Joy of Golf: Zac Blair learns to use his head

Joy Chakravarty 08:01 12/05/2016
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  • Needing focus: Zac Blair.

    The disqualification of Zac Blair at the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow last week is a classic example of how the space between your two ears, quite literally, plays an important role in golf.

    Here’s the takeaway – never lose your head on a golf course, and if you do, never bang the putter on your head. The temporal bones are one of the strongest in a human body, and chances are, you will end up damaging your putter instead.

    Blair did exactly that after missing a short birdie putt on the fifth hole in Friday’s second round.

    After giving himself a bit of a headache, he then proceeded to putt out for par before realising he had bent the shaft of his putter with the impact against his head.

    The Rules of Golf stipulate that ‘If, during a stipulated round, a player’s club is damaged other than in the normal course of play rendering it non-conforming or changing its playing characteristics, the club must not subsequently be used or replaced during the round’.

    The penalty for breaching Rule 4-3b is disqualification. Blair later tweeted an apology and promised to learn from the mishap in the future. He also found some humour in the situation and tweeted the funny GIF of American Woody Austin doing the same during the 1997 Presidents Cup.

    A much better way is employed by the likes of Henrik Stenson, who’d rather break the club in two and give himself no chance of disqualification. Or, like Rory McIlroy, who prefers throwing the offending club in the closest hazard.

    Having said that, I have noticed how most players take out their frustration on other clubs in the bag, but rarely on their putters. They might snap a wedge or an iron into two, but the most disrespectful treatment meted out to the flat club is when it is thrown against the golf bag.

    The reason is simple. You might use your 6-iron no more than four or five times in a round, but even on your best day on the greens, you will hit nearly 25-30 shots with the putter.

    And then there are other ways that Blair should learn.

    When I was working with the Indian PGA Tour, we had one player, Balbir Singh, who was renowned for his reaction on missing short putts. Often, he would slap himself square on his cheeks as punishment. It may sting for some time, but at least it will not get you disqualified.

    Hahn and his merry ways

    You can call him the Andy Sullivan of the PGA Tour. Just like the Nuneaton golfer across the pond, James Hahn could have had a career in a supermarket, before finding, and dedicating himself, to his true calling – professional golf.

    Sullivan ditched a job of stacking shelves in Asda in England, while the Seoul-born American had enough of selling shoes at Nordstrom. Both have the biggest smiles on their faces on their respective Tours.

    Of course, the fact that both are multiple winners does play a small role in their happiness.

    Hahn, who is famously known for breaking into Gangnam-style dance after hitting good shots on the golf course, is the ultimate happy-go-lucky golfer.

    Two things stood out about his second PGA Tour win last week at Quail Hollow – he won after eight successive missed cuts, and he is the first winner for the new equipment manufacturing company, Parsons Xtreme Golf (PXG).

    PXG is one of the most interesting companies in the sport right now. It is founded by Bob Parsons, a millionaire several times over, who has ensured there is no cost spared in developing the most high-tech clubs in the business.

    A set of PXG retails for $5,000 and upwards.

    Parsons has time and again reiterated that making money from PXG is not his aim… all he wants to do is build better clubs that will make golfers happy playing with them. In Hahn, he already has one very satisfied golfer.

    An overdose of 17th

    It’s the Players Championship week, and you can be assured of one thing – there will be an overdose of the 17th hole of TPC Sawgrass.

    The par-3 island green is an amazing hole, but it does pain me that it so massively overshadows the 17 other great holes created by Pete Dye there.

    Having said that, I am a great admirer of short par-3s, and I love to keep a track of the balls getting wet there. Last year, the number was 45. The highest was 93 in 2007, the year when Phil Mickelson won.

    Famous: 17th at Sawgrass.

    Famous: 17th at Sawgrass.

    The worst score on the hole is a 12 by Bob Tway in 2005. And there have been only six aces there, the last one coming in 2002 – by none other than the hole-in-one expert, Miguel Angel Jimenez.

    Quote of the Week

    “A lot prettier than I am.” – John Daly’s judgement on the Daly bobbleheads that were given out to fans as he made his Champions Tour debut last week.

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