Devil Ball Golf
  • There are plenty of hazards in the game of golf; water, bunker, and apparently, alligator.

    That was the case on Thursday at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, when three of those nasty creatures were approaching some of the golfers on the course who were near the water, but nobody made waves like the three-legged gator that took on a rules official.

    Now I've played plenty of golf in my home state of Arizona and encountered my fair share of legless creatures, but if I saw an alligator I'd be done for the day.

    I feel like the above video means it's a good time to share the following picture via the Twitter handle @JohnDiMascio515. Yes, that is a golf ball that came to rest on the top of a gator, and yes, there were plenty of "play it where it lies" jokes.

    And of course, the below video is just me being the obligatory blogger that I am. Enjoy!

    Read More »from Watch a three-legged alligator cross the fairway at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans
  • There are few nicknames in golf cooler than Mr. 59. It's the score everyone wants to shoot, and only five have, and it's the idea of being the man behind the sub-60 round that kicked it all off is a pretty awesome feather in your cap.

    Al Geiberger was playing in the 1977 Memphis Classic when the golf gods decided he would be the first man to go lower than 60. Nobody had ever really seen how he did it, but The Golf Channel's new In Play with Jimmy Roberts uncovered an old newsreel that showed how Geiberger did it down the stretch.

    Sure, the reaction after his final birdie putt is great, but I was a fan of what he did on 16, as the ball was falling and he turned to the crowd almost to say, "I'm not really sure what's happening."

    The clip is great, and while it is far from high definition, it is great to see a guy have to make a putt on the final hole to do something nobody else had ever done before to that point and sink it dead center.

    Read More »from Watch the lost newsreel of Al Geiberger being the first player to ever shoot 59 on the PGA Tour
  • We all know the outcome of what happened on Sunday at Augusta National. Adam Scott played his way into contention, made a big birdie on the final hole of regulation only to follow it up with a continent-shaking birdie on the second playoff hole to snag his first major championship and the first ever green jacket for Australia.

    But do you remember all his shots from Sunday at the Masters? No worries, because Michael David Murphy has you covered. He put together a compilation on YouTube of almost all the swings from Scott's Sunday round and the results are a 1 minute 34 seconds video.

    It's pretty crazy to think how long people spend on a golf course (normally 4-6 hours) and that all the moments you actually hit the golf ball can be pressed together in just over 90 seconds.

    The video is pretty cool, but warning, if you're not a fan of guys making putts with long putters you might as well avoid clicking play.

    h/t Shackelford

    Read More »from Watch (almost) every swing of Adam Scott’s final round on Sunday at the Masters
  • Jeff Overton — Getty ImagesThis year I was coerced by a hockey writing friend of mine to do a weekly one-and-done golf pool that allows you to pick one golfer, never to use them again in 2013. Since I'm doing it for fun (and DEFINITELY not for money, no way, no how), I figured I'd post my weekly picks here, with who I've already used under it and my record for the year, and against the others in the pool. We're calling this Darts in the Dark.

    Zurich Classic of New Orleans pick -- Jeff Overton

    This week marks the second week in a row where the PGA Tour takes a little nap between the Masters and the Players Championship. It isn't a bad thing, as both events are at fun golf courses with solid fields, but we tend to forget about some names in the field that have a good chance at snagging a two-year exemption with a win.

    Last week it was Graeme McDowell snagging his first PGA Tour victory since the U.S. Open, and this week I'm going with Jeff Overton to snag his first ever PGA Tour win at the Zurich Classic.

    Overton

    Read More »from Darts in the Dark: Zurich pick, Jeff Overton
  • A lot of people think that the wedge bouncing craze in golf came from the Nike video featuring Tiger Woods from 1999, but any respectable junior golfer will tell you this has been a time waster for decades.

    You wait on a tee, you bounce the ball on your wedge, and you try just about anything you can to one-up the guy next to you. Enter Gareth Maybin, a 32-year-old professional golfer out of Northern Ireland currently ranked 443 in the world. Maybin took to YouTube to show off his golf trick skills, and trust me, if you've ever thought you were good with the ol' wedge I have bad news for you.

    Gareth not only does some incredible wedge tricks, but hits some putts like he's on a pool table (which he starts out on in the video), and even went William Tell at the end of the video when he knocked a can off what looked like his poor agent or manager's head (to be fair, I think the lowliest job in this video way the guy that had to hold the tee in his teeth, but that's just me).

    Anyway, the

    Read More »from This trick shot video from Gareth Maybin will pretty much end all golf trick shot videos
  • Tianlang Guan — Getty ImagesWelcome to Teeing Off, where Devil Ball editor Shane Bacon and national columnist Jay Busbee take a day's topic and smack it all over the course. Suggest a future topic by hitting us on Twitter at@shanebacon and @jaybusbee. Today we talk 14-year-old Tianlang Guan and if overexposure on the PGA Tour could turn out to be a bad thing.

    Busbee: After his halfway decent play at Augusta -- making the cut at 14, pssh, no big -- Tianlang Guan is suddenly golf's newest sensation. He's accepted a sponsor's invitation to play at the Zurich Classic, and more could be in the offing. Question is, is this a good approach for a kid so young? What say you, my friend?

    Bacon: I feel like there are so many examples of young stars hitting the scene running only to flame out after the weight of becoming a star actually hits them. Justin Rose went through it, and while it turned out well for him later in life, we have plenty of names like Ty Tryon, Michelle Wie and others that couldn't keep it up. I think it

    Read More »from Teeing Off: Could playing in multiple PGA Tour events be a bad thing for Tianlang Guan?
  • It seems like anytime we talk about an old event that ended in a hole-out, the name Greg Norman comes up.

    That was the case at the 1990 USF&G Classic in New Orleans, when the PGA Tour traveled to New Orleans to hit up English Turn for only the second time. Norman was in the clubhouse with the lead while David Frost was the last man standing that could catch him.

    Frost had to make a par on the last to force a playoff with Norman, and a birdie to win, but we all know how tough the 18th is at English Turn and after finding the bunker off the tee it seemed par was definitely the score he was hoping to make.

    Frost hit his second shot into the greenside bunker, and after examining his situation, admitted he felt like it had a chance of going on. We all know what happened next; Frost plopped it out of the bunker, it rolled in the middle of the hole and it was good enough for a one shot victory over Norman.

    Read More »from Old Videos That Never Get Old: David Frost holes out bunker shot to beat Greg Norman
  • Luke Donald — Getty ImagesWe've all been there after a round before. Post a round of 85 and feel like you absolutely played the best golf of your life a day after that 84 felt like you missed every possible shot you faced. The numbers at the end of your scorecard might explain to the public how many shots you took, but it is far from how it went down (basically the opposite of that saying, "there are no pictures on the scorecard").

    Golfers have rounds where they hit every green but don't make a single putt. We've also had rounds where we might not hit a green on the front nine but scramble to a decent score, make the turn, and then the irons heat up as the putter goes cold.

    Luke Donald had a solid week at the RBC Heritage. He finished T-3, two shots out of the playoff between Graeme McDowell and Webb Simpson. On Friday he was asked about his opening two rounds and gave the best description of just how silly this game is after his round.

    "I'm feeling a lot better (on Friday). (Thursday) was a little bit of a

    Read More »from Here is why golf is a four letter word, brought to you by Luke Donald (and me)
  • You guys all remember that incredibly simple ad by Nike years ago with Tiger Woods just bouncing a ball on his wedge. Sure, the tricks were far from easy, but it was Woods, with that goofy noise in the background, going between his legs, behind his back and finally hitting it down the fairway.

    Nike brought in Rory McIlroy, Nick Watney, Paul Casey, Kyle Stanley and Suzann Pettersen to relive that ad, but with a little more camera editing.

    Team Swoosh bounces the ball back and forth between them to that same tune we heard years ago with Tiger. The new ad is above, with the original below. Which one do you prefer? It has to be the old one, right?

  • The Masters hangover is definitely sinking in, but that doesn't mean there isn't an exciting tournament this week at one of the most beautiful golf courses the PGA Tour visits all season.

    The RBC Heritage has one more round to play and the leaderboard is far from mediocre. Graeme McDowell, Webb Simpson, Ryo Ishikawa and Camilo Villegas are all chasing the leader, Charley Hoffman, who sits at 11-under after 54 holes.

    How did Hoffman get there? By posting two rounds of 66, including his bogey-free third round that got him in his current position. Highlights courtesy of the PGA Tour are above, so check them out and make sure to swing by the Golf Channel at 1 PM ET and CBS at 3 PM ET for full coverage.

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