Callaway Men’s Tour Authentic RAZR Fit Driver

The Forged Composite Tour Authenthic RAZR Fit is Callaway’s first adjustable driver. It offers nine face angles, and six weight options (12, 10, 8, 6, 4, and 2 grams) to allow golfers to shift the clubhead’s center of gravity.

The crown of the driver is “Forged Composite,” a material that Callaway says is both lighter and stronger than titanium. It contains more than 7 million turbostratic carbon fibers. The lighter weight is one of the holy grails of clubhead design, since the reduced weight then can be redeployed to other areas for optimum center of gravity and high moment of inertia.

Plus, it’s sharp looking.

When faced with an uphill or downhill shot, you need to adjust your club selection. Assuming that you know your regular distances, the rule of thumb is to add or subtract one club for each ten yards of elevation.

A second consideration: On severe uphill shots, make sure the club has enough loft to clear the sides of the hill. You may correctly judge distance, but a low flying ball that slams into a steep uphill slope can put you in an awkward spot. In that case, laying up may be in order.

There’s a short par 4 at a local course that—were it flat—would easily be reachable for many with a five wood or long iron. The green, however, sits on a plateau some thirty yards above the fairway. Worse, the sides of the slope are nearly vertical and covered with knee high weeds. In this case, taking an additional club make no sense whatsoever. You’ll get the distance, but the shot won’t have the height to clear the hill. For most, a driver would simply result in the ball bounding into that ball-swallowing, impossibly steep slope.

Conversely, on downhill shots, make sure that you don’t generate too much loft. A shot sailing downhill will result in additional carry and roll, but also create the effect of additional loft, with the ball plummeting straight of the sky and stopping quickly. On steep downhill shots, a three quarters shot with a lower lofted club may be in order.

About This Series:

Here’s the problem: Even with all the improvements, the one thing we haven’t been able to improve is the golf intelligence of the players. Most hackers—and more than a few better players—just play dumb golf. So here’s a series on playing smarter golf. I’ve been collecting mental game golf tips for years in a series of notebooks, on my palm pilot and in various computer files. They’ve helped my game. I know they’ll help yours

This tip is an excerpt from The Five Inch Course: Thinking Your Way To Better Golf. The complete book is available in Kindle format at Amazon.com.

2012 HP Byron Nelson Championship Notes

Dates: May 14-20, 2012
Where: TPC Four Seasons Resort Las Colinas; Irving, TX
Par/Yards: 35-35—70/7,166
Field: 156;
Format: 72-hole stroke play
Defending Champion: Keegan Bradley
FedExCup: 500 points to winner;
Purse: $6,500,000;
Winner’s Share: $1,170,000
Twitter: @hpbnc
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/hpbnc
How the HP Byron Nelson Championship was won in 2011 After entering the final round trailing Ryan Palmer by four strokes, Keegan Bradley carded a 2-under 68 to finish regulation tied with Palmer at 3-under 277. He then two-putted for par from 54’ 6” to defeat Palmer on the first hole of a playoff to win the 2011 HP Byron Nelson Championship, winning his first-career playoff and becoming the first rookie winner of the event.

More on Keegan Bradley and the HP Byron Nelson Championship

• Bradley’s score of 3-under-par was the highest in relation to par at the event since Bruce Lietzke’s 1¬over-par score in 1981. His winning score was the highest in relation to par in a “non-major” since David Duval’s 3-under winning score at the 1999 PLAYERS Championship.
• Bradley’s win was the seventh consecutive on TOUR in 2011 decided in a playoff or by one stroke (dating to the Valero Texas Open). It was the 20th playoff at the HP Byron Nelson Championship.
• Bradley notched his first-career win at the age of 24 years, 11 months and 22 days. He later added the PGA Championship at the age of 25 years, 2 months and 7 days.
• Bradley became the second consecutive player to win the event in his first start (Jason Day-2010) and the event’s first-ever rookie winner.
• In 2012, Bradley will attempt to become the first repeat winner of the HP Byron Nelson Championship since Tom Watson won three in a row from 1978-80.

FedExCup and the HP Byron Nelson Championship

Twelve players inside the top 30 in the FedExCup standings are in the field. Phil Mickelson (4) leads a group of four players inside the top 10, including Carl Pettersson (5), Johnson Wagner (6) and Jason Dufner (9). Last year, Keegan Bradley carried his win at the event to an eventual 20th place finish in the FedExCup.

Together, Anything’s Possible at the HP Byron Nelson Championship

As the PGA TOUR nears the $2 billion mark in charitable giving, the HP Byron Nelson Championship remains a leader in giving back to communities, raising $5.15 million in 2011 alone. Over the last 44 years, the HP Byron Nelson Championship has raised more than $121 million to help children & families in the area. Net proceeds from the event support the work of Salesmanship Club Youth and Family Centers.

A glance at the field (as of May 11 at 5 p.m.)

• Seven of the top 25 players in the Official World Golf Rankings are in the field: Phil Mickelson (10), Adam Scott (12), Louis Oosthuizen (13), Jason Day (15), Matt Kuchar (16), Jason Dufner (20) and Keegan Bradley (22).
• Nine former HP Byron Nelson Championship winners: Keegan Bradley (2011), Jason Day (2010), Rory Sabbatini (2009), Adam Scott (2008), Scott Verplank (2007), Brett Wetterich (2006), Vijay Singh (2003), Phil Mickelson (1996) and Ernie Els (1995).
• Seven PGA TOUR winners in 2012: Johnson Wagner (Sony Open in Hawaii), Phil Mickelson (AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am), John Huh (Mayakoba Golf Classic), Carl Pettersson (RBC Heritage), Ben Curtis (Valero Texas Open), Jason Dufner (Zurich Classic of New Orleans), Matt Kuchar (THE PLAYERS).
• 2007 HP Byron Nelson Championship winner Scott Verplank will be making his 26th start at the event. Just three players have more starts (28-Lanny Wadkins and Tom Watson; 27–Ben Crenshaw).
• 1995 HP Byron Nelson Championship winner Ernie Els will make his first visit to the event since a T13 in 2006. He owns four top-10 finishes in eight starts (1-1995, T4-2002, T7-2004, T10-2005).
• Phil Mickelson will be making his 14th start at the HP Byron Nelson Championship and first since a T3 finish in 2007. His win in 1996 is one of four top-10 finishes at the event (1-1996, T6-1998, T2-2000, T3-2007).

Miscellaneous Tournament Notes

• The 2007 win for Dallas resident Scott Verplank came in his 21st appearance in the event, the most starts by a winner claiming his first HP Byron Nelson Championship. Loren Roberts won in his 17th start in 1999.
• 2011 champion Keegan Bradley is one of just six past winners of the HP Byron Nelson Championship in the last 17 years who failed to record all four rounds in the 60s (Bradley-2011, Jason Day-2010, Adam Scott-2008, Brett Wetterich-2006, Sergio Garcia-2004 and Jesper Parnevik-2000.
• The course record of 61 has been posted on four occasions: Billy Mayfair (1993), Charlie Rymer (1996), Justin Leonard (2001) and Cameron Beckman (2010).
• The tournament scoring record of 261 was set by Rory Sabbatini in 2009.
• Only two have won the tournament in wire-to-wire fashion – Mark Hayes in 1976 and Tom Watson in 1980. (Note: Complete first-round scores are not available for the inaugural event in 1944, which was won by Byron Nelson).
• Dating to 2000, there have been seven international-born winners of the championship (2000-Jesper Parnevik, 2002-Shigeki Maruyama, 2003-Vijay Singh, 2004-Sergio Garcia, 2008-Adam Scott, 2009¬Rory Sabbatini, 2010-Jason Day).
• Just seven players (eight total wins) have carried the opening-day lead on to victory: Jason Day (2010), Scott Simpson (1993), Tom Watson (1979, 1980), Mark Hayes (1976), Chi Chi Rodriguez (1972), Earl Stewart (1961) and Don January (1956).

Remembering Byron Nelson The HP Byron Nelson Championship celebrates the life and legacy of Byron Nelson, one of the game’s most respected and revered individuals.

• Nelson reached the pinnacle of his golfing career in 1945, winning 18 tournaments, including a record 11-tournament winning streak that will likely stand the test of time.
• Throughout his relatively brief career, he won 54 times, including the 1939 U.S. Open, 1937 and 1942 Masters Tournaments, and the 1940 and 1945 PGA Championships.
• Above and beyond his accomplishments on the golf course, Nelson (who passed away in 2006) is universally regarded as one of the game’s true gentlemen.
• The tournament has several ways of honoring Nelson:
  • The Byron Nelson International Junior Golf Awards, which recognizes the achievements of junior golfers around the world.
  • The Byron Nelson Prize sponsored by the T. Boone Pickens Foundation, awarded each year to a person or organization in the golf world who exemplifies the ideals of sportsmanship, integrity and philanthropy. Past winners of the Byron Nelson Prize include Tom Lehman (2007), Ken Venturi (2008), Arnold Palmer (2009), Tom Watson (2010), Deane Beman (2011) and this year’s recipient Nancy Lopez. Lopez is a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame and has been named the Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year twice. She owns 48 career wins on the LPGA Tour.
  • Each year the Salesmanship Club makes a $100,000 contribution to the charity of the Prize recipient’s choice. Lopez has chosen AIM for the Handicapped to receive the charitable contribution.

Source: PGA TOUR

With the HP Byron Nelson as this week’s PGA Tour attraction, I thought it might be worthwhile to take a brief look at the man for whom the tournament is named. Nelson is just one of two professional golfers with a PGA Tour tournament as his namesake (Arnold Palmer is the other).

Byron Nelson is primarily remembered today for his remarkable 1945 season, in which he won 11 straight tournaments—and 18 overall. It’s a record that likely will never be broken, even by Tiger Woods. He won 31 of 54 tournaments over the 1944 - 1945 seasons and then did the unthinkable: he retired from professional golf at the age of 36. He had by that time, achieved his goal of earning enough to buy a ranch in Texas.

“When I was playing regularly, I had a goal,” Nelson once said. “I could see the prize money going into the ranch, buying a tractor, or a cow. It gave me incentive.”

Nelson had 63 wins between 1932 and 1946, including the Masters in 1937 and 1942, the U.S. Open in 1939 and the PGA Championship in 1940 and 1945.

Some have discounted his victories, saying that during the war years, he was playing against a limited field. However, the 1945 was at the end of the war, and among the players he defeated that year were Sam Snead, Ben Hogan and Jimmy Demaret (all of whom had victories that year). It also should be remembered that in golf, you don’t play against the field as much as you play against the course. In 1945, Nelson destroyed the courses with a 68.33 scoring average, a single season record that stood for 55 years (broken by Tiger Woods in 2000). With a 68 average, he was going to win, no matter who he was playing against.

It’s also recently been revealed that Nelson likely won 12 in a row that year, but always was too much of a gentleman to mention it.

Nelson was home during the war years because of a blood condition, sometimes reported as hemophilia.

The first inductee into the World Golf Hall of Fame, Nelson was given the PGA Tour’s lifetime achievement award in 1997 and was posthumously awarded a Congressional Golf Medal in 2006.

Nelson is considered one of the fathers of the modern golf swing.  His long, smooth motion, combined with more hip action than in earlier eras to get the most out of the “new fangled” steel shafts. He was so consistent that the USGA equipment testing machine is named the “Iron Byron.”

By strange coincidence, the three great golfers of that era—Nelson, Ben Hogan and Sam Snead—all were born within seven months of each other. Two, Nelson and Hogan, caddied together at Glen Garden Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas. Their story is documented in a recent book: American Triumvirate: Sam Snead, Byron Nelson, Ben Hogan, and the Modern Age of Golf

A video of Nelson’s smooth swing is below.

However much Nelson is remembered for his on-course achievements, however, his real legacy may be in the very large number of golfers—both amateur and professional—that he mentored over the years. Nelson apparently always had time to encourage literally thousands of young players, to give them a lesson, and to write them letters. Among those he helped: Tom Watson, Ken Venturi, Scott Verplank, and Ben Crenshaw.

Tiger Woods had this to say about Nelson:

I’ll never forget when he pulled me aside ... and basically gave his opinion on my game and things that might be pitfalls in the future, what I should do. I was pretty impressionable, a really young kid, and he was a guy I idolized. He didn’t have to do that. It really touched me. Without a doubt, Mr. Nelson has been one of the role models of my life.

By all accounts, Nelson was a gentleman in every sense of the word.  A story about Nelson in Mark Frost’s The Match: The Day the Game of Golf Changed Forever, illustrates the point. In mid 1950s, Nelson was traveling with Ken Venturi, playing exhibition matches, and mentoring the young rising star:

In each exhibition they played against the host club’s head professional and reigning amateur champion in a best-ball match. At every stop, Byron made a point of inquiring who held the local scoring record, which usually belonged to one or the other of their opponents that day. Byron told Ken that wherever he went, no matter how well he was playing, he should never break that record as a show of respect to his host; that was the way gracious visitors were supposed to behave.

Jack Nicklaus on Byron Nelson:

I think the only thing that rivals Byron’s greatness on a golf course is the manner in which he conducted his life - as a gentleman, a role model and an ambassador.

That Byron Nelson has a tournament named after him is a fitting tribute. I just hope that it remains his memorial for many, many years to come.

For Nelson’s career PGA Tour record, see below:

One of just two PGA Tour tournaments named after a former player (the other, of course, is the Arnold Palmer), the HP Byron Nelson Championship is the ninth longest running active tournament on the PGA Tour schedule.

The tournament has its earliest origins in 1926 as the Dallas Open, won by MacDonald Smith. It then went on hiatus until 1944 when it reemerged as the Texas Victory Open. That tournament was played at Dallas’ Lakewood Country Club and was won by none other than Byron Nelson. The 1945 event was played at the Dallas Country Club, and was won by Sam Snead. Ben Hogan won at the Brook Hollow Golf Club in 1946. The longtime hosts of the tournament is the Salesmanship Club of Dallas and benefits the Salesman Club Youth and Family Centers.

No tournaments were held form 1946 until 1956, when two events were held in the same year . From 1958 - 1967, it was played at the Oak Cliff Country Club. In 1968, the Dallas Open Invitational was renamed The Byron Nelson Classic. It’s held that name—albeit with different title sponsors—ever since. The event currently is contested at the Four Seasons Resort and Club Dallas at Las Colinas in Irving, Texas.

For many years, Byron Nelson was a very real presence at his namesake tournament. Even in his final years—well into his 90s—Nelson could be seen in a pavilion overlooking the eighteenth green and greeting players as they finished.

Nelson, who had a reputation as one of the game’s true gentlemen, also has lent his name to two prizes which are awarded at the Byron Nelson Championship. The Byron Nelson Prize is awarded annually to a person or organization who “exemplifies the ideals of sportsmanship, integrity and philanthropy that Byron Nelson personified.” It carries a $100,000 contribution to the recipient’s favorite charity. The 2010 winner is Tom Watson. Past recipients were Tom Lehman, Arnold Palmer and Ken Venturi.

In addition, the Byron Nelson International Junior Golf Awards” recognize the achievements of junior golfers around the world who distinguish themselves with a high level of junior tournament play as well as excellence in academics, exceptional character and a commitment to community service.”

Both are fitting tributes to a man who was a giant in the sport. A quote from Nelson about the tournament says a lot about the man:

This tournament is the best thing that’s ever happened to me in golf. Better than winning the Masters or the US Open or eleven in a row. Because it helps people”

The Official Tournament website has the final word on Nelson’s legacy:

Byron Nelson’s accomplishments as a professional golfer were as impressive as his golf swing.

There is a reason why he was the first PGA professional golfer to have a PGA TOUR tournament named in his honor. Mr. Nelson won 54 career victories, including winning two Masters (1937 and 1942), two PGA Championships (1940 and 1945), and the U.S. Open (1939). He is one of only two golfers to be named “Male Athlete of the Year” twice by the Associated Press, and the World Golf Hall of Fame honored Byron Nelson in 2004 by featuring an exhibit entitled “Byron Nelson: A Champion…A Gentleman.”

While Mr. Nelson obtained the status as a world-class athlete, it was his humanitarian efforts that were truly first class. He was a champion for the underprivileged and gave his time, talents, and funds to make this a better world. Byron Nelson and the HP Byron Nelson Championship have raised more than $112 million for the Salesmanship Club Youth and Family Centers, a nonprofit agency that provides education and mental health services for more than 7,000 children and their families in the greater Dallas area. Additionally, the Byron and Louise Nelson Golf Endowment Fund had provided over $1.5 million in endowment funds to Abilene Christian University in Abilene, Texas. Another example of his service was his dedication to the Metroport Meals on Wheels which provides daily, home-delivered, hot lunch for the frail, elderly and chronically ill residents. Byron Nelson was an active honorary chairman since 1992.

A list of past winners of the Byron Nelson Championship follows:

Here’s a period photo of the gallery at the 1913 US Open, held at the Country Club at Brookline. That Open was famously won by the young Francis Ouimet against the heavily favored Harry Vardon.

The tale is told in the movie version of The Greatest Game Ever Played

and in the book, The Greatest Game Ever Played: Harry Vardon, Francis Ouimet, and the Birth of Modern Golf

If you subscribe to the cynical theory that it’s all about the money, the list of golf’s “Majors” would look quite different. Forbes has a list of the top twenty, and these would be the real majors:

The Players - Purse of at least $9.5 million
WGC Bridgestone - $8.5 million
WGC Cadillac - $8.5 million
WGC Accenture Match Play - $8.5 million

In comparison, the four existing Majors have payouts of around $8 million each.