While most people will be celebrating the “unofficial” end of summer this weekend, the top golfers on the LPGA tour will all be gunning for Pat Hurst as she defends her State Farm Classic title. Cristie Kerr, who won this event in 2004 but narrowly succumbed to veteran Hurst in 2005, will be out “headhunting” for her. Annika Sorenstam, who required an 18-hole playoff at the U.S. Women’s Open in order to defeat Hurst has entered the final field, her first event at the Rail Golf Course since 2001. Perhaps Sorenstam is back here not only because of a commitment to play ...

Click here to listen. Even though Tiger Woods played his C+ game this weekend at the Bridgestone, he persevered. Yawn. Another week, another victory…that makes four in a row, doesn’t it? Despite a playoff with rival Stewart Cink (2004 winner) Woods’ strong mental game allowed him to stay focused with his “eye on the prize". We are simply amazed by Tiger Woods’ ability and discuss his golf tips on “how to master the mind” straight from his book, “Tiger Woods: How I Play Golf”. In my opinion, Bobby Jones comes in a close second. Remember, Jones still remains the only person ever ...

Time has a way of slipping by during the summer season, especially if you’re not winning on the tour. There can only be one winner per event and the problem with that statement is that there are approximately 75 remaining “losers” each week. Although both Natalie Gulbis and Morgan Pressel have been touted early on as two ladies to watch, their performances have been short of perfection. Come on guys, who remembers the person who came in second…especially on the LPGA tour? Both are great golfers (I can’t beat them…yet) but they have not set themselves up to win, just to ...

If Carolyn Bivens can’t do it, at least Donald Trump is attempting to make the LPGA more visible to golf afficionados. Using his almighty “pull” where he has impacted communities, Trump is now asking Briarcliff Manor (my hometown) to change an ordinance in effect when he was allowed to take over the old Briar Hall golf course. Granted a special permit in 2000 to rebuild the failing course, Trump had promised our community that he would not host professional golf tournaments on the site of Trump National Golf Club although he does conduct charitable functions there . The town agreed, so now ...

Click here to listen. While watching Tiger Woods attack the pins during this week’s PGA Championship, I noticed his constant tempo throughout his round. His swing is a combination of fluidity and compactness. Although Tiger generates terrific clubhead speed, he rarely gets ahead of himself or swings out of his boots. His tempo is rhythmic; he’s like a machine. Although there are some golfers that are quicker in their tempo, such as Nick Price or Lee Trevino, and others who are slow and methodical, such as Ben Hogan, one thing is certain…their swing speeds remain even, as Annika Sorenstam helps us ...

Click here to listen. Ipod-ready quick golf tips to help improve your game. No ipod? Consider downloading them to your cell phone! Take this week’s greenside and fairway bunker tips with you to the practice range or give a listen before your round. Continue sending your golf questions and comments to golfforbeginners@aol.com. Subscribe to our weekly podcast through this RSS feed: http://feeds.worldgolf.com/stacy_solomon or through iTunes. Nextel/Sprint cell customers type http://www.mymbn.com/podcast/ in your browser and click on “sports casts". Our station number is 1955.

Cristie Kerr whomped Angela Stanford once again, this time at the Canadian Women’s Open, an LPGA tournament I missed because I cant find the RSN Network on my list of more than 300 digital cablevision stations. Angela Stanford suffered a moment of deja-vu this weekend and the stunned “deer-in-headlights” look on her face after her long-shot defeat would have been worth millions. At the Franklin American Mortgage Championship earlier this season, Stanford held a four-stroke lead heading into the final round only to be trounced by Cristie Kerr. A worse thrashing occurred this past weekend by Kerr as she awakened from an eight-stroke ...

Click here to listen. During our recent round, Barry noticed that I get frustrated easily and hold on to anxiety much longer than I should. He believes this subliminal mindset is stopping me from realizing my potential. We discuss ways that I could “get out of my own way” and start having more fun. A listener discusses one of our previous podcasts and asks for further clarification on how to fade the ball. Barry and I have noticed that, for the beginner (and for most golfers), the rules of golf can be very wordy. We attempt to simplify them in our new section ...

You’ll have to blink twice to see Natalie Gulbis in a Mastercard commercial that appeared during sweeps week this spring and throughout the golf season. In the ad, a young woman decides that she needs help with her golf game after playing a round with a few guys who are rolling their eyes at her, one of them gazing down at his watch. Isn’t that the way it usually is though, ladies? No matter how well we play, men will always prefer playing golf with other men. This young woman gives herself a complete makeover from the etching on her golf ...

What if Tiger Woods took up a sport other than golf as a child? Where would he stack up against other great athletes of today? This is the premise of an article I read on PGATour.com which pits Woods’ recent milestone of fifty tour wins and career achievements up against other greats in the world of sports. Although the story compares Woods’ record to that of Roger Clemens, Reggie Jackson, Charles Barkley and Wayne Gretzky, there is no consideration for the possibility that if Tiger decided to chuck it all in right now and become a hoop star, would he be ...

Click here to listen. Ben Hogan has been acknowledged as the greatest ball-striker ever by Jack Nicklaus but didn’t know anything about Hogan’s secret which he revealed to Life Magazine in 1955. Barry and I compare his complicated yet instructional knowledge to the simplicity of John Jacobs’ more easily comprehensible lessons for beginners. Where else to get the best golf tips than from the top instructor on the planet? Golf Digest (and Golf for Beginners) taps Butch Harmon’s knowledge about chipping techniques around the green. Finally, we react to a recent blog by John Hawkins, senior writer of Golf World, who claims ...

Dedicating only 1.5 hours of network coverage per day on the weekend to a major, the Women’s British Open, proves that ABC-TV doesn’t find women’s golf a valuable enough commodity. Network biggies must also be losing interest in Michelle Wie’s “hype". She hasn’t won a tournament yet and people are starting to get tired of waiting for her to claim her first trophy as a professional golfer. I think that it will take a genuine new female “superstar” to stimulate long lasting interest in the LPGA, and in women’s golf in general. A long driver with a great short game who has ...

Michelle Wie is not only gaining confidence in her golf clubs but she is also improving her interview skills. I was impressed by her answers at this week’s press conference regarding her expectations of herself. Also, her restraint when asked about her opinions of others who might speak out-of-turn about her skills, or lack thereof, was very becoming for a girl her age, where cattiness sets the high-school standard. A mature Michelle stated, “it’s not because people expect me to win that I get frustrated. It’s just because I expect myself to win. You know, getting second, getting third every week, ...