Two down, one to go – races, that is – here at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The Brickyard 400 was run last Sunday, with Jimmie Johnson winning for the second time in a row and third time overall. Jimmie was at the course Friday, July 24 to accept his ring for last year’s victory and to also announce the Jimmie Foundation golf outing to be played at a later date.
Boo Weekley showed up on Friday to check out the action at the Brickyard and got in a little golf that afternoon. Boo is exactly what you see. He is very friendly, courteous and just a lot of fun to meet and be around. He went over to see Dale Earnhardt Jr. and picked up a few items for a charity auction he is doing later this year. He picked a door and spoiler from the 88 car. Also from the Tour, our good friend Jim Gallagher Jr. and his son Thomas and friend Jake came to the race. It is always good to see Jim. Jim represented the Brickyard on Tour for a number of years and has always been a good friend to the IMS and Brickyard. Jim and the boys got in a little ball-hocking in the creek before the race and walked away with some nice golf balls. Our blogger from the Nationwide Tour, Craig Bowden, also came to the track to watch the race.
Speaking of the Gallagher’s, Jim’s sister, LPGA tour player Jackie Gallagher Smith, is here this week. Local company Allison Transmissions is entertaining some customers this week and decided to tie in some golf with their visit. Jackie, myself and the rest of the professional staff have been doing two clinics a day for their customers, then taking them out on the course for a round of golf. The clinics concluded Friday.
The U.S. Senior Open started Thursday at Crooked Stick, and the leaderboard is full of stars. Greg Norman got off to a good start and was tied for the lead with Joey Sindelar at 6-under par. This is going to turn out to be a very exciting tournament with plenty of birdies to be had, but Crooked Stick will jump up and bite you very quickly. Fuzzy Zoeller is playing, and fellow Hoosiers Randy Nichols and Scott Morris shot 75 and 76 in the first round, respectively. Randy was at 1-under when the Stick got him on No. 14 and No. 16 with double-bogeys.
As far as predictions, I think it is wide open. Weather right now has not been a factor as Thursday the rain stayed south, and the winds have been somewhat light. Scoring conditions should be ideal with good weather scheduled for the weekend.
Last Friday, I participated in the Meridian Hills Shootout and got to see the renovations that took place over the past year. I must admit: The course definitely got harder. During the shootout, I partnered with Pat Welch of Woodland Country Club, and we finished fifth. My putter was not very good as the first six holes are alternate shot.
Coming up here at the Brickyard next week are the Challenge Cup matches where the top amateurs in the state take on the top professionals. It is 36 holes and is contended very much like the Ryder Cup, with the morning being best-ball matches and the afternoon being singles matches. I am happy to report that I will participate. I was hoping to play in the senior division, but unfortunately I am in the regular division, so I have to say hello to those back tees once again.
I need to give a shout-out to my good friend and fellow professional Will Hutter. Will was the professional at Wolf Run and Sea Island and is now at the Governors Towne Club in Atlanta. Will had to have some surgery to remove a kidney on Tuesday of this week. Will is recovering nicely, and his results are very favorable. I want him to know that just because he is short a kidney, he is not getting any shots, no matter how much he whines!
Remember, the Brickyard is in awesome shape and tee times can be made daily through our Web site.
Until next week, keep practicing, and remember fairways and greens lead to lower scores.
Jeff Schroeder
PGA Head Professional
Brickyard Crossing
After some disappointing golf in Florida, it was off to the annual PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando. The Show, as it is called, is the largest golf-related exhibition that I know of in the world. It takes up the entire Orange County Convention Center, with anything and everything that could be related to golf and some things that are not.
There was not much buzz this going into The Show as there has been in the past other than a few new drivers were debuting and Titleist’s revamped ProV1 golf balls.
The Show starts out with an outdoor demo day at Orange County National Golf course. Every major manufacturer was there except for Taylor Made, which has one of the hottest drivers on the market now with the R9. The entire course’s practice facility was being used, and if you have ever been to OC, then you know how large it is.
All the manufacturers large and small had their equipment there to demo. We walked around and looked at all the major companies and spent a little more time talking to our good friends at Bridgestone. They had their ball-fitting challenge equipment there and were slammed with people getting fitted for the right golf ball. They don’t have any new clubs coming out this year, but some of their staff players are using some prototype drivers from Japan.
If you have not been through this ball fitting, it is well worth the time to see if you are playing the right ball. As a matter of fact, we will be trained by Bridgestone to do this on our equipment we have here at Brickyard Crossing. Check our Web site in the future for dates when we will conduct ball fittings and more this season.
Back to The Show.
So demo day was quiet but interesting. A few Tour professionals were there, including Trevor Immelman and Suzanne Petersen for Nike Golf. Both put on a little clinic promoting Nike’s new clubs the Victory Red and the new Dymo driver, which is adjustable. It allows you to change both the loft of the club and the face angle. In other words, the shaft can be inserted at three different angles to change the playability of the club. The Taylor Made R9 does the same thing.
A few more Tour pros made appearances, the biggest being Boo Weekley, who was promoting his new Boo line. The Boo line, as you might expect, features camouflage. Just think camouflage shirts so you can hide after you a terrible shot.
The opening day of The Show was pretty quiet. No hoopla like in past years, just a lot talk among industry folks about the economy and how it has affected golf. I would say that attendance overall for the show was down somewhat, and some companies participated in demo day but did not have floor space at the convention.
On the last day of The Show, I spent most of my time in the teaching aids and what I call gadget area checking out the latest products. The teaching aids are truly the fun part of The Show since you see something that definitely helps your students.
One of the items that will help me is a putting aid called Putt Easy (www.easy-waygolf.com). The next product is a little more complicated, the Golf Achiever. The Golf Achiever has multiple functions. It can be a club-and ball-fitting tool along with swing analysis, and most importantly, it also can be a simulator at a reasonable price. It would be pretty cool to have the Brickyard as a simulator course.
On the clothing side of The Show, not much new out there. Materials are about the same: Every company has tech wear (polyester).
That’s it for this week. Next time, we will talk about getting ready for golf here in Indiana and talk about what’s happening on the PGA Tour.
Jeff Schroeder
PGA Head Professional
Brickyard Crossing
The Ryder Cup is over, and the Americans came through despite being “Tigerless.” It just goes to show that just because Tiger is on the bench that American golf, and golf, in general, isn’t down until his return.
New stars and heroes emerged from Valhalla Golf Club, just down the road in Louisville. Players that bomb the ball like JB Holmes and Boo Weekley captured golfers’ hearts with their go-for-broke, swing-from-the-heels attitudes. They also brought something we had not seen from the Americans in past Ryder Cups – team spirit.
The U.S. Open lived up to all it was supposed to be, the return of Tiger and the feel-good story of Rocco Mediate.
Tiger’s victory over Rocco did come with a price. Tiger is now done for the season and must have some more surgeries to repair his knee. The question that everyone asks now is will a new star emerge or will Phil Mickelson take over as the new Tiger?
These are very good questions, and I am sure everyone has their opinion, so here is mine.