Junior Golf: 5 Reasons To Watch The Open Championship

This Wednesday Waggle is a quick one that is hopefully going to rev up your level of excitement about The Open Championship which begins tomorrow, 12:30am, central time, Thursday morning.

Photocredit:Golf Digest

Here are 5 compelling reasons to watch:
It has become the World Championship of Golf (men’s golf). One of the Golf Channel announcers mentioned that basically every top golfer in the world puts The Open Championship on his calendar. There you go!
The scenery and courses are so different than most of those here in the U.S. Genuine links courses have the same grass from tee to green, just cut to differing lengths. The rolling fairways and greens, deep pot bunkers, tough rough, gorse and other trees and shrubs we rarely see add to the intrigue and excitement. Beautiful!
The weather! Oh, man! Summer in the British Isles means everything from sunny and 70-degrees to windy, rainy and 50-degrees. And play goes on as long as the course is playable and the wind isn’t blowing a stationary ball all over the place. Davis Love III was once asked, “What is the most layers of clothing you have ever worn during a tournament?” His reply, “That’s easy, 5 layers. It was the 198x, (I don’t recall the exact year) British Open!” Yes, fans love it, players really don’t care for it, but they have no choice but to accept it.
The shotmaking! Links golf is different from the style of golf we play in the U.S. Here we mostly shoot, fly the ball in the air, to a target and try to get the ball to stop as close to it as possible, with not much rollout. I believe it was 5-time Open Championship winner Tom Watson who said, “Links golf begins when the ball hits the ground.” What does this mean? Weather and course design are friendly to a lower ball flight and the players with the best imagination, creativity and visualization and execution, of course, can understand how to find the spot to land the ball so that it rolls, sometimes a very long way, to get in a proper position for the next shot. You roll your ball to the desired position, rather than fly it. Target golf in Scotland needs soft greens and light winds. You will see shots this week that will truly amaze you at the talent level of these players. Absolutely fascinating!
The fans. The British fans have a reference and respect for golf that is deep and profound. Yes, they would like one of their guys to win, but they appreciate proper shotmaking on their golf courses and they give props to those who make them. 2 of the most beloved, by the British fans, Open Champions, are Americans Arnold Palmer and Tom Watson. There is no adequate measure of the love and respect these great men receive from this audience. We can learn from this wonderful attitude of respect for the game and those who play it.

Photocredit:Royalbirkdale2017open.com

OK, that’s enough for now. Hopefully this has you fired up for that start of play at 12:30am, central time, tonight, on The Golf Channel. Double-check the TiVo.

See you on #1 tee ready to play some creative shots… Sam

 

Junior Golf: Links Golf

In this Wednesday Waggle we are going to investigate a name which may be new to you and your daughter, links golf. Basically there are 2 types of golf courses, links and traditional, for lack of a better word.

At some point in your daughter’s junior golf career she will be introduced to a links golf course. Now the word links can be confusing because sometimes the word is used as catch-all for golf courses in general. The USGA even had the Public Links Championship which technically had nothing to do with links style golf courses, but was for golfers who played mostly on public courses rather than private courses. This event has been discontinued. (photo golfdigest.com)

So what does links golf mean to your daughter? Links golf courses are the original golf courses, formed along coastlines in Scotland where there is rolling sandy terrain and lots of wind. Links courses require creativity because when they are in proper condition, meaning dry and extremely fast fairways and greens, your daughter must use different shots and strategies to have a decent score. On most holes, the greens are so hard and fast she cannot land her ball on the green, but must roll it to the pin. This means a lot of fun, seeing the contour of the ground along the desired path and then rolling a low shot snakeing towards the hole. It is very exciting and fulfilling to watch the shot she visualized actually end up where she had hoped. So your daughter will get great experience on how to handle windy conditions.

Links courses have few trees, but are known for very difficult rough and the dreaded round “pot” bunkers, which are pretty much a 1-shot penalty when you are in 1 because it is very hard to advance the ball. It’s usually all a golfer can do to just get out of a “pot” bunker. In 1 of Tiger’s British Open wins, and they are all played on links courses, he did not hit his driver at all during the tournament. He played strategic smart golf because hitting less than driver kept his ball short of most of the bunkers and I don’t think he was in a fairway bunker at all. (photo golfdashblog.com)

Links golf courses: rolling, undulating, fast fairways and greens. Few, if any trees. Very difficult rough. Pot bunkers. Cannot land ball on green, or at least anywhere near the pin. Lots of wind. Great fun and an opportunity to really engage and enhance your junior golfer’s creativity. Find a links course near you and take your daughter to go play it. Make sure the course is dryed out and fast. Don’t go right after a big rain. The course will not reveal its true self when wet.

Golf is more of an art than a science. Every shot is different and creativity is a big part of playing good golf. Get creative with your daughter. Book a round on a links course today.

See you on #1 tee, looking very Scottish… Sam