Monday, May 18, 2009

Spiderman



I am a big fan of Camilo Villegas and I am really thrilled that he is on the cover of the June issue of Golf Digest.  I think that this year will be a promising year for him.  I am looking forward to him winning his first major! I have a feeling that it will happen within the next couple of years. :)
Anyway, I found this video on youtube of him.  Just sharing...

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Tee It Up with Stan!

Click HERE to go to the Kuma-Ku Country Club

Got a couple of minutes to spare? Join Stan at the Kuma-Ku Country Club and see how far you can drive!

How I will Remember Henrik Stenson

A week after Henrik Stenson won the Players at TPC Sawgrass, it seems like people are more  interested in analyzing Tiger's performance more than anything else.  It seems like the god of golf is still not in his tip-top shape.  We have witnessed a few hooks from the tee and a lot of missed putts that Tiger would usually make.  I even read about people commenting on his biceps that had grown too big, that it became a hindrance to his swing.  I say, give him a break! He is still the #1 ranked player and if you look at the statistics of his last several games, he still has an amazingly good record.  I guess we are all just not used to Tiger Woods playing like a mortal.  I wonder what is actually going on in his mind?  Maybe he is pressured to do well because of the hype that he will be giving us the biggest comeback in golf history?  We all know that golf is a mental game more than anything but I like to believe that Tiger's mortal performance is not because of his incapability to handle such pressure but because he is still nursing his injury.  Speaking of mental toughness, I can't get over what happened to Alex Cejka.  After leading by 5 after 54 holes, I never expected him to collapse the way he did and score a 79.  For a while there, I thought he will be the next Rocco Mediate.  I think Cejka would not have plummeted the way he did if he had not been paired with Tiger last Sunday.  I can't imagine how nerve-wracking it must be for someone to be playing with Tiger at Ponte Vedra.  TPC Sawgrass is known to be a very tough course and playing it alongside the "golf god" makes it even tougher.  I think Cejka would have won or played much better if he was paired with someone else. 

Now, let's go back to Henrik Stenson... sure, he won the Players and played VERY well but I will still remember him not as the 2009 Players champion, but the Swedish golfer, who stripped down to his underwear at the third hole during the first round of the World Golf Championships-CA in Doral!

Saturday, May 16, 2009

Golf vs. Tennis

A few months ago, a tennis player friend of mine disclosed his interest in learning golf.  I agreed to help him get started.  With my limited knowledge, I started teaching him what I know about the game.  At the same time, he started to teach me how to play tennis.  It was a give and take relationship that works out well.  He is enjoying golf and I am enjoying tennis.  A couple of nights ago, after playing 9 holes of golf with him, we started talking about the two...  Do I have to continue or do you already know where the conversation lead to?  Yes, we jumped in to the great Golf vs Tennis debate.  While having the somewhat heated discussion, I realized that we have somehow turned in to the Golfer and Tennis Player stereotypes that I often read about.  It particularly reminded me of an article that I have read by Caroline Clarke.  A few years ago, she surveyed golfers and tennis players on why their particular sport is their sport of choice.  Here's an excerpt:

"Golfers won't even talk tennis--or any other sport for that matter. To them, there's golf, then everything else. Their game is more than a hobby or pastime, they insist. It's an obsession that takes hold and doesn't let go. To them, golf represents the "ultimate" in competition and requires the ultimate in discipline, patience, and respect for the game and one's opponents.

Tennis players agree that golf is the ultimate--but only if you're talking about expense. "It costs way too much," many of them said--and, worse, it's way too slow. Tennis is a game for athletes, they declare, noting the fact that, unlike golf, they actually have to wear sneakers to play. Golf is a game for former athletes, they say, and anyone else who likes to mosey along in pretty settings swinging a big club at a little ball, barely breaking a sweat."

Of course I was quite biased... I tried explaining to my friend that golf is harder because it is only you versus the golf course and only you against yourself when you play golf.  A golfer tries to hit a ball as consistent as possible but still gets different results with each swing because of so many factors that affect it (the landscape, the lie, the wind, the hazards, etc.).  I particularly told him that when a golfer makes a bad shot, there is no one else to blame but himself and nothing fulfilling will come out of it while in tennis, when a player makes a bad shot (in a flat rectangular court that is the same everywhere), if the opponent misses the bad shot, the bad shot could still be gratifying to some extent.  In the midst of this heated discussion was when I remembered Clarke's article and I stopped and told my self that I don't want and refuse to be a stereotype.  And then it hit me, why am I even having this debate when I enjoy playing tennis too!?  So I lightened up, and he did too.  We both ended up laughing about what just transpired.  But in the back of my head, I wanted to tell him what David Owen wrote in a Golf Digest article a long time ago... but didn't.

"There is only one moment in tennis when that game comes within shouting distance of golf. That moment occurs when your opponent, having been driven to the baseline by the fury of your return, takes a lunging, desperate swipe at the ball and catches just enough of it to lob it 50 feet into the air, a marshmallow, and the ball is spinning so slowly that you can see the seams on its cover, and it floats high above the net and drifts gently toward the farthest corner of your end of the court, and you instantaneously calculate its trajectory and drop back into the perfect position to smack it to oblivion, and all your options are spread out before you, and you can see your opponent shuffling nervously at the edge of your field of vision, and you know exactly what you want to do, and you set your feet and take your racquet back slowly, and the ball drops perfectly into the circumference of your swing--teed up, as it were--and you dump the thing into the net.

A golf moment.  The only one in tennis.  Case closed." -David Owen

Friday, May 15, 2009

Playing with the Boys


I am the only woman in my foursome and being so motivates me to play better.  However, there would be times when I get really frustrated because it will never be physically possible to outdrive any of the boys.  This frustration creeps in especially during Par 4s.  I hate Par 4s because it is so difficult to hit the green in regulation.  I am almost always several yards shy from the green after two strokes even when I hit good shots.  Like the boys, I would love to be able to just drive and chip to get to the green and get an opportunity for birdie.  Someday...

Thursday, May 14, 2009

The Head Cover Convention

Yes, I am a dork.  Every single club that I have in my bag has a head cover.  I don't like the sound of my irons hitting each other when I walk with my bag in tow.  I've grown attached to my head covers especially my driver cover.  I named him Stanley Joseph after my golf instructor, Stanley, and my cart buddy/partner, Joseph.  I call him Stan for short.  In reality, he is a Japanese character named Kuma-Ku (Japanese for "I am Bear").  I particularly like this head cover version compared to the basic one because of the tiger costume Kuma-Ku is wearing.  Stan's big smile reminds me to lighten up when I get frustrated while playing golf. 

What's in My Bag?

Ok...
Before I disclose what's in my bag, I want to talk about the bag itself.  This is a stand bag from Qgroove called Koinobori Black.  I fell in love with this bag the moment I saw it.  I got it back in August 2008 and I still love it the same way I first laid my eyes on it!  Since I started playing golf a year ago, I have been through so many sticks... 4 Drivers, 3 putters, 3 sets of irons, etc. but this bag stays!  

Building my perfect golf set is a work in progress.  This is why I keep trying new clubs.  At least I got one thing right, I know I've already found the perfect golf bag. 

Here's what's in my bag:

Driver: 
Lepon 12* by Epon Forged
Callaway FT-5 13* (backup)
FW: 
Callaway Squareway Wood #5
Hybrid: 
Taylormade Men's Burner #3 19*
Taylormade Men's Burner #4 22* 
Irons: 
4-PW Epon AF-701 Forged Irons
Wedge: 
52* Epon Forged 208 KGX
56* Callaway Men's X-Forged Vintage
Putter: 
Odyssey Sabertooth
Scotty Cameron Studio Style Newport 2 (backup)

I am still thinking if I should ditch my driver(s) and get the Callaway FT-9.  I can't seem to find the perfect driver for me.  I just recently got rid of my Epon Monster Beetle 10.5* Driver because it's just not a good fit.  The EMB looks so bad ass and sexy that I am actually intimidated by it.  Every time I address the ball using the EMB, I am actually scared to hit coz I might make a mess.  Maybe in a year or two, I can physically and psychologically handle the Epon Monster Beetle.  I will keep a mental note to revisit when I am a better golfer.  As of now, I am not WORTHY!

Playing, Living, and Breathing GOLF

I've decided to start a golf-related blog because I am addicted to the game.  I consider myself a golf newbie.  I have been playing, living and breathing golf for a year by the end of this month.  What can I say, I love golf!  I try to play at least once a week and hit the range twice a week.  I am not really the athletic type so my progress is slow but who cares about baby steps... as long as I am moving forward, right?