Loyal Readers, I apologize for the delay in this post. Yes, I know the US Open has already begun this morning. However, I had a tough Tuesday which set me back. Nonetheless, I wanted to get this out for those of you not waking up at 6 AM Eastern to follow the US Open. Let’s get into it.
Golf Basics
First, I like to always roll out the basics when it comes to a sport for the first timers. Golf is a very old game played by guys in colored shirts and typically long pants. Golf is called “A good walk spoiled” for a reason. The game is one of the most challenging from a skill perspective in the world. Each shot brings a unique set of conditions like distance, wind, slope of the ground, contour of the landing area, and more importantly the golfer’s ability to swing the club. I’m good or even great at most sports. I lettered in 3 sports in high school, I’ve played 6 sports competitively in my life, but golf, despite playing for over 10 years now is still the most confounding experience I’ve ever had. The crazy thing about golf is that even if you have a perfect tee shot (the first shot on a hole) and a lovely approach shot (the 2nd shot to get on the green or area by the hole), then you can still 3 or 4 putt giving you a terrible score. Let me cover some game basics for you all.
Tee Shot – This is the first shot a player takes on every hole. 75% of the time a player will use the Driver club, which is the longest club in the bag. The Driver has the largest “head” of any of the clubs and should produce the greatest distance. However, the Drive or Tee Shot is probably one of the hardest things to master in golf. Consistency is really challenging even for the best players in the world.
Fairway Woods – These are longer clubs with club heads smaller than the driver and not metal like the irons. Woods are used for greater distances and sometimes off the tee, if the player has less control or the hole is shorter. Most golfers would carry a 3-wood now, but older sets of clubs had 3 and 5 woods.
Iron Shots – The 2nd and 3rd shots on a hole are made with the “irons” or clubs of varying lengths. Most people carry 6 irons from 4 iron to a 9 iron in their bag. The lower the number the longer the club is, and typically that means you can hit the ball a greater distance. The “shorter” irons like the 7, 8 and 9 should be able to provide more control to the golfer to hit the green near the hole.
Hybrid Clubs – Modern technology has helped the golfer, especially the average one. Hybrid clubs also called “rescue clubs” sometimes, which even the pros use, are a combination of the longer fairway woods’ club head size with the length of an iron to produce a longer and more consistent shot for golfers. Hybrids come in a variety of lengths, and most golfers have replaced their 3-wood up to their 5 iron with some version of a hybrid that has less spin and more control.
Wedges – These are really important clubs used in and around the green to get the ball as close to the pin as possible. Wedges have much steeper angles to lift the ball up and if desired produce more spin on the ball to control it. There are a variety of wedges, but the most common are pitching for decent distance, sand for getting out of the sand traps near a green and lob for putting the ball really high to land softly on the green.
Putter – The most important club in the bag. As people say, “Drive for show, putt for dough.” As I can attest, if you are a good driver of the golf ball, everyone will be in awe, however if you are a good putter then your score will be better since this is the club that actually puts the ball in the hole itself. Pros should 1 putt most holes, so you will hear a lot about if a player “2 putts” the hole, which means they probably didn’t score well there.
Other Golf Terms:
- Tee Box – This the platform where the golfer drive the ball from on their tee shot.
- Fairway – This is the manicured area of the hole in the middle of the hole between the tee box and the hole itself. A nickname for the fairway is the “short grass.” Hitting fairways is key to scoring well.
- Dogleg – This is a term that refers to the direction of a hole. If a hole’s fairway makes a sharper angled turn to the right or left. So, a hole can be “dogleg left” or “dogleg right.”
- The Rough – This is the area on either side of the fairway that is much longer grass and hence “rough.” Players can recover from hitting in the rough, but it is easier in the fairway, of course.
- Bunker – That is the sand “traps” throughout a hole where players want to avoid. Bunkers can be in the fairway, but they are more common next to the hole location or “green.”
- Green – This is the extremely short grass located around a hole. Greens can be contoured so the ball moves on it once the ball is hit on there or during a putt.
- Pin – That is the stick coming out of the golf hole. You want to “get close to the pin” on your approach shot for a chance to putt well.
- Water Hazard – Most courses have some form of water – pond, stream or even ocean. If a player lands in the water, then they receive a penalty stroke and have to play the next ball from a drop area.
- OB – OB refers to out of bounds. A course may be along a forest or subdivision. Most courses delineate OB with stakes or spray paint. If a player goes OB, then like a water hazard will take a penalty and play the ball near there for their next shot.
- Taking A Drop – There are a variety of situations when a player takes a drop – the penalties mentioned above, but sometimes if the ball is on a cart path or sprinkler head, then the player gets a “free drop” which mean literally dropping the ball in an area and take a swing from where the ball lands.
There are millions of golf terms, but here are some you will hear routinely on broadcasts.
Grand Slam of Golf
Professional golf has 4 majors which make up the Grand Slam, like tennis. Here they are:
The Masters: The most prestigious of the 4 majors held in early April every year at Augusta, a private club in Augusta, GA. The Masters only invites past champions of the tournament, recent major champions, and the select of the top players in the world a given year. Winners are awarded a “Green Jacket” which is a green sports coat put on them by the previous year’s champion. The Masters has a lot of interesting holes highlighted by a 3 hole stretch called Amen Corner made up of Holes 11, 12 and 13. This year’s champion was Patrick Reed from the US, who went to college in the Augusta area.
US Open: Every year on the weekend of Father’s Day, the US Open is held at various courses throughout the US. This year the tournament is at Shinnecock Hills in the Hamptons of New York. The US Open technically is open to any golfer who can qualify through various regional qualifiers. I encourage you to check out a movie called, Tin Cup, starring Kevin Costner to see how it all works. In the end, the US Open is typically a very long and difficult course challenging golfers in many ways. More on the contenders later.
The Open (British Open): The oldest of the major tournaments, The Open is held in one of the storied golf courses of England or Scotland. Ireland did host early version of the tournament, too. The Open is held in the 3rd week of July typically. The Open is typically extremely challenging with conditions not seen in the US in the summer time. Most, if not all of The Open courses are called “links” style courses which are more open with rolling hills, steep bunkers and very tall grass called fescue, which differs from most US courses that have more trees and water hazards. The style of play also differs as a result sometimes with more running shots and often less drives to control the ball with the various hazards.
The PGA: This is another rotating course tournament that is held somewhere in the United States in the 2nd week of August. To me, the least exciting of the 4 majors since the tradition is not as rich, however, since it is the last of the 4 majors for the year, it provides a lot of intrigue.
It is almost unheard of for someone to complete a Grand Slam in one year – in fact, Bobby Jones did it, but that was before the Masters was in the Slam. Jones won the US Amateur along with the other 3 in 1930. Most people strive for the “Career Grand Slam” by winning all 4 tournaments at some point in their career – there have only been 6 in the history of the game to do so – the last of which was Tiger Woods.
US Open at Shinnecock Hills – Thursday, July 14 through Sunday, July 17th
Golf has really gained a lot of popularity. Ever since Tiger Woods took over the sport at the turn of the century, more people started playing and watching the sport. Tiger did a few things that last today – he incorporated fitness into the golfer routine, he made golf clothes really cool, and he brought people from various racial/ethnic backgrounds to the sport. As a result of all that popularity, this new generation of golfers has stormed the Majors with awesome clothing, long drives and fitness to make every tournament incredibly competitive and compelling. There are a handful of great players most people know, but to be honest, the field has never been deeper. The Top 30 golfers all have a shot at winning this tournament this year.
Shinnecock Hills: The course is a links style course in the spirit of The Open with lots of fescue and rolling hills. Now, given the course in on Long Island with not a lot of trees at all on the course, then Shinnecock will be subject to windy conditions. I heard today the winds are 15 MPH gusting to 30. So, that can make for some tough shots and even affect the putts on these really tight greens.
The Favorites: Here are the rankings – http://www.owgr.com/ranking
- Dustin Johnson is always a threat at the US Open, as he won in 2016 and runner up in 2015. DJ is the #1 player right now and just a bomber of the golf ball hitting farther than almost anyone. He struggles with putting at times, but if he can hit the greens, then he will be a contender for sure.
- The Justins – Justin Rose, the skilled Brit who won in 2013, and Justin Thomas are #3 and #2 respectively, both are playing really well and have the games to take on Shinnecock.
- Jordan Spieth – Jordan is just a pro and great in big tournaments. He is ranked #4 in the world, but more importantly, he has won a US Open in 2015.
- Ricky Fowler – Ricky is my pick this year. This guy has been so close so many times in Majors without winning. He finished 2nd at the Masters this year. I think it is his year.
- Jason Day – Another guy who has been great some years and struggled last year. I think he will be in contention, but I’m not sure he will win it.
- Brooks Koepka – The defending champ had an incredible US Open last year and sits at #9 in the world. Probably not going to repeat, but maybe get in the Top 10.
- The Rest:
- Phil Mickelson has yet to win a US Open. He needs it to complete the career Grand Slam. He has a shot, since he is so good at The Open’s links style courses, but I’m not sure he has it in him.
- Rory McIlroy is a good player, but he just can’t seem to come through after his injury a couple years back. He has won the tournament before, but his meltdown at the Masters gives me little confidence in him.
- Jon Rahm is a guy who can do it. He was really good at The Masters in 3rd, and he can crush the ball, but I’m not sure the style of course plays to his strengths.
- Zach Johnson is a my dark horse here. Why? The guy is great at The Open and Shinnecock is a course that favors the consistent shapers of the golf ball. I’m probably crazy here, but I like Zach in this tournament.
- Matt Kuchar is a crowd favorite – listen for the “Kuuuuch!” chants out there. He is a solid player and can finish high.
- Tiger Woods – I don’t think he has a shot, but everyone will be checking his scores.
So, I would pick Ricky Fowler, Zach Johnson and the Kuch with the Justins and Dustin Johnson in the Top 6.
You can watch the early rounds on Fox Sports 1 (8:30 AM – 3:30 PM Central) and Fox (3:30 PM – 6:30 PM)
The weekend will be covered by Fox (10 AM – 6:30 PM Central) and Fox Deportes (3:30-6:30 PM) on Saturday and on Fox (9 AM to 6 PM) and Fox Desportes (3 PM-6 PM).
I’ve given my picks. Who do you like?
Wegs