90th PGA Championship Preview & Golf Tips
90th PGA Championship
Defending Champion: Tiger Woods The PGA championship is the tournament that determines the National Champion for the Professional Golfers Association. This is one of the largest sports organizations in the world and therefore is the last of the 4 majors played around the world. This is a great event and always caps off a great year for major championship golf. There is some wonderful history with this championship. History Rodman Wanamaker donated the Wanamaker trophy, which is easily the largest of the 4 major championship trophies, for the inaugural event in 1916. He also donated the prize money of $2,580. The 90th PGA Championship will have a total purse of $7 million. The event was contested as a match play event until 1958. Jim Barnes of England was the event’s first winner in 1916, but World War I would interrupt his successful title defense until 1919. 
Walter Hagen, a founding member of this event, would post 5 victories through the 1920’s. Gene Sarazen would also claim 3 titles in the early years of the event. Other winners in the match play era would be Sam Snead, Ben Hogan, and Byron Nelson. All the legends would lay claim to a PGA Championship victory. It was 50 years ago that the PGA decided to change the format from match play to stroke play. In the 1958 event Don Finsterwal would win that first stroke play event. In 1963 Jack Nicklaus would begin his dominance of the event. He would win the Wanamaker trophy 5 times in his career, tying the record held by Walter Hagen. In the modern, aka the Tiger Woods era, there have been several great champions, and several surprise winners. Tiger Woods won in 1999 and again in 2000. He became only the second player in history to win back-to-back championships. Other great champions have been Vijay Singh, Phil Mickleson, and David Toms. The surprise winners have been Shaun Micheel, Rich Beem, and David Toms setting tournament scoring record at -15. 
Players to Watch
Oakland Hills This course is a beast. It will play as a par 70 at over 7300 yards. It is long and tough, and depending on the course setup, it may play more like a US Open than ever before. It should be very exciting to watch. 
How big a beast? There will be 5 par 4’s over 490 yards! There is one that is carded as 501, and another at 498. There is 4 par 3’s. Two of them are over 225 yards, with the longest being 257 yards!! There may be some scoring available on the par 5’s, although one of them will play almost 600 yards. The players this week will have to precision bombs to make their way around this course. When Hogan won here, he shot a 67 in the final round, and was quoted as saying that he was glad to bring this monster to it’s knees. I think all the players in the field would love to have a 67 in Final Round, and I am sure the guy that does will feel the same way as Hogan. I hope you enjoy the 90th PGA Championship at Oakland Hills Golf Course. Please remember to check back here after the second round for the Tips from the Leaders. Return to the Home Page from the PGA Championship Copyright 2006-2012 Free-Golf-Lessons.com
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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.