Golf.com headlines their article “A new shot in Woods' repertoire”.  In Scotland we’d simply call it, “A driver doon the shaft” but let’s not spoil a good story.

The article begins, “Tiger Woods first tried the shot in competition during the third round at the Memorial, choking up on the grip of his driver about 2 inches, and he pulled it off to perfection.”

And then goes into the details of his “tweener” shot. “The eighth hole played 341 yards on Thursday, a slightly elevated green that makes it nearly impossible to drive, but Woods wanted to take the bunkers out of play. "A full driver I felt would get me too far down there, and 3-wood couldn't take the bunkers out of play," he said. "So it's nice to have a little bit of a tweener. I drop down and hit just this little softy cut out there. It's a lot further than my 3-wood, but it's nowhere near a full driver, and I can keep that in play."

So there you have it. First there was the Tiger stinger and now we have the Tiger tweener.

The good news from golfmagic is that they are making a movie based on Michael Murphy's 1972 novel, “Golf in the Kingdom”

If you’ve never read it, do it. It’s a great golf book.

Golfmagic says the book “is based on a fictional tale set in the 1950s, about a young American philosophy student who is given a lesson at Burningbush Golf Club in Fife. His life is never the same again.”

By the way in case you don’t know Michael Murphy is one of the founders of Esalen which in the 1960s got the reputation for attracting a lot of “New Agers” who came to see this amazing place by the California coast and learn all sorts things about alternative styles of living and being.

Esalen is now much more mainstream and among other things offers golf tuition based on Shivas Irons' philosophical approach to golf

According to golfmagic, “It is believed that Balcomie Links of Crail provided Murphy with the inspiration behind 'Burningbush' but the film-makers have not returned to the famous Scots course to shoot the film. Instead the scenes were shot at Bandon Dunes golf course in Oregon.”

Well I guess if it can’t be a golf course in the Kingdom of Fife (That’s why Kingdom is part of the book’s title) then Bandon Dunes will make a very fine Burningbush.

Thankfully two Scottish actors, David O'Hara and Malcolm McDowell have been selected for starring roles.

I’ve just got over Mel Gibson playing William Wallace in Braveheart and don’t think I could handle Shivas Irons with an American accent.

Incidentally should you read the book or eventually go see the movie and become like me a confirmed “Golf in the Kingdom fan, there’s The Shivas Irons Society.

The New York Times has an article, “A Good Walk Spoiled, Often by an Injury”.

Although I’m not prone to golfing injuries I thought that those who do have injury problems might like to be reminded that, “Golf is actually a demanding athletic activity that puts tremendous stress on the body and has a high injury rate,” said Dr Larry Foster an orthopedist in Carmel, N.Y., whose book, “Dr. Divot’s Guide to Golf Injuries,” details ailments and how to prevent them."

The article is a good read especially for those golfers who suffer golf-induced back pains. And working on the exercises listed on page 2 may just be the thing to prevent you from experiencing a good walk spoiled. But wait there’s more!

The NYT mentions Dr. Vijay Vad, an orthopedist at the Hospital for Special Surgery in Manhattan who has developed golf-specific exercises to help prevent injury and (now wait for it, here’s more) add distance to your drives.

The “distance to your drives” bit is the result of the increased flexibility obtained through doing the golf-specific exercises.