Is Tiger like Vlad?

What Makes Them So Prickly?

Do famous people have an innate right to be prickly? Let me define by way of an example: When an average citizen attending a town hall meeting asked powerful Barney Frank chair of the House Financial Services Committee how he thought it possible to add 30 million people or so to the health care roles and not increase the cost or decrease the service, he responded “what planet do you spend most of your time on?” That’s prickly -- and it usually happens when the big deal who is suppose to be the expert gets a question they don’t want to answer.  It’s known on the street as “copping a-tude.”

Some Other Famous Pricklers

Donald Rumsfeld coped-a-tude about almost everything during his tenure as Secretary of Defense including how he let Osama Bin Laden escape from Tora Bora.

Alan Greenspan copped-a-tude when asked if it was his policy of deregulation that made possible the out-of-control trading of toxic assets that almost ruined our country.

And of course there is the most prickly interview perhaps of all -- Vladimir the Impaler who lined the road leading to his castle in the mountains of Transylvania with impaled bodies so that by the time you arrived for the audience all the questions you had about taxes etc. dissolved into “I just came up to tell you what a great job you’re doing.”

Vladimir was a tough interview

In golf Tiger Woods can be a prickly interview. A few years ago a TV commentator who had a reputation of ‘I calls ‘em like I sees ‘em’ made some comments on Tiger’s new swing and to teach him a lesson Woods refused to give interviews with the announcer, a big time threat to his career. Shortly thereafter the announcer fell into line with all the other “speak not a word of evil about Tiger” and the Tiger Correct interviews now composed of “softball questions” resumed. Vlad would have been proud of Tiger.

Now that Tiger has some non-golf problems it will be interesting to see how prickly he remains.

Golf's Greatest

From the Mind of Golf’s Greatest Player

A few years ago I asked a number of PGA tour players what they thought about while they swing and their responses ranked all the way from ‘nothing’ to four swing keys -- one during the takeaway, one at the top, one at impact, and one at the finish—a lot of thinking for a second and a half. The majority had two thoughts or guides, one during the backswing and one through impact.  

Its always been known that the best player ever, Jack Nicklaus, saw a video in his mind of the shot before he hit it – he called it going to the movies. But recently he’s expanded on his thinking. Here is what he said about how he almost holed his tee shot on 16, the year he won his 18^th Major at age 46.

‘My [thought pattern] was, I've got 175 yards, I've got to hit the ball high in the air, I need to hit it softly. Make that swing. Some people think about what they're mechanically doing through the ball.  I think about what I want the clubhead to do through the ball to make the ball do what I want.  People look at things differently. … I didn't play by swing mechanics; I played by feeling things that would make the mechanics happen."

So first you learn the swing mechanics such as left elbow or right knee then on the golf course you focus, not on those mechanics, but on what has to happen at impact to make the shot you just saw in the your mental video.

RAY'S CREEK

The Pull of Ray’s Creek

Winning any tournament takes a combination of skill and good luck and that was the case when Phil Mickelson won his first Masters in 2004. Phil played great golf but came to the last hole needing a par to tie Ernie Els and a birdie to beat him. Mickelson knocked it on the green about 18 feet behind the pin leaving him a tricky downhill putt. Chris DiMarco was in the front bunker and blasted out about 12 inches farther than Mickelson but exactly on his line to the hole.  It’s well known that putts break to Rays Creek, the lowest point at Augusta, but the question of course was how much?

DiMarco shows the way

DiMarco’s putt was almost perfect, missing a fraction on the low side by virtue of the pull of the creek.  As soon as DiMarco hit the ball Mickelson positioned himself directly behind the line of the rolling putt to spot the break.  He factored in what he had learned from DiMarco’s attempt and calmly rolled his putt down a slightly higher line and into the cup.

Luck had opened the door by giving him a “teach” but it was skill that allowed Mickelson to walk though that door to his first Major.

THE PULL

Ball Flight and Your Swing: The Pull

 A shot that flies left of the target [to the right for lefties] with no curve is called a pull. It is a very powerful shot and there are a number of tour players, past and present that play this way, most notably Sam Sneed who in his hay day was one of the longest drivers of the ball especially into the wind. But to be successful you must aim to the right of target and then pull the ball just the exact amount to hit the target. This can be a dangerous way to play if you don't know what you’re doing so it’s usually best to rid yourself of the pull.

What Causes The Pull

When you pull the ball the face of your club is square to your club path at impact but the path points to the left of target. There are many causes of an out-to-in path but a bad path most often comes from a problem with synchronizing your body and your hands. If you’re pulling the ball start with your hips because the odds are they are not operating correctly.

Since the ball is going to the left it may be that your hips have turned too late during the downswing. This most often comes from a failure to keep the right side rotating through the shot. When you stop or slow your hips too much, your upper body turns back to the ball too soon and the club is routed on an out-to-in approach path where the hands get to the ball too early.

To cure this there are several adjustments you can try. The first of which makes your hips rotate earlier so the clubhead can come directly onto the target line. Increase the flare in your back foot and move the ball back one ball width to make impact sooner. If that doesn’t work, put the things you changed back in place and work on the other partner in the hips/hands package, your hands.

Since, for the pull shot, the clubhead gets to the ball too early, let your hands swing up higher and position them a bit deeper at the top of the swing by using more of a one piece takeaway with more shoulder turn. This in effect, makes your arms/hands slower because they have to travel farther and this gives your body more time to get into position. When your hips turn properly from this ‘high-handed’ position, your clubhead should arrive at impact on the correct path.