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4C SPORTS/®lbe Cliarlottc Thursday, February 15, 2007 BIRDIES AND BOGIES Cox News Service The price of a round of golf is quite reasonable when compared to other forms of entertainment. How cheap it is For Rent: A lOO-acre facility, with a huge house and restaurant included, for 41/2 hours. Cost: 100 bucks. That’s $22 an hotur, including a large serv ice staff and a special transport vehicle. What a low price for such a situation, you say Where can such a deal be obtained? At practically any golf course in the USA. When you compare the cost of golf, which is exercise as well as entertainment, to other pastimes, it comes out cheap on a per-hour basis. Match golf against gambling, for example. Betting quarters, the average cost per hour is $105 or M75.50 for 41/2 hours. Blackjack, betting with a $5 minimum, costs $240 per hour or $1,080. So there’s no doubt that golf is less expen sive and more healthy than gambling. But what are the chances that golfers wUl stop complaining about.the high cost of greens fees? Don’t bet on it! QUOTE OFTHE WEEK “Somebody told me he had 41 more wins than I had starts. I know he’s going to be there down the stretch. It’s just a matter of keeping my wits about me. ” PGA Tour rookie Brandt Snedeker. just before Tiger Woods caught and passed him to win this year’s Buick Invitational. SCHEDULE All Times EST PGA TOUR Nissan Open • Site: Los Angeles. • Schedule: Thursday-Sunday • Course: Riviera Country Club (7,260 yards, par 71). • Purse: $5.2 million. Winner’s share: $936,000. • TV: Golf Channel (Thursday-Friday 3-6 p.m., 8:30-11:30 p.m.) and ()BS (Saturday 3-6 p.m.; Sunday 3-6:30 p.m.). LPGA TOUR SBS Open at Turtle Bay • Site: Kahuku, Hawaii. • Schedule: Thursday-Saturday • Coiurse: Turtle Bay Resort, Arnold Palmer Course (6,578 yards, par 72). • Purse: $1.1 million. Winner’s share: $165,000, • TV: Golf Channel (Thursday, 6:30-9 p.m.; Friday-Saturday 1-3 a.m., 6:30-9 p.ra.; Sunday 1-3 a.m.). CHAMPIONS TOUR Outback Steakhouse Pro-Am • Site: Lutz, Fla. • Schedule: Friday-Sunday • Course: TPC of Tampa Bay (6,628 yards, par 71) . • Purse: $1.6 million. Winner’s share: $240,000. • TV: (}olf Channel (Friday, 12:30-3 p.m.) and NBC (Saturday, 4-6 p.m.; Sunday, 1:30-3:30 p.m.). PGA EUROPEAN TOUR/ASIAN TOUR Indonesian Open • Site: Jakarta, Indonesia. • Schedule: Thursday-Sunday • Course: Damai Ind^ Golf and Country Club (7,121 yards, par 71). • Purse: $1 million. Winner’s share: $166,660. • TV: (Jolf Channel (Thursday-Sunday 7:30-10:30 a.m.). NATIONWIDE TOUR/AUSTRALASIAN PGA TOUR Jacob’s Creek Open • Site: Adelaide, Australia. • Schedule: Thursday-Sunday • Course: Kooyonga (SoLf Club (6,711 yards, par 72) . • Purse: $600,000. Winner's share: $108,000. • TV: Golf Channel (Thursday-Sunday, 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.). Golf(£ Insider ByTJ.TOMASI IT’S GOOD FOR YOUR GAME Slaying behind the ball involves the relationship of your two power centers, upper and lower. Here at the top of the swing, they are stacked up to form a vertical straight line. During the downswing, the bottom power center glides out from under the top one, and this serves to ratchet up the coil to its maximum. POWER management ABOUTTHE WRITER O ne of the things I focus on when I examine a stu dent’s swing is the power center meridian, a line connecting the sternum and the navel, I c^ the sternum or breast bone area the “upper power center” and the navel the “lower power center.” These two centers must be in proper relation to one another for maximum coil. Visualizing a line connecting them allows me to monitor the power centers (PCs) as the swing unfolds. Maximum coil is not present at the top of the swing as most golfers assume. It occurs as the lower PC moves out from under the upper PC during the initial phase of the downswing. This is one of the few “non-negotiables” you must ob serve to be a good player. At the top of the swing, good players stack both power centers in a straight line extending to the back hip joint, the knee and ankle joint. From this position they shift back to their front hip socket with the lower PC leading the way while the upper PC stays put. Thus the spine tuts a few degrees away from the target before the powerful rotation around their front hip socket begins. In fact, a good swing has the lower center closer to the target at impact than it was at address, whUe the upper center has returned to about the same spot it occupied at setup, creating a power line that tUts away from the target. If this sounds complicated, that’s because it is, but for tunately, correct management of your power centers should happen all by itself if you simply shift your weight to your front leg to start your downswing, and then allow your hips to rotate without spitming your shoulders. This is the pro move. Dr. TJ. Tomasi is a teaching professional at Nantucket Golf Club on Nantucket Island, Mass. To ask him a question about golf, e-mail him at: TJIn$ider@aol.com. DRILLS FOR SKILLS Step on it Studies conducted at Centinela Hospital in Inglewood, Calif., prove that the move that starts the downswing is a shifting of weight into the front hip. Researchers placed electrodes on tour players whUe they swung and documented the fact that there is a switch from the back hip to the front hip at the be ginning of the downswing, a switch that reconfig ures the power centers. Here’s a drUl to help you with this prime-time move: Place a 9-iron on the ground so the face is under your front foot and the shaft is parallel with the tar get line. Hover your front foot above the clubhead and swing to the top with no weight on the front side. To start the downswing, step on the clubface so your weight is shifted to your front foot. Make this the first move down. If you do it correctly stepping on the face will make the shaft of the club pop up so you know ex actly when you're shifting. This is important be cause most golfers are late with the shift. Once you’ve stepped forward, then rotate your hips and chest and hit it. Tee the baU, use a 7-iron and swing easy at first. Because of the way the body is structured, the only way to correctly stay behind the ball is to allow the realignment of your swing centers, culminating in the “long left spine” look at impact: The power center line runs from a point just below your throat through your navel to the front knee joint. Four steps keep your mind focused during game of golf An effective strategy for maintaining control of your mental landscape comes from Dr. Jeffrey Schwartz in his book “Brain Lock,” which out lines a four-step procedure to take back control of the brains of patients debilitated by ob sessive-compulsive disorder. Last week I outlined how the fu'st two steps apply to adopt ing a new swit^ bought— cocking the wrists earlier. Step 1 is Relabel: Identify the disruptive thought (the warn ing that you’re cocking the club too late) and label it as out-of-date. Step 2 is Reattribute: Reattribution is based on the idea that “if you can explain it, you ovra it.” The explanation for the disruptive warning thought is that it is a normal part of the “no/go” system every brain has. This week we’ll finish up with last two steps: Step 3: Refocus Focus your attention on re turning to the template of the new swing mechanic that you learned on the practice range. In our example of the wrist cock, the refocus thought is “cock the wrists sooner.” After each warning signal, you return to the template by combining a mental thought replacement (“cock the wrists sooner”) and a physical act, i.e. a practice swing focusing on an early wrist cock. In the refocus stage you must be active. This is a pre pared intervention strategy that prevents unwanted thoughts fixim controlling you. The logic is that these are your thoughts and are therefore under your control. Step 4; Repeat An incubation period is nec essary to install new learning, so a time gap exists between the old learning (late cocking of the wrists) and the new learning (early cocking). During this gap, your message system is stiH sending warn ings based on the old learning. You’U get a “no” signal when you try to cock your wrists early The key is to repeat the tem plate learning whUe you are in the gap in order to engrain it as a habit. The more you re peat it, the sooner it wUl take the place of the old learnii^ template and the sooner the “no” signals wUl stop. UntU then, be patient. This step recognizes the im portance of repetition of the template untU it is so deeply imbedded that it replaces the old learning. At this point, if you were to reintroduce the old-style wrist cock, it would trigger a “no” warning signal. So the next time an unwant ed thought intervenes into your mental landscape: Step 1: Relabel by tagging the new thou^t as being based on out-of-date informa tion. Step 2: Reattribute by ac knowledging its origms in your “no/go” warning system. Step 3: Refocus by going di rectly back to the new learning template instead of tinkering. Step 4: Repeat by recogniz ing that a new piece of learn ing is installed by doing it again and again imtU the “no” signals stop. GOLF SPOKEN HERE Ca(i(iie The word comes from the French “cadet,” referring to a younger or jimior person. DON’T MISS IT The Putting Pegz If you want to im prove your putting, Don’t Miss the Putting Pegz. These two pegs connected by two strings help you to keep your feet, knees, shoul ders, head and putter square to the target. It’s a simple device you can use indoors or out, and it won’t break the bank at only $20. Check it out at www.izzo.com. ASKTHE PRO Q: I’m starting to play in a few tournaments, and I get really nervous. TOat can I do to keep my cool? — C.T., from the Web A: Tb keep your cool, you’ve got to know what your cool is—you’ve got to know yourself. Developing self-rapport involves finding out how you posture yourself, how you talk, your tone of voice, aU of the things you do when you are successful, and then doing (hem in order to produce success. . Study yoimself when you’re playing well. Notice whether you walk a certain way carry yourself in a certain way, have a certain pace, if your voice has a certain volume to it or tonal quality One way to do this is to videotape yourself while you play Mark the tape when you hit a good shot (thumbs up to the cameraman) then study it for clues as to how you conduct yourself when you’re in prime time. (Tb Ask the Pro a question about golf, e-mail him at: TJInsider@aol.com.) GOLF BY THE NUMBERS 3,574 Cox News Service Tiger Woods earned an average of $2,782 for every swing he took in 2006. The number of swings Tiger Woods took in 2006. For every swing, he made $2,782, or $9,941,563 million in ail. By comparison, David Toms won $2,911,187, taking 6,921 strokes for $421 per swing. And John Daly was paid $54 per swing, winning $192,134 while taking 3,568 strokes. He finished 193th on the 2006 money list while Toms finished 11th and Tiger, of course, finished No. 1. But don’t get too carried away with this comparison. The object is still to take fewer swings to win more money.
The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, N.C.)
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Feb. 15, 2007, edition 1
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