Thursday, July 10, 2008 Chiongbian: The View has come and gone By Edgar R. Chiongbian Teetime
THE View Invitational golf tournament of Alta Vista GC has come and gone, and all the prizes have been given to the lucky ones and trophies have been awarded to the consistent and dedicated golf champions. More of the same: lots of fun for the winners, lots of grief for the losers. See you next time around good buddy, with the same results, tsk, tsk...
Last Saturday, I was so lucky that I was in the last group on our second day and got to see a lot of the view. Someone left one lady golfer stranded on the golf course and we picked her up and ended up in a six-some. So for this time only, my own personal answer, to the question whether golfers notice the view of Cebu when playing at Alta Vista, mine is a big yes, and all of it.
Another unusual thing for me in the View tournament was about a golfer, who complained that he was playing so good that he couldn’t do anything wrong.
We are used to hearing complaints about playing bad, the poor conditions of the golf course or bad weather, but this time, it was the other way around.
The person I’m referring to is one with multiple nationalities in his name. He has Vietnamese-Filipino first name and a Japanese last name. Put that all together, and why it is Ju-Fil Sato. He and his partner took the overall crown of the View Tee when he scored a one-over par gross when the course was playing hard or Stableford points of 47 points (net handicap) on his second day. Jufil said, “ My putts were going in from everywhere and it almost looked like there was a radar on it”. Yes, yes, shine that trophy Jufil and smile.
Do you ever wonder why the same golfers always win in golf tournaments?
Yes, it’s true and you can win too because this not by chance and is completely explainable. These are the guys who play regularly and keep their handicaps in the range of two to three strokes and are on a downward trend.
If your handicap is going up and your range gets wider, you will miss out on the benefits of handicapping.
However, if you are sandbagging your handicap then there is no reason why you can’t win. But it should not be all the time since there is a provision to deduct two strokes automatically when you win as champion. But if you still continue to win, then you are the Wizard of Oz. So what to do? Practice and maintain your handicap at the same level as much as possible. After all, how can you win when your shots are not consistent with your handicap?
Next week will be the British Open at the Royal Birkdale GC in Lanchester, UK. This golf tournament is called “The Open” but it is closed to everyone except to those who are invited or are qualified to join. No Tiger Woods this time so we can almost make a prediction that the winner will be from the European tour or International team. They are the masters of the roll, roll that golf ball gently down the green, merrily, merrily, it is but a dream to the Americans!
GOLF TIP. The ABC’s of the lob shot. Open the clubface so that the clubhead is almost flat to the ground. Open your stance and aim your body left of target. Place the ball in the middle of the stance to allow you to lead your hands slightly ahead of the ball.
On the backswing, make sure your arms are at least parallel with the ground to get a good rhythm on the lob shot. A backswing less than this will lack some acceleration and you will need to hit it hard that can cause problems with the shot.
Keep your wrist firm through impact and let your hands finish the shot with the handle passing thru the left of your body.
Focus on contacting the ball between the third and the fifth grooves of the clubface to promote a slightly descending shot.
