Well, the weather looks good and I'm going to head about 45 miles south tomorrow am and spend the day at the tournament. If any of you equipment junkies want me to peek at certain players clubs let me know. I'm hoping Ryan Moore makes the cut---saw his swing on TV last week and he really compresses the ball. Very upright backswing and then drops it back on plane. Would love to see it live. David Toms appears to be doing well. My brother is the Senior Director of Operations for STAT MedEvac and I think they helicoptered him in to Pittsburgh. I'll try to get the "scoop". Have fun everybody and stay healthy. Dr Dave
I DID have fun North/South---and I remembered both meanings of SPF.
This was the first PGA tournament I had been to in 2 years--and these guys are awesome. Talk about compression of a golf ball. A few observations:
1. No matter how far these guys hit it, it's the guys playing well inside 100yards that are on top of the leaderboard
2. On their downswings, from hands at waist level going into the ball and then to waist level after impact , the club makes a nice "whoosh"---don't hear that much in my foursome on Saturday mornings
3. Very few guys have their right arms on plane at address---but it is always on plane at impact
4. Ben Crane and Jonathan Byrd have very attractive wives.
5. Joey Sindelar may be the most congenial pro on the tour--while other guys smile and perhaps wave to the crowd when they say "nice shot" he actually looks at the person and says "Hey, thanks a lot." Watched him tee off a few times and was very complimentary to his playing partner as well. Good guy.
6. Watched Harrison Fraazar (sp?) double bogey an easy par 5 and then stood forever on the next tee (par 3) before choosing a club--then dunked it in the water. I was standing right next to the drop zone and the conversation between he and his caddie was interesting to say the least. Haven't heard the F-bomb dropped that much since....
7. Ryan Moore has the anti-right arm on plane at address---his hands are almost at his knees at address and the angle between his arms and club shaft looks like it's almost 90 degrees---but he really smashes down on the ball.
8. Ben Crane and Jonathan Byrd have very----oh, I did that one already
9. "Economy of Motion" would be a good way to describe all of their swings---the only things moving are parts that need to move. Stable heads, lower bodies look like platforms for the upper body, great rhythm, great balance, sustained lag---you have all seen this on TV, but in person it is just incredible.
10. When Rod Pampling and Justin Leonard hit nice drives on a 410 yard par 4 I asked the Shot Link folks what their drives were--Justin 308, Rod 326. Perhaps if the fairways weren't "stimping" at 8.5 we could restore some sanity to the game. In the old days the fairways were cut to 3/4 of an inch. Now they cut them to 3/8 inch. Leave the clubs and balls the way they are. Just quit mowing so much and tighten the fairways a little. Just my opinion.
11. I love it when a guy is covered head to toe in Cleveland stuff, Cleveland bag and headcovers, and then pulls out a TaylorMade driver. Saw multiple variations of this during the day.
I'm done! Have a great weekend folks Dr Dave
Sorry Toolish, no cameras at the tournament! I think any time you can watch the big guys up close and personal it will help. If anything, watching them underscored that TGM is the real deal. I'm sure most of them aren't even aware that they adhere to the essentials of TGM, but , at impact, they all have a flat left wrist, on plane, and hands slightly ahead of the ball. I'll let you know if it helps my game in the long run---I tend to return to bad habits over the long haul. However, the day after the tournament I played and really concentrated on a stable lower body and rhythm---shot 81. When I control my overacceleration tendency I play pretty well. We'll see how long it lasts. If you get a chance to see the pros "live" I would highly suggest you go. Have fun. Dr Dave
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