Next time somebody you play with thinks they’re hot sh*t because they can hit a 300 yard drive, show them this video.  Jamie Sadlowski can his putter 300 yards.

I met Jamie at the PGA Show so of course I had to give him a little crap about out-driving him on the 18th hole at Kapalua I hit one 432 in October and he only managed 407 back in January… so what if I was playing with the wind at my back and had a better landing area because of the tees I was playing from… details.  Still, I don’t think he appreciated it very much

Jonathan Byrd pulled out the win today in Kapalua at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions with a playoff victory over Robert Garrigus.  No, it wasn’t as dramatic as his last victory, but I suspect that Byrd is pretty happy with it none-the-less.   Byrd has now won his last 2 starts in a row, both of which were playoff victories.

Don’t feel too bad for Garrigus though…  2nd place earned him a smooth $635k.  Not exactly a bad week’s work.  As for Byrd, in addition to a $1.12m paycheck, he earned an invite to the Masters, so I imagine he’s probably enjoying life right now.

Also, the mojo associated with agreeing to wear a TV microphone on the course is alive and well.  First Hunter Haas wears one on the Nationwide Tour and wins and now Byrd does the same on the PGA Tour.  I wonder if we’re going to see players fighting over who gets to wear a mic next.

PGA Tour

Robert Garrigus was deadly with his wedges on Friday, shooting a 10-under 63 to take the lead at Kapalua.  I guess he gets a lot of practice using his wedges given that he led the PGA Tour in driving distance last year.  This eagle on 16 was his 4th wedge shot of the day that ended up inside of 2.5 feet.

Earlier this year, the Golf Channel experimented with “announcer-less” (really announcer-lite) coverage on the Nationwide tour.  The experiment worked pretty well, especially having mic’d players in the field.

Trying to build on that success, The Golf Channel approached several players with the idea of wearing a microphone this week at Kapalua.  Things were looking pretty grim as everybody said “no”.  But now Stephanie Wei is reporting that co-leader Jonathan Byrd has agreed to wear a mic during Friday’s round.  Apparently carding a 7-under 66 put him in an agreeable mood.

I like Jonathan Byrd and this just bumped him up another notch in my book.  And hopefully it will pay off for him.  As Stephanie noted, Hunter Haas agreed to be mic’d during the Nationwide tournament last fall and he went on to win the event.  Maybe Byrd is hoping to continue that good fortune and cash another $1 million dollar paycheck.

[Update:  Apparently technical problems have postponed this experiment until a future date.]

[Update #2:  That future date is Saturday.  Supposedly that goes against the PGA Tour's agreement with the Golf Channel (they are only supposed to mic players on Thursday and Friday) but presumably Byrd was willing and everybody agreed to go ahead and give it a shot.]

As most people expected, Jamie Sadlowski handily outdrove Bubba Watson, Robert Garrigus and Dustin Johnson during their competition today on the 18th hole.

The format was interesting.  They played a two round elimination event.  Each player got 3 shots and the ball had to be in play to count.  They moved the players up to to the Women’s tees, bringing the overall length of the hole down to 455 yards from the normal 663 yards.

This had the interesting effect of bringing the hazard into play and caused the players to land the ball in a much flatter area of the course which led to significantly less roll than I and others had been expecting.  Additionally the wind was in their face, which is about 180 degrees opposite from the usual playing conditions.

Still, Sadlowski unleashed the longest drive of the day during the final round, poking one out 407 yards.  Watson struggled a bit in the finals and was “only” able to hit one 352 yards.  The first round was actually closer with Sadlowski hitting it 398, with Watson (370), Garrigus (365), and Dustin Johnson (352) not as far behind him as some might have been expecting.

It was pretty obvious from the outset however that the PGA guys knew they had no real chance of winning.  It truly was the Jamie Sadlowski show.  At one point in the finals while Bubba was hitting his shots, Frank Nobilo actually asked Sadlowski if he thought he could beat Bubba with his 3 wood.  Ouch.  And even though Sadlowski said no, I think he really mean “duh”.

After he won, Sadlowski demonstrated his “amphibiousness” (to quote Boo Weekly), by hitting Watson’s back-up driver left-handed.  He didn’t do too badly, pegging a spectator about 280 yards out from the tee.

I’ve heard now and then that Sadlowski may make a run at the PGA Tour.  He’s supposedly a plus handicap golfer.  All I can say is that it would be a lot of fun to see him playing in PGA events.  400 yard drives and 215 yard 7-irons would be one heck of a draw for fans and could possibly give golf a much needed boost.

Golfweek

[Image Flickr/rbglasson]

It’s often a hotly debated topic on internet golf boards:  How do the longest driving PGA Tour Pros compare to the long drive competition specialists?

This week we may get an answer (or at least more fodder for the internet forums).  At the 2011 season opener in Kapalua, Jamie Sadlowski, the current king of the long drive will square up against the 3-longest drivers on the PGA Tour, Robert Garrigus, Dustin Johnson, and Bubba Watson, on the 18th hole of the Plantation Course.

The 18th hole is a great choice in many respects.  First, it plays downhill and downwind.  There’s a bit right to left slope that causes a baby draw down the right hand side to produce a drive that runs and runs and runs.

Because of all this, the 18th hole will produce some huge numbers for us all to ooh and aah about.  I’m guessing that these guys just might have a chance to surpass my 432 yard drive there a few months ago [that was sarcasm].  In fact, I suspect that we may see a drive of 500 yards or more.

The other side effect of all this is that the competition will be much closer than it should be.  Let’s face it, while the PGA guys hit the ball a long way, they don’t hit 400+ yard drives like Sadlowski does.  On a long drive grid, he could probably outdrive them with his 3-wood.  But on the 18th, they may actually be able to hit the slope at the right angle and sneak one out past him.

There are still plenty of blanks to be filled in about the competition.  Will it be 1 swing each, or 6 like in a long drive competition?  Do drives that run though the fairway down into the rough near the hazard still count?  Will they be allowed to use extra-long drivers or will they be limited to 48″?

And finally, will this competition actually make it onto the TV broadcast?  I think that they’ll show at least a few minutes of it while somebody is waiting 10 minutes to get a ruling on how to properly take a drop from a water hazard, but who knows?  I certainly have my fingers crossed.

[Update: The Golf Channel will be airing highlights from the Long Drive Competition and the Celebrity Pro/Am tonight during the Fedex Cup Kickoff (Wednesday) between 9-11pm Eastern.  Click here to see my synopsis of the results.]

Honolulu Star-Advisor

[Image Flickr/zzazazz]

The view from the tee box at the 5th hole on the Bay Course

Now that I’ve been at Kapalua for a few days, I thought I would share some of my thoughts on the golf.  The net of it is that while the Bay Course is a pretty darn good resort course, it pales in comparison to the Plantation Course.  But it still might be the better choice for many golfers.

I started off my golf here in Kapalua at the Bay Course.  I played it first because I was told that once I had played the Plantation Course I wouldn’t want to play the Bay Course again.  And boy were they right.  The Plantation Course is a monster.  A par 73, 7411 yd course, it is a complete test of golf.  The greens are tricky and undulating.  The wind howls on every hole.  And did I mention that it’s 7411 yards long?

1st Tee at the Plantation Course

The Plantation Course was designed by Ben Crenshaw and Bill Moore and currently sits at #25 on Golf Digest’s Top 100 Public Course list.  The fact that it’s ranked as the #5 course in Hawaii should tell you something about the quality of golf here.

It is a true championship golf course, forcing you to make solid risk/reward decisions all throughout your round.  There is nowhere to hide on this course, which is great if you’re looking to test your game.  But it’s probably also its biggest weakness.  The forward men’s tees are 6547 yards.  This is at least 500 yards too long for the average golfer – especially considering the howling wind that is ever-present in Kapalua.

Because of this, definitely make sure you get an early tee time.  If not, you will be waiting all day long on every shot as you trod through a 5+ hour round.  6500+ yards, howling wind, tough greens, and 25 handicaps do not mix well.

4th Green on the Bay Course

The Arnold Palmer designed Bay Course is basically the polar opposite of the Plantation Course.  Yes, it’s windy.  But it’s also protected by trees and is quite a bit shorter.  The back tees play 6600 yards, roughly the same distance and difficulty as the forward tees at Plantation.  Where the Plantation Course tries to chew you up and spit you out, the Bay Course makes sure you get some nice scenic ocean views, shelters you from the worst of the wind, and is generally much more relaxing to play.

18th Fairway at the Plantation Course

The interesting thing is that while the Plantation Course is very beautiful and scenic, it really doesn’t quite have anything that matches the views from holes 4 & 5 on the Bay Course.  That said, the view down the fairway at 18 is really quite impressive.  Even more impressive was my 432 yd drive on Wednesday

Stephanie Wei has a great post on her site with a video detailing some of the history at the 18th at Plantation.  BTW, when we played on Wednesday, she shot a 79 (mostly) from the men’s tees.  Very impressive.

My take is this:  If you’re looking to test your game on one a true championship golf course, go play the Plantation.  But if you’re a recreational golfer just looking to have an enjoyable round of golf, play at the Bay Course.  It’s a much less frustrating course by design and will be a more enjoyable experience for many, if not most, golfers.

But of course I know that everybody that comes to Maui to play golf is going to want to take a crack at the Plantation Course, regardless of anything I have to say.  S0 my advice is to bring a lot of balls with you

Full review of Kapalua Golf coming tonight (early AM for you east coasters), but this view should hold you over for now.

Today on #18 at the Kapalua Plantation Course, I hit a 432 yard drive.  It’s a regular occurrence when you’re a baller like myself, but Stephanie Wei was kind enough to take this picture as proof anyways.

I’m told that Davis Love III set the record for the longest drive ever on tour, 476 yards, on this hole in 2004.  Give me a few more tries and I think I might give him a run for his money.  Or not…