BALL FITTING MYTHOLOGY & DAVIS LOVE III IS REALLY EXCITED!

by Doug McAllister

Well, golf fans, we can all rest a little easier knowing that Davis Love III has found a new sponsor. The perennial Titleist poster boy has now joined Bridgestone (isn't it interesting that he has also apparently sworn off FootJoy shoes? Check out the adiPures from Adidias...) and, as noted, on the Bridgestone web site, Love III is "excited!" Well, that's fine.


WHAT WAS SAID:

In the short video clip on Bridgestone's site, Love III mentions:
"I'm excited to be with Bridgestone! I'm really excited about the technology. I'm really excited about the equipment...One of the things that really attracted me to Bridgestone was the whole ball fitting thing...I'm excited about a fresh start with the Bridgestone ball!"


WHAT WASN'T SAID:

Unfortunately we didn't have the opportunity to be a "fly on the wall" of Davis' brain. If we had had such a chance, I think we would have heard something a bit like this:
"More than anything, I'm REALLY excited that a sponsor is willing to shovel a truckload of dollars my way at this stage of my career! I haven't won anything in a light year and, I know, I am on my way out. Just trying to survive long enough to skid into the Champion's Tour. Whew! I was really getting nervous there with Titleist. They're all about keeping a stable of the best young golfers, without any loyalty or consideration for someone, like me, who helped put them on the golfing map beyond just golf balls!"


Okay. I don't begrudge Love III having an opportunity to keep an income from a sponsor. It's just fine! What I can't stand is that — among touring professionals — golf is nothing more than money. NOTHING! They change their equipment more often than most of us change our underwear. And, after all, the golf equipment companies are all about getting their pound of flesh out of you and me.

As Davis Love III changes to Bridgestone there's the real chance that many of us might think it's because there is something dramatically wrong with Titleist's ProV1 family of golf balls. After all, Davis wouldn't jump ship if he wasn't getting a better game, right? Truth is, there really isn't that much difference between Titleist and Bridgestone — other than the fact that Bridgestone makes a far better tire for your car!


BALL FITTING MYTHOLOGY

And let's talk about this nonsense of Bridgestone's ball fitting prowess. Have you visited the Bridgestone site and gone through the ball fitting process they offer? Just in case you haven't, here's the content from a chat session about ball fitting that I just completed (the spelling and exchange is exactly as it occurred online):

Jeff: Hi, this is Jeff. Welcome to B-Fit. How can I help you today?

Doug: wanted to use the ball fitter and see which bridgestone ball to use

how do it get started

Jeff: Hey Doug,

Tell me a little about your game and your ball flight.

Doug: i play to a 7 handicap. Hit it pretty straight with a slight fade

Jeff: Do you know what your swing speed is w/ your driver?

Doug: not exactly...but I have a smooth, probably comparatively slow swing

Jeff: Ok.

About how far do you hit an average drive?

Doug: probably 250-270 yds

Jeff: Good.

Are you a low or high ball hitter?

Doug: generally a higher flight

Jeff: Any issues getting your approach shots to stop?

Doug: nope

Jeff: When you hit your driver, do you get much roll?

Doug: on my driver, yes

Jeff: What would you say is more important to you Doug, distance or spin?

Doug: distance

Jeff: Ok.

What ball do you usually play?

Doug: does that really matter?

Jeff: It gives me a point of reference. If you're already playing a raw distance ball, that would be different compared to if you are playing a spin ball for example.

Doug: At this point, I haven't played a Bridgestone ball. I assumed that the fitting process would look at my game and tell me what Bridgestone ball was best for me — independent of what other companies offer. Was I mistaken?

Jeff: I can certainly make a recommendation without know what ball you currently play Doug, but like I said, if I know what type of ball you are currently playing, that helps me decide which direction we may need to go. If you want more distance, and you are currently playing a firm, low launch high spin ball, I might make a differnt suggestion than if you told me you were playing our e6, which is already a really long distance type ball. It's not that big of deal, I've just never had anyone have a problem with it.

Based on what you've told me, I recommend the B330-RX.

The B330-RX is a high performance, 3 piece tour caliber ball designed for players who swing between 85-105 mph. It's the softest urethane covered ball on the market, making it easy to compress for players who have swing speeds less than 105 mph. It offers excellent distance, spin and shot shaping ability.

Doug: no problem with it. I just didn't want my current ball to bias the proper fit from Bridgestone.

Jeff: It doesn't bias it really at all. Some players are already playing a Bridgestone, but if I know which one, I can put that information together with the info I have been given about their ball flight to make a suggestion. The more info I have the better, that's all. No worries.

Doug: it's just that I have done ball fitting before with other companies and, nine times out of ten, when I have told them what competitive ball I play, they suggest their version of the competitor's ball. What good is that, really?

Jeff: I see where you're coming from.

Is there anything else I can help with Doug?


Interesting, don't you think? Did you follow all of that? The key here is simple. After the usual housekeeping items regarding ball flight, distance and spin — the selfsame items used in every ball fitting exchange, regardless of the manufacturer — the HUGE question is: "So what are you playing now?" In short, the whole gig is "we want to know what you are playing now and we will simply tell you to pick up the Bridgestone counterpart." PERIOD!

You should note, as well, that the jump from "I see where you're coming from..." to "Is there anything else I can help with Doug?..." to the session shutting down from Bridgestone's end was a matter of seconds! Jeff, probably sensing that he had hooked into someone who was onto him and his company, ran for his life!

But, I am REALLY excited about Davis Love III being REALLY excited!

HELAS!

JUST WHEN YOU THOUGHT IT WAS SAFE TO...HERE WE GO AGAIN!!

by Doug McAllister

Well, it's the new year and, with its beginning, its time to get going right where it seems we left off. What am I talking about? Seems Camilo Villegas broke a rule while playing yesterday in the Hyundai Tournament of Champions in Hawaii. As a result of the domino effect that ensued, he was DQ'd from the event.

Wow! Must have been something terrible! What'd he do? Punch someone in the gallery? Let all the air out of the cars in the course parking lot? What did he do? Okay...we don't even need to talk about that. Really! We don't!

So what's the problem? Also seems that some television viewer saw the violation — something that all the on-site rules officials missed — and called in and ratted on Villegas! Now, if you've read my stuff before, you know that this makes my blood boil more than taking a snowman on a par 3!


WHERE IS THIS CONTACT INFORMATION?!

Okay, I've heard the first part of this too many times. A television viewer "calls" or "contacts" the USGA or the PGA or the Golf Channel or Golf Snitches Anonymous. Where on earth do you find these phone numbers, email addresses or fax numbers? Where are they listed? It drives me nuts! Even if I wanted to play the stool pigeon — which I don't! — I don't know the numbers!

Which begs the question: why is this information available at all, especially during the course of an event? Heck, I can't even change my Fantasy Golf Foursome after tee off time. Why should there be anyone manning a phone or a fax or a computer during an event with the sole purpose seemingly being waiting for some 25-handicap golf vigilante who couldn't hit a straight putt in a rain gutter to blow the whistle?


AREN'T THE RULES IMPORTANT?

Of course they are! But there is also the human element that has to be taken into consideration and honored just as stridently as the rules of the game! There are officials all over the course at each event and it's their job to monitor things and cite those who break the rules. But do they miss violations here and there? Darn straight!

So now, with the added technological possibilities out there, we have thousands of officials sitting comfortably in their Lazy Boy's and watching for the violation that will get past the paid judges.


ISN'T THAT A GOOD THING?

Hell no! The game is played on the course and not inside a TV camera. Ergo, what happens on the course needs to be called on the course — when and where it happens! And what if a rules violation isn't caught? SO BE IT! Once the day of golf is completed the books on that round should be closed, hermetically sealed and dried hard like last week's cement! This nonsense of officials waiting at the 18th green the next day to deliver the bad news has got to stop!


RESOLUTION

It's simple. To the governing bodies of the game at sanctioned events: once the tournament commences do us all the decency of turning off every communications device you own. Turn off your cell phones (and get new numbers, while your at it, so viewers won't be able to call you), shut down your computers. And for Pete's sake, get off Facebook and Twitter! (Everyone knows that real golfers are NOT actively involved in social networking! It causes slicing and hooking!) Make it a New Year's resolution to accept that golf is a game played by fallible human beings and officiated by the same! Yeah, do your darnedest to see that the rules are upheld but, when they're not, don't have kittens over it!

Determine now that what happens on the course will be handled on the course and — regardless of how well-meaning they may seem — resolve to NOT take any tips, phone calls, Facebook posts or tweets from anybody! Not even from your sainted mothers!


Golf doesn't need an instant replay. NO INSTANT REPLAY! Remember? It's supposed to be the game where the players call penalties on themselves. Not the game that allows faceless, nameless, brainless fools to do it for them!

What golf needs is for more of the armchair rules officials to get off their butts and get out their and try to...

Hit 'Em Long and Straight!

NOW THAT'S WHAT I CALL GOLF NEWS!

by Doug McAllister

Sorry for not tuning in for awhile. What's going on? To borrow an analogy from Nature, "the trees have gone dormant. Hibernation. What have you."

But isn't golf a year round pursuit? Maybe if you live in Florida, Southern California or Arizona. Here in Utah, when the mountains begin to fill up with snow, the thought of hitting rock-hard golf balls is about as appealing as the prospects of a colonoscopy! But that's neither here nor there.

But I had to post today! Just read Devil Ball, THE preeminent golf blog out there (supposedly). The title was, nauseatingly and stupidly enough, was "Is Elin moving on from Tiger with a new gentleman? Could be..." (and you thought I was nuts for temporarily hibernating from golf!)

Oh, I should add that the author warned in a slipshod disclaimer at the beginning that the story wasn't, at all, about golf. Oh, really? SO WHY, THEN, WASTE THE DIGITAL INK?

There you have it!

First off, I couldn't give a pachyderm's posterior (that's an elephant's...well...you know) about Elin's latest...whatever you might want to call it. She never was golf news before. At best, she is simply golf soap now (even with the pathetic disclaimer)! Secondly, if you seriously know anyone who really thought that Elin would take her millions and join a convent instead of getting on with her life send 'em my way. I own some wonderful oceanfront property near Delta, Utah that they might be interested in buying.

But, then, that's what's wrong with golf blogs right now, isn't it? Too much "as the Tiger turns" and not enough golf. And nutty commentary about Elin's love life constitutes "as the Tiger turns" once removed! Inexcusable!

Enough said!

Hopefully some of you are getting out where it's warm and continuing to play the game. Golf, I mean. Me? I was hoping to get out this week. Still might if these Chinook winds that we're enjoying right now here in north-central Utah hold up. If not, It may be a while before I can get out and find out whether I can still...at least some of the time...

Hit 'em Long and Straight!

YOU...ARE THE COURSE!

by Doug McAllister

First off, apologies for being "away." Where was I? I suppose I was temporarily lost in that horrible abyss known as "responsibility." But that's no excuse.

Actually I have been working on a new addition to "This For Birdie!" Remember when I promised "golf-litical" cartoons? Well, I have been brainstorming madly about a new strip — yep, not just a one framer — to be added periodically here. What will it be called. What else? "HEADCOVERS!" Wait and see. Should be fun.

But to today's post...


MYTH: DESTINATION GOLF AS A DEFINING EXPERIENCE...

Ah, St. Andrews! Just the name conjures images of golf in its purity. It's a planned pilgrimage included on many a golfer's "bucket list" — whether that's a large bucket or a small one! If one could only play St. Andrews he or she would surely achieve golfing Nirvana!

But, for many, destination golf is the rule and not the exception. Off they go to this "great course" or that one. Lists include such destinations as Pebble Beach, Harbor Town, TPC Sawgrass and Pinehurst #2. Some of the more deluded even add Augusta to their lists. And in each case the expectation seems clearly to be the search for the perfect round on the perfect course.

But does that really happen. One thing is certain. Regardless of where one travels to play golf he takes his game with him, right? Which simply means that, regardless of where one goes the same game — flawed as all golf games are — goes along.

In short — YOU ARE THE COURSE!

Golf is also a head game. The worst head game there may be! Meaning? Meaning that when you finally save enough kopecks to get to whatever golfing Shangri-La it may be, chances are very good that your best game or, You—THE COURSE, may not be along for the ride.


TO GO OR NOT TO GO. THAT IS THE QUESTION...

So my advice, then, is to stay behind? Certainly not! I have played several "destination" courses when the opportunity presented itself and played MARVELOUSLY at each site.

NOT!! I played the Geronimo Course at Desert Mountain and barely made it in with enough golf balls to finish! I played Teton Pines in Jackson Hole and could never get a fix on length — either way too long or way too short! At Silverado in Napa I killed more worms than I could count! (hopefully they weren't needed for the good of the wine industry there!) And, in each case, I came away feeling like I had somehow betrayed the game and needed to hang it up.

What I wasn't realizing is that the destination course is to be experienced, sometimes, in spite of golf! In other words, you could go to St. Andrews, simply walk the course without hitting a single ball and be the better for it. Of course, if you get there you had better play or you'd be looked upon as an idiot of elephantine proportions!


THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME!

But in the end I advocate playing the game between your ears. With that in mind the physical course doesn't really matter. It doesn't matter if you're playing the manicured track of a world-class course or a sorry cow patch. What matters is what happens with course that you always carry with you.

Remember! You are the course!


Now, with that, you're probably wishing I had abandoned this blog permanently!

HELAS!

A MUST FOR THE "WILFULLY" STUPID! PRESENT AND FUTURE

by Doug McAllister

One of the first entries that you will read in the book THE BEST ADVICE EVER FOR GOLFERS is a quote about golf penned in 1908 by Arnold Haultain. Haultain observes, simply, that to be obsessed with golf "is not so much a sign of pitiable insanity as of wilful stupidity." We'll here's to the "wilfully" stupid and to anyone else to wants a collection of observations, anecdotes, quotes, quips and stories about this sport of sports. THE BEST ADVICE EVER FOR GOLFERS by Robert McCord is a must for you and for your library.

It's all here. Chapters include "Golf the Obsession...", "Down the Fairway...", "Grace Under Pressure..." and subjects that cover just about every aspect of the game. Contributors include some of the greatest names in the history of the game from Hagen to Hogan, from Palmer to Player, from Watson to Woods and from Nicklaus to Nelson and everyone in between.

More than a "How To..." book, THE BEST ADVICE EVER FOR GOLFERS is idle chat about the game by the greats as if you were with them at the 19th hole. It's also a great "almanac" of golf for everyone from seasoned golfers to those thinking about taking the golf plunge. If you are among the latter, be very careful when reading this book. You may find yourself, before you know it, among the ranks of the "wilfully" stupid as Mr. Haultain so eloquently put it.

Hit 'Em Long and Straight — wilfully and stupidly!

THE GOLF HALL OF FAME (OR NOT SO FAMOUS)

by Doug McAllister

This day in golf history saw the birth of a Golf Hall of Famer and the death of another. In 1890 future U.S. President and golfing fanatic, Dwight David Eisenhower was born on this day in the obscure prairie town of Abilene, Kansas. And, some 87 years later, an equally obsessed golfer named Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby died in Madrid, Spain on October 14, 1977.

I bring this up because of the recent caterwauling that resulted from news of one of the latest inductees into the same storied Hall.

Former President, George W. Bush was inducted and almost immediately the naysaying began. "What has he done to deserve to be there?" was the most common question asked. What indeed?

To tell you the truth, I can't say why. The 'W' in his name does stand for Walker — tied directly to the Walker Cup. Maybe that had something to do with it. Maybe not.

But, hey, why Bing Crosby or President Eisenhower? One used money and influence to establish an event that contributed mightily to west coast golf while the other, through his own talentless addiction to the game, popularized the game in the 1950's. Oh...and he got a tree named after him at Augusta National. Why? Because he couldn't, for the life of him, manage to play a round there without hitting it! Even went so far as to try to use his influence to have the darned thing torn out by the roots! Yep, the stuff of a Hall of Fame Career if there ever was one.

Interestingly, there was a bit of complaining about Ernie Els being inducted this year as well. Barely eligible to enter the Hall from an age-requirement standpoint, some believed that he should have had to wait for a while. Interesting. Some even rationalized, as Els might have another Major in his future, it would be best to wait. As if adding another Major to his impressive credentials might disqualify him? (Okay...so I know what they mean. But it's still a remarkably stupid observation to make, in my humble opinion!)

It needs to be remembered that, like most other sports Halls of Fame, every golfer will not make the Hallowed Hall. Just take a look at the list of those IN the Hall. See any names missing that you were just sure would be there? I did.

Where is Oscar Bane "Pop" Keeler? Bobby Jones' friend and confidant and golf writer. Where is Grantland Rice? Rice coined the famous saying "It isn't whether you win or lose, but how you play the game." In my opinion, these sports journalists are as deserving as Bernard Darwin, another golf writer who IS in. And it goes without saying that Keeler and Rice would be far better additions to the Hall than Crosby, Eisenhower or Bush!

And, then, there are the many "generic" golfers in the Hall. Undoubtedly a case can be made for each, I suppose. But, just to name a few — who the heck are Fred Corcoran, Joseph Dey, Herb Graffis and Richard Tufts? To look at their plaques, they appear to be suited bean counters. No doubt they were perceived as contributors to the game and no doubt, as well, they may have dropped a few too many bucks to be given the privilege. Money, after all, opens far too many doors. But, recognizable names or not, there they are in the Hall. And far less notable than George W. Bush.

But like so many things about the game, The Hall of Fame, really has very little to do with the intrinsic quality and enduring value of the game itself, regardless of who is there or not. But, you knew I was going to say that, didn't you? That's because you're smart!

You know, then, that I am also going to say...

Hit 'Em Long and Straight!

TALON'S COVE: UTAH'S TRUEST LINKS COURSE

by Doug McAllister

Seems today that the buzz when it comes to courses is "links." You hear it everywhere, "I played a links course today..." or "it's a links style course..." But the truth is, there is a distinct set of characteristics that are involved in true links courses. Take St. Andrews for example. The granddaddy links course of them all defines what is involved. Most specifically, it involves land that has been washed and worked over time by the action of water. By definition, links land was the land that "linked" the seashore to inland lands used for farming and grazing. Nothing to do, as some assume, with a linkage of holes on a course. It's this water-worked characteristic that truly defines a links course.

Which brings me to Talon's Cove in Saratoga Springs, Utah.

Situated on the northwest shore of Utah Lake, Talon's Cove — I believe — offers a true setting for a links course. The land, washed and shaped by the action of the waters of ancient Lake Bonneville, offers the a rolling and moguled landscape that is ideal for links golf. Shaped by
Architect Gene Bates, the course, featuring panoramic views of Utah Valley in all directions, is nothing short of spectacular.

From the back tees, Talon's Cove offers a monstrous championship track of just over 7,000 yards with a rating of 72.5 and a slope of 127. But five different tees insure that the course offers a great experience for golfers of all ability levels.

But it's the course's setting that sets the place apart. Nothing I have played in Utah is remotely similar. On a fair day the experience is wonderful. When the wind picks up off the lake, be prepared for a true Open Championship experience.

For more information, check out http://www.talonscove.com.

If you get a chance, play Talon's Cove. You won't regret it. I promise!

HELAS!