"Tee it high and let it fly" is a golf saying that's been around for a long time now. However, it's never been more apropos than it is now.
With modern driver heads expanding faster than Kirstie Alley, teeing it high is now a necessity just to make contact with the ball in the
conventional manner. However, the majority of new drivers are also designed to work best when hit high on the face. So,
the ball needs to be teed even higher. According to Bob Thurman, director of R&D at Wilson Golf, "Even though center hits generate a slightly faster ball speed, the distance is greater when the ball is hit higher on the clubface. Hitting it above the center of the face really improves your launch angle and really gives you a much better spin rate."
Another advantage of a high teed ball is that it encourages a level to slightly ascending swing path. This is the proper approach to the ball with the driver. Check out these
SwingVisions of Vijay Singh. He tees up the ball a full 2.4 inches for the driver:
Labels: SwingVision, Vijay Singh
Congrats to Vijay Singh for shooting a 6-under 65 on Sunday to win the Chrysler Championship. It's his 9th win of 2004 and the $900,000 1st-prize made him the first in PGA Tour history to pass the $10 million mark in one season. Yes, he's playing great, but if I hear another golf commentator say that Vijay's the hardest worker in golf, I'll wrap my Cleveland lob wedge around his neck (or at least force them to read my golf blog).
Vijay may work harder than any other PGA pro, but so what? It's not like the guy is digging trenches for a living.
He's playing golf. I think that if it were somehow guaranteed that you would play golf as well Vijay if you simply practiced as much as him, most golfers would jump at the opportunity. I know, sure as hell, that I would. Who wouldn't?
However, Vijay has never been a golfer that I've really liked. It's probably because I can never forget about his
cheating and deadbeat past. It's funny how nobody ever mentions that Vijay was suspended indefinitely by the Southeast Asia Golf Federation for attempting to alter his scorecard at the Indonesian Open in 1985 in Jakarta. Also, does anyone remember Vijay being banned from playing the PGA tour in Australia because he failed to pay off his debts?
When you get banned from one professional golf tour, it can be filed away as a misunderstanding. But to get banned from two, that's almost criminal. If Vijay weren't playing such god-like golf, I wonder how long it would take for him to get bounced from the PGA Tour.
It's funny how attaining sports stardom can make heroes out of some of the biggest jerks.
Labels: Vijay Singh
