people

Happy 100th Birthday, Ben Hogan

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For those of you in the Ben Hogan fan club, today is your day. It is the 100th anniversary of the Master’s birth, in Stephenville, Texas (about 60 miles SW of Fort Worth). Hogan is the ultimate self-made player, winner of five U.S. Opens (the Hale in 1942 counts), numerous other major titles and PGA titles, and probably the most iconic golfer of all time.

There is so much to be said about him, that I don’t know where to begin, and you probably know all of it, anyway. I’ll just let some famous pictures do the talking.

Hitting a 1-iron into the 72nd green at Merion in 1950. Photo by Hy Peskin.

This is how it’s done.

 

The Hogan downswing from the Wonderful World of Golf episode in 1965 where he hit every fairway and every green.

 

Ben Hogan (1912-1997)

See this video of his swing on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5s7o2HFbh4

Ben Hogan biographies:
Ben Hogan: An American Life, by James Dodson
Hogan, by Curt Sampson

See also:
Miracle at Merion, by David Barrett
and
Afternoons with Mr. Hogan by Jody Vasquez

For the 85 photos that were used as models for the Anthony Ravielli drawings in Five Lessons,
The Fundamentals of Hogan, by David Leadbetter

and finally,
Five Lessons: The Modern Fundamentals of Golf, by Ben Hogan

Visit www.therecreationalgolfer.com

rules

Know the Rules: Local Rules

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Though the golf course management may not contravene any Rule of golf on its own, if a local condition interferes with the proper playing of the game, it may modify a rule with the approval of the USGA.

Local rules are shown on the back of the scorecard and should be read before you start your round. You might find things like identifying particular objects which can be treated as immovable obstructions. Special areas where the operators do not want foot traffic or balls to be hit out of might be designated as an area from where a free drop may be taken.

Some courses have power lines running low across a hole and say what to do if your ball hits one (generally, play another from the same spot without penalty).

Special drop zones might have been set up on certain holes for certain hazards. Special drops might be awarded for the protection of young trees.

If there is habitual temporary wetness, a special procedure can be established.

The meaning and location of stakes marking water hazards and out of bounds may also be described in the local rules section. Note especially if there is an out-of-bounds area within the perimeter of the course. If a hole borders the practice range, expect the range to be marked as out of bounds.

Read the local rules on the back of the scorecard. They are there to help you play better and take care of the course for the golfers who come after you.

My new book, The Golfing Self, is now available at www.therecreationalgolfer.com. It will change everything about the way you play.

short game, shot-making

Getting Out of a Greenside Bunker

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O.K., we’re going to get this shot down, once and for all. The pros say how easy it is to get out of a greenside bunker and you still can’t do it. Following a great shower of sand the ball is still sitting there, two feet in front of where it was, or else it gets picked clean and takes off across the green like a bullet.

There is a way.

1. Take out your sand wedge and open the clubface until it is almost lying flat on the ground. Really open. Don’t worry about how open that is. I watched Kari Webb do this in a practice bunker and couldn’t believe how much she had opened the clubface. And how easily she made the ball pop out of the bunker.


2. Align your stance about twenty degrees to the left of the pin.

3. Swing with your hands and arms as in your normal golf swing, along your stance line (and not toward the pin), but keep your lower body as still as you can.

So far, so good. Now for the magic ingredient.

4. Swing the club through the sand as if you were going to slide the club underneath the ball without touching it. You could do this if the ball were sitting on top of 3-inch rough. Think that you’re going to do the same thing here. The club slides through the sand on its sole, the part that is primed for the task because of how much you opened the blade when you set up.

5. Practice. There has to be a range near you with a practice bunker. If there’s high grass around the bunker, swing through the grass a few times to get the idea of sliding the club through a medium, then step into the bunker and do the same thing.

This shot is like learning to ride a bike. As soon as you learn how to do it, it’s easy. It really is.

My new book, The Golfing Self, is now available at www.therecreationalgolfer.com. It will change everything about the way you play.

tournaments

2012 PGA Championship Preview

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Three of the four major championships of golf are played on old, familiar courses. The Masters is always played at Augusta National, of course. Traditional courses are getting the U.S. Open once more, and the British Open has a set rotation of venerable links and parkland courses. It takes the PGA Championship to break new ground.

The PGA will be played this year at the Ocean Course on Kiawah Island in South Carolina, near Charleston. The black tees stretch out to 7,873 yards, but the PGA will be played from 7,676. You won’t find the short par 4s that the USGA loves so much anywhere in sight here (maybe).

In fact, let’s just be up front about it. This is a really, really hard course. Really hard.


The first nine holes of the Ocean Course lie a few hundred yards away from the surf. The back nine is right against it. Ten through thirteen are a fairway’s width away, and fourteen through eighteen are hard against the beach. Prevailing wind? Forget it. It will blow from any direction it wants to and switch at any time.

The Pete Dye design tries to lure players in playing shots they really shouldn’t be hitting. On number two, a par 5 that is almost a right-angle dogleg to the left, the more of the marsh you cut off, the shorter your second and the better the look at the green, but you’d better make the carry you planned for off the tee.

The par-5 11th is designed to make it look like you should go for it in two, when you should really try to make your birdie by laying up.

The 12th, on the card at 415 yards, can be shortened, due to Dye’s trademark runway tee boxes, to 300 yards. It would be an intriguing challenge, with failure not an option.

Fairway bunkers are now in the modern player’s landing area, about 330 yards off the tee. Given the course’s length, there will be no laying back with fairway woods or long irons to avoid them.

Speaking of bunkers, there is so much sand lying about that confusion could reign. Not wanting to have another incident like at Whistling Straights two years ago, the PGA decided that there are no bunkers on the course. None. Everything that looks like a bunker, and all the sandy areas (except the ones inside water hazards) have been designated for the week as “through the green.”

The PGA is supposedly the weak link in the modern majors family, but I don’t think so. It has the strongest field, is played on tough, modern courses, and while it has had a few flash-in-the-pan winners, its roster of champions lacks only Palmer and Watson.

The weather forecast as of this writing is for temperatures in the mid-70s, a welcome break from the 90s and 100s which frequently plague this tournament. That’s the good news. The bad news is that showers and thunderstorms are possible each day. It could be a mess.

Who do I think will win? I’ll try to extend my perfect record in predicting winners of the majors this year (0 for 3) and go with Jason Dufner or Robert Garrigus — two guys who hit it awfully long and have been playing well this year.

For me, this tournament signals the end of the professional golf season. College football starts three weeks later, and the FedEx Cup never has, and I imagine never will, capture my attention.

Just asking while the question is topical: Four years from now, when the summer Olympics* are held from August 5-21,** when will the PGA Championship be scheduled?

Official PGA Championship website.

* at which the best golfers in the world will be playing for a gold medal(s)
** which is actually winter in Rio de Janeiro

Visit www.therecreationalgolfer.com

rules

Know the Rules: Abnormal Ground Conditions, Embedded Ball

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I keep saying that the one thing about golf that is most different from other sports is that we play in Nature, not on a prepared surface. So, you’re never going to get a perfect lie or a fair bounce all the time. But sometimes it’s just too much. Your ball lands in what looks like a construction project, or is comes down hard and sticks where it hits. What to do>

Rule 25 covers these events, and believe me, it is a complicated rule with a huge section in the Decisions book.

Basically, and abnormal ground condition is an area marked as ground under repair or covered by casual water. Ground under repair is generally is marked off with a white boundary line. Casual water is a temporary collection of water. Snow and natural ice are loose impediments or casual water, at the player’s discretion. Dew and frost are not casual water.

Exposed drainage lines in the ground are generally ground under repair. Be sure to ask at the pro shop.


Interference by an abnormal ground condition occurs when a ball lies in or touches the condition or when the condition interferes with the player’s stance or the area of his intended swing. If the player’s ball lies on the putting green, interference also occurs if an abnormal ground condition on the putting green intervenes on his line of putt.

If the ball lies through the green (not in a hazard, on the putting ground, or the teeing ground), the player must lift the ball and drop it, without penalty, within one club-length of and not nearer the hole than the nearest point of relief. The nearest point of relief must not be in a hazard or on a putting green.

If the ball lies in a bunker, the ball may be lifted and dropped without penalty, within one club-length of and not nearer the hole than the nearest point of relief, but in the bunker. The player may choose to drop the ball out of the bunker, under a penalty of one stroke, but must drop the ball on a line connecting the point where the ball lay and the pin.

If the ball lies on the putting green, the player must lift the ball and place it (not drop it), without penalty, at the nearest point of relief that is not in a hazard or, if complete relief is impossible, at the nearest position to where it lay that affords maximum available relief from the condition, but not nearer the hole and not in a hazard. The nearest point of relief or maximum available relief may be off the putting green.

A player may not take relief afforded for an abnormal ground condition when the ball is in a water hazard.

A ball embedded in a closely-mown area through the green may be lifted, cleaned, and replaced as near as possible to the spot where the ball originally lay. “Closely-mown” means fairway height or lower.

A ball embedded in a bunker must be played as it lies. Since a ball on the putting green may be lifted, cleaned, and replaced anyway, there is no special rule for en embedded ball here. Just be sure to do a thorough job of repairing the ball mark.

My new book, The Golfing Self, is now available at www.therecreationalgolfer.com. It will change everything about the way you play.

books

A Round of Golf With Tommy Armour

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One of the first books on course management, and certainly the most famous, is A Round of Golf With Tommy Armour, published in 1959. Armour was a champion golfer from the 1920s and 30s, who became a well-known instructor and the author of several instruction books that were definitive in their day and are still valid in many respects.

Armour takes a mythical player, Bill, who is about to give up the game because nothing he tries seems to work out. Armour agrees to play nine holes with him and his two playing companions during which time Armour will give Bill careful counseling on what shot to hit and how to hit it.

He won’t offer advice on golfing technique, just on how to play the game.

The points below are the ones Armour emphasized (page references to the 1959 edition of his book).

1. Tee up from the correct side of the tee box. (15) This means to tee up on the side of trouble and hit away from it.

2. Do not play shots with high risk and little reward. (25) Do I have to explain?


3. Miss putts on the high side of the hole. (32) See Is the High Side of the Hole Really the Pro Side?

4. Use the right club chipping into a slope. (44) Generally that is a lesser-lofted club than you would normally use.

5. Play two easy shots instead of one difficult one to cover long distances. (74) See The Mathematics of Club Selection.

6. Play your mulligan first. (78) Be prepared to hit the ball right the first time, not on your do-over.

7. Have a plan, for every shot, that leads to the hole. (82) Don’t play hit-and-hope golf. Know what you want this shot and the next one to do.

8. Don’t hit the shot until you feel right about it. (95) If you don’t back off and re-set yourself, or choose another shot.

9. Think of where you want the ball to go, not where you don’t want it to go. (102) When you say to yourself, “I hope I don’t hit it into the water,” it goes into the water because that is the last order your mind gave.

10. Hit short putts firmly into the center of the hole. (104) We miss very short putts because we get too delicate with them. Hit them with authority and they’ll go in.

Visit www.therecreationalgolfer.com

statistics

Evaluate Your Golf Shots

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Some golfers like to keep statistics on their game. All golfers who want to improve, should. The usual stats are fairways hit, greens in regulation, up and downs, and number of putts. While these stats tell you what, they don’t tell you why. I would suggest you keep a different set of stats that are more to the point.

A valuable exercise that will tell you what you really need to know about your shot-making and mental game is to evaluate every shot after the round is over. When you get home, the round should be fresh enough in your mind that you can sit down for a half-hour and make a notation about every shot, except, say, the one-foot or under tap-ins.

This is a scheme I use.

1. Given my skills,
a. I got everything I could out of this shot.
b. My head was there, but my body didn’t perform.
c. I wasted a stroke because of a mental miscue.


2. Shot quality. If I hit every [whatever shot you’re evaluating] like this one, I would:
a. shoot par
b. shoot 80
c. shoot 90
d. shoot 100
e. take up tennis

3. For 2c, 2d, and 2e shots, was I:
a. trying too hard,
b. upset about something,
c. intimidated by the situation,
d. losing my focus temporarily,
e. trying something I had never practiced,
f. in a brand-new situation with no clue,
g. trying to get too much out of the situation,
h. playing a shot I don’t know how to hit,
i. not assessing the situation fully,
j. not aimed properly, or
k. just making a bad stroke.

Every shot gets a 1 and 2 score. The shots you aren’t satisfied with get a 3 score. While poor shot-making is sometimes related to the skills you have developed so far, much more often they are due to mental errors. Being able to fill out part 3 means you are paying attention to the way your mind operates when you play. I guarantee that you could take four shots off your game right now by playing smarter and keeping your head in the game.

Pay special attention to 3j. A teaching pro told me once that almost half the swing problems he fixes involve nothing more than correcting the student’s aim.

Visit www.therecreationalgolfer.com

fundamentals

Golfing Mid-Summer Tune-Up

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I hope your game is going well for you this year. Hopefully you are doing better than last year and are learning to be come a better ball-striker and a better player.

I would nonetheless like to remind you of a few things to check on that might help you move a game that is “close” to “just right.” They are things that don’t take a lot of practice, can be learned quickly, and will yield immediate benefits.

Most of this is buried in earlier posts, but rather than you having to dig it all out, here is the 2012 version of Ways to Play Better Without Practicing.

1. The prime rule of good golf is: Be at peace with the shot you’re about to hit. If you’re not completely convinced that this is the right thing to do, step away from the ball and do some more thinking about what shot you want to hit.

2. Tempo and rhythm affect every shot. Sometimes we get too quick. The way to slow yourself down is to remember at what speed you made your last swing and swing slower than that on this swing. It will come out at the same speed, most likely.

3. These three parts of the setup will improve your shotmaking more than you can imagine. They’re easy to practice, and they require no skill to master, just careful attention before the shot:
a. Grip pressure – If you hit a bad shot, full swing or short shot, there is a good chance your grip pressure was too tight. Hold the club more lightly next time.
b. Aim – If your aim is off, odds are you’re aimed right of your target.
c. Ball position – Hogan and Nicklaus can put the ball inside their left heel for every shot, but you can’t. Put it in the center of your stance for every shot off the ground or an iron on a tee, and one ball forward of that for a driver on a tee.

4. On the course, play a shot that will put the ball in the best position for the next shot. If you can’t hit that shot, play one you can that leaves you a workable next shot. Apply this rule off the tee, off the fairway, and around the green. Another way of saying this is to play the shot you can hit, not the shot you want to hit.

5. From the fairway, figure out how far your shot is playing (actual distance to the pin, adjusted for wind, lie, elevation changes, etc.) and add five yards. Now pick your club. That plan can easily let you hit three more greens per round.

6. Strive to play well, but don’t let that become more important than making the people you’re playing with glad that they played with you.

My new book, The Golfing Self, is now available at www.therecreationalgolfer.com. It will change everything about the way you play.

rules

Know the Rules: Bunkers

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Hazards are special places with rules of their own, designed to make sure they remain hazards even in unusual circumstances. These are the things you can and cannot do in a bunker. The rule reference is in parentheses.

– First and foremost, you may not touch the ground with your hand or the club (13-4).
– You may not touch or move a loose impediment lying in or touching the hazard. (13-4).
– You may not test the condition of the hazard (13-4).


Provided nothing is done that constitutes testing the condition of the hazard or improves the lie of the ball, there is no penalty if the player (a) touches the ground or loose impediments in any hazard or water in a water hazard:
– as a result of or to prevent falling,
– in removing an obstruction,
-in measuring or in marking the position of, retrieving, lifting, placing or replacing a ball under any Rule
or (b) places his clubs in a hazard. (Exception to Rule 13-4)

If you declare an unplayable lie in a bunker, your drop must also be in the bunker unless the option you choose is stroke and distance. (28)

You may remove movable obstructions (a rake, for example) without penalty. If the ball moves when you do this, you must replace the ball, without penalty. (24-1)

If your ball is covered in the sand, you may touch the sand to the extent that you can identify the ball. Once you make the identification, you must recreate the lie as nearly as you can by replacing the sand. You may leave a small part of the ball visible (12-1a). The same procedure applies to a ball covered by loose impediments (12-1b).

You may rake a bunker at any time provided that it is done to care for the course in general and is not done to affect the play of a shot from the bunker. (13-4) Best to wait until after you hit, then rake the bunker.

The penalty for breach of these rules is two strokes.

My new book, The Golfing Self, is now available at www.therecreationalgolfer.com. It will change everything about the way you play.

commentary

Dottie Pepper Has Nothing to Apologize For

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The big news in golf last week was that Dottie Pepper was named as the assistant captain of the 2013 American Solheim Cup team by captain Meg Mallon. The news is big because Pepper has been shut out of Solheim Cup captaincies because of a remark she made as a broadcaster during the 2007 Cup.

On a day when Laura Diaz and Sherri Steinhauer were choking their guts out in their foursomes match against Maria Hjorth and Gwladys Nocera, über-competitor Pepper said, when she thought she was off the air, that the pair were “choking freaking dogs.”

Because the American press is squeamish, we don’t know if “freaking” is the exact word Pepper used. But whatever she said, it went on the air, and the roof caved in on her.

Immediately after the incident she apologized sincerely and the incident should have been laid to rest. An apology wasn’t good enough for some LPGA players, though, who have carried the grudge ever since and are to this day unnamed, probably because we wouldn’t want to know who it is who lacks the maturity to forgive and forget.

Pepper has been persona non grata ever since for telling the truth. Apparently she should have apologized, groveled, and begged for forgiveness, although who knows if even that would have been good enough for some people (Diaz, perhaps, who is not the warmest person you have ever met.).

The mistake Pepper made was to drop her objectivity as a reporter and allow herself get caught up in the competition as if she were still in it. Reporters are observers, not participants. That’s something for her network supervisors to deal with, but she was sent to golfing Siberia in addition by members of the LPGA.

Headlines in the last week’s articles refer to “Pepper’s penance,” as if this shunning was actually deserved. Or how about, “Pepper’s pardon.” Were the headline writers not suspected of getting caught up in onomatopoeia, we could laugh this off.

But no, Meg Mallon gave Pepper a pardon. That, unfortunately, is exactly what had to happen.

Up to now, no Solheim Cup captain has had the courage to tell to the players that Pepper is on the team, she had a 13-5-2 record in the Solheim Cup and she can teach you a helluva lot about winning, and if her presence is offensive to you, you can stay home and watch the matches on television.

Pepper made her public apology right after she made her remarks. The players who led the movement against her should make theirs, too, now. Pepper deserves at least that much.

My new book, The Golfing Self, is now available at www.therecreationalgolfer.com. It will change everything about the way you play.

Little Differences That Make a Big Difference in How Well You Play