You might think I am going to teach you some golf swing secrets, no I am not. I am not a golf pro who can help you improve your swing.
I was asked recently how to achieve improvement in golf. For me, it is very simple, and I always practise that.
Work on the weakest part of the game.
I give you an example. You have to take 4 subjects in PSLE. Maths, Science, English and Chinese. You keep scoring As and Bs in Maths, Science and English. But D in Chinese.
Which subject are you going to work on? Its obvious isn't it. All the mothers in the world will know which subject to send the kids for tuition. Why we golfers don't know?
If your weakest is putting, work on it. Is your first putt is weak (cannot get near enough to the hole, ie. poor speed reading)? Or is your 2nd putt poor? ie. Sinking that 3-4 footers.
Work on your weakest link and you will see the greatest improvement.
So stop hitting the drivers on the range if your weakness is chipping or putting.
Sounds like a clip from Golf Channel?
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Monday, July 20, 2009
Last day and Final Rd at 138th Open Turnberry, Scotland
Aiyah, what more to say man. The hopes of all England and also the rest of the romantic world sank on the last 18th green of regulation play for the Open :-(.The day started as usual with the drive to Turnberry. Where we were it started raining a bit but the forecast at Turnberry was for good sunny weather. Arriving at the carparking area we parked the car at almost the identical spot from yesterday. Except for the occasional cloud, otherwise the sun was shining throughout the final day. The ever present wind though continued to play havoc with the golfers scores and provided free air-con. (picture above of where car was parked)
Walking to the entrance, we discussed where to station ourselves to catch the day's excitements. With the last day at the 138th Open whereas should we go but the 18th green stands!!! We thought we were very Singapore smart but on arriving stand there, a long queue had already formed. By the time we got our seats it would have been nearly an hour later and that was only bcos we were lucky with the stand urshers calling for a group of 3 and just nice we were the first in the queue with a group of 3 (3 seats together). We couldn't have asked for any better seats than what we got. We were seated on the left stand as the golfers walked up, abreast of the pin just below the scoreboard. The Grandstand section with reserved seats facing the golfers, as they came in, were only for those willing to pay about £200 per person not including daily entrance fee which was £55 for myself and £25 each for the girls.
We made the right choice with the 18th green stand as there could be no place more exciting on the final day to experience the emotions of the 138th Open. From there, we could see the leaderboard changing while listening to the radio to follow what was happening with the later flights and then watched them come up to the last hole. When Stewart Cink maked his final put of regulation play to convert his birdie to move up to 2 under and also a chance for a playoff, his line to the hole was towards where we sat up on the stand. From where we were behind the hole, we all thought his put had lost momentum some 6" from the hole but it did go in much to his relief. By this time, Westwood was about to convert his eagle put on the 17th green to move up to 3 under and also the lead. While Tom Watson was already at 2 under waiting to attack the 17th green with his 2nd shot. Westwood instead only managed a birdie while Tom Watson later also birdied to move to 3 under and the lead going into the last hole. (Picture above of my daughters Le-Anne (left) and Ju-Linne at the entrance before mobile phones had to be handed in)TV coverage would have shown you all the important moments of the game but there is still nothing like being there in person, such as the emotions not captured by the TV cameras. I was amused watching Mark Calcavecchia and his caddie wife (unfortunately his 3rd rd put him out of contention). The experience and the composures of some of the golfers as they walked up on to the final hole makes me understand why they said this is suppose to be a gentlem
an's game. Mathew Goggin came up in front of Tom Watson some 20 odd metres ahead to the applause of the crowd without realising that the cheers may not be really for him but for his playing partner. But at least he realised early enough to stop before the green, stood back to wait for Tom Watson who when he arrived the crowd gave him a standing ovation and cheered so much louder !! The details of the final play on the 18th green of regulation need not be explained as the TV cameras captured everything. Besides the final flight, the crowd understandably also gave Lee Westwood and Ross Fisher's flight a standing ovation. (Picture on right of why it is better to accept your punishment, drop a ball and take a penalty stroke.)
an's game. Mathew Goggin came up in front of Tom Watson some 20 odd metres ahead to the applause of the crowd without realising that the cheers may not be really for him but for his playing partner. But at least he realised early enough to stop before the green, stood back to wait for Tom Watson who when he arrived the crowd gave him a standing ovation and cheered so much louder !! The details of the final play on the 18th green of regulation need not be explained as the TV cameras captured everything. Besides the final flight, the crowd understandably also gave Lee Westwood and Ross Fisher's flight a standing ovation. (Picture on right of why it is better to accept your punishment, drop a ball and take a penalty stroke.) As Lee Westwood and the Ross Fishers' gave the English and Britain hope for a countryman win, Tom Watson gave everyone else a chance to be sentimental about a 59yr old golfer possibly winning the 138th Open. The crowd was really behind Tom Watson through the 4 days and even on the last hole of the final day. Leading the rest with a 3 under score, all he needed was to par the last hole, the crowd knew that and surely so did TW. So when his 2nd shot first landed on the green but then raced passed the pin, the crowd and everyone around me went "oooh" and "aah"!! Then shouts of "bite bite bite" or "stop stop" and "don't go into the rough" were going around. Even when he choose to put out from the back and passed the pin, again the same "ooos and aaahs" came out. But there was still hope, everyone still thought, that he will convert the last put for a par and a win as he has been pretty consistent from that distance over the four days. But that was not to be and the rest is now history.
We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and especially so for me to be with my children sharing something common with them. The experience is not easily explained in writing but I felt that it was certainly worth it being here. We also made friends with people we sat with, example an Aussie from Sydney who too was visiting his children in Scotland and thus came to watch the Open with them. Even though the weather at times may not be kind to us, nevertheless it was certainly not enough to dampen my eagerness and anticipation for the 139th Open. Therefore, St Andrews 2010, here I come!!
Nevertheless, congratulations to Steward Cink. Maybe TW should have asked for stroke from Cink lah. Then at least he got more "money come" like Albert Tay likes to phrase it. Now I must go check out flight details for next year lah. Catching a flight back in about 8 hrs time. So see you all back at NSRCC this Sat. Bye
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Watson, Norman, Mediate...
These are fantastic golfers, like old wines, they get better!!Defying father time, the tough courses and the inclement weathers, they showed the young kids a thing or two about playing golf.
Tom Watson is doing what Greg Norman did last year, carry the lead going into Day 4. Though Norman eventually lost to Padraig Harrington, he did himself proud. And who can forget the titanic battle that the then 46-year old Rocco Mediate fought against the injured Tiger in the 2008 US Open??
These guys should be our role models. Although we Goofies are all on the wrong side of 30s, 40s and 50s, but there are a lot more golfs to be played. We are only catching up with lost time. Enjoying the game, the fun and the camaraderies.
I am rooting Watson to make history!! To be the oldest ever to win a Major and compete another 10 more years on The Open.
As the tagline of the PGA Tour goes.....These Guys are Good!!
Day 3, 3rd Rd at the 138th Open, Turnberry Scotland
The drive from home to Turnberry took about 1½ hours. Parking was on the fairway of the Kintyre course, the 2nd Turnberry 18th holes course. Security at the entrances was very thorough with lots of Policemen and CISCO-type security personnel, X-ray scans, metal detector tunnel, body searches, etc. They were not necessarily looking for weapons but even worse than that. They were looking for mobile phones and cameras!! The 3rd day found us spending more time at the merchandise pavilion, hospitality/restaurant pavilion, VAT refund tent. We bought the Open programme which cost £6 and a radio (cost £8) pre-tuned to the BBC channel reporting on the Open. This is the only way to know what is happening else where on the course. Probably only good to be used again at next year's Open.
Today didn't see much rain but lots of wind which still prove to be a problem for the golfers. There was lots of sunshine so we decided to have a bit of lunch from the picnic bag we brought. We did this while seating on the grass watching BBC1 showing on a super large LED screen together with hundreds of other fans. The weather was really nice while we sat in the sun with the cool wind blowing, munching our lunch together with cokes and ginger ale. Noticed quite a lot of American fans beside the Scots and some other Brits. Only noticed 1 Sing and 2 half Sings and a handful of Japanese. Also with the sun out , dressing was generally lighter and the ladies (SYTs) started looking quite delicious (eye-candy). Atmosphere was quite good, lots of happy people enjoying their day at the 138th British Open. I think I will come again next year now that I know what is involved. Probably bring along my own eye-candy.
Though there was no rain, the wind was still quite strong and chilly. Saw a number of approach shots into the green carried pass the pins by the wind. We decided to first watch Tom Watson and Steve Marino on the LED screen while having our picnic. By the time we finished we then queued almost ½ hour at the 7th green to get seats on the stand to wait for the leader flight. Kenichi Kuboya played a very clevel chip (4th) from outside the 7th green pass the pin and then let the ball rolled back down the slope to rest about 3' from the pin. The crowd roared their approval as they saw him come up earlier to study the slope behind the pin. He converted his put for a par but ended the day with a 75. The crowd didn't seem partisan in their applause and showed approval to anyone with a good shot. Of course when Lee Westwood and later Ross Fisher came up to the 7th Green there was extra loud applause. Understandably they cheered loudly for them as all hopes of UK now rests on their shoulders.
Choosing to watch the golfers from the 7th green proved quite a good decision as we saw so many great shots into the green. Retief Goosen put his 3rd into the rough (real rough) short of the green needing golfer, caddies, marshalls and even a spectator scrambling to find his ball. Fortunately for him the spectator came over from the crowd to point to the group where the ball entered into the rough. The crowd cheered the spectator while he raised his hands to acknowledged their applause and that must have made his day! Jimenez who is Goosen's flight mate had earlier put his 2nd into the greenside bunker and later played such a beautiful 3rd out of the bunker to about a give-me distance from the pin. He converted that for a birdie. The best was saved for the last flight when both Watson and Marino placed their 2nd shots onto the Par 5 7th green. Watson's was about 20' below the pin while Marino's was almost a give-me distance from the pin. Watson couldn't convert his eagle and got a birdie 4 while Marino made no mistake with an eagle 3.
What really impressed me watching the last flight walking up was firstly the applause given to both the old (past use-by date) golfer and the young rookie Open golfer. The atmosphere is not easily explainable and you will need to be here understand the feeling. Another thing was when looking down the fairway to the 7th tee-box and beyond, we could see hundreds or thousands of fans following the leader flight lining both sides of the fairway. The number of fans following is just amazing. I also noticed Tom Watson intentionally slow down to let Marino go ahead of him to receive the initial applause as Marino had a better approach shot. Such professional and gentlemanly conduct which made me respect the 59yr old even more. Everyone seems to be cheering on the 59yr old leader at every hole and it was amazing .
Later we went over to the 12th green and sat on the slope of the knoll where the WW I&II monument to wait for the leaders. The par 4 12th didn't prove to be so boring even though it is short as the challenge is the rather small green. Both Watson and Marino missed their par puts to end with a bogey 5 each. By this time, except for Tom Watson and Ross Fisher, the leaderboard was already missing some of the the previous day's names. We also watched Sergio Garcia, Jim Furyk, Angel Cabrera, Ernie Els, Boo Weekly, Richard Johnson, Graeme McDowell play the 15th hole. We were real close to Ernie Els as he walked past, wow so tall but yet looking so cool and steady man. I called out "Hi Ernie" and he turned around and acknowledged by tapping his cap with a smile!! One golfer I have been looking out but not seen yet is non other than John Daly. I must look out for the guy and see what his outfit will be tomorrow.
Today only 6 golfers managed to play sub-par games. Testimony of how a simple and seemingly easy course with just the element of wind can humble the best and the greatest that the golfing world can offer.
We will try to leave a bit earlier tomorrow as we want to watch some of the earlier play. Also can get parking closer to the course while the last 2 days we had to park almost 3-4 par 5 holes away from the entrance. We took many pictures of houses around the course especially the Turnberry resort/hotel which overlooks the course. Overall, we enjoyed ourselves and girls also got to spent money do shopping, buy Open merchandise, etc. Now looking forward to the final Sunday round. :-)
Today didn't see much rain but lots of wind which still prove to be a problem for the golfers. There was lots of sunshine so we decided to have a bit of lunch from the picnic bag we brought. We did this while seating on the grass watching BBC1 showing on a super large LED screen together with hundreds of other fans. The weather was really nice while we sat in the sun with the cool wind blowing, munching our lunch together with cokes and ginger ale. Noticed quite a lot of American fans beside the Scots and some other Brits. Only noticed 1 Sing and 2 half Sings and a handful of Japanese. Also with the sun out , dressing was generally lighter and the ladies (SYTs) started looking quite delicious (eye-candy). Atmosphere was quite good, lots of happy people enjoying their day at the 138th British Open. I think I will come again next year now that I know what is involved. Probably bring along my own eye-candy.
Though there was no rain, the wind was still quite strong and chilly. Saw a number of approach shots into the green carried pass the pins by the wind. We decided to first watch Tom Watson and Steve Marino on the LED screen while having our picnic. By the time we finished we then queued almost ½ hour at the 7th green to get seats on the stand to wait for the leader flight. Kenichi Kuboya played a very clevel chip (4th) from outside the 7th green pass the pin and then let the ball rolled back down the slope to rest about 3' from the pin. The crowd roared their approval as they saw him come up earlier to study the slope behind the pin. He converted his put for a par but ended the day with a 75. The crowd didn't seem partisan in their applause and showed approval to anyone with a good shot. Of course when Lee Westwood and later Ross Fisher came up to the 7th Green there was extra loud applause. Understandably they cheered loudly for them as all hopes of UK now rests on their shoulders.
Choosing to watch the golfers from the 7th green proved quite a good decision as we saw so many great shots into the green. Retief Goosen put his 3rd into the rough (real rough) short of the green needing golfer, caddies, marshalls and even a spectator scrambling to find his ball. Fortunately for him the spectator came over from the crowd to point to the group where the ball entered into the rough. The crowd cheered the spectator while he raised his hands to acknowledged their applause and that must have made his day! Jimenez who is Goosen's flight mate had earlier put his 2nd into the greenside bunker and later played such a beautiful 3rd out of the bunker to about a give-me distance from the pin. He converted that for a birdie. The best was saved for the last flight when both Watson and Marino placed their 2nd shots onto the Par 5 7th green. Watson's was about 20' below the pin while Marino's was almost a give-me distance from the pin. Watson couldn't convert his eagle and got a birdie 4 while Marino made no mistake with an eagle 3.
What really impressed me watching the last flight walking up was firstly the applause given to both the old (past use-by date) golfer and the young rookie Open golfer. The atmosphere is not easily explainable and you will need to be here understand the feeling. Another thing was when looking down the fairway to the 7th tee-box and beyond, we could see hundreds or thousands of fans following the leader flight lining both sides of the fairway. The number of fans following is just amazing. I also noticed Tom Watson intentionally slow down to let Marino go ahead of him to receive the initial applause as Marino had a better approach shot. Such professional and gentlemanly conduct which made me respect the 59yr old even more. Everyone seems to be cheering on the 59yr old leader at every hole and it was amazing .
Later we went over to the 12th green and sat on the slope of the knoll where the WW I&II monument to wait for the leaders. The par 4 12th didn't prove to be so boring even though it is short as the challenge is the rather small green. Both Watson and Marino missed their par puts to end with a bogey 5 each. By this time, except for Tom Watson and Ross Fisher, the leaderboard was already missing some of the the previous day's names. We also watched Sergio Garcia, Jim Furyk, Angel Cabrera, Ernie Els, Boo Weekly, Richard Johnson, Graeme McDowell play the 15th hole. We were real close to Ernie Els as he walked past, wow so tall but yet looking so cool and steady man. I called out "Hi Ernie" and he turned around and acknowledged by tapping his cap with a smile!! One golfer I have been looking out but not seen yet is non other than John Daly. I must look out for the guy and see what his outfit will be tomorrow.
Today only 6 golfers managed to play sub-par games. Testimony of how a simple and seemingly easy course with just the element of wind can humble the best and the greatest that the golfing world can offer.
We will try to leave a bit earlier tomorrow as we want to watch some of the earlier play. Also can get parking closer to the course while the last 2 days we had to park almost 3-4 par 5 holes away from the entrance. We took many pictures of houses around the course especially the Turnberry resort/hotel which overlooks the course. Overall, we enjoyed ourselves and girls also got to spent money do shopping, buy Open merchandise, etc. Now looking forward to the final Sunday round. :-)
Saturday, July 18, 2009
My 1st British Open at Turnberry, Scotland - The 2nd Rd.
For those who wondered why I wasn't at today's Goofy game. It's b'cos I am here at Turnberry, Scotland for the 138th British Open!
Yesterday was the 2nd day and to summarise the experience, well there was lots clouds, lots of rain, lots of wind, lots of people, lots of beers walking along with people, lots more people when the Tiger appeared, lots of rushing from hole to the next hole to get a decent spot to see the man, then rushing again to the next one hoping to get a seat on the stands to have a good view. Actually watching the golfers putting from eye level is not as good as from the stands except you get to be up close to the golfer. Tiger was just 5 feet away from me at the 10th hole! He was nevertheless engrossed in making his recovery shots and also trying not to look impatient with the Japanese chap (Ryo Ishikawa who was also all over the place except the fairway).
My daughters Le-Anne & Ju-Linne and I watched Tiger at the 8th, 10th, 11th and 16th holes, 16th being the difficult hole with the 'burn' (in Scotland that's a small stream) infront of the very small green) which explained the rushings. We got seats on the 16th stand watching Vijay Singh par his 16th hole before Tiger came up 2 flights later with a beautiful 2nd shot to about 20' fom the pin and eventually complete the 16th with a birdie put.
The atmosphere was just like when we were back in our old school fun fair with lots of people, lots of stalls to go check out, buy the drinks (a can of coke is 1.90 pounds and the angus beef burger is 5.50 pounds), queueing for the ice-cream cone. Earlier we sat at the 12th hole stand (just beside the momument on the small knoll dedicated to the servicemen who served and train in the region around Turnberry during the World Wars. We sat at the 12th stand to watch more golfers come thru as well as Kenichi Kuboya complete a short but very tricky put for par.
The wind (the additional element at Scottish link golf courses) made all the professional golfers look human! What made them still stand out from the rest of us humans is their short game, so consistent, seemingly simple and yet beautifully executed. We watched Justin Leonard play his 10th hole, such character and a gentleman. We watched an Aussie called Timothy Wood at the 16th trying to do what commonly happens on Saturdays at NSRCC, ie, claim here claim there. He tried to get to redrop his 1st drop after his 2nd shot had entered the burn (the first drop left his ball near the yellow hazard line but the referee had declared it in play. As he was making such a fuss, the referee allowed him to redrop after he got his playing partners to agree to let him. Such a baby!!! He got a 6 for this hole and later missed the cut. We also stood near Charlie Hoffman as he placed his 2nd shot with a wedge to about 20 feet from the pin at the boring 12th hole and then throwing his iron to the ground followed with a kick aimed at the club as it bounced back up!! He too missed the cut. So did Tiger, missed the cut I mean. Ha Ha!
We will be leaving in an hour's time for the 3rd day Turnberry and this time we will try to watch Tom Watson and Steve Marino's tee off at 3pm. Maybe today we will try go around help the golfers look for their missing balls, that way you may get a chance to see me on TV!! Ye!! The forecast for today is yet again lots of wind, lots of clouds and some rain. Not much sun at the moment here. Lots of lost ball situations at this rate. I believe the weather at Changi NSRCC must be good today, at least much better than here and you can trust me on this! Bye for now.
Yesterday was the 2nd day and to summarise the experience, well there was lots clouds, lots of rain, lots of wind, lots of people, lots of beers walking along with people, lots more people when the Tiger appeared, lots of rushing from hole to the next hole to get a decent spot to see the man, then rushing again to the next one hoping to get a seat on the stands to have a good view. Actually watching the golfers putting from eye level is not as good as from the stands except you get to be up close to the golfer. Tiger was just 5 feet away from me at the 10th hole! He was nevertheless engrossed in making his recovery shots and also trying not to look impatient with the Japanese chap (Ryo Ishikawa who was also all over the place except the fairway).
My daughters Le-Anne & Ju-Linne and I watched Tiger at the 8th, 10th, 11th and 16th holes, 16th being the difficult hole with the 'burn' (in Scotland that's a small stream) infront of the very small green) which explained the rushings. We got seats on the 16th stand watching Vijay Singh par his 16th hole before Tiger came up 2 flights later with a beautiful 2nd shot to about 20' fom the pin and eventually complete the 16th with a birdie put.
The atmosphere was just like when we were back in our old school fun fair with lots of people, lots of stalls to go check out, buy the drinks (a can of coke is 1.90 pounds and the angus beef burger is 5.50 pounds), queueing for the ice-cream cone. Earlier we sat at the 12th hole stand (just beside the momument on the small knoll dedicated to the servicemen who served and train in the region around Turnberry during the World Wars. We sat at the 12th stand to watch more golfers come thru as well as Kenichi Kuboya complete a short but very tricky put for par.
The wind (the additional element at Scottish link golf courses) made all the professional golfers look human! What made them still stand out from the rest of us humans is their short game, so consistent, seemingly simple and yet beautifully executed. We watched Justin Leonard play his 10th hole, such character and a gentleman. We watched an Aussie called Timothy Wood at the 16th trying to do what commonly happens on Saturdays at NSRCC, ie, claim here claim there. He tried to get to redrop his 1st drop after his 2nd shot had entered the burn (the first drop left his ball near the yellow hazard line but the referee had declared it in play. As he was making such a fuss, the referee allowed him to redrop after he got his playing partners to agree to let him. Such a baby!!! He got a 6 for this hole and later missed the cut. We also stood near Charlie Hoffman as he placed his 2nd shot with a wedge to about 20 feet from the pin at the boring 12th hole and then throwing his iron to the ground followed with a kick aimed at the club as it bounced back up!! He too missed the cut. So did Tiger, missed the cut I mean. Ha Ha!
We will be leaving in an hour's time for the 3rd day Turnberry and this time we will try to watch Tom Watson and Steve Marino's tee off at 3pm. Maybe today we will try go around help the golfers look for their missing balls, that way you may get a chance to see me on TV!! Ye!! The forecast for today is yet again lots of wind, lots of clouds and some rain. Not much sun at the moment here. Lots of lost ball situations at this rate. I believe the weather at Changi NSRCC must be good today, at least much better than here and you can trust me on this! Bye for now.
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Mouthwatering matchup at Congressional
I am delighted with the final pairing at AT&T Congressional, the indomitable Tiger Woods with the young upstart, Antony Kim!!!
It could not have been a better match up.
There is no doubt about how much I admire Tiger Woods, his talents and his competitive drive. For the sake of golf, I have always been supporting the smaller guy to beat him. I remember rooting for Rocco Mediate when the "old man" was fighting the limping Tiger in the 2008 US Open.
Eversince, Antony came into the scene, he has been touted as a potential World No 1. They have never been put together in a final pairing. If there is one person who can match him, it has to be Antony Kim.
So how will the cocky Antony face up to Tiger? Like many others, will him wilt under the intense presence of Tiger?
This is a mouthwatering matchup. And like Independance Day, I am sure there will be fireworks!!
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