Calling Tiger Out...The New Fad?

I know we all talk about Tiger a lot, but let's face it, he's the biggest star in the sporting world at the moment, so there's no shortage of suitable material up for discussion. This won't be a long post, but I'm really starting to get sick of the pre-occupation of some PGA players who seem obsessed with calling Tiger out. By that I mean players saying "Tiger's not unbeatable", or "I can catch Tiger on Sunday when he's got a 5 shot lead", or "Tiger's not as good as everyone thinks". Are these guys on drugs? These are the Woody Austin's, Sergio Garcia's, and Steven Ames' of the world....and if we do a little math, it seems that every time one of the aforementioned golfers has decided to open their pie holes and trash talk Tiger, they end up disappearing from the tournament they had determined was theirs to win, and we see them collecting their 38th place check.

If I've learned one thing in my life, it's that you sure as hell better not trash talk another athlete, unless you've got the game to back it up. And the players that seem to love opening their yapper about how they plan on kicking Tiger's butt that weekend, probably have about 10 wins between them...none of which are a major. So Woody, Sergio, & Steven...When Tiger wins the PGA Championship this week, as well as the FedEx Cup 10 Million Dollars, you just go on telling yourself that you'll get him next year....that way maybe you can sleep during the off season.

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Will Eastlake be and Embarassment?

With the condition of the Eastlake greens in question, will this course prove to be a dud for the 10 million dollar championship this weekend? According to the course superintendent, the greens are improving and players will be allowed to practice on all but 3 of the greens. Starting Tuesday, they can play a regular practice round except on the par-3 second, the par-4 13th and par-5 15th. Those greens will remain off limits. When asked about the speed of the greens, he stated that some areas might be a 4 on the Stimp meter, while areas around the hole locations could be as high as 8 or 9, but it was difficult to give an exact stimp number because of the variances in green condition. While players have outwardly expressed their concern over the condition of the course for what amounts to anther major championship, is mother nature the culprit, or did course management not do enough to keep the greens from getting in such poor condition?. So the question remains, Will Eastlake be an embarrassment to the PGA Tour? With official rounds starting in just 2 days, there's very little that can be done to bring the greens back to championship condition in such a short time period. In my opinion, everyone should just go out there and play golf, since little good will come from complaining about something that can't be controlled at this point.

Tiger Woods, who leads the FedEx Cup standings going into the final event, and second-ranked Steve Stricker are the only players who can capture the FedEx Cup and its $10 million prize by winning the Tour Championship.

Your Bunker Play Sucks!!!!

It's ok..most of our bunker play sucks, but we're going to fix that right now. Here are some great tips to help you get the ball out of the sand and on the dance floor every time. None of this is new, groundbreaking information, but it's a simple list that might help some of you who have always struggled from bunkers or lost your sand game....

1. Feel the sand. You can't use your club obviously, but dig your feet in and feel the consistency of the sand. Is it soft, wet underneath? Is there lots of sand, or is it fairly shallow? Sand conditions will determine which wedge to use and where you want your club to enter the sand.

2. Ball sitting up in a nice fluffy bunker lie, use a wedge club with more bounce and hit few inches behind the ball. This will let the ball fly out of the bunker on a cushion of sand and land softly on the green.

3. Hard packed sand / wet sand lie..use a sand wedge with less bounce. This will help you avoid hitting behind the ball and having the club bounce off the hard sand resulting in blading the ball across the green. A 60* wedge is a great choice here. Close the clubface and hit an inch behind the ball. You want to hit this more like a pitch shot than a typical bunker shot.

4. Fairway bunker shots over 80 yards. These are the toughest shots in golf. The trick here is to HIT THE BALL FIRST. If you take any sand before you contact the ball....it's FAT CITY! So set your feet, but don't dig way in. Keep your lower body still, take the club back a little steeper than normal, and come down into the back of the ball, following through as normal. Take one extra club for these shots and you'll be on the green much more often.

5. Get your legs involved. With the exception of the longer fairway bunker shots, you should always have your legs moving toward the target on bunker shots. This allows you to continue through the ball which allows it to get up and out of the bunker. Don't do the chop and stop like so many amateurs do...this won't get you on the green with any consistency.

Bunkers don't have to be scary, but you do have to practice these shots to become comfortable with them. The main things to remember is that you just want to get it out of the sand and on the green. You don't need to be 2 feet from the pin...simply getting on the green and giving yourself a chance to save par is your main goal. It will turn those double and triple bogeys into pars and bogeys at worst.

Be confident in the bunker. Get in there, open your stance a little, open your club face a little, set your feet, and hit a spot behind the ball. Follow through like your normal swing and the ball WILL GET OUT OF THE SAND...this is a guarantee. If you found this article helpful, please link to it so others may find it useful. Until next time.

Tiger Woods Wins BMW Invitational with a final round 63

Tiger Woods took over the FedEx Cup points lead with a 2 shot lead at the BMW Invitational and a final round 63 Sunday. With Aaron Baddeley and Steve Stricker right on his heels, Tiger was able to pull away on the back 9 and open up a 2 shot lead going into the final hole of the Championship, leaving Aaron Baddeley needing to hole out his approach shot on the 18th to tie. Baddeley came up short and only managed par, giving woods the win. Tiger will be #1 in the points race going into the final round at Eastlake next weekend, and the final round of the FedEx Cup Championship. Steve Stricker will be 2nd in points, with Phil Mickelson sitting in 3rd. With the way the points stand, if Mickelson finishes first at Eastlake and Tiger can pull off second, Tiger will still win the FedEx Cup over Phil Mickelson by 20 points. Next week is going to be as exciting as any major we've seen this year.