Bloke in café thinks Tiger Woods has lost his mojo

Every man and his dog seems to have an opinion on whether Tiger Woods will ever get back to his best. It is has been that way since Tiger got up close and personal with a fire hydrant in September 2009. But the truth is, no one really knows.

I interviewed a random bloke in a random café this week and asked him for his opinion. He may not hold as much weight as what Johnny Miller or Nick Faldo thinks of course, but my reaction to his opinion was the same. A general glazing of the eyes and a want to go and do something else.

Of course, the only reason why everyone has an opinion of Tiger Woods and his dimming aura is because he was the best golfer of our current generation who won 14 major titles. And arguably, he is the greatest golfer of all time, if it wasn't for that pesky major record of Jack Nicklaus'.

Ready2Golf golf pants giveaway!

Thanks to Ready2Golf, we have pair of $129 pair of golf pants to give away!

The Ready2Golf clothing label has been catching my eye in golf shops around the country. The label has been popping up more and more and it is only recently I realised it is an Aussie product, the brain child of Timothy Neate from Melbourne.

It's a classy looking range of golf clothing and Ready2Golf have provided us with a pair of golf pants to give away which retail for $129.

Check out the full clothing range at Ready2Golf.

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This competition has now closed.

The winner will be announced here at Aussie Golfer on Saturday October 22, 2011.

Video: Norman and Couples talk about Presidents Cup picks

Greg Norman and Fred Couples talk about their Presidents Cup captain's picks that were announced this morning. All from the comfort of their lounge rooms. 

Fred Couples chose Tiger Woods and Bill Haas to make up the 12-man US Team, and Greg Norman chose Robert Allenby and Aaron Baddeley to join the International Team.

Presidents Cup teams

Presidents Cup tickets

How to get to Royal Melbourne

Video courtesy of FoxSports.

2011 Presidents Cup Teams

	USA	Internationals
	Matt Kuchar	Jason Day (Aus)
	Steve Stricker	Adam Scott (Aus)
	Dustin Johnson	Charl Schwartzel (SA)
	Webb Simpson	K.J. Choi (Kor)
	Nick Watney	Kyung-tae Kim (Kor)
	Phil Mickelson	Retief Goosen (SA)
	Bubba Watson	Geoff Ogilvy (Aus)
	David Toms	Ernie Els (SA)
	Hunter Mahan	Y.E.Yang (Kor)
	Jim Furyk	Ryo Ishikawa (Japan)
	Bill Haas	Robert Allenby (AUS)
	Tiger Woods	Aaron Baddeley (AUS)
	Captain Fred Couples	Captain Greg Norman

More Presidents Cup info

Presidents Cup teams

Presidents Cup tickets

How to get to Royal Melbourne

Allenby and Baddeley chosen for Presidents Cup

The fairways and greens of Royal Melbourne are well known to local lads Robert Allenby and Aaron Baddeley. Greg Norman has picked them to join his International Presidents Cup team.

Norman said this morning, he had made his decision to choose Allenby a few weeks ago, but Baddeley and Senden had to fight it out for the final spot at Tour Championship last weekend. 

Baddeley played some of his best golf in a few months to finish in a tie for third, only one shot out of a playoff. Senden can be disappointed to miss out. His last few months have been has been much better than Baddeley's but had a weekend to forget.

Fast Haas and that extraordinary water shot

The extraordinary water shot from Bill Haas needs a second look.

There is no doubt that Bill Haas' golf shot from out of the water to save par on the second playoff hole on the weekend was amazing. It meant the playoff moved to the next hole which he won. The Tour Championship, the Fed Ex Cup Trophy and $11.4million were his.

But I didn't realise just how quickly he took to play the shot until Geoff Shackleford highlighted it. The video of the shot and subsequent replays is below but take a look just how quickly he sums up the shot and plays it.

Fast golf. Learn it and do it.

John Daly meltdown, volume 224

John Daly was playing on the European Tour last week in the Austrian Open. A wet golf ball, followed by a drop shot, a thrown club and a two-shot penalty saw JD walk off the golf course and register a WD.

Daly is showing signs of some good golf but like most golfers, consistency has been found wanting. Unlike most golfers, Daly doesn't keep his cool too well. Video of the meltdown is below if you like seeing car crashes.

Has Badds done enough to make Presidents Cup team?

Aaron Baddeley is a Melbourne boy who would be devastated to miss out on a spot in the International team to play the Presidents Cup in his home town this November.

Greg Norman is set to name his two captain's choices on Wednesday. The two players named will join the 10 players who gained automatic selection thanks to finishing Top-10 in the Presidents Cup qualification standings.

Last week Norman hinted that Robert Allenby, another native Melbournian will be selected for event and the second pick was still up for grabs. John Senden, Vijay Singh, Richard Green and Aaron Baddeley were all to be considered.

Haas wins everything: FedEx Cup, Tour Championship and Presidents Cup berth?

Bill Haas has won the extremely lucrative FedEx Cup by beating Hunter Mahan in a three-hole sudden death playoff to not only win the Tour Championship, the final FedEx Cup playoff event.

In doing so, and after the calculators were put away, it was found that he did enough (and other players didn't) to claim the FedEx Cup and a cool $10million. Including the tournament victory, he earned $11.4million.

Earlier it had looked like nerves had got the better of Haas as he made two bogey's over the final three holes to creep into the playoff with Mahan. But it was Haas' amazing up and down out of the water on the second playoff hole that will long be remembered.

Kids golf clothing range launched

New clothing range targets golfwear for kids.

Anyone that plays golf will tell you that the younger you start playing, the better you will be. With this in mind, it is surprising how little golf equipment and clothing there is for kids who are taking up the game.

Melbourne's Tim Nelson thought the same thing as he wandered around the 2009 JBWere Australian Masters and by the time the same event came around the next year, he'd created GolfKid, a clothing brand specifically aimed at junior golfers.

Check your handicaps, GolfLink back online

The Australian golf handicapping system has been tweaked and has been implemented to all handicaps across the country.

The edits to the handicapping system include a change to the way the handicap is calculated. Instead of taking the average of your previous best '10 out of 20' games, it now calculates the average '8 out of 20' games. 

There has also been a change to the multiplier. Previously, the average was the multiplied by 0.96 to get your playing handicap. Now, the average of your best '8 of 20' rounds is multiplied by 0.93 to calculate your playing handicap.

For more details, check out "More changes to Australian golf handicapping" and "New handicapping system: How does it work?".

GolfLink is back up and running and it is probably a good idea to go and check your handicap before your next round. In general, most golfers handicap would have decreased a little. Higher handicaps more so than lower ones.

Could nicotine be performancing enhancing? Smoking golfer says no

Golfweek has reported that the World Anti-Doping Agency has added nicotine to the list of drugs it will be monitoring to determine potential performance enhancing effects.

The news has been met by golfers and golf blogs (such as here and here) with laughter, with many exclaiming it verges on the ridiculous. With so many golfers on the world professional tours smoking, this is an expected reaction but also one which I would have thought would be a 'smoking gun'.

Lucas Glover, a smokeless tobacco smoker, not surprisingly called the idea 'crazy'.

Fred Couples talks about Augusta, Michael Jordan and The Presidents Cup

As the 2011 Presidents Cup looms near, US Team captain Fred Couples took time out to answer questions posed by Aussie Golfer.

Everyone wants to swing a golf club like Fred Couples. Smooth, languid and relaxed, Couples' golf swing is a thing of beauty that sends the golf ball a long way and earned him the nickname "Boom Boom". His successful, if slightly under-achieving career had Couples win 14 PGA Tour events, including his 1992 US Masters victory.

Couples edged out Raymond Floyd by two shots at Augusta National in 1992, and included one of the most talked about moments in the history of the US Masters. On the final day, his golf ball did the impossible on the par-3 12th hole and stayed dry after coming up short. To this day no one can quite believe how it didn't roll back into the water like every other golf ball. But it didn't, and the rest is history.

Couples' record in major golf tournaments is incredible. His 25 Top-10 finishes (eleven at Augusta National) puts to shame the other nickname he is often given, "Mr.Skins", which refers to his success in the Skins format where he has earned over $3.5million in 11 appearances.

His much publicised back problems have possibly robbed the Seattle-born Couples of more tournament victories, if not a few more majors, and during the last decade he has had to deal with the suicide of his ex-wife and the death of his estranged wife due to breast cancer. It makes you wonder how he still manages to appear so laid back and at peace on the golf course.

PGA of Australia birthday quiz

The PGA of Australia is celebrating its centenary this year, with today being their official birthday!

To celebrate, the PGA of Australia have scheduled a series of birthday events and golf tournaments, and at the official launch of the centenary year back in July, it was also announced that a Hall of Fame will be introduced within the next 12 months.

As part of the celebrations, the PGA of Australia Facebook page, has a trivia competition running through their Facebook page. Answer the questions and win a Sureshot GPS, a dozen golf balls and a PGA Centenary golf pack. Put your brain caps on and win!

Ogilvy qualifies for Presidents Cup

Geoff Ogilvy has pulled off a great escape act by finishing third in the BMW championship and assuring himself automatic qualification for the Internationals Presidents Cup team in Melbourne.

Justin Rose won the BMW Championship this morning but from an Australian point of view, two Aussies played some wonderful golf to set themselves up for a Presidents Cup berth and a guaranteed spot in some of 2012's biggest golf tournaments.

John Senden needed a win to be a chance of getting into the Presidents Cup but his second place finish sees him in next week's 30-man Fed Ex Cup playoff and a chance for the $10million first prize. He also secured a spot in the 2012 US Masters, British Open and US Open by making the final field for next week.

Jason Day takes on ping pong champion

On the PGA Tour, the most popular way to pass the time (apart from playing golf) is playing table tennis.

At most PGA tour events there is usually a ping pong table around somewhere. During rain delay's or when players have simply had enough practice, the table is often in full use. Fredrick Jacobsen is reportedly the best player on tour but many are pretty good including Adam Scott, Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson. 

US National table tennis team player Grant Li has been around the Cog Hill Clubhouse for this week's BMW Championship and Aussie journalist Ben Everill captured a few videos (see below) of Jason Day taking him on.

Everill had a nice piece in the SMH yesterday reporting on Allenby's vow to play aggressive this week. Check it out.

Golf format: Bingo Bango Bongo

Here's a cool golf format that brings golfers of all levels into the action.

It had been a while since I'd played Bingo Bango Bongo and when it was suggested I'd almost forgotten how to play it. But three holes in, and I'd remembered how much fun it is to play, especially in a group comprising of golfers of varying levels.

Road to the Presidents Cup video podcast

The Road to The Presidents Cup is a great little video podcast that has been talking Presidents Cup for a few months now.

If you want to hear all the latest in the lead up to the event, keep an eye out for these videos each week. This week, Presidents Cup Executive Director Matt Kamienski discuss captain's choices with Mark Allen and Cameron Luke.

Who should be the captain's picks for the Presidents Cup?

Presidents Cup team captain's Greg Norman and Fred Couples have tough decisions to make to finalise their teams.

After this weekend, the automatic qualifiers for the two Presidents Cup teams will be finalised. After that, (on September 28, 7am AEST) team captain's Fred Couples and Greg Norman will choose two more players to make up the final team of 12 to play at Royal Melbourne in November.

The Presidents Cup team standings see some pretty solid players currently sitting outside other top 10 and outside of an automatic berth in the US and International team and as usual, some great golfers are going to miss out. Let's take a look at who they are and who is a realistic chance to make the team.

Golfburn: Facebook for golfers?

A new website has been launched that connects golfers in a similar way to Facebook.

I recieved an email invitation to join a new website that connects golfers in a similar way to Facebook - but specifically tailored to golfers.

Golfburn aims to connect golfers, enable friends to share scores and connect with their favourite golf courses. 

My initial thoughts are that it looks good. It's slick without too much clutter and very simple to use. You add friends in similar fashion to other social networking tools, and you can share and schedule rounds of golf.

The website is in its infancy but I can see the value for social golf groups and golfers who want to check in to see how their buddies played last week.

The hole story: Is bigger better?

Could bigger holes be the answer to slow rounds and more enjoyable golf?

Australian Golf Digest is featuring a great story in their September issue on an experiment at a course in the United States which saw the golf holes widened to 15-inches in diameter.

The result was faster rounds (foursomes averaged 3 hours 10 minutes) and a far more positive outlook after the round from all players. More humour and less worry about the scores.

Avoid anger and two-shot penalties

A little rules reminder today courtesy of an angry PGA Tour player.

Nick Watney was playing good golf once again last week and found himself towards the top of the leaderboard going into the final round of the Deutsche Bank Championship. At the second hole, everything went pear shaped.

Watney played two shots to find himself 30 metres from the pin on the par-5 second. His chip shot flew the green into a hazard. Then this happened: (see video...)

Watney's shot hit a rock and stayed in the hazard. In frustration he slammed his club into the ground, in the hazard. This is a two-shot penalty for grounding your club while your ball is still in the hazard.

He then took a further one-shot penalty, played a shot from back on the fairway 100 metres away and three putted for an 11, moving from 8-under for the round to 2-under.

Incidentally he was not aware of the two-shot penalty for grounding his club in the hazard until the 10th hole when tour officials told him of the infringement.

Let's all learn from this. It is of course very wise to keep your cool at all times on a golf course, but losing it in a hazard can be even more costly.

Course review: Kangaroo Valley Golf Course

Here is a golf resort without all the bells and whistles, and it's a refreshing change and one worthy of a visit.

Kangaroo Valley Golf Course had been on my list of golf courses to play for quite some time. It is one of the lesser known courses in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales, but I've met many golfers who speak very highly of it.

The drive into the resort is a great one. You drive past the first tee, the fourth green nestled behind a pond and up past the clubhouse. It's a lush, evergreen sight and it was difficult to keep driving past many golf holes to reach our on-course accommodation, without getting out and playing a few shots.

Golfer aces par-4 on Nationwide Tour

We've all seen hole-in-one's before, some of us are lucky enough to have witnessed them. But I can't say I've seen to many hole-in-one's on a par-4.

Here's an albatross by India's Rahil Gangjee from last weekend's Nationwide Tour event in Pennsylvania.

Couples, Price, Trevino pranked by double talker

This guy has been around a while and been known to prank famous people during interviews for his crazy double talking.

Here, he pranks a few golfers including Fred Couples, Lee Trevino, Nick Price and Brandt Snedeker, as part of a Bridgestone promotion. 

The look on some of these guys faces in absolutely hilarious.

H/T Armchair Golfer

The long and the short of Mickelson's putting

Phil Mickelson isn't afraid to try new things. He has often played Augusta National with two drivers in the bag. One that goes a little further than the other, but more inaccurately.

So it is no surprise to see Mickelson toying with a belly putter for this week's Deutsche Bank Championship. 

Golf Digest reporter Ron Sirak tweeted a few photos yesterday. One of Mickelson trying out the belly putter on the practice green, and one of his bag showing he still hasn't thrown out his short putter yet.

I've only ever seen a couple of amateurs take to the fairways with two putters in the bag, never a professional.

Hamish and Andy video: Street golf and Tiger Hood

Aussie comedy duo Hamish and Andy have been spending the winter (American summer) in New York and broadcasting back a TV show they've called Hamish and Andy's Gap Year.

Andy is a golf tragic, and in the video below he was set-up by his mate Hamish to play a game of street golf against "Tiger Hood".

Thanks to Robbo49 for the tip-off on this one.