Archive for April, 2009
The avid golfer will tell you that the score is indicative of several factors. For one, it directly reflects your skill and dedication. The more work you put in, the better your score. But there is also a very real difference that can be made to your score by investing in high quality golf clubs. This doesn’t necessarily mean, however, that high quality equipment has to break the bank. There are, of course, very pricey and very high end options available for the golfer with some extra cash, but there are also more reasonable options.
It’s something that every bargain hunter must learn. Cheap doesn’t mean low quality, and that holds true for cheap golf clubs. Do your research and discover the brands that you think will really work to improve your score. Then start browsing the internet for sales, discounts, or promotions. You might just be surprised at the deals you can find on various websites for truly high quality products. Be careful, though, as you want to make sure you are actually receiving the real deal and not a knock off brand or damaged material.
I recently made the three hour trip from Lincoln, NE to Gothenburg, NE to play golf with a couple of my friends at Wild Horse Golf Club. This is not the first time I have played the course, but it was definitely the most enjoyable. The two main reasons it was more enjoyable this time than it was the other times I played the course was: the weather was good, and I played well. There is one other reason I believe I enjoyed this round of golf more and that is because I am becoming more familiar with the course, which is probably why I played better.
Wild Horse is a Links style golf course with a narrow first cut of rough and then native grass. Most of the fairways have generous landing areas, but it is imperative to keep your golf ball in the fairway, or at least in the first cut of rough. There are several holes that have tee shots where you can’t see the landing area, which makes it hard to know where to aim. After you play the course a couple of times, you start to learn where you need to hit each of your tee shots, but more importantly, where not to hit them. Another area where familiarity of the course will help you immensely is on the greens.
Wild Horse’s greens are quick and have a lot of undulation in them and it takes a couple of rounds to get comfortable with their breaks and speed. During this most recent round of golf, I made nine putts that were 5 to 12 feet long. The previous times I played this course, I didn’t make many putts other than tap ins. It always makes the round more enjoyable when you can make some putts.
I have played Wild Horse three times, once a year for the last three years, and always on a Friday in late April. To play 18 holes with a cart at Wild Horse will cost you less than $55 dollars. Playing this golf course is a real pleasure and to be able to play a course of this caliber for that price is truely a great value. I intend on making another trip later this summer to see how the course plays when the rough is up and the greens are at their true speed. If I lived closer, I would play Wild Horse several times a year, but for now, I will try to play it at least twice a year.
Brian Gay began the 4th round of the Verizon Heritage golf tournament at 13 under par and a 3 stroke lead, but when he made a birdie on No. 1 and a 57 foot eagle putt on No. 2, that lead grew to 6 strokes. At this point in the golf tournament, only a record setting round by one of his competitors or a major collapse on his part would keep him from winning his 2nd career PGA golf tournament. Neither of those things would happen, as Gay went on to shoot a final round 64 and set a new tournament record of 20 under par.
Although Brian Gay is not considered to be one of the longer hitters on the PGA tour, the strength of his golf game is his accuracy off the tee. Since The Harbour Town Golf Links at Hilton Head Island, South Carolina isn’t an extremely long golf course, but is a very tight one, it suits Gay’s game very well.
On Sunday, in the final round of the golf tournament, he continued to hit fairways and greens, and kept making putts. When you begin the day with a 3 shot lead, that combination makes it very difficult for anyone to catch you, and when the round was over he won the tournament by 10 strokes.
At 37 years old, Gay has been a journeyman on the PGA tour, competing in 293 golf tournaments before capturing his 1st victory last year in the Maykoba Golf Classic in Mexico. Now that he has his 2nd victory under his belt, I think you will begin to see more of him on the leader board in future events.
It was an amazing round of golf, and an amazing performance throughout the tournament for a very nice young man. My hat’s off to him for having the perseverence to keep plugging away and never giving up. His hard work is now starting to pay off.
Things were looking up for New York Yankee pitcher Chien-Ming Wang after the 1st inning of the baseball game against the Cleveland Indians on Saturday April 18, 2009, when he retired three batters in order for just the second time this season. But things were about to change for the worse in a big way.
The Cleveland Indians trailed the New York Yankees 2-0 when they entered the top of the 2nd inning. That score changed quickly and drastically, when the Indians scored 14 runs on 13 hits in the top of the second inning, which took 37 minutes to complete. Cleveland finished with 22 runs to defeat New York 22-4. The 14 runs is the most ever scored in the 2nd inning of a baseball game, and the 22 runs scored by the Indians ties a record for the most runs ever allowed by the Yankees.
The Yankees have six losses so far this season with three of those losses coming with Wang as the starting pitcher. All three of these losses were blow-outs. The Yankees are going to have to decide how long they can continue to go with Wang as a starter before they look at making a change. Wang has been struggling this year after missing the latter half of the season with an injury. The Yankees are confident that he can return to the caliber of pitching he showed in the first half of last seaston, but how long will it take and can how long can they afford to wait?
When the Masters Golf Tournament began on Sunday it looked like it would most likely be a 3-horse race. In fact, that’s how it turned out, but not before a couple of familiar names caused a buzz to run through the crowd. When the final round of this years first major began, Kenny Perry and Angel Cabrera were tied at 11 under par with Chad Campbell trailing by 2 strokes at 9 under par, but before the leaders had a chance to even tee it up on the first hole, there was something special taking place out on the course.
Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods, playing together for one of the few times, started the final round 7 strokes behind the leaders, but Phil let it be known early that the leaders had better not forget about him, making birdies on 6 of his first 8 holes to move to 10 under par and just 1 stroke off the lead. Tiger had a slower start than Phil, but when he made his eagle putt on the 8th hole, it was as if he was saying “don’t forget about me”.
On the back nine, Phil put his tee ball in the water on No. 12 and took a double bogey, moving him back to 8 under par and 3 strokes behind the leaders. Even though the double bogey really hurt his chances to win the golf tournament, he made a good comeback on the next hole, hitting the green in 2 shots and 2-putting for a birdie to get back to within 2 strokes of the lead. At the same time, Tiger had parred No. 10, 11, and 12 while also making a 2-putt birdie on No. 13 to move within 3 strokes of the lead and 1 stroke behind Phil. On the reachable par 5 15th hole, both players hit good drives giving them the opportunity to hit the green in 2 shots. Tiger’s 2nd shot ended 15 to 20 feet from the hole leaving him an excellent chance at an eagle. After Tiger’s shot, Phil hit his approach shot to within 6 feet of the hole, giving him what seemed like an almost certain eagle, which would tie him for the lead at 11 under par. Tiger 2-putted for a birdie to move to 9 under par, and Phil pushed his short putt to also give him a birdie, moving him to 10 under par and back to within 1 stroke of the lead.
When Tiger made a birdie on No. 16 and Phil made a par, they were tied with each other at 10 under par, one stroke off of the lead and you had the feeling that something very special was about to happen. The two best players in the world, playing together and making such a run at this golf tournament, you thought one of them just had to pull out the victory. As exciting as the first 16 holes were, the last 2 were kind of ho-hum. Tiger made bogeys on both 17 and 18 to fall back to 8 under par and Phil made a bogey on 18 to fall back to 9 under par, leaving them both, and everyone else, to wonder what might have been.
Even though Tiger and Phil fell short of their amazing comeback, this golf tournament was far from over. Following the Phil and Tiger show, was what you could call the meat grinder known as “leading the tournament going to the back nine on Sunday”. I think there can’t be many things more pressure packed than that.
Kenny Perry had a 1 stroke lead over both Cabrera and Campbell when he stepped onto the 10th tee. Perry parred the first 11 holes of the final round before finally making a birdie on the 12th hole. After pars on 13 and 14, Perry birdied both 15 and 16 to take a 2 stroke lead over both Cabrera and Campbell when he went to the 17th hole. If he could manage to make 2 pars, or maybe even 1 par on the last 2 holes, the golf tournament was his. That’s the trouble with a golf tournament like the Masters, the pressure doesn’t let up when you get a 2 stroke lead, it gets worse. Perry made bogeys on both 17 and 18 to fall back into a 3 way tie with Cabrera and Campbell. This would be the first 3-way playoff since the 1987 Masters, when Larry Mize stunned the world when he defeated Seve Ballesteros and Greg Norman to when his only major golf tournament.
The playoff began on the 18th hole and when Cabrera hit his tee shot into the trees on the right, it looked like it was going to be between Perry and Campbell, since they had both hit their shot in the middle of the fairway. Cabrera’s 2nd shot hit the trees and came out into the fairway, but quite a ways from the green, so it definitely didn’t look good for him. But, when Perry’s 2nd shot came up short of the right green side bunker and Campbell’s 2nd shot ended up in the right green side bunker, Cabrera got a another chance. He hit his 3rd shot to within 10 to 12 feet giving him a chance to save his par and continue in the playoff. Perry hit his chip shot to within a foot and Campbell hit his bunker shot to within 5 feet. When Cabrera made his putt, it looked like all 3 players would go to 10th hole to continue the playoff, but Campbell’s putt slipped past the right edge of the hole and he was eliminated. When Perry hooked his 2nd shot left of the 10th green, and wasn’t able to get his chip close, Cabrera needed only 2 putts to claim his 1st Master Championship.
Even though Tiger and Phil fell short this year, it was an outstanding golf tournament, with lots of action and hours of excitement. If we’re lucky the rest of the majors this year will be as exciting.
For anyone who has ever taken a driver in hand and tried their hand at golf, they know just how frustrating the sport of golf can be. The sport requires a high level of precision in conjunction with a little bit of luck, and many people spend a lifetime trying to perfect their game. And while stars like Tiger Woods make the sport look effortless, it is far from it in reality. One of the most pivotal parts of any golf game is that crucial drive. This is the first shot you take off the tee, and the goal is both distance and accuracy.
It’s such an important part of the game that the golf market is flooded with instructors, DVDs, and videos offering golf swing tips. And while these can greatly expedite a student’s progress, there are some basic things that everyone must keep in mind for a successful drive. The most important is to always keep your head down. Even after you’ve made contact with the ball, don’t immediately look up to see where it’s gone. It can alter the trajectory of the ball. It’s human nature to want to know where the shot went, but wait a few seconds until you’ve completely followed through with your swing, and your golf score will thank you for it!
After three rounds of the Masters, the years first major golf tournament, you see 3 names you don’t normally see competing for the treasured “Green Jacket”. Kenny Perry and Angel Cabrera are tied at 11 under par and Chad Campbell, after surrering a double bodey on the 16 hole, is 2 shots back a 9 under par.
Neither Tiger Woods or Phil Mickelson could make a move on Saturday and they are both at 4 under par, 7 shots behind the leaders. They will need to shoot low rounds on Sunday combined with the leaders struggling for either of them to have a chance to win the golf tournament. Both Tiger and Phil are capable of shooting a really good score today, but with so many players ahead of them on the leaderboard, it will be unlikely that either one of them will be able to pull out a victory.
Even though most people would love to see Tiger, or Phil, or both in the last group today, it should still be very interesting to see how the players who have never won the Masters will handle the pressure of the back nine at Augusta National. Remember the old saying, the golf tournament doesn’t really start until the back nine on Sunday. That saying has been true so many times, but let’s see if that’s the case again this year.
Michigan State made a great run for the title in the 2009 NCAA Basketball Tournament, but in the championship game, they ran into a superior team in the North Carolina Tar Heels. I thought Michigan State would have to play an excellent game to have a chance to pull off the upset against North Carolina, but they started the game shooting poorly and with less than 6 minutes gone in the game they were 14 points behind.
Against a team as talented as North Carolina, that was just too big a deficit to overcome. Even though they trailed by 24 points with just under 5 minutes remaining in the first half, Michigan State never gave up. In the second half of the game, they were able to cut the lead to 13 points with a little less than 5 minutes left in the game, but that was as close as they could come. They had used up so much energy trying to make the comeback that they didn’t have enough left to get the job done. It wasn’t as though North Carolina was making it easy for them, they were playing just as hard when they were ahead by 24 as they were when the game started. In the end North Carolina would prevail with a 17 point victory, 89-72.
It was a fitting end to a great career for Tyler Hansbrough. He had set so many records while at North Carolina, but the one thing he hadn’t accomplished was to win a National Championship. Now that is also on his resume. He ended his career 4th in all time scoring in the NCAA Tournament only 3 points behind Kansas’ Danny Manning.
Congratulations to both Michigan State and North Carolina for their outstanding basketball seasons, and a special congratulations to North Carolina for bringing the 2009 NCAA National Championship trophy back to Chapel Hill.
This closes out the 2008-2009 basketball season and we will have to wait until October, when the 2009-2010 season opens, to start talking about who will win next years national championship.
The 2009 NCAA Basketball Championship has come down to two teams, North Carolina and Michigan State, who will play for the National Championship on Monday, April 6. It’s hard to believe the season is almost over, but it has been a very exciting one with many upsets. There is only one question left to be answered, can Michigan State upset North Carolina for the National Championship or will North Carolina hold on to win the title that I’m sure they feel they deserve.
Michigan State has had an outstanding year, but I believe they will need a big lift from the home crowd if they are going to upset North Carolina in the title game. They will definitely be the crowd favorite, playing just 90 miles from their campus, but I think they will need every bit of extra cheering the can get to manage this upset. It should be quite a battle in the paint with Hansbrough going against Suton, but Hansbrough is only one of many weapons that North Carolina brings to the game. Although Michigan State is playing very well right now, I think Michigan State will have to play the best game they have played all year to claim the 2009 NCAA Basketball Championship.
North Carolina’s senior basketball players have been pointing toward this day for four years, the day they would win a National Championship. For them to fall short of their goal would make this whole year, as good as it’s been, seem like a failure. Along with Tyler Hansbrough, North Carolina also has the ever dangerous Ty Lawson, as well as Danny Green and Wayne Ellington. With this much fire power, it is very difficult to stop the Tar Heels.
I am looking forward to a good, hard fought game, but I believe it will be difficult for Michigan State to pull off the upset if they fall behind North Carolina early in the game. Michigan State has played great throughout this tournament, but North Carolina has played consistently better than any other team, winning each game in the tournament by at least 12 points. For Michigan State to win this game they will need to keep it close and hope they can pull out the victory at the end. With the talent the North Carolina has, I don’t think the Spartans will be able to come from behind for the win.
In just his third golf tournament after leaving the PGA Tour last June to undergo surgery on his left knee, Tiger has made it back to the winner’s circle. He started the final round of the tournament 5 strokes behind Sean O’Hair, but after a few birdies and bogeys from both players, Tiger stood on the 72nd hole with a 16 foot birdie putt for the win, which of course he made. Wasn’t it just last year in this same tournament on the 72nd hole that he made a birdie putt of 25 feet for the win? He’s amazing. Whether you’re a fan of Tiger Woods or not, you have to appreciate his talent and his ability to focus on the shot he is faced with at any given time and his ability to pull off that shot to win a golf tournament. There is no one in the game today that is any better than Tiger when it comes to making his golf clubs and golf balls do what he wants them to do in a pressure situation. Phil Michelson is one of the most talented players out there, and he can pull off some of the most amazing shots, but he can’t seem to consistently pull off those shots under pressure.
If someone like Phil Michelson, Ernie Els, Geoff Ogilvy, Sergio Garcia or Padraig Harrington can step and challenge Tiger on a regular basis, this could be the most exciting year on the PGA Tour since Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson were battling it out for Major Titles. If every tournament had a couple of the top players fighting it out on Sunday for the win, the amount of viewers would greatly increase, which would be a great thing for the PGA Tour.
The next big test to see if Tiger is really back, and can one of the top players challenge him is in 2 weeks when the players travel to Augusta, Georgia for the first Major of the year. I have heard several players, including Tiger and Phil mention that everything they have been working on is geared to have their golf games ready for the Masters.
The one thing I have always enjoyed about the Masters is the players have to be able to work the golf ball off the tee on several holes to give them the best shot into the green. Number 13 is a prime example of this. It is a short par 5 with a creek that runs down the left side of the hole and crosses directly in front of the green. You would think the players would want to hit their driver off the tee on this hole so they would have a shorter shot into the green. The trouble is, there is a grove of trees that you will hit your golf ball into if you can’t hit a big draw around the corner of the dogleg. Since it is easier to curve the golf ball using a shorter club, over the years, most players have it a 3-wood of the tee. The 3-wood is a golf club that will still give you good distance off the tee, but will also help you curve the golf ball around the corner so you can be hitting your second shot from the fairway. There have been significant changes made to the golf course over the past several years, but I hope they don’t change it so much that they take away the advantage of shaping your shots on some of these crucial holes.
I would love to see Tiger and Phil standing on the 10th tee box on Sunday afternoon tied for the lead, and for both of them to shoot 3 or 4 under par on the back 9 to set up the birdie winning putt on the 72nd hole. I don’t know how you could top that as far as excitement goes. It could happen. We’ll just have to wait and see.