Izzo Transfer Station Swing Trainer

To help students work on alignment, most teaching pros will lay a couple of clubs on the ground—one on a line to the target, and another perpendicular to that—a “T”, if you will. The player stands with his feet astride the one club, and parallel to the other. Hips and shoulders also should be parallel to the club pointing at the target.

Hitting balls like this and getting your alignment straightened out can solve a lot of swing faults.

Izzo golf has taken this old practice tip and added a twist. The Transfer Station Swing Trainer adds a two colored disk to the stem of the “T”—red on one side, yellow on the other. The idea is that as you go through your backswing and down into impact, you should only see the yellow side. The red should not show up until after the impact point. If you can do this, you can cure the dreaded “reverse pivot” swing fault.

Izzo Transfer Station Swing Trainer

The USGA is infamous for the mind boggling rough that it cultivates for the US Open. Sports Illustrated has a great article on how the course’s grass is set up, and the best way to get out of golf hell.

There are a couple of articles hitting the news wires about XM Radio’s golf channel, which plans wall-to-wall coverage of the US Open this week.

So how is golf on the radio? Not bad, actually. I’ve listened to the XM Radio broadcast over the internet and it almost has me thinking that I will get an XM radio for my car.  In a sense, it’s a lot like listening to baseball on the radio. If you already know something about the game—the lingo, and how its played—then the announcer’s descriptions of the settings and the shots are interesting. The broadcasts also seem to spend a lot of time on interviews and scoring updates.

It’s a niche market, to be sure, but XM Radio is willing to put out the dollars to produce it. The price tag per tournament is apparently $50,000 to $75,000.

XM also is trying a neat promotion. They’re giving fans at tournaments XM radios to use while they’re on the course. That way, they can follow what’s going on on the other holes. (How long will it be before Stevie decides that someone’s headphones are too loud and rips them off their head?)

Read the articles syndicated by the Wall Street Journal and by the Orange County Register.

The Medicus has been one of the most popular—and some say effective—swing trainers ever devised. It has two hinges that are designed to “break” when the club is swung either out-of-tempo or “off-plane.” This provides instant feedback about what you’re doing with the club. If you swing it properly, the club will stay together and you can actually hit golf balls with it.

I have one and have found it to be effective—particularly in helping me to maintain an even tempo on the backswing and downswing.

My friends laugh at me, but I love these Tabasco scenic golf shirts. I have one with a beach scene. I’m usually a very conservative dresser (both on and off the course), but for some perverse reason I like these.

TABASCO Golf Scenic USA Flag Polo

An interesting stat: Since 1991, only Tiger Woods and Retief Goosen have finished better than 40th in trying to defend their Open crown.

Michael Campbell is no Tiger Woods.

For that matter, he hasn’t been stuck by lightening, either.

I’ve been browsing some of the internet bookie sites and here’s what they seem to be saying on the odds for winning the US Open. I picked a bunch of prominent players and gave the low and the high of the several sites that I saw.

Tiger Woods: 4 - 1
Phil Mickelson 5-1 to 15-2
Ernie Els: 10-1 to 23-1
Vijay Singh: 12-1 to 14-1
Retief Goosen: 12-1 to 20 -1
Jim Furyk: 18-1 to 20 - 1
Luke Donald: 28-1 to 30-1
Adam Scott: 28- to 35-1
David Toms: 30-1 to 33-1
Sergio Garcia: 20-1 to 40 - 1
Davis Love 40-1 to 50-1
Jose Maria Olazabal 45-1 to 80-1
Chad Campbell 45-1 to 80-1
Stuart Appleby 65-1 to 66-1

I personally like Chad Campbell or Stuart Appleby to win this one. Mickelson didn’t look particularly sharp last week, and Tiger is an unknown. Ernie, Vijay and Retief have not looked well all season. Toms doesn’t hit them long enough to seriously contend on the Winged Foot monster. Sergio may have a back problem. And it’s just not hte time for Luke Donald or Adam Scott.