Joseph Mayo on Aiming the Clubface, Part 2 (Video)

As promised in yesterday's post, today we look at what causes the two most common "bad" hooks.  First, just like yesterday, I'm posting instructor Joseph Mayo's video on how to aim your club so the ball goes where you want it to go.



And also as I posted yesterday, here's the gist of Joe's basics:

• The ball starts out in the same direction the clubface is pointed.
• Then the ball curves in the opposite direction of the clubhead's path.

That's simple enough, although it can be a challenge at first to imagine how it works in your swing. So here's the explanation for the "bad" hooks.

First, here's the standard push hook. Imagine there's an aimline running from your ball straight to your target:

• For a right-hander, the ball starts out to the right of your aimline and then curves back to the left, toward the aimline. That means your clubface is pointed to the right of your target when it contacts the ball, and the path of the clubhead is even farther to the rightt. Remember, the ball curves in the OPPOSITE direction of the clubhead's path.
• For a left-hander, the ball starts out to the left of your aimline and then curves back to the right, toward the aimline. That means your clubface is pointed to the left of your target when it contacts the ball, and the path of the clubhead is even farther to the left. Remember, the ball curves in the OPPOSITE direction of the clubhead's path.

In both cases, the ball is pushed to the opposite side of the aimline that you're standing on -- the "far" side.

Then there's the pull hook, aka the "duck hook":

• For a right-hander, the ball starts out to the left of your aimline and then curves even farther to the left. That means your clubface is pointed to the left of your target when it contacts the ball, and the path of the clubhead is left of your aimline but still right of where the clubface is aimed.
• For a left-hander, the ball starts out to the right of your aimline and then curves even farther to the right. That means your clubface is pointed to the right of your target when it contacts the ball, and the path of the clubhead is right of your aimline but still left of where the clubface is aimed.

In both cases, the ball is pulled to the same side of the aimline that you're standing on -- the "near" side.

And the difference here is that the push hook may get somewhere near the hole but the pull hook will end up out in the boonies somewhere.

As with yesterday, I'm suggesting a drill you can do indoors -- just put a ball down and practice moving the club from about a foot behind the ball to a foot in front of the ball. Don't swing the club, just move it so you can push the ball a few feet along the floor. It's not that the ball will necessarily make the shot shape; I just think it will be easier to imagine the face angle and path direction with a ball to help you aim.

You might even want to lay a yardstick down to show your aimline. If you do, when you try the pull hook angles, the clubhead should finish on the same side of the yardstick that you're standing on. And when you try the push hook angles, the clubhead should finish on the opposite side of the yardstick that you're standing on.

Getting these angles straight in your mind is absolutely necessary if you want to get that hook in play..

Joseph Mayo on Aiming the Clubface (Video)

I've done posts on this before, but this is important enough that I'm doing it again. Here's instructor Joseph Mayo on how to aim your club so the ball goes where you want.



Yeah, I know -- it's a little counter-intuitive. I'm going to rephrase what he says so we approach it backwards -- that is, we'll look at why your ball flies the way it does now. It'll make sense, I promise.

First, let's get Joe's basics:

• The ball starts out in the same direction the clubface is pointed.
• Then the ball curves in the opposite direction of the clubhead's path.

That's simple enough, although it may be hard at first to imagine how it works in your swing. Let's try it with a couple of standard "bad swings."

First, here's the standard pull slice, aka the over-the-top slice. Imagine there's an aimline running from your ball straight to your target:

• For a right-hander, the ball starts out to the left of your aimline and then curves back to the right, toward the aimline. That means your clubface is pointed to the left of your target when it contacts the ball, and the path of the clubhead is even farther to the left. Remember, the ball curves in the OPPOSITE direction of the clubhead's path.
• For a left-hander, the ball starts out to the right of your aimline and then curves back to the left, toward the aimline. That means your clubface is pointed to the right of your target when it contacts the ball, and the path of the clubhead is even farther to the right. Remember, the ball curves in the OPPOSITE direction of the clubhead's path.

In both cases, the ball is pulled to the same side of the aimline that you're standing on -- the "near" side.

Then there's the push slice, aka the "banana ball":

• For a right-hander, the ball starts out to the right of your aimline and then curves even farther to the right. That means your clubface is pointed to the right of your target when it contacts the ball, and the path of the clubhead is right of your aimline but still left of where the clubface is aimed.
• For a left-hander, the ball starts out to the left of your aimline and then curves even farther to the left. That means your clubface is pointed to the left of your target when it contacts the ball, and the path of the clubhead is left of your aimline but still right of where the clubface is aimed.

In both cases, the ball is pushed to the opposite side of the aimline that you're standing on -- the "far" side.

And the difference here is that the pull slice may get somewhere near the hole but the push slice will end up out in the boonies somewhere.

That's a lot to digest, isn't it? I'll talk about the hooks tomorrow. For the time being -- and you can do this indoors -- just put a ball down and practice moving the club from about a foot behind the ball to a foot in front of the ball. Don't swing the club, just move it so you can push the ball a few feet along the floor. It's not that the ball will necessarily make the shot shape; I just think it will be easier to imagine the face angle and path direction with a ball to help you aim.

You might even want to lay a yardstick down to show your aimline. If you do, when you try the pull slice angles, the clubhead should finish on the same side of the yardstick that you're standing on. And when you try the push slice angles, the clubhead should finish on the opposite side of the yardstick that you're standing on.

Getting these angles straight in your mind will do wonders to help you straighten out a slice. And as I said, we'll do the same thing with hooks tomorrow.

Return to the Madhouse

The biggest story this week is probably Johnny Miller's retirement from announcing, but the circus at the 16th hole at TPC Scottsdale is always something to watch.



Gary Woodland is the defending champion at the Waste Management Phoenix Open, but the 2016 and 2017 champion (as well as 2015 runner-up) Hideki Matsuyama is back healthy again and 2015 champ Brooks Koepka would certainly like to pick up another win on a course he's won at before.

And in the face of these dominating performers, am I going to choose one of them as my winner this week? Of course not! Let's live on the edge a little -- after all, that seems to be the mindset at this event.

• For my Top10 finisher, I'm going to give Rickie Fowler another chance. Just as Justin Rose needed a week to knock off the rust before hitting his stride, I think Rickie may be in the same boat. He's had a chance to use that new Taylormade ball in competition and he's coming to a course where he's had a couple of runner-ups (2010 and 2016). I suspect he's got something to prove.
• As for my winner, I like a player who's already won this season. Xander Schauffele has two wins thus far in the 2018-19 wraparound season -- the WGC-HSBC Champions and the Sentry Tournament of Champions. TPC Scottsdale is a great layout for a player like him and he had a T17 last year, his only other appearance at the event. He's proven that he likes the big stage.

The changing of the guard in the announcer's booth is scheduled for the weekend, with Johnny calling his last round on Saturday and Paul Azinger taking over for Sunday's final round. The reason is that NBC wants to honor Johnny during his final broadcast without the crowning of the winner distracting from that. It's a nice gesture on their part for a man who has been the defining golf personality of the network.

GC's Golf Central PreGame is scheduled to start at 2pm ET on Thursday, with regular coverage starting at 3pm ET. For those of you with PGA Tour Live, coverage starts at 9:15am ET.

The Limerick Summary: 2019 Farmers Insurance Open

Winner: Justin Rose

Around the wider world of golf: Bryson DeChambeau won by seven strokes to set a new tournament record at the Omega Dubai Desert Classic on the ET; and Rafael Campos won the Bahamas Great Abaco Classic on the Web.com Tour.



Updating my winner/Top10 picks: I had Rickie Fowler (T66) to win and Tiger (T20) to Top10. That puts my totals for 2019 so far at:

• Winners: 1 for 4
• Place well (Top10): 3 for 4 (1 Top5 finish, 2 more Top10s)
• Overall Top10s: 5 of 8 (2 Top5s, 3 more Top10s)

As I said on Saturday, I should have picked Justin Rose this week, not last week. But timing is everything, isn't it?

After he tied the 36-hole record, Justin never looked back. If you heard Nick Faldo after the round, you know part of the Rose Secret -- whatever swing coach Sean Foley wants to do has to be okayed by his physical trainers, who determine if the changes are realistic given Justin's limitations. And if it won't work, then Foley goes back to the drawing board to figure out another way to make the changes. (That's something ALL golfers should consider when making swing changes. And it just goes to prove that you don't have to be some super athlete to play winning golf.)

It's a plan of attack that's paying dividends for Justin. His consistency has just given him his first win as World Number 1.

Can he pick up another major this year? We'll have to see. But it's no mystery that he's picked up another Limerick Summary... and just might pick up a few more before the year is through.

No suspense? Not so much, it turned out;
Justin’s win was a bit of a rout.
What’s a chaser to do?
None got closer than two
So the finish was never in doubt.

The photo came from this page at golfweek.com.

Nick Clearwater on Using Your Normal Shot Strategically (Video)

I'm not going to pretend that this is a complex video because it isn't. But improving your game is rarely complex either. GOLFTEC's Nick Clearwater shares the basic concept in strategic play.



Choose your strategy to profit from your normal shot shape. That is such a dirt simple concept, yet most of us refuse to use it. We insist on trying to play shots we don't have and overestimating how far we can hit the ball or how quickly we can stop it. And then we wonder why we can't keep the ball in play.

Accept your game as it is. If you are unwilling to be realistic about what you can do, then you are planning to fail. It really is that simple.

And remember, as Clearwater says in this video, you have to adjust your aim to make your shot land where you want it to land. If, as he shows in the video, you hit a slice when you aim down the middle of the fairway and you are a right-handed golfer, then you have to aim farther left.

Let me say that again. If you normally aim down the middle of the fairway and your ball lands 30 yards right of center, then you have to aim your shot 30 yards LEFT of center to get the ball to land in the center of the fairway! Then you have to make sure you set up so you are aimed properly and you have to swing toward that target. If you just open your stance more and swing toward the center of the fairway like usual, you'll just hit a bigger slice.

The hardest part of learning to play strategy is mental. You have to decide where you need to aim and how much club you need, then you have to make sure you actually set up for that shot and make a swing that will actually create that shot. Understand what you need to do, then make yourself do it. Master that aspect of strategy and your score will improve!

I Guess I Picked Rose Too Soon

That sounds weird even to me... but it looks like it's true. I picked Justin Rose to win at the Desert Classic last week and he came in T34. But look at him go at the Farmers Insurance Open!



After rounds of 63-66 Rose tied the tournament record for 36 holes. I know that doesn't mean a whole lot, as Phil demonstrated last week. Still, you have to like Justin's chances with a three-stroke lead on a tough course. (The last two rounds will be played on Torrey's South Course, the harder of the two and the place where he shot 66 Friday.)

Hideki Matsuyama, finally feeling better from all his injuries, is only three back. The trio of Ryan Palmer, Billy Horschel and Jon Rahm (my other pick last week) are five back. And we all know that anything can happen at Torrey.

But this weekend the winds are supposed to be about the same as they were on Friday and the temperature is expected to drop slightly. These are the kind of tough conditions that Justin Rose thrives in -- conditions where par is a great score.

I sure wouldn't bet against him this weekend. Just wish I'd waited a week before I picked him to win a tournament.

Tom Stickney on "the Magic Yardage" (Video)

Instructor Tom Stickney defines "the magic yardage" as the yardage between roughly 40 and 100 yards that you can repeat with consistency. Here's his video:



This is as much a strategic concept as a specific shot. If you know that you can consistently hit a certain shot, say, 60 yards, whenever you want to, then you have a great scoring weapon at your disposal.

• If you're playing a par-5, you can hit your second shot to a position that leaves you 60 yards to the green and know you'll probably have a good putt for birdie.
• If you have to hit a recovery shot from a bad drive on a par-4, you can hit that shot to a position that leaves you 60 yards to the green and know you'll probably have a good putt for par.
• Likewise, if you're playing to a par-3 that's too long or too difficult for you, one that demands a tee shot that will almost certainly end up in trouble, you can lay up your tee shot to a position that leaves you 60 yards to the green and know you'll probably have a good putt for par.

This is about playing to your strengths. It's about giving yourself a shot to the green that gives you a chance to make a good score when that hole isn't likely to do you any favors.

And the great thing about this shot is that it doesn't require special techniques. It's about finding the club-and-distance combination that you can count on whenever you need to make a shot. A shot that you can hit NOW, at your current skill level.

A simple concept that can pay big dividends on your scorecard. Find this shot!

Tiger's New Sticks

Just a heads-up for curious Tiger watchers today. Tiger tweeted a photo of his new bag full of clubs. I'm posting a copy of the photo that Rex Hoggard included in his GC post, just in case my attempt to embed Tiger's tweet doesn't show the large photo he tweeted.



The interesting thing to me is how many changes he's made since the Tour Championship win. He's changed his driver, 3-wood, 5-wood and apparently has a new set of prototype irons as well. (he kept his Scotty Cameron putter.)

Always fun to put new toys in the bag. Excited and ready to get 2019 started. #TeamTaylorMade #FIO19 pic.twitter.com/M6CXU4CZSg

— Tiger Woods (@TigerWoods) January 22, 2019

While I don't claim to understand all the differences in the various Taylormade woods, my brief research indicates that, at the very least, the odd-numbered M woods Tiger is using are the adjustable models. That would allow Tiger to tweak his woods from day to day as he gets more reps with them. The Taylormade article I checked says:

Choose M5 driver... if you like to tinker with your driver settings or need lower spin. M5 driver offers a lot of freedom in terms of personalizing launch conditions and performance—you can set the driver weights forward for low spin or all way back and to the perimeter for max forgiveness (and everything in between). As mentioned above, this can be particularly useful if you are in the midst of a swing change. On a daily basis, you could also make subtle Inverted T-Track modifications on the range before you tee off, based on how you're swinging it that day.

Should be fun to see how the new sticks perform at Torrey this week.

Back to Dubai

For the ET, the Omega Dubai Desert Classic is probably as big (if not bigger) than the Farmers Insurance Open is here in the States. This is its 30th anniversary.



Haotong Li is the defending champion and first Asian to win this event. He set a record score of 23-under to beat Rory McIlroy by one stroke. Personally, I love that trophy. It's a huge replica of an Arabian coffee pot, which is where the trophy gets its name -- the Dallah Trophy.

And like the Farmers, the Omega Dubai has a loaded field. The biggest American name is Bryson DeChambeau but the field is a who's-who of players from around the world. You can check out the field at this link and find when your faves are teeing off.

Because of the time difference, GC begins their live first round coverage of the Omega Dubai Desert Classic TONIGHT at 11pm ET. And if I'm reading the schedule correctly, it's at least a four-and-a-half-hour broadcast window, perhaps as much as seven, so there will be lots of golf for all you ET fans out there!

It's Torrey Time!

Yes, You-Know-Who is making his 2019 debut at the Farmers Insurance Open, the scene of some of his most legendary play -- Torrey Pines.



Of course, everybody is eager to see how Tiger does. But not only Tiger -- this is the first week where a huge number of the big names in the game will all show up together. Jason Day, Rory McIlroy, Justin Rose, Jon Rahm, Alex Noren, Rickie Fowler, Marc Leishman -- the list goes on.

And Torrey Pines is a great place for them to begin their 2019 rivalry. With the tough South Course and the much easier North Course to mix things up the first two rounds, and with so many of these players making their first appearances of the season, it's really hard to pick a sure thing. PGATOUR.com has posted their own power rankings for the week, but there is no clearcut favorite.

Nevertheless, I'm going to try to do just that. As I have been doing since the Sentry, I'll pick a winner and a Top10 finisher.

• For my Top10er, I'm going with Tiger Woods. Of all the known quantities teeing up this week, Tiger may be the least known of the bunch. Has he had enough time to rest up? Has he been able to regain the form he had at the Tour Championship, which required an unprecedented run of two months to find that form? I don't know. But if Tiger just goes out and plays at 80% effort, his knowledge of Torrey could easily get him a Top10 finish.
• For my winner, I'm going out on a limb. Last week I picked Justin Rose, not believing that his equipment change would affect him much... and it's hard to say for sure if it did. This week I'm taking Rickie Fowler to win, and he just changed his ball to a Taylormade. It's also his first event in several weeks. This will either be a great pick or a horrible one!

GC's coverage begins Thursday at 3pm ET. Streaming coverage begins a little after 11am ET on the PGA Tour app. And my angst over my picks begins today.

The Limerick Summary: 2019 Desert Classic

Winner: Adam Long

Around the wider world of golf: Zecheng Dou won the Bahamas Great Exuma Classic on the Web.com Tour; Tom Lehman won the Mitsubishi Electric Championship on the Champions Tour; Eun-Hee Ji won the Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions on the LPGA; Jazz Janewattananond won the SMBC Singapore Open on the Asian Tour; Shane Lowry won the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship on the ET; and Alvaro Ortiz won the Latin America Amateur Championship.



First, let me get my running score of PGA picks up-to-date. I had Justin Rose (T34) to win and Jon Rahm (6) to place well. That puts my totals for 2019 so far at:

• Winners: 1 for 3
• Place well (Top10): 3 for 3 (1 Top5 finish, 2 more Top10s)
• Overall Top10s: 5 of 6 (2 Top5s, 3 more Top10s)

But at least give me credit for this prediction from my "pick post" for this event:

The Desert Classic strikes me as the first real "wild card" of the season since the variety of courses, combined with the "run and gun" aspect of the event (you generally need to go very low to win), tends to favor the player who throws caution to the win and just tries to post the most birdies... Hence any attempt to predict form is probably doomed to fail.

Adam Long definitely fits that description. This was his 6th PGA Tour start and the only cut he'd made was a T63 at the Safeway Open, which made him $13,000 and 4 FedExCup points. He did way better than that this week!

Despite Phil's dominance for the first three rounds and Adam Hadwin grabbing a three-stroke lead midway through the last round, Long didn't flinch. He went to the 18th hole tied with both players, then hit an incredible shot from a sidehill lie in the rough with the ball one foot lower than his two feet, and calmly sank the putt for birdie and his first PGA Tour win.

And no more worries about getting into events or keeping his card. Good times, right?

But of course Adam has done far more. The 31-year-old has gotten off to a fast start, snagging his first Limerick Summary so soon in his PGA Tour career. Enjoy it, my friend -- you only get your first Limerick Summary once!

It started with Phil being Phil.
For three days he gave fans a thrill
But the last day got tough.
That’s when Adam stepped up—
And on eighteen, he pulled off the steal!

The photo came from this page at newsday.com.

The Second Web.com Tour Sunday Start

Last week it was the Bahamas Great Exuma Classic. This week it's the Bahamas Great Abaco Classic.



China's Zecheng Dou won the Great Exuma last week and will be looking to make it two in a row at the Abaco Club on Great Abaco Island. And the PGA Tour seems to think he might -- at least, they've got him first on their Power Rankings this week. Wally Wilcox and Ben Kohles, who finished T4 and T2 respectively last week, are ranked two and three on that list.

Of course, the reason I'm telling you all of this is because the Web.com Tour is making its second Sunday start of the season. With all the excitement of the LPGA and PGA Tour events finishing up today, it can be easy to forget that the Web.com Tour coverage begins today at noon ET.

Consider yourselves reminded. ;-)

Phil's Chipping 101 (Video)

With Phil posting a 60 on Thursday and leading the Desert Classic after Friday's round, it seems like a good time to post his micro-lesson on how to play chip shots.



Please note that Phil plays ALL his chips with a 60° lob wedge. This isn't what most instructors recommend but -- as with all things in golf and most things in life -- there isn't just one way to be successful.

Phil has three basics, as outlined in the video:

1. Keep your weight on your forward foot
2. Keep your hands forward
3. Decide whether to hit the ball high or low
   
   • Ball in front of back foot to go low
   • Ball in front of forward foot to go high

In addition, he says you can alter the height of the shot by opening or closing the clubface, but he doesn't demonstrate that here. That's probably just as well, since you need to get good at these basics before you start getting cute with the face position. Phil's basic face position is open; I'd call it roughly 45°.

Phil does NOT mention that his stance is slightly open. That causes you to swing a bit out-to-in, which is why you open the clubface. (If you use a square clubface with this technique, you'll pull all your chips.) Just watch the video and you'll see it. That's important to this way of chipping.

He uses the front edge of the wedge more than the bounce, although I should point out that it's much easier to use the bounce on a 60° lob wedge with this technique than when you're using a wedge with less loft (like a 56° sand wedge). With Phil's technique and a lob wedge -- with the face open about 45° -- you're using the front edge for the low shot and the bounce on the high shot.

Should you use this technique instead of a multi-wedge technique? It's all a matter of what you feel comfortable with. Phil has been more successful than many players with his short game simply because he uses the method that he feels most comfortable with. That's a choice you can learn from... and Phil's method is about as simple to remember as any.

You will need some practice to use it well, of course. But isn't that the case with everything in golf?

Tom Stickney on "Fake" Shoulder Turns (Video)

This post could help you in some unexpected ways. Instructor Tom Stickney did this short video to illustrate the difference between a real shoulder coil and the partial shoulder turn that less-flexible players make.



I've written a number of posts about shoulder coil, and the cool thing about this video is how well it illustrates the difference between a good shoulder turn and a bad one.

In a bad shoulder turn you try to create a fuller turn by bending your elbows, which actually decreases the length of your backswing.

But a good shoulder turn allows your elbows to stay much straighter, which widens your arc.

Here's the important thing to remember: Even if you don't get a 90° shoulder turn, it's important to get that width with your arms. That's why many Tour pros can hit the ball so far with a shorter backswing -- less shoulder turn with more arm extension creates a bigger arc than a fake shoulder turn with bent elbows.

The reason I'm posting this video is so you can discover whether you're making this mistake or not. All you need to do is get in front of a mirror and look at your top of backswing position, then compare it to what you see in this video. This is a really easy way to find out what a good shoulder turn FOR YOU feels like. Once you see what a wide arc looks like, you can practice duplicating the feel and then take it to the course.

It might even help you get some more distance AND become more accurate. It works for Jon Rahm. Give it a try!

And Now the Women Get into the Act

The LPGA tees it up today with a new event, the Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions in Lake Buena Vista, FL.



This new event is something the LPGA hasn't had in a long time -- their own equivalent of the Sentry Tournament of Champions. It will feature 26 winners from the last two years, playing alongside 49 celebrities from business, entertainment and sport.

The scoring will be different for the two groups. The LPGA pros will compete in their normal stroke play format while the celebs will play Stableford scoring. And while the LPGA plays for a $1.2mil purse, the celebs will have a $500,000 purse of their own.

And bragging rights, of course. That carries a lot of weight with the celebs. You need only watch the Pebble Beach AT&T Pro-Am to know that.

While there are fewer pros at this event than the men had at the Sentry, this should still be a good event. Bear in mind that players like Gerina Piller and Stacy Lewis are making their first appearances since becoming mothers, while several first-time winners will get a jump on the rest of the Tour with an extra week to get in competitive shape.

Get ready to veg out on the couch, as there is a lot of golf to watch today.

• The Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions gets underway on GC at noon ET today.
• The PGA Tour's Desert Classic follows immediately after at 3pm ET.
• The Champions Tour tees off at the Mitsubishi Electric Championship (in Hawaii) at 7pm ET.
• The second round of the Asian Tour's SMBC Singapore Open airs at 10pm ET.
• And if you're in the mood to stay up all night, you can catch the third round of the ET's Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship at 3am ET.

I predict a lot of coffee in some of your futures!

From the Deep Blue Sea to the Desert

Today we cruise into the California desert for the Desert Classic, the event formerly known as the Bob Hope.



In case you've forgotten, the Desert Classic makes use of three separate courses at PGA West -- the TPC Stadium Course, the Nicklaus Tournament Course and La Quinta Country Club -- which makes it easier for the 156 pros to get around despite the shorter daylight hours this time of year.

The TPC Stadium Course, once nicknamed "Frankenstein" because of how tough it played, is also the site for the final round. Fans of the old Skins Game, which was played every Thanksgiving, may remember the course as the home of that event during the late 1980s. It's got some really DEEP bunkers.

Although I didn't originally plan to pick a winner every week, I think I may keep it up this year and see how I do. In the last two events I've picked a winner and another player I think will do well; so far I've got one winner (Xander Schauffele) and a T10 (Bryson DeChambeau) with my winners, and my other two picks have finished T4 (Rory McIlroy) and T10 (Charles Howell III). Let's see how I can do this week.

The Desert Classic strikes me as the first real "wild card" of the season since the variety of courses, combined with the "run and gun" aspect of the event (you generally need to go very low to win), tends to favor the player who throws caution to the win and just tries to post the most birdies. It's been a dozen years since the winning score was less that -20 (-17, Charley Hoffman in 2007) -- and that was when the event was a five-rounder. Hence any attempt to predict form is probably doomed to fail.

Nevertheless, I will. My picks are pretty simple.

• Jon Rahm is the defending champion. He posted -22 and won in a playoff against Andrew Landry. Rahm seems to be in good form again, coming off a win at the Hero Challenge and a T8 at the Sentry Tournament of Champions. I see no reason he shouldn't play well again. HOWEVER, he isn't my pick to win.
• Given the wide open nature of this event, I'm going with Justin Rose to win. Rose had a 3rd at the last WGC in October, a win at the Turkish Airlines Open in November and a 3rd at the Hero. While he's coming off an extended holiday, that hasn't hurt him in past years; he routinely has Top5 finishes in his January appearances. Likewise, I don't expect his recent equipment changes to have much of an effect either.

So there you have it. I pick Rose to win and Rahm to make a good showing.

And don't forget that the Web.com Tour's Bahamas Great Exuma Classic finishes up today at 1pm ET on GC.

The Worldwide Tours Are Back in Action!

Today, let's look at the European Tour. The Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship kicks off the 2019 part of their wraparound season this week.



Notably absent from this playing of the event is Rory McIlroy, who had already said that he was going to focus on the PGA Tour this year. But -- with all apologies to Rory -- he wouldn't have been the big story anyway.

No, the big gun this week is Tommy Fleetwood, who is going for a threepeat in this event. Only Martin Kaymer has won this event three times, but they weren't back-to-back-to-back (2008, 2010 and 2011). Fleetwood can make history this week and you can be sure it's on his mind. I'm excited to see how he handles the pressure.

Of course, this is the first appearance in several weeks for a number of big names -- Oosthuizen, Stenson, Poulter, Westwood, Aphibarnrat and Molinari, to name a few. In addition, Dustin Johnson and current world #2 Brooks Koepka have made the trip over

GC's schedule lists the first round of this event to begin TONIGHT -- yes, Tuesday night -- at 10:30pm ET. This is a Wednesday-Saturday event, so the time difference means we get to watch tonight. So don't forget!

The Limerick Summary: 2019 Sony Open

Winner: Matt Kuchar

Around the wider world of golf: Charley Hull won the Fatima Bint Mubarak Ladies Open, the first LET event of the season.



An ice storm took out our power and TV for nearly 18 hours on Sunday, so I only got to see Kuchar's final couple of holes at the Sony. But ultimately I guess it was his final holes that told the whole story.

Matt started the week with back-to-back 63s and finished with back-to-back 66s. He had the lead going into the final round. But three bogeys in his first five holes -- three times more bogeys than he had made in the first three rounds -- might have spelled the end of his bid before it even began.

But it didn't. Shooting five-under on the back nine put the tournament out of reach to the other players, and Matt picked up his second win in three starts.

It seems the ocean breeze brings out the shark in our quiet little Kuchar. Who knew?

Now the question becomes whether a 40-year-old Matt Kuchar is ready to chew up the competition in some big events this year. I don't know yet, although this is certainly a great start to a season where the big events come hard and fast. But one thing I do know -- two Limerick Summaries in three starts bodes very well for his limerick collection.

So Kuchar’s on top once again.
When he plays near an ocean, he grins
As he sprints to the front
Of the field. Let’s be blunt:
All he lacks is a big dorsal fin!

The photo came from this page at pgatour.com.

Yes, the Web.com Tour Starts TODAY (Video)

As it did last year, the Web.com Tour is going to start the year with a Sunday-Wednesday event, the Bahamas Great Exuma Classic at Sandals Emerald Bay. Here's the little preview video done for the new season:



The big news, of course, is the new Web.com Tour Points System. As you have no doubt guessed, the new system mimics -- at least in most ways -- the FedExCup and Schwab Cup systems. Players will accumulate points all year, which will ultimately determine who gets the Tour cards awarded at the end of the season and after the Playoffs.

The basics of the new system are simple:

• Official Web.com Tour events each award 500 points to first place.
• The final Regular Season event will award 600 points to first place.
• All Web.com Tour points will be calculated out to three decimals.

You can get a detailed overview of the system at this link. This article gives you the points breakdown for every position, both during the regular season and the Playoffs.

Here also is a link to a Power Rankings article for the Bahamas event, in case you're playing fantasy golf.

Although the PGA Tour is finishing the Sony Open today, the Web.com Tour event won't compete with it since there's a five-hour time difference between the Bahamas and Hawaii. You can watch the FIRST round of the Bahamas Great Exuma Classic on GC at 2-5pm ET today.

The Importance of Shafts (Video)

In case you missed it, GOLFTEC's Brad Skupaka did this little video for Morning Drive that shows how important your shaft is. Just by changing the shaft and nothing else...



That's just under 50 more yards off the tee by changing the shaft in your driver. Only the shaft -- not the head of the driver, and not your swing technique.

And while Skupaka is going to a stiffer shaft, it also works the other way. If your shaft is too stiff, going to a softer shaft can increase your distance without any other changes.

It's worth considering. Just thought you'd want to know.

How Many Wedges Do You Need?

I admit that I love to find advice that goes against the grain. While there are good reasons that some advice becomes THE advice you should follow, there are times when the correct advice for a player isn't what you typically hear. You need to know all your options so you can choose what is best for YOU.



As I was digging through some old golf magazines, I found an article in the April 2013 issue of Golf Digest by instructor Randy Smith. It looked at some of the most common advice given to weekend golfers that was based on what the pros do, weighing just how much it really helped you if you weren't a pro.

One of those pieces of advice was "you need to carry three wedges to have a good short game."

Smith said NO. Here's why:

From 100 yards and in, you can hit pretty much any shot you need with only a pitching wedge and a 56° sand wedge. Smith recommended replacing your third wedge -- gap or lob wedge, whichever you carry -- with another hybrid that fits between your mid-irons and fairway woods. (Personally, I've found that a 13 wood, sometimes called a trouble wood, is a very useful club from the rough. The head shape slips through the grass more easily.) That gives you another long-range weapon that can help you eliminate some shots from your score.

The logic of this makes sense if you just think about it. Many (if not most) weekend players don't hit the ball a long way, so they need more clubs that travel a greater distance. Getting within 100 yards of the green is a bigger challenge for them than hitting the green from within 100 yards. They would cut more shots from their score by getting closer to the green from 150-180 yards because they have more of those shots to begin with.

And while most pros use three wedges, there are a number who use one wedge for almost all their short game shots -- Phil Mickelson is one who immediately comes to mind. And using two wedges -- one for short-sided shots where you need to hit the ball high and stop it quick, with a second wedge for the normal approach shots where you can use a little run -- can be a very simple thing to learn.

Let's be honest here. Most of us don't practice enough to hit shots as accurately as the pros do. Just being able to put the ball in the middle of the green would improve most of our scores!

So that's an equipment issue that you should consider as you prepare for the 2019 golf season. Set up your clubs to help improve your game, not to copy the pros.

The photo came from this page at golfalot.com.

What? No Ryder Cup Talk?

Not yet. Padraig Harrington is going to be a great captain, but I'm waiting until the US captain -- who will most likely be Steve Stricker -- gets picked. That's when it'll be a more interesting discussion.



Plus we might get some vice-captain picks to discuss as well.

For now, I'll just give you a link to a very entertaining BBC interview with Harrington and remind you that the Sony Open airs in prime time tonight at 7pm ET.

Dean Halford on Chipping with a 3-Wood (Video)

In this video PGA pro Dean Halford demonstrates how to play a chip shot with a 3-wood.



I think the key thing Halford says here is that you don't need to "hit" the ball. Combined with the longer shaft, that means you make a shorter smoother swing. Getting past that "hit impulse" is part of the reason you need to practice this before you try it on the course.

You might wonder, with all the instruction on chipping with hybrids and such, if using your 3-wood is really such a useful shot. After all, since the 3-wood's shaft is nearly the longest in your bag, it's going take a bit more practice than the other clubs. And this video was made back in 2014 -- a large number of new clubs have come on the market since then.

I say you should just ask Tommy Fleetwood. This next video was shot at the 2018 Honda Classic.



I think the reason that a 3-wood is a useful chipping club is twofold -- first, the head is so large that it makes good contact much easier; and second, the extra shaft length means you don't have to make a long or powerful stroke, which also improves your ability to make good contact.

That's something to consider when you're looking to improve your short game.

Still in Hawaii

The first full field PGA Tour event of 2019 is the Sony Open, held this week at the Waialae Country Club on the island of Oahu.



Waialae isn't particularly long, a mere par-70 measuring 7044 yards. But it's known for its winds and for often becoming a putting contest. For example, Patton Kizzire won last year with a birdie barrage in his playoff with James Hahn, and who could forget Justin Thomas posting a 59 the year before? And since this is the only home the Sony Open has ever had, we can be pretty sure that past performances are something of a guideline in choosing favorites.

So, emboldened by good fortune (and no small amount of foolhardy confidence) when I picked Xander Schauffele to win last week, I'm going to tempt fate and try again this week. For those of you who are looking for help, perhaps for a fantasy team, the Tour posted their own power rankings at this link. As with last week, although I'll pick a winner, I'll also pick a second player who I think should finish well and could even win.

My pick to win is pretty simple. Since the Sony Open winner usually putts extremely well and the best putter in Hawaii last week was Bryson DeChambeau, I like his chances to put up a good showing this week. Despite all the wind at Kapalua, Bryson shot par or better every round; if he can keep up the good work on the greens, I like his chances.

And I'm going to pick Charles Howell III to put up another strong tournament. Why do I say another? Because he has two seconds, two thirds and two fourths in 17 trips. When you add in the confidence he must have after his win at the RSM Classic late in 2018 and his T14 at Kapalua last week -- that's not a course I would expect him to play well at -- I think this is an opportunity for him. He just needs a good putting week to match up with his ballstriking.

Because of the time difference, we've got prime time golf again this week. GC's live coverage is listed to start at 7pm ET on Thursday night, and I suspect the Pre-Game Show will start perhaps an hour earlier. With Spieth back in action, as well as Vijay Singh, this could be a very entertaining tournament.

The Limerick Summary: 2019 Sentry Tournament of Champions

Winner: Xander Schauffele

Around the wider world of golf: Unless there was a tournament in Asia I don't know about, the PGA Tour was the only game in town.



This is a somewhat disturbing beginning to 2019. Those of you who follow my blog know my record at picking winners is none too good. (I have, at times, even apologized to players in my blog for picking them to win and therefore jinxing them.)

However, last week I picked Xander Schauffele to win the Sentry Tournament of Champions... and he did. That means I'm one-for-one in my picks so far this year.

A disturbing thought indeed.

Not so disturbing for Xander, of course. He reminded me less of a young golfer and more of an experienced hunting dog who, having caught a whiff of his prey, tracks the helpless creature all the way to its lair where it drops at his feet, exhausted. All he did was come from five shots back -- the largest deficit ever for a winner at Kapalua -- and tie the course record of -11 to beat Gary Woodland by one.

Of course, he did it with a birdie on the final hole. It was that kind of day for Xander.

I'm not going to give Gary the hard time he received from most of the analysts. I thought he did enough to win -- let's not ignore the fact that Xander set a record for largest come-from-behind win at this event. Xander simply did something unbelievably clutch that no one expected.

No one but me, of course. Very disturbing indeed!

Still, it's a wonderful start to Xander's 2019. He not only adds to his win total, but also to that highly desirable total of Limerick Summaries won during a career. I wonder when the Tour will add a stat for that?

For Xander, this round was a dream.
He came out of nowhere, it seemed,
To take Woodland down.
Xander ran him to ground
And then finished him off at eighteen.

The photo came from this page at golfweek.com.

Rory's Driver Change

Rory McIlroy has been tinkering with his driver for a few months now. He tried different shafts in his TaylorMade M3 460 driver back in November, as detailed in this golf.com article. But now he's changed to an entirely new driver... and apparently it's working.



This article at nationalclubgolfer.com from earlier this month talks about some of the changes made by various players, and Rory's new TaylorMade M5 driver (with a Mitsubishi Tensei CK Pro White shaft, if you're interested) gets considerable coverage. And on Saturday Rex Hoggard posted some details about how Rory's using it at the Sentry this week.

Rory apparently refers to it as his "low driver" and has adjusted the sliding weights to help him eliminate a right miss that plagued him most of 2018. The new setup allows him to hit a low fade that he feels confident he can put in the fairway when necessary. After three rounds, Rex reports:

McIlroy said the low fade off the tee still travels more than 300 yards, and he’s put on an impressive show this week in Maui where he’s No. 1 in the field in strokes gained: off-the-tee and fifth in driving distance.

“One of my goals for the year is driving accuracy. I want my driving accuracy to get up into the 60 percent number. It hasn't been there in a couple years,” said McIlroy, who has hit 30 of 45 fairways this week.

If Rory can just get that putter of his working -- and pgatour.com says he has also added "a new TaylorMade Spider copper-colored prototype putter" to his bag -- then we could be seeing a resurgence of the "old" Rory this year.

He's certainly on the right path. He's only three shots back of leader Gary Woodland and, as we've all seen in years past, anything can happen in the final round at windy Kapalua.

Derek Hooper on "Effortless Power" (Video)

I really don't care for the phrase "effortless power." I prefer "relaxed speed," which is a better description of what you're creating. At any rate, in this video Derek Hooper demonstrates a drill to help you create more clubhead speed with less grunting.



This drill, in many ways, duplicates the kind of movements I've covered in my original L-to-L drill post and also the towel-snapping drill post. The idea is to develop speed the way an Olympic athlete does -- by keeping your muscles as relaxed as is practical and letting the natural physics of a swinging club create clubhead speed.

One thing I would urge caution about -- I've said this before, in other posts -- is overdoing the lower leg action. When Hooper demonstrates this drill in slow motion, he naturally overemphasizes the action of his lower body. Your lower body automatically starts moving in the downswing before your upper body does; that's just the natural way physics work in a golf swing.

If you stay relaxed, your lower body will naturally move first, and the amount it moves will be dictated by the speed of your swing. If you tighten up, especially through your trunk, then that natural motion will be hindered.

In other words, the less you think about moving your lower body first, the more likely you are to do it... and do so properly.

Hooper's video shows a good way to get used to the motion (without a ball) and then get used to hitting a ball with that same motion. Trying to control the direction of the ball before you get comfortable with the feel of a strike can cause you to tighten up, which will affect your leg and hip action. After you get the feel of hitting a ball this way without worrying about your aim, you should find it pretty easy to start hitting it where you want it to go. The key is to keep that relaxation as you swing.

The Great Flagstick Experiment Starts Well

Bryson said he was going to do it... and it appeared to work. Granted, it's only one day and it was very windy, but his stats are certainly going to draw some attention.



I'm linking you to Golfweek's article about Bryson's first round because they give a tremendous amount of detail about the round, the kind of details you need if you're going to make sense of his experiment.

I know more than a few of you will be interested.

To sum it up, he left the flagstick in about half the time while topping the field at 3.868 Strokes Gained: Putting on Thursday. Let's put this in perspective. In this new wraparound season, Bryson has had exactly four rounds in which his putting had been measured... and his average SG: Putting figure was .087 strokes. That put him 92nd on Tour.

But think about it this way: In one round his SG: Putting total was 44 times better than his average after only four rounds. FORTY-FOUR TIMES! Yes, this is going to get some serious attention from players looking to improve their putting.

Again, this is only one round. We shouldn't draw sweeping conclusions from the results. But if Bryson continues to leave the stick in and his putting holds up -- bear in mind that almost any consistent improvement is better than .087 SG: Putting -- this rule change could become a bigger deal than anyone expected.

Rory Starts His US-Centric Year

When Rory announced his intention to play less on the European Tour this year, to say it caused a bit of a stir overseas would be an understatement. I'm linking to Rex Hoggard's article about Rory's decision because it goes into some detail about why it's happening.



Personally, I think Rory's logic is quite sound. He's trying to play deeper fields with more world ranking points and, as Hoggard records:

“Taking up residence in the U.S. last year, being a permanent resident, I made the decision that this is where my life is going to be, this is where I'm going to live,” McIlroy said on Wednesday at the Sentry Tournament of Champions. “My focus has always been the biggest events in the world since I got into that top 50, but even more so now just because of wanting to travel less and wanting to spend more time at home when I can be at home.”

You can't be much more blunt than that, and I think it's good -- if not popular -- reasoning. No matter how fancy your travel accommodations, large time zone changes take their toll. And let's be honest about it, Rory is much more comfortable on PGA Tour setups where the conditions are pretty much the same from week to week. I think the variety of European Tour events can result in players having more skills, but most of the big events on both tours are closer to PGA Tour course setups.

Playing primarily on the PGA Tour should make him better equipped for the big events, both in terms of course familiarity and less physical stress. We'll get a chance to see if he can truly reap those benefits as the year goes on.

Hoggard's article is really good, so I'd recommend you pop over and read it. I'm going on record that I think he's going to have a nice comeback this year since he's got his personal life and his health settled, and this week should be a good start for him.

At Last! LIVE GOLF!

The new year finally gets started in Hawaii with the Sentry Tournament of Champions. While Tiger isn't expected to play, we still get most of the winners from 2018, including first-timer Rory McIlroy.



If you've read any of the "expert picks," you've probably seen that Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka and Justin Thomas are the favorites, with Jon Rahm and Marc Leishman also being mentioned. That's understandable, as all of these players have been in pretty good form lately.

But I think it's a bit odd that other past winners like Patrick Reed and Bubba Watson are getting no love at all. And what about the hot players like Bryson DeChambeau or Satoshi Kodaira (who has won three times in the last year, once on the PGA Tour and twice on the Japan Tour)? It's hard to go wrong picking almost any player who's made it to Hawaii, as the course isn't that penalizing to poor driving -- which, after the holiday break, just might be a common sight.

Still, I'd just like to mention a couple of players who I think are being overlooked.

Xander Schauffele certainly has as much power as anybody in the field, as well as some experience winning on big courses. With three wins since July, I think he deserves more attention than he's getting. He's my favorite of my two picks.

And it's a mistake to think Rory McIlroy won't have a good showing there. While he's never played this event before, this is a course that sets up very well for him -- especially so if his driver is working well. And let's not forget that he likely feels the need to prove something after a couple of lackluster seasons. (Personally, given his marriage and the injuries he's had during that time period, I'm not surprised his game has been off a bit.) I won't be surprised at all if he ends up holding the trophy.

I like both of these players this week. And with prime time coverage starting Thursday night at 6pm ET, I like this event as a nice way for us fans to ease back into the TV habit.

Happy New Year!

I won't have this chance for another century! Rather than post a picture that says "Happy 2019" I decided to post the video of Steely Dan's hit Hey Nineteen, which seems rather appropriate to me.



I hope you all have a great first day of 2019, and tomorrow we'll get back to the business of covering golf!