Mike Weir of Canada hits his tee shot on the second hole during a practice round for the 2012 Masters Golf Tournament at the Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia, April 3, 2012. REUTERS/Mark Blinch/Reuters/Reuters
The most effective way to learn how a golfer is doing is to play with him.
Stephen Ames was in a group with Mike Weir during the first two rounds of last week's HP Byron Nelson Championship in Irving, Tex. Weir shot 75-83 to miss his eighth cut in eight PGA Tour events this year, and Ames referred to his fellow Canadian's play as "shocking" and advised him to take a long break.
Weir has made only two cuts on the PGA Tour in his last 23 tournaments, going back to last year. He had surgery on his right elbow last August, and has said the injury that led to the surgery isn't an issue any more. But the 2003 Masters champion and winner of eight PGA Tour events made compensations in his swing while he played injured. Weir has been unable to find a reliable swing, while working with a variety of coaches.
"I look at Mike, and I think it's an easy fix," Ames said. "He's moving backward with his driver and long irons when he's hitting the ball, instead of going forward and rotating. I suggested to him that he take a couple of months off, but he looks at it as all part of practising to get his game back. His head is buzzing."
Ames was speaking from Calgary, where he lives.
He shot 69-61 on May 21 in Plano, Tex., to qualify for the Open Championship in July. The 48-year-old believes he has hit the ball well all year, but putted poorly. He made an adjustment to his grip on the weekend after missing the cut at the Nelson, and then tied the lowest score of his career to get into the Open at the Royal Lytham & St. Annes Golf Club.
Meanwhile, Ames thinks a golfer can get too much information from a swing coach. That's why he suggested to Weir he remove himself from competition for an extended period, and then return gradually, perhaps starting with events on the Nationwide Tour.
Ames added, though, that's not Weir's way. He did withdraw from this week's BMW PGA Championship in Virginia Water, England. Weir is scheduled to play next week's Memorial Tournament in Dublin, Ohio.
As for the "too much information" idea, Ames said, in his view, Tiger Woods's head is also buzzing. Woods, like Ames, works with Canadian coach Sean Foley. Foley said recently he and Woods are halfway there in terms of making and solidifying changes to the 14-time major champion's swing.
Woods finished second at the Honda Classic and won the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March, so he's not exactly having a poor season.
At the same time, Woods, in his last three tournaments, tied for 40th at the Masters, missed the cut in the Wells Fargo Championship, and tied for 40th at the Players Championship. Woods points to the four majors every year and has said he wants to peak those weeks. He'll play the Memorial next week and, of course, the U.S. Open at the Olympic Club in San Francisco from June 14 to 17.
As much as Woods emphasizes the majors, he was in a deep valley rather than on a peak at the Masters. Still, it's important to remember he has set the bar high, probably impossibly high, for those who want to judge his performance.
Weir's game, meanwhile, has sunk deeper than in a valley. It's gone underground.
The next chapter as Woods and Weir continue to try to raise their games will unfold at the Memorial. Maybe it will stir good memories for Woods, who has won the tournament four times, and for Weir, who has three top-five finishes in his 10 appearances.
If only good memories alone could lead to better golf. They don't hurt, but golf at the PGA Tour level is about more than positive thinking.
RELATED LINK: More blogs from Lorne Rubenstein
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Lorne Rubenstein has written a golf column for The Globe and Mail since 1980. He has played golf since the early 1960s and was the Royal Canadian Golf Association's first curator of its museum and library at the Glen Abbey Golf Club in Oakville, Ontario and the first editor of Score, Canada's Golf Magazine, where he continues to write a column and features. He has won four first-place awards from the Golf Writers Association of America, one National Magazine Award in Canada, and he won the award for the best feature in 2009 from the Golf Journalists Association of Canada. Lorne has written 12 books, including Mike Weir: The Road to the Masters (2003); A Disorderly Compendium of Golf, with Jeff Neuman (2006); This Round's on Me (2009); and the latest Moe & Me: Encounters with Moe Norman, Golf's Mysterious Genius (2012). He is a member of the Ontario Golf Hall of Fame and the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame. Lorne can be reached at rube@sympatico.ca . You can now follow him on Twitter @lornerubenstein