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Strategies to play well while others play slow

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More than a few Golfers have written to me asking if I could write an article on "how to keep my poise and play golf with very slow Golfers". This seems to be an issue that affects a lot of Golfers and your ability to keep your rhythm going on the golf course.

Let me start by telling you a story about my golf game the other day. Unfortunately, I don't play as much golf as you probably think I do. So when I do have a chance to play – it's a special treat. Then add the fact that I was going to meet an old friend I hadn't seen in over a year and that I was also playing at my all-time favorite golf course ... well, you can then understand my disappointment being paired up with Mr. Coors Light.

It's difficult playing with someone that gets on your nerves regardless of whether they're very slow or are constantly talking when you're getting ready to play a shot or opening beers at 8:30 am (and continuing to do so every other hole for 36 holes) – or in my case last week with Mr. Coors Light: having him accomplish all of the above.

Needless to say - it's very difficult to concentrate on your PLAN with all of this going on around you.

When you have a slow Golfer in your group; the toughest task for many Golfers is that you always end up being the last person to finish putting on the green. And because of the slow Golfer – there's always a group in the middle of the fairway waiting for you to putt whilst they have their legs crossed, leaning on the club they want to hit and staring at you to hurry-up as they mumble to each other about how slow you are.

It gets to the point of you wanting to look back at that group so that you can scream – "It's not me. It's him! He's driving me crazy!!!"

Though with you being the last Golfer and feeling as though the weight of the world is on you to hurry up and putt fast so that you can get off the green in the next two seconds ... well, let's just say that you miss a lot of 5 to 10 footers that you should've made. Which means you have a lot of potential Pars that become Bogey's and a lot of Bogey's that become dreaded Double Bogey's.

How do you overcome this?

It may not be easy to do, but the first step is to tell that person and let it be known early in the round. This happened the other day in the two rounds my friend and I were paired with Mr. Coors Light. We started off with a good pace and were right on the group in front of us all the way through the 7th hole. Then we started to fall behind.

As I started to notice the group behind us beginning to wait for us in the fairway, I said I needed to do two things: One, watch my Pace of Play. I might've been starting to slow down to the speed of Mr. Coors Light. Two, I needed to speak with him after we get off the green.

Now, this isn't always an easy thing to do, especially when you have a guy on his 4th beer at 10:15 am. Though, I needed to do it or it would've affected not just my game, but my friend's game, the Golfers behind us, the Golfers behind them and the Golfers the rest of the day as the pace for the entire course would've been slowed because of our group. Besides, do you think the Ranger on the golf course that day would've done anything? He didn't even notice us being two holes behind the group in front of us as he was so absorbed driving slowly down the cart path peering into the bushes looking for lost golf balls.

Which brings me to a point – why do so many Rangers drive around with golf ball retrievers? What do they need them for besides to snag golf balls that they load up in a plastic bag in their golf cart that each day gets emptied into their personal golf bag?

But going back to the Golfer in my group enjoying his Rocky Mountain Refreshment; I just said – 'Mr. Coors Light, we're falling behind the group in front of us and the group behind us is often waiting on us. I'm going to do my part to speed up my play – will you do the same?'

Ask me if that worked. Of course it worked! His response and the response I receive just about every time is – 'Oh, I didn't realize we were playing slow. I'll step up my pace. Thank you.' Most Golfers don't really understand they're slow until you tell them. And nobody wants to be known as a slow Golfer – so people will actually appreciate you for not allowing them to get that reputation.

On-the-other-hand, often times the toughest Golfers to play with are the Ball Hawks. You know who I'm speaking about – they're the ones that can't stand to lose a golf ball. They search forever for their golf ball in the trees or the water. And when you do muster up the courage to say – 'I think that's gone. Why don't you just drop one?' They often come up with the one rule they know in the rule book – "Well the rule book says I can search for 5 minutes!"

And with this Golfer, having by the 15th hole having lost 7 golf balls – you've spent 35 minutes of your round looking for golf balls that were never found. No wonder golf can take 5 hours to play!

What do I do in that situation? I bring extra golf balls. Not Pro V1's of course. Though, whenever I help a Golfer find a golf ball, I always seem to find at least one other golf ball ... 'what were you hitting?' "I'm hitting a Pinnacle Gold" 'No, this is a Top Flite'.

So where does the Top Flite go? Either to that Golfer or into my golf bag (not for me to hit – it's for me to give to another Golfer that loses their golf ball).

Once a Golfer goes into the trees to look, I always help them look. After one minute of searching – I might say: 'I think that one's gone. Here hit this one. I believe you could drop it right here.' And then I proceed to drop the golf ball in that spot for them.

Trust me; a Ball Hawk is going to walk over to the golf ball you just dropped on the ground – they can't help it! Don't cheat for them and give them a preferential lie, but don't put it in a spot where they would rather keep looking for their golf ball in hopes of an easier shot than you gave them. And please, make it an attractive enough of a golf ball for them to call off their golf ball search.

'What did you hit - a Maxfli? Yeah, I think it's gone. Here hit this Top Flite xl2000 – have you ever hit one of these - it's a pretty good golf ball.' And before they can say a word, drop it onto a good lie which gives them an opening to the fairway. And then say – 'You actually have a shot here.'

Ask me if that works. Of course it works! The answer just about every time, after they see where you dropped the golf ball is – "Yeah, you're right, that golf ball's gone. Here keep this one; I'll hit one of the golf balls I found." Because of course they found 4 golf balls in their search, didn't find theirs, but would've kept looking because I believe they like the enjoyment of finding as many golf balls as they can.

Now, if they don't get the hint or they feel obligated to continue searching – then you have to become more direct: 'Coors Light, you're not going to find that one. It's in there pretty good. C'mon, we need to keep our pace of play moving. Besides, if you do find that ball – you won't have a shot anyway. Use this one and make a good shot.'

Nothing of what I'm saying to do is a bad thing. It's good for everybody involved – including the Golfer that's loosing a lot of golf balls. Have you ever noticed that the longer a Golfer looks for a golf ball without finding it – the more frustrated they become. And of course the more frustrated they become – the worse they play. So by you helping them to find a golf ball sooner – they'll actually have more enjoyment on the golf course and eventually play better.

Playing with slow Golfers and playing your best Golf is tough, if not impossible. Though often times, the slow Golfer doesn't realize that they're a slow Golfer and they just need some gentle reminding.

The Monkey is the Golfer that constantly lets another Golfer influence their play on the golf course

The Player is prepared with a PLAN to play with anyone

Go ahead, be a Player!

Regards,

Marc Solomon - Your Instructor For Life

www.GolfMadeSimple.com

Labels: Golf DVD, Golf Instruction, Golf Lessons, Golf practice, Golf Schools, Golf Swing, Golf Travel, golf vacation

posted by Golf Made Simple - Golf Improvement Program  # 9:24 PM 1 Comments Links to this post

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Should your wrists be used when chipping around the green? Most Golfers advocate not using any wrists – though some Golfers do encourage a limited use of the hands and wrists. So the question that many Golfers often ask themselves –

"How should I do it? Wrists or no wrists?"


There are so many different Theories and Assumptions on how to play a shot when you're around the green such as 'wrists or no wrists'. For example, you have to make the choice whether to use 'multiple clubs depending on the shot' versus the idea of 'becoming a master of one club around the green'. Then we have the debate of whether you should 'get the ball rolling as soon as possible' versus if you should 'keep it in the air half the distance and let it roll the other half'.

Why do Golfers have such a hard time agreeing on techniques?

Regardless of the situation - everybody and their mother (or father in this politically correct era) is more than eager to enlighten you on how you should play your shots around the green. And as one fed-up PGA Professional said after he was schooled by a Golfer he was trying to help, that matter-of-factly told him that a friend taught him a better way to play the chip shot than the way the Professional was advising – ‘There are around 26,000 PGA Professionals in America, but unfortunately there are around 10 million Instructors.'

"The only way you should chip is the way I chip. I use a putting stroke and make sure I don't use any wrists at all. You need to keep your wrists completely out of the chip shot. That's the way I do it! Rock your shoulders, rock your shoulders, rock your shoulders. You don't want to use too much right hand – if you do, you'll start scooping. And never forget - DON'T MOVE YOUR HEAD!!! If you peek too early, you're going to take your eye off the ball. So keep your head still"

Listen, I can't even remember to take the recyclables out to the curb on Thursday morning and that's with constant reminding from my wife which includes (but isn't limited to) – reminders at dinner on Wednesday night and an under the breath "recyclables in the morning" after she gives me a kiss before turning out the lights; and if that isn't enough, she still lives me the infamous post-it note on my steering wheel every Thursday morning. So if that gives me trouble - how am I supposed to keep track of all these chipping tips?

So what's the true story about chipping around the green? How is it that the best Players in the world look so relaxed over the ball, make it look so easy and get just about everything into tap-in distance? While the Golfers at your local golf course set-up to the golf ball with a confused look on their face – almost as if they're going through my recycling checklist (newspapers in the green container, plastic in the blue container, do the cans go in the white container and glass in the yellow container or is it glass in the white and cans in the yellow?)

And I believe that a lot of the mechanical swing thoughts that many Golfers wrestle with every time they're around the green can be eliminated if you understood wrists or no wrists. If you watch a lot of great Players around the green – I believe that you'll see more hand and wrist movement than a lot of Golfers think should be employed. Because the philosophy of having Firm Wrists has morphed into Tight Wrists for the majority of Golfers you see at your local golf courses. And Tight Wrists translates into ‘No Feel'. And ‘No Feel' is the beginning of mass frustration.

Now, there always will be someone that writes to me saying – "I can't believe you're telling Golfers that they need to use their wrists! How can you call yourself a Golf Professional?" Now, I didn't exactly say that the Golfer needs to use their wrists, but I'm not saying that you shouldn't use them either. This is not an issue of it having to be "either black or white". There can be a skillful combination of your hands, arms and body combining to produce a nice stroke.

We have found that there are two types of Golfers that struggle around the green – if you struggle around the green, you probably fit into one these two groups below:

Golfer 1: has the problem of trying to scoop underneath the golf ball. Often times hitting the ground before the golf ball and chunking or catching the top of the ball (because they're scared of chunking) and skulling it across the green.

Golfer 2: used to have the problem of scooping under the golf ball, but was told they need to chip with no wrists. They were told that they need to keep their wrists locked as they make a pendulum stroke while being focused on making sure they swing the same distance back as they will swing forward.

Most Golfers start out as Golfer 1 and then are influenced into becoming Golfer 2. Though Golfer 2 will initially see success with this style of chipping - it may only be short-lived success. Because each time this technique works – Golfer 2 starts to focus more and more on locking their wrists tighter and tighter. And as tighter and tighter becomes the focus – the ‘Feel' of your stroke begins to deteriorate as each chip becomes worse and worse.

Though after each subsequent bad shot, Golfer 2 will stay adamant about having to lock their wrists more and more – "I need to keep my right hand out of this shot!" – as they believe "that it has to be the wrists that are screwing me up". So the next shot they'll put their complete focus on holding the club tighter than their last shot. And after a few more unsuccessful chips – this Golfer's grip on the golf club starts to resemble the hands of Hulk Hogan as he tightens his death grip around The Iron Sheik's throat as the crowd pumps up and encourages Hogan with chants of "USA, USA, USA!"

This is an unfortunate scenario because by getting your grip too tight and locking your arms to the point that ‘Feel' has nothing to do with the golf shot about to be played - you start to struggle more than you did when you were Golfer 1. Which then leads you down the path of no return. What's that path? It starts with going on Amazon.com and ordering the latest Dave Pelz book.

By the way – there are over 270 used Dave Pelz books available for purchase on Amazon.com in addition to the thousands more available every Saturday at garage sales across North America – which maybe the best illustration to how unvaluable (not invaluable – unvaluable) they were to their original purchasers.

And as I climb down from my soap box, I'd like to say ---

Let's go back to the beginning of your problems around the green. How did you become too wristy in the first place? It most likely has to do with thinking you need to get underneath the golf ball to make it go up in the air. So you resort to trying to scoop the golf ball off the ground with the finesse of a short order cook in a New Jersey diner flipping silver dollar pancakes.

But alas, someone sees you struggling and shuffles over to you to allow you to bask in their knowledge of the golf swing. "You know, you're using way too much wrists in that swing. You need to keep your wrists locked like I do and make a pendulum like swing."

If you watch some of the great Players that play this game, you won't see many use an excessive amount of wrist around the green, though at the same time – you won't see many that have their wrists locked. Watch the best Players in the world and you might see them using more of their hands and wrists than even they'd like to admit they do. No, you won't see them scooping under the golf ball where their wrists curl up after impact like many of the Golfer 1's you see at the local golf courses. Though, you also won't see the Hulk Hogan death grip, wrist lock, arms stiff as a 2x4 swing that you might see with many of your fellow Golfer 2's at the local golf courses.

The Monkey has a chipping stroke that has all the finesse of a battle for the World Wrestling Federation World Championship

The Player knows that there needs to be a blend of feel and mechanics

Go ahead, Be a Player!

Regards,

Marc Solomon - Your Instructor For Life

www.GolfMadeSimple.com

Labels: driving range, Golf, Golf DVD, Golf Instruction, golf instructor, Golf Lessons, Golf practice, Golf Schools, Golf Swing, Golf Travel, golf vacation, Golf Video, Marc Solomon, Toronto, Video Analysis

posted by Golf Made Simple - Golf Improvement Program  # 2:23 PM 1 Comments Links to this post

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The golf course may be the one place that we can all congregate and be on the same side – supporting to each other after bad shots and cheering one another after fabulous drives. It's the place that a Democrat can give a pat on the back to a Republican and a Republican can high-5 a Democrat. It's the place that Conservatives can say “Alright, awesome shot – that was fantastic” to a Liberal and a Liberal can say "it was a pleasure to play with you" to a Conservative.

On the golf course it's ‘all for one and one for all' – enjoyable golf is a bipartisan initiative.

On the golf course - political views are often not exchanged. The talk is about golf and being around people you enjoy. It's the one place that we're all supporting the same agenda – ‘the search for consistency on the golf course'. And when a Golfer that's been struggling all day – finally hits a good golf shot: we all get excited for that person – regardless of political party, skin color, religious background or even if they live in New Jersey - and that's the way it should be. The golf course is the Green Zone – it's the place where we can get away from all the nonsense.

Sure, you might be unlucky every-once-in-a-while to get stuck with a jerk – but that's just the way it is. The good people that you meet and the friendships that you create – far out-weigh the occasional annoying Golfer you're stuck with for 18 holes.

Whenever I open up the newspaper – all I read about is war

Whenever I switch-on the television – all I see is Democrats hating Republicans and Republicans hating Democrats

‘At least we have Golf'

Whenever I turn on the radio – all I hear is that we're going from recession into depression

And whenever my computer finally comes up and Internet Explorer goes to Yahoo – all the intellectual chatter is about Brittany Spears or Paris Hilton

‘At least we have Golf'

Have you ever played 9-holes and walked into the clubhouse before going onto #10; passed through the bar area where the television has some sort of news on? Have you ever felt the shock of coming back into the real world after spending 2 utopian hours on the golf course with nothing to think about besides golf and friendship?

Being able to focus on your golf game for 18 holes (4 hours or so) without talk of bail-outs or Vice Presidential candidates or political emails putting the other-side down – being able to get away for 18 holes may be more important now than I can ever remember. Well, at least for me it is. During these tense times – let golf be your outlet to get away from it all. This maybe the one time that if the pace of play is slow – it may be a blessing in disguise!

In this time of many questions – the tendency is for people to stay away from the golf course. It's my belief that in these times – you should spend a little more time at the golf course. Get away from everything that's out there – and get back to what makes you happy.

One side says we shouldn't be there – the other side says we need to be there

One side says that it's their fault we're in this mess – the other side says it's not us, it's you

‘At least we have Golf'

One side says we need a bail-out – the other side says don't give away my money

And I don't give a rat's butt about Brittany Spears or Paris Hilton!

‘At least we have Golf'

In these uncertain times when many people are worried about tomorrow – let alone next week or next month or next year … At least you have Golf.

In these times where many people are scared for their money and nervous about their jobs and worried about who's going to be the next President … At least you have Golf

And tonight (October 2nd, 2008), during the Vice Presidential Debate – with a 100 million people watching here in the US and probably millions more in other countries around the world – when you hear either of the candidates give an answer that you disagree with, don't get upset, don't let it affect your blood pressure, don't say anything hateful – just roll your eyes, rotate your head from side to side and look at whoever's in the room with you and say: ‘At least we have Golf'.

Then wake-up Friday morning, ditch work and get in 18 holes!

The Monkey gets sucked into ‘the sky is falling' philosophy

The Player tees it up!

Go ahead, Be a Player!

Regards,

Marc Solomon - Your Instructor For Life

www.GolfMadeSimple.com


PS – We’ll be back to golf improvement stuff next week. I just needed to get that off my chest after a crazy week where a lot of people I’ve come in contact with weren’t themselves because of all the crazy news. Go out this weekend and find some happiness on the golf course!

‘At least we have Golf’

Labels: Golf Instruction, golf instructor, Golf Lessons, Golf Schools, Golf Travel, golf vacation, swing plane

posted by Golf Made Simple - Golf Improvement Program  # 10:34 AM 2 Comments Links to this post