Filed under: Advice, General | Tags: beginner golf, beginning golfer, golf beginner, golf for beginners, golf instruction, golf slice, golf swing, learn golf, learn play golf, learning golf
How To Break 100
The Mental Part Of The Game
Advice For the Golf Beginner
If Tiger, Phil, or any other pro makes an 8 (a snowman) on any hole, that is terrible. Your average score on a par 5 is 7 or more right now. For a golf beginner an 8 is really no big deal. 10 is the score you should avoid. The difference is a pro is trying to break 70 and you are trying to break 100. Don’t let par, Tiger, or your buddy set your goals.
To break 70 on a par 72 course Tiger needs 3 birdies and 15 pars. He plans his rounds thinking about which holes he can birdie. Do you plan your rounds thinking about what score on each hole is reasonable and achievable for you?
To score 99 on a par 72 course you must average 5½ shots on every hole. Somebody is asking themselves: “How do I score ½ of a stroke on any hole?” Obviously you don’t! On the first par 4 you score a 5 and on the next par 4 you score a 6. The average is 5½.
On the first par 5 you score a 6 and on the next part 5 you score a 7. On the first par 3 you score a 4 and on the next par 3 you score a 5. The average of all that is 5½. (6+7+4+5=22 and 22/4=5½)
To break 100 you must average bogey and ½ stokes per hole. To break 90 you must average bogey. If you don’t believe me, do the math. Now you understand the math, but what is the plan?
First, improve your skills. Don’t bother setting goals in a skill based activity unless you intend to improve. A goal doesn’t make putts or hit straight drives.
Second, set your next goal within sight of your present skill level. If your average score is 120 then aim at double bogey per hole (108). As you practice and improve one or two parts of your game you will find those 12 strokes. You can’t get to 90 or 100 strokes until you get past 110.
Third, ask yourself what is par really worth? Par is an estimate of what a scratch golfer should score on a hole or total for the entire course. Tiger’s par is really 68 or less and mine is around 90. If your par is around double bogey then add two strokes to the listed par for a hole. Now you have a reasonable target for your own performance.
Finally, what happens when you do score a snowman? There is no punishment beyond personal disappointment. Tiger makes bogey sometimes, he just needs to shoot one more birdie to make his goal. You need to score more bogeys and fewer double bogeys on the remaining holes.
At this point in time you probably struggle more on par 5’s than anywhere else. That is normal! To reach a par 5 requires 3 accurate shots in a row. Can you really do that right now? To reach a par 3 requires 1 accurate shot. You will probably loose strokes on par 5’s and make them up on short par 4’s and par 3’s. That is part of your plan. Remember pros love par 5’s but they kill us.
Learn to play golf with joy. You may never hit a drive 300 yards, but you can measure your own progress. Set reasonable goals and then practice to improve your skills. Measure your game against your own growing skills not what you see professionals do on Sunday. Remember you aren’t just an amateur, you are a beginner. Relax and enjoy every round.
For more information please see my web site. Please feel free to leave comments in the space provided below.
Filed under: Advice, Swing Thoughts | Tags: beginner golf, beginning golfer, golf beginner, golf for beginners, golf instruction, golf slice, golf swing, learn golf, learn play golf, learning golf
Alignment In The Golf Swing
Advice For The Golf Beginner
Did you ever try to drive a nail into a board? On the first swing you missed the nail and left a dent in the board. On the next swing you hit the edge of the nail, bent the nail, and left another mark on the board. Now you can claw the nail out and start again. You can also listen to your spouse make jokes and derisive remarks. We don’t hit a nail, a baseball or a golf ball. We swing a hammer, a bat or a golf club. Maybe we should learn how to swing and not how to hit.
I want to talk about the very beginning of a golf swing, the alignment You actually have to align two different things. You must align the initial path of the golf ball with some distant target that will allow the ball to curve into the fairway or onto the green and you must align your feet, body, and club with the initial path of the ball.
Almost every good golfer has recognized that every golf shot has some curve in it. The trick is to decide how much curve and in which direction. Once you know the answer, you pick a target line that allows the ball to move towards your real goal, the green.
Let’s say you are a right handed beginning golfer, so your shots nearly always move from your left to your right. Pick a distant target 10 yards or more off the left side of the fairway. The target can be anything you can see like a tree, trap, pond, or building. You intend to hit the ball directly at your target and allow your slice to move the ball back into a playable position.
That was easy, now for the hard part, your body. Many teaching methods involve placing several clubs on the ground to show the initial target line, a parallel line for your toes to touch and a perpendicular line for the ball to sit on. Practice this learning to feel comfortable with your body in this stance and learning to be comfortable with what your eyes see when you look down at the ball.
This is very helpful for a training aide, but you can’t put clubs down like this on the course. I am not sure, but I doubt that the greens keeper would like you to draw these lines with a stick into the tee box. How are you supposed to get back into this alignment on the course?
Remember the ball is sitting there waiting to be hit and all we do is swing the club. Also please remember what Tina Michelson among others has said: “You swing down to make the ball go up”.
Let’s talk about irons only for now. We swing down on the ball which allows the club to trap/compress the ball against the ground and allows the club’s loft to push the ball into the air. The club will continue forward making a small shallow divot in the ground. Since the lowest point of your swing is almost directly under your nose, assume your stance and look straight down. The ball must be behind this point, back of center. How much depends on the club, so we will get to that in a moment.
The face of the club must be square to the target line. That way the ball will start by flying at the target until it curves.
Now pick your club. Take your grip with your top hand (left) and place the club behind the ball with the club face square to the target. Lean the club shaft forward until the front edge of the club face is touching the ground. Then lean the club shat towards you until the entire front edge of the club is on the ground.
It is this edge that cuts into the ground to make a divot. If this leading or bottom edge does not reach the ground there will be no divot. If the leading edge is not flat on the ground along the entire club face, then the club’s toe or heel will be off the ground. This will cause your divot to be deeper on one side than the other. This may cause the club to turn in your hand, missed shots, or weak shots.
I like to feel that the sole of the club is lying flat on the ground from side to side and from front to back.
Place your lower hand (right) on the club and take your grip. The club shaft is leaning toward the target and the grip with your hands is in front of the ball. Without moving the club or your hands take a stance that is comfortable.
You should be in a good position to swing the club into the back of the ball. This happened because your left hand was always on the golf club and because you set the golf club in the proper position behind the golf ball facing the target line. Once you placed the club properly with your hand still on the grip, you body had nowhere else to go but into its proper place.
Notice this isn’t about standing in just the right place and then placing the club down. The club hits the ball, so the club plus your grip tells you where to stand.
In general you may use this same method to align yourself with hybrid irons, fairway woods, and the driver. The only difference is that the driver is hit off a tee on the up swing. The ball is placed slightly in front of dead center.
For more advice, swing aides, books , and videos please see my web site.
Please feel free to leave your comments in the space provided below.
Filed under: Advice, Books, Swing Aides, Videos | Tags: beginner golf, beginning golfer, golf beginner, golf for beginners, golf instruction, golf slice, golf swing, learn golf, learn play golf, learning golf
Four Ways To Learn The Golf Swing
Advice For The Golf Beginner
Recently I read an article listing 8 thoughts for beginning golfers. I disagreed with two of them. Let’s talk about four practical ways to learn the golf swing. I will discuss them in descending order by cost.
First, and the only way recommended by my fellow writer, go to the pro. You will learn one method from the start and avoid developing bad habits that might take you years to correct. Let’s add two things to this idea.
Commit yourself to staying with this path for at least several weeks, let’s say two months. You should ask any pro what they consider a minimum useful time before even considering this path. You can now multiply the cost per lesson times the number of sessions to see the financial commitment. Next you can figure out the time commitment required of you and your schedule. If you don’t make this commitment you will just be switching horses in the middle of a very large learning stream.
Add a swing aide like the Medicus hinged driver to your learning process. Swing aides allow you to practice at home without the space of a driving range and allow you to warm up properly before starting a round. While there are several good and useful swing aides, I like the Medicus because it gives the most feed back of any aide I have seen and is very portable.
Isn’t it interesting how many of us skip the visit your pro path? What is the value of saying this is the only true path to enjoying this fine game?
Second, consider a video instruction series and a swing aide. Video is the next best thing to live instruction because it includes live motion and audio materials. Video even has the advantages that it can be replayed repeatedly, try that with a live instructor, and that you can choose different learning systems. Most pros only teach one way, their way.
I like the Stack and Tilt system sold by Medicus. This swing system is easier to learn than the classic swing and has been proven on tour by several professionals. Obviously the swing aide I prefer is still the Medicus driver. Several other good video series exist. Choose the one you feel best about and commit to following it only.
Third, find a good e-book and a swing aide. The most popular golf instruction e-book on Click Bank is the Simple Swing. The author is teaching a simplified swing which will be easier to learn for most beginners. While there are many other proven e-books available, why fight with success? The Medicus swing aide is even more important when using this learning path. You will have no other corrective feedback, except for your errant shots.
Fourth, buy the Simple Swing and skip the swing aide. This method is the cheapest and will require the most patience. Since you have no physical feedback to identify swing faults this learning path will require the longest time and undoubtedly has the greatest chance of failure. Honestly, how good are you at being your own coach especially in a sport you have never played before?
There is one more learning path which nobody should ever follow. Go play with your friends and ask them to tell you what they see. First have you really watched their games, do you really want to duplicate their results? Next who said they know how to teach? Doing and teaching are two different skills.
The second item I disagreed with is the subject for another article. If you are really interested, I inadvertently covered the subject in my last article and on my blog.
Golf is a great game that does take some commitment and time to learn. You must decide how much time, effort and money you are willing to put into this learning process. Now you can decide on a learning path. Once on that path, stay on it. You will gain nothing by changing repeatedly from one system, aide, toy, club, etc to another.
Walter Werner is the father of two adult daughters, an amateur golfer, an internet marketer, and a TQM Deming Master. He is attempting to share his own experiences as a beginning golfer so that you can improve your game more quickly. This is the seventh in a series of articles he has written for beginning golfers. Please visit my web site for more information. Also please leave a comment in the space provided below.
