I admit it, I spent the last 3 days watching the Ryder Cup. I finally got out and played 9 holes today once it was over, but prior to that I just sat and watched - and fast-forwarded through all the commercials and interviews. I love watching these guys play with so much emotion, competing for each other and for their country - instead of for themselves and money. I loved Boo working the crowd, JD's monster drives, AK taking it Sergio, AK bringing out the fight in Phil, Mahan's celebration after his putt on 17, Stricker's putt on 18 to scrape out 1/2 point, and so much more! Overall, it was incredible simply to witness so much great golf, competition, and sportsmanship! Congratulations to the U.S. team and to Europe for putting up such a good fight.


2008 Ryder Cup Champions

After winning, Azinger suggested he had a secret strategy, and that he might share it in the coming days - or perhaps years. Well, with a little help from a discussion at GolfClubAtlas, we figured out that Azinger broke his 12-man team into 3 4-man teams, each of which practiced and played only with other members of their sub-team. Each sub-team had its own captain - Michelson, Furyk, and Cink - and teams seemed to be formed based on personality and ability. Michelson appears to have lead the "focused" 'A' team, consisting of Mahan, Leonard, and Kim, which competed in 7 matches. Furyk led the "southern" 'B' team consisting of Perry, Weekly, and Holmes, which competed in 5 matches. And Cink headed up the "introverted" 'C' team, consisting of Stricker, Curtis, and Campbell, who played 4 matches.

I imagine Azinger's philosophy was that a smaller team of golfers with a similar personality would bond more easily than a large 12-man team made up of a big variety of personalities. I'd guess too that his philosophy was inspired by some team building guru that helped coach him on this strategy. Leave a comment if you have any ideas on who that might be.

Whereever he learned it, it seems to have worked. 2 of these 3 sub-teams beat the Euros.

Phil's team scored 6 out of a possible 11 points in their 7 team and 4 individual matches. Furyk's team scored best with 7 out of a possible 9 points in their 5 team and 4 individual matches. Cink's team lost by capturing only 3 1/2 points out of a possible 8 points in their 4 team and 4 individual matches. Cink's team only failed to score a point in one of their 11 matches and scored a full point in 6 of their matches! Team stats are shown below.

Team Michelson (6-5)
1 Kim
.5 Mahan
0 Leonard
0 Mickelson
.5 Mickelson/Mahan
.5 Leonard/Mahan
0 Michelson/Kim
1 Michelson/Kim
1 Leonard/Mahan
.5 Michelson/Kim
1 Leonard/Mahan
-----------------------
6 pts / 11 matches

Team Furyk (7-2)
1 Perry
1 Weekly
1 Holmes
1 Furyk
1 Weekly/Holmes
0 Furyk/Perry
1 Furyk/Perry
.5 Weekly/Holmes
.5 Furyk/Perry
-----------------------
7 pts / 9 matches

Team Cink (3.5-4.5)
0 Cink
0 Stricker
1 Curtis
1 Campbell
.5 Stricker/Curtis
0 Cink/Campbell
0 Stricker/Curtis
1 Cink/Campbell
-----------------------
3.5 pts / 8 matches

==================
16.5 pts / 28 matches

Again, congratulations to the U.S. team!

Labels: Competition, Ryder Cup, Team

The new Shivas Irons Society website is quickly becoming the online hub for Golf Literature, much like Golf Club Atlas is the online hub for Golf Architecture. In addition to publishing The Journal -- a unique, collector-quality publication intended as a vehicle for all of the creative arts inspired by the game of golf -- the society now hosts a variety of ongoing articles and blogs written by several of its members. Their community forums are just getting started and looking for eager participants.


Streamers by Richard Lees, Shivas Irons Society

The most recent publication available on their website is Streamers - a blog authored by board member, Richard Lees. In his initial post, Richard shares his experiences at Pasatiempo as well as his introduction to Fred Shoemaker and the Shivas Irons Society. I learned from Richard's blog that he's not only an artful golfer, but quite an artful writer!

Below, I've included Richard's interpretation of Fred's words on "The Mystery of Golf Revealed." This mystery reveals that our golf swing connects us to an inner dialog, or voice. Richard shares...

"This voice" is the voice of our swing. And all we need do is listen to it.

Not dissect it. Not analyze it. Not deconstruct it. But listen to it. Be aware of it. And practice that awareness rather than struggle with the physics of all that goes into its sound.

The implications of this simple statement -- like most simple statements that seem to capture a firefly's light in a bottle -- are enormous. And endless for golfers -- just as a game which is known as "a round" is, by definition, endless.

To tap into what we already know, as opposed to insisting that "knowledge" must be imposed upon us by the world outside.

And without doing anything more than find a way to swing a club in "a plane" that already exists around us.

To be able to duplicate that sound -- of connecting to that plane -- with our own voice, produced not by understanding with the mind all the physics of air being forced across our vocal chords and shaped into groupings of words that we mutually agree to call a "language" -- but rather, by listening to the sound itself, feeling where it comes from inside us, and shaping that sound as we shape notes in air with the musical instrument that is our natural voice.

Our golf clubs striking different notes, like hammers striking different strings inside a piano.

And then to practice our awareness of striking those notes so that we can "hear" or "see" when we're "on" or "off."

Sure, it can help to look at a video of a golf swing. But the swing ultimately isn't in the video. It's in us. Better to be able to produce it from within than without.

More...

Labels: Golf Blogs, Shivas Irons Society