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m mmtrn 4C SP0RTS/®6e Charlotte ^ofit Thursday, December 28, 2006 BIRDIES AND BOGIES Sun spots It was a tiny white spot just to the left of my nose, slightly indented but hardly noticeable before the doctor pointed it out. Since I spend so much time in the sun teaching, I have two checkups a year, and in this case the biopsy confirmed cancer. The operation to remove it was a success, leaving only a 3-inch scar that will fade with time, but my point here is that 1 had taken great care to prevent skin cancer. I did every thing the experts tell you to do. I slopped on 50 SPF like it was barbecue sauce, and every two hours I lathered up again until it looked to my students as if they were taking lessons from a mime. I wear a wide-brimmed hat right off the head of the outlaw Josey Wales plus long sleeves, sim- glasses and, when necessary, an umbrella. But the thing that saved me was something you always read in articles on skin cancer, but it’s usually at the end, almost like an after thought: “Make regular visits to your derma tologist.’’ Note that it says “dermatologist,” not just doctor A student of mine had a tiny hard-feel ing pimple just below his lip. Again, hardly noticeable and not bothersome. His regular doctor said it was nothing. A year and a half later, they had to remove a third of his face, including most of the jawbone. I asked my surgeon what would have hap pened if I had let it go another year, and his matter-of-fact answer was chiding: “It would have been a real mess.” So definitely take all the precautions the ex perts prescribe and make sure you see a der matologist at least once a year. QUOTE OF THE WEEK '^The reason 1 stopped drinking was not because I was a bad drunk. On the contrary^ I was a magnificent drunks but once you have beaten the game, you retire gracefully. ” David Feherty, tormer European Tour and PGA Tour golfer, who now works as a writer and broadcaster. GOLF BYTHE NUMBERS $525,000 Question: What does $525,000 buy you? Answer: a golf tom-nament. When Greensboro, N.C., was in danger of los ing its spot on the PGA toiurnament roster, it turned to Mark Steinberg, an agent at IMG (he’s Tiger’s agent), to putdn a good word with the tour, and it worked. The cost of his services, ac cording to the Greensboro News and Record: $525,000. A small price to pay to be part of the FedEx series. 5 years It’s weU-known that Larry Nelson didn’t take up the game until late in life: he was 21, just back from Vietnam. But most don’t realize that just five years after he hit his first shot, he made the PGA Tour, where he won two majors during his haU-of-fame career. SCHEDULE MEN PGA TOUR • Mercedes-Benz Championship, Jan. 4-7, Kapalua Resort, The Plantation Course, Kapalua, Hawai, • Sony Open in Hawaii, Jan. 11-14, Waialae Country Club, Honolulu. CHAMPIONS TOUR • Wendy’s Champions Skins Game, Jan. 13-14, Wailea Resort. Gold Course, Wailea, Hawai. • MasterCard Championship, Jan. 19-21, Hualalai Golf Club. Kahuku, Hawaii. WOMEN LPGA TOUR • Women’s World Cup of Golf, Jan. 19-21, Gary Player Country Club, Sun City, South Africa. GoUt Insider BylJ. TOMASI IT’S GOOD FOR YOUR GAME steps to a slice-free swing B efore you start your slice eradica tion program, here are six easily learned anti-slice matchups (pair ings of positions and swing mechanics) you must put in place for your no-slice swing. Matchup I: Target and Clubface Aim your clubface correctly so it’s pointing where you want the ball to start. First select an intermediate tar get, then use the vertical aiming lines that are a part of every clubface to line up the face with the intermediate target. ABOUT THEWRITER 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. Matchup 2; Body Line and Target Line Arrange your body correctly paying particular attention to your shoulders. The arms swing on the shoulder line, and if yoior shoulders are too open at address, you’U cut across the ball at im pact. Matchup 3: Spine Angle and Shoulder Tilt Since the shoulders work perpendicular to the spine, how your spine is angled at address holds the key to what kind of sheer you are. If your spine is too upright, your shoulders will swing on too level a plane, trapping the club behind you so you have to come over the top. This causes what’s called a boomerang slice. If you exagger ate enough, your slice turns into a right-to-right slice. Aim the clubface first, then align the body. Matchup 4: Ball Position and Shoulder Position A ball that’s too far forward in your stance causes the shoulders to open; a ball set too far back creates closed shoulders. Use the ball position that wiU allow you to align your shoulders parallel to your start ing line. It will vary according to your body build; you can find yours by experimentation. Matchup 5: Grip and Clubface Position Positioning of the hands must allow either a flat left wrist, or a bowed one. Stay away from the slice-causing cupped wrist. Matchup 6: Foot Flare and the Release Here the player has increased his back-foot flare for a bigger turn while de-flaring the front foot to promote a draw. The front foot should be ad justed by experimenting with less flare. The flare of the front foot controls the release of the clubface: the less flare, the sooner the front leg straightens, causing an earli er release by squaring the face more aggressively THE GOLF DOCTOR Drug testing comes to golf The LPGA is going to test its players for drugs, and the PGA Tour can’t be far from a testing pro gram either, but the question is which drugs and in what concentrations will be illegal. A case in point is caffeine. Most likely, the LPGA wiU foUow the lead of the International Olympic Committee, which currently lists caffeine as a restricted drug. Urinary levels above 12 mg/liter are viewed as doping. Caffeine gets into your system within minutes, peaks at about an hour, but stays in your system six to 10 hours. Approximately 1,000 mg of caffeine equals about 8 cups of coffee, which would exceed the current IOC limit, but people metabolize caffeine at very differ ent rates. Some athletes have come close to flunking the di-ug test after ingesting only 350 mg, which means that a golfer could flunk after drinking three cups of coffee. Why would a golfer get hyped on caffeine when putting takes such a fine touch? First, nobody reaUy knows if it hurts or helps short-game touch since no studies have been done. Second, be cause caffeine in creases endurance, it might be uSed for marathon practice sessions, which means players woidd have to be tested at odd times when they’re off tour. How, then, would the tours effectively enforce the ban on caffeine? They would have to surprise play ers with random tests or rely on somebody turning in offenders. This creates an atmosphere of suspi cion that could undermine the spirit of the game. And what about the other part of the team, the caddy who by rule is deemed part of the player’s equipment and so must conform to the rules? Eliminate caddies based on banned substances and there wouldn’t be anyone left to carry the bags. Informants, surprise tests, what’s next—will Juan Valdez wear a wire? DON’T MISS IT They’ve got you covered Proderma golfer-specific skin-cai*e products are de signed to promote secure gripping of clubs through tlieir natural, nongreasy in gredients. They’re odorless, discour age insects and provide 24-hour preventa tive and therapeutic protection and skin cell replenishment. Proderma features tlie only SPF 30 prod ucts for golfers to earn the Skin Cancer Foundation seal of I'ecommendation for safety and effectiveness after passing a se ries of stringent scientific examinations. For more information, visit prodermaproducts.com or call tftnn'i 447-;ta3.5 GOLF SPOKEN HERE PGA of America vs. PGA Tour The PGA of America is an association made up of club professionals, while the PGA Tour Is an association of golf professionals who play for a living. Until 1968, the two were one and the same, and the Tour was run by the PGA of America. Then, touring pros formed their own autonomous unit. The two do interact on a limited basis: The PGA of America runs the PGA Championship each year and the Ryder Cup every four years, when it is played in the United States. Cox News Service Unwritten rules for beginners It’s all too easy to be intimidat ed by the nuances of a sport that has been the domain of the elite for centuries. To the uninitiated, golf is a complicated game, and its complexity is made worse by its unwritten rules of decorum both on the course and around the clubhouse. But the subtleties of the game are easily learned. If possible, arrange to play your first few rounds with expe rienced players. Don’t worry about playing as well as they do. You’re a beginner, and therefore you have a perfect excuse. Another choice is to schedule a playing lesson with your golf professional. In both cases, you’ll have someone to answer your questions and show you around the course. If you decide to play your first round with other new golfers, be sure each of you makes some ad vance preparations. First, make a tee time (an appointment to play) when the course is less crowded. Next, be sure to watch a few rounds of golf on TV before hand. Though your shots proba bly won’t look like the pros’, you can watch how they move. around the course and how they handle themselves under differ ent circumstances. Most important, be sure you have taken a lesson (a series is best) and spent some time on the practice range before you ven ture onto the golf course. On the first tee, the common reaction is to rush things, but try to slow yourself down, evalu ate your target and go through your preshot routine. (See my book “The 30-Second Golf Swing” for more on establishing a preshot routine.) Most golfers don’t care how badly you play as long as you play fast. Especially during your first fqw rounds, move your ball from difficult lies (heavy rough, bare ground, difficult stance) • onto good lies. If others tell you you’re breaking the rules, ex plain to them in a patient voice that you’re trying to learn the easier shots before you tackle the more difficult ones. On the putting green, putt out and enjoy yourself, but if you’ve already taken four putts, do yourself and your companions a favor and “hit the silk” (put it in your pocket). Safety tips • Engage the parking brake on your cart before leaving it unat tended. • Avoid sharp turns in carts. Just last month, NASCAR Nextel Cup champion Jimmie Johnson broke his wrist when he was ejected from a golf cart after its driver took an unan nounced sharp turn. • Never drive a cart on steep, wet slopes or drive too fast for the terrain. In a tragic accident, trick shot artist Dennis Walters (www.denniswalters.com) was paralyzed from the waist down when a golf cart he was driving flipped on a steep slope and land ed on him. • And please don’t dangle one foot out of yoxir cart. That’s a good way to break an ankle, as did Champions Tour player Jim Albus. • Walking around in an open field with a metal rod in hand makes golfers an easy target for li^tning. If you hear thunder or see lightning, leave the golf course without hesitation so you can live to play another day Lee Trevino, Jerry Heard and Retief Goosen are among a lucky mi nority who survived being hit by lightning. • Many courses provide light- ning shelters, so be sure to ask where the shelters are before you start your round. And re member, a covered golf cart is not a shelter, since you’re mostly in the open, and the battery in the cart can actually attract lightning. ASKTHEPRO Q: I hit a lot of my chips fat, and I’m wondering what’s wrong. I use my wedge to chip, but it’s not working too well. — N.A. A: Normally wedges are 34 to 35 inches long with lie angles of ap proximately 64 degrees, but since you stand closer to the ball when you chip, the wedge you use should be flattened 2 to 3 degrees. If the lie angle isn’t flattened to compen sate, the chance of the toe striking ^e ground increases. Basically just like the tour players, all your wedges should be flatter than the rest of the iron set. (To Ask the Pro a question about golf, e-mail him at: TJInsider@aol.coTn.)
The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, N.C.)
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Dec. 28, 2006, edition 1
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