Korean teen Noh eyes major glory

He has a golf swing his fellow pros, let alone amaterus, would cry for, he is one of the hottest players in Asia and he is reaching for the stars.

Korean teenage sensation Noh Seung-yul made history this year by becoming the youngest player, at 19 years and 204 days, to win the Asian Order of Merit race, winning one tournament and garnering four other top-10 finishes.

He said he wants to become the second Asian to win a major title, following in the footsteps of compatriot Yang Yong-eun, who won the 2009 PGA Championship.

"To become the youngest Asian Tour number one, it's very nice," Noh was quoted as saying by AFP. "But in the future, there may be other younger players who will become younger than me at 19 years old to win the Order of Merit.

"In five years time, I want to start contending in the Majors. I am not in a hurry but I would like to become the second Asian to win a Major.

"The Order of Merit victory will get me into the British Open next year and if I stay in the top-100 in the world, I will also qualify for the PGA Championship and I will try to qualify for the US Open as well."

Noh first played in the Asian Tour as a 16-year-old after emerging through qualifying school and won a title that same year.

For 2011, he wants to win a tournament on the European Tour as well as attempt to get into the US PGA Tour.

Pic: ubshongkongopen

Free-throw golf swing: thinking about posture

One of the things many teaching pros emphasise in a golf swing is posture. How do you stand over the ball at your address?

Indeed, stance is very important and Andy Colunga, head pro at Bentwood Country Club believes it is 90 per cent of the problem.

In his article in the Sandard Times (San Angelo, Texas), he likens good posture in a golf swing to a basketball player preparing for a free-throw.

He writes: “When shooting a free-throw, you need to have your knees slightly bent and your feet shoulder width apart, which is exactly the posture you want up to your knees. You should feel like you have a little bit more weight out toward your toes instead of sitting back on your heels.

“Once you have this position down, you will need to bend at the waist and stick your behind out slightly, letting your arms hang down naturally keeping your back as straight as possible. A little drill I do is to place a shaft along your back and bend at the waist keeping the shaft pressed against your spine as you do so.

“Once you have done this you should feel like you are totally balanced to the point if someone were to push you from behind or in front you wouldn’t lose your balance.”

He said this posture would allow you to make a execute your swing smoothly without any chance of losing your balance. Hmmm, I’ve got to try it.

Europe putting PGA Tour under pressure

For long, the US PGA Tour has been the standard-bearer for professional tours in the world.

While that is likely to remain the case in the near future, the growing strength of the European Tour is persuading many pros to look east of the Atlantic.

Europe can boast some of the best golfers in the world, including top-ranked Lee Westwood, of England. Three of the major winners for 2010 are European or Europe-based.

In addition, Europe, under the captaincy of Colin Montgomerie, won the Ryder Cup from their American rivals.

Westwood, Northern Ireland's young sensation Rory McIlroy and US PGA Champion Martin Kaymer have decided not to join the PGA Tour next season.

The European Tour is also expanding around the world. For many years, they have had tournaments in Asia, which is a burgeoning golf market, taking in countries such as Hong Kong, China, India, Qatar and Dubai, among others.

The PGA Tour, meanwhile, had a small-scale golf event in Malaysia. Prize money in Europe has also increased significantly.

Probably the best thing that happened for the PGA Tour was Tiger Woods being in contention at the Chevron World Challenge recently, losing in a play-off to US Open champion Graeme McDowell, another European.

Figures suggest TV audiences surged for that tournament, only because Woods had a chance to win.

It is significant that when Woods has a bad year, so does the Tour. The PGA Tour certainly needs Woods to start winning again next season, unless, of course, Tiger decides to play in Europe.

Tall and straight golf swing

I used to play regularly with a colleague of mine who was six-foot, five-inches tall. And needless to say, he used to struggle with his golf swing.

He was extremely competitive and hated losing, even in a casual game with friends. He would demand that people tell him what's wrong with his swing between holes so he could improve.

I waited until after the round, to which he said: "Why didn't you tell me that before?"

Actually, I consider myself to have miniscule knowledge of the mechanics of a golf swing so I was quite flattered that he was annoyed at my delayed advice.

Anyway, I noticed that his height forced him to squat a bit when addressing the ball. However, once he took his club away, he would be almost standing upright and would have to make a last-second bend of his knees to make clean contact with the ball.

When he got it right, the ball flew a mile but most of the time, he would slice or hook badly. So I told him if he insists on squatting, keep that position throughout the golf swing, don't stand up.

Or else, stand closer to the ball at address and stand up straighter. Whatever he chooses, don't bend your knees while making the swing.

In fact, I've seen this in friends and colleagues who are not as tall but still have decent height, six-foot, give or take.

Chris Wood (pictured) is a British pro who is also 6-foot-five and he appears to have an upright stance, therefore doesn't need to stand up while on the backswing. He finished joint fifth as an amateur at the 2008 British Open, so he is proof that really tall people can play.

So much for a shorter backswing

My golf swing experiment proved to be a bit of a disaster. I was keen to see how a shorter backswing would give me more control and equal distance. As it turned out, I lost the plot completely.

I blame the driving range. The driving range at the Taiping Golf Club in Malaysia didn't open until 11am that day whereas I had a 10am tee-off time. As a result, I had no practice whatsoever on my new golf swing.

My concentration was focused so much on my shorter backswing that I forgot about other important aspects. I found I was getting very little height, including a couple of mean grass-cutters.

It was only on the back nine that I was able to find some sort of rhythm but I'm sure a 100 balls at the driving range beforehand would have had me better prepared. Ah well.

My best holes were bogey at a par-five and par-three, without going too much into detail about the plethora of embarrassing momemts stemming from my all-conquering shorter backswing.

Still, I intend to persist. Hopefully, I can get another round in before the end of the year, this time with loads of practice. I WILL master this backswing business.

Off to try out a new golf swing

I have decided to experiment with a shorter backswing on my next golfing adventure.

That is expected to come next week when I take the clan to Perak, Malaysia to play at the Taiping Golf Resort. This is an 18-hole, par-72 Championship course and is the ideal place to try out a new golf swing and see if this is something I want to adopt full-time.

Pros such as Ernie Els and Justin Rose have shorter backswings that enable them to have more control of their golf swings. One thing you have to remember when using this technique is to make sure you still give turn your shoulders to the maximum.

Without doing this, you lose power. A shorter backswing means you do not have to raise your arms as high as you normally would so you are giving it about 75 per cent swing but 100 per cent shoulder turn.

The relaxed, easy motion would theoretically result in as much distance as you would get from a full swing.

It is not all about golf. We also hope to visit the Night Safari, supposedly the best in Malaysia. Full report of golf swing success next week. Stay tuned.

Golf swing basics: left arm straight

For a long time, I had a singular problem with my golf swing. I was consistently hooking the ball.

Ironically, this quirk was particularly bad when I hit the ball cleanly with my driver. I may have hit the sweet spot but the ball would sail happily to my left all the time.

As I wrote before, someone suggested I stand crooked to the golf ball at address, as opposed to parallel. It worked to some degree but it was not always easy to discern crooked from straight.

It was only when I was having a driving range session with some friends that I was able to fix the problem. My colleague, who had only been playing for about six months, made one tiny suggestion – try to concentrate on keeping my left arm straight in the follow-through.

I did this and, amazingly, it worked. That night at the driving range, there was no one hitting the ball straighter, with more power and with more majesty than yours truly.

Unfortunately, lack of concentration and other factors, especially on the course, means I often forget this principle and succumb to my natural tendency to bend my left arm after impact.

But at least I know how to fix it now.

(picture: scratchgolfschool.com)