WE spend a lot of time dissecting whether the greens we are playing on are any good. Fairways also come in for some critical attention too at times. Tee boxes aren’t immune from comment.
Not enough focus is put on sand in my opinion though.
That thought occurred to me as I played at my favourite Bank Holiday retreat, Colvend in South West Scotland, over the weekend.
On finding a trap and jumping into the bunker I actually relished splashing out in the expectation I might well get the ball to within six feet of the flag.
The reason was simply that the sand in the bunker was gloriously white, fluffy and fine. Anyone lacking confidence out of sand should seek Colvend out because a few shots out of its bunkers will sort them out.
Of course, Colvend is fortunate. One of the nicest beaches in Scotland – Sandy Hills – is just five minutes drive away.
One can’t help but imagine club officials loading up trailer full after trailer full at Sandy Hills and dispersing in its bunkers.
However it got there, everyone playing Colvend should be grateful. Its bunkers put to shame some very, very prestigious names I’ve played at this year.
By Chris Bertram
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Wanted: European union
THE BMW PGA Championship again provided excellent Bank Holiday Weekend viewing and it was good to see so many of Europe’s leading players enter the continent’s flagship event.
Then again, it’s not exactly a hardship to play at Wentworth, be treated like a king and be rewarded handsomely merely for playing all four days. The previous week Adare Manor hosted the Irish Open – this year without a sponsor, which added a bit of class to the event.
Darren Clarke and Lee Westwood played but plenty of their Ryder Cup colleagues remained in America? I thought to myself, why?
The PGA Tour still has bigger purses than in Europe but it’s not as if the Garcias and Caseys of the world are short of cash. Are the courses in America better preparation for competing in the Majors and WGCs? Possibly, but Angel Cabrera and Padraig Harrington – European Tour stalwarts – seem to have managed along OK.
The weather? Granted, America usually wins hands down here. But is that really the reason they’d rather merely dip in and out of the European schedule rather than commit to it. Or is that the easy money is in America and that once in the system it’s difficult to opt out of the cosy PGA environment?
Justin Rose hinted that he was ready to play more in Europe in the future and I hope he sticks to that suggestion. I firmly believe if we got our best players on our tour week in week out, the likes of Ernie, Retief and Vijay would follow suit because sponsors would be desperate for a slice of the action – and that means big prize funds.
That then opens up the intriguing prospect of Tiger throwing his hat into the European ring. Perhaps unlikely, but he has a Swedish wife and she might well like to bring their daughter up for at least part of Sam Alexis’ tender years in her home country.
It needs our own players to support their tour first though. Over to you boys.
By Chris Bertram
Then again, it’s not exactly a hardship to play at Wentworth, be treated like a king and be rewarded handsomely merely for playing all four days. The previous week Adare Manor hosted the Irish Open – this year without a sponsor, which added a bit of class to the event.
Darren Clarke and Lee Westwood played but plenty of their Ryder Cup colleagues remained in America? I thought to myself, why?
The PGA Tour still has bigger purses than in Europe but it’s not as if the Garcias and Caseys of the world are short of cash. Are the courses in America better preparation for competing in the Majors and WGCs? Possibly, but Angel Cabrera and Padraig Harrington – European Tour stalwarts – seem to have managed along OK.
The weather? Granted, America usually wins hands down here. But is that really the reason they’d rather merely dip in and out of the European schedule rather than commit to it. Or is that the easy money is in America and that once in the system it’s difficult to opt out of the cosy PGA environment?
Justin Rose hinted that he was ready to play more in Europe in the future and I hope he sticks to that suggestion. I firmly believe if we got our best players on our tour week in week out, the likes of Ernie, Retief and Vijay would follow suit because sponsors would be desperate for a slice of the action – and that means big prize funds.
That then opens up the intriguing prospect of Tiger throwing his hat into the European ring. Perhaps unlikely, but he has a Swedish wife and she might well like to bring their daughter up for at least part of Sam Alexis’ tender years in her home country.
It needs our own players to support their tour first though. Over to you boys.
By Chris Bertram
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Smashed putter solutions!
HAVE you ever watched professional golfers in awe, admiring their skills and emulating their swings?
Well, I have. And when watching the Italian Open last week, I was pleasantly surprised and extremely envious of England's very own Oliver Wilson, who was forced to putt with his wedge in the second round.
The Mansfield-born 27-year-old looked good going into Friday and at six-under looked set for the cut.
But unfortunately for him, after missing another short putt just before the turn, he rifled the club straight at his bag and stormed onto the 10th tee. Little did he know that, in his fit of rage, he had bent the shaft of his putter.
To conform with R&A rules, he was no longer allowed to use the club and so was forced to choose another of the remaining 13 when on the greens for the remainder of his round.
In a nutshell, the rules state that if a club has been damaged directly by a player¹s actions, that club is deemed to have been unlawfully altered to improve that player¹s game.
As a result, the club cannot be used again. In accordance with the rules, Wilson improvised and chose to wield his wedge instead of the flat stick and 'blade' in other words, strike the ball on its centre so it rolls smoothly along the ground.
Amazingly, he bagged three birdies on the back nine to make the cut.What is more, reunited and ended up finishing second after a fantastic final round 64.
How is that possible? Seriously.
I don't know if any of you at home have ever tried 'skulling' the ball with the wedge to roll it along the ground, but it is a lot harder than it seems, especially from over 10 feet.
"I could have easily let that get to me and blow myself out of the tournament," the former Walker Cup star said. "But luckily, I didn't, and I'm proud of myself," said the Mansfield golfer and so he should be.
To get three birdies in nine holes with a wedge instead of a putter is remarkable, even more so when you consider the factors Wilson had stacked against him:
-When 'putting' with a wedge, the ball MUST be hit out of the very centre, millimetres either side would cause the ball to wander off line and consequently miss the hole
-The sharp leading edge makes it much harder to judge distance correctly than a putter face. In fact, it makes any putt of any distance almost impossible to judge correctly well, impossible for a normal golfer
- Catch the ball underneath its centre and you impart backspin. Putting gurus claim that topspin gets the ball running straight and true, and backspin is certainly not desirable when trying to hole out
- The margin for error is very small. We amateurs have a hard enough time as it is with a fully-fledged putter face let alone a wedge
Wilson's performance got us at NCG wondering, is there any other club in a golfer¹s arsenal that would have been better suited to the task. Who knows it might even allowed the Englishman to hole a few more 'putts' and possibly grab his elusive first tour victory.
We decided to test a few alternatives.
Club: four ironWhat we thought: The first office suggestion was the 'butter-knife' long-iron, and after a quick test the results were similar to a wedge. The ball reacted exactly like it's lofted brethren and rolled with a hint of backspin towards the hole, but any loss of accuracy would have killed it.Verdict: 2/5
Club: 8 ironWhat we thought: The next option was to test a mid iron, but the results were even worse. More loft resulted in more spin and ultimately much less accuracy and feel. The eight iron is not the club to use.Verdict: 1/5
Club: HybridWhat we thought: There has always been plenty of hype surrounding the hybrid and it's ability greenside, so we thought that it could be the perfect option when without the putter. And we were right, the ball rolled straight and true and the two-iron loft kept spin to a minimum, without a doubt, this is the club to use.Verdict: 5/5
Club: 3 WoodWhat we thought: After the irons didn't work out, a suggestion was made to delve into the world of woods, and we were pleasantly surprised. Much is made of the ability of the fairway wood to brush through grass for greenside chips, but the flat sole and larger head made it much easier to putt with when we choked down on the grip. The result was straight putts with decent accuracy. For us, definitely the best option if you're without a hybrid.Verdict: 4/5
Club: DriverWhat we thought: The next club in line was the big dog, and although it has a massive head and little loft which meant good accuracy, the titanium face had no feel whatsoever, and resulted in putts firing pastthe hole or coming up way short.Verdict: 2/5
So there it is, we found the hybrid reigned supreme and that if you ever find yourself in this position, you should opt for the hybrid it outperformed the others options on test in all areas.
By Joe Whitley
Well, I have. And when watching the Italian Open last week, I was pleasantly surprised and extremely envious of England's very own Oliver Wilson, who was forced to putt with his wedge in the second round.
The Mansfield-born 27-year-old looked good going into Friday and at six-under looked set for the cut.
But unfortunately for him, after missing another short putt just before the turn, he rifled the club straight at his bag and stormed onto the 10th tee. Little did he know that, in his fit of rage, he had bent the shaft of his putter.
To conform with R&A rules, he was no longer allowed to use the club and so was forced to choose another of the remaining 13 when on the greens for the remainder of his round.
In a nutshell, the rules state that if a club has been damaged directly by a player¹s actions, that club is deemed to have been unlawfully altered to improve that player¹s game.
As a result, the club cannot be used again. In accordance with the rules, Wilson improvised and chose to wield his wedge instead of the flat stick and 'blade' in other words, strike the ball on its centre so it rolls smoothly along the ground.
Amazingly, he bagged three birdies on the back nine to make the cut.What is more, reunited and ended up finishing second after a fantastic final round 64.
How is that possible? Seriously.
I don't know if any of you at home have ever tried 'skulling' the ball with the wedge to roll it along the ground, but it is a lot harder than it seems, especially from over 10 feet.
"I could have easily let that get to me and blow myself out of the tournament," the former Walker Cup star said. "But luckily, I didn't, and I'm proud of myself," said the Mansfield golfer and so he should be.
To get three birdies in nine holes with a wedge instead of a putter is remarkable, even more so when you consider the factors Wilson had stacked against him:
-When 'putting' with a wedge, the ball MUST be hit out of the very centre, millimetres either side would cause the ball to wander off line and consequently miss the hole
-The sharp leading edge makes it much harder to judge distance correctly than a putter face. In fact, it makes any putt of any distance almost impossible to judge correctly well, impossible for a normal golfer
- Catch the ball underneath its centre and you impart backspin. Putting gurus claim that topspin gets the ball running straight and true, and backspin is certainly not desirable when trying to hole out
- The margin for error is very small. We amateurs have a hard enough time as it is with a fully-fledged putter face let alone a wedge
Wilson's performance got us at NCG wondering, is there any other club in a golfer¹s arsenal that would have been better suited to the task. Who knows it might even allowed the Englishman to hole a few more 'putts' and possibly grab his elusive first tour victory.
We decided to test a few alternatives.
Club: four ironWhat we thought: The first office suggestion was the 'butter-knife' long-iron, and after a quick test the results were similar to a wedge. The ball reacted exactly like it's lofted brethren and rolled with a hint of backspin towards the hole, but any loss of accuracy would have killed it.Verdict: 2/5
Club: 8 ironWhat we thought: The next option was to test a mid iron, but the results were even worse. More loft resulted in more spin and ultimately much less accuracy and feel. The eight iron is not the club to use.Verdict: 1/5
Club: HybridWhat we thought: There has always been plenty of hype surrounding the hybrid and it's ability greenside, so we thought that it could be the perfect option when without the putter. And we were right, the ball rolled straight and true and the two-iron loft kept spin to a minimum, without a doubt, this is the club to use.Verdict: 5/5
Club: 3 WoodWhat we thought: After the irons didn't work out, a suggestion was made to delve into the world of woods, and we were pleasantly surprised. Much is made of the ability of the fairway wood to brush through grass for greenside chips, but the flat sole and larger head made it much easier to putt with when we choked down on the grip. The result was straight putts with decent accuracy. For us, definitely the best option if you're without a hybrid.Verdict: 4/5
Club: DriverWhat we thought: The next club in line was the big dog, and although it has a massive head and little loft which meant good accuracy, the titanium face had no feel whatsoever, and resulted in putts firing pastthe hole or coming up way short.Verdict: 2/5
So there it is, we found the hybrid reigned supreme and that if you ever find yourself in this position, you should opt for the hybrid it outperformed the others options on test in all areas.
By Joe Whitley
Thursday, May 01, 2008
Early bird or late late show?
Opinion is often split in this particular debate - when is the best time to play golf? Tee off early and you get the best of the greens, the rest of the day to yourself. Play late and you might be struggling to get round before nightfall and held up by other like-minded nine to fivers. Give me the latter any day of the week.
A friend last week made all manner of excuses why he couldn't make a post-work tee-time before finally admitting that he feels 'very anxious' when playing golf any time after three o'clock and that he struggles to relax throughout the day.
Each to his own and all that but I am firmly in the other camp. Any tee-time before 9am normally follows a similar pattern for me. Stiff and awkward for the first couple, too hungry to concentrate by halfway and, by the time we are back on track, the final putts are being taken.
Play late and you've got the whole day to dream and argue over shots. Much of the day is spent clock-watching but plenty of that can be spent wisely kidding yourself that tonight will be different. Torrential rain and three hours of light were two small drawbacks as we set off at Leeds Golf Club last night at quarter to six.
Time might have been tight but this is another plus, in my book anyway, as there isn't time to spend 10 minutes in the undergrowth or double-checking yardages and lines of putts. For those of you unaware of Leeds GC, or Cobble Hall as it is affectionately known, it is the oldest club in the city. Dr Alistair Mackenzie, architect of the Old Course, Augusta, Troon and Prestwick to name but a few, was one the club's former members at the turn of the 20th century and, during that time, gave advice on the layout and bunkering so it is no surprise that the course is a cracker.
A mature, parkland track it is beautifully maintained with generous greens and some stunning views of north Leeds. It is also, thankfully, not overly long so a threeball can just about scrape round in approximately three hours even if the last was played out in near darkness.
There are two other benefits of a late start. Most of us tend to play a bit better than normal by not over complicating matters and, better still, you can then head straight to the bar with a clear conscience. If you still think clubhouses are stuffy and pretentious try Cobble Hall if you're in the Leeds area and be ready to be surprised.
By Mark Townsend
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