It is not just the pockets of homeowners in the United Kingdom which have been affected by the current global financial crisis. Even the big names in the world of sport have been negatively impacted upon, with certain football clubs announcing that they will need to sell players before they can make any purchases in the January transfer window. Now, it seems as if the world of golf has been affected by the credit crunch.

The LPGA has announced that it has been forced to drop four tournaments previously planned for 2009. The tournaments which have been slashed are the ADT Championship, the Safeway International, the Fields Open, and the Ginn Tribute. Furthermore, the official prize money will have to be reduced as a result of financial constraints.

The Tour commissioner, Carolyn Bivens, believes that the golfing world will see a “slightly different tournament landscape” next year. This worrying news was simply compounded by the revelation that future tournaments may also be affected, as nobody is sure how the economy “will really perform in 2009, much less in 2010”.

Earlier this month, the Ladies’ European Tour revealed that it would have to cancel the Indian Masters as a result of the credit crunch. This event would have been held at the beginning of December but the Tour executive director, Alexandra Armas, stated that it was no longer viable after the global economic downturn.

The Tour next year is set to start in February in Hawaii with the SBS Open at Turtle Bay. The Tour will end in Texas with the Tour Championship.

US golfer, Anthony Kim, has been disqualified from the HSBC Champions tournament in Shanghai, China, for attempting to play with a damaged driver.

The world number eight explained that the club clipped a sprinkler head whilst he was walking down the fairway: “I wasn't angry or anything. The toe hit the sprinkler. It looked a little bit different but I wasn't sure.”

The rules of golf (specifically rule 4-3b) state that clubs damaged outside the normal course of play must not be used or replaced, and that any player seen to be doing so will be immediately disqualified.

The HSBC Champions tournament is the first time that Kim has taken part in the European tour (the American is trying to broaden his horizons) and he is understandably disappointed with the ruling. Kim will still be eligible for the Dubai World Championships provided that he can continue to compete throughout the rest of the series.

Ian Poulter was also punished by the golfing gods. The Englishman had his Ryder Cup driver stolen from his bag during the early stages of the competition and has been forced to withdraw from the Singapore Open as a result. He is said to be "gutted" with the turn of events. A reward fund has been set up for the club but the thief has yet to be caught.

Ian Poulter was famously ‘body-checked’ by Anthony Kim at the Ryder Cup and will be disappointed at missing a chance to compete against the American when play resumes in Singapore on Thursday.

Even the shortest game of golf can be incredibly frustrating for players of all abilities and levels of experience. If there is something just slightly wrong with your golf swing and general technique, the ball will not move in the intended manner or direction and you may end up chasing through woods and wading through lakes to locate your stray ball.

As with all sports, there is a very important scientific element to a game of golf. It is no good simply shutting your eyes, swinging the golf club wildly through the air, and hoping for the best. This week, news has emerged which will come as music to the ears of all golfers. Robin Sharp, an engineer at the University of Surrey, believes that he has found the secret behind the perfect golf swing.

This secret has been uncovered after many years of intense research. Sharp based his research on a model in which a golfer uses just three main points of rotation, located in the shoulders in relation to the spine, the arms in relation to the shoulders, and the wrists in relation to the arms.

The engineer’s work began by constructing a computer model which allowed an accurate study of the swing styles of three legends in the world of golf: Bernard Hunt, Geoffrey Hunt, and Guy Wolstenholme. Their swings were measured in 1968 using innovative high-speed photography.

The golfing world has long been aware of the importance of timing rotations in relation to one another. Timing the rotations to perfection will allow the golfer to achieve a long and accurate drive. However, until this week, nobody has been able to describe these timings in any detail or explain precisely how the power of a golf swing builds up during the movement.

Sharp’s reliance upon the rotation model has allowed him to discover that golfers should not use full power at the beginning of the golf swing. Rather, power should be built up quickly during a later stage of the movement. Furthermore, Sharp has found that the wrists do not play such an important part in the outcome of the swing as was first thought. Rather, maintaining strict control of the arms appears to be the fundamental feature of a successful swing.

Sharp’s model, constructed with the help of the three professional golfers from 1968, has shown that the club-head speed, and subsequent distance of the drive, could be improved by increasing the torque suddenly and maintaining this power through the resultant movement of the golf swing. The engineer found that “generating too much arm speed too soon” results in an “early release”. This early release leads to the club-head reaching its top speed prior to the point of contact with the ball.

Sharp has tried to put the results of his research into language that can be understood by casual golfers. He explains that the “optimal strategy” starts with hitting with the shoulders whilst holding back and maintaining control over the arms and wrists. After a short delay, golfers should hit through the swing with the arms. When the swing is released, the wrists should subsequently hit through.