Rule 18-2 says that if a golf ball is in play and if the player, his caddie, or the equipment of the player causes the ball to move, the player incurs a penalty of one stroke.   Now let’s look at the decisions that clarify this.

Decision 18-2a/19 says that when a practice swing on the tee box causes the ball to move, there is no penalty and the golfer can replace the ball on the tee and hit his/her shot?  Why?  Well the ball was not in play.  As simple as that.

However anywhere else on the course, a practice swing that causes the ball to move is in violation of Rule 18-2a and must incur a penalty stroke.  Now one clarification on this ruling.  The practice swing does not count as a stroke in addition to the penalty stroke.  The rules recognize that the golfer was making a practice swing and was not intending to strike the ball.  However the golfer must replace the ball to where it was an incur a penalty of one stroke.

A simple rule that a lot of golfers miss or ignore.  Thanks for the question!

In Tiger’s apology, he asked people to find a way to believe in him again.  But I, for one, don’t know if I will ever be able to trust what he says and does going forward.    Some will call me judgemental and that is ok.  But as much as I wasn’t a super fan of Tiger, I did really respect his game and I also really respected him as a man.  I really thought that he was one of the “good guys”.  I believed that he was a guy who had achieved it all in his sports career and still kept his perspective and was a true role model.

But he wasn’t….

There are those who say that sports stars don’t have to be role models.  And maybe that is true.  But he accepted that role.  Tiger put himself out there as a role model and then let everyone down.

He has been criticized a lot about how he spoke the other day.  What he said, what he didn’t say, how he said it, and on and on and on.  None of that matters to me.  Although I will say that he looked really uncomfortable.  As well he should.  He was not only out of his element without a club in his hand or a great round just finished, but he was admitting things no one wants to admit.

And I personally think he was sincere.  But again, it doesn’t matter to me.  My bottom line is this:  Tiger was not the man that I though he was or the man that he led the world to believe that he was.  And not only was he not that guy, but I just can’t overlook what he did and how he went about it.  That’s just me.  Others may feel differently and that’s ok too.  We all have our opinions.

He may go on to achieve even higher greatness in the game of golf.  But for me personally, I just don’t respect him as a man and don’t know if I ever will again.  And I believe that there are probably more out there who feel the same way. And I think that makes it not only a sad day for Tiger but a sad day for golf.

This particular course was the main golf course at the Marriott Bay Point in Panama City, Florida.  We were on a family vacation in the area and some buddies and I decided to hit the links.  I didn’t know anything about that particular course, but it was at a Marriott resort so I figured we couldn’t go too wrong.

Once we checked in at the pro shop and I looked at the card, I thought “Oh no, we may have gotten more than we bargained for”.  Reading about the course’s status, I was thinking that we were going to have to just “man up” and play this course, tough handicap or not.

So out we go and it started early and stayed the same…..ridiculous!  I don’t mind a difficult course.  I don’t mind a course that is longer than most.  I don’t even mind one that is long and difficult, but this course looked like it was  designed by a deranged three year old.

It appeared that they designed the course purely to get that high handicap.  But they did it in the most ridiculous ways.   Let me share a few examples.

One of the early holes had these deep grass bunkers right in the middle of the fairway AND right in the landing area for your tee shots.  And the way that they were laid it, it was only pure chance whether your tee shot missed them or not.  And these were all deep enough that on your second shot, you only had a chance to move the ball about 50 yards up the fairway.

I’m not going to continue to rant about the other crazy things that they had done, I won’t bore you with all of that.  But let me just say this.  That golf course was ridiculous and I vowed never to go back there again.

Now I am not familiar with many of the courses on the list in the espn.com article above. But I just hope that they are nothing like what I experienced that day in Panama City.  Difficult golf is part of the game, that is why they have the handicap system.  But to put things in the middle of a beautiful golf course that really belong at the local putt putt is just wrong.

Happy New Year and I hope all of your golf is great this year!

Number Two:  The elimination of the FedEx Cup.  I never really understood why The PGA felt that they needed it.  I enjoy the golf season without it.  The majors, to me, are big highlights to the season and I, for one, don’t need a season ending series to enjoy the golf season.

Number Three:  A total absence of “You da man” being shouted out during tournament broadcasts.  I mean, really, what does this mean?  Maybe I’m the only one, but it drives me crazy.

Number Four:  Jim Furyk topping the money list and (if it still exists–see number two above) the Fed Ex Standings.  Furyk is one of my favorite golfers and had a very good year in 2009.  I’d love to see him continue that upward trend in 2010.

Number Five:  Another British Open like last year with Tom Watson.  I know, it’s not going to happen, but that sure was a ton of fun.

Well you may totally disagree with my list, but it’s my list and that’s what I would like to see.

And most of all, I wish to all of you golf nuts out there, the most fun yet in your golf game during 2010!

Rule 20-3d says the following:  If a ball when placed fails to come to rest on the spot on which it was placed, there is no penalty and the ball must be replaced. If it still fails to come to rest on that spot:  except in a hazard, it must be placed at the nearest spot where it can be placed at rest that is not nearer the hole and not in a hazard.

So he gets relief, but the problem may be that he may end up farther away from the hole than where he plugged the shot.  Now, the other side of the coin could be that he is farther away but has an easier putt, maybe less break, no slope to deal with etc.

But that is what he is dealing with.  I’d be curious how you guys played it.  Either email me or post the comment here on what you guys did.  This was one that took me a little digging on to make sure that there were no other considerations to look at.  I would guess that most of us golfers would miss this one without some help.

Good golfing!

Let me share a story from my youth.  I was at a charity golf tournament  (I was a golf nut even before I started playing) with a ton of professional sports stars.  A lot of us kids were working to get autographs and along came Sandy Koufax.  Just as I was able to get close enough to get his autograph, some kids from the back of the pack pushed and a couple of us were shoved into Sandy.  Unfortunately, he turned on us with a snarl and made an ugly comment.

Now at the time, I just said well he’s the exception, but it did change my perception of him.  Over the years, then you hear the stories AND the admisssions of Mickey Mantle about his escapades.  And there were others.

The sad realization that I have come to is this.  Yes there were and are good guys out there in professional sports.  But, different from the memories many of us have,  back in “the day” I don’t think that there were so many more and that over the years it’s gone downhill.  I’ve come to the conclusion that the press and the media,for the most part, just didn’t report all the transgressions back then.  I believe that there was basically an unwritten code to “protect” our heroes.  I’m not saying it’s right or wrong, I just believe that is the way it was.

That day is long gone and if a celebrity or sports figure messes up, we will hear about it.  So should we be sad, should we feel misled from our youth, should we be mad that possibly a lot of those we idolized growing up were running around on their spouses, drinking, chasing women in every town etc?

Here is my bottom line.  I think that there are role models and that a few (unfortunately fewer than we thought) of our sports heroes, past and present, are figures that we can point out to our kids and encourage them to respect their character, not just their accomplishments.  But we also need to remember that we are all human, we all have weaknesses, and we all make mistakes.  And I think that we should also teach our kids not to judge and to have compassion for those that make mistakes.  We just have to remember that if we “create” heroes, they will probably let us down at some point.

Till next time all you golf nuts!

So they land in Augusta, Ga and head to the home of The Masters, Augusta National.    A round of 18 holes on the famed track that looks so great on TV in April.  Dinner at the Augusta National Golf Club, then they get to stay in one of the cottages on the property.  If it ended right there and they returned home the next morning,  it would be awesome! But it wasn’t over yet.

The next day they play the main course again in the morning and then play the Par 3 course before heading home in the Nicklaus jet.  And the topper is that Jack, as the member at Augusta National, picks up the tab for the trip.  Does it get any better than that?

Wow, a golf trip of a lifetime.  Not much more I can say.

I recommend three components to your program that will all help your golf game.  First is stretching.  This is something that I didn’t do early in life, but as I have gotten older I realize how important it is, and it really helps keep your flexibility for your golf swing.  The second is weight lifting.  I have written about this before and some golfers think I am crazy.  But a weight training routine is key to overall strength and conditioning.   The third component is a cardio routine of some kind.  It might be walking, running, or using a treadmill, elliptical or some other piece of equipment.

For you older golfers like me,  a book on fitness and staying young that I read recently really motivated me to take my workouts to the next level.  It’s called “Younger Next Year” by Chris Cowley.  If you are anywhere near or above your late 40’s I encourage you to check this book out.  I don’t agree with everything he writes about, but his message on exercise and the impact it has on helping your body stay young is tremendous.

Now of course I can’t totally ignore your golf swing during this post, so let’s talk about what I try to do and encourage my students to do during the offseason.  First, I really try to work on tempo.  Depending on the weather, one of the things that I do is swing a weighted club.   I really work on swinging smooth and easy and thinking about my swing thought for tempo.  Another thing that I use to do this is to hit into a net.  I am doing this to work on a smooth tempo and solid contact.  You can’t tell how the golf shot shot would have finished up, but after a short time you can definitely tell how solid the contact was.

The other thing that I will do a fair amount this time of year is work on my short game.  Primarily chipping and putting.  Now I am fortunate that I have access to courses that don’t shut down for the winter so for some of you this may be limited in what you can do.  But any chance that you have to reinforce consistency in your short game will help.   I use the same drills that are in my golf program described here.  You may want to check it out.

But until next time, golfers let’s get in shape and fine tune that short game where the strokes can be shaved.

First, the lack of the physical contact and wear and tear lets you compete longer in the game of golf.  Hence, an advantage.  But without the physical contact or the speed and movement of other sports, there is no way to release the adrenaline that comes with professional sports.  And this can be a disadvantage for golfers.  I’ve heard discussions of how caddies have saved pro golfes by having them play one less club  because they knew that the adrenaline would have them pumped up.

So does golf actually have more pressure than other professional sports you might ask?  Well I don’t really think that pro golfers would tell you that there is more pressure in golf than in other professional sports.  But from my own personal experience, I think that pressure affects them in other ways.

First there is that physical aspect we talked about earlier.  I know that I’ve had rounds of golf where I was just really struggling and I wanted to just lash out, hit something, release some steam etc.  But there is no way to do that in the sport itself.   So golfers have to manage that pressure and/or adrenaline in different ways.

Second, there is pressure in all professional sports for the individual to perform.  And in some cases there is all the focus on an individual for a moment, like a free throw in basketball or a field goal attempt in football.  But in golf, if you miss that putt with the whole world watching, there isn’t someone to “pick up the pace” or to help you get back in the game like in other sports.  You have to “pick it up” all by yourself.  So again, not necessarily worse pressure, just applied in different ways.

So my response to the question in the title of this post is this:  The pressure is there just as in other sports, not worse or more of it, just a little different in how it affects us, the golfers.  Good golfing out there.

That is getting rid of movement in your head during your golf swing.  Now I’m not talking about keeping your head down.   This is something a little more subtle.  But I see a lot of golfers that move their head up or down or side to side during their swing and it can cause mishits and pushes or pulls.  And most average golfers never notice it.

So the first thing to do if possible is take a short video of your swing.  If you don’t have a camera, then get a friend or even you spouse to take a few minutes to watch your swing.  That is if your spouse will spend any time feeding your addiction to golf!

If you or they see side to side or up and down movement of your head, this may be your problem.  Now you just need to work on doing what the pros call “maintaining a quiet head”.   So let’s talk about how to help this.

You don’t want to stiffen up your shoulders or neck or you will cause other problems.  The key is really to just focus on not having major movement of your head during your golf swing.  One thing that I have used to do this is focusing on the golf ball a little more intently during my swing.  And this sounds a little crazy, but even picking a spot on the golf ball and not letting my vision move from that spot.  Then I also try to make sure that I see the clubhead swing through the golf ball at impact.

By focusing on this, without trying to “keep my head still” with the muscles of my neck, I have been able to keep my head quiet and improve my contact on the golf ball.  So, the next time you are hitting some balls at the range, try this approach.  Then video yourself again or have that same person watch you again to look for improvement.

I hope this helps and great golfing to you.

Now what does this mean for our writing and our content?   Well first it won’t mean a major shift one way or the other.  We were already writing a reasonable amount about the rules of golf.  But this just means a slight increase in how much.  It also means that our focus on golf tips is the right one.  So we will continue with that being our biggest focus in our content.

Let me add that I am glad to see an increased interest in the rules.  I’ve always felt that a lot of golfers didn’t take the time to learn the rules of golf.  And so often I see golfers apply the rules the wrong way just because that’s the way they’ve always seen it done.  And while it probably doesn’t matter in just a friendly Saturday round of golf between friends,  there always comes a time when you will have a question come up where it does matter.

So thank you again all you golf nuts.  For your feedback, your support, and your love of the game.  Good golfing and look for some more rules content going forward.

But what blew me away was this.  The PGA Points Award for Tiger was his tenth in his 13 years on the golf tour.  The Vardon was his eight and, oh yeah, he picked up the Arnold Palmer award for winning the money title for the ninth time.

I don’t see how you can call this anything but pure dominance.  I was young and didn’t follow golf when Arnold and Jack were in their heyday.  So maybe it was comparable and I’ll have to check some stats on it.  But I know that in my time of following golf, no one comes close to this.

Whether you like Tiger or not, you have to tip your hat to his success and his continued drive when he has already reached heights that most golfers never get to.

I, like a lot of golf fans, would like to see some of his competitors give Tiger some stiffer competition.  But at the same time, I stand in amazement at what he has done while realizing he’s not done yet.

Congrats Tiger, well done!

And so my philosophy on practice changed quite a bit.  So first, again I am not saying not to practice.  But one of the things that I have done in the past and strongly urge you not to do is to go to the range and  just hit ball after ball after ball after ball…. well you get the idea.  I still see golfers doing this almost like they believe that suddenly their golf swing is going to magically correct itself.  So my first point is this.  Slow down when you are hitting balls at the golf range and think about the results of each shot and learn from each shot.

Second,  as you see results, look at what caused any bad results and make a small change.  I’m not talking about wholesale changes to your swing, but little tweaks.  Maybe strengthen or weaken your grip slightly or close or open your stance a little.  Maybe shorten your backswing a little.  But don’t just keep doing the same thing over and over.

Second,  practice with a purpose.  One of my key recommendations about practice is not to just hit balls down the range.  I like to play holes in my practice.  Usually there are distance flags.  I use the short distances for my approach shots.  So I’ll hit a driver on a par 4, then use my 8 iron into a flag.  I’ll hit a driver, 3 wood, and then a pitching wedge to simulate a par 5.  All of this makes practice more like a round and it sharpens what you do with your practice time.

I will write another post in a couple of days on more practice tips, so my last one for today is this.  Practice the amount of time that makes sense for you.  If it’s productive time, you may stay out there a while.  I don’t, but that’s because it’s unproductive for me.  But I see other golfers who may stay on the range for an hour or two.  Others are out there two hours, buy may only practice their golf for 30-40 minutes.  The rest of the time they enjoy the fellowship of other golfers.

So for now, make your practice work for you, not the other way around.

So I wanted to ask you golfers out there to see what you want to hear about and to see if you want more of one thing versus what I have been writing on.

So I am going to offer this poll for you, our readers and visitors to let us know what you want to hear about.  Please vote and I will post the results in about a week to let everyone see.

Then, depending on YOUR answers, we will adjust our content if you tell us that we need to.  Thanks to all of you golfers out there for supporting us.

I’m looking forward to seeing your votes golf nuts!

Well, I will be the first one to admit that this year has been the best one so far as far as keeping golfers interested to some degree.  But I’m still not convinced that golfers, that is the majority of all golfers, really care about this playoff format.  I know that for me personally, once the majors were finished, I didn’t start jumping up and down in anticipation of the FedEx playoffs.  Maybe I’m just too old school.

I guess, for me, I would say normally a lot of my opinion on whether the PGA has the right formula would depend on the outcome of The Tour Championship.  But I don’t think that this is a normal year.  Because I don’t think that Tiger is 100% back from his rehab.  If Tiger wins it, which I think that he will, to me it says that the format still isn’t right.   I mean if Tiger can skip the first tournament in Year 1 of this playoff and still win it.  And if he can win it in the only other year he participated and that is an off year for him, then the format is just not working.

Now granted, Tiger is probably the best to have ever played professional golf.  But that is part of my point.  With Tiger at the peak of his career, a format that gives him 4 tournaments of stroke play is, I believe, a gimme for him.

So, while improved, I still don’t think it’s the right approach.  And I am also not convinced that golfers are bought in.  Golfers I play with and talk to are, for the most part, not that interested in what happens with the final outcome.  And that speaks volumes to me.

Maybe I’m wrong.  And I’m looking for reasons to be wrong. Because ultimately, golf needs a spark right now.  But I’m not convinced that the FedEx Cup is that spark.  Your thoughts golf nuts?

One of the things that I love about golf is that it is one of the great humblers in life.  One of the two guys that we were paired with ended up being one of those guys that I don’t enjoy playing with.  He was loud, obnoxious, and believed that he was just a step away from the pro tour with his golf game.  The truth of the matter was that he was about a 10 handicap and a pretty good golfer, but you wouldn’t have believed it to listen to him.

As we played the first several holes, this guy is complaining about why he wasn’t parring every hole.  The pin placements were stupid, he had forgotten his “special” wedge and so his short game was off, the greens were in rough shape so his putting was off and on and on and on.  As we came to a gorgeous and relatively easy par 5 (it was the #14 handicap hole), my partner asked if we wanted to play the hole for who buys drinks from the cart girl who was sitting up by the green waiting for us.  And by the way my partner is a 15 handicapper.

So the loud guy jumps all over this figuring this is a sure thing.  His partner was a pretty decent golfer, about an 11 or 12 handicap.  Well being that it was a par 5, the obnoxious golfer pulls out his driver, tees off first and proceeds to hook his ball into some swampland.  And it went downhill for him from there.  After his tee shot, my partner and I hit 3 woods and both proceeded to par the hole.  So you know who bought the drinks and the loud guy suddenly got a little quiet heading to the next hole.

A few holes later I saw a Dad and his two young sons on an adjacent fairway just absolutely having a blast.  And it wasn’t about them playing good golf, they were all over that fairway.  But the kids were laughing and so was the Dad.  Just great quality time together on the golf course. I love it.

After the turn, I experienced another thing that I really love about the game.  My game started leaving and I was really struggling for several holes.  And my buddy turned to me and said something that any golfer has heard many times.   “Well Dave, a bad day on the golf course beats a good day at the office every time!”.   And he was so right.  It was a gorgeous day and a great course we were playing and after he said that I didn’t let my play affect having a good time at all for the rest of the round.

And one last thing before I go.  After we finished the round and the loud, obnoxious guy stomped off to his car, his buddy came walking back.  “Sorry about Joe”, he said.  “He can be hard to put up with, but I just wanted to let you guys know how much we enjoyed playing with you today”.  Just reinforcing the point to me that for every obnoxious Joe that we run into on the golf course, there are many more nice, decent golfers out there and I always enjoy getting to know them during a round of golf.

Have fun out there all you golf nuts!

This has turned out to be an interesting golf rules question because I cannot find an exact answer in the rules anywhere.  So I am going to respond based on my understanding of the rules.   If any of you other golf nuts out there can provide any specifics from The Rules of Golf, please email me at thegolfnut@the-golf-nut.com.  Otherwise here is how I understand the rules.

Rule 27 deals with a ball being out of bounds.  And the definitions in the rules of golf say that a ball is out of bounds when all of it lies out of bounds.  And the only time that I found a rule dealing with a ball coming back into bounds was in Rule 15 dealing with a ball being thrown back into bounds by an outside agency, which did not apply in your case.

As I read it, you proceeded correctly.  First by hitting a provisional golf ball to help speed up play.  And then when you found your golf  ball claiming it as the ball in play.  Now your partner pressed you to play your provisional ball.  And I applaud you for keeping the peace, but from my  understanding of the rules, he was incorrect in his position.

Now one of the things that I do when researching rules questions is to research both the Rules of Golf and all decisions related to a particular rule or set of rules. And as I said earlier, I didn’t find anything that, in particular, addressed your situation.  I researched Rule 27 (Ball Lost or Out of Bounds), Rule 19 (Ball in Motion Deflected or Stopped), and Rule 13 (Ball Played As It Lies).

So I am comfortable that you should have been able to play your original golf ball once found.  And that is assuming that you found it within the 5 minute timeframe that the rules allow.  But as I said earlier, if any of you golfers out there reading this find something different, don’t hesitate to let me know.

Good golfing.

There are several things that can cause a slice, but I am going to talk about the two most common causes that I have seen on the golf course.  And those come down to the swing path and the clubface.  Now if you are an experienced golfer, I would suggest you stop right here.  My advice on this is really for higher handicappers and is pretty unorthodox.  But I know that it works and I’ve helped a number of golfers with it.

A lot of amateur golfers with slices have an outside to in swing path.   And this is commonly caused by a move known as “over the top”.  This results when, in your downswing, the golf club and your right elbow get way too far away from the body.  Rather than just repeat the advice from my previous article on this, I’m going to give you a link to it.  Read this article and then come back here for the second part.

Now the second most common problem is that your clubface is open.  This can be a little tricky to cure if you start messing around with the grip  or your wrists and other things that your golf pro might try.  I’m going to give you a very simple, but unorthodox correction for this problem.   Read this post that I wrote and then come back here for a little more explanation.

Now in this case, you aren’t trying to create a draw or fade, but to fix a slice.  So the amount that you close the club face at address will vary.  Just try different amounts until your shot straightens out or even develops a slight draw.

Now one last thought.  You may have shots that start off going left and then end up with a big slice.  In that case you may have both of these problems and you may have to work on both.   Unusual advice I know, but that’s why they call me  ‘The Golf Nut’.

Good golfing!

Well, I won’t ask exactly how you bent your club, but I hope you learned your lesson on that one.  But as to the Rules of Golf on your question, let’s take a look at it.

It’s an interesting question that you asked.  Rule 4-3 of the Rules of Golf deals with damaged golf clubs.  The rules say first of all that if a golf club is damaged in the normal course of play, the golfer may continue to play with the club or repair it if that doesn’t unduly delay play.  Now the clarification on this question comes to the definition of “normal course of play”.

And hitting the ground in anger does not fall under “normal course of play”.  Now what the rules say about this is the following: If a club is damaged not in the normal course of play and if the damage makes the club non conforming or changes the playing characteristics, the club must be replaces or not used.

From what you told me, I would say that you did not break the rules.  I didn’t find anything that indicated that a slightly bent shaft would make it non conforming or change the playing characteristics.  So my thought is that you are free and clear on this rules question.  But it could get expensive for you to keep playing golf if you keep that up.

Good golfing to all you golf nuts!

Well I don’t have any magic tips, but I can talk about something that I’ve found that really helps me during a round.  It’s a real simple thing called walking.  One of the things that I have found over the years is that riding in a golf cart actually tends to hurt my game to some degree.  But it’s sort of like swinging easy.  I seem to keep forgetting it.

When I walk on my rounds of golf rather than riding in a cart, I seem to stay much more focused and relaxed.  As I walk towards my golf ball, I get a chance to look at my next shot from several angles rather than just jumping out of my cart and getting ready to swing.  I tend to be relaxed and stay relaxed through my pre shot routine.

Another aspect of walking is when I make a bad shot I get some time and physical activity to shake off that bad golf shot. By the time I get to my golf ball, most of the time the shot that got me there is forgotten.  This really helps me to avoid putting several bad shots together and totally killing the hole.

Another aspsect of mental golf is playing smart and playing what the golf course gives you.  Walking helps me take the time to think about this.  Usually when I’m riding, I’m talking with my cart partner and not focusing on what I should be doing next.  Walking allows me to talk as well, but then if I need to focus I can slow down a bit/speed up a bit or just separate myself slightly from the group and gather myself.

This may not have been what you were expecting as an answer to your question, but I encourage you to consider walking more often when you play golf and using the time between shots to strengthen your mental game. It can make a world of difference.

Good golfing out there!

I don’t think that you can say he’s in a slump considering that he’s got 5 wins and 10 top 10 finishes, is #1 on the FedEx Cup standings and the World Golf Rankings.   But he hasn’t looked consistently like Tiger in the three majors this year.  Especially missing the cut at the British Open.

So let’s talk about this.  Everyone has an opinion and you know that I will tell you mine.  I think that the bottom line is that this is a year still in rehab for Tiger.  His knee was reconstructed just 14 months ago.  We’ve just tended to buy into the “Superman” image that Tiger has built over the last several golf seasons.  So we expect him to just bounce back from this kind of surgery and be himself immediately.

Now I’m not trying to make excuses for Tiger, he doesn’t need help or excuses.  I just think that he is probably right where he should be in his comeback and light years ahead of where any other golfer would be.  It just doesn’t seem very Tiger-ish.  But how many pro goflfers, at 33, now married with two kids, that have had the level of success that he has, would be even close to back in shape and playing like he is at this point?  I think exactly ZERO.

So will he win this weekend?  If I were betting, I’d bet not.  But my prediction is that he will finish the year strong and win the first two majors of 2010.  Just give him a little time.  He’s still Tiger after all.

So you have the last group of the day, playing a great match that gets put on the clock.  Ok they were in fact behind.  But behind what?  For what reason would an official do this?  To be fair, treat everyone the same?  I’m not sure I see the logic in this.

There are those that I know would argue, and already have, that the rules must be the same for Tiger and for Padraig as it is for everyone else.  Like the golfers who were put on the clock earlier.  But my point is not about Tiger and Padraig.

If you’ve made it to the final group of a pro tournament and are playing down the stretch for the tournament, I think that a small amount of slack is in order, no matter who you are.  If you are Tiger or #125 on the money list, I think you’ve earned a little room for common sense on the rules at that point in a tournament.

I haven’t heard of one fan who, at the time was saying “Hey, let’s get these guys going!”. But I’ll bet that a large number of fans turned off that tournament after that 16th hole.  And everybody loses in that situation in my humble opinion.

I agree that the rules and the tradition in golf are a very important part of the game.  But I also think that plain, old common sense is also something that is a part of the game as well.  Agree, disagree, that’s ok.  But that’s just the way I feel about it.

Thanks for letting me vent golf nuts.

Now I’m sure that there are plenty of golf sites that have similar lists.  It’s not that important if this is the best list to me.  But you can read the list here:   Top 10 Golf Movies.

This got me to thinking of those conversations that I’ve heard about what is the best golf movie of all time or what is your favorite golf movie.  For me it was a hard one.  Ultimately, I love Caddy Shack, maybe it’s my weird sense of humor.

So now the question comes to you golfers.  What is your favorite golf movie?  I’ve created a short poll to see what everyone thinks.    Take a minute and fill out our poll:

I will post the results in about a week and see what all you golf nuts think.  My vote went to Caddyshack.

And by the way, if you don’t see one that you think should be added, just leave a comment below and I’ll add it.

Even though I was enjoying watching both golfers go the title, my focus for this article is going to be on Watson.  Congratulations to Cink on a great victory, but I want to ramble a bit about Watson’s effort.

One thing I heard during the playoff was one of the announcers talking about how Cink had a distinct advantage over Watson because he was so excited to have made the playoff and Watson was down because he lost he tournament when he missed the putt for par on 18 that would have prevented the playoff.

I just hope that Tom was not in that frame of mind because he gave golfers all over the world a tremendously enjoyable weekend watching one of the classiest gentlemen in the game make a run at history.  And he played well enough to win.  Nothing to be ashamed of in his effort. And had Watson pulled off the improbable victory, he would have been the oldest golfer to win a major by 13 years!  And it came down to the last putt on the 72nd hole.

Now I admit that Watson looked tired as he started to make mistakes during the four hole playoff.  Who wouldn’t have?  But I didn’t care, I just kept pulling for him to pull a miracle out of his golf bag.  And lots of golfers that I have already heard from seemed to feel the same way. They were pulling for him to win it.

And even though he didn’t pull it off, in a way he did. What do I mean by that?  Well,  I can’t remember a situation like this where a former champion golfer Watson’s age or even close to it,  played four complete rounds in a major championship with a chance to win on the last putt.  Maybe one round or possibly part of two.  But the entire tournament?  WOW!

And I’m not trying to write about a moral victory here.  I’m not into that.  And while I haven’t seen an interview with Watson yet, my guess is that he isn’t either.  I just want to give him credit for what he achieved this weekend.

At 59 years old he competed with the best in the world, not for one round,  but for the entire tournament.  And with Tiger dominating so much of the golf news in recent years, this was a breath of fresh air and a pleasure to watch.

Tom, my hat’s off to you.  Thanks for all the memories over the years and for a great British Open this weekend.

This is a good example of how the mental side of golf really affects our game.  I do have a suggestion that a golf buddy of mine shared with me years ago and it really helped me with this issue. And it’s probably something you all know, but maybe don’t practice.

For this golf tip, you have to play the hole based on what you have.  But let’s say you have one of your typical distance par 4’s.  Say it’s anywhere from 350 yards up to 400.  One of the keys here it to leave your ego in the bag.  Let me give you an example.

Most of the time golfers pull out the driver, or maybe even a 3 wood because it’s a par 4.  So many times we want to hit that tee shot as far as possible so that we only have 100 yards or less  for our approach shot.  But if you check the ego, you can hit an iron off the tee and have a much higher chance of being in the middle of the fairway.

Maybe you tee of with a 4 or 5 iron.  On a 385 yard hole, that might leave you with 190 yards or so if you hit a decent 4 iron off the tee.  Now I’m not saying that you ought to count on hitting the green consistently with a long iron.  But let’s compare the alternatives and you tell me which gives you the best chance of scoring better.

Hit a driver or 3 wood and many times you end up in the rough or bigger trouble.  Now you have to chip out or just try to move the golf ball up the fairway while you come out of trouble.  So you are hitting 3 into the green from maybe 140 to 170 yards or so.

Or, as I suggested above, you hit two 4 or 5 irons and even if you miss the green on your second shot, you end up just off the green, chipping from maybe 15 yards or so.  See the difference?  Now I know many of you may be saying, Hey Golf Nut, that’s just common sense.  But the question is whether it’s common practice.

As I said earlier, you have to play the hole based on what you have.  So bunkers, water hazards, and other trouble affect what you do.

But the key golf tip here is play smart when you have a tight fairway.  Don’t let the ego talk you into pulling out the big sticks when a smart approach can save you strokes!  Good golfing out there.