Senior Cup qualifying in 2012 will be on the weekend of June 23rd and 24th. Metropolitan venues are Killeen, Stackstown and Royal Dublin (might see them get past the first round this year ). Provincial venues are Black Bush, Craddockstown and Rosslare.
Barton Shield is on June 9th and 10th at the South County and Malahide for the Metropolitan area. Provincial qualifiers are in Balbriggan, Coolattin, Curragh and New Forrest.
May 26th and 27th is Junior Cup, at Dunalk, Moate, Newbridge and one other Provincial venue TBC. Metropolitan courses will be Edmondstown and Elm Park, who will both have good home teams, and Hollywood Lakes, Rush and Sutton.
June 16th and 17th is Jimmy Bruen qualifying, at Baltinglass, Mullingar, Navan and New Ross for the Provincials. Metropolitan courses are Old Conna and Howth (17th and 23rd) and another TBC.
Spare a thought for the unfortunate folk in the Metropolitan area of Pierce Purcell qualifying on May 19th and 20th at Ballinascorney, Hollystown and Slade Valley, with another venue TBC... I'm guessing Spawell. Pronincial venues are Abbeyleix, Ashbourne, Co. Longford, Glenmalure and St. Helen's Bay.
Friday, November 18, 2011
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
My Quest for a DMD: the easiest €31 Paddy Power will ever make, and the most expensive blog I've written to date
Ok, here's the thing. As most of you know, the GUI have just approved a motion to permit Distance Measuring Devices in all Championships, Cups and Shields. This presents me with a problem, having hither-to refused to buy a piece of kit that I couldn't use on the days I most wanted to play well. Sadly, I am now in the midst of saving to buy my first place to live and I do not have €300 to splash out. Typically, I won a deadly Bushnell one of these in 2008 and immediately sold it... Dang.
Solution? I need something of a miracle. I am the worst gambler in history. I make about 5 bets a year and have won about once in the last 10 years. But you could say I'm due. You could also say I'm fecklessly retarded when it comes to picking winners, but this is a time for positivity.
The Plan
I've picked 3 bets for the World Golf Championship Match Play, each with a potential return of roughly the price of a good DMD.
Luck? I don't just need luck. I need the snap-hook I just hit to ricochet off the club house and pop back into the fairway.
Bet 1: €10 on McDowell & Casey to both win their sections
Potential Return: €385
Bet 2: €5 on McIlory & Donald to win their sections.
Potential Return: €240
Bet 3: €10 on Mickelson & Kaymer to win their sections
Potential Returns: €330
Silly Outsider Bets
Quiros €2 to win @ 40/1
Johnson €2 to win @ 33/1
Bubba Watson €2 @ 80/1
I will update later in the week. Wish me luck!
Yours in still pacing yardages,
ShriekingSheet
Solution? I need something of a miracle. I am the worst gambler in history. I make about 5 bets a year and have won about once in the last 10 years. But you could say I'm due. You could also say I'm fecklessly retarded when it comes to picking winners, but this is a time for positivity.
The Plan
I've picked 3 bets for the World Golf Championship Match Play, each with a potential return of roughly the price of a good DMD.
Luck? I don't just need luck. I need the snap-hook I just hit to ricochet off the club house and pop back into the fairway.
Bet 1: €10 on McDowell & Casey to both win their sections
Potential Return: €385
Bet 2: €5 on McIlory & Donald to win their sections.
Potential Return: €240
Bet 3: €10 on Mickelson & Kaymer to win their sections
Potential Returns: €330
Silly Outsider Bets
Quiros €2 to win @ 40/1
Johnson €2 to win @ 33/1
Bubba Watson €2 @ 80/1
I will update later in the week. Wish me luck!
Yours in still pacing yardages,
ShriekingSheet
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
The R11 Myth
From 2000 to 2007, official PGA Tour stats show that Tiger Woods gained 4.2 yards in averaqe driving distance. At the turn of the millenium, the world #1 was using a Titleist 975D with a steel Dynamic Gold X100 shaft. Seven years later, with a vast spectrum of "improvements" to the shaft, driver-head, ball and not to mention his own physical development, Woods was still driving the ball more or less the same distance.
I'm simply using Woods as an example. You can take pretty much any player, and the stats tell a similar story. Over the same seven year period, David Toms gained 7.1 yards, Steve Stricker added 6.9 yards, and to go way back to 1995, Davis Love III hits it 4.1 yards further, after 12 years of so-called improvements in driver technology. You could be forgiven for drawing the conclusion that this years model probably goes one or two yards further than last years club, at best.
This month sees Taylor Made release their new flag-ship driver, the R11. They're telling us the R11 will go "6 yards longer" than the recent R9 Supertri. Of course it does.
Let's take Taylor Made's claims as fact for a minute, and look at the same period as above. In 1995 the Burner Bubble was on the scene. The following year, the first Titanium TM driver came along, in the Ti Bubble, probably adding 6 yards. A year later came the Ti Bubble 2 to offer another 6 yards in distance. That spent almost two years on the shelf before the launch of the Firesole in 1999, adding 6 yards to your drives. In 2000, we had the 300 Series. In 2002, throw that old 300 Series in the bin, the R500 Series was the way to go. Then the R7 Quad in 2004, was the real deal - better than anything before it. The R7 425 in 2006 brought even more improvements. The R7 SuperQuad in 2007 was trumped by the the Tour Burner Driver in 2008, which went 6 yards longer. The R9 blew everything out of the water in 2009, until today, where we've finally attained perfection with the R11.
By this rationale, since 1995, pros an amateurs should be hitting the ball 72 yards further. If you hit it 252 yards now, you would have driven the ball 180 yards the year What's the Story Morning Glory came out.
Do people really belive that the R11 has some scientific elements that the last two decades of supposedly in-depth research simply didn't cop on to? With the millions of dollars, pounds and euros flooding into the industry, and being ploughed (supposedly) into R&D, did no one think of making the thing white before? To reduce glare from the sun and make it easier to see in shade? (actual claims on the website). I mean, which is more likely: that Taylor Made "scientists & engineers" have made significant break-throughs since the R9 was released, or, that they figured if they make it a different colour and slightly change the shape they'll get a load of muppets to buy them.
Yes players are hitting it further now, but you have to take into account their bodies, and how much fitness, strength and conditioning has changed. Also the ball has changed a fair amount. And coaching has come on a bit too, especially seeing as the "power game" is a relatively new thing. The point is, even when you take the increase in driving distances (pros or amateurs) over the past ten years, this gain in distance can only partially be put down to new driver technology.
I've no particular issue with Taylor Made by the way. I use Tour Burner irons myself. Most other club makers are just or almost as bad.
My conclusion is, if you get a new driver every 3-5 years, you're more than up to speed with the latest "developments". If you're hitting what you have side-ways and want to change, fair enough, but a couple of lessons might be cheaper, and more effective.
PS: If you're wondering why the opening stats were all from 2000 to 2007, it's because the PGA Tour don't provide official distance stats on their site after 2007. I'm no consipiracy theorist, but is there half a chance they don't update these because it clearly shows new drivers aren't adding 6 yards with every model?
I'm simply using Woods as an example. You can take pretty much any player, and the stats tell a similar story. Over the same seven year period, David Toms gained 7.1 yards, Steve Stricker added 6.9 yards, and to go way back to 1995, Davis Love III hits it 4.1 yards further, after 12 years of so-called improvements in driver technology. You could be forgiven for drawing the conclusion that this years model probably goes one or two yards further than last years club, at best.
This month sees Taylor Made release their new flag-ship driver, the R11. They're telling us the R11 will go "6 yards longer" than the recent R9 Supertri. Of course it does.
Let's take Taylor Made's claims as fact for a minute, and look at the same period as above. In 1995 the Burner Bubble was on the scene. The following year, the first Titanium TM driver came along, in the Ti Bubble, probably adding 6 yards. A year later came the Ti Bubble 2 to offer another 6 yards in distance. That spent almost two years on the shelf before the launch of the Firesole in 1999, adding 6 yards to your drives. In 2000, we had the 300 Series. In 2002, throw that old 300 Series in the bin, the R500 Series was the way to go. Then the R7 Quad in 2004, was the real deal - better than anything before it. The R7 425 in 2006 brought even more improvements. The R7 SuperQuad in 2007 was trumped by the the Tour Burner Driver in 2008, which went 6 yards longer. The R9 blew everything out of the water in 2009, until today, where we've finally attained perfection with the R11.
By this rationale, since 1995, pros an amateurs should be hitting the ball 72 yards further. If you hit it 252 yards now, you would have driven the ball 180 yards the year What's the Story Morning Glory came out.
Do people really belive that the R11 has some scientific elements that the last two decades of supposedly in-depth research simply didn't cop on to? With the millions of dollars, pounds and euros flooding into the industry, and being ploughed (supposedly) into R&D, did no one think of making the thing white before? To reduce glare from the sun and make it easier to see in shade? (actual claims on the website). I mean, which is more likely: that Taylor Made "scientists & engineers" have made significant break-throughs since the R9 was released, or, that they figured if they make it a different colour and slightly change the shape they'll get a load of muppets to buy them.
Yes players are hitting it further now, but you have to take into account their bodies, and how much fitness, strength and conditioning has changed. Also the ball has changed a fair amount. And coaching has come on a bit too, especially seeing as the "power game" is a relatively new thing. The point is, even when you take the increase in driving distances (pros or amateurs) over the past ten years, this gain in distance can only partially be put down to new driver technology.
I've no particular issue with Taylor Made by the way. I use Tour Burner irons myself. Most other club makers are just or almost as bad.
My conclusion is, if you get a new driver every 3-5 years, you're more than up to speed with the latest "developments". If you're hitting what you have side-ways and want to change, fair enough, but a couple of lessons might be cheaper, and more effective.
PS: If you're wondering why the opening stats were all from 2000 to 2007, it's because the PGA Tour don't provide official distance stats on their site after 2007. I'm no consipiracy theorist, but is there half a chance they don't update these because it clearly shows new drivers aren't adding 6 yards with every model?
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Barton Cup 2011 Preview
2010 Champions Laytown & Bettystown begin their defence with a relatively soft home tie with Killinbeg. Stiffer opposition awaits in Round 2, playing the winner of Headfort and Dundalk. L&B beat Headfort 3.5 to 1.5 in Round 4 last year.
Stackstown and Milltown play a local preliminary match, with 3 games to be played on the steep slopes of the Garda club. Both clubs put plenty of effort into their club teams, but were both hopeless last year. Milltown made a surprise exit in Round 1, being turfed out by Tulfaris, a club with only a handful of serious players to choose from. Stackstown were disqualified in Round 1 for fielding what was thought to be a 4/10 partnership, only to find the 10 handicap player had been 9 for a brief period the previous season.
Arklow used a good win in last years' Garden Trophy, (a Barton Cup warm up tournament among ten clubs in Wicklow), as a springboard to reach last years BC Quarter Final. This time around, Arklow kick off with a very tough away tie with 2008 Barton Cup winners, Enniscorthy. My money is on Enniscorthy.
Naas should be a strong side this year, having won the Junior Cup last season. They kick off with a home fixture with Rathsallagh. Rathsallagh had a poor showing in 2010, following a dismal performance in the Garden Trophy with a Round 1 exit from Barton Cup to Craddockstown. That said, there does seem to be some development in their squad, as they fielded a number very young, and very talented players in the opening game of Garden Trophy last week. I expect some of Brendan McDaid's new crop of students will improve their team, but Naas will be much too strong, especially with three matches at home.
This season sees the members of Druid's Heath make their interclub debut, for the first time entering seperate teams from their wealthy buddies at Druid's Glen. They have a tough opening game with the European Club, but interestingly, if they progress we will see a Glen V Heath match in Round 2. What an opportunity to stick it to the landlords!
Stackstown and Milltown play a local preliminary match, with 3 games to be played on the steep slopes of the Garda club. Both clubs put plenty of effort into their club teams, but were both hopeless last year. Milltown made a surprise exit in Round 1, being turfed out by Tulfaris, a club with only a handful of serious players to choose from. Stackstown were disqualified in Round 1 for fielding what was thought to be a 4/10 partnership, only to find the 10 handicap player had been 9 for a brief period the previous season.
Arklow used a good win in last years' Garden Trophy, (a Barton Cup warm up tournament among ten clubs in Wicklow), as a springboard to reach last years BC Quarter Final. This time around, Arklow kick off with a very tough away tie with 2008 Barton Cup winners, Enniscorthy. My money is on Enniscorthy.
Naas should be a strong side this year, having won the Junior Cup last season. They kick off with a home fixture with Rathsallagh. Rathsallagh had a poor showing in 2010, following a dismal performance in the Garden Trophy with a Round 1 exit from Barton Cup to Craddockstown. That said, there does seem to be some development in their squad, as they fielded a number very young, and very talented players in the opening game of Garden Trophy last week. I expect some of Brendan McDaid's new crop of students will improve their team, but Naas will be much too strong, especially with three matches at home.
This season sees the members of Druid's Heath make their interclub debut, for the first time entering seperate teams from their wealthy buddies at Druid's Glen. They have a tough opening game with the European Club, but interestingly, if they progress we will see a Glen V Heath match in Round 2. What an opportunity to stick it to the landlords!
Monday, January 17, 2011
Funny Golf Ads
For anyone who's as bored out of their tree as I am with this weather, here's a few funny golf ads from around the place. My personal favourite is the G10 ad, if only for the phrase "you will have your lunch handed to you". Enjoy!
Ping G10 and iSeries
Crime Deterent
Compact Swing
EA Sports
Fed Ex
Ping G10 and iSeries
Crime Deterent
Compact Swing
EA Sports
Fed Ex
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
All Downhill from Here
For one reason or another, I had never gotten around to playing The Curragh, but popped down last week with a mate of mine to check it out. You hear mixed reports about the place, so I wasn't sure what to expect at all.
You can always tell a non-Dublin course, even just by pulling into the car park, and the atmosphere you get from the place. I'm a Dub myself, so it's not a biased slight, but there's something about golf clubs in the countryside that just welcome you, rather than eyeing you suspiciously, wondering if you've valid reason to be there. See Kevin Markham's blog from the start of February for more on this.
So yeah, as you'd expect from the oldest golf course in Ireland, there's a real charm to the place. I enjoyed the course a lot. It plays very fast, even at this early stage of the season, with some real no-go areas around (and on) the greens. My first putt on the quite sloped practice green just missed, and curved onwards, 15 feet past the cup (4 feet of which was fringe). A second putt left me marginally less club for the return shot, and a third managed to actually stay on the putting surface. Satisfied with my analysis (I hit a practice putt into the car park at the Lord Mayor's last year, so this constitutes a pretty reasonable warm-up for me), I headed to the first tee.
The standout features of The Curragh are undoubtedly the par 5s. The opening tee shot of the first is pretty damn awesome. The second shot is quite a straight-forward chip sideways from the trees, and I find it can be reachable in three in good conditions. The two par 5s in a row on the back 9 are a big hitters dream.
Aside from digging up the golf course, I was glad to get a look at Curragh member, Keith Egan from last year's Ireland u16s panel hitting some shots about the place. Obviously, he looked completely savage. It's a pretty impressive, tour-esque swing, as opposed to some of the more unorthodox amateurs around at the moment.
Having Kicked off at Fota Island last month, the Top Golfer Tour continues into a busy period for Junior Scratch players the next couple of weeks. Castle has what I think is their first ever Junior Scratch Cup this Friday, followed by the Rosslare event on Sunday. The bank holiday weekend then has competitions at Wesport and Glasson. The timesheet for the Castle event is booked solid from 8.30am to 4pm for some time now, which is great to see. Some muppetry on the boards.ie golf forum last week portrayed the upcoming Roganstown event in a pretty poor light, but for me, the thread did just as much to show how the vast majority of the scratch cups still are actually great value. Rumour has it, upon reading the thread criticising Roganstown's ridiculous decision to charge visitors and members the same €40 fee, a quick adjustment was made to the member rate.
In non golfing news, the excellent LCD Soundsystem have a new album out soon. You can stream it here. Unfortunately their two gigs in Dublin were cancelled this week, due to lack of air transport, but they're reportedly rescheduling in late June.
Now where did I leave my short game...
You can always tell a non-Dublin course, even just by pulling into the car park, and the atmosphere you get from the place. I'm a Dub myself, so it's not a biased slight, but there's something about golf clubs in the countryside that just welcome you, rather than eyeing you suspiciously, wondering if you've valid reason to be there. See Kevin Markham's blog from the start of February for more on this.
So yeah, as you'd expect from the oldest golf course in Ireland, there's a real charm to the place. I enjoyed the course a lot. It plays very fast, even at this early stage of the season, with some real no-go areas around (and on) the greens. My first putt on the quite sloped practice green just missed, and curved onwards, 15 feet past the cup (4 feet of which was fringe). A second putt left me marginally less club for the return shot, and a third managed to actually stay on the putting surface. Satisfied with my analysis (I hit a practice putt into the car park at the Lord Mayor's last year, so this constitutes a pretty reasonable warm-up for me), I headed to the first tee.
The standout features of The Curragh are undoubtedly the par 5s. The opening tee shot of the first is pretty damn awesome. The second shot is quite a straight-forward chip sideways from the trees, and I find it can be reachable in three in good conditions. The two par 5s in a row on the back 9 are a big hitters dream.
Aside from digging up the golf course, I was glad to get a look at Curragh member, Keith Egan from last year's Ireland u16s panel hitting some shots about the place. Obviously, he looked completely savage. It's a pretty impressive, tour-esque swing, as opposed to some of the more unorthodox amateurs around at the moment.
Having Kicked off at Fota Island last month, the Top Golfer Tour continues into a busy period for Junior Scratch players the next couple of weeks. Castle has what I think is their first ever Junior Scratch Cup this Friday, followed by the Rosslare event on Sunday. The bank holiday weekend then has competitions at Wesport and Glasson. The timesheet for the Castle event is booked solid from 8.30am to 4pm for some time now, which is great to see. Some muppetry on the boards.ie golf forum last week portrayed the upcoming Roganstown event in a pretty poor light, but for me, the thread did just as much to show how the vast majority of the scratch cups still are actually great value. Rumour has it, upon reading the thread criticising Roganstown's ridiculous decision to charge visitors and members the same €40 fee, a quick adjustment was made to the member rate.
In non golfing news, the excellent LCD Soundsystem have a new album out soon. You can stream it here. Unfortunately their two gigs in Dublin were cancelled this week, due to lack of air transport, but they're reportedly rescheduling in late June.
Now where did I leave my short game...
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Colin Byrne - Bagman TV
This guy has written the most interesting golf column, week on week, for some time now. His slot in the Irish Times possesses not only the insider understanding of the tour that Liam Kelly, Dermot Gileese & co just don't have, but also the honesty to present it in a candid and unpretentious way. Many golfers will be familiar with Colin Byrne's work through his excellent 2004 book, "Bagman", and it’s sequel in 2009. Having parted ways with then employer Retief Goosen, the Irishman is now caddying for rising Scandinavian star Alexander Noren.
A TV Documentary will take in a short string of tournaments, including the Irish Open and The Open Championship, the Swede's relatively small but personally important home championship, and culminating in a thrilling finale in the Swiss Alps.
The documentary is split into two separate hour-long episodes, the first being shown on Setanta Sports prior to Sunday's Masters coverage, and the second the following evening.
In other news, Barton Cup preliminary rounds have mostly been concluded. There weren’t too many notable upsets, with the exception of St. Anne’s turfing out Portmarnock, and an interesting clash between Grange Castle and Newlands, the former coming out on top 3-2. The rest of the ties met fairly predictable outcomes, albeit without any real hammerings.
As Round 1 fixtures kick off in the coming days, there are relatively few fixtures of interest, many of the traditionally stronger teams having reasonably handy draws. Rathfarnham face a re-match with The South County, having beaten them in Round 2 last year, and Westmanstown have three home matches against Castle, which will be tricky for both teams.
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