It's THE LAW
and other golf tales
(newest additions BOLD)
updated 25 June 2009

    DID YOU KNOW
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No man has ever won all four Majors in the same year or achieve what they call the "Grand Slam". Some have won all four over a period of years and call it a Grand Slam, but it's a futile effort to fill the void where no one has travelled. In 1980, Jack Nicklaus won two tournaments- the Masters Tournament and the PGA tour. In 1982, Tom Watson won the US Open and the British Open. He also won the Masters Tournament but it was a year earlier. He won five times in three of the four Golf Tournaments but in different years. Nick Faldo won six times- that is three times in the Masters and three times in the British Open. In the year 2000, Tiger Woods won three of the four major Golf Tours.

For the Women's Golf Tournaments, both Annika Sorenstam and Patty Sheehan won in all three major Golf tournaments but they never won all three in the same year. They won three times the LPGA championship, twice the US Women's Open and once in the Women's British Open. In 2003, Annika Sorenstam almost got the Grand slam by winning the British Open end the LPGA, but Hilary Lunke became US Open champion for this year.

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If you tee up the ball in front of the teeing area, the penalty is two strokes, and you must re-tee.

Quiz: If you commit this foul and in turn hit the ball out of bounds, how many strokes are you penalized?

For those of you who answered four strokes, back up and read the first statement. Because the ball was teed illegally, the shot did not count. It's two strokes and legally re-tee.

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On the links, a bogey is a score of one over par on a particular hole. According to the OED, this term was invented in 1890 by a certain Major Wellman at the Great Yarmouth Golf Club. He was playing against a Dr. Thomas Browne using the scratch value of each hole. Wellman, having difficulty beating the scratch score, claimed that he was playing against a bogey-man, a character in a popular song at the time. In American usage, bogey came to mean one over par. From Field magazine, January 1892:A novelty was introduced in shape of a Bogey tournament for a prize...
Fourteen couples started, but the Bogey defeated all.

The sense meaning a score of one over par on a hole is from 1946, in Acree's Golf Simplified:
Bogey, a hole scored in one stroke over par.

The verb form appears around 1948, the earliest cite in the OED being from Ben Hogan's Power Golf: After he drove into the rough he bogeyed the hole and lost his advantage.
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In 1901, the world's oldest Professional Golf Association, the British Professional Golfers' Association was founded, followed by Professional Golfers' Association of Australia in 1911. In America, Professional Golf Tours began in early 1920's. Women's Golf grew at the same rate as Men's Golf though interest in Professional Women's Golf only came after World War II.

Now, the United States alone has 16,000 golf courses and over 50 million Americans play golf each year. In Japan, where space is scarce to put up golf courses, golfers practice their Golf Swing in high rise buildings, hitting golf balls into a giant net. Golf evolved from a simple farm game to one of the biggest sports industries in the world. People from every walk of life are getting into golf and golf courses are sprouting everywhere, making golf a billion dollar industry.
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Hitting an Unattended Flagstick with a Putt (Rule 17-3)
The flagstick is in the hole, unattended, and your putt strikes it. That's a 2-stroke penalty in stroke play (ball subsequently played as it lies) and loss of hole in match play.
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In no other sport can or will a player call a penalty on himself. Could you imagine? Charles Barkely, who never admitted to committing a foul on the basketball court, now has to call fouls on himself on the golf course.

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    REPLACE THOSE GRIPS
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With a new golf season upon us, take a close look at your grips to see if they need to be replaced. If you can't remember the last time you replaced them, then I think you have your answer. Otherwise, check the softness and consistency. There should be a definite spring-like effect when you lightly grip them.

The idea is to get a confident grip on your club without squeezing it. Worn, slick grips are the quickest way to lead you to gripping too tight. This in turn can cause a series of problems, not the least of which is distance loss.

This could be the easiest thing you do to help your golf scores this season. Especially when you think about the fundamentals leading up to a well executed golf shot.
(added 10/5/09)
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S/HE SAID
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"Golf... is the infallible test. The man who can go into a patch of rough alone, with the knowledge that only God is watching him, and play his ball where it lies, is the man who will serve you faithfully and well." - P.G. Wodehouse

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"Golf is so popular simply because it is the best game in the world at which to be bad." -  A. A. Milne

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 "Although golf was originally restricted to wealthy, overweight Protestants, today it's open to anybody who owns hideous clothing." -
Dave Barry
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"The three things I fear most in golf are lightning, Ben Hogan and a downhill putt." - Sam Snead
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"Golf is assuredly a mystifying game. It would seem that if a person has hit a golf ball correctly a thousand times, he should be able to duplicate the performance at will. But this is certainly not the case." - Bobby Jones
(added 10/5/09)
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"If you watch a game, it's fun. If you play it, it's recreation. If you work at it, it's golf." - Bob Hope
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"I guess there is nothing that will get your mind off everything like golf. I have never been depressed enough to take up the game, but they say you get so sore at yourself you forget to hate your enemies." - Will Rogers
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"Why am I using a new putter? Because the last one didn't float too well." - Anonymous
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"My handicap? Woods and irons." - Chris Codiroli
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The Australian Anna Rawson, a new fully exempt LPGA Tour member, said she believes professional golfers should help promote the sport, especially in these tough economic times. She doesn't think many of her PGA Tour counterparts understand that. "I was out at Sherwood, and I was disgusted with how the PGA Tour players acted toward fans," Rawson said. "They didn't sign autographs or they'd sign four and walk off. I watched Paula Creamer sign autographs for two hours in Korea. Some (PGA) players walked straight past (fans). I couldn't believe it."
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"If you think it's hard to meet new people, try picking up the wrong golf ball." - Jack Lemmon
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"He who has the fastest golf cart never has a bad lie." - Mickey Mantle
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"Golf is a day spent in a round of strenuous idleness." - William Wordsworth
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"If you drink, don't drive. Don't even putt." -  Dean Martin
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    DID YOU KNOW?
THIS MAY BE OF INTEREST NOW THAT GA HAS ANNOUNCED GOING TO THE US SLOPE HANDICAP SYSTEM
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The USGA began using the term "handicap index" in the early 1980s when it added slope rating to the equation. A handicap index is not a representation of your average score and, if you're doing it right, it's not what you'll use to give yourself (or playing partners) strokes. The handicap index is a number that is compared to course rating in order to determine your course handicap.
Course handicap is then used to figure strokes. For more information on how the handicap index works, visit: http://www.usga.org/playing/handicaps/handicaps.html
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Why Do Golfers Yell "Fore" for Errant Shots? This is a term whose exact origin can't be stated. "Fore" is another word for "ahead" (think of a ship's fore and aft). Yelling "fore" is simply a shorter way to yell "watch out ahead" (or "watch out before"). It allows golfers to be forewarned, in other words. The British Golf Museum cites an 1881 reference to "fore" in a golf book, establishing that the term was already in use at that early date. The USGA suggests the
term may have been in use as early as the 1700s.
(ADDED 10/5/09)
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INSTRUCTION
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    UP AND DOWN
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With the appropriate club, chip 5-10 balls from off the green.  Imagine you are playing a par two hole. If you chip it in you get a birdie. If you do not make your next putt you bogey the hole.

After you chip, start with the nearest ball to the hole, and with your putter attempt to hole each one out. This helps simulate the pressure of an actual game situation.

Try this as a competitive game with a practice partner. The fastest way to lower your handicap is to spend your practice time chipping and putting.
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    PLAYING FROM A FAIRWAY BUNKER
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Play ball in the middle of the stance to insure you hit the ball first. Dig your feet in for stability. Your stance can be square or slightly open. Your number one goal is to get out of the bunker. Pick the ball cleanly off the sand. Any sand between the ball and club will mean a loss of distance. Be sure you do not swing down sharply. Limit your lower body movement. Remember to grip down on the club to compensate for your feet being lower in the sand. Swing only as hard as your stance will allow.
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     PICK THE RIGHT OUT
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Too many shots are wasted on the golf course because players choose the wrong way out of trouble. Study your options, and choose the path of least resistance. Sometimes punching your ball backwards to get back in play will be your best choice. Bogey is not a bad score when you compare it to what you could end up with if you don't pull off the miracle shot. We see the pros on television pull off fantastic shots through an opening in the trees, and something happens to our ability to form a rational thought. Remember, those guys are the best in the world.  Sometimes they don't pull it off, and it can cost them a tournament.
(added 10/5/09)
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     SWISH DRILL
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Turn a club upside down holding the shaft just below the clubhead. Keep both hands on the club in a normal grip. Take a normal swing and listen.

There should be a swishing sound from the fast-moving grip end of the club. Swing a couple more times and note the point in the swing arc the sound is loudest.

The swishing sound will start at the bottom of the swing arc if you are swinging properly. This drill will help you build the clubhead speed necessary to hit the "long ball." 

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    POWER POSITIONS
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This drill produces an action called the release (rolling over of the hands and forearms). A proper release greatly helps generate increased clubhead speed. Put a tee in the butt end of the grip on a mid-iron. Begin a slow backswing. Stop when the tee in the grip points directly at the ball.

Swing slowly through until on your follow-through the tee in the grip again points at the starting ball position. Take some practice swings. Gradually increase the speed of your swing making sure to go no further back or further forward than your original positions. Now hit some balls.
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     SAND SHOT
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Dig your feet in for firm footing. Grip down on the club to compensate for feet being lower in sand. Open the clubface and body toward the target to encourage a full turn and follow-through.

You want to take a "divot" in the sand. Focus on where the club will enter the sand, not on the ball. Take a long shallow divot about 10" inches long.

Follow through and finish high. The more open the face, the higher the ball will pop up. With practice the normal bunker shot can become one of your most consistent stroke saving shots.

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     TRACK DRILL
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This drill is designed to help you hit your chips on the intended line every time. Take two clubs and make a narrow track . Turn the clubheads on the ground outwards. Use a 7 or 8 iron to chip. Make a stroke with the club coming back only slightly inside on the backswing. Go straight through and finish low on the follow-through. Follow-through is longer than your backswing. Hit some shots to the hole making sure you accelerate the clubhead through the shot. Gradually increase the distance using a fuller swing.
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    LEARN YOUR CARRY
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One of the biggest complaints from pros during pro-ams is of amateurs who will not take enough club to reach greens. This is simply because most amateurs have no idea how far they consistently fly the ball with each club.

Take some time this year to learn your carry. Visit your driving range, get some accurate distances to flags or other targets, and then practice hitting balls to those targets.

Keep a log if you need to, but make sure you only count balls which fly and land at the target. Balls which roll to the target did not carry to the target, and therefore cannot be counted. Then, and only then, can you be assured you have the right club in your hand the
next time you need to carry that water hazard, that bunker, or simply to a particular level of a green.

When your finished, study your chart to see which clubs you need to use from certain distances. Most of you will be surprised, because it's not how far you hit your best shot that matters, it's how far you consistently hit a particular club which will get you on those greens in regulation.
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    FEET TOGETHER DRILL
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Keeping your feet together, practice hitting balls with the ball teed up. Your feet should be almost touching. Swing slowly at first. Concentrate on making solid contact with the ball. Always think tempo and rhythm. Once you can hit consistently good shots, work on hitting the ball off the grass.

You may be surprised how far you can hit the ball with your feet together as you groove your swing. This drill helps you in many ways. It's a good drill to do every practice session as a warm-up. It a great drill to develop the feel of a good release.
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 MODERN EQUIPMENT vs. HANDICAPS
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Golf Digest's annual Hot List for equipment in 2009 has hit the stands and inside comes this from Digest's Mike Stachura regarding the impact of today's high-tech equipment on handicaps:

"Despite decades of naysayers and experts alike suggesting that the average handicap is not dropping, has not dropped and never will drop, the fact is, it has. Let's say that again: The average handicap of all golfers - men, women and children - has decreased consistently for the past 15 years. The average handicap today is two strokes better than it was in the early 1990s, according to research provided to Golf Digest by the USGA's Golf Handicap & Information Network (GHIN). This decrease coincides with a remarkable decade of equipment innovation that has brought us titanium drivers in every shape and size, game-changing hybrids and oversize putters."

So, today we ask, has modern equipment had an impact on your handicap - good, bad, or not at all?

There's no denying the larger sweet spot on our over-sized drivers, and there is a considerably larger area of forgiveness on today's game-improvement irons, but has it actually helped you lower your scores.

I watch hackers tear up golf courses just like they did twenty years ago, and I can't help but think the equipment doesn't do them any good at all. Only lessons, practice, and an improved short game will help their scores.

It brings back that old adage, "Drive for show, putt for dough". In the end, it doesn't matter if you can hit the ball farther or straighter, if you can't get up and down, your score isn't going to improve.

Maybe the national average is lower because more people are practicing and taking lessons. Just a thought. However it has played out, I will continue to buy whatever I can to gain some kind of advantage. The hybrid alone is enough to make me a believer in how technology can make this game easier, but I'll also keep working on my short game.

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 FINANCIAL SPOTLIGHT
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Victorian Government says golf a great investment: Credit may be drying up around the globe but the Victorian Government has just spent up big to lure one the world's most famous sportsman to the state. Golfer Tiger Woods has agreed to accept an appearance fee of $3-million to play a tournament in Melbourne in November. The bulk of this fee will be paid by the Government which was engaged in an intense bidding war with the New South Wales Government over the sporting star. But will the money spent by the taxpayers of Victoria be a good investment?

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 LADIES SECOND
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When growing up, (the writer of this article-Jay Rylant) I was taught that we should always let the ladies go first. Unfortunately, in the world of sports, the ladies seldom get first billing.

One of our readers brought up the issue of an LPGA event being scheduled at the newly reconstructed Papago Muni golf course in Phoenix. It opened the last of December or early January, and many things weren't finished for play. Although there is no doubt the tournament officials and ground crews would have things ready for play, it raises questions about the treatment of the LPGA Tour.

One only has to look at the huge difference in pay scales to see the most obvious of differences. Sure, the moneys depend on corporate sponsorships, television contracts, and advertising money. We get that, but what is it about the LPGA that doesn't attract stronger attention, and more generous sponsorships.

These ladies are talented. In most ways every bit as talented as their PGA counterparts. No, they can't smoke 325 yard drives, although a couple of these ladies do pop it out there pretty well, but their level of play is outstanding. They turn in tournament scores consistent with the men, they pull off amazing shots, they compete with the same kind of vigour, and they look a thousand times better doing it.

Just on looks alone, the LPGA Tour has certainly grabbed my attention of late. These women are beautiful, poised, well-dressed, and on top of that, incredible athletes.

So, what would it take for people to quit treating these ladies, and I do mean ladies, like second-class golfers? Is there any hope of this happening in our lifetime, or is this issue completely lost on deaf ears?

    PUTT OR PUT? (Humour)
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The schoolteacher was taking her first golfing lesson. "Is the word spelled p-u-t or p-u-t-t?" she asked the instructor.
"P-u-t-t," he replied. "Put means to place a thing where you want it. Putt means a vain attempt to do the same thing."
 

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