When's A Whiff A Whiff?

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Check out the YouTube video while you can because I'm sure the men with the little red phones in Ponte Vedra are working to get it taken down.

Ryan Ballengee explains what happened Saturday with Kevin Na in Las Vegas:

On the 15th tee Saturday at TPC Summerlin, Kevin Na was in the middle of his downswing when he decided not to hit the golf ball. He pulled up his swing and finished it by missing over the top of the ball. It seemed Na had whiffed but he didn’t, according to PGA Tour officials.

Na told officials and reporters he felt his weight transfer was amiss and would lead to a hooked tee shot, so he missed.

“I’ll take it back; it feels decent, and my transition is what I’m always working on,” Na said. “It’s always my bad habit is I get quick. And on the way down my transition doesn’t feel right, and I try to stop, and obviously it’s impossible for me to stop. The only way for me to stop is I have to come up and go over the ball.”

I think I'll remember this next time I whiff one! Thanks Kevin!

I believe Woodward and Bernstein would call this a non-whiff whiff.

"Muscle memory for golf isn't lost in Alzheimer's patients"

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Lisa M. Krieger files a story both uplifting (Alheimer patients enjoying golf) and depressing (dementia won't help you get rid of you deadly in-up-and-over move). Besides reporting on what researchers have found, she tells the story of Deep Cliff pro Gerry Benton who works with elders suffering from the various cruel diseases.
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Brace For Slew Of Glowing Northern Irish Golf Stories

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I'm not sure if the Belfast Telegraph should be, gulp, telegraphing the pending wave of rave reviews we'll be reading about all things Irish golf. But that's what they in revealing that "sixteen golf writers" (are there even that many left?) "have been in Northern Ireland this week to enjoy the fairways on which our trio of Major champions perfected their game."
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Pro-Bono Classic Returns To LPGA, No Word On Purse

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Thanks to Steven T. for this unbylined Arizona Republic story on the 2012 return of the LPGA's controversial RR Donnelley LPGA Founders Cup.

The ladies will have to play an extra round...perhaps this means they'll get paid this year?

The tournament will be held March 13-18 and will expand from 54 holes to 72.

This year's tournament, won by Karrie Webb, was noteworthy in that LPGA players agreed to donate the $1 million purse to charity. There was no immediate word whether that will occur again next year.

"We are delighted to be hosting the RR Donnelley LPGA Founders Cup at the JW Marriott Desert Ridge Resort," said Steve Hart, general manager and area vice president for Marriott. "The event last year was terrific and we look forward to a long relationship with RR Donnelley and the LPGA."

TPC Summerlin's Short Par-4 15th, A Wobbly iPhone Video Analysis

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I've always been fascinated by this Bobby Weed-designed short par-4 at the TPC Summerlin and I had a chance to look closely at it while making a visit to the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospital for Children Open (starts Thursday on Golf Channel.)

I Tweeted some videos today with my analysis. The short but sweet conclusion: I need to play this one, but I love the attempt at something different, I just don't know how well the options work in today's game, where so many guys can reach the green with driver. (341 uphill yes, but higher altitude, hot weather means it plays shorter).

Anyway, here are the videos in order...

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5 (don't ask why it's smaller...technology is moody)