2010 U.S. Open golf tournament will officially get going today at Pebble Beach California. The world number one Tiger Woods goes in search of a 15th career major at Pebble Beach. Tiger Woods will be with Lee Westwood and Ernie Els when they begin at 1:36pm (4:36pm ET).

Who will win in Pebble Beach? Unfortunately, Tiger Woods is out of form to repeat a win here in the U.S. Open. Then, the question who will be next U.S. Open winner is a much-asked one among golf pundits.

The U.S. golf king Tiger Woods has been appeared wounded since his return to golf in April by the Masters. He has himself admitted that he is undergoing the worst time in his career. Of course, disclosure of his several illegal affairs and following mind tortures from the society and family have that much deprived his strength to lead tournament wins.

Tiger was the champion when the U.S. Open last visited Pebble Beach ten years back. There was no surprise in Tiger’s domineering performance then. Because, he was the most shining star in the sky of golf then, that helped him finish off the game incredibly in 15 shots.

“The only thing that can stop Tiger from winning is Tiger,” said Jesper Parnevik ten years back. Today on the contrary, the world waits for another story at the Pebble Beach. The time has introduced Jesper as the runway favorite for the 110th edition of U.S. Open.

Will Jesper be able to win in the Pebble Beach? Or a 21-year-old growing star from Northern Ireland, Rory McIlroy can make the history.

McIlroy, who is first to Pebble Beach, said that he has enough online gaming experience in the clambake beach. “U.S. Opens are all about patience,” the youngster said. “It’s a lot easier on the PlayStation,” McIlroy joked.

Phil Mickelson is also lining up for a fight in Pebble Beach. The winner of three U.S. Open titles will of course be a threat to other golfers.

Tiger Woods is in danger of missing the 36-hole cut at the Quail Hollow Championship, something that hasn’t happened at a regular U.S. PGA Tour event in five years.

Woods sank an 8-foot putt to birdie the first hole, a 410-yard par-4, but that was only the first up in a real up-and-down second round.

Before he had reached the turn, Woods had bogeyed Nos. 3 and 4 with back-to-back three-putt efforts, birdied No. 5, bogeyed No. 6 and birdied No. 8.

Woods is two-over-par through 27 holes of the event at the Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, North Carolina, and tied for 85th.

The low 70 scores, plus ties, qualify to play the two weekend rounds. Those who miss the cut don’t collect a share of the tournament’s $6.4 million purse. Woods last missed a regular Tour-event cut at the 2005 Byron Nelson Classic. He also missed weekend play at the 2006 U.S. Open and last year’s British Open.

In his first appearance at a regular U.S. PGA Tour event since admitting marital infidelity five months ago, Woods had three bogeys and three birdies through his first nine holes today after what he called a “terrible” 2-over-par 74 yesterday. It was his worst opening round at a regular U.S. PGA Tour event since shooting 75 at the 2007 Players Championship.

The No. 1 player in golf’s official world rankings had three top-five finishes in four previous appearances at Quail Hollow, winning the tournament in 2007 and finishing fourth last year.

Phil Mickelson, who won this month’s Masters Tournament, is tied for the lead at 6-under par after shooting a 4-under 68 today. He’s even with J.P. Hayes, who matched the course record with a 64 today, along with Dustin Johnson, Billy Mayfair and first-round leader Bo Van Pelt.

Mickelson, seeking his first title at Quail Hollow, had two birdies and an eagle through his opening eight holes this morning and finished his round with 10 straight pars.

“It was a good front nine for me, I kind of stalled on the back nine,” Mickelson told reporters. “I would say I’m in good position for the weekend.”

Saturday was one of those magical days at Augusta National when the roars were caught up in the pine trees throughout the course, and it was also the day that Phil Mickelson emerged as a true contender for this year’s green jacket. Probably the world’s second most popular player, Mickelson solidified his spot as a contender early in the fourth round with solid golf, and then he dominated the back nine to win the tournament.

By doing so, Mickelson slipped into a green jacket for the third time in seven years, becoming the eighth player to win at least three Masters titles. And his win was all about terrific golf as his shot rounds of 67-67 on the weekend to turn back all challengers. Mickelson, who came alive with a thunderous stretch on the back nine Saturday, was steady throughout Sunday and controlled the play while the other contenders faltered around him.

Woods was one of those who couldn’t quite get over the hump to challenge Mickelson on this day, although his tie-for-fourth finish was much better than most people expected after his layoff. Now that he’s back on the course, the focus of the discussion can return to the actual golf instead of what he’s doing off the course.

And the golf this week, especially Mickelson’s dominant weekend, was certainly worth talking about.

It was a few years ago, before Phil Mickelson–playing like the best golfer in the world then–would win a U.S. Open at Winged Foot all the way until late Sunday afternoon, all the way until he missed one more fairway with a driver that was behaving that day about as well as Tiger Woods on date night, all the way until he got behind a tree left of the 72nd fairway that looked like the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center.

He tried to go over the tree. Of course he did. He’s Mickelson, which means the Arnold Palmer of his time. His ball hit the tree and he ended up making a double and lost another Open he should have won.

This was a few days before that and Mickelson was walking out of an interview through the parking lot and I was with him, asking a question:

“How come when Tiger loses, it’s because the poor guy didn’t bring his ‘A’ game and when you lose, you’re some kind of choking dog?”

Mickelson laughed and said, “Welcome to my world.”

He sure didn’t win that Open. He didn’t win the Open at Bethpage Black last summer, another one that got away. Mickelson played like a champ until the end – again – and then had some mud on his ball just off a green coming down the stretch and three-putted and this time it was Lucas Glover winning the Open instead of Phil Mickelson, the way Geoff Ogilvy won at Winged Foot. Two more times when Mickelson was the heartbreak kid.

Only now he wins big again. Now he has won another Masters, three for him, which means he has one less green jacket in his closet than Woods and one less than the great Palmer. Now Phil Mickelson reminds all the people who think golf doesn’t matter when Tiger Woods isn’t winning that there can actually be a better story, even at this Masters, than Woods. And sometimes the story is still one of the best and oldest in sports:

Good guy wins.

The headlines and the back pages had belonged to Woods, making his return to golf, and major golf, as major as you get. It was Woods’ Masters when he came out of the box playing the way he did on Thursday, with a 68 that could have been better and it stayed that way until Mickelson took the spotlight away from him with a stretch of Saturday golf that will be remembered, those three holes where he came within a couple of inches from making three eagles in a row.

Woods was still there, you bet. Lee Westwood, who comes up short now in majors the way Mickelson used to come up short, was right there, still had the lead going into yesterday’s final round. So it was him and Mickelson in the final pairing, from which the winner always seems to come no matter how much drama and fireworks there are on Sunday afternoon, every time in the last 20 years except one.

The road to redemption for golfer Tiger Woods has already included a tearful press conference and a stint in rehab. But a new TV commercial for sponsor Nike uses Woods’s relationship with his deceased father to drive home the message that he’s a changed man.

The black-and-white 30-second spot features an imagined conversation between father and son. The golfer appears sombre and chastened, with the elder Woods speaking about taking responsibility.

But does this latest attempt at rebuilding Tiger’s tattered reputation go too far? Is the use of his father’s memory a career-saving move or an awkward last-ditch effort at salvation?

“Tiger, I am more prone to be inquisitive, to promote discussion. I want to find out what your thinking was, I want to find out what your feelings were, and … did you learn anything?” says the voiceover while a stone-faced Tiger stares at the camera.

I don’t really get it. Maybe you do. Perhaps there is more to come.

Nike, which was one of the sponsors to stick by Tiger through his scandal, obviously had to re-establish its relationship with its spokesman somehow. Realistically, the first ad since Woods’ “transgressions” was going to be awkward no matter how it was done.

The initial public feedback of the spot has been mixed, with some lauding its simplistic artistry and others taking it to task for either its confusing nature or emotional tenor.

There’s also a feeling–shared here–that the spot insults our intelligence. I mean, if you’re truly trying to be repentant and change, wouldn’t you do it more quietly? Not in front of millions of TV viewers, using your dead father’s voiceover in a commercial peddling your product.

“Nike is implicitly justifying sticking with Tiger by this very public shrink session that attempts to tap into the American belief in redemption and the second chance,” said consumer culture and marketing analyst Adam Hanft in a statement. “It’s deeply manipulative because it taps into everyone’s personal history of letting a parent down, and connects that desperate need for forgiveness to Tiger. He’s channeling a dead parent in a way that millions would like to do.”

It does seem that Woods is trying to have it both ways. When news of his infidelity surfaced, he chastised the media for being too involved in his personal affairs. Now, he and Nike have teamed to address the very issue he wanted so very much to keep under wraps.

But let’s be honest here. Thrusting this ad into the public consciousness on the day Woods — the world’s best golfer — makes his much-anticipated debut on golf’s biggest stage has immediately brought attention to the Nike brand. The very fact that it’s caused such a commotion amongst the masses could prove it’s a success already.

Tiger Woods sprang a surprise at Augusta National on Sunday when he turned up without notice to play the back nine at the U.S. Masters venue with his good friend and long-time mentor Mark O’Meara.

Sunlight had barely appeared over the mighty walls between Augusta National and Washington Road and Tiger Woods, the No. 1-ranked golfer in the world, was already hitting golf balls on the new practice range.

Woods was hitting driver warming up for this morning’s Masters practice round with Fred Couples. The two friends seemed to be in good humor as they chatted and laughed between swings. Also on the practice tee was Steve Williams, Woods’ loyal caddie, and swing coach Hank Haney. They were expected to tee off around 8 a.m.

Trevor Immelman was also on the range warming up.

Woods was wearing a white hat, white shirt with gray horizontal stripes, gray slacks and white shoes. One of three gallery grandstands behind the range already had filled up behind Woods. Masters tournament patrons were allowed on the practice range at 7 a.m. but won’t be able get onto the golf course until 8 a.m.

“That’s him. There’s no mistaking that swing,” one fan said excitedly to his friend upon spotting Woods.

After moving from the practice tee to hit some bunker shots, Woods climbed into a golf cart with a blond woman—a tournament official, not his wife Elin Nordgren—and was carted off to the putting green on the other side of the stately Augusta National clubhouse. Woods received modest applause as he was driven away.

One man called out to Woods as he passed by.

“Welcome back, Tiger!,” said John Tidwell of Decatur, Ala.

Woods responded, “Thank you, sir.”

“We’ve been coming here since 1997 and that’s the first time he’s responded to us,” said Tidwell, who was with his wife and two sons.

Although Woods was the most marketable player in the game and drives up television ratings by around 50 percent when he competes, his image needs to be slowly rebuilt if he is to win back many of the fans he has lost over the last five months.

Unquestionably the greatest golfer of his generation and arguably the best of all time, Woods can expect to receive his fair share of biting retorts from the galleries, just as he has been lampooned by television chat-show hosts in recent months.

Although the fans at Augusta are known for their respect and are tightly controlled by officials, Woods said last month he was apprehensive about the reception he would get.

Tiger Woods acknowledged “living a lie,” saying he alone was responsible for the sex scandal that caused his shocking downfall from global sporting icon to late-night TV punchline.

“It was all me. I’m the one who did it. I’m the one who acted the way I acted. No one knew what was going on when it was going on,” Woods told the Golf Channel in one of two interviews on Sunday night.

“I’m sure if more people would have known in my inner circle, they would have stopped it or tried to put a stop to it. But I kept it all to myself,” he told the Golf Channel.

The golfer’s comeback is set for a men’s-only golf course. So much for that enlightenment and atonement.

After announcing last week that he would return to golf to play in April’s Masters tournament, Tiger Woods continued his Carefully Scripted Atonement Tour on Saturday by granting his first interview since that fateful November car crash–but there were still minefields galore.

In an evenly worded five-minute talk with ESPN’s Tom Rinaldi, the most notorious sexter in the world reiterated the apologies he made in his February press conference and the rhetoric of amends he’s no doubt picked up after his ongoing “treatment” for his vices. But while he twice referred to “stripping away” his “denial and rationalization,” it seems Woods still has a few blind spots to go. As sports writer Filip Bondy of the New York Daily News recently pointed out, there’s a certain cluelessless in a man with a weakness for the ladies staging his comeback at the Masters’ Augusta National Golf Club–a club that Bondy describes as a “home of storied, institutionalized sexism” for its steadfast refusal to admit women as members. Perhaps Tiger’s just trying to avoid temptation?

Augusta has never been a bastion of forward thinking–it only started letting in African-Americans in 1990, a mere seven years before Woods would take his first Masters win there. But despite ongoing and occasionally heated efforts to gender integrate the club, it remains a testosterone monopoly. In 2002, its chairman Hootie Johnson told USA Today, “We’re a private club. And private organizations are good. The Boy Scouts. The Girl Scouts. Junior League. Sororities. Fraternities.” And if country clubs for millionaires were like social organizations with an altruistic and character-building imperative, he might be on to something. Do its members have to sell cookies to support it, too? He added, “We have no timetable on a woman member. And our club has enjoyed a camaraderie and a closeness that’s served us well for so long that it makes it difficult for us to consider change.” See, we knew there had to be a really good reason for keeping it single-sex. Complacency!

Speaking to ABC on Monday, USA Today sports columnist Christine Brennan said, “The male-dominated golf world has never really cared about the issue of discrimination against women at Augusta National. That this is the place that Tiger Woods decides to come back with these apparently well-documented issues that he has with women is ironic at best, and, I guess you could say, a slap in the face to women at worst.”

In his ESPN interview, Woods explained his transgressions by saying, “I felt entitled, and that is not how I was raised.” So if a sense of entitlement leads to errors in judgment, maybe a good place to start changing that attitude would be by speaking out against a club whose policy is all about entitlement. And maybe those amends Woods keeps talking about making might include helping to prove that women have a more meaningful place in the golf world than as groupies. Then again, maybe the man who allegedly told Joslyn James, “I want to treat you rough. Throw you around, spank and slap you,” has simply found a more metaphoric way to do just that.

Woods answered questions on camera for the first time since his early morning car crash last November, yet again divulged few details about the crash, his marriage, his stint in a rehabilitation clinic or his personal life.

Tiger Woods looked into the camera and knew he needed to speak the truth. The game’s top-ranked golfer appeared debilitated, dejected, and for maybe the first time in his career, completely vulnerable. In other words, he looked human.

This description could easily explain Woods’ demeanor throughout a 13½-minute speech that was delivered from PGA Tour headquarters Feb. 19, during which he addressed personal affairs that had been cause of his self-imposed leave of absence from golf. Instead, it serves as a summary of thoughts from four years earlier, and should provide the reason he will come back as very much the same competitor when he returns in early April at The Masters.

On June 16, 2006, a forlorn Woods walked off the West Course at Winged Foot Golf Club having just posted a second straight 6-over 76 to miss the cut at the U.S. Open. In his first start after nine weeks away from the game following the death of his father Earl, it was clear Tiger’s head wasn’t right for tournament golf.

“What’s transpired off the golf course … I don’t know if it gives you a different type of perspective,” he said at the time. “I don’t care if you had what transpired in my life, recent or not, but poor execution is never going to feel very good.”

Woods then admitted he returned too soon, claiming “I was not ready to play golf.”

There’s no doubt that his 2006 comeback and the impending one are totally different situations, but the former should apply as a useful learning tool. At the time, Woods forged a valuable lesson about returning to competition before he was completely ready from a mental standpoint. It would be perplexing if he made that same mistake again.

This won’t be the first recovery in his professional career since then, either. After undergoing season-ending knee surgery following his 2008 U.S. Open win, Woods returned to action just over a year ago — even if it seems like an entire lifetime has passed since then.

Tiger Woods is telling his family, friends and fans that he is “deeply sorry” for his selfish and irresponsible behavior.

Woods is speaking from the clubhouse at the TPC Sawgrass, home of the PGA Tour. About 40 people are in the room, including his mother. His wife is not obviously present.

The world’s No. 1 golfer had not talked in public since his traffic accident Nov. 27 triggered shocking revelations about Woods’ infidelity.

“I had affairs. I cheated,” Woods said.

The golfer said he won’t publicly get into the details of his behavior, citing news reports he indicated were inaccurate and intrusive.

“For the sake of my family, please leave my wife and kids alone.”

Woods said he was in therapy for issues he was facing. “I have a long way to go,” he said, but is taking “the first steps in the right direction.”

It was Woods’ first public statement in more than 80 days after a car crash outside his home spiraled into a sex scandal.

A small handpicked crowd was on hand at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, but questions were not allowed.

The Golf Writers Association of America’s board of directors voted to boycott the event. “To limit the ability of journalists to attend, listen, see and question Woods goes against the grain of everything we believe,” said Vartan Kupelian, the association’s president.

Former sportscaster Pat O’Brien criticized the way Woods seemed to be controlling the news conference.

O’Brien added, “If you listened to sports talk radio, he’s just getting ripped to shreds.”

(The Basic Move)

Introduction

I’d like to tell you about a few of my experiences so you will give full credit to the fact that you can learn to swing a golf club with accuracy – and with pride. You too can lower your scores and reduce your handicap with ease the same way I did.

My background, briefly, is this: I retired from the Royal Navy when I was 40 and ventured into various businesses. I have been a passionate and avid golfer for over 20 years. Like most golfers I wanted to start out right, I went to a professional at my local club for lessons. That was my first mistake. Believe me this book has not endeared me to many of those in the professional ranks. I now enjoy a single figure handicap since mastering the “basic move.”

This man showed me the fundamentals of the grip, exercises in chopping down trees (to this day I cannot see the connection) and all the so called fundamentals of the game. I persisted with this instructor for some time until it became apparent to me that we were not on the same wave length.

My next venture into the world of golf lessons did not fair any better. It never ceases to amaze me how complicated this game is in the eyes of the teaching professionals. Obviously, there was no meeting of minds here. There was one consistency in the lessons I had, they all kept my money.

After the golf lessons, I delved into the world of golf books, too numerous to count. I gave up that idea too, because these books just did not simplify the golf swing. They complicated it. I was near despair. But, I kept on trying – just as you have.

My next effort was to buy a videotape recorder. I figured that if I could see myself take a swing. I might see what I was doing wrong. Also, I could videotape the swings of the top golfers. Did the videotapes help? Yes, indeed! It showed me that I’d learned not one thing from the dozens and dozens of lessons I’d had. My body was moving all over the place, my arms were like windmills. But later the videotapes showed to me and confirmed to me the move which I now call the “basic move”

I was in excellent shape physically so that wasn’t a problem.

I’d never been an awkward person. I was pretty good at most of the sports I had participated in the past. I’d been fairly successful in my business which required some intelligence. So, in short I just couldn’t believe that I had neither the physical ability nor the mental makeup to learn to play this game. My most valuable experiences have been gained playing Professional-Amateur tournaments.

Observing Professionals playing first hand opened my eyes and led me to produce this book I finally started to break the “secret” of the golf swing when I went back to examining in detail the videotapes I’d made of the top touring professionals. I studied every action, every movement in slow motion, pausing and, of course, at normal speed, tapes from television broadcasts and tapes of those golfers in person – on the range and on the course.

Understand that at that particular time I was filled with thoughts of “hip turn,” “knee thrust,” “straight left arm” and everything else you, too, have heard of. Then, one morning the utter simplicity of the whole thing came to me. I had it. As soon as it was light enough to go on the course I was there. The whole, seemingly complicated move had revolved itself into one beautifully “basic move.”

That is when my score started plummeting. I could scarcely believe the golf swing could be so fantastically simple. Yet, it was. And is! You’ll find it so, too! Then I applied the same basic thinking to the short and the approach game.

The theory held up and continues to hold up. My re-examination of the videotapes proved conclusively the pro’s were using this identical principle. Even those pro’s who had written the complicated books. All these professionals were doing these things, making these moves – not as the cause but as the effect of yet another and preceding exceedingly basic move.

You know, yourself, how it is. You’re out on the course and all of a sudden you think, “This is it” and you play exceedingly well for a few holes. But the next time your “secret” falls apart. Believe me, I had the same misgivings.

However, day after day my basic move held up – and my scores dropped. Why? Because I was doing exactly and precisely what the professionals were doing. The only thing is that I am convinced they didn’t know (and still don’t know) how to easily identify this “basic move” I, immodestly, do! Before I get into details, I must ask you to please forget all the nonsense you have heard about “hip shift,” “knee thrust,” “straight left arm,” and all the myriad other things the professionals and the books tell you. In a way, your mind is your enemy. Why? Because if you make a real effort to remember 15 or 20 things, pointers, warnings, during the golf swing, you will fail. The full golf swing is very quick. Much quicker than the mind can work in remembering and putting into effect so may cue’s. All of these factors – the shift of the hips, the straight left arm, etc, are not the cause of the superb golf swing. They truly are the result of a movement, a simple movement which occurs first. Here it is.

A Golf Swing for Life – “The Basic Move”

You can make this movement with or without a golf club.

You do need to be able to see yourself in a full-length mirror or, if that isn’t available, use a full length window in which you can see your reflection.

Take your customary stance. Lightly clasp your hands in front of you. Now, drop you left chest area the (left shoulder and chest) straight down towards the floor. Your left knee has broken slightly toward the imaginary ball. Your arms and hands have moved to your right, with no break yet to the “wrist cock” in you left wrist. Your right arm and hand should have come around you to some extent. Now, if you were going to make a pitch or chip to the green, you would be in excellent position.

Next, without making any change in your position insofar as hips, legs, arms, hands or head are concerned – immediately raise your left chest. And what happens? Your arms have come straight down into the impact position.

Your hips have moved of their own volition, out of the way and into impact position. And for a powerful impact position, look at how your legs and knees have automatically moved!

You actually find yourself in the ideal, the picture-book position to make a fantastically “correct” shot! The vitally important point is that every other move of your body, after the movement of lowering and raising your left chest, is secondary! Of course, hip movement properly done, is important. But it comes as the direct result, again, of the left chest. The action of your arms is, again, the direct result of the “basic move” of your left chest. Each and every perfect golf swing is the result of proper movement of the left chest!

Far from being a complicated, memory-cracking, mind numbing kind of movement, the golf swing has become a strikingly simple movement! Left chest down! Left chest up! And that is it. To make it even more simple and understandable and clear, let’s look at some definitions. Like, what do I mean when I say “left chest”? “Down”? Up”?

DEFINITIONS

Left chest: This is important! By “left chest”, I positively do not mean only your left shoulder! As you sit reading this, raise your left shoulder toward your left ear. You can do it easily. And that would be absolutely the wrong move for your swing.

You’ll be able to understand my definition of “left chest” if you will do this as you read: Place your right finger tips at your throat. Where it cups in. Bring your finger tips straight down to what is called the “sternum” – the bony separation between the right and left rib cages. At the point where the sternum ends (about eight or nine inches from the base of your throat), move your finger tips straight across to your left.

That’s your “left chest” and never forget it! A doctor may find fault with my definition but that’s his problem. We’re talking about the golf swing and not the fine points of anatomy.

O.K.?

This entire chest area which I have described in my nonmedical way is what I call the “left chest.” This includes the left rib cage and the shoulder area. Please, when I ask you to raise your left chest, don’t just do a shoulder shrug. Too many golfers try to play with their shoulders – and they’re still paying for lessons. Raising your left chest means just that – raising your left chest – and not just your left shoulder!

Got it?

Here’s a challenge. The next time you watch a tournament in person or on television, concentrate on watching the golfer’s left chest. You will see it go up and down nearly perpendicularly and the point of the shoulder will make, at completion, a turn of 90° or so, depending on the strength of the shot. Continue to study only his left chest and you will see that, as it goes up, the hips, knees, arms and legs make their own perfect moves as the result of the left chest action!

To the very completion of the swing! Simply put, the “basic move” of golf is the down and up action of your left chest! It is simple “that simple!”

AGAIN, ALL ACTIONS OF HIPS, ARMS AND LEGS ARE

THE RESULT OF PROPER LEFT CHEST ACTION. THEY

ARE THE RESULT. THEY COME INTO CORRECT AND

PROPER ACTION BECAUSE OF THE PROPER DOWNWARD AND UPWARD MOVEMENT OF THE LEFT CHEST. IT IS THE LEFT CHEST ACTION WHICH

ACCOUNTS FOR A POWERFUL DRIVE, A PERFECT

APPROACH SHOT AND A SENSITIVE PUTT. ALL OTHER BODILY MOVEMENTS ARE BECAUSE THE LEFT CHEST HAS ACTED FIRST AND PROPERLY. THEY FOLLOW THE LEFT CHEST. WHEN YOU ACCEPT THE UNMISTAKEABLE FACT THAT THE LEFT CHEST MOVEMENT IS THE ONE, SINGLE MOVEMENT RESPONSIBLE FOR A GOOD, SOUND REPEATING SWING – THEN AND ONLY THEN WILL YOU PLAY SUPERB GOLF.

As you know, there are two so-called “swings” in golf. The “upright” and the “flat”. Ernie Els exemplifies the upright swing which is the one we want to emulate. Anatomically, the construction of the human body best lends itself to building a solid, repeating swing if the upright swing is utilized. Why? Because of the physical nature of the spine and back. Their structure supports, physically, the argument that the upright swing is a better, sounder and more repeatable swing, that’s because you are utilizing the engineering of your own body.

This is obviously agreed upon by the scientists and engineers who design the robots which test golf balls. These robots employ a “metal arm”, which rotates about the axis in a nearly vertical manner. Not flat. To consistently employ an upright swing means there must be a definite coordination in the stance. A stance position which nearly automatically guarantees you are in a position to go with the upright swing. Here’s how I take this

The Stance

There’s nothing drastic about the stance. Nothing that won’t make you even more comfortable than, perhaps, you have been in the past. It’s a truly natural feeling anyway. You may even be using it at this time. Right now, don’t use a golf club. Stand erect. Not at “attention” but just pleasantly, comfortably erect. Clasp your hands together – lightly. Now imagine there is a hinge at your waist line. Bend over at the hinge. (Far too many people think they are bending at the hinge whereas they are actually curving their back.

There should be no curve in your back! You merely stand erect and bend, using the hinge as though you were bowing to someone. When you bow, you don’t hump your shoulders and back. You bend a bit at the waist. Just as though there was a hinge there).

Let your arms hang loose. No tension. They should, if you are bowing correctly and sufficiently, hang vertically. Unlike the bow, you have bent your knees slightly – slightly! Your arms are hanging naturally and easily. Now, if you had a club in your hands, this is the position in which you should grip your club!

Not reaching forward and not cramping backward. THE POSITION IN WHICH YOUR ARMS AND

HANDS HANG NATURALLY AND LOOSELY IS THE POSITION IN WHICH YOUR GRIP OF THE GOLF CLUB IS TAKEN.

As I mentioned before, you’ve allowed your knees to bend slightly. Your “rear end” will stick out a bit. Don’t worry about it. Now, let you neck relax. If your neck is relaxed, your head will take its proper position. It may seem lower than you are used to having it. So, let it be lower. There’s a very good reason. The neck area, in particular, along with the uppermost part of the spine comprises the axis about which the swing rotates. At this point, you are standing with what I call a “firm readiness.” You definitely are not tense. But, neither are you like a sack of flour. Your back is not humped. Your upper torso (from the waist) is tilted forward, hinged at the waist. Your arms are hanging vertically. Your head is tilted downward because your neck is relaxed. There is no strain.

The Grip

This will be short. Use your same grip – if it is a good, solid and correct one. A pro can definitely help you with your grip if you are in doubt. Use a grip training club. I admonish you, urge you to take a firm grip. Hold the club more firmly, more tightly than you ever have. Why?

Because my observation is that over 90% or more of high handicap golfers “lose” the club at the top of their back swing and/or on impact. NOTE – Watch the muscle definition in the arms of the professionals next time you watch them on television or live. Yes, I know. I’ve heard the argument and have read it in the books that a hard grip means you will have stiff wrists.

Nonsense! Right now, with or without a club, grip as hard as you can. If you are not using a club, make a fist. Now move your club, or fist, to the right and left. Easy, isn’t it NO MATTER HOW HARD YOU GRIP THE CLUB, YOU WILL

NOT LOSE FLEXIBILTY IN YOUR WRISTS. YOUR

WRISTS COCK JUST AS EASILY WITH A FIRM GRIP AS WITH A FLABBY ONE. More and more professionals are beginning to advocate this. One of my instructors told me, “Hold the club as you would a little bird in your hands, soft and easy”. So, I did. First, I “lost” the club at the top of the backswing. Then it was so sloppy at impact the ball went scooting off to the side.

If you’ve been exposed to as many golf lessons as I have, you may be convinced it is totally required to take an easy grip on your club. For a while, though, try it my way. Get a good, firm grip. After all, it’s the only physical contact and communication between you the club and the ball.

Why this basic move in golf works

This will be a very brief discussion of the anatomy of the human body and the law of physics.

If you will think of the “robot” golfer, the testing equipment used by manufacturers of golf balls, you will recall some of the mechanical aspects. The unit I’m thinking of in particular commences the swing at the top of the backswing and proceeds from there. The button is pushed and the balls are fed onto the tee as fast as the robot hits the ball.

The really important point is, however, that the single arm of the robot rotates around its own axis. Since it is a mechanical device, this is to be expected. What we want to do is to create a “mechanical” attitude in and for our own golf swing, an attitude of movement which utilizes the mechanical structure and capability of our own body. A movement which enables us to repeatedly swing the club around our own built in axis.

Remember the stance? Hinge at the waist. Knees slightly bent. Neck relaxed so the head is in a natural position, arms hanging straight down, vertically. There is a good and specific reason for this stance. It is this: When you drop the left chest and bring the arms into the backswing and then raise the left chest for the downswing – you are rotating the upper portion of your body around your own axis. The axis formed by the spine at the upper area and the neck. IT IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT FOR YOU TO UNDERSTAND THIS.

When you make this rotation about your own axis you have emulated, as much as is physically possible for your human body, the structure and action of the golf robot – and its consistently repeating swing. The “basic move” of dropping the left chest and then raising it causes an automatic rotation around the neck area. The neck area becomes the so-called “hub” or axis of the swing.

AGAIN, IT IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT FOR THIS TO

SINK INTO YOUR MIND. IF YOU EVER HAVE A PROBLEM WITH YOUR GOLF SWING, ALL YOU’LL NEED TO DO TO CORRECT IT IS TO THINK OF THE PHYSICS OF THE GOLF SWING – AND HOW THIS SIMPLE MOVE OF GOLF TOTALLY TAKES OVER AND PROVIDES YOU WITH THE ANSWER TO THE PERFECT SWING. What the “basic move” does for you is to automatically make it possible for you to have a near-perfect rotation around the single and only axis of your body – the neck area. When you have this, you are on your way to superb golf. It is truly that simple.

Here’s an example: Let’s say you’re teeing off for a long drive and that you made your backswing properly. That is, you moved your left chest downward and, in the natural course of events, this brought your shoulders and back around, square to the target. Your arms and hands being attached had to follow. Fine, so far. Then, let’s say that you did not quickly raise your left chest but that, instead, you pulled or moved it to the left of your target. In this example, you did not quickly raise your left chest which would have given you, automatically, a perfect drive. Rather, you messed up. What happened? Your ball went flying off in some ungodly direction. At the completion of your swing, your arms were wrapped around your body and your golf club was pointing way off the left of your target – and was probably horizontal.

The cause of this mess and this dreadful drive? First, you failed to quickly raise your left chest which would have put into a fully automatic sequence the downswing and follow-through.

You violated the axis. You broke the law of physics by expecting to perform a good swing when you had already made it impossible. Perhaps a better expression is that the law of physics proved immutable – it broke you! And easily.

When you fully utilize the movement, when you obey and go along with the law of physics, when you rotate around your axis, the club head has no alternative but to follow, to strike the ball squarely and to take off for your target.

You cannot violate the law of physics and play good golf.

Sure, there are a lot of people with bad swings who get pretty decent handicaps but those are ridiculously high compared to what they could be. Their violation of the law of physics expresses itself in hooks, slices, shanks and all the other unmentionables.

WHEN YOU EXECUTE THE “BASIC MOVE OF GOLF,” WHEN YOU ROTATE YOUR TOTAL UPPER BODY, AROUND YOUR AXIS, THE BALL ABSOLUTELY AND POSITIVELY MUST GO STRAIGHT. THAT’S WHAT THE “BASIC MOVE OF GOLF” IS ALL

ABOUT. IT CONFORMS WITH THE LAW OF PHYSICS…..

AND IT IS EASY.

How to move properly around your axis? Around your hub?

Utterly simple. Drop your left chest perpendicularly, finish the backswing, pause (so you don’t throw yourself out of line and off the hub axis), quickly raise your left chest – and that’s it. The law of physics is inviolable and you haven’t violated it if you do the golf swing with this simple movement.

The Mechanics of the Backswing

1 Approach the ball and select your “line” to your target.

2 Select your club. (Why is it we amateurs nearly invariable take a club not long enough? I now use a 6 iron if I think a 7 iron will do the job.

3 Take your stance and do the following:

a) Grip your club

b) Hinge forward at the waist. Hinge . Don’t hump.

Hinge until your arms are hanging vertically. Not stretched forward to the ball; not back against your body.

c) Without changing your bodily contour, your posture, step up to the ball.

d) Re-grip your club – firmly.

e) Forward press, if you want. It’s not important.

Just don’t lose your basic position.

f) Keep an emphasis of your weight on your right side, concentration on the inside of your right foot, the instep. This helps avoid unnecessary body movement.

g) Deliberately drop your left chest as far as it will go.

Don’t dip. Let your chest continue to move downward.

h) The movement of your left chest will be this: Down and then it will come around naturally and, on a full drive, it will make a 90° turn of the shoulders and back. i) While your left chest is going down and around, your arms and hands are moving upwards – of their own volition to a certain point and then they move instinctively after that.

j) Continue the left chest movement until the tip of your left shoulder is under your chin. Although you are looking at the ball, your peripheral vision will show you the left shoulder tip is moving into perfect position.

That’s the backswing. Clean and utterly simple. It is, as you can now understand, entirely originated by the movement of the left chest. And the left chest governs throughout the backswing. But by using the basic move, everything else falls in place. Your left knee cocks toward or slightly back of the ball. The hips have made their required degree of turn for torsion. Your left arm has remained straight because you are moving your left chest – not just the arm alone. Your wrists have cocked properly – with the creases below the thumb (of the left hand) and not below the back of your hand at the wrist – or with the back of your hand stretched. Your shoulders have made a full turn, or more depending on your age and physical condition.

ALL THIS IS THE RESULT OF DROPPING YOUR LEFT CHEST AND LETTING YOUR CHEST MAKE ITS OWN SLIGHT TURN TO THE RIGHT AFTER THE DROP! So amazingly “simple.”There has been no swaying of your body or head because you are rotating around the hub or axis of your body. Swaying is caused by getting off the axis of the “basic

Move.”

You haven’t needed to think “keep my head steady” because your steady head is the result, the consequence of the movement of your left chest (and its appurtenances – your shoulder, arms and hands) around the axis. It really did not remain steady because you were determined it should. Or because you were thinking about it. You had a steady head in this swing because the basic move made it so. You’re sole, solitary and single thought during the entire golf swing was just one thing – “left chest down”. That, is all you ever need to think about.

At this point, I would like to digress to discuss something vitally important. KEEP YOUR BACKSWING SLOW. You keep it slow by keeping your left chest movement slow. No matter how slow you think it is, it is too fast. It just can’t be too slow. Proof? Stop-motion picture studies of Ernie Els and others show conclusively that Nicklaus has the slowest swing of nearly all professionals. In fact, in comparison with nearly every other pro, Els has not even begun his downswing while the others are already nearly in impact position. That’s proof. He never appears to attack the ball.

You aren’t going to hit the ball with your backswing, are you?

There is no reason for a fast backswing except your own anxiety to hit the ball. But the damage that can be caused again, the law of physics. Moving very quickly that which is a basically unstable structure, results in the “cause of effect” of moving that mass in, for us golfers, an undesirable way.

This sudden violent backswing causes movements up, down, forward across the ball, backward from the ball, toward your target or away from your target. All are ugly movements, destructive of a pure swing.

A Friend of mine demonstrated the total lack of need for a backswing. He took his position which he would have at the top of the backswing. Just raised his club and turned his body without taking the backswing. He merely placed his club there.

Then he hit the ball – moving his left chest upward. Far and straight went the ball. With no backswing. Much less a fast and hurried one. So, make your downward left chest movement, your backswing so slow it feels as though you are in a swimming pool and pulling your club through the water. Believe me (and Ernie Els) – the slower your back swing, the better your hit will be. No matter how slow it is now, it’s too fast.

So, with the “basic move,” you have accomplished these things:

1 You haven’t snatched your club away.

2 You haven’t had to think, “Keep my left arm straight.”

3 Your hips have made their necessary turn without your thinking about them.

4 Your left knee has “broken” toward or slightly behind the ball.

5 You made a full shoulder turn – without thinking of it.

6 You haven’t had to think about keeping your head still because your steady head is the result of the “basic move.”

7 You are now in a position of power to begin your downswing because of your “basic move” which brought about all these beautiful and desirable movements.

The Mechanics of the downswing

First, I’m going to suggest that you pause for a moment at the top of the backswing. This takes some explaining. First, if you think “pause” you are more, much more likely to start your downswing with your left chest movement.

You do not actually come to a dead stop. But you have the sensation you do. What is actually happening is that when you pause, your arms and hands are still completing the backswing. You are making the mental transition to bring your left chest movement into action. It is not as though everything comes to a grinding halt but, this “pause” will do one very valuable thing for you. It gives you time to think of raising your left chest – which prevents your “hitting from the top.” Or starting your downswing with your hands – also very ugly. If you will think “pause” you will start your downswing with your left chest moving up – and you’ll stay on your axis. Now, here are the mechanics of your downswing:

1 Pause for a moment. An instant, really. When your left shoulder meets your chin, for a drive, or at the top of your backswing for a lesser hit.

2 Simultaneously, RAISE YOUR LEFT CHEST. This “basic move” automatically sets into motion the following:

a) Your hips. Raising your left chest causes your hips to commence their action for a sound hit.

b) Your legs. The drive or “push off” from the inside of your right foot has combined with the left chest movement for total power.

c) Your arms and hands. They start coming down into the impact area by themselves. They can do nothing else unless you interfere.

d) Impact follows and you finish high, properly and in style with the classic finish which denotes a sound technique.

With the “basic move” you have accomplished these things:

1 You’ve gotten away from the nonsense of “start the drive with your hips.” Taken to its illogical conclusion, you could move your hips as far as your body could possibly allow and this wouldn’t have accomplished a thing toward hitting the ball. It is, without doubt, good practice for a belly dancer – not for a golfer.

2 Another pro said, “at the top of the backswing and before your start the downswing, drive your knees toward the target.” More nonsense. Take that to its illogical conclusion and you look pretty silly. Forget “driving” your knees.

3 Another untruth: “Start the swing with your shoulder.”

Then what happens to your hips? If you don’t mind looking like a blender in action, follow that advice.

You don’t start the downswing with your shoulders at all.

4 More? “Keep your left arm straight.” The “basic move of golf” means you don’t even think about your left arm.

5 “Keep your head down.” Obviously, if you quickly and properly handle your left chest, your head is going to stay where it should be – all the time. You don’t have to think about this silly warning.

6 “Keep your eye on the ball.” The last of this nonsense. Have you ever, ever wanted to hit something a nail, a fly, a golf ball without keeping your eye on it? Stupidity.

So, there you have the “basic move” of golf. It’s so utterly simple that it doesn’t take very much space to write it.

Some personal thoughts and comments

Because you haven’t gotten some five hundred pages of material, with a thousand stop-action photos of the golf swing, you may feel you didn’t get your money’s worth. But, as you know, some of the most useful and vital things in our every living are simple. Like the safety pin. A paper clip.

Scotch tape.

In its first published appearance, a few people wrote to me and asked why there were no illustrations of “A Golf Swing for Life.” To me, the answer seemed simple. And it still does. What could I show you in a still photograph? Nothing! Absolutely nothing about this basic move. The reason (and as I told you at the beginning) is that my discovery of the “basic move” of golf came about only after I had spent thousands of dollars on videotape equipment and had spent hundreds of hours studying the pictures I had taken of golfers in action – personally and from television. It was only after I had spent this money and invested my time (which, too, is worth money) that I made this dramatic discovery.

I’ve received literally hundreds of unsolicited letters of praise of “A Golf Swing for Life.” People are pretty quick to write letters of complaint, slow to write letters of praise. I’ve even received unsolicited letters of praise from a number of PGA golf instructors. They’ve told me they are using “A Golf Swing for Life” extensively.

In light of his still-emerging indiscretions, it is unfortunate, for example, that Tag Heuer continues to use press ads with a picture of Woods, a big watch and the line “What are you made of?”

Accenture, meanwhile, was still running “The road to high performance isn’t always paved” the day after Woods crashed his car into a tree and then a fire hydrant. The line accompanies a picture of the golfer looking lost in the rough and the copy continues with: “Where do you go from here? Accenture can help make sure that your next steps are the right steps. No matter what direction you want to go. We know what it takes to be a Tiger. Talk to us to see how we can help.”

From Private Eye