Doh! Golfs very own Peter Jacobsen has Simpsons Ties Growing up with Matt Groening must have been a riot here is what he had to say

“We went through school together, first grade through 12th. Matt’s nickname was Matt the Brat, which morphed into Bart. His father’s name was Homer, and his mother is Margaret, and that became Marge. He would draw pictures of Bart on the back of his homework, and I would draw golf course layouts on mine. When we see each other, we laugh at how we turned out.”

Tiger Woods Hits woman in the head!

Tiger Woods had a rough weekend at the British Open, and so too did Jennifer Wilson, the 63-year-old fan who required two stitches to her bloodied head after she was beaned by one of his wayward shots.

Her injury highlighted the perennial challenge faced by those who oversee golf and other big-time spectator sports — finding the proper balance between fans’ proximity to the action and their safety.

Nicklaus named Sluman assistant captain for the presidents cup

Jeff Sluman is going to be assistant to the U.S. captain, Jack Nicklaus in the Presidents Cup, set for Sept. 27-30 at the Royal Montreal.

Sluman, the longtime PGA Tour competitor who won the 1988 PGA Championship, played on the 1998 team and also assisted Nicklaus in 2003 and 2005.

“I’ve enjoyed working with Jeff and it only feels right to have him as part of the team again as we head to Montreal,” Nicklaus said Wednesday….

What is the backswing for?

How many golfers, I wonder, have ever asked themselves that question? They know all the things they are supposed to do to make a good backswing — “head still,” “shoulders turned 90 degrees, hips turned 45 degrees,” “left arm straight,” “right elbow tucked in,” “transfer the weight,” and so on. But have they ever stopped to ask themselves just what it’s all for: what is the real purpose of the golf backswing?

In case you haven’t, I want now to tell you.

The backswing has two purposes. One, the obvious one, is to provide power through the wind-up, or torque-like action, of the body. Its second purpose — perhaps less evident, nearly as important — is a matter of simple geometry, of two vital angles — swing plane and club direction. Assuming you have a grip that returns the face of the club correctly, golf would be a simple game if you could always get these two angles correct.

Theoretically, of course, the ideal swing plane would be vertical — the ultimate in upright swings — because this would eliminate any divergence of the clubhead from the target line. Unfortunately, such a swing is anatomically impossible. Even if it were possible, it would create problems in another dimension — the angle of the clubhead’s approach to the ball. Too upright a swing produces too sharp an angle of attack of the club on the ball, creating a weak glancing blow — a “choppy” action.

Thus, since we are endeavoring to propel the ball forward, the ideal plane for the clubhead to travel is a happy medium roughly half-way between vertical (totally upright) and horizontal (totally flat). This is the plane on which most of the world’s best golfers swing the club — certainly through impact.

Now, let’s look at plane in terms of your game. The plane on which you swing is established chiefly by your address position. As you stand to the ball comfortably and squarely, neither cramped nor reaching, your left arm and club form a more-or-less continuous straight line. The angle of that line relative to the vertical is the “ideal” plane on which to swing the club up and down with your arms.

What you are aiming to do, in golfing terms, is to shift your right side out of the way in the back-swing and your left side out of the way on the throughswing, so that at the moment of impact the club is being swung freely by your arms with the clubhead moving straight through the ball, along the target line. To do this a golfer of shortish stature will normally have to stand fairly well away from the ball, and will naturally turn his body on a fairly flat plane — at a fairly rotary angle, as do, for example, Ben Hogan and Lee Trevino. A tall golfer, on the other hand, usually needs to stand nearer to the ball, and will naturally tilt his body on a more upright plane — less “round himself” and more “underneath himself” like Jack Nicklaus and George Archer.

The shoulders, of course, must also turn on some kind of plane. Should the shoulder-turn plane match the arm-swing plane? Despite what you may have heard or read, or thought to have seen in good golfers, the answer is no. The shoulders should always turn on a more horizontal — flatter — plane than the plane of the arm-club swing: (a) to allow the club to reach a top-of-the-backswing position from where it can be swung down to the ball; and (b) to give the arms room to do that swinging. Attempting to “marry” the arm-and-club swing plane too closely to the shoulder-turn plane tends to create excess body action, which inhibits the arm swing and thus reduces clubhead speed.

To read part one please click here

Next you add your right hand to your grip, by bringing it onto the shaft as close as is comfortably possible to your left hand, in such a way that the palm is pretty much parallel to the palm of your left hand. You should find that the shaft nestles down snugly into the roots of the fingers of your right hand, and that you are gripping the club predominantly with the second and third fingers of this hand. Next, check that your right thumb is slightly on the left side of the shaft; that your left thumb snuggles cosily against the palm of your right hand; and that your right forefinger is “triggered” easily around the shaft.

If it helps to make your hands more of a single unit, wrap the little finger of your right hand around the forefinger of your left (called the overlapping grip); or slip it between the forefinger and second finger of your left hand (called the interlocking grip). Finally, check that the “V” formed by the thumb and forefinger of your right hand points roughly to the same spot as the left hand “V”. This will ensure that your palms are pretty well parallel, which will greatly facilitate your hands working smoothly together as a single unit.

That, then, is the basic golf grip. For the majority of golfers it is, with minor modifications, the way of holding the golf club that will most effectively allow them to return the clubface square to the ball at speed.

But there are those for whom such a grip pattern will not work. Because of age, unusual muscular strength or weakness, flexibility or playing frequency, this “orthodox” grip will not automatically swing the clubface through the ball looking in the same direction as the club is moving. It will either be open or closed to the swing line, causing sliced or hooked shots. Whenever this happens, the golfer must experiment intelligently within the above framework, to find the modification he personally needs to square his clubface to his swing line.

If he is a chronic sheer, almost certainly he will need to reposition his grip, little by little, until he is at least sure that, whatever other faults he possesses, the clubface is not open to the swing line when it meets the ball. This involves positioning both hands, as a unit, more to the right — so that the “Vs” point to the outside of the right shoulder at address, with maybe three knuckles of the left hand showing.

If he is a hooker — the strong golfer’s fault — he will most probably need to adopt more the type of hold on the club used by the majority of top professionals, who spend their lives controlling a tendency to hook shots.

This involves the exact opposite of the sheer’s modification, i.e., gradually positioning both hands more to the left, so that the “Vs” point, say, to the right eye, and only one or maybe one-and-a-half knuckles are visible.

That’s really all there is to be said about the golf grip. It isn’t complicated — it’s just vital that you go out and work and think and experiment to find your correct grip within the framework I’ve explained to achieve the objective I’ve stated. When you have done that, you have mastered 50 per cent of striking the ball well. And if you can add a good set-up to an effective grip, you’ll have mastered 90 per cent.

Here are the golf blogs that I have been reading the last few days! Subscribe to our online golf tips and advice Feed and find out where we are learning more about playing a better golf game.

Tiger woods loses his cool after driving the ball clear onto the hole running parallel. a very loud F*c% could be heard a thousand yards. Watch the video clip of Tiger Woods as he just can’t help himself on international TV that Tony Korologos has posted

Learn how to regain some of your flexibility and really improve your golf swing with his great golf podcast from Worldgolf.com check out the beginners golf series hosted by Stacy and Barry. Download it to your Ipod and listed to it while on the way to the driving range or your favorite golf course

Irish Eyes Are Smiling as Padraig Harrington Excitingly Wins the 2007 Open Championship after Play-Off with Sergio Garcia at Carnoustie Links.Read about this great accomplisment for the Irish as the first Irisman in 60 years has won the Open

James Conley

The golfer with an effective short game, the man or woman who can consistently lay those little pitch and chip shots close enough to the hole for a single putt, really does have a tremendous advantage. Confidence in one’s short game gives a tremendous edge at all levels of competition.

The sad thing is that so few people command a sound short game when, whatever their standard with the long shots, it is well within their reach. Here is the area of the game where the fellow who booms the ball 300 yards off the tee is pulled back to equal terms with the chap who can never manage more than 170 yards. This is the department of golf that calls for nothing more than good mental imagery and “touch”.

The techniques for pitching and chipping are simple, but first let’s see the imagery factor. You should never play a short shot until you have a clear mental picture of how you want the ball to behave. This really is the secret of a strong short game. Until you decide how far and high the ball should fly, where it should land and how much it should roll, you cannot select the right club for the job. And what prevents so many people from developing a good short game is their illogical use of the same favorite club for every shot. There is no way that one club will get the ball close to the hole in every situation when you miss a green.

By using the wrong club for the particular shot at hand, you introduce a needless variable. If you choose a club with too much loft for a little chip from the fringe, in some way you will have to de-loft it during the stroke. Conversely, if you choose a too-straight-faced club, there will be a tendency to scoop at the ball to get it into the air. Selection of the correct club will allow you to play the same, simple stroke under all circumstances, with the club’s loft automatically governing flight and roll.

Watch the extreme care with which the pros think out and plan these little shots in tournaments and you will get an idea of how important it is to “picture” the shot, then select the club that will match the picture.

For a man like Ben Hogan, knowing what he is doing when he swings a golf club may well involve consciousness of the workings of a dozen different parts of the body, all welded together in a composite “feel”. For Sam Snead it might be largely an instinctive, natural “feel”. For the majority of golfers, the right way is somewhere between these two extremes. And the easiest manner in which they can focus their knowledge and swing ability is by the use of key thoughts, or gimmicks.

Before any important round you must always hit a few balls in order to loosen your muscles, and to decide upon your “swing thought” for the day. Every good player follows this policy. (Joe Carr, the great Irish amateur, even used to write things like “Turn, you fool!” on his golf glove, where he could see it at address.) No matter how much in practice you may be or how “grooved” your action, the “feel”, timing and “shape” of your swing will alter fractionally from day to day — even from round to round. It is vital, therefore, having discovered with a few preliminary shots or swings how your action is working, to decide upon a thought, a gimmick, that will keep it ticking over nicely.

The gimmick itself can take many different forms, depending on your ability and how you are playing at the time. It might be simply to ensure that your set-up — aim and stance — is right; a basic thought, as is the way the hands are gripping the club. It might be keeping your head still. It might be a push away of the club with the left side, or a slight drag back with the hands. You might think of not starting down to the ball until your left shoulder has gone under your chin — a “complete-the-backswing” thought. You might concentrate on starting the downswing by unwinding your hips. The possibilities are endless.

Every player of accomplishment has a personal set of swing thoughts or gimmicks, which he will have discovered and proven effective in practice. If he is a thoughtful golfer, he will have indexed them in his mind in terms of cause and effect — “If I do this, that happens, and if I do that, this happens.” In most cases the modifications will be very small — fine tuning. But such thoughts are vital to keeping a golf game in balance. The great thing is to find gimmicks that enable you to think quite clearly of what you are trying to do.

To derive maximum benefit from such gimmicks a clear understanding is necessary of what kinds of actions produce what kinds of shots, which is why the ambitious player must thoroughly understand the “ballistics” of the game — the flight characteristics of the ball when struck in a particular way.

A very useful thought for the good player is to remember how he finishes the swing when he’s playing well, and to determine to finish that way on every full shot. Often this stops the common tendency — especially under pressure — to hit at the golf ball, rather than swinging the club through the ball.

There are scores of gimmicks of this kind. They all help you to “know what you are trying to do.”

Golf injury prevention means focusing on conditioning for golf,
good golf swing mechanics, and the right golf equipment choice.

Mentioning the words golf injury may bring to mind a picture of
someone getting hit in the head with a golf ball. Not surprisingly
there have been studies of just this sort of golf injury that utilize
crash dummies with specialized load cells
to determine the extent of an injury from a flying golf ball, however,
these studies do not address the real risk to golfers. The fact is that
the chances that a golfer will be struck by a ball or club are so small
that golf injuries do not make any of the published lists of sports
accidents because they are simply not life threatening.

Rather than suffering dramatic head injuries, the reality is that
most common golf injuries occur to the soft tissues: muscles,
ligaments, and tendons, and joints of the upper body: the back, elbow,
wrist and shoulder. The top reasons for golf injuries include:

Read more at engineering-views.com

When You Consistently Miss Your Putts

You are on the green, there is a great opportunity to finish the hole in perfectly by sinking that first putt. For newcomers, however, your dreaming, unless the ball is sitting within a few feet of the hole. Some of the pros, like Tiger Woods, sink an occasional long putt to the enjoyment of onlooking crowds.
One of the secrets to a good putt and getting the ball in the hole is keeping your eyes over top of the ball. If you don’t focus on your target, you risk the chance of sending the ball to the left or right of the hole. One simpe test to make sure your eyes are over your ball, is to assume your putting stance, then take a second ball and drop it from your eyes down to the ball in front of you. It should land squarely on your putting ball at your feet.

For more secrets of golf be sure to read our secret guide to winning the game of golf

If clubface alignment at impact is golf’s critical “geometrical” factor, then how the golfer holds his club — and thus controls this alignment — is the supreme factor determining the success or failure of his shots.

Much as many golfers would like to be able to ignore this fact, it is inescapable. The old saw, that you never see a good golfer with a bad grip or a bad golfer with a good grip, is pretty true. Whether you are a beginner or a seasoned player seeking improvement, finding a grip that naturally returns the clubface square to your swing line is your absolute first priority; your inescapable starting point. If you are an established golfer, but feel you have never reached your full potential at the game, it is a 5-to-l chance that your grip is at the root of your problems.

The majority of golfers never develop a proper grip. Quite naturally, they want to get on with hitting the ball. They regard the way they hold the club as a minor and relatively boring aspect of the game, compared to the fascinating technical intricacies of the swing itself. Even if they do make an effort to develop a correct grip, few persevere because any change feels so uncomfortable at first. I hate to preach, but this is a cart-before-horse approach that will always limit you as a golfer. If you want to play golf to the maximum of your potential, you must develop a correct grip.

What is a correct grip?

First, I want you to forget anything you have read or heard that suggests that there is one, and only one, way to hold a golf club. Everybody has a correct grip, but finding it is not a matter of arranging the hands on the club in a standard position, as so many websites suggest. It is a matter of finding the grip that enables you (not Jack Nicklaus nor Tom Watson nor Seve Ballesteros) to face your club in the direction you are swinging it at impact, while swinging at speed.

At the risk of laboring the point, I repeat: it is to make this possible — and only this — that the golf club is held in a particular way.

Down the long history of golf, a certain pattern of placing the hands and fingers on the club has been found to make returning the clubhead square to the swing line at speed easiest for the greatest number of people. Let’s look at this basic system first, then at the variations you may need to adopt to suit your own physical make-up.

To start with, you place the club diagonally in your open left hand, so that it lies in the crook of the first finger and across the palm under the butt of your thumb. Next, you close this hand over the shaft, with the left thumb riding just to the right side of the shaft. If you do this properly, you will find that you are holding the club with your last three fingers pushing it firmly against your palm; and that the “V” formed by the thumb and forefinger is pointing more or less at your right shoulder when you ground the club with its face square to your target. You will also probably find, looking down, that you can see between two and three knuckles of your left hand.

to read part 2 of Your golf grip and how it will improve your game please click here

You should keep your golf clubs from rusting and pitting by getting them out of your car when it starts getting cold (below 40 degrees). The constant up and down of the temperature can lead to condensation on the clubs causing rust damge on the outside and inside of the golf club shaft and golf club head.