Life Time Fitness : Blog List - Golf

Avoid the ‘End of Golf Season Blues:’ Keep playing in the fall

gfelder@lifetimefitness.com — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 20:07:11 GMT

As the temps begin to lower in most parts of the country and the color of the tree leaves starts to change, many golfers are quick to pack away the golf clubs for the season.

Maybe it’s because they think they can only golf when they can get a sunburned neck. Or maybe they feel they can’t play their best game unless wearing some khaki shorts and sunglasses. Or just maybe they feel that their game has tanked so much over the summer that it is time to call it quits (maybe for the year, maybe for life).

Whatever the reason, many golfers bid their local course adieu before fall, the time of year that many players call the “low shoulder of the golf season.”

But that shouldn’t be you. Instead, you should keep playing in the autumn months to take advantage of the cheaper greens fees, great course conditions and a chance to reflect and prepare for the spring.

Matt Just, Class A PGA Professional for the Life Time Fitness Golf Club in St. Louis Park, MN, said too many golfers are too quick to pack the clubs away in the garage in the fall when there are still plenty of great opportunities to golf and get better.

“Fall golf in any state … is by far the best,” Just said. “The courses are always in really great shape and with the changing leaves it’s really nice to be out there. Plus, they’re less busy; there’s just not as many players out there.”

Just said most golf courses also have fall playing rates where the greens fees are usually cheaper than during the summer. That fact alone is quite interesting because the courses are probably in the best shape they’ll be in all year, Just said.

However, Just said, many golf clubs will aerate their courses in the fall, which usually make the greens a little bumpier. So, golfers should be sure to ask the course staff about the course’s aeration status before setting up a tee time, Just said.

One thing many golfers have to remember about playing in the autumn, Just said, is that it is also easier to lose a golf ball that went into the rough or trees when there are plenty of red, orange and yellow leaves on the ground.

“If you’re playing by the rules of golf, if you lose your golf ball in some leaves, you have to go to your original lie and hit another one,” Just said. “You can’t just drop one down.”

Besides playing to take advantage of better rates and playing conditions, Just said, more golfers should play into the fall months to shorten the offseason and develop a plan for the winter that will help them improve their game.

Just said many golfers fall into the “End of the Golf Season Blues” during the early part of the autumn, usually finding themselves evaluating all their goals they didn’t accomplish and concluding whether they improved from the year before.

Instead, those golfers should develop a plan for getting better in the offseason that is filled with swing practice, instruction, physical fitness training and development of good attitudes and habits, Just said.

“If you don’t develop a plan in the fall and quit playing in the fall, then you’re going to be right back at Square One in the spring when everybody’s all excited,” Just said.

One of the goals players should include in their offseason plans is to find the sweet spot of each club, Just said.

“Find the middle of the clubface in the offseason,” Just said, explaining how golfers should repetitively swing a club in the mirror during the winter to maintain and improve their swing.

“(The middle of the clubface) should be worn out on your golf club and you could do that for 10-minutes a day.”

Just said many players also neglect to take a golf lesson with a certified professional after the summer, usually thinking it won’t help them at that point in the year.

“Just because the summer’s over, doesn’t mean you don’t want to keep taking lessons from a qualified teacher,” Just said.

Ultimately, Just said, when so many golfers are stowing the clubs away, fall is actually the perfect time to get more excited about the sport.

“People are gearing down instead of gearing up,” Just said. “So, take advantage of when everybody else is slowing down. That’s when you need to kick it into the next gear.”

How to survive a round of golf with your boss ... and still keep your job

gfelder@lifetimefitness.com — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 20:54:00 GMT

You like golf. Your boss likes golf. Both are two natural things.

But why is it that when the two are put together, it doesn’t seem so natural, and perhaps, scary?

During the golf season, countless bosses invite an employee to a golf outing. The sad thing is most of those employees have no idea how to act or how well they should play when sharing a golf cart with the boss.

Once you think about it, golfing with your employer or boss can be a pretty daunting task. I mean, its not like your job might be on the line while playing a sport that sometimes brings out the worst in some people. I mean … gulp … oh boy.

But have little fear. Life Time Fitness Golf leaned on two of its golfing gurus to provide you with a list of Dos and Don’ts for playing with your boss.

Class A PGA Professional Matt Just of the Life Time Fitness Golf Club in St. Louis Park, MN and Aaron Wallace a personal trainer and golf fitness and biomechanic specialist for Life Time Fitness in Troy, MI, shared the following tips with Life Time Fitness Golf to help you survive a round of golf with your boss and leave the course with your job still intact.

Be prepared

If you can, go to the course ahead of time, Just said. Maybe even try to play there before your outing with the boss.

“Go to that particular golf course early so you don’t look like a deer in the headlights,” Just said. “Get there early and check out the pro shop so you can walk around with confidence.”

Just suggests showing up about 45 minutes early to check out the lay of the land and maybe get some practice in. He also said you should come to the course prepared by having all of your equipment in top order before you get there.

Give last hitting honors to the boss

Wallace said one of the smarter things to do when getting to the first tee box is to have your boss hit last.

“If you got four guys, unless your boss is a female and she hits at the reds, the boss always hits last or at least starts off hitting last,” Wallace said.

“You don’t want to get up there and be like ‘Oh, he hit 250 (yards)? I’m going to spank it out there 290’ and then make your boss look bad.”

Wallace said you should always try to hit first so that way you don't embarrass your boss.

Keep up with the pace of play

“The No. 1 thing when playing golf when you want to survive, you want to stay comfortable, is stay with the group,” Just said.

Golfers are gracious enough that it doesn’t matter if you hit the ball well, Just said, as long as you keep up with the pace of play.

If you hit a bad shot that doesn’t go far, Just said, simply walk up to it and hit it again. Don’t go back to the cart to drive up to your ball, he said. That’s just wasting time.

Also after hitting a shot, don’t immediately put your club away, Just said, because it slows down play. Hop into the passenger seat of the golf cart so you can go to your or your boss’ next lie and then put the club away.

“Those are the little things there that are almost eye-rolling,” Just said.

Another way to prevent wasting time is to take two or three clubs with you when around the green and simply walk over to your ball, Just said. That way you’re not going back to the cart to grab another wedge or putter for your next shot.

“It doesn’t matter if you’re not good,” Just said. “It matters if you just know the small little etiquette things.”

Be generous when the beverage cart stops at your hole

When the beverage cart comes around on the course, buy the first and third round, Just said.

“I do see a lot of people I play golf with that they buy the first round and they don’t buy again,” Just said. “Don’t have ‘alligator arms’ … Do whatever you can to be generous.”

Buying one round of beverages doesn’t give you the “Get out of Jail Free” card with your boss. So make sure you buy a few rounds.

Compliment … but not too much

Be complimentary, but not over complimentary, Just said. Make sure you compliment shots worthy of praise, but don’t compliment every shot, he said. That could be confused for sucking up or even mocking the boss’ play.

On the occasional day where your boss isn’t exactly bringing his or her A Game to the course, you’ll have to watch what you say a little closer.

“Anytime they hit out of bounds say ‘Oh, that might still be playable,’” Wallace said.

And if their game goes to ugly depths never seen, don’t try to be a golf instructor.

“If your superior is not playing well, just keep you mouth shut,” Just said. “He or she does not want tips.

“The name of the game is to just be gracious the whole day.”

Mulligans and stretching the rules

Don’t worry about mulligans. If your boss screws up his or her tee shot, Just said, they’ll decide if they want to take a mulligan or not.

However, sometimes you might run into the boss who seems to “magically” improve his or her lie from a bad shot.

“I’ve always said ‘If you cheat at golf, you cheat at life,’” Just said, but let the boss do what they want to do.

Do not try to regulate their play or enforce the rules because the boss could take that as you challenging their authority or calling them out.

Remember etiquette around the greens

Playing on the greens is loaded with many little quirks and taboos you have to be aware of.

“Avoid screaming ‘Noonan’ while he puts. That would be a good one,” Wallace said, alluding to a scene from the movie Caddyshack.

Just said one of the best rules for around the greens is to be mindful of where you are and what you’re doing. Make sure you don’t walk in front of someone’s shot or across their line while on the green, he said.

“When you’re on the green, know what you want to do,” Just said. If you’re the first person to putt on a hole, putt it and then either mark your ball or tap it in immediately. Don’t waste time.

Also, grab the flagstick if you finished putting first. Just said. That way you can immediately put it back in the cup after the last person putts.

"That shows that you care about what they’re doing,” Just said.

Other fair gestures around the green include fixing ball marks for other players, Just said, and picking up nearby approach clubs or club covers for the other players when they finish putting.

Don’t talk about work … unless the boss does

For the most part, a golf outing is supposed to be fun and a way to get away from work. Make sure you keep it that way.

“The point of going out on the golf course is to not talk about work,” Wallace said.

Just agrees with that sentiment unless the boss throws you a small curveball. But don’t push the business talk too far. The key to the invite, he said, is to remain gracious and have fun.

“If they bring it up, then yeah it’s OK,” Just said. “But I don’t think you go out there with the intention of talking about what’s happening at work.”

Celebrity Workouts: Train Like Tiger by Jodi Sussner

gfelder@lifetimefitness.com — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 15:11:08 GMT

Written by Jodi Sussner, personal trainer for Life Time Fitness in Chanhassen, MN.

During the recent PGA tournament held here in Minnesota, I was able to view first-hand the immense levels of strength, persistence, and commitment required of professional golfers.

Throughout his career, Tiger Woods has treated golf as a both a sport and full-time profession, and he engages in exercise regimes that will help him continuously hone his craft. Of working out, Woods has written on his website, tigerwoords.com, “When I'm not playing in a tournament, I train from two to ten hours a day. I'm always trying to improve my conditioning so I can be a better golfer and athlete. Luckily, I like to work out, so training never feels like a chore. My basic routine includes stretching, core exercises, cardio and weight training. I can spend as much as seven hours on the golf course hitting balls. My trainer, Keith Kleven, designed a great program that keeps my upper and lower body in perfect balance and builds my endurance. Our training sessions are intense and require solid focus."

Want to train like Tiger? Try out his workout routine! Here it is:

Cardio Training
Cardio is fundamental to Tiger's training program. He starts off the day with a run or a bike ride. If it's a running day, he does either a three-mile speed run or an endurance run of up to seven miles.

Weight Training
Tiger's weight-training program is designed for balance, control and endurance. He lifts to enhance and strengthen his entire body because golf requires upper and lower symmetry and balance. He focuses on developing his right and left sides equally to improve how he strikes the ball and to prevent injury. His program works all muscle groups, but there are a few areas that need extra focus. Golfers are always hunched over, so it's important to strengthen the back and shoulders to support good posture. Legs are the platform for every swing, so his goal is to create a strong power base. To keep things interesting, he uses a mix of weights, resistance and isometric training.

Core and Flexibility Training
Flexibility training is a major component of Tiger's regimen. He stretches up to 40 minutes before each workout. For golfers, core strength is just as important as flexibility. Core muscles help control movement and transfer energy from the center of the body out to the limbs, which can obviously impact how well you strike the ball. Core training builds overall strength and flexibility and helps him maintain an ideal posture and control.

Like most sports and activity, golf requires core and hip strength and stability. Both provide strength and power support, as well as offer muscle balance and control required for injury prevention and freedom of movement. Golf posture is difficult to maintain without hip strength, flexibility, and a strong and flexible core. Below are a series of exercises designed by Titleist Performance Institute.

Step-by-step instructions: Bridge with March
Get into a bridge position and cross your arms over your shoulders. From there lift your pelvis off the ground and lift your legs one at a time in a marching motion. The key here is to keep your pelvis level and off the ground and keep the contraction in your glutes, and not in your legs.

Step-by-step instructions: Prone Alternating Leg Lift
Start by lying down with your legs straight and your elbows bent and placed directly under your shoulders. From here, slowly lift your hips off the ground until your spine makes a straight plank. From the plank position try to maintain a good stable posture and core and lift one leg off the ground. Hold for the prescribed amount of time and return to the ground

Step-by-step instructions: Golf stance – One-Arm Row
Holding a dumbbell in your right hand, get into a good golf posture and let your arms hang down vertically. Start by pulling your right elbow up and back, feeling like your muscles behind and between your shoulder blades are doing most of the work. Repeat on the left.Step-by-step

Step-by-step instructions: Overhead Club Rotation
Take your normal five iron posture, hold each end of the club and lift the club up above your head. Now try to make a normal backswing turn but keep the club as high as possible.

Finding the right grip for the right ball flight

gfelder@lifetimefitness.com — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 21:36:25 GMT

No matter if you’re a novice or Jack Nicklaus, your grip on the golf club can play a big role in how you play a round of golf.

But even if you’re an avid, longtime golfer, it’s never a bad thing to have a refresher course on proper grip.

Matt Just, Class A PGA Professional for Life Time Fitness in St. Louis Park, MN, said proper golf grip is vitally important because your hands are “your only attachment to the golf club.”

“The No. 1 most important thing is having a fundamentally sound and comfortable grip,” Just said.

However, there isn’t a universally acceptable grip that will allow you to hit the ball perfect every time, Just said. There are only grips that correct or promote certain types of ball flight.

“A good grip is the one that is the same every time and produces the ball flight that you want. Period,” Just said. “That’s the correct grip.”

With that in mind, Just broke-down golf grip into the following areas:

Styles
On the majority, Just said golfers use either the interlocking or overlapping style of golf grip.

In the interlocking grip for a right-handed golfer, Just said, the golfer’s left index finger interlocks with the right pinky while holding onto the club with both hands (see image).

Contrarily, in the overlapping grip, the golfer’s right pinky actually just overlaps the top of the left hand’s index finders while the hands are on the club (see image).

Just said the last grip he may teach to a student is the 10-finger grip where all fingers grip the club and the hands are one above the other while on the club (see image). Just said he only recommends this grip to beginning golfers or golfers with small hands.

After choosing a style and grabbing a club, Just said, you need to make sure it is situated in the hands properly.

For a right hander, the club should sit in the left hand so it crosses diagonally over the first joint of the index finger and last joint of the pinky with the grip’s end near the heel pad of your hand (see image). Then the fingers should wrap around the club in that position with the thumb pointing down the clubshaft.

With interlocking and overlapping grips, the golfer should place the right hand over the thumb of the left hand, giving it a “hot dog in a bun” look, Just said. After closing the fingers around the club, the right thumb should cross over the shaft a little, never running straight down the club’s grip (see image).

“God made our hands perfect for the golf club to fit right in there,” Just said, a line he usually tells a beginning student when teaching.

Grip Pressure
Moving along from the grip style, Just said the No. 1 problem he sees with his students’ grip regards their tension and pressure on the club itself.

“They hold it way too tight,” Just said.

To correct this fault, Just recommends that his students hold their club like they are “shaking hands with a small child.” In other words, hold the club quite gently.

Positions
Once a style and pressure are settled, the last essential is figuring out where to position the hands on the club.

Just said the positions are usually broken into three categories: neutral, weak/counterclockwise and strong/clockwise. Each one, he said, has a different influence on how the clubface makes impact with the golf ball.

With the neutral grip, Just said, the club's setup is designed to hit the ball as straight as possible, limiting an types of ball curvature. However, mastering the neutral grip position is difficult as many golfers have to rely on the two other grip positions.

In the neutral grip, both each hand is general on it side of the club. One hand isn't more on top the club shaft and one isn't on the bottom side of the club shaft (see image).

The weak/counterclockwise grip, Just said, causes the golf club to contact the golf ball with a more opened clubface. Such a grip usually makes it more difficult to close the clubface before impact.

What results, he said, is usually a ball flight that will either be straight or curve to the right, or slice, for a right-handed golfer depe

nding on the swing.

“A counterclockwise grip doesn’t mean you’re going to slice,” Just said. “What it means is that you might not hit a draw.”

Just said he may recommend the weak/counterclockwise grip to right-handed players whose ball flight consistently curves to the left or for lefty’s who curve to the right.

In such a case, Just said a right-handed golfer should rotate their grip counterclockwise on the club so their right hand is more on top of the club shaft and the left is more to the front side and a little more underneath the club shaft (see image).

Contrarily, the strong/clockwise grip causes the club to impact the ball with more of a closed clubface. Again, he said, the grip position makes it more difficult to open the clubface before impact.

With this grip position, Just said, the ball usually flies straight or curves to the right, or hooks, for right-handed golfers or the opposite for a lefty.

Just recommends this grip position to right-handed golfers whose ball curves right consistently. He also suggests it to beginning golfers or golfers who struggle to get the ball airborne.

To perform the strong/clockwise grip, Just said, a right-handed golfer must rotate their hands clockwise on the club so the right hand is more behind and underneath the club shaft while the left hand is more on top of the club shaft (see image).

Just said most PGA golf professionals do not use the “weak and strong” grip terminology with students because they can confuse it with how tight or loose they should hold the club.

Eat smart before teeing off

gfelder@lifetimefitness.com — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 02:58:26 GMT

So you’ve got your club’s big championship tournament coming up and you’ve got your game to the best it can be.

Your clubs are all prepared properly so there are minimal mishits and you have plenty of your favorite golf balls in stock (hopefully you’ll only need to use one or two).

But why does it feel like something is missing? Maybe because you haven’t thought about what you should actually chow down before you hit the links the next morning.

Although having all your equipment prepared for your big match is important, it could pale in comparison to what you eat prior to competition. But what should you throw down the hatch to aid your best play?

Corey Grenz, a personal trainer for Life Time Fitness in St. Louis Park, Minn., said the pre-round meal actually depends mostly on the golfer. There are certain nutrients a golfer should ingest before a round, Grenz said, but only the golfer can tell what food will help them focus on their game instead of their stomach.

“From a cognitive stand point … the first priority carbohydrate would be vegetables,” Grenz said. “And basically anything that was here over 1,000 years ago, is going to be good for the most part.”

For most, Grenz said, each golfer has to figure out what foods will digest well for them and which ones won’t before the first tee. While Grenz suggests natural carbohydrates (meaning not from food that comes in a box) are a good choice before a round, every golfer’s body is different in how they digest carbohydrates.

“If you’re feeling a little full, it might affect your swing,” Grenz said, indicating a golfer should allot at least 90 minutes of digesting time before a round.

And believe it or not, but what a golfer eats can also improve or impair his or her concentration on the course.

In some cases, Grenz said, if a golfer eats something other than natural carbohydrates and proteins, they can actually harm their concentration level because fatigue could settle in easier.

So as a preparing golfer (and potential club champion), what should you eat before the big round?

Grenz recommends plenty of proteins, and some natural carbohydrates, usually coming from vegetables.

And don’t forget to replenish your body after the round (especially if the tournament is over multiple days). Grenz said a golfer should continue to ingest a protein and carbohydrate drink right after finishing the round.

Within one to two hours, Grenz said a golfer should eat a high carbohydrate meal with protein in it. So, something like brown rice, sweet potatoes and a chicken breast would do the trick.

“This is usually where golfers fall into a predicament because they usually eat the traditional golf course food,” Grenz said.

Ultimately, Grenz said, pre-round nutrition comes down to what a golfer has traditionally ate before that makes them feel comfortable on the fairways.

“Because if they’re feeling good, feeling normal, than that’s what we want,” Grenz said.

“We don’t want them feeling off or odd… That psychological component in any sport can really throw a person off.”

Unlikely rookie Gal leads 1st Round of Women's British Open

gfelder@lifetimefitness.com — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 21:57:48 GMT

Another ladies major tournament, another surprising rookie leading after the first round.

This time it was Sandra Gal, a rookie from Germany playing in her 14th tournament, leading Thursday’s first round of the RICOH Women’s British Open at Lytham St. Annes in Lancashire, England.

Shooting a 3-under 69, Gal used five birdies to cancel out two bogeys on a par-3 and par-4. Surprisingly, the University of Florida alumna found nine fairways while averaging drives of about 223 yards. That’s quite a variance for an average 259-yard hitter who is about 60 percent accurate on the fairways.

Nonetheless, the rookie led a 143-player field where only six golfers ended the first round at even or under par. But can she keep her composure through three more rounds of golf?

Sure, we saw a rookie lead the first round of the U.S. Women’s Open this year (Na Yeon Choi). We even saw a rookie win the LPGA Championship in June (Anna Nordqvist). But in major tournaments, it doesn’t matter how one starts, only how one finishes.

For a young rookie who has only eclipsed the Top 10 of a leaderboard twice professionally, lasting power has yet to be shown by Gal as she comes off a 40th-place finish during the U.S. Women’s Open.

Needless to say, it will be interesting to see if this rookie can withstand the pressure of sitting at the top of a major tournament leaderboard or if Gal will fade away into the rest of the field during the last three rounds.

Your cubicle chair is ailing your swing's consistency

gfelder@lifetimefitness.com — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 22:43:26 GMT

Most avid golfers wish they could hit as consistently as the golf professionals do on the PGA and LPGA tours.

Hitting long drives, making chip-ins from the fringe or hearing nothing but the bottom of the cup after a bunker shot are just some of the delights amateurs wish they could enjoy on a regular basis.

Yet as many amateur players blame genetics or hand-eye coordination for not playing in the Masters, the actual culprit killing their dreams is probably their desk chair.

For it is the desk chair in your office or cubicle that is actually sending your golf game into the proverbial golf course outhouse.

“Our average person who’s an amateur golfer is going to probably be sitting in a desk… between six and up to 10 hours in a day,” said Aaron Wallace, a personal trainer and golf fitness and biomechanic specialist for Life Time Fitness in Troy, Mich. “When our spine is flexed forward that much, we can’t rotate.”

Wallace said the results of a forward-flexed spine, or improper golf posture, lead to an errant swing path and essentially an inconsistent swing in most amateur players.

“You are going to have to alter your swing path when your posture is more rounded forward.” Wallace said.

“The less that we have proper posture, (the more) your swing path and clubface alignment are going to change.”

Sitting in an office chair for an extended period of time, Wallace said, immediately puts amateur players at a disadvantage because they don’t have the endurance in their lower back to keep proper posture over 18 holes.

Wallace said the muscles in our back, in particular the lumbar and thoracic extensors, are responsible for slumping or upright posture. Those muscles when toned, he said, allow the body to rotate properly thus keeping your swing plane and ball impact the same.

“The stronger they are, they more they can make us extend” Wallace said, explaining that stronger lumbar and thoracic extensors also lead to great posture endurance.

Contrary to most amateurs, Wallace said, “Most professionals are very, very good at keeping proper posture,” even through four rounds of golf in four days. But those golfers who are a little overweight or not as physically fit, tend to fatigue quicker with their posture, Wallace said. Such fatigue is most noticeable in the longer iron shots as well as with the fairway woods and drivers, he said.

“Fitter athletes don’t need to work nearly as hard to keep upright posture that way they tire nowhere near as quickly,” Wallace said. However, he said, many players, who are not physically fit, do find ways to adapt to their disadvantage.

“Posture is the main name of the game when it comes to ball-striking consistency,” Wallace said.

So you want to improve your game? Try staying out of your plush office chair for a few more hours of the day. Your swing will probably appreciate it.

“If you have proper postural endurance, you’ll be able to take the clubhead back easier,” Wallace said.

“Your swing path will be consistently the same every time… and you basically have the same shot over, over, and over again.”

Watson proves age doesn’t limit impressive golf at British Open

gfelder@lifetimefitness.com — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 03:33:15 GMT

Whoever said your best days are behind you after you hit 40 didn’t play much golf. Because if they did, that person would quickly retract their statement after watching last week’s British Open at Turnberry in Scotland.

Despite losing to Stewart Cink in a four-hole playoff, legendary golfer Tom Watson proved some of your best performances can found when nearing your golden years.

Yes, I am talking about the same Tom Watson who came into the PGA Tour in the late 70s and battled Jack Nicklaus during the “Duel in the Sun” of the 1977 British Open. The one who had won eight major championships, including five British Opens — even though that was over 26 years ago.

Nonetheless, the 59-year-old Watson put on a show for the crowd at Turnberry. Finding the fairways and greens with ease, Watson showed that staying out of trouble was good enough to lead the British Open through three rounds.

But major championships are won on Sundays and the final round was Watson’s disappointing undoing. While Watson shot a 2-over 72 in the final round, Stewart Cink forced a playoff with a 1-under 69 and eventually forced Watson away from winning his sixth British Open.

Hats off to Stewart Cink for his first major championship victory in his 14-year career, but I think most golf fans were pulling for Watson to hold up the Claret Jug. Besides, Cink was only 4 years old when Watson started making a name for himself in professional golf.

But I think fans wished Watson the best not just because he was near the official retirement age or because they didn’t like Cink.

Ultimately, in times likes these, people are always searching for something that gives them hope; something that makes them believe that life can be great again, even when it seems like all is lost and the final chapter of book is about to close.

Pristine weather allows for low 1st round scores at British Open

gfelder@lifetimefitness.com — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 20:45:52 GMT

Not too often in the British Isles can professional golfers enjoy favorable playing conditions, but plenty did during the first round of the British Open today.

Held at Turnberry in Ayrshire of Scotland, 50 golfers managed to shoot under par in the first round. Of the 50, one of the most noticeable was Tom Watson, the famous winner of the “Duel in the Sun” at the Open Championship in 1977 held at Turnberry. Watson defeated golfing legend Jack Nicklaus to win the '77 Open in what many fans argue was one of the best rounds to watch in modern championship golf.

Back to the 2009 Open, Watson started his first round with a 5-under 65, rolling in five birdies and making a couple par saves when he didn’t find fairways and greens.

Shortly after Watson handed in his scorecard, Miguel Angel Jimenez of Spain one-upped him by turning in a 64 with a near-flawless first round with six birdies.

Unfortunately for all the Tiger fans, the No.1 player in the world struggled in his first round, much like he did during the first two major championships of the year. Woods scored a 1-over 71 for the first round with four bogeys to three birdies.

But don’t count anyone out of this Open Championship yet. Turnberry could be just a rain shower away from seeing the leaderboard make a massive change.

Ji proves par is enough to win U.S. Women’s Open

gfelder@lifetimefitness.com — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 19:23:36 GMT

Sunday’s final results of the Women’s U.S Open in Bethlehem, Pa. showed exactly why the Men’s and Women’s U.S. Open are two of the best and toughest, if not best and toughest, open golf tournaments on the planet.

In my mind, U.S. Opens are the only tournaments where shooting par will be exactly what a golfer needs to win the silverware.

Case and point 1: Eun-Hee Ji won the Women’s U.S. Open Sunday by shooting an even 284, only shooting under par in the third round to make up for a 1-over in the second round. Overall, she scored 14 birdies to cancel out 10 bogeys and two double bogeys, one of which was actually in the final round. Her final-round pairing partner, Cristie Kerr, went into the final round of the Open with a two-stroke lead over Ji at 2-under. She ended the final round with a 4-over 75 and lost by two strokes (Watch fourth-round highlights below).

Case and point 2: Last month, Lucas Glover won the Men’s U.S. Open with a 4-under 276 despite shooting a 3-over in the final round. Glover shot an unlikely 6-under 64 in his second round to buffer his final round struggles. Phil Mickelson, who is the No. 2-ranked PGA Tour player in the world, lost to Glover by two strokes after shooting par in two rounds and 1-under in the other two.

Based on these cases, its obvious the United States Golf Association (USGA), which organizes the opens, wants to make the U.S. Open the most difficult test for golf pros each year. The USGA does this by choosing the most difficult courses and making those courses as difficult as possible by alterations to fairway width, the depth of the rough and pin locations that leave no room for error.

The USGA makes the courses such a test that recently, it seems like the winner of these events simply allow their opponents to beat themselves while they play in a little more conservative nature.

Nonetheless, the difficulty of the venues makes for some dramatic, exciting golf like fans saw during the U.S. Women’s Open.