Oh, the old course at St. Andrews. It is in the top 5 of my bucket list of places to play for sure. Not because of its lavish beauty or scenic views but because of its history. As a student of the game, you must have aspirations of playing here someday and I am very disappointed that I haven’t been able to make it over the pond yet. I have seen it so many times on television that I feel like I know it so well. How I yearn to walk out of the historic club house and down to the first tee and stripe a fairway metal down the fairway, narrowly avoiding the burn in front of the green. I want to take an aggressive route off the tee and just miss the principals nose. I want to stand on the “road hole #17” and take it over the “O” and find the fairway. And lastly, try to drive the green and hopefully not get stuck in the valley of sin just short of the green. If I do, I would use the putter and play the low shot as Constantina Rocca did some years ago. Someday I will do this. So as we approach the championship, I thought I would give you a few things to look for and my predictions on who I think will play well. There is nothing better than waking up to championship golf, am I right? So here goes………………….

1. The weather looks bad for the week, so we will see a lot of wind and rain which will make the scoring very difficult. I expect to see a lot of knock downs and punch shots that will be played low to the ground. Here are the keys to a knock down and I will shoot a video for you later in the week.

1. Take at least 2 clubs more than the yardage to ensure that you won’t swing too hard.

2. Place 60 percent of your weight on your forward foot as you would a pitch shot.

3. Even though this is a shorter swing, make sure you complete your shoulder turn to the top.

4. As you rotate through impact, bow your left wrist toward the target to take loft off of the club.

5.  Finish low and abbreviated to keep the flight down

########KEY: Swing 80%……The biggest error that amateurs make is to swing too hard which imparts more spin and makes the ball go too high.

Here are my picks for the 2010 Open Championship

1. Tiger Woods: Let’s face it, he is bound to win soon and he always plays great winning the last 2 held at St. Andrews.

2. Rory McIlroy: He is used to bad weather and has never shot over 69 in a tournament round at the old course

3. Justin Rose: How can you not put him on the list. Maybe the hottest golfer on the planet…..enough said

4. Lee Westwood: It could be his time and he has been so close.

5. Franscesco Molinari: His brother won last week, could be his turn this week

Euro dark horse: Shane Lowry

US dark horse: Steve Stricker…….anyone who can make that many birdies you have to put on the list

It will be a grind fest for sure and I look forward to seeing the replays as I will be on the lesson tee for most of it…….

See you on the lesson tee and don’t forget to breathe,

Guru