What the USA's Solheim Cup Victory Should REALLY mean...

Wow - what a great victory for team USA this weekend in the Solheim Cup ! We saw great performances for both the Yanks and the Euros, and tons of support from the fans. And while most of the media thus far (less than 24 hours later) has been heaped upon a couple of topics, I see a number of noteworthy topics for you to consider.

- The 2009 Solheim Cup could not have come at a better time for the LPGA: With the LPGA sorely in need of some good,upbeat news, the Cup provided that in bushels. Whether it was the great individual stories (of which there are many), the heartwarming shows of teamwork, or the great individual competition, the LPGA was the REAL winner this weekend.

- Christina Kim is worth paying attention to: Christina Kim proved (again) to be the spark plug that the US sorely needed. Not only did she play well, she also was the catalyst of the REAL Spirit on the team. Although some people seemed to have whined about her behavior, me thinks they were the same folks who felt that Boo Weekly was out of line at last year's Ryder Cup. As someone who witnessed Boo first hand last year, I can rightfully tell those who dissed him, and anyone who bitched about CK's behavior to bugger off - we've had enough of the "stick up the arse" attitudes in golf. We are here to have fun, so get the feck used to it ! Hat's off to Christina for sparking up the crew, and to the crew for stepping up. (For the record, the dance she and Michelle Wie did after their match was fecking PRICELESS...)

- A great Solheim send off for Juli Inkster: Juli is a class act all the way, and nothing could have provided her a better SC send off (as a player anyway) than this. She played solidly all week, especially when she gutted out a halve in her last match. Look for her in 2011 as our Captain...she's ready and the players will unite behind her like no one else.

- A Real Breakthrough for Michelle Wie (Maybe,Possibly,Hopefully...): Already, the media hordes have descended upon her performance at Sugar Grove with the appetite of the biblical swarm of locusts - citing this as her asserting her coming dominance on the tour. Readers of Bushwood know that while I respect Michelle's raw talent, she still has a lot to prove. Her performance at the Cup this weekend was very strong - make no mistake about that. However, her difficulties with making putts down the stretch remained evident - and she must fix that before she will win on any tour. I'm going to make a prediction here - if Michelle Wie remains focused on the LPGA, ceases to ever speak again about competing with the men on the PGA tour, and respects the fact that she is STILL unproven; the she will have great success (both individually and as a future SC player) and the support she enjoyed from the crowd and her fellow players this week will continue. However, if she starts talking about the PGA again (or making other less than believable comments), she will lose the camaraderie she seemed to relish so much this week faster than Usain Bolt can steal your lunch. She desperately needs to understand that her teammates (and fans like me) are waiting for her to embrace the LPGA and respect them - rather than sending them the message "thanks - I like you a lot...until I get a better offer". Michelle, if you are listening, take this advice: (1) Forget about the PGA - it will only hurt the image that you are close to reparing, and this time, there won't be any forgiveness; (2) Keep Mom and Dad at arms length - you are a grown woman now, and are ready to make your own decisions, (3) Watch the replays from this week, and look at your face - you were HAPPY, your Teammates LIKED YOU, and your played well. Understand the value in that and focus on recapturing it - if you can do that, you will find that your detractors will fall by the wayside and your REAL fanbase (not those akin to fans of bearded lady freak shows at the circus) will grow.

Sugar Grove is one tough track - and these Chicks can PLAY: If I've heard one scratch (male) golfer say he could compete with the ladies of the LPGA,I've heard fifty. One look at the track they played this weekend should put those comments to rest - granted it was not 7,500 yards, but the pins were tough, the rough high, and not many places to safely bail out. ...and they were flat out hitting some great shots. Enough said..

Bigger is Better, Longer is Stronger - Right ?

OK, I confess - I'm going with the attention grabbing headline today....what the hell, it's been a long week and I have earned it.
Everywhere you look in our culture, we are obsessed with a size...whether it's in promoting tourism (Everything is Bigger in Texas), male "vitamins" like Extense (Having a larger penis* and enjoying a more fulfilling sex life is possible and attainable !), or the vehicles we drive ("Our SUV has 4000 Square Feet more cargo space then the nearest competitor") - Bigger is Better and Longer is Stronger.

And our dearly beloved game of golf is not immune from the siren song of "if you are not long,then you are flat out wrong". This year's new drivers are longer, the new model of irons ("The Set is DEAD) are advertised as being longer, and EVERYONE's balls are touted as being longer ("Nice Ball, Phil"). One could certainly argue that on the golf course we are even MORE obsessed with size and length than in other facets of our life. Lest you call me a sham, and accuse me of thinking I am immune from this, I confess...I am not! Look no further than my last post, where I wrote about a training tool (The Orange Whip) which has added (much needed) distance to my driver and my irons...so PLEASE color me guilty....
After pondering this in the pre-dawn hours today (She Who Must Be Obeyed was at her Friday session of "Booty Camp", and I was up early), I decided to conduct an experiment to see if we have all been bamboozled...if, in fact ,"Long is Wrong & Big is Bad". I decided that my next round, I would conduct a scientific analysis of golf, using the following simple rules:

• All tee shots (Par 4's and 5's) will be hit with no more than a 3 wood.
• All par 5's willl be played as lay ups.
• All iron shots will be struck with one more club than normal, with perceived effort adjusted accordingly

Upon completion, I will compare the following statistics to my "normal" averages:

• Total Strokes
• Fairways Hit
• GIR
• # Putts

I will be posting the results of this experiment here next week, so stay tuned. Until then, I am curious to know if any of you have ever conducted a similar experiment, and what your results were. IN the meantime, keep your head down and your eyes on the BIG BOOBS ball....

Hey Bartender, Gimme an Orange Whip....

No it's not a cocktail...or a "cover band" from Ohio....Instead it's a unique new golf training aid that I have been using for the last couple of months. It's really called an "Orange Whip", and was invented by Jim Hackenberg, a PGA pro.. It's popular on the PGA tour too - currently used by Vijay, Justin Rose, Pat Perez, Scott McCarron, Matt Kuchar, and many others. (see below for info on how you can win an Orange Whip Trainer courtesy of Bushwood CC and the fine folks who make the Orange Whip)

According to Jim, " The Orange Whip is the ultimate golf swing trainer and fitness tool for today's golfer and athlete. It is versatile, dynamic and the most effective swing aid on the market. Consistent use of the Orange Whip will improve your golf swing and provide an essential core-muscle workout. The elegant design combines a counter-weighting system and flexible shaft that work together to promote the natural golf swing motion unique to each individual. The Orange Whip will help you find your ideal swing plane, create "tour pro" lag, achieve perfect sequence of motion, and promote balance that's supported from the ground up. Your strength, flexibility, and swing speed will increase, and your shot-making will become more accurate and consistent."
Now that you have heard the marketing pitch, and seen the "street cred" offered by the PGA players, I'm going to offer you Bushwood's take on the Orange Whip. I came across this device at my local golf emporium - the proprietor watched me take a couple of swings with my 6 iron, and suggested I give the Orange Whip a try. He handed it to me with a set of three simple instructions:

1. Take a golf grip, and swing so as to move the orange ball (located at the business end of the trainer) as slowly as possible.
2. Keep your belt buckle in front of the white ball (located at the base of the handle)
3. Keep said white ball ahead of the orange ball throughout the swing.

Pretty simple,huh ? Well, I took about ten swings with the whip, until I had perfected the three components above. Then I took my 6 iron, stepped up to the launch monitor/video setup and took a few swings. The difference was staggering - instead of my old jalopy of a swing - I was now on plane with good tempo and a swing which my lower body lead my upper body into. Needless to say, I bought the Orange Whip (retail is $109, I think...). I've been using this training tool regularly since then, and the changes in my golf swing are nothing short of amazing. Here are just a couple of the more obvious developments which I attribute solely to the Orange Whip:

• 20-25 yards longer off the tee (no shizz here,folks -I mean it)
• An extra club to club-and-a-half on all of my irons - for example,I've picked up 20 yards on my PW (I've gone from hitting a club more than my longer hitting buddies to hitting a club less than them most of the time).
• My swing actually now looks like something you would recognize as a golf swing, rather than a meth head really nervous person trying to kill a rattlesnake with a 9 iron.
• After watching a million hours of golf on TV, and listening to the announcers talk about "LAG" in the same glowing terms as one would describe Scarlett Johanssen's, um, torso, I finally understand what "lag" is and can create it in my swing.

Seriously, the Orange Whip is an amazing tool - simple to use and understand and one which will cure a myriad of ills for most hackers like me. Thanks to the folks at Orange Whip for creating a really great training aid.

Oh, and to show you how cool they are at Orange Whip, Jim has agreed to give away one of their amazing devices to a lucky reader of Bushwood. To enter the contest, just drop us an email at bushwoodcountryclub@gmail.com with your name,address, and a couple of sentences about why YOU should be the winner of an Orange Whip !

Yang Becomes the First (fill in the blank) to Win a Major

Unless you have been dead for the last couple of days (or longer), you are aware that Y.E. Yank Yang has set the golf world on it's ear by pulling off a stunning upset of Eldrick the King. Everyone, it seems is TOTALLY amazed that a self taught dude from South Korea won a major tournament. No matter where you look,be it the blogosphere, the traditional print world, on the tube, or every damn golf website you can find - Y.E. (what the hell - is he embarrassed of his name ? I mean, is his real name something like Yevoniquis Elbert or something???) Yang is being hailed as the newfound conqueror - the FIRST ASIAN GOLFER TO WIN A MAJOR !

As usual, however, the whole freaking media empire has missed what is TRULY unique and groundbreaking about Mr. Yang's win (somewhere, Rodney Dangerfield is laughing his a$$ off). What you ask, oh wise one is the REAL story ? Is it that he:

• Started playing golf in his twenties and is self taught ?
• That he carries a 3 and 4 hybrid, and his iron set starts at a 5 iron ?
• That he plays conventional cavity backs like the rest of us ?
• That he honorably served his country BEFORE he pursued fame and fortune ?

Although those are all good guesses, and may or not be correct...here is the real deal.... the breaking news that ONLY Bushwood is reporting on.... Yang is the first "Taylor Made Visor Wearing Major Championship Winner".

Additionally, he joins Freddie, Vijay, and Ben Curtis as the Major winners bold enough to "rock the visor", as we say here at BCC.

Bushwood Congratulates Yevoniquis Elbert (Y.E.)Yang on his groundbreaking win at the PGA Championship Hazeltine !!!

Bushwood Celebrates a Birthday (and learns the shocking truth about Mom and Dad)

That's right, Bushwood Country Club celebrated it's first birthday this weekend. In keeping with the tradition of so many big companies who are losing their a$$ in the marketplace , we said "What the hell, screw the shareholders, we need a 'Management Retreat' "- so took the Bushwoood Management Team on a boondoggle to Memphis,TN.

More to come on that adventure later - but in short, we played a bunch of golf, saw Elvis, harrassed people we did not know (my apologies to the funny looking lady in the cowboy hat), danced in the street (thanks to Richard Johnston), and generally wasted the shareholders money in a fashion that would have made the captains of industry proud.

Anyway - Happy Birthday to us - we celebrated without you....

P.S. - That's my sister in the photo above on her 4th Birthday - I was 17 at the time, and was responsible for getting the cake. HaHaHa....

Dude Looks Like a Lady... or Separated at Birth - You Decide

Rickie Fowler - DUDE .......................................Katherine Hull - LADY

This weekend, while watching current Oklahoma State golfer Rickie Fowler playing in the Nationwide Tour's Children's Hospital Invitational, I was immediately struck by two things:

(1) Fowler is one hell of a talent, who will very soon be a force to be reckoned with - first on the Nationwide Tour, but soon enough on the PGA Tour. He has the tools, the shotmaking ability, and the moxie to get it done on Sunday (even if he did lose the playoff)

(2) The dude's hair totally freaks me out - the androgynous sideburn hair thingys he is rocking make him look almost exactly like LPGA player Katherine Hull (shown above).

So, I leave it up to you loyal reader:

Is he the modern day incarnation on Aerosmith's "Dude Looks Like a Lady", or were he and Ms. Hull merely "Separated at Birth" ?

Captain Daniel - A Wise Sage, or Drinker of the Kool-Aid - Wie Shall See...

On Sunday, Beth Daniel, Captain of the 2009 U.S. Solheim Cup team announced her team to the world. In addition to the players who qualified straight up, based on their performance over the last two seasons, she also was afforded two "Captain's Picks". Her first pick was probably no surprise - she selected Juli Inkster, who was ranked 16th on the list of qualifiers.

Her second pick,however, was one that was bound to raise some eyebrows and get the media revved up hotter than Ryan O'Neal breathing down his daughter's neck at a funeral. That's right, Beth took the big plunge and selected the heretofore underachieving Michelle Wie. For those of you who have read a couple of my posts, you recall that I am very pointed in my assessments of Michelle Wie - some may call me a "hater",but that's far from the truth. I am nothing more (or less) than a realist - I asses her on how she performs on the golf course, AND the remarks she makes before and after her performances.

Some folks are suggesting that Wie's selection to the Solheim Cup team was forced upon Daniel - that the recent difficulties of the ladies tour only highlight the need for the Captain to do something "marketable and newsworthy". Still others suggest that she was pressured to select Wie by sports behemoth (and Wie sponsor) Nike. Meanwhile, Wie supporters counter that Michelle was handicapped by having the results for automatic selection be based upon two years of results - and her results only reflect one year of preformances on the tour.

Bushwood's stance on Michelle Wie's selection, after considering all of the factors, is that Beth Daniel made a good choice. Wie has performed reasonably well in the events she has played in this year, and obviously wanted to be selected to play for the U.S. in the Solheim Cup. We congratulate Michelle on her selection to the team.

Now the real question - How will she hold up under the enormous pressure that is sure to follow ? Only time will tell for sure...