In honour of Star Wars day (May the fourth be with you) I found a couple of videos that mix Star Wars and golf.
One shows how Darth Vader uses the dark side of the force to help him on the course.
This one is a home-made video where there is a Star Wars Lego golf tournament, the 2003 Endor Open.
May the Fourth be with you, always.
Not starting your down swing properly is a common problem, especially for people who pull or slice their shots.
This excellent video, by MeAndMyGolf, explains the proper sequence of how to start your down swing, and is a variation of other blog posts such as “Box Before Ball” and “Lead with the Lower Body“.
The key is after you get to the top of your back swing, shift your weight into your front foot, turn your hips, and then the shoulders and arms will follow.
Check out other videos on Youtube by MeAndMyGolf for other great tips.
In the last couple of days, these two shots seem to be all everyone is talking about. First the Jacksonville Jaguars’ mascot won a closest to the pin contest at media day for the Players Championship. There were a couple of former PGA Tour members in the competition too.
.@JaxsonDeVille put the golf world on notice today. More: http://t.co/5AyKMn0OK2 #MOREJAX https://t.co/7eU6b3A6f4
— Jacksonville Jaguars (@Jaguars) April 15, 2015
And then there is Sei Young Kim who not only chips in on the 72nd hole to force a playoff, but then holes her approach from over 150 yards away on the first playoff hole for a tournament-winning eagle.
These may be a couple of early entries for the shots of the year.
I was reading an article on GolfDigest.com the other day and saw a link to a tip from 2012 by Tom Watson about leading with your lower body.
This is a major fundamental to playing good golf. Anyone who has ever read Ben Hogan’s Five Lessons will immediately recognize the tip, and Martin Hall’s tip about lifting the left heel and “box before ball” tips, and a simple thought to help you stop casting the club , as well as countless other places.
The key swing thoughts to leading with your lower body is ” initiating the downswing by rotating the left hip and simultaneously moving to the left heel–this is more pronounced if you’ve let the heel come off the ground in the backswing (as I recommend).”
This move will help you clear your hips and lower body, and then allow your arms to swing from the inside into the ball. You’ll hit it much farther and straighter.
“[W]hen you start down, your left shoulder should stay on the plane you established at address. So many amateurs start the downswing by turning the shoulders toward the target too early, causing the dreaded over-the-top move that results in pulls or slices.”
If you pull the ball, or slice it, this is the tip for you.
Watson also says “In the best swings the lower body starts forward while the upper body is still turning back. The left hip turns toward the target as the shoulders continue to coil. That takes terrific timing and a lot of practice.” This is something I wouldn’t recommend to the weekend hacker, as the timing is very tough to get down. Instead just turn back fully, and then start with the hips and legs and the shoulders and arms will do what they should. Do not try to swing hard at the ball.
None of this is new, but sometimes we get so caught up in trying to control the path of the clubhead that the simple fundamental of using your legs and hips to start the downswing gets lost in the details.
I was checking twitter today and saw the @LPGA posted a link to a trailer made by SkratchTV where they have made a professional golf version of a Game Of Thrones trailer.
Here is their trailer.
And here is the Game Of Thrones trailer. Season 5 premiers tonight after some golf tournament.
Here is the LPGA’s tweet
Cool to see @Lko424 in @PGATOUR @skratchTV‘s new video – PGAmOfThrones! Check it out! https://t.co/L2BAOKfzyw
— LPGA (@LPGA) April 12, 2015
Tiger Woods snap-hooked his tee shot on 13 into the woods, and reacted by dropping an f-bomb that was caught on CBS’ microphones. A few minutes later commentator Ian Baker-Finch apologized to any viewers who might have been offended by Tiger’s potty mouth.
Golf writer Geoff Shackelford tweeted out the offending video.
He’s back!! RT @mshamburger1: Tiger with f-bomb after horrible drive, still makes birdie. http://t.co/gHmUznFp7Z https://t.co/84BTyIy95E
— Geoff Shackelford (@GeoffShac) April 11, 2015
Oh yeah…and Tiger found his ball, chipped out, wedged on, and then made the putt for birdie.
Part of the Masters traditions is the par-3 contest, and today Jack Nicklaus wowed the crowd by scoring a hole-in-one on the 4th hole. Kevin Streelman defeated Camilo Villegas in a playoff, meaning he won’t win the main tournament.
Watch the #par3contest holes-in-one from @jacknicklaus, @TrevorImmelman, @Afidominguez, and @CamiloVillegasR https://t.co/dvRqkvdri5
— Masters Tournament (@TheMasters) April 8, 2015
My two favourite calls from The Masters both came from Verne Lundquist. I looked all over YouTube for them and this is as good as I could find (most clips either had some other commentary or lame music over the actual audio). The clip is from the TSN SportCenter Top 10 Masters Moments back a few years ago, with an obvious Canadian bias as Mike Weir’s 2003 win was number 1.
The key calls are numbers 3 (Tiger’s chip-in on 16 back in 2005 with the “In your life…” call) and 2 (Jack Nicklaus in 1986 on 17’s “Yes Sir!”).
Bonus for number 5 when Tiger completes his “Tiger Slam”, winning all four major titles in a row, and you can hear Ken Venturi say what will be true forever, “Something I dreamt I would never see and I thought that no one would ever do”.
UPDATE – the TSN clip is no longer available so I replaced it with another one. You still get Verne’s two calls.