Thursday Thoughts

If your day is half as busy as mine, we'd better get to it and get you on your way...

You're Gonna Need a Bigger Cart - Or at least more of them, as the lesson Davis Love took from Medinah seems to be along the lines of not going down alone....  See, that task force Task Force is already paying dividends:

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. – U.S. Ryder Cup captain Davis Love III announced

Wednesday that Tiger Woods, Jim Furyk and Steve Stricker would join him as vice captains on the 2016 U.S. squad that will take on Europe at Minnesota’s Hazeltine National in September. 

Those three will join first vice captain Tom Lehman, who’d been named previously, and a fifth vice captain to be named. This is the first time the U.S. and Europe have agreed to officially add a fifth assistant captain.

First, you'll have to agree that the Jaws reference is the perfect background music for the U.S. Ryder Cup team.   

Now, you might think that this speaks to Tiger's lack of confidence in, you know, making the team, but you would be wrong.  Tiger has a master plan, which likely involves this after winning the calendar slam:

Love referenced a “pod” system successfully used by Paul Azinger in the last US win in 2008 in which four players are matched together during the week. He said if Woods were to make the team, he wanted to be remain a vice captain and be in charge of his pod. 

”Tiger wants to be a leader of that group, but he wants to do it from on the golf course,” Love said. ”He doesn’t want to be the general sitting in the room. He wants to be in the battle. I talked at length with Jim, Tom and Steve about it. They agree. Tiger is very capable of doing that.”

Davis, there's a C-note in it if you put Phil in Tiger's pod. Actually, it's interesting that Phil indicated he didn't want to be a vice captain as he's entirely focused on making the team, whereas Tiger thinks he can walk and chew gum simultaneously.... not that there's any walking involved in being a vice captain, cause they get the keys to a brand new EZ-Go.

Though I'll confess to being confused by these pods you speak of.  From Phil's Gleneagles presser I took that these had to be organic, free-range holistic organizations, and didn't understand there to be any adult supervision involved.  I do so try to keep up on these things...

Bob Harig posits that this is proof positive that Tiger really, really cares:

The initial shock having subsided, the thought of Tiger Woods driving a golf cart around Hazeltine National next September as a vice captain now in focus, one thing quickly became clear: so much for the notion that Woods is not invested in the Ryder Cup. 

For a myriad of reasons, that narrative took shape in some circles, perhaps because Woods has played on just one winning U.S. Ryder Cup team, he has a losing overall record and there was a time early in his career when he, possibly, did not completely buy into team golf. 

But Wednesday's surprising announcement from captain Davis Love III that Woods would serve under him at the Ryder Cup along with Tom Lehman, Steve Stricker and Jim Furyk should answer any and all such questions about his commitment.

Well, I agree that it's possible, but there are a few other possibilities as well... and Harig's summary of those myriad reasons conveniently elides some contrary evidence.  Yanno, his dispirited play in Ryder Cups, his famously telling comment in 2006 as to the "Million reasons" that the WGC event the week before was more important than the Ryder Cup, not to mention the bizarre finish at Medinah when he coughed up the tie that he had in his hands.  Just sayin'...

I don't necessarily think that it's a bad thing that Tiger in hibernation has come to value his relationship with his fellow players and team competition.  But I have trouble accepting the premise from Harig and others that his previous lukewarm association with the event was some kind of false narrative.  He was focused on his individual accomplishments and found the team events to be a burden, not a welcome opportunity, and perhaps that's a cautionary tale for the Jordan Spieths of the world.

I'll leave this subject with this rather amusing note from Doug Ferguson:

The five vice captains would allow one of them to be with each match during the team sessions, with another that Love described as a ”floater.” Last year at Gleneagles, European captain Paul McGinley had one of his assistants with the players who sat out some of the team sessions.

OK, so let's review this in granular detail... in the team sessions there are four matches resulting in four players on the bench.  But those four players aren't back at the hotel watching the telly, they're walking with the matches.  So, we need an vice captain to walk with the idle players following matches that each have a vice captain along for the ride.  OK, my mistake, I thought these were matches between teams of adults...

Distaff Duo - Two of the best, Ron Sirak and Jaime Diaz, turn their analytical skills upon the two appealing ladies that currently rule the world of women's golf.  Sirak focuses on the stakes this week:

So how cool is this: The season-ending CME Group Tour Championship is going to be exactly that -- a battle for all the marbles on the LPGA.

All that's at stake starting Thursday at Tiburon Golf Club is Rolex Player of the Year, the Vare Trophy for lowest scoring average, the money title, the No. 1 spot in the Rolex Rankings and, oh by the way, the $1 million CME Race to the Globe bonus.

Right now, 18-year-old Lydia Ko leads in all those categories except the Vare Trophy, where she is second behind Inbee Park, 27, who is second to Ko in all the other categories. But all of those titles are in play this week.

I agree that this could be fun, especially as they're paired together (with Stacey Lewis) in the first two rounds.  But it's one tourney with the usual caveats in our game, so unless they're going head-to-head on Sunday it may well be a non-event.  What's far more interesting is that we can watch these girls battle it out for the next few years...

Diaz goes the more existential route, with this mission statement:

What is most vital to being a complete golfer? 

Although it’s strictly speaking an unreachable ideal, there are many contributing elements. A few would include power, touch, repeatability, the ability to pull off emergency shots, the knack for being clutch. 

Yet all are subordinate to the factor that either contains or even causes the others: Control. Control of the ball, and control of the self.

OK, so if I follow you, Jaime, the single most important attribute in a great golfer, is actually two completely different things...  Setting that head-scratcher aside,  Jaime takes an interesting stroll through the history of our game:

Jack Nicklaus, Ben Hogan and Tiger Woods during their extended primes each maximized the crucial quality in both dimensions. Anecdotal history suggests that Harry Vardon should make it a foursome.

Bobby Jones and Byron Nelson had both, but the fact that the game wore them out early (retirements as full-time competitors coming at 28 and 34 respectively) indicates their control of self was more tenuous. Conversely, Sam Snead played forever, had more command of more shots than anyone, but lacked the mental mastery that otherwise would have made him the greatest player of all. Arnold Palmer probably cared too much about pleasing his army, which helped people love him, but didn’t help his self-control. Two exemplars of the inner game -- Walter Hagen and Gary Player -- didn’t quite have a commensurate control of the ball.

But he's mixing some apples and tangerines here, isn't he?   In the first comparison, Jack and Ben showed little emotion, whereas Tiger would let it all out, no doubt having regained self-control before reaching his golf ball.  In that second 'graph, competitive golf took a huge toll on Bobby Jones, but Nelson's whole objective was to play until he earned enough money to purchase his dream ranch.  I've never heard talk that he was the slightest bit burned out....

You'll want to read his entire piece, as his comparison of the gals' games is spot on.  Though here I'll pick a nit:

What do Ko and Park lack? Relatively speaking – clubhead speed. Both swing their drivers at less than 100 miles an hour – 96 mph in Ko’s case, according to her teacher, David Leadbetter, which produces a driving distance average of 250.2 yards, 64th on the tour. Park’s 248.15 ranks 76th. 

Hank Haney says that the biggest separator of players, in terms of their potential, is clubhead speed. By that measure, Laura Davies probably actualized less of her talent than any modern woman player. Today, Ko and Park are theoretically at a disadvantage against much faster swingers like Lexi Thompson, Brittany Lincicome and Michelle Wie. But the ball control and self-control that Ko and Park focus on, and which Thompson, Lincicome and Wie comparatively lack, negates driving distance alone as a defining factor.

But isn't there a rather significant difference between the two?  Inbee is 27 and her clubhead speed and distance has likely peaked.  Lydia's body is still maturing, and while she'll never be as long as Lexi, she will pick up distance over the next decade which, combined with her other skill set, makes her upside incalculable.

This Week in Equipment News -   Sales are still weak at sporting goods retailer Dick's, we're just celebrating that they're not blaming it all on golf any more.

Dick’s Sporting Goods appears to have stopped the bleeding in its golf business, but

unseasonably warm weather has now opened new wounds in cold-weather product sales—notably in its hunting business. 

The sporting goods retailer’s stock DKS, +0.51% plunged 12% in active afternoon trade Tuesday, putting it on track to close at the lowest level since January 2012, after the company’s disappointing results and outlook. The stock has tumbled nearly 40% since the April 4, 2015 record close of $58.98. 

Same-store sales at its Golf Galaxy stores declined for an 11th-straight quarter, but the company said that overall, sales of golf equipment and apparel increased and golf margins improved.

Hat tip to Shack for picking this up, but perhaps golf sales are flat because the driver pictured with  the story is in current inventory.  

This has little to do with the above, but take a gander at the marvels of counter-weighted drivers;

Not sure I'd try that with a senior flex.

That will have to keep you amused for the day.