Technology And Golf
June 1, 2010
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 As much as I wish it is, this is not my day job. I am an IT professional by trade, as defined as the thing that people actually pay us to do so we can feed our families. And much like a lot of other IT guys I know, I'm also a gadget freak. When I started playing golf a few short years ago, I was flailing away helplessly at the ball, wondering like heck at the mysterious flight paths the ball took without really understanding why. Determined to get to the bottom of it all, I decided to do a bit of research and found that there are a whole industry of training aids, gadgets, gizmos and doodads all promising to fix my swing plane and correct my timing and basically turn me to Indonesia's answer to Tiger Woods (a much less fit and desirable to the opposite gender version). And of course, I jumped whole heartedly into it all.
And now, it's 2010, my storage room has a healthy pile of these training aids (or junk, as my disapproving wife calls them), and my swing plane still changes depending on the phases of the moon, the size of dinner I had last night, and quite possibly also the will of the golfing gods, wherever they are. And now, thanks to Steve Jobs and his horde of marketing geniuses, I have the most dangerous thing to a golf gadgeteer like me in my pocket at all times: The iPhone.
On my iPhone, I now have applications, or 'apps' as we call them, that can take video of my swing and compare them to those of pros, 3 separate golf GPS applications, 12 golfing tips videos, and apps that can tell me what to do if I slice, hook, push, or pull the ball. I have apps that will tell me what to do if I'm in a bunker, on the fairway, how to do a punch shot from under the trees, and of course when to take a penalty stroke after losing a ball in the water hazard. again. The problem is, when I play a round, I'm usually too distracted by getting a lock on my GPS and trying to adjust the brightness of the screen to concentrate on my swing. And forget the app that promises to tell me quick fixes to my slice (or hook) (or push) (or top). It's one thing to sit at home and note down calmly how changing your grip or adjusting your swing length can fix whatever it is that ails you, and quite another thing trying to do the same thing while out in a hot sun, trying to ignore the smirks your flightmates are trying to hide, and wondering if you have enough balls left in your bag to last through the round after the latest water hazard fiasco.
 But they are fun. I haven't told my wife yet how much money I've spent on these GPS apps yet, but I have six of them, and since all of them are made in the US, coverage of Singaporean and Malaysian courses are a bit spotty at best. So I have to use 6 GPS apps to cover the last 12 courses I've played, with, at an average of US$6 a pop. Not expensive but no really economical use of money either. And it's fun to play as if it matters if this wedge shot I'm about to attempt is 80m or 95m from the front of the green, while in reality I most likely will chunk it 40m along with a huge clod of dirt followed by some colorful language thrown in for good measure.
I tell ya what's the best solution: go manual. My ultra low-tech golf scope takes all of 3 seconds to aim to the flag, line up against it and tell me how far is the flag. Yes it can measure only up to 150m, but to tell you the truth, if it's more than 150m away from the flag, it doesn't really matter what club I use. Grip it, rip it, and pray like hell. And of course, the most reliable golfing aid you can use is still an experienced caddy. I once played with this amazing caddy up in Malaysia that from looking at my driver swing on the first tee, accurately predicted all the yardages for all my clubs much better than I could ever have. After the third time she overrode my club selection resulting in me hitting the green in regulation, I asked her how are you DOING this ? She just smiled and shrugged, and said "I can just feel it, Boss". She earned a huge tip that day. Which shows you, whatever software is running in her brain, is way more advanced than a dozen of my iphones put together. Nothing beats the human experience and savvy. Now my question is.. is there an iPhone app for that ??
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Golf Course Designers and Why They Hate your Guts
April 4, 2010
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As a rank amateur (and believe me there are few amateurs ranker than me), I am completely at the mercy of the golfing industry. I am already a complete sucker for the marketing hype of every one of my golf clubs, and everybody from the caddies to the club pro to the towel boys are making money off my voluntary donations, but there is one guy whose job is to make you interested enough to make you want to come back, but not frustrated enough that you throw all your clubs into the water hazard and drive the cart off the elevated tee-box.
We are talking, of course, of the golf course designer. Having played in quite a few golf courses, I can pretty much detect a few patterns in golf course design and here are my guesses of what went through their minds. I believe these are very very smart people with an intricate understanding of the human spirit just which buttons to push in your brain to keep you wanting more even as your ego is being vigorously flushed down the toilet.
 1. "Take their hopes away": The diabolical par 3. A Par 3 should be a chance for 90% of the players to have a shot at birdie. A good tee shot and a good putt is all it takes. But of course that would be boring. Let's put trees to the left and right of the fairway with a 10m gap between them. Let's put a bunker right in front of the green. And the back. Heck, let's put a couple around the side as well. Hey, how about if we make them cross water ? Let's put the whole frickin' green on an island. Make it reachable only by a rowboat. Rowboat ? No no let's use a helicopter (click the link, it's well worth seeing). Mwaahahahhaha.... It's gotten to the point whenever I go to a new course, I look at the scorecard and put mental flags against the par 3 holes, expecting some weird twist on each one. And usually I'm proven right.
2. "Make them walk": the long long par 5. Now, I have played with some spectacularly big hitters, guys who can regularly get on the green in 2 even on a long par 5. The first time I saw one of these guys line up a putt for eagle it brought a tear to my eye, especially as at the same time I was lining up a putt that will salvage me a triple bogey. I have absolutely nothing against these guys, and when I grow up I wanna be like them. But thanks to them the golf course designers have seen fit to add in a few kinks to an-already-lengthy par 5. Let's move the tee boxes back. Put in a fairway bunker or three. Plant  a tree in the frickin' middle of the fairway. And put in a water crossing here, here and here... now let's see these guys reach the green in 2. Which is all well and good for these superhuman golfers, they'll just shrug and settle for a birdie putt, while the effect on middling-to-mediocre golfers like me is a complete mental breakdown. One course like this is the Horizon Hills course in Johor Bahru. Wonderful course, but pretty darn challenging. For the 2nd hole, it says on the course guide "Average players will be best served if they treat this hole as a par 6 laying-up short of the two forced creek crossings". No kidding. Lost 2 balls there and got a bit discombobulated to say the least. But it was a very nice course and by the 18th I was starting to have fun again.. and the 18th swung into view. I took a look at my scorecard, noted the two water crossings, and the hockey-stick dogleg right across water, and I swear, I hit 7 iron, 7 iron, 7 iron, 7 iron, 7 iron, Sand Wedge all the way to the green (much to the amusement of the caddy). And still manage to lose 2 balls in the various water crossings. Not proud of it, but I can just see the guys who designed this hole have a quiet smile to themselves. (Will I still go back to play Horizon Hills ? Heck yes !! And I can see the smiles grow wider on the designers' faces)
3. "Distract them": The Scenic hole. For example: The back 9 of the Desaru Golf Club im Johor is wonderful, three fairways are lined up against the beach with crashing waves as far as the eye can see, and a cool sea breeze blows through the air. I took so many photos when I played there, so much so that I failed to notice that my scores were getting thrashed on these holes. And yet I feel wonderful, as my wedge shot overshot the green into the greenside bunker again, I just shrugged, took a few more photos, and went to my next shot, skipping the 10-15 second usual self-recrimination and asking the heavens why oh why moments. And we went back to play again the same afternoon. With similar results. I've thrown away the scorecard but I still have the photos:)
4. "Fear Factor": Tee box right next to water. The more water the better. This is a favorite trick even for the "Mickey Mouse" courses like the NSRCC par 3 course, where 3rd hole lake has claimed an inordinate amount of my cheap Dunlops and on one horrible occassion, a Titleist ViX that somebody gave me. Nongolfers would hardly think hitting a stationary ball with a stick is much cause of fear, but tell that to the poor 24+ handicapper who has to cross 170m of water to reach the distant fairway. Which is exactly what Mauna Kea Golf Course's 3rd hole, designed by Robert Trent Jones, makes golfers do, adding crashing waves and brilliant blue skies to combine this challenge with strategy number 3 above. A true test of courage, and nongolfers, please stop sniggering.
 5: "Confuse 'em": Is this a par 4 ?? Just when you think they've had enough fun toying with your mind, there is one more trick left up their sleeve: The long, difficult par 4. I'm sure everybody has had this experience: you are playing on a 400m+ par 4, dogleg right with a water crossing, and after a titanic struggle you reach the green in 4, you look up from your putt to your flightmate and ask "Hey, it's still a par putt right ?" and you are then reminded that since it's a par 4, you actually got a putt for bogey. I don't know about you, but more often I would then miss the putt and have to settle for double bogey. It's a pretty mean trick, making your body feel that it's working its way through a par 5, distracting your brain enough to forget it'a a par 4 which means your expectations are rudely adjusted at the last minute. Nasty.
Right, I've had enough ranting for today. Now for some positive comments. These above factors, in a well-designed course, will be balanced with a lot of fun and beautiful features on the course that will make you want to come back for more. For example, although I think Horizon Hills' 2nd hole was a bit early in the day to be socked in the gonads mental-wise, the 15 subsequent holes were quite fun to play until the shocker of the 18th hole hoves into view. And Changi Golf Club's middle 3 holes (it's a 9x2 holes course) which are quite challenging are bookended by interesting holes which makes you feel good starting and lets you finish on a high note. So yes, golf is a wonderful wonderful game. I'm addicted to it and I don't ever wanna stop, no matter how many double-water-crossing par 5s they throw my way :)
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Tiger Woods and Michelle Wie: Study in Contrasts
March 1, 2010
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I guess the highlight (or lowlight) of the time since I posted last was Tiger Woods stopping the sporting world in its tracks by his very public apology. I even was asked to write a little bit about it for the GOLF magazine here in Singapore. I don't know, opinions will differ of course, there are people who thought he was being completely sincere, and there are others who think he was being a complete phony. People will dissect and interpret it forever, or at least until he returns to golf. Much has been said also about the fact that Elin his wife was not there in the room with him. I for one felt that it was quite sincere, even if it's pre-scripted, and I was quite touched by the long hug his mom gave him. Say what you will about what the guy did, but that single moment meant more to me than the 15 minute script he read before. The guy screwed up, lost millions, his life will never be the same again, but at the end of the day, his mom still loves him. We'll have to wait and see how the soap opera plays out, and you can bet it will still be a five-ring circus, so stay tuned.
 But after the whole Tiger Woods affair left a bad taste in everybody's mouth, there is still many good things about golf that makes it a wonderful game. For one, there's the Rossa putter I got myself at a recent golf sale here in Singapore, and there was my daughter Angie's first ever par at the NSRCC par 3 course, and of course there's the LPGA for a refreshing alternative. Speaking of the LPGA, recently they came to town in the form of the HSBC Women's Champions. And this year, Michelle Wie is coming. Excuse me, let me rephrase it the way my daughter says it . OMG OMG OMG DIDYA HEAR MICHELLE WIE IS COMING OH MY GODD TAKE ME THERE PLEEEEEEEEEEZZZZZZZZZZ..... you get the idea.
Anyway, after Angie has been bouncing off the walls for the past 2 weeks, the day finally came and we went to Tanah Merah Country Club for the Sunday final round (the first 3 rounds, sadly, we missed due to the demands of the Singaporean education system. Translation: mounds of homework). By that time, Wie had fallen out of contention, 5 strokes off the lead but never mind that. We came early, enjoyed the bus ride from the parking lot (7km from the course, surely an LPGA record for the furthest you have to park from a tournament), collected our armful of HSBC goodies and headed to the first tee. On the way, we saw Julie Inkster, Christie Kerr and Ai Miyazato on the putting green. I tried to tell Angie that these were the tournament leaders, but she just went "uh huh, uh huh, where's Michelle ??". So on that note, we went to the first tee to await Wie's arrival. And then, we saw a tall, slim figure shake the hands of the marshals saying "Hi, I'm Michelle". The marshals looked a bit starstruck themselves, maybe they were thinking "She's introducing HERSELF to US ??". Angie next to me was starting to hyperventilate OMG OMG OMG it's her !!, until I had to keep on pointing to the marshal with the big QUIET sign. Note to self: where can I get one of these QUIET signs ? I can use it around the house.
And I looked around at the massive crowd around us, and I realised unfairly or not, that this was going to be the biggest gallery in the whole course. Park Inbee and Maria Hjorth, Wie's flightmates, have the unfortunate luck to be also under the gaze of this crowd. As the round went by, we can see that Park seem to suffer under the pressure more, and Maria Hjorth who has way more experience seem to enjoy it much more.
 Anyway, they teed off and the crowd swarmed behind the threesome as they strode down the fairway, or in Wie's case, off to the trees to the right (she outdrove the other two, naturally). On the second tee, we met our friends from TeeOne Natasha and her dad Matt, I gave up my folding chair to Natasha. The two girls look so cute as they sat on the folding chairs next to the green, dressed in pink golf stuff from head to toe. We actually got quite close to Wie a few times, and she even threw Natasha her ball after the fourth hole. Natasha responded with open-mouthed awe, so her dad made her thank Wie after the next hole. She missed an easy putt on the next hole and had to settle for a bogey, and as she exits the hole her face is knotted in annoyance. But as Natasha piped up "Michelle, thanks so much for the ball", Wie's face transformed to a bright smile as she said "You're welcome". That single moment shows me there's still a lot of hope for Michelle Wie in the future, if she can still forget her bad shots to make a little girl's day. Natasha and Angie spent the next few holes running after Wie and staring at her like she was some sort of golf goddess. Completely star struck.
The girls got tired after 9 holes so we opted to wait Michelle out near the 18th green. We saw Joey Poh, the amateur pride and joy of Singapore finish out her round, firmly in last place but with her head held high. We made sure the girls know who she was and to clap extra hard. We also saw Jiyai Shin miss a short putt that dropped her from a T2 to 3rd place, a difference of about 60K USD. Lucky I've never had to play for more than $50, I'm not sure what I'd do if the kids' college funds are on the line on a putt. Finally Michelle Wie and her flight came through, and holed out to finish their rounds. Zoom goes the girls, with Uncle Matt in tow, to the autograph line. I was tidying up the empty hotdog boxes and water bottles the girls left behind so by the time I got there, there was a pretty dense knot of people, at the centre of which I guessed, correctly, was Michelle Wie. I grabbed Angela's spare pink baseball cap and joined the scrum. I managed to get to the front row (or at least, my arm with the hat stuck out of the front row), and yelled "Michelle, you're my daughter's hero ! Pleeezz !!" Not sure if she actually heard me or not but she did double back and scrawled her name on it, to my everlasting joy as a dad. And when I found the girls later, I found out she's got another signature too on her other hat, no pleading needed in her case, she just needed to stand there and look cute, something she's very good at. At this point she is absolutely hysterical of course.
 Anyway, we went home tired, a bit sunburnt, sweaty but happy. My day was complete when Angie said "Thanks dad, I had a really nice time". I don't know if Angie will ever be an LPGA pro or even a single handicapper, but today the golfing gods and the LPGA has given us a wonderful day, one that we won't forget. As a dad, I know days like this doesn't come very often, and this will definitely go in our top 10 golfing experiences so far file. Later at home, we saw Ai Miyazato's won the tournament. While I am happy for her to win her 2nd victory in a row, unfortunately at the time of her winning putt I was more occupied by pressing demands for a Burger King cheeseburger from my starving daughter. So congrats Miyazato-san ! And Michelle, hope you come back again next year. Angela's already made a reservation with me for the next five years actually.
So there you go. I've managed to combine the lowest point of golf in Tiger's personal nightmare to the highest point in Singapore's golfing year in the HSBC tournament. Golf still has a lot of joy to give us, even though I still dream of the time when I can break 100. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got practice to do.. wonder how long before I can replicate those graceful sand shots the ladies did on the 18th greenside bunker..
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