Ochoa on siesta, Sorenstam triumphs. Tiger Woods healing, Mickelson gets his chance. Leadbetter's drill gives you a leg up for power, Haney's two club

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It may be quite presumptive of me to claim that Phil Mickelson's chances have vastly improved (as has the rest of the field at the upcoming Wachovia Championship) now that Tiger Woods has withdrawn due to arthroscopic knee surgery.

Woods is the defending champion and for him to be rehabilitating puts the players on the PGA Tour at ease. But seeing Phil's face smattered across the television screen as the big draw makes you really wonder if the Golf Channel and CBS Sports are going enough to create excitement. Perhaps the secret ingredient might be more face-time for Adam Scott, sudden-death victor at the Byron Nelson Classic!

There is no doubt, however, that because Lorena Ochoa took a siesta the roadblock was cleared to escalate Annika Sorenstam to victory at the Stanford International. Still, Annika required a sudden-death playoff with Paula Creamer in order to cinch the deal claiming, "It could have gone really any way. I'm just fortunate that this time it was my turn."

Our Golf for Beginners podcast this week contains a great number of easy golf tips and drills. One exercise comes from David Leadbetter who suggests a way to gain power in your golf swing through weight shift. Try this technique on the range and you will surely feel a difference on the golf course!

Another drill from Hank Haney offers the benefits of weighted clubs to help warm up, gain feel and build clubhead speed before a round.


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"Shiny Tech" courtesy of Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)"

This podcast is supported by Arizona Golf Packages.


Photo Credit:Sportsnetwork.com, ESPN.com, Robin Sellick

Two golf swings, putting practice and when Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson don't show up...do the fans?

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Yesterday the Pope pre-empted golf, proving that religion trumps sport, at least on network television. Whether or not you were interested in Sunday Sermon, broadcasters forced you to watch Pope Benedict XVI at Yankee Stadium, forcing the PGA Tour to stream live coverage on the internet.

For those without an internet connection, flipping the remote yesterday provided little in the way of diversity.

If Tiger Woods was heavily in the mix, would CBS-TV interpose both Pope Benedict and golf? Or, would Tiger be relegated to a spot in the sports section of Monday's newspaper?

I wonder who would have received the higher share?

We also discuss the two swings each golfer must bring to the course and how to integrate these two different movements into your weekly practice session. The pursuit of putting nirvana is also one of our topics. Incorporating these drills into your training plan should help lower your scores so you can confidently "putt for dough"!

Send your golf questions and comments to golfforbeginners@aol.com.

Subscribe to our weekly podcast through this RSS feed:http://feeds.feedburner.com/golfforbeginners or through iTunes.

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"Shiny Tech" courtesy of Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)"

This podcast is supported by MyrtleBeachGolf.

Photo Credit:Flickr.com

Mickelson, Els flop at Masters despite Callaway I-Mix help, Tiger Woods putter lets him down, high or low it's all in your setup and how to read a lie

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The hype surrounding the possibility of two drivers in his bag didn't help Phil Mickelson's bid to win a third Masters Tournament. Both Els and Mickelson fumbled around to get "the perfect fit" this week, combining Callaway I-Mix heads and shafts depending on their particular "game plan". Mickelson claimed that the course length urged him to carry two drivers but my belief is that Callaway needed Phil to promote these clubs which seem to work more for a professional than the average "Joe".



It didn't work. Mickelson should have toyed with an extra wedge in his golf bag as he intended to on Tuesday and Els should have probably flown out to Las Vegas to visit with his newest instructor, Butch Harmon, directly after being cut on Friday.

Complaining of bad posture, a collapse at the top of his swing and too much hip and shoulder turn, Els should have realized before the Masters that it's not a change in golf equipment that was needed but rather a parting of the ways between he and David Leadbetter.

Moral of the story for all golfers; it's not the arrow, it's the Indian...

I guess the next question should be, "When will Callaway Golf debut a putter with adjustable head and shaft technology for conditions like "blade-drag" or help with overspin? Tiger Woods may be just the buyer for it!

As for this week's Golf for Beginners podcast, we discuss Mickelson's use of the Callaway I-Mix technology. Our show also contains a few easy tips from Phil Mickelson, one of which deals with how to hit your golf ball in different types of lie. Our other "Lefty" golf tip describes what setup to the ball determines its trajectory.

Finally, a hearty congratulations to the UNBEATABLE Lorena Ochoa who is now officially "one-up" on Tiger Woods this season!


Send your golf questions and comments to golfforbeginners@aol.com.

Subscribe to our weekly podcast through this RSS feed:http://feeds.feedburner.com/golfforbeginners or through iTunes.

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Click Here to receive our archived podcasts and 100's of easy golf tips free!
Check us out on MySpace!

"Shiny Tech" courtesy of Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)"

This podcast is supported by Arizona Golf Packages.


Photo Credit:Skysports.com, Golf.com