My friend Henry posted this on Facebook after playing his “usual” round of golf.

Stages of golf … and the thoughts that go through my head in a typical round of golf.

Hole 1: Optimistic – “I think this will be a good round. I was hitting it well at the range. I just have to keep doing the same thing.”
Hole 2: Confidence – “See! I can play this game.”
Hole 3: Arrogance – “I think I’ll put a little mustard on this one and show the guys I came to play.”
Hole 4: Denial – “I didn’t hit it square on the ball but I still hit it well.”
Hole 5: Blame – “There must have been a gust of wind that pushed my shot into the hazard.”
Hole 6: Confusion – “What the heck am I doing wrong NOW?!”
Hole 7: Analytical – “Am I lifting my head? Did I shift my weight back? Was my club face open?”
Hole 8: Anger – “Stupid f—ing game!”
Hole 9: Futility – “Doesn’t matter what I do for the rest of this round, my game is screwed.”
Hole 10: Ultimatum – “If I don’t par this hole, I’m giving up golf for good.”
Hole 11: Reneging – “If I don’t par THIS hole, I’m giving up golf for good.”
Hole 12: Justification – “If this game isn’t difficult, then we wouldn’t play it.”
Hole 13: Spiritual – “Dear God, just let me par this hole.”
Hole 14: Atheism – “There is no God.”
Hole 15: Bargaining – “I’ll be happy if I can just bogey this hole.”
Hole 16: Self-deprecating – “I SUCK!”
Hole 17: Retrospective – “Those were some good shots I made back at #1”
Hole 18: Acceptance – “I need to head back to the range and work on my swing.”
Walking back to the car: Masochistic – “So, when do we play the next round?”

Inbee Park shot a final round 61 to win the Manualife Financial LPGA Classic at Grey Silo Golf Course in Waterloo Ontario.  How impressive is that?

I was at the tournament on Saturday and followed around a number of the top players for a few holes.  Some of the players followed were Stacy Lewis, Michelle Wie, Cristie Kerr, Lydia Ko, So Yeon Ryu, Na Yeon Choi and Inbee Park. All of these players were extremely impressive, especially Ko, as we followed her for 3 holes and she birdied them all, with the longest putt being about 15 feet.

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Way to go Hideki Matsuyama for winning the Memorial, defeating Kevin Na in a playoff. Matsuyama has a great swing, and I especially like his pause at the top of the backswing. Personally I am trying to slow down the transition from backswing to downswing.  I find any time I am in too big of a hurry at the top of my swing that the ball does not go where I want.

The other big stories at the Memorial were the burnouts by Bubba Watson and Adam Scott.  Bubba was the leader going into the last day and looked to have it all but wrapped up going into the final nine holes.  His driver let him down and he couldn’t keep making a great escape hole after hole.  And Adam Scott put himself right into contention and then faded away with some poor shots and unlucky breaks in the back nine (like hitting the flagstick on 15 only to have it ricochet into the water).

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All of the major professional golf tours had great tournaments last week and there was no shortage of storylines.

In the European Tour’s BMW PGA Championship, Rory McIlroy was supposed to be struggling with a broken heart.  I guess winning heals everything and Rory is now feeling pretty good about himself.  Not only did he win the BMW PGA, coming from 7 shots back in the final day, but also has shot a 9-under 63 in the first round of the Memorial to take a 3-shot lead.

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I stumbled across this video on youtube.  The explanation of getting “into the slot” along with the graphic overlays I think does a great job of showing exactly what that means. Hopefully this can help with your game this weekend.

I am definitely going to check out more videos from MeandMyGolf.com.

There has been a Mike Weir sighting on the PGA Tour.  As a Canadian, it was great to see Weir back in contention on the PGA Tour at the Byron Nelson.  He did not seem to drive the ball particularly well, but his iron play and putting seemed pretty much like it was 10 years ago (or at least 5 years ago before he started having his elbow problems).

I am a few years younger than Mike, and I remember him at some junior tournaments that I played in.  While I was busy trying not to finish last, Weir was busy winning. I remember him winning the Brantford Golf Club Junior Invitational, he seemed to be half the size of some of the other players in his division, Everyone cheered when he was announced the winner, showing what a good guy he was even as a kid.

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I have been thinking about writing a golf blog for a long time and have finally gotten around to sitting down and doing something about it.

What am I hoping to accomplish with this blog?  I am not 100% sure.  I am hoping to blog about the golf I watch on tv, the golf I play, some tips or swing thoughts that might work.  There might also be some equipment reviews (by my friends because the contents of my bag are pretty static) or book reviews, and also some course reviews.  I will also try to share any good deals I hear about.

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