TWEET OF THE DAY

@danjenkinsgd Dan Jenkins

So far, my favorite Tiger headlines: TIGER ONLY 5 BACK ... ONLY 11 PLAYERS AHEAD OF TIGER ...TIGER MAKES CUT, POISED FOR CHARGE

Casey and Hanson take charge in the Kingdom of Bahrain

 CASEY, Paul       -16

HANSON, Peter  -16

Many will label Casey’s strong play as some sort of Ryder Cup redemption for being snubbed in the Ryder Cup selection.

CLARKE, Darren     -15

KINGSTON, James  -15

If Clarke went on to win, it would be as popular as asking the country if they would be in favor of lowering taxes.

JIMÉNEZ, Miguel Angel       -14

The man with swag—Jimenez. Besides, he don’t need no stinkin putter! He made 3 birdies in 5 holes with his wedge yesterday.

EDFORS, Johan                     -13

MANASSERO, Matteo          -13

GALLACHER, Stephen        -13

Young Matteo is low Italian at only 18 years old, but doesn’t play like it.

MOLINARI, Francesco        -12

MOLINARI, Edoardo           -12

NOREN, Alexander              -12

HORSEY, David                   -12

Francesco will separate from this group unless Edoardo’s putter gets hot.

HAMILTON, Todd      -11

KARLSSON, Robert    -11

HANSEN, Anders         -11

LARA, José Manuel      -11

This would be a fantastic win for Hamilton who went from journeymen to Open Champion back to journeymen.

Impressive play puts Bill Haas on top

Farmers Insurance Open

Notes from the top ten after round two:

1.      -11 Bill Haas

Haas made eight birdies and two bogeys on his way to a six under 66 on the south course at Torrey Pines. Serious work on a course Tiger noted wasn’t far from US Open conditions if the PGA tour wanted to make it so.

2.      -9 Anthony Kim

Making good on yet another promise to keep his priorities in order, Anthony Kim lights up the front nine in 27 and finished with a 67.

3.      -8 Fredrik Jacobson, Bubba Watson, Rickie Fowler, Phil Mickelson, John Daly, Hunter Mahan, Ben Crane

Many are hoping for some staying power from Daly, but the odds are not in his favor. No doubt CBS will be pulling for Fowler and Mickelson to emerge from this group. Worst case senerio would have CBS showing Ben Crane videos and Hunter Mahan cannot be forgiven for posting a picture of himself wearing a “Trophy Husband” shirt on twitter.

4.      -7 Brian Davis and Chris Kirk

Leading the quintet at -6 is Tiger Woods who looked like the Tiger of old until he lost his swing on the back nine.

Europeans Rule

Say what you will about how much the European tour has closed the gap on the PGA tour, but when it comes to twitter, Europeans rule. Ninety-nine percent of us live outside the ropes—far insulated from really getting to know the players. As a result, we get the siege of canned comments that we read and hear from players. Sure the PGA is experimenting with putting microphones on players during tournament play, but all you are really going to get is the caddie saying, “wind out of the left and helping.” “I like 6 iron.” Not exactly entertaining is it. During yesterday’s opening round at Torrey Pines we did get a little snowboard talk from Davis Love III, but it was brief and forgettable. Twitter on the hand has given us at least a glimpse of the kind of banter that no doubt goes on inside and outside the ropes. 

Here’s a little banter for you:

Ian Poulter reply to Lee Westwood’s comment on the potential of being out-driven by an amateur.

“No shock if he does. Length isn’t everything is it westy….”

Ian Poulter

"Right im off to the gym see if i can loose some excess weight, wouldnt want to look like @WestwoodLee now would i."

Lee Westwood’s comment to Rory McIlroy’s picture of his new car:

“can you see over the steering wheel of that “man’s” car you’ve bought? Need a cushion?

“just spoke to Bentley. Apparently it’s the first time they’ve ever had to fit a booster seat in the front of a car.”


 Ok, so it’s not spectacular, but it’s far better than the usual nonsense we hear from players, “I like my chances this weekend, I’m playing well. I’m driving the ball in the fairway, hitting greens, and putting well.” No kidding, you’re in first place.

My favorite Ian Poulter response:

Tiger Wood joked to Ian Poulter about mis-marking his ball which cost him 2 strokes and the tournament.

Tiger, “what’s the matter Poults, you don’t know how to mark your ball?”

Poulter, “Take it easy NUMBER 2” (now #3).

OFF THE RACK? THINK AGAIN

        

            You buy a house, you update it—Jacuzzi tub, surround sound, speakers in every room; even outside. You buy a car—you get the leather seats, the fancy rims, raise the car, lower the car, and you put video players in the seat backs. Custom suits? You bet, but most don’t do this when they buy golf equipment. Customizing has been the buzz at this year’s PGA Merchandize Show, but it’s been around for quite a while now; even longer for the professionals. It’s insane that people are willing to spend as much money as they do on golf and not get their equipment tailored to their needs. Technology in golf equipment is off the charts and the amateur stands to benefit the most from these developments. Think of like this—the greatest amount of growth will occur when lowering a golfer’s handicap from eighteen to twelve then it will be going from a two to a scratch. Once you’ve become a serious single digit handicap, the rest is all about refinement.

            Pick a club, any club. It doesn’t matter what you club you pick, you can customize it. I don’t recommend you do that but the point is, is that you can. I do recommend however, that you customize your woods, hybrids, and irons. What seems to be a millennia ago, the only options you had were shaft, lie, loft, and to a lesser extent, grip size. Today, customization has grown exponentially. In the shaft alone, you can dial in your swing speed down to a specific frequency—seriously. Customizing is all about fitting you with the proper equipment that benefits your golf game. Off the rack equipment can easily hurt you as much as it can help you. Club fitting is never going to hurt you.

            The rub of this is that you need to remember that your golf equipment provider in most cases is not your golf instructor.  Your club fitter is only fitting clubs for you to minimize your inefficiencies and maximize your attributes at a particular time. In time, those will change, and thus, so will your equipment. How much time is up to you, but for the average weekend warrior, he or she could probably play with same set of clubs for twenty years and not miss a beat.

Suggestions:

• Beginners should start with a “starter” set and groove a swing. Do worry if you think it’s a “good” or “bad” swing. You have to start with “your” swing to make progress. This way, when you take lessons, it’s easier for your pro to help you if your swing is repeating as opposed to doing something different each time.
• Once you find your groove, find a quality club fitter. This may or may not be your local super chain golf store. If you are serious about your game, then treat this like your looking for a new general practitioner.

• Check in with your club fitter, once a year or once every two years if you like just to see if anything has changed in your swing. For the most part; for the average golfer, the only thing that is going to change is most likely your lie angle on your clubs. No need to break out serious plastic for the change.

Now go get fitted!