Saturday, February 24, 2007

Action Conversation: LPGA Media Coordinator generating publicity

Congratulations go to Paula Creamer for her patience when asked the following question by Pam Warner, LPGA Media Coordinator, in a pre-tournament press conference.

Q. Do you think at all, this is Michelle Wie's home course, do you think at all about the fact that she's not here, do you wish maybe you could take her on on her home course?
PAULA CREAMER: Well, I come out every week playing the golf course, so to me it doesn't really matter who is in the field. Obviously you want a strong field and you want the best players there. Ultimately I just come out trying to play my game and play the course and beat that number.

Ms. Warner, do you think Ms. Creamer wants to talk about MW? FYI, Ms. Warner, MW was present, not even for your press conference. Perhaps Ms. Warner has not been following the LPGA Tour as closely as she should.

SIDEBAR: And Ms. Warner, in order for MW to be considered at the same level as Ms. Creamer, and be mentioned in the same sentence, MW must win an LPGA event within one week of high school graduation.

And then Ms. Warner couldn’t resist kicking in the same questions with Julieta Granada:

Q. This is Michelle Wie's home course, do you wish at all that you had a chance to play against her here again?
JULIETA GRANADA: Yeah, of course, I want to compete against the best and she always has a great game. It would have been fun. But since she's not here, we can't really say much about it.

Kind of reminds me of what Forrest Gump’s Mom used to tell him, “… is as … does”

Wednesday, February 21, 2007

Bloggers a step above the Daily Scribes

While doing a little surfing through various golf websites, I discovered the transcript of yesterday’s press conference with Tiger Woods. The daily scribes all make an attempt to ask El Tigre penetrating questions, sort of like they have an interview with St. Peter at the Pearly Gates. The verbiage is flying and the descriptive clauses are tacked on to every noun. Sometimes it's a wonder how Tiger can decipher the exact answer. On the other hand sometimes Tiger doesn't want to.

Reading the questions is far more entertaining than the stock answers. It reinforces my theory that those of us working in the non-traditional media put our thinking caps on before trying to sound like Chris Matthews on steroids.

Consider this evidence:

QUESTION: As a budding golf course architect, when you come to a new venue, come to a new community that has such a historic golfing tradition, do you approach it a little bit differently than when you were just playing, or have you always taken the mindset that, could I come here and design a golf course in place like that?

My question to this venerable scribe: How do you have a new community with a historic golfing tradition?

Sunday, February 18, 2007

Young American Professional wins Golf Tournament


Bet you thought you might never see those headlines again. Who was it? Here’s a hint. This individual is just 20 years old with two prior professional victories.

Okay, it’s Paula Creamer, a girl with more charisma than all the J.B. Holmes and Charlie Hoffman’s put together. And the story lines are just starting to develop on the LPGA. Creamer was one of the big questions for the 2007 season: Could she/would she win? Yes and yes.

Storylines. That’s what generates interest in professional golf. That’s why the LPGA will be far most interesting in 2007. It’s proven already.

And Julieta, Lorena, Karrie, Morgan, and Sherri, thanks for stoking the fires of human interest so early in the season.

Saturday, February 17, 2007

PhillyMic Shoots 65 at Riviera Righthanded

If you hurry over to www.golfobserver.com you can see how PhillyMic looks as a righty.

Thursday, February 01, 2007

Franky and Billy and the Long Ball Dilemma

Okay, I couldn’t resist this sharing the following with all of our faithful readers who are constantly struggling to squeeze a few more yards from their drivers. There is apparently a great dilemma: Do I try to achieve greater distance or do I want to find my ball?

This is from thegolfchannel.com and can be found in the Q&A section with Frank Thomas. Thomas used to be the USGA’s technical guru and now he is the GC’s technical guru. He's also the guiding light behind the Frog putter. (You gotta check that out.)

I’m kind of wondering if Billy from Michigan has any fun playing the game while he’s worrying about swing speed, launch angle and a few extra yards when he already hits it pretty straight.

Frank does a pretty good job of catering to Billy with the technical jargon and then tries to calm him down with a good dose of reality.

Enjoy this one.


Hi, Frank:

I need help! My swing speed is around 125 mph with the driver (460 Adams xstiff), yet I have never hit a drive over 310 yards. Most of the time when I hit it good off the tee I’m around 285 (bone-straight 12-degree launch). How is this possible? I play about 150 rounds a year, so I know I’m not missing the sweet spot every single time. I read somewhere that you should get 3 yards for every mph your club head is traveling. If this is true, what is stopping my drive from traveling 350?

Thanks for any info, Frank. Hope all is well.

Billy Michigan

Billy,

First of all there are a lot of us (millions, including a few pros on tour) who would love to be in your shoes with most of your drives going 285 yards bone-straight! With 125 mph head speed and impacting the sweet spot every time, you should be able to drive the ball about 330 yards now and again under ideal launch conditions. These are 12 degrees launch angle and about 2,200 rpm spin rate and a fairway in average conditions (i.e. ˜ 25 yard roll). If you are not at these launch conditions, then try to get there by hitting the ball a little higher on the face. This will reduce the ball speed a little but bring you closer to the optimum angle and spin. The other thing to try is a different ball. For more on optimum launch conditions please Click here

If I were you, I would settle for the drives you have and concentrate on the rest of your game, as there is nothing wrong with what you’re getting from your driver, especially since you’re hitting it both long and straight. Then the next step is to apply for your PGA TOUR card if you don’t already have it.

Frank