Phil Mickelson's Golf Secret is Fitness

Via PGATour.com we were alerted to what might be the decisive reason for Phil Mickelson's recent winning of the Masters and his rise to top of the money-winning list. It could very well be the BioForceGolf.com special golf fitness program by Sean Cochran which Mickelson has benn using. Golf Digest Magazine quotes Mickelson as saying that "I've worked extremely hard with my personal trainer, Sean Cochran, to strengthen the stabilizer muscles in my hips and legs, as well as improve my core body strength. We've used the medicine ball, martial-arts routines and elastic bands to accomplish this. The work has improved my stamina as well, but the biggest effect has been onmy full swing."

In other words, winning is not coincidence, but the product of hard work and training.

We have no doubt that the golfers of tomorrow will follow suit to improve their game.

What is Ben Crenshaw's Secret in the 2006 Masters golf tournament?

Whatever Ben Crenshaw's secret is for the first two rounds of this 2006 Masters golf tournament, we certainly wouldn't mind having a little for our own golf game.

Look at Crenshaw's tournament log starting here in 1995 when Crenshaw WON the masters
http://sports.yahoo.com/golf/pga/players/Ben+Crenshaw/24/log?season=1995
and you will see that in the course of the next 10 years he dropped completely out of sight.

His current appearance at this years Masters, tied for 10th with rounds of 71 and 72 for a 143 total and only 5 strokes away from the leader Chad Campbell is this year's Master's best story by a "long shot", to pun it, thus far.

It is a near miracle and gives guys like me hope that I will shoot a 65 somewhere in tournament play this year, which is my goal. Let's see how close I get. If Crenshaw can do it, so can we all. I'm only 6 six or so years older. No big difference. Age is an illusion - sometimes.

Update: And here is the answer. We all need a mentor, and in Crenshaw's case, it is his old caddie, Carl Jackson (as an alter ego for Harvey Penick - and for some reason I think of Jimmy Stewart here...) Read the story here. That is the difference between 70 and 80 - someone who knows your swing and tells you where you are making errors. I'm thinking that this is Nick Faldo's problem.... and maybe that of many other pro golfers too, who have lost their touch, perhaps because they got big heads and thought they no longer needed someone who could mentor them to be champions.

Basically, this is one of the most important lessons of life, not just in golf. We all need mentors. Always. That is the key to success. We can't see ourselves, but other people can.

Golf Course at Stanford

Leigh Jones of the National Law Journal at Law.com in an April 3, 2006 article titled "Harvard Law Takes a Hit in 'U.S. News' Rankings" reports that Stanford Law School has passed Harvard Law School in the new law school rankings by the U.S. News & World Report. Well, that overtaking actually happened already a long time ago, in our opinion. Moreover, we really do not understand how Yale Law School can be ranked above our alma mater, Stanford, but I guess that is what makes horse races. Have the people from U.S. News ever been out to Palo Alto and looked at the Stanford Golf course where Tiger Woods used to play? New Haven over California? We don't believe it.

Seven Under Par Each Round - Now That's a Goal

We are getting ready for the 2006 Golf Season in Germany which gets under way next weekend. One is green with envy to see that golf elsewhere in the world is already well under way.

Was Phil Mickelson on his game or what? 28 under par in the Bell South Classic to tie the PGA Tour record of 260 as a winning score (for par 72 courses). That's an average of 7 under par each round. Something to emulate in one's own golf career. I am shooting for a 65 this year - just for ONE round - let's see if I make it.

We ran across some sites on golf we like: The Golf Expert.

And how about The Golf Digest. Superb.

We follow the tour on PGA Tour - they have the best statistics and live scoring.

Update: As a footnote to this record we should add that the absolute lowest PGA total for 72 holes is held by Ernie Els at 31 under in the 2003 Mercedes Championship which was held on a par-73 course. Els needed 261 shots for four rounds (64-65-65-67). Joe Durant and Tim Herron both were 29 under par after four rounds in 2001 and 2003 at the Bobe hope Chrysler Classic, but that tournament goes 90 holes. The lowest 72-hole PGA Tour score is 254 by Tommy Armour III in the 2003 Valero Texas Open, but this was only 26 under par on a par 70 course (Armour shot 64-62-63-65).

The single round PGA Tour record of 59 strokes is held by three players:

Al Geiberger (29-30) in the 1977 Memphis Open.
Chip Beck (30-29) in the 1991 Las Vegas Invitational
David Duval (31-28) in the 1999 Bob Hope Chrysler Classic

59's outside the PGA Tour have also recently been carded by:
Olin Brown in the 2005 U.S. Open qualifying tournament,
by Jason Gore in the 2005 Nationwide Tour's Cox Classic
and by Phil Mickelson at the 2004 PGA Grand Slam.

The lowest nine-hole PGA Tour record is held by Billy Mayfair at Warwick Hills in the 2001 Buick Open where he shot a 27 on the back nine (9 under par). In 1955 Mike Souchak also had a 27 in the Texas Open but that was 8 under par and Andy North had a 27 in the B.C. Open in 1975 for 7 under par.

The lowest score on a normal 18-hole course appears to be a 58 by Harry Weetman on the Croham Hurst Course (6170 yards) in Croydon, Surrey, UK, January 30, 1956. The British Weetman was well known and played on the Ryder Cup.