Trouble and Worry

One of my favorite financial commercials with music by Ray LaMontagne. Some more of the lyrics:

Trouble...
Trouble, trouble, trouble, trouble
Trouble been doggin' my soul since the day I was born
Worry...
Worry, worry, worry, worry
Worry just will not seem to leave my mind alone
We'll I've been...
saved by a woman
I've been...
saved by a woman
I've been...
saved by a woman
She won't let me go
She won't let me go now
She won't let me go
She won't let me go now

Trouble...
Oh, trouble, trouble, trouble, trouble
Feels like every time I get back on my feet
she come around and knock me down again
Worry...
Oh, worry, worry, worry, worry
Sometimes I swear it feels like this worry is my only friend

...

False Choices: Green vs. Green

Renewable energy projects (wind farms, large-scale solar panel installations, etc.) require a lot of land. Environmentalists want clean energy but also want to protect undeveloped land, setting up a false choice. For example, the video above describes a proposed wind farm project for the island of Lanai in Hawaii that plans to use 20,000 acres of natural, undisturbed area.

Bill Corcoran from the Sierra Club says (here) not to worry. It's a choice that we probably won't have to make that often.

BILL CORCORAN: There's plenty of available land that won't disturb the important wildlife and plants that have had conflicts with some existing projects.

What Steve Stricker Learned in the Trailer

Steve Stricker currently has the second round lead at the Memorial Golf Tournament after a hole-in-one on the 17th hole. Continued great play by Steve after loosing his tour card in 2004 and being voted PGA Tour Comeback Player of the Year in 2006 begs the questions: Just what did Steve Stricker discover that turned his game around?

Sometime between 2002 and 2004 I decided to follow Steve for an entire round at the now defunct U.S. Bank Championship in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I had heard about Steve since he was a high school player in Edgerton, WI. and I was curious to see a local player who had made it to the PGA tour. To my amazement, Steve proceeded to hit a duck hook off the first tee. I ended up following other players that day.

To break out of this slump, Steve spent the winters until his 2006 comeback in the practice trailer at the Cherokee Golf Club (friends of mine who hit balls there confirmed seeing him practice there). Just what did Steve Stricker learn in the practice trailer that turned his game around?

The common analysis of the duck hook (Steve must have been hitting a lot of these) is over-active hands in the hitting area. In the video commentary above by Wayne DeFrancesco and in a golf digest swing sequence (here) what Steve seemed to have learned was that you can hit the golf ball with enough power and with improved accuracy using a stiff-wristed action controlled by a big body turn (the swing thought might be "wrists firm, rotate"). I have tried this with mixed results (probably because I have trouble rotating without getting my hands stuck behind me). Firm wrists also seem to help putting and chipping, another area where Steve is strong.

Given Steve's continued good performance, it suggests we all try to firm up our wrist action a little and see what happens.

Stack & Tilt: Charlie Wi Takes a Second Place at The Colonial

Charlie Wi took a second place this weekend at the Crowne Plaza Invitational. He is arguably the best known golfer still using the Stack & Tilt (S&T) method. Peter Kostis has provided a fairly consistent analysis of his swing in the video above and below.

What's also interesting are Charlie Wi's stats: 286 yards driving distance, fourth in total putting and 15th in scrambling. What I take away from Charlie Wi's performance and approach to golf is that S&T would be a good foundation on which to build a great short game!

And, if you are having trouble hitting your driver with S&T or have been reading negative comments about the S&T driver swing, Peter Kostis provides an excellent analysis of how the S&T driver swing is executed in the second video above. As a bonus, there's a great description of how to use the left leg (the S&T "stand-up" move).

Tiger in the Woods

Tiger Woods withdrew yesterday from the Player's championship (here) after a first nine 42, the result of re-injuring his left knee. The video above is an analysis of the swing problems that are putting pressure on his knee. The analysis is from the Somax Performance Institute, the same people that analyzed Arnold Palmer's swing in a recent post (here).

In the video above, Palmer's swing is also compared favorably to Woods. The key problem for Tiger is that his spine angle gets more acute in the hitting area compared to address. The result is stress on the left knee and wild shots (Tiger in the Woods).

Tiger could get a Day at Somax for $2100. (chump change in his world). I would love to see him get his game back together!

What We Need Now: More Capitalism! Huh?

After the greatest financial crisis since the Great Depression, Joe Kernen (an anchor for CNBC) teams up with his daughter (Blake) in their book Your Teacher Said What?! Defending Our Kids from the Liberal Assault on Capitalism to claim that what we need is more Capitalism, specifically, more Capitalism taught to young children.

BASIC CAPITALISM 101

• How to make campaign contributions without appearing to bribe politicians.
• How to beg for tax breaks, special favors and reduced regulation.
• How to break unions and prevent workers from organizing.
• How to reduce wages, reduce benefits and eliminate retirement plans while at the same time boosting executive compensation and overall income inequality.
• How to externalize costs of production (air pollution, hazardous waste dumping and carbon dioxide emissions).
• How to globalize your business, exploit sweat shop working conditions in peripheral countries and evade US environmental regulations.

FINANCE CAPITALISM 201

• How to make millions while skimming pennies off large volume transactions.
• How to document a liar loan.
• How to get a bailout from the Federal Government.
• How to chose a sympathetic or incompetent regulator.
• How to trade on insider information and avoid SEC scrutiny.
• How to exploit uncertainty in commodity, currency and foreign stock markets.

Now Joe and his daughter do live in New Jersey which, I assume, must be on some other planet, somewhere! A couple of courses in American Capitalism might help.