Tim O’Neal
When Tiger was six months old, he would sit in our garage, watching me hit balls into a net. He had been assimilating his golf swing. When he got out of the high chair, he had a golf swing. Earl Woods
Nice piece by Leonard Shapiro in the Washington Post on Tim O'Neal the African-American golfer struggling to graduate from the Nationwide Tour to the big show. There's an intriguing O'Neal quote on the First Tee:
€The First Tee program was designed originally for inner-city kids,€ said O'Neal, who tees off in the first round Thursday at 8:10 a.m. €But I've done a bunch of clinics, and you only see a handful of African American kids. There aren't any minority golfers in the major colleges, so what does that tell you? When will we see more minorities out here? I honestly don't see it happening for another 20 years.€
As First Tee Executive Director Joe Barrow reminded us at Augusta this year, that's exactly what Earl Woods used to say when pressed on when The First Tee would diversify the tours. Hey, it took my 25 years to make this Tiger, Earl would say in so many words, so you can expect it will take at least that long. Pretty sage way to look at it. Patience, what?
You'll find similar comments by €>Johnny Miller about O'Neal and the First Tee's impact in Golf Digest.
€"Bob Carney
(Kevin Clark: Washington Post)€Right now all I need is confidence to play well.€ €"Michelle Wie
She shot 82, but a lot of the talk€"yours and the press room's€"today remains with Michelle Wie, for whom golf isn't loads of fun right now.
The St. Pete Times site had this snipey quote from former Wie instructor Gary Gilchrist: €What I saw on the range the day before she teed off for her first round, I was absolutely blown away that she even teed it up the next day, € Gilchrist said. €I would've had to have had a few drinks before I teed off. She was hitting it everywhere. She couldn't hit a driver at all.€Ow.
Gilchrist makes it sound like a technical problem but in Ron Sirak's report for our web site, it sounds like confidence is the big issue:€The part of her game that seems to be suffering most is trust. What appears to be going on is more a crisis of confidence than it is the result of an injury.€
On the range, David Leadbetter, Wie's coach, had Michelle swinging with a Gary Player-like step-through move in which she would follow the flight of the ball by taking a step toward the target. €It's forcing me into trusting my shots,€ Wie said. €Because right now all I need is confidence to play well.€
Lead did a tip like that for Golf Digest and former Digest Schools instructor Ed Bowe suggested that very drill in our Breaking 100, 90, 80:€Try Player's walk-through drillIf you are taking big chunks of turf or skull the ball when you swing, you may be hanging back on your rear foot at impact, trying to scoop it in your anxiety to get the ball off the ground. Instead, let the club's loft get the ball airborne. As a drill, try Gary Player's classic walk-through swing. When you make contact, continue moving on as if you're walking after the ball.€
If you don't trust your swing, in other words, you hang back, flip the wrists or block it, which is what Gilchrist was seeing. Misses both ways, a pro's worst nightmare.
Nevertheless, I'm betting, against all odds, that Wie wins one this year.
Nice piece by Leonard Shapiro in the Washington Post on Tim O'Neal the African-American golfer struggling to graduate from the Nationwide Tour to the big show. There's an intriguing O'Neal quote on the First Tee:
€The First Tee program was designed originally for inner-city kids,€ said O'Neal, who tees off in the first round Thursday at 8:10 a.m. €But I've done a bunch of clinics, and you only see a handful of African American kids. There aren't any minority golfers in the major colleges, so what does that tell you? When will we see more minorities out here? I honestly don't see it happening for another 20 years.€
As First Tee Executive Director Joe Barrow reminded us at Augusta this year, that's exactly what Earl Woods used to say when pressed on when The First Tee would diversify the tours. Hey, it took my 25 years to make this Tiger, Earl would say in so many words, so you can expect it will take at least that long. Pretty sage way to look at it. Patience, what?
You'll find similar comments by €>Johnny Miller about O'Neal and the First Tee's impact in Golf Digest.
€"Bob Carney
(Kevin Clark: Washington Post)€Right now all I need is confidence to play well.€ €"Michelle Wie
She shot 82, but a lot of the talk€"yours and the press room's€"today remains with Michelle Wie, for whom golf isn't loads of fun right now.
The St. Pete Times site had this snipey quote from former Wie instructor Gary Gilchrist: €What I saw on the range the day before she teed off for her first round, I was absolutely blown away that she even teed it up the next day, € Gilchrist said. €I would've had to have had a few drinks before I teed off. She was hitting it everywhere. She couldn't hit a driver at all.€Ow.
Gilchrist makes it sound like a technical problem but in Ron Sirak's report for our web site, it sounds like confidence is the big issue:€The part of her game that seems to be suffering most is trust. What appears to be going on is more a crisis of confidence than it is the result of an injury.€
On the range, David Leadbetter, Wie's coach, had Michelle swinging with a Gary Player-like step-through move in which she would follow the flight of the ball by taking a step toward the target. €It's forcing me into trusting my shots,€ Wie said. €Because right now all I need is confidence to play well.€
Lead did a tip like that for Golf Digest and former Digest Schools instructor Ed Bowe suggested that very drill in our Breaking 100, 90, 80:€Try Player's walk-through drillIf you are taking big chunks of turf or skull the ball when you swing, you may be hanging back on your rear foot at impact, trying to scoop it in your anxiety to get the ball off the ground. Instead, let the club's loft get the ball airborne. As a drill, try Gary Player's classic walk-through swing. When you make contact, continue moving on as if you're walking after the ball.€
If you don't trust your swing, in other words, you hang back, flip the wrists or block it, which is what Gilchrist was seeing. Misses both ways, a pro's worst nightmare.
Nevertheless, I'm betting, against all odds, that Wie wins one this year.
Source...