With us today is coach and trainer for the master in swimming in San Diego, California. Kevin Koskellas’ points about golf and swimming are so true. I found this out while rehabbing from back surgery. I also found the same action Kevin mentions when I began playing golf again after back surgery. I like his insight and makes great points.

Recently, I have taken up golf, and I can’t help but notice the similarities between learning golf and learning swimming. Both are finesse sports that require large amounts of concentration and practice to get right, and it is unnecessary (and ill-advised) to gain great amounts of strength to make major improvements in either sport. Let’s look at some specific ways golf is like swimming:

1. It Starts with Head Position. In golf, you must keep your head still and look straight at the ball while you swing in order to make contact. In swimming, you must keep your head still and look straight down at the bottom of the pool while you rotate in order to get the most out of your stroke.

2. Concentration is Key. The moment you start thinking about more than one thing when you are about to hit the ball is the moment that something goes wrong. If I get 2 tips on my golf swing and I think about both of them the next time I tee up, I tend to have an underwhelming result! The same goes for doing the swimming drills. As a coach, if I give a swimmer several things to think about, inevitably, nothing will go right. The idea is to concentrate on one aspect, practice it, master it, and move on.

3. The Fewer Strokes, The Better. When improving your score in golf, you want to take fewer strokes to get the ball in the hole. To improve your swim (especially open water), you want to take fewer strokes per length, in order to utilize your energy for the entire swim or triathlon.

4. Follow Through is Important. When you hit the ball, it is important that you follow through all the way with your club. In freestyle swimming, to get the most out of your stroke, you must extend your arm and glide.

5. Power Comes from the Core. Your arms and legs themselves do not need to be incredibly powerful to have success in either sport. With both sports, the power comes from the core- abdominal muscles, lower back, and hips. Legs are used more for stabilization than to propel you forward in swimming. Legs in golf are also used more for stabilization, rather than for more powerful strokes.

Both sports can also be frustrating, but with practice, patience, and persistence, swimming and golf can both present you with a meditative-like form of exercise that I have found to be both fulfilling and fun!

About the author: Kevin coaches masters and triathlete swimmers in San Diego, CA. He operates the website www.TriSwimCoach.com, a resource for future or current triathletes needing help with the swim. The site features a free email newsletter offering tips and articles on triathlon swimming. Kevin has also written an electronic book titled ‘The Complete Guide to Triathlon Swimming’ which is sold on his website www.triswimcoach.com in downloadable form.

Golf
Tiger wins his 71st title, and had a course record 62 on Saturday that was the most exciting round of golf ever watched. So, Tiger is back on form. When will his next win come?

Football
College and Pro football has started and after two weeks of college football we say Oklahoma beaten by BYU, OSU looses and many of the hoarders of the top ten (usually BCS teams) still have a position in the top 10-15 with one loss over teams with unbeaten records and tougher schedules. Even though the excuse that they use against western teams other than USC is they don’t play a tough enough schedule. Well when I looked at the teams that were played by the BCS team the last two weeks ever one but two were week as they come. They were complete blow outs. Utah still has the nations longest winning steak, and we will see what Colorado will bring this weekend.

What you say?

When will Tiger’s next win come?

Which BCS team will stumble again?

CHASKA, Minn. — Y.E. Yang shook his fists and shouted with joy over a victory felt around the world. Equally stunning was the sight of Tiger Woods, standing over the final putt of the PGA Championship with nothing at stake.

The final major of the year delivered a pair of shocking developments Sunday.

Yang, a 37-year-old from South Korea who was in PGA Tour qualifying school nine months ago, became the first Asian-born player to capture a major title with a series of spectacular shots on the back nine of Hazeltine.

Fantastic Finish

Y.E. Yang’s final 49 holes illustrated just how good the 37-year-old was down the stretch at Hazeltine. After starting the tournament 5-over par, Yang regrouped to shoot 13-under en route to his first major championship win.

Thru 23 Holes     Final 49 Holes
Yang     +5     -13
Woods     -4     -1

Even more memorable was the guy he beat.

Woods was 14-0 when he was atop the leaderboard going into the final round of a major. He had never lost any tournament on American soil when leading by more than one shot.

Yang showed everyone how to beat him, from the stars who had failed so many times over the last dozen years, and perhaps to an emerging generation of golfers in Asia, the fastest-growing golf market in the world.

“It’s not like you’re in an octagon where you’re fighting against Tiger and he’s going to bite you, or swing at you with his 9-iron,” Yang said through an interpreter. “The worst that I could do was just lose to Tiger. So I really had nothing much at stake.”

When he saw Woods in birdie range at the 14th, Yang chipped in from 60 feet for eagle to take the lead. Clinging to a one-shot lead, a tree slightly blocking his view of the flag on the 18th hole and Woods in the fairway, Yang hit the shot of his life. His 3-iron hybrid cleared a bunker and settled 12 feet away.

And with that, Yang slew golf’s giant.

Gene Wojciechowski with Bob Harig

Gene Wojciechowski and Bob Harig discuss Y.E. Yang’s stunning upset of Tiger Woods on Sunday of the PGA Championship. Is it fair to say Tiger choked?

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Yang made the final birdie to close with a 2-under 70, giving him a three-shot victory when Woods missed yet another short par putt and had a 75, his worst score ever in the final round of the major when he was in the last group.

“All the other 14 major championships I’ve won, I’ve putted well for the entire week,” Woods said. “And today, that didn’t happen.”

Instead, it was Yang posing with the trophy and giving the longest press conference of his life. When he finally left Hazeltine, another celebration awaited. He has been eating every night at the Hoban Korean Restaurant, and the owners kept the doors open.

“They were supposed to be closed,” said Michael Yim, an IMG agent who works with Yang. “All the staff and the owner’s family were outside the store, giving us a standing ovation. They said, ‘If you can come at 3 in the morning, we would have kept it open.’ Their eyes were teary. What just happened is huge.”

For Woods, it was the second time he has finished runner-up in the PGA Championship at Hazeltine, both times to a surprise winner. Seven years ago, he birdied the last four holes and came up one short of Rich Beem.

This time, Woods made one mistake after another over the last four holes, mostly with his putter.

“I did everything I needed to do, except for getting the ball in the hole,” Woods said. “Just didn’t make the putts when I needed to make them.”

Yang’s victory is massive for Asia. Perhaps even more significant is the way he stood up to Woods, the world’s No. 1 player whose heritage is half-Asian through his Thai-born mother.

Yang and K.J. Choi are the only PGA Tour players who learned golf in South Korea before coming to America. South Koreans have had far more success on the LPGA Tour, with seven players combining to win 11 majors.

This might be my last win as a golfer. But it sure is a great day.
PGA Championship winner Y.E. Yang

“Golf in Asia has been growing steadily, so to have the guy who finally found a way to beat Tiger on Sunday is so big for the region,” Geoff Ogilvy said. “It’s hard for us here in the U.S. to imagine the impact this will have.”

His victory came four days after golf was recommended to become part of the Olympics in 2016.

Yang was No. 110 in the world, his only victory on the PGA Tour coming in March at the Honda Classic, on a course across the street from headquarters of the PGA of America. He was best known for holding off Woods at the HSBC Champions in China three years ago.

This stage was far bigger and Yang was even better.

He trailed by two shots going into the final round, caught Woods at the turn, and was tied with five holes to play when Yang chipped in for eagle on the 14th. When it looked as though nerves were getting the best of him on a three-putt bogey at the 17th, he delivered his two most important shots that brought him an unlikely victory.

“This might be my last win as a golfer,” Yang said. “But it sure is a great day.”

Y.E. Yang became the first Asian golfer to win a major championship title, besting Tiger Woods by three strokes at Hazeltine on Sunday.

Yang still had enough strength left to hoist his golf bag over his head, and later the 44-pound Wanamaker Trophy. After a long and tearful embrace with his wife, Young Ju Park, he walked across a bridge saluting thousands of fans who couldn’t believe what they saw.

In a year of spoilers at the majors, this might have been the biggest: Yang topped the mighty Tiger Woods.

Kenny Perry was poised to become the oldest Masters champion at 48 until Angel Cabrera beat him in a playoff. Phil Mickelson, reeling from news that his wife was diagnosed with breast cancer, was on the verge of finally winning the U.S. Open until Lucas Glover outplayed him over the final few holes. And just last month, 59-year-old Tom Watson was an 8-foot par putt away from winning the British Open, then lost in a playoff to Stewart Cink.

Woods losing a two-shot lead in the final round of a major? That was unthinkable — until a breezy afternoon at Hazeltine.

Yang finished at 8-under 280 and won $1.35 million, along with a five-year exemption on the PGA Tour and the majors. He became the first player since John Daly in 1991 to win the PGA Championship after going to Q-school the previous year.

One more bonus: His victory put him on the International team for the Presidents Cup in October in San Francisco.

Asian-born players had come close in the majors — Liang-Huan Lu of Taiwan finishing one shot behind Lee Trevino at the 1971 British Open, and T.C. Chen’s famous two-chip gaffe that cost him a chance at the 1985 U.S. Open, where he was runner-up to Andy North.

This could be a big breakthrough for Asian players, especially with a World Golf Championship starting this year in China.

Even South Korea’s president, Lee Myung-bak, got up before sunrise to watch the tournament live. He later phoned Yang to offer his congratulations.

“I woke up at dawn today to watch the broadcast, and you played in a calm manner,” Lee told Yang, according to Lee’s office. “First of all, you enhanced our people’s morale by winning the major title for the first time as an Asian.”

As for the PGA Championship, what remains is whether it will be remembered more for Yang’s victory for Woods losing a 54-hole lead for the first time in a major.

“He went out there and executed his game plan,” Woods said. “He was doing exactly what you have to do, especially in these conditions. I think he played beautifully.”

This was a two-man race throughout the back nine, especially after defending champion Padraig Harrington imploded in the group ahead of them on the par-3 eighth. Harrington was one shot behind when he hit two shots in the water — including a chip from behind the green, just as he did last week at Firestone — and took a quintuple-bogey 8. He shot a 78.

Woods three-putted for bogey at No. 4 for the second straight day and made bogey from the bunker at No. 8, sending the final pairing to the back nine in a tie for the lead.

Woods regained the lead with a 3-wood on the 606-yard 11th hole onto the green, only to give it back with a bogey on the 12th after he hit a wild hook into the trees. He twice missed birdie putts inside 10 feet — at No. 10 and No. 13 — and then momentum shifted to Yang.

With the tees again moved forward to 301 yards, Yang came up just short. He watched Woods play a good bunker shot to 8 feet, then knocked in his chip.

“That’s when I thought, ‘I do have a chance,’” Yang said.

He was steady. Woods was sloppy.

Woods chunked a 3-wood trying to for the green in two at the 15th, then missed another 10-foot birdie putt to tie. Both bogeyed the 17th hole, Woods with a shot he thought was pure until it landed into thick rough over the green.

“Tiger’s good, but he could always have a bad day,” Yang said. “Guess this is one of those days.”

Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press

Four of the five low handicap players scored 78 or better.

Dick Swayne and Tom Durenberger were playing together and battling it out the entire round.

Both players made the turn with two over par 38’s.

On the back Tom birdied the 10^th and Dick the 13^th and 16^th holes.

They were even going into the 18^th when Tom bogeyed from the middle of the fairway for his 37 and a 75 while Dick two putted from 40 feet for his par and his 74.

Dick felt pretty good that he would win medalist until he got into the club house and found out that his best “friend” Manthey had shot a super round of 36-35-71.

Ron’s playing partner, Gary McCartney, shot two 39’s for 78.

It didn’t really matter to Swayne because he and Ron both had two skins which were the only skins awarded.

At the end of the day, Swayne (65) again edged out Durenberger (65) for first place low net when he parred the third handicap hole to win first place low net with his 65.

“Sugar” Metz slid into third place low net with his net 68.

Gima Shinsho who played with McCartney and Manthey shot 80 and tied Gary for fourth low net at 69.

It went to the fourth handicap hole before Gary’s birdie earned him fourth and Gima took fifth.

If you were to talk golf with Mike Iorg, he would admit that the past couple of years have been a real struggle for various reasons.

“I’ve been able to come out each day and have the mind- set that just being able to play golf and enjoy whatever comes along with it has sustained my playing. And I think with the right attitude I have been able recently to shoot some decent rounds, and I guess today is one of those rounds.”

That would be an understatement, after Iorg shot 44-45-89 and a sizzling net score of 62 which was good enough this day for first place low net.

The next player was Sterling Johnson who also turned in a good net score of 67.

Two back of that was Jerry Hyland with a nice gross of 82 and a net 69.

Bringing up the last spot was a tie between Tom Greer and Tom Durenberger with net 72’s.

Both players parred the first handicap hole and on the very difficult old #15, Tom Durenberger got a very rare par four and snatched the last spot.

Gima Shinsho beat out all players for first place low gross with his 42-36-78.

Shinsho was the only player to shoot in the 70’s.

Everyone is going to love to read about the hole of the day.

Some might say it is pay- back time for recent articles, that what is good for the goose, is good for…yada, yada.

Eat the “humble pie” and let’s get on with it.

Tom Durenberger was only five over, with four holes to go, when he was standing over his second shot on the old #6 hole and proceeded to skull the ball along the ground heading towards the water.

He was much relieved to see that the grass clippings slowed the ball down enough to stop it 10 inches short of the water in very soft deep grass.

No stance, no problem!

He tried a left- handed shot.

He only had to hit it six feet to get back to the fairway.

Shot number three…8 inches, still in the deep grass.

Still got a left handed shot though.

Shot number four, another 6 inches.

Shot number five, whiff, shot number six another 12 inches.

Shot number seven, four feet out onto the side hill.

Is this sounding a bit like “Tin Cup”?

Shot number on the green, and of course, missed the putt.

Next play is on Tuesday, Aug. 11, at Falcon Ridge, at 7 a.m., and Thursday, Aug. 13 at 7 a.m. at the Canyons.

Check your sign-up sheets for location changes.

Don’t forget to use up your Mesquite Card course stickers before Aug. 31.

I think it would be cool if all the mens leagues had a playoff between Mequite and St. George’s league champions.

That would go a long way towards a more spectacular finish of the Mens Leaque.

Kind of like a southwestern FedEx Cup…you know!

That shot put the pressure on Padraig Harrington (Paddy).

Paddy as they call him on tour, had the next shot, and it hit the green and landed next to the bleachers.

Was Paddy TigerIzed Again?

The shot Harrington had to make on 16 would make an amateurs legs rattle. You have water on the other side of the green, it Sunday and the greens…their quick. He chooses a 56 degree wedge and swings…it sprays…hits the green and right into the water.

That led to a triple bogey and the eventual win, and Tigers 70th tour victory. He was also the first to win 7 times at the same course in tour history.

You know how much I like to golf in charity golf tournaments!

This is a great chance to get out of the heat, have fun and golf a new course.

Go get in… get going…beet the heat.

Use the form below for information or to just sign up.

Remember you can write off the golf…cool…course you knew that already!

See you their!

Kern River @ Paradise

Ninth Annual Charity Golf Tournament

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Paradise Golf Resort

905 N. Main

Fillmore, Utah

435-743-4439

Format will be an 18-hole scramble

Cost includes green fees, cart & lunch

$75.00 per person

Tee Time is 9:00 a.m. – Shotgun Start

Mulligans will be available at $5.00 each.  Only two per person will be allowed.

Door prize tickets will be $5.00 per ticket or 5 tickets for $20.00 (Tickets available to golfers only.)

To register, fill out the form below and enclose fees.  Make checks payable to “United Way”

Return your entry form and fees to:

Kern River Gas Transmission

Attn:  Karma Bailey

560 W. 900 S.

Fillmore, UT   84631

7:30 am to 4:00 pm – (435) 743-3500

E-mail to:  karma.bailey@kernrivergas.com

*****************************************************************************

Name                                                                                            Fee

1._________________________________________                       $_____________

2._________________________________________                       $_____________

3._________________________________________                       $_____________

4._________________________________________                       $_____________

Note:  If you do not have a foursome, sign up anyway and we will match entrants to form foursomes.

HOLE SPONSORSHIP:

Silver                   $  250.00 (Includes fee for one golfer)

Gold           $  500.00 (Includes fee for two golfer’s)

Platinum     $1000.00 (Includes fee for four golfer’s)

Your phone #_______________________           Total amount enclosed:  $________________

*Please return form by Friday, July 31, 2009 for Hole Sponsorship*

Will Tigers 70th career win come at Firestone CC (South Course), Akron, Ohio next week, or will it be at the PGA Championship Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minnesota the week after the Firestone tournament?

Tell what you think?

Will it be at Firestone?

Will it be at the PGA Championship?

Will it be neither one of these two tournaments Tiger at?

Give me you comments.

About the 2009 PGA Championship
The 2009 PGA Championship will be played August 10-16, 2009, at the Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minnesota. The PGA Championship features the strongest field in golf and is considered one of the largest sporting events in the world. Since 1916, golf’s best professionals have been competing for the PGA Championship’s coveted Wanamaker Trophy; including past champions Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Vijay Singh, Davis Love III, Jack Nicklaus, Sam Snead, Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan and Walter Hagen.

The Claret Jug is without doubt the most famous trophy in the game of golf. Commissioned in 1872 but completed in 1873, this elegant trophy – officially called the Golf Champion Trophy – was first presented to Tom Kidd, the 1873 champion, but Kidd was not the first name to be inscribed on it. That honour went to Young Tom Morris, the 1872 champion, even though the trophy had not been completed when he won the event.

The Nullarbor Links, which will span two time zones and measure more than the entire length of Britain, is expected to be completed next month and will host its inaugural tournament on October 22.

“We’re very excited about it. It’s been a long time coming and a lot of effort,” project chairman Don Harrington told AFP.

“This is the longest golf course in the world. It’s unique terrain, there’s something for everybody.”

The course, conceived five years ago “over a couple of beers,” is meant to attract tourists to the Eyre Highway which traverses the desolate Nullarbor Plain and hugs part of Australia’s southern coastline.

Golfers will stop at one roadhouse, play a hole, then drive on to the next tee—100 kilometers down the road in some cases. The par-71 course will take three or four days to complete with each player awarded a certificate.

Each hole will showcase a local attraction, from whale-watching to ancient fossil beds and a working sheep station, and include sights such as the Big Kangaroo statue at Border Village straddling South and Western Australia.

“There’s a lot of history and you can see all of that on a golf course,” Harrington said.

“Both Australian tourists and golfing enthusiasts around the world have shown support for what we’re doing.”

The course was the brainchild of Bob Bongiorno, who was managing a roadhouse at remote Balladonia when he came up with the idea.

Bongiorno, now living in Kalgoorlie at the course’s western end, said he tried hitting a few balls when he first moved into the Outback but got sick of encountering spiders when trying to retrieve them.

There should be no such hazards on the synthetic greens of the Nullarbor Links, although golfers who hit a stray shot into the desert will face a monster sand trap.

It looks as though Las Vegas Nevada, Mesquite Nevada, St. George Utah and Cedar City Utah would have to put all the cources together to catch up?

The first day of golf at Bethpage Black is more like a swimming match from the Olympics.

Some of the talk you heard was Michael Phelps would be very good today at this game; he could swim from lake to lake and hit shots in between.

The sights and sounds were of the grounds crew and their squeegees trying their run the tremendous amount water out of the fairways and off the greens.

After the second day, but only one round, played, we see Mike Weir on the leader board and Phil Michelson in second place with a strong card at the turn.

Tiger Woods is in the hunt, as well as notables Rocco Mediate and Sergio Garcia

So far today the weather’s been good and the scoring been great.

A good friend of mine said he was listening to commentators talk about the little placard in the pro shop that says, “If you didn’t bring your a game don’t pay the Black course.”

Bethpage Black and the other four courses at Beth page Park has to close to 300,000 golfers a year. With this Bethpage Black being the number one course that you will see people sleeping in their cars just to play.

It’s great to see one of the toughest municipal courses, and maybe one of the toughest courses anywhere, municipal or private.

The U.S. Open has always been a huge motivator for amateur golfers, semi pro golfers and golfers trying to get to the top, the PGA.

The line in Las Vegas is pretty good on this one.