Golfer's Paradise

Tournament news

2009-02-25T00:16:00.003Z

By now most will know that Laura Davies won the Womens Australian Open held at Metropolitan Golf Club on Sunday February 15th. Laura was victorious thanks to playing well at the weekend, when it really matters! To highlight this fact Karrie Webb was in lead at the end of the first round at 7 under par while Davies won on the Sunday with a 4 round aggregate of 7 under par. Laura was in a way handed an easy win when Tania Elosegui 3 putted the 18th for a double bogey six costing her the opportunity of a play-off. Being lucky enough to watch Davies going up the stretch on the Sunday afternoon I found it refreshing that when she had hit her approach to the green on the 16th hole in to the bunker she had played her (tricky) bunker shot while her caddy was still halfway up the fairway. This is a rare sight in professional (and elite amateur) golf nowadays that you see a player with that much confidence and natural feel that they have the guts to play the shot in that situation without consulting their caddy. Yes, Davies is experienced and I am biased being a British golfer who has grown up watching her but I feel that the natural side of golf is being lost.

Johnnie Walker Classic

What a performance!! 18 year old AMATEUR Danny Lee birdied the last 2 holes to win by one shot. I heard later that his aim for the week had been to get into the top 20 and he was a bundle of nerves coming up the stretch seeing his name on the leaderboard. From what I saw on TV he looked like he was just enjoying himself and soaking up the atmosphere. In my opinion the amateur game is different from the pro game and although Danny Lee was not affected by shots costing him money he still did a great job of keeping himself together to claim a significant title. Yes, he is the reigning US amateur champion but winning a professional event in which Colin Montgomerie, Lee Westwood and many other leading pros were playing in is a magnificent achievement. He has all the signs of being a great player and great for the game of golf so good luck Danny Lee.

Keep Swinging x x

The Match

2009-02-03T23:36:00.002Z

Mid-morning on a warm February day "The Match" took place on The Legends course at Moonah Links. Sarah Herd was trying to get 2009 off to a winning start whilst also improving her win-loss ratio against her opponent, Brendan Bartling. Sarah was fired up for the match due to Brendan's (serious) suggestion that he should give her some shots to make it interesting!

The game got off to an exciting start on the par 5 first hole when Sarah having misjudged her second shot was left with a 5 iron into the green. Knowing that Brendan just had a little pitch left for his third shot Sarah was hoping to get it close. When the ball start off on line she was hoping it was good but as the shot was completely blind she had no idea until Brendan said that it had gone in the hole for an eagle.. one up.

Not for long though as a par was good enough for Brendan to square the match at the next hole. Some bad putting from both players on the par 3 third so a halved hole. The lead continued to shift throughout the front nine resulting in the score line being all square at the turn.

Down to business on the back nine then! The short par 4 11th saw Brendan spray his 3 wood (for accuracy!) into the trouble on the right whilst Sarah finished up just short of the green. Finding his ball and managing to play it out to the front edge Brendan was in good position to make par. Meanwhile Sarah pitched to about 5 foot and sunk her birdie putt to win the hole. The next crucial hole was the 15th when Sarah conceeded the hole having found a tough lie in the greenside bunker and not managing to shift the ball.

On to the 16th tee we went where we were confronted with one of the biggest greens in golf. With a huge ridge running across the green it became obvious that getting the ball close to the hole would be tricky. Brendan hit what looked like a good shot that just didn't quite manage to carry the ridge so fell down to the bottom of it. Learning from this Sarah hit a bit too much club and ran through the back of the green. Faced with a reasonably straight forward chip Sarah played it to 6 foot left of the hole. Brendan then had to try and put up this ridge which would be more suited to a skate park than a golf course! His first attempt was poor and the ball came back to his feet. His seond attempt was a mishit which had the same result as his first. Third time lucky he managed to get the ball up the hill but still short of the hole and still not losing his turn he then missed that to clock up a 5 putt 6! Sarah proceeded to hole her par putt to square the match.

All square on the 18th tee. With both drives in the midle of the fairway it was Sarah to hit her approach first. Hitting it right on line the shot looked good all the way and both players believed that it had come to rest fairly close to the hole. Brendan, cracking under the pressure, blocked his approach finishing up off in the valley to the right edge of the green. Sarah's ball had actually run towards the back edge of the green so she was still faced with a long putt. With Brendan slightly thining his chip Sarah was left knowing that a 2 putt would definitely extend the match and possibly even win it. As a result she lagged the putt down to 3 foot and when Brendan missed his par putt Sarah holed out to win the match!!

At the end of the day the best player won!

(Sarah is willing to conceed that following this match another match was played at Patterson River Country Club in which Brendan managed to sort out his putting and win by 4&2.)

Keep Swinging

General News!

2009-02-03T23:16:00.002Z

Sorry for the lack of updating... no excuses just been lazy!

Golf Destination of the Year Awards
Scotland has been voted the golf destination of the year beating The Algarve into second place. This is an award that Scotland, the home of golf thoroughly deserves. Not only does Scotland have the famous links courses which are great tests of golf but there are also many hidden gems such as Brora, Kilmarnock (Barassie). Scotland does not necessarily have the best golf courses in the world (this is a very subjective issue) but the way in which golf is appreciated and played is second to no other country. In Scotland I find players appreciate that golf courses need to be navigated when playing in order to achieve a good score and that it is not always about hitting the ball as far as possible. Many tourists who go to play golf in scotland feel the game is different and don't necessarily enjoy it but I believe that this is the roots of golf and personally I enjoy having to plot my way around a golf course.

Monty is Ryder Cup Captain

This news is a week old now but Monty has been appointed the European Ryder Cup Captain for the matches at Celtic Manor in 2010. I think that Colin Montgomerie will be an excellent captain and there is no question about whether he is deserving of the captaincy. Those who read my earlier post about the captaincy debate will know that I was hoping that Sandy Lyle would be appointed. I am very disappointed for Sandy as his achievements in golf would be deserving of the captaincy but unfortunately he has been denied it by the fact that there are too many high quality candidates at present and he has been away from the main tour for the longest. I was also hoping that Monty would not be captain until the 2014 matches at Gleneagles, Scotland, as the support there would have been amazing. Anyway I would like to wish Monty the best of luck with the preparations over the next 18 months and obviously the matches in September 2010.

Keep Swinging

2010 Ryder Cup Captaincy

2009-01-12T22:24:00.002Z

This week in Abu Dhabi at the European tour event the potential european team's captain for the 2010 matches will be discussed. These matches will be held at Celtic Manor resort in Wales. There is some clear leaders in the "contest" for the captaincy.

Jose Marie Olazabal is probably the favourite. He served as a vice captain to Nick Faldo at the matches in 2008 as well as just last week captaining Europe int he Royal Trophy in place of Seve Ballesteros who was unable to do so due to his health. Olazabal has had a succesful Ryder Cup career, best known for his wonderful partnership with his good friend Seve. He is however, keen to still be playing in the 2010 Ryder Cup and with the nature of the captaincy job nowadays a playing captain would not be possible.

Sandy Lyle is another strong candidate for the captaincy. (He is in fact my preferred candidate.) Sandy Lyle is the only one of the great European 5 not so far to have been given the role of captaining europe. He is worthy of the captaincy because he is a major winner, is experienced of playing round the globe and has been a valuable ambassador for european golf. The critics state that Sandy would not be the best choice due to the fact he has not competed on tour for a few years thus is out of touch with the younger players and what it takes to win nowadays. I however, believe that it would be a great shame if such an icon of european golf were not to be honoured with the Ryder Cup captaincy. However, I do hope that Europe pick a captain that will help them to win the trophy.

Other candidates for the captaincy are Ian Woosnam, Paul McGinley, Miguel Angel Jimenez and Thomas Bjorn. Woosnam is the leader of these other candidates as he did such a great job in 2006 at The K Club and being a welshman he would be an appropriate candidate who would definitely get the crowd going. The issue with Woosnam being appointed captain is the European committee in recent years has been following a policy of no repeat captaincies. Thus the appointment of Woosnam would involve breaking this policy.

At the end of the day there will be much discussion about the possible European captain until they are announced. All the candidates would do a great job and would certainly give there all for Europe to regain the cup lost in 2008. Lets hope for a scandal and conflict free appointment process and wish whoever the captain is the best of luck in their preparations for the matches.

Keep Swinging x x

Annika Sorenstam

2008-12-22T10:45:00.003Z

Where do we start? Annika has been an amazing female golfer over the last 20 years, 15 professionally. Having won 10 "Majors" and in total nearly 90 professional tournaments her career has been well decorated. Not only has Annika achieved a lot personally for the game of golf but she has achieved a lot for the game of women's golf. In a similar way to that of Tiger Woods, Annika has inspired many young girls to take up the game of golf and realise that it can be a good lifestyle. In her time as a professional the ladies European tour has expanded and changed dramatically, as shown by the fact that Annika's last tournament was the Dubai Ladies Masters which is a LET tournament. It is fitting that Annika finished this tournament, and her career, with a birdie in front of a gallery filled with her peers, many of whom were inspired by her 10 years ago.

Annika has been careful not to rule herself out of playing more competitive golf which is smart and I hope to see her gracing the fairways at even greater women's golf tournaments in the future. However, for now Annika's focus is going to be on family life, her academy and course design. She has also agreed to be an ambassador for golf becoming an olympic sport again thus her "retirement" will be rather busy.

I was lucky enough to be invited to a clinic with Annika in September but unlucky enough that I was unable to go due to other commitments. Believe me I tried my best to be able to go but it wasn't going to work. My brother however, took my place and he said that Annika was the ultimate professional in conducting herself at the clinic. Not only was she professional, according to my brother, but she seemed genuinely interested in making sure the clients had an enjoyable day. Although this does not seem like much, all too often professionals in this situation can let the fact they would much rather be elsewhere stop them from giving a good impression to the clients.

Best wishes for the festive season and 2009.

Keep swinging!

Golfer of the year!

2008-12-10T06:43:00.002Z

Padraig harrington has just been named European tour golfer of the year for 2008. He won this same award in 2007 which is a magnificent achievement. Harrington has, without doubt, had a fantastic season highlighted by victories in both The Open Championship and US PGA championship. He has also cemented his place in the top 5 players in the world whilst proving the skill and determination he has to be one of the best golfers in the world. I am a fan of Padraig being particularly fond of his laid back but focused attitude and how he seems to take most things in his stride whilst working hard to be the best he can be. I do not believe that Harrington is one of the most talented players in the game at the moment but he is one of the most focused and hardest working which is what I respect. Don't get me wrong I am not against talented players doing well but I appreciate people in all walks of life who make the most of what they have and strive to be as good as they can be. I read today that Harrington is planning on using his off-season break to improve his fitness and make some swing changes so he can perform consistently week in week out when it is required. For a player who has just had the best 2 seasons of his career this is an impressive attitude to have and one that, I believe, relatively few people would have. In my opinion not just in golf but all across life people readily settle for small achievements and don't strive to achieve greater things.

Good luck to Padraig and everyone else who is continuing to look to improve despite already achieving the highest points of their careers or life already.

Keep swinging x x

Money

2008-11-22T09:06:00.002Z

I would like to start this post by stating that despite being a female sports person I am not a feminist. By this I mean I am not likely to enter debates about male and female differences in sport and differences in funding following the line that pay should be equal.

Having looked at the ladies european tour order of merit for 2008 I noticed that the leader, Gwladys Nocera, had "only" won just over 384,500 Euros from 22 events. This struck me as being a surprisingly low amount and led to me looking at the men's european tour order of merit for 2008 and 2009 (as this season started recently). I noticed that Sergio Garcia who is currently leading the european tour of merit has won over 650,000 euros from one event and Robert Karlsson who won the 2008 order merit did so with season earnings of over 2.7 million euros (23 events). We all know that prize money comes from sponsorship dollars and other revenues, (ticket sales and TV rights). Therefore it is understandable that the men's earnings are greater than the ladies however, this is a huge discrepancy.

To look at this discreapncy further I would like to look at the lower places on the order of merit. The female in place 183rd on the ladies european tour has earned just 520 Euros from 14 events. Yes I hear you this player is obviously not very good but the player in 184th place on the Men's tour has earned 62,711 euros from 16 events. Infact you need to go down to position 369th on the mens tour to find a player who has earned less than 520 Euros. There are fewer players on the ladies european tour and they tend to play shorter courses but is this reason for players ranked almost 200 positions lower on the mens tour to earn the same as a lady on the ladies tour?

Typically I am an optimist, I always live life in the present and look on the bright side of life, however, I am also a realist (at times anyway). On this note I have thought over the past 4 years or so seriously about whether or not to try and pursue a professional golf career. I have come to the conclusion to stick in at university and keep golf as a hobby for a few reasons. One of these is a player from my home club is currently playing on the ladies european tour and knowing her pretty well I have discovered how difficult it is. Another reason is that of a another player from my home club who I don't know well having played out on the Futures tour in the USA for a few years. This player was a Curtis Cup player and a +4 handicapper but last I heard she was working full time as a caddy at a golf resort in the UK. I am not trying to scare aspiring professionals at all but just found the difference interesting and discovered that even in the top 150 positions on the men's tour you can make a reasonable living whereas on the ladies tour you need to be ranked in the top 40 to make a living. Thus personally I will settle for playing amateur tournaments!

Keep swinging x

Tour Schools

2008-11-18T22:40:00.002Z

The last few weeks has seen the holding of tour schools on both the European and American tours. By all accounts these are the worst tournaments of the year because of the various stages involved culminating in a 6 round final stage with a cut after 4 rounds. Not only is this an endurance test of fitness and golf ability but it is a test of the mind as being able to keep concentration for 6 rounds when under so much pressure would be no mean feat. On this note I have discussed getting ahead of yourself in a round of golf with a few of my playing partners recently and we all know it is a dangerous thing to do but we still all do it. To put this into tour school perspective a good first round in the final stage might lead to you getting over excited and thinking you have almost done enough to secure your card or more realistically being well inside the top 30 players at the start of the final round and thinking that all you need to do is protect your position can be suicidal and result in you missing your card.

At tour schools there is always good and bad stories. A story that has caught my eye this year is that of Andrew Coltart. For those of you who don't know of or haven't heard of him I will remind you that he played in the 1999 Ryder Cup as a Captain's pick having finished just outside the automatic qualifying. For the last few years Coltart has been most noticable in the golf scene doing some commentating while trying to play some challenge tour events. However, he won his card at the european tour school this year so hopefully we will see him out there having some good finishes in 2009 and his experience can help him succeed and reach his potential.

Good luck to all those who earned their tour cards for 2009 and all those who just missed out. Practice hard.

Keep swinging

Seve Ballesteros

2008-11-15T10:15:00.005Z

As I am sure most know Seve is currently in intensive care after having 3 lots of brain surgery to remove a tumour. I read today that he is likely to be released from intensive care next week to continue his recovery in a private ward before he is well enough to be discharged. I thought today I would reflect on the charismatic man that is Seve Ballesteros and how his presence affected the game of golf.

Seve was one of the most natural players of golf ever. The mere fact that he was better at hitting from under tree than from a tee is testament to this. Not only was Seve a magician with a golf club though he also did a fair amount for the game of golf. He brought the game alive for youth in Europe with his natural talent and exuberance as well as having some battles with the tour authorities. These disagreements with the authorities varied from being about having a professional golfer as his caddy to the number of tournaments he was required to play in to be a member of the tour. Seve played in the first European Ryder Cup team and inspired many young players throughout his time playing on the team and as captain in 1997 at Valderamma.

Not only was Seve a fantastic golfer but he is also a decent man. He, as we all have, has had his ups and downs but most of the time he has responded well to the media and fan requests that come with his fame. I am lucky enough to have met Seve and witnessed in various scenarios from being the head attraction at a pro-am to just trying to enjoy himself on holiday. He has impressed me on every occasion, being funny and happy in his official capacity and down to earth but friendly when in holiday mode.

All in all golf is a better game from Seve being so succesfull and although he was passed his peak playing days by the time I was interested in golf he will always be in my mind a great person for the game. I would like to wish him all the best with his recovery and hope to see him commentating or something in the not to distant future.

Keep Swinging x

Northern Hemisphere Season Review

2008-11-13T05:11:00.003Z

The golf season in most of the northern hemisphere has come to an end. It has been quite an interesting season with the world number 1 missing the second half of the season injured, a new world number 2 and a european multiple major winner as well as the USA winning back the Ryder Cup.

Despite losing the Ryder Cup it has been a good year of golf from a European perspective. Firstly, Padraig Harrington persuaded everyone that he can play the game by winning back to back Open Championships and then the USPGA as well... what a performance from a player who works really hard on their game. Secondly, Sergio Garcia has just this week become the number 2 player in the world. This is a player who is seen by many to have never to have lived up to his potential, i'm one of the many, but yet has made it to No. 2 in the world. However, if it weren't for Monty he would definitely be carrying the tag of "best player not to have won a major". There has also been some fresh blood coming through from Europe on the pro tours with Rory McIlroy making his mark at the end of the 2007 season and settling in with some good finishes this year. Oliver Wilson also proved how good he is and made the Ryder Cup team which is a great result. Finally, on the amateur scene the Scotland men won the World Team Championships in October which is fantastic for a nation short of talent on the tours just now. A Scottish amateur, Roseanne Niven also won the British Ladies Strokeplay title which is impressive at 19yrs old. Having had no representives in the 2006 Curtis Cup Scotland made up for it this year with 4 representatives all aged under 20... this is again encouraging for Scotland.

The main story of the golf season this year was Tiger's victory in the US Open when he was in obvious pain and resulted in him giving up the rest of the season for more surgery. What a fantastic performance by a player who really is phenomenal. I have thought a fair bit about how someone could get to be so good and have come to the conclusion that Tiger is both talented and driven. This is, in my opinion a rare combination as really talented people can tend to be a bit lazy whilst less talented people seem to be harder woring to make up for this gap in talent. Then you get the freaks like Tiger and Federer who are both driven to be the best they can and immensly talented.

Not to forget Treveor Immelman's solid to win the US masters in April it really has been a good year for golf with plenty of action on and off the course and the critics who said that the second half of the year wouldn't be interesting without Tiger were silenced. Lets hope that golf can weather the storm of the "financial crisis" (one LET event has already been cancelled) and continue to provide lots of excitement.

Quote for the day "Why do I have a different putter? The other one didn't float too well" Craig Stadler

Keep Swinging

I'm Back

2008-11-13T04:46:00.002Z

Hi

Sorry I have not blogged for such a long time. I kinda got over it. I am back though and am taking it back to it's roots of golf news and some reviews of courses/ clubs. As I am now living in Australia rather than Scotland there will be an increase in the amount of international and Australian golf news but will still have some UK news when I can. I think I will also throw in some stories about days on the links when I have some. I wil really just play it by ear and go with the flow so if you have any suggestions then let me know.

Keep Swinging x x

New direction

2006-09-15T05:43:00.000+01:00

The subject of this blog is going to change somewhat as I am pretty sure that I have lost most of any readers I had through my lack of updating. I am currently in melbourne, Australia for 8 months playing golf and enjoying a different way of life so I am goign to change this blog to being a sort of diary about my time as well as providing some golf news from all areas of the sport.

Hope you enjoy and feel free to comment with any views you have on the blog.

Sarah

28% more putts?

2006-05-11T08:33:00.000+01:00

I certainly would and I'm sure most are in the same position of wanting to hole more putts than they currently do, so here goes. I read recently in a leading golf magazine that golfers would hole 28% more putts if instead of looking at the ball when they putt they looked at the hole from set up right until the ball stops rolling. This does not involve moving your head during the stroke but keeping it still just looking at a different point. I have tried this out with a few putts on the practice putting green and did not seem to get a feel for it but I'm sure that if I persevered it may work.... give it a go and tell me what you think!

Keep Swinging/ Putting!

News

2006-05-09T21:16:00.000+01:00

Sarah Herd and her brother George won the Sarah Herd invitational foursomes tournament on the New Course at Walton Heath at the weekend.

Chris Kelly was leading after the first round of the 54 hole Scottish Wateraid tournament at St Andrews Bay.

The semi finals for the Stirling and Clackmannanshire County Championship have been decided and will be played on Wednesday, the 2 matches are Linda Robertson against Elaine Alison and Margaret Tough against Vicki Stevenson.

Faiz bin Abdul Halim has been named the most promising Malaysian golfer of 18 years of age who studies in Britain. Good luck to him in the future! He has a rather unorthodox swing, however.

Keep Swinging

Congratulations

2006-05-08T14:53:00.000+01:00

Well done to Francesco Molinari who won his first european tour tournament in his second year on tour this weekend. He also ended the wait for an Italian winner of the Telecom Italia Open which has spanned 26 years.

Congratulations are also due to Kelsey MacDonald who shot an 8 under 64 in the qualifying of the Northern Counties Championship at Forrest Golf Club and went on to win the title in the match play stages. For a 15 year old this is quite impressive.

Gail Mollison of Dunbraken Ladies won the Coronation Foursomes round the PGA centenary course which is hosting the Ryder Cup in 2014.... you never know maybe we will see here if ladies are allowed to play in the Ryder Cup by then!

Heather Macrae was top scot at tied 11th in the Wales Open championship after rounds of 75 79 and 76. England's Naomi Edwards was victorious in this event.

More News:

Hootie Johnson has stepped down as Chairman of the Augusta National Golf Club and the Masters tournament on May 21st 2006. He will be replaced by William Porter Payne.

Royal Aberdeen Golf Club host of the 2005 Senior's British Open is to host the 2011 Walker Cup which will be a great event on a fantastic golf course and help to promote the many links golf courses in the Northern of Scotland which are of supreme quality.

Keep Swinging

thought for the day:
“Many a golfer prefers a golf cart to a caddy because the cart cannot count, criticize or laugh”

News... Sorry

2006-05-05T11:41:00.000+01:00

Sorry for the lack of posting this week I have been busy.

I would like to congratulate Sir Michael Lunt on being appointed Captain of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club for 2006-2007; he was last year's captain of Walton Heath Golf Club where he did a fantastic job and is a former Eisenhower Cup winner.

The European tour is in Italy this week at Tolcinasco Golf and Country Club. Rocha is leading at 10 under after completing his second round which is currently under way. Europe's Ryder Cup captain Ian Woosnam is currently tied 8th at 7 under.

Keep Swinging
p.s. more news later.

A roque road for Fasth

2006-04-30T16:57:00.000+01:00

Niclas Fasth woon the Spanish Open at the 4th extra hole of a sudden death play off at the San Roque Club. He beat England's John Bickerton who had managed to force himself into the play-off with a 63 in the final round which included 9 birdies and no dropped shots. To be honest Fasth should have won the title during regulation play as he had a 2 shot lead with 2 holes to play but then bogeyed the 17th and 18th to tie with Bickerton.

There was also a play-off required to decide the winner of teh Challenge Tour's Tessali-Metaponto Open di Puglia e Basilicata. France's Snobeck was victorious in this beating Wales's Sullivan at the first extra hole. This was Snobeck's first Challenge tour victory.

Riikka Hakkarainen was victorious in the Teneriffe Ladies Open with a 72 hole total of level par. England's kirsty Taylor dropped to 3 over par with a final round of 77 (5 over par).

I hope you all had a good weekend of golf and although I'm sure there will have been mixed success don't worry as next week it might be better and the whole season is still ahead to improve... well at least for those in the Northern Hemisphere.

Keep Swinging

News

2006-04-30T10:52:00.000+01:00

Scott Jamieson and Craig Watson shared the Edward Trophy Open tournament at Glasgow Gailes yesterday. They both had a 36 hole total of 1 under par. Alice Kim from Northwestern was victoriuos in the Big Ten Women's college championship. Scotland's Keir McNicoll won the Male Scholar - Athlete of the year at Lynn University in Florida.
Christine Watson won the English Senior Women's closed Championship at the 20th hole in final against Chris Quinn. Europe beat the Asia- Pacific in the Michael Bonallak trophy by 18 to 14. Kirsty Taylor is leading the Tenerife Ladies Open by a shot from Finland's Rikka Hakkarainen.

Thomas Bjorn is leading the Spanish Open at the san Roque New Course by a shot from Storm Fasth and Griffiths after 4 holes of the final round. Bjorn is 3 under par for the 4 holes he has played. Chris Couch is leading at 12 under par after 3 rounds of the Zurich Classic of New Orleans.

Keep Swinging

“You've just one problem. You stand too close to the ball--after you've hit it.” - Sam Snead

Equipment

2006-04-28T21:21:00.000+01:00

There is so much equipment now available for golf that I sometimes think that I'm buying a car when I look at golf equipment. That is part of the reason why I am using a set of my dad's old irons at the moment... they are working well for me at the moment so why should I bother to change them. Obviously each person has different preferences about golf clubs and therefore I am wary about giving out advice but here is some points and opinions I have formed and been given about the current market.

I have been given very good reports about the Ping G5 driver and have even heard rumours taht it is better than the G2 which is quite impressive. The Ping G2 was known as being one of the best drivers for ladies and I think that the G5 lives up to this same ability. I curently use the Callaway Big Bertha driver which I got last season and personally find it very effecive and attractive at set up. In terms of irons it all depends what you are looking for but I think ping are good for cavity backs and also now beginning develop irons for the better player. The callaway X-series has never disappointed and are reliable clubs for all players with the Pro-series being available for the better ball strikers. If it is Blades you are looking for I would say that Mizuno and Titleist are still leading the way. My main advice for irons and woods would be to go along to your local stockist and try various clubs until you find one you like.... custom fitting is also to be highly recommended. When trying clubs don't hit more than 5 balls with any club without hitting one of your current clubs in between as this way you can ensure that you are not adapting your swing to the club but that the club suits your swing.

I hope you have found this insightful.

Keep Swinging

News

2006-04-28T18:08:00.000+01:00

England's Kirsty Taylor is leading the Tenerife Ladies Open at 3 under par after two rounds. Scotland's Kathryn Imrie (formerly Marshal) who was the first round leader has dropped to 14th equal at 4 over par. Lynn Kenny is currently at +14 after 12 holes of her second round. This is not the start to the tournament or the season that Lynn would have been looking for but the end of May to June is always her strongest part of the season so hopefully there is plenty more still to come.

Graeme Storm is leading the Spanish Open at -12 after rounds of 65 and 67 round this tough par 72 course. he leads by one from a group of players at 11 under including England's David Griffith and Sweden's Robert Karlsson. Colin Montgomerie is tied 12th at 8 under while Raul Ballesteros is putting up a good performance (tied 20th at 7 under) on the course where one of his uncle's is the professional and the other, Seve, has a house.

Keep Swinging

Thought for the day:

I've always made a total effort, even when the odds seemed entirely against me. I never quit trying; I never felt that I didn't have a chance to win." -Arnold Palmer

p.s. keep this in mind the next time you start abysmally!

News

2006-04-25T15:06:00.000+01:00

Taylor Made and Adidas have extended their sponsorship of the Scottish mens amateur team until 2008. Colin Montgomerie is playing in the Spanish Open this year and is headlining the event at the San Roque. It should be a good competition which is being staged on a fantastic course.

The Ladies European Tour is getting underway for the 2006 season in Tenerife this weeek. Kreutz is defending it and Lynn Kenny is flying the flag for Scotland along with Kathryn Imrie and Clare Queen.

Lynn Kenny is a former Scottish Ladies Champion and U21 champion as well as British ladies Universities champion in 2002 and 2003. She also won the Catriona Lambert Medal for Outstanding Sporting Achievement in 2000. Last year was her first year on tour and she managed to keep her card finishing 63rd on the Order of Merit which in my opinion is a pretty mean feat for a rookie. I wish her the best of luck for the new season and I hope that she manages to win her first tour event this season. Best of luck to her and I will continue to track her progress through the season.

Keep Swinging

Thought for the day:
"The fundamental problem with golf is that every so often, no matter how lacking you may be in the essential virtues required of a steady player, the odds are that one day you will hit the ball straight, hard, and out of sight. This is the essential frustration of this excruciating sport. For when you've done it once, you make the fundamental error of asking yourself why you can't do this all the time. The answer to this question is simple: the first time was a fluke." -Colin Bowles

Risk-reward... Congrats

2006-04-24T13:16:00.000+01:00

Well Done to Fernandez-Castano on winning in the play-off yesterday and in my opinion the wood he hit out of the trees in the play-off epitomised golf. Golf is a game where risk-reward is extremely important and this shot shows why. It is stupid to play too safely at times and take out of the equation the chance to make birdie but at other times caution is needed so as to limit the possibilty of a very large score.

Well done to Heather Macrae and Jenna Wilson who won the team event at the Helen Holm Strokeplay championship for Scotland at Troon. However, England cleaned up with a 1-2-3 in the singles with Melissa Reid the victor. Considering there was only 12 scots in the field out of 72 so winning the international team event was no mean feat.

Appleby won his second PGA tournament of the year at the Shell Houston Open yesterday. This shows the depth of golf in Australia at the moment due to this victory being the fifth Aussie victory of the year on the PGA tour.

Keep Swinging

Thought for the day:
Golf is so popular simply because it is the best game in the world at which to be bad. ~A.A. Milne

O'Malley goodness!

2006-04-22T07:32:00.000+01:00

The second day of the BMW Asian Open in Shanghai was completed with Stenson leading at 5 under par and Paul Lawrie on his own in second place at 4 under par. Below this the leaderboard was pretty bunched so it is anyone's tournament.

The third round is underway as I am writing this and Peter O'Malley is in the lead now at 5 under... 4 under through 11 for today's round!! Gonzalo Fdez-Castano is also at 5 under while Stenson has dropped to 4 under along with Paul Lawrie, Mahal Pearce and Paul Casey. Lets hope the remainder of moving day in China can continue to excite making way for an enticing final round tommorow. Monty is currently tied 9th at 2 under so hopefully if he can shoot a few birds then he'll be able to mix it up a bit on Sunday. Although ,aybe he'll be trying to finish as far down the field as possible to make himself feel better:
"To be truthful, I think golfers are overpaid. It's unreal, and I have trouble dealing with the guilt sometimes." Colin Montgomerie

Keep Swinging

Thought for the day

"Golf is very much like a love affair, if you don't take it seriously, it's no fun, if you do, it breaks your heart. Don't break your heart, but flirt with the possibility."
Louise Suggs

Stop Press

2006-04-21T08:01:00.000+01:00

Paul Lawrie is currently ina tie for first place in the BMW Asian Open in Shanghai. After two rounds of 70 he is sitting at 4 under par along with Henrik Stenson and Frankie Minoza. Although both Stenson and Minoza are still only on the front nine of their second rounds it looks like Paul won't be far away going in to moving day! After his form from last Sunday you would have to be brave to count him out!

Other news:
16 year old Megan Briggs won the Renfrewshire County Ladies Championship held at Eastwood Golf Club. She beat Donna Jackson 6 and 5 in the final. Well done

The Scotland men's amateur team are beating Spain 7-5 at Crail after the first day of their two day international. Good luck and bring it home boys!!

Callum Nicoll won the BAE Systems Young Professionals' Scottish Championship by three shots at Forres Golf Club.

There is also hope for Scottish golf in the future as therewas a Scottish 1-2-3 in a US collegiate event. Duncan Stewart from Grantown on Spey retained the title beating Russell Knox from Inverness in a play-off and Jordan Findlay from Fraserburgh finished third. Well done. (Maybe in the future the Ryder Cup could be Scotland against the US!)

Keep Swinging

US Open

2006-04-21T07:50:00.000+01:00

In a comment one of my readers speculated about the chance of Paul Lawrie playing in the US Open. At the moment it is not looking like he will qualify automatically as he is sitting at 177th in the World Rankings. To be honest I think for the quality of ball striker that he undoubtedly is this ranking is unjust but it does unfortunately represent his performances in the last two/three years. He may though be able to qualify through the European tour qualifying round at Walton Heath Golf Club Surrey on June 5th. The courses at Walton Heath would suit Paul with the running fairways and linksy feel especcially as the wind is never far away. It must also be remembered that last year's US Open Champion Michael Campbell qualified to play the US Open at this same event so could there be a fairy tale in there for Paul? Watch this space to find out!

Keep swinging

p.s. a thought for the day:

Golf appeals to the idiot in us and the child. Just how childlike golf players become is proven by their frequent inability to count past five. ~John Updike

Paul Lawrie and more

2006-04-18T20:23:00.000+01:00

I would like to congratulate Paul Lawrie (as one of my readers prompted me to) on playing "awesome" on Sunday during his round of 67 in China which moved him up to equal 10th place. This is encouraging for Paul and all of his die hard fans even those who are dedicated enough to read his website (of course not me!) Hopefully Paul will go on to greater things this season and add to his current tally of tournament victories.

Further congratulations should be extended to Judy Shields who on her debut for Stirling and Clackmannanshire juniors won her singles match versus Fife. Although unfortunately she was the only one from Stirling to win and the team went down 3-1.

To update the news on Krystle Caithness she lost in the first round of the French Junior Ladies open championship. Scott Jamieson won the Craigmillar Park open birdieing the last hole to avoid a play off.

I hope you have found this news update informative and I hope to be able to continue so much news in the future.

Keep swinging / reading

p.s. I found this and thought I would share it with you

A golfer was in big trouble when he forgot
his wedding anniversary.

His wife told him; "Tomorrow there better
be something in the driveway for me that goes
zero to 200 in 2 seconds flat".

The next morning the wife found a small package
in the driveway. She opened it and found a
brand new bathroom scale.

Funeral arrangements for the husband have been
set for Saturday at his favorite golf course.

Sorry.... Masters update

2006-04-16T01:03:00.000+01:00

Sorry for the loack of posts being added to my blog over the past week. I am away at the moment and have not had much time to post and I appear to have upset some of my readers. However, I do hope that you will gicve me another chance as I will be home on Tuesday and regularly posting from then on.

As you can expect there is plenty of news for me to update you with so I here goes. Phil Mickelson won The Masters in a tightly fought contest until the last few holes and as expected there was some tension while Tiger was dressing him in his green jacket. Lynn Kenny from Dunblane won a pro-am event and is therefore moving in to the start of the season on the Ladies European Tour on great form. Krystle Caithness qualified in second stage for the French Girls Matchplay championship and hopefully she will continue to progress to eventually lift the trophy!!

A last little bit of advice is that anyone planning a golf holiday should consider Melbourne as there is loads of courses (100) and some of them can be played for peanuts!! I would thoroughly advise it and remind anyone that is planning on taking up this advice that they can always take a tour to Ramsay Street, Erinsborough to meet Harold and friends.... who doesn't want to hear Harold's sneeze in the flesh!!

Keep Swinging and reading (so long as you forgive me!!)

The Masters

2006-04-05T15:09:00.000+01:00

Will he win??

I hope everyone is as excited as I am about the start of the 2006 Masters at Augusta National. I just watched a highlights programme on last year's tournament and it's got me well in the mood. I think that Tiger has a good chance of defending the title but Ernie is in with a good chance after his enforced layoff at the end of last year. Unfortunately one of my favoured golfers will not be appearing due to having a barren couple of years (Paul Lawrie) but lets hope that we will be able to seem him there again next year! Mickelson also has to be in with a chance as his win last week is a sign of his superb form.

Let me know your views on who will be crowned the Masters champion 2006 and lets all hope for an exciting tournament matching last year's.

Keep swinging (and reading /commenting)

Morag!

Frustration!!

2006-04-04T22:32:00.000+01:00

The game I love and i'm sure you also love is unbelievably frustrating. No matter how well you have played you are never fully satisfied with your round. It is also frustrating in that it is so unpredictable. Playing well the day before or hitting the ball well on the driving range are no guarantees that you will play well in your next round. Take today for example I had been hitting the ball well on the range and then when playing in the medal I just seemed to make bogey after bogey and thus my score added up.

I just thought I would share my frustration with you and let you know that there are other's out there suffering with you. Anyway lets keep trying to play that perfect round of golf.

Keep Swinging

Welcome

2006-04-03T21:22:00.000+01:00

Hello. This is my first post!! It's quite exciting really. I hope you coontinue to read my future posts on the golfers-paradise and enjoy it.

Keep Swinging