Camilla Villegas hands the Fedex Cup to Vijay

Slightly late with this post! Or to be fair very late.
I was really pleased that Camilla has finally broken through. Here is a guy who works very hard at his game and his image and this first win was a long time coming. Let's hope it is the first of many.
I thought he showed remarkable composure throughout those last nine holes. It couldn't have been easy and with Vijay and Anthony Kim breathing down his throat - he was quite simply superb.
It was also good to see him and Kim striding down the fairway together, sharing a laugh and generally chatting away. I suppose we would all be rather jovial if we were making the money these guys do.
Winning the event as he did means that Camilla has ruled out any possibly of anyone catching Vijay for the Fedex cup and the $10,000,000.00 first prize. The rest of the field though still have a big interest in this event as the prize money for all qualifiers in the last 30 is huge. So there is still lots to play for as well as the prize money and title on the day.
Watching Camilla play I could not help wonder at his mental strength. I know how I feel when I am playing with my mates. Standing over a putt that could win or lose our little $10.00 haggle or to avoid getting the dreaded "three putt" snake, is usually more than I can stomach. One can only imagine what these guys go through. Staying focused on the job at hand and not getting ahead of yourself is so important and so difficult. It requires an immense amount of concentration and self discipline. I would imagine this is particularly difficult with the first win.
I do know that it takes a bit of practice to get into a routine of concentrating on the here and now. As Michael Anthony says in his book Mental Keys there is nothing you can do about the past and worrying about the future (something that hasn't happened yet and may not happen at all!) is pointless. Not only is it pointless but worrying about the outcome causes negative chemicals to be released into your brain. This results in the outcome (you fear) materializing.
You can and should only concentrate on each individual shot and that is what these top players do. They concentrate on the process in hand. As Michael says in his book if you keep the mental process in check and on line the mechanical process that is ingrained in your swing will automatically follow. The brain is a powerful weapon indeed.
That said and done I still think it is a phenomenal effort from Camilla to get his first break through and an astounding year for Vijay to have won the Fedex cup. The latter particularly so because of his age. The youngsters will get their day in the sun!

No Takers On My "My Match Tiger's Feat" Idea.

Last week I tried to get people interested in matching Tiger's unbelievable string of tournaments - 9 wins and a second in 10 starts - on a local 4 ball basis.
The idea was to try and match Tiger's achievements by winning within your own fourball for 9 out of your next 10 games.
I sent an e-mail to one of my smaller lists of subscribers to see if any one was interested but alas it seems to have been a "not such a hot idea".
However the good news for me is that I am in the running. Not only did I win within my 4 ball on Wednesday but I also won our monthly competition. In fact I won it by a Tiger length with 45 individual stableford points!! I have never achieved that before.
What went right? Well for a start my putting was very hot. I had 9 putts on the back nine (which we played as our front nine). This is by far a more difficult nine and I found myself at level par after 7 holes. I dropped two on the next hole because I was suddenly aware of how well I was doing. But then I managed to par the 18th (our 9th) which I have only ever done 3 times before. First nine was in the bag with 24 points.
The second nine started off a bit shaky because once again I was thinking about where I was instead of playing the game. So I switched my mind to the present as Michael Anthony suggests in his "The Mental Keys To Improve Your Golf". That really helped me as I then simply concentrated on each shot as it came along. With two holes to go I had 39 points and as the remaining holes were both par 5s and I stroked on both I figured a bogey bogey finish for a total of 43 points would be more than acceptable. Again this helped me to relax and I finished with two pars for 45 points and a major celebration.
Sorry to use this blog to brag but hey it just felt so good and so easy!
I am not sure whether it was my state of mind from polishing the wheel with The Mental Keys To Improve Your Golf or whether it was my awesome putting (remember I got a new putter in January from Exotic Golf Putters. It is beautiful and I love it) or just luck and my day.
Somehow I think it was a combination of all three.
Talking of putters I must tell you that I have had a bit of a struggle with this new putter as it is quite a bit heavier than my old Scotty Cameron Nappa. But I am getting used to the weight and now really like the feel of it. And it really is a lovely looking putter that everyone comments on.
Of course with 11 putts in the first 9 holes I was over the moon with it.
Well till next time.
I am playing Easter Monday and hope to get to stage two of my Match Tiger Feat.

Arnold Palmer Invitation

I've just watched the end of Tiger's last (sorry I mean latest - it wont be the last) victory.
What can anyone say about this guy? He was 7 shots off the pace at the half-way stage and goes on to win with closing rounds of 66 and 66. He makes up and overtakes 7 shots from some of the leading players in the world!
Tiger now has 64 PGA wins and is tied 3rd for the all time number of wins. It's no longer if, but when he will become the all time greatest. Only an injury or some catastrophe can stop him.
He has now won 9 of his last 10 tournaments and came tied 2nd in the other one. I have no idea what he might have earned in this latest streak. I'm sure right behind him on the money list for this streak would be his caddie and a fellow Kiwi Steve Williams.
So here's a challenge to my readers: For 10 consecutive rounds of golf you play try to equal or better Tiger's record on a Four Ball basis.
What do I mean by that? For 10 consecutive rounds of golf try and win at least 9 times and come second (to equal Tiger's record) within the four ball that you are playing.
Strictly speaking it should be on a stroke play basis but that would be both unfair and too easy for some. It would be unfair on the average golfer (who's handicap is greater than 16) and too easy for the single figure golfer (who could simply choose a whole lot of high handicappers to play against for 10 rounds).
So let's do it on a Stableford basis.
I am prepared to put up a prize for the first one who can complete this achievement. I have yet to come up with what the prize will be but I will make it something worthwhile that will benefit the golfer who wins.
I will need proof that the feat has been achieved. And the best form of proof will be something official. Keep your score cards and have them signed by both your opponents and a club official.
Once you have achieved the goal you can e-mail me and we'll take it from there. I think I have a lot of time to work out what I will be giving as a prize. It will be worthwhile.
So that's the deal.
Starting from today, Monday the 17th March 2008, until the end of the year any golfer out there who equals or betters Tiger's winning results on a 4 ball basis will win a substantial prize from Better Golfing.
If we do not have a winner then keep your best results for 10 consecutive rounds and I will be prepared to give a prize to the person who does the best - provided the results are half decent.
So without further ado go get 'em boys and girls.
And keep watching this post for results.
Hopefully this will give us some indication of just how phenomenal Tiger Woods is.

New Website

It has been a long time since I put up any posts on this site. My apologies to anyone actually reading it.
I have been busy, no excuse but true.
Through Wealthy Affiliate University I have been learning all about Internet Marketing. I can make money doing what I love- helping people to improve their golf.
I have also been learning how to build websites and this is totally uncharted territory for me. Man what a learning curve it has been. I think golf is easier!
There is so much to learn that by the end of the week I have sometimes forgotten what I learned at the beginning of the week
Anyway I have a website which is work in progress called Play The Lie.
Check it out and tell me what you think. Please bear in mind that it is work in progress and I go back to it regularly to update it. I have been meaning to get back and do the short game pages but something keeps cropping up and I haven't been able to get around to it just yet. For example this weekend is my son's 21st and that has taken a bit of time to organize.
I have also recently had the good fortune to come across Teddy Webber, an old friend of mine. Teddy is a former European Tour Pro who grew up and played with the Zimbabwean golfers Nick Price, Tony Johnstone, Dennis Watson and Mark McNulty.
Teddy's playing career was curtailed by what was diagnosed as the "Chipping Yips" which he attributes to a bad grip. Yes even successful pros have such ingrained faults that they seemingly cannot be cured.
Teddy left the circuit and went on to become one of South Africa's leading coaching pros. He has a coaching tutorial out at the moment which you can view here. The book sells for $21.95 and at that ridiculous price is excellent value for money
Now the name of the tutorial is horrible and he puts far too much info into it for the paltry price he is asking.
On my recommendation he will be changing all that. The new name will be "Simple Swing Lesson" and the book will be split into six different books. Simple Swing Lesson, Simple Chipping Lesson, Simple Putting Lesson, Simple Bunker Lesson, Conquer the chipping "YIPS"--I DID. and Practise -Tournament Routines/Drills.
Each of these sections will then sell for just under $20.00. Still a great price to sort out a particular problem. But you can still get the current tutorial which contains all of the above here. But you will need to act fast as the price should already have been altered.
I have tried the Basic swing module and the chipping module and have nothing but praise for both. His instructions are easy to follow and accompanied by photos that compliment the text. I found the chipping tutorial particularly useful and now I actually look forward to missing greens - just to try out what he says.
I truly can't wait for the updated versions because I think they will be big sellers.
Anyway that's all for the moment. Be sure to check out Play The Lie and let me know what you think.
Oh and I promise to keep this blog updated from now on.