The mystery of the rules of golf

“Study the rules so that you won’t beat yourself by not knowing something.” Babe Zaharias

How well do you know the Rules of Golf? We all know that all we need to know (well, almost all) about the rules is contained in a small 4”x6” book that contains 34 rules in 182 pages. How arduous can the task be?

Excluding the Bible no other book has been subject to so much misunderstanding and mystery. Is it one stroke or two? Is it one clublength or two? Do I drop it or place it? Do I drop it here? Or here?

If you play in any kind of competition, and almost everyone does, knowledge of the rules is paramount. As the above quote by Babe Zaharias states, a limited or non-existent knowledge of the rules can get the better of you.

Today begins a four-day PGA/USGA rules workshop in Scottsdale. This is one of several that are conducted every year around the country. It’s an intensive course covering the entire Rule Book and the Decisions.

We mention this solely because Eye On Golf will be attending and we are excited. We’ll keep you appraised.

Dave Pelz's Damage Control

When we play the game, the game we love so much, yet tortures us unmercifully, we manage (albeit unintentionally) to get our ball into trouble, some of us more than others. No doubt it is a bit disheartening to put the ball into unintended and precarious situations, but the real frustration comes when we are unable to extricate the little white object back to safety. Thus begins the slog toward the green and ultimately a disastrous score for the hole.

Fortunately the solution for that disastrous hole or two that many of us encounter each round may have arrived. Short game guru Dave Pelz has a new offering for our golfing dilemma – Dave Pelz's Damage Control: How to eliminate up to 5 shots per round using all-new, scientifically proven techniques for playing out of trouble lies. (we're going with Damage Control as the title.) It is 328 pages of text, pictures and diagrams on how to escape from trouble after an errant shot has landed you butt-deep in a vexatious situation.

Pelz, as you may know, is a former NASA scientist who turned his statistical and analytical talents to golf. He has written two of the premier instruction books on the short game – the Short Game Bible and the Putting Bible. He has dedicated his life to improving the world's short game through scientific research and an analysis of statistics and has become the short game guru to the stars. Now he has ventured into the realm of helping us get out of trouble.

Are you not familiar with Damage Control? Pelz answers the question in his introduction, “...it's new. We just covered and named it.” Well maybe. But you will learn all you need to know about how to get out of dire straits. And why do we need Damage Control? He argues the following: Should we learn to hit the ball better so we can avoid trouble? No! “The inadequacies in our normal game are the reason we need Damage Control.”

Pelz categorizes the process of Damage Control into five skills – Setupology, Swing Shaping, Hand-Fire Feel, Red-Flag Touch, Damage Control Mentality - and dedicates a detailed and thorough chapter to each one. In typical Pelz style the book is filled with wonderful, full-color photos of situations and techniques. He concludes the volume with a 50-page chapter on drills that will assist you on accomplishing the goal. This chapter alone is worth the price of the book.

Overall I am a big fan Pelz. He has done marvelous research in this area in particular tracking thousands of rounds from the Myrtle Beach World Amateur Championship. The statistical analysis of all these numbers led to his system of Damage Control. If you are truly committed to lowering your score, then a dedicated adherence to this book will certainly be of great assistance. It is not a volume to read through and put back on the shelf. It must be studied and practiced and get dogeared and dirty. I highly recommend this for instructors and low handicappers.

Leftist golf media taking their shots

The times they have changed. (My apologies to Bob Dylan) We have entered an electronic age in which experts on virtually every subject known to mankind are making their sentiments publicly known. Some are kind and gentle and some appear to be kind and gentle but have in reality escaped from the bowels of literary hell.

The world of golf is no exception. The blogosphere is filled with “golf experts” who are unafraid to present their opinions on a particular point of minutia. Golf is a multifaceted game. There are more story lines than stars in the sky. And the most dominate story line in the golf world, especially in the absence of tournaments, has been the Tiger Woods saga. Every writer has weighed in on Tiger’s situation.

Perhaps the most weight has been thrown around by author and golf blogger Geoff Shackelford on his website geoffshackelford.com. In general Shackelford’s website tracks the world of golf and directs patrons to articles of interest usually with a short, snarky comment of his own. In fairness, his website is one of the most popular in the world of golf. He is a pied piper of sorts.

Naturally he has been tracking the saga of Tiger since the day it began – almost all Tiger, almost all the time. Until three or four days ago he has been doing his usual thing. But on January 3 Shackelford decided to open a political can of worms on his blog when he stated, “… in yet another sign this story has hit rock bottom, windbag extraordinaire Brit Hume weighs in on how Tiger can rehab his life and image.” His commentary is emphatically political. Using descriptions “rock bottom” and “windbag extraordinaire” is a dead give away to his political leaning – left.
Talk about hitting rock bottom and being a windbag extraordinaire! Shackelford has duplicated the very faculty he is objecting to. But why should he care. His loyal following is heavily slanted to his opinion. You can check it our for yourself on his website which is living off of the Tiger mess and now the Hume slamming.

And, of course, there had to be more. Windbag extraordinaire Tom Shales, style columnist for the Washington Post, decided to take on Mr. Hume’s comments. The observations of Mr. Shales are, as you might expect, hardly fair and balanced. Of course, Shackelford references the comments of Shales on his website – birds of a feather, if you will.

We can only conclude that the new rock bottom has been hit by Shackelford and Shales.

New Year's resolutions for every golfer

Do you make New Year's resolutions like this fellow on the right? If you do it's okay. Almost everyone does. Problem is everybody makes them and then forty-eight hours later those good intentions are shanked somewhere off into the deep woods on the right. Then it’s “wait ‘til next year” and we’ve got 363 days of freedom. So why bother?

However, making those New Year commitments should be different for golf. I think it’s important that each of us makes one, or perhaps more, golf-related New Year’s resolution. We should determine that we will maintain our golf sanity. So, with the commitment to make a commitment in place, the Eye On Golf staff has diligently compiled a short list to get you started. This list, as they say, is not all inclusive. It is provided for your motivation and guidance.

Now, repeat after me, “I resolve to...”

DO SOMETHING EVERYDAY TO IMPROVE MY GOLF GAME.
Yes, it’s a very broad resolution but very purposeful. Not everyone can get to the golf course or a practice facility every day, but that doesn’t mean you cannot do something everyday to improve. Even if the weather is frightful or your time is limited, you can stretch the muscles and then swing a weighted golf club for 15-20 swings. You’ll be amazed with the results.

WALK NINE HOLES AT LEAST TWICE PER MONTH.
Yes, you read that correctly. The game still can be played on foot. If your favorite golf course does not allow you to walk, go somewhere else. Not only is it great exercise to walk around the course, it will assuredly improve your game. And you can start getting in shape for that now!

READ ONE GOLF-RELATED BOOK PER MONTH.
No other sport lends itself to the production of literature like golf. A multitude of “golf” books are published every year, so you’ll be a long time catching up on your reading. Every category imaginable is available: instruction, biography, course architecture, reference, anthology, etc. You name it, it’s within your reach. If you're not sure where to get started go to Golf Book Review for some ideas. Get away from the magazines and a little into books. You'll be a better golfer and a better person for it.

TAKE A TUNE-UP LESSON BEFORE THE SEASON BEGINS.
If you’re in a location where you have forced hibernation and no golf for a few months, it’s a good idea to get a quick half-hour checkup before you head to the first tee for the first time in the new season. Having a qualified professional check your fundamentals, will bring you a lot more happiness and joy in the New Year and save a lot of aspirin. Shoot, the money you save on pain relievers, will probably pay for the lesson.

There’s just four suggestions to get your golf imagination in gear. And there’s many more. Go for it.

Golf’s best and worst shots of 2009

Golf’s major championships of 2009 certainly provided us with the unusual. It was the year of the spoiler on the PGA Tour. On the LPGA Tour it was a year of the dramatic on the 72nd hole.

Here’s our list of the best and a few of the worst on both tours.

Best Putt: Here we can easily select the 18-foot putt from Eun-Hee Ji to win the U.S. Women’s Open. Needing a birdie to win, Ji calmly stroked the putt dead center for a one stroke victory.

Second Best Putt: Stewart Cink may have thought he was just improving his position in the tournament, but as it turned out his 12-foot putt for birdie on the final hole of the British Open earned him a tie for the championship with Tom Watson when he bogeyed the final hole. A worn out Watson was no match for Cink in the playoff.

Worst Two Putts: All of us who grew up in the Nicklaus and Watson era were on the edge of our seats watching the 2009 British Open. Here was 59-year old Tom Watson about to take the title and tie Harry Vardon with six victories in golf’s oldest major. Unfortunately, Watson’s second to the final hole scooted over the green. Electing to putt from a dodgy lie, he knocked it eight feet past. More unfortunately, he didn’t even come close on the putt to win the title. In the end he was no match for Stewart Cink in the playoff.

Worst Finish: All (“all” is a suspicious word when working under the pressure of a major championship) Kenny Perry had to do was play the final two holes of the 2009 Masters in one over par to slip on the green jacket. Disastrously Perry bogeyed the final two and then lost on the second playoff hole to Angel Cabrera.

Luckiest Shot: How can we forget this? On the first playoff hole at the Masters, the par-4 18th, Angel Cabrera hit his tee shot dead right into the trees. With a swashbuckling, go-for-broke attitude, he fires his next at the green, but the loud “crack” as the ball hits a tree proclaims something has gone amiss. No worries, the ball bounces into the fairway from which point he makes par to tie Kenny Perry. Cabrera wins the Masters on the very next playoff hole, the 10th.
Unluckiest Shot: Hunter Mahan was definitely in the hunt at the 2009 U.S. Open. Needing a birdie on one of the last four holes, Mahan fired his second at the par 4 15th dead at the flagstick – right dead on the flagstick. The ball caromed of the flagstick to about 15 feet from where Mahan made par.

Second Best Shot (A & B): Y.E. Yang wins the A & B award here. Yang became the first man to stare down Tiger on the final nine of a major at the PGA Championship. He gets the A award for his chip-in for eagle on the short par 4 fourteenth. The chip was from a severely sloped lie beside the green. He also receives the B award for his second shot on the 72nd hole, a hybrid to about ten feet. Leading by one at the time he drove the metaphorical nail into Tiger’s coffin.

Absolute Best Shot: No doubt Brittany Lincicome provided the outright most dramatic shot in a major championship in 2009. Trailing by one shot coming to the final hole of the Kraft Nabisco Championship, Lincicome fired a hybrid second shot from 210 yards on the par-5 finishing hole that finished four feet. She made the eagle putt and won by one.

And that's the way it was in 2009.

Nothing Major - the book

Golf is fun - or at least it should be. You hear it all the time, especially from those professionals who attempt to make their living playing the game. “I was just trying to have fun out there,” is the common cliché in an interview. So, if we're all “trying to have fun out there,” the logical progression should be that golf is funny. Well, we certainly know that's the case. Funny stuff happens consistently on a golf course. We might not view it as amusing at the time, but later, upon serious reflection or a visit to the 19th hole, it certainly produces a smile.

But with all these shenanigans happening on the course, very seldom does some golf scribe take time to catalog these amusing incidents. They are too busy analyzing the game attempting to elucidate on the perceived thinking of the great players. The lot of golf books written from the humorous angle is quite slim. Fortunately, we now have a new volume that will surely put a smile on your face and often get you to laugh out loud.

The culprit is Bob Cayne and his monumental work on humor in golf is entitled “...Nothing Major.” Cayne is the former co-host of “Talking Golf,” a weekly radio which he shared with Cleveland Plain Dealer golf writer George Sweda. Cayne has compiled 219 pages of quips and clips from the radio show and his years in golf. The result is an anecdotal walk down the fairways of golf. Virtually every page will have you cracking a smile.

Cayne displays a waggish sense of humor and his writing style is what definitely adds to the fun of the book. His clever use of metaphors and similes adds greatly to the humor of the book.
You'll want to read (and perhaps re-read) the complete volume, but here's an appetizer of what's in store. Be sure to read the chapter entitle “I'm 74 Years Old, or Two Over Par.” It'll give you a finer appreciation for senior golfers.

I also found this book to be “educational.” In the chapter “The Laughs Are On Me” you'll discover why golf should be taught from the green backwards. And finally, as part of the educational process, you'll discover why golf equipment and personal grooming products are marketed the same way.

If you love golf and like to laugh a little bit at the game and the antics that go on around the game, “...Nothing Major.” is a must for your library.

Golf books make the perfect last minute Christmas gifts

In case you haven’t looked at the calendar, there are but four shopping days left until Christmas. And in case you have yet to select a gift for the golfer in your life, permit us to provide a few literary suggestions for your last minute shopping. We’ve placed these into categories if it happens that your golfer is selective in his or her golf reading.

HISTORY: The top selection in this category and for the season is easy - Sports Illustrated’s The Golf Book. You can read our review here, but suffice it to say that this book will please any golfer. It’s a perfect blend of everything golf – completely and totally loaded with stunning pictures and informative text by many of SI’s writers.

INSTRUCTION: The best is still Harvey Penick’s Little Red Book. Penick was a lifetime teacher of the game and his wisdom is priceless. If you want a glimpse of what he taught Crenshaw and Kite, get the Little Red Book. Teach Yourself Visually Golf is an excellent volume for learning the game. It was published in 2007 by Wiley Press. It is straightforward presentation on the game. It’s colorful with lots of how-to pictures. For a more in depth examination of the mental side go for Tom Dorsel’s Golf: The Mental Game. Dr. Dorsel presents a practical, yet non-clinical approach to our mental game on the course. His approach is heavily tilted to the practical side with barely a hint of psychobabble.

RULES: My favorite books dealing with the Rules of Golf are not volumes that attempt to explain the rules but rather present intriguing theory and/or history on the rules. The Principles Behind the Rules of Golf by Richard S. Tufts presents the two guiding principles of the rules and demonstrates how all other rules emanate from them. This one may be a little hard to find, but it will satisfy the golfer’s curiosity about the rules. The Rules of the Green by Kenneth G. Chapman is a scholarly work on the history of the rules that will not induce the slightest bit of insomnia. Chapman takes us on a historical journey from a time before the first written code in 1744 up to the present day carefully providing the logic behind the evolution of the rules. Can I Get a Ruling? by Dave Marrandette – Although this is self-serving, I would be remiss if I did not recommend by own volume on the rules. This book is historical in the sense that it presents a time capsule of actual rule incidents presented in categorical fashion.

GOLF COURSES: For a whimsical journey to fantasy courses we suggest David Barrett’s new volume Golf’s Dream 18s. Golf's Dream 18s is a collection of fantasy courses, 18 to be exact, that teases the golfer's mind and pleases his visual senses. You might also try Secrets of the Great Golf Course Architects. This compilation was put together by radio host and author Michael Patrick Shiels. The “Secrets” are short, pithy tales from the lives of 118 golf course architects.

ANTHOLOGY: Every sports fan has heard of Dan Jenkins. This year Jenkins published a fun volume appropriately titled Jenkins at the Majors: Sixty years of the World's best golf writing, from Hogan to Tiger. It is collection and re-editing of his essays and press room work from 1951 to 2008. The bottom line on this book is quite simple: If you are a golf fan and have even the slightest interest in the history of the game, you need to read Jenkins at the Majors. It is a massive history lesson presented with the Jenkins' flavor.

HUMOR: While literary humor in the world of golf is in short supply former radio golf talk show host Bob Cayne published a work this year entitled Nothing Major. It’s a collection of amusing golf stories and essays that will have you laughing out loud. We have not review this yet (it’s coming soon), but trust us on this one. You can get it at http://www.nothingmajor.net/.

Happy last minute golf shopping.