Golf Confessions

Within hours of Annika Sorenstam announcing that she was stepping down from competitive golf, number one tennis star Justine Henin announced that she was stepping down immediately.  Henin is only 25 and is currently ranked the number one female player in the world. 

 There seems to be more and more top ranked athletes getting away from their sports before they have either met their full potential or before their competitive days are over.  The price that these athletes pay to be tops in their fields is becoming more and more pressure packed.  The lives that they and their families have to live is causing more problems away from the game.  The media is constantly in their face.  And a lot of these athletes have come from quite and unassuming lives and this instant success is quite over whelming.  The instant stardum and mega contracts can put these athletes in very uncomfortable surroundings.

The constant pressure to stay on top takes a tremendous toll on the physical and mental capacity of the body.  So many of these athletes have been striving to become the best they can be from a very early age.  Annika Sorenstam has been working on her game and seeking to be the best she could be for a long time.  In 2007 she missed most of the season with back problems.  Henin is only 5′5″ and she has been competing against much larger opponents most of her career.  This takes a tremendous amount of hard work and dedication.  The rewards are great, but these individuals give up a lot of things that most people take for granted.  I know Lee Trevino would eat in his hotel room almost every night, a lot of times alone.  He knew if he went to a restuarant he would get mobbed by autograph seekers.  Chi Chi Rodriguez also would have his caddy get him a carry out dinner almost every night.  Stardum can almost make these people a recluse.

The life of a athlete in an individual sport is not all the glamour that a lot of people think it is.  The travel and spending so much of your life living out of a suitcase can get very old very quickly.

The competition is getting stronger every day and the pressure to stay on top of your game never ends.  And when you have a bad day or bad week the press is in your face wanting to know what is wrong.  The press can also ask some very dumb questions over and over.  Each and every week the athlete has to meet with a new group of reporters in a new town and the questions start all over again. 

An athlete gets mentally fatigued more than physically.  The constant battle to perform at your best works on the mind and after a while can cause physical break downs.  All athletes know that they are not perfect and that they will hit bad shots from time to time, but they know they are usually not superior enough to make mental mistakes and beat the field. 

Kids are peparing at younger and younger  ages to be at the top of their sports.  There are camps for golf, baseball, soccer, gymnastics, tennis and every other sport imaginable.  These camps offer, at a huge price, the opportunity for kids to attend these facilities and live there year round.  They get their academic requirements and receive athletic instruction daily.  They live and breath their sport.  And it seems that if you are going to be competitive you have to have this dedication in order to compete.  Countries around the world are going thru a selective process and putting kids in private and government run facilities to produce the top athletes.

So we may be seeing what this early pressure and constant scrutiny  is having on the athlete of today.  The drug problems in so many sports in order to be the best will eventually work its ugly self into every form of sports.  The big bucks and fame certainly has a price to pay.  We have seen in golf that so many players do not like the heat that comes along with being #1. 

Annika Sorenstam did a lot for the women’s tour.  She was on her way to possibly setting an all time win mark, presently held by Kathy Whitworth at 88 victories.

Annika puts everything in to her game, she is the ultimate competitor, winning is what she is all about.  And because she wants to be the best at what she does, you may not see her play in very many events after she leaves the tour on a full time basis.  It is not likely that she will want to compete just for the sake of competing, she will only play if she thinks she can win.

Sorenstam came along at the right time for the LPGA, the tour was struggling and needed someone to step up and bring some positives to the tour.  She was very hard to beat and yet she carried herself in a manner that everyone looked up to her and wanted to follow in her foot steps.  She is the only woman to shoot a 59 in a tour event and she has 10 majors to her credit.

The LPGA will surely miss her presence.  But Annika will be sucessful in her other endeavors.  She has a golf course architecture business and a clothing line.  These other ventures will prosper now that she will have more time to donate to them.

Annika Sorenstam the third winningest lady golfer has announced her retirements at the end of this season.  Annika has won 72 events.  Kath Whitworth leads all golfers with 88 victories.

Annika has won three tournaments this year.

In 1982 I caddied for Sam Snead in the first TPC on the stadium golf course.  Sam and Arnold Palmer were given an exemption to play on the new TPC course.  I was a friend of Sam’s and I asked him if I could caddy for him, and this was my first time to caddy in an official PGA event.

I was very nervous, I think just as nervous as if I had been playing.  I did not realize how conscience you became of the small things that you take for granted when you are playing golf with your buddies.  You become very aware of all the things that you do in order to stay out of the way of other players and even taking the pin out of the hole, not to hit the sides and mess up. 

The Wednesday after our practice round with J.C. I found where I could buy a yardage book from one of the regular tour caddies.  This caddy made up yardage books for other caddies  and would sell them each week.  Most of the good caddies would get one of these books and then go out and check all the info and make sure it was correct.  One thing that a tour player can not stand is to have a caddy give him bad yardage.  They know that bad shots are part of the game but bad info is inexcusable.

Well I was totally unfamiliar with the yardage book and since we were not going back on the course until our first round of the tournament, I was in for a surprise.  The first two holes of the round Thursday morning went just great.  Sam made a par on the first two holes and I thought this is a peice of cake.

Next is when I thought I would like to crawl under a rock.  Sam was the first to hit on the third hole a par three.  I get to the tee and reach for my trusty yardage book.  I had played the course several times myself so I was familiar the hole.  But when I opened the book to the third hole I became very confused.  Luckily the group in front of us was having some problems and we had a short wait.  I could not for the life of me find where the front yardage was marked from.  Usually there is a sprinkler head or some easy to spot object that you get your yardage from.  I walked up and down the tee box about six times despertaly searching for such a marker.  Of course the third hole is close to the club house and this is Sam Snead so the gallery is quite large.  I can feel every eye looking at me.  Finally it is time for Sam to hit and he steps up to the tee.  What we got?  I get real close so no one can hear and in a low mousey voice-I think it is about 180 to the flag.  What do you mean you think?  Yes that is what it is, as I see the other caddies looking at me and starting to laugh.  They know I don’t have a clue.  Well give me a five iron and let’s see what happens.  Thank goodness Sam hits a good shot up about twenty feet from the hole. 

I was sweating bullets.  I know that had to feel some what how you would feel standing on 18 Sunday afternoon needing a five foot putt to win.  I was never so grateful for that shot to get on the green.

After the round I get the book out and turn to the third hole and it looked like a neon sign flashing.  The marker that the book had for the front yardage was a plam tree to left of the tee box.  Why I could not see that at the time was incredible.  I have thought of that day and that hole several times over the years and it makes me sweat to this day.   

The players at this year’s Player’s Championship were in a survival mode for this championship.  The course was hard and fast just like the tour wanted.   You kick in the wind with up to thirty mile per hour gust and you have yourself a tournament.

A lot of the big names did not even make it to the weekend, and some of the ones that did make the cut did not fare too well.  Phil Mickelson was trying to win back to back and started the final round with a double bogey on the first hole and he was done.  Paul Goydos and Kenny Perry were in the final pairing of the day and Paul did all he could do to pull off a blue collar miracle.

You had to think the break he got on number 14 after hitting two excellent shots and not making a par, he may have some evil waiting for him just around the corner.  Paul, not known as one of the longer hitters kept his ball in play most of the tournament and made some crucial putts.  In fact Goydos had the lead or a share all day until the last hole when he took a bogey on the very difficult par four.

Goydos was very brave all day and played his heart out in front of a crowd that was really pulling for him.  Sergio Garcia was another player that certainly needed a win at this juncture of his career.  Picked to be a super star early on in his career, Sergio has had his ups and downs.  His biggest problem has been with the putter.  Garcia has recently sought the help of putting guru Stan Utley and it seems to have helped.  Although Sergio still fought the putting demons off and on during the four days.  But he stepped up big on the 72nd hole and made a key putt for par to force the playoff when Goydos failed on his par bid.

Sorenstam won her third tournament of the year in a very convincing fashion. 

The closest competitor was seven shots back and number one ranked Lorena Ochoa was twelve shots back.  Annika played to her old form before she had back problems and was forced to miss much of the 2007 season.

Annika and Ochoa should have their way with the rest of the season.  Know that Annika is finding her old self it will be interesting to see how Ochoa can hanlde the pressure of being pursued.   

Annika fires a 66 at the Michelob Ultra Open in Williamsburg, Va., on the second day and her 130 leads Ochoa by three.  Sorenstam is on a mission to regain her number one world ranking and she may be making a statement to Lorena. 

Michelle Wie continued her poor play with a two day total of 146 and missing the half way cut by four shots.  It is not going to be easy for Wie to compete if she does not play in more events and on a more frequent schedule.  She may have a lot of talent but being able to play with these girls is not as easy as it use to be.  There are more and more very good players coming out on the LPGA every year and Wie may find that she is no longer special.  Talent is one thing, but being able to compete and win is totally different.

The average age for the final pairing at The Players tournament today in Ponte Vedra is 48.5.  Leading the way is Kenny Perry    (-6)and trailing by one shot is Bernhard Langer(-5).  These older guys may need to take a nap at the turn, just kidding.  It will be interesting to see if the young guns can make a charge on these experienced veterans.

I am sure that Vijay Singh who lives at Ponte Vedra was again very disappointed.  Vijay failed to make the cut with a two day total of four over par.  You would think that Vijay would know this course as well as any one.  Maybe he knows too much and can’t let it happen.  Singh is one of the best ball strikers on tour and has the length to tame the par fives.

The way the course is set up no one seems to benefit from being a long hitter or short hitter.  Two years ago Fred Funk won at the age of 48 and is certainly not a long hitter, but is very accurate.  The courses are getting longer, just like Augusta, but this extra length may be playing into the shorter and more conservative type player.  The name of the game has and always will be PUTTING.  Did you see what Langer did yesterday?  He was sinking them from all over the place. 

Sergio will have to regain his putting form of the first day if he is going to be a contender.  Garcia had to have his nerves shaken on the very first hole with a three putt when he missed one inside two feet for par.

Let the wind blow and see who can survive.

Do you trust your golf balls?  I have a couple of stories that may influence your answer. 

When I lived on the number three hole at the origional Sawgrass course, I used to go out on number four the par five late in the evenings and hit a few shots.  One afternoon I grabbed six balls from my shag bag and headed to number four for a few late afternoon shots.  I had a six iron and proceeded to hit the balls down the fairway.  When I got to my group of balls I noticed one ball was about twelve yards farther than the rest.  I didn’t pay too much attention other than I must have really caught that one.  So I proceed to hit the balls back down the fairway.  Again I notice one ball is all by its self about 10 to 12 yards farther away.  This time I take note that it is a Maxfli Blue Max.  So again I hit the six balls down the fairway and sure enough the Blue Max is the distance winner.  I did this little drill on other late evening and the old Blue Max was always the winner.  In this group of balls there was an assortment, Titleist Balatas, Pinnacles, Wilson, but nothing could match the Max. 

It is no doubt that we all would like to have a ball that would go true and far.  But if you are not expecting this extra distance you may find yourself over the green and in the swamp.  Golf balls can be a little hot or dead.

I was caddying for a friend at The Tradition in Arizona and he had a experience with a Titleist.  He got ready to hit his tee shot on a par three and when he went to tee the ball he could barely get it to stay on the tee.  The ball was so egg shape.  I took the ball and put it my pocket to give to the Titleist rep when we finished the round.  When we finished the round and found the rep I took the ball from my pocket and by this time it was perfectly round and fit perfectly through the round tool that some players use to check their golf balls.  These things happen.  A tour player usually plays three ball per nine holes, alternating them each hole and they start with three new balls on the back nine.

Another experience with an entire dozen of bad balls in a tournamnet situation came in the Tour Championship at La Costa.  My friend that I was caddying for was a Titleist man at the time and we had used Titleist in all of our practice rounds.  Well the morning of the first round he comes out of the locker room and gives me a dozen Maxfli and says we would be using these today.  I questioned the decision but he insisted that it would be okay.  The trouble started right on the first hole.  The drive seemed to be okay and about a normal distance.  But the approach shot came up about 12 yards short and this was very unusual for this player, he was very accurate with his rions and distance control was great normally.  Of course my yardage was questioned.  The next hole we experienced the same results-short on the approach shot. 

Well long story short, every hole that day we battled getting the yardage on the approach shots.  Shot after shot came up short.  It is very difficult to give yardage when you do not know how far the ball is going to travel.  You would think that all we had to do was just add a few yards each time.  But when you have hit shots a certain distance for years and all of a sudden the yardage is no good it is hard to adjust during the round.  Especially when you have bunkers and hazords to carry and deal with, a guessing game is not for good golf.  We eventually got into the club house with a whopping 79 and found ourselves in dead last.

Needless to say we had Titleist back in the bag the next day.  And since there was an odd number of players in the field and we were first off the next day and we were paired with a marker.  The marker was a young man from the area that played college golf.  My player is a fast player and we ran around La Costa in two hours and fifteen minutes.

We had before and afterwards used Maxfl and had no problems, but this particular batch of balls was definetely dead and we paid the price.

Moral of the story do not change balls the day of the tournamnet.

Fortunately for the player of today the procedure for manufacturing golf balls has improved and product uniformity is greately improved.    

Sergio Garcia used his time with putting guru Stan Utley to his advantage and has a one shot lead after the first day of play at The Players Championship.  Sergio has been struggling with his putting for a while and has tried long putters, short putters, left hand low and anything else that he thought might help with his slump.  Utley has helped many tour players with their short game woes.  If Sergio can match his putting with his ball striking he will be a force to contend with this week.

Phil Mickelson had a solid round in his defense of his title.  Phil will have to over come the fact that no player has repeated back to back.  Ernie Els was going along comfortably until he came to the short par three seventeenth.  On the tee Ernie was two under par with two holes remaining.  Ernie proceeded to triple bogey the hole and went to number eighteen tee at one over par.  Ernie did what most good players do, he hit two great shots on eighteen and sunk his birdie putt to finish the day at even par.  This shows what will be on the players mind on Sunday afternoon, no lead is safe playing number 17.