Why we call a frustrated Golfer a Monkey has nothing to do with one’s ability or the scores that you shoot. It has to do with how a Golfer goes about the learning and improvement process. I’ve seen Players that are just starting to break 100 and I’ve seen Monkeys that shoot in the low 80’s. The difference is that the Monkey will become frustrated because they’re in the same scoring range for an extended period of time – while the Player is excited because they’re seeing improvement every time they step on the golf course.

The Monkey uses the same bad habits over and over expecting to improve. The Monkey continually goes to the practice range without a PLAN banging ball after ball in rapid fire succession expecting to hit straighter shots. The Monkey hits their 3 wood for their second shot on every Par 5 regardless of the situation expecting to get closer to the green. The Monkey tries every new tip and gimmick hoping to find something magical.

The Player on the other hand has a PLAN. They know what the Strengths and Weaknesses of their golf swing are. They know how to practice their Driver. They know how to practice their fairway woods. They know how to practice their wedges to create backspin. They know how to practice their putting for 45 minutes without it becoming as boring as watching paint dry.

What’s the difference between a Monkey and a Player? It’s how they go about learning to play better. The Monkey gets stuck in a scoring range and then will try anything in desperation to start improving again – though often times they become more and more frustrated. The Player sees and feels continual improvement – the Player often has other Golfers asking them how they’ve improved so fast.

For example: when the Monkey wants to improve their Driver; they go to the driving range to hit ball after ball towards the middle of the range. And this Golfer will often hit the ball well enough to feel that they had improved. Yet, the next time on the golf course – reality sets in – and you’re not hitting your Driver as well as you did on the driving range.

Why does this happen so frequently to the Monkey? Why can the Monkey hit it so well on the range and then when they go to the golf course ….. well, let’s just say it doesn’t go as well. While the Player often hits their Driver as well and in fact, many times they even hit their Driver better on the golf course.

When the Player wants to improve their Driver; they also can go to the driving range. Though, they have a PLAN that they’ll stick with. Part of that PLAN is that the middle of the range isn’t a target. Why? Because the middle of the driving range isn’t as defined as the golf course. When’s the last time you saw a fairway with the middle as wide as the middle of the driving range? Also, when have you ever seen the middle of a driving range include water, trees, fairway bunkers and other assorted distractions such as houses?

The Player hits their Driver to different targets just like they do on the golf course. And the Player that’s really taking their game to the next level is the Player that makes their targets on the driving range – smaller than the targets that they’ll see on the golf course. The Monkey does the complete opposite by making a target on the driving range that’s over twice as big as the target they’ll have on the golf course.

No wonder the Monkey gets frustrated on the golf course!

The Player uses a PLAN to make ‘fairways’ on the driving range. I say ‘fairways’ as opposed to the ‘fairway’ because as the Monkey just keeps hitting to the middle of the range – the Player is constantly changing their targets. Why? Well, is every golf hole straight and over 100 yards wide like the driving range?

You have the talent to be a Player. You know it and I know it. The problem is that you might be going at it like a Monkey.

The Monkey will read the above and say ‘I know what I’m doing, I’m so close to improving – I just need to hit more balls to become more consistent’

The Player knows that Tiger, Annika, Jack, Lorena and every successful Player has a PLAN that doesn’t include just banging golf ball after golf ball into the middle of the driving range.

Are you happy with your progress? Do you have a PLAN other than just banging golf ball after golf ball into the middle of the driving range?

Go ahead, Be A Player!

Regards,

Marc Solomon - Your Instructor For Life

GMS Bonus Material

For Anyone Considering Video Analysis - We have added our report on: "Using Video Analysis To Improve Your Golf Swing" to the Golf Made Simple website for you to download and view.

Just click here to be taken to the download page on the http://www.GolfMadeSimple.com website. It's easy, it's free and it's a pretty extensive report on our findings.


Indoor Putting Drill - If you'd like for us to email you a special Indoor Version of an excellent GMS Putting Drill that you could spend hours on - email us at IndoorPuttingDrill@GolfMadeSimple.com and put "Blog" in the subject line.


Tour Putting Square - Use the Tour Putting Square inside your home to improve your scores. Just send us an email at TourPuttingSquare@GolfMadeSimple.com with the subject: "Blog" – and we'll email you how to use this game changing drill.

Swing Drills & Core Training - To view a segment that covers 2 swing drills you can practice inside, plus 3 exercises to strengthen your core - email us at: PushUp@GolfMadeSimple.com with the word "Blog" in the subject line to receive a link and password to access the video segment from our DVD - 'How To Improve Your Golf Swing Indoors'

New GMS Locations!

There’s so much to talk about, but I only get a limited amount of space to write – so I don’t know how much I can tell you in this issue. But it’s all exciting news, not just for us, but for you also. From the surveys that we have taken – the #1 thing that gets the people that follow GMS the most excited is new locations.

And we have a couple more that we’ll be announcing in the coming weeks. One will be in a similar location as a present GMS location – yet, at an even higher level golf course. I mean – this is a fantastic golf course! What is it? I can’t tell you yet. First we must send out a special email to all our GMS Alumni to announce this location to them. Then we’ll announce it to everyone else.

Please don’t get upset at us for taking care of our Golfers first – we just like doing it the exact opposite of the cell phone companies who care more about new subscribers than the ones who have been with them for years. We take care of our Golfers and if you’re not a GMS Golfer yet – trust me, we’ll take care of you when you become one.

The other new location? Well … let’s just say that this is going to be even bigger than big. We’re finalizing plans – however, once it’s finalized – it’ll just open up the world to our offerings.

GMS Golfers – be on the lookout for an email or two in the next couple of weeks about these new locations as you’ll have first chance at available dates. After which time, we’ll announce these 2 new locations to the world!

Current GMS locations: Florida - Tampa, Boca Raton, St. Augustine, Amelia Island. California - Palm Springs/La Quinta, Lake Tahoe. Arizona - Phoenix. Washington DC. Colorado - Denver

For more information on available dates at any of our GMS locations: call me at 1-888-580-3635 or email IWantToBe@GolfMadeSimple.com

Regards,

Alex - Director

Toll Free - 1-888-580-3635
International - 001.904.460.8355
Email: IWantToBe@GolfMadeSimple.com

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

Issue #282 July 28th, 2009 Call Us Toll Free: 1(888) 580-3635

"Why Not A Consistent Golf Swing On The Course?" “Why? Why? Why? – Why did I hit that shot? What was I thinking?!” Have you heard that before? Well … who hasn’t let that pass through their lips after making a big mistake that might leave you with a snowman (an 8) on the scorecard? It’s like – “where was my brain?” Listen – golf courses are often designed to test a Golfer’s strategy versus being designed to test your golf swing. I’ll give you a perfect example: Tom Fazio has been heralded as quite possibly the top golf course architect in the world since the early 1990’s. Yet, as far I can recall, you really don't see a Tom Fazio course used for a major championship and rarely (if ever) used for a PGA Tour event. Why is that? Many Golfers find his golf courses very challenging yet the Touring Pros would probably tear up many of his courses. Why is this? I don’t believe most Fazio golf courses are designed to test your golf swing as much as they are designed to test your strategy. **I’ll get back to the basis of the article in a minute (this isn’t an article about Tom Fazio) – though I believe I can help relate this to your golf game because most Golfers have played a Fazio golf course** On most Fazio golf courses – he leaves a lot of room off the tee to hit the golf ball and his greens are notoriously large – which should make them both easier to hit. Yet, even though Fazio fairways tend to be super wide – most Golfers have trouble hitting his fairways. This is because a great designer like Fazio knows that the extent of strategy most Golfers can muster is limited to aiming to the middle of the fairway. So to defend his golf courses - he creates angles and obstacles that makes hitting fairways more difficult to do. Or he designs a hole that allows you to easily be in the center of the fairway – yet makes sure that being in the center will make your shot to the green much tougher by toughening up the angle for your next shot. Yet, many Golfers don’t think this is necessary to know until they become more consistent with their golf swing. Let me state it right here and now – if that’s your philosophy: You’ll never be consistent on the golf course because the challenges you face on each shot directly influences the consistency of your golf swing! Have you ever said – “Why can I hit the golf ball so much better on the driving range than I can on the golf course?” Well if so – you better continue reading: On the driving range you’re faced with just raking over the next golf ball and concentrating on your golf swing - on the golf course you’re faced with thinking about your golf swing in addition to all obstacles that you need to avoid. Of course it’s easier on the driving range – there’s nothing to worry about or obstacles that need to be avoided. Which brings up an interesting question: why does the average Golfer struggle when they play a Tom Fazio course – yet, the PGA Tour doesn’t usually play his golf courses? A big part of that might be that the Pro’s would eat many of those courses up. Not just because their golf swing is better – but also because the strategy of the PGA Touring Pro is usually far superior to the average Golfer. And I say this knowing that I’m going to hear many people say – “Well yeah, their strategy is better because they can execute that strategy more consistently because they have a better golf swing and know where the golf ball is going.” That’s agreed – to a point. Certainly it’s easier to keep to a strategy when you’re in better control of where your golf ball lands. However, whether you’re able to play to your strategy or not isn’t 100% reliant on how consistent your golf swing is. Yet, on the golf course, your golf swing is just about 100% reliant on having a strategy based on the level of your golf swing. For example: I can take a Golfer that averages 95 on their golf course and have them score 89 without helping them with their golf swing or putting stroke once during that round. (Or a 105 Golfer and have them score 99 – or an 85 Golfer and have them score 79). I’ve done it countless times with Golfers I have worked with. So if this is true – and it is: How can I do this? How can I help a Golfer instantly shave 6 strokes off their golf game (the first time meeting them) without once helping them with their golf swing? To continue reading "Why Not A Consistent Golf Swing On The Golf Course" – click here If you're looking for more consistency on the golf course - I urge you to continue reading. Regards, Marc Solomon - Your Instructor For Life Click to Forward Golf Improvement Weekly to a Friend ^ Top of page "I Have Improved 10 Strokes" GMS - So it is now a little better than one year since my GMS clinic. My average score has improved by 10 strokes. At the Baltusrol course in NJ I hit a 38 on the front from the blue tees. I had two bad holes on the back, but still ended up with a low 80’s round. Tempo and ball striking with a plan. Every time there isn’t a plan it works less. I am 59 years old averaging 275 yards off the tee with occasional bombs over 320 yards. Same tempo. My wedge game is working and most iron shots are coming off the face well. I have hit 13 greens in regulation average over my last 4 rounds. Last week I eagled a 675 yard par 6 (non PGA approved I am sure). The best part of my new found game is how relaxed I am on the course at most times. I am interested in course 2 so I can get to a 9 to 10 handicap. Please let me know the scoop. Thank you, Mark G. - Glenn Rock, New Jersey - Sent July 22nd, 2009 Attended Amelia Island location on July 11th to 13th, 2009 Click to Forward Golf Improvement Weekly to a Friend "4 Pars In 9 Holes - Previously Pars Were Rare For Me!" Jeff, My experience with James was surely more than I had expected. I now know what most of my previous mistakes have been and how to correct them. I played today with one of my regulars and the improvement showed by scoring 4 pars for 9 holes. Previously pars were rare for me. I can't remember ever having more that two in a single 9 holes and even one was a very good round. Bill L. - Hudson, Wisconsin - Sent July 22nd, 2009 Attended Denver location on July 13th to 15th, 2009 ^ Top of page Share Your Golf Made Simple Testimonials | Click Here Golf Tips and Special Pricing For Tahoe! Continuing from last week’s Buzz – we have already received some great golf tips (Best Golf Tips and Worst Golf Tips). So, thank you for everyone that sent them in over the past week. But, we want more. So please keep sending them in to GolfTips@GolfMadeSimple.com If you missed last week’s GIW – here’s a little bit of what we wrote: So we’d like to start compiling a list of the worst Golf Tips Of All Time. Now, maybe this is a Golf Tip that helped a friend of yours, but when you tried it – you had bad results. It could be something you heard from an Instructor, or from someone at a cocktail party, or something you read in a magazine or on the Internet. The key is that it's a Golf Tip that you have tried – not something that you heard, but just sounded stupid. It has to be something that you tried and caused you to actually start hitting the golf ball worse after doing so. When you email this to us – you don’t have to include your name if you don’t want to. However, we would appreciate if you could describe the Golf Tip, what it was designed to help you fix and the results you encountered. Saying that – if you’ve ever come across a Golf Tip that did help you – we’d like to hear about that also. In a future GIW, we’ll write about the “winning” Golf Tip (and we’ll include your name only if you want us to), along with sending the “winner” a special prize. Click to Forward Golf Improvement Weekly to a Friend ***Also – Lake Tahoe Special*** Save $150 At Our Lake Tahoe Location! Hope you’re having as good a summer as we are. If not, here’s something that might make you happy: We received a telephone call just the other day from the owner of The Lodge at Whitehawk Ranch (our Lake Tahoe location). Jerry wants to stimulate business in August and September – so he asked us - if he reduced the rates for their cabins by $50 a night – would that help to bring more people to his facility. We said – ‘we think so.’ Now this isn’t a discount dreamed up by GMS – we’re doing very well, even better than 2008 (and 2008 was a record year for GMS). Yet, we received this offer from the The Lodge at Whitehawk Ranch and we’re going to pass over the savings to you. So what does it mean? It means - that if you come for a 3 day GMS Program at our Lake Tahoe location (this August or September) and stay at the Lodge at Whitehawk (which is right on the golf course), because of Jerry’s generosity – you’re receiving $150 off the GMS Program. Again, GMS has never discounted or run specials – we have enough demand from Golfers that we never have to do so – yet, when we’re offered a discount by one of our partners, we’ll pass that discount on to our Golfers. For more information on available dates at our Lake Tahoe location: call me at 1-888-580-3635 or email me at IWantToBe@GolfMadeSimple.com Regards, Alex - Director Toll Free - 1-888-580-3635 International - 001.904.460.8355 Email: IWantToBe@GolfMadeSimple.com ^ Top of page Email Us Your Questions, Comments & Suggestions about Golf Improvement Weekly | Click Here

In This Issue... Why Not A Consistent Golf Swing On The Course? Dates Of Upcoming GMS Programs "I Have Improved 10 Strokes!" "4 Pars In 9 Holes - Previously Pars Were Rare!" The Buzz - Golf Tips and Special Tahoe Pricing GMS Bonus Material GMS Quote - Tiger Woods Vs. Rocco Mediate Click on any of the dates listed below to send an email request for more information Upcoming Dates Golf Made Simple Click to Forward Golf Improvement Weekly to a Friend Washington DC - Virginia August 7th to 9th August 11th and 12th August 18th to 20th August 21st to 23rd August 25th to 27th To see other available dates for our Washington DC Location beyond the dates listed above Click Here Lake Tahoe, California August 10th to 12th August 17th to 19th August 21st to 23rd August 24th to 26th August 28th to 30th To see other available dates for our Lake Tahoe location beyond the dates listed above Click Here Denver, Colorado July 31st to August 2nd August 3rd to 5th August 7th to 9th August 10th to 12th August 14th to 16th To see other available dates for our Denver, Colorado location beyond the dates listed Click Here Click to see available dates for our other GMS locations: Florida: Boca Raton - Tampa - Amelia Island - St Augustine California: Palm Springs/La Quinta Arizona: Phoenix Photos Of Recent GMS Classes Eleanor M., Colin M. Washington DC | July 21st to 23rd| 2009 Pruitt F., Richard C., Randall C. Denver Colorado| June 1st to 3rd | 2009 Let's Just Say That Is One Happy Golfer! Lake Tahoe, California| July 20th to 22nd | 2009 Click to Forward Golf Improvement Weekly to a Friend Have you attended a GMS Program and would like your Photo? Send an email to myplayerphoto@golfmadesimple.com include your 'name, location and program dates'. ^ Top of page "Tiger Woods Vs. Rocco Mediate" Excerpted from Classic GIW Issue 243 - June 18th, 2008 "Wow! Was that a fantastic golf match or what? Tiger and Rocco – Player e Player for 19 holes. That’s about as good as it can get. But, I’m sure you’ve had your fill of hearing and talking about the match. Enough about them already - let’s get to your golf game. What could you take away from the US Open to help your golf game – and I’m not talking about one of Johnny Miller’s tips. I believe that many people were rooting for Rocco because they could relate to him more than they could relate to Tiger. You don’t see Tiger struggling as much with his game, he makes shots that you could only dream of and he’s super long off the tee. And although Tiger has had to work and has worked harder than anyone on the planet to earn his superior skill – many people don’t see that and understand ... Continue reading the rest of this Classic GIW - Click Here Click to Forward Golf Improvement Weekly to a Friend ^ Top of page By the way, the first Golf Made Simple DVD has been the #1 Selling Golf Swing DVD on Amazon.com. After years and years and offers upon offers from people that wanted to produce a DVD for us; we decided we wanted to do it our own way. We've created a DVD to help you become a Player, as opposed to all the other Monkey stuff that's already out there. Our DVD - How To Improve Your Golf Swing Indoors is improvement ... GMS Style. What's GMS Style? It's a Results Based Approach as opposed to the Theories and Assumptions Based Approach that millions of Golfers struggle with year after year. Are you ready to end the struggle? Click here to purchase on Amazon.com Or call us at 1 (888) 580 - 3635 ^ Top of page GMS Bonus Material Click to Forward Golf Improvement Weekly to a Friend For Anyone Considering Video Analysis - We have added our report on: "Using Video Analysis To Improve Your Golf Swing" to the Golf Made Simple website for you to download and view. Just click here to be taken to the download page on the http://www.GolfMadeSimple.com website. It's easy, it's free and it's a pretty extensive report on our findings. Indoor Putting Drill - If you'd like for us to email you a special Indoor Version of an excellent GMS Putting Drill that you could spend hours on - email us at IndoorPuttingDrill@GolfMadeSimple.com and put GIW in the subject line. Tour Putting Square - Use the Tour Putting Square inside your home to improve your scores. Just send us an email at TourPuttingSquare@GolfMadeSimple.com with the subject: Tour Putting Square – and we'll email you how to use this game changing drill. Swing Drills & Core Training - To view a segment that covers 2 swing drills you can practice inside, plus 3 exercises to strengthen your core - email us at: PushUp@GolfMadeSimple.com with the words 'Golf Improvement Weekly' in the subject line to receive a link and password to access the video segment from our DVD - 'How To Improve Your Golf Swing Indoors' ^ Top of page

Labels: Golf DVD, Golf Instruction, golf instructor, Golf Lessons, Golf practice, Golf Schools, Golf Swing, Golf Travel, golf vacation, Golf Video, Marc Solomon, top golf school

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

After the longest hiatus that Golf Improvement Weekly has ever seen (2 months) – we’re back. Just as it maybe a good thing for Golfers to take a break from the game every-once-in-a-while to refresh your brain – GIW needed to do the same. Although GMS had a record year in 2008, and 2009 is actually ahead of 2008 – it’s been a hectic 9 months (with 3 new GMS locations opening), along with everything else. So, we just needed a break from writing.

So, just a few days ago when I still wasn’t writing – I amazingly became bored and started reading a forum on an internet chat room with the title of something like – “What I Don’t Like About Tiger’s Golf Swing” – where this supposed ‘guru’ that has adopted the title of “ITeachGolf” - listed everything he thinks is wrong with Tiger's golf swing.

And what’s funny is that I believe he wrote this just as Tiger was winning yet another golf tournament by shooting 13 under par.

His/her contention is that Tiger really doesn’t have a good golf swing – the only reason he wins is that he’s just the best athlete on the PGA Tour. And that my friends is just another reason why you should stay away from Internet chat rooms – unless you want: A) to laugh; B) to cry; C) to be able to say to yourself – “are there really people that think that way?”

This issue with Golfers wanting to improve their golf swing is something that myself and our company works with each day with multiple individuals that travel from around the world to come and see us. So yes, we specialize in golf swings. So when we see people that bring up nonsense like the above – it makes us cringe.

Yet, the scary aspect is that many people might read further into what this ‘closet guru’ has to say about Tiger’s golf swing and even start to use the techniques he suggests Tiger needs to use. And that scares me because I know many Golfers are so desperate to improve – that they’ll try just about anything. Remember when you were young and your Mom said “don’t take candy from a stranger?” Well, many Golfers have forgotten about the dangers of doing that.

‘Don’t Take Golf Tips From A Stranger’

That’s going to be the title of my new book. Yet, as much as you need to continually warn the young about the aforementioned candy from a stranger – It’s my duty to remind you to do the same with golf tips. It can be dangerous for the health of your golf swing.

For example: Last week I was walking through one of the many airports that I walk through each year (this one was LAX) - I really shouldn’t be telling you this because I told everybody in the office and my wife that I was hiking on the Robert Trent Jones Trail. I got to my gate, sat down in a chair to await my plane – and just 2 seats down from me, was a lady that was really into what she was reading – I had to look over to see what magazine she had.

So at closer glance, I could see that she was reading a golf magazine and particularly an article about improving her golf swing. Now, I’m not the kind of person that just walks up to someone else and starts a conversation – yet, I had just finished helping a fantastic gentleman (a pretty famous person) with his golf swing for 3 days at a beautiful golf course – so I was on a natural high and in a really good mood – so I couldn’t resist. I had to ask her what she was reading.

When she looked up at me with this – “Why are you bothering my?" look – I said, ‘I apologize, I’m a Golfer also. And I was just interested in what you’re reading.’

Well, I got more than I was asking for:

She went into a 23 minute briefing of what’s wrong with her golf swing. She then took out a pad of paper and pen and started sketching her swing plane and what her plane needs to look like. She then took the pen and started gripping it like a golf club to show me what her grip looks like and what the proper grip should look like. I was then told about how important it is not to sway on the backswing, why Sergio can’t win a major, and why she would never want to swing like Jim Furyk.

Once she came up for air – she then asked me about my game. I told her I don’t play as much as I’d like (which is true), I’m not as consistent as I’d like (who is) and I’d like to hit my driver 10 more yards (sounds like fun). She then asked me to grip the pen like it was a golf club to see my grip. I then found out that my grip needed to be adjusted. I didn’t have enough knuckles showing. And that I should try interlocking my fingers instead of overlapping. She then apologized because she really couldn’t judge my grip pressure because we were using a pen and not a golf club.

She then suggested that I could become more consistent if I improved my posture – that is even though she never saw me set-up to a golf ball – though that’s something that she read in one of her 3 golf magazine subscriptions and that she has been doing it herself. Although, she hasn’t gained any more yards since working on her posture – she is sure it’ll eventually start working.

I then learned that I could get more distance by turning my shoulders a little more – “have you ever tried the X Factor?” Yet again, it was something she read in a magazine or saw on television.

So what’s the point of this story? The point is that after I said ‘thank you for the advice’ – I asked my “new pro” what her average score was. And although everything she said was very convincing and she said it very eloquently and it really sounded as if she knew what she was talking about – she had yet to ever break 100. Now, there isn’t anything wrong with someone who has never broken 100 – we were all at that point one time or another.

However, when I did ask how long she has been playing and how many lessons she had taken and how many years she has been reading those magazines scanning for tips – all I can say is that I was shocked. Playing golf: 7 years; Lessons: 10 to 15 lessons a year; Subscriptions: 3 different golf magazines for about 6 years.

Now, I’m not shocked that this Golfer hasn’t broken 100 in 7 years – that’s not shocking, everyday we help Golfers who have been in that same situation. What’s shocking is that this Golfer has worked on a hundred million things in her golf swing and she’s still not getting any positive results. Yet, she continues to work on a hundred million things!

So I never said anything about what I do for a living, I just told her that I once heard a really good tip that I’ve used successfully in my game for many years. And that from what she had told me about her game – it might really help her. When she said – “sure, what is it?” I told her about “Tick Tock”. I then told her that if she was going to be successful using “Tick Tock” she had to do it every golf swing she made the next time on the golf course. I then gave her my email address (not my GolfMadeSimple.com email address) so that she could email me her results after the next time she was going to play – which was this past Sunday, July 5^th.

She wished me luck with my game and I wished her luck with her game as I reminded her not to forget the “Tick Tock” on every swing. And then I flew home and forgot about the whole conversation - not thinking anything would come of it.

July 5^th, 8:07 pm – incoming email: “Marc, thank you, thank you, thank you! You’re not going to believe this!!!! I broke 100 for the first time. I can’t believe it. A 96!!! I have never hit the golf ball so well. It was unbelievable – my friends kept saying to me that they never saw me play that consistent and stay so calm on the golf course. That was the best golf tip ever. Who told you that tip? I need to read more about that person’s methods! Thank you, thank you.”

I then wrote back using my GolfMadeSimple.com email address congratulating her on her accomplishment, explaining why “Tick Tock” was so valuable, why it probably helped her, along with some more encouragement, etc.

Now, why is it that this very nice person that wanted so desperately to break 100 couldn’t do it even with putting her heart and soul into it for 7 years, taking multiple sets of lessons, reading countless magazine articles, thinking she knew what she needed to work on (fancy terms like swing plane and lag and X factor) - yet in one brief, chance meeting she was able to break 100?

The Monkey will get lucky once-in-a-while taking Golf Tips From Strangers, but in the long run it will cause more harm than good

The Player works on simple techniques that create positive results

Go ahead, be a Player!


Regards,

Marc Solomon - Your Instructor For Life

www.GolfMadeSimple.com

GMS Bonus Material

For Anyone Considering Video Analysis - We have added our report on: "Using Video Analysis To Improve Your Golf Swing" to the Golf Made Simple website for you to download and view.

Just click here to be taken to the download page on the http://www.GolfMadeSimple.com website. It's easy, it's free and it's a pretty extensive report on our findings.

Indoor Putting Drill - If you'd like for us to email you a special Indoor Version of an excellent GMS Putting Drill that you could spend hours on - email us at IndoorPuttingDrill@GolfMadeSimple.com and put 'Blog' in the subject line.

Tour Putting Square - Use the Tour Putting Square inside your home to improve your scores. Just send us an email at TourPuttingSquare@GolfMadeSimple.com with the subject: 'Blog' – and we'll email you how to use this game changing drill.

Swing Drills & Core Training - To view a segment that covers 2 swing drills you can practice inside, plus 3 exercises to strengthen your core - email us at: PushUp@GolfMadeSimple.com with the words 'Blog' in the subject line to receive a link and password to access the video segment from our DVD - 'How To Improve Your Golf Swing Indoors'

Labels: Golf DVD, Golf Instruction, golf instructor, Golf Lessons, Golf practice, Golf Schools, Golf Travel, golf vacation, Golf Video, top golf school

"Does Poor Balance Cause Poor Golf Swings?"

Would a Golfer with poor balance have a better or worse chance of having a consistent golf swing?

The obvious answer seems to be that the Golfer that doesn’t have good balance would have a more inconsistent golf swing than the Golfer that employs good, solid balance. So if that’s true – why haven’t you worked on your balance? If true – should you be spending your time working on your swing path and swing plane or should you be working on your balance skills? Could poor balance be causing your swing path, swing plane and clubface issues?

We believe that much of the golf instruction (not all, but much) is seriously flawed and backwards in the way Golfers are taught. Meaning, for example: Many Golfers go to get a golf lesson (or read in a magazine or see on television) and are immediately admonished that their backswing is being taken too much to the outside. And that you need to work on taking it more inside.

Now, I’m not saying that your backswing shouldn’t go outside (and I’m not saying it shouldn’t come inside or straight back), however – maybe that flaw could be caused by something else. Maybe taking the club too far outside could be a compensation for another swing flaw.

For example: could poor balance cause you to take the club too far outside?

Unfortunately, many Golfers and Instructors only look at the effect (taking the club too far outside) and then teach you a compensation (taking the club more inside) to compensate for that first compensation (taking the club too far outside). So basically, you’re working on fixing one compensation with another compensation. And then you wonder why you can’t consistently take the club more to the inside while hitting a golf ball. Well maybe, just maybe – the club is going too far outside for a reason – maybe it’s compensating for poor balance?

To use the “taking the club more to the inside” example as an example – could bad balance cause you to take your club too far outside? Absolutely! If you’re not balanced at set-up – if your weight is too much on your heels – it could cause you to take the club too far outside in that Instructor’s eyes. Now, I’m not saying that taking the club too far outside is a bad thing (I’m not saying it’s a good thing either) – it’s just an example of something a lot of Golfers are corrected on.

The basis here is to talk about how bad balance could be affecting many of your so-called golf swing flaws. And how many Golfers are misdiagnosed - causing them to have to learn even more compensations to cover up other compensations. For example – learning to swing more inside to correct the outside swing path – yet never correcting the cause of the outside swing path (which could be bad balance).

If your balance at set-up is off – meaning too much on your heels – it could cause you to compensate by pushing your hands and arms away from your body because if they did come back more naturally – it might cause you to fall backwards. So to counter balance having too much weight on your heels – you push your arms away from your body on the backswing to maintain balance. So now you’re compensating for bad balance (which you need to do to remain standing), by taking the club outside.

Now, because of your bad balance – you’re told to change your swing path. Yet, the problem isn’t your swing path – your “poor” swing path is just an effect of your poor balance. Now a big problem arises when you start trying to bring the club more inside without correcting the bad balance. This will cause you to struggle on the golf course by hitting shanks and pulls and killer slices as you work on taking it more inside – which will cause you to add even more compensations to your swing to counteract those bad shots.

So now, when you go back for more help on your golf swing – you’re told that you’re now bringing the club in a little better – but to stop the shanks and pulls and killer slices, you need to stop coming over the top. You need to drop the club from the top of your golf swing into the slot so that you can bring the club more from the inside as you approach impact.

Yet, this happens even though you still haven’t perfected the more inside takeaway (which you can’t because your balance still hasn’t improved). And now, even though you don’t have the backswing, you have to learn how to bring the club down more on the inside as opposed to over the top. Yet, how can you bring the club more from the inside when you’re still don’t have good balance. With the weight too far back on your heels – you have a choice – throw the club to the outside on the way down (what you’ve been doing) or starting at the top of your backswing, move your weight to your toes for a counter balance so that you could drop the club down behind you (where your Instructor says it “needs” to be).

Regardless of which you subconsciously choose – you’re just adding another compensation on top of the other compensations that’s going to cause more problems in your golf swing. Without good balance, you’re like the people in a 10 story building with a wobbly foundation – when the building starts to lean to the front, you all run to the back of the building to counter the forward motion. And when the building now moves to the back, you all run to the front. Yet, nothing gets done in the office because everything is being affected by the bad foundation.

To give you a simple picture on how balance can affect your body’s movements – picture this: If you’re standing up straight, then lower your left arm down the side of your body to pick-up a heavy briefcase positioned to the outside of your left foot. How would you pull that bag up? Most likely by lifting it as you lean your upper body to the right – counter balancing the weight on your left. Then, as you walk with the heavy briefcase in your left hand (with your Blackberry held against your ear with your right hand), which way is your body leaning? Obviously to the right to counterbalance yourself.

Well, a similar thing could happen if you don’t have good balance in your golf swing. If your weight is too much in one direction – your body will compensate for it by moving in another direction. Yet, when similar balance issues happen with Golfers, they are often told that the compensations that they have created (because of the poor balance) are the problem with their golf swing. When in fact, that so called problem is just a compensation you created because of a far bigger issue. So now you’re taught another compensation to fix the compensation that was created by the cause. Yet, you never fixed the cause. And if you never fix the cause – you’re just going to start creating more and more compensations – so that your golf swing just becomes one big compensation.

And remember that - ‘Compensations equal Inconsistency’.

I can’t tell you how many thousands of Golfers unfortunately have to go through this every year – never getting to the cause of the problem, only being told how to fix the effect. Which is backwards because you should be working to fix the cause – yet most Golfers are only taught how to fix the effect by being given compensation after compensation. And that’s a big reason why so many Golfers never get better and swear never to take another golf lesson again because they only get worse afterwards.

Thank goodness for GMS!

How can you work on your balance? It’s easy. Get set-up like you’re ready to hit a golf shot, then pick-up your left foot so that you’re balanced on your right foot. Now to do this – you’re going to have to move your center of gravity over your right leg. See how long you can stay balanced on your right foot (while in set-up). And as you’re doing this – try to move your weight around your foot to feel where you’re the most balanced. After you can hold your balance for 30 seconds without having to put your left foot down or grab onto something – try it with your left foot.

Please remember, this isn’t as easy as it may sound – so don’t try this next to a glass table or at the top of a staircase – make sure you’re in a safe place. If you can only stay balanced for a few seconds on your first attempts – what is that telling you? It could be telling you that you don’t have great balance and that bad balance could be causing compensations in your golf swing that are causing you to create even more compensations and making you even more inconsistent.

The Monkey will continue to work on the effect by practicing taking the golf club to the inside without fixing the cause

The Player is always interested in fixing the cause because they know that if they fix the cause, they also fix the effect

Go ahead, Be a Player!

Regards,

Marc Solomon - Your Instructor For Life

www.GolfMadeSimple.com



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Are You As Consistent As A PGA Tour Player?

At the PGA Tour event in San Antonio a couple of weeks ago, an interesting thing happened. In round 2, one Tour Pro beat another Tour Pro by 18 strokes in that one round. For the mathematically challenged – that’s 1 stroke per hole. Now, that’s about the equivalent and what you might expect to see when a 2 handicap plays with a 20 handicap. Not when 2 PGA Tour Players are playing.

In the second round, JP Hayes scored an impressive 62; while Trevor Dodds endured through an 80. Nonetheless – that’s a 1 stroke per hole difference in score – not something you’d expect to see on that high a level of golf. I guess it just goes to show how consistency is tough for the best Players in the world to grasp day after day and week after week.

What also illustrates this point is that Dodds isn’t a hack. In the first round he shot a very nice 70 – which was one shot better than Hayes’ 71. Which highlights even more inconsistency: Dodds played 10 shots worse on Friday than he did on Thursday. And Hayes played 9 shots worse on Thursday than he did on Friday.

So if the best Players in the world have scores that have 9 or 10 shots swings from Thursday to Friday – I guess for a regular Golfer, it shouldn’t be a big deal if you shot 92 on Saturday and 102 on Sunday! Because these guys have much more consistent golf swings than rest of us – and their scores vary 10 shots from round to round – how can you expect yours to have less of a variance?

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GMS Bonus Material

For Anyone Considering Video Analysis - We have added our report on: "Using Video Analysis To Improve Your Golf Swing" to the Golf Made Simple website for you to download and view.

Just click here to be taken to the download page on the http://www.GolfMadeSimple.com website. It's easy, it's free and it's a pretty extensive report on our findings.

Indoor Putting Drill - If you'd like for us to email you a special Indoor Version of an excellent GMS Putting Drill that you could spend hours on - email us at IndoorPuttingDrill@GolfMadeSimple.com and put 'Blog' in the subject line.

Tour Putting Square - Use the Tour Putting Square inside your home to improve your scores. Just send us an email at TourPuttingSquare@GolfMadeSimple.com with the subject: 'Blog' – and we'll email you how to use this game changing drill.

Swing Drills & Core Training - To view a segment that covers 2 swing drills you can practice inside, plus 3 exercises to strengthen your core - email us at: PushUp@GolfMadeSimple.com with the words 'Blog' in the subject line to receive a link and password to access the video segment from our DVD - 'How To Improve Your Golf Swing Indoors'

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"Are Double Bogeys In Your PLAN?"

Excerpted from Classic GIW Issue 241 from May 28th, 2008

"It's so easy to lose your focus and PLAN after making a Double or Triple Bogey on the golf course. For most Golfers, a Double or Triple is often followed on the next hole with another Double or Triple. And that's precisely why you constantly hear Golfers saying things like - 'Ohh, I could've broken 90, but I had a 3 hole stretch where I went Double, Triple, Double. If I could've just limited those to Bogeys, I'd have scored in the 80's!'

"Yet, with the Player - when they experience a Double or Triple - they often follow it up with a Birdie, Par or at worst a Bogey. Why is this?

Well, I believe it's easier ....."

Continue reading the rest of this Classic GIW - Click Here

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Almost Halfway Through 2009?

Is it almost June already? There’s no way! Wasn’t it just March … like just 2 weeks ago? I don’t know about you – but it’s been so busy around here. Time is just moving too fast.

And when I say busy, I mean busy. It’s been borderline crazy with all the inquires and sign-ups we have for our new Virginia location just outside Washington DC at Lansdowne Resort. Wow, we knew this was going to be a popular location. How could it not be with over 25 million people living within a 4 hour drive or 45 minute flight away.

And with 45 holes of phenomenal golf in the Virginia countryside – right on the Potomac River and just about smack in the middle of Virginia wine country – and the accommodations right on property at Lansdowne Resort – how could it not be successful? As I say this – June dates are just about sold-out. We have two spots available on June 16th to 18th; only two spots for the 19th to 21st – yet besides that, there’s not much more available for June. If you’re thinking about July – start thinking hard – because it’s right around the corner.

Regards,

Alex - Director

Toll Free - 1-888-580-3635<

International - 001.904.460.8355

Email: IWantToBe@GolfMadeSimple.com

Labels: Golf DVD, Golf Instruction, golf instructor, Golf Lessons, Golf Schools, Golf Swing, Golf Travel, golf vacation, Golf Video, Marc Solomon, swing plane, Tiger Woods, Video Analysis

Regardless of whether you’re thinking about your golf game or Tiger Woods’ golf game – it’s all about realistic expectations. So since Tiger is a hot topic right now – let’s talk some Tiger.

There’s so much babble out there about “What’s wrong with Tiger? Why didn’t he win at the Masters or the Players Championship? What’s wrong with his golf swing? Why isn’t he making any putts?”

I gather that all this gibberish is being tossed at you because he’s "only" won one paltry tournament this year. Yet, let’s put things in perspective - there’s not a Player in the world that wouldn’t take his golf game or golf swing or putting stroke right this second. Right now he’s the most consistent Golfer in the world – his results this year prove it: Tiger has played in 5 PGA stroke play tournaments in 2009 – placing in the Top 10 each event. His worst finish was his first stroke play tournament back after surgery on his left leg, where he came in 9th place. And on top of that - he’s a collective 38 under par for those 5 tournaments – which I believe means he’s averaging better than 7 under par for each tournament.

Have I mentioned he's averaging 69.7 shots per round playing some tough golf courses?

I feel obligated as a Golf Instructor to show how unrealistic (and some might say uninformed or even Monkey) many (certainly not all) in the Golf Media are as it pertains to the sport they’re reporting on. So let’s take a look at Tiger's results compared to the other top Players on the PGA Tour.

Results from 5 excellent Golfers and 1 incredible Golfer in 2009:

Phil Mickelson – 9 tournaments: 4 times in the top 10; failed to make the cut in 2 tournaments, tied for 55th place in 2 tournaments – meaning he finished worse than 50th place, 44% of the time

Anthony Kim – 8 tournaments: 1 time in the top 10; failed to make the cut in two tournaments, actually in the Top 25 only once in 2009.

Sean O’Hair – 10 tournaments: 6 times in the top 10; failed to make the cut in 2 tournaments

Kenny Perry – 11 tournaments: 6 times in the top 10 – 54% of the time; tied for 59th in 2 tournaments

Padraig Harrington – 9 Tournaments: 0 times in the top 10; in top 20 “only” 2 times, failed to make cut 3 times in 9 tournaments

Tiger Woods – 5 tournaments: 5 times in the top 10 – 100% of the time; worst finish was 9th

Hmmmm, kind of puts Tiger’s “troubles” in perspective doesn’t it? Let’s see – the 2nd best Golfer in the world (Mickelson) has less top 10’s in almost twice as many tournaments as Tiger, has been cut twice before the weekend, in addition to coming in 55th place two times – yet Tiger isn’t playing well? Well, if Tiger isn’t playing like the #1 Player in the World – who is? Maybe the expectations we place on Tiger are out-of-whack?

Or how about the 3rd ranked Player in the world – Sergio Garcia? 6 tournaments and his best finish is 13th. Or the 4th ranked Golfer, Geoff Ogilvy? 9 tournaments with “only" two top 10 finishes. Wow, Number One, Two, Three and Four really stink! These guys are terrible! Or maybe it just shows how good Tiger is. Maybe it shows that what’s truly brilliant about Tiger is not the number of times he wins – but his consistency throughout his game. So that every week, even when he’s not playing his absolute best – he’s as good or almost as good as others when they’re at their ... absolute best.

Again – this isn’t to point out the inconsistency of these other Golfers, they’re phenomenal Golfers – this is to show that there isn’t anything wrong with Tiger. It’s just to show how awesome a Golfer he is. We’re talking about the best Golfers in the world besides Tiger – yet look at how far ahead he is compared to them – even coming off a major surgery. This isn’t a put down to Mickelson or Garcia – these guys are phenomenal Golfers – it’s to point out the 'ridiculousness' of many individuals (certainly not all) in the Golf Media.

Or to put even more perspective towards how many get it so wrong: besides 2008 and 2009, Tiger has never finished in the Top 10 of each of his first 5 tournaments in any year! And that includes the year 2000 when he won 9 PGA tournaments and came in the Top 3 in 14 of his 20 tournaments!

Do you realize that Tiger’s 8th place finish this year was his best finish at TPC at Sawgrass since way back in 2001 when he was the winner? Yet, he’s not playing well according to the experts. Who hired these people?

Let’s get more in depth when talking about Tiger's “woes”. Because as every “expert” knows – Tiger’s troubles are starting on the tee with his Driver. However, Mr. and Mrs. Monkey - in 2008 (just an incredible golf year for Tiger before his leg incident) – Tiger hit 57% of his fairways – in 2009 he has hit 56% of his fairways.

So that 1% difference is what’s starting all the talk from the “experts” about what Tiger is doing wrong in his golf swing? Yet, when he was 1% better – they were showing you all the great things he was doing in his golf swing. Is there that much of a difference in that 1% from when he went from the best golf swing in the world to having so many troubles with his swing?

Well ….. considering that Tiger had 280 possible fairways he could hit in 2008 and that he’s had the same amount this year – it’s a good place to start to show you how Monkey many (certainly not all) in the Golf Media are when talking about what's wrong with Tiger’s swing. Why do I say this? Because in 2008 Tiger hit 162 out of 280 fairways. This year Tiger has hit “only” 159 out of 280.

So all these supposed “gurus” that are talking about what Tiger needs to fix in his Driver are talking about this because Tiger has hit 3 less fairways out of 280 attempts than he did in 2008 when he was undisputedly - The Man.

Who are these “experts” and how did they get appointed “experts”?

I need to get out of the golf business – it’s getting too frustrating having these “experts” tell the golf world what’s wrong and having everyone believe them just because they’re on television! Does anyone want to buy a golf company that had record revenue in 2008 and record profit so far in 2009? I need to get as far away from this lunacy of making people golf experts for no reason at all except that they can talk a lot. Maybe I could get into another industry that has fewer “experts”than golf has – something like politics or the stock market.

How about Tiger’s Driving Distance? I mean because the “experts” say he’s not driving the golf ball that great – I guess we should talk about Driving Distance – shouldn’t we? In 2008 he averaged 294 yards a drive. This year he’s “much” shorter at “only” 292 yards.

“In my opinion, it has to be his putting that’s killing him. Tiger is just not making the crucial putts. Where last year he made everything – this year he’s not really making that many putts. Hey, who took my banana?”

In 2008, Tiger averaged 1.7 putts per Green in Regulation. In 2009, Tiger is averaging an “atrocious” 1.7 putts per Green in Regulation.

In 2008, Tiger made a birdie or eagle an incredible 88 times in 360 holes (24% of the time). In 2009, he’s made a birdie or eagle 84 times in 360 holes (a pathetic 23% of the time).

In 2008, Tiger averaged getting up’n’down from the sand for par 48% of the time. In 2009, he’s averaged 54%.

So is Tiger’s game really that terrible? Or have the Monkeys set unrealistic expectations on Tigers game – just like they may have done to their own games?

Yet, if someone is telling you all the things Tiger is doing wrong in his golf swing when compared to the level he played in 2008 – a level that may never have been matched by any Golfer that ever lived – the person isn’t just a Monkey, that person is a(n) …… well, I’m not even going to say it.

Why was this Golf Improvement Weekly written? Does Tiger need me to 'watch his back'? Or course not. Am I such a rabid Tiger fan that’s bordering on stalker that I feel a need to defend my hero? “Mr. Tiger, ahhhh, yeah, um – you know I’m your biggest fan. I have posters of you all around my house. I named my cat after you – Little Tiger”

This Golf Improvement Weekly was written for one reason - to let you know that the Monkeys are everywhere. This doesn’t just apply to speaking about the PGA Tour or LPGA Tour – the same can be said about the so called “gurus” you see on TV speaking about the golf swing. They can be just as far off with the Theories and Assumptions they’re giving you about the golf swing – as they are with the “What’s Wrong With Tiger” schtick they’re throwing at you this week. And will continue to throw at you until he wins again – when they’ll tell you all the improvements he made in his golf swing and putting stroke.

The Monkey watches a show devoted to asking what’s wrong with Tiger as the “experts” breakdown his golf swing and show you what he’s doing wrong. Then after you finish your bowl of ice cream – you stand-up to try to implement the same changes into your golf swing

The Player ignores many (certainly not all) in the media and just plays golf

Go ahead, Be a Player!

Regards,

Marc Solomon - Your Instructor For Life

Golf Made Simple, Inc.

3 Day Golf Improvement Programs With Locations in:

Florida - California - Arizona - Colorado - Washington DC

www.GolfMadeSimple.com

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Bonus Material

For Anyone Considering Video Analysis - We have added our report on: "Using Video Analysis To Improve Your Golf Swing" to the Golf Made Simple website for you to download and view.

Just click here to be taken to the download page on the http://www.GolfMadeSimple.com website. It's easy, it's free and it's a pretty extensive report on our findings.


Indoor Putting Drill - If you'd like for us to email you a special Indoor Version of an excellent GMS Putting Drill that you could spend hours on - email us at IndoorPuttingDrill@GolfMadeSimple.com and put 'Facebook' in the subject line.


Tour Putting Square - Use the Tour Putting Square inside your home to improve your scores. Just send us an email at TourPuttingSquare@GolfMadeSimple.com with the subject: 'Facebook' and we'll email you how to use this game changing drill.

Swing Drills & Core Training - To view a segment that covers 2 swing drills you can practice inside, plus 3 exercises to strengthen your core - email us at PushUp@GolfMadeSimple.com with the words 'Facebook' in the subject line to receive a link and password to access the video segment from our DVD - 'How To Improve Your Golf Swing Indoors'

Labels: Golf, Golf DVD, Golf Instruction, golf instructor, Golf Lessons, Golf Schools, Golf Swing, Tiger Woods

Labels: Golf DVD, Golf Instruction, golf instructor, Golf practice, Golf Schools, Golf Swing, Golf Travel, golf vacation, Golf Video, swing plane, Tiger Woods, top golf school, Video Analysis

With the completion of the Masters – Golf is now officially “In-season”. And it may just be my imagination, but it always seems that Golfers gain motivation to playing better golf after watching the Masters of the Golf Universe playing the best golf imaginable. Now your goal should be to let your enthusiasm motivate you to work hard using your practice schedule.

You do have a practice schedule – don’t you?

You know, a couple of weeks ago, our Stat of the Week in Golf Improvement Weekly was entitled – “If He Putts Well – He Might Win The Masters.” It was about Vijay Singh and how well he has been hitting the golf ball, yet how “poorly” compared to the other top PGA Tour Players he has been putting. If you missed that Stat – we reused it as the The Stat of the Week in this issue of GIW for you to read it.

The point of the Stat was to show that regardless of how good your golf swing is and how well you strike the golf ball – 35 to 40% of those total strokes can be attributed to your putting. And then if you’d like to get deeper into it (and you should get deeper into it if you want to improve your score), at least another 10 to 20% of your strokes are with clubs you use from 1 yard to 35 yards off the green.

So why do I bring this up? I’m not going to try to bore you with another “Short Game, Short Game, Short Game” rant. I mean what’s the point - from what I’ve seen – that advice just falls onto deaf ears.

However, being a stubborn Golf Pro that is attracted to controversy and debate – along with always wanting to be correct about my predictions – I must say – Vijay Singh hit the golf ball just as well as anyone in the Masters. And actually hit the golf ball better than the Champion – Angel Cabrera. And if Vijay did putt as well as the average Player in the Tournament – he probably would’ve won.

Is this the start of the Vijay Fan Club?

No, don’t take what I’m writing as the official fan site for Vijay Singh – it’s not. However, Vijay could be the official poster child for an organization entitled “If I Could Putt As Well As I Can Hit A Golf Ball – I Would Be One Of The Best Who Ever Played”.

And this isn’t a rant on Vijay or Professional Golf. This is a rant about your golf game. Please continue reading to see how this ties into your golf and improvement.

Vijay hit 52 out of 72 Greens in Regulation – Cabrera hit 50 out of 72. Now as far as ball striking statistics – Greens in Regulation is King. There’s not another stat (that I know of) that tells you how well you’re hitting the golf ball. Meaning, if you’re hitting your tee shots into the trees – you’re not hitting Greens on your second shot on Par 4’s. If you’re not swinging your irons well – you’re not hitting Greens from anywhere on the golf course. If you don’t hit your Driver far enough – well … nobody hits many Greens when they’re always hitting hybrids and fairway woods to the green.

So the number of Greens in Regulation you hit basically tells you where you stand as far as your ball striking skills. Or another way of saying it - it tells you how good (or not good) your golf swing is.

And tournament after tournament – Vijay is near the top, along with Tiger as far as Greens in Regulation.

However, Vijay had 122 putts for the four rounds at Augusta National. While Cabrera only had 112. Which, almost coincidentally aligns with the fact that Vijay ended up 11 strokes behind Cabrera. And although this doesn’t perfectly align with the margin of victory by Cabrera over Vijay – it’s pretty darn close and it does show that even though you might have one of the best golf swings in the world – the best golf swing doesn’t guarantee the best score.

As a side note – Tiger also hit 2 more Greens than Cabrera, but he also had 122 putts – the same as Vijay.

Now this isn’t to say that putting is more important than ball striking. Maybe it is and maybe it isn’t. It all depends on what your Strengths and Weaknesses are. If you have a very good golf swing like Vijay – putting is more important at this point. If you had only 109 putts like Sandy Lyle (2 under par for the tournament and 1 stroke ahead of Vijay) – your golf swing is more important at this point.

The funny thing is that if Vijay and Sandy Lyle had a child – that kid would be sporting a Green Jacket.

So how do you know which is your Strength and which is your Weakness? I ask this even though I know that 7 out of every 8 Golfers believe that their wedges and putting is their Strength. And with me going back to the statement that I don’t mind debate and controversy – Trust me – for most of you – your wedges and putting aren’t even close to being a Strength of your golf game.

And as I know – most of you are probably saying something like – “That Solomon, he’s an idiot – he has no idea how good a putter I am. And how bad my Driver is.” I say to these Golfers – then prove it by doing the test below.

Prove it by finding your ‘Putts Per Missed Green In Regulation Stat’. Meaning most Golfers hit between 0 and 6 Greens in Regulation per 18 holes. So even though it would be great to see you raise your Greens in Regulation to 10 or 12 – which is comparable to a PGA Tour Player – you’re not a PGA Tour Player and you don’t have their skills. So it would be more beneficial for you to focus on Reality.

Reality says that you’re going to miss more Greens than you’re going to hit – so don’t fight Reality. Turn Reality into a Strength. Here’s how:

For every Green you miss – keep count of how many putts it takes you to get the ball into the hole. For example: You’re on a Par 4. Your second or third shot stops 15 yards from the green. You hit your next shot onto the green and 2 putt. That would mean that your ‘Putts Per Missed Green’ (PPMG) stat is 2. If on the next hole, a Par 3, your tee shot lands 5 yards from the green. Then you hit your next shot on the green and 3 putt – your ‘PPMG’ is now 5 (for the 2 holes) or 2.5 per hole. Which isn’t very good.

How should you follow this stat? Every time you play. How do you know if you’re doing well? Let me put it this way – averaging 2 PPMG is not good. If you want to score better – you need to be below 2 PPMG. If you’re above 2 PPMG – you need to spend more time on your wedges and putting. Because as much as you work on your Driver and your irons – 7 out of 8 Golfer won’t hit more than 6 Greens in Regulation. And even if you hit 6 Greens – you still have missed 12 Greens.

And I’ll tell you something else that you might not have ever thought of – The Golfer that hits 0 Greens in a round of 18 holes, yet averages 1.5 PPMG will have a lower score than a Golfer that hits 6 Greens in Regulation, yet has an average of 2.5 PPMG. And that includes if you1 putted each Green you hit and had 6 Birdies!

Here’s an example of the above scenario for the mathematically challenged –

1.5 PPMG: 1 wedge shot per hole + 1.5 Putts per hole multiplied by 18 holes = 45 strokes.

2.5 PPMG: 1 wedge shot per hole + 2.5 Putts per hole multiplied by 12 holes = 42 strokes + 6 putts (the 6 Birdie putts) = 48 strokes.

The 1.5 PPMG Golfer would still beat you by 3 strokes. And that’s if you 1 putted each Green in Regulation (no 2 putts or 3 putts on the greens you hit). And to further show how powerful this statement is - when’s the last time you had 6 Greens in Regulation and one putted each one for 6 Birdies?

Now – don’t take your PPMG lightly. And don’t think of it as being a 100% putting stat. Because a big percentage of your PPMG is based on how skilled you are with your wedges around the green. Obviously – the more skilled you are with your wedges – the closer your first putting attempt will be from the hole.

Also – don’t start to think that your PPMG is 100% based on your putting and wedges. A lot of this stat has to do with your PLAN. Meaning – when you were hitting your approach shot to the green – were you cognizant on where you shouldn’t miss the green. Did you fail to PLAN a ‘what if’ – meaning what if you did mis-hit the golf ball – would it leave you with a tough wedge shot that would be difficult to get close to the hole?

Track your PPMG and see if your average is 2 putts or above. Then if so, figure out why. Was it your putting? Was it your wedges around the green? Was it your PLAN that left you in tough positions around the green? Was it a combination of all three? My prediction is that it's a combination.

Nobody except GMS is talking about how much better Vijay hit the golf ball than Cabrera. Why? Because Cabrera outplayed Vijay. Would you rather be a one dimensional Player like Vijay was in this past Masters or a multi dimensional Player like the 2009 Masters Champ from Argentina?

You want to score better? Find your PPMG. You want to keep scoring how you’ve been scoring? Keep doing what you’ve been doing. It’s your choice.

The Monkey is still spending hours at the driving range fiddling with their golf swing and hitting golf balls even though their PPMG is over 2

The Player is tracking their PPMG, finding why it’s so high and then working to improve it

Go ahead, be a Player!

Marc Solomon - Your Instructor For Life

http://www.GolfMadeSimple.com

^ Back To Top

GMS Bonus Material

For Anyone Considering Video Analysis - We have added our report on: "Using Video Analysis To Improve Your Golf Swing" to the Golf Made Simple website for you to download and view.

Just click here to be taken to the download page on the http://www.GolfMadeSimple.com website. It's easy, it's free and it's a pretty extensive report on our findings.

Indoor Putting Drill - If you'd like for us to email you a special Indoor Version of an excellent GMS Putting Drill that you could spend hours on - email us at IndoorPuttingDrill@GolfMadeSimple.com and put 'Facebook' in the subject line.

Tour Putting Square - Use the Tour Putting Square inside your home to improve your scores. Just send us an email at TourPuttingSquare@GolfMadeSimple.com with the subject: 'Facebook' – and we'll email you how to use this game changing drill.

Swing Drills & Core Training - To view a segment that covers 2 swing drills you can practice inside, email us at: PushUp@GolfMadeSimple.com with the word 'Facebook' in the subject line to receive a link and password to access the video segment from our DVD - 'How To Improve Your Golf Swing Indoors'

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Labels: Golf, Golf DVD, Golf Instruction, golf instructor, Golf Lessons, Golf practice, Golf Swing, Golf Travel, golf vacation, Golf Video, Marc Solomon

Missed Greens In Regulation

With the completion of the Masters – Golf is now officially “In-season”. And it may just be my imagination, but it always seems that Golfers gain motivation to playing better golf after watching the Masters of the Golf Universe playing the best golf imaginable. Now your goal should be to let your enthusiasm motivate you to work hard using your practice schedule. You do have a practice schedule – don’t you? You know, a couple of weeks ago, our Stat of the Week in Golf Improvement Weekly was entitled – “If He Putts Well – He Might Win The Masters.” It was about Vijay Singh and how well he has been hitting the golf ball, yet how “poorly” compared to the other top PGA Tour Players he has been putting. If you missed that Stat – we reused it as the The Stat of the Week in this issue of GIW for you to read it. The point of the Stat was to show that regardless of how good your golf swing is and how well you strike the golf ball – 35 to 40% of those total strokes can be attributed to your putting. And then if you’d like to get deeper into it (and you should get deeper into it if you want to improve your score), at least another 10 to 20% of your strokes are with clubs you use from 1 yard to 35 yards off the green. So why do I bring this up? I’m not going to try to bore you with another “Short Game, Short Game, Short Game” rant. I mean what’s the point - from what I’ve seen – that advice just falls onto deaf ears. However, being a stubborn Golf Pro that is attracted to controversy and debate – along with always wanting to be correct about my predictions – I must say – Vijay Singh hit the golf ball just as well as anyone in the Masters. And actually hit the golf ball better than the Champion – Angel Cabrera. And if Vijay did putt as well as the average Player in the Tournament – he probably would’ve won. Is this the start of the Vijay Fan Club? No, don’t take what I’m writing as the official fan site for Vijay Singh – it’s not. However, Vijay could be the official poster child for an organization entitled “If I Could Putt As Well As I Can Hit A Golf Ball – I Would Be One Of The Best Who Ever Played”. And this isn’t a rant on Vijay or Professional Golf. This is a rant about your golf game. Please continue reading to see how this ties into your golf and improvement. Vijay hit 52 out of 72 Greens in Regulation – Cabrera hit 50 out of 72. Now as far as ball striking statistics – Greens in Regulation is King. There’s not another stat (that I know of) that tells you how well you’re hitting the golf ball. Meaning, if you’re hitting your tee shots into the trees – you’re not hitting Greens on your second shot on Par 4’s. If you’re not swinging your irons well – you’re not hitting Greens from anywhere on the golf course. If you don’t hit your Driver far enough – well … nobody hits many Greens when they’re always hitting hybrids and fairway woods to the green. So the number of Greens in Regulation you hit basically tells you where you stand as far as your ball striking skills. Or another way of saying it - it tells you how good (or not good) your golf swing is. And tournament after tournament – Vijay is near the top, along with Tiger as far as Greens in Regulation. However, Vijay had 122 putts for the four rounds at Augusta National. While Cabrera only had 112. Which, almost coincidentally aligns with the fact that Vijay ended up 11 strokes behind Cabrera. And although this doesn’t perfectly align with the margin of victory by Cabrera over Vijay – it’s pretty darn close and it does show that even though you might have one of the best golf swings in the world – the best golf swing doesn’t guarantee the best score. As a side note – Tiger also hit 2 more Greens than Cabrera, but he also had 122 putts – the same as Vijay. Now this isn’t to say that putting is more important than ball striking. Maybe it is and maybe it isn’t. It all depends on what your Strengths and Weaknesses are. If you have a very good golf swing like Vijay – putting is more important at this point. If you had only 109 putts like Sandy Lyle (2 under par for the tournament and 1 stroke ahead of Vijay) – your golf swing is more important at this point. The funny thing is that if Vijay and Sandy Lyle had a child – that kid would be sporting a Green Jacket. So how do you know which is your Strength and which is your Weakness? I ask this even though I know that 7 out of every 8 Golfers believe that their wedges and putting is their Strength. And with me going back to the statement that I don’t mind debate and controversy – Trust me – for most of you – your wedges and putting aren’t even close to being a Strength of your golf game. And as I know – most of you are probably saying something like – “That Solomon, he’s an idiot – he has no idea how good a putter I am. And how bad my Driver is.” I say to these Golfers – then prove it by doing the test below. Prove it by finding your ‘Putts Per Missed Green In Regulation Stat’. Meaning most Golfers hit between 0 and 6 Greens in Regulation per 18 holes. So even though it would be great to see you raise your Greens in Regulation to 10 or 12 – which is comparable to a PGA Tour Player – you’re not a PGA Tour Player and you don’t have their skills. So it would be more beneficial for you to focus on Reality. Reality says that you’re going to miss more Greens than you’re going to hit – so don’t fight Reality. Turn Reality into a Strength. Here’s how: For every Green you miss – keep count of how many putts it takes you to get the ball into the hole. For example: You’re on a Par 4. Your second or third shot stops 15 yards from the green. You hit your next shot onto the green and 2 putt. That would mean that your ‘Putts Per Missed Green’ (PPMG) stat is 2. If on the next hole, a Par 3, your tee shot lands 5 yards from the green. Then you hit your next shot on the green and 3 putt – your ‘PPMG’ is now 5 (for the 2 holes) or 2.5 per hole. Which isn’t very good. How should you follow this stat? Every time you play. How do you know if you’re doing well? Let me put it this way – averaging 2 PPMG is not good. If you want to score better – you need to be below 2 PPMG. If you’re above 2 PPMG – you need to spend more time on your wedges and putting. Because as much as you work on your Driver and your irons – 7 out of 8 Golfer won’t hit more than 6 Greens in Regulation. And even if you hit 6 Greens – you still have missed 12 Greens. And I’ll tell you something else that you might not have ever thought of – The Golfer that hits 0 Greens in a round of 18 holes, yet averages 1.5 PPMG will have a lower score than a Golfer that hits 6 Greens in Regulation, yet has an average of 2.5 PPMG. And that includes if you1 putted each Green you hit and had 6 Birdies! Here’s an example of the above scenario for the mathematically challenged – 1.5 PPMG: 1 wedge shot per hole + 1.5 Putts per hole multiplied by 18 holes = 45 strokes. 2.5 PPMG: 1 wedge shot per hole + 2.5 Putts per hole multiplied by 12 holes = 42 strokes + 6 putts (the 6 Birdie putts) = 48 strokes. The 1.5 PPMG Golfer would still beat you by 3 strokes. And that’s if you 1 putted each Green in Regulation (no 2 putts or 3 putts on the greens you hit). And to further show how powerful this statement is - when’s the last time you had 6 Greens in Regulation and one putted each one for 6 Birdies? Now – don’t take your PPMG lightly. And don’t think of it as being a 100% putting stat. Because a big percentage of your PPMG is based on how skilled you are with your wedges around the green. Obviously – the more skilled you are with your wedges – the closer your first putting attempt will be from the hole. Also – don’t start to think that your PPMG is 100% based on your putting and wedges. A lot of this stat has to do with your PLAN. Meaning – when you were hitting your approach shot to the green – were you cognizant on where you shouldn’t miss the green. Did you fail to PLAN a ‘what if’ – meaning what if you did mis-hit the golf ball – would it leave you with a tough wedge shot that would be difficult to get close to the hole? Track your PPMG and see if your average is 2 putts or above. Then if so, figure out why. Was it your putting? Was it your wedges around the green? Was it your PLAN that left you in tough positions around the green? Was it a combination of all three? My prediction is that it's a combination. Nobody except GMS is talking about how much better Vijay hit the golf ball than Cabrera. Why? Because Cabrera outplayed Vijay. Would you rather be a one dimensional Player like Vijay was in this past Masters or a multi dimensional Player like the 2009 Masters Champ from Argentina? You want to score better? Find your PPMG. You want to keep scoring how you’ve been scoring? Keep doing what you’ve been doing. It’s your choice. The Monkey is still spending hours at the driving range fiddling with their golf swing and hitting golf balls even though their PPMG is over 2 The Player is tracking their PPMG, finding why it’s so high and then working to improve it Go ahead, be a Player! Marc Solomon - Your Instructor For Life http://www.GolfMadeSimple.com ^ Back To Top GMS Bonus Material For Anyone Considering Video Analysis - We have added our report on: "Using Video Analysis To Improve Your Golf Swing" to the Golf Made Simple website for you to download and view. Just click here to be taken to the download page on the http://www.GolfMadeSimple.com website. It's easy, it's free and it's a pretty extensive report on our findings. Indoor Putting Drill - If you'd like for us to email you a special Indoor Version of an excellent GMS Putting Drill that you could spend hours on - email us at IndoorPuttingDrill@GolfMadeSimple.com and put GIW in the subject line. Tour Putting Square - Use the Tour Putting Square inside your home to improve your scores. Just send us an email at TourPuttingSquare@GolfMadeSimple.com with the subject: Tour Putting Square – and we'll email you how to use this game changing drill. Swing Drills & Core Training - To view a segment that covers 2 swing drills you can practice inside, email us at: PushUp@GolfMadeSimple.com with the words 'Golf Improvement Weekly' in the subject line to receive a link and password to access the video segment from our DVD - 'How To Improve Your Golf Swing Indoors' Contact us: 1-888-580-3635 (US & Canada) 001-904-460-8355 (International) IWantToBe@GolfMadeSimple.com

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

If there’s one place on the golf course that I have seen more people consistently struggle than anywhere else – it has to be the sand bunker. At GMS we have defined 4 Levels of Sand Bunker Players. And have found that once a Golfer knows their Level, understands why they’re at that Level and then starts implementing strategies to get to the next Level – they start to become more consistent out of the sand.

Though, before we get into to those Levels, you often see 3 types of Golfers in the sand – a Golfer that gets it out without any problem; a Golfer that can get it out sometimes, but struggle other times; and then you have the Golfer that would rather use the infamous “Hand Wedge” to get it out because they can’t do it with their sand wedge.

So if you’re the Golfer that has no problem getting the golf ball out of the sand (without using your “Hand Wedge”), you might find the following paragraphs ‘useless’. Though, when you think about it – just because you get it out every time, doesn’t mean you get it out “good” every time. That’s why we came up with the 4 Levels of Bunker Players.

Level 1 – “I hate the sand. I can hardly ever get out”

Level 2 – “I can get it out once-in-a-while, though sometimes when it goes out – it goes way over the green.”

Level 3 – “I have no problem getting the golf ball out of the sand and getting it on the green (I do that 10 out of 10 times), I want to get it close enough to make the putt.”

Level 4 – “I have the ability to try to hole just about every bunker shot.”

Where the problem lies with most Golfers is that in reality – most Golfers are in Level 1, with Level 2 running a distant second. Once you get to Level 3 – you’re starting to talk about a group that's pretty much exclusive to PGA and LPGA Tour Players, along with zero handicaps. We haven’t seen many 18 handicaps (or 5 handicaps for that matter) that are Level 3 Bunker Players.

However, there are many golf techniques that many Golfers have heard and/or tried that could be making the sand tougher for you than it needs to be.

And Lord knows that there are as many different techniques employed in swinging a golf club to hit the golf ball out of the sand as their different flavors of Frappuccino’s at Starbucks. So to say that there’s only one way to swing the golf club to get the golf ball out of the sand would be ludicrous and/or an unintelligent thing to say.

Trust me when I say that I can relate to many Golfers that struggle out of the sand. Years ago I used to struggle out of the sand like you wouldn’t believe. I could hit greens pretty well, yet if I missed a green and landed in a green-side bunker – whoever I was playing against would instantly see dollar signs. I could hit 14 greens in a round, hitting 3 of those missed greens into the sand bunker and score much higher than you would think someone hitting 14 greens should score.

I’d leave my first shot in the bunker, second shot would fly over the green into the other bunker, two to get out of there and then because I was so flustered – three putt. And end up taking a 9 on a Par 4 – sometimes, two or three times a round. So if you struggle out of the bunker – trust me – I know your pain!

However, after much practice and experimentation – I was able to figure some things out. And some of what I figured out was that many of the golf techniques I was taught and read about - actually made it more difficult to get out of the sand than it needed to be.

First – One of the worst things that you can try to do is to intentionally try to hit or blast the sand. Yes, you do need to hit the sand before you hit the golf ball. Though, it was beaten into my thick head - that you need to hit the sand. “Hit the sand.” “Make sure you hit the sand.” “Feel like you’re throwing the sand onto the green.” “Make The Sand Explode.” “Blah, blah, blah, blah.”

Again, yes, you do need to have your club hit the sand – but the tip of "you need to hit the sand” and the way it’s often described has caused many Golfers to end up digging too deep. Which would cause you to hit a shot that doesn’t get out of the sand and that will possibly roll back to your feet. Which means that your next shot is going to be a line drive over the green. So the question you might have is – “well, then how much sand should I hit?”

That’s a great question.

In the GMS Survey we send to all Golfers that come to see us – it’s almost unanimous amongst our Golfers as far as if they improved and simplified their sand shots. Why is that? What do we do that makes it so much simpler?

Instead of thinking of all the Sand Shot Junk that has been pumped up to become the “How To Get Out Of The Sand Gospel” – we just have you make a golf swing like any other golf swing. Though, you do need to move your ball position slightly. But the good news is that there’s no opening up your clubface. There’s no having to open up your stance. There’s none of that swinging outside the line on your back swing mumbo jumbo. There's none of that or any of the other stuff that's often involved with making getting out of the sand more difficult than it needs to be.

All you need to do is make your golf swing – the golf swing that you would make on any iron shot. But, because you’re moving the golf ball more forward in your stance (as opposed to when it’s on the grass), you’ll end up automatically hitting the sand first – and allowing the sand to knock the ball out. As opposed to deliberately trying to hit the sand or blast it out or blah, blah, blah, blah.

Just make sure you move your body like you would on any other golf shot. Don’t be the Golfer that’s just all arms and doesn’t move their body. Why do these Golfers become all arms? Because they’re told to hit the sand. So what do they do? They lift the club up with their arms and then throw their arms down towards the sand because they want to hit it. And boy, they do hit the sand. Which has an influence on how you swing on your next shot. Because you don’t want to take too much sand on this next shot – you compensate somewhere in your golf swing (to avoid hitting too much sand) and hit the golf ball first.

“Fore, over the green!”

Trust me – in 1994 I was the worst Sand Bunker Player on the Planet. So I know how many of you feel about the sand. I hated the sand. Yet, now it’s not a big deal. It’s just like hitting an iron from the grass just off the green.

Regards,

Marc Solomon - Your Instructor For Life
www.GolfMadeSimple.com

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GMS Bonus Material

For Anyone Considering Video Analysis - We have added our report on: "Using Video Analysis To Improve Your Golf Swing" to the Golf Made Simple website for you to download and view.

Just click here to be taken to the download page on the www.GolfMadeSimple.com website. It's easy, it's free and it's a pretty extensive report on our findings.

Indoor Putting Drill - If you'd like for us to email you a special Indoor Version of an excellent GMS Putting Drill that you could spend hours on this Winter - email us at IndoorPuttingDrill@GolfMadeSimple.com and put 'GMS Blog' in the subject line.

Tour Putting Square - Use the Tour Putting Square inside your home to improve your scores. Just send us an email at TourPuttingSquare@GolfMadeSimple.com with the subject: 'GMS Blog' – and we'll email you how to use this game changing drill.

Swing Drills & Core Training - To view a segment that covers 2 swing drills you can practice inside, email us at: PushUp@GolfMadeSimple.com with the words 'GMS Blog' in the subject line to receive a link and password to access the video segment from our DVD - How To Improve Your Golf Swing Indoors.

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

Last week we finished Part 1 by saying that we'll continue with the Mantra of the Golf Instructor - "when all else fails - teach Compensation #8". Which unfortunately is something you’re most likely trying to do on every golf swing. If you missed Part 1 and would like to catch-up and see how we got to Compensation #8 - click here.

The Mantra of the Golf Instructor? When all else fails, tell the Golfer they need to swing more from the the inside out (Compensation #8). Or in other words for anybody that has never heard that phrase before - it's the feeling of swinging to the right. This maybe the most abused Golf Tip ever created - and if you've ever had a typical golf lesson - I'd bet every dollar in my pocket that you have been told to do Compensation #8 at least once.

Though, what often follows after learning and then spending hours upon hours practicing to swing more from the inside – is that you start to push the golf ball out to the right even more. Then, because you're hitting the golf ball too far to the right - you’re now told that you need to start turning over your wrists and/or forearms at impact so that you can close the clubface to make the golf ball go straighter (Compensation #9).

Yet, because of Compensation #9 - you start to develop an annoying pull/snap hook every once in a while. So you’re told that your wrists are flipping through and that you need to start holding the angle of the club by setting your wrists at the top of your swing and holding them through impact (lag the club by holding your wrists); which turns out to be Compensation #10.

Which now officially means you've turned into that cartoon of the Golfer trying to hit the golf ball with way too many thoughts in their head. Meaning - you now might be going through your Checklist of things you need to do on every golf swing before and during every golf swing - starting from Compensation #1 and running through Compensation #10.

And then because you start losing power because you’re holding your wrists for too long – you’re told that you need to snap your wrists at impact at just the right time (Compensation #11).

However, what’s scary is that all these compensations have become bad habits in your golf swing, regardless of whether you’re thinking about them or not on every golf swing. And what becomes even more frightening is that the next time you play – you’ll consciously and/or subconsciously end up adding more compensations to those compensations because you’re on a quest to find a way to hit the golf ball better.

And pretty soon, you have a golf swing that’s built on one compensation compensating for another compensation that’s compensating for another compensation that’s …. well, I’ll spare you the repetition.

Now, where did your Compensation Overload begin?

Your very first compensation probably started the second time you swung a golf club. Why the second time? Well, after you swung at the golf ball the very first time – you watched the result of your shot – then based on how close you were able to produce a perfect shot– you came up (consciously or unconsciously) with a compensation that you felt would bring you closer to that shot.

Now, we can go on and on and on – because the majority of Golfers reading this have more compensation in their golf swing then listed above. Some might have the exact compensations listed above – others may have other compensations that weren’t listed. Though, everyone does have compensations - from Tiger Woods all the way down the line.

The key to remember is – Compensations Equal Inconsistency

Meaning the less compensation you have in your golf swing – the better and more consistent you are. For example: Tiger Woods has less compensation in his swing versus the Golfer that’s ranked #125. A 3 handicap probably has less compensations than a 10 handicap; and a 10 probably has less than a 20 handicap; and so on.

However, whenever all your compensations align, regardless of your skill level – you hit a great shot. And even for the higher handicaps - it is possible for those compensations to align for a few swings or more. For example: a 25 handicap may have those compensations align for their drive and their second shot on a Par 4 and have a 3 foot putt for birdie. And then on the next hole; hit the biggest, ugliest slice you ever saw and make triple bogey.

On the other hand – the 10 handicap doesn’t have as many compensations to align on every swing; so of course those compensations will align much more frequently and allow for those 2 great shots that set-up a Birdie to happen more often. Additionally, because they don’t have to align as many compensations on their next drive, instead of hitting a huge slice; they may hit a power fade that stays in play and allows them the opportunity to make Par or better.

The more compensations in your golf swing – the harder it is to become consistent. The less compensations in your golf swing – the easier it is to become more consistent.

So what’s the simple answer in the question of how to improve your golf swing? Eliminate compensations.

How do you do that? First you find the Strengths of your golf swing. Then you find the Weaknesses. And it’s amazing how simple it is to get rid of these Weaknesses when you use a Results Based Approach. As opposed to the Theories and Assumptions Approach that so many frustrated Golfers use that is similar to what we have described this week and last week of just piling compensations on top of compensations in order to fix simple faults.

Eliminate your compensations and you’ll be amazed at how consistent you can become. The question many ask is: How is it possible for GMS to have all those Testimonials on our Website and display 2 Testimonials in each GIW? Because these Golfers have started the process of eliminating compensations from their golf swing. Now, you’re never going to eliminate every compensation – but the sooner you start reducing your compensations one at a time – the sooner you’ll have a Testimonial on the GMS website about how well you’re playing.

As opposed to the traditional approach that most Golfers use of trying to fix swing faults by adding compensations. And we have found that that’s why some Golfers never improve and GMS Golfers are constantly improving!

The Monkey tries to fix a bad habit by adding compensation

The Player is more focused on finding the cause of the bad shot and then eliminating the compensations that were created because of that cause

Regards,


Marc Solomon - Your Instructor For Life


www.GolfMadeSimple.com

^ Back To Top

GMS Bonus Material

For Anyone Considering Video Analysis - We have added our report on: "Using Video Analysis To Improve Your Golf Swing" to the Golf Made Simple website for you to download and view.

Just click here to be taken to the download page on the www.GolfMadeSimple.com website. It's easy, it's free and it's a pretty extensive report on our findings.

Indoor Putting Drill - If you'd like for us to email you a special Indoor Version of an excellent GMS Putting Drill that you could spend hours on this Winter - email us at IndoorPuttingDrill@GolfMadeSimple.com and put the word 'Blog' in the subject line.

Tour Putting Square - Use the Tour Putting Square inside your home to improve your scores. Just send us an email at TourPuttingSquare@GolfMadeSimple.com with the subject: 'GMS Tour Putting Square' and we'll email you how to use this game changing drill.


Swing Drills & Core Training - To view a segment that covers 2 swing drills you can practice inside, email us at: PushUp@GolfMadeSimple.com with the word 'Blog' in the subject line to receive a link and password to access the video segment from our DVD - How To Improve Your Golf Swing Indoors.

Labels: g, Golf DVD, Golf Instruction, golf instructor, Golf Lessons, Golf Schools, Golf Swing, Golf Travel, golf vacation, top golf school

Every Golfer that has ever swung a golf club has at least one compensation in their golf swing. Though, to be more blunt and honest - most Golfers have a lot more than just one compensation – they have what we call Compensation Overload.

What’s Compensation Overload? It’s the act of having multiple compensations in your golf swing that you use to correct previous compensations. In other words, you developed a compensation that would sometimes eliminate a bad habit, but occasionally you’d overdo that compensation. So you had a choice – get rid of that compensation and go back to hitting bad shots or keep that compensation, but find another compensation that would help you to use that first compensation more effectively.

Don’t be embarrassed if you have to read that paragraph again – I had to reread it about 16 times to understand it myself!

Sometimes that second compensation will work, however many times it won’t. So once you find that compensation isn’t working as well as you had hoped – it’s off to the driving range to find another compensation that will allow that compensation to work more consistently.

Now, where this becomes frustrating is when that compensation that’s helping the other compensation works for a few holes – but then, without warning that compensation abandons you just as fast as it appeared. So now you’ll have to find another compensation that will allow this compensation to compensate for your first compensation.

To give you a clearer picture of how this might relate to you and to see if you’ve been through a similar experience, read below:

The very first time you tried to hit an iron off the ground - you most likely hit behind the golf ball, missed the golf ball or topped the golf ball. Let’s just say you missed the ball. So after missing, you probably thought to yourself or were told by someone else to “keep your head down” (Compensation #1).

Now trying to keep your head down is the ‘Mantra of the Monkey’. Yet, shockingly to many - it’s just about the worst thought a Golfer can have in their head when going to hit a golf ball. Yet, the Monkey is constantly using it as an excuse for a bad shot. So on your next swing, because you’re trying to keep your head down, you’re not able to move your body athletically – so you become armsy (Compensation #2). Which will most likely cause you to hit straight into the ground behind the golf ball creating a crater big enough to bury a small animal.

Which influences you to think or be told by someone else that you need to use your legs to shift your weight (Compensation #3). So on your next shot; you try to keep your head down while shifting your weight. However, this thought will most likely cause you to shift too much weight onto your back foot on the backswing, yet you won’t move it forward to your front foot because you’re trying to keep your head down (or still). This most likely would cause you to hit behind the golf ball again - yet, maybe not as drastically as on your previous effort.

"You know what you're not doing? You're not turning your hips. You need to turn your hips" – Compensation #4. So on your next shot, you try to keep your head down, shift your weight on the way back and then turn your hips on the way through. Causing you to move into a position that would make a Chiropractor smile. However, you're still keeping your head from moving and you still have too much weight on your back foot - though having your hips turn through helps a little because at least it allows you to end up catching the golf ball on the way up – hitting a topped shot that rolls across the ground.

Which is better than hitting behind the golf ball and having it go nowhere. So you continue to use those compensations, but after a few shots that are just rolling and not getting into the air – you need to figure out what you need to do next.

You then think or are told by someone else that you need to try to get underneath the golf ball (Compensation #5) so that you won’t top it anymore. Now, because you don't know any better and don't understand that it’s almost impossible to get your club underneath the golf ball to help it up in the air – you try it. And even though it's not perfect - you do come close. The ball does start to go up in the air a little, albeit on a line drive. But, at least it’s starting to go up.

Which prompts some Monkey to tell you that “you need to hit down on the golf ball” – Compensation #6.

Yet, because your weight is still too much on your back foot as you’re swinging down and because your hips are turning through with your weight on your back foot and you’re still trying to get underneath the golf ball at the same time that you’re trying to hit down on it – you develop the 'Compensation that launched a million training aides' - Compensation #7: Coming over the top. Or as it is often referred to as an outside to in swing or casting or whatever you want to call it. This 'flaw' was developed because this Compensation will at least allow you to hit the golf ball first before hitting the ground.

And the beauty of this compensation is that it allows you to keep your head down, shift your weight, turn your hips, as well as it allowing you to try to get underneath the golf ball as you try to hit down on it. This infamous compensation (Compensation #7) allows you to do all these wonderful compensations as you start getting the golf ball into the air.

So because you're finally happy that the golf ball is getting up - you start to groove this swing because you like the results that you’re seeing a lot better than your prior results.

However, (and this is a big 'however') although you’re starting to hit the golf ball more solid and starting to get the golf ball into the air with a greater frequency – the golf ball isn’t always going in the direction you were hoping it would go. So you’re told that you need to swing ....

Since Compensations are such a huge aspect of your golf swing and are unfortunately masqueraded as common golf tips that you're taught – we have decided that this needs to be a 2-part Golf Tips Are For Monkeys article. Because many of the golf techniques you're taught as being the "Basics" are really just band-aids to cover other band-aids that you have applied previously. Or in-other-words: Your Golf Swing Was Built Using Compensations.

And Compensations Equal Inconsistency - the more compensations you have in your golf swing, the more inconsistent you'll be when hitting the golf ball. The faster you eliminate compensations from your golf swing - the sooner you'll become more consistent.

So we’ll continue with Compensations next week by talking about the Mantra of the Golf Instructor - "when all else fails - teach Compensation #8". Which unfortunately is something you’re most likely trying to do on every golf swing.

Go ahead, be a Player (and get rid of your Compensations!)

Regards,

Marc Solomon - Your Instructor For Life
www.GolfMadeSimple.com

New Bonus Material For Anyone Considering Video Analysis - We have added our report on: "Using Video Analysis To Improve Your Golf Swing" to the Golf Made Simple website for you to download and view.

Just click here to be taken to the download page on the website. It's easy, it's free and it's a pretty extensive report on our findings.


Past Indoor Practice Drills

If you'd like for us to email you a special Indoor Version of an excellent GMS Putting Drill that you could spend hours on this Winter - email us at IndoorPuttingDrill@GolfMadeSimple.com and put World Golf in the subject line.

To view a segment that covers 2 swing drills you can practice inside, email us at: PushUp@GolfMadeSimple.com with the words 'World Golf' in the subject line to receive a link and password to access the video segment from our DVD - How To Improve Your Golf Swing Indoors.

Labels: Arizona, California, Florida, Golf, Golf DVD, Golf Instruction, Golf Lessons, Golf Swing, Golf Travel, golf vacation, Golf Video, Marc Solomon, Tiger Woods, top golf school, Video Analysis

How may Golf Instructors does it take to screw in a light bulb? If it’s the same amount that it took for me to get my golf swing consistent enough to think about becoming a PGA Professional – it’s a lot more than 1 and little less than 100.

In order to screw in the light bulb - one Instructor will tell you that first you need to position the ladder, then climb up to see what type of light bulb is already being used, then climb back down to get the replacement bulb, then climb back-up to take out the old bulb and put the new one in.

The second Instructor will have you position the ladder and carry up the new light bulb with you before you take out the old bulb – but before you do start to climb up another Instructor will stop you and tell you you’re doing it all wrong because you can’t bring up a new bulb before taking out the old bulb – “you might drop the new one while unscrewing the old bulb. And you DON’T want to drop a light bulb onto the kitchen floor!”

Now the next Instructor will tell you that you can’t replace the bulb yet, you need to go to the store because that incandescent bulb you’re going to put in is not very energy efficient – “you need to use a fluorescent bulb – it’ll save you money over the long haul. So stay in the dark a little longer until you can use the latest in technology."

And the next Instructor tells you that you shouldn’t evenhave a light fixture there. You need to move that light away from the center of the room. You should have it a little more near the corner of the kitchen where the table is. But that would require you to get an electrician to come in and rewire the kitchen – you tell the Instructor: ok that sounds great, but my light bulb is out today and I’d like to have light in the kitchen tonight so we could eat dinner and it might be days before you can get an electrician in to rewire.

Which prompts the Instructor to say – “Yeah, but don’t you want to do it the right way? Just switching the light bulb isn’t going to help – you’re wasting your time. What’s a little darkness for a week or so if you can have better light down the road?” (Kind of like the – ‘You have to get worse before you get better theory’).

While the next Instructor tells that you as you’re unscrewing the bulb that you need to use less wrist. “Bend your elbow at 90 degrees and turn your forearm like you’re using a screwdriver. I’ve never seen a successful light bulb changer use their wrist when changing a bulb!”

Light bulb changing of course isn’t the only activity on earth that people have varying opinions on how to accomplish simple tasks – yet at the same time having a perverse fascination of making it much more complicated than it needs to be so that they can appear intelligent in front of others.

I recently witnessed a poor lady at the driving range that was there to hit golf balls. I was forced to watch in shame as she was approached by what seemed like an endless stream of Instructors – (Professionals and Joe Pro Wannabes), that offered so much advice to her about what she was doing wrong that I thought I was back in 4^th grade Art Class with my teacher Mrs. Older’ndirt. I can still remember how Older'ndirt was trying to teach me how to draw an abstract of an apple. ‘Abstract? Lady, I’m only 9 years old. I don’t care about abstract – let me draw a picture of my GI Joe action figures in hand to hand combat!'

And just as I was (and still am) completely turned off from drawings of apples – the lady at the driving range was getting more and more upset with her golf after each Instructor gave her their sage, magical, foolproof, you-have-to-do-it-this-way advice.

Here’s a question for you –

If you had to teach a newcomer to golf, what would be the most important thing they need to do to learn to hit the golf ball – what would you tell them? Which "tip" below is of the most importance and what would be the order you would place the other "tips" from most important to least important: A. grip; B. stance; C. weight shift; D. left arm straight; E. eye on the golf ball; F. keep your head still; G. ball position; H. turn your shoulders; I. turn your hips.

Did I miss something?

Ok, now that you told the Golfer one of the above is the most important and they start working on it - what will most likely be the adjustments you need to make: A. you’re holding the club too tight; B. your feet are too far apart; C. no, you can’t sway like that, feel like you’re swinging in a barrel; D. your left arm is too rigid – you can’t cock your wrist with it that straight; E. didn’t you hear me – you have to keep your eye on the ball, don’t peek till you finish your swing; F. don’t move your head on the backswing – it needs to stay over the ball or you’ll sway; G. your ball position is too far forward – it needs to be in the middle; H. your shoulders need to go 90 degrees on the backswing – you’re not turning enough; I. your hips are turning too much and causing you to reverse pivot.

And then the next Instructor this Golfer comes across will tell this person – A. you’re holding the club way too loose – you need to hold it tighter than that; B. your feet are much too close together; C. you’re not moving your weight enough – you have to shift your weight back, you can’t just turn side to side; D. you’re bending your left arm too much – you need more extension; E. your eyes are fixated on the golf ball too much – let your head move with your weight; G. your ball position is too far back in your stance – you need to move it forward closer to your left foot; H. you’re over-rotating your shoulders on the backswing – use more of your arms to swing the club back; I. your hips need to move – you’re not moving them at all, they need to turn 45 degrees in your backswing.

If you read the instructions on the light bulb box on how to change a light bulb – you’d know enough to effectively change the bulb. And if you followed those same instructions when the next light bulb goes out – you’ll improve your light bulb changing skills with this bulb over your performance with the first bulb. And then if you followed the instructions with the next bulb – what took you 3 minutes the first time will take you less than 30 seconds the third time.

Yet, if you got new instructions each time you changed the light bulb – by the third time it wouldn’t take you the 3 minutes it took you on the first bulb. It would probably take you a minimum of 5 minutes because you’d have to think about the new instructions you just received, in addition to the instructions you had from your 2^nd light bulb screwing Instructor and on top of that - you'd also have to worry about breaking all those ‘bad habits’ that your 1st light bulb screwing Instructor told you that you absolutely needed to stop doing.

If you don’t believe me that in the past this is exactly what has happened in Golf Instruction and is still happening today – step into the shoes of one of my Instructors for a day. Because although we do have people that have never taken a golf lesson before – we have enough people that have spent enough money on golf lessons that they could’ve funded the U.S. Economic Stimulus themselves.

How good are our Instructors? Well, watch them work with Golfers that have 52 thoughts going on in their mind every shot because they’ve read too many Monkey Digest’s or spent too much time around light bulb screwing Instructors. Watch them work and you’ll be amazed at how talented they are. Because golf might be the most frustrating thing a person can experience – and people are spending a lot of money to come see us to see improvement and get answers. Come watch them work with a Golfer that's frustrated and confused and you’ll see why they're the best in the world (bar none) at helping Golfers brighten their light bulbs more efficiently and brighter than they have ever seen them before.

The Monkey never has the light come on because they're always changing light bulb screwing Instructors

The Player keeps their light bulb the brightest by staying consistent with what they're working on with their golf swing

Go ahead, be a Player!

Regards,

Marc Solomon - Your Instructor For Life
http://golfmadesimple.com/instructor-4life.html

New Bonus Material For Anyone Considering Video Analysis - We have added our report on: "Using Video Analysis To Improve Your Golf Swing" to the Golf Made Simple website for you to download and view.

Just click here to be taken to the download page on the http://www.golfmadesimple.com/ website. It's easy, it's free and it's a pretty extensive report on our findings.

Past Indoor Practice Drills

If you'd like for us to email you a special Indoor Version of an excellent GMS Putting Drill that you could spend hours on this Winter - email us at IndoorPuttingDrill@GolfMadeSimple.com and put GIW in the subject line.

To view a segment that covers 2 swing drills you can practice inside, email us at: PushUp@GolfMadeSimple.com with the words 'Golf Improvement Weekly' in the subject line to receive a link and password to access the video segment from our DVD - How To Improve Your Golf Swing Indoors.

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This Week’s Poll - Avoiding Errant Golf Shots From The Fairway

Which club causes more penalty shots from the fairway; i.e. errant shots into the water, trees and any place considered to be a Danger Zone?

A) The 5 iron

B) The 3 wood

C) 4 hybrid

D) Sand Wedge

Results of this week's poll will appear in next week's Golf Improvement Weekly.

Labels: driving range, g, Golf, Golf DVD, Golf Instruction, golf instructor, Golf Lessons, Golf practice, Golf Schools, Golf Swing, Golf Travel, golf vacation, Golf Video, Tiger Woods, top golf school

Why do some Golfers improve while others are stagnant for years? How is it possible that one Golfer that has been playing for 15 years has been a 21 handicap for 13 of those years and another Golfer that has been playing for 3 ½ years is already down to an 11 handicap. And the kicker is that they practiced just as much, they're both in good shape, they both want to improve just as much as the other and they both have bought new equipment in the last couple of years.

Why such a difference?

I had some detective work to do to find out why these 2-Golfers are going in opposite directions. Do you know anyone going in the wrong direction with their golf game? And worse than that, not knowing how to stop from going in the opposite direction. So I went out on the golf course with one Golfer at a time to watch them play 1 hole. And what I found was incredibly interesting. They had totally opposite styles of playing.

This is what happened -

I first went out with the 21 handicap to watch him play and before each shot I would ask him some questions about his strategy. On the 1st hole, a 379-yard Par 4 that is pretty straight with a bunker on the left side at about 245 yards and out-of-bounds running all the way down the right side - I asked him - What are you going to do here?

He said "Marc, I'm going to hit my Driver." So I said where are you aiming? He said "Well down the middle, where else would I aim? That's where I want the ball to go." I said "Cool, let's see a good drive." So the 21 handicap got up, aimed down the middle and hit a big slice to the right that went about 190-yards and almost went out-of-bounds. So he said "Dang it, I hate this Driver, all I ever do is slice it."

We get to his golf ball and he had an OK lie about 189-slightly-uphill-yards to the hole with a sand bunker that protects the right-side of the green and a small opening on the left side of the green if he wanted to bounce the ball onto the green. The 21-handicap looks at the pin position chart in the golf cart and says "It's pin position 3 today, so that means the flag is back right. I'm going to use my 3-iron." Where are you aiming? "At the green." Where on the green? "Well that's a sucker pin placement so I'll just aim for the middle of the green."

He hits a really good 3-iron that goes pretty much where he aimed, but it comes up about 5-feet short of the green and lands in the sand bunker. We get up to the golf ball, he takes out his sand wedge, aims for the flag and hits it - the ball, not the flag - and the ball goes screaming over the green. "These sand traps are so inconsistent. I hate them!" He then takes his 8-iron, 9-iron, pitching wedge and putter out of his bag and walks over to his golf ball on the other side of the green. After about 15-seconds of debate with himself over which club to use, he selects his 9-iron and hits a pretty good shot that ends up about 9-feet away from the hole. He then leaves his first putt about 1-foot short and looks at me as he picks up his ball and says "Is that putt good? I always double bogey this hole. It must be muscle memory."

Just from watching that hole I could tell why he was a 21 handicap, but I could also see how he could cut at least 6-strokes off his game instantly. He hit a pretty solid drive, he hit a really good 3-iron towards the green and he hit a pretty good shot from off the green - but he ended up with a double bogey - hmmm. The worst part of this situation is that he pretty much wasted 3 good golf swings on making a double bogey. So now as I pondered his situation, I wanted to see the 11-handicap play to compare their two styles of play - so I met him on the 1st tee.

The 11 handicap and I are standing on the 1st tee. He takes out his Driver and stares down toward the green in deep thought. I ask him what's he going to do? He says "Marc, I'm going to hit Driver down the left-side because of three reasons. One is that there's out-of-bounds down the right and I've been fading the ball a little lately and I don't want to be standing over my tee shot worrying that I might hit one to the right. Two - that sand bunker on my left is basically ornamental. Meaning that even if I aimed at it, I can't get there unless I hit my best shot ever and even if I do end up in the sand - I rather be there after making the perfect shot rather than aiming down the middle and putting pressure on myself to make the perfect shot so I don't flirt with the out-of-bounds on the right."

"I see so many Golfers aiming down the middle that have a tendency to slice the ball, and then get so mad when they do hit one out-of-bounds. Almost as if they think that magically their slice is going to disappear on that tee shot."

"Also by aiming down the left side, if I do hit a good tee shot, it leaves me a great angle towards the opening on the left side of the green." So the worst thing that could basically happen to you on this tee shot is that you'll hit a great Drive and end up in the fairway bunker? "Yea, you can say it like that. And if I do hit that bunker - I'll only have 134-yards with a great angle to the green. Some people look at fairway bunkers and are scared to hit into them. Well, they aren't my favorite place to hit out of, but I'd rather be in a fairway bunker as opposed to hitting out of the trees or worse yet, taking penalty strokes for hitting into the water, lost balls or going out-of-bounds. Since I've started this style of playing, I've cut down the number of lost balls during my round. When I used to aim down the middle in the past, I would lose 3 to 4 balls per round. Now, I might lose 1 if I hit a terrible shot."

"And even if I make what I would describe as a bad shot, I'm still keeping the golf ball in play!"

So the 11 handicap gets behind his golf ball and again surveys the hole. He walks up to the golf ball, aims down the left side and swings. He hits it pretty well, not great, but with a good slice on the ball. The ball lands just right of the center of the fairway and rolls off into the right rough. "Well, I had a feeling that might happen. I'm glad I aimed left." Isn't that kind of negative to think that you might slice the ball like that? "Some people might call that negative thinking on my part - but after practicing yesterday and warming up this morning - I call it reality! That's my ball flight right now and it will be until I can get a chance to work it out on the practice range after the round. But, I'm on the golf course now and this is the worst place to try and work it out. So instead of "Fiddling" with my golf swing today - I'm just going to dance with what I got."

We get up to his golf ball and he has about 196-uphill-yards to the hole. He surveys the situation and takes out his 6-iron. I look at him and ask - Can you hit your 6-iron that far? 196-yards? That's a big 6-iron. "I wish! There's no way I could hit it that far unless I hit a sprinkler head. I hit my 6-iron on average between 155 to 165 yards, depending on how good I hit it. I'm going to again aim down the left side to give myself a good angle to the flag for my 3rd shot. There's no reason to take out a 3-iron or fairway wood to go after that flag. If I did, I'd be lucky if I ended up on that green 2 out of 10 times. And some Golfers are satisfied with those 2 miracle shots. I'm more worried about where the other 8-shots end up and then struggling from there and making double bogey or worse!"

I've seen that happen. Have you?

So he goes behind his ball - takes a rehearsal swing - walks up to his ball - looks down the left side - looks at the ball and swings. He hits an OK shot that doesn't go very high, but goes straight towards his target down the left side and ends up 41-yards short of the green. I say - You still have 40-yards to go on your third shot. He replies "Well yes, but look at the angle I have. There are no obstacles in front of me, I've taken that bunker in front of the green completely out of play - It's now an Ornamental Bunker and I should easily be on the green on my next shot. If I can get that shot close enough, maybe I can sink a putt for par or at worst, I'll 2-putt for bogey. And after the tee shot I just hit and this second shot that I completely missed, I won't be too upset with bogey."

But don't you want to try to make Pars? "Well yes, I'd love to make more Pars - but what I've found out in my short time of playing golf is that kind of thinking is the downfall of many Golfers that can never break 100 or even 90. They're always trying to make Pars when you sometimes should accept bogey. It's like the old Kenny Rogers song the Gambler - 'You gotta know when to hold em and when to fold em, when to walk away and when to run' - The average Golfer that struggles is always playing for the Royal Flush and when they don't get it, they end up with a double or triple bogey that kills their score. I know that even if I'm not hitting the golf ball great on a given day, that if I play smart, I can limit my worst score to bogey and I'm going to have a good round of golf without hitting the golf ball well that day. Most Golfers just keep raising their bets and are continually going bust!"

So he finds his yardage of 41-yards and takes out his sand wedge - stands behind the golf ball and makes his PLAN. "I'm going to hit a medium high shot that's going to land about 5-steps onto the green and let it roll to the hole." He gets up next to the golf ball, looks at the target and rehearses his swing. After 2-swings while looking at his target, he says "That's it, that feels good." He swings, hits a pretty good shot that lands about 2-steps onto the green and starts to roll towards the hole. It ends up about 9-feet short of the hole. He looks at me and says "Just missed my spot by about 3-steps, but I'm on the green and even though I have yet to hit a shot exactly like I've wanted to, I still have a 9-footer for Par."

He walks to his ball. Then he walks past the hole and then back to his ball. I say - What were you doing, looking at the putt from both sides? He says "Yea, but I was mostly feeling the putt." He goes behind his ball, lines it up, sets his putter behind the golf ball, looks a little past the hole, looks at the ball and strokes it. The ball just skirts the right edge and goes 1-foot past the hole. "I thought I had it." He goes up to the golf ball and casually knocks in his 1-foot putt for bogey. "Oh well. Almost had Par, but at least it was a Bogey. It could've been a lot worse the way I hit the golf ball on that hole!"

So the 21-handicap makes a double bogey hitting some pretty solid shots and the 11-handicap makes bogey without hitting one solid shot. And the funny thing is this is just one hole of 18. I'm sure this scenario is repeated often throughout the round. What do you think? Was there a difference between how they both approached this hole? Don't you think that if they approached each hole like this that there would be a continual difference in their scores? Which Golfer does your game most resemble?

If you see a similarity between the 21-handicap's strategy and your strategy on the golf course - you may want to think about establishing a new PLAN before your next round of golf.

The Monkey blames their golf swing for their bad scores

The Player knows that two Golfers with equally as good golf swings can have different experiences on the golf course because of their PLAN (or lack of)

Go ahead, be a Player!

Regards,

Marc Solomon - Your Instructor For Life

www.GolfMadeSimple.com


New Bonus Material For Anyone Considering Video Analysis - We have added our report on: "Using Video Analysis To Improve Your Golf Swing" to the Golf Made Simple website for you to download and view.

Just click here to be taken to the download page on the www.GolfMadeSimple.com website. It's easy, it's free and it's a pretty extensive report on our findings.

Past Indoor Practice Drills

If you'd like for us to email you a special Indoor Version of an excellent GMS Putting Drill that you could spend hours on this Winter - email us at IndoorPuttingDrill@GolfMadeSimple.com and put GIW in the subject line.

To view a segment that covers 2 swing drills you can practice inside, email us at: PushUp@GolfMadeSimple.com with the words 'Golf Improvement Weekly' in the subject line to receive a link and password to access the video segment from our DVD

Labels: Golf, Golf DVD, Golf Instruction, Golf Lessons, Golf practice, Golf Schools, Golf Swing, Golf Travel, golf vacation, Golf Video, swing plane, top golf school

We recently had a Golfer come to see us that was in a state of confusion about their golf game. And it seems that some of the prior golf lessons that he had, had brought him to the point that he was close to quitting golf. This Golfer had taken lessons every year for the last 4 years (obviously not with GMS) with the hope of improving and had yet improved. “I’ve been to 4 different Instructors and have been told to hold the golf club 4 different ways. Apparently, each Instructor I went to didn’t hold the previous Instructor’s lesson in high regards.”

Doesn’t that often seem to be the case – almost every Golfer that goes to see an Instructor basically hears how their previous Instructor has told you all the wrong things. The story often goes down like this - “You’re taking the club too much inside on your backswing.” “Oh, I was doing that because my last Instructor told me I was taking it too far outside on my backswing and needed to come more inside.” “No way, I don’t know what they are talking about – you’re way too inside. I can’t believe they told you that!”

And what happens is that the Golfer that is just trying to hit the golf ball a little better gets caught up in hearing about how bad their last Instructor was. And now you’re stuck between trying to do what your last Instructor told you to do (the thing you’ve been practicing your butt off doing for the last 6 months) vs. doing something that this new Instructor insists you need to do (which in fact sounds like the polar opposite of what your previous Instructor said). So in a nutshell: what many Golfers experience while taking a golf lesson – isn’t the love and joy you were hoping to achieve with your golf swing. And that’s unfortunate.

It’s no wonder most Golfers get worse after a 30 minute golf lesson.

Now, why is it that whenever you go for a golf lesson, almost every Instructor has a different grip they like to see on all the Golfers they work with? Yet, while most Instructors are saying that the grip is the most important aspect of the golf swing – how can that be the case when there are so many different grips being used on the PGA Tour? And when I say this, I don’t just mean whether they have an interlocking grip or overlapping grip or a ten finger grip – I also mean that some have their left hand more on top of the grip, some more on the side, and many have their left hand somewhere in between.

Yet, your latest in a line of Instructors seems to think that you need to turn your left hand a few degrees to the right – “Your left hand is too weak. It needs to be more on top of the club. You need a stronger grip” “Ok, but my last Instructor said that my left hand was too strong and that it needed to be more on the side of the grip.” “No, it can’t be on the side – nobody has their left hand on the side!” “Well, he showed me a picture of Ben Hogan’s grip and said it needs to be weak and on the side like Hogan’s. Why was Hogan able to hit the golf ball so well with his left hand like that?”

It’s unfortunate that this has to happen – 1. because now you’re in an awkward position (do I change again or stay with what I have – I want to improve, but grip changes always set me back a few months). 2. although Golf Instructor after Golf Instructor says that the grip is the most important part of the golf swing – how can it be that important to have my hands set in this exact spot if so many of the Tour Pros have their hands in different spots and yet are successful. 3. you can bet everything you have in the bank that the grip this Instructor is teaching you is the same exact grip that Instructor uses him/herself. But does that make it right for you?

Yes, you do need to have a hold of the golf club which will allow you to have control over the golf club and club face. Yes, you need to worry about whether you’re holding it too tight or too loose (too tight can lead to tension and too loose can lead to losing control of the golf club). However, 7.999 out of every 8 Golfers that come to see us has a grip that’s fine and doesn’t need any changing at all. The number of Golfers that we have seen that have been through grip changes because an Instructor has told them to change - is embarrassing!

It’s like one of the Testimonials you’ll see in this Golf Improvement Weekly that’s from a Golfer that has come to see us twice. The First time she came to see us – she made significant improvement in her game. Yet, because she had another Instructor that she was working with back home before seeing GMS – she went back to that Instructor hoping to continue the improvement she made with GMS. Well, what do you think happened after seeing that other Instructor?

She got worse. Much worse. She was told that everything that GMS did (the stuff that helped her improve) wasn’t the right way to do it. And that Instructor tried to switch her golf swing back to his method. Why did see listen to this Instructor after improving so much with GMS? Lord only knows. Though she did and her game got worse. However, because she did see so much improvement with GMS the first time – she came back the next year to see us again. And now after going through the GMS Program again – she’s playing better than ever. Go ahead and read what she had to say. It’s not the first time we’ve heard a story like this.

The point is – too many Golf Instructors have egos that are too big. And unfortunately Golfers like you get caught up in the battle of who’s a better Instructor – “this is the correct way; that other Instructor was telling you all the wrong things.” So if anyone is going to get a Golf Lesson – maybe the first question you should ask the Golf Instructor is: “What percentage of Golfers that come to see you need a grip change?” Or “what percentage of Golfers that you see need to adjust their backswing?” Or better yet – ask them “will I have to get worse before I get better?”

Because if they give you a number that’s more than 10% for either of the first two questions or yes to the third question – walk away and don’t look back. Oh, and by the way; just as a FYI; if they use the word “most” instead of giving you a number - that means more than 10%.

If they answer with a number that’s more than 10%, you probably have an Instructor that has a swing method that’s based on everybody swinging the same way. It’s amazing how many Instructors we have run across that say each person should have there own individual golf swing – yet this same Instructor ends up teaching everybody the same swing. So if their answer is more than 10% - that probably means they have a picture of a golf swing in their head that they want everyone to look like when they swing.

If they say that you need to get worse before you get better – that just says that they’re not a talented enough Instructor to see what the Strengths in your golf swing are and what the Weaknesses in your golf swing are. And then be able to use your Strengths to improve your Weaknesses. Because a talented Instructor will be able to work with your Strengths to help you improve - without you having to get worse at all.

Yet, all a less talented Instructor can sense is that since you have never taken a lesson from them before – that you’re not using their swing method yet. So you’ll need to change your golf swing to conform to their swing method. And based on their experience of how many Golfers they have seen that have struggled trying to learn their swing method – they know that you’re going to get worse.

It all goes back to using a Results Based Approach versus using a Theories and Assumptions Based Approach.

The Monkey is stuck using Theories and Assumptions

The Player improves using Results

www.GolfMadeSimple.com


New Bonus Material For Anyone Considering Video Analysis - We have added our report on: "Using Video Analysis To Improve Your Golf Swing" to Golf Made Simple website for you to download and view. Last Week we had over 500 Downloads!

Just click here to be taken to the download page on the www.GolfMadeSimple.com website. It's easy, it's free and it's a pretty extensive report on our findings.

Past Indoor Practice Drills

If you'd like for us to email you a special Indoor Version of an excellent GMS Putting Drill that you could spend hours on this Winter - email us at IndoorPuttingDrill@GolfMadeSimple.com and put GIW in the subject line.

To view a segment that covers 2 swing drills you can practice inside, email us at: PushUp@GolfMadeSimple.com with the words 'Golf Improvement Weekly' in the subject line to receive a link and password to access the video segment from our DVD - How To Improve Your Golf Swing Indoors.

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THIS WEEK'S QUESTION:

Which grip will help you to hit a controllable Draw? A Draw is when a right handed Golfer has a golf ball flight that curves slightly to the left (and a left handed Golfer has a golf ball that slightly curves to the right).

A) Weak Golf Grip (seeing 1 knuckle of your top hand)

B) Neutral Golf Grip (seeing 2 knuckles of your top hand)

C) Strong Golf Grip (seeing 3 knuckles of your top hand)

D) All of the above

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

As we were looking through Golf Improvement Weekly archives for a quote of the week, we came across a Classic GIW from 2006. As we read it – we couldn’t stop laughing at how true it is. So we want to present this GIW to you to read. This truly is a classic!

Who do you play for on the golf course? Or let me put it another way - When you're on the golf course, are you ever worried what other people are thinking about your golf swing or your game?

The Monkey is more worried about how their golf swing looks to others rather than staying focused on their PLAN. Or in other words - it's more important for you to look like you know what you're doing in front of other Golfers, rather than staying focused on your game and scoring well!

OK, I understand that you might not understand what I'm saying or are in self-denial - so let’s go to an example.

Tell me if you've ever been in this situation -

You're paired up with one other Golfer and through the first 9-holes you're playing better than normal. The other Golfer that you're playing with is not playing as well as you. He/she is doing a lot of "Fiddling" with their swing on every shot and saying things like - "If I could just get the golf club set at the top a little better, I’ll be able to hit the golf ball so much better" and "You have to excuse me, but I'm not playing as well as I usually do. In fact, this might be the worst I've ever hit the golf ball" or "I'm not really concerned with what my score is today, I'm working on something in my swing."

So after 9 holes, you've scored your best score or close to your best score (pick a number based on your level of golf and use a score you want to break for 9-holes 49, 44, 39 or 35). The Monkey you're playing with is somewhere else in the stratosphere considering the 8-mulligans he/she's taken and of course I don't think that his/her ball has ever hit the bottom of the hole.

You stop in the clubhouse between nines to use the restroom and to allow the Monkey to get a hot dog and Diet Coke. As you're walking out of the restroom, you pass the Monkey putting some relish on their hot dog as they call you over - "You know Grover, you have a pretty good swing, but, you know if you could just take your club back a little more on the inside on the way back, you'd hit the ball so much better."

So you kind of blow them off by saying -

"Ok, thanks, I'll try that." But, they won't let it go. So on the way back out to your golf bag, you get the whole Monkey Digest synopsis on why the club must come inside on the way back "... because if it doesn't, then you can't bring the club back down on the inside swing path and you'll be way off plane. So if you can get your arms dropping more down on the inside, you'll be able to swing the club on the proper swing path through the golf ball from the inside to the outside."

And then as you get to the 10th tee, you have about 3-minutes to kill as the group in front of you is still in the fairway waiting on the group in front of them. So the Monkey looks at you and says - "here, get your Driver and come here - I want to show you what I mean. Set-up. Set-up like you're going to hit a Drive. Great, now you could probably get a better spine angle, but let's talk about your swing path first, though your grip does look a little weak." And then the Monkey proceeds to grab a hold of your club and put you into all these contorted positions as he/she regurgitates everything that's wrong with your golf swing.

And you shoot 60 on the back nine holes (which is probably what the Monkey shot – yet they told you that they scored a 41) as you lose a dozen golf balls and have to listen to the Monkeys commentary not just on everyone of their shots, but also yours.

So why'd you allow the Monkey to help you go from so good to so bad?

I believe it's that we all want to look good in front of others on the golf course. We all want to do things the correct way and don't want to look like we're doing things weird or wrong.

So all hail the Players whose swings are all wrong according to the Monkey philosophy of - "I'd rather swing correctly than score my best".

Let's salute these poor souls that do it wrong:

Annika Sorenstam for taking her eye off the ball as she over rotates into impact

Jack Nicklaus and his pathetic flying right elbow

Jim Furyk and that backswing - oh, that crazy backswing - "that swing can't hold-up for long, he's going to have to eventually change that"

Lee Trevino for aiming so far left with his feet that you wonder what golf course he's playing

Tiger Woods for straightening his left leg through impact - "Hey, wait a minute Marc - that's what a lot of Golf Pro's are teaching now." Yeah, but how many times did these same Pro's tell other Golfers to never straighten their left leg - before they heard Tiger was doing this?

And if you went to the golf course and used the claw grip for putting before Chris DeMarco made $10 million doing it - what would other Monkeys have said to you and how long would you have used it even if it did help you to make more putts?

All those Players have their own PLAN and nobody, nobody can change it!

And unfortunately for the following Golfers someone changed their PLAN - because if you have a chance to ask Curtis Strange - What happened to your game after you won consecutive US Opens or Sandy Lyle - What happened to your game after you won the British Open, TPC and the Masters or Hal Sutton - what happened to your game after you won the Players Championship, TPC and Memorial in the mid-80's and was called "The Next Nicklaus" and why it took 12-years before you won again - And if you get to ask Ian Baker Finch what happened after you won the British Open and then just totally lost your game - and if you get to ask ........

They'd all say - "The Monkey got me! They told me that if I could just change (feel in the blank) in my swing that I'd swing more correctly."

You want to be a Player? Then beware of the Monkeys - they're out there lurking - looking for weak minded Golfers that they can convert to their "Evil Monkey Ways".

The Player's motto - Hear No Evil, See No Evil, Speak No Evil!

Why Speak No Evil? Because as my good friend Todd Temkin from Chile so eloquently put it -

Monkeys gloat when they play well and mope when they play bad. Players just play!

The Monkey is more worried about what others think of their golf swing

The Player is too focused on their PLAN to really care what others think

Go ahead, be a Player!

Regards,

Marc Solomon - Your Instructor For Life
http://golfmadesimple.com/instructor-4life.html

New Bonus Material For Anyone Considering Video Analysis - We have added our report on: "Using Video Analysis To Improve Your Golf Swing" to Golf Made Simple website for you to download and view.

Just go to the website - www.GolfMadeSimple.com. On the left side of the page you'll see where you can download this Free 8 page report. It's easy, it's free and it's a pretty extensive report on our findings.

Past Indoor Practice Drills

If you'd like for us to email you a special Indoor Version of an excellent GMS Putting Drill that you could spend hours on this Winter - email us at indoorputtingdrill@golfmadesimple.com and put GIW in the subject line.


To view a segment that covers 2 swing drills you can practice inside, email us at: PushUp@GolfMadeSimple.com with the words 'Golf Improvement Weekly' in the subject line to receive a link and password to access the video segment from our DVD - How To Improve Your Golf Swing Indoors.

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THIS WEEK'S QUESTION:

Last Week's Poll Question:

When you have an 18 foot putt, where should you be focused on putting your ball?

A. Into the hole

B. Within a 3 foot circle that surrounds the hole

C. Into a 2 foot box beyond the hole

D. You shouldn’t be focused on anything

Poll Results

The answer is C–

Votes received by the readers of GIW:

C. Into a 2 foot box beyond the hole – 2,033 votes

B. Within a 3 foot circle that surrounds the hole – 578 votes

A. Into the hole – 472 votes

D. You shouldn't be focused on anything – 3 votes

Click here to see why that was the best answer

"I Thought The Instruction Was Excellent!"

I attended a 3 day class on June 23, 2008 at Lake Tahoe along with my two brothers. I thought the instruction was excellent.

I have found that staying with the "plan" and remaining as consistent as possible has proven to allow me improvement in my playing. I have improved in my ability to play the game and I feel I am continuing to improve.

My brothers and I have been talking about getting together and having another class again this summer. I can not see how Golf Made Simple would not help everyone that comes to see you. It is an excellent program!

John H – Sacramento, California – Sent January 24th, 2009

Attended Lake Tahoe location on June 23rd to 25th, 2008

Share Your Golf Made Simple Testimonials Click Here »

"My First Hole In One!"

Hi Marc,

Just wanted to let you know I was fortunate enough to have my first hole-in-one ever last year. It was on June 18, 2008 on the 9th at Valley Brook Golf Course in Rivervale NJ. The 9th is a short par 3 over water. It played about 115 yards that day and I hit a pitching wedge.

The ball landed about two feet past; spun back and went in. My focus on that shot was simply to make good contact. I focused on completing my “tick-tock” to insure good contact and it worked!

Alan I – Franklin Lakes, New Jersey – Sent January 12, 2009

Attended Amelia Island location on June 4th to 6th, 2007



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Then Click Here To Start Improving Your Golf Game

"Golf Made Simple - Believe It Or Not "

Excerpted from Classic GIW Issue 187 from February 6th, 2007

I recently observed a situation you might be surprised to hear. In fact, many of you may not believe this story at all.

On the golf course the other day, I was watching a mid 90's to mid 100's Golfer play a few holes. On the 1st hole (a Par 4), this Golfer was on the green in 3 shots and then 3 putted for a 6. On the 2nd hole (a Par 4), was on in 2 shots and 3 putted for a 5. On the 3rd hole (a Par 3), was on in 1 shot and 3 putted for a 4.

So after 3 holes, this Golfer looked at no one in particular and said – “I’m playing so ...."

To continue reading the rest of this Classic GIW - Click Here »

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Labels: Golf DVD, Golf Instruction, Golf Lessons, Golf Schools, Golf Travel, golf vacation, Golf Video

Listen to this Issue! In the story below, you'll hear the interaction between Henry and Marc in a way that you can't get by just reading it - click here »

"I hate this game! I hate it! Why do I play this stupid game? I quit - I'm never playing again!" Henry blasted himself.

I heard Henry as he was walking to his car and wondered why he was so down on himself. Henry is a hard worker, I see him at least once a week hitting balls on the practice range. I'll be going to the first tee with a Golf Made Simple class to do our on-course Instruction and there will be Henry banging balls on the practice range - one after another – "looking for the magic".

I approached Henry and asked -

"What is wrong? Why do you hate golf? The last time I saw you practicing on the range, you had a smile on your face and you gave me the thumbs up." Henry says, "Marc, I'm so frustrated with this game. I put everything I got into trying to play better. And just when I think I got it, I go out on the course, like I did today.

I...I...I...I go out and embarrass myself. I get so mad by the 7th or 8th hole that I can't even bring myself to play the back 9 holes."

"Henry those are the words of a frustrated golfer - or should I say - The words of a frustrated golfer that knows he could do better than he is doing. Do you really hate golf?

Or are your expectations too high for your present skill level? I find it extremely important to truly know what your skill level is and then understand – 'OK, this is what I score, at this point if I get upset at myself for every little mistake I make, I will never allow myself to get better!"

Henry usually scores between 92 and 102 (except for the occasional 'blow-up round' where he scores around 107, but he also has rounds where his 1 mulligan a side allows him to stay in the high 90's). Henry has a deep desire to break 90 for the first time. And on top of that, he has the desire to score in the low 80's every time he plays. These are very admirable goals.

So I said -

"Henry, these are fantastic goals. And I know you'll achieve them. First, we need to outline what aspects of your game you need to improve to reach these goals. Too many times Golfers feel as though if they go to the driving range once a week to hit golf balls, they should expect to get better."

"But Marc," Henry said, "Isn't hitting the ball better, the key to lower scores?" If I go to the range once a week, I should be able to hit one or two buckets and learn to hit the ball straight. This way I will soon be in the low 80's."

"Henry, how long have you been trying to score in the low 80's?"

"For about 5 years", Henry answered.

"Henry, how long have you had the routine of going to the range and trying to hit the ball straight?" I could tell Henry could see where I was going by the bashful smile on his face. "Well Marc, I've been doing this on and off for 2 or 3 years. Is this not enough? Do I need to go to the range more often?"

"Henry, before we say you need to go to the range more often, tell me what you do when you go to the range? What's your routine? What's your PLAN?" Henry looks at me and with a confused look in his eyes and says, "What do you mean by PLAN? I go out and hit golf balls and try to make them go straight down the middle. If I want to hit the ball better, I need to learn to hit the ball straight! If I can't do that, I'll never score in the low 80's."

"What I mean by PLAN is – what are you doing to learn to hit the ball straight? The key to playing better golf has many factors involved. And consistency is a factor."

"Yes, that's what I want – consistency! That's what I'm practicing – hitting the ball consistently straight. That's why I go to the range!" Henry interrupted.

"OK Henry, I understand. But, let's look at a way we can put some consistency into your practice time. Many Golfers feel that if they pound ball after ball after ball, they will get it. I wish it were that easy. I've been around many great Players in my life and if there's one thing they all have in common, it's that they come to the practice range with a PLAN in their head on what they want to accomplish.

"See most Golfers expect to go out to the range and learn to hit the ball straight in that one session. The better Players know that isn't going to happen. They go to work on one thing at a time. They go to the range with the thought of working on one small aspect of their swing only – and it isn't just trying to hit the ball straight."

I continued -

"And the most important part of this routine is they do not venture away from their PLAN for that day. Most regular Golfers will go out to work just on hitting the ball straight. They might magically find something that works for a few swings and softly say to themselves 'I got it, I got it', and then just as fast as it appeared, it disappears. Henry, what does this Golfer do next? He starts to tinker with other things to try and recapture those straight shots. Then after a half-hour of tinkering with diminishing results, he leaves the range in frustration hating the game."

"That's me! That's me! Have you seen me at the range practicing and getting frustrated?" Henry asked. "Each time I go out to practice, I get 'it' - for a few swings. Then it disappears. I hate that!"

"Well Henry, this happens to everybody - even the best Players. Though, you know why it doesn't happen to them as much? Because they come to the practice range with a PLAN and they don't venture from that PLAN. They stick with it and they don't expect miracles. They know if they get just a little better every time they practice, that after a few times to the practice range, they will be that much better. But the average Golfer goes to the practice range thinking and expecting to solve all their swing flaws within hitting a few buckets of balls. So they always leave frustrated.

How do the best Players leave each practice session? They leave like they accomplished something and can't wait to practice again. They feel so much more satisfied with themselves than the regular Golfer. And that satisfaction turns into confidence on the golf course!"

"I want to practice like that! I want to feel like I am getting better every time I'm on the practice range! I want to become more consistent!" Henry said with so much hope and energy.

"Well Henry, first you'll need to ..."

Look for the solution that will help Henry become more consistent in next week's Golf Made Simple – Golf Improvement Weekly – as we outline what it takes to become more consistent and confident.

What points were made in this Chapter of "Why Henry Hates Golf!"

Set realistic expectations:

If you're scoring between 95 and 105 - it's great to want to break into the 80's, but first you need score a 93 before you can score an 89.

If you put too much pressure on yourself to have to score 44 on the front nine, you'll end up with a 49 instead. And knowing that you scored a 49 on the front nine might lead to put too much pressure on yourself to score a 40 on the back. What will happen on the back? Well, by the 15th hole when that 40 is out of reach ... you'll be happy to be walking off the 18th green with a 50-something for the back nine.

Strive for small improvements week after week – rather than trying for huge improvements every time you play or practice.

Go ahead, be a Player!

Regards,

Marc Solomon - Your Instructor For Life

Are You Ready To Sign-up For GMS?

Then Click Here To Start Improving Your Golf Game

A Special Bonus!

This week we're giving you a link to watch a segment of the GMS DVD – How To Improve Your Golf Swing Indoors – which is now the "#1 Selling Golf Swing DVD on Amazon.com".

And as we know that many of you have already purchased this DVD – and some may have actually taken the plastic wrapper off the case and popped it into your DVD player – it would be a good refresher to watch this clip again. This clip shows two GMS Swing Drills – The Belly Swing Drill and the Modified Belly Swing Drill. Then, after the demonstration of the two swing drills, we go into the exercise that accompanies these Drills - push-ups for 3 different levels.

In fact – Dr. Z, from Calgary, Alberta, Canada (he's traveled to see GMS in Palm Springs twice), recommends the DVD to his patients even if they're not Golfers. He tells them – “Listen, since you don't play golf – just fast forward through the golf drills. The exercises are excellent and they will really strengthen your core and relieve a lot of your back pain."

To view a segment that covers the Belly Swing Drill and Modified Belly Swing Drill, along with 3 different levels of Push-ups, email us at: pushup@golfmadesimple.com with the words 'Golf Improvement Weekly' in the subject line to receive a link and password to access the video segment from our DVD.

"#1 Selling Golf Swing DVD on Amazon.com"

To purchase the DVD click here »

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Labels: driving range, Golf, Golf DVD, Golf Instruction, golf instructor, Golf Lessons, Golf practice, Golf Schools, Golf Swing, Golf Travel, golf vacation, Golf Video, swing plane

The Driver is the name of the game. There's nothing more satisfying than walking off the 18th green knowing that you hit your Driver well all day. In fact, there are times that I play golf just because I want the adrenaline rush that accompanies hitting great drives on the golf course.


To put it bluntly – you need to hit your Driver well to have fun on the golf course. Yes, you can hit your Driver well and still not score well on the golf course. Though, it's very difficult to score well if you're hitting your Driver poor - tee shot after tee shot.


So saying that – let's talk about your Driver and how you can start experiencing the euphoria of great drives. Let's start out with a little quiz:

When hitting your Driver – should you try to:

A) Swing harder than you swing your pitching wedge

B) Swing easier than you swing your pitching wedge

C) Swing with the same amount of effort as you swing your pitching wedge

Answer C


So, if your Driver is holding you back – it could be caused by the effort you're putting into swinging your golf club. We often have many Golfers coming to see us either swinging way too hard with their Driver or (and this may surprise many of you) we see almost as many Golfers swinging way too easy with their Driver.

We see the greatest improvement from our Golfers when they learn and understand that if they put the same amount of effort into swinging your Driver as you do with your pitching wedge – that you'll see incredible improvement in a short time.


Why is this?


Well, let's start with the swinging too hard problem that many face tee shot after tee shot. Listen, everybody at one time or the other has been accused (or self-accused) of swinging too hard at the golf ball with your Driver. "Oh, dang it – I just tried to kill that golf ball!"


I'm sure Tiger has done the same – so you're in good company.


It's frustrating that you know that you shouldn't swing so hard at the golf ball, yet time after time, slice after slice – we continue to do it! Believe me, there isn't any way to guarantee that you'll never swing too hard ever again. Though, there are proven ways to make sure you swing smoother most of the time – or at least 9 out of 10 times.


Though, what about the swinging too easy issue you might be experiencing? There's a lot more of these type's of Golfers out there than you may have thought. You actually maybe doing this and not even know it because many times Golfers are swinging too easy – yet it appears to others that you're swinging too hard.


I guess a simpler way of saying it is these Golfers decelerate their swings when swinging their Driver. Which may come as a shock to many because deceleration is often pegged to other clubs such as wedges (around the green) and putting strokes. Many Golfers can't imagine that they're decelerating with their Driver – yet many of you are.


The question that is often asked when this subject is brought up is – "Why would anyone decelerate their Driver?" And the best answer I can give you is that it's probably because you've been accused of swinging too hard too many times. And we all know – it's been pounded into our heads – that swinging too hard with your Driver is one of the '7 Deadly Sins' we can commit on the golf course. What's another 'Deadly Sin' on the golf course – 'Thou shall not use your ball retriever to fish for more golf balls after you found yours!' Once you find it, drop it, hit it and move along. Amen.


So the affect of constantly being told that you're swinging too hard is that you end up standing over the golf ball wanting to hit a good tee shot, while at the same time you're convincing yourself to "swing nice 'n slow, swing nice 'n slow, swing nice ‘n slow". It's almost like you're trying to hypnotize yourself.


And using the philosophy of – if you hear the same thing over and over, you'll start believing it – you start to be more and more cautious about swinging too hard.


So to give you a better picture/understanding of what I'm speaking about: There are two ways to decelerate – you could be decelerating your body so that your arms are out racing your body to the golf ball (thus becoming disconnected) or you could be decelerating your arms and having your body out race your arms to the golf ball (also becoming disconnected). Either way – you're becoming disconnected and causing yourself to lose control of your club, your club face and thus ... your golf ball.


Either way – it'll appear to others that are watching you (and to yourself) that you're swinging too hard because you lost control. Yet, is it that you're swinging too hard? Or is it that since your arms are out racing your body (which had decelerated) – it just appears as if your arms are swinging too hard.


Think of it this way - if you're body didn't decelerate and was moving along with your arms – you'd hit a great shot and it would appear as if you had made a smooth, fluid, easy golf swing. Yet, because your body slowed down – it makes it appear as if you were swinging your arms too fast. When in reality, your arms were moving at the proper pace.


And the same is true vise versa: if your arms slow down and your body continues to move as it should – others will be telling you that you're swinging too hard and that "you're getting way too far ahead of the ball".


Yet, in reality, all that's happening is that your arms were decelerating. And because you looked so discombobulated – it appears as if you were swinging harder than you should.


Do you want to become more consistent with your Driver? Learn to control your Pace of Swing. GMS uses more than a few Drills to help Golfers to become more consistent with their Driver. The Golfers that continue to practice these Drills see tremendous improvement off the tee with their Driver. Tremendous Improvement!


Now, I obviously can't get into great detail here in this format – so I'll go through a few fairly quickly. The first is almost always mentioned in the Testimonials we receive and display on our website and in Golf Improvement Weekly – simply "Tick Tock". The Golfers that are serious about "Tick Tock" – improve dramatically. The Golfers that aren't committed about it still improve – though maybe not as much as the ones that are serious about it. So simply – get serious and stay committed to your "Tick Tock".


The second is the Half Swing Driver Drill. I can't think of a better way to warm-up than Half Swing Drivers. The control that you achieve over your Driver using the Half Swing Driver Drill when it's a part of the 29 Ball Warm-up is incredible. In fact, I know one Golfer that has improved dramatically that says that he attributes the 29 Ball Warm-up to being one of the main reasons he was so much more consistent in 2008 than ever before. And he maybe the world's biggest advocate for the Half Swing Driver Drill!


The third is the Alternating Clubs Drill. What we have found is that Golfer's that are constantly practicing with their lower number clubs and then gradually moving up to their longer clubs and eventually to their Driver – get into the habit of swinging each club harder and harder. And then after they discover they're swinging their Driver too hard – they move into the decelerating debacle I mentioned above.


The Alternating Clubs Drill allows the Golfer to feel as if every club is being swung with the same amount of effort. It's amazing how this Drill allows a Golfer to swing the club more controlled in a short period of time. And because of this, its fun to watch our Golfers smile again as they walk up to the 1st tee in anticipation of hitting a good Driver as opposed to glum and hesitant about hitting another you know what.


And it's even more fun watching that same Golfer hit a fantastic Driver, and then walk off the tee feeling great about their golf game, their golf swing and their Driver – as opposed to you know what.


Saying that – It's amazing to me that with the success that Golfers see with the GMS program – that people choose others methods. When other programs are struggling so badly that they are constantly lowering prices to get customers because they never have any returnees – GMS had a record 2008. And that record can be attributed to the hundreds of returning Golfers and the friends they brought back with them.


And there's nothing more rewarding than seeing a Golfer that comes back to see us and who says something along the lines of – "I had so much fun playing Golf this past year and I attribute it all to GMS, the Drills and the PLAN you gave me."


So if you come to see us in what remains of 2008 or in 2009 – we're continuing our commitment to helping Golfers continually improve their golf games. You can trust that in addition to all the GMS Drills (some mentioned above), we're still leading the Golf Instruction Industry in developing and improving our program so that our Golfers continue to improve at the fastest rate in the business.


Our belief at GMS is – 'When you succeed in Golf – we succeed in Golf!' Therefore we want to see you play your best golf ever!


The Monkey swings too hard, then swings too easy, then swings too hard, then …


The Player finds consistency with their Driver by swinging all clubs the same


Go ahead, be a Player!


Regards,


Marc Solomon - Your Instructor For Life


Are You Ready To Sign-up For GMS?

Then Click Here To Start Improving Your Golf Game

#1 Selling Golf Swing DVD on Amazon.com

By the way – thank you for helping our DVD – How To Improve Your Golf Swing Indoors become the #1 selling Golf Swing DVD on Amazon.com. There are more golf DVD's being sold on Amazon.com than you can ever imagine and yet – ours is #1. Thank you – for those who have purchased the DVD – I know you're enjoying it. Keep using it and you're going to continue seeing improved Results!


To purchase the DVD click here »

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Labels: Arizona, driving range, Florida, Golf, Golf DVD, Golf Instruction, golf instructor, Golf Lessons, Golf Video, swing plane, Video Analysis

Are you tired of going into each new golf season with high expectations and then ending your season not reaching your goals? This is often followed by you promising yourself that you're going to work hard during the winter on your grip, your swing plane, keeping your head still, blah, blah, blah. It seems as if every year around this time I get the same emails - "Marc, where I live I can't play during the Winter, but I want to be ready for the Spring. What can I practice inside my house during the Winter?"

Working on your golf swing in your house without hitting golf balls or let me rephrase that by saying - without hitting golf balls and being able to see the flight of the golf ball - isn't going to help you. Or worse - it could be the start of the infamous "Fiddling Disease!" Have you ever had "Fiddling Disease"?

"I'm working on sliding my left thumb over to the right about a 1/2 inch and extending it a little" - "I'm trying to come through impact with a straighter left knee so that I hit against a strong left side" - "I'm trying to block the water hazards out of my mind. If I can close my eyes and click my heels together three times and say there's no water, there's no water, there's no water - I think it will stop the ball from going into the water."

Listen – you and I know that once Spring weather comes around, you won't spend as much time as you should on the practice putting green. You're going to be either out on the golf course or hitting golf balls on the driving range. Now, I'm not saying that's what you should be doing – I'm saying that that's reality.

So use the time you have during the winter to do some putting practice. In our bi-weekly GMS Alumni Bulletin that we send out only to GMS Golfers – we asked everyone to email us if they wanted for us to send them a great putting drill/game they can use inside. The response was spectacular.

Now, we can't offer the same drill here – but we do have another Putting Drill we'd like to offer you that will help you with your distance control. Because believe it or not – 3 putts are caused by not being able to control your distance more than they're caused by directional problems. Additionally – making more 1 putts is based more on Distance Control than Directional Control - but that explanation will be left for my Instructors in our GMS 3-day Program.

So, if you'd like for us to email you a special Indoor Version of an excellent GMS Putting Drill that you could spend hours on this Winter - email us at IndoorPuttingDrill@GolfMadeSimple.com and put GIW in the subject line.

Spend your time on this drill during the Winter and your putting will improve dramatically. And if your putting improves – your scores improve!

The Monkey spends their Winter at a golf dome or heated driving range working on their Driver

The Player spends their Winter improving their scores by working on their putting stroke

Go ahead, be a Player!

Regards,

Marc Solomon - Your Instructor For Life

www.GolfMadeSimple.com

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Labels: California, Florida, Golf, Golf DVD, Golf Instruction, golf instructor, Golf Lessons, Golf practice, Golf Schools, Golf Swing, Golf Travel, golf vacation, Golf Video, Marc Solomon, Palm Springs

Strategies to play well while others play slow

Click Here To Listen to The Audio Version of Golf Improvement Weekly


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

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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

I've noticed two types of Golfers on the golf course – Winners and Whiners. Now there's not much difference between the words if you look fast – the only difference is the 'h' in Whiner and an extra 'n' in Winner. What does the 'h' stand for?

It could stand for humility. Meaning, in order to play to your potential, you need to take the good with the bad. If you're too worried what others might be thinking about you after a bad shot, or two or three – you might fall into the trap that many Whiners do. The Golfer often defends themselves by Whining about their golf game – "I usually hit my irons so much better than this. I'm not playing very well today. I usually play better than this."

Everybody is going to have a round where they don't hit their irons well. Or a round that they hit their Drived bad. Or putt bad. This is just part of the game of golf. Though more importantly - other Golfers don't care if you're hitting your Irons bad – they're more concerned with their game and probably don't want to hear your negative talk about your golf game.

A Whiner tells everybody about their problems on the golf course. And what often happens is that their problems get worse and worse as the round goes on. Almost as if they're trying to convince themselves of the problem or prove it to the other Golfers they're playing with.

A Winner just makes their PLAN and plays.

Perhaps the 'h' stands for humble. Because as soon as you think you got it and don't make as thorough a PLAN as you need to make – boom: Triple Bogey, Double Bogey, Double Bogey. Seven over par in three holes.

You must never let your guard down to think – "oh, I just have an easy wedge to the green." Because more times than not, you don't make your best golf swing and the ball ends up in a tough spot around the green. Which often leads to the Triple Bogey that could've - no should've - been a Par or Birdie.

Often times we get on a good streak on the golf course where we start playing our best golf. The game seems easy. You start to hit your stride and play like you feel you should all the time. Birdie, Par, Par, Par – "I love this game!"

"Ok, I have 110 yards to the green. I can make Birdie here. The flags on the left side, there's plenty of room on the right side of the green to get on safely and two putt for another par. No, I know I can get the ball closer to the hole to make Birdie."

"Crap! I pulled it! In the left bunker." Then after taking 2 shots to get out. The second of which rolled over the green. 1 shot to get on the green (that you hit slightly behind the ball) and 2 putts – your decision to go away from the PLAN that was working has cost you big time. What could've (or should've) had a 5 hole stretch of Birdie, Par, Par, Par, Par – which turned into Birdie, Par, Par, Par, Triple Bogey.

"Triple Bogey from 110 yards away. I can't believe it. I stink!" Which may lead you into the aforementioned humility category above or the other 'h' below.

A Whiner forgets how hard they had to work for the easy Pars and Birdies. A Whiner abandons what has been working for them because they become greedy. As they say on Wall Street – 'Pigs get slaughtered!'

The Winner just makes their PLAN and plays.

The 'h' could also represent hot - as in hothead. Have you ever gotten upset over one or two bad shots only to allow those one or two shots to get you in such a mental funk that you lose conscious thought over the next 3 holes because you're so pissed at yourself?

I have witnessed this over and over on the golf course. Yes, everybody gets upset with themselves on the golf course. There's nothing wrong with that. The so called Mental Guru's that say that you shouldn't get upset are pretty much idiots that are selling you on nonsense and are not living in reality.

It's natural to get upset after a bad shot.

Though, the 'hothead' can't let it go. After missing a putt on the 2nd hole, they carry over the frustration to the 3rd tee. Which contributes to a bad tee shot. Then the bad tee shot added to the missed putt is directly involved with the next bad swing – which contributes to another bad swing after that and the one after that and the one...

And for the next 6 holes, the 'hothead' collects Double and Triple Bogeys like my junk mail folder collects worthless emails.

A Whiner is always thinking about their last bad shot. Sometimes it seems that the hothead thrives on getting mad at themselves. Almost as if they're out on the golf course more for the thrill of getting upset over their game – than for the actual enjoyment that golf can bring.

The Winner just makes a PLAN and plays.

How does one Golfer go from scoring in the 100's to scoring in the 80's within a year – while another Golfer stays stuck in the 100's after 3 years? It could be the 'h'.

Would you classify the Golfer that improved from well above Bogey Golf to well better than Bogey Golf as a Winner or a Whiner? It could be the 'h'.

The good news is that the Whiner can turn into a Winner in a short period of time. It's not easy – you really have to watch yourself because the old habits of the Whiner come back pretty fast if they're not watched. All you have to do is take the 3 'h's' above out of your game and add the 'n'.

What's the 'n' stand for? 'Nothing'. You really don't have to do anything else besides getting rid of the 'h' to go from a Whiner to a Winner.

How about you? Are you a Winner or a Whiner?

The Monkey spends more time on the golf course whining about their golf game then they do making a PLAN for their golf game

The Player always seems to be winning in their effort to improve because they focus their energy towards making a PLAN

Go ahead, Be a Player!

Regards,

Marc Solomon - Your Instructor For Life

www.GolfMadeSimple.com



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Labels: driving range, Florida, Golf, Golf DVD, Golf Instruction, Golf Lessons, Golf practice, Golf Schools, Golf Swing, Golf Travel, Golf Video, La Quinta, Marc Solomon, Tiger Woods

Wow! Was that a fantastic golf match or what? Tiger and Rocco – Player e Player for 19 holes. That’s about as good as it can get.

But, I’m sure you’ve had your fill of hearing and talking about the match. Enough about them already - let’s get to your golf game. What could you take away from the US Open to help your golf game – and I’m not talking about one of Johnny Miller’s tips.

I believe that many people were rooting for Rocco because they could relate to him more than they could relate to Tiger. You don’t see Tiger struggling as much with his game, he makes shots that you could only dream of and he’s super long off the tee. And although Tiger has had to work and has worked harder than anyone on the planet to earn his superior skill – many people don’t see that and don’t understand that it’s not natural born talent that makes him so great as much as it is that he works harder than anyone on his golf game. And to back this up about Tiger's determination, look at what he battled through with his knee - which has now officially sidelined him for the year.

Though, people are able to relate to Rocco because he isn’t considered a world class athlete - he’s not 6 foot 2 and chiseled. And although he’s listed at 6 foot 1 – that’s a measurement that I’m willing to debate and put it down as Rocco must’ve been wearing extra long spikes the day the PGA Tour execs had him stand against the measuring stick – nobody would look at Rocco on the street and say to themselves: this guy has to be a Professional Athlete.

Let alone, here’s a guy with major back issues and up until a few years ago was pretty much 40 pounds overweight – he kind of had the body of fellow PGA Tour Player Tim Herron (who earned the nickname Lumpy - one bite at a time). But Rocco had to do something about it because the extra weight in his front was putting too much pressure on his back. So to his credit, Rocco went on a program of strengthening his core and losing pounds.

What strikes me most about Rocco was that in the biggest round of his life, he was 4 over par after 10 holes. Which, to many people reading this, would be the round of your life. Yet, to a PGA Tour Player playing on center stage – making Bogey on almost half your holes might be equivalent to a Golfer who averages 90 to scoring 50 on the front 9 and then making Double Bogey on 10 to start the back 9.

This translates into the 90 Golfer not being very happy with their golf game after their first 9 holes and then making things worse on #10 with the Double Bogey. And this unfortunately still happens after using the time it takes to get from the green on 9 to the tee box on 10 convincing yourself that things might turn around on the second 9 holes.

But now at this point with the Double Bogey erasing any glimmer you might’ve had of a resurrecting back 9 – most Golfers would throw in the towel and start the unforgiving self-talk of – ‘my game sucks’. Which is often followed-up by a couple of Bogeys, a few more Double Bogeys, a Triple Bogey on the 17th hole and then of course the infamous, ‘why can’t I just do this all the time’ Par on 18.

Yet, that wasn’t what Rocco did. Being 3 down to the best Player that ever lived – knowing that his talent isn’t even close to that of the great one – when everybody watching said to themselves after he made Bogey on the 10th hole: ‘That’s it. Here goes Tiger; he’s going to win again. It’s over.”

Rocco didn’t throw in the towel like so many Golfers that you might know repeatedly do week after week.

He Birdies 4 of the next 5 holes. Wow! Which is equivalent to the 90 Golfer I spoke about above making Par on 4 of the next 5 holes – so that now you’re only 17 over after 15 holes. Which might not be your best round ever, but you’re still on track to break 90. And at the very worst – if you Bogey the next 3 holes, you will have scored at about your average by shooting a 92. Which after 10 holes – you would’ve thought impossible!

How many times have you thrown in the towel before the round was over?

There are so many times that Golfers start making stupid decisions on the golf course because they’re not happy with the way they’re playing. They abandon their PLAN because in their mind they’ve played 9 or 10 bad holes – although, that same PLAN that they abandoned was the catalyst that allowed them to move from a 100 Golfer last year to a 90 Golfer this year.

You only had a bad score for 9 holes – big deal! Live with it. If it can happen to Rocco – it can happen to you!

And the funny thing is that all 9 holes probably weren’t bad. It was probably only 4 bad holes caused by 4 or 5 bad shots. With the other 5 holes being played at about average. But since you’re too focused on your score for 9 holes – you tell yourself that you played all 9 holes badly.

Rocco could’ve abandoned his PLAN. He still would’ve been carried away on everybody’s shoulders as a hero for what he had already accomplished. Nobody expected him to be where he was. He could’ve just given up like 9 out of 10 Golfers do after a bad first 10 holes. Nobody would’ve said anything negative about him because nobody expected much from him going up against The Greatest Golfer of All Time – except for maybe Rocco.

Use Rocco and what he did as your guardian angel the next time you start your round playing at a lower level than what you were expecting from yourself. You never know when it’ll turn around. The key is that if you abandon your PLAN – ‘it ain’t gonna turn around’; it’s just going to get worst and more torturous every hole. So you might as well just stick with your PLAN.

The Monkey abandons their PLAN and starts to make bad decisions every time they play if they don’t start off each round as if it’s going to be their best ever

The Player chants ‘Rocco, Rocco, Rocco’

Go ahead, Be a Player!

Regards,

Marc Solomon - Your Instructor For Life

www.GolfMadeSimple.com

Here We Come Toronto, Canada

GMS is excited to announce that we'll be conducting GMS Programs in Toronto this summer! Along with hosting 2 and 3 day Level 2 GMS Programs that are open to returning GMS Golfers that have seen us in Florida, California and Arizona - we'll also be hosting Level 1 Programs for Golfers that haven't been to see us yet.

Why Toronto? Well the Toronto area is the 3rd biggest supplier of Golfers to Golf Made Simple's programs in Florida, California and Arizona. So when we received the opportunity to come ‘North of the Border' this summer – we jumped at the chance

We heard a lot of "You need to open up in Toronto because I'll be your #1 client" and "If you ever come to Toronto, I'm sure all my friends will sign-up!" Well Toronto, here we come!

For dates, rates and location of our facility in the Toronto area – just give us a telephone call at 1-888-580-3635 or email at IWantToBe@GolfMadeSimple.com.

Labels: Canada, Golf DVD, Golf Instruction, Golf Lessons, Golf practice, Golf Schools, Golf Swing, Golf Travel, Golf Video, Rocco Mediate, Tiger Woods, Toronto

So we have one more tournament on the PGA Tour until everybody whips themselves into frenzy the following week at the US Open in San Diego, California. I associate the US Open with being in the heart of golf season – so that may mean that Golfers are starting to get into their weekly games and enjoying life.

I believe there a few things you should be observing when watching the US Open on television. One of which is the Players making their PLAN before each shot. I'd like for you to take notice and compare how you do it, versus how they do it.

The common Golfer walks (or drives their cart) down the fairway to their golf ball; once at the ball; they find their yardage, look at their clubs and say to themselves – 'I'm 185 yards to the green, that's my 3 iron' – and away they go.

The Player you'll see on television at the US Open will walk down the fairway to their golf ball; they'll get the yardage to the flag; the distance to front of the green; the distance to the back of the green; along with the distance the flag is to the left-side and right-side of the green. The Player will also observe where the trouble is around the green; take into account their predominant ball flight; along with taking into account which way their ball goes when they do hit a bad shot.

Then and only then will they select a club and aim for their shot. How close does that come to how you prepare for each shot?

And although, their golf swings are much better than the common Golfer's golf swing – the main reason the Player doesn't make a slew of Double Bogies and Triple Bogies is that they have a PLAN for every golf shot that's based on their Strengths and Weaknesses.

Yes, there will be people that debate me that the reason the Player has less Doubles and Triples is that they have better golf swings – I won't deny that that's part of the reason. But, it's not the whole reason.

And although the Player has more talent than the common Golfer, one reason they can make better, more confident golf swings for each shot is because they thoroughly PLAN each shot before they even select a club. And additionally, because their PLAN is so well made; that when they do make a bad golf swing; the ball doesn't end up in a position that will leave them the potential to make a Double or Triple Bogey.

The common Golfer just glances at the yardage to the center of the green and hits the club that pertains to that yardage based on making perfect contact with the golf ball. Though, unfortunately, this Golfer has decided the yardage they can hit their 3-iron based solely on a couple of pure hits that they had back in 1993. Yet, they stick with that yardage even though they usually hit the ball short of the green in the bunker or they'll try to get that extra yardage to the green by swinging too hard and ending up in areas of the golf course you rather not be.

Now the Golfer will often times say – 'Well, I don't have a caddie to give me those yardages and I can't take too long to decide what club to use because the other Golfers I play with will be waiting for me.'

Well, you can PLAN if you know when to PLAN and how to PLAN.

No, you don't need to know the exact yardage from the left-side of the green to the flag, but you could and should have a good estimate or even turn it into a fraction. For example: 'The flag appears to be 2/3's across the green'. Which means that 2/3's of the green is to the left of the flag and only 1/3 of the green is to the right of the flag.

If that's the case, which side of the flag should you aim towards?

And the answer isn't straight at the flag. If you do aim at the flag in this scenario, hit a good golf shot, yet the golf ball drifts a little to the right (has that ever happened to you), you'll end up missing the green to the right and possibly short siding yourself with a tough wedge shot. And this is the classic case of you hitting a really good golf shot to the green, but possibly ending up with a Double Bogey.

The Player won't let that happen. The Player in the scenario above would aim to the 2/3's side of the green so that if the ball drifts a little right, it would end up on the green. If it drifts a little to the left, it would also end up on the green.

So yes, there's a big difference in the way the Players in the US Open hit the golf ball versus how you hit the golf ball, but they do make bad golf swings during the course of a round of golf. And those bad swings could lead to disasters when you're playing a golf course set-up for the US Open. But, the top Players won't experience a lot of disasters with their bad shots because they'll have a PLAN to avoid them.

The common Golfer will aim at the flag like they think Tiger Woods would do – yet, in many of those situations Tiger wouldn't be aiming at the flag. Tiger has a PLAN that's based on more factors than just on how far he hits his 3-iron on his very best golf swing.

The Monkey selects their club and shot based solely on the distance to the center of the green


The Player selects their club and shot on a whole lot more

Go ahead, Be a Player!

Regards,

Marc Solomon - Your Instructor For Life

www.GolfMadeSimple.com

Here We Come Toronto, Canada

GMS is excited to announce that we'll be conducting GMS Programs in Toronto this summer! Along with hosting 2 and 3 day Level 2 GMS Programs that are open to returning GMS Golfers that have seen us in Florida, California and Arizona - we'll also be hosting Level 1 Programs for Golfers that haven't been to see us yet.

Why Toronto? Well the Toronto area is the 3rd biggest supplier of Golfers to Golf Made Simple's programs in Florida, California and Arizona. So when we received the opportunity to come ‘North of the Border' this summer – we jumped at the chance

We heard a lot of "You need to open up in Toronto because I'll be your #1 client" and "If you ever come to Toronto, I'm sure all my friends will sign-up!" Well Toronto, here we come!

For dates, rates and location of our facility in the Toronto area – just give us a telephone call at 1-888-580-3635 or email at IWantToBe@GolfMadeSimple.com.

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Labels: Canada, driving range, Florida, Golf, Golf DVD, Golf Instruction, Golf practice, Golf Schools, Golf Travel, Golf Video, Toronto, Video Analysis

Do you want to have your best summer of Golf ever? Then repeat after me – say it out loud so it means more than just it saying to yourself:

"Going ahead from this day forward – I solemnly swear to work on my golf game with the specific goal of improvement. Not a minute of my time will have anything to do with just mindlessly hitting golf ball after golf ball. My game is too important for me to fall into that bad habit.

"From now on, I'm committed to working specifically on the drills that will help me to improve the Weaknesses in my golf swing. I will not just see a golf tip in a golf magazine and decide that this is what I need to work on. I will have to make an honest decision on whether that tip really pertains to my golf swing as opposed to just trying it because it's in the magazine or on television.

"I realize that I need to hit the golf ball better to score better, but I also need to convince myself that 36 putts a round or more is too much. In the past, I've always had the philosophy that my putting is good enough and that I'll start working on it when I get my golf swing more consistent.

"Yet, I've been working on trying to become more consistent for the last 5 years and if I kept that same philosophy, it might be another 5 years before I get to my putting. I need to really stay adamant about this because 36 putts is at least 4 putts too many per round. And really, if I do have only 36 putts a round, it was good putting day for me – in reality I probably average 40 or more putts per round.

"And if I just spend 25% of the time I usually reserved for the driving range and used it for my putting – I could easily go from 40 putts to 32 putts in a short timeframe. Hey, an 8 stroke improvement isn't a bad thing! If you had asked me if I wanted to improve my full swing to improve 8 strokes – I'd be all over that as quick as you could flip a switch, but for some reason – it never meant as much when it came to putting.

"I wonder why Golfers aren't as enthused about improving their putting 8 strokes? Why is it that in the past that improving 8 strokes with my putter didn't seem as appealing as improving 8 strokes with my Driver?

"I mean, 8 strokes is 8 strokes regardless of what area you improve upon.

"My goal is to improve. And the way to see improvement and have it continue through the years is to have a PLAN - that'll allow me to stay focused on what I need to work on. In the past, I've jumped from drill to drill and swing thought to swing thought trying to find "The Magic". Yet, the only thing I found was that I was never happy with my game. From now on – I'm staying focused on the drills that I know are going to improve the Weaknesses in my golf swing!

"Golfers around the world often times become so distracted that they lose focus at the driving range. They fall prey to getting away from their PLAN of improving how they hit the golf ball and get into a ball bashing session that often includes alternating moments of exhilaration; followed closely by long periods of despair.

"Not me anymore – that's the old me. I want to be a Player. And you just can't call yourself a Player and expect to become one – You Need To Earn Player Status!!"

It's easy to read the above – it's a little more difficult to make sure you live by it. Though, if you want to earn Player Status – you need to stay committed as opposed to getting distracted by all the new swing tips that are put in your path each year.

The Monkey says they want to become a Player, yet doesn't commit to a PLAN

The Player reads this GIW over and over and lives it

Go ahead, Be a Player!

Regards,

Marc Solomon - Your Instructor For Life

www.GolfMadeSimple.com


By the way – Golf Made Simple has just completed our first DVD. After years and years and offers upon offers from people that wanted to produce a DVD for us – we decided we wanted to do it our own way. We've created a DVD to help you become a Player, as opposed to all the other Monkey stuff that's already out there.

Our DVD - How To Improve Your Golf Swing Indoors – is improvement GMS Style. What's GMS Style? It's a Results Based Approach as opposed to a Theories and Assumptions Based Approach.

Please Click here to purchase through our website or call us at 1 (888) 580 - 3635.

Click here to purchase on Amazon.com

and/or to read the reviews of Golfer's that have purchased the DVD

Labels: Driver, driving range, Florida, Golf, Golf DVD, Golf Instruction, Golf Lessons, Golf practice, Golf Schools, Golf Swing, Golf Travel, Golf Video, Marc Solomon

Click Here To Listen to The Audio Version of Golf Improvement Weekly



The idea that golf needs to be as complicated as many Golfers are making it is a frustrating/confusing concept to me. Every week, I hear of a new, groundbreaking concept that someone has come up with that’ll help all Golfers to hit the golf ball farther and straighter. I’ve heard about new grips, swing plane concepts, weight transfer systems, along with stuff I don’t want to even mention that supposedly will make your swing automatic.


And the funny part is that there are Golfers out there that believe in this stuff because they feel as though – ‘the more complicated, the more better’. These Golfers don’t want to make their golf swing simple. This group of Golfers has a weird perversion towards making things more complicated. They feel as though they need to have 8 steps in their swing. They feel as though that in addition to keeping their head still, they also need to get their elbow tucked into their side as they shift their weight, keep their golf club on plane and use the X-Factor.

It’s not that these Golfer don’t want to make it simple – it’s more about that they get so involved with listening and reading all the golf information out there, that they start believing the golf swing has to be complicated. But I believe these Golfers are in denial because as much as they say that they want to think about all that stuff (and the hundreds of other things they’re thinking about every swing) – they truly wish that they could make it simpler.

They often say to themselves that they’re thinking too much and need to swing without so many thoughts - Yet, many of these aforementioned Golfers have a tendency of getting frightened if they’re not thinking of enough things every time they swing. And although they readily admit that their bad shots are brought about because they were thinking too much – as they approach the golf ball, regardless of how much they try, they go back to thinking about everything they need to do in their golf swing.

These Golfers are constantly telling themselves to swing with no thoughts – that is until they prepare to hit the golf ball when they automatically revert back to thinking too much before, during and after their golf swing.

New Golfers Improve Faster

How is it possible that using the GMS - Results Based Approach, we can get a Golfer that’s just learning to play to be able to break 90 in less than a year? While at the same time there are Golfers that have been playing for years and have taken 100’s of lessons, been through countless golf schools – and still aren’t able to break 90 and/or 100 with any consistency?

As one Golfer that had spent enough money on golf lessons to support a small country (without seeing much improvement); recently wrote to us: “I think the difference between GMS and the other schools that we have attended are that you don’t get students bogged down with mechanics. Your explanations are easy to understand, the drills are fun, and your focus is on one thing…impact.”

Impact – What An Interesting Concept!

Yet, when you hear frustrated Golfers talking about what they’re working on in their golf swing, it often has nothing to do with impact. Everything is about how they saw themselves on video, how they’re taking the club too far outside, how their head is moving too much, how they’re not turning enough on the backswing, how they don’t have the butt of the club pointing down the target line at a certain point of their golf swing or how they don’t get enough fiber in their diet.

Well maybe, just maybe the reason that all those above compensations are happening is because you don’t know impact. Maybe if you worked on being able to get the different parts of your body working together so you’re more in control of the golf club, and/or understood what the motion of impact felt like – maybe all these other so called problems would self correct.

As the majority of Golfers that are struggling with their golf swing are learning to fix compensations by being prescribed more compensations that are being masqueraded as swing fixes – we see Results with our Golfers because many bad swing compensations will be eliminated by simply working on impact.

Do you know that you can eliminate the “over the top, outside in, casting” problem by working on impact?

Yet, many Golfers that have a simple slicing problem are told that the reason for this slice is the above mentioned “over the top, outside in, casting” problem. They are then given another compensation being masqueraded as a swing fix such as learning to ‘tuck in your elbow on the down swing’. And although it’s very easy to tuck in your elbow (or use any other swing “improvement” compensation) on practice swing after practice swing – this Golfer can never do it when there’s a golf ball to hit.

Why?

Because trying to tuck in your elbow is a swing “improvement” compensation that is being used to fix another compensation already in your swing. And that compensation is being used to cover-up another compensation. And thus, you’ll have to learn another compensation to fix that compensation and then another compensation to fix another. And pretty soon you have a golf swing that’s built upon compensations.

And when all these compensations align – you hit a good shot - yet, this doesn’t happen the majority of the time. This is why some Golfers hit the golf ball straight sometimes, to the right sometimes and to the left sometimes; why you hit the golf ball solid sometimes, behind the ball sometimes and top it sometimes – any of these could happen on any swing because you never know which compensation in your swing is not going to work.

So golf becomes frustrating because you have so many compensations in your golf swing that you end up saying – “I’m so inconsistent, I have so many things wrong with my golf swing.” And out of desperation, this Golfer now