Using the TOMI putting analysis software is certainly beneficial in analyzing your putting stroke, no question…but using a high speed camera provides feedback that may support why one putter makes more putts than another. Take, for instance, the video below. An Odyssey Two Ball putter in the first clip vs a Scotty Cameron putter in the second clip. Both putts are ‘stroked’ by the same individual but there is something alarmingly apparent….the ball does not come off the face the same. Take a look at the line that is on the ball and watch it closely in both clips. The first video shows the ball actually twisting sideways immediately upon impact while the second video shows the ball rolling end over end after being struck by the putter.

Does this mean that Scotty Cameron putters are better than their Odyssey counterpart? No. It only shows that the Scotty Cameron was a better putter for the person that was making the stroke.

So which putter was purchased? What do you think?

It’s pretty obvious with high speed video.

***These thoughts are my own, not edited, yet…. and certainly do not reflect upon any other person but me. So, you can high five me later, or punch me right in the mouth after you read it…it is of course ‘playoffs’ so the punch won’t be called and the act will go unpenalized.***

I like numbers…I love debating…and I have very little attachment to what I may debate. So, I debate, for the fun of it. The debate topic is…What is the true ‘cap’ of a golf course? Member cap? Rounds played cap? Let’s have some fun…with numbers!!!

In 2011, the NGF (National Golf Foundation) and Golf Datatech released numbers based on rounds played and how that compared to previous years/decades. Last year, in the United States, rounds played were down between 75-100 million vs when golf was booming about 15 years ago. It’s an interesting number, since, at Rideau View, we haven’t felt the effects in a ’rounds played’ sense…it seems our membership have a very healthy appetite for golf. Some would suggest (and I’ve heard them) that the number of rounds at Rideau View is up and the access to a desirable tee time is down…yet, we have no waiting list, and we are short of our cap in membership.

During a Coaching/Teaching Summit I attended in 2010 in Irving, Texas, Dr. Troy Van Biezen and Rod Cook had a presentation entitled Injury Prevention and the Injuries Impact on Performance. Essentially, a business model on wellness in golf, creating wellness programs etc, etc, blah blah blah. I’ll save you the details. The reason I bring it up is because most golfers who experience injury on the course or during the act of a golf swing are Serious Golfers…and Serious Golfers were defined by Van Biezen & Cook as those who play an average of 67 rounds per year. It’s probably fair to equate a member at a private golf club to be a serious golfer, at least for my argument’s sake. As of last year, we had approximately 585 people who were in a membership category that ‘counts’ as far as playing activity and privileges so let’s do the math.

585 Serious Golfers x 67 rounds = 39,195 rounds

Let’s do some more math and if Dean Ross is a reader he’s probably trying to do this in his head as a fellow GAUSS participant..

Tee times begin at 7:00am each day so that’s the earliest our Serious golfer can get out to play at Rideau View and we’ll run the tee off times to 4:00pm each day. We can forget about frost delays, sunset and other factors…let’s just assume our conditions in Manotick are that of a laboratory experiment. There are 8 tee off times available each hour which allows for 72 tee off times per day…averaging on the very, very high end. If every time included a foursome (again, on the high end) then 288 rounds can be played. So, if we keep our 180 day season (May 1 – October 31) at 288 rounds per day….that leaves us with 51,840 potential rounds to be played in our it never rains here, it’s not too cold, it’s not too hot…it’s Goldilocks perfect climate. If you remove 5 charity tournaments, Member Guests (of which there are Mens, Ladies, Mixed), and the Pro Am we can subtract 9 days where the course is not available to all serious golfers. We can take off 2,592 rounds…Our new total is…

49,248 rounds available vs 39,195 rounds being played by Serious Golfers.

Certainly, if we took everything I just put out there as gospel, the optics would suggest we have about 10,000 rounds of golf that could still be played OR…34.72 days where the course is completely empty. If the average serious golfer plays 67 rounds of golf a year then it’s plausible to suggest we could take in nearly 150 additional members who could play those 10,000 rounds available.

I know, I know….you’re reading this and you’re thinking…he can’t possibly be doing all this Math in his head, right? That’s what you’re saying, right?

Oh…you’re not?

Hmmm… I know, you’re saying “But Matt, based on your (awesome) Math skills you’re overlooking the obvious…you’re assuming that the entire membership is split into foursomes, always playing golf together…AND you’ve overlooked the fact that you’re not accounting for Guest play anywhere in your numbers…and NEWSFLASH….we don’t live in a climate controlled environment where it’s perfect every single day of the year. Oh, and one more thing…34.72 days of tee off times are currently available??? DAYS??? Are you blind?”

Is that closer to what you’re saying?? Then I have to agree with you.

My math skills are awesome.

Somehow, they were sore.

Starting back into the swing of things should be done at a reasonable pace (I think that’s a line from an Adam Sandler song….don’t google it). Listening to your body is never a bad idea and to be honest – Golf should not hurt you.

Many of my clients spend the winter doing a conditioning program through the Titleist Performance Institute (TPI) and occasionally during an assessment we discover an injury or soreness that may require the help of a professional…not the golf kind. The physio kind…to treat the body. My physiotherapist/ and friend, Kim Wright, took the TPI course in Orlando to gain awareness of the type of injury golfers can sometimes face.

Last spring I put up several videos where I had my very serious-looking-directly-into-the-sun face and demonstrated some easy screens to perform that would identify a mobility or stability issue. Well, I thought it would be interesting to have Kim perform screens on me from the medical side vs the golf side. We had a lot of laughs doing it and it’s very low budget…here’s the first one. Please remember that I was ‘acting’ in these clips so if it looks like I have mobility or stability issues it’s because I remained in ‘character.’

First of all, I need to disclose something…I’ve missed a putt no longer than a foot in length DURING a tournament. It happened at Heather Glen Golf Links in North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina during the Dupont World Amateur. The course had recently been top dressed, it was a damp morning, and while I recognized there was some sand particles on the face of my putter AND ball…the putt was only about 8 inches…I could just ‘tap it in.’ Well, I learned that no length of putt could be taken for granted and a little sand on the ball and face of putter CAN and DOES make a difference. What did I learn? Part of my putting routine to this day is wiping the face of my putter with my hand or pant leg no matter what!!

I.K. Kim missed a putt no longer than a foot during yesterday’s Nabisco Championship (the LPGA’s first major of the year). She only needed to make that putt to win HER first major, yet, somehow, the ball looped around the hole and came right back to her. Honestly, she was in danger of hitting the ball, twice! It was tough to watch. There’s no reason to analyze what went wrong, what she was thinking. Any putt can be made and any putt can be missed, it’s part of the game.

Take a look.

If you’re interested to know the background story you can take a look at this old blog entry.

The body’s movement and the anger (or despondence) which arises after a missed shot or opportunity both start from the same location – the brain…so lets start from that origin. Your brain basically takes note of all that may impact the upcoming shot. Wind direction, temperature, the lie of the resting golf ball, pin location, understanding the course layout (where does it suggest to avoid and where ‘should’ I be aiming), and then the brain, after this process which takes a couple of seconds, forms intent.

Once this intent is established the golfer is in the position to select the club that will best serve to put the intent into action. The action that takes place, of course, is the skill, talent or biomechanics of the golfer. Typically, this action will be performed UP to the talent that exists or at some level below. An amazing, holy-cow-i-just-hit-that, shot was still your shot…your talent, accept it….though if it bounced off a rock and into the hole….that’s luck, and another story. Sometimes, frustrated golfers will all too often suggest ‘they don’t know what they’re doing anymore’ during a round or that they’ve ‘lost it’. Rest assured – you don’t just lose talent. It’s just a far easier place to lay blame for a bad shot or round.

Behavior for a golfer is always an interesting topic. We’ve seen Tiger Woods race a putt down before it drops into the cup and triple fist pump while he shares his excitement with a TIGER ROAR…along with the crowd. We’ve also witnessed his one handed finish when he mishits an iron shot, the drop the club finish when his tee shot sails long and wide of its intended target, or the hands on the hip while the eyes close in disbelief when he gets fooled by the wind leading to a poor choice of club. Why is behavior so interesting? This behavior I just described can actually occur during the same hole!

When we think of the great golfers in the last century, Sam Snead, Tom Watson, Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Ben Hogan to name a few, the behavior or more appropriately, habits, of these individuals has a commonality. They were all stoic in victory and defeat, they had routines leading up to each shot which most fans could mimic to a degree where others could guess whom they were mimicking. Behavior, for champions, is nearly always under control. No shot or putt ‘looked’ more important than any other to observers. Obviously, Jack Nicklaus knew his position on the leaderboard during the 1986 Masters while playing his phenomenal back 9 in the final round. He managed his behavior and emotions and had engrained habits before and after the shot took place. Because he was able to manage his emotions to such a high level they didn’t have a negative influence when the Brain was involved in gathering the data required while forming the intent of the next shot.

The biggest difference in Tiger Woods this week, to me, was his Behaviour and Belief. After hitting his ball out of bounds in Round 3, his body language walking up to the green was no different than on previous holes after striping it down the middle…when he missed his bogey attempt and tapped in for double on the same hole, he had a bounce in his step walking to the next tee. I’m sure I’m not alone when I say this but this time, this final round…Tiger ‘looked’ different. His look made me think…it’s on…again. His post round interview showed a bit of the human side which is now evident, he’s human, and the tightness in his throat when he began to thank people close to him for their support, and his decision to cut that explanation short and just looking directly into the camera lens to say “They know who they are.” To me, it’s a better Tiger Woods. Tiger’s Brain and Body did not postpone his dominance, yes, postpone. It was his Behaviour and Belief.

They’re back and better.

I love my job. The reasons are numerous but if I have to do these blogs in 400 words or less (so say the experts…YOU, the reader, are currently multi tasking while glancing at the words on the screen and apparently would rather there be an audio version of this blog you can download on iTunes)…so I’ll get to the point.

When it comes to coaching, which typically means there are short, mid and long term goals a student wants to achieve; a relationship ensues. The Coach and the Player will get to know, and understand each other…essentially, what makes each other tick. Life and Golf are so intertwined that habits that affect Life situations are sure to carry over onto to the golf course, where the outcomes are very much the same. Discussions between the Coach and Player occur and quite often ‘secrets’ are revealed. It’s not like the Maury Povich show…not those types of secrets; its more that the Golfer’s soul is bared…not for ALL to see, but rather just the Coach.

Tiger Woods was/is a great player who wanted to get better and Hank Haney was his choice of instructor. Tiger Woods had his troubles (to put it lightly) off the course. However, you don’t have to be a ‘good’ person to be a great golfer and being a great golfer doesn’t mean you’re a good person. I haven’t read Haney’s book, but by all accounts and the excerpts that have been released I think Haney has crossed the line on understanding what could/should be for public consumption vs what should be kept private. Writing a tell-all book about a millionaire not sharing a popsicle, a champion not celebrating victories like other professional golfers, and any other dirty little secrets that came up over time…I don’t think it’s right, ethically.

I was at a conference about 5 years ago that included Tiger’s Team of support…Keith Kleven (trainer), Marius Filmalter (putting) and lastly, Hank Haney (Coach). Because of the nature of the group (fellow coaches) Haney as well as the others, let down their ‘guard’…simply because of trust. Much like the trust a Player would expect from a Coach. I could certainly share a story about Hank Haney from that day – which told me all I needed to know about him.

But it just wouldn’t be right.

By Don Brennan, Ottawa Sun

www.ottawasun.com/2011/07/27/rideau-view-looking-up

When it comes to the Ottawa golf scene, there’s nothing like "The View" from Manotick.

The Rideau View men’s intersectional team — led by Justin DeVroome, Paul Spare, Bill Holzman, Steve Fritsch, Tim Sullivan and Adam Kingsbury — became the first in the region to win a sixth consecutive championship earlier this month. 

Member Brad Fritsch made the cut at a PGA event for the first time, when he finished tied for 71st at last week’s RBC Canadian Open, outplaying the likes of young stars Matt Kuchar, Camilo Villegas and Anthony Kim.

Another member, Susan Pearl, has remarkably won three Quebec majors already this season: The Mid-Amateur, The Players Cup and the Senior Provincial championship.

Another member, 21-year-old Allison Timlin, won the Citizen Amateur title this week. Next month she heads to Fresno State on a golf scholarship.

And three junior members — Grace Howie, Estee Deschamps and Paxton Mayer — are B.C.-bound to compete for the national championship after finishing in the Top 16 at the provincial championships.

Yes, when it comes to the Ottawa golf scene, the view at "The View" is from up top.

"There’s a lot of good stuff going on," said Rideau View head pro Paul Sherratt. "There has been for a long time."

Rideau View hosted the Canadian junior championships in 1976, the Canadian PGA Championship in 1995, the Quebec Open in 2001, the RCGA Future Links Championship in 2009.

The clubhouse is nice, the food is good and the beer is cold. But none of the amenities distinguish themselves.

"People join because of the golf course," said Sherratt. "The club really distinguished itself some time ago. It’s a real player’s club."

Past members who made a name for themselves in the game internationally include Tony Romani, Allison Hayes and Henry Brunton, the Canadian team coach.

While the competitive course record is 64, Fritsch and fellow Canadian Tour player Lee Curry have carded 63s.

But you can barely swing a club without hitting a good golfer at Rideau View. A third of the membership at Rideau View has a single-digit handicap index, and almost 50% under 15.

"When half your golfers are breaking 80, that’s pretty significant," said Sherratt.

Pearl, a former tennis pro at the OAC, has already achieved a personal goal this summer shooting a sub-par round.

"It’s been pretty awesome," she said of her season to date. "This is sort of the culmination of a lot of years of working hard. I sort of call these my junior years, because I never played golf when I was young. I didn’t come across golf until my 30s. I took up golf to get off the tennis courts, because I spent so much time on the tennis courts.

"I work hard at my game. And I have a lot of support certainly from Rideau View, it’s awesome. We have a great group of guys there."

Pearl, who has always been a fitness buff, says part of the reason her game has improved is the TPI (Titleist Performance Institute) program Rideau View’s staff have had her on. TPI is a collection of golf-specific health and fitness information incorporated to improve one’s preparation and performance.

"I’ve been doing it for two years now, and it’s paying off a lot," said Pearl. "I always worked out before. My whole life is sports. But this made a big difference, because it was very specific to the thing I loved to do."

Checking in with a 71 in her first event set Pearl on a good path.

"That was pretty darn exciting," she said. "Then to back it up … because you sort of think, oh, one-off, you know, but that was good for the confidence. It’s the same old thing you see on the Tour. When you start winning, and you start doing well … we all sort of have the potential to do that. But it’s really really hard to put it together in a round, and it’s hard to put two rounds together, let alone three rounds together. It’s hard to really stay in the moment and get rid of the distractions.

"Once you win, and once you shoot low, that gives you the confidence to think I can do that again."

One distraction she appreciates greatly are the messages she gets from family, friends and fellow Rideau View members.

"The main thing is, none of this stuff matters unless you have people to share it with," said Pearl. "When I’m out there on my little tour, because I’m all over the place, my husband is my biggest fan, but then you have all these people sending you messages. You don’t realize who’s following you, that they’re actually looking at the scores online. It makes it like you’re doing it for everybody. You’re having fun with everybody."

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by Scott MacLeod, Flagstick

www.flagstick.com/teeshots/?p=4112

It was a long and grueling final day but it was worth it in the end for the new victors at the 2011 Ottawa Citizen Amateur Championships.

Fowl weather intermittently marred the last eighteen holes of the 11th version of the championship that was contested at the Eagle Creek Golf Club in Dunrobin.  Despite that fact, Dwight Reinhart and Alison Timlin perservered to win their respective titles.

Reinhart led for the entire three rounds of the men’s tournament, opening with a 65 at eQuinelle, and following up with a score of 73 at Kanata Golf & Country Club.  That put him two strokes ahead of Jeff Crowe of Camelot with one round to play. By the sixth hole of the final round that lead had disappeared due to a triple bogey by Reinhart and by the next hole Crowe held a one stroke lead.

What looked like a tight race to the wire changed into a victory march on the back nine as Reinhart separated himself from the field with five straight birdies to start the last nine holes.  He ended the tournament at four under par, six better than second place finisher, Jeff Crowe.  Brad Goodman of Greensmere was one stroke back of Crowe in third place.

On the women’s side of the action, it was 19 year-old Alison Timlin of RideauView that eventually surged ahead for the victory.  The sophomore to-be at Fresno State University started the final round tied with past champion Bonnie Wolff of Carleton Golf & Yacht Club.  Both players got off to a rough start on Tuesday, so much so that by part way through the front nine it was two other players, Diane Dolan of Hylands Golf Club and Teri DeLuis of Brockville Country Club that shared the lead.

Dolan and DeLuis struggled late in the back nine while Timlin steadied her play, enough to eventually secure a two stroke victory over Dolan and Lise Jubinville of Carleton Golf & Yacht Club.

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by Scott MacLeod, Flagstick

www.flagstick.com/teeshots/?tag=rideauview

RideauView’s Susan Pearl is on a roll. The winner a few weeks ago at the Quebec Mid-Amateur Championship continued her performance streak on Tuesday, June 28 by winning the Senior Division of the 2011 NIVO Women’s Players’ Cup Presented by Manon Sicotte. The first leg of the Jocelyne Bourassa Series was played at the Rouville Course of La Vallée du Richelieu Golf Club.

Pearl was particularly impressive in the opening round of the two day tournament when she shot one under par, 71, to establish a seven stroke lead over Louise Boivin of Le Boisé, the defending champion. Pearl strolled to the win by adding a more average round of 77 on day two, resulting in an eight stroke win over Diane Dolan of Hylands. Boivin finished in third place.

Also finishing in the top five were three golfers from the Flagstick print coverage region. Teri deLuis of Brockville Country Club, Louise Hotte of Rivermead Golf Club, and Carole Letendre of Algonquin Golf Club all tied for 5th place at 161, 13 strokes back of Pearl.

In the Amateur division, the winner was Marie Thérèse Torti, Susan Pearl’s victim in the Quebec Mid-Amateur playoff earlier in June. Torti, a member of the host course, opened up a three stroke lead with a 74 in the first round but faltered heavily in round two. Early in that round she made bogeys on five of six holes but turned things around with a birdie on the 11th hole of the day. On that same back nine her nearest rival, Hélène Chartrand of Summerlea, bogied her way into the clubhouse on holes 16,17, and 18, to hand Torti a one stroke victory.

“This final round was a constant battle, but I fought and I am proud of my victory,” said Torti, who dedicated her victory to her caddie, Doreen Edwards, who recently fought cancer successfully.

Julie Foster-Brassard of Royal Québec tied Chartrand for second with +10 (78-76).

Ms. Jocelyne Bourassa attended the award ceremonies and presented the winners with their trophies. She reminded everyone how important it is for women to play golf and the role they play in the industry.

The next event in the Jocelyne Bourassa Series will be held at Club Le Mirage on July 6 and 7. Players will compete in the second edition of the NIVO Debbie Savoy Morel Cup presented by Manon Sicotte. Sabrina Sapone of Le Blainvillier is the defending amateur champion of the Cup while Louise Boivin of Le Boisé is the defending senior champion.

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