Random Thought

There has been some uproar on the 'nets the past couple of days and I just wanted to post a random thought about it. I won't mention any names because I don't anyone to get any undue publicity from my little hole in the wall site that only I visit. For those who follow the same types of things I follow and visit the same websites I do, you'll know what I'm talking about. Here goes...

If I had a social news site who's main mantra was no editorial control, that was a completely user driven experience, and all of a sudden it was suggested to me that I should pay the top 10 or 20 users of my site because they're what keeps the site going... if I did that, what would stop me from coming back to those same users who are now on my payroll and telling them, "I'm your boss, I want to make sure 'Story X' is promoted to the front page"?

Not saying that would happen, but it's sure something that would be a possibility. Then all of a sudden we don't have a completely user driven site. We have a user driven site, driven by users who are paid by the site owners. Heck, we could almost go so far as to call these paid users "editors", in that they are paid and, in theory at least, have some control over what stories are submitted. This of course goes against said site's main mantra.

Some people just don't get it, and some just want to buy it I guess.

Is Tiger the Best Ever Yet?

With his Open Championship win and his 11th major victory this past weekend, can we finally say Tiger is the best ever to play the game? In my eyes, no… not yet. He is clearly the best of our time, and I firmly believe one day we will call him the best ever, but I just can't make myself give him the title of "Best Ever" until he has the stats to prove it. Matching his stats to Jack's at this point in their careers, is he better? According to this chart, at 29, Tiger was 16 Tour wins and 3 Majors better than Jack at 29. That's pretty impressive and shows that Tiger is on a pretty good path to better Jack probably before he hits 40, if he manages to keep up his current pace.

But the problem is that we just don't know what the future will hold for Tiger or for the game of golf. Anything can happen in the next 10 years that could put a serious hurt on Tiger's quest. There might be some 14 year old out there right now whose quest is to be the next Tiger and he might have the talent to do it. Just imagine, if Tiger gets to 14 wins in the next 3 years and then all of a sudden the next Tiger, or maybe two more Tigers come to the tour and start dominating the game like Tiger does now. Add some maturity to the games of current players like Sean O'Hair and Luke Donald and now all of a sudden Tiger has 4 or 5 real opponents at every single major he plays.

Am I saying the game is going to pass Tiger by? Not bloody likely. I'm just saying that I think Tiger's first 10 majors were a lot easier for him than his next 10 will be. We're used to him winning at least one per year, and he might just continue that streak. But it's also possible that just like Jack's legend to a large extent created Tiger, Tiger's legend might (and probably will) help create the next Tiger, or the next 10 Tigers. And unlike Jack, Tiger might not have the luxury of waiting until his career is in it's twilight to see the results of his greatness.

Components of a Golf Exercise Program

A golf exercise program should help any golfer improve their game dramatically and feel much more confident every time they set foot on the course.

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Golf is the Devil

Why, oh, why must golf be such a hard game? How is it that we can be "in the slot" for weeks on end and then all of a sudden we lose it? I have been playing much better for most of this season, and all of a sudden the last two weeks have been a nightmare. There are several possibilities that I have come up with:

• I know I have been playing well, but by trying to "lock it in" I have taken away the one thing that was making me play so well: I am now trying to hit the ball rather than just make a confident swing.
• I have shaved about five strokes off my game this season, and now I want more. So now I am trying to shoot a score rather than just playing each shot as it comes and accepting whatever score results.
• I am now focusing more on swing than on target.

The problem is that I'm not a range rat. I usually can't just go to the range and work out my problems. As a matter of fact, it generally hurts my game to go to the range. As I understand it, the range is more for focusing on technique and I tend to swing better if I just play. This brings me to another problem though, and that is if I go play alone for the purpose of practice, I play too fast because I'm alone and get out of my routine. This causes me to play badly, lose confidence and it spills over to the next time I am in real competition.

One thing good has come out of all this and that is that I have been trying really hard to learn to play the percentages more, missing on the correct side of the green and all that, and that mentality has allowed me to save par a lot more now that I'm not striking the ball as well. It's all a learning experience I suppose and a game in which very few of us obtain a Masters Degree.

Inside the Mind Of Phil Mickelson

This is a humorous article written on the collapse of Phil Mickelson during the 2006 U.S. Open. This satire piece discusses all of the things that could have been going through Mickelson's head to cause him to make awful decisions on the 18th hole at Winged Foot. Definitely a good read for those who love golf.

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Tiger's 4,000 Frame Per Second Golf Swing

Nice video from Nike's site showing Tiger's swing shot with a 4,000 frame per second camera. Pretty neat. Of course this is used for advertisement purposes, but I bet someone who knows a lot more about the golf swing than I would be able to use this technology for some serious breakdown of swing flaws.

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What do you do with 3,000 golf balls?

Hilarious prank where a guy's car gets filled with tons of golf balls. Semi golf-related I guess.

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Faldo Joining The Golf Channel

So this is pretty cool news. Like him or not, it looks like Nick Faldo will be joining The Golf Channel when it's PGA Tour coverage takes off in 2007. I have to admit, back in the day when Nicky was playing and appeared a bit robotic and personality-less (and was waxing my hero Greg Norman at every major it seemed), I was not a big Faldo fan. Since he has become a TV personality, however, and according to some reports mellowed out a little bit, I find myself enjoying his commentary... although admittedly he can go off on some wild tangents now and again. Anyway, I think this will be a good move for The Golf Channel, for Faldo, and for the Fans.