The Australian Masters starts tomorrow at Victoria Golf Club, one of Melbourne’s sandbelt gems.   There has been no media hype, but the quality of course and the field sets up for an excellent tournament.   The lack of media attention has been deafening, with very little promotion and limited publicity.   It was always going to be a hard sell after the Masters was unceremoniously booted from its November spot to a week before Christmas.   Of course, something had to give in the hectic Presidents Cup period.  Unfortunately the PGA played on a resort course was given more prominence than the Masters played on a classic sandbelt layout.

The Masters also is Tiger-less for the first time in 3 years but the lineup is still impressive and stronger than the PGA field.   The headline act is another world number one, Luke Donald.  Two years ago, the Australian Masters hosted world number one Tiger Woods at Kingston Heath.   Whilst Donald doesnt have the Tigermania, he has had a pretty impressive year being the first player to top both US and European tours, a quick look at his year:

• PGA tour player of the year – 19 events, 2 wins, 14 top 10 finishes
• Leading PGA Tour money winner: $6.7 million
• European tour – 13 events, 3 wins, 10 top 10 finishes
• Leading European Tour money winner: 5.3 million euros

Very impressive stats from a player who is top of his game.  Donald is also supported by Ian Poulter (always referred to as the Flamboyant Ian Poulter), Italian young guns Matteo Manaserro, and a host of top Australians including Geoff Ogilvy, John Senden and Greg Chalmers aiming for the triple having won the Australian Open and PGA.

More information on the tournament available at http://www.australianmasters.com.au/

The early groups for the opening round of the Australian Open golf tournament are on the course, and already its a pretty impressive leaderboard.   Geoff Ogilvy leads from names including Bill Haas, Bubba Watson, David Toms and Dustin Johnston.  Plus the Presidents Cup captains Greg Norman and Freddie Couples.     Waiting in the Clubhouse are Tiger Woods, Hunter Mahan, Nick Watney, Matt Kuchar, Adam Scott and Jason Day.

The Australian Open has a rich history of world class winners including Norman, Nicklaus, Player, Palmer, Snead and Watson.  In recent years, the Open has fielded the best Australians and one or two top Internationals, providing a great showcase for Australian golf but no real focus outside Australia.   Thanks to the Presidents Cup next week, this weeks field includes 8 of the top 20 players in the World, plus that Tiger guy, and an excellent supporting cast.   It is arguably the best field ever for an Australian Open and hopefully provides more of a spotlight on Australian golf to the world.

Looking forward to a great four days of golf, and it looks as though they will earn it today as Sydney throws some pretty harsh weather their way.

iSwing  Golf  App Review The iSwing is one of a number of golf swing training apps that are now available for iPhone and Android.  I have tried a number of different swing apps and have found the iSwing app to be one of the best.    iSwing is available  for both the iPhone ($2.99) and Android ($3.40) devices.  The application is a simple yet effective golf swing recorder allowing video analysis of your swing by yourself or with a mate, or even better, with the local golf professional.   Each swing video is saved into a diary, and provides an option to review real time or frame by frame and aslo edit and email as a .mov file.  The app also allows key swing points and angles to be noted with a sketch pad option.

The swing diary and video review screens

Road Test

The iSwing app is simple to use.  The big “Record” button opens a video screen that include guides to help setup the shot.  And importantly, if its just you on the driving range, a timer feature allows you to prop your phone up on the golf bag, hit record and then gives you enough time to get to the ball and setup before a “beep” indicates it has started recording.     Recorded video is then saved into the diary for instant review and comparison with previous swings.

A short note can be added to each of the swings, and any of the video’s can be instantly emailed.  A useful feature if you want to show your professional the swing, or give your friends a laugh!

For an extra couple of dollars, an upgrade is available that includes pro-swings to compare.  I have the Android version that includes Adam Scott’s text book swing using a driver, 7 iron, wedge and sandiron.  This also allows you to compare your swing to one of the best swings in the game.

iSwing – Compare tool

The Word For a couple of dollars this is a very handy and recommended app for golfers of all levels. The iSwing provides a handy practice tool on the driving range to help with reviewing the golf swing and checking for problems, errors or lack of coordination!

Tiger Woods has now fallen outside the top 50 in the World Golf Rankings.   OK, its only just, he is currently ranked #51 but its the first time he has been outside the top 50 since October 13 1996.  And Woods is not in the form that would see him getting back into the Top 50 anytime soon.  Woods hasnt played since missing the cut in the USPGA, but returns to competitive action this week.

From a marketing perspective, its no surprise that Tiger Woods was selected as a Captains Pick in the US Presidents Cup team, because its certainly not on current form.  Players like Rickie Fowler, Ryan Moore, Brandt Snedeker and Keegan Bradley are all ranked higher than Woods and have better form, yet were overlooked.

Woods will bring specatators to the course, and increase TV viewers, but do they want to see Woods knocked out of matches 6&5?  Hopefully this isnt the case, and something sparks the Tiger back to life.

The number 16 in golf is usually reserved for the 3rd last hole on a golf course.  16 does appear occasionally on the scorecards of rank amateurs but Kevin Na reluctantly pencilled in a 16 on his scorecard in the first round of the Valerio Texas Open.  Playing the par 4 9th hole at TPC San Antonio, Na went into the woods with his tee shot and emerged 12 shots later having had unplayable lies, numerous hacks and a penalty for hitting himself with the ball.

Rather than walk off the course or completely fall apart, Na impressed with his attitude and focus with a 3 under  back nine of 33.  The record for a single hole score on the PGA Tour is 23 held by Tommy Armour and Ray Ainsley.

Thanks to pgatour.com, his hole went like this: 1     Tee shot right. Went down and found ball and declared an unplayable lie.  Went back to the tee box and hit another tee shot which went right in to the woods.

3     Tee shot, provisional 4     Played ball in the woods and hit a tree and the ball hit himself and took a two-shot penalty. 7     Hit ball in woods. 8     Hit ball in woods. 9     Hit ball in woods. 10     Hit ball in woods. 11     Hit ball in woods. 12     Hit ball in woods. 13     Hit ball from woods in to rough. 14     Played from rough to the fringe. 15     Played from fringe on to green. 16     Made putt from 5 feet, 10 inches

Shot tracker

Tiger however was still the drawcard at Victoria Golf Club, with a good supporting cast including Villegas, Garcia, Ogilvy, Appleby and top Australians, a pity Adam Scott was in Singapore.

I worked in the “Golf in Victoria” stand again this year, last year at Kingston Heath had been busy in the midst of Tiger-mania. This year was more subdued, but the crowds still wanted to see Tiger. Saturday at Victoria was forecast to be a shocker, and it didnt disappoint, grey skies opened and the rain fell, and fell and fell. Drenching Victoria golf club and all those within it!

Did manage to watch Tiger play a few holes, here he is playing a fantastic approach shot to the par 4 3rd hole, he missed the putt which was the story of his tournament.

As the rain continued a small lake appeared in front of our stand, three ducks decided that this was the place to be, and took up residence. The “great weather for ducks” joke stopped being funny after the 50th time. However, the day was proof that golfers are either tough or silly, as given the weather, there was still a lot of spectators, many very wet!

Alas, it wasnt me who pulled on the Gold Jacket at the end of the round, though it did fit rather well. A final round stoush between Aussies Daniel Gaunt, Adam Bland and Stuart Appleby, plus a backnine of 30 to Tiger, provided a close finish, and Stuart Appleby emerged as the 2010 Masters champion with an almost faultless final round.

This weekend, Jim Furyk’s swing, which looks like its been rebuilt by some wierd scientists, helped him become the Ten Million Dollar Man. By winning the Tour Championship on a rainsoaked Eastlakes course from a star-studded field, Furyk picked up a winners cheque for $1.4 million. The win also gave him enough points to finish on top of the Fed-Ex Cup, giving him a cheque for $10 million. The result wasnt decided until Furyk’s final par putt on the 18th hole found the bottom of the cup. A miss would have forced a sudden-death playoff with Luke Donald for both the tournament championship and the FedExCup.

My putting has serious issues when trying to tap in a putt at any time, but to face a putt for over $11 million dollars requires the right stuff! Jim will be now be able to afford some bionic implants to help his game, though he probably doesnt need any help right now.

A Diegio Maradonna – a very nasty five footer

A Salman Rushdie – an impossible read

A Rock Hudson – thought it was straight, but it wasn’t

A Cuban – needs one more revolution

An Elton John – a big bender that lips the rim

An Adolf Hitler – two shots in the bunker

A Yasser Arafat – ugly and in the sand

A Kate Winslett – a bit fat but otherwise perfect

A Kate Moss – bit thin

A Gerry Adams – playing a Provisional

A Rodney King – over-clubbed

An O. J. Simpson – got away with it

A Princess Grace – should have taken a driver

A Princess Di – shouldn’t have taken a driver

A Ladyboy – looks like an easy hole but all is not what it seems

An elephant’s arse – high and sh*tty

A condom – safe but didn’t feel real good

A circus tent – a BIG top

An Anna Kournikova – looks great, but unlikely to get a result

A Vinnie Jones – nasty kick when you’re not expecting it

A Ryanair – flies well but lands a long way from the target

A sister-in-law – up there but I know that I shouldn’t be

Freeway Golf wouldn’t be included in any list of Melbourne’s best public access courses, its a standard suburban public course, $25 for 18 holes. The course layout has been redesigned over the last few years, though I remember the Freeway fondly as one of the regular courses I used to play when learning this fine game. The daunting par 3 on the front nine across the lake was always a struggle, as was the drive from the 10th. I remember hitting one of the sweetest fairway woods ever hit at Freeway golf, the elderly lady in the group ahead wasnt too celebratory though as it bounced into her leg! There was also the rare sky hook on the 3rd hole that carried the massive fence onto the adjoining Freeway, and the anxious wait for the sound of ball on car rooftop!

Freeway golf has had increased competition from better suburban public access layouts such as Growling Frog, Kingston Links and Waterford Valley and unfortunately progress and land values look to have won the battle. If the rumour is true, I’ll have to play a final game at Freeway Golf and relive old times!

Whilst the pro’s pinpoint accuracy should remove about 957 bunkers from the equation, if the wind picks up it could get nasty. And this is the type of course that could reduce the club golfer into a sobbing feotal position with nightmares of being eaten by sand monsters.

Enough sand to wear out the grooves on the sand wedge

Vijay Singh won here in 2004, and the field is wide open. Tigers woes a well documented, though he seems to find an extra something in Majors. Lefty Phil should be the one the beat, and whilst he missed an opportunity last week to take the World #1 title from Woods, this could be the week. Would love to see Adam Scott up on top of the leaderboard coming into Sunday. Will the links style suit an Aussie win?

The 17th is the signature hole at Whistling Straits, named the “Pinched Nerve”