Your Online Golf Handicap Blog
You drive for show, but putt for dough.
Do you know that you’ll never sink a putt if your ball is moving faster than 3.65 mph? How about if it is better to putt from above or below the hole?
Watch this video from ESPN Sports Science desk to learn a bit more on the physics of putting.
It’s a golfers dream to play at the best places in the world. Though “best” does not always line up with “most expensive”, here is a list of courses that can leave a hole in your wallet, but will surely find a spot in your bucket list.
~ If you are fortunate to play any of these courses, you deserve the bragging rights and make your fellow golfers jealous of you. To help you, at MyScorecard we give badges if you’ve played some of these courses.
~ Do you also know you can track the amount you spend on greens every year? – Just go to “change / add” under “Optional Statistics”, click on any available drop downs (you can track a maximum of 10 statistics) and select “Green Fees”.
Ever imagined how a pro golfer would stack up against a robot? Watch this below video (or click here) to see Rory vs. the Robat – a target challenge between Rory McIlroy and a Golf Laboratory Computer Controlled Hitting Machine.
Continuing with our series on “Costliest Rulings in Golf”, here is #4 on the list. If you haven’t followed our other posts in this series click here.
Juli Inkster is a legend on the LPGA Tour, with a professional career spanning 29 years to date and 31 LPGA tour wins under her belt.
It’s true that when legends violate a rule it gets more attention – that was the case with this “Hall of Famer” who was three strokes off the lead at the end of the 2nd round at the 2010 Safeway Classic.
During a lengthy wait at the 10th tee, Inkster affixed a weighted donut to her 9-iron and took some practice swings to stay loose. It was a clear violation, but went unnoticed until an email was set to the LPGA by a television viewer. Unfortunately it is illegal to use a training aid during play amd Inkster was disqualified by officials once she was back in the clubhouse.
She later said, “It had no effect on my game whatsoever, but it is what it is. I’m very disappointed.”
For your reference, here is what the rule 14-3/10 says:
14-3/10 Use of Training or Swing Aid During Round
Q. During a round, may a player make a stroke or a practice swing using a club with a weighted headcover or “donut” on it, or use any other device designed as a training or swing aid?
A. No. The player would be using an artificial device to assist him in his play in breach of Rule 14-3, but see also Decision 4-4a/7 for use of a weighted training club.
Location: Rochester, NY
Architect: Donald Ross
Year Constructed: 1925
Played: September 23, 2008
Sometimes I feel like the luckiest guy in the world. The day I played Oak Hill Country Club’s East Course was one of those days. Here I was playing golf at one of the world’s great courses on a day with PERFECT weather and with fantastic playing companions. On top of all that I was playing pretty well! I felt so good and relaxed that I forgot all about every other thing going on in my life and in the world for those 4 hours. The day ended up being exactly the type of escape that golf is supposed to be.
Once you pass through the main entrance to the club you drive for what feels like quite a ways down a road with golf holes lining the left hand side. After what seemed like an eternity I finally got my first glimpse of the clubhouse, a grand old tudor building with a cool slate roof. Inside it is HUGE (69,000 square feet) and has everything you would expect a clubhouse to have . . . including 8 lanes of bowling!
The Head Pro at Oak Hill is none other than Craig Harmon. Craig Harmon is the son of Claude Harmon who happens to be the 1948 Masters Champion and the last club pro to ever win a major title. Also of note is Craig’s brother, Butch Harmon, who coached Tiger Woods during his 34 month hot streak where he took home seven major titles. If there were golf royalty in America, they would surely have the last name Harmon.
A couple of noteworthy things about the course. Donald Ross did the original routing and layout of both the East and West Courses in 1925. The East Course is the tournament course and has hosted numerous USGA and PGA events including The Ryder Cup, US Open, Senior US Open, US Amateur, PGA Championship and Senior PGA Championship. In 2013 the PGA Championship will be returning to Oak Hill for the 3rd time. No other club has hosted this many majors.
We played the white tees which are set up to play just over 6500 yards. The blues played 6900 and the blacks (where the pros play from) were stretched out to 7150.
The 1st hole is a fairly long par 4 at 433 yards. Below is a photo of the approach to the green. There is a creek running across the fairway about 80 yards out from the center of the green. The drive is at a tricky angle and for the second shot players need to hit a mid to long iron over the water. Not an easy starting hole. Even Ben Hogan once stated it was the hardest starting hole in golf.
Below is a photo of the 2nd green. At 361 yards this is a relatively short par 4 to an uphill green.
Continue reading “Top 100 Courses: #17 Oak Hill Country Club (East Course)”
Derek @ 72strokes.com
The odds of a tour professional to hit a hole in one is 1 in 3000. At Augusta International’s par-3 9th hole, 21 aces have been recorded – that’s 50% more than any other hole at Augusta. What enables golfers to have a much higher likelihood of a hole-in-one? Check out this video to learn the secret.
If you’ve had a hole-in-one, MyScorecard will award you a badge to commemorate your achievement! If you record your score on a hole by hole basis, the badge will be given automatically, otherwise email MyScorecard customer service and we’ll ensure we update your profile.
In the history of the sport, no style or position of putting has been left untried. Perhaps the only items left are the limits of technology. The purpose of this post is to instruct you how to putt like a surgeon. Not saying all surgeons are great putters, but most have a steady hands.
“Putting is like wisdom. Partly a natural gift and partly the accumulation of experience.” – Arnold Palmer
Regardless of the technology, techniques, or form, putting is a highly individual art form. This post won’t claim one style of putting is superior than another. This post hopes to educate you on the styles, tips, and best practices that have yielded the highest results and then let you decide on how to putt best for you. We’ve already share how to hold the putter, but this one goes deeper.
For example, let’s analyze some of the best putters in our sport’s history. Below are great images of how to putt like the best putters. Notice each one has their unique style they’ve cultivated from continual trial and error.
“Still even in putting there is a right and a wrong way. Take the test of experience and you will find that in the long run the man who puts in the approved method wins the day.” – Henry James Whigham
Jack Nicklaus had a very distinguishable style. Hunched over, knees bent, hands pressed forward, and an open stance characterized his style. If you’re wondering if changed over the years, take a look below.
Now take a look at his stance only a few years ago:
Continuing with our series on the Costliest Rulings in Golf, here is yet an another event that can be tagged “a misfortune” in golfing history. In case if you missed our previous post on this series click here.
# 3. Craig Stadler:1987 San Diego Open
It was 1987 and Craig Stadler (nicknamed “The Walrus”), who was among the third-round leaders, hit his tee shot on the par-4 384 yard 14th hole at the San Diego Open at Torrey Pines. Unfortunately, the ball landed under a low-hanging branch of a large Leyland Cypress tree.
To make his swing easier, Statdler decided to hit his next shot from his knees. In order to do that without staining his expensive pants from the wet grass, he placed a towel under his knees and chipped the shot into the fairway. Little did he knew about the consequences of that.
When the 3rd round highlights were televised in NBC before the Sunday’s final round, the scenes of Stadler kneeling to his shot caught the attention of many viewers. Viewers then flooded the tournament press with phone calls saying it was a violation of PGA rule.
He finished his rounds 4 shots behind George Burns but was later informed by the officials that use of the towel was considered “building” a stance, which is a rules violation. And because he had signed the scorecard for less than the correct score (i.e without two-stroke penalty) on Saturday, he was disqualified from the tournament.
It costed him $37,000 prize money and second place.
Here is what the rule of Golf (13-2) says,
A player must not improve or allow to be improved:
the position or lie of his ball, the area of his intended Stance or swing, his Line Of Play or a reasonable extension of that line beyond the Hole, or the area in which he is to drop or place a ball,
by any of the following actions:pressing a club on the ground, moving, bending or breaking anything growing or fixed (including immovable Obstructions and objects defining Out Of Bounds), creating or eliminating irregularities of surface, removing or pressing down sand, loose soil, replaced divots or other cut turf placed in position, or removing dew, frost or water.
8 years later when Tom Wilson, a member of the tournament organizing committee, heard the tree was dying by fungus, invited Statdler to do the honours and help cut down. Statdler readily accepted and said “It’s been eight years. It’s time to put it rest”.
Continuing with our series from the The Itinerant Golfer’s quest to play all top 100 American golf courses, The Scratch Pad is glad to bring you a profile of the 1st and the top most rated golf course in America, Pine Valley Golf Club.
Pine Valley Golf Club
Location: Pine Valley, NJ Architect: George Crump & H.S. Colt Year Constructed: 1918 Played: August 14, 2008
It was surprising to me in the weeks leading up to my trip to Pine Valley Golf Club how many golfers I ran across who were not familiar with the club. The most common question I get these days from my golf friends is “Where are you off to next?” When I would respond with “Pine Valley” more often than not I would receive a blank stare and the question “Where is that one?”
To answer that question once and for all, Pine Valley is in Clementon, New Jersey right outside of Philadelphia and it is, at the time of this writing, not only the #1 course in America, but also the #1 course in the World. Because there has never been a PGA tournament held at Pine Valley the course is little known outside of golf course fanatics and aficionados. Among those who know the course it is widely considered the greatest test of golf on the planet. The course is a par 70 and plays to a rating of 72.7 and a slope of 153 from the member tees. For those of you following along at home, that not only makes it the #1 course in the World, but those slope and rating numbers also mean it is the hardest course in the World as well. Lets make that the greatest and most fearsome test in golf.
Pine Valley is so hard there are legendary stories about the course. Some certainly are true and some are probably just urban legend. Some of my favorites are the player who went out in 38 on the first nine and then took a 38 on the 10th hole; Professional Gene Littler’s 7 on the par 3 5th hole during Shell’s Wonderful World of Golf match in 1963; British writer Bernard Darwin who played the first 7 holes in even par and then after hitting a nice drive to the middle of the fairway on the 8th took a 16 for the hole. Continue reading “Top 100 Courses: #1 Pine Valley Golf Club”