Amy Winehouse Ugly? That Must Be Really Bad!

I watched the CBS broadcast of the Colonial last weekend. There was plenty of poor play, but one player hit such an awful shot that it would've embarrassed a hack like myself. The quick-witted Gary McCord deadpanned, “That shot was ugly, very ugly. That was Amy Winehouse ugly.” I hit the floor laughing.

If you think about it, that must have been one helluva ugly shot. Because not only is Amy Winehouse fugly appearance-wise, she has an ugly drug addiction problem, an ugly attitude, and a downright ugly voice, IMHO. When I first heard her music, it sounded to me like a woman high off her rocker on crack. And that was before she was caught smoking the rock on video! I've heard her albums multiple times out of sheer peer pressure to be cool, but I just don't get it. I find her music old-fashioned and nothing special. It is perplexing to me why she is so popular and receives so much universal praise for her music. I'm tempted to hold American Idol-like auditions at drug rehab centers around the country to find the next "musical genius" and really milk this craze!

I applaud Gary McCord for continuing to interject his hilarious but dead-on accurate comments during golf broadcasts. While uptight old farts like the Men of the Masters might find his comments offensive, I find them entertaining, especially during boring golf tournaments. Gary McCord is good, very good. He is Tiger Woods good. Well maybe not that good!

Watch "The Science of Golf"!

Last month there was a really cool golf TV show produced by the PGA Tour and IBM called "The Science of Golf":

"The Science of Golf will show how the best players on the PGA TOUR utilize cutting edge technology to elevate their game to the highest level," said Gil Kerr, the Tour's SVP of Programming. "We went inside the laboratories of virtually every major golf equipment manufacturer. We sat down with the best swing coaches in the game today—including Butch Harmon, Hank Haney, David Leadbetter, Jim McLean, Jim Flick and Dave Pelz—and we have combined this with the best of the PGA TOUR archives and never before seen super slow motion footage to capture how the best players in the game utilize science and technology on and off the course."

It featured a lot of great slow motion swing and ball impact sequences all in glorious HD! If you missed the original airing, you'll have another chance to watch it:

"Part 1: The Power Game" will be re-broadcast Sun., June 24th from 12:00pm - 1:00pm EST.

"Part 2: The Short Game" will be re-broadcast Sat., July 7th from 2:00pm - 3:00pm EST.

If you're a golf junkie, be sure not to miss it!

Update: "titleistman1" has posted "The Science of Golf, Part 1: The Power Game" in seven parts on YouTube. Below is the first part. Thanks titleistman1!

The Tiger-Proofed Masters

This seems to be the consensus opinion on the 2007 Masters:

1. “Tiger-proofing” has made Augusta National too difficult
2. As a result, birdies and eagles were rare, taking the excitement out of the event
3. Bottom Line: It was a borefest

I must be in the minority, but I thoroughly enjoyed the 71st Masters. Maybe the setup was too difficult for a traditional Masters, but when it comes to tournament golf, I prefer attrition warfare over shootouts. Don’t get me wrong, I do believe that a course can be too difficult. The 2004 U.S. Open at Shinnecock was a prime example of the silliness that can arise from a sadist greenskeeper gone wild. But as long as a golf course is fair, I think that it’s fine. After all, everyone plays on the same course.

The difficult conditions left a wide-open Masters for the final round. On Sunday, Stuart Appleby, Rory Sabbatini, Retief Goosen, Zach Johnson and Tiger Woods all owned a piece of the lead at some point. Call me crazy, but I find such a “neck and neck” competition much more interesting than someone trouncing the field by 5 strokes the entire day.

Unfortunately, there was one key ingredient missing from this year’s Masters that would have made it magical: a classic Tiger charge. We all expected it, but it never came. Uncharacteristically, Tiger lost a final-round lead! However, don’t blame the course for that, Tiger clearly didn’t have his A, B or even C game. But take nothing away from Zach Johnson. He did not fold under the pressure and instead played brilliant golf. Unlike many winners this year, Zach won this tournament.

But imagine if Tiger was his usual self and forced Zach Johnson into a playoff ala Bob May in the PGA Championship circa 2000. Wouldn’t that have been exciting? All of a sudden, this Masters goes down in the history books as one of the best ever. Oh well, I guess Tiger is indeed human. It's either that or the Masters has truly been "Tiger-Proofed." Regardless, I'm just glad that I watched it all unfold on CBS in 100% high def, unlike that NBC "HD-lite" treatment.

Nick Faldo Joins CBS Sports: Birdie or Bogey?

Last week it was reported that Nick "Han" Faldo joined CBS Sports as its lead golf analyst. This is welcome news for anyone who was a fan of Faldo in the ABC booth and was concerned about his future when ABC bailed out on the PGA Tour. The news only gets sweeter as it means that Faldo replaces Lanny Wadkins, arguably the weakest link of the CBS golf team. Faldo now completes an all-star golf broadcast team that includes David Feherty, Peter Kostis, Bill Macatee, Gary McCord, Peter Oosterhuis, Bobby Clampett, and Jim Nantz. Faldo will take the co-captain's seat in the tower alongside Jim Nantz.

While adding Faldo to the CBS dream-team looks wonderful on paper, there's no guarantee that it will be a match made in heaven. Faldo worked out great at ABC because he injected a needed shot of humor into a broadcast team that was the television alternative to Ambien. Faldo also turned out to be a great foil to the usually serious but opinionated Paul Azinger. Both of them livened up ABC's golf coverage immensely.

However, Faldo will join a CBS team that's already the most entertaining in the business, chock-full of interesting and humorous personalities. David Feherty and Gary McCord are two of the funniest and wittiest sports commentators. I will always remember the time when I saw a pro hit an errant shot on a CBS telecast and then hearing Feherty quip, "Well, it looked good until he hit it." These are the kind of humorous comments that make CBS golf tops in my book. Will adding another funny fellow to the mix be too much?

Living in the heart of the entertainment industry, I have been exposed to the stand-up comedy culture first-hand. Surprisingly, it is a very competitive and cutthroat business where envy, jealousy and ego often turn comics against each other. Yes, comedians secretly want their fellow comedians to bomb. Sometimes, when these people are forced to work together, the results can be disastrous. Several casts of Saturday Night Live are proof of this phenomenon.

But if the chemistry is right, funny people can feed off of each other and produce great entertainment. The Howard Stern Show is one example where it keeps getting better every time they add a new cast member. While it remains to be seen whether the CBS golf team will improve with the addition of Faldo, can you really go wrong hiring someone with a Spinal Tap-esque British accent? Regardless, I can't wait to hear him comment about SwingVision. Also, it'll be interesting to see if Faldo mutters anything "offensive" during the Masters broadcast. Would the "Men of the Masters" dare banish a former Masters champion? I'm sure Gary McCord will take notice.

CBS' SwingVision Rules

They say that absence makes the heart grow fonder. Well, that couldn't be more true for me this past weekend when there was an absence of CBS golf coverage.

Why you ask? Well, who doesn't get a chuckle or two out of David Feherty's and Gary McCord's witty comments? But the real reason is CBS' super-slow motion "SwingVision" swing analysis feature. It's the coolest thing in golf broadcasting since...well let's be honest, there haven't been that many cool innovations in golf broadcasting ever.

SwingVision takes slo-mo and kicks it up a notch. It's able to capture the full golf swing at an astounding 1,000 frames per second (fps)! But what really makes it cooler than other slo-mo features, is that there is a camera solely focused on the ball at impact. You know how they say to "hit down" with your irons? While it's true, it's probably one of the hardest things to comprehend in the golf swing. I know that it took me a very long time to fully understand the concept. Well, it is instantly understood when you see a close-up of Tiger's 7-iron (my guess) spanking the rock on a descending path and then clipping a shallow divot in textbook fashion:



SwingVision is a great feature that tremendously improves watching golf on TV. I only wish that CBS used it more. And why not? I mean, there's usually enough downtime during a typical golf coverage to fit in a full-length feature film.

Anyway, if there's enough interest, I can try to dig up some more SwingVision screen shots. I think I can get screenshots of Tiger and Els hitting the driver. Please leave comments of what you want to see, and I'll see what I can do. Stay tuned.

P.S. Here's the video of Tiger hitting iron off the tee:



The following are some additional SwingVision-related posts on Grouchy Golf. Eventually, I'll have all the videos available for you to enjoy, so be sure to check back in the future!:

Vijay Singh Driver

Briny Baird Iron Video

Ernie Els Driver

Darren Clarke Shank Video

Ernie Els 3-Wood Video

Justin Leonard Driver Video

Tiger Woods Iron II Video

In addition, check out the Eye of the Tiger. It is a great video that gives you an idea of what Tiger Woods sees when he makes his super swing!