Is Tiger back?

When Tiger Woods shot 65 the first day of the Barklays at Ridgewood Country Club on Thursday, he was leading the tournament. Surprised? Many spectators were, while some were not.

It was no surprise to me at all. Tiger and Elin were in court on Monday, ending their marriage for good, and all the emotions that have plagued Tiger since last November should have finally ended for the better.

On Wednesday a People Magazine article and interview with Elin hit the newsstands and caused a little stir among the golf media, but the emotions finally took a new turn. Tiger could now concentrate on playing golf as a single man for the first time in six years, and his old winning attitude took over.

We all know how golf is a mental game first and foremost, and the last eight months has been mental torture for Tiger. Let's hope he can put it all behind him now.

If he completes this week's tournament well he would be a good Captain's pick for the American Ryder Cup team next month, and the American team can use all the help it can get.

New PROBE 2010 putter.

I have been deluged with emails from PROBE 2020 putter users asking me when PROBE GOLF, www.probegolf.com, will be releasing its new PROBE 2010 inverted-shafted, center shafted putter.

From 1992, when PROBE GOLF first introduced its patented PROBE 2020 putter, through 1996, when we ended its production, over 120,000 golfers purchased a 2020.

Today we still receive emails from former customers telling us that no matter what new putter they may try, they end up going back to the 2020 for its superior feel and control.

Former PROBE 2020 customers will be glad to learn that PROBE GOLF has just signed a manufacturing contract with a foundry to produce its new 2010 putter head. Just as 2010 vision is superior to 2020 vision, the new 2010 PROBE putter head will be wider than the original 2020 head to incorporate longer alignment lines so it will be easier to line up at the target.

Alignment was the ONLY negative comment we ever received from 2020 customers since its introduction in 1992. The original 2020 head was too narrow to accommodate longer lines.

The 2010 will retain its heavier weight that virtually all customers liked in the 2020, as well as the inverted shaft to insure its true pendulum stroke with no opportunity for the "yips" to enter the stroke.

Finally, the 2010 will include the center shafting just like the 2020, to allow each player to intentionally put side spin on short breaking putts to reduce or eliminate the break, thus making it easier to make those putts.

The PROBE 2010 will be introduced this fall to the golf industry. Inquiries may be emailed to contact@reciprocalgolf.com.

Who is at fault at the PGA?

If you are an avid golf fan, you already know about the fiasco that took place on the final hole at the PGA Championship yesterday! The question that is on everyone's mind is, "Who is at fault?"

Dustin Johnson waded through thousands of spectators to the right of the 18th fairway to find his tee shot. He had a one-shot lead over two players in the clubhouse, and all he needed was a par to win his first major. Virtually everyone was rooting for him after what happened to him two months ago at the last major, the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach.

Dustin found his ball when the crowd opened up and he saw some rough ground about six feet by six feet in size. The crowd covered the ground around that spot, thousands of them.

It took about ten minutes before enough of the crowd toward the green could move and give Dustin a target to shoot for. He looked over his shot, then hit a thundering five iron 237 yards to a heavy lie 20 yards over the green. He lofted a wedge to six feet of the pin. One six-foot putt to win his first major. He didn't quite hit the putt firmly enough, and it fell short to the right. He tapped in for bogie, then headed to the scoring trailer to sign his score card, and then he would be going to the tenth tee for the three-way, three hole playoff for the championship. WRONG!

A PGA official walked up to Dustin at greenside and informed him that there might be a problem with a penalty being incurred during his second shot on the 18th hole.

After the smoke cleared about fifteen minutes later it was decided that Dustin was in a sand trap on the right of 18 and he had grounded his club, which is a two-stroke penalty. He thus took a triple-bogie, and was not in the playoff!

The reigning PGA official walked in front of the cameras with a "rules sheet" they had handed out to each player on Monday listing the special rule that applied for the week regarding the bunkers. When he read the rule, it seemed to appease everyone, including myself.

Then the media interviewed several tour players, who said, "They hand out such a rules sheet every tournament, and nobody reads them."

Then the regular tour commentators asked the PGA official about that rules sheet, and such questions as, "What about the fact that the spectators were standing in your so-called bunker? How can it be a sand trap when 25 spectators are standing in it?"

The official again stood by his rules sheet, which technically is the final say in that situation.
Then he was asked about the PGA official who was walking with Dustin's twosome. "Why didn't he step forward when Dustin found his ball and tell Dustin he was in a sand trap?"

The head official then said, "We don't want our officials hovering over every player during a round; we just want them nearby if a player has a question about the rules."

The whole situation is frustrating to everyone, players and spectators. Please allow me to give you my take on it all.

Back during the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, I predicted on Tuesday, two days before the tournament started, that Dustin Johnson would win the Open. He had a three-shot lead after Saturday's round. I told my son who was sitting beside me that if I was Dustin's caddy, I would tell him to leave the premises and go to dinner with some friends and relax, and get away from any press. He had been relaxed all week, and led the tournament as a result.

Instead, Dustin responded affirmatively to all media requests for an interview, which was a huge mistake on his part. The media told him that his being relaxed was all wrong, that his leading the U.S. Open required that he be nervous beyond belief! The result was nervousness on Dustin's part starting Sunday morning, and he blew up to an 82 in the final round!

Yesterday, when Dustin and his caddy walked up to his drive among all those spectators, the first thing that should have happened was Dustin's caddy letting him know he might be in a bunker, and then they should have called over the PGA official that was walking with them.

Yes, that's right. I blame the caddy. These guys carrying the bags on tour are not simply bag carriers, they are their player's manager and adviser as well. Their job is to do the thinking for their player, so all he has to do is swing the clubs that are handed to him by his caddy.

Dustin is a nice guy, a "country bumpkin" in my opinion. Thinking is not his strong point. Golf, as I have stressed for months, is played between the ears, and is 90% mental, and 10% mental. That is the reason Tiger is playing poorly this year, his mind is on his personal problems, his divorce, his children.

Tour players have to think about one thing, hitting their golf ball. Whatever their caddy can do to keep them from thinking about or worrying about anything else is tantamount to their winning tournaments.

Dustin's caddy needs to learn that, and learn it quickly. If he does not, he should learn another profession.

PGA Championship week!

Today the PGA Championship starts, the last major of the year, and I hope we see a continuation of last week with a tour star winning the championship and not another unknown!

I'm amazed at some of the names that writers are picking to win the PGA this week, such as Vijay Singh. Singh has had a tough year, but this writer picked him simply because he won at the same course, Whistling Straits, the last time the PGA was played there. But that was the year Vijay was the leading money winner on tour.

Then there is the writer who has picked Y.E. Yang to repeat his PGA victory from last year when he held off Tiger Woods for the win. Yang is a scrapper, and it will take a scrapper to conquer the tough conditions expected this year.

There is also the writer who has picked Phil Mickelson to win the PGA, even though Phil announced this week that he has Psoriatic Arthritis! Phil told the media on Wednesday that the symptoms came on right before this year's U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, and plagued him during the tournament and then got worse during a family trip to Hawaii. At one point Phil said he couldn't even get out of bed!

And there are writers who are betting that now that Tiger has hit rock bottom after his worst tournament as a pro last week at Firestone, he will rebound if just from pride if nothing else and play well at the PGA.

Let's watch today's opening round and see what we can learn about Tiger's play.

Congratulations to Hunter Mahan!

The PGA Tour returned to some semblance of normalcy yesterday with Hunter Mahan's victory at the Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone Country Club, and it didn't come any too soon!

For months now professional golf has had one relatively unknown player after another win tournaments, including two majors, with the television ratings dropping as a result. Not only did a name player, and an American, win at Firestone, but the next six place finishers included five recognizable American players and one two-time U.S. Open winner.

Now things are getting better on tour. With the PGA this week, the last of the four majors of the year, I hope this trend continues.

And what happened to Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson this last week? Tiger understandably is still fighting his mental demons from his private life even though he is blaming it on something else, lack of practice. When your mind is troubled in golf, it is even hard to concentrate on practicing.

Phil played fairly well for the first three days, but then his having to play Callaway equipment caught up with him one more time, and he ballooned to a 78 on Sunday, one higher than Tiger's 77! And these are the two best golfers in the world?

With Phil, it is just one more example of golf equipment companies trying to pull the wool over the golfing public's eyes, paying tour stars millions of dollars to tell the world that Callaway golf equipment is the best, while each player's game suffers from having to play Callaway.

It reminds me of the days when I worked the Senior Tour back in 1991 through 1994, when Callaway first introduced its Big Bertha driver on tour. I watched the likes of Chi Chi Rodriguez, Jim Dent, Bob Murphy and Jim Colbert try the Bertha on the driving range, and one after another had its face cave in! The Callaway tour reps said, "No problem, here's another one!"

The same was true of the Callaway irons at the time. The players complained that they could not work the ball left to right, or right to left. Callaway rushed to solve the problems the tour players had with the irons while at the same time they were advertising to the public in golf magazines and on television how many tour players were playing those irons!

For a game that advertises how golf teaches us honesty and integrity, I wish there was some honesty and integrity among the equipment manufacturers.

Then, and only then, will golf truly become the greatest game ever played.

Will a tour star win at Firestone?

The other day we discussed the fact that the PGA Tour needs its stars to play well to keep spectators interested in watching golf week after week. No spectator wants to see "Oost-Who" come out of obscurity to beat all the tour's stars, and then disappear, only to have another "Oost-Who" win the next week.

I mentioned that maybe, just maybe Tiger Woods would come back to life at the Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone this week since he has won the tournament seven times in the last ten years. If he did, it would do the tour a world of good. Unfortunately, it is not to be.

After three rounds at Firestone. Tiger is ahead of just two players. If there had been a cut after two rounds, Tiger would not have been playing on Saturday. Fortunately, there was only one player on the leaderboard after two rounds who is not readily recognized, and that is Peter Hansen. So the odds that some name player will win the tournament are pretty good, and that is what the tour needs right now.

A Justin Leonard, Phil Mickelson, Steve Stricker or even an Adam Scott winning this week is what the tour needs to bring some reality back to professional golf, and all four are on the front page of the leaderboard after two rounds. The leader by one shot, Retief Goosen, is a name player who has won two United States Opens.

With the year's final major, the PGA, just one week away, spectators need to get excited again about watching professional golf. Ernie Els is also near the top after a 64 on Saturday, and he still leads the tour this year in the chase for the Fed Ex Cup.

Unless another nobody comes out of nowhere tomorrow to capture the title, this week should go a long way to bring some semblance of normalcy back to the tour, and the Tour needs that more than ever right now.

There is also the very good chance that Phil Mickelson will become the Number One golfer in the world after this week. He has to finish at least fourth this week and Tiger has to finish around 34th or worse for that to happen. Tiger is doing his part in that equation, since he is around 78th out of 80 players after three of the four rounds. Phil is tied for tenth after three rounds, so he has his job cut out for himself on Sunday.

But if he does not become Number One after this week, it will probably happen next week. I am confident Tiger will not play well at next week's PGA, and Phil should play well enough to gain the points he needs to finally break into the Number One position.

Tiger has been asked by a multitude of reporters if he will accept a captain's pick for the
Ryder Cup if it is offered to him by U.S. Captain Corey Pavin. Tiger's reply has been the same week after week, "I plan to play my way onto the team."

That might have been believable up until this past Wednesday, but not any longer. His play this week at Firestone leaves one to wonder if he will even be offered such a spot. I for one think it would be a major mistake by Pavin to take up a spot on the team with Tiger.

No stars on the PGA Tour!

A month ago I asked the question "Who is the best golfer in the world?" The Sony rankings showed that Tiger Woods is the best, but that is only because he had such a large lead in points, no one could catch him for a while no matter how poorly he played, and how well everyone else played.

Let's face reality; no one individual has played well enough to be considered number one, or number two, or number three in the last few months. And that, in the long run, will ruin professional golf!

Yesterday I started reading some of the other golf blogs on the internet, and was pleased to see many others agree that without its stars, golf fans will not watch televised golf, and without viewers the ratings for pro golf will dwindle away, and without ratings professional golf tours will cease to exist.

Tiger recently stated to the press that he is playing poorly because he is not practicing as much as he should, and he went on to say that he will never practice in the future as much as he should practice because he is spending time with his kids. That statement surprises me simply because he is now divorced from Elin, and their kids are with her most of the time, which means that Tiger's time with his kids has to be limited.

I think a more correct statement would be that Tiger's mind is on his kids, and therefore his mind is not on golf, and we have mentioned for months that "golf is 90% mental, and 10% mental." Until his mind can forget his personal problems, he will not continue to be the best golfer in the world.

Then there is Phil Mickelson, the supposed Number Two golfer in the world. I don't know about you, but I am tired of hearing every week the TV announcers stating the same identical thing as that week's tournament is about to start, "Phil is threatening to pass Tiger and take over the Number One spot in golf!" I'm sorry, but Phil is not threatening to do anything!

I have mentioned for months now that Phil Mickelson should be the Number One player in golf even if Tiger's mind were clear and concentrating on his golf 100%. Phil has more talent than Tiger. His problem is the people around him, his ambulance-chasing attorney who threatens any golf manufacturer who attempts to get better golf equipment in Phil's hands, and his endorsement contract to play Callaway golf equipment.

As long as Mickelson puts endorsement money ahead of winning majors he will never play to his potential, and I am afraid that will be Phil's legacy to the game when he retires.

So, what tour player is going to step up to the plate and excite the spectators like Tiger used to excite them, and keep professional golf from dying a slow death? Women's professional golf was near death ten years ago when they had no American golfers to excite the viewers. Then a few young American women who had game and were pretty showed up on the LPGA Tour, and women's golf got a shot of adrenalin.

The PGA Tour has a chance this week to gain new life itself due to the playing of the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone, where Tiger has owned the tournament for years. If Tiger can take advantage of his past domination at Firestone and do it once again this week, he has the chance to revive the PGA Tour and save what will otherwise be a very boring season.

You would not believe what goes on!

Based on the kind of comments I receive from readers when I write about life on the PGA and Senior PGA Tours, I have come to believe that most golfers among the general public have no idea what professional golf is all about!

For example, I was in the contestants' locker room one week at a Senior PGA Tour event, working with one of the players while fitting his PROBE driver to exactly what he wanted in the way of performance. A network reporter came into the locker room and asked the player for an interview. It was that player's second event on tour since he turned 50 years old, so the reporter wanted to know about the player's initial experiences on the Senior Tour.

I sat on a bench next to the player during the interview. The reporter asked the player, "How do you like being out here on the Senior Tour, playing once again with players with whom you once played on the regular tour?"

The player looked at the reporter and answered, "Don't think these guys were friendly to me just because they shook my hand when they saw me again, and the cameras were on them. Most of these guys would not throw water on me if I were on fire!"

The reporter was shocked, and looked at his cameraman with a bewildered look in his eye, not knowing what to say. I sat there and watched the reporter, wondering what he would do next. I was not surprised at the player's comment, because I had seen it all before.

Most of the players on tour, both the regular tour and he Senior Tour, renamed the Champion's Tour a few years ago, put on one face when in front of the cameras, and are completely different when off camera!

If you don't believe me, pick up a copy of my new novel, LOVE WAS NOT ENOUGH, and learn for yourself what your own idols are like when off camera. The book is based on my true experiences while promoting my PROBE golf equipment on tour for many years during the 1990's.

In addition to learning about what goes on at PGA Tour events, you will learn other valuable lessons about life, such as how to make a marriage work when the husband is self-employed and motivated to be a successful entrepreneur, and his wife wants him to put her ahead of his career.

You will learn how to raise your children so you are proud of them in this age of peer pressure among teenage young men and women. What I learned under those circumstances is simple to recognize and put into practice, and it is true for all couples. It does not take years of education and a ton of psychological mumbo-jumbo to write about what makes a marriage work.

If you like a good read that teaches you important lessons about life, pick up a copy today. You will be glad you did.