Sweetwater Reporter (Sweetwater, Tex.), Vol. 111, No. 171, Ed. 1 Sunday, June 7, 2009 Page: 7 of 16
This newspaper is part of the collection entitled: Texas Digital Newspaper Program and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the Sweetwater/Nolan County City-County Library.
- Highlighting
- Highlighting On/Off
- Color:
- Adjust Image
- Rotate Left
- Rotate Right
- Brightness, Contrast, etc. (Experimental)
- Cropping Tool
- Download Sizes
- Preview all sizes/dimensions or...
- Download Thumbnail
- Download Small
- Download Medium
- Download Large
- High Resolution Files
- IIIF Image JSON
- IIIF Image URL
- Accessibility
- View Extracted Text
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
Sweetwater Reporter
Sunday, June 7, 2009 ■ Page A7
BIRDIES AND BOGIES
Maybe that’s why
they call it a swing
We’ve all had our u ps and d< >wns In golf, but
Brendon Todd wont from the penthouse to the
outhouse in spectacular fashion. At the Athens
Regional Foundation Classic, a Nationwide Tour
event, he made two holes-in-oneon the same hole!
The next week, at the PGA Tour's Zurich Classic,
he made four bogeys, a double bogey and a
quadruple bogey H en route to a 10-over 82.
Enough already
Therearetwo things on the current golf scene
that are getting old teal fast. One is the FedEx
Cup points race. The
announcers are
forced to mention ii
a lx nit every ^sec-
onds, so you're al-
ways updated about
how many FedEx (hip
points a putt is worth
or where in the FedEx
Cup standings Dustin
Johnson is. “If lie
holes this 27-footer,
he’ll win $025,(XX)and
137 FedEx Cup
points."
That’s too much in-
formation about
something that’s not
very interesting,
which brings us to
No. 2: tin1 Charles
Barkley reality show
on the Golf Channel.
One can tolerate
only so many jokes about his game, so many
goofy swing drills, watching him do sit-ups, get-
ting a massage, driving to the course, having din-
ner, etc. He’s great as a basketball analyst where
he's on for about five minutes, but this show
seetns like it's been on for five years. In golf lingo.
“Pick it up; that’s good.” Well, maybe not good.
Cox Newspapers
CHARLES BARKLEY
Practicing his shot
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
'They got him In at least where he's
really good with the texting. Hut you
can text him, and then immediately
call him, and he still won't answer.
So he has not figured out that, 'Wait a
minute--we kntrw you've got the
phone in your hand.
— Davis Love about
Fred Couples
“/ never answer the phone because
there might he someone on the other
end. ”
— Fred Couples
Freddy chats with Annika while Tiger
gets ready to launch one, but when it
comes to talking on ttie phone, he'd
rather not.
Golfi Insider
ByTJ. TOMASI
IT’S GOOD FOR YOUR GAME
Get everything lined up — chalk line, ball line and putter line.
Rolling
on
down
the line
neof thethlngsa
I lgood putter docs is
\*Jconsistently return
his or her putter at impact
to the position it occupied
at address. Two years ago
at a tournament in Japan,
kkj tour pros were tested
using a state-of-the-art
measurement technology
called SAM to see how
closely they could return
their putters to the ad-
dress position.
Most of the European
and American pn is vat ied
by more than i degree. For
example, if a player's pul-
ler face was 0.5 degrees
open to the target at ad-
dress. then it was 1.5de-
grees open at impact.
The surprise came
when a group of 17
Ja|ianese pi ' is were meas-
ured. They all averaged
I'm holding a
shaft so that tour
player Brian
Johnson gets the
feel of stroking the
putt without
changing the angle
of his putter shaft
I'll allow him to
swing on a small
arc. but not to raise
or lower the shaft
off the angle it had
at address.
Maintaining this
angle allows him to
keep rolling on
down the line."
less than 1 degree vari-
ance from address to im-
pact. Why were they so
consistent? The answer
was they ah practiced reli-
giously witli a feedback
device called a chalk line.
This came as no sur-
prise to me because I ad-
viseallof my students
who play fora livlngand
those amateurs who have
the time for such tilings, to
use a chalk line. You can
buy one at stores l ike
Home Depot for about $10.
Thechalk lineapplier is
used when you need a
straight-line guide, e.g.. in
drywall renovation, tmt it
works for Improving your
putting as well. Choose the
non-permanent chalk
(white or blue) so you
don't ruin the grasses on
your practice green.
ABOUT THE WRITtR
Procedure
Choose a straight 15-
foot putt and lay down
the line from the cen-
ter of the cup. Next
mark your ball with a
line, then place it so
that all your lines
match; (1) the chalk
line, (2) the line on
your putter and (3) the
ball line.
Now simply stroke
putt after putt, judging
your success by how
accurately the ball
rolls down thechalk
line. If you can consis-
tently keep the ball on
thechalk line, rolling
end over end so the
line on the ball doesn’t
wobble, you’ll know
your face was square
to the Intended path at
impact.
Once you train
yourself to do this, all
you have to do is read
the putt correctly and
you'll develop into a
pretty good putter.
TEEING OFF
Take notice!
Much can lie learned
watching good, bad
and even the ugly
I six' it all the time at the PGA
Learning Center in Fort St.
Lucie, Fla ., where I teach
golfers hitting bucket after buck-
et of practice balls for hours at a
time.
At my facility you can hit
balls all day, and because we
have lights, half the night, too,
all tin one fee. That’s like an a 11-
you-can-eat buffet where you
stuff yourself just because you
can.
My advice is to take your time
and hit each practice shot with
purpose. I’d rather you hit 30
balls this way than 300 tiring
one after another.
Research by Timothy D. Lee
and Laurie R. Wishart at
McMaster University In
Ontario. Canada, on the effec-
tiveness of practice reached two
interesting conclusions, one ol>-
vious, the second quite reveal-
ing.
Take a break
First, during a practice ses-
sion. you should take frequent,
short breaks to reboot your pow-
ers of focus. Remember that
every shot needs to be made
with full intention and full at-
tention, the two components of
your power of focus. A tired ath-
lete is error-prone and since you
are in complete control of the
situation when you practice,
there is no need to become tired.
Keep an eye out
Second, the researchers found
that when you take your break,
you should spend it watching
others practice, and they don’t
have to be pros to make watch-
ing them be effective. What you
are watching isanother person
engage in problem-solving, and
that stimulates your brain to
solve the problem, too.
At some (joint in almost every
lesson, I stop and ask my stu-
dent to watch another golfer
swing. I have videotape of com-
mon errors, and I choose some-
one with the same problem,
then ask my student to be the
teacher, break down the prob-
lem and institute the solution.
You can learn a lot about
swinging the club correctly by
watching someone do it incor-
rectly. Knowing what not to do is
sometimes as valuable as know-
ing what to do.
Say a golfer comes over the
top and pull-slices the ball. Find
out how he does it, re-engineer
the movement and learn it well
enough to do the opposite.
You’re not n ipving the swing;
you’re correcting it.
Tl 11 s proc >ss i it' re-englneer-
ing the problem, then solving it
helps the student realize what’s
goingon in his own swing
world. Getting fascinated with
someone else’s problem helps
you understand how to solve
your own problem. In the nor-
mal lesson, the student owns the
problem while the teacher owns
the solution, but by turning
tilings around, the student owns
both die problem and the solu-
tion.
THE RULES OF GOLF
The five-minute search
You iiit your tee shot deep into the
desert filled with sn uband dense
bushes, and as you walk off the tee,
youropponent says lie’s starting the
c luck on your search for the lost
hall. Ilosavs your live minutes
starts from the time you left the tee,
and he’s letting you know that you
must proceed directly to your ball
with your five minutes ticking away.
But don’t believe him Your five
minutes of search time begins
when it’s clear you’re searching for
your ball, so it does not include die
time it takes you to arrive at the
ball.
ii is perfectly legitimate for your
opponent to come with you to ob-
serve your procedure, but die dock
starts when you arrive in the gener-
al area of where your ball should be
and you start hunting for it. ()f
course, you can’t go directly to your
ball because dull it’s lost
/
GOLF SPOKEN HERE
Rake
To pull die ball back into the
hole casually with your putter
after missing a putt.
Amateurs often miss these
rake jobs and then fail to count
the stroke liecatise they “could
have made it if they really
tried."
1 lale Irwin and Woody Austin
l are two of golf’s famous rakers
Hale Irwin was a victim of the
rake in the 1983 British Open
where he left a birdie putt hang-
ing (in the lip tlien jabbed at it,
but die club head hit the ground
and bounced over the top of the
ball, missing it entirely. Irwin
was honest enough to admit it
was an attempted stroke, but his
trip to honestyvillecost him the
Open -by one shot.
Two years ago Woody Austin
appeared to be a victim of the
rake when In the third round of
the Tour Championship he
jabbed at a 2-inch putt but
missed the ball completely. Even
though many of those who saw
it (including on-air commenta-
tor Johnny Miller) thought he
attempted a stroke. Austin said
he didn’t.
Since he signed for a score
that did not include die whiff
Austin would have been DQ’ed,
but after interviewing him. tour
officials ruled that there was not
enough evidence for disqualifi-
cation. You can decide for your-
self bv going to youtube.com
then typing “stroke ot not?” into
the search ixix.
ASK THE PRO
GOLF BY THE NUMBERS
Three drivers a triple attack on doglegs
Q: 1 play a course that liasa
lot of twists and turns
doglegs right and left and I
have trouble staying in the
fairway. Any advice?
Dnrtill).
A: For best results otT the
l<x\ you should l*nd the ball
in the direction that the hole
curves. If the hole curves left,
then a draw (for right-han-
deis) is called for; if the hole
curves right, a fade Is the lx>st
shot to play.
But let’s fare It. most week-
end golfers have neither the
confidence nor the ability to
bend the iwli on call in both
directions. Even though it
si uinds a bit odd, one way to
solve the problem is to carry
three drivers. Yes. three driv-
ers: your normal driver, one
with a closed fare to help you
draw the ball and one with an
open face to help vou fade the
ball.
It’s best to enlist the help of
a custom club filter to help de-
termine what s|iecs you’ll
need with the two extra driv-
ers. though 4 degrees open
and 4 degrees dosed should
serve the purpose. Then ex-
periment on a practice range
ilist to see that they do the
trick
Ideally, the open- and clt ised
faced drivets will help you to
generously bend the ball
around those doglegs without
having to make any changes
or adjustments to your setup
and swing.
(1\> As/, tht> Pm ti question
about gulf emn 11 him nt:
TJtiisidcritinol.coni)
0
The greatest amateur
ot all time, Bobby
Jones, never won his
own tournament. The
Masters primanly
because he retired
from competitive golt
several years prior to
the inaugural event in
1934. To date, no
amateur has won the
Masters, although in
1956 Ken Venturi led
after 54 holes
5
Number of
amateurs who
have won the U S
Open at least
once Bobby Jones
won the Open four
times and the rest
lust once Francis
Ouimet. Jerome
Travers. Chick
Evans and Johnny
Goodman who
was the last
amateur to win In
1933
DON T MISS IT
The Spine Aligner
Having
trouble con-
trolling your
arms during
the gulf
swing? Then
Don't Miss
the Spine
Aligner (don't ask why it's not
called the Arm Aligner).
The Spine Alignerwill restrict
the right arm from lifting out of i*>-
sition in the backswing(flying
right elbow), and will keep the left
arm from separating too far from
the body in the forward swing.
Look for it at wwwgolfaroundthe
wirld.com for $29.95.
GILBERT CARkEON D.D.S.
GENERAL DENTISTRY
Ven«ers • Cleaning • Fillings • Crowns • Root Canals
Dentures - Bleaching - Nitrous Oxide Available
( all for (ill Appointment
500 Lamar St. Sweetwater
J
“Can’t" never did do nothin
“Let's wait till tomorrow or some other time"
Never did do nothin
So Give me a call and together
we will get it done!
Kenneth Frymire, Realtor
MORGAN REAL ESTATE
Office: 235-1762 Cell: 514-0337 Home: 235-5369
To Advertise on this
page Call Advertising
TODAY!
325-236-6677
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Matching Search Results
View two places within this issue that match your search.Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Newspaper.
Rodriguez, Tatiana. Sweetwater Reporter (Sweetwater, Tex.), Vol. 111, No. 171, Ed. 1 Sunday, June 7, 2009, newspaper, June 7, 2009; Sweetwater, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth561146/m1/7/?q=%22~1~1%22~1: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Sweetwater/Nolan County City-County Library.