Posts Tagged ‘golf’

Finding the Right Teacher for Your Game

August 15th, 2009

This article follows up a post I made on Australasia’s excellent golf forum site iseekgolf.com.

Most students of golf looking for tuition have turbulent thoughts in their mind when it comes to finding a teacher. Teaching styles, systems, location, and price are some of the many considerations that have to be addressed before you even approach potential candidates.

Fortunate students will have a number of viable options in their local area. If this is the case do some research, wait and look around at ALL options rather than signing up with the first one you find only to regret it later.

For a more personal and professional service why not try the Golf Pro to Go who will travel with you from range to course anywhere in the world.

Always have an informal chat with prospective teachers to find out if you have compatible personalities and are comfortable in their presence (learning the great game can be frustrating at the best of times!).

Why not ask to have a look at some of the teacher’s other students? and observe their swings and ball striking – I found this invaluable in my quest. It also helps to get an idea of teaching methods and style.

Ask for a trial period of initial lessons to see how your golfing partnership works out in reality. In a trial period check things such as teacher reliability (Are they on time? Do they cancel a lot?), and monitor any progress made.

When you do find the right teacher, get the most of your time with them by trusting them implicitly. To see significant improvements try to spare as much time practicing what you learn in the lessons on the course, at the range, at home, in the office (you get the idea).

Good luck finding the right teacher for you.

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Winning the Battle for Intensity

August 15th, 2009

Improve your game

It is natural for our emotions and feelings to affect the way we play golf. The way in which we prepare for a game can also greatly influence our state of mind as we walk onto the first tee.

At all levels of the game many players, including myself, struggle for a consistent performance throughout a round. From rudimentary analysis of my own game, it is clear that for a period in the middle of nearly every round of golf I hit wayward iron shots, my putting stroke deserts me, and i’m lucky to get more than 150 yards from the tee.

After looking into my own game, and observing others, I may have stumbled onto a theory that seems to explain at least part of the problem, hence this article ‘The Intensity and Lethargy battle’.

Definitions

When talking about the word ‘intensity’ in relation to golf, i’m describing the positive focus and concentration needed to play a good shot. Some may describe it as the state of mind known as ‘a heightened sense of awareness’.

‘Lethargy,’ on the other hand, is the way in which our mind relaxes its focus and concentration on a task. It can be a negative force if is happening before or during a swing, and can result in bad shots (hooks, slices, mis-hits etc), or at best inconsistent yardage and direction.

Every day example

Throughout our daily lives a certain degree of intensity is required to perform basic tasks; walking down stairs, even though we have done it many times, requires us to have enough awareness and skill not to fall.

In a golf swing, no matter how many times we ‘groove’ it into muscle memory by practicing on the range and course, without a higher degree of awareness to accompany our skill, the results we achieve are not going to be consistent.
Professional golfers

In professional golf it is clear how certain players react to and control the two states of mind. Tiger Woods and Nick Faldo (in his prime) are good examples of how a controlled intensity can shut out external distractions and focus on winning a tournament shot by shot.

The method chosen by these two golfers is to block lethargy from their games by alienating everything and everyone (apart from their caddy) from the round. This focus has been mistaken for a bad attitude by playing partners, media, and the public.

Phil Mickelson is a player who takes a different approach to finding his intensity on the course. His method appears to include periods of light-hearted fun (lethargy) with crowds, playing partners and his caddy that offset his intensity when he takes his stance to play a shot. His mind is able to turn a higher concentration level on and off as and when required.

Identifying periods of lethargy

A round of golf consisting of 18 holes can take four or more hours to complete; asking our mind to sustain a high level of focus and concentrate for this amount of time is a near impossibility for a player of any skill level.

If we can identify periods when our state of mind is lethargic, it becomes easier to rectify before we take a swing and in doing so improve our concentration, ball-striking ability, and score.

Energy levels can be a crucial factor in maintaining our focus at the right time. Carrying food such as a banana or an energy drink to give us a boost at the right time can prove invaluable.

A balancing act

If we are to play our best golf, the two opposing states of mind must be managed in a kind of balancing act. As I have already described, Phil Mickelson can manage his intensity with the flick of a switch turning it off between shots and on when playing. Tiger Woods and Nick Faldo have the extraordinary ability to keep the intensity for a whole round.

How you are able to balance the two states of mind will greatly affect your game. Most golfers fall into the category of trying to focus only after taking a stance and during the swing. If lethargy creeps in between your shots remember that this is natural and it’s the way your mind balances out all the time you have been concentrating.

Trying too hard to find your level of intensity also increases the chance of failing to find it, try to find a natural balance, if it doesn’t come to you immediately (like everything in golf) it will take some practice. Practicing and exploring your different levels of intensity and lethargy can be done while hitting balls on the range or while on the putting green (I find the putting green before a round ideal).

Incentives

Money and competition have always been used as a way to create an intensity on the course since golf’s inception and provide golfers with that little extra incentive to play at the best level.

Gambling is part of the game; even if you don’t have a wager on the outcome of a game, by believing you are playing for money or that the next putt is for the title may help you gain the intensity required in lethargic moments.

Concluding thoughts

Remember to be aware of your state of mind during your next round, and try to build up the intensity and positive focus it takes to make every shot your very best. If you have lethargic feelings or thoughts while on the course, acknowledge them and replace them with a positive intensity for the next shot.

Golf is a game for enjoying, so enjoy it! I wrote this article to help golfers be more aware of some aspects of the game they might not have previously considered. Please don’t fall into the trap of trying too hard to analyse the article or your abilities, take it on board and move on.

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Blending Reality with Practice

August 15th, 2009

Quality time at the driving range

Most golfers find driving range practice an essential part of their golf game, after all it is a great way to hone skills and commit those swing changes into muscle memory.

On the flipside; if swings are not carefully monitored by instructors on the driving range (particularly early on in a golfer’s development) all that practice can be counter-productive and bad habits are all the more difficult to relinquish.

One area of the game that many amateur golfer’s (including myself) have trouble understanding is the relationship between having a good ‘range game’ and being able to transfer the practice to the golf course.

‘But I was striking the ball so well on the range.’ On numerous occasions, after hacking around a course, I have heard a confused golfer attempting to analyse and come to terms with a poor performance by relating it back to how well the practice had been at the driving range.

This article has been written to help amateur golfer’s practice time become more productive. I believe that understanding the differences is an important part of a golfer’s development.

Even Tiger Woods has coined the phrase ‘Rick Range’ for a golfer’s proficiency in practice and subsequent lack of skill in transferring it to the course.
Practice facilities

Unfortunately, most driving range facilities are not as good as they first appear at emulating the natural conditions that we encounter while out on a golf course. One of the main discrepancies we commonly encounter is the synthetic grass mats.

The mats are designed to enable a perfect flat lie every time and to also afford the player more leeway for errors when striking a ball.

Having an endless supply of balls is also a factor when we look at the differences between course reality and the driving range. It might take a player ten practice balls to hit the perfect 5-iron; in reality it is only the first shot that would have counted. By having so many balls available, the focus and concentration of a player is likely to diminish.

An addictive and unhealthy obsession with long distance is also a common theme we encounter in the practice bays all over the world. I see many players hitting driver after driver trying to get an extra few yards. Hitting the 300 yard mark can be good fun and may impress your mates, but in reality (for an amateur) reaching 300 or 250 really isn’t going to make that much difference to scores.

Putting and chipping greens also hold some reality differences. The natural tendencies of golfer’s to have a huge bag of balls and putt or chip from the same spot to the same spot in an attempt to get a nice cluster around the hole can be a counter-productive exercise as it does not mimic any situation on found when out on the course.

Making changes to your practice routine

The common statement that ‘People are creatures of habit’ can be applied to the way we practice golf. Changing routines can be disruptive in daily life and in golf, but it can also bring a calming influence as we are able to look from an outside perspective at a routine that previously we may have followed blindly.

Rather than changing our tried and trusted practice methods, I would suggest that golfer’s add some exercises to their normal regime as a way to bring the range closer to the real situations we find on a golf course.

Alternative training exercises

As a balance to the problems with synthetic grass mats, try to vary the surface by finding substitutes that emulate a course. For example, you could use: a patch of hard mud, sloping grass, or even use the rubber mat that you stand on (my teacher suggested that one).

To address the problem of having an unrealistic amount of balls to get a shot right, the trick is to have the intention of making every one count by focusing on every strike by selecting targets and distances. Quality over quantity is a bit of cliche, but it really does matter in this game.

The one exercise I have found most useful is to use your imagination to play out a round at the next course you are visiting. To aid your imagination in picturing a course, you could use a scorecard with a map of the holes on it. Play the shots that are appropriate for the course layout, matching club selection, distances, hazards as best you can. This really is a good way to prepare for a round, give it a try.

Emulate putting and chipping in real life by using only one ball. Simply chip onto the green then putt out, vary the exercise by chipping from different lies and distances. If you are only working on your putting skills then keep with one ball method; take a putt and if you miss, go and finish it off.

Create new drills and modify these exercises to suit your needs with real scenarios in mind, and I am sure the benefits will show on the course.

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Enjoying the Good and the Bad Shots

August 15th, 2009

Positive and Negative Forces

Ask yourself the question ‘Why do I play golf?’ Out of the many possible answers you may have chosen ‘to have fun and to relax’ may be somewhere close to the top of your list.

Now we all enjoy striking the ball on the centre of the face and feeling the compression on the ball as it soars into the sky and split the fairway, or nailing a long putt for birdie.

But what about the ‘unintentional’ hooked, sliced, toped, and shanked drives and approaches or the missed 2 foot putt, ‘do you enjoy those shots too?’

Whether you class yourself as a good or bad golfer, the simple fact is sooner or later you will hit a bad shot. By analyzing my own reactions to a bad shot compared to a good shot on the course (and at the driving range) it isn’t too hard to picture the results.

Each perceived positive (good shot) and negative (bad shot) event can have an immediate affect on your next shot or a more lasting effect on the rest of your round and even linger on into future rounds of golf.

Simplified, the mental affect of playing a bad shot can result in a ‘negative cloud’ or ‘red mist’ that descends upon me forcing me to try to make up for the ‘lost’ shot by attempting a risky or ill-conceived recovery.

Other affects can include a self-doubt and lack of confidence in your swing giving rise to many thoughts about correction techniques and adjustments. While these adjustments are sometimes necessary it can often distract a golfer from the primary focus of simply hitting the ball.

The physical affect of playing a bad shot may include a tightening or tensing of the muscles that can increase the tempo and fluidity of the next swing, rather than the relaxed feeling and natural tempo required to play a good shot.

Through a combination of negative mental and physical affects bad shots can become somewhat of a habit.

When we hit a good shot it can sometimes feel like we are on top of the world and is a pleasure we wish to repeat all too eagerly on occasion. For amateur golfers it is a reason to continue practising and learning the game as the positive sensation is all too easily lost on the next shot.

My suggestion to all golfers is to try to enjoy our bad shots more, difficult I know, but the benefits to our game, score, and enjoyment of the game are boundless.

When a bad shot occurs try to find a beneficial or humorous side to it, for an extreme example; a friend of mine recently topped his tee shot 30 yards into a body of water and turned to face the on-looking caddies and playing partners calmly saying ‘plop’ just as the ball mimicked his word. Creating a positive situation from a seemingly negative one released tension and laughter in all present, not only in himself.

When you hit a good shot that creates a positive affect on our mind and body a conscious attempt should be made to recognize and prolong the feeling into the following shots.

In my game and in my mind the benefits of such an attitude towards a round of golf or a practice session our invaluable not only to achieve a better score and a greater personal enjoyment, but can also turn an angry frustrated golfer into someone you would like to join on a round rather than someone you (and the caddies) may choose to avoid.

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