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SPORTS/^Iie Cljailotte
Thursday, November 16, 2006
BIRDIES AND BOGIES
Too little insurance
can be a good thing
Joe Durant turned pro in 1987 and five
years later, unhappy with his play, he. quit golf
for a real job. Bad move. He was as abysmal'
as you could be at selling insurance — none,
nada, zip policies sold. Even I can calculate
the residuals on zero sales.
Fortunately, his failure left him no alterna
tive but to rededicate himself to golf, and
Durant did weU enough until this year when
he hit rock bottom again. But this time he
stuck with it. Good move.
Durant was sinking fast on the money list
when he was robbed, losing his passport,
computer and other personal items. The next
day he shot a 67, and it so pumped him up
that he went on a scoring binge with high fin
ishes, culminating in his first victory in five
years when he won this year’s Punai Classic
at Disney World.
Most people quit just before something
good happens. But not Joe Durant. Now he’s
convinced that his swing is aU the insurance
he needs.
QUOTE OFTHEWEEK
Cox News Service
“7 was not ’very happy with
some of the mistakes 1 was
making in the middle of
tournaments. I went back to
Sweden and worked hard on
my game, and found that I
was overswinging a bit. So I
shortened my swing and I'
am pretty pleased with the
results after that. ”
Two weeks after saying this, Annika
Sorenstam (above) had four birdies in the
final round to finish at 18-under at the
Dubai Ladies Masters for a six-shot
runaway win.
SCHEDULE
All Times EST
LPGA TOUR
ADT Championship
• Site: West Palm Beach, Fla.
• Schedule: Thursday-Sunday
• Course: Trump International Golf Club
(6,514 yards, par 72).
• Purse: $1.55 mUlion. Winner’s share:
$1 million.
• Television: The Golf Channel (Thursday-
Saturday, 2-4 p.m.; 7:30-9:30 p.m.) and NBC
(Sunday, noon-2 p.m.).
PGA EUROPEAN
TOUR/ASIAN TOUR
Hong Kong Open
• Site: Hong Kong.
• Schedule: Thursday-Sunday
• Course: Hong Kong Golf Club (6,703
yards, par 70).
• Purse: $2 million. Winner’s share:
$335,000.
• Television: The Golf Channel (Thursday-
Sunday 1-4 a.m., 9 a.m.-noon).
Golfli Insider
BylJ.TOMASI
IT’S GOOD FOR YOUR GAME
Futures Tour star Jee Hee Lee practices the bump-and-run (left). Even though the ball will
be airborne as soon as Pony hits it, it will look more like a putt than a chip. Note how close
she is to the ball, a very similar posture to her putting stance.) For the bump-and-run (right),
let your club swing through the hitting zone as an extension of your arms so your clubhead
“chases” the ball to the target as Lee is doing here.
Bump-and-run
to the rescue
I n the photos above. Futures
Tour player Jee Hee “Pony”
Lee is practicing a situation
similar tonne you probably faced
at least once in your last round of
golf — a 20-yard shot from a tight
lie to a green that slopes away
from you. Under these circum
stances, even if she hit a perfect
lob shot, the closest she could get
is 15 feet past the hole.
The bump-and-run is the best
shot to use here. This is a low
shot with minimum backspin
that lands weU short of the green
(the “bump” part) and bounces
along the ground to the green
then rolls to the hole (the “run"
part).
The key is to choose a club
with enough loft to get the ball off
the grass before it starts its roll
to the hole. A rescue club (say 20
degrees) is an excellent choice as
it has enough loft to lift the ball
out of difficult lies, and its long
ABOUT THE WRITER
Dr. T.J. TomasI is a
teaching professional
at Nantucket Golf Club
on Nantucket Island,
Mass. To ask him a
question about golf, e-
mail him at: TJInsider
©aol.com.
shaft allows you a compact swing
that’s low to the ground.
This shot is like a chip in that
your weight starts, stays and fin
ishes on your front foot to ensure
that you make contact with your
hands leading the clubhead.
Unlike a chip, however, the ball is
positioned just forward of the
center of your stance, creating a
flatter angle of attack and less
spin.
Also, to produce more power,
you should employ a partial
wrist cock on the backswing.
Cocking your wrists with a syn
chronized slight turning of the
chest adds force as required so
you can hit the bump-and-run up
to 80 yards when you have to
keep the ball "under” heavy wind
or to fit other conditions such as
hard, fast fairways and greens.
Remember that you should
never try a shot on the cottrse
that you haven’t practiced, so
take a bucket of balls to a prac
tice green area like Pony does
and experiment with this shot be
fore you try it on the golf course.
Once you get used to how the ball
reacts in varying circumstances,
the bump-and-run wUl save you
lots of sfrokes.
Summary of the basic mechan-
1. Weight on the front foot.
2. Ball positioned forward of
center.
3. Use a slight wrist break with
a tad of chest turn.
THE GOLF DOCTOR
Taking stock of your arsenal
The end of the season is a great time to re-evaluate
your clubs. First check the loft on your driver. If the
degree of loft isn’t stamped on it somewhere, have a
pro measure it for you.
Having too little loft is a big mistake. If you don’t
like what you have, hold an “audition.” Try out aU
kinds of demo models.
Use some impact tape and check how often you hit
each driver in &e center of the clubface. Remember
that solid contact in the center of the clubface is the
key to good golf shots.
Consider dumping the long irons from your set and
replacing them with high-lofted fairway woods and
rescue clubs. It’s up to you, of course, but I’d say if
you don’t have a 7-wood and at least one rescue club,
you’re doing yourself a serious injustice.
Check your wedges. If you don't have a sand
wedge, get one. And think about adding an L-wedge
(60 degrees) to your set, or having your 56-degree
bent to 58 degrees and adding a 54-degree gap wedge.
Have a club fitter or golf
professional check the
shafts in your clubs for two
things: (1) Are they the
proper flex for you? (2) Do
they match throughout
your set?
Another way of doing
this is to hit various demo
clubs, and hit the clubs of
some of your friends. Try
Cox News Service
The end of the
season is a perfect
aUof the basic flexes: regu- to evaluate your
lar, stiff, extra stiff, seniors, clubs.
If you’re a woman, ask
about women’s flexes. And while you’re visiting the
club fitter, have the lie of your irons checked as weU.
And last, are your grips the proper size? If you
think they’re too small, wrap some gauze around the
handle and hit some practice shots. Feel good? Maybe
you need bigger grips.
TEEING OFF
Tiger is great,
but Tom was
simply terrific
We are privileged to live in
the age of Tiger Woods, so
sometimes it’s easy to forget
that just a few short years ago
another great golfer dominat
ed the game — Tom Watson.
Watson won five British
Open titles, two Masters cham
pionships
WATSON
(where he
also holds a
record for 21
consecutive
cuts made)
and one U.S.
Open. But
his majors
don’t even
hint at how
Watson dom
inated the PGA Tour from 1974
to 1984. During those years, he
was never lower than 12th on
the money list, and topped the
list five times. He was the PGA
Player of the Year six times
during that same stretch, and
he won three consecutive
Vardon Trophies for having
the lowest scoring average on
tour.
The thing that defined
Watson more than anything
else was his grit in head-to-
head battles with Jack
Nicklaus. These contests
weren't at match play but they
were under conditions that
were similar to match play
In the 1977 British Open at
Turnberry, Watson and
Nicklaus were paired together
for all four rounds. After two
rounds, they were tied. In the
third round they shot match
ing 65s. In the final round, the
two wrestled back and forth
until Watson sealed the victo
ry by one shot with a birdie at
the last hole for consecutive
65s. Nicklaus shot 66.
Five years later, at another
dramatic seaside venue, the
two men locked horns again.
This time it was the U.S. Open
at Pebble Beach, and they were
tied at the crucial 71st hole
(the par-317th). While
Nicklaus watched on televi
sion, Watson yanked a 2-iron
into the heavy Open rough,
leaving a tough pitch. It
seemed Watson might have a
hard time making par, giving
Nicklaus his fifth Open title.
Legend has it that after
Watson pulled his sand wedge
from the bag, caddie Bruce
Edwards said, “Get it close,” to
which Watson replied, “I’m
not going to get it close; I’m
going to make it.” Watson did
indeed make it, and went on to
birdie the 18th hole for a two-
shot victory
The most important lesson
you can learn from Tom
Watson cannot be taught on
the practice tee, and that is
fearlessness. You have to devel
op that quality from within.
(Although it does help your
fearless factor if you practice
hard and improve your game.)
Even though Watson’s well-re
membered triumphs over
Nicklaus were at stroke play,
he applied that same fearless
ness at match play, compiling a
10-4-1 record in four Ryder Cup
appearances.
GOLF BYTHE NUMBERS
60
Shooting a 60 is quite an
achievement, but on the PGA
Tour, it doesn’t ^arantee a
win. Case in point: This year,
Justin Rose (at Disney) and Pat
Perez (at the Bob Hope Classic)
both shot 60 in the first round
and both failed to win the tour
nament.
GOLF SPOKEN HERE
Peg
• A slang term for a tee,
which is a tool to raise
the ball off the ground.
A peg or a tee can be
used only in the area
designated as the
teeing ground — the
area where you begin,
play on each hole.
DON’T MISS IT
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GolfCourseRealtycom.
You can list your property or search
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getaway golf estate. And there’s more
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The site offers information on golf
communities, golf courses and mes
sage boards, along with a variety of
helpful and interesting tips on golf
real estate.
ASKTHE PRO
Q: About the belly putter: Do
you think belly putters and long
putters should remain legal? And
do you think the USGA and/or the
R&A will make beUy putters and
long putters illegal in the future?
—A.L.from the Web
A: “Legal” is the wrong word;
"conforming” is better. And 1 be
lieve they should remain conform
ing. They offer no special advan
tage — if they did, everyone would
use one.
They are great for short putts,
but tough for long ones. Some
swear by them; some swear at
them.
The call by some tour pros to
ban the belly putter started after
Ernie Els lost to Trevor Immelman
at the 2004 Deutsche Bank-SAP
Open. Els commented that it was
unfair for a player to anchor the
putter to his body and called for
banning it. But how can it be “un
fair advantage” if everyone has
the option to use it?
And if the argument is that it
doesn’t look good, ruins tradition,
etc., how about that awful-looking
claw/saw grip, or Andy North’s
“shorty” putter that bends him
over like he’s looking for a lost con
tact lens? Should they outlaw the
short putter, the long putter, the
claw, llie saw, left hand low and the
beUy putter? No way — too many
careers are at stake.
Remember back when the ruling
bodies of golf ruined Sam Snead’s
comeback by changing the rules so
neither he nor anyone else could
putt croquet-style? One story is
that the influential Bobby Jones,
watching Snead putt squatting
astride the line with the putter be
tween his legs, shook his head and
said, “That must go.” And shortly
thereafter the USGA changed the
rule.
By the way, I have tried both put
ters. The long putter waved in the
wind like a weather vane, and I al
most impaled myself with a belly
putter by picking a tricky two-foot
er out of the hole and forgetting
that the putter was still in place.
(To Ask the Pro a question about
golf, e-mail him at:
TJInsider@aol.com.)
Distributed by Universal Press Syndicate for Cox News Service. (800) 255-6734. *For reiease the week of November 13, 2006.