Tiger's Chances

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- They could replace the azaleas with cactus, the flagstick logo with mud flap girls, the green jackets with crushed pink velour, and people still would talk only about Tiger Woods during Masters week.

This is Woods' 18th Masters, which doesn't seem possible. He has more seniority at Augusta National than some of the pine trees here.

"So I've spent just about half my life playing this tournament," the 36-year-old Woods said Tuesday.

He was, is and will continue to be the centerpiece of this and every other major until he croaks. It's the natural order of things, especially with Tiger only a few weeks removed from his first PGA Tour win since 2009.

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Christopher Condon/WireImageNot since 2005 has Tiger Woods slipped on a new green jacket after winning the Masters.

Woods' blip on the Masters radar screen is larger than everyone else's. But there are other compelling storylines cleared for landing.

My favorites:

Can Rory McIlroy win the tournament a year after he shot 80 to blow a four-stroke, final-round lead? And is it true that guests now ask their Augusta National caddies to point out exactly where McIlroy nearly pull-jerked his drive into a cabin sitting room wayyyyy off the No. 10 fairway?

Can world No. 1 Luke Donald finally win a major?

Can Phil Mickelson win his fourth green jacket?

Can the highest-ranked American, Hunter Mahan (No. 4 in the world rankings), do a Kentucky and dominate?

Can defending champion Charl Schwartzel get recognized by anyone?

Can Johnson Wagner hide a pimento and cheese sandwich behind his mustache?

These are the Masters story plots. Or actually, the subplots. You-know-who still gets the star treatment.

"Obviously Tiger is always the guy that pushes the needle the most," Donald said.

And this from Lefty: "I think it's huge for him and I think he's going to have a great week because he's obviously been playing well. And to have won heading in I think gives him a lot of confidence. Sucks for us, but ..."

When he tees off at 10:35 a.m. ET Thursday, Woods will do so as a four-time Masters champion, as a resurgent player trending in the right direction and as a 4-1 favorite to win this week. But that same Woods hasn't won a major since 2008 and hasn't won here since 2005. That also doesn't seem possible, until you look at his medical chart.

Woods has been stuck at the 14 career major victories stoplight for way too long. He remains four behind Jack Nicklaus in career majors wins but only one behind the "Golden Bear" when it comes to career PGA Tour victories. A win here this week would tie him with Nicklaus' 73.

"I'd like the green jacket more," Woods said.

That's because Woods has always been about the entrees, not the appetizers. The FedEx Cup? Woods cares more about his club grips being clean. The world rankings? Yawn. His recent win at the Arnold Palmer Invitational? Fun. Reaffirming. But not a life-changer.

Get all the latest news, highlights and commentary about the world's most talked-about golfer on ESPN.com.Tiger Tracker

Woods' golf body clock starts now. Here. On that No. 1 tee box come Thursday.

His swing finally has a coat of polished wax on it. He's hitting it farther, and more often than not, the ball does what his swing tells it to do.

He's putting much better. His iron game is better. His blah, blah, blah -- shot trajectory, distance control, etc. -- is better.

"This year you can see the numbers," Woods said.

And the numbers say Woods is on the verge of being Tiger again. He's taken his game from the practice range, to the practice round, to a round in which they keep score for money. One good round has become two, then three, then four. Four good rounds became a win at Bay Hill.

Woods finished tied for fourth here the past two years. He did it despite his swing being in the repair shop. Instead, Woods depended on his vast knowledge of the place.

He told a lovely, long, winding anecdote Tuesday about playing a practice round in 1995 with Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer. Woods was an amateur back then with no walking-around money in his pocket.

"How about a little skins game today?" Palmer said before they teed off.

"Well," Tiger said, "I don't have any cash."

"Don't worry about it," Palmer said. "Just play hard."

Woods played hard, but he also questioned hard. He picked the local knowledge of Nicklaus and Palmer until their ears hurt.

"I'm trying to gain as much intel as I possibly can," Woods said. "And I'm asking them on every hole: 'What do you do here? What do you do here? What do you do here?'"

And Nicklaus and Palmer gave up every secret they knew. That's the Masters protocol.

Woods did it Tuesday. He played nine holes with Sean O'Hair, and Woods shared strategy intel on when and where to fire at a flag, where to miss on a shot. O'Hair asked for another nine-hole tutorial Wednesday.

"I think it's just the role of being here -- one as a champion and being here a number of years is that you pass knowledge on," Woods said. "It's not something that we hold and are going to keep sacred. We pass it on from one generation to the next. That's what we do."

There's another Masters tradition Woods wouldn't mind being a part of early Sunday evening. It would involve Schwartzel helping the newest champion slip on a green jacket.

Woods wants to be that guy. He wants to win the majors, not the minors. Because above all else, that's what he does.

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Golf's Social Network

Golf's "Social Network"

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

 

Time was--and it wasn't that long ago--when the marketing of golf equipment focused almost entirely on the technology of a product. In the early 1990s when that master marketer Ely Callaway started pushing his innovative new clubs, he even was often accompanied by an animated version of arguably the most important scientist of all time, Sir Isaac Newton. 

Today, however, while research and development is the largest line item in most major golf equipment companies annual budgets, the marketing of those products seems to be less about physics and engineering and materials science than it is about brand affinity. It is more about building a community of true believers than engaging in Pepsi Challenge-like technology battles. It is also about less-traditional approaches to advertising in less-traditional golf places. Last year, TaylorMade bought space on a foul pole at San Diego's PetCo Park, home of the Padres, to tout its then-new R11 driver, while Callaway was offering club fittings last weekend at the famed Saks Fifth Avenue in New York as part of a Men's Luxury Weekend that also included master tailors, cigar rolling demonstrations and a straight-edge shaving experience.

The new idea--for golf anyway--is to pursue guerilla marketing, the off-the-grid approach to building company or even product awareness. And it has very little to do with logos on shirt sleeves at PGA Tour events. Instead, you need to think differently. It's about Facebook pages and Twitter accounts, much more than spring-like effect and moment of inertia. Golf's top three brands each have more than 40,000 followers on Twitter: TaylorMade (51,847), Callaway (42,797) and Titleist (56,195). But Nike dwarfs them all with more than 436,000 followers. 

But while Facebook and Twitter and other forms of social media are almost a requirement today, there are increasingly more extreme examples popping up. Here are a few of the latest non-traditional marketing efforts coming your way:

Acushnet, who is no stranger to off-the-grid marketing ideas (FootJoy's Sign Boy and Titleist using John Cleese to portray a golf purist named Ian MacCallister, for example) recently conducted an online sweepstakes asking for what phrases should be engraved into Scott Stallings new wedges being made for his use at the Masters. The company polled Team Titleist, an online community of nearly 200,000 Titleist followers who share stories, hold internet chats on their favorite Titleist players and their equipment and pre-test products being developed (including Titleist's latest line of four new balls). More than 1,700 ideas were submitted in the Stallings sweepstakes.

Callaway, which debuted a glitzy, high-production-cost television ad campaign set at night in Las Vegas with many of its top players to launch its newest products this year, is going decidedly low-budget in a series of YouTube videos featuring Phil Mickelson's long-time caddie Jim "Bones" Mackay. The clips have a decidedly ESPN SportsCenter ad campaign feel to them.

TaylorMade CEO and President Mark King will appear on the CBS reality television program "Undercover Boss" on the Friday of Masters week. It is the first time a sporting goods manufacturer, let alone a golf company has been on the program.

What's it all mean? Does it mean technology doesn't sell golf equipment anymore? Or is this just a new way of identifying and growing the pyramid of influence that golf companies have talked about for years? Might it not be possible that in a social media/tech savvy world, golf's new pyramid of influence isn't only the top players in the world or the best golfers at the club, but the ones who are plugged in to your brand both on course and perhaps even more importantly online?

Read More http://www.golfdigest.com/golf-equipment/blogs/hotlist365/2012/03/golfs-social-network.html#ixzz1qzqkHh6J

Balance is the Key to Success

Maintaining balance is often discussed as a key to making a good golf swing, but what you rarely hear about is proprioception. What is it? In short, it's your ability to know where your limbs are without looking. If you can type without looking at your hands, if you can run without looking at your feet, then you have functional proprioception. 
 
I used the word "functional" because, unlike balance, which comes from fluids in the inner ear and is involuntary, you can increase your proprioception through training. It might seem like it's a subconscious activity because you have become so good at it. But what you might not know is that you can improve your proprioception and, in turn, improve your golf swing.
 
I spoke with Tiger Woods' swing coach Sean Foley about this subject the other day. He's a big believer in becoming a better player through footwork. When you swing the club, you probably give little, if any, thought to what your feet are doing. But many of the game's best players and 

teachers will tell you footwork is very important in hitting solid shots. It's the reason Sam Snead famously practiced in his bare feet, Foley says, or why Jack Grout told a young Jack Nicklaus to "roll your ankles."

You might think that since you're able to walk, run, jump without looking at your feet, they'll just come along for the ride when you swing the club. Truth is, they will. But if you spend some time training your feet, you can make your golf swing better.

One of the best ways to do this in the gym is to perform exercises on one leg or with your eyes closed. Safety, of course, should be your primary concern, so don't start lifting heavy weights blindfolded. But when you do one-legged exercises and/or movements with your eyes closed, focus on what you're feet are doing to control your body. This awareness will transfer when you play golf, and you'll begin to understand how your feet control your swing.

Roger Schiffman
Managing Editor
Golf Digest

Tiger Makes a Statement

Tiger can thank his improved putting as a key to his win at Bay Hill, and potentially a springboard to more victories in 2012. In the final round alone, he made putts of 14 feet on No. 4, four feet on 8, seven feet on 11, eight feet on 14, 12 feet on 15 and four feet, seven inches on 17. As simple as Sean's tweak to Tiger's setup was, having your shoulder's square at address can be quite important. If we watch golf on TV for one afternoon, it isn't difficult to see how many different putting styles can get the job done. (Take a look here at the winning putting styles of 2011.) Most good putters on tour try to set up with their shoulders square at address. Here are few thoughts on putting alignment:

Everything square isn't a must
There are many great putters who set up up with their feet open at address. Brad Faxon is a prime example. There are fewer players who set up closed to their target line (pointed to the right for a right-handed golfer). South African Bobby Locke is the first player most instructors think of. Locke would aim to the right, and pull-hook his putts back on line. While it certainly worked for Locke, being closed at address is typically a tougher way to putt. Check the video below from 2010. While Tiger practices his one-handed drill with the putterhead between two tees, note his shoulders seem slightly open at address. Also, the putts he misses miss to the left. Also note that, until this past week, he hasn't putted consistently well since he won the BMW in 2009.


Shoulders trump feet
The shoulders have a far greater effect on your putting stroke than your feet do. Even on Tiger's drill in the video, some of the putts he hits are with his feet aligned well left. Shoulder alignment, however, affects the forearms, and forearm alignment greatly influences the path your putter will take. Open shoulders will lead to more of a "slice" stroke, while closed shoulders typically cause the putter to track too far to the inside in the backstroke, leading to pushes and a "hook" stroke. For a quick check-up, simply set up to a ball in front of a mirror, as if you're putting directly toward the mirror. Without changing your posture, swivel your head toward the mirror to check your shoulder alignment. If your shoulders are square and your forearms aligned, you'll only see one arm (your lead arm).

Use your full swing as a clue to fix your putting
There are few absolutes in golf, but I often see the same patterns throughout a player's game. If you tend to set up open at address to your driver, slice your fairway woods and take the club too far to the outside on your pitch shots, it's unlikely you'd have a "hook" putting stroke. In watching Tiger's pre-shot routine on full swings, he makes many rehearsals that exaggerate a cut. He and Foley have worked hard on avoiding hooking the ball, and the outside-in practice swings Tiger makes are evidence of that. Maybe all the "anti-left" practice Tiger has been doing crept it's way into his putting setup. But it sure seems that Foley has Tiger "squared" up for now.

Read More http://www.golfdigest.com/golf-instruction/blogs/theinstructionblog#ixzz1qFmBEN2C

Supinate Your Wrists Like the Best

The more I study the instructional thoughts from the great players and teachers of the past, the more I realize that the principles they espoused are just as valid today as they were then. For example, take the idea of supination and pronation that Ben Hogan spoke about so clearly and precisely. 

In his book Five Lessons: The Modern Fundamentals of Golf, Hogan said: "There is one position of such signal importance that it warrants closeup study. This is the position of the left wrist and hand at the actual moment of impact. [The publisher printed the following words in all caps, but I'll put them in bold so they are easier to read here./RS] 

"At impact the back of the left hand faces toward your target. The wrist bone is definitely raised. It points to the target and, at the moment the ball is contacted, it is out in front, nearer to the target than any part of the hand.  

"When the left wrist is in this position, the left hand will not check or interrupt the speed with which your clubhead is traveling. There's no danger either that the right hand will overpower the left and twist the club over. It can't. As far as applying power goes, I wish that I had three right hands!

"Every good golfer has his left wrist in this supinating position at impact. Every poor golfer does the exact reverse. As his club comes into the ball, he starts to pronate the left wrist--to turn it so that the palm will be facing down."

In other words, Hogan did not want your arms and wrists pronating on the downswing. (Pronate only on the backswing.) He wanted your arms and wrists to turn counterclockwise (to your left as you're looking at the ball) into and through impact, but in a way that your left wrist was slightly bowed and your right wrist bent backward at the moment of truth. This is the classic impact position you see in the small circular image on the cover of the Five Lessons book shown above, as well as on the cover page inside. The result will be a more powerful strike because you are delofting the club through impact while turning the clubface from open to closed, which also creates extra clubhead speed coming into the ball. 

It's why really good players--and all tour pros--make that classic ball-then-turf contact resulting in a more penetrating ball-flight. Less-skilled golfers often turn their arms and wrists in the opposite direction--clockwise (to your right as you're looking at the ball) through impact, which cups the left wrist and adds loft to the club. This results in a weak slice and a softer ball flight. As Hogan said, "At the very point in the swing in which [the golfer] should be increasing the speed of his hands, by pronating he slows them down."

So if you want to improve your ball flight and hit your shots farther with more consistency, take a tip from Ben Hogan and supinate your arms and wrists through impact. You might want to combine this move with some gym work with light weights to be sure your arms and wrists are strong so you don't injure yourself. Click here for a Fitness Friday how-to video. 

And for more classic images of Ben Hogan swinging the club, click here.

All credit for this post goes to:

Roger Schiffman
Managing Editor
Golf Digest