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.

Stephen Ames - Man with a Mission

The convincing win by Stephen Ames in the Tournament Players Championship (TPC) at Sawgrass shows what can be achieved by a man with a mission, a man needing to resubstantiate his manhoood on the golf course. Ames, who played the last eight holes in five under par to win by six a tournament in which many of tour's top players were shooting in the 80's, was not just playing to win, he was playing to vanquish.

Ames, humiliated 9 up with 8 holes to play by Tiger Woods in the World Match-Play Championships (Woods won each of the first nine holes), had been nicknamed "9&8" on the tour by his fellow players not only because Woods had pummeled him unforgiveably, but also because this occurred after Tiger had read that Ames had been quoted as saying that he thought he had a good chance to beat Woods because of the inept way Tiger was currently hitting the ball. Ames made a mistake by not keeping his mouth shut and he is sure not to make it again. It just goes to show the interesting variables that enter into the golf equation.

Obviously, having a monicker like "9&8" hung on a player on the pro tour was about as demeaning a status as one could imagine and it is clear that Ames was out to rectify that situation - there is no other explanation for this sudden demonstration of fabulous golf against a world-class field. The man had a mission, and he succeeded. He may never lose the "nickname", but in the future, it will be tinged with respect. Congratulations.
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Golf in Belgium

Golf in Belgium is summarized nicely at Golf Sport Boom in Belgium, an article written by Jill Suetens and Catherine Lee Peters (approver: Christopher Quinlivan) at the website of strategis.gc.ca.

More Info in detail can be found at Golf.be. Especially useful for finding the golf clubs of Belgium is the clickable map of Belgium, with all Belgian golf clubs located upon it and information given in English, French and Dutch languages.
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The Russian Open challenges the PGA

As you can read at PGATOUR.com, at the same time that the PGA is being played at Baltusrol Golf Club in Springfield, New Jersey, the Russian Open is being played in Nakhabino, Russia. Nakhabino is a suburb of Moscow and home to Le Meridian Moscow Country Club, Russia's best golf course. As written at Vedomosti.ru:

"Golf is yet another pastime attracting an ever-increasing number of fans. At the same time Russia suffers from an acute shortage of golf courses, experts say. According to estimates by the Russian Golf Association, one golf course can offer facilities to 25,000 players, meaning Russia needs at least 5,000 courses that meet world standards. So far Russia has embarked on a ‘modest' program envisaging the construction of 500 courses over the next 15 years. According to reports from the Russian Golf Association, five golf clubs operate in Russia today, two of which are located in Moscow. The best one, Le Meridian Moscow Country Club in Nakhabino, is included in the list of the world's best golf clubs. For comparison: across the globe people spend $2.5 billion on golf balls alone."

Interesting from a celebrity and golf viewpoint for this year's Russian Open is the participation of Yevgeny Kafelnikov, a former Russian internationally well-known tennis star, who managed an 88 and 96 to place last in the field. See Yahoo report for background. However, one can be sure that his participation brought fans to the course who otherwise would not have been there. It is an interesting marketing concept to make golf more popular in Russia and very courageous of Kafelnikov to take part. Well done. Besides, an 88 and 96 are not bad for a former tennis player.

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.