Guest Blogging: The Bangworthy Experience

Followers of the great blog.  Today, is a special treat.  We have the great Bangworthy guest blogging today giving us insight into the world of professional baseball.  While his Mac Golf credentials allow him to post of this blog, his views are not necessarily those of young Bear and myself.  Without further delay, here is Bangworthy.

----

Matt Butler and I were recently talking about baseball, he is a Pirates fan.  I made a comment that the Pirates were one of the most deserving teams to win a championship.  This is mainly because they haven’t won in a long time and also, Pittsburgh kind of sucks as a city.  Sports championships should be a reward for suffering.  People who choose to live in Florida don’t need any championships.  Here is the list of fan bases that most deserve a championship.  The main criteria are (1) does living in that city suck because of weather/lack of economic prosperity? (2) Have they not won in a while? (3) Do they have a sizeable fanbase? (4) Is there fan base obnoxious (this makes them less deserving)  Basically my excuse to rank the Yankees lower. 

1.Indians
Nothing left to be said that has been said over the last 15 years.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysmLA5TqbIY

2.Tigers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZzgAjjuqZM&feature=relmfu

3.Pirates

4.Reds
Ohio is a good place to move if you want to be important in the Electoral College or be high on this list.

5.Royals

6.Brewers
Hey, Bridesmaids was based in Milwaukee.  Hey, none of the hilarious and talented people involved with that movie actually live there.  Also even in Bridesmaids it was treated as the less cool sister city to Chicago.   

7.Orioles
I have never seen The Wire, this is a major failing of me as a person.  Right up there with not being able to dunk, but also something I have control over so even worse.  I hear Omar Little is a great character.

8.Twins

9.A’s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhrtLidtfIw

10.Giants

11.Dodgers

12.Cubs
Not convinced all Cub fans actually want to win.

13.Mariners

14.Blue Jays
I don’t know what to do with their non-Americanness.  But it is cold in Toronto.

15.White Sox
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A63XjuA8u3U

16.Phillies

17.Mets

18.Red Sox
Red Sox fans are obnoxious, but one of them is Mike Schur, so that’s nice

19.Nationals

20.Cardinals
Of all the Midwestern teams they are the most full of themselves.  I know very little about St. Louis, Nelly is from there.

21.Rockies

22.Rangers

23.Braves

24.Yankees

25.Angels
Mike Trout is awesome, but wouldn’t it be better if he played for the Indians?

26.Padres
Let’s go surfing bro.

27.Diamondbacks

28.Astros
Wes Anderson is from Houston. Here is my ranking of Wes Anderson’s movies
      1.Rushmore
      2.Moonrise Kingdom
      3.Royal Tennenbaums
      4.Bottle Rocket
      5.The Darjeeling Limited
      6.Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
Remember how I said I have never seen The Wire, I have also never seen Fantastic Mr. Fox.  This is way worse than having never seen The Wire or being able to dunk.  Whenever I meet people I spend the whole conversation hoping having never seen Fantastic Mr. Fox doesn’t come up.  This would be easier if I didn’t start every conversation with new people asking them about how much they like Wes Anderson.  Even if I see Fantastic Mr. Fox tomorrow I feel like the fact that it has taken this long is something I will always feel guilty about.  If we could count movies that Anderson produced The Squid and the Whale would be  2nd or 3rd depending on how I’m feeling.  I’m gonna need some time away from Moonrise Kingdom to decide officially.

29.Tampa Bay
Tampa Bay has the best front office in baseball to follow and root for.  They are very good at their jobs, and I am not sure they don’t just create pitching prospects with their mind.  But it would be better for everyone if their talents weren’t wasted trying to win games for the people of Tampa Bay. 
Florida is like the bizarre Ohio, also very important in the Electoral College, but living there pretty much guarantees that you don’t deserve a championship team.

30.Marlins
Miami embodies everything about a city that doesn’t deserve a championship; beaches, big club scene, Pitbull.  I want to rank them higher since I know there is a big Cuban population and Cubans are famous for liking baseball, but they don’t ever seem to go to games.  1997 was terrible.

While I Still Can

Best spring break blog post ever! I am going to go ahead and call that while I still can. The putting stroke of young Jamarkus is glorious and deserves the most elegant of prose. Hogie has done just a wonderful job breaking it down for our audience. I saw that 21 people viewed our blog yesterday! Well OK it had 21 views. There are probably just a few of you #diehardfollowers who read it more than once. Or maybe your computer froze and you had to refresh the page. I don't really know. There is no way of knowing. Maybe, and this is probably most likely the case, there were only 21 page views, but multiple people were reading on the same screen. Probably entire families crowded around an i-phone to read this blog yesterday. 21 families, extended families. Figuring conservatively at 13 people per extended family yields an audience of 273 viewers. Inspiring stuff, I know.

To honor the author of this landmark blog post, I will honor the new-born politico my giving an analysis of his   golf swing.

Matt Butler so politically aware. The most aware.

Harvey Penick famously wrote in his Little Red Book, "a follow-through is a reflection of what has gone on before it." Here we see Butler is his finish position. His weight is leaning sharply to the left which matches is political ideology, even though he will tell you he is a moderate. His chest is not fully turned through the shot, but his hips have rotated nicely towards the target. The shot has likely faded softly into the right rough approximately 237 yards from the teeing ground. Butler would go on to shank his next shot somewhere near the green, and then get the ball up and down from a terrible lie for  a pretty standard par.

Hogie: A new-born politico

Growing up in rural-West Texas, MB didn't even know he had a government. He was, to put it nicely, woefully politically unaware. This all changed when the Italian Butler arrived at Macalester in the fall of 2008. His wrist was broken from an accident involving a ladder and gravity, and he was recovering from wrist surgery. He couldn't play golf, so he spent is free time learning about this thing called government  . By fall break he had learned there was to know. Here (left) we see him giving testimony regarding voter ID legislation at the state capitol. There a few things I would like to draw your attention to. Matt's stance to the podium is absolutely square. His spine is also very perpendicular to the ground. I'd like to see him tilt just a little bit more to the right, both politically and with his spine angle at address in his actual golf swing. His arms, of course, remain perfectly relaxed.

The Art of Putting like a Baller: The Mechanics of JaMarcus Thomson III

JaMarcus taking dead aim at the cup

After Bear's lovely post about the belly putter and the great work Dano has done with it over the years, it made me realize I needed to make a post on the most famous putting stroke in Mac golf history.  The stroke of JaMarcus Thomson III.  Young JaMarcus is well know for his putting.  Sometimes it goes in, sometimes he hits it twice before it even stops moving, sometimes he just picks up his ball (after an apparent gimme).  However, his putting stroke is not just an average putting stroke.  It has been meshed with his personality and style.  It has become a stroke to behold.  So, today I am going to break it down. 

There are 4 main elements of JaMarcus's stroke that make it stand out from the pack.  They would be the weight distribution, alignment of the shoulders, putter face at impact, and what I will call "the finish."  I think it is important to break down each of these aspects in order to better understand young JaMarcus's stroke.

#1 Weight Distribution

See the weight shift to the back like a playa

Let's be honest.  JaMarcus is a kid with mad swag.  And guys with mad swag do NOT do things the way everyone else does.  They walk different, talk different, and stand different.  JaMarcus is no exception.  He listened to the immortal words of Fat Joe.  He "lean[ed] back."

This move enables Mark to wear his headphones while playing.  The shifting of his weight back allows him to drop in his right hip making his pocket closer to his head.  This allows him to jam out to sick music while dropping bombs.  This is the definition of having your priorities straight.

#2 Alignment of the sholders

Now, as I have asserted before.  JaMarcus is a baller and he wants everyone to know it.  So, JaMarcus, like most ballers has given his stance even more flair than the weight shift.  He opens his left shoulder.  This has his shoulders aiming well left of the intended line, but that is ok.

The open shoulders enables JaMarcus to do two things.  First, it enables him to look like he is straight chillin'.  That is the persona he wants to give off.  Nothing says "I am just chillin' with my homies" like tunes in the ears, weight shifted back, and shoulders open.  See picture above to comprehend fully.  The second thing it does is prepare JaMarcus for a fist pump at anytime.  In this position, he can simply uppercut with his right hand, whereas tradional putting stance force a player to rise up and then turn into a fist pump.  JaMarcus's stance allows him to simply fist pump straight up at anytime without any additional movement.

#3 Putter face at impact

What a team this is!

Now, in order for JaMarcus to hit the ball where he wants to with the left should align and the weight shifted back, he has to come through with the putter face open, which is a classic mac golf putting position, one that the great Daniel "the Colonel" Kerwin perfected.  But, even this move plays into JaMarcus's baller and swag tendencies.  The putter face coming through open allows JaMarcus to gently make contact with the ball.  It isn't solid, the ball just smoothly is touched away from the face as it gently rolls down the green.  This tells your playing partners that my stroke is smooth as butter.  Bear said you want to hold the club like a young lady's hand, well, JaMarcus's soft touch with the putting stroke is a sign to the ladies that he will hold that hand like no one ever has.

#4 "The Finish"

This is probably what JaMarcus is most famous for.  It all begins with the putter raise.  As soon as he strokes the ball, the putter does not stop until is in at least past 100 degrees above the ground.  Now, this is where things diverge.  If the putt goes in, with the putter already raised and his setup poising him for the fist pump, he will straight fist pump.  It is an elegant move that requires little effort, but still shows the mad swag that he has.  But, if the putt doesn't go in, JaMarcus first takes a giant step with his left foot towards the hole.  It doesn't matter how far he is from the hole, somehow that left foot always finishes a little past the hole.  Then, he take the putter from its upward position and brings it around the his body and the hole to wait for the ball to miss right (JaMarcus NEVER misses putts to the left).  Once this happens, he will either hit the ball while its still moving either in the hole, or back to its previous location.  Or he will will pause with the putter next to the ball, back a way and lament over the fact that he missed the putt.  This finish is the signature move of JaMarcus and it is elegant regardless of the outcome of the putt.  Either an effortless finish, or a desperation attempt to save the ball from missing that ends up gaining sympathy points from the ladies.

Extra young JaMarcus's setup, as you can see, he wasn't born a baller.

  

But, a finish like JaMarcus's does not just happen.  It has to be constructed and you have to be in the proper setup in order to reach the ultimate goal.  The setup was born out of JaMacus's need to be a baller, but has enabled him to create a finishing move so elegant that no other player can react other than by staring.  The picture on the left shows that this took a lot of hard work for JaMarcus to reach baller status.  It is not easy, but it you put in a lot of hard work, you can get there.  JaMarcus did and you can too.  Don't give up.  Let the mechanics explained today help you get there and you too can be a baller on the course.

~Hogie

My Belly Yearns for Fewer Putts

Hogie, very well said. You know I actually agree with you on this one. Belly or long putters have been statistically shown to offer no real improvement in stoke mechanics *according to a 2011 Golf Magazine study. Perhaps, and I am absolutely not quoting the study here, the benefit of such 'unconventional putting' is largely psychological. That is not to say, however, that belly putters are not a good idea if you are struggling with the flat stick.

A Case Study. Daniel J. Allen and Beau Hossler:

A young Dano

Tall, ambitious and a #hugebaby Dan Allen hit that ball like a pro, but he experienced problems on the green. His doctor suggested he try several different styles of conventional putters, but he was left feeling unsatisfied. Determined to find "the putter", @DJAllen0 turned to the internet. Ebay (trademarked) was his portal to fewer putts - A Yes C-groove belly-length putter. The tall champion went on a Highland National birdie-barrage firing several sub 40 9 hole scores. His inspired play earned him one free round of golf with Brady at The Wilds where he lost  a considerable amount of money on side bets. His beloved belly putter, however, never let him down (although it probably let him down). *Dano recently recorded a 71 at Ridge C.C. in Chicago, IL using a conventional length putter.

Beau Hossler

My boy Beau wears the #tourvisor better than anyone else. Sorry Dano but Beau has got you beat. This young talent wields a belly putter a bit unconventionally. Instead of anchoring the putter against his toned core, Hossler simply puts a conventional-putter hold on it- just like Matt Kutchar. When asked why he uses the short-belly putter Hollser responded, "I just don't have the arm strength to lift a longer, heavier belly putter in the air with one arm while I fist pump with the other. A part of being a champion golfer is knowing what you can and cannot do, and I simply cannot lift a longer putter high enough in a celebratory pose. I am working with my high school gym coach to strengthen that arm specifically. Some people worry about developing the body asymmetrically, but not me. I am worried about winning golf tournaments and celebrating them properly. I'll be taking the ACT next  month so filling in all those bubbles with my right hand ought to balance me out."

Two golfing legends. Two ways to of getting the job done with the not-so-short stick. Putting is amoral. There is no right or wrong way of doing it, but that won't stop the USGA and the R&A  from trying to impose rules governing it. Two of the last three majors were won with a belly putter and the third was captured with a pink driver. Golf clearly isn't clinging to traditional methods. The belly is here to stay.

Belly putters?! Who argues of such things!

Bear, I feel like we let the people down when we went on our hiatus.  America deserved better, and it deserved more.  The question you have posed for me, however, is how much is too much?  Speaking about the putter of course.  Some argue its about the motion in the ocean, others say size is a huge advantage.  Well, what do I think?

Well, first of all, lets have a little history lesson.  The way we got to putting today.  Back in the day, you could do whatever you wanted with the putter.  The great Sam Snead used to putt with the ball between his legs and would make it virtually every time!  So, the USGA and R&A stepped in and said "Enough is enough!  This is unfair!  You are making more putts than anyone!  This will be outlawed!  There is to be no fun on the putting green!" (May or may not be a direct quote).  So, anyway, the rule stated that you must stand off to the side of your golf ball (line between ball and hole cannot go between your legs).  So, Snead responded with the stance you see off to side.  Not as classy, or as successful.  The rule change worked.

Now, this is the standard for when a rule change is needed, I believe.  So, let's use it.  The argument against the belly putter is that you can anchor it to your body and it makes the pendulum stroke easier.  That sounds like it is unfair.  But, is it really?  I mean, you don't putt with your belly, or your hands.  You putt with your head and shoulders!  Can you still push it?  Of course!  Pull it?  Of course!  Is it less likely?  Well, let's look at the stats.  I went to the PGA Tour strokes gained stat in putting and let's see how the belly putters rank. 

Keegan Bradley ranks 44th
Ernie Els ranks 71st
Robert Garrigus ranks 152nd
Carl Pettersson ranks 11th
Adam Scott no ranking
Webb Simpson ranks 29th
Bill Haas ranks 98th

As you can see, the belly putters are not blowing away the competition.  In fact, they are quite normal.  In my opinion, I do not think they give you any advantage.  In my opinion, the large mallet putters are a FAR bigger advantage than the belly putters.  The mallets add weight to the bottom of the stroke which creates a strong pendulum effect, whereas the belly putter creates a longer pendulum which helps, but not as much as the extra weight on the bottom. 

Clearly, there is no real advantage.  I say stop crying about it!  In putting you can do whatever you want.  That's the beauty of it.  Has putting become automatic for these guys?  No!  So, let them do it.  Putting is hard and has evolved greatly since the beginning of golf and will continue to do so.

I think the belly putter should stay. 

May all of your putts hit dead center,
Hogie (which is a nickname that has really died)

P.S. Bear, if you are an Italian, the sun doesn't burn you, it warms you to your very soul.
P.S.S.  What are Bear's thoughts on the belly putter debate?

The Resurrection of A Blog

Politically and otherwise MB is right about a lot of things. This blog is unequivocally one of them. To let this blog sit stagnant in some random dark corner of this internet web is somewhere between unconscionable and egregious. Where is humanity supposed to go for golf instruction? A highly trained PGA teaching professional? Please, that is absurd. Where is America supposed to go to find comedy? A comedy club? A joke book? The television? No, the power is out. The television doesn't work. America goes laugh-less, and humanity doesn't know how to play golf . Wait a minute. What ever happened to that hilarious golf instruction blog Drive for Show: Putt for Dough? It is coming back! You said that before.... But this time I mean it. I meant it last time too actually, I just never got around to writing any blogs. So... take it for what it is worth. Let's start the bidding at $1500 or the Canadian equivalency.

Bear's Best Tip #71: A cloudy day is the best day for golf. No shadows, no glare, no sun burn.

I invite MB to take up the issue of the belly putter in his next post. Under current rules it is legal to use one, but is it in the spirit and tradition of the game of golf?

Be An Environmentalist: Use a Hybrid

Today was one of the very rare days I participated in a google chat. The other people with whom I chatted was the one and only Bear. He had asked me maybe one of the most difficult questions ever. When do you chip with a hybrid?

I think this is really a difficult question and something that most people wonder about, but rarely is there an answer. Now, granted my housemates Joel and Meghan would wonder who these people are, but they are people reading this blog, clearly. I was turned on to the hybrid chip by the Short Game Guru Julia Huerta. Her mastery of the difficult nature of the hybrid made me wonder why I had never tried. I decided then that I would try to master this style. And now, I only use my hybrid to chip!

So, first, the proper mechanics of the hybrid chip. You line up the ball off of your back foot. You then move your hands ahead of the ball closing down the club face making it closed. You then swing the club like a putt. Rocking the shoulders and not getting wristy with the shot. The ball will come off low and with no backspin.

So, with all of that backstory behind us... lets actually answer Bear's question. You should use a hybrid shot whenever you want to putt the ball. Let me explain further. If you think using a putter would be a really good idea, but you are afraid of the ball jumping in the air, use a hybrid. It is good to use across long, long stretches of fairway or green. It can even be used out of the rough, if you want to roll it but the ball is down in the rough. Whenever, you want to putt the ball, but do not feel comfortable with the putter, use the hybrid. Its great and safe and quite crafty if done right. There is nothing cooler than showing off around the green with the so called long game clubs.

Give it a try. Practice around the edge of greens and see for yourself. Its a great shot to have in the bag.

Now my question for Bear is, can you even use a hybrid anywhere else?

~ Italian Hogie on Rye