Category: Golf

East Lake Greens a Mess

It was just announced that the greens at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, Georgia where the Tour Championship is to be held next week are so severely damaged that the pro-am tournament scheduled for Wednesday was canceled and the players are not allowed to practice on the greens prior to the start of play on Thursday.

That sounds absurd. It reminds me of high school golf when we were lucky to have time to hit range balls in the morning before our tournaments. Many of the players who will make it to the Tour Championship will have been there before, and will be somewhat familiar with the course. Still, a practice round is always helpful to get acclimated to a course.

FedEx Cup: Projected Standings

The FedEx Cup is the new end-of-season playoff for the PGA Tour. It is comprised of the last four events of the year and the field is reduced after the second event to 70 players and again after the third event to 30 players for the final event, the Tour Championship. Throughout the season players accumulate points, which are used to establish the rankings for the final four-event playoff series. At the start of the four-event series the points are reset, presumably so that the race is competitive. Woods, who had a large lead before the playoff events commenced, was set to 100,000 points. Second place was set to 99,000 points. A mere 1000 points separating the leaders is insignificant considering that the winning share of points for any of the play-off events is about 9000 points.

What has made the new system especially compelling and more user-friendly are the frequently updated “projected standings.” Instead of waiting until each of the individual playoff tournaments conclude to update the point standing, the online scoreboard and the TV commentators provide updates hole by hole. The projected standings change frequently, but that only lends to the excitement.

High Output for Woods

One of the most impressive statistics in golf is that Tiger Woods has led the PGA Tour World Money List seven of the last ten years by playing fewer events than the runner up in every year except 1999. In other words, he’s winning more money than any other professional golfer while playing in fewer tournaments. In some years, he’s playing in as many as nine fewer tournaments. And this year, while not yet over, Woods leads the money list having played in just fifteen tournaments and will likely finish at the top having played in 17 tournaments to the runner-ups 22 events.

As a side note, this year Woods total of 17 events will be the fewest number of tournaments he has played during a full season since joining the PGA Tour in 1996.

The point where this graph jumps above $6 Million is 1999, the year the World Golf Championship events were introduced. Big money. Greg Norman campaigned for world events similar to the WGC for years. I’m not sure it would have ever happened if Woods had not joined the tour. It’s not a coincidence that the leading money winner now earns in excess of five times what they earned ten years ago.

(Woods was the money leader in the years the points coincide.)

Here, we see that no one has won the money list by playing in fewer tournaments than Woods.

(Woods was the money leader in the years the points coincide.)

Range Notes: Practicing in the Wind

The range I use only has one end, which means sometimes I have to hit into a headwind. This is undesirable because it exaggerates the spin on the ball and it can upset your swing tempo.

If I was practicing on a range that was two ended, I would simply go to the far end so that I was hitting downwind. That wasn’t an option today, so I chose to dedicate most of my range time to hitting controlled half-swing draw shots, a.k.a. punch shots.

I had two goals in mind while practicing:

1. Keep a smooth tempo, which will preserve my full swing for a calm day.
2. Take half swings to keep the ball low and in control.

There is a tendency to swing hard when the wind blows. This only exaggerates the effect of the wind on the ball. Swinging hard translates into more spin, which leads to more ball movement. What would be a slight fade or draw on a calm day turns into a slice or hook on a windy day if you swing hard. You also risk up-shooting into the wind and coming up well short of your target.

Instead, practice making half-swings to control your ball flight. A draw will penetrate the wind best and offer the most control. If you are able to take easy half-swings I think you’ll be surprised at how much distance you attain with minimal effort.

(Even on calm days this half-swing can be a valuable tool to have to escape from the tree trouble or to run the ball to a back hole location.)

PGA Tour Pension Plan

Tiger Woods could have a pension in excess of $1 Billion waiting for him when he turns 60 if he keeps winning at his current pace. The PGA Tour pension plan is performance-based and with the recent addition of the FedEx Cup playoff and the $10 Million annuity that comes with it, the power of compound interest is on the players’ side. Especially for Woods. (Link via Kottke.org)

Question: Hoof it or Stay Home?

Is visiting a professional golf tournament worth the hassle?

Reasons to hoof it to the tournament:

  1. Tee shots – The trajectory of some of the pro’s tee shots is amazing to watch. The best place to appreciate this is from behind the tee box. You’ll be able to see the ball’s flight and curve.
  2. Eavesdropping – Overhearing the player-player and player-caddie banter offers a bit of an insight into to how fun it must be to play professional golf for a living.
  3. The Clubs – Being at the tournament is the best place to see the prototype tour only clubs up close.
  4. The Course – Seeing the undulations in the greens and the elevation changes on the entire course can lend an entirely new perspective to a golf tournament. And even if you don’t make it back the next year, you’ll have a better appreciation for the difficulty of some of the shots the pros are facing.

Reasons to be a couch potato:

  1. Better View – It’s much easier to follow the tournament when you’re at home. Being at the course can be disorienting and frustrating.
  2. The Commentary – While you may overhear the players and caddies talking if you visit the tournament, you’ll miss the cheesy comments of your favorite TV golf announcer.
  3. Seeing Good Shots – Being at a golf tournament is like reading a fraction of 72 different books in one day. You never get the beginning, middle and end. Seeing the tee shot, ball flight, and landing is unique to watching on TV.

Would you rather go to a tournament or watch from home?

Congrats, Lefty!

Phil Mickelson won the Deutsche Bank Championship at the TPC Boston by out-dueling Tiger Woods, Brett Wetterich, and Aaron Oberholser. The Monday finish was a unique holiday flare that highlighted the FedEx Cup, the PGA Tour’s new season ending playoff.

After two weeks, Phil Mickelson is now leading FedEx Cup points with 108,613. Steve Stricker and Tiger Woods are second and third. Next week’s BMW Championship at Cog Hill in Chicago, IL will host the top seventy players according to the FedEx Cup standings. And the week after that The Tour Championship in Atlanta, GA will produce the winner of the playoffs from a 30-man field.

The FedEx Cup is proving to be more exciting that expected. The big name players have stepped up, with the exception of Tiger Woods skipping the first event. Today’s duel between Tiger and Phil went a long way towards validating the new format – and we’re only halfway through. As golf fans become more accustomed to the FedEx Cup points system, it will gain more followers. While the Cup doesn’t have the thrill of single elimination match play, the fact that there is a $10 million annuity for the FedEx Cup points winner is bigger than any one of the $7 million purses for the individual tournaments.