Phil, Masters Champ and Masters Fan

The opportunity to see "The Big 3" tee off was just too great to miss and along with thousands of other golf fans, 3 time Masters Champion, Phil Mickelson was there. Not only did he get to experience The King, The Golden Bear and The Black Knight hit their tee shots, but once again Phil proved that he is the people's champ...and the Master when it comes to PR. No other green coated players showed up and it was fully 6 hours before Phil teed it up, so he really made the effort and it didn't go unnoticed by the patrons or the members. Good on you Phil!

Phil's Greatest Hits (minus the best one at the 13th at Augusta last year))

Great stuff here from Phil's 19 years on the PGA Tour.

Seriously, you gotta love Phil!

...sorry about the ad at the start - it's a small price to pay to hear how specific Phil is about his donut intake!

Not so Groovy

The Governing bodies in golf have once again managed to make a mess of an equipment change. Recently, the USGA and the R & A altered the rules to make the grooves on clubs smaller and therefore less able to spin the ball. As we all know the game of golf is so easy that this change was made to make the game EVEN harder. The rule is really only applicable to professional golfers and those playing in elite amateur events. The rest of us get a break for at least a decade or more. Bear in mind that the average handicap in the US has hovered around 19 forever and I don't see too many amateurs ripping the ball back off the green with their current wedges. So, the change will make literally no difference to Joe Public. All it has really achieved is cost the manufacturers millions of dollars for nothing and proved once again that the alphabet soup of golfs governing bodies are as dysfunctional as ever.

Throw in the PGA TOUR into the mix and the latest PR disaster is in full motion. Now, Phil Mickelson and 9 others on Tour are playing Ping wedges circa 1989 with square grooves that slip through the new rule cracks. Scott McCarron, who is a member of the PAC, the Tour players committee, even called Phil's actions "cheating" at a press conference the other day. Cheating is a strong accusation in golf and in this instance McCarron is 100% wrong. Phil is playing within the rules and even he is at a loss to understand what the governing bodies are trying to achieve.

The best way to change the game is the BALL - roll that back and you will see a difference.