January 11, 2010
Golf Practice-zine Newsletter for January 2010
Happy New Year! and thanks for signing up to receive the January 2010 issue (#20) of the Newsletter. So, this month we deal with: "The Infamous Tiger Woods"; the 2010 TV Golf Season has started, so who to watch at this year's Tour; personal swing analysis software for the iPhone; a rule change brings V-groove technology back to golf clubs in 2010; and, an interview with the CEO of the online golf game, World Golf Tour.
Here is the lineup this issue:
- The Infamous Tiger Woods
- PGA Tour 2010
- Swing Analysis in Your Pocket
- New V-Grooves for the Pros
- World Golf Tour, CEO Interview
Back to Contents
1. The Infamous Tiger Woods
This is a reality show script gone bad. The Vanity Fair Article A Vanity Fair Article gives a journalist's perspective on th pre-scandal behavior and post-scandal treatment of Tiger Woods in the press room. It is well-written, insiteful background to what we might look for on Tiger's return. Well down the road from now, is my guess. Tiger would do well to take his time coming back.
CBS News reports a woman claims she has a Tiger Woods 'sex tape' in her possession. Add this to the earlier voice mail recording Tiger left for one of his mistresses and you have a multimedia extravaganza. Tiger's rough welcome to the Internet Age.
Nike, Upper Deck, Pepsi(Gatorade) and EA Sports sponsors are still behind Tiger, but that is a shorter list than 2009. AT&T, Tag Heuer, Accenture and Gillette have dropped Woods from their advertisiing. Who could blame sponsors for leaving or backing off? If Tiger stays out for the next 12 months as rumored, he would have been absent from the Tour for 20 of the last 36 months given his knee surgery recovery period.
A USA Today/Gallup Poll reports that Tiger Woods' favorability rating amongst consumers has fallen from a pre-Thanksgiving 85% to a post-scandal 33%. An audio book version of Tiger's book, "How I Play Golf" has been postponed to a June 2010 release, but that timing isn't as bad as the January release of the Golf Digest cover featuring Tiger playing caddy to Barack Obama with the headline "10 Tips Obama Can Take From Tiger". Right now, Tiger ain't givin' tips to nobody.
Talk show funny men are all over Tiger now. "Tiger hit a tree with his Escalade and 14 women fell out"; "Tag Heuer dropped its sponsorship of Tiger. That's ironic when you think about it, because with a wife, two kids and 14 mistresses, you really need a good watch." Conan O'Brien has done so many Tiger Woods jokes, he's had a skit with a 'joke caddy' to manage the nightly list.
Where was the golf press while these "transgressions" were happening. If, as Helen Alfredson stated, Tiger's ho-gaming activities were well-known why was it the TMZ gossip network that aired the story? So-called golf insiders were nowhere with this scandal. Too much of their livelihood hangs on Tiger's continued presence for them to threaten their own access to him by shining light beyond his formerly well-crafted image. The Golfchannel, ever since Peter Kessler got fired for criticising Arnold Palmer's endorsement of Callaway's then-illegal clubs, is nothing but a promotional arm of pro golf. Nobody can seriously consider what they do journalism, especially of Tiger Woods.
Given the pervasive "insder" protection Tiger's entourage afforded him, who can Elin trust? Saving his marriage, if he so chooses, will be Tiger's biggest challenge in 2010. Golf, including serious challenges for the majors, should not be a consideration. I think it will take all year, if he sincerely wants to re-commit to his family. Put yourself in Elin's place -- could you take him back?
This whole scandal gets bigger and more bizare as time goes on. It is so diametrically opposite of the public "image" Tiger portrayed -- or was allowed to portray -- of himself. To take such professional pride in honouring golf's traditions of honour and integrity; his commitment to practice and excellence; then betray his wife and two children by his conduct in these affairs is a serious blow to fans everywhere. This is a phenomenal fall from grace. A well-deserved, self-inflicted fall from grace.
Speaking personally, it certainly is an eye-opener for me. I never would have imagined these events to have been possible. I'm equal to the most naive amongst us. I will always be a fan of he way he played golf but now, his image as a person has lost some of its lustre. I don't even care when he comes back, there are a lot of other golfers out there. I'll leave Tiger's future to the paparazzi.
2. PGA Tour 2010
Who cares if Tiger Woods shows up or not, here's ten players I really think are worth watching in the coming season:
- Graham DeLaet: a Canadian who has paid his dues on the CPGA Tour and represented Canada in the 2009 World Golf Championship. He played really well at Q-School, breezing through in the top ten. From Manitoba, DeLaet has a great all-round game.
- Phil Mickelson: time for the real number two to step up. A great end to the 2009 season offers Phil a "Number One for the Taking" opportunity. Now that he's putting like a major winner, it will be fun to see Phil play this year.
- Michele Wie: Finally with her first win, but it came right at the end of the 2009 campaign. Hopefully the Big Wiesy can continue her momentum so that the new LPGA commissioner can breathe new life into his campaign for more event sponsors. The quality, the passion and the beautiful women are there, TV ratings should not be far behind, especially in a recovering economy.
- Rickie Fowler:After roaring out of the college golf circuit, Rickie came within about $50,000 of qualifying for his Tour card through sponsor exemptions during the Fall Finish. He breezed through Q-School, has a great attitude to go with awesome power and a cool putting hand. Some even think he has a shot at making the Ryder Cup team. I think that is too much to ask, but expect him to easily hold his card into 2011.
- Lee Westwood:As European Tour Award of Merit winner last season, and also the best non-winning finishes at the majors, Westwood is my candidate to win at least one major in 2010. A very underrated, world class golfer, Westwood should lead the European Ryder Cup squad to glory.
- Rory McIlroy:Second to Westwood, this Irishman is the best young golfer in the world in my opinion. I don't think his game has a weakness, he oozes confidence and definitely has the horsepower to be a multi-event winner.
- Anthony Kim:Kim under-performed in 2009 as he readily admits. Injuries were a part of that early, but he could have broken through later but did not. He was the weakest light on the President's Cup squad but with that experience in hand, the reality check should motivate him into 2010.
- Sergio Garcia:If Sergio can get by his latest wrist injury -- complicated by unsuccessful surgery/rehab so far -- this could be his last shot at living up to his promise. I love Sergio. His passion is only equalled by his ability. He just has to harness and sustain it through four consecutive rounds in the same tournament. And putt like the young Sergio. Garcia is great. Arriba!
- Ryo Ishikawa:Out of Japan comes the rising son. Hero of the 2009 International Team at the President's Cup, he is second only to McIlroy in line for greatness amongst young players to my way of thinking. I see Victory for Ryo in 2010 -- on the PGA Tour.
- Mike WeirTwo years, no victories. Mike is playing and putting well enough; he just has to focus and sustain his consistency over four rounds. I also would like to see what he is doing with his golf course business. He and his partner, architect Ian Andrew, may have held back as the economy tanked, but Mike's got the land, what's brewing with golf course development? Hopefully we find out this year.
3. Swing Analysis in Your Pocket
Finally it has happened. Swing analysis for the mobile phone. For the Apple iPhone, no less! I have waited for this for a long time, in my opinion. The video capabilities are well-established. I can take my iPod Classic to the range and play back podcast videos of swing tips but none of the swing analysis applications I have on my PC are availble for the handheld market.
Now it's here. A golf swing analysis tool you can hold in your hand and use anywhere. It's called Swing At'em and it has every basic swing analysis feature you need.
Sample Features:
- draw lines to show spine angle, club shaft angle and swing plane
- draw circles to monitor head position and movement throughout the swing.
- control swing speed (slow motion or natural speed) to micro-analyze club and body positions thoughout the swing.
- view from face on
- view down the line
- you can flip the golfer to show righty as lefty and vice versa
- split screen to show one golfer (amateur) vs another (pro)
- synchronize swings between each golfer in split screen view to compare swing motions
Swing At'em makes great use of the iPhone hand gestures and video capabilities so it is easy to use with great visual quality for translating swing basics to viewer. Developed by PEKO Enterprises, LLC, the iPhone app is available from Apple's App Store for $19.99
It's not perfect. For one thing, there are no pro swings available to compare yourself to -- that will come with time. The website is new several areas are currently under construction.
- Upload your swing from iPhone 3Gs to instructors at the Swing At'em website. Their network of pros will afford users a virtual Swing Academy where your swing can be reviewed to provide feedback on your technique.
- Online storage of uploaded swing videos will allow you to keep a library of your swings over time.
- Swing Tube as described on the site, this feature presents an online gallery of collected swings either from other users or as submitted by tour pros (this is not yet clear) so that you can compare your swing to others or gain insight to the use of the swing analysis tools embedded in the software.
- There are currently a few accessory items for your iPhone 3Gs to improve your swing video capabilities and more details are "Coming Soon".
This is an intriguing application. For golfers it really makes mobile swing analysis a viable option. Better hurry, the software is targeted at Tennis and Baseball players -- apparently they have swings too.
For me, this is an app that sells the iPhone. Like I needed another excuse to buy more golf-related equipment. As a visual aid, though I can't think of a better way to capture a pro's key instructions during a lesson and preserving it for future visits to the range. As a way of capturing and playing back your current swing at the range, this tool cannot be beat.
For more on video swing analysis, I've posted samples of Swing At'em and an entry from Casio -- their EX-FS210 has slow motion video capture capability -- on my BSFBG website. Swing by and check them out.
4. New V-Grooves for the Pros
The PGA Tour rule change outlawing U-Grooves on clubs forces pros back ot the V-Groove designs used in the 80's. The photo below, illustrates a key difference affecting players, especially under rainy/wet conditons.
Another important consideration is that the old 'U-groove' had sharper edges. These edges bit into the cover of the ball, creating more spin, especially relevant to short game wedge play. More spin on wedges kept shots closer to the hole, either stopping the ball dead or spinning the ball back into pin positions tucked behind bunkers. Moving to 'V-grooves' slopes the edges, reducing the bite and changing the game on the hard-fast greens predominant on the PGA Tour. Especially during the majors.
To compensate, many players will move to a softer ball, a more pliable cover will give "V-grooves' more traction at impact and reduce the adjustment players will have to make.
As expected, player reaction is mixed and varied. A USA Today article, from which the above image was selected, captures player opinions. What it comes down to, of course, is to wait and see what effect these changes will have. I expect that overall results will not change. The best players will still be the best. Golfers have had at least half a season to make the adjustment. Pros are always adjusting their games, anyway. This is just one more variable.
5. World Golf Tour, CEO Interview
World Golf Tour CEO, YuChiang Cheng manages the best internet-based golf game on the market. Two years ago, I interviewed him by phone, where he talked from his office in San Francisco, CA about the company's approach to online digital gaming.
At that time, WGT was in early beta, available for free trial as a nine-hole experiment based on the Bali Hai course in Las Vegas. I gave it a try and was astounded by the visual precision and beauty of the game. What WGT did, was take their experience in electronic gaming for the Casino industry and immerse the user through minute precision of the golf course environment. The game played close to reality, literally, using GPS technology and topographic instrumentation to within 1.5-inch accuracy of the real course physical environment. Twenty-five technicians actually walked the course, while helicopter imagery capture high-resolution aerials of every hole layout and angle. Putts were measured to 1/2-inch precision on every green. Attention to detail set their game apart in every sense. A physics module was integrated into the game that accurately captured wind effects, ball spin characteritics and club face-angle at impact. It's a true 3D golf experience.
Really, try this game out! You will not find a better online golf game anywhere, I promise you. Better still, it's free.
During 2007-2008 several new courses were added to the roster and the company gained the attention of the PGA Tour. The PGA Tour selected WGT to employ their game in the PGA Charity Challenge where players could sign up to play WGT online and donate to PGA Tour-selected charities (Teach For America; Sheltering Arms for Kids and After School All-Stars)). This got WGT much attention. Since then, the user base has grown substantially, especially since the additon of match-play and multi-player modes. Online players can call-out and go head-to-head with other registered gamers or get together with a regular foursome to play any of the library of courses.
Recently, YuChiang Cheng was interviewed by Matt Peckham, editor of PC World's Game On Blog. The interview touches on company progress, approach to the gaming market and YuChiang's interesting take on the perils of hiring a celebrity to act as company spokesperson. Read the interview.