Equal on the Tee

The Golf Digest College Guide to Golf 2007-2008 ranks Stanford University at Number 1 for golf. We definitely agree. Stanford's championship course was one of the variables which in part determined our own choice of law school out of ten possibilities a number of years ago.

Man does not live by law alone. Golf matters.

As written at Golf Digest's Political Golf Rankings:

"... Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, a longtime player whose 14.5 Index hasn't been updated since 2000, declined to approximate his handicap, saying he hasn't been playing enough to have one."

This, obviously, is a regrettable lapse of judgment on the part of a Chief Justice who got where he is by p(l)aying golf its proper due in his formative years. We are certain that the Chief Justice's opinions would improve all the more if he played golf often enough to maintain a handicap rating. Let each man swing for what he is worth in a game which levels all classes of humanity.

Equal on the Tee*

After all, golf humbly teaches every golfer who has had the courage to swing a club, that on the tee, all men are equal**... unless, of course, you are Tiger Woods.

And even then, that Stanford grad has recently been brought to the "knee" by the Golf gods .... (see Woods to miss the rest of the year with knee surgery).

No one is spared. Everyone has to pay his just due.

Mike Park speaks for the soul of golf when he writes in Golf is good for you:

"Read the USGA rules of golf and you see the New England Primer, the U.S. Constitution, and the Rule of St. Benedict: words that bring structure and order to a stochastic universe. Playing golf, then, is a celebration of a way of life. How can you live without it. If you can't live without it, how can it be a luxury? Any way you look at it, a year of golf is cheaper than a year of Prozac and counseling, and better for you. How is that a luxury? Playing golf means you aren't flirting with women who aren't your wife, it means taking the time to think about the meaning of your life and your place in the world, and being a better person.

On the course, you are a better man than you are off of it. You let people through. You report your sins and assign your own punishment. You keep a respectful silence as other people go about their business. You offer to share your cigars. If all of the world adhered to golf etiquette, we would have none of the current mess we are in."

Amen.
__________

* The LawPundit phrase "equal on the tee"(TM) is hereby copyrighted and trademarked and may not be used in any golf or other context for commercial or other proprietary purposes of any kind without contractual permission from LawPundit. We do not plan to exploit this phrase commercially, but this notice means that no one else can (or should) either, as it is our invention (Google does not find that phrase today, prior to our coining of it).
** That all men are equal on the tee is something that some golfers, curiously enough, seem not yet to have learned.

Crossposted from LawPundit.

Karslberg Team Trophy 2007 : Golf Tournament in Germany

Each year the Karlsberg Brewery (Karlsberg Brauerei) in Homburg/Saar in Germany sponsors an excellent season-ending golf tournament, the Karlsberg Team Trophy for Jungsenioren ("young seniors", players who are 35 years of age and up).

It is a friendly competition among the participating golf club teams that play each season in the young seniors German golf leagues in Saarland and Rheinland-Pfalz (the Rheinland-Palatinate), which are 2 of the 16 German states.

The tournament takes place at the Golf Club Homburg/Saar, a championship 6527-yard par 72 golf course in Saarland at Websweiler Hof.

PROmotion Golfevents has many photographs of this year's tournament online, of which there is also a comparable Picasa Web Album.

One of those photographs shows our team from Golfclub Stromberg (the LawPundit is on the far right) (we have tweaked the photograph a bit to make it fit this page):


Another of those photographs shows our team from Golfclub Stromberg at the evening festivities (the LawPundit is in the middle at the back right) (we have tweaked the photograph a bit to make it fit this page):


Karlsberg has a long history of sponsoring cultural and sporting events. Karlsberg provided the players with food and drink (both alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages) during the two days of the golf tournament while Flamenco dancers provided the evening's entertainment, as a gratis flamenco lesson was also given to one selected player from each golf team. Thankfully, the LawPundit was able to remain among the spectators (the LawPundit is in the middle of the photograph, third from the left) (we have tweaked the photo a bit to make it fit this page):


The idea of forming golf leagues for golf club teams might be worth importing to other countries. It is a great deal of fun. See Sample Golf League Rules

(cross-posted to LawPundit)

The Human Brain and Golf : Perfect Movement Hampered by the Flexible Nervous System

We knew it all along.
The answer to why we still lag a few golf strokes behind Tiger Woods.
It's the brain.

The January 17, 2007 Stanford Report points to a Stanford study which indicates that our golf swing and golf score will never be perfect, because "movement is not primarily a mechanical phenomenon".

David Orenstein gives us this explanation:

"For athletes, the inability to replicate the perfect movement might seem to be a frustrating problem that needs to be solved. But ....

[as we are told by the authors of the study]
"The nervous system was not designed to do the same thing over and over again.... The nervous system was designed to be flexible...."

The value of practice and training is that they can reduce the variation in the mind's abilities, but they don't change the variable way the mind plans motion. An analogy might be to doing math problems. Someone who has studied will find it easier to solve a new problem than someone who has not prepared."

Now, when they can tell me how to get the mind to keep from guiding that ball out of bounds, i.e. to simply eliminate that as a potential "motion variable", we will have something serious to talk about.

Europe Leads 2006 Ryder Cup as USA Stumbles

Tim Dahlberg, AP Sports Columnist, in his
September 23, 2006 Yahoo! Sports article
Lehman stays pat with his team, but at what price?
hits the nail right on the head in identifying some of the problems that plague the US Ryder Cup team, which trails 10-6 going into the singles matches.

European retention of the Ryder Cup appears imminent.

Tiger Woods is Getting Better

Mike Vitti, PGATOUR.com ShotLink Analyst, has compared Tiger Woods' current win streak of five tournaments with his win streak of six tournaments in 1999-2000 and the results are not encouraging to his professional competitors.

The comparison of the two win streaks shows clearly that Woods has improved in nearly every category of comparison except for driving accuracy and greens in regulation.

The reduced driving accuracy of about 9% (i.e. about one drive in 10) has to be counterbalanced against the increased average distance of Woods' drives of 25 yards - an amazing number for someone who always was a big hitter to begin with.

The statistics for greens in regulation can be misleading since pin placements are often near the edge of greens, so that if you are going for the flag, you are more likely to also leave balls on the fringe - but closer to the hole - than if you merely play for the middle of the green, where you may hit the green in regulation, but where birdies may be less likely due to the long putts that have to be made from positions more easily reachable by approach shots.

The truly impressive figures are the percentages for par breakers and for bogeys or worse. Woods has increased his par breakers to 30% (5.4 every 18 holes) and has reduced his bogey or worse percentage to a mere 7.5% (1.35 bogeys or worse per round). Obviously, Woods is getting better at playing more error-free golf while at the same time increasing his under par percentage.

It looks like the competition will have to get to work to try to keep up with Tiger. The face of golf has changed and it is demanding more perfection and accuracy than ever before. Professional golf has become a sport for craftsmen.

The 2006 PGA Championship - Leaderboard

Here in Germany we are following the
2006 PGA Championship leaderboard online today and listening to their streaming broadcast "Pipeline" (as powered by CNN) which is following Phil Mickelson and Ian Poulter around the Medinah golf course on their final round. Great stuff and a sign of things to come in entertainment presentation.

Personal and Group Golf Statistics

Leaderboard.com by StatMasters is known for providing personal and group golf statistics. The website also answers all manner of questions about golf and has features such as a swingweight calculator.

Various articles explain important and often lesser-known aspects of the game to players, e.g. a superb and understandable explanation of course slopes and course ratings.

Other articles are found e.g. on topics such as:

The Origins Of Golf
Traditional Club Names
Club Lofts & Distances
Using Handicaps In Competition

and more.

These are definitely useful pages for any golfer.
The website also offers golf handicap services.