The Power of Pants

I escaped late last night from the captivity of a band of backwoods-blog hating survivalists. That's my excuse for not blogging in a while. Mr. Bulter, what's yours? Anyways, relax and enjoy "The Power of Pants".

The PGA tour has a dress code, as I am sure you are already aware. Mainly, it requires its players to wear pants. Shorts, skirts, kilts, capris, pedal-pushers, plus fours, knickers, european short pants, capes, and robes are not allowed. This can cause angst from the players especially in hot weather, but would you really want to see John Daly in shorts. I didn't think so, you see enough of that at your municipal golf course, where one might wonder if there is an unspoken rule about not wearing pants... or clothes that match. Sure in the fall season you encounter the foursome in jeans, but rarely do you find classic Dockers stutting the fairway. Growing up playing muni courses, I would wear basketball shorts and a tee shirt. I was comfortable, and I never really tought too much about it. Then I was introduced to the exlcusive world of private golf, and along with it I came to understand the power of pants.

Everybody has the one article of clothing that they love to wear because they know they look great in it. Be it a favorite pair of jeans, a cute top, or a daring leather jacket everybody has something to wear the fills them with confidence. If you are a golfer, wearing pants can fill you and your game with confidence. You have been watching professional golfer play golf your entire life, and everyone of them was wearing pants. Therefore you have a strong correlation with great players and pants subconsioucly in your brain. Dressing like a tour player, encourages you to elevate your game to match who you are imitating. Standing over a shot looking down at well pressed trousers mhmmm that's what I'm talking about. Dress the part. Play the part. Need more convincing? Here are several more reasons to wear pants on the golf course.

1. Tradition. Class up any course by dressing like you are playing Augusta.
2. Well fit pants with the proper colored belt and color coordinated shirt can be increadibly slimming.
3. Skin cancer is the most common cancer among young people 18-25 years old. Good old cotton fibers can protect the backs of your lower leg from the damaging UVA/UVB rays of the sun.
4. You won't have an awkward leg tan line. Pale is the new tan.
5. Every winner in the history of the PGA tour has won in pants.
6. Poisin ivy can strike anywhere, unexpectedly. Protect you legs with pants.
7. Wear pants, shoot lower scores. I garuntee it.

Black Bear

Bear's U.S. Open Prediction

Johnny Miller wins every U.S Open he announces, maybe more so than he did in 1973. The entire world get to hear him talk, and criticize, and complain, and talk some more for 4 days. But who will shot the lowest score this week? Well, Hogie, I can tell you it is not going to be Lee Westwood. His putting is fine, but the rest of his short game is woefully inferior to his competitions. Like you said, U.S. Opens are about scrambling around the greens, something he simply can't do consistently under pressure. Phil is going to make a charge Saturday, but he'll utlimately fall short in the end. Hunter Mahan is very streaky , but if he shows up this week, watch out! Tom Watson, really Hogie? I love the guy, but come on! His putting would never stand up under the pressure. So... who do I think will take home the Championship Cup? Mr. Eldrick Woods, for several reasons. The course is playing fast and firm. Players aren't hitting too many drivers out there, in fact they are teeing off with mid and long irons. The rough is minimal, by U.S. Open standards, and it is going to come down to making putts under pressure. Putting is courage. Putting is will. Putting is art. Maybe no one else in the field has something greater to prove to the world, than Tiger. That is why, behind announcer Johnny Miller, I predict Tiger to win his 4th career United States Open.

United States Open Prediction

Well the greatest four days of golf is head. The US Open is were the art of making a bogey is both special and necessary. This week at Pebble Beach will be very beautiful I am sure, unless of course, you are a scorecard. The scorecards will be bleeding squares hoping to survive the 18 round fight against the wind, sun, rain, tigers, lip outs, and worst of all Johnny Miller. Nothing is harsher on the golfer than Johnny Miller commentary. The only thing I have to say to Johnny is: The reason you are in the booth is that you can't putt! Putting is the most import thing as we know. I digress. I am really excited for this US Open for 5 huge reasons. (Prediction to follow).

1. Tiger Woods is around. Where is Tiger going to be? No one can answer that for sure. This is the 10 year anniversary of when he decided that he was going to punish every record at this very golf course and show the world that no one is even close to his golfing prowess. This week could be great or awful, who knows?

2. Lee Westwood. This guy has been painfully close, a lot. The question is want will he do this week. He is the Tiger Woods of letting it fall away. The question is will Westwood continue his best Greg Norman impression or will he be able to break into the winners circle. Last week, he did a good job in the playoff, but can he do it in a major? This should be a good story to watch.

3. Amateurs! The US Open is open to ANYONE that qualifies. That means that even your next door neighbor good sneak into the field on accident. This usually have really great stories and are fun to watch. Hopefully, one of these great stories can make a run at the title.

4. Tom Watson. Basically this guy is popping up on major leaderboards a lot. Watson had that great run at the British Open and opened the Masters with a 67 this year and ended up finishing under par for the week. Watson has won at Pebble Beach before. He hit "The Shot" here that was the chip in from the thick rough on the 17th that helped him hold off Jack Nicklaus in 1982. That was 28 years ago and I still want to see what he can do. This man is incredible.

5. Can someone finish under par? The last time the event was held here in 2000, only one man did. Tiger woods finished -12. Next guy (Ernie Els) was +3. So, it will be close I am sure. And the US Open always has some interesting winning numbers.

So, that is what I will be watching, but who will be holding the trophy? Lucas Glover again? I think not. But, my pick is clear. See point 2. Lee Westwood gets it done. His ball striking is solid and after the win last week, I think he has confidence. All those past failures will help guide him through this one.

~ Hogie

What soccer can teach us about golf

I was watching the US-England match in the World Cup today and I realized how much you can learn about golf from soccer. Golf is a sport and golfers are athletes. As a result, golfers can and should learn things from other athletes. Anyway back to the point. I was watching the game and watching the teams play near the midfield line and it was a thing of beauty. Passing between holes, judging the speed of defenders, and their intended target; it was very cool. They didn't kick the ball with "perfect mechanics," but instead did what got the job done. This is much like putting.

This took me back to when I watched the PGA Championship at Hazeltine on the Wednesday practice round. An amigo and I watched Adam Scott on the putting green. He was putting very poorly and he was with his coach correcting his back angle and checking his hands for their perfect spot. He struggled to make many putts. He was very rigid over the ball and looked a Thwomp ready to be pounded by a Mario jumping somersault. He was never going to make any putts. Why you ask. Well, it is simple he was not playing soccer. Yeah, I said it.

Putting is like soccer near the midfield line. You have to be loose and thinking about your moves. They have to have purpose and you can't be tentative. You need to pick your target and go for it. You can also lose those "perfect mechanics" that Adam Scott was working on and simply do what gets the job done. Sometimes we fail to remember that golf is not about the strokes you take, but rather the number of strokes you take.

As Jack Nickolaus once said, Golf is 90% mental. Golf is not about being mechanically correct. It is about being mentally capable of winning. Bear gave us a great example of that in the last post. But, I am going to take it one step further. You need to focus on what you want the ball to do before you hit it. There needs to be a purpose and reason for hitting it, otherwise don't hit it. Let this reason be the guide for your next shot, not mechanics. Because as an athlete you should react.

So, going back to soccer. Pick your target (who you want to pass to) and pick a hole and kick it. Let that be the guide. Don't kick the ball down the field with perfect accuracy and power, if no one on your team is there! What is the point? So, the more you watch the World Cup, watch the players pass the ball near the midfield line. Use what you see there on the golf course and know knows, maybe you will get a lucky goal too.

~ Hogie

The Death of an Illusion

You are on the 17th hole. The tee box to be exact. It is a long, demanding par 4 dogleg left. Thus far, it has been the round of your life. You birdied no. 1, no. 2, and chipped in for par on no. 3 to keep to the momentum. You were splitting fairways like it was your job, and hitting greens like it was your profession. Putts couldn't stay out of the cup. You made the turn at 4 under par 32. Your confidence was through the roof, and expectations of "the greatest round of my life" began forming in the back of your mind. You surpress them for a while, but a 25 foot birdie putt on no. 12 bringing them rushing to the forefront. So there you are on the 17th tee. Deep red 8-under par. Your buddies are patting you on the back. This is it. The round you have waited your entire life for. The swing. Crap. It's going left, and hard. You can feel it at impact. The left wrist flipping over and left, the toe of the club smothering the ball. You watch the ball scream left, left, left, then out of bounds. The entire world feels as if it has come crashing down around you. You feel sick, terribly sick, and nobody can possibly understand. The encouragment of your friends seem like mocking gestures of faceless shadows. You finish triple bogey, double bogey...

To borrow some famous words, "nothing hurts more than the death of an illusion." See it wasn't a perfect round of golf on the 17th tee box. Golf is 18 holes, and you have to play all of them. Life is trickier because every day is a new hole, and you have no idea how many you have. It isn't easy, but you have to stay mentally strong. How do you do that? Listen to your emotions, but don't always trust them. You can't control what emotions you feel, but you can control how you react to them. Expectations of the future have appeal, but they creat a false sense of security. Goals are good, expectations are deadly. Like Ben Franklin said, "little strokes fell great oaks." You reach big goals by completing a series of smaller steps. What is important here is that you are always focusing in the present moment. Perhaps the greatest test in golf, and life for that matter, is not how you achieve greatness, but how you respond to adversity.

Black Bear

Matt Butler Found!!!!

Call off the search party! Like Jack from Lord of the Flies, I have been saved by a ship. In the name of Comcast, a miracle occurred. Internet was birthed at my lovely apartment with the help of Rass. Birth, as we know, is a traumatic and difficult process and this was no different. With eggplant cooking in the kitchen and the landlord fixing up blinds, there were people working everywhere. Nevertheless (correct spelling), soon the internet emerged young and innocent. So, we cleaned it off (with a towel, naturally) and brought it to this very website, so it could learn about the world and all it needed to know. So, I will save Tyler now. Driving for show gets you nowhere unless you have that putter making you dough. So, I am here to make that dough. So, be ready for a new era. We aren't like Domino's. This isn't going from bad pizza to still bad pizza. This is going from greatest blog ever to the greatest blog ever. Be ready. Put on your sunglasses, the sun is ready to shine over a new era and boy will it be bright.

~ Hogie

Mr. Butler MIA

Matt Butler, you might know him as Hogie, has not written a blog post in quite some time. You are probably growing anxious. I can sense it. Well, I am writing this blog to explain why. There really isn't a very easy way of saying this. Oh god, please give me a few seconds while I gather myself. Deep breath. Okay. Swallow. Something just terrible has happened. Something I wouldn't wish upon my biggest rival, which just happens to be Mr. Butler. Are you ready? I think I am going to be sick... Okay, okay. Matt Butler has been, oh say it isn't so, he has been left without... ... internet service for the past week or so. Somone call the national guard, the coast guard, or even Comcast. Oh the humanity. Poor kid. No one deserves to go through something like that, not Hogie. The worst things always happen to the best people. Is it karma? Maybe? Who can say? I am organizing an all night walk-a-thon fund raiser for him this weekend. I mean somebody has to step in here and do something. What are we expect him to do? Walk a block back to campus and use the internet for free there? Come on. Let's get real. I think we have all learned a valuable lesson from that oil spill: when catastrophy strikes, we need to act immediately. I have trying to keep this blog alive by myself, but I just can't do it alone. I can drive for show fo' sho, but who is going to putt for dough? Never-the-less (don't get me started about the correct spelling of that word) we must move on.

Black Bear

Walking the Line

Jonny Cash may have said (because that's how he sung) it best, "I walk the line." Living is walking a fine line between many extreems. Euphoria and saddness. Pain and extasy. Madness and indiference. Dead and alive. We are the tetherball of a pendulum that swings to and fro with every mighty swipe of fate. Life and our place in it is far more delicate than the spinnings of a spider's web. Fargile and malleable are our construction of reallity itself- a mere tower of cards built atop a rickety serving table by an old tremebling man with Parkinson's disease. So... what does all this figurative language have to do with golf.

In golf you have an objective: get the ball in the hole using the fewest amount of shots. But you have further focus. You can't just pick the ball up, and walk it to the green, and drop it into the hole, No, no. You have golf clubs to "assist" you. There are no rules about strategy, course management, or even what your shots have to look like. Yes, there is a rule book, but for the sake of making a point, the aforementioned "rules" are abundant in autonomy. But a player has seen the pros play, at least on TV, and they have, at one time or another, open a golf magazine or book. These mediums of golf information steal the autonomy from golf. You see the pros hitting 64 degree wedges from the fairway, and you never even consider running the ball up with a 5 iron. You read about "how to swing a golf club" when all this is impartant is to swing it. If you "swing" it in the direction of intent, you are in really good shape. The problem is determining where along the objective heirarchy do you focus your attention.

A. Your goal is to shot a low score. How do you do that? Take less swing on the golf course. How do you do that? See you are stuck since nothing directly relates to taking less swings on the golf course.

B. You goal is to make good swings. How do you do that? By understanding your golf swing. But this still doesn't translate to taking less golf shots which is the ultimate objective, because the intent is purely on the swing.

These examples are extreems and every player falls somnewhere between them, The secret to playing golf is to walk the fine line between the two. I can't tell you how to do it, no one can. Discovery happens in the mind of curious.

Bear

Response

Hogie,
Grace would probably chose player A so she could "hit the ball like a pro" regardless of the score. Also we both know that I am player A and you are player B in this little scenario, but you have forgotten about player C. Player C snap hooks his drive 245 yards into the left rough, then smokes a 3 wood 235 yards down the fairway, anf holes his wedge shot for a 3. That's the kind of guy I want to be. Someone who get's it done. Period. Luck flies on the wings of talent, soaring high above the randomness of chance. Fear not the player with the sweet looking swing, so rythmical you dose off watching it, but fear the player who appears to get lucky, for he has talent beyond measure- unless someone invents a device to measure talent, like a talent scale.

The worse you are at math, the more incentive you have to be good at golf, nay on second thought, consistant at golf, maybe both?

Black Bear