Ron Mon

My Limb: Rickie Fowler Earns Card The Hard Way

Not since “Yeah, wanna make 14 bucks the hard way” have I wanted to type those three tantalizing words: the hard way. WELL, all things come to an end.

I cannot confirm nor deny (since I am lazy) that Rickie Fowler is the only biped to lose playoffs on both the Nationwide and PGA Tours this year, but I anticipate that the odds are in my corner. I can confirm that he was absolutely sweet at Merion, winning a painters cap-load of points in the USA victory over GBI.

Fowler has over $500K in his official tour pocket right now (do those tight pants have pockets?) Therefore, by the power vested in me by the state of Travelgolf.Com, I hereby lumber out onto a very strong limb and decree that Rickie Fowler will bring home a top ten finish at Disney and will bypass Q-School, earning a full Tour card in the process.

Any questions?

The personal fitting process of Henry-Griffitts

A week back, I wrote an entry on my anticipated fitting with a regional Henry-Griffitts teacher. That is correct and not a typo, a teacher. I was as stumped as you might be, reading this. I visited their website and found one menu item that read “Find a Certified Teacher.” Thanks to a previous photography commitment, I knew that Pennhill Golf Club’s head professional is a certified teacher and clubfitter with H-G. With the next closest teacher some five hours away, the 2 hour drive to visit Corky Buckham in Bradford, Pennsylvania made a whole lot more sense. One email (or was it a text? a phone call? I can’t recall) later and the session was appointed, the wheels set in motion.

Let me ask you one question: How long do you imagine a club fitting session might take? I guessed one hour. You will have to wait to find out if I was correct until the end.

Corky Buckham and I rode to the range, where the H-G fitting cart waited. He asked me questions about the clubs I currently use (Mizuno irons, Titleist driver, Nike hybrid and fairway metals, Ping wedges) and examined the wedges that I had brought with me. Assessing my height for a starting point, he handed me an iron and had me swing away. Over the course of the session, Corky Buckham would unscrew the clubhead from the shaft, assemble another one, put a black piece of tape on the sole (to determine where and how the club was striking the plastic hitting plate) and place a ball-strike-sticker on the clubface, to determine where the ball hit the clubface…over and over and over. We worked our way through different lie angles (flat, standard and upright,) shaft types and stiffnesses, and clubhead styles (super perimeter weighted, perimeter weighted, and muscleback.)

Imagine your last visit to the eye doctor. It goes something like this: Which looks better, A or B? B or C? A or C? … And on and on, until you find the proper prescription. Consider Corky Buckham and his fellow H-G certified teachers your golf equipment opthalmologists. By the end of the session, which included a putter and driver fitting, my only concern was determining how I would pay for the equipment. Once that was resolved (pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, it turns out), the order was place.

The sticks should arrive on my island soon. When they do, I’ll head out and won’t stop swinging until they take the place of my regular bag of tricks…errr, sticks. I’ll keep you posted on my progress. We’ll see if we can make a dent in that 3.7 USGA index!!

LPGA brings out the tricks for Halloween

If the secrecy involving the candidacy of Michael Whan is the good sign that I take it to be, the LPGA is prepared to right the ship that foundered partly thanks to ex-commissioner Bivens and partly thanks to the world economy.

I have followed this whole process publicly and, as the Safeway Classic director first stated, the initial time we head the name Michael Whan was at the naming presser. Whan seems to have all the experience needed to run the ship. What I would like to see is a 200% effort made to bring events like Corning back into the fold. The infrastructure is there, along with the desire on the part of the players. Wave that magic whan, Michael, and get this done!

Will Steve Carell destroy Missing Links?

The golf web sites are abuzz with news that Steve Carell, an actor I laugh at but can hardly stand to observe, is in line to play the lead role in Missing Links, one of the five best and funniest fictional golf pieces ever. In what could be the worst miscasting since Matt Damon’s golf swing in “The Legend of Bagger Vance,” Carell as Raymond Lee Hart would continue Hollywood’s tradition of eviscerating great golf novels on the big screen.

Hart should be played by a good-looking, 5′10″ guy, not intimidating but definitely strong and athletic. Carell is none of those things. For the love of God, directors, let him produce but cast him as Hoover or one of the loveable wretches, not as the lead.

Pain No Longer: Remembering Payne Stewart

Ten years is a long time to hold a grudge. I was 33 years old, awaiting the arrival of the completion of 34, when Payne Stewart’s plane rose then fell. I recall scanning the list of casualties, sorry that I could not recognize the names of the pilots, the agents, the course designer. In those infant days of the internet, when a single phone line was split 3 to 5 ways, we clung to the monitor. Awaiting any news on the matter, it ended the way it had to end, in death and loss and sadness.

And something else began that day, a bitterness in me, a jealousy. Payne Stewart had always represented the epitome of the spoiled and selfish touring pro. I was jealous of his skill, jealous of his good looks, jealous of his plus fours. At age 33, already the father of four children, this childish, immature jealousy took hold of me and would not let go (or I did not want to let it go.)

I had read and heard that Payne had matured, had become less of an egotist, more of a giver. I watched as Lee Janzen and others cried during the memorial service. I shook as the bag piper emerged from and reentered the fog at the Tour Championship, offering a dirge to us. And still, I refused to accept.

This summer, my friends and I traveled to the sandhills of North Carolina to play a number of courses. We walked from the parking lot of Pinehurst resort, past the enormous putting greens, along the clubhouse, past Maniac Hill, around to the 18th green and the statuary. There it stands, the awkward, goofy, contorted, eternal pose of Payne Stewart, fist thrust, leg extended, mouth agape, U.S. Open won. It must have began for me then.

Today, the 25th, the anniversary of his death, I sit less than 24 hours away from another birthday. Assuming I survive the night, I will have completed two more years than Payne did. I will have had more time with our children, with my wife, than Payne did. And, thanks to Pam Clark, I will finally lay to rest this burden, this jealousy, this flaw.

Today I read Ms. Clark’s story on Payne Stewart, MIP … I won’t tell you what MIP means; read her story yourself. In an unexpected way, in a story emanating from Payne Stewart’s home town paper, a writer gave me pause, gave me permission, to move forward, to accept another’s arrival.

Most people don’t feel comfortable with an oh-so-public admission of their fallibility. Perhaps, as “My Name Is Earl” might suggest, the righting of my world’s kharma begins with this step. Payne, I miss you. We all do.

Getting fit the Henry-Griffitts way

When I was a young’un back in the early 1980s, a certain ad caught my eye. Two gents name of Henry and Griffitts had developed a method for precision fitting a set of golf clubs to any individual golfer. Since I did not have two nickels to rub together back then, I pledged to my own self that I would one day acquire me a set of those fine instruments.

Almost three decades later, that day has arrived.

This weekend, I will venture to Bradford, Pennsylvania, a mostly two hour jaunt from B-Lo, to the Penn Hills Club. There, master club fitter Corky Buckham will take my measurements, calculate my angles and create a set of clubs for me…well, at least the wedges. Mr. Buckham is one of a few Henry-Griffitts fitters within a time zone of me and I feel fortunate to make his acquaintance and avail myself of his expertise. These fellows are so few and far between that my contact had me scheduled for a five-hour sojourn to eastern NY, the next closest H-G niche.

I promise to let you in on the specifics of the operation as soon as it comes to pass. In the meantime, cyber-dance over to the company website to learn a bit more about their technique.

Nike golf shoes and driver coming out at the correct time

Nike has fired off two press releases in the past month concerning new golf shoe lines. The Tour Premium Golf Shoe looks like this

and fits snugly around the entire foot with great comfort and flexibility. It is quite eye-catching, as each member of my most recent groupings instinctively inquired, “New shoes, huh?” The shoe has a classic line, with no expected Nike swoosh. I’ve had a few nine-hole rounds in which to test them and I am satisfied enough to include them in my regular rotation of shoes (in other words, they have found a home in the trunk of my car.)

More appropriate for the weather this Fall would be the Nike Bandon, a sort of hybrid, hiking golf shoe. Seen here

the Bandon evokes a basketball shoe, rising high up the heel, then soaring above up the front of the leg. Built to withstand the atmospheric onslaughts commonly found in the golfing wildernesses, the Bandon must cause some sort of swing influence, right? It’s so much taller than traditional shoes that I can’t imagine a similar “feel” throughout the turn and the release. When I get a chance to try them, I’ll let you know.

The Nike Mach Speed is a new driver hailing from the northwest (or Texas, depending on where they are producing clubs these days.) We’ve seen air channels along clubs before, but never in combination with the technology of the square driver. The STRT8 loft and face angle adjustment feature forms a part of the Mach Speed package, ensuring that this club will conform to your needs. Again, when I get my hands on one for testing, I’ll give you a better sense of its worth. If you’d like to get a look at it, search images online (it’s not even on the NikeGolf website yet, only in the password-protected media center pages.)

Half My Arse...GBI should start the day one down

Caught this as my morning round on Sunday was being canceled by a deluge

England’s Anthony Wall was unable to play his singles match against Spaniard Alvaro Quiros on the final day of The Vivendi Trophy with Seve Ballesteros in Paris.

Wall had injured his shoulder on Friday afternoon and did not play in either session yesterday, but lengthy physio could not get him fit enough in time.

Under the rules of the event - Continental Europe against Great Britain & Ireland - a half was agreed with a player chosen by Continental captain Thomas Bjorn to sit out the singles.

Do not call it pity, sportsmanship or anything other than a posturing cop-out. If the stupid Wall could not avoid injury, than his team pays the price. If your player can’t play, you lose the point. It is absolutely ironic that someone would play a team competition to win, then allow a tie on the basis of sportsmanship. Do you think I want Quiros out of the match? Quiros would have smoked this Wall fellow. Ridiculous. Hope we don’t see a repeat in two weeks at the Prez Cup.

Walker Cup Saturday Recap: A Confession

I shall attempt to make concise and salient points. It occurred to me that the Walker Cup mirrors my own forays into golf writing, albeit with one caveat (to be cited later.) Walker Cup golfers, at this stage, are amateur players. With the exception of Nathan Smith on the USA side, their immediate plan is to attempt a professional career at some juncture. In the case of Smith, his career is well established and his need to perform on the glamour stage is nil. He is an excellent weekend golfer, doubtless a member at a marvelous, Pittsburgh-area course, and a contestant along the Summer Circuit of amateur events that traverses the USA.

If any other members of either team should choose to remain outside professional golf throughout adulthood, they would join my team, that of the gentleman amateur. As I have indicated before, my backgrounds in writing and in golf qualify me to execute the tasks required to blog for this fine website. I do not travel from event to event on a weekly basis, although I do make an effort to get to events within a certain radius of my home. When the PGA was in Rochester, NY, I attended. Two Opens at Bethpage and one at Shinnecock were graced by my presence. This Walker Cup will hopefully be followed by one in 2013 at National Golf Links.

In the end, I feel most at home with the amateurs. In their eyes, one sees the anticipation of the future, not the hardened glare of the past and present. These eyes are readily available at national amateur events and national team amateur events. They are hopeful yet trained eyes, not stunned by the first glare of the bright lights of attention. There is much in me that desires the opportunity to work in journalism professionally. As I near the half-century mark, I will continue to make these journeys to major events, with the hope that I might somehow catch on. With the incredibly changing state of information reporting, however, the skill set is also much more diverse. In fact, I tweeted and facebooked while on the course yesterday, wrote one story and watched as staff members of a noted golf magazine plugged ear phones in to their laptops to edit video pieces. You need to have it all in order to compete.

Now comes the caveat. Might I consider my writing to be of Walker Cup quality? Who could be so bold? I expect that Tom from Albany will chime in at least once with a nay vote. All I can do is write and hope that perhaps, just perhaps, Captain Marucci will select me with one of his picks for the amateur writers’ team.

Greg Norman blows six stroke lead again

To quote Carl Spackler, I have to laugh. He did precisely what I believed he could never, ever justify doing. Greg Norman picked Adam Scott. Somewhere in Mudville, Mighty Casey just struck out, the game went into extra innings, and he struck out again.

I am not sure if that analogy even works, nor is it the point. Greg Norman pulled the ultimate homer move. The poor, downtrodden Australian country was given an incredibly random and inexcusable third member of the ROWNE (Rest of World Not Europe) team. Ogilvy isn’t playing particularly well, Allenby has not impressed of late, so kudos to Greg Norman for completing a triumvirate of underachieving g’dayers.

Somewhere in Asia, guys named Marksaeng, Singh, and Jaidee are extracting a phillips head or a flat head, having just been screwed by the toothless gray shark. They played themselves into position to be selected, only to be ignored by the Captain.

In the grand scheme of the world’s creator, selection to represent an international side rates mighty low on the tall totem poll of history. I’m confident that Jaidee, Singh and Marksaeng will continue to have wonderful professional careers, their families will still love them, and their countrywomen and men will adore them.

One question: did Chrissy help Greg make the selection?

ROW Presidents Cup Picks are so darned simple

I read a brief news item on one of the other golf sites about whom Greg Norman is considering for ROW (Rest Of World) Presidents Cup picks. Laughably, the pundit mentioned Adam Scott…that was a good one…made my morning lasagna taste even better.

Seriously, it is so simple for Greg, almost as simple as winning The Masters with a six-stroke lead…hope he doesn’t blow it again. Here goes:

Ryo Ishikawa…why? He’s exciting, entertaining, young, attractive and media-savvy. He’ll get the crowds going like his Japanese counterpart, Shigeki “The Smiling Assassin” Maruyama did a decade ago.

Thongchai Jaidee or Jeev Milka Singh…take your pick. One is from Thailand, the other from India. You have a Canadian, a Fijian, two aussies, three south africans, an Argentine, a Columbian and a Korean already on the team (assuming Tim Clark holds on to his final automatic spot.) Pick someone from another country, a country that perhaps hasn’t had the exposure. There is no great Chinese golfer, no great Russian golfer, so why not go with India? Huge. or Thailand? Tremendous. Can’t go wrong.

Why use ethnicity as a tie-breaker? Because these guys are off-the-charts good and essentially tied for notoriety, reputation and resume. Take Ryo and one of the other two and watch the ROW give the USA side a run at the trophy.

US Amateur Semifinalists and USA Walker Cup Implications

UPDATE: Well, I was right on the money with Ben Martin…No win, no Walker Cup. I was half-right with my picks. The USGA got Peter Uihlein and went with Cameron Tringale instead of Van Sickle. Both won two matches at the Am, so that part was a draw. Neither one captured a big amateur event this Summer and MVS went through a massive slump that ultimately proved his undoing. On to Philadelphia.

UPDATE: Two big sighs of relief from the blue coats. The kid (Patel) and the Texan lost by a lot (For a semifinal), 3 & 2 and 5 & 4, respectively. The more Ben Martin wins, the more the USGA likes him. He had 72-78 to miss the cut by 6 at the US Open this year, but he’s into the Masters and US Open already for next year. His is a strange story, however. He didn’t play any of the big summer events beyond Sunnehanna, where he was t-16. He ranks 21st on the SPS USA list, 46th in the world.

ORIGINAL TEXT FOLLOWS:

Given my untrained eye and distracted sensory organs, here is my latest attempt at suggesting who might fill out the USA side. Before I suggest, here are the US Amateur semifinalists and their places of origin:

Charlie Holland, Texas
Ben Martin, South Carolina
Bhavik Patel, California
B.H. An, Korea

From the bottom, if B.H. An wins, Mike Van Sickel and Peter Uihlein make the team. Being a finalist won’t help the other three. If one of the other three wins the Am, he should make the team and then the fun begins. The winner of Holland, Martin and Patel would be joined by MVS or PU. MVS has the better record, PU’s dad runs Titleist/Cobra (otherwise known as Acushnet.)

The USGA is praying for An to win. As a Korean, he would be ineligible for the USA side, leaving two picks for season vets, which the other three semifinalists are not. The men in blue coats have never been known to pass over the reigning US Am champ for a Walker Cup side. Patel is 18, a sophomore at Fresno State, and not well known. Same goes for Holland at U Texas, ‘cepting he’s a Senior. Martin is also a senior, has been all-ACC twice and played in the US Open at Bethpage. He’s the USGA’s second choice.

I’m suggesting that the next few days ought to be quite interesting.

Team USA explodes in round one of US Amateur match play

UPDATE: Bud Cauley loses to David Lingmerth, 2 & 1…all 8 Walker Cuppers are out!!

MEANWHILE, Mike Van Sickle wins, 6 & 5…Dan Woltman wins, 7 & 6… Peter Uihlein wins, 2 & 1… Cameron Tringale wins, 1 up… Phillip Mollica wins, 1 up.

DO YOU THINK that these guys want to make the USA side just a little bit? I do, too.

ORIGINAL ENTRY:
Rickie Fowler loses to Bud Cauley, 3 & 1
Brian Harman loses to Chris Ward, 19 holes
Morgan Hoffman loses to Charlie Hoffman, 19 holes
Nathan Smith loses to Zach Barlow, 2 down

Drew Weaver, missed match play by 1 stroke
Adam Mitchell, missed match play by 3 strokes
Brendan Gielow, missed match play by 6 strokes

Not exactly the results Buddy Marucci (who lost in a 27-for-4 playoff for the last match play spots) was hoping for, heading into the Walker Cup.

On the bright side, team USA has two more picks and the guys most likely to be in the running (Peter Uihlein, Mike Van Sickle, Mark Anderson, Cameron Tringale and Dan Woltman) were winners or were winning of/in first round matches at 5 PM EST. Finally, the hottest player around, Dodge Kemmer, disposed of his opponent, 6 & 5. Kemmer won the Scratch Players Championship last week.

Sonic Golf: A System That Enhances The Audio of Golf

I am going to let you in on a secret: I did not want to test this system. A marketing representative had offered to send me the Sonic Golf Solo system; I decided that no answer was the best answer of all. I had read Mike Bailey’s review on TravelGolf.Com, along with other reviews on competing sites. Imagine my surprise when the box showed up on my desk. “Well, just tuck it over in the corner and they will forget about it.” No such luck…

“So, RonMon, how is the Sonic Golf test going?” That was the subject line from the biweekly (every other week) email that appeared in my inbox. “Ummm, you know, we are sooooo busy!” After the North Carolina junket, I made up my mind that I would reward perseverance with, well, responsibility. I cracked open the box, pulled out the briefcase and dove into Sonic Golf.

The initial response of all raters can be summed up in these words: GOD it takes a while to set up! Yes and no. If you can wrap tape, you’re set. If you can regrip a club (or in my case, have Bill Lindner of Bill Lindner’s Golf Service available), you’re set. You snug-fit the probe into the grip, hook up the receiver, put the head set in your ears, and off you go. What does Sonic Golf do? Well, it doesn’t play a concert, thereby eliminating the threat to your mp3 player.

Sonic Golf allows you to associate sound with your golf swing. The golf swing, in its essence, is a rotational motion. It has elements of the lateral and the vertical, but it is the rotational that makes it happen. Ironically, with the exception of the aforementioned Bailey, none of the other reviewers mentions the importance to the swing and to the Sonic Golf system of the rotational motion. Shame on them!

The quicker you rotate the club, the louder (greater pitch) the SG sound is. It’s a pleasant-enough note/chord, but over and over and over might be too much for me. Could I use it for the first few dozen swings of a practice session? Absolutely. The entire session? No.

The SG sound is heard at three points during the swing. The first is the back swing which, unless you are Lanny Wadkins, should not be killer loud. Pause (and silence) at the top is followed by the fast motion that Al Geiberger recognized back in the day. From the top down is where you hear the SG chord the loudest. After impact, back to quiet, then the sound one more time, on the recoil. Not as loud, but there. Reminded me of Greg Norman in his prime…he swung through, then brought the club from his left shoulder down toward the ground, like a woodsman swinging an axe.

The most striking feature for me is how I responded to the audio. I am a music appreciator. I fool around with harmonicas and singing, but I’m no great musician. Sonic Golf’s audio element hit home with me. I wonder how truly gifted singers and musicians would respond?

I have a golf GPS system that costs $400. I have a driver that costs $400. Can I afford the Pro ($499 pre-Labor Day sale) or Solo ($299 pre-Labor Day sale)? If I’m making good money, you bet. If I’m pinching pennies, probably not. The way I see it, though, the Sonic Golf system allows the GPS and the driver to be more functional. The Sonic Golf system IS the lesson, the instruction, that allows you to hit the driver, then hit the other shots that the GPS rewards with precision yardages. I like the Sonic Golf system and even though I have to send this one back, I’ll begin saving my dimes and quarters tomorrow to purchase one of my own.

Tiger, Which Pairing Do You Fear The Most? Well, Ron...

since you are conjuring up this entire conversation, how about you tell me?

–Certainly, Woodsy. I imagine that it is the Padraig Harrington-Henrik Stenson one.

–(Tiger laughs, uncomfortably) I’ve got to hand it you, RonMon. Tom from Albany really doesn’t know how smart you are. Why do you think I fear that pairing?

–The two of them are European and will feed off each other. And, neither one has to stare you down. You’ll dispose of Y.E. Yang by the 7th hole, but you won’t ever get the chance to give off your vibe to Paddy and Henny.

–(Tiger nods) Do you think I fear Glover and Kjeldsen?

–No…Glover had his major win for the next ten years. Kjeldsen hasn’t broken 70 yet, and -5 won’t get it done, assuming he shoots another 70.

–(Tiger smiles and examines his claws, errrr, nails.) True dat. What about Els and Quiros?

–Nope. If the little man on Els’ shoulder doesn’t bother him, Quiros’ length will. Els will get into a pis-, I mean a driving contest with him and will lose his focus.

–So how come none of the major magazines have snapped you up, RonMon, with insights like those?

–Are you kidding, E? Travelgolf.com is THE major webazine!!!