Getting Out Of The Bunker Can Be Easy!

In some cases, touring pros would prefer to be in a green side bunker than in a difficult position below the green or over the green. Generally greens are built tilted toward the fairway so anything over the green could be a down hill chip which is never easy.

The key to bunker play is controlling the speed of the ball when it flies out to the intended target landing area. In order to accomplish controlling the speed of the golf ball one needs to slip the golf club just underneath the golf ball and take as little sand possible and maintain the golf club face upward or skyward throughout. An open golf club face or turned clockwise at address is very important. The more you open the club face the shorter the ball will travel and the higher it will travel.

Take a look at a video I attached to this Blog entry that might help you with the technique of getting out of the sand.

Bubba Watson Swing Analysis

Boy these new young players can knock the snot out of it! Bubba is one of those long knockers. According to the PGA Tour Stats Bubba is rated 5th in drives over 300 yards. Tiger mentions how long Dustin Johnson is but he's only number 3. You probably never heard of the first place driver...Robert Garrigus?

Ernie Els is rated 71st. Tiger is not even rated in this category. I guess you have to hit the fairway for it to count.

Anyway, the asset Bubba has is his very high back swing with a very wide arc. Very similar to David Love III. A word of caution here. This doesn't mean you should stretch back and give it all you have and end up at your local Chiropractor! The high stretching back swing Bubba has might not be the best for your swing or coordination characteristics.

There are a lot of ways to speed the golf club up for additional distance. A big stretch could make you wild and off in the woods. The best way I think is to improve your hand action through the hitting area. Learn to rotate your forearms faster and you'll increase your distance. Yea, by the way, Bubba does that too! Take a look at the video analysis I did for this Blog entry.

Here's a Response From One Of Our Loyal Members On The Tiger Woods Situation.

Bobby Lopez here! Below is an unedited response from Maynard Crawley. Thanks Maynard for taking the time to write a well thought out opinion!

i agree with your thoughts about the state of affairs in america. the media seems to reward the absurd. it is clear that thieves, drug addicts, alcoholics and the "girls" that promote using their body to "get-ahead" gets all the media attention. one point to illustrate this is the: "salasse" woman (i think this is how it is spelled), this is the one who crashed the state diner at the white house. this means she and her husband breached the highest security bar in this land. she now has a reality TV show-the person that let them in -she got fired (ms. rodgers) and the perpetrators got rewarded with a TV show? figure that!

Now about Tiger! how can a person play competative golf in this situation. the cards are stacked against him thanks to the media. with the media's appetite for sensationalism-tiger is watched 24 x 7. this means that he can't go out and get a drink, he can't go shopping, he can't go for a walk in the park, he can't go out with another woman for compansionship. he cannot do anything personally ( forget golf) without being judged. his marriage and his golf are 2 different things. for sure he has been judged with these "puritanical" measures and this dr. "phil" attitude that the media wants to project on this guy. how can anyone play golf under these conditions. i think tiger went wrong when he tried to "apologize" to the media and the fans. he should have told them (nicely)- to "hell" with the endorsements. i have marriage issues just like everyone else and it has nothing to do with my character or me being a role model. if this is the gold standard for behavior then why is a "Myle Cyris" who had episodes of dressing like a "stripper on a pole" and provacative photo shoots continue to get gigs and endorsements-what kind of message does this send to young girls.

In every relationship there are 2 points of view. no one is questioning what tigers wife did or did not do. when a woman who is hanging around the pro-golf circuit or any professional sport, these woman know that they will come in contact with young men with plenty of money. they know what is going on. why would a woman who had no career going for herself, have been around the curcuit-all of a sudden goes berserk? she knows what the deal his. if she had good intentions she should have recognized what kind of attention this would bring and should have helped him resolve ths womanizing issue privately with her. she knows what the risk are when you marry a highly paid and recognized young athlete

this whole thing is BS in my opinion!-thanks maynard

Is Tiger Gone For Good?

How quickly one can go from "top of the world" to the "crapper"! So much going on behind the scenes that neither the PGA tour nor journalists either picked up on or deliberately ignored. Surely someone knew what was going on and should have stepped forward and confronted Tiger before everything got out of hand.

Like in many work environments, who wants to tell the boss he's wrong? Certainly not his caddy Steve. The PGA tour was making money. Why should they stop the gravy train? Well, Money ain't everything! I believe that character and integrity are far important in the long run.

Is Tiger Gone For Good? Here's a far more important question, "Is American Dominance In The Golf World Gone For Good?"

I remember when I was a young cocky 23 year old and Director of golf at Nueva Andalucia Golf Club in Marbella Spain. I was getting ready to join the tour myself and felt I had a tremendous advantage on the European tour just by being an American. In February of 1973 the World Cup was played at my course in Marbella with Jack Nicklaus and Johnny Miler representing the US.

Although there were some great worldwide players like Gary Player, Robert DeVincenso and others, there was no question in my mind that Jack and Johnny would run away with it and they did. In fact, the players representing Spain, Angel Gallardo and Valentin Barrios told me in the locker room that neither Nicklaus or Miller would break 70 on this difficult Trent Jones golf course. Well I was playing the golf course everyday so I knew they were full of tortillas! Sure enough, first day Jack shot 68 and Miller shot 65. I made a few bucks on side bets that day!

I looked at the standings in this weeks tournament on PGA.com and I noticed all the foreign flags next to player's names. Where's the American dominance? This scares me!!!! It seems like we keep lowering the bar in this country not only in golf but in so many areas of American leadership.

America needs to get it's MOJO back and we're NOT going to get it back by apologizing for being successful. We used to say, "God is on our side!" Well, with the lowering of our moral standards of late, I would question whether God is not only off our side but getting fed up with our behavior!

When we compete, yes we should be polite and courteous. However, I would suggest, "KICK THEIR ASS" with a smile on your face!

WAKE UP AMERICA BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE!!!!

Your Tournament Swing and Regular Everyday Golf Swing Are NOT The Same!

I had the honor of participating in the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame Golf Tournament on Wednesday and it was fun to feel that tournament swing again. I had a great group of guys to play with and considering all the fun we had, I thought we did pretty good.

The motto of this story is that you have to slow down and be more deliberate in tournament play. I noticed my playing partners hitting their short irons a mile but I personally throttle back and take an extra stick so I can hold my balance and tempo.

I had no idea who I was going to play with and it turned out to be a great day. I never consider "stacking" a team for a Captain's choice event. The purpose of the event is to support the charity or cause and enjoy the fellowship and new friends you make.

That's what golf is all about.