About Golf
Golf
Your clubs will work much better for you if you are swinging clubs with shafts whose flex is appropriate to your swing. And not just your swing speed, but how smooth your swing is, too.
What happens if you choose a shaft flex that doesn't match your swing - a flex that is too stiff or not stiff enough? Check out the effects of using the wrong shaft flex and see if anything sounds familiar.
See also:
More about golf shaft flex
Effects of Using the Wrong Shaft Flex originally appeared on About.com Golf on Thursday, February 2nd, 2012 at 09:38:24.
Permalink | Comment | Email this
The PGA Tour heads to Arizona for the Waste Management Phoenix Open and the European Tour stays in the Persian Gulf region for the Commercialbank Qatar Masters this week.
On Sunday, Kyle Stanley blew a 3-stroke lead with one hole to play at the Farmers Insurance Open, then lost the playoff to Brandt Snedeker. Stanley's chance at redemption begins this week; he, as well as Snedeker, is in the field in Phoenix.
Stanley should talk to Robert Garrigus about final-hole meltdowns and how to forget about them. At the 2010 St. Jude Classic, Garrigus also blew a 3-stroke lead at the last hole when trying to notch his first PGA Tour win, then lost in a playoff. But just a few months later, Garrigus got that first win, and he's played well since. A loss such as Stanley endured last week can cripple a golfer's confidence, but as Garrigus has shown, it doesn't have to.
Also in the field in Phoenix are Phil Mickelson, trying to rebound from a missed cut in San Diego last week; the defending champ, Mark Wilson; plus Keegan Bradley, Fred Couples, Rickie Fowler, Bill Haas, Matt Kuchar, Dustin Johnson, Ian Poulter, Webb Simpson and Bubba Watson.
The Qatar Masters has another strong field, although it doesn't include Robert Rock. Rock, the winner of the Abu Dhabi Championship last week, isn't playing. But Qatar's defending champ, Thomas Bjorn, is.
The field also includes Lee Westwood, Martin Kaymer, Jason Day, Graeme McDowell, K.J. Choi, Hunter Mahan, Sergio Garcia, Miguel Angel Jimenez, Retief Goosen and Matteo Manassero.
Check our tournament pages for more info, including the lists of past champions, from each event:
Waste Management Phoenix Open
Commercialback Qatar Master
Course photos:
TPC Scottsdale - Stadium Course
Doha Golf Club
This Week: Phoenix Open and Qatar Masters originally appeared on About.com Golf on Tuesday, January 31st, 2012 at 09:49:03.
Permalink | Comment | Email this
Amateur Lydia Ko is only 14 years old, but she's been turning heads for a couple years already. One year ago, in the New South Wales Open on the ALPG Tour, Ko finished one stroke behind the winner, Catherine Hedwall.
That was Hedwall's first victory as a pro, and Hedwall went on to win the LET Rookie of the Year Award.
This year, Ko made sure not to fall just short. At age 14, she won the title at the New South Wales Open by four strokes over runner-up Becky Morgan.
In so doing, Ko became the youngest-ever winner - male or female - of a significant professional tournament. The previous youngest winner of a women's tournament was Amy Yang, who was 16 1/2 when she won the LET- and ALPG-sanctioned ANZ Ladies Masters in 2006.
The previous overall recordholder was Ryo Ishikawa, who was 15 years, 8 months old when he won the Munsingwear Open KSB Cup on the Japan Tour in 2007.
The 2012 NSW Open didn't have the strongest field, but there were "name" players: Ko beat Lindsey Wright by five, Katherine Hull by six, Melissa Reid by 13 and Laura Davies by 14.
Ko had rounds of 69, 64, and 69, to finish at 14-under 202.
Not surprisingly, Ko is the No. 1-ranked amateur in women's golf. Earlier this month, she became the first-ever golfer to hold the women's Australian Amateur, New Zealand Amateur, Australian Strokeplay and New Zealand Strokeplay titles simultaneously. Her current handicap is +5.5, according to her website.
Ko was born in Korea but her family moved to New Zealand in 2003 to find better weather in which Ko could practice golf. According to an Associated Press article, Ko will play in about 30 tournaments this year. Most of those will be amateur events, but she will be playing the Australian Masters and LPGA Australian Open over the coming two weeks.
14-Year-Old Wins Women's NSW Open, Breaking Age Record originally appeared on About.com Golf on Sunday, January 29th, 2012 at 12:12:31.
Permalink | Comment | Email this
Tiger Woods hasn't won a European or PGA Tour tournament in more than two years, and Robert Rock (and his hair) have made Woods wait at least two more weeks.
Rock won the European Tour's Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship on Sunday by one stroke over Rory McIlroy, with Woods among a group tied for third, two behind Rock.
Woods and Rock shared the third-round lead, but in the final round Rock carded a 2-under 70 to Woods' even-par 72. Woods started the back nine with a bogey, then made eight straight pars to the finish.
Woods won in his last start of 2011, at his own Chevron World Challenge. But that short-field tournament is not a tour event. Tiger's last win in an official tour tournament was at the 2009 JB Were Masters in Australia, an Australasian Tour tournament co-sponsored by the European Tour. Woods' last PGA Tour victory was the 2009 BMW Championship.
But for the most part, Woods' swing looked great in Abu Dhabi this week, just as it did a little more than a month ago when Tiger won the Chevron. Putting remains an issue. It's probably the case that Woods is about to be a regular winner again; it's definitely the case that he's going to be regularly in contention again going forward.
Woods' next opportunity is in two weeks at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.
Rock Rolls Over Tiger In Abu Dhabi originally appeared on About.com Golf on Sunday, January 29th, 2012 at 08:13:04.
Permalink | Comment | Email this
Yes, Tiger Woods won the last tournament he played in 2011, and when you haven't won in two years - when you're struggling to return to form, to the form of the greatest player on the planet, from swing changes, injuries and personal troubles - any win is a good win. But Woods' win in his own Chevron World Challenge was not a
tour win.
Can Woods finally get another tour win on Sunday at the European Tour's Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship? He ended Saturday tied for the lead with Robert Rock at 11-under. Woods' scores have improved each round, from 70 to 69, then to 66. He had four birdies, including one on No. 18, over a back-nine 32 on Saturday.
Once again, though, Tiger's putting hasn't been great, with two rounds of 30 or more putts (including 35 in Round 1). Whether Tiger pulls out the win or not on Sunday will come down to his putting.
Rory McIlroy is among the golfers tied two strokes behind Woods and Rock, and McIlroy would be tied at the top if not for a penalty during the second round. McIlroy brushed sand out of his putting line, but unfortunately for Rory the area he brushed included the fringe. Sand is a loose impediment when it's on the green; off the green it's not, and the fringe is off the green.
Abu Dhabi scoreboard
Tiger Takes Lead Into Final Round in Abu Dhabi originally appeared on About.com Golf on Saturday, January 28th, 2012 at 08:45:18.
Permalink | Comment | Email this
Callaway Golf used its time at the ongoing PGA Merchandise Show to unwrap its lineup of new clubs and balls for 2012. The headliner was the RAZR Fit driver, which was actually first introduced a few weeks ago and featured on About.com here.
So it's the other stuff - and there is still plenty of other stuff - in the 2012 Callaway lineup that we focus on in this gallery.
That includes the RAZR X Black driver, plus multiple sets of irons, along with fairway woods, hybrids, wedges and balls. View Callaway's coming clubs for 2012.
Callaway's 2012 Lineup originally appeared on About.com Golf on Thursday, January 26th, 2012 at 16:03:45.
Permalink | Comment | Email this
Meg Mallon will captain the United States team at the 2013 Solheim Cup, the LPGA announced on Thursday.
The 2013 Solheim Cup takes place at Colorado Golf Club in Parker, Colo., Aug. 16-18.
Nobody can doubt Mallon's qualifications for the role. She's an 18-time winner on the LPGA Tour, including four major championships, who is very popular with her peers and younger players alike. She's also well-prepared for the role, having served as an assistant captain at the 2009 Solheim Cup, and as the captain for Team USA at the 2011 Junior Solheim Cup.
Mallon also played in eight Solheims, earning the second-most points (16.5) of any American golfer in the competition. Her win-loss record as a player is 13-9-7.
Team Europe has yet to name its captain for 2013.
See also:
Meg Mallon biography and career details
Mallon Named 2013 Solheim Captain for US originally appeared on About.com Golf on Thursday, January 26th, 2012 at 09:59:35.
Permalink | Comment | Email this
Professional golfer Maiya Tanaka is one of the contestants on the
The Amazing Race 20, the Emmy-winning CBS reality series that sends 2-person teams racing each other across the globe.
Tanaka is paired with her sister Misa as one of 11 teams on
The Amazing Race 20.
The Tanaka sisters are from San Diego, Calif., and both played golf for their high school team. In fact, the two of them
started their high school's golf team.
Maiya went on to play collegiately at UCLA, where her teammates included Ryann O'Toole and Tiffany Joh. Since turning pro, she has played events on the Futures Tour and Canadian Women's Tour.
But Maiya is still best-known as a contestant on the Golf Channel's
Big Break franchise. Tanaka appeared in the
Big Break Sandals Resorts season.
Can a golf background help Maiya perform on
The Amazing Race? In the Tanakas' cast bio, Maiya says yes: "I'm competitive, have a lot of mental and physical talent and drive - I want to win!"
The Amazing Race 20 premieres on CBS on Sunday, Feb. 19.
See also:
Maiya Tanaka pictures
Big Break's Maiya Tanaka On Next 'Amazing Race' originally appeared on About.com Golf on Wednesday, January 25th, 2012 at 11:10:01.
Permalink | Comment | Email this
Bubba Watson loves pink. He's long had a pink shaft in his Ping drivers. We've seen him in pink shirts, pink pants, pink socks.
"Pink has always made me stand out," Watson says.
Now, Watson will be swinging an all-pink driver as part of a charity effort with Ping. The driver, whose clubhead is pictured in two views at right, is a Ping G20 whose clubhead carries the words "Made Exclusively for Bubba."
As part of a larger fund-raising effort called "Bubba & Friends Drive to a Million," Ping will donate $300 for every drive of more than 300 yards that Watson hits with his pink driver. Up to a maximum of 300 drives - because Bubba hits a lot of 300-yard drives, he averaged 315 yards per drive in 2011.
Money raised with the pink driver goes to Phoenix-area charities selected by Ping with Watson's input.
"... I have extra motivation to hit the ball as far as I can," Bubba said. "My goal is to make Ping pay every cent."
Bubba's pink Ping G20 driver has a loft of 8.5 degrees; a 44.5-inch True Temper Grafalloy Bi-Matrix shaft (also pink); a Ping 703 Gold grip with 10 wraps of tape under his right hand and 12 wraps under his left hand. Look for it this week at the Farmers Insurance Open.
It's been a big week for Bubba. He also purchased the original "General Lee" car used in the television
The Dukes of Hazzard.
(Photo courtesy of Ping Golf)
Bubba Busts Out All-Pink Driver for Charity originally appeared on About.com Golf on Wednesday, January 25th, 2012 at 10:34:32.
Permalink | Comment | Email this
Tiger Woods tees off his 2012 season this week at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship. He ended 2011 by winning his own tournament, the Chevron World Challenge - his first victory in more than two years.
Which leads us to our question: How do you think Woods will fare in 2012?
">
Poll: What's In Store for Woods in 2012? originally appeared on About.com Golf on Monday, January 23rd, 2012 at 20:10:38.
Permalink | Comment | Email this
