How to Beat Tiger Woods - Bring him to Stromberg

Grouchy Golf Blog has got it right. The way to beat Tiger is to put him on shorter courses. Current stats show Tiger at Nr. 2 in long driving among the pros, so the longer the courses, the more that is to his advantage.

I myself am a very long hitter averaging about 300 yards a drive on my good days at other courses, but, unfortunately, I play on a home course - Stromberg Schindeldorf in Germany - with probably the narrowest fairways in the entire golf world.

Making things even more difficult, we have 8 par three holes (most about 170 to 210 yards) with brilliantly placed very hard to play bunkers around tiny greens, 4 par fives that can all theortically be reached in two but which are designed in such a manner that well-placed long drives almost always land in the trees, and 6 par fours where driving long can put the player into all sorts of difficulty, if the drive does not hit the trees getting there first. The course consists almost entirely of fairway, trees and uncut grass, and a level lie is a rarity, since the course winds around on the side of a hill and because many of the fairways were left as slanted as they were found. Hence, any errant shot, i.e. off the fairway, generally costs two strokes or more. Numerous holes have out of bounds or hazards directly behind or to the side of the green, making long hitting dangerous. The course has to be played to be believed.

In addition, when the greens are properly prepared, they are as fast as Augusta. To my knowledge, no one has ever beaten the course par of 68 in an official tournament, although a pro recently is alleged to have shot a 67 in a friendly round, under benign conditions. Our former greenkeeper, a superb player, never broke par while he was at Stromberg, even though he could read the greens perfectly, and even good players are known to exceed their handicap by 20 strokes at Stromberg when they first confront this deceivingly "short" and "simple" course.

As one Stanford grad to another, Tiger is always welcome for a challenge round at Stromberg. Just for fun. On paper, he should shoot a 59. In reality, he might not break 80.
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Tiger Woods Struggling without Butch Harmon?

Tiger Woods Struggling without Butch Harmon?

As discussed in a Chicago Tribune article by Ed Sherman, Tiger Woods split from his longtime 10-year coach Butch Harmon in 2003 and he has been struggling with his winning golf game ever since.

It is reminiscent of Boris Becker's split with his tennis coaches, which ultimately led to Becker's loss of tennis world dominance.

Not only has Woods - for him - been ineffective in the only parameter that counts - winning tournaments - but the competition has been getting better due to standards of excellence that Woods himself has set in his short but already illustrious golf career.

Will Tiger continue to win the big ones in coming years without Harmon? Perhaps. Will he continue to dominate the game? That is doubtful.

Golf and Investing

Ameritrade and TaylorMade Golf have teamed up on an innovative marketing idea, combining investment and golf. A $5000 deposit will get the investor a Rossa Monza Putter and a $25000 depositor becomes the proud owner of a TaylorMade® R500XD Series Driver.

It would be interesting for someone to do a study on whether there is a successful correlation between good golf play and sound investing.

The Curmudgeonly Clerk and Golf

The Curmudgeonly Clerk has a nice posting on "golf" and the law. It is a nice - typically GOLF-like - story.

Golf in New York and Winterized Brooklyn Golfers

Via Andrew Raff.com, Corey Kilgannon has a great story at the New York Times about the winterized golfers of New York at Brooklyn Golfers Ignore Impossibility of Playing. Listen, one under par for nine holes under those conditions is NOT bad.

PGA National Resort Spa, Palm Beach Gardens, Florida

PGA National Resort Spa, Palm Beach Gardens, Florida

Corey Kilgannon has a very nicely written article about the PGA National Resort Spa in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, at Where Golf Is More Than a Game.

Sounds like a great golf challenge to any serious golfer - and are we not all?

Golf Tips from the King Of Aces Mancil Davis

On this website, Mancil Davis, the King of Aces, is called the official world record-holder for holes in one (50) and double eagles (10), although Norman Manley is said to have made 59 "aces", including 4 in 1979, but little more seems to be known about his feats, whereas Mancil Davis is quite well known.

Mancil Davis has made a hole in one with every club except putter, PW and SW with the longest hole in one being 379 yards and the shortest hole in one being 124 yards. In 1967 he had eight aces and
in fact three aces in five days in June of that year.

What is his secret?

Here is what he says:

BE THE BALL

Picture in your mind's eye the entire shot from start to finish, with the desired result firmly implanted in your mind. With that result still pictured, step up and fire away. Visualize in vivid color the image of the ball falling into the cup - or picture the flight of the ball to the desired spot.

WOW. Is that all there is to it?

In other words, VISUALIZE your shot in each case, as if it were a short putt into the hole. Then Concentrate ONLY on the target.

Listen, could this be the key to better golf on EVERY shot?