The 2008 Shell Houston Open
2008 Shell Houston Open Redstone Golf Club Tournament Course Humble, Texas March 31 – April 6th, 2008 A Great HistoryRees Jones the “Open Doctor” built this course with help of player consultant David Toms. Rees Jones is most noted for his reworking of Us Open venues so that they are up to the tough USGA standards. He and Toms worked on building a great tournament site for fans to watch the pros play. He was certainly successful with Redstone. Houston has had a great history of the PGA Tour having an event in their city. In 1922, George Bowden won the Houston Professional Golf event. Throughout the years the event saw winners such as Byron Nelson, Cary Middlecoff, Bobby Locke, Arnold Palmer, and Bob Charles. The Modern EraThe tournament has been known as the Shell Houston Open since 1992 when Fred Funk was the winner. Other great champions in this event are the late Payne Stewart. Fred Couples also won here, as did David Duval. Stuart Appelby has won twice, and Vijay Singh has won three times. Last year Adam Scott took home the title with a score of 17 under. 
The golf course is a great spectator venue but it is also no push over. A par 72 layout, sitting at 7457 yards cut through the woods and marshland awaits these players. The front nine is littered with lakes. Staying dry will be key to scoring on the outward nine. A Fantastic FinishA great tournament course always has challenging finishing holes. Redstone is no different. The 16th is a great par 3 with two different tee boxes that are at different angles. One angle creates a 200 yard carry over the natural wetlands, which will most likely be used for Sunday’s final round. The 17th is a beast of a par 4 at 490 yards. It is a dogleg left and does give the bombers a chance to cut some yards off by challenging the corner. By doing so, they will bring a fairway bunker into play at the corner. There is a wider landing area that is a shorter distance from the tee, but it will leave a longer approach to an elevated green. The finishing hole brings water back into play with the Greens Bayou running down the entire left side. This par 4 is 470 yards and will take a strong tee shot under the pressure of trying to close out the tournament. Who To Watch on SaturdayThis should be a fun and exciting tournament to watch. Enjoy the event this weekend and look for the Learning from the Leaders article on Saturday morning. I have realized in the first couple of weeks of this new instructional feature that unless Tiger is playing it is very hard to pick the right players to finish the weekend. Last week Peter Lonard at least finished second. I am doing my best to pick the players that will be featured on the weekend. I hope these guys go the right direction on moving day. The 2008 Shell Houston Open leader board after two rounds:
The leader is at -12, but I have a feeling these guys will be featured through the weekend. Hopefully they will make a move too… Chad Campbell - 2008 Shell Houston Open He has a simple golf swing. There are many theories about the golf swing and I would have to say he would be considered a one plane swing. His back swing and downswing really follow the same path. The reason he is able to do this so easily is because he keeps his right elbow so close to his body on his back swing. By keeping his elbow close, he can make his transition to the downswing without any extra movement. This is swing that will last for a long time. In the video below and when you watch him on TV watch how close his elbow stays tucked in to his body. For another reference, check out the Tip of the Month from March 2008. It describes a drill using your sport coat or suit jacket to help try and achieve Campbell’s position. Bubba Watson - 2008 Shell Houston Open Okay…to be honest, DO NOT try and copy this swing. This is a swing he built for himself and as you probably know he hits it farther than anybody on tour right now. A friend of mine who works for PING told me a story of going to the PING headquarters and having an opportunity to hit balls using all the latest launch monitor technology. He was hitting driver and averaging about 285 yards. For fun they pulled up Bubba’s stats for a comparison and my friend’s Driver matched up with Bubba’s hybrid. That’s ridiculous!! The thing to watch in his swing is how much he lets his hips turn on his back swing. He keeps them relaxed so that they turn with his enormous shoulder turn. He turns his shoulders so much that if he restricted his hip turn it would take his club way off line. It also allows him to start his downswing with his hips to unwind all that great power. While watching the video and his swings on TV this weekend, try to copy his hip rotation. As a side note…while he is making his turn notice how he keeps his hands as far away from his chest as he can. This maintains width and adds to his power. When our arms collapse into our body it shortens our swing and we lose power. For more pictures and information please go the The Driver section. Phil Mickelson - 2008 Shell Houston Open There are many things to look at when you watch Phil. He is entertaining because he has the guts to go for almost any shot, because he has the confidence his short game will bail him out. He truly is a wizard with wedges. One of the keys to his short game is that he uses his whole body. It is not just his arms and hands. For any chip, pitch, sand shot, flop shot, or controlled wedge he uses a small body turn to hit the shot. This is huge for hitting great short game shots. Watch every time he has a recovery shot how he gets a small body turn during the downswing and through impact. This helps avoid manipulating it with his hands and arms. For more pictures and information on the short game please visit the Chipping and Pitching sections. Good luck with your practicing, playing and watching. I hope you enjoy the 2008 Shell Houston Open. May you “Play Your Golf Dreams” sooner with the help of Free-Golf-Lessons.com Return to the Home page from The 2008 Shell Houston Open
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PGA Tour Winner Quick Lesson
Congratulations to Steve Stricker on his victory at the 2012 Hyundai Tournament of Champions.
I believe the commentators said he has won 9 times in his 40s. That is amazing!I also agree with Sir Nick and Johnny Miller that his swing will be copied in the future. Technology has reduced the need for hand action in the golf swing to generate power. Watch the old videos of Bobby Jones to see how much action he created compared to that of Steve Stricker.
A great objective for any player is to eliminate any unnecessary movement. Stricker does a great job of that. His hands stay very quiet on the backswing. His wrists hardly hinge at the top of his backswing. You can see from the above video that his backswing is all shoulder turn.
His downswing starts from the hips and he simply turns everything through the golf ball at the same time. His hands and wrists release naturally without any effort. This is a great way to have a consistent rhythm through the golf ball on every shot. This swing delivers enough power to win on Tour.
European Tour Winner Quick Lesson
Congratulations to Louis Oosthuizen and his victory at the 2012 Africa Open.
Louis burst onto the scene with his dominating performance at the Open Championship. Many have predicted multiple wins for this player. His victory this past weekend is likely one of many to come.
In the video above pay really close attention to when the video ends. Take a look at his left foot. Notice how all his weight his on his left heel. This is a great sign that he has cleared his hips properly.
One of the key reasons for starting the downswing with your lower body is to clear your hips out of the way to create more room for your arms to swing through impact. It is a great indicator as to how well you cleared your hips, when almost all your weight is on your heel.
If your weight is leaning on you toes or even the middle of your foot then you have not rotated and cleared your hips enough through your downswing and past impact. You really want to feel the pressure of your weight on your heel like Oosthuizen.
Make sure you start your downswing with your lower body. At the top of your backswing; either pull your left knee or your left hip (right handed player) towards the target. Also make sure your hips keep rotating through impact and into your finish position with your weight on the heel.