August 29 1996 – 10 Interesting facts about that day!
Golf Chats is a website to encourage discussions on various subjects relating to the game of golf. I am Mel Sole, Director of Instruction of the Mel Sole Golf School and SAPGA Master Professional. I invite you to enter into a discussion on this or any article on the golfchats.com website. The input is for the entire subscriber base to learn something new each time! Please post your comments below. Keep it clean and tasteful. We are here to learn from one another!
Tiger Woods’ first-ever press conference as a professional.
The start of an amazing career!
Twenty years ago today, Aug. 29, 1996, Tiger Woods, 20 at the time, made his professional debut at the Greater Milwaukee Open. It was a memorable week, notwithstanding his tying for 60th, and occasionally an amusing week. Here are 10 reasons why:
1. En route via a commercial airline from home in Orange County, Calif., to Portland, Ore., for his final amateur event, Woods turned to his father and said, “I’m never flying coach again.” Indeed, the day after his U.S. Amateur victory, he had a corporate jet standing by to take him to Milwaukee. Suffice it to say, he was right.
2. In Milwaukee, Woods paid for dinner one night with a gift certificate he had received upon his arrival. A day later, when Woods and his instructor Butch Harmon were driving to Brown Deer Park Golf Course in the Milwaukee suburb of Glendale, Butch asked him whether he had his checkbook, so he could pay the $100 entry fee. “Butch, I don’t have one-hundred dollars,” he said, despite having already signed a $40 million contract with Nike. Harmon floated him a loan. Later, Woods said, “I haven’t seen a penny yet. I haven’t seen any check in the mail yet. I’m still broke.”
A 10 year old in a Toy’s R Us store.
3. Nike sent Woods several bags stuffed with shirts and pants. At his locker at Brown Deer Park, he found four new Titleist golf gloves and three dozen Titleist Tour balata balls. He was giddy. “He was like a 10-year-old dropped into the middle of Toys ‘R’ Us,” Harmon said.
4. Woods’ agency, IMG, initially had a plan for Tiger to announce he was turning pro at Niketown in Chicago. Instead, he released a statement on that Tuesday that he was turning pro, then held his “Hello World” news conference on Wednesday. Among the media outlets on hand were People and Newsweek magazines and the television show “Extra,” a strong indication that a new higher-profile era in golf had begun.
5. The Woods family — Tiger, father Earl and mother Kultida — were sporting 27 Nike swooshes on its clothing and shoes on Wednesday. Although Kultida vowed not to give up the Reeboks that she had worn the week before. “They pay Tiger, they don’t pay me,” she said.
What would Peter Kostis do if he was PGA Tour Commissioner?
Golf Chats is a website to encourage discussions on various subjects relating to the game of golf. I am Mel Sole, Director of Instruction of the Mel Sole Golf School and SAPGA Master Professional. I invite you to enter into a discussion on this or any article on the golfchats.com website. The input is for the entire subscriber base to learn something new each time! Please post your comments below. Keep it clean and tasteful. We are here to learn from one another!
I have always had the greatest respect for Peter Kostis, and his PGA Tour commentary is always on point.
His great insight in both golf instruction and the PGA Tour makes him an enjoyable announcer to listen to. Kostis is a breath of fresh air compared to announcers who love the sound of their own voice and never shut up! So it comes as no surprise that Peter has some ideas on how the PGA Tour would fare even better. With PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem retiring soon, here are Peter’s ideas brought to you by Swing by Swing!
Peter Kostis
If all goes according to plan, Tim Finchem will likely be retiring as PGA Tour commissioner at the end of the 2016 season and all indications say he will be succeeded Jay Monahan.
Finchem has held the commish post since 1994. Since then, the game has changed dramatically. While you can credit Tiger Woods for a decent portion of golf’s transformation, Finchem’s accomplishments can’t be overlooked (see: TV Deals).
In a recent Golf.com article written by CBS analyst and instructor Peter Kostis, he offers up three pieces of advice on how the next commissioner can improve the game. The catch is that these relatively simple ideas will likely never happen.
Shorten the season
The golf season should extend from early January to Labor Day weekend. Period. That would give us 30 to 35 events per year, which is plenty. This sort of compact schedule would more often draw the very best players. And besides, why fight an unwinnable ratings battle with the NFL? Golf can’t compete with football, and the FedEx Cup playoffs deserve a showcase without interference from the NFL.
Fall Series Events.
As for the so-called Fall Series events, I have a solution: Incorporate them into qualifying tournaments and the Web.com season. That way, smaller events that can’t afford the PGA Tour premium price can enhance their fields and visibility. The most important rationale behind my short-season suggestion, though, is protecting players. Tour pros need an offseason to rest and recover, and to work on improving technique. No other major pro sport competes 12 months a year. Plus, fans would anticipate and get excited for the start of the season! It’s just not the same when things kick off in October, a week after the FedEx Cup concludes at the Tour Championship.
Lanny Watkins tells Keegan Bradley “Go hit the ball!”
Golf Chats is a website to encourage discussions on various subjects relating to the game of golf. I am Mel Sole, Director of Instruction of the Mel Sole Golf School and SAPGA Master Professional. I invite you to enter into a discussion on this or any article on the golfchats.com website. The input is for the entire subscriber base to learn something new each time! Please post your comments below. Keep it clean and tasteful. We are here to learn from one another!
Lanny Wadkins.
It seems, listening to Lanny Watkins broadcasting for the Golf Channel at the John Deere Classic that Keegan Bradley has “paralysis by analysis!” The hilarious commentary between Lanny and Jim Gallagher Jr. reminded me of when I played an exhibition match with Hugh Biocchi and John Bland. (both former European Tour and Champions Tour players) Hugh seemed to be taking his time over a shot and my eldest son Gary, who was only 4 at the time, yelled out from the gallery, “Hit the ball, man!” That cracked up Hugh and the whole gallery! Thanks to John Strege of Golf Digest for posting this “broadcast gold!”
Keegan Bradley at the John Deere Classic on Thursday. (Getty Images)
Lanny Wadkins is in the World Golf Hall of Fame and always played as though he was in a hurry to get there. Bless him.
Accordingly, he’s never been particularly tolerant of those who dawdle and dither.
Wadkins is working the John Deere Classic for Golf Channel and he was not amused with Keegan Bradley, notably his pre-shot gyrations from the 17th fairway and a greenside bunker at 18 in the second round on Friday. Golf Channel’s Jim Gallagher Jr. teed it up for him.
“Keegan, going through so many different, looks like swing thoughts,” Gallagher said with Bradley sizing up his shot on 17.
“A few too many swing thoughts,” Wadkins said. “Look at this. Go hit the ball.”
16 PGA Championship courses to add to your bucket list!
Golf Chats is a website to encourage discussions on various subjects relating to the game of golf. I am Mel Sole, Director of Instruction of the Mel Sole Golf School and SAPGA Master Professional. I invite you to enter into a discussion on this or any article on the golfchats.com website. The input is for the entire subscriber base to learn something new each time! Please post your comments below. Keep it clean and tasteful. We are here to learn from one another!
The PGA Championship is always played on spectacular golf courses chosen by the PGA of America to provide the best test for the top players in the world. But you can also experience these great courses. Tim Gavrich of golfvacationinsider gives you a list of all the golf courses used by the PGA to conduct their Championship that is accessible to you, the everyday golfer!
Wannamaker Trophy
There are plenty of PGA Championship courses you can play on golf vacations.
This year’s PGA Championship at Baltusrol Golf Club in New Jersey is off to a great start.
I’m particularly fascinated by the course’s routing – how strange it must be for the pros not to encounter a par five until the 649-yard 17th, and then finish on another (more reachable) three-shotter.
That should make for quite the finish come Sunday afternoon.
One slight bummer about Baltusrol, though, is that unlike last year’s PGA venue – Whistling Straits – very few of us will have the opportunity to play the course, given the private nature of the club.
That said, there are a number of past and future PGA Championship venues that you and I can (and should) visit and play.
And guess what? There are more of these courses than you might think…and you probably live or will soon travel near one of them.
Check out the list here:
As you can see, the PGA Championship has been (and will continue to be) played on plenty of public courses in some of the best golf vacation destinations in America, making it easy to add a major championship to your own personal record book.
California
Course: Pebble Beach Golf Links
Location: Pebble Beach, CA
Hosted the PGA Championship in: 1977
Architect: Jack Neville and Douglas Grant
Green Fee: $495
Course: TPC Harding Park
Location: San Francisco, CA
Will Host the PGA Championship in: 2020
Architect: Willie Watson and Sam Whiting
Green Fee: $177
Florida
Course: PGA National Resort & Spa (The Champion Course)
Location: Palm Beach Gardens, FL
Hosted the PGA Championship in: 1987
Architect: Jack Nicklaus
Green Fee: $347
Indiana
Course: French Lick Resort (Donald Ross Course)
Location: French Lick, IN
Hosted the PGA Championship in: 1924
Architect: Donald Ross
Green Fee: $120
Minnesota
Keller Course.
Course: Keller Golf Course
Location: Maplewood, MN
Hosted the PGA Championship in: 1932 and 1954
Architect: Paul Coates; renovation by Richard Mandell
Green Fee: $43
Hank Haney gives us the Key move in Jimmy Walker’s Golf Swing!
Golf Chats is a website to encourage discussions on various subjects relating to the game of golf. I am Mel Sole, Director of Instruction of the Mel Sole Golf School and SAPGA Master Professional. I invite you to enter into a discussion on this or any article on the golfchats.com website. The input is for the entire subscriber base to learn something new each time! Please post your comments below. Keep it clean and tasteful. We are here to learn from one another!
Jimmy Walker has a free-flowing golf swing that seems devoid of any surplus movement. Smooth on the backswing, great transition into the downswing, and a full follow-through. But the key component of this swing is the ability to keep the club moving from the inside. This produces a consistent draw. The move that helps him produce this swing is explained by Hank Haney for Golf Digest! Enjoy!
Get to know the real Jimmy Walker – 14 interesting facts!
Golf Chats is a website to encourage discussions on various subjects relating to the game of golf. I am Mel Sole, Director of Instruction of the Mel Sole Golf School and SAPGA Master Professional. I invite you to enter into a discussion on this or any article on the golfchats.com website. The input is for the entire subscriber base to learn something new each time! Please post your comments below. Keep it clean and tasteful. We are here to learn from one another!
Jimmy Walker is an interesting man, but very few people can tell you much about him other than the fact that he is a 5-time winner on the PGA Tour and has a propensity for playing well from the front! And now he is also a Major Championship winner! But there are many more interesting facts about Jimmy Walker – as Joel Beall of Golf Digest points out. 14 of them!
1. He was a LONG shot to win the 2016 PGA Championship.
As of July 25, the Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook had Walker at 125-1 odds. And for a good reason: Walker had missed the cuts at the last two majors, and his last top 10 came in March.
PGA Championship Fist Pump!
2. He played collegiate golf at Baylor.
Walker was an All-Big 12 performer in Waco and never missed a tournament with the Bears. He graduated in 2001.
Baylor Campus.
3. Before Baltusrol, his biggest golf thrill was playing in the 2001 US Open.
That year’s event at Southern Hills was his first tournament as a professional. Although we are guessing winning the Wanamaker has usurped this memory as his favorite moment.
Southern Hills
4. He met his wife at a Nationwide Tour event.
Erin Stiegemeier was a volunteer at a 2004 tournament, and as Walker said, “the rest is history.” They have two children.
The family!
5. He was the 2004 Nationwide Player of the Year.
Walker grabbed this honor, as well as topping the tour’s money list, thanks to wins at the BellSouth Panama Championship and Chitimacha Louisiana Open.
The 9 steps to making it on the PGA Tour – #4 is Critical!
Golf Chats is a website to encourage discussions on various subjects relating to the game of golf. I am Mel Sole, Director of Instruction of the Mel Sole Golf School and SAPGA Master Professional. I invite you to enter into a discussion on this or any article on the golfchats.com website. The input is for the entire subscriber base to learn something new each time! Please post your comments below. Keep it clean and tasteful. We are here to learn from one another!
I have worked with many male and female golfers who aspired to make it on the PGA or LPGA Tour. Let me tell you something. Talent is just a tiny part of it! Many golfers are making a living on the PGA and LPGA Tours who have minimal talent. But they have the desire, work ethic, and a sense of determination I see in very few young people today. Most want it on a silver platter, and if it is too hot or too cold, they avoid the range. They have no chance! So, check out this article by Mark Donaghy of GolfWrx to see if you have what it takes!
When Ty Tryon qualified for the PGA Tour at a very young age, everybody. Including myself, thought he was the next superstar. It was not to be!
I’m sure we all know a top young amateur golfer with aspirations of turning pro. It may be the kid at your local club who hits the ball a country mile and has a short game that would make Seve proud. Or it might be a hot shot you’ve seen at a tournament, and followed his or her progress since they were knee high to a grasshopper.
Aspiring Tour Players.
You’ve watched them win local and even regional tournaments from high school into the top amateur ranks, and think they will be the next Rory McIlroy or Jason Day. So why do so few of these talented amateur golfers actually break through on the world stage? What is it about the transition from top amateur to professional golf that can act as a trap door for some, and a trampoline for others?
To find out, I spoke to Johnny Foster, who runs The Johnny Foster Golf Academy, a top Irish coaching academy targeting elite young players.
“Since 2004, my team and I have had the pleasure of coaching dozens of Ireland’s aspiring elite amateurs and professionals at our academy,” he said. “The walls have become decorated with pictures of players’ trophies and signed memorabilia. But for us, it’s the faces who aren’t there that raise our eyebrows. I often ask myself, ‘Do you remember this guy…where did he go? I was certain he’d make it.’
“On the other hand, I’ve scratched my head many more times when guys who were can’t-miss amateurs have been swallowed by the results-driven, unapologetic world of pro golf, seemingly unable to score as they did as amateurs just months before. Why is that? Did they lose their talent? Do pro golfers play to a smaller hole? I don’t think so. What I do know is that players who have made the successful transition have shared certain qualities.
The 9 steps to making it on the PGA Tour – #4 is Critical!
This is the biggest motivating factor in being successful in anything. Something has to drive golfers to want to be the best, and it has to be there at every point in their career. Complacency and lack of belief are desire’s biggest enemies, sapping drive and willpower.
We have all heard it said before: someone has a natural talent, or they were born with a club in their hands. Talent has to be grown and supported, however, for a golfer to reach the highest level. How many talented golfers have we heard of who never made it?
More precisely than just ability, professional golfers need the ability to score. All of the talent in the world doesn’t matter if you cannot simply get the golf ball in the hole. Scrambling, clutch putting and performance under pressure become extremely important when a career is on the line.
Johnny says: There’s only one common denominator among the players who are successful: their score. The top-25 on any given week will represent a variety of club manufacturers, listen to a multitude of coaches and probably be from a range of countries. In fact, on many occasions, the only thing they do have in common is that they have finished at the same score at the week’s end. So as much as myself or any other adviser tells you to “forget about the score and stick to the process,” you better have the potential to score at a tour standard or there’s not much point reading on.
The most important number a player can produce is their stroke average in relation to par.
Your diet can be pure and you can surround yourself with the latest technology, which will make you feel better, but in my experience the most important number a player can produce is their stroke average in relation to par. If you have the rare ability to manipulate numbers, I’d stick to lowering that if you can, rather than fixating on your angle of attack. If you are an aspiring player, ask yourself, “Is everything I’m currently doing geared to helping me reduce my scoring average?” This is a constant pillar of our philosophy; we tirelessly work with our students to reduce their scoring average in relation to par.
The 9 steps to making it on the PGA Tour – #4 is Critical!
Along with having natural talent, there is no substitute for hard work and building a good routine. Fitness, practice, media/sponsor commitments, and travel all require hard work and good time management that needs to be engrained. Look at how seriously the modern-day players take their games these days: they train with fitness experts, work on technique with world-class coaches, and engrain their good habits with hundreds of balls almost every day. They say it takes 10,000 hours of focused practice to be world class. You don’t do that without hard work and a solid routine.
Learning a trade or a set of skills is a process that takes time, usually years.
Johnny says: Learning a trade or a set of skills is a process that takes time, usually years. So consider this when planning your assault on professional golf; “I’ll give it a go for a year” isn’t really a sound plan. How many surgeons or classic opera singers give it 12 months and eventually become successful? Remember, you’re attempting to reach the 0.01 percent of people in your chosen field. Your apprenticeship will take time, so make the financial and emotional provision for it.
You’re attempting to hone a very specific set of skills. From reading grain on greens to working with a professional caddy, allow yourself time to adjust. And be realistic with your deadlines. Look at your rate of progression over the past few years. Fair chance this trend is going to continue. As the saying goes, “An overnight sensation usually takes about 10 years.” The fact is that in all of the wins and trophies achieved by our clients, the vast majority were done so by long-term students who really valued and benefited from a strong player-coach bond.
Brian Gaffney follows the old adage “Teacher heal thyself!”
Golf Chats is a website to encourage discussions on various subjects relating to the game of golf. I am Mel Sole, Director of Instruction of the Mel Sole Golf School and SAPGA Master Professional. I invite you to enter into a discussion on this or any article on the golfchats.com website. The input is for the entire subscriber base to learn something new each time! Please post your comments below. Keep it clean and tasteful. We are here to learn from one another!
One of the very first things I teach a student who takes a three-day school with me is a pre-shot routine. It is so critical to understand that a pre-shot routine is like the dress rehearsal before the play. If the dress rehearsal goes badly, opening night is going to be a disaster! Brian Gaffney, PGA Professional at Quaker Ridge Golf Club, is one of the club professionals qualified to play in the PGA Championship at Baltusrol this week. He is doing exactly what he tells his students to do – breath and follow your pre-shot routine. Good luck, Brian! Thanks to Keely Levins of Golf Digest for this interesting article!
One of the coolest things about the field at the PGA Championship is that your local PGA pro could be in it.
That is, if he happens to be ridiculously good and makes it through qualifying. The 20 PGA pros in the field this year at Baltusrol aren’t just great players, they’re great teachers, too. Each day this week, we’re asking them what advice they give their students that they’re going to use themselves while taking on the best in the world.
One of the more notable PGA pros in the field this year is Brian Gaffney. Last year, Gaffney of Quaker Ridge Golf Club became the first club pro in four years to make the cut at the PGA Championship. After that performance, it’d be easy to feel the pressure this year.
Brian Gaffney
Getty Images
“Something I tell my students is when you’re nervous, make sure you breathe. You want to slow your heart rate down and get rid of the tension. This is important because tension messes with your tempo and the timing of your swing. Tension is the last thing I want this week.”
Baltusrol is ready for the World’s Best at the 2005 PGA Championship.
Golf Chats is a website to encourage discussions on various subjects relating to the game of golf. I am Mel Sole, Director of Instruction of the Mel Sole Golf School and SAPGA Master Professional. I invite you to enter into a discussion on this or any article on the golfchats.com website. The input is for the entire subscriber base to learn something new each time! Please post your comments below. Keep it clean and tasteful. We are here to learn from one another!
Baltustrol is one of the iconic Championship Golf Courses in the USA.
It has hosted 7 US Opens, 4 US Amateurs, 2 US Women’s Opens, and 2 US Women’s Amateurs. Quite a resume. This year, the PGA and longtime greenkeeper Mark Kuhns set the course up for a grandstand finish. With the rough over 4″ high and the greens running at 14 on the stimpmeter, the winner here will have to have all the shots! Thanks go to Ron Whitten, writing for GolfWorld on all the details!
(Photo by Fred Vuich/Sports Illustrated via Getty Images)
It’s a different Baltusrol for this year’s PGA Championship, with different dates and a different finish. Yet the Lower Course at Baltusrol Golf Club in Springfield, N.J., is ready to deliver the most exciting and entertaining competition, year in and year out, of any of the four majors.
Let’s start with the different dates. The PGA has been bumped from its traditional hot-and-humid mid-August slot by the Olympic golf competition. So this year it will be contested July 28-31, just 11 days after the Open Championship wrapped up in thrilling fashion at Troon. That could bode well for the winner of the claret jug, Henrik Stenson, if one believes in momentum. Or it could spell trouble, if jetlag and fatigue are factored in.
The weather is always a factor in summer!
How the date change impacts the tournament from a weather standpoint is similarly uncertain. The earlier dates don’t guarantee there won’t be dog-day afternoons at Baltusrol; as the current forecast would suggest. “During our PGA Championship here in August 2005,” says Mark Kuhns, the club’s veteran course superintendent, “the temperature hit 100 degrees every day. July can’t be any worse. It’s a crapshoot. There are some Julys where the temperature never exceeds 80. But some years, we’ve seen it hit 100.”
It can also be stormy in New Jersey in July, but indeed no worse than it was at Baltusrol’s last PGA in 2005, when an early Sunday evening lightning storm put a delay on the tournament conclusion until Monday morning. 12 players had to return to finish their final rounds.
Tiger Woods leaves early.
One of the lucky ones to finish before the storm was Tiger Woods, he posts a two-under 278 late Sunday afternoon to trail leader Phil Mickelson, then on the 13th hole, by two shots. Unbeknownst to tournament officials, Woods flew home to Orlando that evening rather than stay over for a possible playoff. His reasoning was that there were five players between him and a win and it was unlikely all five would collapse with less than half a dozen holes remaining. In retrospect, that stands as perhaps Woods’ first acknowledgement that his intimidation factor was starting to wane. It conjures up the amazing possibility that Mickelson, or one of the other four, could have been declared a playoff winner by default, merely over the price of a hotel room.
Some of the Greatest Moments in PGA Championship History!
Golf Chats is a website to encourage discussions on various subjects relating to the game of golf. I am Mel Sole, Director of Instruction of the Mel Sole Golf School and SAPGA Master Professional. I invite you to enter into a discussion on this or any article on the golfchats.com website. The input is for the entire subscriber base to learn something new each time! Please post your comments below. Keep it clean and tasteful. We are here to learn from one another!
There have been some spectacular moments in the history of the PGA Championship. They are indelibly etched into our brains, and we watched with awe as these amazing moments transpired. T.J. Auclair of PGA.com describes these moments with the aid of some great video footage!
Major championships provide the best drama we see all year in golf.
Sadly next week’s PGA Championship at Baltusrol marks the last major of the season in men’s golf. Without question, there will be shots hit, and stories told that will become a part of golf lore.
It always happens that way. And with that, here are five great moments in PGA Championship history.
5. Sergio Garcia’s shot from behind the tree on No. 16 at Medinah in 1999.
Then, just 19 years old, Garcia pulled off one of the most memorable shots in PGA Championship history with this masterful shot from behind a tree.
On the 452-yard par 4, Garcia faced an approach shot of 189 yards from the green in the exposed roots behind a large tree. Garcia elected to hit the ball instead of chipping safely back into the fairway. He opened the face of a 6-iron and, as he swung, closed his eyes at impact. The ball soared into a high left-to-right trajectory, landing on the green some 60 feet from the hole. Garcia sprinted up the fairway and did a scissors kick leap to see the green.
He two-putted for par, but no one will forget that remarkable shot.
4. Shaun Micheel’s 72nd hole 7-iron at Oak Hill in 2003.
Not many were familiar with Micheel before the start of the 2003 PGA Championship. But, by the time it was over, he left a mark on his lone major victory with a shot for the ages.
Micheel, showing incredible composure in a situation he’d never been in before, closed out his magical week with this magical 7-iron on the final hole. The ball soared in the air and settled within inches of the hole after Micheel ordered it to, “Be right!”
A tap-in birdie and the PGA Championship was Micheel’s. And let’s be honest, the fact that the ball stayed out of the hole is almost better than going in. It would have been a fantastic shot either way, but since it stopped just inches from the cup, you can’t call it luck. It was an exclamation point on the best golf week of Micheel’s life.
