It’s this time of the year again. Golf Digest Japan released 2012 Paula Creamer Calendar!

This swing analysis and pictures were featured on August 2011 issue of Golf Digest Magazine.

Brittany hovers the club head at address just like Greg Norman.

Her hips start turning forward before her shoulders finish turning back. She does that to increase the X-Factor, and she does it as well as any player on tour, man or woman.

“I spend most days trying to explain to golfers that power is only part of the equation. You need solid ball-striking and sound mechanics and consistency. But, man, when you see pictures like these, who wouldn’t want to be a bomber?” – Jim McLean

Selecting the Right Loft

Selecting the right loft for your swing may be one of the most critical decision in driver selection. The common misconception is that lower loft equals more distance. The truth is actually the opposite for most golfers.

Driver Swing Speed	Suggested Loft
50 mph	15-20
60 mph	14-18
70 mph	12-15
80 mph	11-14
90 mph	10-13
100 mph	9-12
110 mph	8-11
120 mph	7-10

Today’s larger drivers have deeper face heights than drivers from just a few years ago, allowing more impact area above the center of gravity (CG) of the head. When the ball is contacted above the CG, there is gear effect that reduces backspin.

For tour players that are swinging over 100 mph, that’s a good thing. They’re getting the magic formula of high launch and high ball velocity with low backspin. What the average 80-90 mph male golfer needs to keep in mind is that reduced backspin off the larger driver may lead to shorter drives if the launch angle is not high enough to keep the ball in the air.

In general, keeping the ball in the air longer pays off more than a lower ball that depends on roll. You may benefit from one or two degrees higher loft on your driver.

Selecting the Right Design

The first thing you need to know when selecting a driver design is what you want to improve.

The two most important performance factors that help most golfers are trajectory and forgiveness. If you natural ball flight is low, look for a driver with a high trajectory rating. If you tend to hit the ball off-center more often than not, look for a driver head that has a maximum forgiveness rating as well.

Next, find a model that fits your directional needs. Don’t forget about offset as an option in your driver. If you tend to slice or fade the ball, you may benefit from driver heads that feature an offset hosel design and a closed face. Offset is a bigger influencer of ball flight on a wood that it is on an iron.

"He wants to see the golf course before he decides."

Ed Lepper

"Balls lost in the rough are not deductible -- and you can't claim your caddie as dependent."

Jim McQueen

"Let's keep an eye on him. He's tricky."

Ed Lepper

"Now then... what seems to be the problem?"

"Never practice this year's golf swing in last year's slacks."

Comics from the New Yorker:

"Would you mind picking me up, Bill? Agnes is using the car after all."

Evaluate your pace of play honestly and often, and if you’re consistently the slowest one in your group, you’re a slow player, period.  Remember the old staples of getting around in good time: Play “ready golf” (hit when ready, even if you aren’t away) until you reach the green, be prepared to play when it’s your turn on the tee and green, and never search for a lost ball for more than five minutes.

2. Keep your temper under control

We all have our moments of frustration, but the trick is to vent in an inoffensive way. For example, I often follow a bad hole by hitting the next tee shot a little harder — for better or worse.

3. Respect other people’s time

Because time is our most valuable commodity, there are few good reasons for breaking a golf date. Deciding last-minute to clean the garage on  Saturday just doesn’t cut it. Always make your tee times. Social functions are no exception.

4. Repair the ground you play on

Replace divots and rake bunkers like you mean it.  Make the area nice and smooth — don’t leave furrows from the rake. Before you exit the bunker, ask yourself, “Would I be upset if I had to play from that spot?”

5. Be a silent partner

Know where to stand and when to keep quiet. Position yourself directly across or at a diagonal from a player setting up. Never stand on the line of play, either beyond the hole or directly behind the ball. When a player is about to hit a shot, think of the fairway as a cathedral, the green a library.

6. Make your golf cart ‘invisible’

Your goal when driving a cart should be to leave no trace you were there. Because we tend to look where we’re going and not where we’ve been, it’s easy to damage the turf and not realize it.

7. Always look your best

You appearance speaks volumes about you as a person, and the neatly appointed golfer, like a businessman or someone headed to church, gives the impression he thinks the golf course and the people are special.

8. Turn off the cell phone

Nobody knows less about technology than I do. But I know enough to recognize a cellphone when it rings in my backswing. I don’t know all the gadgets and settings on those phones, but do whatever you have to do to keep it quiet. And if you absolutely have to make a call, move away from the other players. And keep the call so brief that they don’t even know you made it.

9. Lend a hand when you can

It’s easy to help out your fellow players, if you just pay attention. One obvious way is looking for lost balls — better yet, watching errant shots so they don’t turn into lost balls.  Pick up that extra club left on the fringe or the headcover dropped next to the tee, and return it to its owner after saying, “Nice shot!”

10. Learn the little things

There are a hundred bits of etiquette I haven’t mentioned, like laying the flagstick down carefully, taming down spike marks when you’re walking off a green, letting faster groups play through, and so on.

Just know that golf has a way of returning favors, and every piece of etiquette you practice will be repaid tenfold.

This is an article copied from Golf Digest and I do not own any rights to it.

Following is my own list of players I would like to see play during this tournament. This list is ordered by 2009 year end Money List rankings – not by preference.

Christie Kerr (2nd on the 2009 Money List) – This will be her 13th year on tour. Kerr is currently number one American player on Tour.

Lorena Ochoa (4th on the 2009 Money List) – A determined Ochoa, number one player on Rolex World Ranking,  is back to defend her title. The 5’6″ Ochoa uses Ping clubs and Callaway ball.

Paula Creamer (7th on the 2009 Money List) – Paula, finally health, is ready to make a push towards the top. 2009 was an off year for Paula, finish 7th on both the Money List and Rolax World Rankings. The Pink Panther, a fan favorite, is expected to have a huge gallery – probably one of the three biggest galleries along with Natalie and Michelle Wie. Paula is a Taylormade-Adidas player and only thing non-TMAG is her Precept golf ball.

Michelle Wie (14th on the 2009 Money List) – Wie finally won a tournament after six years of Nike hype machine.

Hee Yong Park (20th on the 2009 Money List) – The 5’6″ South Korean played well last year at this event and we can expect her to contend for the title.

Brittany Lincicome (21st on the 2009 Money List) – Lincicome, the 5’10″ American, is a strong player who drives well. She uses Adams irons and Titleist wedges.

Morgan Pressel (22nd on the 2009 Money List) – Another young American girl who deserves more press than Wie, Morgan is a force to be reckoned with. Morgan together with Paula Creamer, Natalie Gulbis, Brittany Lincicome, and Wie forms the backbone to carry American lady’s golf to the next decade.

Natalie Gulbis (40th on the 2009 Money List) – Natalie was only 40th on the Money List, but is still one of the top earning lady golfers. She has her own show on the Golf Channel and is one of the most popular players on tour. She, like Creamer, is a Taylormade-Adidas player.

This article was written by Paula Creamer with David Whelan for Golf Digest, September 2008.

From that day forward, we put a much greater emphasis on short-game practice.  Today I start each session with the Six-Ball Drill. It might take me 10 minutes – or all morning – to complete, but I don’t stop until I convert six up-and-downs in a row. To lower your scores right away, spend most of your practice time on pitching, chipping and putting. Need proof? The week after I failed that chipping test, I won my first LPGA Tournament, the Sybase Classic. Here are some of my favorite short game tips and drills to improve my play inside 60 yards.

Paula’s Tips On Pitching

Open your stance

Because you need more body rotation in a pitch shot, you need to adjust your stance to allow your chest to turn through the swing. Place your feet closer together, and turn your feet, hips and shoulders so that they point left of the target. Both feet should aim toward a point in front of the ball. If your shoulders are square to the target and your stance is too wide, you will have a hard time rotating your torso and your hands will take over, leading to a thin or fat shot.

Rotate your chest

I don’t use a different club for each yardage; I can produce a variety of distances (30, 40, 50 yards) with the same club and same-length swing (e.g., 9 to 3 o’clock) simply by increasing or decreasing the speed with which I rotate my chest through the shot. The farther I want to pitch it, the faster I accelerate my upper body through the ball.  Try it – you’ll see you can control distance and also change the trajectory of the ball flight (high and soft or low and running) to fit the shot.

Drill: Swing the Grip

Grip down on the shaft of a mid-iron, your hands about a foot away from the clubhead. Make half swings, working the club’s grip end around your left hip in the follow-through.  If the handle hits your ribs, you’ve stopped rotating your upper body and your hands are doing the work, a major cause of scooping.  Always feel as if your chest is turning around the left side of your body in the follow-through.

Paula’s Tips On Chipping

Create a solid left side

When I chip, I place my left hand on my left thigh before taking my grip. This tells me that my weight is on my left side and that my center of gravity is slightly in front of the ball, two keys to making crisp contact.  You can’t hit the ball solidly if your weight is behind it at impact; the club will swing up into the ball instead of descending into it on the downswing.  If I set up with a strong left side, my contact is much better.

Low or high?

To alter the trajectory of a shot, I change the position of the ball in my stance.  When I want to hit a low, running shot, I move the ball back in my stance – in line with my right instep – so my hands are in front of it.  When I need to get the ball up in the air, I move it forward so my hands are directly in line with or slightly behind it.  If the ball is in thick rough, I’ll open the face more, move my hands back, and release my right hand under the ball to pop it out softly.

Six-Ball Drill

Drop six balls on the fringe or in the rough; your goal is to get each ball up and down, holing out with your putter. If you convert five in a row but miss the sixth, you much repeat the whole drill. Keep going until you get all size balls in the hold in two shots.  You can do this from a bunker or on short pitches, too, to bring tournament-like intensity to your practice.

Paula’s Tips On Putting

Perfect Your Posture

I used to be a streaky putter, but with several adjustments to my grip and posture, I’ve become much more consistent. I grip the putter with my palms facing each other (left). This draws my elbows in and encourages my arms and shoulders to operate as one triangular unit during the stroke.

At address, I bend farther forward from the waist so my eyes are directly over or just inside the ball, which helps square the face through impact.  The farther inside the ball your eyes are – often caused by your weight being back on your heels – the more face rotation you will have in your stroke and the harder it will be to hit your putts on line.

My Pre-Round Putting Practice

After putting along the chalk line, I’ll hit left-to-right and right-to-left breaking putts from four to five feet, making my way around the whole in a star-shaped pattern.  Sometimes I’ll drop a coin a foot from the hold and another coin three feet past it, and hit putts from 30 feet, with the goal of stopping three consecutive balls inside the coins. I always finish by holing three consecutive putts from three feet. After running through these drills, not only do I have a good feel for the speed of the greens, I also have confidence in my stroke and my ability to sink any putt.

Defending Champion Suzann Pettersen of Norway is back to defend her crown.  The 26 year old defending champ (who as of this post is ranked 4th in the world)  is expected to face a very touch challenge this year as the field is very strong.

Following are some of the notable players many fans can’t wait to see.

The Stars

Lorena Ochoa

Nationality: Mexico

Height: 5′ 6″

World Ranking: 1

With 77 top 10 finishes including 24 career victories, Lorena has taken over the title of best female golfer from Annika and remained strong. She has also won the Rolex Player of the Year award for 2006, 2007, and 2008 seasons.

Paula Creamer

Nationality: USA

Height: 5′ 9″

World Ranking: 3

2005 Rolex Rookie of the Year is best American player in the world right now and is the most popular player on the LPGA tour.  In 2005, just 4 days before graduating high school, 18 years old Paula became the youngest player to win multi-round event in LPGA history, and before her 19th birthday, she became the fastest player to reach $1 Million career earnings mark. And less than 3 years later, 21 years old Creamer became fastest player to reach $4 Million career earnings.  Paula also spearheaded the Team USA twice in Solheim Cup (2005, 2007) against Europe and will again be starring in this year’s Solheim Cup Team.

Morgan Pressel

Nationality: USA

Height: 5′ 5″

Morgan became youngest player ever to qualified for US Women’s Open in 2001 at the age of 12.  In 2007, Morgan became youngest player to win a major champtionship when she won it just a few months before her 20th birthday. Morgan was also a member of 2007 US Solheim Cup Team.

Sophie Gustafson

Nationality: Sweden

Height: 5′ 10″

The powerful Sophie is a veteran golfer who was a member of Europe’s Solheim Cup team for the past 6 events (1998,2000,2003,2005,2007). Experienced Gustafson is always a thread to challenge for the top 10 finish in tough courses like Siam Country Club.

The Pinups

Natalie Gulbis

Nationality: USA

Height: 5′ 9″

Natalie is known as the poster girl of the LPGA, and her swimsuit calendars and features in magazines such as FHM made her even more famous among male fans of the game.  Natalie is also famous in tournaments for her sexy, short dresses as well as her magnificent game. Sometimes, people forget that Natalie is a great golfer who starred in 2005 and 2007 USA Solheim Cup teams, and a winner of 2007 Evian Masters.

Maria Verchenova

Nationality: Russia

Height: 5′ 9″

Maria is known as Ladies European Tour’s glamour girl, and not well known among many fans as LET hasn’t been featured as much in the media as LPGA.  At least it is about to change for many Asian fans as Maria Verchenova will be teeing up with the LPGA stars this week in LPGA Honda Thailand Championship.

The Rising Stars

Minea Blomqvist

Nationality: Finland

Height: 5′ 4″

Minea is two time Junior Solheim Cup team player for Europe, and one of the rising stars of European golf. Minea plays in and is a member of both LET and LPGA.  Last year, Minea carded a season low 65 at the second round of Fields Open in Hawaii.

Jane Park

Nationality: USA

Height: 5′ 4″

This Korean-American is a product of UCLA and has a decorated amateur career before turning pro in 2007. Jane is currently ranked 44 in the World but has been climbing the list pretty fast. As an amateur, Jane has won almost as much as Paula Creamer and finished second the AJGA’s Rolex Girls Amateur Championship when she lost to Paula in the sudden death playoff.

Stacy Prammanasudh

Nationality: USA

Height: 5′ 6″

Stacy is a Thai-American, and a member of 2007 US Solheim Cup Team.  She won 2007 Fields Open in Hawaii and had four top 10 finishes in 2008.

Size
Grip sizes can have a significant impact on your golf swing. In general, larger grips inhibit free release of the club-head through the hitting zone, and smaller grips do the opposite.  The popular sizes of the grip range from 0.58 inches to 0.6 inches – 0.58 is considered as standard.  Grips can be built up by adding wraps of tape to the shaft – on wrap would increase the size by 1/64 inches.  Depending on your preference, grip sizes of a certain section can be built up by partially adding wraps of tape.

Materials and Designs
The majority of the grips are slip-on today. Natural rubber, synthetic rubber and compound materials in conjunction with a number of code and surface configurations offer different gripping characteristics.  Grip can be either round or a reminder – which is a line or rib on the underside of the grip that reminds the golfer where the hand should be placed.

Basically there are two types of grips – soft type and hard type. Hard type grips are often built with cord made of cotton. A variety of types of cords (classic, GX, tour wrap) are available, and grips could be half or full corded. As a result, a wide range of selection in grips are available today. The cord provides not only harder surface textures but also other functions such as additional frictions and moisture absorption. Corded grips tend to be heavier. On the other hand, soft grips are made of compound materials.

It is also notedworthy that hardness (or softness) of a grip seems to cause a similar effect on club-head release as in grip sizes. In general, a harder grip inhibits free release of the club-head through the hitting zone, and a softer grip does the opposite.

Putter Grips
There are two primary putter grip styles – puddle style, and pistol style. The puddle grip features a wide flat part for the placement of thumbs, which is conducive to a one-piece stroke. The pistol grip is characterized by the protruding section of the grip which is to provide more control.