News: TOUR Notes

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Ernie Els tied for 52nd in the Farmers Insurance Open.

Ernie Els will write a blog for PGATOUR.COM weekly during the 2011 season. For more information on Els, visit ernieels.com. Here is this week’s installment

Not playing a tournament last week gave me the opportunity to work on my game and specifically on some of the hand-eye coordination drills that Dr Sherylle Calder has given me in order to help me with my putting. As I said before, our conversations these past few weeks have really opened my eyes to what I’m trying to achieve and how I can get back some of the memories and feelings from when I was putting great. That wasn’t so long ago and honestly I feel confident that I can regain some of that form.

A week at home also allowed me to catch up on a bit if business at our offices in Florida. The team here is working hard making preparations to ensure that the 2012 Els for Autism Golf Challenge is an even greater success than last year’s inaugural series…no easy task, let me tell you! We’ll have a special announcement about that on Feb. 14 when I’ll be talking to the media during my build-up to the start of the Northern Trust Open at Riviera Country Club.

I’ll certainly be making the most of this next week at home, too. It means I can continue to put in the hours on the practice ground and on the putting green here at the Bear’s Club, where the facilities are basically TOUR standard. It’s just great. And having seen on the news that they’ve had about 3 inches of snow in London and at our house at Wentworth, this is the time of the year when I’m especially pleased that we are now based in lovely warm, sunny Florida!

As it’s the start of a new season I thought I’d take this opportunity to update you on what’s in my golf bag for 2012. The RAZR X Forged Irons, X Fairway Metals and X Series Wedges are carried over from last year. More recently Callaway has put in my hands the fantastic new RAZR Fit Driver and a new golf ball, the HEX Black Tour, which offers an impressive blend of greenside control and off-the-tee distance. My driving stats at the Farmers Insurance Open were my best for a while and I am definitely seeing more distance with this club and ball combination.

Also as you may have read, I’m wearing Callaway’s new Del Mar street-style shoe. I’m very impressed with these, in particular the level of comfort, which is better than any other shoe I’ve ever worn on the golf course. Anyway, you can read about all aspects of my Callaway golf gear on this website; just click on kit list.

Okay, that’s it for now. I’ll write again soon.