The shots that sank Cink

If you watched the final round of the PODS Championship from Tampa Florida, you witnessed another case of a top player not being able to close the deal. Stewart Cink birdied the first two holes to increase his overnight lead to four strokes and looked like he’d coast to his first victory since 2004.

Just like at the Accenture Match Play only a few weeks ago, sinking putts was Cink’s secret weapon all tournament long. A birdie on the first hole has always been a “kiss of death” for me. For Cink, two in a row during the final round was the double dose of death he never saw coming, because his putter turned ice cold after that. On Tour, when the putts aren’t going in lookout, it’s going to be a long day. The importance of putting is often overlooked, as compared to the glamour of driving for show, especially when 300 yard drives are common on the PGA Tour and not uncommon on the Champions Tour these days. Cink’s putter is what sunk him all day, primarily the short ones under ten feet on the back nine, where the round really begins. But, just as the wheels were falling off, the shots that officially sank Cink were his drives that flared to the right into the trees, on this un-Florida-like course in Tampa Bay. A bogey and a double opened the door for Sean O’Hare.

Especially with today’s monster sized high tech drivers, that commercials say are SO easy to hit, if the club isn’t squaring into impact, the ball’s easily flare out to the right (for righties, left for lefties). As usual, the TV crew described how his left side was leading to fast, with the arms lagging behind the hips, not allowing the club to square. Talk about the need for perfect timing with all body parts. Frankly, I didn’t even understand what I just said.

Down the stretch, Cink sank to finish at two-under par. Sean O’Hare the tournament winner at four-under par was greatful!

Today’s 60 second golf tip:

Last week I received this response from a member of a golf forum, on the subject of wrist pronation. “Byron Nelson never rotated his wrists through impact. He rolled back off ball then hit square and rolled back into shot  –never twisted away like Snead”. My reply: What did he say?

Seriously, they’re all doing it. If back in Nelson’s time they had the spectacular super slow motion pictures of the swing, it would show how every good player’s hands actively turn the club through the ball at impact, with the top (strong side) hand continuing to turn over into the follow-through. Plane and simple, this is wrist pronation and the best players do it on virtually every power shot they hit. Whenever a golfer forgets to do this, the ball always remembers. Alan’s law of physics goes something like this; if the club isn’t square, the ball could go anywhere. If the best players are doing it, then so should the rest of us.

I’m sorry, but maybe because I’m an amateur who doesn’t get to practice much and plays 95% of his golf in this head, I see it differently. Throughout history, the swings of Tour players have been different from each other. Like Stewart Cink’s many are great, almost machine-like as compared to Lord Byron’s, not as pretty. Since the secret for better ball striking is the ability to get the club in the ideal hitting position, so Byron Nelson must have been a Master at it.

The moral of this story is; any player who relies totally on executing the perfect swing all the time is asking for trouble. Thumbs Down, for Thumbs Up results.