US Open Week - Torrey Pines

With the month of May in central New Jersey cold and rainy, and the temperature for past few days in the mid-high nineties, I'm finding myself singing the words "hot town summer in the city" in my mind all day. In the Midwest there's tornados, thunderstorms with baseball sized hail and flooding rains. Although Mother Nature can't make up her mind what season it is, it's finally that time of year when the world's media attention turns to golf. It's US Open week.

Whether you love or hate Tiger Woods, the question of will he win his fourteenth major championship in his quest to pass Jack Nicklaus' record of eighteen, at Torrey Pines, a course where he's already won earlier this year; or if Phil Mickelson will win in the San Diego are where he grew up playing, are the buzz all over the world this week. As the number one and two players in the world, you'd expect them to be the favorites. Who will win? I'm not making any predictions... except why do I think Tiger has a great shot to win (or finish on the leader board), even though he's playing his first competitive round since having arthroscopic surgery following the Masters? Because he plays the majors a lot like Jack Nicklaus did.

Even when he didn't have his A-game Nicklaus, who finished second a record nineteen times, seemed to find a way to hang in there until a majority of the field eliminated themselves. Follow all the hype and you'd think there were only two players in this year's field, Tiger and Phil. We all learned how terribly wrong "all the buzz" can be this past weekend, as Big Brown was trying to become the first horse in thirty years to win the Triple Crown. We all know what a lock and "sure thing" he was at 1 to 4 odds to coast to victory, at least if you followed all the buzz prior to the race. I've learned my lesson, that in sports there's no way to predict the outcome. Every year I see more bizarre events and upsets I never thought could happen (like the NY Giants winning this year's Super Bowl). Nothing in sports surprises me anymore. That's why they play the game.

This week's 60 second Thumbs Down method golf tip.
In this 2007 article from a major golf publication in, Tiger Woods describes the benefits of turning knuckles down to the ground. Although he's not using the exact same words, he's describing Thumbs Down, a move all the great ball strikers do, whether they realize it or not.
Most great iron players have at least one thing in common: They take a divot, whether the ball is teed up or on the turf. And it usually comes from a shallow angle of attack, which produces a long, shallow divot about the size of a dollar bill. Conversely, high-handicappers either make a steep downswing and dig a crater through impact, or they don't take a divot at all. Both mistakes lead to inconsistent contact and poor shots.

To improve your ball striking (and your divots), try shallowing out your backswing--swinging a little more around you. That sets up a shallower angle into the ball and a long, thin divot. It also helps if you turn the knuckles of your top hand to the ground through impact, like I'm doing here. This is a clear sign that you're compressing the ball, trapping it between the clubface and the turf, which will result in a divot on the forward side of the ball.

For more information about the Thumbs Down method go to www.golfinstructionmadesimple.com and vist my new blog at www.thumbsdownmethod.com. There's plenty of golf and other topics of interest like airport security and travel tips, alternative energy and environmentally friendly products, articles and information. And now there's a book store. Check it out.