The Art of Scoring vis a vis Mr Science

Mr Science Reviews:

 

I finished the book.  Didn't get to start on it seriously until I finished another one, about some kid who went camping in the Alaska wilderness, alone, and starved to death.

I can understand why this one wouldn't appeal to you.  The passage that struck me was one in which he describes how to hit a 40-yard pitch:

"With your hands in front of you, use your left hand to push the handle of the club toward the ground.  That will lift the clubhead into the air, and set your wrists in a great hinge.  Now, just let the club fall back to the ground...Add some shoulder turn and a lower-body pivot, let your right elbow slide back along your side in the backswing, turn through impact, and you've got it.  It's really that simple."

I can relate to that, in ways that Cactus Dave cannot, just as I can relate to JC Anderson when he says "You can divide the golf swing into 24 basic components, each having between 12 and 15 variations..."     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KyIxooIeUkk

But, in fairness to Stan, a lot of the book is not about technique, it is about strategy.  Not so much how to hit a shot, but what shot to hit, and when.  The editing needs work, though, as some of the stories seem to have gotten garbled, or are just unclear.  "Scotty hit his tee shot onto the green, but to the wrong tier, leaving himself with a putt that was harder than a basic chip from around the correct tier would have been.  He had to read the difference in slope and the strong grain that was coming toward him, and he left the chip way short and on the wrong tier, then three-putted".  Let's see, now, tee shot on the green, [first putt goes off the green?], chips back on, 3 putts ... or is it 3 more putts ?  5? 6?  OK, maybe it's possible to understand the point of the story anyway, but it's very distracting trying to figure out what poor Scotty did, never mind what he did wrong.   

Utley does explain how he hits the basic short game shots (pitch, chip, and putt) in detail, and how to adjust the basic shots in order to play trouble shots.  The techniques are basic and sound, some a little different from what most of us were taught, and yet even the Tour players he teaches have had to make adjustments to improve their games.  I used one of his tips to hit a shot from deep grass about 8 feet below the level of the green to a downhill, tight pin.  I used my sand wedge, and hit it like a bunker shot, going through the grass under the ball.  It came out high and soft, landed on the fringe, checked up a little, and rolled down the hill to about 3 feet.

He also spends a lot of time on what shot to hit.  From a tight lie around the green, for instance, it's almost always better for a non-scratch golfer to putt rather than chip, because your worst putt is likely to end up closer than a slightly-below-average chip shot.  The player should always know where not to miss a shot  (another Cactus Dave bugaboo -- he hates it when I point out the OB stakes, or a water hazard, just before he's ready to tee off), and adjust his aim and shot shape accordingly.  I think it's probably true that a 20 handicapper could shave 5 shots off his game in less than a week, without changing his swing, by following the advice in this book.  And if he's willing to practice a little, and try some of Utley's short game swing techniques, maybe a few more. 

RR Donnelly Founder's Cup - Day 2

Mr Science Reports, again . . .

I kept score today for

Karen Stupples http://www.lpga.com/player_results.aspx?id=559 

Wee-Won Han http://www.lpga.com/player_results.aspx?id=161 

Song Yi Choi     http://www.lpga.com/player_results.aspx?id=18533 

All of them were over par yesterday.  Hee-Won started out with birdies on the first two holes, but followed with bogies on the next two, and shot 73.  Karen had 74, with a 3-putt par and a lot of makeable birdie putts that she didn't make.  Song Yi had a very hard day, 79, missing a lot of very short putts.  Karen got her name on TV today, first on the list of "notables missing the cut".  Otherwise, it was another day of no TV for me or my group. 

My assistant standard bearer was Hanna Kyoto Atkins.  Her first name is pronounced hah-nah, like the Road to Hanna on Maui.  Her father traveled a lot, and named her after two of his favorite places.  She lives in Goodyear, in Estrella Mountain Ranch.  She's 13, and shoots in the 70's.  She plays a fade, but can work the ball both ways.  She won't be at the tournament tomorrow because she's playing in an inter-club match for Moon Valley CC, where the LPGA tournament used to be held before it went to Superstition Mountain, and where Annika shot her 59.  I'm telling you all this so you'll recognize her in 5 years, when she's on Tour.

Karen is a delight to be with.  She has a criss-cross of tape on her right knee, because of some cartilage problems.  Hanna asked her about it while two groups were waiting on the 5th tee (someone else in the wash, taking unplayable lies and calling for rulings), and Karen said it was rough where it was supposed to be smooth, and let Hanna touch her knee while she flexed it.  Hanna squealed, like only a 13-year-old girl can do, and said "ooh, yuch!", or something to that effect.  Karen alllowed as how Hanna probably didn't expect to get that up close and personal with the players today.

After the round, I go into the scorer's tent with the players, and I check their scores as I have recorded them while the marker reads them to the player.  Hee-Won started out reading Song Yi's scores.  In Korean.  When she finished, Song Yi indicated that she agreed, and I said "Right", indicating my agreement as well.

RR Donnelly Founders Cup, Day 1

Mr Science Reports:

The LPGA is at the Widlfire GC at the Marriott Resort at Desert Ridge.  There are two courses there, the Palmer Course and the Faldo Course, and they're using 9 holes of each for the tournament.  Not because they chose those holes, but to have a compact location for the tournament, because the two front nines are across the road and these two start and end near the clubhouse.  The LPGA commissioner says this tournament will likely be somewhere else next year, but he promises another one for Phoenix, as there are other sponsors interested. 
I kept score today for 
Aree Song http://www.lpga.com/player_results.aspx?id=258 
Louise Friberg http://www.lpga.com/player_results.aspx?id=13714  Nicole Hage http://www.lpga.com/player_results.aspx?id=13717

Nicole shot 78, and Louise had 77.  Both had a good time, though, and were smiling near the end, although I think Nicole might have said a bad word on #5, after her second unplayable lie on that hole.  But, they're playing all for charity this week, no prize money, so it's a bit less stressful than normal.

Nicole plays a pronounced draw on most of her full shots, and it was out of control today.  (She reminded me of Cactus Dave's game that way.)  It may be out of control most of the time, because her career earnings are just under $25,000 after two years on tour.  Sometimes the draw turned into an uncontrolled hook, and she spent a lot of time in the left rough, or the fairway bunker, or a hazard.  Other times it went straight, and so she also spent time in the right rough, or fairway bunker, or, as on #5, in a wash.  


I told her caddy she needed to get control of her hook, and he said if he knew how to do that he wouldn't tell her, he'd be out here playing himself.  


I really think she could benefit from a close relationship with a good teacher.  On #8, our 17th hole, she hit her drive in the left rough, in dormant bermuda grass, with a good lie.  There's a lake to the right of the green, and the pin was on the right.  She hit the shot out toward the water, and cried out in anguish, but with a little draw, and a little wind, and a good bounce, it ended up on the green, about 12 feet.  She laughed and said "I didn't mean to do that", and I said "Yeah, but it was exciting!"  She made the birdie putt, and I gave her a fist bump.  


I hope she finds someone who can help with that hook.


Aree had a better game:  5 birdies, scattered around, and 13 pars.  I'd have to say it was the most boring 67 I've ever seen.    By contrast, Angela Stanford is leading the tournament with a 66, including a double bogey on 8 and an eagle 2 on 9.   Aree had 9 missed birdie putts, the most in the group.  14 GIR and 4 fringies.  I don't think she carries a wedge.  She hit 10 of 14 fairways, and her misses were all within a couple of feet, never off the overseed.

Glyfada - Athens

It is a lie, I would say, a scurrilous, contemptible prevarication, that there is NO golf in Greece . . . 


OTOH,


it would be an exaggeration to say that there IS golf in Greece, if you see what I mean . . . 


or maybe you will after I finish . . .


Glyfada (suburb of Athens) was designed by Don Harradine, a Swiss Golf Architect, which I would have never have believed was an occupation, but there you go . .  .par 72, 6261m.

SO: I said to myself on the first tee . . . a little ragged but a promising start . . . elevated tee, some trees bordering the fairway . . . but that was a little misleading . . . fairly wide fairways, pinched in places with trees, but the lay of the land is very flat . . . some mounding off to the side in places, but the fairways rarely canted any direction. . . see the #14 tee -- skipping ahead, making a long story short -- the trees sort of intrude into play from both sides, but . . . 

then the approach is oppressively, depressively, unimpressively mundane . . . I had trouble keeping my attention focused in the face of such muni design aesthetics . . . I mean, I didn't really expect broken monuments with Ozymandian implications, but I did expect more than this.

#15 has the same sort of t-shot, and fairway obstacles: trees, but then for the approach on this par 5, some sudden dynamics . . . it's mostly a mind game since the giant swale separates a green and fairway that are basically level . . . but there I was on the wrong side of the fairway, trying to hook into the green . . . overcooked it and wound up in the swale left of the green, which proved too much for my rusticular skills to get up-and-down, or, even up-up-and-down . . . 8^) . . . 

#16 is a formidable hole . . . I finally guessed 7 iron, accounting for distance, wind, and downslope, which was the right club, but my wind-blown shot curled right into a deep bunker, pin-high. tough.

#17 looked like a breather hole to me, a short par 4, so I tried to cut the corner, over the trap . . . I didn't think it was even close, but I kinda skied my shot and it came up a foot short.

I think the bunkers here were cleverly designed . . . scalloped out very gracefully, not particularly well maintained, but freshly raked . . . I always claim I'm not one of those golfers that demand or even desire golf courses manicured like a Hong Kong park, but good turf is not negotiable.  

#18 curls once again around dense woods to a semi-blind landing area, then runs graduallyl to a green deceptively uphill. The greens were better than the rest of the course, and they rolled quick but not true.

So I would say that the last 4 holes had interesting features, even if they were not totally interesting holes, if you see how I mean. And I would say the course had interesting features, likewise, tho' itself is not interesting . . . one can see that there used to be a golf course here, but it's in danger of disappearing.

THE MAN WHO GAVE UP SEX FOR GOLF...

 

A golfer is in a competitive match with a friend, who is ahead by a couple of strokes. "Boy, I'd give anything to sink this putt," the golfer mumbles to himself.

 

Just then, a stranger walks up beside him and whispers, "Would you be willing to give up one-fourth of your sex life?"

 

Thinking the man is crazy and his answer will be meaningless, the golfer also feels that maybe this is a good omen so he says, "Sure," and sinks the putt.

Two holes later, he mumbles to himself again, "Gee, I sure would like to get an eagle on this one."

 

The same stranger is at his side again and whispers, "Would it be worth giving up another fourth of your sex life?"

 

Shrugging, the golfer replies, "Okay." And he makes an eagle.

 

On the final hole, the golfer needs another eagle to win. Without waiting for him to say anything, the stranger quickly moves to his side and says, "Would winning this match be worth giving up the rest of your sex life?"

"Definitely," the golfer replies, and he makes the eagle.

 

As the golfer is walking to the club house, the stranger walks alongside him and says, "I haven't really been fair with you because you don't know who I am. I'm the Devil, and from this day forward you will have no sex life."

 

"Nice to meet you," the golfer replies, "I'm Father O'Malley."

The Art of Scoring by Stan Utley

Gotham Books / Penguin Group

"Yeh," I said (wrote (emailed)) to Mr Science, "I got this book to review by Stan Utley . . . ".

"WOW!" he interrupted, as only Mr Science can over an email conversation that bridges two continents and 9 time-zones. "He's Great! He's Famous! He's why I count strokes!"

Oh, my sweet lord, I shudda figgered. There ain't enough room on a scorecard for the two of us, for all his hen-scratching . . . so I'll send this book to Mr Science now, where he will treasure it till it is dog-eared with reading and re-reading, whereas for me, as a lost cause, as only such a stubborn know-it-all duffer as myself can be, I would read it and stick it on a book shelf.

I mean, no-doubt, Utley knows whereof he speaks, and he can help those willing to be helped, like Mr Science, who really needs help like Arizona needs day-light-savings time, which is to say, not at all, they have plenty of daylight, even in winter, if you see how I mean . . . but the blizzard of technoalia, like as if, the words would pour over you on the practice range with Mr Utley don't do anything for me . . .that is. I play by feel, that is, I play by how I feel on any given day, and all the tears in the world cannot erase a stroke of it . . .

20 minutes of this and I'll be a basket case -- I'll be weaving baskets instead of playing golf, d'y'see? But Mr Science eats it up, lives on it, swears by it . . . no matter how contradictory, vague, or self-evident, he wants to know and to memorize and to apply it, and in turn, tell everybody else struggling on the golf course ... 8^D ... myself, I go to the other end of the green, stick my fingers in my ears, and sing la-la-la-la loud enough to drown him out till somebody hits into us on the green, trying to hurry us up.

the one thing about Mr Science that bugged me, aside from the way he always hits inside my ball from further out on the fairway . . . 8^0 . . .was how long he would take to putt . . . I mean: nevermind all the breaches of golf etiquette that plague us in these yellow days of debauchery and gauchery, the dude, and I suspect it was not Utley but some predecessor, that sold the world on extended pre-shot routines did us all the Ultimate non-favor, at least those of us interested in 3 hour rounds instead of 5. Mr Science is one of those, the thing is, tho', he makes so many of those putts he studies over you can't say anything, cuz, He Made It. You can't argue with success. So I settle for drinking and club-throwing. . . 8^P . . .

But then he says things like this that I can totally get behind...

How one is to perform all that pre-putt routine without trying too is a mystery to me, but I'm sure Mr Science Groks it . . . heck the whole world prob'ly groks it, except me. .. 8^/ ...

So if you're of a scientific bent to your green-side manner, then this is the book for you. Its not for me, a by-feel-duffer, but that says more about me than the book, if you see what I mean, but strictly book-wise, one has to comment on the graphics in the book, which must be among the poorest-quality ever foisted upon the gullible golfing public . . . if a good picture is worth a 1000 words then these would fall into the lesser ratio of say 200 or 300 words, if you see what I mean. As I say, Utley effuses words like a fire-hydrant, so maybe the equation is supposed equal out thataway.

I mean, these pictures have suffered thru my scan & post process, but I put a little work into making them as close to the appearance in the book as possible -- I don't think Utley did himself, his message, or the reader any favor with them.

At the end of the book is an excellent summary of his points . . . you really have to have understood the previous chapters, I reckon, to benefit from this summary, but he recommends it as a practice agenda, too, which ought to be the key to getting any improvement from the practice area to the golf course.

FORE!

Pussy Galore Boutique in Leipzig