25 shots, 11-under for nine holes!

Something as rare as a Yeti sighting came out of Canada last week when a touring pro has only 25 shots on his back nine!

Jamie Kureluk shot a 10-under par 61 at the Alberta Open Championship last week, but the back nine was astonishing. He shot 11-under par. Seven birdies, two eagles, zero pars.A nine hole score of 25 shots!

The record on the PGA Tour for nine holes is 26 shots shot by Corey Pavin. Just to make it even more amazing is that his front nine included a four-putt for the double-bogey on the 4th! This puts to bed any nonsense talk of bad putting getting inside your head for the rest of the round.

He fired an even par 70 the next day to win the event by three shots

Jamie Kureluk's website

h/t Shane Bacon, Geoff Shakleford, Robert Thompson

Ditch the plastic, hit some balls

Update: Power Balance bands a sham: ACCC

Golf is no stranger to quick cures and accessories claiming to improve your game. The latest nostrum is has many golfers reaching for their wallet.

Power Balance bands have begun adorning the wrists golfers worldwide. A whole range of famous athletes have been seen promoting trialling the piece of plastic including professional golfers, Paul McGinley and Jose Maria Olazabal. Now poorer social golfers are following suit.

Some of you may remember the Q-Ray bracelet and know that these things only work as a placebo. The circle of quackery in question can be bought for around $60, sometimes much more. If you are susceptible to the placebo effect and want one, get a cheap one here or here. Or get a rabbit's foot..

A golfer on Twitter told everyone he was hitting the ball 20 metres further. When I asked if it was true, he said he wasn't sure but added "They can't hurt".

They can if you need the $60. They can if you replace it with practice. They can if you have a swing problem.

Keep the cash. Use it for a bucket of balls or get a lesson. That works.

If you want to see how the balance tricks tests are done, here's how Applied Kinesiology works.

Jason Day wants majors and Australian Open

Jason Day has listed the Australian Open as the fifth most important tournament for him to win behind the majors in a recent article in The Australian.

He launched onto the PGA Tour in 2008 saying he was going to be better than Tiger Woods. Those words continue to haunt him but there are some great signs of maturity and humility in the young Australia after his first PGA Tour win last week.

"I just want to be humble about things now. I don't want to hype everything up. With winning, there's a certain pressure, especially being 22 and winning a US PGA Tour event.

"A lot of people have asked me whether the next step is a major. It's hard to win a PGA Tour event on any given week, it's even harder to win a major. I want to take it slow. At the start, when I first came out, I wanted to do everything too quick. Now I realise it's slow progress. I am just looking forward to the future and playing 20 or 30 years of majors."

Remember he's only 22.

Full story at The Australian 

Related Posts Finally we see the light of Day - A taste for golf

Golf tip: Tee positioning

Here is a video about tee positioning. Something many golfers don't think about too often. Courtesy of Ossie Moore and The Golf Show on FoxSports (screens at 7:30pm every Tuesday night).

More golf videos: Best golf tips of 2009 - Playing over trees - Adam Scott's eagle

Travelling golfers

Golf does some strange things to people. The act of playing a round of golf is hard enough but a few crazy people are playing a whole lot more than just one round. If it wasn't golf they were playing, it would seem to be a chore.

Firstly, Two Kiwi's are travelling around the world playing golf every single day of 2010. 365 days of golf. Jamie and Michael started at Kauri Cliffs on January 1 and their golfing year will finish at Cape Kidnappers on December 31, 2010. They played a few months of golf in Australia recently and are now in the US. Crazy. Puregolf2010 website

Another golfing nutcase who recently visited our shores is travelling the world playing the best 100 golf courses. He played New South Wales, Kingston Heath, Royal Melbourne and Royal Adelaide when here and gives his impressions on his website. He's just doing it for fun. Playing the Top 100 website

Not to be outdone, these two lads (left) have decided to play every course in South Australia. Catch all the action at Matt and Tony's SA Golf Adventure!

In the meantime, I'm thinking about playing every golf course in Australia beginning with 'M'. While wearing only one shoe. Who wants to sponsor me?

Golf tee bar stools

Need a few bar stools to go in the sports bar? How about some golf tee bar stools!

These have not yet been released as yet but you can find more information at the BigTee facebook page.You may need a German translator.

Hat tip to Golfer's Delight.

Finally we see the light of Day

Another week, another Australian wins on the PGA Tour. Ok, it hasn't all been smooth sailing this year but after big expectations for 2010, finally the Aussies are kicking into gear. This week our winner is Queenslander, Jason Day.

See video highlights below

Jason Day's two stroke victory at the Byron Nelson Championship victory was unexpected. In 2007 he became the youngest winner in a PGA Tour sanctioned event and expectations were high. 

He has steadily improved each year since but has battled form and health most of the year. He almost withdrew from the tournament this week with stomach issues and unlike Adam Scott's win last week, anyone who expected this win is lying.

Arguably more surprising was the form of Mark Hensby. His final round was disappointing but to see his name on the leaderboard all weekend was a pleasant sight.

One more thing: Day has questionable taste. The former Australian amateur champ has said the food he misses most when away from Australia is McDonalds and his favourite beer is Bud Lite.

Related Posts
Predictions: Australian on 2010 PGA Tour
Jason Day: A taste for golf
Day Shines

Back to back Australian Masters and Presidents Cup

The Presidents Cup is set to be played at Royal Melbourne on November 14-20, 2011 and there are plans to move the Australian Masters the week before, to make up the biggest two weeks in the history of Australian golf.

Garcia, Villegas set for 2010 Australian Masters

Greg Norman will be back to captain the International team who was part of the only previous victory for the International team at Royal Melbourne in 1998. Peter Thomson captained the side that year and which saw Tiger Woods beat Greg Norman in their singles match-up, 1up. 

Pacific Golfer is reporting that organisers of the Australian Open in Sydney are also considering moving their event to the week after the Presidents Cup in order to boost their field.

The tournament organisers would be mad not to try and lure more players to the Open and the Masters given the quality of golfers who will be on Australian soil. We should construct a few more events and see if we can extend the Australian golf summer through Christmas. 

Who wants to sponsor the Aussie Golfer Invitational? I think I'll host it at Barnbougle Dunes.

The victorious 1998 International Presidents Cup team

Rules of Golf: The double hit

There was a double hit during the final round of the European Tour event last weekend (see video below). Eventual winner, Peter Hansen of Sweden hit his ball twice during a short chip shot from the fringe.

I've seen this happen most often during bunker shots when the ball pops out a little slower than usual. The golfer strikes the ball again on the follow through. Hansen's double hit was only picked up by slow motion cameras. Unlike tennis, this is against the rules and incurs a one stroke penalty.

See more rules of golf below

According to rule 14-4: "If a player’s club strikes the ball more than once in the course of a stroke, the player must count the stroke and add a penalty stroke, making two strokes in all."

So if a golfer strikes the ball three times during a swing, one stroke it counted, plus one penalty stroke. Once again. Two strokes in all.

More rules of golf
Playing from a hazard
The teeing ground
Unplayable lie
Hazard Stakes
Embedded golf ball
The wrong green

Ernie Els douses Adam Scott with beer

In case you missed it, here is the video of Ernie Els pouring beer over Adam Scott. It occurred during an interview after Scott had just won the Valero Taxes Open last weekend. Good mates by the looks of it.

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Golf holes to impress

Check out these photos from the Oak Village Golf Club in Ichihara, Japan. They were posted at the Golf To Impress website, as part of a review of the course by one of their correspondents.

Designed by Desmond Muirhead, it just looks too amazing not to share here at Aussie Golfer. Note that the first photo below is a par-4. That is the primary fairway you can see in the middle of the lake.

The 5th hole. A 366yd par-4, known as "The Lake District".

The 8th hole. A 179yd par-3, known as "The Sangreal".

Handicapping changes - what next?

The roll out of the new handicapping method last month seems to have gone relatively smoothly. But did you know it was only the first in a line of new packages rolling out for Australian golf?

The first package we are all familiar with. The implementation of the rolling-sample handicap system now calculates your handicap by choosing your best 10 of 20 scores from your golf history. It is a much better representation of you current golfing ability than the old system and provides a good base for further changes.

10 things to know about the new handicapping system

The second package (slated for some time later this year) will mean all scores are converted to stableford before the handicap is calculated.

According to Golf Australia, "The purpose of this regulation is to:

• Reduce the effect of high hole scores for handicap purposes in order to make handicaps more representative of a player's scoring potential.
• Make all handicaps as equitable as possible by using a uniform score type for all handicapping."

Further packages (which have no set date) will include moving to the slope course rating system and a change to the way you 'transport' your handicap from course to course. The Slope component of the USGA Handicap System will be implemented when all Australian golf courses have been rated under the USGA Course Rating System.

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Related posts
Australian handicapping changes Q&A
New handicapping system: How does it work?

Scott's victory no surprise

Adam Scott's one-shot victory at the Valero Texas Open has broken a two year drought on the PGA Tour. It has come as no surprise.

This was his third win in Texas (seventh win on tour) where courses are much more like Australian golf courses than others on tour. In addition, the Oaks Course at TPC San Antonio was designed by Scott's idol, Greg Norman and the bunkering and rolling greens looked more like a Melbourne sandbelt course. It was no surprise to see a load of Aussies challenging all weekend.

During the middle of last year it may have appeared that Adam Scott was going the way of Ian Baker-Finch. Everyone was sick of saying how good he will be and were starting to fear the worst. Amid reports of dating Kate Hudson before seeing his current girlfriend Ana Ivanovic, many were questioning whether his heart lay in the professional golf world.

After last year's Australian Open victory (his first in Australia) many realised he was still a chance to live up to expectations. But more striking were his comments at his post-round interview.

He questioned whether he really wanted professional golf and said he worked long and hard to get his game back. We all believed him. His sincerity was obvious and so was his future success. 

Adam Scott's putting has always been an issue. He was a broken man after the US Masters but he appears to have 'almost' mastered the greens again after a lesson from putting guru, Dave Stockton.  

It is good to see him win again on the PGA Tour but don't think for one minute that anyone is surprised. Not even with the putt his missed for par on 18.

Related posts

Video: Adam Scott's eagle took 42 seconds

Adam Scott wins Australian Open
10 reason why Greg Norman picked Adam Scott

Adam Scott's official website
Adam Scott's Facebook page

Photo: AP

PGA Tour shop fails Down Under

As a lover of all things golf, I was surprised I'd never visited the PGA Tour Shop.

I quickly rectified the situation and was soon browsing the online store and considering making a purchase. Given the PGA Tour is no backyard corporation I figured shipping to Australia shouldn't be a problem but I felt compelled to check, just in case.

It turns out Australia is categorised in "International Zone B" along with other countries such as China, Denmark, Spain and Martinique. Shipping anything to "International Zone B" countries is $59.99!

At first I longed to be living in an "International Zone A" country such as Ireland, Hong Kong or France but realised I'd only be $10 better off. How exactly are they shipping their products? Is it the early 1900s?

A golf cap was selected and I went as far through the process as I could to make sure this was real. Yes it was (see screen image below). A $12.99 cap would cost me $72.98.

Let's just be grateful we are not in "International Zone E" where shipping will cost you $129.99.

2010 Australian Heritage Golf Festival

Aussie Golfer wants to everyone know about the 2010 Heritage Golf Festival to be held down in Tasmania later this month.

The full schedule includes dinners, tours and plenty of golf at "...the scene of Jack Nicklaus' triumph in the Australian Open in 1971 (Royal Hobart), Australia's Oldest Golf Course (Ratho Farm Golf Links), and one of its newest and most celebrated, Barnbougle Dunes." Any golf weekend with Barnbougle Dunes in it has to be a good one.

The highlight would have to be the National Hickory Championships held at Ratho Farm golf Links on Sunday May 30. Hickory clubs and gutta-percha balls will be available over the weekend as part of the competition fee. Players are encouraged to wear the early golfing costumes of plus-fours, jacket and tie for men, with skirts and wide brimmed hats for ladies.

Who wouldn't want to be crowned as national champion while wearing plus-fours?

More luxury golf carts

On the back of the expensive golf cart photo I posted last week, come more photos I've found on the internet. These beasts make that machine from last week look like, well, a golf cart.

From the manufacturer of the Porsche Cayman and Porsche Boxster comes the Garia Edition Soleil de Minuit. Upgrades include a built-in refrigerator, adjustable seats, interior lights and heated windshield. Worth around $60,000 AU you can even design your own Garia. You'd want to for that price.

How about a Hummer golf cart? They start from around $20,000. Apparently they weigh the same as a regular golf cart.

And here are a few other options:

Is winning in America that important?

Halfway through the final round of The Players Championship this morning, I had to double check exactly who Tim Clark, Robert Allenby and Lee Westwood were. As far as the commentators were concerned, they'd never won a golf tournament before.

Was this the same Tim Clark who had won in South Africa, Scotland and Australia? Was this the same Lee Westwood with 22 career victories in over 10 different countries and the same Robert Allenby who has four PGA Tour victories and 18 International wins?

It seemed it was but I was starting to wonder whether they'd even played golf before today. Lucas Glover was made out to be a world beater with his two career, US-soil victories. Granted one of them was a major golf tournament which is a whole different story, right?

Given winning a golf tournament anywhere in the world is a supremely hard thing to do and tournament fields across the planet getting better and better, is it really such a big deal to win in the US any more?

If someone can close out a  golf tournament in another part of the world, does it make them any less of a golfer if they don't win in the US?  There was no doubt in anyone's mind that Rory McIlroy was the real deal 12 months ago but we still endured "Folks, you've discovered him in many ways here in Charlotte!", after his PGA Tour victory two weeks ago.

Most would agree that generally the US PGA Tour is the ultimate test in target golf. Winning on it would mean you are very, very good at golf. Specifically, target golf.

Look, I get it. The fields on the PGA Tour are of greater depth than on other tours but I'm not convinced being a good target golfer should in anyway detract from a stellar career record. At the very least, the commentators should mention it.

Video: Allenby's post-round interview

Video: Allenby post-round interview

It was too exciting and heartbreaking not to post something about the final round of The Players Championship this morning.

Robert Allenby played superbly and just missed out on a playoff in which you'd back him with his record. Tim Clark was a deserving winner but crikey..how did Allenby's putt stay out on 17?!

Here's a nice post-round interview courtesy of FoxSports. I thought the question referring to Mother's Day was a bit rough - but Allenby handles it well.

New Australian golf podcast fills gap

There are plenty of golf podcasts around on the internet if you look hard enough. If you listened to them all you'd never get any time to play golf.

But what is most interesting is there haven't been any Australian golf podcasts available until now. TalkinGolf hosted by Rod Morri is an Australian golf podcast which you can access now for free.

Rod has set a cracking pace with several episodes to listen to each week with interviews covering the latest tour news, the science and business of golf and a look at the golf swing.

Already TalkinGolf has featured some great interviews with a real highlight being the conversation with famed golf course designer Tom Doak. His take on the ridiculous construction of 7000 metre golf courses for amateur golfers was refreshing to hear.

Video: Great Moments from the PLAYERS Championship

With the The PLAYERS Championship starting this morning I thought I'd post a few videos of past memorable moments from the tournament.

The first highlights past winners of the event such as Greg Norman's 1994 victory (1:36min) and Craig Perks' 2002 win (4:45min).

The second is a look at great moments from the infamous 17th, par-3 island hole. Fred Couples' moment from 1999 needs to be seen to be believed (1:47min). One in the water, then a slam dunk for par.

More golf videos
Playing from the ladies tee
Adam Scott's 42 second eagle shot
Rules: Playing from a hazard
Playing over trees
Best golf videos of 2009

In memoriam; The One-Eyed Golfer

Along with many others in the golf blogosphere, I was shocked to hear of the passing of Vince Spence today, otherwise known as One-Eyed Golfer.

Over the past few years writing this blog, I've had lots of great encouragement from different people in the blogosphere and Vince gave me plenty.

Regular readers may recall he took up a small wager over the Presidents Cup last year which he won easily in the end. I still owe him some mud crabs and a Coopers Sparkling.

Aussie Golfer expresses my condolences to his family.

Below are links to other golf bloggers from around the world who have also expressed their sadness and condolences.

Wei Under Par
The Waggle Room
Old Man Par
Armchair Golfer
Gold Coast Golfer
Golf Girl's Diary
Real Women Golf
Ruthless Golf
Hound Dog LPGA

Aussies out of favour with bookies at TPC

The unofficial fifth major rolls around this weekend in the form of The Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass. You know the one with the island green? The picture above. Yep, that's the one.

It is no surprise the "unofficial fifth major" is held in the US and clearly no one that gives it this title has ever watched the Carramulka Mens Open.

What is surprising though, is that despite Australia having the most golfers in The Players Championship from any country outside the US, Neil Robertson has more chance of winning with his snooker cue than any of the Aussies.

The PLAYERS Championship on TV

According to the bookies, of the 13 Aussies in the field the best chance of a victory is Geoff Ogilvy at $61! When our best golfer is listed at $61 it tells you something about the form of the Australians right now. Robert Allenby's early great form has waned over the past month and former TPC Champion Adam Scott has shown only minor glimpses of his ability.

More disappointing has been the form of the young brigade. Marc Leishman's year has been pretty good but has not taken the tour by storm, and Mathew Goggin, James Nitties, Aaron Baddeley and Jason Day would rather be playing snooker.

The intermittent spikes of good golf from the rest of the Aussies has just not been good enough to spark any interest from the bookies. The sole Aussie with any sort of form is Matt Jones. He finished with a top-10 last week at Quail Hollow but at the moment he is not even in the field and hoping for a few more withdrawals as second alternate.

To give you a bit more of an idea of how poorly some of the Australians have been playing, James Nitties and Mathew Goggin are at $301 to win the event. 

If they are at $301, what would Neil Robertson's odds be?!

The official PLAYERS championship guide - online and free!

The Players Championship on TV

FoxSports1 has the live coverage of The Players Championship this week at TPC Sawgrass.

Friday and Saturday: 3 - 9 am

Sunday: 5 - 9 am

Monday: 4 - 9 am.

The PLAYERS Championship live leaderboard

Virtual Open Championship

Aussie Golfer recently extolled the fabulous World Golf Tour which is the best, most realistic online golf game to date.

In conjunction with the online World Golf Tour, the R&A has announced a Virtual Open Championship to be held in parallel to this years 150 anniversary Open Championship to be held at St.Andrews.

The event is free to enter and "qualifying rounds will take place from 1 June on www.opengolf.com, www.wgt.com and www.espnarcade.com, before the leading 156 competitors contest two championship rounds in the week immediately following The Open. One official winner will receive an all expenses paid trip for two to St Andrews".

So if you've missed the deadline to qualify for the real thing, maybe a virtual shot at golf glory is the way to go.

Check out the official R&A announcement or WGT for more details.

Rory shoots 62, Ryo shoots 58

Two of the most amazing rounds of golf were played yesterday from golfers with a combined age of 38.

The first came from Ryo Ishikawa. The 18-year old closed with the lowest ever score on a major golf tour - 58. Admittedly it came on a par-70 golf course but the guy is 18 and he won the Crowns tournament on the Japan Tour by five shots. These are the sort of numbers us amateurs can only dream about - or clock up around St.Andrews on the PS3.

The second amazing round was a phenomenal 10-under, 62 from Rory McIlroy. His first year on the PGA Tour has had a rocky start. The 20-year old had made only three of his first five cuts and looked in danger of missing another one on Friday.

With three holes to play he was 3-over the card and looking to miss the cut by a couple of shots. A 4-iron across water to 6 feet for eagle meant he scraped into the weekend action. A 66 (with 3 bogeys) and a 62 followed and he won the Quail hollow Championship by four shots from Phil Mickelson.

If you missed the last of Rory's 62 shots, see the video below.

Does Australia really need more golf courses?

Something as majestic as the new Lost Farm Golf Course set to open in Tasmania in October should be applauded, right? But does Australia really need any more new golf courses?

The discussion was raised in Golf Industry Central editor Mike Orloff. He discussed some financial problems he has seen first hand at Australian golf courses and why more golf courses may not be a good idea.

Are the housing developers greedy in building a course solely to sell homes? They underwrite the entire project and then leave the course to fend for itself once they have sold all the homes. Usually this will be at the expense of the members or adjacent homeowners, whose expectations have been raised so high in an effort to get them to fork out some serious cash to join.

The state of Australian golf is pretty reasonable but with more American golf courses closing than opening last year it may be some cause for concern.

There are several courses for sale in Australia at the moment, but overseas buyers are very hesitant to purchase. They can find much better deals in other countries with much greater financial returns.

So would we, as golf customers, be better off if a few golf courses went the way of the Greek economy?

The supply of courses in some areas is so great compared to the demand. So if we lose a few in these regions the rest would most likely would all be better off operationally.

The full article is here at Golf Industry Central. I'd love to know what everyone thinks on this one.

Golf Industry Central magazine is free to view online and well worth checking out each month.