For any golfer who wants to play great golf
Posts tagged 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”.
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.
Gain more confidence by challenging your fears and doubts
May 9th
A sure way to ruin a golf shot is to step up to it and hit without being fully committed to the shot. There are a number of reasons that can cause us to not commit to the shot.
Sometimes it’s our equipment. There’s a 4 wood in my bag that doesn’t fit my swing anymore. My irons and driver have an x-stiff shaft and this 4w has a stiff voodoo SVS7. It just seems and feels out of place now. I feel like I need to make too much of an adjustment to my swing to hit it well. So when I have a 235 yard show where it would be appropriate I hesitate. This happened recently and I’ve decided not to repeat the mistake.
The hesitation is, I believe, my body telling me not to use the club. Even on the practice tee it feels strange now and it really doesn’t feel like it belongs in my bag now. I used to love hitting this club but as my swing has evolved, my equipment changes with it, and that’s what has happened with my irons and driver.
Not being comfortable with the equipment can cause hesitation. The result of this is usually a less than committed swing that tries to compensate for the discomfort. And this often leads to bad shots. It’s what Doc Joseph Parent calls an “anyway.” A shot that you hit “anyway” even though you feel uncomfortable about it.
New strategy for effortless golf has surprising results
Apr 29th
Today was one of the great practice sessions. Even though I set out to do something I was practicing on the simulator, I ended up going in a completely different direction with my driving range session.
At home I had been practicing with the driving range portion of my golf simulator. I noticed that I had difficulty squaring the face, but once I concentrated on having an inside path and getting the face slightly closed at impact I hit beautiful draws.
I wanted to see how that would translate on the driving range I go to, to hit actual golf balls. So I started out doing that, and quickly got bored of it. I followed an intuition I had and instead practiced in a different way.
I started with the pitching wedge and picked out a target about 75 yards away. And the thought I had in preparing for the swing was this “What is the smoothest slowest full swing I can do to hit it to that target 75 yards away.” So I felt the smooth swing in my body, and then did the same thing with a golf ball. That smooth swing created a gorgeous pitching wedge shot. It arced high, and went right at the my aim point but effortlessly carried to 130 yards.
30 Day Challenge: Wedges – Day 5
Mar 31st
The last few days of practice were pretty much rained out by one of the seemingly many tropical storms that’s hitting the north east. Luckily the skies will clear up for about a week.
I continued to practice short shots at the range, devoting 80% of the bucket of balls to them.
The positive thing is that my distance control is becoming better. I can get pretty close to the distances I want with virtually any club. For example there is a green out on the range at 126 yards. I can hit it pretty consistently with the following clubs 52* sand wedge, PW, 9i, 8i, 7i. I’m finding that although the 52* can get it there, in fact it can land at about 130. It gets a super high ball flight. It’s one of those shots that’s much better if there is no wind. I’m finding it’s easier to hit consistently with the pw or even 9 iron because the trajectory is more controllable. With those clubs, the shots feel like half shots almost, but the trajectory is nice, and the ball gets a lot of spin, though I’m not trying to put a lot of spin on it.
I’m still working on accuracy. Although I’m getting a good feel for the distances, I tend to miss a bit left or right depending on the target. I think that’s simply a matter of working with it. It continues to be a lot of fun and I know my accuracy will improve. I’m not missing by much, so that is exciting.
Control distance with trajectory
Mar 30th
There are many excellent reasons to learn to control your distance with trajectory. Here are some of my favorites:
- Not every shot is a full shot. The more you can learn to master partial shots, the more control you’ll have approaching greens.
- Dealing with the wind. Lower trajectory shots fly better in the wind and are less likely to be taken off line. Have a short shot and it’s a windy day? Take more club and use a partial shot to take the wind out of play.
- Helps your short game. Partial shots are all about feel, control and imagination, learn to do this and it will make your wedge game and short irons so much more effectively. It will also open up more of the green enabling you to play safer shots to tucked pins and still get the ball close.
- Learn solid contact. Partial shots require you to stay within yourself. The more you practice these the more you’ll learn to feel how a solid shot feels. Trust me, it transfers to your long game and full shots and makes you a better ball striker with every club.
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.
Review: Divot Mat
Mar 8th
The DivotMat is an excellent practice/training aid. It identifies your impact characteristics in a unique way for indoor or outdoor use.
The Divot Mat consists of a few key pieces. 1) The Divot Mat Sheets, 2) The Divot Pad (Lie Board), 3) The Divot Mat, a soft mat on which to put the Divot Pad including velcro strips to fasten it securely to the mat, 4) 2 DVDs with instructional information.
The Divot Mat sheets have 9 golf balls printed on them that serve as the focal point for your shot. When you swing and hit the mat, your club leaves a trail mark on the Divot Mat. This trail shows where the club first hit the mat, how long the divot is, and the direction of the divot. These 3 things enable you to see whether you are hitting the ball fat, thin or just right, and whether you have an inside-out swing, outside-in, or straight swing path. Read the rest of this entry »
30 Day Challenge – Day 12 – Balance in the golf swing continued
Feb 23rd
So yesterday I began talking about balance in the swing. My main concern was that thinking about my spine angle would put the focus where it shouldn’t be and take me away from visualizing, feeling and executing the shot.
I did quite a bit of work today on balance and naturally creating the setup without having it be contrived. The results are very encouraging.
Using a mirror, I practice a balanced setup. What I found was that when I comfortably and naturally got setup to the ball everything did in fact get setup properly. My spine was at the right tilt and I felt comfortable. I felt no confusion the way I did yesterday. I spent some time with Eben to understand how to get into that position naturally and that time spent is paying off.
My body felt in a dynamic athletic position that was ready to swing without compensations. It definitely felt different from what I’ve been doing.
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.
