Why golf and car racing are similar disciplines

Pop quiz: In one word, what skill do Tiger Woods and Michael Schumacher have in common? If you have just slightly more than a passing interest in either of these two great sportsmen or the sports they indulge in, then you already probably know that the answer is "driving."

"Driving" in two very different senses of the word. And it has nothing to do with Tiger endorsing Buicks and Michael racing a Ferrari.

At first glance the two sports couldn’t be more different. Even their working environments are poles apart. Tiger’s office is the beautiful manicured fairways and cool greens of sprawling golf courses while Michael works inside the hot, cramped cockpit of a Formula One car — restrained by a six-point racing harness and a HANS (head and neck support) device so tightly that he can only move his arms and legs.

So where do the driving similarities come in? The answer comes in two pairs of words: "hook and slice" and "understeer and oversteer." These words are very much a part of the vocabulary for these two sports especially when a player is in serious competition.

Every golfer regardless of skill level is familiar with the first two sets of words. In fact, the lower one is in the steep learning curve of golf, the more he or she will experience a hook or a slice, which are basically shots that drift left and right, respectively.

Understeer and oversteer, on the other hand, usually rear their ugly heads when a driver oversteps the laws of physics. This can happen on the street, but only when a driver is being reckless; but it happens quite regularly on a racetrack in the heat of competition.

When a golfer steps up to the tee and prepares to smack that white dimpled ball as hard as he can though a straight par-5 fairway, that player is balancing the fine line between a hook, a slice and what all players dream of: a beautiful-sounding arrow-straight shot that soars magnificently through the sky and lands dead center of the fairway 280 yards or more from where he is standing.

Address the ball wrong, plant your feet askew, raise your head a millimeter as you swing, subconsciously relax or tighten your grip or slightly straighten your knees at mid-swing, cut short your follow through — even plant your tee too high or too low in the ground — and you pay the price: your ball sails to the left or right and disappears over the tops of the trees. Or worse, over the fence and out of bounds.

In car racing, it’s the same thing. When a driver takes a corner with full commitment — that is, at the outer edge of adhesion despite centrifugal forces as much as four times the force of gravity threatening to push his car off line — the driver is walking the tightrope between understeer, oversteer and what every racer dreams of: a car that hugs the driver’s chosen line and with his rivals in his rear view mirrors.

Take that corner too fast, brake a fraction too late, miss the apex by two inches, turn in too early or too late, and the car will either not follow the direction you are pointing the front wheels at by going straight (understeer) or exaggerate your steering input by swinging its tail wide — or even spinning (oversteer). As racers like to joke, crashing into the guardrail front-first or tail-first is the difference between understeer and oversteer.

Of course, a golfer can play percentages and avoid hooking or slicing by hitting less powerfully just as much as a racer can take a corner without understeering or oversteering by going slower, but the net effect is the same — you are never going to win.

All things considered, it takes the same amount (read: lots of it) of extraordinary physical and mental skill to perform at the top levels of these two sports. Getting the most out of a car or a golf club — regardless of its brand, age or performance capabilities — requires one to straddle a razor-sharp edge: taking the cup or the checkered flag or throwing it all away into the bunker or guardrail. But do it right and the glory is all yours. As US golfing great Arnold Palmer once said in a Bridgestone tire commercial, "You can feel it when you drive!"

Suggestions, complaints and arguments galore! Here are some of your Backseat Driver comments from last week.

Jeepneys blocking half of Masaya St. U.P. Village, QC. They’re back after three days! Diagonal and double parked! Hopeless case! — 09189304560

Powerpill from NEW IMAGE has proven gas/diesel savings 15 to 42%! Used by AFP/PNP. — 09215657596

Traffic in Quirino Highway worsens, lalo na pag hinahawakan ng Q.C. ang traffic management. — 09176257859

Congressional Avenue is used as a parking area for a school and a San Miguel Corp. bodega. Trucks, cars and vans block the flow of traffic. — 09174725657

Some &^%$@ placed a concrete barrier in the middle of Commonwealth Avenue last week! — 09174725657

Toll fees set to rise with EVAT implementation. Isn’t the TIN then supposed to be printed on SLEX receipts? Are they remitting taxes? — 09175413661

To institute discipline for PUV drivers, LTO and Congress must institute mandatory seminars and new PUV drivers must be at least high school graduates. – 09165751059

Beware of mad dogs at night disguised as PUV drivers without headlights! — 09277971347

Dong, how can the local Focus Sport 145hp compete against the street version Subaru WRX STi 300hp turbo? — Albert Dacer, Bacolod City. (Perhaps you still misunderstand what I was trying to convey, sir. The street version of the WRX that I was referring to was not the award-winning 227hp intercooled and turbocharged Impreza WRX, nor was it the rally-inspired 300hp Impreza WRX STi that you mentioned, but rather the much more tame but still impressive 165hp Impreza WRX 2.5 RS Sport Wagon. The Ford Focus Sport — despite the still obvious discrepancy in horsepower — is positioned against it in other markets around the world. My apologies for being vague.)

The jeepneys that have been brazenly loading and unloading passengers at the foot of the Shaw-EDSA flyover are hazards and obstructions to traffic. Where are the police? — 09189047893 (At the intersection right before the Shaw-EDSA flyover. I swear, I see them everyday!)

Speak out, be heard and keep those text messages coming in. To say your piece and become a "Backseat Driver", text PHILSTAR<space>FB<space>MOTORING<space>YOUR MESSAGE and send to 2333 if you’re a Globe or Touch Mobile subscriber or 334 if you’re a Smart or Talk ’n Text subscriber or 2840 if you’re a Sun Cellular subscriber. Please keep your messages down to a manageable 160 characters. You may send a series of comments using the same parameters.