and unbend at the proper time.)
So if you're having trouble with your chipping, you might want to try using Hogan's drill -- now that you know what it's supposed to teach you -- and see if that doesn't improve your chipping.
And Dana, I hope that answers your questions. Just let me know if you run into problems or have more questions.
No one knew what to expect when the US Open actually got started at Erin Hills. After all, it looked like a bomber's paradise.
What we learned in short order is that Mike Davis is as devious as Pete Dye. Erin Hills is a wolfish US Open layout in sheep's clothing. Those wide open fairways aren't as wide as they appear. How can that be? Isn't a 60-foot wide fairway plenty wide for all but the worst hack? Aren't the knee-deep fields of fescue too far off the centerline to cause trouble for the best in the world?
Much has been made of the lay of the land, shaped by receding glaciers 10,000 years ago and barely altered by the architects. But those severe mounds and valleys, coupled with tilted fairways that resemble waves on a stormy green sea, mean that golf balls don't necessarily bounce in predictable ways.
And apparently -- this is why I liken Davis to Dye -- apparently the length of the course and the rolling fairways create an illusion of narrowness, and Davis recognized this when he walked the original routing, even before the course was built. Even the best golfers, all of whom are familiar with the optical illusions Dye creates in his designs, simply can't convince themselves that they have enough room to just "let 'er fly." Instead, they tend to overshape their shots, actually flying the ball deep into the fescue.
With rare exceptions, it was the shorter hitters who posted the best scores on Thursday. Of the Tour's 26 hitters who average over 300 yards, only Brooks Koepka (#5 in the list) and Xander Schauffele (#22) made it into the Top10 on the leaderboard. Kevin Na's tweet that short hitters had a chance because accuracy would be more important than length this week -- and that short hitters are naturally more accurate -- seems to have been prophetic.
Then again, perhaps the shorter hitters just can't reach the fescue. That might have something to do with it as well.
As for the scores, Rickie Fowler's -7 tied the record for lowest opening round score in relation to par. The other holders of the record? Jack Nicklaus and Tom Weiskop, who both shot -7 (aggregate score: 63) at Baltusrol in 1980. It's worth noting that Jack won the tournament with -8.
Rickie's total on Thursday tells us nothing about what might win this week, but I won't be surprised if we see something similar -- either because the USGA toughens up the course (they probably feel safe doing so now) or because bad weather comes in.
There were also a record number of players under par -- a total of 44. However, only ten scored -4 or better, and another seven posted -3. So while there may have been more scores under par, most of them weren't unrealistically low. I don't think it will mean much for the final result.
Ultimately, I think this US Open will play out much as the others have. The USGA will toughen up the course, and the weather will complicate things (either with dry conditions and wind, or wet conditions and wind). It's possible that we could see a record low score, of course. But except for Tiger's win in 2000 (-12) and Rory's in 2011 (-16) -- both of which were weather-related -- no one has EVER needed a final score of more than -9 to take the title. I don't expect this championship to be any different.
Oh, and one more thing: Yesterday I said I suspected the 6-9pm ET broadcast on Fox would be a recap. I was wrong. I didn't take the time zone into account. The late broadcast on Fox is showing the late groupings, so you'll want to check it out if your favorite player has a late tee time today.
With so much going on today, I thought I should post some TV info so you can keep up with it all.
First of all, remember that the US Open is on FOX, not GC. The FOX Sports 1 channel is broadcasting all day, from 11am to 6pm ET. Then they switch over to the regular FOX channel for three hours (6-9pm ET) for what I imagine will be a condensed broadcast of the highlights.
Second, although the US Open will pretty much dominate all of men's golf this week, the ladies are still in action. GC will broadcast the Meijer LPGA Classic from 4-7pm ET.You can read the normal preview of the event over at Tony Jesselli's blog, Lydia Ko will begin her campaign to regain the #1 spot from Ariya Jutanugarn, as both are in the field this week.
So you've got plenty of choice today. You can watch the men on FOX or the women on GC. It's gonna be a good week!
Finally! We'll get to see how the pros handle the fescue-laden Erin Hills course as they vie for the 2017 US Open title
I suppose you already know the basics -- Erin Hills will host Wisconsin's first US Open, new daddy Dustin Johnson is the defending champion, Phil Mickelson desperately wants a weather delay on Thursday while first alternate Roberto Diaz desperately wants good weather, and the analysts have no idea what to expect since Erin Hills is unlike anything they've ever seen before.
So let's move on.
Let me start by eliminating a few names from my "5 to Watch" list and tell you why they've been left off.
Phil Mickelson: Obviously I don't think the weatherman is going to cooperate with him.
Rory McIlroy: I want to stress that I'm leaving Rory off purely because of the rib injury. I remember how much trouble Brandt Snedeker had with his rib injury a couple of years back. I'm not convinced Rory will survive the week, especially if he hits a couple in the rough.
Jason Day: Look, I know his mother is feeling better and her cancer treatment is going well. But I just don't think he's quite over the emotional strain yet.
That doesn't mean they can't play well. (Although Phil's weekend game in California probably won't help him win his sixth major.) I just think these "life issues" will affect them enough to throw their games off a bit.
So who am I picking? It's a hodge-podge that might surprise you.
Of course, I have to include Dustin Johnson. I think DJ is playing the best of anyone right now, having won two WGCs under wildly differing conditions. And now he gets to hit that driver into fairways that are 60 yards wide? It's just not fair.
Thomas Pieters is due to win on the PGA Tour, and a big European-looking course like Erin Hills seems tailormade for his game. He's not quite as accurate as DJ... but 60-yard fairways? Like I said, it's just not fair.
I admit that even I'm surprised at this one, but Sergio Garcia makes my handful of faves this time. Normally, I would give a player who just had a super-emotional Masters win a three-month pass and, with his wedding coming up at the end of that time, I wouldn't expect him to do anything this week. But Sergio is defying my expectations with his play since the Masters. I don't believe that bit about floodgates opening just because a player wins a major, but Sergio's win seems to have been the result of an improved mental game. THAT just might change his fortunes.
Jon Rahm is another player who is on his game. I no longer care that he's a rookie -- Rahm is a force of nature! Erin Hills and the US Open are not too big for him, and his emotional outbursts don't undermine his confidence. He can win here.
And for my flier, I'm taking Steve Stricker. It's not just that Stricks is at home. Rather, it's all about his health. He says he's playing pain-free for the first time in quite a while, and his schedule over the last few weeks proves it. I agree with Kevin Na -- short hitters have a chance at Erin Hills; heavy rains have a way of evening the odds. With his game and these wide fairways, I like his chances to become the oldest major winner ever.
As tempting as all of these players are, I still have to go with Dustin Johnson. He's on a high from his new son's birth, and the Masters withdrawal left a bad taste in his mouth. I don't believe there's a lock to win this thing, but DJ's probably the closest thing we've got.
A few interesting facts about DJ's technique may be of help to you:
DJ says there is no conscious difference between a 10-yard chip and a 20-yard chip. When Brenkus explains how DJ adjusts his swing to chip the ball farther, you'll note that DJ doesn't try to speed up his swing in any way. He changes the distance purely by lengthening his swing, which he learns through repetition. And given that his swing speed increases by a mere 1mph to chip the ball an extra five yards, you can see why.
When DJ tries to pick off the ducks -- demonstrating trajectory control -- note that he doesn't try to manipulate the clubface to lower his trajectory. Rather, he changes his club and lets the loft of the club create the lower ball flight. He doesn't change his hand action, which is part of the reason he's so consistent with his ball contact and ball flight.
With the fishbowl test -- demonstrating distance control -- Brenkus says that he has to "calibrate the necessary launch conditions." This isn't explained (shame on you, John!) but given how DJ keeps checking the face of his club, I'd guess that he's going through a process he would normally use around the green. (The leading edge of the wedge can't possibly be digging into the artificial turf.) Why would he keep checking the face? If it's digging in, then the ball is too far back in his stance.
As for the dunk tank... forget about that "half-a-millimeter margin of error" stuff. As DJ hints at early on, you can't consciously control things that accurately. Under normal circumstances out on the course, you wouldn't need to be that accurate anyway. The thing to note here is that DJ's trajectory continues to be consistent, which means he's not trying to manipulate the club. DJ has a very quiet technique; he's letting the club do the work.
All-in-all, it's a very impressive demonstration of why Dustin Johnson continues to put up good numbers, even when his game seems to be a bit off. And given all the chipping areas around the greens at Erin Hills, it helps you understand why DJ will be a favorite to defend his title this week.
Around the wider world of golf: Ariya Jutanugarn got her first win of the season at the Manulife LPGA Classic; Dylan Frittelli won the Lyoness Open on the ET; Brandt Jobe won the Principal Charity Classic on the Champions Tour; Stephan Jaeger won the Rust-Oleum Championship on the Web.com Tour; Max Rottluff won the Bayview Place Cardtronics Open on the Mackenzie Tour - PGA TOUR Canada; Tee-K Kelly won the Puerto Plata DR Open on the PGA TOUR Latinoamérica; Prayad Marksaeng won the 18th Starts Senior Golf Tournament on the Asian Tour; and Kendall Dye won the Four Winds Invitational on the Symetra Tour.
I mean no disrespect to Daniel Berger by any means. It's tough to win at all, let alone defend a title.
But it was really anticlimactic, wasn't it?
Daniel wasn't even being seriously considered part of the story on Sunday at the FedEx St. Jude Classic. He started so far back that he finished nearly an hour before the leaders did. But, as I noted yesterday, St. Jude is the Patron Saint of Hope and Impossible Causes. Daniel was three shots back to start the day, with a number of players between him and the leaders.
He hacked his way around the first hole, looking more like a greenskeeper than a player. But then he chipped in for par from nearly 26 feet. Hope, you say? Impossible causes, you say?
A bogey-free 66 gave him a one-shot victory over the favorites. And as he noted in his interview after the round, he's now one-for-one in playoffs... and that's pretty good!
There was one other thing he said after his round that I thought was very interesting:
"We hear a lot about the young guns and about the Justin Thomases and
Jordan Spieths, but I feel like I kind of get forgotten a little bit. I'm pretty good, so I'm just going to try and keep doing my thing and see if I can't get a few more."
Yes, Daniel, you ARE pretty good. Perhaps you won't be forgotten so quickly from now on. And with the US Open happening this week, you certainly picked a good time to grab some attention!
Will Daniel win the US Open? I don't know. Will he even be a favorite? I don't know that either. But I know he's just picked up another Limerick Summary, and I share Daniel's -- and perhaps St. Jude's -- hope that he can grab a few more:
Daniel won it again, back-to-back,
Though he waited an hour for the pack
To perceive what he'd done.
Now he's gone one-for-one—
He's a title defense crackerjack!
FOX's Joe Buck gets a lot of criticism as a sportscaster, but I've always thought he was pretty good. At least in the broadcasts I've watched, he always seems to be prepared and usually has a pretty good idea about what needs to be emphasized at an event.
But when he landed the post of anchorman for the US Open broadcasts, he had a steep learning curve ahead of him. And so Golf Digest had Buck on their podcast to talk about what he's learned over the first couple of years and what he expects this year.
Whether you love him or hate him -- there doesn't seem to be much in-between for most listeners -- Joe Buck is going to be heading up FOX's golf coverage for the foreseeable future. And that's why I'm posting links to the podcast. You might as well get used to him, and learning how he's going to approach the broadcast this year is a good start.
In case you didn't know, among Catholics (and some other churches), St. Jude is the Patron Saint of Hope and Impossible Causes -- which, you have to admit, is an interesting juxtaposition of optimism and pessimism.
I wonder which is foremost in Rickie Fowler's mind this weekend? After all, next week is the US Open and Rickie can't be happy with his driving this week. He hit only 50% of his fairways at the FedEx St. Jude Classic. It cost him badly in the first round, where he had a double and a triple on the back nine.
At the same time, Erin Hills is supposed to have some of the widest fairways of any US Open. (Although big misses will be penal, given the number of trees, the amount of fescue and 130+ tough bunkers.) That width should minimize how much he has to do to get his game back in shape. The question is... can he do it in time? His driver has been a real strength in his game until recently. If he hopes to get his first major, he needs to find it again... and soon.
Rickie's short game should stand him in good stead at Erin Hills next week. But that driver has me a bit concerned. Because no matter how wide those fairways are, there is no such thing as a driver-friendly US Open.
I'm going back a ways here, to an old Golf Digest (print copy!) from April 2013, to get you an image to help your putting from none other than Jack Nicklaus.
In that issue Jack wrote that, in order to help him hit putts more softly on fast greens, he used to imagine his putter shaft was made of rope. Those of you who have read Ruthless Putting know that I have a drill that actually uses a weighted rope, but what Jack's after here is something different. While my drill is designed to help you hit your putts more decisively with less tension, Jack's image is intended to create a softer hit. Remember, he's putting on fast greens and he already has a pretty firm stroke... plus this tip was in a Masters issue.
What Jack said he found to be more successful was imagining that his putter shaft was made of glass. If he hit the ball with too much force, the shaft would shatter. He said the glass image was key to winning the 1986 Masters, when he used that bigheaded Response putter. That putter had more loft, so his tendency was to get the ball airborne with his normal stroke.
Most of you don't play greens as fast as Augusta. However, you probably see quite a few fast downhill putts during your round. Imagining that your putter shaft is made of glass could help you avoid hitting your putt too hard and leaving yourself a long comebacker. Just remember that this is a technique for hitting fast putts, NOT your normal run-of-the-mill putts.
This isn't a new idea, but it's the first time I've heard it called reverse chaining. McCormick explains it this way:
The concept is that if you know the type of finish position your body
and club should be in to create a certain ball flight, your mind
intuitively adapts, so your body and club know how to move to reach that
destination. In other words, the downswing and through-swing happen
simply as a result of trying to get into the proper finish position.
You've heard of it too, haven't you? The nice thing about this article is that he explains the finish positions you need for three different shots in a very simple, easy-to-picture way.
For a draw: a high-C finish (pictured above)
For a knockdown: stop short
For a fade: swing low and left
Again, it's a very simple concept but it's something good to try if you need to eliminate extraneous mechanical thoughts. I don't know that it will work for everybody -- nothing does -- but it might make your swing more fluid, which is always a good thing.
Best of all, it's a swing thought you can try, no matter what swing method you use. Such thoughts are hard to find these days.
Caroline Masson is the defending champion -- her only LPGA victory, btw -- and no champion has successfully defended their title here. (Granted, this tournament has only been played five times previously, so perhaps that's not as significant as it sounds at first.)
Also of note, Lydia Ko isn't playing this week but Ariya Jutanugarn is -- which means Ariya will almost certainly take over the #1 spot in the Rolex Rankings this week. As most of you know, she was projected to do so last week, but the official statement about the error is -- unlike the rankings themselves -- pretty clear.
Basically, when the initial projections were run, the wrong date was used in the calculations. Apparently the software automatically used the date when the projection was run instead of the date they wanted to check. As a result, last year's Manulife points (which included a T5 for Ariya) were erroneously included in the projections. The error was found when the official points list was run Monday morning.
It won't be happening again. That bug is going to get squashed.
In the meantime, the ladies will set about the business of shuffling the rankings the old fashioned way -- by winning. It all gets underway on Thursday at 1:30pm ET.
I still need to go through it all myself, but I was fascinated to hear a sports psychologist say that a pre-shot routine isn't always a good thing for you. I also liked the fact that much of what he said applied to everyday life -- and that he used everyday life examples, as opposed to just sports examples.
His book is called Stillpower: Excellence with Ease in Sports and Life and I was surprised to find Amazon selling the Kindle edition for only $1.99. So I've bought a copy of it and will see if I can work it into my reading schedule sometime soon. In the meantime, check out the video.
Around the wider world of golf: In-Kyung Kim won the ShopRite LPGA Classic on the LPGA; Conrad Shindler won the Rex Hospital Open on the Web.com Tour; Lee McCoy won the Freedom 55 Financial Open on the Mackenzie Tour – PGA TOUR Canada; Curtis Yonke won the Quito Open on the PGA TOUR Latinoamérica; Nanna Koerstz Madsen won the Fuccillo Kia Classic of NY on the Symetra Tour; Shaun Norris won the JGT Championship Mori Building Cup Shishido Hills on the Japan Golf Tour; and Renato Paratore won the Nordea Masters on the ET.
I guess almost everybody figured Jason Dufner was out of it after he shot 77 on Saturday and lost his lead at the Memorial.
Almost everybody figured that. Jason Dufner and Jack Nicklaus weren't among them. Jack mentioned his own Sunday morning conversation with Dufner several times during the CBS broadcast, where the two of them agreed that the Duff wasn't out of it by a long shot.
And in the end, it was a long shot -- a 33-foot par putt on the 18th -- that sealed the deal for Jason after a blistering 4-under back nine. That score was made all the more incredible by two suspensions of play due to lightning, delaying the game by nearly three hours total and pushing the finish right to the brink of darkness. That's why the photo above is dark except for the two stars shining in the foreground.
It looks like Jason is finally getting his life back on track after health problems and a divorce. His new lady was there to meet him when he left the 18th, as was Jack Nicklaus. And of course, there's a new Limerick Summary waiting for him as well...
The lightning postponed it till night,
But Dufner still found time to strike!
With the right state of mind
He attacked from behind—
A performance that Jack really liked.
In case you missed it, Phil Mickelson announced that he will probably miss the US Open to attend his daughter's high school graduation.
You can get all the details from this PGATOUR.com article, but basically it comes down to this: Phil's daughter Amanda is the school president and scheduled to give the commencement address. Since her graduation is on Thursday morning of the US Open, and Phil lives in California -- which is two hours behind Wisconsin, where the US Open will be held -- even an afternoon tee time is unlikely to give him enough time to fly back after the graduation ceremony.
Look at it this way: It takes roughly four hours to fly from CA to WI, and then you have the two-hour time difference. If Phil was able to leave at 11am CA time, it would still be around 5pm WI time before he arrived -- much too late to play.
Phil hasn't withdrawn yet. It's possible that something could happen to make it all possible -- perhaps the graduation ceremony has to be rescheduled for some reason, or the first round of the US Open gets a weather delay. But Phil isn't counting on either, and said he wanted his alternate into the event to be ready to play, as well as for the USGA to know before they made the TV tee times.
But even if Phil misses the Erin Hills major, the next two sites -- Shinnecock Hills and Pebble Beach -- should give him good shots at the one major that has eluded him. The 2020 site, Winged Foot, might suit him as well...
Assuming that daughter Sofia doesn't have her graduation during that week.
Why is there a photo of So Yeon Ryu here? Because she will determine who is the new Women's #1 when the Rolex Rankings come out next week.
Neither Lydia Ko nor Ariya Jutanugarn is playing at this week's ShopRite LPGA Classic, but So Yeon Ryu is. And that's why she will determine who takes up the crown next week.
Here's the situation: The current Rolex Ranking points look like this:
Lydia Ko, 8.40
Ariya Jutanugarn, 8.33
So Yeon Ryu, 8.21
That's less than .2 points between the three.
Lydia WILL lose her position this week, and either Ariya or So Yeon will take over. For a change, the scenario is very simple:
If So Yeon finishes in solo third or better this week, she will be the new #1.
If she finishes T3 or worse, Ariya will be the new #1.
And after the first round, the leader -- Anna Nordqvist -- is at -7, with four players at T2, at -6. So Yeon is at +3, which is T98.
This will be a very interesting weekend for the LPGA.
The article interested me because I suspect it may sound a bit misleading to some of you. Tillery describes the move this way:
Instead of doing something dramatic to re-route your swing, try a
simpler maneuver to get started off on the right track. "Take a page out
of Kevin's book," says Tillery, who also works with Scott Brown,
William McGirt and Brandt Snedeker, among other tour players. "Keep your
arms closer together and your right palm facing down in the takeaway.
Now you're ready--and incentivized--to get onto your front foot, and on
your way to hitting draws."
Keep your arms closer together. If you do this, you'll be forced to keep your arms straighter on the way back, which prevents you from swinging too much to the inside during your backswing.
Keep your trailing palm facing down (toward the ground) in the takeaway. Think about this, folks. If you actually do this, you'll be seriously weakening your grip on the way back. If you successfully maintain this position, you'll cup your wrist at the top of your backswing and perhaps hit the ground with the toe of the club.
I suspect what Tillery is after here is the SENSATION of closing the clubface. If you've been opening the clubface during your backswing, which Tillery talks about elsewhere in the article, he's asking you to FEEL as if you were turning your palm down. Keeping your arms together aids in this; keeping your elbows closer together during your backswing will do a lot to stop that "opening" as well.
In my drill, I designed it to keep your arms closer together as well, and to feel as if your wrists were cocking straight up. They don't really do that during your backswing, but I want you to FEEL as if they are. For most of you, that will be enough to get the feel Tillery is trying to create.
And both drills -- if you try to keep your elbows closer together throughout the swing, as shown in the photo above -- it will force you to keep turning your shoulders all the way to your finish, which will also help you square the clubface at impact.
The difference between our drills is just a matter of degree. Both of our drills exaggerate the feeling of a squared clubface. If you're having trouble squaring your clubface, just choose the drill that provides the amount of exaggeration you need to get the results you want.
Now it's official. The Oklahoma Sooners won their 2nd NCAA National Division 1 Golf title, defeating the defending champs, the Oregon Ducks,
3-1-1 in match play Wednesday.
I have to congratulate the Ducks as well for just making it back to the finals. Last year's win was the first-ever for Oregon, and making it back the following year had only been accomplished by the Stanford golf team, who have done it twice. That's heady company.
And Braden Thornberry of the Ole Miss (Mississippi) Rebels won the Individual Title on Monday, their first-ever golf title.
So there's plenty of good feelings to go around this week. That makes me feel good too.
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