The Golf Swing Blog - Golf Instruction and Golf Lessons for Golfers
A Golf Blog for Golfers that are frustrated with the endless stream of Golf Tips from the Golf Instruction Magazines. This is beneficial for Golfers that haven't improved their golf swing after investing in the typical 30 minute Golf Lesson. Golf Improvement Weekly is brought to you by Golf Schools by Golf Made Simple. So if you liked this article - there are many more like this on the website is http://www.GolfMadeSimple.comTuesday, July 28, 2009
"Why Not A Consistent Golf Swing On The Course?" - Golf Improvement Weekly - July 28thy, 2009
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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
Wednesday, July 08, 2009
Do You Take Golf Tips From Strangers?
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 5th.
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 5th, 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
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
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
What Causes Poor Golf Swings?
"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
^ Top of page
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?
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'
^ Top of page
"My Drives Are Longer And Where I Want Them!"
GMS,
I had my most consistent game ever two weeks ago and had an 87 to top it off (that's good for me).
My time in St. Augustine was well worth the money, plus I had a great time. My drives are longer and most important; they are where I want them to be. I am using my game plan, and it is helping. My short game is vastly improved, and I am having fun.
GMS has made a difference to my golf game and to my outlook on golf.
Thanks,
Warren V - Huntsville, Alabama – Sent May 16th, 2009
Attended St. Augustine location in February 23rd to 25th, 2009
"I Kept Thinking About My PLAN And Stuck To It!"
It's been 10 weeks since my foot fracture and played my first round last Sunday. The wind was blowing a steady 30 MPH so I had no expectations.
I kept thinking of my plan (the one I mapped out while I was recuperating) and stuck to it. Several bogeys, a couple of double bogeys, several pars and one birdie. When I added it all up, I had carded a 90. Which I thought was pretty good considering the conditions, and not being able to swing a club (because of a foot fracture) for almost 10 weeks.
I asked the pro what he thought the equivalent to par was considering today's conditions – he said he thought par was about equal to a 78. So my 90 began looking even better. I’m very happy with my 90 considering the conditions!
I had only 1 three-putt and 6 one-putts. I'm looking forward to playing again on a regular basis and sticking to the plan. I'm sure I'll be emailing or calling with some questions down the road. I'm actually looking forward to hitting the range and getting back to practicing my drills.
Regards,
Ben P – Brooklyn, New York – Sent May 13th, 2009
Attended Phoenix location on February 20th to 22nd, 2009
Share Your Golf Made Simple Testimonials | Click Here
"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
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
Tuesday, May 05, 2009
"The Best Golf Swing Ever Is Officially Dead!"
Golfers will go to great lengths to hit the golf ball better. Many Golfers have a tendency to believe just about anybody and everybody that promises to have a Theory on a better golf swing. And although in the back of your mind – you know that much of this stuff is too good to be true – your passion for golf overwhelms all sense of better judgment.
The question is why would a person start trying to use a golf swing such as something called a Stack and Tilt? Which, if you haven’t already heard – is just another invented golf swing that was dreamed up by a couple of snake oil salesman preying on desperate Golfers – that somehow became the latest “hot” thing to do for all of about 5 minutes.
However, thankfully it has now been officially thrown in the overflowing dumpster with all the other golf fads that have passed. This new swing sensation was supposedly being used by a bunch of PGA Tour Players – when in fact, how many of these Tour Players are using this concept today? Probably the same amount that are using another once hot fad that’s in the overflowing dumpster of new golf swings - something called Natural Golf.
Thankfully as we scan the golf internet chat rooms – there is little talk of this Stack and Tilt thing – unlike 5 months ago when it was the latest and greatest. And just like much of America was in a real estate frenzy just a couple of years ago where you had to be in real estate or you were missing something big – the gurus of the golf internet chat rooms had desperate Golfers worked up into a similar sort of maniacal frenzy about having to try this new golf swing.
“I heard that Tiger is going to start using the Stack and Tilt!” ‘My cousin has a friend that knows a guy whose wife is friends with someone that lives next to Mickelson’s accountant and she says that Mickelson is also trying it!’ “I usually score around 95 and I shot a 62 my very first round using it!”
And blessedly, as GMS announced many months ago (in the December 12th, 2007 issue of Golf Improvement Weekly) that this new swing should be labeled as the Stack and Shank – it is now (18 months later) being referred to by that moniker by the same gurus who were proclaiming it as the greatest thing since interchangeable shafts for your Driver. All those poor Golfers that got caught up with another golf swing fad - that wasted the last 18 months not improving, but most likely learning to shank the golf ball and lose distance on their tee shots.
Yet, just like all other fads - it seems that there still might be some Golfers that are now just starting to try out the Stack and Shank – kind of like the little kid that arrived at his friends birthday party at 4:00 pm when it really started at 1:00 pm – saying: “Hey guys, where are you going? Why are you leaving the party already?” ‘Jimmy, we ate the cake and opened the presents - the party is over. There is some leftover birthday cake on the table, but it wasn’t very good – too much frosting and sprinkles - not enough cake.’ “Oh, I’m hungry – I’ll eat anything!”
How is it that people that are so smart that they could build businesses or be key personal in a business - people that have to deal with snake oil salesman everyday as part of their career – get hornsnaggled by a couple of golf pro’s touting their revolutionary golf swing?
I was very lucky at the start of my life in golf – as I was able to train under a very smart Golf Professional that said to me: “Marky, the golf swing is like a box of Kellogg Corn Flakes.” To which I answered probably like you are right now – ‘huh?’
He continued – “The golf swing is like a box of Kellogg Corn Flakes. What’s inside the box never changes – the only thing that changes is the packaging.”
And what he meant was: the golf swing is the golf swing like corn flakes are corn flakes – the ingredients of a good golf swing don’t change, just like the ingredients of corn flakes do not change. There are no new golf swings that will make you better. However, the packaging or in golf terms, the way of explaining the golf swing so that a Golfer can improve – can always improve.
The packaging equates (but isn’t limited) to: being able to continually help Golfers using improved concepts such as better, more effective drills that will help you to feel your golf swing. Developing training methods so that Golfers can better understand their golf swing, without having to think about too many things on every swing, along with understanding how to fix it quickly after a bad shot. And then training Golfers to practice their golf swing more efficiently using a PLAN based on their Strengths and Weaknesses as opposed to just beating golf balls like the Monkeys on the range.
There will never be a new golf swing that will be invented that will help Golfers to improve their ball striking (the actual corn flake doesn’t change). However, Golf Instructors can improve their communication skills and knowledge of the golf swing so that we can teach the golf swing in a simpler manner. Yes, there are varying degrees of talent amongst Instructors – yet, there are no new golf swings.
Yes, there are many movements in the golf swing using all the different parts of your body. Most Golf Instructors will teach you all those movements. And unfortunately many Golfers think that just because an Instructor talks about all those movements – that must mean this Instructor is a good Instructor. On the contrary – an Instructor that needs to talk about all those movements is a weak and ineffective Instructor who probably doesn’t have many Golfers that improve. Yet, they maybe held in high esteem just because they talk like they know what they’re doing.
For years (and still today), many less informed Golf Instructors will teach a Golfer to turn their shoulders and turn your hips and to shift your weight. Three things that most Golfers have been taught and try to do on every golf swing – yet, more times than not; fail to accomplish doing it effectively - thus resulting in an errant golf shot.
On the other hand, a talented Golf Instructor can have you doing all three things without you having to think about doing all three things every golf swing. We help you to do all of the above without thinking about it. Talented Golf Instructors help you by formulating drills that will have you doing all those things naturally – meaning without consciously thinking about it.
Creating good habits in your golf swing without you having to think about it is the first step to a consistent golf swing. And when you can do that – you’ll swing smoother and you’ll hit the golf ball better and more consistent.
The Golf Instructor that feels the need to teach you everything about the golf swing is like the sports hero being interviewed on TV that uses big, fancy words to hide the fact that he graduated high school only because he was a star athlete. So he’ll use fancy words to make him appear smarter and/or more talented – although many times he won’t even use these words correctly.
“You have to make sure that you use a one piece takeaway so that your swing path starts slightly to the inside while making sure you maintain the proper posture. As you’re doing this, your club will be starting on plane as your shoulders turn 90 degrees to the target, hips 45 degrees and that you have 55% of your weight on your right foot and 45% of your weight on your left foot. Then you must ….”
‘Oh, that guy sounds like he knows what he’s talking about. I need to listen to what he’s teaching!”
The skill of a fabulous Instructor is to take all those movements and find a way to wrap them up for the Golfer into one movement. For example: If you ever see a Golfer that’s struggling with their game – do they have more or less swing thoughts than someone that’s playing well? Of course – they have way too many swing thoughts. “Oh, this is terrible - I have so much I’m thinking about on every swing.”
And then this Golfer will go take a golf lesson to improve their golf swing and lo and behold, what might that Golf Instructor do? If it’s like most golf lessons – the Golf Instructor gives this already confused Golfer even more to think about. Why? Because many Instructors want to prove to you how much they know about the golf swing. And they’re going to prove it to you that they know a lot – if you like it or not.
And more times than not - that Golfer walks away more confused, playing worse and swearing to never take another golf lesson again. Which is unfortunate because there are some really excellent Golf Instructors available.
On the other hand – when you speak to a Golfer that’s hitting the golf ball great and ask them what they were thinking about on that last shot, it often is: “I don’t know, I was just trying to make a smooth golf swing.”
So if that’s the case – it’s no wonder why most people get worse after the typical golf lesson. Because the typical Golf Instructor talks about all these little movements and you try to do as your Instructor says and then you struggle on the golf course. Yet, the talented Instructor knows how to take all those movements and have you make all those movements without you having to think about it.
A truly great and talented Golf Instructor doesn’t care about being perceived as intelligent – all we care about is that our Golfers are improving.
The Monkey grabs the new, latest and greatest vine that all the other Monkeys are grabbing just because the other Monkeys are grabbing it
The Player understands the golf swing is like Corn Flakes and finds the Instructor that knows how to package specifically for their golf game
Go ahead, Be a Player!
Regards,
Marc Solomon - Your Instructor For Life
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
Friday, April 17, 2009
Missed Greens In Regulation On Golf Course
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
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'
Contact us:
1-888-580-3635 (US & Canada)
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IWantToBe@GolfMadeSimple.com
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 on Golf Course
Missed Greens In Regulation
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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
GMS Bonus Material |
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
Friday, April 03, 2009
Two New GMS Locations!!
GMS has primarily been based in
Two New GMS Locations
Why have we chosen these two locations? You mean besides having the best practice facilities around, excellent golf courses and having a hotel either on property or within just 2 miles away (with free shuttle service)? Or that both are just 15 minutes from major airports or within just a few hours drive from areas with many Golfers?
Maybe the details below can answer some of these questions for you:
Washington DC - Lansdowne Resort
First - Accessibility: Lansdowne Resort is 15 minutes from Washington/Dulles Airport. Right on the edge of
Second - The Golf Courses: Lansdowne Resort has 45 holes of golf (27 holes by Greg Norman and 18 by Robert Trent Jones Jr.) and an excellent practice facility. And what's also great is that each hole is bordered by nature and the
Third - The Accommodations: Lansdowne Resort has been named a AAA 4 Diamond Resort with 296 rooms on property, 5 restaurants, a full service spa, 5 swimming pools, tennis courts and an excellent exercise facility, etc. So once you're there - there's no reason to step off property.
Fourth - Additional thoughts: If you're a Golfer, it's obvious why this is such a great facility to have a GMS program. However, an additional bonus is what's available if you want to bring a non-golfing spouse or children. With the fantastic pools on property, the historic sites of the nation’s capital just down the road, full service spa, wineries, Friday Night Concerts on property, etc., etc. The rest of the family will have plenty of activities to occupy their time.
Denver , Colorado - Green Valley Ranch Golf Club
First - Accessibility:
Second - The Golf Courses: Green Valley Ranch has 27 holes - an excellent 18 holes by Perry Dye (it’s the site of the Colorado Open), and it also has the coolest 9 hole short course I've ever seen, along with having the best practice facility out of all our GMS locations. First, to hold the State Open Championship tells you it's a great golf course. Second - you're in
The practice facility is as good as it gets. Private range area, an excellent private short game area and a dedicated instructional building. This really is a first rate facility - it's no wonder it was voted as the best practice facility in
Third - Accommodations: At Green Valley Ranch, we're using two hotels - the brand new
Fourth - Additional thoughts: Again, if you're a Golfer, it's obvious why this is such a great facility to have a GMS program. Plus, just look a few miles to the west and you're in the
More information and pictures:
http://www.golfmadesimple.com/Washington-DC-Golf-Lessons.html
http://www.golfmadesimple.com/Denver-Colorado-Golf-Lessons.html
And as part of the 10 Year Anniversary of GMS, along with the opening of these 2 new locations – we’re holding 2 Special Programs to celebrate. Do you want to be a part of the action – then read more in The Buzz.
Regards,
Marc Solomon - Your Instructor For Life
http://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 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'
Labels: driving range, g, Golf Instruction, golf instructor, Golf Lessons, Golf Video, Marc Solomon, swing plane, Tiger Woods, top golf school
Wednesday, March 04, 2009
Has Your Golf Swing Been Built On Compensations?
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
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
"How Many Golf Instructors Does It Take?"
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 4th 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 2nd 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.
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
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Why Doesn't Your Golf Swing Improve?
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
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Who Do You Play Golf For?
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.
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 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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"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 ...."
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Labels: Golf DVD, Golf Instruction, Golf Lessons, Golf Schools, Golf Travel, golf vacation, Golf Video
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Why Henry Hates Golf!
"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"
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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
Tuesday, December 09, 2008
How To Make A Consistent Golf Swing With Your Driver
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!
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Labels: Arizona, driving range, Florida, Golf, Golf DVD, Golf Instruction, golf instructor, Golf Lessons, Golf Video, swing plane, Video Analysis
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Golf Practice In 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
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
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Hit The Golf Ball Farther With Your Driver
The old joke goes that if you want more distance with your Driver – move to Denver, Colorado. Where the air is thin and you get an extra 10% on your drives because of it.
Yet, that's not reality for most of us – plus the golf course architects have gotten smarter lately by making the golf courses out there – 10% longer. So the old joke doesn't work anymore – it all equals out in Denver nowadays.
What can you do to hit your Driver farther?
You can learn to speed up your golf swing. The faster your golf club is moving as it hits the golf ball – the more potential you have of hitting the golf ball farther. Please note that I say ‘potential' because faster club head speed doesn't guarantee farther golf shots.
You can learn how to hit closer to the center of the club face on your golf club. The closer the golf ball makes contact with the center of the club face – the farther the golf ball will travel. To see for yourself, you can do the test by bouncing a golf ball on different areas of the club face of a Driver and see how high it bounces from each spot.
You can change the characteristics of the Driver you use. Meaning you can purchase a Driver with a longer shaft, more or less loft, or one that's more forgiving than your current Driver.
All three of these Result Based Approaches can and will help you to hit your Driver farther.
Now you must decide which to work on because you shouldn't work on all 3 at once. That's just too much to do at one time. Jack of all trades – Master of none. Become a Master of one before you try to become a Master of all.
Or in other words – You might be able to multi-task in the office, but you can't multi-task with your golf swing!
So which one will you work on first? That's up to you to decide. Though if you're going to do it on your own - be careful. Because I know many Golfers that have tried to work on increasing the distance they hit the golf ball that have botched up their golf swing beyond belief. You must do it correctly or there are consequences.
Swing speed isn't just about swinging harder. Yet most Golfers that try to hit their Driver farther on a long par 4 or Par 5 – usually try to swing harder (most of the time with poor results). And along those same lines - more club head speed isn't about trying to swing the club head faster. There's more that goes into increasing your club head speed than those two thoughts.
Saying that, even if you did increase your club head speed, but you're not hitting the golf ball closer to the center of the club face more consistently – increased swing speed isn't going to help that much. Actually, increased club head speed without better control over your club head will create worse golf shots.
The first thing you should really be working on is improving your Centerness of Hit.
This is how GMS does it: GMS Level 1 is about Centerness of Hit. Learning to control your golf swing so that you hit the center of the club face more often. GMS Level 1.5 is about continuing to improve the consistency of hitting closer to the center of the club face by reviewing and perfecting Level 1 drills, along with adding more advanced drills to increase your feel of the golf swing. GMS Level 2 is about further improving the results you see in your golf swing by helping you to increase club head speed (while maintaining and increasing your control of the club head) which is possible because of the improvements you made in GMS Level 1 and GMS Level 1.5.
Why does this process work so effectively?
Let me answer that by describing what the normal Golfer does to improve. They try to work on everything at once. They try to turn their shoulders more, they try to turn their hips faster, they try to shift their weight with more aggression, they try to increase the lag of their club head on the downswing, they try to swing harder on their follow-through. They try kooky Theories like trying to decide between a one plane golf swing and a two plane golf swing; they then get so confused while working on which plane or planes to swing on, that frustration carries them over to trying something called a stack and tilt. A stack and what?
Frustration can be the greatest motivator for a Golfer to try something new and there’s not a better merchant of the latest, most outrageous swing Theories than the golf magazines that prey on the weak.
Bad Golfers are like sheep – they flock together on the driving range and have conversations such as – “What are ewe working on?” “Oh, I'm working on trying to bah, bah, bah as I bah, bah, bah.”
There's no PLAN in any of the above. It's like these Golfers use the ‘throw it all against the wall and see what works' Theory. No wonder so many Golfers never improve – even after taking the typical run of the mill golf lesson. Because regardless of all the Theories and Assumptions they attempt, there's still never any consistency or there's the once in a while magic you get from that lesson that sticks around for two weeks and then mysteriously disappears just as fast.
GMS has so many Golfers that instantly see success and because of the PLAN we use – that success continues and their improvement will actually accelerate once they get back home!
Or you can be like 98% of the Golfers that are playing golf that haven't improved their handicap in 5 years because they either have given up trying to improve because of frustration or are still jumping from tip to tip and from one plane swing to two plane swing to stack and tilt to who knows what's next.
The Monkey wants more distance and will try anything to achieve it
The Player wants more distance also, though they focus on a PLAN that's based on proven Results
Go ahead, be a Player!
Regards,
Marc Solomon - Your Instructor For Life
www.GolfMadeSimple.com
*Look below this week's poll for last week's results.
THIS WEEK'S QUESTION:
Turning Your Slice Into A Draw
What's the best way for someone who continually ‘Slices' the golf ball to learn how to ‘Draw' the golf ball? Or in other words – how can a right handed Golfer whose ball curves right learn to curve it left?
- CLICK ON THE BEST ANSWER -
A. Roll your wrists (or forearms) over at impact
B. Set-up with a closed stance
C. Swing from the inside to outside
*Please note: The results of this poll will be announced in next week's issue!
Last Week's Poll Question Results:
Who won the 2008 PGA Tour Event played on the Copperhead Golf Course at Innisbrook Resort and Golf Club?
The answer was B – Sean O'Hair won his 2nd PGA Tour Event over a golf course that played very tough against an excellent field of PGA Tour Players ... click here »
Votes received by the readers of GIW:
A) Boo Weekly – 962 votes (45%)
B) Sean O'Hair – 931 votes (44%)
C) Ernie Els – 181 votes (8%)
D) Retief Goosen – 43 votes (2%)
E) Davis Love III – 16 votes (.7%)
Maybe Davis Love III saw the early returns (exit polls) and became motivated by only having 16 people out of over 2,000 thinking he could've won a tournament in early 2008. I say this because he went out this past weekend and won the last PGA Tour event of the year - which just so happens to be the first tournament he's won in two years. To read more about this past weekends PGA Tour Event - check out the Stat Of The Week in this issue.
Labels: Golf, Golf Instruction, golf instructor, Golf Lessons, Golf practice, Golf Schools, Golf Travel, golf vacation, Golf Video, Marc Solomon, swing plane, Tiger Woods, Video Analysis
Wednesday, October 08, 2008
Wrists Or No Wrists When Chipping?
Click Here To Listen to The Audio Version of Golf Improvement Weekly
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
Thursday, September 18, 2008
On The Golf Course – Winners and Whiners
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
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Tiger Woods vs. Rocco Mediate - What Can You Learn From This Classic Golf Match?
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
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Golf's US Open Next Week - Watch and Learn
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
Wednesday, June 04, 2008
Your Best Summer of Golf Ever!
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
Thursday, May 01, 2008
What Causes Compensations in Your Golf Swing?
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 seeks out someone that will give them a complete swing overhaul that has nothing to do with impact – and as this Golfer struggles worse than ever with this complete swing change, they hear the infamous phrase of “well, you have to get worse before you get better!’
Great, by hearing that, it should make you feel better about your struggle. And the funny thing is that all that could be avoided and good golf swings could be created by understanding impact.
The Monkey jumps from compensation to compensation because each compensation they add to their golf swing to fix another compensation leads to more bad swing habits that cause you to add more compensations
The Player understands the motion involved with impact
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: California, Clubs, Driver, driving range, Florida, Golf, Golf DVD, Golf Instruction, Golf Lessons, Golf practice, Golf Schools, Golf Swing, Golf Travel, Golf Video, Lake Tahoe
Wednesday, April 02, 2008
How To Practice Your Golf Like A Player
Click Here To Listen to The Audio Version of Golf Improvement Weekly What would happen if you practiced your golf more this year than last year? Would you be a better Golfer? I guess it depends on what your definition of practice is.
To the mass majority of Golfers - practice is the science of banging golf ball after golf ball on the driving range; one after the other until every ball has been hit as far away from you as possible.
Practice is different things for different people.
For the majority of Golfers - it's about getting your bucket of balls, starting with your wedge, hitting a few balls with your 7 or 8 iron and then making the jump to your Driver. Which wouldn't be such a bad thing to do if you had a PLAN to practice as opposed to just hitting golf ball after golf ball trying to find a golf swing.
The above group is what we call Range Monkeys. Now before anybody that doesn't like it when we refer to some Golfers as Monkeys - before you get upset - you must understand what the term signifies. This term has nothing to do with ones skill level - nothing, nothing, nothing!
So as one Golfer wrote that he'd rather be called a Hacker than a Monkey - I find the term Hacker to be more offensive than being called a Monkey. A Hacker is a derogatory term to mean a terrible Golfer - Monkey has nothing to do with one's ability level. A Golfer that we term a Monkey is just a Golfer that has no PLAN. All they do is watch the other Golfers around them and do what they do - even though the Golfers around them might be as frustrated as you are.
It must be a case of Monkey See, Monkey Do.
Wouldn't it be more beneficial to watch a Player that has recently broken 90 and is progressing into the low 80's? Or watch a Player that was once scoring in the 100's, but is now into the 90's and progressing towards the 80's? Or a Golfer that has achieved the ultimate - going from the 100's to 90's to 80's and into the 70's? These are Players - Players are Golfers that are improving using a PLAN. Monkeys are Golfers that have been stuck for years without a PLAN.
Now, just because someone can score in the 70's occasionally, doesn't make them a Player. If the Player that improves from the 100's into 70's stops using their PLAN because they feel they've 'made it' - they may start losing their Player status!
A Player is a term for a Golfer that's using their PLAN to improve. It signifies a Golfer that's learning something that'll help them improve every practice session and every time on the golf course. I've seen Golfers that score in the high 90's that I believe are Players. Why? Because they're improving from the 100's and have a PLAN laid out to continue improving.
Though I've seen Golfers that score in the high 70's and low 80's that I'd call Monkeys because they've been stuck there for years - yet continue to do the same things over and over again - instead of making a PLAN based on their Strengths and Weaknesses to get where they want to be - down into the 70's consistently.
The terms Monkey and Player have nothing to do with skill level!!!!
The Monkey is the Golfer that goes from one tip in Golf Digest to the next tip that's handed out on the Golf Channel to the next one that they've read on an Internet Chat Room Discussion Board by someone that has a nickname such as 'swing guru'. Yet at the same time - none of these Golf Tips has ever helped you to break 100 or 90 or 80 or 70 - like they were advertised to do. So it's on to the next swing tip.
Trust me - there's nothing offensive about the term Monkey - it's more of a term that you could use the next time you go to the practice range to hit golf balls. After you set your bucket of balls down and before you take your first swing - look around, look at the other Golfers. And study them. Can you pick out any Range Monkeys?
Who's the Range Monkey?
It's the Golfer that has hit more than 2 balls without stepping back to make a PLAN. Why is this important? Because on the golf course you don't have the luxury of hitting multiple golf balls in a row. Each time you walk up to the golf ball on the golf course - you need to make a PLAN for your shot. Shouldn't you 'practice like you play'?
It's the Golfer that's just hitting to the middle of the range. They don't have a target, they're just hitting to nowhere - especially with their Driver. But in their mind, they're practicing their swing. They feel as though practicing to targets isn't important at this point - it's more about their swing than where they're hitting the golf ball. They believe that they'll start to practice hitting to a target after they get their swing correct.
It's the Golfer that doesn't have a Warm-up PLAN. Their way of warming up is to hit 5 or 6 wedges and a few 7 irons because they have the fear of wasting golf balls. They need to conserve as many balls as they can for their Driver. 'I mean, if I hit more than 5 or 6 wedges and a few 7 irons - I'd only have about 50 golf balls left to practice my Driver.'
It's the Golfer that'll hit one good shot and say to themselves - 'That's it!' Then try to repeat that swing on their next shot. And if that shot is good - they try to repeat that same swing on their next shot and so on. But, whenever they try to repeat that same swing and hit a bad shot - they're off to another vine (or I should say another swing tip) trying to find 'it' again. And if that tip works for a few swings and then leaves them - it's on to another tip.
And for many Golfers, this routine goes on for years upon years. Maybe that's why GMS sees over 1,000 Golfers a year that have been stuck in the 100's, 90's and 80's for 3, 5, 10 or 20 years. Why? Because they get into one of the above Monkey Routines - or because they haven't improved in such a long time, they end up not practicing at all. Now, that's not to say that they haven't tried hard to improve or break those barriers. I'm sure the majority of Golfers have tried. My belief is that many Golfers just aren't trained or taught how to have a Practice PLAN.
Who's the Player?
It's the Golfer that uses their Strengths and Weaknesses to formulate a PLAN. The Player's PLAN is to have a Warm-up PLAN. The Player's Warm-up PLAN about knowing how to get your golf mind working so that you're ready to get the most out of your Practice PLAN. The Player's Practice PLAN is about incorporating your Swing Drills in between the shots that you're hitting to targets. And by target, I don't just mean to a green. The Player divides the green into multiple targets, just like they should when they're on the golf course.
Are you a Player?
The Monkey practices based on nothing more than just going from one swing tip to another while they hit ball after ball
The Player has a PLAN to improve by using a Results Based Approach
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: driving range, Golf DVD, Golf Instruction, Golf Lessons, Golf practice, Golf Schools, Golf Swing, Golf Video
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Who's Your Caddie ... On The Golf Course
Come on, tell me - Who's Your Caddie? I can't tell you how many times I've heard a Golfer tell me that they played better when they've had a chance to play 18 holes with a Caddie. Why is this? And how can you incorporate these same strategies and techniques into your game all the time?
Is it because they're cleaning your clubs after each shot, raking your bunkers or even carrying your clubs? That may be a small influence. Or can it be that after a couple of holes of watching you play, they know more about your game and your abilities than you may know about yourself?
Now, can you learn how to develop this talent and apply it to your game?
I believe that your good rounds with a Caddie are because the Caddie is giving you the correct club for each shot, along with making a PLAN for you. The Caddie isn't allowing you to play shots that you don't have the ability to play consistently. The Caddie is forcing you to play to your Strengths and away from your Weaknesses.
"Mr. Smith, it's 135 yards to carry the bunker on the right, but there's nothing to carry on the left – it's a wide open approach. So aim left and make a smooth swing with your 8-iron." Though, if you were playing without a Caddie, it might've turned out to be you trying to hit the ball over the sand bunker with your 9-iron.
Maybe you need to be your own Caddie on the golf course. Not just doing the usual Caddie duties of taking care of the clubs, sand bunkers and tending the flag – maybe you can learn to PLAN your game around the golf course like a high ranking Caddie would help you do.
When a Golfer is playing on the golf course – they can't see themselves play. And I'm not talking about watching your swing on video. I'm talking about how you play and the decisions you make on the golf course. When a talented Caddie watches a Golfer – that Caddie can see within a couple of holes what distance you should be hitting your 7-iron from. Or I should say – they know the distances you can consistently hit all your clubs.
Yet, many Golfers go for years, hundreds of rounds, thousands of shots without knowing as much about their game as a Caddie would by just watching you for two holes. Now this isn't an advertisement for you to get a Caddie your next round. This is to say – Most Golfers don't have a PLAN based on what truly are their Strengths and Weaknesses.
Are the yardages you can hit your golf clubs - on a consistent basis - important to know?
Absolutely! Because 99% of the time – you have to be your own Caddie on the golf course – and I'm not talking about just the club cleaning and raking the bunker tasks – you need to determine what your abilities are. You need to understand the yardage you can consistently hit your 7-iron as opposed to the yardage you can hit the ball when you hit it your best – "I can hit my 7-iron 155 yards when I hit it well."
Yet, how many times out of 10 can you hit it well? If you hit your 7-iron 155 yards only 3 times out of 10 – what distances and directions are you hitting it the other 7 times? I don't know – maybe 147 yards, but I guarantee that there isn't a Golfer on the Planet that hits the ball the best they can more than 3 times out of 10. And most Golfers are basing their distances on only what they can hit it on their best shots.
Again, this example can be made with any club or any distance that pertains to your game. Let's just make this simple by sticking with a 6-iron and 7-iron, along with a 155 yard shot.
Though, many Golfers blame bad shots primarily on their golf swing – yet, maybe you make a lot of bad golf swings because you continually have the wrong club and an unrealistic PLAN for many of your shots? On the other hand, if you were able to make your PLAN based on how your Caddie would be doing it - by watching you and understanding what your abilities are – maybe you'd come to the realization that if you played your 6-iron from 155 yards that you might hit the ball well 6 times out of 10.
If you could instantly double your consistency by going from one club to another – would you do it?
Though, I'm sure that there are some Golfers that are now saying – "Yea, but what would happen if I hit my 6-iron really well? I don't want to hit the golf ball over the green." Yet, you wouldn't hit it over the green because if it were 155 yards to the center of the green – it's most likely at least 170 yards to the back of the green. And if you hit your 7-iron 155 yards on your best shot – trust me, you're not hitting your 6-iron more than 170 yards on your best swing.
So, if it's true that you should take your 6-iron as opposed to your 7-iron in the example above – and most people don't ever consistently switch to a longer club and swing smoother; usually most Golfers switch to the shorter club and swing harder – but if it's true that you could hit the golf ball better - twice as often: Why wouldn't you do it consistently?
I can't tell you how many times during our GMS 9 hole On-course Training that a Golfer would say that they were going to hit a club from a distance that I knew they couldn't hit the golf ball well - consistently enough. So after a discussion, I'm often able to convince the Golfer to hit their 6-iron as opposed to their 7-iron. And then after they hit the green with their 6-iron, I'd ask them to hit the same shot with their 7-iron.
How many times do you think the person that successfully used their 6-iron was able hit the ball on the same green from that same distance with their 7-iron?
Exactly, less than 10% of the time. Because the Golfer knew that they'd have to swing just a little bit harder ‘to get it there' – and because of that they wouldn't hit the golf ball as solid and they'd end up missing short of the green or flaring the ball off to the side into the sand, water, trees or otherwise.
Why were so many Golfers that took their 6-iron able to hit the green much more often? My belief is that they knew that they had the correct club in their hands and were able to make a smooth, natural swing that had all the parts of their body working together to produce a solid ball strike. Which are exactly the kinds of swings we like to see at GMS.
Why did they miss so frequently with their 7-iron? My belief is that because you know you have to be absolutely perfect, while at the same time giving it a little bit extra to be able to ‘get the ball there' - was enough to throw off your golf swing.
The Monkey just goes out and hits the clubs they always hit because "if I hit it well, I can get it there"
The Player makes a more consistent swing because their PLAN is based on what their Caddie would tell them to do
Go ahead, Be a Player!
Be your own Caddie.
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: Boca Raton, California, Florida, Golf, Golf DVD, Golf Instruction, Golf Lessons, Golf Schools, Golf Swing, Golf Travel, Golf Video, Marc Solomon, Video Analysis
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
On The Golf Course With Tiger Woods
Was Tiger Woods the best ballstriker last week in the tournament at Bay Hill? Was Tiger the best putter in the tournament?
No, surprisingly enough – he wasn't even close in either category!
Over the 4 Rounds of Golf:
13 Players had more Greens in Regulation than Tiger Woods. In fact, Cliff Kresege hit 7 more Greens than Tiger. Cliff who?
18 Players had fewer Putts per Round than Tiger Woods. In fact, Frank Lickliter had 8 less putts than Tiger.
37 Players hit their average Drive farther than Tiger Woods. In fact, Bubba Watson averaged 22 yards more distance off the tee than Tiger.
46 Players hit more Fairways than Tiger Woods. In fact, Brian Gay hit 10 more Fairways than Tiger.
So what's the point of these stats? The point is that these Players listed above, along with a bunch of other Players, although not necessarily household names – hit and putted the golf ball better than Tiger. And in fact, Tiger wasn't even in the Top 13 in any of these categories!
And if I had taken a poll asking who was the best ballstriker on the PGA Tour – would anyone leave Tiger out of their Top 5?
How is it possible that Tiger wins as much as he does, when he's not the best ballstriker (or according to the stats, not even in the top 13) or in the top 17 best putters? What's the secret to Tiger Woods? Is there any category that he's ranked #1?
Yes, there's one category that he's always #1 – Scoring Average and Winning. Or as GMS prefers to say -- he's #1 in Cashing Large Checks! How is it possible that Tiger is the best at winning Tournaments, but not close to the best in any of the ballstriking or putting categories? Simply put - there's nobody on this Planet that's better at sticking with his PLAN.
How good are you with sticking to your PLAN? Or do you not even have a PLAN?
What's the first aspect in having a PLAN? Knowing your Strengths and Weaknesses. What's the second aspect of your PLAN? Playing to your Strengths on the golf course and staying away from your Weaknesses. And nobody does this as well as Tiger Woods!
Now I've received emails in the past that have said – "Marc, it doesn't matter how I PLAN if I can't hit the ball where I want to." Well, that's the point of your PLAN. Do you think Tiger intentionally tried to miss 27 Greens at Bay Hill?
Of course not, but because he knows what his Strengths and Weaknesses are, he can PLAN for his misses. He can PLAN that if he misses the green, he won't be in a spot near the green that he'd have to play a shot that's a Weakness. He makes a PLAN to only hit shots that he knows won't get him in trouble if he hits that shot bad.
In essence - he makes a PLAN so that he knows that either he's going to hit a good shot or if he hits a bad shot, it won't end up in a place that he'll have to play a shot he can't execute well. Now obviously, every once in a while, we're all going to hit a horrible shot that no PLAN can help – but this doesn't happen as much to Golfers as they might think it does.
Unless of course - they continually attempt to hit a golf club that they're not skilled enough to hit.
Does Tiger hit a 3-wood on every Par 5 when the only club that could get him to the green would be a 3-wood? No. Why? Because the set-up of the hole might mean that if he doesn't hit his 3-wood well – he possibly could end up playing a Weakness the next shot. So, many times he'll play a Strength for his second shot (possibly a 5-iron) that'll put him position to play another Strength (possibly a wedge). And probably make birdie!
Do You Have Any Weaknesses?
Do you have a club in your bag that you only hit well 50% of the time – yet you still play it on the golf course? Do you think Tiger would ever hit a shot that he hits well only 50% of the time? If you only hit a shot well 50% of the time – I'd consider that a Weakness. And a Weakness shouldn't be played on the golf course unless you enjoy hitting bad golf shots and making double and triple Bogey's.
I don't know a Golfer that scores above 80 that hits their 3-wood off the ground well more than 50% of the time. Yet, I know thousands of Golfers that score above 80 that hit it on every Par 5 and a high percentage of Par 4's because as they say – "I'm trying to get close the green." Yet, 50% of the time you hit it bad. And 99% of those bad shots don't get close to the green!
In fact many of those shots end up closer to the trees and/or water than they do the green!
The reason you should have a PLAN is not for your good shots –- the reason for your PLAN is so that your bad shots won't hurt you as much. What are your Strengths? What are your Weaknesses? Have you ever written them down and then made sure that the next round you play that you didn't hit one shot that was a Weakness?
Sadly, that's not the case for most Golfers. Sadly, most Golfers don't even consider their Weaknesses. And sadly, most Golfers end up with scores that reflect that.
The Monkey continually plays their Weaknesses as they wish that magically, one day they'll find the secret of hitting their 3 wood
The Player avoids their Weaknesses regardless of what the other Golfers in their group are wishing for
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: Boca Raton, California, Florida, Golf, Golf DVD, Golf Instruction, Golf Lessons, Golf Schools, Golf Swing, Golf Travel, Golf Video, Lake Tahoe, Marc Solomon
Wednesday, March 05, 2008
Is Your Golf Swing As Consistent As Tiger Woods' Golf Swing?
Continuing from last week's Golf Improvement Weekly about the length of your drives ….. Tiger Woods only hits a drive over 300 yards 24% of the time. Or in other words - only once in four drives. So if his drives over 300 yards can be considered his best drives – then 3 out of every 4 drives the 'Best Player On The Planet' hits would have to be classified as either average or below average for Tiger.
Yet, if the 85, 95, 105 or 115 Golfer doesn't hit their best drive at least 3 out of every 4 drives – you're disappointed. If Tiger is hitting his best drives only 24% of the time – what percentage of time can you expect to hit your best drives?
Well, to help you answer this question, I've come up with a complex mathematical formula (or if I wanted to sound smart – an algorithm) to give both you and Tiger a Consistency Rating to see if your Expectations match Reality – Let's take the years you've been playing golf, add that to the number of days each week you're on the golf course (playing in front of millions of people and/or playing regular rounds of golf), add that number to the hours each week you're on the practice range, then multiply that by the number of PGA Tour Events you've won.
So Tiger's Consistency Rating would be: 30 (years of playing golf) + 6 (days a week playing on the golf course) + 24 (hours of practice each week) x 63 (PGA Tour wins) = 3,780 (Consistency Rating).
Now it's your turn. Take your time and add it up. You probably won't need a calculator like I needed while figuring out Tiger's rating.
Though, based on what my 9th grade math teacher Mr. McNamara taught me – any number times zero equals zero. So since you haven't won a PGA Tour Event – you can't even compare your game to Tiger's. But, even if we blur the lines of Reality a little and give you 1 PGA Tour win – would it make that much of difference?
Tiger plays a completely different game than you and I play!
And although situated in the gap between the Consistency Rating of you and Tiger there are 720 Players playing on the PGA, LPGA, Nationwide and Senior Tour. Along with thousands of Golfers playing on the smaller Tour's (trying to make the big tour), 24,000 PGA Professionals (like myself) and thousands upon thousands of low single digit Players that could probably give you 9 shots a side and still squash you like a grape – there still are many Golfers that have Expectations that they should hit their best drive at a higher rate than not just all these ten's of thousand's of Players above, but also more consistently than the Best Player On The Planet's current rate of 24% of the time!
Tiger's 'only' hitting his best Drives 24% of the time. So in order for you to start playing to your PLAN and your potential on the golf course – it needs to be time to stop thinking you can hit your best Drive a higher percentage of the time than Tiger does.
Once you can move away from 'Unrealistic Expectations' and embrace 'Reality' to accept that as a 95 Golfer that your average drive maybe 210 yards (85 Golfer - 240 yards; 105 Golfer - 180 yards) – your golf swing, ball-striking and scores will improve. The Golfer with 'Unrealistic Expectations' will never be happy with the progress they're making and will continually start to "Fiddle" with your swing in the middle of every round trying to hit that 250 yard drive that in Reality should 'only' happen 12% of the time.
Though, if you're not happy or disagree that you should hit your best shot 'only' 12% of the time? Let me ask you - if Tiger is hitting his best drives only 24% of the time – do you think you should be able to hit yours the same percentage of time as Tiger? Do you believe that your golf swing is as consistent as Tiger's? Or think about it this way - do you believe that you should hit your best shot once out of every 6 Drives which equates to 17% of the time? If so, then you must believe that Tiger is only 29% more consistent than you.
How much more consistent is Tiger than you?
Can this be determined? I'm not sure – I'm definitely not smart enough to figure something like that out. But, I don't believe that I'd be going out on a limb if I said that Tiger is at least 100% more consistent than you or me. And if that's the case – it puts you at hitting your best drives at 12% of the time. Once out of every 8 drives.
And considering that during an 18 hole round, you most likely are using your Driver on 14 holes – it says that you should 'only' hit one or two great drives a round. And just as importantly, it means that need to accept 11 or 12 average to below average drives per round.
Yet, I've seen Golfers on the golf course complain when every other drive isn't their best drive. And because of these 'Unrealistic Expectations' – your game gets worse and worse every shot – sometimes to the point of such disappointment, that you just don't enjoy golf anymore.
Are you expecting too much from yourself on the golf course. Do you have 'Unrealistic Expectations' on the golf course that's causing you to always 'Fiddle' with your golf swing because you're not hitting your golf ball the best you can on every shot? And before you automatically say – "No that's not me!" – you might want to think about it. Because I can't tell you how many Golfers we see each year that don't have a 'Realistic PLAN' and are making it harder and harder for themselves to improve because of it!
The Monkey gets disappointed and starts to 'Fiddle' with their swing if they don't hit their best drive 50% of the time
The Player understands that the 'Best Player On The Planet' (Tiger Woods), only hits his best shot once out of every 4 Drives
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.
Click here to purchase our new DVD! or call us at 1 (888) 580 - 3635.
Now Available on
Click here to read what people are saying about the new DVD on Amazon.com!
Labels: Florida, Golf, Golf DVD, Golf Instruction, Golf Lessons, Golf Schools, Golf Swing, Golf Travel, Golf Video, Marc Solomon, Video Analysis
Friday, February 29, 2008
Can Your Golf Swing Produce A 300 Yard Drive?
Understanding the true distance you hit the golf ball might be one of the top 5 factors in improving your golf swing. Most Golfers have no idea what distance they hit the golf ball and because of that ….. well, bad things happen.
I can’t tell you how many 90 and 100 Golfers I’ve met that believe they can hit the golf ball 270 to 300 yards. This may come as shock to you, but 270 to 300 yards is a long way! The average drive on the PGA Tour isn’t 300 yards.
Yet, there’s a group of Golfers – a massive group of 90 and 100 Shooters – that believe they can hit the ball 270 to 300 yards. Let me put it bluntly – No You Can’t! If some guys on the PGA Tour can’t hit it 300 yards – you can’t either.
Understanding the ‘true distance’ you hit the golf ball is more important than the ‘bragging distance’ you can hit it. Success on the golf course has more to do with knowing your distances so you can PLAN on the golf course rather than just relying on the distances that you think you can hit the golf ball. It’s about knowing what trouble on the golf course is within reach of your tee shot and which trouble is out of reach.
In addition to the total length you hit the golf ball – I find it possibly even more important to understand how far you carry the golf ball in the air. Because if there’s a fairway bunker at about 225 yards down the fairway and you hit the ball 250 total yards on your tee shot – odds are that you’ll land your golf ball in the bunker.
Or if you hit your tee shots 195 yards and there’s a fairway bunker about 190 yards away from the tee – same thing.
Though, what’s troubling is when a Golfer thinks they hit the golf ball 30, 40, 50 and in some cases 80 yards farther than they actually can. In this case – it’s impossible to PLAN correctly around the golf course.
So why are there so many Golfers that think they hit the golf ball farther than they can?
Take the story of Paul – On the 4th tee, a Par 5 that doglegs (curves) to the right – that’s listed as playing 530 yards from the white tees, Paul hits a pretty good drive down the right-side. Now, as Paul feels good about this ‘better than normal drive’ – he finds a sprinkler head within a few yards of his ball that says 230 yards to the center of the green. He then checks the scorecard to see that the white tees were listed at 530 yards.
"Oh yeah, I hit that drive 300 yards!!"
What Paul failed to notice was that the white tees were playing ‘a little up today’ - meaning that the greens crew moved the white tees from the normal position. So instead of a 530 yard hole – it was a 500 yard hole today. Which you might feel is an unusual occurrence, but I can tell you from working at golf courses for many years – this happens on a daily occurrence as Greenskeepers often find it necessary to ‘rest a tee box’.
Now, you may be saying – "oh, so Paul hit a 270 yard drive, that’s still a big drive." Well, maybe he didn’t even hit it 270 yards - Paul might’ve gotten a few more yards on a technicality because the hole doglegs to the right and hit his ball to the right. I say a technicality because the distances to the green from the sprinkler heads on the right-side of the hole are shorter to the green than the sprinkler heads in the middle of the fairway and the left side of the fairway.
For example – if Paul hit his drive the same exact distance, but it ended up on the left-side of the fairway, he might have a 280 yard shot to the green as opposed to the 230 yards to the green on the right side. Which, if all he did was subtract 280 yards from the 530 yards the white tees are listed at on the scorecard, he would have thought that he'd ‘only’ hit a 250 yard drive.
So even though Paul might’ve hit two drives the same exact distance – he would’ve miscalculated them as being different distances based on which side of the fairway his ball was on.
So in reality, the length of Paul’s better than normal drive was probably 250 yards or half of a football field shorter than his ‘300 yard drive’. And this doesn’t take in consideration if the hole is even slightly downhill, or the ground was a little harder because it hasn’t rained in a week, or if there was a slight breeze helping.
Which brings me to conclude based on my professional opinion that Paul’s best drives are possibly 240 yards, his average drive might be around 210 yards and his bad drives are around 180 yards.
Why is this important for Paul to know? Because now he can realistically PLAN around the golf course. Now he knows that his drives will end up between 180 and 240 yards away from the tee on 9 out of 10 tee shots. Now he can look-out at the golf course to see where the trouble is and PLAN whether that trouble is actually reachable or if he can realistically hit over the trouble. This will allow Paul to hit away from the trouble based on his yardages.
Because if Paul believed that he could hit the ball 300 yards ….. well, maybe that’s one reason why he’s been stuck in the mid 90’s to 100’s for 8 or more years. He probably hasn’t allowed himself to realistically PLAN his way around the golf course.
Do you truly know the yardages of your best, average and worst tee shots? Or do you only know the yardages of your ‘supposed’ best shots?
The Monkey hits one or two ‘supposed’ 300 yard drives and believes they should always hit drives over 280 yards
The Player doesn’t care about 300 yard drives as much as they care about knowing the distances of their best, average and worst drives
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.
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