I had a chance to attend the final round of the 2009 AT&T National at Congressional Country Club yesterday. My brother won us a pair of tickets in a contest at Waggle Room and thankfully, invited me to go.

Given my goals and interests, attending a PGA Tour event is an awesome day for me.  I’m a big fan, but being a student of the game, I can’t help but switch into sponge mode and take in everything I can learn about how golf is played at the highest levels.

I thought I’d share some of the random things I learned and experienced.

Tiger is Amazing

OK, you knew that.  But, I promise you, you can’t fully appreciate how he hits a ball until you see it in person.  Preferably, do it from a position like this:

I wish I could say that Tiger and I are good pals now, but alas, he still has no idea who I am.

My brother and I staked out this position on the 18th tee for about ten groups.  We saw a lot of big names come through, but when Tiger Woods got there, the atmosphere was different. It helped that he was about to win the tournament, but it’s always like that with him. When this shot was taken, Anthony Kim was in the process of drilling a spectator. Too bad he didn’t hang on for the win, but he’s got a lot of potential and a terrific golf swing.

Incidentally, note to the Tour: the marshal there on the right, whose name I regrettably neglected to get, was awesome.  He was kind enough to chat with my brother and I in the long breaks between groups arriving at the tee.  It was great to learn a little about what being a marshal is like and he was just a generally good guy. Not to mention, he was all business when it was showtime.

He also shared a little tidbit of tournament trivia:  on the way to the course during the tournament, Ryan Moore was stuck in traffic and had to abandon his courtesy car and run a mile to the course.  He had time to hit 5 balls on the range and then had to tee off.  Yet, somehow, he was only a few groups from the final pairing on Sunday.  Amazing.

Bad Breaks Aren’t Reserved for Amateurs

It’s easy to think that golfers at that level don’t face the same kind of adversity on the course that we do.

We staked out a spot near the 6th green for a couple of hours and saw maybe the last dozen pairings  pass through.  Of those, at least four players hit into the pond by the green.  It’s quite a long hole, coming in at 518 yards, but the drive is down hill to a fast fairway and the players didn’t have all that long second shots.  Most were under 200 yards.

Jim Furyk is the one that really stands out.  He narrowly missed getting on the green by maybe a yard, but ended up in the water.  He dropped back a ways, maybe 100 yards or so to give him a perfect distance for whichever wedge he hit.  He hit up on the green a little beyond the pin and the ball zipped back right by the pin and into the water again.  We didn’t have a good view, but it looked like it could have passed right over the edge of the hole.

He carded a triple-bogey there and went on to finish +2 for the day.  If he could have gotten a par there, that would have put him at -1 for the day and tied for 3rd in the overall standings.  How many of us could have hung in that well after blowing up like that on the 6th, especially when the second shot into the green seemed perfect, but had just a bit much spin on it?  The difference between us and them is that they recover better from adversity.

Avoiding Adversity Altogether

Not only do tour pros get over bad scores better than we do, but they have a knack for avoiding them in the first place.  From that same vantage point on the 6th hole, we saw Anthony Kim hook his drive into the woods on the left.  It’s already a tough enough hole without doing that.

Instead of letting the situation get out of hand by attempting a miracle, he laid up down the fairway to a desired distance, stuffed a wedge, and drained the putt for an amazing par save. It might seem like it on TV, but pros don’t go tee->fairway->green all the time.  Their recovery skills are razor sharp, though, letting them mend bad mistakes by playing on other strengths.

The Spin on Spin

Sometimes I wonder why I don’t spin the ball like the pros do.  After watching Tiger tee off on 18, we started to head to the shuttle because the green was a mob scene, we knew he was a lock to win, and we were facing a long drive home. On the way out, we cut back across the other course at Congressional and eventually back across the 6th hole where we sat earlier for a couple of hours.

By then, the ropes were gone so we walked up the fairway a bit and I couldn’t help noticing how tight and firm it was.

It’s no wonder they spin the ball like that!  It’s like hitting off a range mat!  There was an intermediate cut of rough around the fairway that was about the height of the fairways at my home course.  That also explains why sometimes I feel like I crush a drive but it ends up going 290.  On a fairway like that, I bet I’d get at least 20+ more yards of roll!

Feel that Tempo

Sometimes it doesn’t seem like it, but the tempo of a tour pro’s swing is an amazing thing.  Jim McLean has used the phrase “effortless power versus powerless effort” in the past, and watching these guys, you see effortless power.

I really paid attention to the rhythm that the pros possessed as they hit their drives from my spot on the 18th tee.  Almost none of them looked like they were trying to put “oomph” into the ball. I brought that imagery home with me and as I practiced and played this evening, I really tried to get a sense of that and started hitting the ball much better.

Tempo is something that I’ve been working on for a while.  I have pretty good tempo, but my tendency is to hit a few good shots and then adrenaline kicks in and I crank it up a notch and then everything gets thrown off.  Tonight, I really tried to avoid that and am very, very pleased with the results. I’m going to really put a lot of effort into that area as the season goes on.

One Swing Does NOT Fit All

I’ve known this forever, but it’s interesting to observe in action that there is no cookie-cutter swing at the highest level.  Every player’s swing is distinct.  Some look more “textbook” but many have various idiosyncrasies. The tempo varies, the setup varies.

I’ve heard it said that most players at that level look similar at impact.  Certainly, though, they have an infinite combination of ways to get there.  That should be a lesson to us all that golf is not about mimicking a specific swing, it’s about making shots.  Certainly we want to work out any flaws we may have that cause problems.  But there’s no reason to think there’s one “proper” way for your swing to look.

Attitudes are Like As- … Uh, Nevermind

It’s interesting to see the emotional demeanor of each player as he goes about his job.  Tiger is famous for his determined focus.  In general, you might think that all tour pros are like that, but the working attitudes of pros are as varied as their swings.

Being there gives a much different picture of what happens between shots.  When the TV broadcast skips around from shot to shot to shot, life goes on.  Different pairings have a different rapport with each other.  Some were kind of in their own little worlds.  Some were just chatting away like old pals.  Some horsed around with each other, keeping the mood light.

It was eye-opening to see that you don’t have to exhibit an icy stare to succeed at a high level.  Even Tiger could be seen chatting with David Feherty, Anthony Kim, and keeping it generally light in between shots.  I’m not saying he’s Lee Trevino out there, but he’s doesn’t always walk around looking like he wants to rip out the hearts out of his competition.  He’s serious, but not a machine, even if he happens to play like one.

The Tough Test of a Tour Course

Maybe it’s just me, but while Congressional is a beautiful course, it seems like it would be easier to play than my own home course.  The place is perfectly manicured, the fairways were really wide, and the rough wasn’t that bad most places (except maybe right around the greens), compared to my course, anyway.

I’m not saying I’d  be transformed to a scratch player on a course like that, but I’d like to see how I could do on a similar layout.  It might take me a bit to get used to the speed of the greens, but I bet I could outscore my home course where many of the holes are narrow and ringed with trouble on both sides and where the rough borders on ludicrous.

Then again, maybe not.

Valuable Learning Experience

If you’re a student of the game and have never been to a PGA Tour event, I think you’re missing out on a great learning experience.  Even if you’re not much of a fan, there’s so much that can be learned by watching the best players in the world play the game.

I feel like I learn something every time I go out.  This was only my third event, and was the first time I was there on a Sunday.  The atmosphere is a little different on Sunday, especially since it was a Tiger event and one which he went on to win.

If you have the opportunity, I highly recommend getting out there and watching an event.  You won’t regret it.

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