| Golfin' with Gribin - Archive |
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Hope Spring Break is going great for each of you! And now ladies and gentlemen… welcome to my favorite time of the year… golf and basketball… and away we go!!!
Golf – To Watch
What is more fun than watching both sides of Tiger Woods? We got the competitive side all weekend at the WGC-CA at Doral. For those who are wondering if the man is back, just take a look at his position during the four days. Each day the 33 year old moved up in the standings; each day his scoring got better. Most important, each day his putting improved. And that, my friends, is the secret… will Tiger make the putts? On Monday and Tuesday, we got the fun side of Tiger. Wait, I have a better word, the relaxed side. If you missed the Tavistock Cup you missed Tiger at his best. These two days convinced me that Tiger Woods will win The Masters in 2009. We saw drive after drive hit the fairway and long… oh my gosh! The relaxed Tiger was accurate and magnificent around the greens. The relaxed Tiger looked nothing like a guy that had taken 8 months off from competitive golf. … -
In the nine years I’ve hosted a golf radio show, these 3 weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas are the hardest. I talk with my golf buddies and none seem interested in discussing anything remotely involved with the golf world. So with that in mind, as a public service I will give you 5 topics that will keep you actively involved in the golf scene.
5. Q-School – Ok, I know this is boring, at least for most of you. I actually love seeing hardened golf professionals shaking in their boots. You can take all the majors; the Ryder Cup and every PGA tournament and none match the pressure of a putt at Q-School, a putt to determine if you are going home; playing on the Nationwide Tour or playing in the show. While I don’t think the Golf Channel can deliver the levels of nerves, it will be worth your while to watch.
4. Your golf swing – As honestly as I can say this, “there is no better time to work on your swing.” There is a three step, 30 minute process to making this work:
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Buy a Hank Haney Instruction video – Don’t watch it all…
I am so excited to announce our December outing for The Golfers Home Golf Outing Presented by Hooters, Monday, December 8th, a noon shotgun at The TPC at Craig Ranch. What a way to end the year with your chance to play one of the best courses in the Metroplex. This event will sell out quickly, so please register immediately. We will have plenty of special prizes and a few special events that we will announce over the next week.
I will miss so much …
Annika – I hate that she is leaving right in the middle of the best competition possible. With all the economic upheaval, can you imagine how cool it would have been to see Lorena, Paula and Annika going at it next year? We might have finally seen an increase in the number of male golfers watching the LPGA.
I will not miss – The Nick Faldo ego. No matter how hard Nick tried to make it about the players, it was the Faldo mentality that was the only low part of the Ryder Cup.
I will miss so much -- Not having a Ryder Cup in 2009 – No matter how much they…
How do I become a better golfer?
This is a question I ask myself every time I step on the course. So here are a few suggestions that I believe can assist in getting this done.
1. Make the decision – We all talk about getting better, but honestly, most of us just don’t mean it. We think we want too; we believe we want to, but we never start to pay the price. So the first step in getting better is making the commitment. Take a minute and write a contract with yourself.
“I make a commitment to spend ___ hours a week working to improve my golf game.”
Sign this and put it on your bathroom mirror. One other very important aspect of this letter, you must add a second paragraph pertaining to your goal. Do you want to make it to the tour; do you want to break 90 or 80? Want do you want from your improvement? Please be honest. Take into consideration the amount of time you are willing to give to the process and how that will relate to your goal. Example – lets say you currently have a tough time breaking…
Hope this newsletter finds you well. Before I get into this week’s article, I want to take a minute and send my prayers to Cindy Payne. Cindy has worked for me 2 years. She has done an unbelievable job on our website and on this newsletter. She is an amazing woman that might be the best worker I have ever met. After months of difficult times, earlier this week, Cindy’s dad passed away. I hope you can all take a moment and say a little prayer for Cindy and her Dad. She deserves it.
I have decided it’s time to open our annual discussion about Pet Peeves. While thinking about this article, I’ve decided to go public with my biggest problem, face the truth, and do something about it. More about this in a moment.
I define a Pet Peeve as anything on a golf course that feels like fingers on a chalk board. They get under your skin; they can get in the way of having your great time on the course. So here are my top Pet Peeves, let me know yours. This will be the major topic of our show on Sunday morning so please give a…
You know, we all screw up… some of us just do it at better times. Some of us are unlucky enough to make our screw-ups in front of millions of people. “Capturing a fumble and running it 90 yards for a touchdown only to realize we ran the wrong way.” “Going back on a routine fly ball and having it bounce off our head and over the fence for a home run.” The only difference between those and ours… only our friends remind us; millions are constantly reminding the more famous athletic blunders. With this being our first return to Carnoustie since the biggest blunder in the history of golf, I feel it is my duty, along with every other member of the golf media to write our “Greatest Golf Blunders of All time.”
My list might be different from others you see. Mine comes more from, “Gosh, I feel so sorry for this guy”, rather than “What an idiot.” See I’ve been there, missing the 3 footer to qualify for a USGA event; missing a free throw at the end of a game. So here we go… Heading to the tee first… My Top 6
6. The Screwed-up putt…
I am an avid golfer. I try to play at least two times a week. Having a job that causes me to work seven days a week, I do everything possible to keep Wednesday afternoons for myself. No, I’m not a doctor, and I don’t play one on the radio, although I do play host of a new Hockey Show on Live 105.3FM with Stars great Craig Ludwig; it’s just that my friends are all doctors, so that is when we play. It’s a great group of guys- a perfect group of personalities that everyone should be as fortunate as I to have as friends. They are way more than golfing buddies; they are the sounding board for my life. They understand my quirks; my little habits that would drive anyone else totally crazy. They put up with me… maybe because they know they’re going to get lots of cool stuff from every tournament I go to; maybe because they think I am the kind of sad comic relief in their worlds of saving lives, saving eyes and keeping people well, or maybe because we are all so supportive of each other… it just works. So let me introduce you…
Everywhere I turn, I see articles about the end of the golf season. I see discussions about “Player of the Year” honors; surveys about who did what and when; admonitions about how this player completed this task and that player missed another great opportunity.
With that in mind, it seems a perfect opportunity to raise the questions I know are pressing through so many of our brains about Tour golf.
1. Will Tiger come back as strong as ever?
Having watched Tiger for 14 years, not only do I think he will come back stronger, I am prepared to guarantee my statement. I have known only a few athletes like Woods. Tommy John comes to mind. It took Tommy almost two years to return from a surgery that now bears his name. In all my years working around the players on Dodger teams, I don’t ever remember anyone more positive than Tommy John. He always knew he would make it, that he would “raise the bar” on determination and desire. I see Tommy John in Tiger Woods. Give Woods something to prove and he will prove it.2. What will be done about the Cup?
A guy wins the…
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