3Jack Golf's 2014 PGA Tour Rundown - Week 18

Seung-Yul Noh wins his first tournament of his career at the Zurich Classic:



Here are how my picks finished at the Zurich:

Keegan Bradley: 18/1 (t-8th)
Graham DeLaet: 22/1 (t-29th)
Ryan Palmer: 25/1 (t-29th)
Kevin Stadler: 33/1 (MC)
Billy Horschel: 33/1 (MC)
Russell Knox: 33/1 (MC)
Nick Watney: 40/1 (t-75th)
Brendan Steele: 80/1 (t-52nd)
John Merrick: 125/1 (t-62nd)

Value Pick: Heath Slocum 300/1 (MC)


Here are my picks for Quail Hollow:

Phil Mickelson: 14/1
Justin Rose: 18/1
Zach Johnson: 33/1
Jonas Blixt: 50/1
Kevin Na: 66/1
Cameron Tringale: 80/1
Jeff Overton: 80/1
Kevin Streelman: 80/1
Kevin Chappell: 150/1

Value Pick: Vijay Singh 200/1



DRIVING EFFECTIVENESS



1. Francesco Molinari
2. Bubba Watson
3. Fred Funk
4. Rory McIlroy
5. Kevin Streelman
6. Ryan Moore
7. Derek Ernst
8. Louis Oosthuizen
9. Justin Hicks
10. Jamie Donaldson


198. Chad Collins
199. Daniel Chopra
200. Aaron Baddeley
201. Bud Cauley
202. Tim Herron
203. Scott Verplank
204. Alex Aragon
205. Tyrone Van Aswegen
206. Mike Weir
207. Bobby Gates




GREEN ZONE (75-125 YARDS)



1. Ryo Ishikawa
2. Brian Stuard
3. Chesson Hadley
4. Michael Putnam
5. Hideki Matsuyama
6. Jim Furyk
7. Zach Johnson
8. Adam Scott
9. Jonathan Byrd
10. Padraig Harrington


198. Peter Hanson
199. Wes Roach
200. Richard Lee
201. Aaron Baddeley
202. Derek Ernst
203. Jhonattan Vegas
204. Paul Casey
205. Henrik Stenson
206. Martin Kaymer
207. Graeme McDowell


YELLOW ZONE (125-175 YARDS)



1. Victor Dubuisson
2. Matteo Manassero
3. Marc Leishman
4. Graeme McDowell
5. Dustin Johnson
6. Peter Malnati
7. Ken Duke
8. Hideki Matsuyama
9. Kevin Na
10. K.J. Choi


198. Johnson Wagner
199. Patrick Reed
200. Chad Campbell
201. Troy Matteson
202. Edward Loar
203. Darren Clarke
204. Kevin Tway
205. D.A. Points
206. Ben Curtis
207. Jhonattan Vegas


RED ZONE (175-225 YARDS)



1. Sergio Garcia
2. Chad Campbell
3. Martin Kaymer
4. Graham DeLaet
5. Paul Casey
6. Brooks Koepka
7. Robert Streb
8. Jason Dufner
9. Kyle Stanley
10. Kevin Stadler


198. Bobby Gates
199. John Rollins
200. Peter Malnati
201. Justin Leonard
202. Daniel Chopra
203. Tim Wilkinson
204. Bud Cauley
205. Richard Lee
206. Scott Verplank
207. Tim Herron


SHORT GAME PLAY

1. Justin Rose
2. Lee Westwood
3. Jason Dufner
4. Bud Cauley
5. Zach Johnson
6. Robert Streb
7. Kevin Na
8. John Mallinger
9. Luke Donald
10. Tim Clark


198. Jim Renner
199. Robert Allenby
200. Chad Campbell
201. Bobby Gates
202. Will Wilcox
203. Alex Aragon
204. Graeme McDowell
205. J.J. Henry
206. Bronson La'Cassie
207. Hudson Swafford








3JACK

Bunch of Streamsong Videos

Streamsong Golf and Resort is located in Bowling Green, Florida which is about 75 minutes from Disney World, 60 minutes from Tampa and 40 minutes from Lakeland. This is somewhat of an en vogue idea with golf course design. Build a course in the middle of nowhere where the land is cheap and good for golf course design. Have a legendary design team create a links style or 'Australian Dunes' style course where there is no need to bring in and grow trees. Put a hotel by the course and charge a lot of money for the public to play there.

I have not played Streamsong, yet. But, everybody I've known that has gone there has raved about it. Here are a bunch of videos on Streamsong that I think people would enjoy:















3JACK

3Jack Golf's 2014 PGA Tour Rundown - Week 17

Matt Kuchar wins at Harbour Town:



Here's how my picks at Harbour Town faired:

Matt Kuchar 16/1 (1st)
Zach Johnson 22/1 (t-61st)
Graeme McDowell 25/1 (t-23rd)
Hunter Mahan 35/1 (MC)
Kevin Stadler 50/1 (t-38th)
Russell Knox 80/1 (t-9th)
Justin Hicks 100/1 (t-38th)
Kevin Chappell 100/1 (MC)
Roberto Castro 200/1 (MC)

Value Pick: Jason Bohn 200/1 (MC)


Here are my picks for New Orleans:

Keegan Bradley: 18/1
Graham DeLaet: 22/1
Ryan Palmer: 25/1
Kevin Stadler: 33/1
Billy Horschel: 33/1
Russell Knox: 33/1
Nick Watney: 40/1
Brendan Steele: 80/1
John Merrick: 125/1

Value Pick: Heath Slocum 300/1


DRIVING EFFECTIVENESS



1. Francesco Molinari
2. Bubba Watson
3. Fred Funk
4. Rory McIlroy
5. Kevin Streelman
6. Ryan Moore
7. Louis Oosthuizen
8. Derek Ernst
9. Billy Horschel
10. Justin Hicks


192. James Driscoll
193. Joe Ogilvie
194. Gonzalo Fdez-Castano
195. Chad Collins
196. Alex Aragon
197. Aaron Baddeley
198. Bud Cauley
199. Bobby Gates
200. Tyrone Van Aswegen
201. Mike Weir


GREEN ZONE (75-125 YARDS)



1. Hideki Matsuyama
2. Jim Furyk
3. Ryo Ishikawa
4. Adam Scott
5. Brian Stuard
6. Danny Lee
7. Chris Stroud
8. Zach Johnson
9. Scott Stallings
10. Marc Leishman


192. John Mallinger
193. Jamie Donaldson
194. Aaron Baddeley
195. Richard Lee
196. Peter Malnati
197. Andrew Loupe
198. Wes Roach
199. Derek Ernst
200. Jhonattan Vegas
201. Henrik Stenson


YELLOW ZONE (125-175 YARDS)



1. Victor Dubuisson
2. Peter Malnati
3. Matteo Manassero
4. Peter Hanson
5. Marc Leishman
6. Graeme McDowell
7. Dustin Johnson
8. Ken Duke
9. Lee Williams
10. Hideki Matsuyama


192. Angel Cabrera
193. Johnson Wagner
194. Patrick Reed
195. Chad Campbell
196. Troy Matteson
197. Darren Clarke
198. Kevin Tway
199. Ben Curtis
200. D.A. Points
201. Jhonattan Vegas


RED ZONE (175-225 YARDS)



1. Sergio Garcia
2. Chad Campbell
3. Brooks Koepka
4. Joe Ogilvie
5. Martin Kaymer
6. Graham DeLaet
7. Robert Streb
8. Heath Slocum
9. Kevin Stadler
10. Paul Casey


192. Peter Malnati
193. John Rollins
194. Max Homa
195. Bronson La'Cassie
196. James Driscoll
197. Justin Leonard
198. Tim Wilkinson
199. Ben Curtis
200. Bud Cauley
201. Richard Lee


SHORT GAME PLAY

1. Lee Westwood
2. Jason Dufner
3. Bud Cauley
4. Zach Johnson
5. Justin Rose
6. Kevin Na
7. Robert Streb
8. John Mallinger
9. George McNeill
10. Luke Donald


192. Greg Chalmers
193. Andrew Svoboda
194. Tommy Gainey
195. Troy Merritt
196. Bobby Gates
197. Alex Aragon
198. Graeme McDowell
199. Bronson La'Cassie
200. J.J. Henry
201. Hudson Swafford





3JACK

Miyahira: Posting on the Left Leg

Here's a video from 3Jack Golf Top-50 Instructor, Kelvin Miyahira, discussing the concept of 'posting on the left leg.'







3JACK

Ping S55 vs. Ping i25 Irons

Here's a video from European professional, Mark Crossfield, showing the differences between Ping's S55 and i25 iron models.



I plan on trying both of these model of irons from Ping sometime this year as I am interested in irons with more of a bounce angle as the Florida turf does not interact that well with low bounce angle clubs.

While I have traditionally favored a blade design, I feel that today's irons there is not a lot of difference in the MOI around the sweetspot in irons outside of the 'game improvement' models. I don't need a lot of forgiveness with irons, particularly since I utilize MOI matching. But, what tends to be more important (IMO) is the CoG placement. Crossfield's video shows the importance here as he is obviously a low handicapper with a good swing. That would make one think that he is best suited for the S55, but the i25 model ends up being the better fit.




3JACK

Rate of Closure and Spin Axis

One of the things that had been discussed over a year ago was the effect that Rate of Closure will have on tilting golf ball’s axis. This was actually asked by Erik Barzeski and Dave Wedzik from Golf Evolution (www.golfevolution.com) and later confirmed by Fredrik Tuxen of Trackman. I didn’t quite understand it at first and neglected up until a few months ago.

First, let’s briefly go over some of the main terms for those that don’t understand what we are talking about.

Rate of Closure is the amount the club face is closing thru the ‘impact interval.’ The impact interval is the time the clubface makes initial contact with the ball, then compresses the ball and then the ball ‘leaves’ the clubface. The more the clubface closes, the ‘higher’ the rate of closure.

Here is the ‘spin axis’ of a golf ball.



You will hear some Trackman fans eschew the word ‘side spin’ because they feel the term indicates that a golf ball can spin two different ways (backspin and side spin). The golf ball has an axis that it spins on. So the Trackman people tend to prefer the ‘tilting of the spin axis.’ Other launch monitor companies will use ‘side spin’ understanding that the ball has an axis and doesn’t spin in two different directions. But, they are essentially figuring out where the axis is tilted and how much the ball is spinning in the direction the axis is tilted creating ‘side spin.’ It’s more or less semantics although I tend to prefer Trackman’s spin axis terminology.

The idea initially before Golf Evolution asked Tuxen the question was that the higher the rate of the closure, the more it would tilt the spin axis in a hook shot direction. And the slower the rate of closure, it would produce more of a slice spin tilt of the ball’s axis.

The idea is that using the D-Plane, where the ball curves based on the path’s relation to the face. So if the golfer had a high rate of closure, the clubface would start closing with relation to the path.

But, with gear effect the Golf Evolution guys felt that the opposite would be true and the ball’s spin axis would actually tilt towards a slice.

First, think of the ball and club face as 2 gears (hence the name, gear effect)



Here is another example illustrating the point:



So…for every action, there is an equal but opposite reaction.

What does that mean here?
So…for every action, there is an equal but opposite reaction.

What does that mean here?

As the clubface is rotating in a counter-clockwise direction (high rate of closure), the ball is going to rotate in a clockwise direction.

Where I have my skepticism is in the assumption that a slow rate of closure will ‘produce more hooks.’ Mainly because with a slower rate of closure, the clubface is still closing. For it to produce more hooks based on what I have shown above, the clubface would have to be moving in a clockwise direction to get the ball to move in a counter clockwise direction. But, at least we can understand the theory behind a higher rate of closure producing more slices.






3JACK

3Jack Golf's PGA Tour Rundown - Week 16

Here are how my picks at the Masters finished:

Rory McIlroy (9/1) t-8th
Adam Scott (9/1) t-14th
Phil Mickelson (11/1) MC
Jason Day (14/1) t-20th
Matt Kuchar (20/1) t-5th
Bubba Watson (25/1) - 1st
Justin Rose (28/1) t-14th
Brandt Snedeker (33/1) t-37th
Keegan Bradley (33/1) MC


Value Pick: Marc Leishman (100/1) MC


Here are my picks for Harbour Town:

Matt Kuchar 16/1
Zach Johnson 22/1
Graeme McDowell 25/1
Hunter Mahan 35/1
Kevin Stadler 50/1
Russell Knox 80/1
Justin Hicks 100/1
Kevin Chappell 100/1
Roberto Castro 200/1

Value Pick: Jason Bohn 200/1


Here are my latest season-to-date rankings:


DRIVING EFFECTIVENESS



1. Bubba Watson
2. Kevin Stadler
3. Kevin Streelman
4. Hunter Mahan
5. Hideki Matsuyama
6. Justin Hicks
7. Billy Horschel
8. Ryan Moore
9. David Toms
10. Derek Ernst


171. Charlie Wi
172. Ernie Els
173. Retief Goosen
174. Seung-Yul Noh
175. Aaron Baddeley
176. Chad Collins
177. Alex Aragon
178. Bud Cauley
179. Mike Weir
180. Tyrone Van Aswegen


GREEN ZONE (75-125 YARDS)



1. Ryo Ishikawa
2. Marc Leishman
3. Brian Stuard
4. Chesson Hadley
5. Hideki Matsuyama
6. Michael Putnam
7. Jim Furyk
8. Tim Clark
9. Zach Johnson
10. Vijay Singh


171. Patrick Reed
172. Ernie Els
173. Richard Lee
174. Scott Brown
175. Aaron Baddeley
176. Tommy Gainey
177. Jhonnattan Vegas
178. Derek Ernst
179. Graeme McDowell
180. Wes Roach



YELLOW ZONE (125-175 YARDS)



1. Victor Dubuisson
2. K.J. Choi
3. Peter Malnati
4. Marc Leishman
5. Graeme McDowell
6. Dustin Johnson
7. Hideki Matsuyama
8. Ken Duke
9. Lee Williams
10. Nick Watney


171. Edward Loar
172. Johnson Wagner
173. Patrick Reed
174. Chad Campbell
175. Kevin Tway
176. Troy Matteson
177. Jhonnattan Vegas
178. Andrew Loupe
179. D.A. Points
180. Ben Curtis


RED ZONE (175-225 YARDS)



1. Sergio Garcia
2. Chad Campbell
3. Brooks Koepka
4. Graham DeLaet
5. Matt Every
6. Kyle Stanley
7. Robert Streb
8. Kevin Stadler
9. Stewart Cink
10. Heath Slocum


171. Greg Chalmers
172. Peter Malnati
173. James Driscoll
174. Tim Wilkinson
175. John Rollins
176. Justin Leonard
177. Bronson La'Cassie
178. Ben Curtis
179. Richard Lee
180. Bud Cauley



SHORT GAME PLAY



1. Jason Dufner
2. Zach Johnson
3. Lee Westwood
4. Bud Cauley
5. John Mallinger
6. Robert Streb
7. Tim Clark
8. Rickie Fowler
9. Kevin Na
10. Keegan Bradley


171. Troy Merritt
172. Andrew Svoboda
173. Alex Aragon
174. Jason Bohn
175. Chad Campbell
176. Tommy Gainey
177. Graeme McDowell
178. Bronson La'Cassie
179. J.J. Henry
180. Hudson Swafford





3JACK


3JACK

3Jack Golf's PGA Tour Rundown - Week 14

Steven Bowditch wins the Valero Texas Open:



Here are how my Valero picks finished:

Ryan Moore: 16/1 (DNP)
Phil Mickelson: 16/1 (WD)
Zach Johnson: 16/1 (t-6th)
Jim Furyk: 25/1 (t-6th)
Charley Hoffman: 25/1 (t-11th)
Kevin Chappell: 50/1 (MC)
K.J. Choi: 50/1 (MC)
Russell Knox: 66/1 (t-26th)
Justin Hicks 200/1 (15th)

Value Pick: Lee Williams 300/1 (MC)


Here are my picks for Houston:

Dustin Johnson: 14/1
Graham DeLaet: 25/1
Ian Poulter: 50/1
Jason Kokrak: 50/1
Kevin Streelman: 80/1
Daniel Summerhays: 80/1
Brian Harman: 100/1
Robert Garrigus: 100/1
Stewart Cink: 125/1

Value Pick: Tim Clark: 200/1


DRIVING EFFECTIVENESS

1. Bubba Watson

2.Kevin Streelman

3. Fred Funk

4. Hunter Mahan

5. Kevin Stadler

6.Hideki Matsuyama

7. Justin Hicks

8. Billy Horschel

9. Ryan Moore

10. Derek Ernst 172. Aaron Baddeley 173. Andres Romero 174. Seung-Yul Noh 175. Retief Goosen 176. Ernie Els 177. Alex Aragon 178. Chad Collins 179. Bud Cauley 180. Tyrone Van Aswegen 181. Mike Weir

GREEN ZONE (75-125 YARDS)

1. Ryo Ishikawa

2. Marc Leishman

3. Chesson Hadley

4. Tim Clark

5. Brian Stuard

6. Hideki Matsuyama

7. Jim Furyk

8. Michael Putnam

9. Harrison Frazar

10. John Rollins

172. Michael Thompson

173. Ricky Barnes

174. Richard Lee

175. Aaron Baddeley

176. Ernie Els

177. Jhonnattan Vegas

178. Derek Ernst

179. Tommy Gainey

180. Graeme McDowell

181. Wes Roach

YELLOW ZONE (125-175 YARDS)

1. Victor Dubuisson

2. K.J. Choi

3. Peter Malnati

4. Marc Leishman

5. Dustin Johnson

6. Graeme McDowell

7. Rickie Fowler

8. Hideki Matsuyama

9. Ken Duke

10. Lee Williams

172. Edward Loar

173. Patrick Reed

174. Chad Campbell

175. Kevin Tway

176. Jhonnattan Vegas

177. Troy Matteson

178. Jonathan Byrd

179. Andrew Loupe

180. D.A. Points

181. Ben Curtis

RED ZONE (175-225 YARDS)

1. Chad Campbell

2. Kyle Stanley

3. Brooks Koepka

4. Matt Every

5. Heath Slocum

6. Kevin Streelman

7. Kevin Stadler

8. Graham DeLaet

9. Robert Streb

10. Billy Horschel

172. James Driscoll

173. Peter Malnati

174. Max Homa

175. John Huh

176. Tim Wilkinson

177. Bronson La'Cassie

178. John Mallinger

179. Richard Lee

180. Ben Curtis

181. Bud Cauley

SHORT GAME PLAY

1. Zach Johnson

2. Jason Dufner

3. Bud Cauley

4. John Mallinger

5. Ian Poulter

6. Tim Clark

7. Lee Westwood

8. Robert Streb

9. George McNeill

10. Kevin Na

172. Jason Bohn

173. Boo Weekley

174. Andrew Svoboda

175. Tommy Gainey

176. Troy Merritt

177. Alex Aragon

178. Graeme McDowell

179. Bronson La'Cassie

180. Hudson Swafford

181. J.J. Henry

3JACK