Secrets of golf

For all those people starting out playing this wonderful pastime of golf, all the recommendation and ideas concerning the golf swing obviously is totally frightening. If one were to take all that they take notice of seriously, swinging a golf club must seem more complex than brain surgery. I have put down a variety golf hints for new golfers with all the target of simplifying, not complicating the golf swing.

Therefore to simplify, to be able to hit a golf ball constantly by way of as little side spin as doable, will evaluate three areas:

1. The set-up. Instead of setting up on the ball with the idea of producing as much club speed as achievable (you are not there yet), take into consideration being in a position to strike the ball evenly, without a slicing, or glancing blow. If you’re to look down to the ball, and the target area would be twelve o’clock relating to the ball, ideally you’d wish to strike the ball at about seven o’clock and would exit the ball at roughly one o’clock. If done using a club head which is square on the ball (not opened or closed), you ought to be capable of dispatch the ball with a slight counter clockwise spin, or hook spin. For the new golfer, that will give you the most yardage.

2. Balance. Of most of the golf suggestions for the new golfers, this will likely could possibly be the most important, since it is out of the question for any golfer at any level to become consistent without maintaining good balance. But as opposed to getting into a long conversation on everything that goes into balance, allow us to keep it easy. Take into consideration keeping the spine straight and upright throughout the swing. Preserving a straight spine will permit an free rotation with the least resistance, making for less moving parts. It can even keep the head unmoving, allowing you to better focus on the ball in the course of the swing. A straight spine with a little bend from the hips and knees will assist you to be more balanced, providing you with more reliable ball-striking.

3. Ball focus. There’s a big distinction between looking at the ball through the swing and developing a complete, laser-like focus on the ball. It is something that is not talked about as everybody assumes that you just routinely keep your “eye on the ball”. But that’s not sufficient. I read once where a professional golfer would juggle two balls in one hand in order to make him better focus on the ball. Whatever training assistance you employ that can assist you with your ball focus is great, but as one of the golf tips for new golfers, it is a necessity.

Obviously these no more than scratch the surface, but at this point your golf guidance ought to be kept straightforward, lacking getting overly technical. But I congratulate you on trying to boost yourself in an endeavor that undoubtedly has numerous components.

Readers that are searching the Internet for info about the niche of golf stretching exercise, please go to the page that is mentioned in this passage.

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“I’ll be the Corey Pavin of my group,” Woods said, laughing about what it will be like to be paired with two of the game’s longest hitters, Gary Woodland, 26, and Dustin Johnson, 26, for the first two rounds of the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

“Seriously, I’ll just kind of put it out there in play and put it up on the green and try and make putts,” Woods added. “Those guys will be bombing it way out there past me.”

This is the new reality on the PGA Tour. Gone are the days when Woods could shift into overdrive and, on command, blow a tee shot past his fellow competitors. Gone are the days when Woods made seemingly every important putt he looked at. And though he had only one three-putt green at the W.G.C.-Cadillac Championship outside Miami, Woods has not putted well this year and is ranked 101st on tour.

The tournament host, Arnold Palmer, 81, said all good players reach the point where “all of a sudden, once in a while, the bounces go the wrong way or the putts rim around the cup rather than going in the cup.”

“And, yes, it will happen to him,” Palmer said.

Whether it has or ultimately will, Woods, 35, comes face to face with the new order at Bay Hill, where he has won six times, including in 2008 and 2009, his last two appearances. Here he meets the monsters of his own making.

Players like Johnson, who is 6 feet 4 inches, 190 pounds, and Woodland, who is 6-1, 195, were influenced by Woods’s emphasis on conditioning. They are just two of the growing number of well-conditioned athletes on tour who possess the power, finesse and swagger to look Woods in the eye without blinking.

“The next two days is a perfect example of where the game has changed, where you’ve got two new guys who used to play basketball who are now playing golf,” Woods said. “That’s what I’ve been alluding to all these years. We are finally going to get athletes, guys who can dunk, guys who could have played baseball, or could have played football at the D-I level.”

As much as the influx of elite athletes has changed golf, so has Woods’s diminution, evinced in the longest winless streak of his career, soon to be 16 months. The aura of invincibility is gone, replaced by an uncertainty that surrounds golf’s surest thing a year and a half ago.

Woods is right about the two players he is paired with. Johnson can still dunk a basketball, though he rarely does. Instead he drives his golf ball an average of 311.8 yards (No. 2 on tour behind Bubba Watson’s 313.5), leads the tour in birdies with an average of five per round and, over the past three and a half seasons, has won four times and earned $10.6 million.

Woodland can no longer dunk. But can he putt. In Sunday’s win at the Transitions Championship, he made 17 of 17 putts from 20 feet in, better than anything he could have done at the free-throw line during a season of Division II basketball at Washburn College. He knew after averaging 6 points per game during his freshman year that his future was in golf, so he transferred to the University of Kansas, which previously had offered him a golf scholarship.

“I got out here in ’09,” Woodland said. “I wasn’t a very good golfer. I was athletic, but I didn’t know what I was doing out here. I got hurt, and I had time to step back and really figure out how to play this game. And I’m starting to figure that out right now.”

His stroke average of 69.47, fourth best on tour, bears that out. He lost in a playoff to Jhonattan Vegas at the Bob Hope Classic, tied for fifth place at the Phoenix Open, tied for sixth at the Honda Classic and won last week. Afterward, he was brimming with confidence and not anywhere close to satisfied.

“I mean, we’re just tip of the iceberg right now,” he said. “I’m not anywhere near where I want to be. I’ve just got to keep building on it, just keep moving in the right direction.”

The average age of the three winners on the Florida swing leading to Bay Hill was 29. The traditional run-up to the Masters is going full speed, and this field is full of pursuers who are young, fearless and taking aim at Woods. Two of them will be right next to him, or a few yards in front.

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MORE INTERVIEWS: Arnold Palmer Invitational transcript archive

JOHN BUSH: Rickie, a 69 in the first round at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. If we can get your comments on sort of a roller coaster round, I know a little bit disappointing finish for you, but still a good day overall.

RICKIE FOWLER: Yeah, my front nine was nice, two birdies and an eagle, on the back nine here. Got off to a good start and then had a few bumps on the front nine, my back nine. Made two bogeys to finish the round where I hit, I thought really good par putts. They just didn’t want to go in.

JOHN BUSH: How far were those putts.

RICKIE FOWLER: I had about eight feet on 8 and, I don’t know, four or five feet on the last hole.

JOHN BUSH: Take us through the eagle on 16.

RICKIE FOWLER: Well, it was playing a little bit longer than I remembered from yesterday, and I hit — I think I had 215 to the hole and I hit a 20-degree hybrid in there to about five or six feet. So I think the hardest part was the hybrid. The putt was pretty easy after that.

Q. How did the course play?

RICKIE FOWLER: I thought the course played really good. It’s nice to have fresh greens the first nine holes, and the greens are still soft, so you don’t really have to worry about the balls bouncing too much.

You can get after a few pins but there was actually some really tough pins out there that you had to fire away from and felt like I did pretty well with that and staying away from the water out here, which is always a good thing.

Q. How is the game right now? You had a great closing round at Doral, and how do you feel you built on that today, and how you’re playing?

RICKIE FOWLER: I feel like — I felt like today was probably some of the best I’ve struck it all year, where I was actually hitting some fairways and getting myself on the green. I just had a few putts that slid by and it could have been a really good round versus just a good starting round.

Q. When guys like Gary last week and Jhonattan earlier in the year won tournaments, you’re always in that conversation of the best young players, does it make you impatient to get yours, or are you normally a patient person and do you have the confidence that will come, if you keep doing what you’re doing?

RICKIE FOWLER: I think to be playing professional golf, you have to be pretty patient. This game is not easy, so I feel like I’m pretty patient.

Obviously I’ve been in contention a few times, and I feel like my time is coming and I just have to keep putting myself there and keep putting myself in that position.

You know, like I said, the game is starting to come around and I’m starting to feel really good with it. I’m excited, especially with it turning around, with the Masters just a couple of weeks away.

Q. When did the wind become a major factor in the round and what does the wind do to this golf course?

RICKIE FOWLER: Well, the wind was — it was blowing a little bit all day. I think it was probably blowing maybe ten miles an hour this morning, but enough to where you had to think about it; it started to pick up a bit on like my 12th or 13th hole or so.

Q. You won a junior event here, right? Just talk about how the course sets up for your game.

RICKIE FOWLER: I like the course. You have to drive it well. You have to stay out of the bunkers, because I had one plug today.

So, driving it well, and I mean, being a ball-striker, I feel like I’m a good ball-striker. It’s obviously been one of my weak points this year because I have not been in the fairway as much.

But finally found some fairways today, building some confidence, and tee-to-green is where this course was kind of had I think.

So you know, I feel like if I can get things going that way where I have been driving it well last year, and being a good iron player, I feel like I can give myself good looks at birdies and get after it that way.

Q. You mentioned in two weeks from now, the Masters. How much is that in the back, or even kind of inching towards the front of your mind right now, and your excitement level about that?

RICKIE FOWLER: Well, I mean, this week I’m not really thinking about it much. I’m here to play this tournament and trying to play well here. I’m going to go up next week and get a couple looks at the course and I’ll start worrying about the Masters then.

Obviously I’m excited and looking forward to it; being my first Masters, a dream come true, something I’ve dreamt about since I was a little kid. But right now these next few days, going to worry about playing here and trying to play as well as I can.

Q. You really have been out here relatively a short time, not even a year and a half-full time as a pro. Have you had to learn anything quickly about adjusting to this, is there anything that’s in the first year that you thought to yourself, I have to do differently, whether it be travel or practice or any of those things that you found out to lead this life?

RICKIE FOWLER: Well, there’s a couple of things. Obviously time management is key. That involves travel, practice, when to eat, when to sleep, trying to figure out everything like that. I mean, I have a trainer so I’m working out, trying to figure out when to practice, when to work out.

So time management is a big thing, and patience is what I’ve told a few people that have asked me, whether it be some guys back at school or just junior or amateur golfers. So time management and patience I thought were the two biggest things that helped me through last year and just trying to figure out how to play out here.

Q. (Examples where it got the best of you last year) –

RICKIE FOWLER: I can’t remember exact times but there were a couple of tournaments where I tried to push it a little bit, where if I had just stuck to my game plan and played the way I was going into the week and trying to play, I probably would have made more cuts. There certain times where if I didn’t have to push it on a few holes; just play boring golf, just slap it out there on the fairway and knock it on the green instead of bringing bogey and double into play.

Q. Tiger and Phil have won seven Masters, and this year, they haven’t won, both are a little out of form, and the kids are kind of rising up. Does that make this — do you think, maybe a more wide-open Masters than we’ve had in recent years?

RICKIE FOWLER: I definitely think there’s a possibility. Like you said a lot of the young guys are playing well right now. A few guys have already won this year. And you know, there’s a lot of us that are going to be in the field, so the way I look at it, if I’m in a field, I have a chance to win, so I’m going to go there and try to win. So like I said earlier, I’m going to worry about this week right now, but starting next week, that’s all I’m going to be focused on is how to prepare the best I can so I can tee off on Thursday and be ready to go.

Q. Just wondering from there was any sort of good karma rub-off from teaming up with Arnie at Seminole a week or so ago?

RICKIE FOWLER: Yeah, definitely didn’t hurt. I played really well with him. Obviously I wasn’t too nervous, but obviously I felt that if I played well, I wanted to impress him a little bit. Went out and made seven birdies and an eagle. I got a little smirk at the end with a handshake, so I was happy about that.

JOHN BUSH: Rickie, thanks for coming by.

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PGA Tour spokesman Ty Votaw confirmed the policy board has given preliminary approval to the concept, although it is in the early stages of discussion. The tour began informing players by memo late Monday afternoon.

Another change being contemplated is Q-school at the end of the year providing access only to the Nationwide Tour.

“There are still a number of steps,” Votaw said.

The tour has been looking at ways to strengthen the Nationwide Tour, its developmental circuit. It is looking for a new umbrella sponsor, because Nationwide has said it would not renew its contract after 2012.

Under the preliminary plan, the top 125 on the FedEx Cup standings after the Wyndham Championship would advance to the playoffs and compete for $35 million in bonus money, with $10 million for the winner.

Those who don’t make the top 125 would have the option of playing a series of three tournaments along with top Nationwide Tour players. Those tournaments also would have a points structure, and it would determine who gets PGA Tour cards the following season.

Among the numbers being mentioned for the three-tournament series is 75 players from the FedEx Cup standings and the top 50 players from the Nationwide Tour money list, with the top 50 players from that series earning their cards.

“The number from the Nationwide that goes to the three-tournament series hasn’t been determined yet,” Votaw said. “And the question of how many cards has not been, either.”

If the plan goes through, that means players could no longer go straight from Q-school to the PGA Tour. If a player doesn’t make the FedEx Cup playoffs and doesn’t make it through the three-tournament series, he still could compete the following year on limited status as a past champion or depending on how high he finished beyond the top 125. That part wouldn’t change.

The PGA Tour over the past several years has been awarding more cards through the Nationwide Tour money list than those who make it through six rounds of Q-school. It feels players are more prepared for the big leagues after going through an entire season of traveling and trying to make cuts in the minors.

Such a change, however, would eliminate dreams of long shots who go make it through Q-school, some of them fresh out of college, others who have toiled through mini-tours.

J.B. Holmes and Dustin Johnson are among those who went straight from college and made it through Q-school, then won in their rookie season. A year ago, Rickie Fowler went from Q-school to a spot on the Ryder Cup team.

Some tour officials feel those players are exceptions, and that the quality of fields would be strengthened.

It also would add a layer of drama to the end of the year — PGA Tour players who struggled and Nationwide Tour players who performed well, meeting in a cutthroat series of events.

Still to be determined is how the Fall Series, which typically is held after the FedEx Cup, would be effected.

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Edfors was joined on five-under-par by fellow Swedes Oscar Floren and Rikard Karlberg and British pair Jamie Elson and Robert Rock.

Of the quintet only Edfors has previously won on the European Tour although he has not done so since 2006 when he triumphed three times and was unlucky not to make the Ryder Cup team that beat the United States at the K Club in Ireland.

Apart from Floren, the others had the luck of the draw and played in the morning before a stiff breeze blew at the Parador de Golf course overlooking the Mediterranean Sea.

“I had been planning to take this week off because I did not play well in the event last year,” former Scottish Open, British Masters and TCL Classic champion Edfors told reporters. “But then I decided to come and it was a good decision.

“The course is in great shape and the weather during my round was absolutely lovely. I know I have not won for five years but I feel my confidence is starting to come back.”

Floren, who graduated from the second-tier Challenge Tour at the end of 2010, benefited from a change in conditions when the wind dropped again for the last nine holes of his round.

Rock’s 65 was encouraging for the Englishman after he parted company with long-time caddie Jamie Lane following a lowly 58th-place finish at last week’s Sicilian Open.

Fellow Englishman Elson is still trying to make up for lost sleep after the event in Sicily carried over until Monday because of bad weather.

“I only got back home to England at 9.30 on Monday night and on Tuesday I had to set my alarm for 3am to get my plane to Malaga,” he said. “But when you play well you do not tend to feel the tiredness.”

The little-known Karlberg, 24, sprinkled his round with seven birdies and two bogeys.

Among the five players who carded 66s to lie one shot off the lead was 1999 British Open champion Paul Lawrie who also played his round before sitting down to lunch.

European Ryder Cup captain Jose Maria Olazabal and his predecessor as skipper, Colin Montgomerie, opened with matching 70s while tournament promoter Miguel Angel Jimenez registered a 72.

(Editing by Tony Jimenez)

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