I have just added the stumbleupon.com bar to my explorer page and was just randomly going through the golf pages to see what is out there and where it would take me.
It lead me to the www.pgatour.com website. On the video it was playing the shots of the week and it reminded me of one of Bob Rotella's ten commandments - Play to play great.
It didn't so much get me thinking, but it got me contemplating why I play the game. I went through the usual list of reasons such as the score, the friendship, the fun, but quite possibly the biggest reason that I play is for those shots. Those shots that would make the Shot of the week, those shots that keep you coming back for more.
To be able to say that I hit that shot makes me feel really good. No matter what you shoot for the round, there is always one shot that you hit. It may be a smoked drive, a stiffed iron, a mammoth putt across the Himalayas, a holed bunker shot, a chip in or something else.
Play for those shots. Play to be the one that is hitting the shots of the week and see how good it makes you feel. That is why you spend the hours practicing on your living room carpet and why you practice in the middle of winter. It is not to shoot level par, although that is nice.
It is to hit those shots that stay with you forever!
Tuesday, 8 July 2008
How to Easily Increase your Distance and Accuracy
Every golfer seems to be obsessed about hitting the ball further, but seem to go about it in the worng way.
Hitting a long ball with the driver and any other club requires several things:
1. Good fundamentals - Grip, setup, posture, ball position and alignment. If any of these are off then you make it hard for yourself to create the positions that you need to hit it a long way.
2. Good Rhythm and Tempo. The only way to increase your distance is to increase your speed. Make sure that you are swinging at the optimum tempo for you. If you watch any of the top tour pros, you will see that there rhythm is the same with every shot, and it is smooth. There is no hit in the swing. The clubhead gathers speed as it goes and collects the ball along the way. All the energy is focused towards the target and not at the ball.
3. Impact position. There are many different routes to the ball, as there are many different routes to any destination. The one thing that has to be good is the impact position. No matter how you take it back, if you are not in a good position at impact, then you will lose distance and accuracy.
4. Make contact with the sweetspot. If you do not find the sweetspot, then you will not maximise your distance. If you are not hitting your wedges out of the sweetspot, then how can you expect to hit the driver from the sweetspot consistently.
If you focus on these four areas, then you will easily increase your distance and accuracy not just with your driver, but with all clubs in your bag.
Look out for my next post where I will show you how to get into a good impact position.
Have fun on the Golf Course.
Hitting a long ball with the driver and any other club requires several things:
1. Good fundamentals - Grip, setup, posture, ball position and alignment. If any of these are off then you make it hard for yourself to create the positions that you need to hit it a long way.
2. Good Rhythm and Tempo. The only way to increase your distance is to increase your speed. Make sure that you are swinging at the optimum tempo for you. If you watch any of the top tour pros, you will see that there rhythm is the same with every shot, and it is smooth. There is no hit in the swing. The clubhead gathers speed as it goes and collects the ball along the way. All the energy is focused towards the target and not at the ball.
3. Impact position. There are many different routes to the ball, as there are many different routes to any destination. The one thing that has to be good is the impact position. No matter how you take it back, if you are not in a good position at impact, then you will lose distance and accuracy.
4. Make contact with the sweetspot. If you do not find the sweetspot, then you will not maximise your distance. If you are not hitting your wedges out of the sweetspot, then how can you expect to hit the driver from the sweetspot consistently.
If you focus on these four areas, then you will easily increase your distance and accuracy not just with your driver, but with all clubs in your bag.
Look out for my next post where I will show you how to get into a good impact position.
Have fun on the Golf Course.
Thursday, 3 July 2008
What Everybody Ought to Know About Playing Golf
Golf is one of the hardest games in the world. For a beginner, it seems at times like an insurmountable task to get good. At lot of people "try" golf, meaning they will have a go at swinging a club, but fewer will actually attempt to play the game. As anyone that plays the game will tell you, golf is like a drug. You constantly want more of it.
Why do I say this? Well, when you get to a level where at least you can get the club on the ball consistently and get the ball going forward you will start to hit some golf shots. This is when it gets addictive.
You will hit one special one, and then you will want to do it again. The feeling when everything comes together is almost undescribable. The problem comes when you start to improve, so does that one special shot. So essentially the goal posts are always moving.
Not only that, but everyday is different. Even although you may play the same course twice, you will not hit the same shots twice. You will end up in different places and playing from different positions. This keeps you on your toes and keeps the game interesting. Thanks to mother nature, the weather is never the same (well for most of us) two days in a row. This affects the shots that you are required to hit, where you can hit the ball and the decisions that you make.
There is never any end to the game. You can always keep on improving. There are always new courses being built and there are lots of great courses around just now that would keep me very satisfied for a very long time.
The individual aspects of the game of golf are great, you can even play on your own, but some of the best are spent playing with fellow golfers. There is a great camaraderie in golf that you don't get in too many other sports. Some of my best memories of golf have come when playing golf with my Dad. It is also great to get a four-ball together and go and play a new course.
How many chances do you really get to leave all your worries to one side and just enjoy yourself? Most don't. To play great golf like everybody is capable of playing requires a quiet mind, so why not leave your worries in the clubhouse and just have some fun as soon as you step on the 1st tee?
There are a lot of lessons to be learned through playing golf. Not to mention humility, as it will on many occasion humble you if you don't give the game the respect it deserves. There are a lot of ups and downs in golf, as there are in life and some setbacks that require mental toughness to recover from, but most important of all, you get to be outdoors in some wonderful surroundings with friends sharing a common interest. You can't beat that!
Have fun on the golf course!
Why do I say this? Well, when you get to a level where at least you can get the club on the ball consistently and get the ball going forward you will start to hit some golf shots. This is when it gets addictive.
You will hit one special one, and then you will want to do it again. The feeling when everything comes together is almost undescribable. The problem comes when you start to improve, so does that one special shot. So essentially the goal posts are always moving.
Not only that, but everyday is different. Even although you may play the same course twice, you will not hit the same shots twice. You will end up in different places and playing from different positions. This keeps you on your toes and keeps the game interesting. Thanks to mother nature, the weather is never the same (well for most of us) two days in a row. This affects the shots that you are required to hit, where you can hit the ball and the decisions that you make.
There is never any end to the game. You can always keep on improving. There are always new courses being built and there are lots of great courses around just now that would keep me very satisfied for a very long time.
The individual aspects of the game of golf are great, you can even play on your own, but some of the best are spent playing with fellow golfers. There is a great camaraderie in golf that you don't get in too many other sports. Some of my best memories of golf have come when playing golf with my Dad. It is also great to get a four-ball together and go and play a new course.
How many chances do you really get to leave all your worries to one side and just enjoy yourself? Most don't. To play great golf like everybody is capable of playing requires a quiet mind, so why not leave your worries in the clubhouse and just have some fun as soon as you step on the 1st tee?
There are a lot of lessons to be learned through playing golf. Not to mention humility, as it will on many occasion humble you if you don't give the game the respect it deserves. There are a lot of ups and downs in golf, as there are in life and some setbacks that require mental toughness to recover from, but most important of all, you get to be outdoors in some wonderful surroundings with friends sharing a common interest. You can't beat that!
Have fun on the golf course!
Thursday, 26 June 2008
Practice How You Intend to Play
When you are practicing on the range, do you go through your pre-shot routine? If not why not?
You want to practice how you intend to play, so that when you get to the golf course you don't have to think about it. That includes practicing your routine on the range.
If you don't hit balls on the range going through your routine you are telling yourself that it is not as important as when you are playing on the course. The problem comes when you get to the course and all of a sudden, instead of just stepping up there and hitting the shot, you are now evaluating the lie, the wind, the yardage and taking onsiderably more time over the shot than you do on the practice area.
This automatically creates more tension (which we want to control at all times), as you have created the scenario as a result of the way that you practice.
Make sure that when you stand on the practice tee you hit balls going through your routine just the way you would on the golf course. You will find that you are a lot more relaxed on the course and able to execute the shots that you want.
You want to practice how you intend to play, so that when you get to the golf course you don't have to think about it. That includes practicing your routine on the range.
If you don't hit balls on the range going through your routine you are telling yourself that it is not as important as when you are playing on the course. The problem comes when you get to the course and all of a sudden, instead of just stepping up there and hitting the shot, you are now evaluating the lie, the wind, the yardage and taking onsiderably more time over the shot than you do on the practice area.
This automatically creates more tension (which we want to control at all times), as you have created the scenario as a result of the way that you practice.
Make sure that when you stand on the practice tee you hit balls going through your routine just the way you would on the golf course. You will find that you are a lot more relaxed on the course and able to execute the shots that you want.
Thursday, 19 June 2008
Leaderbord - Swing trainer
I heard about this training aid at the end of last year, and finally got a chance to have a go on it after hearing some mixed reviews. I have struggled to a certain extent with my hips spinning out on the way down and either hitting a big push or flipping the hands and hitting a nice big hook that finishes left of left.
Stepping on this initially I was a bit unsure. With the sliding platform there is a rather different feeling. I can tell you one thing, it is hard to spin the hips out on the leaderboard if done properly.
After half a dozen shots, I returned to the grass and hit a few more shots from there. It really works your hips and glutes. These are two muscles that are important for playing good golf.
As you are hitting shots while on the leaderboard, the feeling transfers well to hitting balls on the grass. This is probably the most important aspect when selecting a training aid "Can I hit balls with it?"
There are different resistance settings that can be altered underneath to allow just about anyone to use it. I didn't have it on that high a setting, so there is definitely a lot of scope for improvement for me on this. There is also a bonus with it, you can use it for just about any part of your game, and also for your strength training.
If you live in the US, please click on the picture above. If you are in the UK, please go to my website http://www.wholovesgolf.com/ and send me an e-mail if you would like to purchase a leaderboard.
This is a training aid that I will be using with you students.
New Taylor-Made Tour Burner Driver
TaylorMade Tour Burner 460 TI Driver - RH Graphite
I got to try this driver last week and to put it mildly I had a little smile on my face. Driving has always been the weak part of my game and at times I do struggle to find the short stuff. Fortunately I do love my wedges, so it all works out in the end.
I hit approximately a dozen balls, so enough that I could get a bit of a feel for it, and enough that I hit a few poor drives and a couple of great ones.
No matter where on the face I hit it, it seemed to go high and straight. It was a pleasant surprise for me. I tend to hit the ball fairly low compared to some golfers, but then again, I am still using a Callaway Great Big Bertha II rather than the brick on a stick Taylor-Made Tour Burner (It does look massive compared to mine, but rather pleasing on the eye, unlike some out there). I was using a 10.5, whereas I carry a 9.5 degree driver and the shaft was a little softer than what I have in my Callaway.
The only downside was that it is fairly hard to shape the ball with it, but I think I could live with that if I hit them long and straight majority of the time and find more fairways.
This is a club that you should think hard about putting in your bag.
If you live in the UK rather than the US please visit the following website:
Tuesday, 17 June 2008
Range Finders – The Quickest Way to an Accurate Yardage
Is it time to ditch your strokesavers? Well, not quite yet. You still need them to show you where everything is on the hole and to decide how you want to play the hole. However, you can't beat a range finder for getting you a good yardage.
Before you buy a range finder, I recommend that you spend some time on the range and work out how far you hit each club. This will allow you to make better use of the range finder on the course.
Secondly, most golfers don’t play on a flat golf course. To get an accurate reading when faced with an uphill or a downhill shot, you need a range finder with a slope facility, also known as an inclinometer. This takes into account that uphill shots play a little longer and downhill shots pay a little shorter than the actual yardage.
The range finder that I recommend is the
Bushnell Pinseeker 1500 With Slope
They may seem like a luxury item, but when you consider it, the majority of golfers spend more money on a driver that has no guarantee will help their game. Now you will know exactly how far you hit it and what club to use it. This will help you save shots.
If you live in the UK rather than the US, please check out the following website:
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