Ode to the Tiger

Scott Keenlyside - CPGA Professional 
scottk@islandviewgolf.com

THE LAWS OF GOLF

LAW 1: No matter how bad your last shot was, the worst is yet to come. This law does not expire on the 18th hole, since it has the supernatural tendency to extend over the course of a tournament, a summer and, eventually, a lifetime.

LAW 2: Your best round of golf will be followed almost immediately by your worst round ever. The probability of the latter increases with the number of people you tell about the former.

LAW 3: Brand new golf balls are water-magnetic. Though this cannot be proven in the lab, it is a known fact that the more expensive the golf ball, the greater its attraction to water.

LAW 4: Golf balls never bounce off of trees back into play. If one does, the tree is breaking a law of the universe and should be cut down.

LAW 5: No matter what causes a golfer to muff a shot, all his playing partners must solemnly chant "You looked up," or invoke the wrath of the universe.

LAW 6: The higher a golfer's handicap, the more qualified he deems himself as an instructor.

LAW 7: Every par-three hole in the world has a secret desire to humiliate golfers. The shorter the hole, the greater its desire.

LAW 8: Topping a 3-iron is the most painful torture known to man.

a. Power: Can he bust the ball or what! With his length he simply shortens the golf courses. If a Par 5 isn’t over 600 yards it becomes a Par 4 really. Anything under 525 I am sure he is thinking 3 every time! No wonder PGA courses today have to be over 7200 yards….anything less, kids stuff!

b. Short Game: He inevitably always gets up and down from anywhere. His pitching, chipping and sand play is brilliant to say the least. Therefore even if he hits a poor approach shot he generally always gets the next shot close to the hole, or in the hole. What an asset on Par 5’s also….anything close is an assured birdie. 

c. Focus: His concentration is phenomenal. His killer instinct just scary. It’s hard to believe some folks bet on Tiger vs the rest of the field….Even odds??? Just crazy!!!

d. The great Byron Nelson said Tiger was the best putter he every saw. That’s good enough for me! If you look up putting in the dictionary it must say Tiger. So many long ones….get a life fella!

e. Conditioning: When I saw Tiger in the PGA Championship in Seattle a few years ago he looked in better physical shape than any other player. His level of fitness and body strength is simply superb; combine that with his mind power and you have a super human.

f. A great Caddy! Steve Williams is as tough as they come on the bag. He is in complete control and protects Tiger like a pit bull! Remember Jean Van de Velde in the British Open, with Steve Williams he would of won that tournament…… no question. A great caddie plays a much larger role in a player’s success than one might think. A caddie or a partner???? 

All in all what a dynamic duo! Or was that Batman & Robin!

Message from the Manager

Sean McNulty - General Manager 
seanmc@islandviewgolf.com  

AYN RAND QUOTES OF THE MONTH

Pride is the recognition of the fact that you are your own highest value and, like all of man’s values, it has to be earned.

Rationality is the recognition of the fact that nothing can alter the truth and nothing can take precedence over that act of perceiving it.

Until and unless you discover that money is the root of all good, you ask for your own destruction. When money ceases to become the means by which men deal with one another, then men become the tools of other men. Blood, whips and guns--or dollars. Take your choice--there is no other.

I swear by my life and my love of it that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine.

Civilization is the progress toward a society of privacy. The savage's whole existence is public, ruled by the laws of his tribe. Civilization is the process of setting man free from men.

The right to vote is a *consequence*, not a primary cause, of a free social system -- and its value depends on the constitutional structure implementing and strictly delimiting the voters' power; unlimited majority rule is an instance of the principle of tyranny.

As you can imagine, I took full advantage of this trip to fine tune my golf game for the upcoming season! I managed to get in at least 18 everyday on 4 different courses; Sunridge Canyon, Eagle Mountain, Talking Stick and Troon. In addition, I went a perfect 5-0 in me and my fathers match play game!

Dessert golf courses play a lot differently than the ones we have in BC. 

In terms of advantages, there’s no big trees and very little water! If you manage to keep your ball on the green stuff, your going to have a shot at putting it on the green.

The course designers more than make up for those two advantages with a myriad of disadvantages! 

Firstly, You run out of fairway quick and I hit more than my fair share of shots out of the hard dessert dirt! Be ready for some target golf!

Secondly, there are sand traps everywhere! Be sure to brush up in the short game area at Island View before heading down there!

Thirdly, they replace water with garden beds by the greens full of cactuses! If your balls goes in, I’d suggest skipping hunting for it and dropping another one.

All in all, Arizona is a beautiful place and I look forward to visiting there again.

Sean

PGA Tour Posture

Andrew Wintraub - Class A CPGA Professional 
andrew@islandviewgolf.com

HANDICAP SYSTEM NOW AVAILABLE!

One of the reasons guys like Tiger Woods, Justin Rose and Adam Scott hit the golf ball so consistently solid and far is their athletic setup positions. Of course, part of a good setup, as discussed in previous newsletters, is a good grip and taking a proper stance with your feet. What separates good players from great players is a fundamental that sometimes gets overlooked by the weekend player. This fundamental is POSTURE.

One crucial thing about posture in the golf swing is that you should be bending from the waist. If you look at the picture of Tiger below, notice how from his tail bone to the bottom of his neck how straight his spine is. 

How does one achieve this perfect posture? Well there are a few ways of doing it. I would suggest taking your setup in front of a mirror, with a club. See exactly how straight (or crooked) your spine is. If it’s straight, hey you’re good to go! If not, I would suggest lifting the club so that it is parallel with the ground, and you’re standing tall. From there, see how far you can tilt from the waist without curving your back. Once you’ve tilted all the way down, there should be a slight knee flex to lock you in place. 

You might find that’s it very difficult at first to come all the way down with the club, and maintain a straight spine, but with some diligent practice, you will be on your way to a PGA tour posture in no time!!

Andrew

The Hyo Sang Update

Hyo Sang Yoon 
hyo@islandviewgolf.com

Here is a preview of some of the items in the golf-training center: 

Spot liner- it helps you to draw a straight line on the ball, which will allows to work on your alignments in putting. As we all know, alignments in golf are very critical. Especially in putting. 

Perfect plane- this is a putting arc training board. It teaches correct putting stroke path, proper acceleration, and how to square the clubface. It can be used on a practice green, at home or the office. 

Pure strike- this one is really cool, because ultra-light practice balls stick to the clubface when you are swinging the club. So you can see exactly where you’re hitting at impact. With pure strike, you will hit more on the “sweet spot” for longer, straighter shots. 

Refiner- this is a dual-adjustable hinged trainer for putting. It finds any flaw in your putting stroke and helps to putt with perfect tempo. If the stroke isn’t correct then the hinge will break so you know whether its correct or not. 

Swing by Island View and check out all these great golf-training aids. It will definitely help you win some money games with your buddies, and make you a much better player!

Hyo Sang Yoon