My New Favorite Swing

It's been a fun season to watch the progress of players on the PGA Tour.  There are a couple of players who are playing some amazing golf.
Young players like Bud Cauley seem to have their stuff together.  Bud is playing great and in only a few starts is securing his tour card for next year.  This is almost unheard of in PGA Tour history.

For as long as I've played golf I've had a favorite player and favorite swing.  That is the swing of Moe Norman.  Functionally he is the only one that has it right, in my opinion, and everyone else is struggling.

Have you ever wondered why Tiger Woods continues to take instruction?  It could be that his swing is not as consistent as it should be.

The "modern" swing still leaves the body in a tough position and open to injury.  The legs are asked to do things that they really shouldn't and the joints are stressed on each swing.  No wonder there are so many injuries to wrists out there.

One swing that I am fond of that comes close to what Moe did is the swing of Webb Simpson.  Webb brings the club back a bit inside and then moves the club with the upper body to and through the ball.  The key ingredient to his swing is what he does with the footwork.  When you watch his swing you'll notice, like Moe Norman, his feet are basically flat on the ground at impact.  That move alone isolates the swing to one axis and allows the player a very consistent pass at the ball.

It's no wonder to me that Webb Simpson leads the Tour in money this year.  He has the most consistent swing out there.

Hey Coach, How Much Should I Practice?!

Practice makes perfect!  Not in my world.  In my world practice helps the body understand what the mind is trying to make it do.  And the only way to practice is to imagine the EXACT movement you plan to make before every effort to make it.  We can't do this for every physical act but definitely before any physical act that isn't already programmed into our body.  Take the golf swing for instance.  When you go to practice, do you even have an idea what you want the swing to look like, or in other words, what exact movements you want your body to make?
I often discuss this way to practice with my students and often tell them just how much to practice as well.
There are players out there who think that endless hours of practice will make them a better golfer, but rarely do they get better.  Why?  Read on and I'll tell you...

A couple of things have to be in place for the person to improve after any length of time on the range.

1. There must be a mental picture of the movement which is desired, usually this is a good model, but sometimes it is a not-so-good model.
2. A player must be willing to attempt to make the movements imagined

There must be an appropriate level of physical acumen for the body to respond to the mental images, and I've seen people who regularly work out (not golf-specific) make faster strides than those who do minimal exercises.

So, how much is enough?  Just one shot following the above 2 steps will help you make strides in the right direction.  In fact not hitting any balls but doing step one for 10 minutes a day will help you improve dramatically if the model is a good one.

It is often said that 30 minutes of exercise is all that is needed on a daily basis.  I think you can use this model for golf practice too.  Why overdo it?  Golf is supposed to be fun and let's face it, 4 hours on the range trying to "make" a good shot repeat is not very fun.
Follow the two steps above and you will be rewarded with a physically relaxing practice session and you will only need to hit a small bucket of balls to improve dramatically.

A Great 'little" Course

I recently had the opportunity to play a course in the Philadelphia, PA area called Walnut Lane Golf Club.
Walnut Lane G.C. is part of a large park in the greater Philadelphia area and it was designed by Alexander Findlay in 1940.
The total yardage of the course from the way back is 4509 and you can imagine there are no par 5s.  The front and back nines are a blend of 4 par 4s and 5 par 3s.  Now, at 4509 and 5- par 3s there are some pretty challenging par 3s.  In fact there are a few par 3s that are over 200 yards coupled with postage stamp sized greens!  The rest of the par 3s had you dealing with elevation changes, strategic bunkering and trees hugging the hole from tee to green.

The par 4s we're all some kind of dogleg with trees lining each one.  There were few places to go except the fairway so a controlled shot was imperative.

I happen to LOVE golf like this.  If you can hit a good iron shot, you can do pretty well.  The short game is at a premium and good putting is always needed.  Length while important on some of the par 3s gives way to the need for accuracy.  When a hole is literally cut out of the woods, and has some elevation changes but not too drastic to keep me from seeing the shot as it unfolds, it's so much easier to focus on the exact type of shot I want to hit.  And when I hit it, I get the reward of being able to watch its entirety.

All in all a very pleasant round of golf.  I walked 18 and didn't feel like I was just put through a military training camp.  I'd recommend this course to anyone visiting or living in the Philly area.  Just a fun bit of golf and only 2 1/2 hours to finish 18!

I Can't Find My Ball!

This time of year it's not uncommon to get onto a course that has pretty tall grass.  With all the rain we're having here in Maryland, it's tough to get the mowers out on the course without messing things up, so the grass just pops up and keeps on going.
The grass is happy, but the golfers are not!  I was at the course today and boy was it furry!  I heard rumors of people storming off the course saying that they lost the ball in the fairway, and so I thought I would go out and see what all the commotion was about.
I teed off on the first hole and watched my ball sail out into the open air headed toward the left rough.  I thought to myself "if it's as bad as everyone is saying, I better hit another one just in case I can't find the first."  I made a note of where the ball went and headed off to find it.
The grass was very tall and I thought it might be possible to lose a small child in rough that deep but as I walked in the direction of my ball I knew I'd find it because I watched it carefully.
I played 8 holes without even a worry about finding my ball.  On the 9th hole I hit a great drive down the right side and I saw it bound to the left and then I took my eyes off f it.  I took for granted that I would just walk up and find the ball that was struck perfectly and was heading in the direction I wanted it to go.
The ball was gone, and I couldn't find it anywhere.  I looked on the left and right side of the fairway, in the middle of the fairway, but couldn't find it.
It dawned on me that for 8 straight holes I paid very close attention to the shot and where it went.  I made mental notes of where it landed and possible landmarks along the way.  I didn't even play that great all the way through, but I found about 6 balls and didn't lose one until the 9th.  It was probably the best drive of the day and I took my eyes off of it, thinking that it was so good I couldn't possibly lose it...until I did.

Finding your ball is a learned skill.  Like anything else, you have to practice.  Here are a couple of guidelines for always keeping track of your ball.

1. ALWAYS watch it until it finishes moving (if possible)
2. Draw a mental line from you to the ball and beyond and make note of landmarks that are beyond your ball so that when you are nearing your ball's location you can use it to guide you.
3. Try your best to make a mental note of a landmark that is left or right of your ball.  This can help you figure out if you need to go farther down the hole in your search
4. The most neglected of all guidelines but one of the most important for finding your ball...know how far, on average, you hit each club.  Use this average to help your search.

It's Here!

Masters week is here.  The Azaleas and Magnolia Lane.  The time when golf clubs come out of the dark hiding spaces of garages and closets.
Speculation continues on who might come away with a green jacket this year.  With a commanding win over the field this week, Phil Mickelson has put himself in a similar position as a few years ago when in the Atlanta area he hoisted the trophy a week before Augusta and then went on to win the Masters too.  Could this be an omen of good things to come for Lefty?

Count down to The Masters!

We (golfers) come to this point every year.  The time shifts ahead, there is more daylight, the grass begins to green and, oh yes, we start to think about THE MASTERS.
The quest for the green jacket continues and this year it seems the powerhouse players of the past may not be in the hunt.  While Tiger continues to sort out his personal differences on the course, and Phil doesn't seem to care about getting the ball in the fairway anymore, other players such as Luke Donald, Hunter Mahan, and Dustin Johnson begin to raise their games.
One of my favorite players is Luke Donald.  He just handily polished off the field at the Accenture Match Play Championships, amidst the hail storms, and seems poised to jump at the green jacket.  Green may not be his favorite color, but I think he will produce a great showing at the masters.
Who would you say has the best chances at this point in the season?  More on this as we get closer!