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Thursday, June 16, 2005
Chiongbian: Policing the fairways
By Edgar Chiongbian
Tee Time
The US Open begins today at Pinehurst, North Carolina. But it will be early dawn tomorrow before we can watch it or if you will, very late tonight. If this schedule is not good for you, there is always the replay on a decent hour Friday night.
Because this Sunday is Father’s Day, the winner of the US Open will receive the biggest Father’s Day present than anyone of us. And it is too early to talk about a grand slam because Tiger Woods is the only contender with a win in the Masters, the first major of the year. The way Tiger is playing, a grand slam this year looks real doubtful.
The Pinehurst course No.2 will give trouble to the long hitters because the layout is difficult and the rough is quite tall, making it difficult to reach the greens in regulation. From the fairway, dome-shaped greens await the players and challenge them to hold their shots to the green. And there is enough rough around the greens to discourage using the putter instead of chipping to the greens.
This can be a reminder of last year’s nightmare in the US Open at “Shinnecock Hell”, which got most of the pros grumbling.
The Pinehurst course pretty much equalizes the field and the player who can rise up to the occasion will win it.
As we talk of the US Open, the local golfers are gearing up for the View Tee at Alta Vista. The original limit of 400 participants has now ballooned to over 500, so they have rescheduled the tee times and will now offer a shotgun to tee the guys off.
Nobody is seen blinking even with the high tournament fee because everyone is convinced that the tournament is worth every penny they put in. And you are right; the giveaway of a golf shirt and a pair of golf shoes does give back your money’s worth.
Alta Vista chairman Bombi Aznar said, “Where can you play two rounds of golf, get a chance to win a car via a hole-in-one, have a sumptuous dinner, win big in the raffle draw, get a golf shirt and golf shoes?” After listening to Bombi, I got so excited because I know that this must be like the manna from heaven that I wanted to get two slots all for myself.
So I asked Bombi if it is okay to register this way and get double the pleasure without playing a single hole. And he said, “Ah no! But you have to play because that is where the real fun is.”
Okay, let me open up a subject but I promise to bring it back to golf. My experience whenever I drive in the city is that for every 500 yards or so, I see drivers violating traffic laws that seem normal to everyone because there are no apprehensions or anybody monitoring this anymore. Since I am not privy to the tactical plans of Citom, I will not second-guess their operational plan but it has gotten so bad already.
My point here is that it is all about manning or assigning people in the area. At the Club Filipino golf course in Danao, they assign a person for each hole and make him responsible for that area. These guys are so proud of this responsibility that gives them self-pride for the work they do.
This develops into a peer competition that benefits the golf course. It is no wonder that the Danao golf course is in excellent condition. If you look at the other golf courses, there is either no one or too many working. When one gets lazy, all get lazy. That is peer pressure in reverse. We can learn a lot from Club Filipino.
GOLF TIP: Trajectory is a very important element in shot making. Many times you have to hit a low or high shot because of an obstacle or tree in front of you. Other times it is because you want to keep the ball under the wind.
Even with the built-in loft on the clubface, which predetermines the height of the shot, the relationship of the grip to the clubhead at impact plays a more important role in the results. This is called the shaft tilt.
The farther the grip is ahead of the clubhead, the lower the effective loft, and the lower the ball will fly. And if you tilt the shaft away from the target or the shaft more vertical, the loft will increase and your ball will fly higher.
But the simplest way to affect the shaft tilt is to move the ball back in the stance for a lower trajectory. And to place the ball in the forward position and make the shaft more vertical for a higher trajectory.
(erc@skyinet.net)
(June 16, 2005 issue)
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