Tiger,

I write as a huge fan (and Cardinal.)  One who has enjoyed watching you since you won your final U.S Amateur.  Your putt on the 35th against Steve Scott is still burned in my mind.

On Sunday at the Masters on the front nine, and even with your second on 15, your play caused my spirits to rise once more.

Finally, after 17  long months, it looks like your game is almost back.

It’s been a tortuous wait for all your fans.  In fact, it’s been horrible.

We’ve had to listen to every wannabe-swing-guru dissect your swing and rip it to shreds. We’ve heard idiots like Johnny Miller liken you to Mike Tyson.  And we’ve defended you on message boards and forums when you’ve been pilloried from all corners by the Tiger haters.

They’ll never be silenced for good and we’re going to have to endure them forever.

But there is something you can do for your fans besides winning again.

And that is to think of us and talk to us each time you are in front of a microphone. Even when the dumbest interviewer asks the dumbest question.

Talk as if we your fans are right there with you.

Go beyond the stock answers and just share with us.

Tiger, please do this, we need it.

A couple of days after the Masters debacle, Rory announced “The only shot I’d want back is the drive at number ten.”

And that only goes to show that Rory doesn’t get it.  Because his downfall was set in motion long before that.  On the first green to be precise.

That was where Rory yanked his short par putt left of the hole. The downward spiral continued on the 2nd hole where he drove into a fairway bunker then hit the lip trying to get out with his second shot. He scraped a par.  Then on 3, after a glorious pitch to just a few feet, he yanked the birdie putt left again.

This type of play does not inspire self confidence.

He did sink a long birdie putt on 7, but it was clear on the front 9 that he was jittery.  And even though he made the turn with a one shot lead, the writing was on the wall.

In the December 2010 Chevron tournament (Tiger’s event) I watched Rory have an awful week with his short game. Not just putting but chipping also. So it was no surprise that Rory wilted under the pressure of the Masters.

I’d hate to see him be like Fred Couples who was always missing short ones under pressure and with a more sound putting game would have won more than just the one major.

I do hope someone on his team – or maybe G-Mac – pulls him aside and tells him what his real problem is because the sooner he fixes his putting the sooner he starts winning majors.

It’s time Dan Jenkins retired. For good.

After a long and distinguished career in journalism, he’s losing the plot.  We’ve known for quite some time of his loathing for Tiger, but it reached new heights on the last day of the 2011 Masters.

On Twitter Chat (an appropriately named platform for him)  in response to the question if Tiger reaches 18 majors, Dan replied ” No, and he doesn’t deserve to tie Jack. Nicklaus had tougher competition.”

The comment doesn’t deserve a response not just because of its pettiness but also because it makes no sense.  It’s the kind of response a kid in the schoolyard might say.  Passionate, but illogical.

He later said “I have this thing about Tiger. I’d like him if he ever treated the press better.”

So there’s the heart of the matter.  Dan feels disrespected.

It’s funny that his long time friend Ben Hogan would have given Tiger a run for his money for his surliness.

Gary Player once called Hogan to ask him some questions.  Hogan asked what clubs he played, and when Player responded, Hogan told him to go and call the owner of that company and ask him the questions.

So if it was OK for Hogan to act that way, why is it not OK for Tiger.  The answer is that Hogan was a friend.

Well my bet is that Tiger will never be a friend of Dan’s.

Especially when he wins his 19th major.

Think of Swedes and who comes to mind.

Carls' Secret Weapon?

If you’re a guy, it’s possibly beautiful women like those gorgeous ladies of ABBA (boy those were great years to be a teenager!)

If you’re a golfer, it’s possibly those slim “walking 1-irons” like Henrik Stenson or Jesper “I-Don’t-like-Tiger” Parnevik.

But this year, the man who’s breaking the mold is Carl Pettersson, recent winner of the 2010 Canadian Open.

A close look at Carl (or for that matter a distant look), reveals a figure that’s more along the lines of a 450cc driver head than a 1-iron.

Today’s Quote

“I’m not your typical Swede.  I don’t have a 28-inch waist and I don’t eat bananas at the turn, stuff like that,” said Carl prior to the start of the Wyndham Tournament.

“I lost 30 pounds and my game completely left me. I’d love to be fitter, but I’m not going to go down that road again.”

Perhaps he missed out on Jesper’s moondust or whatever it was JP was eating back in the day.

Our hat is off to Carl for his forthrightness and today we will start golf exercises Carl-Style.

We’re off for a Swedish pancake or two down the local iHop.

I came across an excellent blog on the Rules of Golf today over at FreeDrop.Wordpress.com.

The author is John Vander Borght who has over 15 years of Rule officiating.  He presents his analysis in a very understandable way – no mean feat for such a complex collection of rules.

If you have a question on the Rules of Golf, be sure to ask John!

Wow, that’s all I can say.  I just went to the PGATour’s leaderboard for the 2010 PGA Championship.

The PGATOUR’s leaderboard is the best in the business, but this morning I nearly fell off my chair when I saw that in addition to each players scoring details, they also had video!

So of course I tried it, and man is it good.  I was watching rerun video about 5 mins after Tiger had played his previous hole.  Way cool.

Check it out at http://www.pga.com/pgachampionship/2010/scoring/

Awesome job PGA!

As we get older one of the areas that shuts down in our golf swing is the hips.

It doesn’t take a lot to stretch them out and “open” your hips again.  Here’s a great video over at Better Golf Fitness which show how you can use your baseball knowledge to get those hips firing and transfer your weight over to your left side during the downswing.

I watched this and then went and then did some baseball swings – felt real good!

Came across a great review of a new line of golf balls from Vision Golf Balls.

What’s very cool about these balls is the design.  Balls with extra large numbers on them for example.

Vision Golf balls are made in Australia and they’re just launching their new products.  It’s exciting when someone new comes along and their line of thinking challenges the big guys like Titleist, Callaway etc.

I’m going to be grabbing a box soon but in the meantime check out this great review at Addicted2Golf

The hubub about who will be the world’s number one golfer is deafening.  But for the next to assume the mantle (assuming safely that Tiger Woods does not win this week) there follows a number of embarrassing questions:

• Phil Mickelson: are you absolutely sure you want to be number one?  Really, are you sure, you’re sure? You’ve only had about six opportunities to do so and choked on the most recent one?
• Lee Westwood: You are the WNOWAM (World number one without a major) – when are you going to win one and why haven’t you already?
• Ernie Els: Why are you a WNOWAMIY (world number one without a major in years)

Tiger make it easy on us and just win the damn thing this week, would you?

I’ve spent a bit of time this year trying to find the best golf drivers for me.  I’ve tried the following:

• Ping G-10, Draw, Regular
• Ping G-15, Regular
• Taylormade Burner SuperFast
• Calaway Diablo edge 10 degree Regular
• Calaway Diablo edge 10 degree Stiff

We’re very fortunate at our club because the pro will let us try them as long as we want.  And for me, the only way to sort through the best golf drivers is to get play them a couple of times.

I was pleasanlty suprised with the Ping G-10.  After a couple of rounds all the drives were pretty straight, though there were one or two hooks.  By chance I looked at the bottom of the club and saw it was the Draw version!

My ego was slightly bruised because I (mistakenly) believe I can hit the ball straight without any assistance from a “draw” clubface.  But the reality is, that club eliminated slices and saved me countless shots.

It became the winner in the clubhouse while I then tried out the rest.

I thought that since the G-10 worked, the G-15 would work (albeit the Neutral version).  Not a chance.  I then ran through the rest on the list.

I was excited to try the Taylormade but the shaft was too flexible and the shots were spraying everywhere!

It was the same with the Callaway Diablo Edge Regular, but for grins I tried the Stiff and boy was I glad!

What’s funny is that I don’t really have the swing speed for a stiff, but I hit this well, put many in the fairway and can shape it right or left.

Looks like that’s the one I’ll buy, especially since Sports Authority has $100 off today.

Bottom line, you won’t know until you try, so don’t buy until you can hit the drivers on the course!