For the love of this damn game.
The concept behind the Perfect Swing Trainer is the looping path of the ball after being struck will illustrate the path of the ball in free flight. The best result is a vertical swinging ball. If the ball is looping a side, you hit a slice or hook. Since the ball is on a string, you can hit the ball for hours and save money on driving range buckets of balls (in theory).
Now that we understand the math (Don’t worry no quiz today), what does a slope of 69.0 mean for the white tees at your local golf course? It means that a scratch golfer should shoot a 69.0 at your golf course playing from the white tees. So what? So buttons. The lower the golf course rating compared to 72 to “easier” the golf course is.
On a recent round of golf, a player in my foursome and I ended up in a conversation admiring pro golfers for their shot making abilities but more for their … Continue Reading My Top 5 Mental Golf Errors
Statistics is a bit of a draw to golf for me. I like looking for trends and see how my game improves or degrades. At one time, I considered building a spreadsheet to track scores and compute handicap. I found an app to track scores and compute handicap but I wanted more. While playing at Scotland Run, my cart mate showed me the app he used to score his round and track his progress: The Grint.
The key to moving from being a hacker to a golfer who can hold your own is the lot art of scramble golf. Scrambling is part special swings that of almost trick shots and mental fortitude to play your game. If your drives end under tree more often than in the short grass of the fairway, a good scramble golf game can keep your scores from entering triple digits.
Through the years, golf gear will accumulate in any house, garage, shed or storage area of a golfer. Putters and drivers fall out of fashion or effectiveness and rest in dust corners. Golf balls multiple in bags faster than sox disappear from the dryer. My house is no different so I gathered up all my extra golf gear and saw the pile and thought of what to do with it all. Then I remembered the First Tee organization.
Sometimes you don’t want to play one golf course but 18 different golf course in a day or in one round. Then I have the place for you: Architects Golf Club. This golf course in Phillipsburg, NJ can use the uncommon descriptive word for a golf course: variety.
If we look at the holes I used my driver, I hit 2 out of 8 fairways (25%). When I switched to my hybrid plus the 18th drive, I hit 5 of 6 fairways (83%). Paid the price in loss distance facing 180 to 200 yard second shots. This did not bother me as I played to get within 20 to 50 yards from the green for a chip. This leads to my bogey golf style of play.
The rules and scoring are very simple. Each hole has three possible points. Each player has equal chance to earn each.
Bingo – First player to land on the green. On the fringe, does not count.
Bango – Once all players are on the green, the player closest to the hole wins the Bango point.
Bongo – First player to hole out wins this point.
I did a review a little while ago on the Callaway Swing-Easy and I will admit that I copy and pasted most of that review here for the Callaway Connect-Easy. … Continue Reading Callaway Connect-Easy Locks You Into A Good Swing
After reading Mastering Golf’s Mental Game, I was eager to try out the Mental Scorecard to see how consistently my mental game is during a round. I usually debrief myself after a round by talking to myself in the car running through each hole. I usually focus on the holes that ate my lunch and costed my penalty strokes. Using Dr. Lardon’s process, I wanted to see where my mental game falls short of maintaining a constant mental approach the game. It was a learning experience.
My resume shows that a stage of my professional career was in sales. My focus on customer service relied on relationship building. Sales happen when trust exists that was built on common experiences and understanding. Golf is a great way to spend quality time getting to know your customers and showing them your character. Through my travels, I played in countless charity tournaments and took scores of customers out for rounds of golf. Here is what I learned and would like to share with you to help you use golf as a professional networking tool.
The physical aspect of golf is relatively simple and takes 1.2 seconds. The rest of the 4.5 hour round is waiting for your turn to swing. During this time, each golfer must work to maintain their concentration and re-engage before stepping up to their next shot. Dr. Michael Lardon wrote Mastering Golf’s Mental Game to help each of us build a stronger mental golf game.
My first draft of this article I described this state of golf as the Pre Golf Swing. While researching it, I paged through Zen Golf and Dr. Parent called it the Swing Routine. I liked that name because it has an element of repetition by using the word routine. Routines are done almost at the subconscious level. I understand that Routine Ritual are redundant but I am trying to hammer home a point.
If you can grip it and rip it and land in the fairway 95% of the time, by all means have at it. I salute you. For the rest of us, the ritual helps to focus us and ensure a quality swing.
This past week, I played White Clay Creek and experienced the greatest up and down of my golf game in a long time. Unfortunately, the down was a big down on the back 9. I shot a 101 which was the worst round in a long time and what made it more painful was my front 9 was a 44 including coming back from an 8 on the par 4 first hole. So what happened to cause a massive self destruction on the back 9 and why did I need heed my own advice I posted on this blog? (besides being an idiot?)
Many golfers will allow their right elbow (left if you are a leftie) to chicken wing out at the top of the backswing. This break in swing structure results in most golfers to swing out to in resulting in a fade or slice. The Swing-Easy keeps your elbows close and helps to swing in to out.