R&A's New Chairman Of The Bored

I'm not gonna lie, I have spent the last two major Sundays bored to the point of anxious rage. The boredom comes while waiting for more than one guy to play well; the anxious rage develops when no one does. Not to take anything away from this year's champion golfer, Louis Oosthuizen, because he played a tremendous tournament. However, there was plenty of opportunity for a handful of players to challenge the South African nicknamed Shrek. The only guy to make any sort of move was Paul Casey on Saturday, but the charge was reserved for Saturday only. The most memorable moment from The Open Championship also came from Saturday, when my lifestyle guru Miguel Angel Jimenez played this shot:

Sadly the shot lead to a two-putt double-bogey. That is the best way I find to sum up the entertainment value of the 2010 Open Championship; a shot played off the wall to make a Road Hole six was the most exciting thing that happened all weekend.

Subtle Moves For Subtle Moves

I was giving a lesson the other day to a gentleman who hits it pretty well with a controlled fade. Still, the reason for the lesson was because this golfer wanted to know "How can I hit a draw instead of a fade?" This is one of the great "the grass is always greener" questions because there is absolutely nothing wrong with having a controlled fade. The same is true for those with high ball flights, i.e. me, who would love a more penetrating flight and vice versa. Basically, golfers, Golf Potato included, are a bunch of knuckle-heads who are never satisfied, even when things are going well. As such they're constantly tinkering and changing things in a game that requires repetition above all else. Knowing full well that I stand no chance to talk a golfer out of an idea such as this here are some easy ways to play your home course from the other side of middle.

First and foremost, when shaping controlled shots we must always adhere to a policy of subtlety. Adjustments in stance and swing to achieve left-to-right or right-to-left ball movement need to be minimal. Exagerating the positions and moves will translate to Hooks and Slices instead of Draws and Fades, and there is zero control with a Hook or a Slice.

Take The Proper Stance And Follow Your Feet:
To hit either a draw or fade should have everything to do with your feet and nothing to do with your hands. The key is to use your normal stance, parallel to the target, and then either open or close the stance just a little to achieve to desired ball flight. For a fade, the front foot should move back a few inches after the standard stance has been taken, opening the stance. For a draw, the back foot drops back a few inches, closing the stance to the target. With the club face still aimed at the target, swing your shoulders, and thusly the club, on a line parallel with your stance. What SHOULD happen is you will swing just a little bit from outside-to-in with the open stance, and from inside-to-out with the closed stance. The properly executed draw/fade will start away from the target and curve back in towards it. If the ball is moving wildly, you have most likely opened/closed your stance too much, thereby exagerating the movement of the ball flight. Remember, it's subtle moves for subtle moves.

More than likely you will find you are probably in more control of one ball flight over the other. Like all things golf, play what you've got, not what you wish you had.

Young Guns Roar

QUAIL HOLLOW

Sixty-six followed by a course record sixty-two. That's all Rory McIlroy did to win at Quail Hollow after making the cut right on the number. The kid, who until this Tuesday I can't buy a celebratory drink, won for the first time on American soil and the second time overall. Have I mentioned he's my hero? In addition to McIlroy's stunning effort, Phil-maniacs like myself were treated to a runner-up finish following Lefty's Masters win. Better still was Mickelson's post round interview, which he spent 75% of complimenting McIlroy as a true talent and someone he expects big things from in the near future. Wanna know why so many people like Phil? He has the ability to acknowledge when he was outplayed and compliment an unbelievable effort in a sincere fashion. Pssst, Tiger, did you get that?

SPANISH OPEN

Spanish bomber Alvaro Quiros took home his country's Open title. Comparitively ancient for this article, the twenty-seven year old Quiros joins Sergio Garcia and Seve Ballesteros as the only other homegrown winners of this tournament. If you want excitment in golf go check out this guy on the range when he breaks out the driver...You'll need binoculars to see the ball land.

CROWNS (JAPAN)

Ryo Ishikawa is already a national sensation in Japan at 18 years old. The teen phenom who looks like an anime hero added a little extra fuel for the fire this weekend when he decided to shoot 58 to win the Crowns. 58! I just threw up in my mouth a little. What else can you say? 58.

Finally A Feeling

As the Masters approached I was engaged by a few of my 'golf twits' on Twitter about Tiger's return and my feelings positive or negative about him. The question was always to find out which camp I was in, the pro-Tiger or anti-Tiger. My response was the same every time the question arose; "I really don't know how I'm going to feel. I suppose I'll find out after he starts playing." My indifference surprised me, but it was the truth. By the end of play Saturday my allegience was once again firmly in Phil's court and I was only interested in whether or not he could pull it off again. I still had no real opinion on Woods other than surprise that he was in contention considering he wasn't playing all that well. By Sunday evening Phil had a new jacket to wear to the donut shop and Tiger was complaining about not winning. The complaining I could have done without, but my indifference remained.

It was during the back nine on Friday at Quail Hollow that I finally had a feeling creep in. As Woods was continuing to flail at shot after shot and the bogeys started racking up I found myself wanting Tiger to miss the cut. I reveled in the back nine 43 and the round of 79. The numbers were no doubt the humiliation I think TW earned for the scar he has left on the Tour. However, my wanting Woods to miss the cut was not an application to join the anti-Tiger faction. What I really wanted was to not have to watch every shot Tiger played over the weekend should he have barely made the cut. I have always had an issue with the weekend full 18-hole coverage of Woods when he's in a battle for 45th place and shooting even par at best. It was bad enough how many times Jim Nantz mentioned Tiger during third round coverage but still better than listening to him try and install dramatic commentary into an ineffectual round of golf.

In the end I decided I am not rooting against Tiger, I am, however, only really interested when he's playing well. Hearing about him as if he's in the mix when he's actually on a plane back to Florida is my only real agitation with Woods the golfer, and that isn't even his fault...Blame the media is the phrase right? The pleasure I took in Tiger's 79 on Friday comes from my hope that he starts to feel like a flawed human being every now and again.

Digesting The Masters

During this past week I have asked as many of the Country Club of Barre's members as possible what they thought about this year's version of The Masters. The questioning was to take a quick a poll to find out one simple thing; what is the lasting impression people have of the 2010 Masters? Interestingly enough here are the top answers I got in order of frequency:

1. Tiger Is A Jerk - Tiger's on course outbursts and post round interview on Sunday were overwhemingly the talk of the membership and undeniably the buzz of the net as well. Woods not being terribly gracious as an 'also-ran' is not what got under people's skin. We have come to expect Tiger's lack of any and all concern or congratulations for competitors other than himself. No, what really erked everyone was that his anger at his own play (despite the warm welcome from the fans, despite the fact that no one booed him or bothered him in his backswing, and despite the expected rust from five months away from golf) was the only emmotion he exuded. What really annoyed the avid golfer and fan alike was that he finished in the top five at a major, his first event in almost half a year, and in the interview he wasn't encouraged by any of it, just angry that he didn't hit great shots all week and lost. All of the negativity was perceived as very anti-Buddhist, the spiritual direction Tiger was proclaiming to have rediscovered.

2. I'm Glad Tiger Lost  - The interesting part of this sentiment was that most people wanted Tiger to finish second, having the victory taken away by Phil or Freddie with a birdie on the last. The idea is that no one wanted him to miss the cut, or even play poorly on the weekend. Most people I asked wanted Tiger to get oh-so-close only to have the Green Jacket stripped from him at the last moment by one of the "good guys".

3. I'm Glad Phil Won - The main reason to be happy for Lefty was almost unanimous; because he's a good family man. The vast majority of those weighing in don't consider themselves Phil fans, however, they were pleased someone with "values" won and not Tiger. See the trend forming here? Pro-Tiger or Anti-Tiger, either way he was all people really cared about.

4. Phil's Shot Into 13 Was Incredible/Stupid - People brought up this shot with the same frequency, but seem split down the middle as to why. The glass-half-full folks saw it as gutsy and a stroke of genius that turned the entire tournament in Phil's favor. The half-empty side thought Lefty was lucky he didn't throw away the Green Jacket. Those who thought the shot was a bad idea gone right are the same non-Phil fans from comment #3.

5. I Didn't Want Westwood To Win - This one I only heard twice, but I was stunned to hear it at all. For the two commentors the Englishman came off as aloof in his post round interviews; a Tiger-like quality they don't appreciate at all. Back to that Tiger guy again.

Four of the five comments brought up about the 2010 Masters were fueled by personal/social factors. Only one (#4) was about the actual golf being played. In the end there was a great deal of buzz about what happened at the end of Magnolia Lane, but was it the buzz golf really needed?