After checking out the first installment of the new season of the Golf Channel's "Haney Project", I'm pretty convinced that Ray Romano has a solid enough game to be able to break 80 one day, with the help of Hank.  First off, it's obvious that it's a serious goal of Ray's to do this.  You can tell he loves the game and practices, so that's half the battle in my book. 

Fundamentally, he isn't horrible.  You saw Hank point out that he's coming over the top because he takes it too far inside to start with, but that's something that can should be fixed fairly easily.  The telling part of the show was when they were practicing pitch shots around the green.  Ray is going to need to sharpen this part of his game the most if he wants to get into single digits.  Even good players in single digits don't hit every green.  In fact, most probably only hit 60-70%%.  What makes the difference is that they can get up and down to save par from most places around the green.  Double digit golfers will almost always make bogey if they don't hit the green in regulation.  Being able to have a variety of shots from around the green will be the key for Ray to go below the 80 mark.  Mark my words.  Once the "over the top" issues is corrected, you'll see Hank and Ray working on a TON of short game drills.

The other thing he'll need to do is eliminate any and all penalty strokes.  Golfers who shoot in the 90's on a regular basis are usually giving away at least 3-4 strokes per round in penalties if not more.  Get rid of the O.B.'s and the shots into the hazard, and I guarantee he will be down into the mid 80's almost instantly.  From there it's just not giving away those stupid strokes on and around the green.  Flubbed chips and 3 putts are the easiest way to not break 80. 

What do you think?  Will Ray Break 80 after working with Hank?

Looks like we'll finally get to hear from Tiger this Friday, as he's scheduled a press conference at 11:00am ET which will be shown on The Golf Channel.  I'm guessing we'll probably get an idea of when he'll be returning to competitive golf and probably some version of an apology, but who knows really.  Maybe he'll announce his retirement from the game..or that he's marrying one of his mistresses.  Anything is possible at this point. 

This will be the first we've heard from Tiger since the car crash and ensuing circus that has become his life.  You're not going to want to miss this one.  Check back here for news and updates after the press conference. This is gonna be fun.

Breaking News.. After shooting a second round 71 at Torrey Pines Friday, John Daly announced that he was quitting golf and the PGA Tour.  He cited that he doesn't have the game to compete and is "tired of embarrassing myself".   Daly shot a 79 on day one of the Farmers Insurance Open and missed the cut at a +6 total.  

We'll have to see if JD is just ticked about another missed cut or if he's seriously quitting the tour and golf forever.  You'll find any updates on this store here....so check back soon.

See the Golf Channel footage of Daly's comments here.

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What's one of the things all professional golfers have in common?  Yeah, you guessed it, they all have a pre-shot routine they they follow almost to the letter.  Now why is it that so many amateur / recreational golfers don't follow this cue from the pro's?  We're all wishing that we had the same game as the guys on Tour.  Trying to hit the ball as far and score as low as we can, but I'll estimate that 99% of amateur golfers don't even have a consistent pre-shot routine.  If you want to play more consistent golf, you need a consistent swing.  But to swing the club consistently, you need to do everything the same every time you set up to the ball.  That's a fair assumption right? 

I'm guessing that most amateurs were just never taught the importance of having some kind of routine that they do EVERY TIME before you hit the shot., or they're so caught up with just trying to hit the ball that it never crosses their mind. A good PSR doesn't  have to be something fancy or overly complicated.  And no, gripping and re-gripping 62 times a la Sergio Garcia back in the day does not count as a good pre-shot routine.  I'm talking about finding something that's comfortable, and repeatable.   Walk behind the ball, pick out a target, walk up to the ball, take your stance, grip ect., waggle once, twice or what feels good, then go.  The key is to do this every single time you hit a shot, whether it be from the tee, fairway, wherever.  Obviously some situations will require you to maybe take some extra practice swings in the rough or from a bad lie, but once you're committed to the shot, the rest of your routine should be automatic.  Putting will have it's own PSR, and you should find one that suits you on the greens as well. 

I've recently made a few changes to my own routine and it's feels more comfortable for starters, but it's helping my alignment as well.  

1. I stand next to the ball and just take a couple of practice swings to get the feel of the lie, stance etc.  Only takes a few seconds.
2. Walk behind the ball a few feet and look down the line.  First pick out a target in the distance to aim for, and then pick a small object 5-10 feet in front of the ball, on the ground,  that's in line with my target in the distance. This helps me align my body and club properly at set up, and it's much easier to do on an object that's just a few feet away, as opposed to 300 yards away.  Once again, this only takes a few seconds.
3. Approach the ball, set the club face down aligned with my small target on the ground.  Set my feet for whatever type of shot I'm going to hit.  Open for a little fade, closed for more of a draw. 
4. Get comfortable and planted to the ground with good balance.  Check my near ground target.  Check my far target.  Deep breath.  Pull the trigger.

Total, this probably takes 10-12 seconds max.  Now what does this do exactly?  A couple of things.  First, it helps you relax before your shot.  Second, it helps you focus on something other than "is my grip ok, am I going to slice it OB, look that water on the right, are they other guys going to laugh at me", and all the other BS that's probably running through your head when you just walk up to the ball and get ready to swing away.  A solid pre-shot routine will help calm you prior to even addressing the ball.  It will also give you consistency which will should  flow over into your actual golf swing.  Start consistent, end consistent. 

Just look at the pros...no two of them have the same PSR.  Some may take 30+ seconds before they even hit the ball, which probably annoys the hell out of their playing partners, but it works for them so they do it. every time.  Watch guys like Mike Weir.  After he address' the ball, he always take the club back half way 2 times to see the path he wants the club to start on.  Some guys don't do any quirky little moves that stand out like Weir, but if you pay attention, they all do a consistent routine before they hit the shot. 

If you don't have your own pre-shot routine, try to find something that feels right and that you can repeat every time.  I think you'll find that it will help your confidence as well as help make you a more consistent player.

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I've been meaning to post this review on the Mitsubishi Fubuki Tour shaft for a while now, but just hadn't gotten around to it.  A few months ago, Mitsubishi was nice enough to provide a Fubuki 73 Stiff flex shaft for me to test.  I was extremely excited to give this thing a ride as lots of big name players including Phil Mickelson.  The S flex Fubuki Tour features 3.3 degrees of torque and is a mid/high launch shaft which should be about perfect for my swing specs.  They don't recommend tipping this shaft for drivers, so I left it stock for testing.  I installed the Fubuki into a Titleist 909D2 driver head and away we went.

The first thing I noticed after installing the shaft was that it felt very "flexy", and that it seemed to have a lot of flex for a high end stiff shaft.  Previously, I was using a Grafalloy Pro Launch Blue stiff shaft, and that felt much stiffer in my initial swings.  I took it to the range and immediately knew that it was not nearly stiff enough for my swing.  I'm right on the borderline of needing a X flex or a very stif, S flex.  I hit about a dozen balls and they all were big cut slices.  I got to thinking that maybe I was just swinging lousy, but after about a bucket of balls it was pretty clear that the Fubuki was far to soft for my swing.  The odd thing was that the shaft felt very good.  I could feel that it was trying to react at impact, but it just couldn't quite unload the torque fast enough to square up the clubhead, and the face was always left slightly open.  Unfortunately there wasn't much on my end that could be done to fix this.  I was losing more than 15 yards compared to the Grafalloy shaft and everything was a fade.  I tried to purposely snap hook the thing, but it wouldn't do it.  Launch was very high, but once again, I'm sure this is partially due to the flex. 

It dawned on me that I never checked the spine of the Fubuki prior to installing it and that maybe I just had installed it in the softest possible configuration.  So I pulled the shaft, did a spine alignment, tipped it 1/2 inch, and re-installed.  Hoping this would do the trick. 

I took it back to the range and while it felt slightly stiffer than before, it was still not getting the job done.  I really wanted to like this shaft, so I came up with one last ditch effort to prove that it was me and not the shaft.  I installed it in my old Nike Sumo to see if that would make any difference.  Unfortunately, it was the same story.  This shaft just had too much flex.  The Mitsubishi site says that the S flex is recommended up to 105 mph swing speeds, but I'm thinking that 100 mph might be the max to get the full benefit from this shaft. 

In retrospect, I had high hopes for the shaft. First off, it just plain looks cool with it's white and grey design and ninja stars.  But seriously,  I would really like the opportunity to try out the X stiff shaft just to see exactly how well the Fubuki can perform.  Mitsubishi makes very high quality shafts, and the fact that I didn't have luck with this particular one is in no way a reflection on their gear.  I'm confident that an X flex would have been the solution in this case. 

So my conclusion for this review is that the Mitsubishi Fubuki is a very good shaft.  Even in the wrong stiffness, I could feel the difference in how the shaft reacts throughout the swing.  If you're on the borderline of stiff and x stiff, be sure to go with the x stiff as this shaft plays much softer than comparable stiff shafts. 

Thanks again to Mitsubishi for providing the shaft, and feel free to send over an X flex any time.  I'll try it out and update this review with any new insight. 

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If you take water with you on the golf course when you play (which you should be doing), you most likely fill up a plastic water bottle or buy a bottle that you can carry in your golf bag or cart.  I've been doing this for years, and never really thought much about it, but that adds up to a lot of plastic bottles that need to be disposed of.  Even if you recycle the plastic, that's still waste that has to be processed. 

I started doing some research on a better way to take water with me and came across the Eco Canteen.  This stainless steel water bottle is a great way to go green and take water with you where ever you go.  You'll eliminate plastic water bottle waste, which can last up to 700 years if deposited in our landfills.

The Eco Canteen comes in a 26 ounce size and a 12 ounce size, which fits nicely in the side pocket of a golf bag. At just under $10 bucks, these are a great way to carry water with you on the course, or anywhere for that matter, and drastically reduce the amount of plastic that enters our landfills.  Click the banner below to get more information and order yours. 

A new year is upon us once again and it's time for the annual resolutions that we will work so hard to follow for 3 weeks, and then completely forget about for 49 weeks.   Honestly, I've pretty much given up making New Years Resolutions, but I am going to make a good effort to improve a few area of my golf game.

(1) Make more putts inside 10 feet.  I can't tell you how many of these I miss each round, which would result in so many more birdies.  I really need to work on 8-10 footers exclusively on the practice green so these become automatic. 

(2) Focus - During rounds, I will find myself hitting shots that I haven't prepared for or completely focused on.  It's only a few times per round, but inevedibly those shots are lousy ones that cost me strokes.  I'm going to  work on playing entire rounds where I can mentally see each shot I want to play before I even take my stance. 

(3) Increase flexibility - I'm at the computer for work every day and find that my back, legs and core muscles get very tight, which I know is affecting my ability to swing the golf club freely.  I'm going to work on improving my flexibility through stretching and some core strengthening exercises.  No this is not a "I need to get back to the gym" resolution.  Even though I need to do that too, I'm going to take baby steps on this one so maybe I have a shot at accomplishing part or all of this goal.

(4) Driver consistency -  Like the rest of the golfing world, I'd like to hit my driver better.  A few extra yards would be nice, but I would really like to hit 2 more fairways per round than i do now.  I would also like to add a controlled draw to my driver bag o tricks, but I'm not sure if that one is in the cards as I've been a "power fader" from birth.   I am going to work on keeping it on the short grass on a regular basis.

(5) Have more fun - I can get caught up in trying to shoot good scores that often I'll not have as much fun as I should.  It's only a game, most of us don't make a living at it, so there's no reason it can't be competitive, testing and fun at the same time.  I'm going to make an effort to enjoy the sights, sounds and overall experience of the rounds of golf that I play in 2010. 

I wish I could say that I had a resolution to buy a new club or piece of gear, but I think I'm actually set for a while on my setup.  I'm sure my wife's happy about that one.

So how about you?  Have any golf resolutions for 2010?

On behalf of everyone here at Tour Golf Blog, that pretty much means me, we'd like to wish you a safe and Happy Holidays.  Enjoy the time spent with those you love and maybe even a few that you don't.  We're looking forward to a spectacular 2010 filled with lots of birdies, low scores and cool new golf gear.  Thanks so much for reading the blog and for all your contributions.  It means a lot.  Merry Christmas.