For any golfer who wants to play great golf
Practice
Sometimes in golf we need to unlearn before we can learn
Jun 14th
The last couple of weeks have been up and down in terms of my scores, but I have learned some very valuable lessons along the way.
In my last five rounds I have two of my best scores for the season, two of my worst, and an average round. What does that tell you? It tells me that golf is a game of patience. You can’t control the outcome. You can only control your process.
Golf is interesting because you can’t force a good shot, you can only let it happen, but you can definitely do a lot of things to create bad shots. The opposite of that is what I think sports psychologists call “getting out of your own way”.
Practice unusual shots to develop creativity
Jun 7th
Lately I’ve been having so much fun practicing my short game, that I almost don’t feel like going to the driving range.
I’ll bring my bag out to the practice area and I have a sleeve where I keep 10 practice balls. The sleeve allows me to quickly pick them up, and drop balls anywhere I want to hit from. It’s been a lot of fun just trying different shots and seeing which club and shot is easiest for me to get it consistently close. Sometimes I’m surprised by the results.
For example, I picked a shot from the fringe off the green, with about 15 yards to the pin. There was plenty of green to work with so I tried everything from 9 iron to 60 degree lob wedge. I would hit a full sleeve of balls with each club, sometimes 2 or three depending on what I was feeling. Sometimes it was easier to loft it high and land it soft, and other times it was easier to bump and run it up to the pin. I found that I could get, on that particular shot, roughly the same results with the 9i, PW, 52 degree and 56 degree sand wedge, while the 60 degree was just a bit less consistent.
Once I get going it, I’m constantly picking up the 10 balls and dropping them in a new location to try a new shot. It’s really a lot of fun, but the biggest benefit is that you begin to develop feel. The more shots you hit with different clubs from different lies, the more creative you start to become.
Get to know your tendencies
May 10th
While I’ve been playing pretty consistent golf, I have not been practicing my long game as much. I think one of the things that happens when you play a lot of golf without going to the driving range is that you can start to get into some bad habits. For me, it was with my setup. I noticed it yesterday in my first driving range session in a while.
The first thing I noticed was that my setup didn’t feel right. After a bit more careful thought I determined that it was my shoulder alignment. My shoulders were a bit open. I had to consciously set myself up properly and once I did that my shots straightened out bit and the ball would start either right on line, or slightly right of target and draw back in.
I think it’s important to know what our tendencies are and to try to develop better habits. My shoulders opening up at address is a tendency that I have and it creeps back in if I don’t watch my setup. It can also creep into my putting and send putts off line.
However knowing that it is a tendency allows me to be on the lookout for it and the place to make those changes is on the practice tee. If you build good habits on the practice tee you can take them to the course.
How to warm up properly to play your best golf
Mar 20th
Do you ever show up to golf course only minutes before your tee time, dash to give yourself a quick stretch, take 2 swings, and then hit your first tee shot deep into the woods, OB or in the rough? Does this happen all the time?
How can we give ourselves the best opportunity to play well? How can you expect to play well without giving yourself an adequate warm up?
I want to offer a different way to warm up for your round of golf. It’s going to be designed to help you quickly get into the groove so that you can play your best.
How do I choose a golf simulator?
Feb 25th
Recently a friend asked me to provide some information on golf simulators to his wife, a university golf team coach who needs to present a proposal to the school for an indoor practice room.
Whether you are looking to create a commercial facility, a team practice area, or a home practice room, there are a lot of choices out there when it comes to a golf simulator.
What I would advise anyone who is looking to buy one is to look at the following factors. Each one will have an impact on the golf simulator actually chosen.
- What is your budget?
- How do you intend to use it?
- Do you intend to use it for club fitting or lessons?
- How much space do you have?
How to keep breakthroughs from slipping away
Feb 22nd
So I read something interesting on a a forum last night.
The poster wrote that he often experiences breakthroughs while on the range, but they disappear as quickly as they came the next time he plays golf or practices.
I would bet almost everybody goes through this.
So how can you take a breakthrough and build on it, rather than letting it slip away?
Imagine what would happen if every breakthrough you had practicing, stayed with you? You would quickly become an excellent golfer. You would have a more consistent repeatable swing. And you would have more fun on the golf course.
30 Day Challenge – Day 6: Can I hit more greens in regulation?
Feb 17th
The past few days I have talked quite a bit about things I have been doing with the driver. Things that astounded me. Today I really wanted to focus on how I can hit more greens in regulation, which means improving my iron play and approach shots.
One of the most frustrating things in golf for me is to hit a great drive and follow it up with a lousy iron approach. It really bugs me to have placed the ball in perfect position and not get home. I don’t know if it’s happened to you but I always feel like I wasted a good opportunity when that happens.
I can only imagine how many more greens I would have hit if I could have just improved on that shot and how much more it would have changed my scores and my handicap.
So how can I hit more greens in regulation?
30 Day Challenge – Day 5
Feb 16th
Practice in the tundra
Well not a tundra, but the driving range was covered in about 6 inches of snow, and more snow was coming down as I was hitting balls. I turns out I was the last customer before they closed for the day. To top it off , the heat was not working.
So what did I do?
I hit balls. I hit one large bucket of balls and kept focusing on my hands and shot shape. The past 4 days I was practicing with only a lob wedge, 8 iron and driver. Today I got a little bit more variety. I hit some 5 irons as well as a fairway wood (4w to be exact).
I find it truly amazing that what I do with my hands has so much of an effect. I tried a very interesting little drill. With the driver in hand, I alternated between hitting high cuts and high draws. So I would hit one high draw, then one high cut and rinse and repeat. It was pretty cool. I had never had this amount of control with the driver. Occasionally my high draw, would go straight and not really draw back, and occasionally the high fade would stay a bit left. Still I was not disappointed by that. I was thrilled that I could get as much consistency as I did.
Pulling with the left side to eliminate the weak slice
Feb 6th
In the same way that someone is right handed or left handed, a golf swing can be dominated by either side. Most amateur swings are right side/arm dominated. You can see this in the over the top moves and the flipping action of the club face. This is typically considered pushing and results in a weak slice.
Conversely a golf swing can be more left side/arm dominated. This is typically called pulling and results in more consistent ball striking, and improved golf ball launch conditions.
Both ways can be effective provided the player plays to their tendencies or has practiced enough to know what the swing is going to do. However, I think left side/arm dominated can be more consistent based on the work I have done with my swing, and from what I see from the average golfer.
I’ll refer to left side dominated swings as pulling, and right side dominated swings as pushing.
Review: Trackman: The Game
Feb 5th
On tour, PGA Tour players get to test equipment and practice with a trackman setup that gives them their launch conditions like club head speed, angle of attack, ballspeed etc. Imagine being able to practice like a tour pro at your local range. That and more is the promise of Trackman: The Game.
I feel that calling it Trackman: The Game, is a bit of a misnomer. It is simply a great practice tool, although one of its best applications is the multiplayer games. Above you can see my actual stats, ball flight and score for one short session of Trackman: The Game. Click on each thumbnail to open a larger image.
