[Flagstick Golf Magazine]

Without the distraction of real holes Mike Weir's golf swing was more than on form yesterday. Unfortunately when it came to hitting fairways out on the course the same could not be said.

This could be an issue for the sentimental Captain's pick who is sure to face the most scrutiny this week with the President's Cup being in his home nation.

That is not to say Weir played poorly, in fact during a nine hole loop with Retief Goosen and another solitary four holes yesterday Weir hit some fantastic irons and rolled in the putts. The driver though...not so good.

Left: The result of Weir's first approach shot yesterday.

To summarize here is how nine holes went off the tee for Weir (remember this is practice so a few extra balls is normal).

Hole #1...driver to right rough
Hole #2...3 wood to right bunker
Hole #3...hits fairway with driver
Hole #4...a second fairway - he's on a streak now.
Hole #6 (#5 is a par 3)...flares two balls left into rough just off fairway and then he starts a number of swing sequence practices as he strolls off the tee.
Hole #8 (#7 is a par 3)...biggest flares yet...two balls deep into the Apple Orchard (the search party of me, the PGA Tour's Doctor Buster Brown (real name, no kidding) and a friend of Weir) can only find one of the two balls. A third ball weakly finds the fairway.
Hole #9..another fairway but the trajectory is not strong and he is some 20 yards behind Goosen.

Word is that Weir and one of his Stack & Tilt gurus had a heated discussion recently when Weir was playing an exhibition match in the Toronto area so the it remains to be seen how his swing changes will really pan out - or if he will stay committed to the method. Apparently the issue that day was just what I witnessed yesterday, poor driver results.

By my observation he swung the irons beautifully yesterday, his swing not too dissimilar to the look of the past. The driver though? Let's just say he has a couple extra moves that are leaving the club face routinely open.

Unfortunately the game is just that much harder to play from the rough..and the Apple trees.

Let's hope he can get it ironed out by Thursday when he will just have one chance from every tee deck.www.flagstickeditorsdesk.blogspot.com

[rgk5]

The poor driver and great irons are similar to Aaron Baddely's faults. Same theory and identical issues.

[sergizmo]

^^^^^

Yep. All the stack and tilters seem to have trouble with the driver (short and crooked), but hit great iron shots. It's a pretty big compromise.

[Asleep]

I believe SliceFixer pegged this as a potential S&T problem a while back.


When Mike was connecting with the driver earlier this year, he was getting the best distances I've ever seen for him.

[Johnny]

sergizmo, on Sep 26 2007, 01:32 PM, said:

^^^^^

Yep. All the stack and tilters seem to have trouble with the driver (short and crooked), but hit great iron shots. It's a pretty big compromise.

I'm bad enough.. I could never go S&T and give up more.

[sergizmo]

Johnny, on Sep 26 2007, 06:41 PM, said:

sergizmo, on Sep 26 2007, 01:32 PM, said:

^^^^^

Yep. All the stack and tilters seem to have trouble with the driver (short and crooked), but hit great iron shots. It's a pretty big compromise.

I'm bad enough.. I could never go S&T and give up more.

Me neither. I already hit the ball no-where as it is.

[tiltmaestro]

had major problems today.....hit every fairway, beat the number 1 player in the world.........

[sandy]

How great was it also to see him beat Tiger after Tiger came back. Particularly after Tiger did his "band majorette" celebration driver twirl while walking down the fairway, and also after the extra iron twirl on 17 only to find it wasn't even as close as Mike who promptly drained his. 18 was the best though el foldo went to el tigre---great work by Mike Wier under the most pressure possible.

[tiltmaestro]

every player who is ususing s and tilt has hit more fairways than previously....so much for the driver argument!!

[Kerry_Bunker]

Not trying to start "that" debate nor am I against S&T (I would call what I do a modified S&T myself) but didn't they say on the telecast that Gary PLayer (how long ago ?) told Mike to not put so much weight on his left side with the driver and Mike has more recently changed his swing again ?

I know it sounds silly but I believe that is what NBC was suggesting.

[Kerry_Bunker]

I meant not put so much weight on his right side (he is of course left handed) !

[tiltmaestro]

nbc is suggusting wrong and gary player is a crock for suggesting that. its true he made that comment and also true it was taken with a grain of salt.

[PingEye2]

I agree that it shows that Gary Player doesn't understand what S&T is all about, but....I did notice that Weir's lef., errr...right heel comes slightly off the ground with the driver. It doesn't seem like he could do that and keep his weight over his forward foot?

[tiltmaestro]

the front heel can come off the ground and still have as little or as much weight on it. nicklaus often had his front heel off the ground but a lot of weight on the front foot. having said that s and t would not have the front foot of the ground.

[Lumpy_22]

Seems like he played well the whole President's cup. Besides Vijay holing chips from everywhere, didn't see too many other bright points...

I agree Mike probally shouldn't have been there, and had the event not been in Canada, he definately wouldn't have been, but that being said, it was wonderful watching him play well.....