Michelle Wie needs to stop playing against the men. Other blogs have made some great points, so I won’t even attempt to do it better. Go read…
A Summer of Golf
Wow, has it really been over a month since my last post here? I’ve got in a ton of golf over that time and had some great rounds I should have written about. On August 15th I shot under par for 9 holes for the first time in my life with a 1-under 34. The next day I want out and shot 80 for 18 at Bay Valley. I had my first sub-80 round in the bag and blew it on the last two holes. I had shot 38 on the front nine and ended up with a 42 on the back. On the 17th hole I bombed my best drive of the day on a par 5. It was 300+ and left me with an easy 7 iron into the green. I duffed it about 70 yards. Then I duffed a SW and hit a 2nd SW to the back of the green. Took 3 putts from there. I needed a par on the last hole to shoot 41 for a 79 and actually had a 5 foot putt, but missed it. But It was still my best 18 holes ever, so I can’t complain too much.
I took my yearly trip to Boyne near the end of August for 3 days of 36 holes a day and played decent golf there. My 34 ended up being the best round of the year in our golf league so I got a nice little trophy. I also ended up with the lowest handicap in the league with a 2. I can shoot some good golf, but there is no way I’m a 2 handicap. Our league only uses your last 3 scores and the handicap can only go up by 1 each week, but there isn’t a limit on how far it can drop.
I’ve golfed a lot more this summer than I have before. Before the summer is over I’ll have played somewhere around 1000 holes of golf. I still can’t believe it when I think about that number. My back needs the winter off!
Places I Didn't Like
“I’ve only been to two places I didn’t like: Jail & …”
Review: G.R.I.P Sweetness Putter
I received the G.R.I.P Sweetness Putter a few weeks ago from Rob at Golf Research in Play and The Savvy Golfer. I was impressed with the look and feel of the putter as soon as I took it out of the box. I used it around the living room for a bit, but knew I couldn’t take it out on the course with me. I’ve been using an Odyssey White Hot 2-Ball putter for a couple of years now and it’s done wonders for my game. As impressed as I was with the Sweetness from G.R.I.P. I just couldn’t mess with my putting game. I showed the putter to my friend Dave and he said he’d test it out. Following is his review.
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The G.R.I.P. Sweetness Putter features an oversized, two-bar design, with a center aiming line between the two “Dual Tension Rods” to help make alignment easier. The double insert in the club face is comprised of a soft, CNC-milled aluminum center surrounded by a soft polymer. This putter is aimed at the casual golfer looking for the latest technology but at a lower price point ($69.95).
I currently use a Ping Anser and am generally happy with it. I use a pendulum stroke and push through the ball toward the hole. I feel that this gives me more control over ball release and trajectory. I had to change my stroke somewhat to get good results with the Sweetness. I found my push was causing me to go past the hole and offline. I altered my stroke to eliminate the push and let the club do the work. After that I was able to zero in the distance much better.
The club shaft has a double bend that gives the club a slight offset. Initially, I was holding the club improperly and getting too much loft. Once I adjusted the position, I got much better roll and accuracy.
Things I like: Very nice grip, excellent visual cues, good weight, and nice fit and finish.
Things I didn’t like: Nothing
I would recommend this putter for someone who wants to try this style without dropping a fortune.
Anyone want to buy a used Ping Anser?
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Dave seems to like the putter and like he said, you can’t beat the price for a quality putter. The grip on the putter is actually something I loved about it.
The shaft is wrapped in an ultra-soft, all-weather polyurethane two-piece grip.
Ultra-soft doesn’t even begin to describe how the grip felt. I love my 2-Ball and the feel of it, but the grip is one area where I think I could get a little bit better feel by using a softer grip.
HOT
Corey Pavin Shoots 26
Corey Pavin shot an eight under 26 on the front nine at the U.S. Bank Championship. TENTY-SIX!
Tiger Woods Uses a Weighted Golf Club
He has a specific plan for what he wants to accomplish in every practice session, a plan he comes up with the night before when he’s home swinging a weighted club.
I’ve bought a weighted club earlier this summer and just love it. I use it to warm up before I play a round of golf and also on the practice range. When you switch from it to a normal club, it feels like you aren’t even swinging.
2006 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Results
A list of the winners so far in the 2006 World Series of Poker.
- $500 No-Limit Hold’em Casino Employee – Chris Gros
- $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em – Brandon Cantu
- $1,500 Pot-Limit Hold’em – Rafe Furst
- $1,500 Limit Hold’em – Kianoush Abolfathi
- $2,500 No-Limit Hold’em Short Handed 6/Table – Russ Boyd (Dutch Boyd)
- $2,000 No-Limit Hold’em – Mark Vos
- $3,000 Limit Hold’em – William Chen
- $2,000 Omaha High-Low 8/OB – Jack Zwerner
- $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em – Jeff Cabanillas
- $1,500 Seven Card Stud – David Williams
- $5,000 Omaha High-Low 8/OB – Sam Farha
- $1,500 Limit Hold’em – Bob Chalmers
- $2,500 No-Limit Hold’em – Max Pescatori
- $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em w/ Rebuys – Allen Cunningham
- $1,000 Ladies No-Limit Hold’em – Mary Jones
- $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha – Lee Watkinson
- $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em – Jon Friedberg
- $2,000 Pot-Limit Hold’em – Eric Kesselman
- $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em Seniors – Clare Miller
- $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. – David Reese (Chip Reese)
- $2,500 No-Limit Hold’em Short Handed 6/Table – William Chen
- $2,000 No-Limit Hold’em – Jeff Madsen
- $3,000 Limit Hold’em – Ian Johns
- $3,000 Omaha High-Low 8/OB – Scott Clements
- $2,000 No-Limit Hold’em Shootout – David Pham
- $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha w/ Rebuys – Eric Froehlich
- $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha – Rafael Perry
- $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em – Mats Rahmn
- $5,000 Seven Card Stud – Benjamin Lin
- $2,500 Pot-Limit Hold’em – John Gale
- $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em Short Handed 6/Table – Jeff Madsen
- $2,000 No-Limit Hold’em – Justin Scott
- $1,500 Seven Card Razz – James Richburg
- $5,000 Pot-Limit Hold’em – Jason Lester
- $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em – Phil Hellmuth Jr.
- $1,000 Seven Card Stud High-Low 8/OB – Patrick Poels
- $5,000 No-Limit 2-7 Draw Lowball – Daniel Alaei
The $10,000 No-Limit Main Event starts tomorrow and it’s scheduled to run through August 10, 2006 when we’ll have another world champion crowned.
The WSOP Player of the Year race is still wide open. Jeff Madsen, a 21-year-old college student, is currently in the lead with 4 final table appearances, 2 bracelets, and over $1.4 million in winnings. After winning his record tying 10th golf bracelet the other night at his 3rd final table, Phil Hellmuth sits in 2nd, and has won over $1.1 million. Hellmuth also ranks #1 in career cashes at the WSOP with 55.
List compiled from results at CardPlayer.
Send Text Messages to Email
It baffles me how few people realize you can send a text message from your cell phone directly to your email address. Instead of typing in a phone number, just enter the email address. I use this nifty little feature all the time to send myself reminders or to get photos off of my phone. In the address book on my phone I have contacts specifically created for Flickr, Gmail, my SVSU email, and maybe a few others.
Verizon even lets you send something from an email address directly to your phone using vzwpix.com. The service creates an email address of xxxxxxxxxx@vzwpix.com where you can send the email to. Their service then converts it and sends it on to your phone as a text message. I don’t know if other cell phone service providers have something similar, but I’d imagine they would. If you know of something, leave a comment.
Plugging Greens
It rained for a good 3 or 4 hours in the Saginaw area, so the plans I had to play 9 holes with a few friends were canceled. While sitting at home after dinner I realized the sun came out and it cleared up. Sidewalks and driveways were starting to dry out. So I jumped in my ride and went a block to a 9-hole course called Pleasant View. The name does not fit the course. Only on “special” occasions will I play there.
My main reason for going to play was that I wanted to hit some clubs around the golf course. The course wasn’t very busy and I was playing for myself, so I had a chance to hit extra balls around while waiting. I played 2 main balls during the round and would try out some short wedges or other shots as I had time. I even hit 3 with my driver off the first tee after using a 3-hybrid to tee off for the shots I was counting. When all was said and done I shot a 44-42. The part of the round that really killed my scoring was putting. With all of the rain we had received, golf balls were plugging on the green. If they did manage to hop, it was backwards. Putting on soaked greens is an entirely different story. I took 18 and 19 putts which is 4-5 over my average for 9 holes.
All in all, I was pretty satisfied with my play. When I hit driver I was crushing it down the middle, and then from there my wedge shots were solid. When I had longer 2nd shots into the par 5s I came through. I hit a great 3-hybrid to the front where it hit the bunker rake someone had left in the wrong spot. On another par 5 I hit 3-hybrid to hit the fairway, staying safe, and then blasted a 5 wood right next to the green. Made a nice chip, but missed the birdie putt because of all the water. The greens were the wettest I’ve ever seen, but I’m not worried at all about my putting. I’ll admit I didn’t take much time putting either, so things weren’t being lined up. I wanted to really focus on ball striking because the greens weren’t playing like any other greens I’ll face all summer.
If I can keep the driver and wedges straight, I’ll be all set.
