2017 Pro Golf Synopsis provides statistical research and advanced analytics data on the game of golf to help golfers of all levels as well as to provide information for fantasy golf players.
The latest edition of Pro Golf Synopsis is 315 pages long with five essays on statistical research and individual player analysis of 190 PGA Tour players from the 2016-2017 PGA Tour season.
I’ve had some good ballstriking days. This day (Sunday) was quite poor. But, when I did make some good swings I saw quite a surge in power. On the 3rd hole at Rio Pinar (the old 12th hole), I hit a drive that went 325 yards on a day where there was no wind. And on the 18th hole (the old 9th hole), I hit a PW about 150 yards (I had 135 to the pin and flew the green).
But other than that I hit the ball lousy.
I was experimenting with a few things with my setup and I was getting more laid off at the top than usual. In this swing, I tried to feel like I was getting the shaft more vertical to prevent getting laid off:
And I was still a little laid off. Although I find that to be a perfectly acceptable position. It’s just an example of how I really had to rotate my arms counterclockwise at p2 just to get into an acceptable position.
Despite this swing video being taken on Sunday, I’ve already made some pretty big swing changes that I think are helping me do what I want to do in the swing. Essentially, I’m looking for the following:
1. A little shallower with the shaft plane at p5
2. Getting rid of the early Right Pelvic Tilt in the downswing
3. Avoid the right femur/right hip internally rotating too early in the downswing
4. Avoiding that linear push-off from the right foot and creating more of a ‘rotational pulling action’ with the left side of the lower body
5. Get rid of that downward neck tilt in the downswing.
But, I do feel the changes I’ve made are onto something as when I take a ‘good swing’ my results are better than my ‘old good swings’ as I’m hitting the ball further with a better launch direction.
My next Swing Journal post will show the changes I've made in just a short period of time, why I made those changes and how I made them so quickly.
I was watching some golf videos and I stumbled across this video from George Gankas:
Go to the 3:00 minute mark and I think George has a great way of describing how the trail leg and hip action should move. This is where you see a lot of the sliding of the pelvis and thus thrusting of the pelvis (i.e. goat humping/early extension) occur. The golfer uses the trail leg in a motion to push their lower body in a linear fasion instead of using their lead leg/lead hip to PULL the lower body in a rotational fashion.
I started to see this in my own swing and have noticed something that I had not seen before.
Here I have drawn a blue line on my left knee at the top of my swing (p4)
And here’s the same line at p5 (left arm parallel to the ground). Notice how the left knee has only slightly moved off that blue line.
Now, let's compare that to Dustin Johnson.
And let’s compare that to Moe Norman, known for sliding his body quite a bit in the golf swing.
One of the things Moe said was ‘you gotta sit in your golf swing or you can’t do it.’ And that pulling and rotating of the left hip simulates a sitting motion.
And here’s Sam Snead:
Of course, Moe is a little past P5 due to his short backswing and Snead is just before P5 due to the camera speed. But, the picture shows a major difference in their hip, femur and pelvic motions in transition.
This pulling back motion from the lead leg and hip prevents the right leg and right hip from internally rotating and thus the linear ‘push off’ described in George’s video does not occur. That linear push off forces the arms to pull down and that causes the shaft to get a little too steep.
In my case, that not only causes some stop and go of the pivot motion, but I react to it by altering my neck tilts as my neck tilts downward in the downswing considerably. Take a look at the brim of my hat in the downswing.
In my case, that not only causes some stop and go of the pivot motion, but I react to it by altering my neck tilts as my neck tilts downward in the downswing considerably. Take a look at the brim of my hat in the downswing.
To me, I think it is so critical for golfers to be able to avoid that push off with the rear leg and foot in transition. Some can get away with it, but most cannot. It's an understanding and awareness that the lead leg/lead hip almost moves separately in transition from the rear leg/rear hip. And if well executed, it will mean that the rear leg/rear hip will be propelled into movement by the lead leg/lead hip's rotational movement. I try to visualize my right leg/right hip being 'frozen' while my left hip and left leg rotate so much that it finally forces my right leg/hip to rotate and move inward.
Here's a video from Andrew Rice discussing how golfers that hit the ball too low or too high with their wedges can deliver their wedge swings with the right amount of loft.
Here's a video from George Gankas discussing 'avoidance drills.'
As I have discussed in my Swing Journal posts, I am not a big fan of drills as a whole. However, I feel the drills that are worth doing are ones that have the golfer take a full backswing. I feel that the transition is such a critical part of any golf swing and there's nothing that can prepare you to execute your transition move like actually taking a full backswing.
What I like about this video is not only is there a full backswing being made, but George describing how the golfer has to avoid the object and how that often translates to learning more quickly. I started to implement a few avoidance drills of my own and I'm starting to ingrain new movement patterns more quickly.
I saw this video a while ago and enjoyed watching it. I wanted to put this on my Ikkos CopyMe Golf App, but I cannot get Ikkos to work on my Android phone.
And some nice up close footage of Snead's choice lower body action:
My friend Lucas Wald has made a great series of videos on the golf swing and instructional concepts on his YouTube channel. Here's one of my favorites...discussing the slow motion swing training.
I use slow motion training with my golf swing practice and I find it vital when it comes to ingraining new movement patterns.
I feel the greatest benefits of the slow motion training is that it allows me to develop my own feel for the movement I am working on. I'm not a big fan of teachers that teach golfers a feel to start out with. I think that it's better to utilize slow motion training and allow the golfer to be aware of what they are feeling in order to execute the motion. If the golfer struggles to develop that feel, then recommending a feel so the golfer can grasp the concept is applicable.
Once I have established the feel, I use that feel simply as a guideline for my upcoming practice sessions. I then use slow motion practice and the feel(s) I have established to execute the motion consistently. However, as I continue to use slow motion practice, that conscious thinking of the 'feel' should go away.
I'm always working towards an 'Unconscious Competency' concept in my golf swing. By consciously thinking about a swing feel, I'm essentially creating a swing thought and all I have done is use 'conscious competency' and I am 'playing golf swing instead of playing golf.'
Years ago I was reading an article where they were discussing how Fred Couples hits a draw or fade on purpose. According to the article, Couples said that when he was going into his pre-shot routine, he would visualize himself hitting the shot and then he would go up and hit the shot.
I used to think that was completely nonsensical. I wanted to know if he addressed the ball differently, did he swing more out to the right or to the left, etc. and I chalked it up to 'Freddie being Freddie.'
But after using slow motion practice I started to see what Couples was saying. It's not about a swing thought or a visual as much as it is sensing the motion you have to make to get the ball to do what you want.
I think this video with Bubba Watson is great. While it goes into the science of the shot, Bubba explains how he *sensed* what he had to do in order to hit a roundhouse hook with a wedge:
And that's what slow motion training can do if the golfer does it correctly and is diligent practicing it. It can get the golfer to sense their swing rather than think about a swing feel or a visual. And they can not only start to ingraining the new movement patterns more quickly, but they can start playing golf instead of playing golf swing and shoot better scores and derive more enjoyment from the game.
Some readers requested a DTL view of my latest swing:
I'm still a little steep for my tastes on the downswing, but this is a quality improvement and the release is much more stable.
Normally this clubface would be rotated more closed at this point.
And this was not a toe strike to make the face open up thru impact.
I have started to have some light bulbs turn on with regards to my swing thanks to the lessons from Denny Lucas and Jeff Haas along with the videos from Joe Mayo, Dr. Sasho MacKenzie, Grant Waite and George Gankas.
There are still some things I want to work on.
I tend to bend over and hunch over too much at address. In order to prevent that I've stood more upright at address. But that has also caused me to reach for the ball too much. This is a 5-iron being swung here. I think the hands should be more under the chin...particularly the right index finger. I'm reaching a little bit to the ball and that is making it difficult to pivot on the downswing. Much like Moe Norman who reached for the ball and he dipped and slid on the downswing instead of rotating. As many know, I'm a huge fan of Moe, but I'm not trying to swing the same mechanics as he had.
We've talked about this numerous times about how the right femur and hip has to more or less 'stay back' and externally rotate while he left femur and left hip will separate and rotate in the other direction.
But prior to that as in the Mayo videos show, you want to lower the pelvis adequately enough before you start rotating. We can lower the pelvis thru left hip flexion in transition.
I will be working on a better sequence to my transition of:
1. Lowering the pelvis.
2. Rotating the left hip while the right hip/femur goes into external rotation
I tend to rotate the pelvis before I lower it. And that causes me to start pushing with the right leg/foot and sliding the pelvis. Therefore, I start to stall out my rotation and the shaft will start to pull down more and thus steepen.
There are some other swing keys I've figured out that I think have been very beneficial to me thus far. I will see how they progress before I start to discuss them here.
The Tour returns to Sea Island for the 7th annual RSM Classic.
This is a lower purse size event that generates a decent field because it's the last event of the year before the Tour goes on a break and returns to action in Hawaii. Many golfers don't care for the travel to Hawaii and then end up waiting until the Tour returns to Palm Springs for the CareerBuilder Challenge.
The event started in 2010 by resident pros Davis Love III and Zach Johnson. Sea Island is one of the popular residences for PGA Tour players these days along with Jupiter, FL, Orlando, Dallas and Scottsdale.
The course is pretty well received. For the past 2 events they have used both the Seaside and Plantation course in rounds 1 and 2. I have not heard any feedback on the Plantation course, but the reviews have been positive for the Seaside course.
Generally, this is a course that is very much about iron play and accurate driving. However, with the windy conditions that may mean that Short Game performance could be more vital because the GIR % will go down.
Also, don't be surprised to see a super low score out there as that has generally been going on every year like Tommy 'Two Gloves' Gainey's final round of 60 to win the 2012 event.
Projected Winning Score: -16
3JACK'S FAVORITES
Kevin Kisner +1,600
Webb Simpson +2,000
Matt Kuchar +2,000
Bill Haas +2,500
Zach Johnson +3,300
3JACK'S DARK HORSE PICKS
Bud Cauley +5000
Hudson Swafford +6,600
Bubba Watson +6,600
Robert Garrigus +12,500
Jim Herman +20,000
I haven't posted in a while. First, I was planning on getting a lesson from Denny Lucas & Jeff Haas about once every 6 weeks. I was planning to get another lesson after a week long vacation I took in the middle of July. However, I caught pertussis and after I came back from the vacation, I took 4 weeks off.
Then I wanted to get my swing back and that took a few weeks, only for Hurricane Irma to come along.
That shut down golf for another week and when I tried to get back into the swing of things...more rain would shut down the driving ranges and golf courses.
I think there are some improvements at impact (first photo is from October, second photo is from May)
The 'after' photo shows less secondary tilt and the hands are more 'forward'/towards the target than in the 'before' photo.
In the release, I'm now more of a rolling release instead of the flip-roll release. The goal is to get rid of the roll release as well. But in the end, this has resulted in better launch angles and hitting the irons about 5-10 yards further.
This is all set up by a better move in transition that allows me to not tilt the upper body too much in the downswing.
The differences are slight, but in the first pic the pelvis is in left pelvic tilt. The second pic the hips are more level. So in the second pic, the pelvis pushes forward laterally instead of rotating.
PUTTER: Toulon Design Long Island, 3* loft, 70* lie angle, 35" long.
RANGEFINDER: Bushnell Pro X2
I plan on doing a pretty major overhaul of my equipment in the Spring of 2018. I will look to get fitted and see what driver, 3-wood, irons, S-Wedge and putter work best for me.
I had to take some time off from working on my swing for various reasons (I will get to when I post my next swing journal). However, I have been able to get back to working on my swing and the progress has been good that I feel that if I can continue to work on my swing without being impeded, I can get it pretty close to where I want it by Spring 2018 and then get better fitted for clubs.
The Tour returns to Las Vegas for the 34th Shriners Childrens Hospital Open.
This is one of the more popular venues on Tour as the course, location and cause for the Shriners Children Hospital are all well respected. It has led to great moments like these
TPC Summerlin was designed by Bobby Weed back in 1991. I think Weed is a very underrated designer of golf courses. I really like another Weed design in TPC Tampa Bay. TPC Tampa Bay gets knocked a lot on the internet, but that’s due to the steep pricing. But, by itself it’s a very good design. The same with TPC River Highlands. I also like the renovations he did to the old Donald Ross design in Tampa, Palma Ceia as well as Jacaranda in Plantation, FL and Oceanside Country Club in Ormond Beach.
Summerlin is a low scoring course that’s about hitting approach shots close more than anything. The greens have fairly highly make percentages, but the course is one of the toughest on Tour when it comes to short game shots around the green.
It’s also very critical to hit the driver well on the par-5’s here because it can be the difference between eagle/birdie and making bogey. I think there are enough nuances and ‘form follows function’ by Weed that make this another solid design project of his.
The last critical hole on the course is the par-5 16th.
Lastly, UNLV alum Charley Hoffman will be donating 100% of his earnings to the families of the victims of the Las Vegas shooting.
Projected Winning Score: -21
3JACK’S FAVORITES
Tony Finau +1,600
Charley Hoffman +2,500
Chesson Hadley +2,500
Shane Lowry +2,800
Gary Woodland +2,800
Ryan Moore +2,800
3JACK DARK HORSE PICKS
Bryson DeChambeau +6,600
Ryan Armour +6,600
Ben Martin +8,000
Richy Werenski +12,500
The Concepts on Transition and Impact expands upon Understanding Torques and Forces Forces. Whereas Torques and Forces goes over the basics in the principles researched by Dr. Sasho MacKenzie of Net Force and Center of Mass and why the players on Tour tend to flatten their shaft instead of steepening the shaft; Concepts on Transition gives the viewer a better idea on how to execute it as well as troubleshooting issues.
Concepts on Transition and Impact gives the viewer a great look at how different Tour players are able to shallow their transition using different methods. And then the video goes into some simple concepts on how Mayo and Waite generally advise golfers to get out of being 'too steep.' But, it also applies to better golfers who are able to come more from the inside, but are actually 'too steep' and struggle with their driver as a result.
I have felt for a long time that Charles Howell III older swing was a good example of a player that comes from the inside, but is still too steep in transition:
The video also explains in detail how golfers like Dustin Johnson and Jordan Spieth are able to rotate the pelvis and torso so much in the downswing and still hit draws. And it discusses in detail what 'getting stuck' is and why players like Dustin Johnson do not 'get stuck.'
The only negatives about the video is that they used some white tape to represent where the Center of Mass of the club is using a black graphite shafted driver and it was difficult to see that illustrated given the lighting.
And if you wanted a better look at the subject matter it would have helped to have video of players illustrating their examples. However, there may have been some copyright issues with trying to do that.
In all, I would still recommend getting both videos. But, in particular, it's advisable to get Understanding Torques and Forces in the Golf Swing, first. That explains the basic principles in physics from Dr. Sasho MacKenzie. Concepts in Transition and Impact is a little more theoretical, based on those principles from MacKenzie. Both videos will be a tremendous help to teachers and golfers.
As the Tour plays the WGC – HSBC Championship in
Sheshan, the US gets back into the swing of things with the Sanderson Farms
Championship in Mississippi being played at the Country Club of Jackson.
The Sanderson Farms Championship has been a part
of the PGA Tour schedule, under one name or another, since 1968. In 2014 they moved the event to the CC of
Jackson.
I haven’t heard a lot about CC of Jackson from the
pros likely due to it being basically an alternate field event so many of the
pros do not get to play there every year.
The successful Tour players won’t play there because they are either
playing the HSBC or they are taking time off as it’s a small purse event. And the players that do play here are usually
struggling to keep their card and may not be exempt to play here each year.
This means that there will be big-time amateurs
that just turned pro in the event like Derek Bard (New Hartford, NY boy..from
my neck of the woods), Ross Bell and Sam Burns.
It’s also the event that the winner of the Club Pro Championship (Omar
Uresti) is exempt in.
Uresti received a lot of criticism for being
allowed to play in the Club Pro Championship since he is just removed from the
Tour while many of the other participants are working 40-80 hour weeks either
on the driving range or in the shop (or both).
While I see the point, the bigger issue in this is that the status of
golfer’s has been a faulty process with glaring holes in the status in all of
golf.
I’ve played amateur events with fellow amateurs
who actually teach golf on a full time basis.
And any big-time Mid-Amateur event will likely consist of former Tour or
Mini-Tour players that decided to get their amateur status back and work jobs
where they basically play golf for a living.
Then there’s David Eger who couldn’t compete on Tour anymore and got his
amateur status back so he could compete on the amateur level and then
eventually got his pro status back so he could play on the Champions Tour. If Uresti is legitimately working full-time
at a club then his situation is far less egregious than others golfers gaming
the system.
Anyway, CC of Jackson may have a weaker field, but
it’s a big boy course where ballstriking from long distance plays a big
role. The final ‘critical hole’ of the
event will be the drivable par-4, 15th hole which plays 330 yards
long.
The Tour opens the 2017-2018 season at Silverado CC for the Safeway Open.
Given that this is the opening event and they just had the Presidents Cup (or as I refer to it as ‘The Beatings’) there’s not a strong field for this event. The purse is at $6.2 million which isn’t super enticing either.
The course plays to 7,172 yards at a par-72. Generally the course is pretty well liked but the greens do feature a lot of crown and saddle slopes (old school AimPoint talk) and that can frustrate the players with the flatstick.
It’s a big boy course for the players as it really stresses hitting GIR with long approach shots and then being able to have the short game around the green to clean up some miscues. The nice feature of the course is that the 18th hole is projected to be one of the Critical Holes for the event. It’s also a last ditch effort for those who lost their Tour card to regain it.
Projected Winning Score: -16
3JACK’S FAVORITES
Webb Simpson +1,600
Phil Mickelson +1,600
Zach Johnson +2,500
Kevin Na +2,800
Brendan Steele +2,800
3JACK’S DARK HORSE PICKS
Martin Laird +3,300
Luke List +5,000
Grayson Murray +6,600
Harris English +8,000
Andrew Landry +12,500
The final event of the 2016-2017 season occurs with the 30th Tour Championship and the 11th for the FedEx Cup at East Lake Golf Club in downtown Atlanta.
East Lake Golf Club was founded in 1904 and it is primarily known for being Bobby Jones’ home course. Currently, it is the home of primarily corporate memberships. It was originally designed by Donald Ross and then some re-designs and renovations were headed up by Rees Jones.
East Lake had become somewhat of a forgotten course in the 70’s and 80’s as the surrounding area, once referred to as ‘Lil Nam’ (as in Little Vietnam) was considered one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in the country. When I lived in Atlanta, one of my neighbors recounted the time that he and his boss played East Lake during that era and were robbed at gunpoint while playing.
Eventually, the East Lake Foundation was started and it not only revitalized the golf course, but the surrounding area. Now the East Lake area is most gentrified and has been one of neighborhoods in Atlanta that has been on the rise in the past 15 years.
Personally, I’m not a fan of the course. It’s very long at 7,385 yards and only being a par-70. It’s wide open with shorter than average rough so one can win there with a lack of driving skill. It features a lot of very difficult, if not ridiculous Red Zone (175-225 yards) shots. Thankfully, they switched around the nine’s and the 18th hole is no longer a par-3. And the old 18th hole used to be a 235 yard par-3 uphill. Overall, it’s not a bad course, but I could never figure out why it was ranked a top-100 course in the world other than the history it has with Bobby Jones.
This is a course that stresses a lot of Red Zone shots and Short Game shots which play off the difficult of the Red Zone shots.
Projected Winning Score: -11
3JACK’S FAVORITES
Jordan Spieth +500
Rickie Fowler +1,000
Jon Rahm +1,200
Jason Day +1,200
The Tour hits the second leg of the FedEx playoffs as it heads to Boston for the Dell Technologies Championship.
But to digress for a second, I was asked about Dustin Johnson’s strategy in the playoff last week.
Obviously, the strategy paid off. But that does not always mean that it was a good strategy. If the odds of executing the shot are low and you happen to get away with it, that strategy will eventually come back to haunt you if you continue to use the same approach. But, as I’ve mentioned in previous editions of Pro Golf Synopsis, longer hitters can afford to be more aggressive with their lines off the tee and they should often seek out to be more aggressive so they can take advantage of their length off the tee. This is what DJ did. It was also a high likelihood of that he was able to carry the water from that line.
The only possible issue with taking that approach is that it can be difficult to pick the proper line to aim at. However, DJ usually hits a fade the only way he doesn’t carry the water if he takes an average swing at the ball is if he hooks it. So being able to hit his fade leans more towards being safe and in the end, it was a text book strategy for a player of his length off the tee.
***
TPC Boston started hosting Tour events back in 2003 with the Deutsche Bank Championship. TPC Boston was originally designed by Arnold Palmer who is, to me, perhaps the most underrated architect of golf courses. It’s a weird thing where as much as Mr. Palmer was respected, he had such mass popularity and tremendous playing credentials that most serious golfers that analyze designs tend to not take him very seriously.
They seem to take Nicklaus’ designs more seriously, but often pan Mr. Nicklaus’ designs because of their difficulty. Ben Crenshaw generally receives great praise for his designs and he is probably the most acclaimed former player turned designer in today’s game. But you almost never hear Mr. Palmer’s name in the conversation of top quality golf course designs.
Palmer’s designs usually stray from tricked up holes and prefer low laying greens to provide a more picturesque view on approach shots. He’s especially keen on creating some holes where too many players lay up off the tee when they should hit driver and usually a hole or two where virtually everybody should lay up off the tee, but it tricks too many players into thinking they can hit driver. He’s also very adept at using ‘form follows function.’ For instance, the 17th hole at Bay Hill is a great example as it’s a very difficult tee shot on the par-3, but the green is very flat and has a very high make percentage. Thus, it’s not impossible and gives in a little to the tee shot being so difficult.
Lastly, Palmer designs usually stress keeping your ball below the hole.
Of course, TPC Boston was re-designed by Gil Hanse. But, the course is still well respected. And the 18th hole is the final critical hole on the course, so it can lead to an exciting finish:
Projected Winning Score: -15
3JACK’S FAVORITES
Dustin Johnson +700
Jordan Spieth +800
Rickie Fowler +1,400
Jon Rahm +1,800
Justin Thomas +2,000
3JACK’S DARK HORSE PICKS
Paul Casey +2,200
Kevin Chappell +3,500
Charley Hoffman +4,000
Kyle Stanley +12,500
Emiliano Grillo +15,000
The 100th PGA Championship will take place at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte. Quail Hollow is a routine Tour stop for the Wells Fargo Championship, but has made some alterations to suit the PGA Championship.
The course was originally designed by George Cobb in 1961. Cobb has a lengthy list of courses he designed, but almost all of them were relegated to the Mid-Atlantic states of Virginia, North and South Carolina. His most prominent design is actually the par-3 course at Augusta National.
Arnold Palmer made modifications to Quail Hollow in 1986 and then Tom Fazio made alterations in the course in 1997 and 2003. The main changes for the PGA Championship is that Quail Hollow is going from rye grass to Bermuda which they feel will likely make the course play firmer. They also altered the 1st hole, turning it from a 418 yard par-4 into a 508 yard par-4. They also changed the par-5 5th hole into a par-4.
Over the years most players I’ve talked to like the layout of Quail Hollow, but aren’t always nutty about the conditions and generally dislike the green contours. While I think Arnold Palmer may be the most underrated golf course designer of my generation, if there’s one attribute to his designs it’s that he was very insistent on keeping the ball below the cup and often times used some extreme contours on the greens to get that point across. But, this is still a George Cobb design and given it was built in 1961, that’s an era when green contours were much more severe so I don’t think Mr. Palmer wanted to change that too much.
Despite the recent renovations, I do not expect the course to change that much. It will still be a ballstriker’s course and the 3-wood will be more important here than it is on most other Tour courses. It still favors the longer hitter, but if the course plays firmer with the Bermuda grass, it will allow for more shorter hitters to have a chance.
While I’m not overly nutty about the course itself, I think we could have the makings for a fantastic tournament with all of the top-10 players in the world starting to play fairly well, Spieth chasing for the career Grand Slam, the possible rise of Matsuyama in making claim to the #1 player in the world and Rory starting to heat up again. And I still project that the final critical hole on the course will be the par-4 18th hole.
PROJECTED WINNING SCORE: -11
3JACK’S FAVORITES
Rory McIlroy +700
Jordan Spieth +850
Dustin Johnson +1,100
Hideki Matsuyama +1,200
Rickie Fowler +1,600
Jon Rahm +2,200
3JACK’S DARK HORSE PICKS
Paul Casey +4,500
Daniel Berger +5,500
Zach Johnson +6,600
Brendan Steele +20,000
The last leg of the World Golf Championships takes place at Firestone Country Club. The WCG-Bridgestone Invitational is considered to be founded in 1999, but the Tour has actually been playing at Firestone since 1954 at the Rubber City Invitational.
Firestone CC consists of three different courses, the North, South and the West. The PGA Tour events have almost exclusively been played at the South Course. They did play the North course in 1976 and 1994, but it was generally disliked compared to the South course.
The South Course plays to 7,400 yards flat and a 75.1 handicap index. However, it is only a par-70. The general consensus from Tour players on Firestone is very positive. It’s not impossible, but it’s still a very strong ballstrikers course that is in superb condition, isn’t tricked up and usually has fantastic crowds. It also helps that it has one of the biggest purses on Tour and there is no cut line.
In order to qualify for the event, a player must meet one of the following criteria:
• Playing members of the last named Presidents Cup or Ryder Cup teams (whichever was played last).
• Players ranked among the top 50 on the Official World Golf Ranking (one week and two weeks prior to event).
• Tournament winners of worldwide events since the prior year's tournament with an Official World Golf Ranking Strength of Field Rating of 115 points or more.
• The winner of one selected tournament from each of the PGA Tour of Australasia, Sunshine Tour and Asian Tour and two selected tournaments from the Japan Golf Tour.
Most of the strokes lost/gained here will come off the tee and approach shots from mid-to-long range. What I like about Firestone is that while it’s a ballstriker’s course, it’s not necessarily a long ball hitter course as Craig Parry and Hunter Mahan have won here.
What I don’t like about the course is the Critical Holes are all on the front nine and the last critical hole is on the 494 yard par-4 9th hole.
Projected Winning Score: -13
3JACK’S FAVORITES
Jordan Spieth +800
Rickie Fowler +1,600
Hideki Matsuyama +1,800
Jon Rahm +2,200
Paul Casey +3,300
Matt Kuchar +3,300
3JACK’S DARK HORSE PICKS
Gary Woodland +5,500
Charley Hoffman +5,500
Russell Henley +8,000
Bryson DeChambeau +12,500
Big congratulations goes to Jordan Spieth on winning The Open Championship in dramatic fashion:
The past data for Birkdale proved to ring true as it was a Red Zone/Short Game/Putting course. Unfortunately, I didn’t pick either Spieth or Kuchar due to their performance in all three categories being a little off this season. However, they have traditionally performed well in those areas and sometimes it just takes a while for a top player to return to their old form.
***
Glen Abbey will be hosting the 114th Canadian Open. The Canadian Open is hosted at a numerous different locations, but Glen Abbey has hosted the most Canadian Opens (27). This is likely due to the popularity of golf in the Ontario region, the size of the city of Toronto and more predictable weather. If you can get a passport, this could be a fun tournament to go to with a trip to Niagara Falls and Toronto is one of the nicest cities you’ll ever visit.
Glen Abbey was originally designed by Jack Nicklaus. Nicklaus’ prime architectural mentor was Pete Dye. However, Glen Abbey was one of Nicklaus’ earlier designs so there is not so much of a Pete Dye influence as you tend to see in Nicklaus’ later designs.
Typically from Nicklaus designs you see a course that features false fronts and a lot of nuances that make the course made for TV. It also tends to come with some disputed opinion on the course itself as I’ve heard varying opinions from Tour players. Some really enjoy Glen Abbey and others strongly dislike it. It’s probably one of the courses with the largest discrepancy in reviews I’ve come across on Tour. It does typically play fast and firm, but that region has received a lot of rain which could make the course softer and thus favor longer hitters.
PROJECTED WINNING SCORE: -17
3JACK FAVORITES
Dustin Johnson +600
Matt Kuchar +1,100
Tony Finau +2,200
Bubba Watson +2,800
Gary Woodland +4,500
Keegan Bradley +4,500
3JACK DARK HORSE PICKS
Adam Hadwin +6,000
Kevin Tway +6,600
Jason Kokrak +10,000
Harold Varner III +12,500
Before I go on to The Open, I wanted to discuss Bryson DeChambeau's victory at the John Deere Classic.
DeChambeau came in to the Tour with some controversy with his swing philosophies and the Single Length irons concept. There has been a lot of attacking the Single Length iron concept, but here's Bryson's current rankings of key performance metrics:
(out of 202 golfers)
Driving Effectiveness: 21st
Green Zone (75-125 yds): 200th Yellow Zone (125-175 yds): 61st Red Zone (175-225 yds): 31st
Short Game (<30 b="" yards="">82nd
Putts Gained: 173rd
As we can see, ballstriking has not been the major issue for Bryson. He has struggled from the Green Zone (75-125 yds), but that is a fairly volatile metric where players often perform well there one season and struggle from there the next season. In fact, Bryson ranked 44th from the Green Zone in 2016.
Having hit the Sterling Single Length irons and Cobra One Length irons I have been amazed how easy it is to hit the long irons straight. I generally don't have an issue hitting long irons given how much of my practice is focused on the long irons, but the ability to hit them straight has been impressive.
In the end, when it comes to distance with irons it's about proper gapping, the landing angle of the ball and the spin rate. The claim 'they've tried this before and it didn't work' neglects the changes in technology and the more advanced engineering concepts that exist today. Engineers like Tom Wishon, David Edel and the people from Cobra have been able find ways to allow their irons to properly yardage gap, get the proper amount of spin and compatible landing angles.
Single length irons won't be for everybody but neither will variable length irons. It's just something to keep an open mind about when looking for a set of irons.
***
Royal Birkdale was built in 1889 and received 'Royal' status in 1951. The Clubhouse to Birkdale is unusual in the sense it looks like it was from 1970's architectures with it's clean lines and boxy design, but it was actually built in 1935 which makes me think they were 35 years ahead of time on a very fad-ish design concept.
The course is more appealing for TV than your typical Open course although you probably won't see the great views like you will see at Royal St. George or Royal Liverpool. But the course is well received because the tee shots are more 'fair' and it is supposed to be in great condition.
Looking at the past two championships at Birkdale the common theme of the top finishers tends to be Red Zone (175-225 yds) play, short game performance and putting. Typically, I don't focus on good putters when making picks for an event because usually putting is too unpredictable on almost all of the courses on Tour.
Years ago, I asked Aimpoint creater (www.aimpointgolf.com), Mark Sweeney, about what the most difficult courses where to read the greens. I thought he would reply with Augusta National, but instead he said that Augusta's greens are not all that difficult to read. Instead, he mentioned the various courses in the Open cycle because they often feature odd locations for anchor points (lowest point of the green) and that makes the reads very difficult to accurately see.
Therefore, given this information and Royal Birkdale's past history of favoring good putters, I will consider putting more here in these picks:
3JACK'S FAVORITES
Rickie Fowler +1,600
Jon Rahm +1,600
Louis Oosthuizen +4,500
Thomas Pieters +5,000
Marc Leishman +5,000
Justin Thomas +5,000
3JACK'S DARK HORSE PICKS
Ian Poulter +6,600
Daniel Berger +8,000
Matthew Fitzpatrick +8,000
Bernd Wiesberger +10,000
Kevin Na +25,000
The Tour comes to Illinois for the 46th John Deere Classic at TPC Deere Run. Ed McMahon served as the original host of the event from 1975 to 1979.
TPC Deere Run was designed by former Tour player, DA Weibring. It was built in 2000 and plays to 7,258 yards long with a 144 slope and a 75.8 rating. However, the course does not play anywhere close to that difficult for the John Deere Classic. The ball tends to roll out pretty good making the course play shorter and it has very receptive greens and flat putting surfaces which mean a lot of approach shots are struck close and a higher percentage of putts are being made.
Generally the course is liked by the Tour players because it’s not a completely grueling dogfight and it’s rather fun to play. It plays fairly tough off the tee because some of the landing areas are pretty small. This places an emphasis on driving the ball, but once you get out to the approach, most shots are gained/lost from 135-170 yards.
The field here is unpredictable from year-to-year because the British Open is the following week and many of the Canadian players want to prepare for the Canadian Open which is the following week after the British Open. It often depends on how the top stars feel about playing the British Open and if they are lukewarm on the Open, they may be more willing to play the John Deere.
Anyway, expect low scores and lots of birdies. Generally favors mid-length drivers of the ball and makes life difficult on the longer hitters.
The final official critical hole is the par-5, 17th hole. But the 18th almost made the list of critical holes. That means the final 2 holes can provide for some real excitement even if it is a low scoring event.
PROJECTED WINNING SCORE: -21
3JACK’S FAVORITES
Brian Harman +1,600
Charley Hoffman +1,800
Kyle Stanley +2,200
Steve Stricker +2,200
Ben Martin +4,000
Bryson DeChambeau +4,000
3JACK’S DARK HORSE PICKS
Chez Reavie +4,500
Ryan Palmer +6,600
Rory Sabbatini +17,500
Rick Lamb +30,000
The Tour comes back to White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia after playing the Quicken Loans at TPC Potomac.
I didn't do a What To Look For last week due to the Tour having not played TPC Potomac in a while and the course went thru renovations and re-design in the process. What's interesting is that the course, back when it was known as TPC Avenel, was once won by one of the premier ballstrikers at the time in Grant Waite.
Kyle Stanley is now one of the best ballstrikers on Tour and the course was very much about driving off the tee with a bias towards hitting fairways rather than distance. Stanley is one of the best drivers on Tour (currently 5th in Driving Effectiveness) and favors more accuracy (currently 7th in Adjusted Hit Fairway Percentage) than distance off the tee.
***
The Greenbrier Classic will be played at The Old White TPC. The Greenbrier Classic replaced the old Buick Open which was being held in Michigan and had the second most raucous crowds next to TPC Scottsdale.
The Old White TPC was built in 1914 by Charles Blair MacDonald. It went thru some re-designs and then had some slight re-designs last year after the flood which destroyed the course and killed 20 people.
The course has been well received by Tour players since the Tour started coming here. In fact, Bubba Watson took up a summer residence here and it is frequently visited by Lee Trevino. The renovations have kept much of the course the same except they had to re-do each of the 18 greens and supposedly they move the greenside bunkers a little closer to the greens.
I know in the south Bermuda greens are supposedly good for roughly 14 years. When they get renovated with new bermuda grass, I find it usually takes about 1 year for the greens to settle in. So with the bunkers being a little closer to the greens and the greens possibly being firmer (although they have bent grass greens), greenside bunker player could play a factor.
In the past, long approach shots and 3-wood play was quite important here.
Projected Winning Score: - 15
3JACK'S FAVORITES
Kevin Kisner +1,400
David Lingmerth +2,500
Webb Simpson +2,800
Graham DeLaet +5,500
3JACK'S DARK HORSE PICKS
Nick Watney +6,600
Ollie Schniederjans +6,600
Luke List +9,000
Scott Stallings +12,500
Hudson Swafford +12,500
Harold Varner III +12,500
The Tour comes off the US Open to play the 65th Travelers Championship.
First, some thoughts on the US Open.
I felt that Brandel Chamblee made some great insight into what the US Open should be. It should be an intimidating golf course and unfortunately while Erin Hills was a great layout it failed to intimidate players. However, at the other end of the spectrum Chambers Bay and often times Pebble Beach which are great layout in their own right (yes, Chambers Bay is a great layout) where so tricked up that they look visually unappealing and do not represent the best of what US golf has to offer.
I feel the USGA needs to forget so much about even par being the winning score and instead create an intimidating course. If you hit a good shot, you’re rewarded. If you hit a bad shot you are severely punished. And if you hit an average shot you’re at least risking a severe penalty, but not guaranteeing a severe penalty.
I grew up a fan of baseball before I got into golf. And in the 90’s when baseball badly needed a surge in popularity, they allowed an era of steroids, juiced baseballs, shorter fences, stadiums designed where the airflow would help propel the ball further and smaller strike zones to allow more home runs and offense…using the old adage ‘offense sells tickets.’
This led to Sammy Sosa bettering Roger Maris’ home run record in a season and Mark McGwire destroying Maris’ home run record by 15%. And over the course of the next 3 seasons, McGwire, Sosa and then Barry Bonds made Maris’ home run record look like a mere pittance. Maris also set the record at the age of 26 years old compared to McGwire and Bonds setting their records at 34 and 36 years old respectively. Furthermore, prior to the ‘steroid era’, the closest anybody ever came to Maris’ record since the year he established it (1961) was 52 home runs by Willie Mays and George Foster.
The steroid era created a jump in the popularity of baseball, but that was short lived and not only was Maris’ record deemed meaningless…but the records set by McGwire, Sosa and Bonds were cheapened by the fact that Major League Baseball essentially found ways to lower the bar enough to make it possible to break Maris’ record. For roughly 35 years, nobody could sniff Maris’ record and in roughly a 3 year span there were players easily beating the record.
Don’t get me wrong, records are meant to be broken. But, they are also meant to be cherished. Protect the integrity of your records and that record will protect you. Had any player in baseball broken Maris’ record ‘legitimately’ the game would have gotten a lot more mileage from it.
And that’s the problem with making a low scoring US Open where records are almost easily destroyed. It cheapens the legacy of the tournament and it doesn’t do the participants any justice.
For instance, Justin Thomas did shoot a brilliant 63. But the below chart shows that when you base in on relation to the average score that day, Johnny Miller’s 63 at Oakmont was indeed better.
Statistics are not always convenient. However, it's okay to compare and contrast performances in different situations. Statistics can provide a much clearer picture to accurately depict the situational and to help better formulate your thoughts.
While Thomas’ round wasn’t as impressive as Miller’s play at Oakmont, it was still an incredible round. However, that was tarnished by the fact that anybody could see the 60 yard wide fairways on display and start to see that the course was made far easier than just about any US Open venue in history. But again, Thomas still played an INCREDIBLE round of golf.
IMO, the problem lies with the USGA’s inability to understand what makes golf holes difficult and easy. How to make particularly holes more difficult than normal or easier than normal. If they do have knowledge, it’s essentially a guessing game based on old golf adages instead of using hard, detailed data.
This isn’t exactly rocket science. All it takes is good ole fashioned research, data collection and testing. Trying to determine with greater accuracy to project how difficult each hole will play and if a hole projects to play easy, how to reasonable create factors to counter the ease of the hole and vice versa. Instead of guessing, it’s a strive for excellence in both difficulty and visual appeal.
That striving for excellence is something that would be the very best possible representation of the US Open.
***
The Travelers Championship was originally the Insurance City Open as the state of Connecticut has more insurance companies headquartered in Connecticut than any state in the US. Manhattan is the banking and financial headquarters of the US and insurance companies wanted to be near Manhattan, so they chose Connecticut.
Eventually it was changed to the Greater Hartford Open. TPC River Highlands was originally known as Middletown Golf Club and then Edgewood Country Club. The PGA Tour bought out Edgewood Country Club and had Pete Dye re-design the course and name it TPC Connecticut. In 1989 the course went further re-design under architect Bobby Weed (excellent designer) with the help of pros Roger Maltbie and Howard Twitty.
Last year, Jim Furyk shot the course and PGA Tour record of a 58 at TPC River Highlands:
Generally, TPC River Highlands is a well liked course by Tour players. It’s private and has bentgrass greens, so they can usually keep it in excellent shape. It’s not too taxing mentally and it provides some advantages to the long hitters, but also allows shorter hitters to compete. The reason for it not being played by more players on Tour is due to it usually coming the week after the US Open and the purse size ($6,800,000) is on the lower end.
The long hitters have an advantage because the course allows them to hit a lot of drivers. The shorter hitters can compete because iron play is quite critical here and one cannot recklessly bomb it off the tee and be rewarded if they are hitting inaccurate tee shots.
So, I would be on the lookout for either superior iron players or long hitters having a good week driving the ball and leaving themselves with shorter and easier approach shots into the green. Also the final critical hole on the course will be the par-4 17th hole.
PROJECTED WINNING SCORE: -15
3JACK’S FAVORITES
Jordan Spieth +1,000
Justin Thomas +1,200
Paul Casey +2,000
Bubba Watson +3,000
Brendan Steele +3,300
Charley Hoffman +3,300
3JACK’S DARK HORSE PICKS
Kyle Stanley +4,000
Ryan Palmer +10,000
Lucas Glover +10,000
Boo Weekley +40,000
The 117th US Open will take place at Erin Hills this week:
The construction of Erin Hills began in 2004 and it officially opened in 2006. Courses like Erin Hills developed the latest trend in US golf course instruction...find unused land out of the middle of nowhere and develop that land into an upscale golf retreat. Much like Bandon Dunes out in Oregon or Streamsong Resort in Florida.
The course was designed by Dr. Michael Hurdzan. I have played a couple of Hurdzan's designs and his early designs I really didn't care for. However, you could see tremendous progress he has made in his design concepts as his more recent designs are quite excellent. The general reviews for the design of Erin Hills are very positive. It's just a case of how much the USGA wants to mess it up.
One of the issues at hand is the tall fescue that apparently is on every hole. Kevin Na recently discussed this in an Instragram video he made:
I'm a huge fan of the US Open and all things being equal, it's my favorite golf tournament. But my worries are that the USGA will, once again, make the course visually and physically unappealing to watch. I've heard nothing but good reviews about Chambers Bay by golfers that have played there, but the 2015 US Open made the course look like a goat track and play like a pinball machine. Sure, everybody is playing the same course, but turning a good course into a disaster just lacks common sense.
In essence, the USGA needs to do away with the 'we want the winning score to be even par' mantra and just break it down into:
1. If you hit a below average shot you will likely be penalized
2. If you hit a better than average shot you will not be penalized for it.
It's not rocket science.
***
I actually like that the US Open is now being played at more modern courses. Traditional courses like Baltusrol, Medinah and The Country Club are fairly boring to me. And honestly, I find Oakmont to be boring outside of the incredible speed of the greens and the church pews. I still think Pebble Beach is a fine course, but the conditions during the US Open are almost always dreadful.
What we know about Erin Hills is that it may play to over 7,800 yards and has an index rating of 77.9 with a slope of 145. The greens are bentgrass and should be fairly slick. However, I doubt they'll get them above 13 on the stimp (let's keep our fingers crossed with the USGA) due to the undulations and possible winds which would make it difficult to keep the ball from rolling on the greens if they are too fast.
What's also nice is that they haven't created any super ridiculous par-3's and have reserved more of the length of the course for the Par-5's which are 608, 607, 613 and 663 yards a piece.
It's always difficult to project a course that the Tour hasn't played, but Kelly Kraft won the US Amateur at Erin Hills in 2011. Here's a look at Kraft's key performance metrics this season:
It's a stretch to accurately judge the winner by looking at Kraft's metrics six years after he won a US Amateur there. But, my educated guess is that iron play will be a larger deciding factor and because it'st he US Open, I would look at performance from 175-250 yards (yes, extend out to 225-250 yards). It's interesting that he is a poor Driver and Short Game performer. However, Payne Stewart wasn't the greatest driver of the ball when he won his US Opens and Graeme McDowell was a notoriously poor around the greens when he won the US Open at Pebble Beach.
With that being said, the safe bets are still to look at:
- Performance from 175-250 yards
- Performance off the tee
- Short Game play from 10-20 yards
- Avoid players that missed the cut at Memphis
- Avoid players that have never won a PGA or European PGA Tour event
Since the field is so much larger at the US Open, I will give 20 picks (10 favorites, 10 dark horse picks):
3JACK'S FAVORITES
Dustin Johnson +750
Jordan Spieth +1,200
Rory McIlroy +1,200
Jason Day +1,400
Jon Rahm +2,000
Justin Rose +2,200
Sergio Garcia +2,200
Adam Scott +3,000
Justin Thomas +3,300
Branden Grace +4,000
3JACK'S DARK HORSE PICKS
Louis Oosthuizen +5,000
Kevin Kisner +6,600
Shane Lowry +6,600
Daniel Berger +6,600
Jason Dufner +6,600
Marc Leishman +8,000
Byeong-Hun An +10,000
Brendan Steele +12,500
J.B. Holmes +12,500
Martin Laird +20,000
I decided to take another lesson from Denny Lucas & Jeff Haas (www.kelvinmiyahiragolf.com) on Saturday, June 10th. Unfortunately, I could not get a video of my swing prior to the lesson. Those who live in Florida know that this past week we were bombarded with rain almost every day. Here's video of my swing that I took over 3 weeks ago.
What I want to go into in this particular post is the question of 'When should I get another lesson?'
Based on my experience of taking lessons, I find it best to give your latest lesson an honest try, first. That's why I think it's a bad idea to get a lesson once a week. You have to fight thru the difficulties and also allow the teacher to better determine why you are unable to execute the motion that you are trying to make.
From there, the big question is 'Are you progressing?'
Now, I would advise that if you're playing well...keep on playing. Enjoy the fruits of your labor. But once you start plateauing in your scores AND your technique, then it's time to get a new lesson. But again, it's important to reward yourself if you are playing better by not taking a new lesson.
For me, I figured it would take me roughly six weeks for a new lesson. I thought it would take me about 2-3 weeks to get the backswing pieces down pat and then 3-4 weeks to make some progress with the downswing pieces.
I did shoot 68 (-4) the last time I played, but I could see the scores plateauing and I was executing the downswing pieces less often.
***
Prior to my lesson I got on Trackman and only had time to hit 6-irons because the shop was going to close down for the night. Here's some key numbers I was getting with the 6-iron.
Here is a view of the PGA Tour averages on Trackman:
(Click to Enlarge)
So while the club speed and ball speed numbers are good, the launch angle indicates the bigger issue of my swing. Furthermore, the spin rate is slightly lower than the PGA Tour average (6,000 rpm vs. 6,200 rpm), but that is still too much spin for that type of high launch angle.
This would also explain one of my issues with mid to short irons...distance control. The launch angle is too high and when the spin rate gets close to 6,000 rpm that cause more of a ballooning, soft ball flight. And when I get the spin rate closer to 5,000 rpm, then I may miss long due to creating a high launch, low spin rate conditions with the ball flight.
***
With that, Denny, Jeff and myself worked on the following parts:
BACKSWING
- Standing Taller at address
- Not going 'up' so much
- Getting more left lateral bend at the top of the swing.
In the last swing journal post I had discussed how by 'going up' in the backswing it allowed me to get more leverage and keep the swing shorter. The issue was that I over-did it a bit and that would make it difficult to get the left hip into flexion in the downswing which will help in rotating the pelvis and getting the torso more tilted towards the target instead of the torso tilting back and away from the target. That will create more forward shaft lean at impact and lower the launch conditions.
Below is a diagram showing more of what we are trying to achieve thru impact. The yellow line represents the middle of the torso to where the head should be.
The red line represents the left arm and shaft in a 'drive-hold release.'
By being more crouched over at address and having to go upward so much it makes it difficult to get the left hip into flexion and instead the pelvis slides instead of rotates and we get that excessive torso tilt.
Like I always say We only make a change if it is for a good and detailed reason.
Standing taller at address also helps give some 'leverage' so I don't over-swing the arms in the backswing.
DOWNSWING
- Continue to work on the left hip flexion, creating the 'K' look on the downswing
- Create the left hip flexion by flexion and lowering the left hip instead of raising right hip
- We want the left hip and leg to flex independent of right leg movement.
- Proper left hip flexion will cause the lower spine to tilt towards the target.
- Scapula 'lift' to help shallow out the shaft plane
The first 4 bullet points are basically the same motion, it's just more detail in hopes to better understand the motion. But, the 'K' look is an important concept.
When we have the left hip flexion and the pelvis is rotating, we see a semblance to a 'K' from the left side of Sadlowski's torso down his left leg. This is common with drive-hold release swings because the golfer is getting the necessary left hip flexion in order to rotate the pelvis and make for it easier to execute the drive-hold release.
In my swing, I didn't get enough left hip flexion and didn't get the lower spine tilted towards the ball and the target and I could not create that 'K' look:
We discussed some things further about this and we worked on what we call the 'scapula lift' where the left scapula lifts upward in the downswing in order to help flatten the shaft plane. As I've discussed many times on this blog, if you struggle with rotating the pelvis often times the shaft plane being too steep is the cause. However, I will get into the scapula lift in later swing journal entries.
For now, I plan on working on the following at once:
- Standing taller at address
- Left lateral bend at the top of the swing
- Left hip flexion in downswing to create the 'K' Look
- Scapula Lift
So far, the one that is difficult to implement is the left hip flexion. The other three pieces I caught on to quickly and do not seem difficult for me to learn. However, since the left lateral bend and scapula lift go hand-in-hand, I will work on them at the same time.
