Tiger Woods And His Incredible Putting Stats

54 of 54: From inside 5 feet. (100%)

63 of 66: From inside 10 feet (95.5%)

Statistically, when compared to the rest of the field from this range, Tiger had a 6.6 stroke advantage from within 10 feet of the hole.

This is outrageous. Incredible. Amazing. Compared to his play at Doral, where he clearly had a better ballstriking performance yet putted lousy (by his standards), his ballstriking wasn't great at Bay Hill and his putting was superb. It's almost as if his game totally flip-flopped, only this time he won.

Once again the stats prove that no matter how well you strike the ball, if you're making putts your scores will drop. It's that simple.

So get out there and practice your putting. Tiger does it all the time... Oh, and let's see you drop a Rubik's cube... What can't he do?

Crunch Time at GT

It's officially the busiest time of the year for Golf Tips, that's why so few posts have gone up recently. We just sent our May issue to the printers last Friday and our 2009 Annual Equipment Buyer's Guide hits newsstands April 14th. We're currently working on our Faults and Fixes June issue, which will feature instruction stories from Tom Stickney and Jeff Ritter among others.

To tide you over, here's a video of Ritter's tremendous one-plane swing. Take this image with you to the golf course this weekend (if it's warm enough).

Best Swing on Tour?

Did anybody else hear Johnny Miller comment on Stuart Appleby's swing this past Saturday? Miller said Appleby must have the best swing on Tour. Really? Better than Luke Donald, Trevor Immelman and Tiger?

Tell us who has the best swing on Tour.

Retief Goosen Wins.

I'll bet he wins a major. Just a hunch.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

NCAA BASKETBALL BRACKETS

I know the NCAA Basketball tourney has already started (I'm 20 for 24 so far in my bracket. Beat that...) but it's Friday and well, I digress.

Our friends over at PGATOUR.com also are fans of March bracketology, going as far as rounding up the brackets from a big handful of PGA Tour players. And of all of them, not one picked the same Championship winner as I did (Go Sooners!). Hmm, either these guys spend way too much time on the golf course to know what they're talking about, or I know nothing about NCAA hoops.

I'm going to go with the latter. I don't know a whole lot. To check out your favorite PGA Tour players brackets, click on the word "OKLAHOMA." Hee hee...

Los Cabos Deal

The Sheraton Hacienda del Mar Resort & Spa, Los Cabos just announced a pretty decent golf package.

For $279 per room/per night you can stay in one of their deluxe rooms, enjoy buffet breakfasts, welcome drinks, a 10% discount on either Cabo del Sol's Desert (Tom Weiskopf, architect) or Ocean (Jack Nicklaus, architect) courses and gain free access to the gym and sauna.

For more information click here.

Two Golf Courses Re-Open for Business!

Over the past couple weeks a number of golf courses have shuttered their doors including Osprey Meadows which was named "America's Best New Course" in 2006 by Golf Digest. The tough Robert Trent Jones, Jr. course was part of the now-closed Tamarack Resort in Idaho. I played it a couple years ago and wrote about it in our May, 2008 issue. It was an apologetically difficult track and two hours from Boise, so it's not too surprising to hear that it didn't survive the economic downturn. Still, it's never fun to learn that a course that just opened is closing.

But the news for golf courses isn't all bad.

On Saturday Pine Lakes Country Club in Myrtle Beach re-opened after a $15 million renovation (look for a feature article in the May issue of Golf Tips).

And there's also word that the former Silver Course at Doral Golf Resort and Spa will reopen in May as The Jim McLean Signature Course at Doral. What changed? Widened fairways, enhanced water visuals and about 550 more yards.

Henrik Stenson in his Skivvies!!!

Henrik Stenson really likes his clothes. I mean seriously, he doesn't want to get them dirty. Ever.

So what's a guy to do when he has a semi-playable lie in the mud? How about STRIP DOWN TO HIS UNDERWEAR during round one of the CA Championship?

Here I was, thinking I've seen it all. Wait, I mean I've seen too much. Whatever. By the way, he shot 3-under. He stripped down to HIS UNDERWEAR. Must be some sort of Euro thing...

Beware "Cheap" Masters Tickets

Over the past few days I've received emails touting "once in a lifetime prices" to this year's Masters Tournament.

While the current economic malaise has certainly created a number of excellent bargains for golfers, I'm not sure 10-20% discounts over last year's prices qualify as "once in a lifetime." First of all, the stock market's down 50% and today it was reported that household net worth fell 18% in 2008, so anything that's discounted below 18% really isn't a discount at all.

StubHub sent an email that listed last year's prices and this year's current average prices. Let's consider the $3,377 "Competition Package." Last year the same package rang up for $3,930. While that may be $553 less than last year it's only a 14% discount, which, with household net worth down 18% (not to mention increased unemployment and less money overall being made this year) is actually an increase over last year's prices.

Enough Charles Barkley, Already

I know, I contributed to the publicity machine that is Charles Barkley a few weeks ago right here on this blog, but enough is enough with Barkley and his horrible swing popping up during every 2.5 minute commercial break on the Golf Channel. I mean Golf Channel (no "the"). I don't want to get in trouble.

He's everywhere, including locked up for DUI in Arizona. (Is he out yet? I don't even know/care.) I do know he's one of the best basketball players ever, with more than 20,000 points, 10,000 rebounds and 4,000 assists. He also spit on a guy. I don't dispute that. In fact, I'd rather see some of that instead of that atrocious (and suspiciously so) and also overexposed golf swing.

Maybe I'm fueling the fire, even with this post. But rest assured, you won't be seeing any "Cha Baahklaay" in our magazine. No, Sir. (Pun intended.)