A few years back, I got an email from one of my golf newsletter subscriptions talking about this fellow named Tracy Reed.  The following day several others also sent me emails talking about the same person who had developed this phenomenal approach to the golf swing.  Since I now had recommendations from several sources I decided to check it out more thoroughly.  Boy am I glad that I did.

The introductory video that I watched had an interesting feature to it that I had never seen or heard about.  Tracy gives a thorough explanation of  the value of balance in the golf swing and what he says makes a tremendous amount of sense.   Before I heard Tracy’s ideas my standard approach to the golf swing was a rushed address and a hasty swing which was rarely a deliberate setup  with an in balance stance.

After viewing this small piece of information I went out to the course to give it a try.  As someone who rarely broke 90, my swing was inconsistent, my setup routine was non-existent and my drives and fairway irons rarely went as far as they should have.  The balance aspect was the root cause of most of my problems.  In a word, I was “SWAYING.”

I would move over onto my right side in my back-swing, usually too far.  Then struggle on the downswing to get back to center to hit the ball, much less have any sort of weight transfer to my left foot for a proper finish.  On top of that my timing was poor and my wrist cock was expended before the club had even passed 9 oclock on the downswing.

Tracy’s simple counsel was to start with a balanced stance, that you settle into so that you truly feel balanced.  Then tilt your upper body slightly toward your right or non target side.  In other words instead of moving there in your back-swing you start out there.   This puts you in a position to take an efficient back-swing without moving your weight outside of your back foot enabling you to focus on transferring your weight onto your front side.

There is no magic or hocus/pocus here, when you start your swing in balance and stay within the parameters of the balls of your feet the weight transfer occurs naturally. The consequence is that you are able to deliver maximum power to the ball.  The results are immediate, your swing improves immensely.  The timing takes place naturally and your body co-operates by spending  it’s energy swinging through the golf ball instead of trying to regain your lost balance.

If you add to this a good setup routine in which you insure a correct grip, insure that correct muscles are engaged (every time you address the ball) and a short mental/visual check-list (where do you plan to land).  You will have given your self a chance at curing the most common complaint that golfers have.  Which is: Golf Consistency!

That is what I discovered.  Those two simple video’s on Tracy’s site showed me how to setup in balance, how to swing in balance and finish with my weight transferred to my target side foot.  The swing became repeatable because the steps to get into balance were repeated every time and this made the results predictable.  I did not have to change my grip, or change my swing or add anything new.  I simply learned how to setup in balance and stay there through-out the swing.

Tracy  spent 20 years developing and refining his technique to come out with Golf Swing Control .  The issue of staying in balance is the beginning of building a consistent golf game, once that is mastered the game becomes much more exciting as you can now focus on mastering the ability to draw or fade the ball at will.  When you have learned to craft your shots you can then move on to learning how to control your golf focus to get even more consistency into your golf game.

You can opt in to see the two video’s that I mentioned at http://ultimategolfsystem.com I won’t make any outrageous claims as to decreased strokes for your game, for each golfer it will be different.  I can tell you however,  that  having a predictable golf swing is priceless.

Technorati Tags: consistent golf game, Golf Consistency, Golf Swing Control, Tracy Reed

garmin-approach-s1-gps-golf-watch

Garmin has finally seen the light with this wrist watch. The Garmin Approach S1 GPS Golf Watch gives you all the essential information you need to make the correct club selection without the hassle of fumbling for a separate device.

Why?

Because the device is attached to you in the form of a wrist watch. What a great idea. Glance down at your wrist period, no fumbling through your golf bag for the laser finder, no running back to the cart to check the GPS (If the course has one).

Duh, where have I been? I love to play golf and it is a lot of fun to play new courses. It is especially enjoyable when the new (for you) course you are playing has GPS in their carts so you will have some clue about distances. Over the years I have played around with many different range finding devices, from the simple $10 telescope with a line on the top of the inner glass to a fancy program for my palm pilot.  I discovered with the palm  that I needed my reading glasses to make use of the program. This became so much of a distraction that I stopped carrying it after the third round.

I never had the urge to buy the laser binoculars as one of the guys in my normal foursome already has a pair.   I find it interesting to watch as I am standing next to a marked sprinkler head and watch as my partner struggles to hold the binoculars steady to get a reading and then tells me a couple of yards more than the head indicates. The bottom line is that all you need is a fair approximation of the distances.  Assuming you have done your work on the range and know the distances that each of your clubs will carry then you will know which club to choose.

The Garmin Approach S1 GPS Golf Watch has three modes besides telling you the time.  It will keep track of the total distance (odometer) that you have walked on the entire course.  It will track the distance of your individual shots,  so you can set it after you take your shot, walk to your ball and get the distance.  Finally, it will give you a distance to the pin so you can make the best choice of an approach club.  For your local course you probably already know that, but for an unfamiliar course this can be highly useful.  (My first round on an unfamiliar course usually adds 4-6  strokes due to miscalculations)

If you are looking for a full-blown GPS lay-out with maps to the hazards, you will probably not like this device.  It does not yield this kind of information. But if simple distance and convenience is important then this is the best choice I have seen.  No more digging in your bag for the glasses or laser finder, no trips the cart to check the map (especially on a “cart path only” course).  It comes with 14,000 courses pre-loaded, with more being added, so your course is probably already there.  Plus you will not have any software subscriptions or extra fiddling.  The only serious complaint that I have heard is the charge time, apparently it is only good for a single round before it needs to be recharged.  (36 hole days are rare for me so this will not be a problem).

You can see the approach watch at the Hole in One site

Technorati Tags: Garmin Approach S1 GPS Golf Watch, golf range finder, GPS for golf

Online golf lessons are becoming increasingly more prevalent. In just a few short years you are now able to go to the internet and search on Youtube for almost any aspect of your golf game. You will find after a bit of searching a little snippet of video that will begin to address some of your concerns.   I say begin, because 2 minutes is hardly enough to satisfy you when you have just spent 4 hours  of misery on the golf course trying to figure out what went wrong with your swing.

When you take lessons from a professional you typically show up in your golf attire with your bag in tow.  He comes out and begins to speak, he will then demonstrate his desired result and then turn it over to you to attempt to duplicate. Since this is a hands on training, you will probably not whip out your notepad to take notes.

You may or may not be able to copy his swing pattern and accomplish the required motion.  Forty-five minutes later the lesson is finished and you are “fixed” with new technique.  For this you paid at least $50 if the professional is worth his salt.  I know, you bought the package for $300 and you get a two day intensive or a 10 lesson series.  Rarely do they send you home with the “Cliff notes” that you can refer to when you are having challenges later on.

What do you do two months later when the exact motions begin to fade and you have reverted to your old patterns?

Today you are able to purchase DVD’s that will address the specific areas of golf that  challenge you.  Not only are you able to own a DVD with the lesson but several of the available coaches also offer forums and live webinars that enable you to ask questions directly.

Bobby Eldrige and Purepoint golf offer both of these things.  You are able to select from a series of online golf lessons that deal with several different aspects of the game. Whether it is the driver, the long irons or closer to the pin with your wedges, there is a training DVD available to address that specific area of your game.  The sweet thing about owning the DVD is the ability to go back and review a year or two later if any problems crop up.  Not only that the DVD’s are often priced at less than the cost of a single lesson.

You may want to simply brush up on your skills or find some warm up exercises.  The Apprentice club may be just what you are looking for.  For $1 you can sample a month’s worth of the great training tips, short training videos (downloadable) with a private forum and monthly training webinars.  A major key to improving your game is knowing your statistics, the “apprentice club” gives you a series of tools to track your game and chart your improvement as the weeks go by.

Each month there is a different focus, from putting to the driver, all aspects are covered over the course of a year. This is a great investment, for $14.97 a month you will receive a complete golfing education.  Online golf lessons on demand for your total golf game, you can tune in on your own schedule and work on any aspect you need to focus on.  If you are serious about improving your game it deserves a look; it worked for me.  The Apprentice Club

Technorati Tags: online golf lessons

This Rock sits on the left side of hole #7 Tee Box at Evergreen GC.   The arrows point at 2 Rock Badgers who sit and watch as golfers tee off.  They live in the cave beneath the rock.

I read today that 70% of all golf shots take place from 100 yards in to the pin.  The article went on to say that the pros spend 80 to 90% of their time practicing in this area of their game.  Having a long game that will get you to the green in few shots is great, but you don’t have to be long in order to score well.  Here are some golf short game tips that will help you to become lethal around the green.

In his book the “Short Game Bible” Dave Pelz talks about how he spent years collecting data on pro golfers and their shots.  He discovered that they were very good at selecting the right club and swing for their distance into the green but the landing pattern was often a spray to the left or to the right. In other words their distance was usually very accurate, while their direction was not always what they were hoping to accomplish.  For us non professional golfers, I suspect that generally this would be true as well.

So this means that once we know the distances that a given club will fly, our next task is to get extremely accurate.  The first obvious task is to build a repeatable method of aiming.  The best way I know is the “intermediate target”; pick out a spot directly in front of your ball, imagine the ball flying over this spot on its way to the hole.  You would select the spot when standing behind the ball but make sure that you can see it when you align yourself for the shot. As you go through your set-up routine you should insure that your club face, shoulders and hips are aimed directly over this spot.  This should be an automatic part of your set-up routine.

Next is your attitude, the professionals generally consider anything from 120 yards in as a make-able shot.  Think about it, do you see the ball going into the cup when you are 80 to a 100 yards away?  I call it a “Hole in One Mentality”.  It may sound like voodoo, but I assure you, your body will cooperate in helping you to make the best possible swing to achieve this goal when you incorporate it into your thoughts.  You do this on the green, so why not use it from 120 yards in.

The next aspect of scoring well around the green is what is referred to as “touch”.  Touch is the ability to get close to the hole, leaving yourself with a make-able putt.  Touch can be developed with practice. Use a three club system at the practice facility and learn how far a chip will go with a 7, 8,9 or any combination of wedges. Learn your distances in correlation to your back-swing. If my ball is considered 6 o’clock and I swing back to 8 o’clock; how far does it travel?  Now learn those same distances for a 9 o’clock swing and an 11 o’clock swing. When you arrive near the green armed with this knowledge you will perform with touch.

As a long time student of the game I have read my fair share of theory and articles on golf. A few years ago I picked up the Purepoint Golf Short-Game DVD.  Bobby Eldridge finally helped me to develop a repeatable swing for my short game.  His series has now expanded to include  Pitching and Bunker-shot DVD’s as well as written PDF’s so you can study in a variety of ways.  For less than the cost of a single lesson from a Professional you can add a terrific resource to your library. It is currently on sale for the next few days as a bundle package but that will not last for long.  It deserves a serious evaluation and I might add Bobby has a guarantee that is unlike any I have ever seen.  See for yourself.

Hit them Straight and Seldom

Michael Brown

Technorati Tags: golf lessons dvd, golf setup routine, Golf Short Game Tips

When I started playing golf and got bitten by the golf bug, I was not that good.  It took a long time to master the technique of getting off of the tee box without embarrassing myself.  In self defense for my lack of a long game I focused on my short game and now I am fairly good at getting up and down in regulation.  Here are five short game tips that I picked up over the years that have served me very well.

• Always Keep Your Weight on Your Target Side Foot.

Whether you are pitching or chipping  you need to insure that you will hit cleanly through the ball so keep your weight on  your target side foot.  I have heard estimates of anywhere from 60 to 90 percent, I don’t know how much nor could I even tell how much while I am doing it but keeping my weight forward toward the target insures that I will make crisp contact with the ball before I hit the ground.  Whether I am pitching from 60 or 80 out or chipping from 20 yards that part of my stance is the same.

• Lead With Your Hands

When you set up to the ball make sure that your hands lead the club through the ball as you strike it.  By leading with the hands I am making sure that there is no independent wrist action to interfere with my swing. (Don’t be scooper!)  It also makes me depend on the length of my back swing for my distance.   These days most golfers carry at least 3 wedges,  I carry 4  (No 3 or 4 irons for me) I have taken the time to learn my full swing distance with all of them.   I also know approximately how far it will go with a 11 o’clock,   9 o’clock and 7 o’clock swing. (See Judging Distances) Now the only thing remaining is the shape of my shot do I want it to release and roll? Use a lower lofted club.  Do I want it to land and stop?  Use a higher lofted club.

• For Short Chips Use a Putting Stroke

So you are in the fringe; your putter cannot make clean contact with the ball.  What do you do?  Treat it like a putt.  Read the green, look for the break, do all the things you would do if it were a putt.  Now select the club which will get you to the hole, it may be a 7 iron if you have a long putt, it could be a wedge for a shorter putt or a downhill lie.   Now use a putting stoke to make contact with the ball, straight back and straight through.  Remember you are going for the hole, when you treat it like a putt and stroke the ball with the same care you would take for a putt you will be amazed at how many chips you make.

• Sand is My Friend!

In a lot of cases, on a lot of golf courses the green-side sand traps are there to challenge you.  In some cases they are a much better alternative to the other obstacles nearby.  Wouldn’t you rather hit out of the sand than the lake next to it?  Make a decision today… from now on:  “Sand is my friend!”  There, now that we have cleared the psychological issues, remember;  sand shots are always full swing shots.  Half swings will get you half way out of the trap.  Make sure that the ball is slightly forward of the center of your stance.

Why?

Your club must go through the sand to launch your ball, it is at its lowest point of arc at the center of your stance, it will enter the sand slightly behind the center of the stance, it will come out slightly ahead of the center of your stance, carrying your ball with it cushioned by a nice layer of sand.  Knowing this, you will always get out of the sand in one stroke as long as you take a full stroke.   The bigger question is how far will it go and how do you tell.  Glad you asked, for a shorter shot open the face of the club and as you open the face open your stance (Move your target foot back and face the target more with your body, open the face of your club aiming the toe of the club farther to the right).  For a longer shot stay straight and keep the club face perpendicular to the target as in a normal shot.   The sand wedge should be your normal sand club , but when you are really close use your 60 degree lob wedge.  You can take a full swing with an open faced lob wedge and only travel 5 feet if you want.  Remember, “Sand is My Friend”

• Accelerate Through the Ball

It happens to us all, we are in the rough but close to the pin, we know that we need to swing hard enough to get the club to the ball through the grass but that we might catch it thin and skull it across the green.  Oh how many times have I seen this happen or done it myself.  Midway through the swing the brakes go on and we slow the swing down.  The result? A dismal little phuttui, the ball rolls over the descending club and goes nowhere.   Put your weight on the target side foot, take a couple of good practice swings to get a feel for the grass, open the club-face if it has to be  really short (If you open your club face you should open your stance as well)  then make your normal swing and keep accelerating through the ball.  Yes, you will get an occasional flier, but more often you will have a great shot.

Several of the tips I have mentioned are fully explained by
Bobby Eldridge on his Short Game DVD   Golf Training Video

Thanks, Michael Brown

Technorati Tags: Golf Short Game

Of all the aspects of the game of golf the mental side of golf is surely the quirkiest one.  Golf is a social sport and form of recreation.  When we play the game by ourselves we have only our own thoughts to listen to and think about.  When we play with others that whole scene changes and now we have three other sets of voices to contend with as we try to focus on the task at hand.  Of course there are the other golfers on the course as well, that slow foursome in front of you can be a source of irritation and a distraction as well.

I have been fascinated to watch over the years as a simple comment or out of place remark can lead to some very poor results; not only for your self but for others in the group as well.  When I show up at the course to play as a single I will get put into the company of the next available threesome; usually with a group of people whom I have never met.  This can make for some interesting groupings, as sometimes the group that I am joining is very experienced, and sometimes just the opposite.  Playing with raw beginner brings a whole new set of challenges to your game, at least for me.  I will find myself wanting to give the fellow a pointer or two; while knowing that lessons belong on the driving range,  it is tough to keep my mouth closed.

My home course is a mountain course with lots of terrain and tree challenges.  Sometimes I find myself in the position of a tour guide; “Just aim at that flag on the top of that hill, it is only a directional flag, it is not the hole.” So the day continues as I comment on the hole coming up and make a few cautionary remarks about the narrow fairway, lay-up areas, and best club selection.  This is where I began to make my discovery, what I say can seriously affect the mental side of “others” shots.

With all the challenges presented by my course I need to be extremely careful when I describe them.  The second hole has a  narrow opening up the hill between two serious clumps of trees. There is a directional flag at the top of the hill which is actually placed a little too far to the left. If your drive goes anywhere to the left of the directional flag there is a tree on the other side of the hill which will block the approach to the green.  If I tell them “Don’t go to the left of the flag,” I have focused their attention on that instead of going to the right.  Over the years I have learned to be very careful with my descriptions so that I focus the listener on the proper action and not the negative consequence.

8th Hole At Raven GC Silverthorne

Another area where we affect others, is our attitude toward a certain hole that might have been giving us challenges.  Comments like: “I always”,  “This hole gives me fits “,  and “I knew that would happen!” will give the listener a negative image.  This happens even when the others have never played that particular hole.  We are told to remain quiet while the other golfer is making his shot, but often our remarks prior to the shot can have an effect on the outcome.

The last area deals with anger, obviously throwing a club is not considered good etiquette. However smaller demonstrations of anger as in cursing a bad shot, dropping a club or making loud noises can affect the play of others.  Think about this mental side of golf the next time you play.  Hit them straight and seldom.

Technorati Tags: golf mental training, mental golf, the mental side of golf

Did you ever have one of those magical golf days when you found the zone and your mental game of golf was totally dialed in? Those times when your putter is so hot, that you can’t miss from anywhere on the green, and the game of golf has gone on auto-pilot for you? What is the difference between that day and the days that every shot is a struggle?  Why is it possible to go out one day, put on a clinic of amazing golf shots, to return the following day and stand over the ball asking yourself what do I do next?

I have certainly had my share of those magical moments and poor golf days.  As I seek to improve my golf game I am discovering that the mental game of golf is just as important as the physical game. My buddy says “It depends on who shows up to the course that day,” and I think he is right.  The person who shows up needs to be focused on his game with total awareness of what he is going to do for each shot, without trying to force anything to happen.

The first obvious part to the mental game of golf is to leave the cares of daily life in the car.  I would even be so brazen as to suggest that the cell phone should stay there as well, (your mileage may vary) a ringing cell phone is a huge annoyance not only for you but for others. The bottom line is that you need to be able to totally focus on your game without being distracted.

Our golf swing can occur in less that 1.5 seconds and that gives us absolutely no time to think about what we should do or be doing during the swing itself.  I am sure that you have discovered that a random thought during the swing is a formula for disaster.  The mental side of golf means then that our decisions about what to do are already set before the golf swing occurs.  The time for making decisions is in your setup routine.

In your setup routine, you want to be visualizing the shot, deciding where it will land to set yourself up for your next shot. This is the critical point, the mental picture that you put together must be couched in positive terms. You see the shot completing exactly the way you want it with out any negatives. You must focus on a totally positive outcome. The trees, the lake, the sand trap or other obstacle need to be ignored in your mental picture. Conversely a picture like “DON’T hit it into the water” will put you in the lake every time.

Once you have made your club selection and start your setup, your thinking process needs to get out of the way.  From this point on it becomes a matter of performance, your body is now in charge of the activity.  This is the critical place where you let go and trust that your muscles, sense of feel and prior training will take over.

Golf mental training is being able to get your brain out of the way and turn your swing over to total trust in your body to actually perform.  You can learn to do this by incorporating it into your setup.  When you are approaching your ball and deciding where the next shot will be going, add that image of yourself making your best golf swing.  After this you can go through your routine knowing that your body now has that image and you no longer need to worry about it.  Try it, it works.

Technorati Tags: golf mental game, golf mental training, mental game of golf

525 Yard Par 4 at Raven, Yep Par 4

A few years back I got one of the greatest short game tips from Dave Pelz. His book the “Short Game Bible” is the classic for golf short game instruction. Dave and almost every “professional” in the world recommends that we know our distance to the flag. This is important so that we can know which club to select and how long to make our back swing to get to the pin. As you watch the professional golfers you will notice that ideally they want to put themselves in a position where they can come into the green with a full swing of the club. The reality is that as weekend warriors we seldom achieve that ideal.

Often we are faced with situations where that full swing will get us in big trouble even with a super high lofted club. This is where short game practice is critically important if we want to improve our short game. On most driving ranges there is a short game practice area, that is marked with some of the distances to the pin. Those distances are usually from the practice tee to the practice green, but what about when you practice from 40 yards out or 25 or you name it. Typically these distances are not marked. The reason you need to know these distances is so that you can develop repeatable short swings with different clubs to give yourself an arsenal of strokes for your memory banks to repeat.

When I first heard this idea, I literally took a 100 foot tape measure out to the course on a very slow day so that I could measure the distance to the pin and see what it looked like. After a few holes I was able to tell when I was 50 yards out or what ever yardage in round terms. You can do the same at a practice facility so that you will begin to know what 100, 75, 50, 25, 15 yards look like. Very quickly you will get correct the feel for your short distances.

Study and Learn Your Distances

Now that you have the feel for it, you need to develop a swing to match your judging distance. Most of the “professionals” will teach some variation of this method. Basically it is this. For each of the wedges you carry and even your 7,8,9 do you know how far they will travel with a quarter or a half or three quarter swing? This is something you might have to take a while to find out but when you know it, the information is very valuable to you.

Armed with the knowledge of how far a ball will travel you can begin making some good decisions when you are close to the green. More in a moment, but first a couple of caveats.

You will find all kinds of opinion on alignment.  Arnold Palmer said to stand open, others will say straight. The open alignment is probably better to keep your body from blocking the shot.  Next, most of the “professionals” agree that for short shots the hands should lead the club-face. This means that you set up with the ball closer to the back of your stance and you hands will be in front of your target-side leg.  (left leg for the right-handed)  With your weight favoring your target side you will then hit through the ball and finish high for the typical pitch shot. This setup will also tend to de-loft the club meaning that the angle of the face (being more upright) will now act like the next lower club number which means more distance.

Now. Imagine you are a clock! Okay?

Your head is 12:00, Your feet are 6:00 your target side is 1-5 and your back swing side is 7-11. What you want to know is; how far does a 7:30-8:00 o’clock swing travel for each of your wedges ( I carry 4) . Next, the same information for a 9 o’clock swing. Finally, the same information for an 11:00 o’clock swing. You will discover that some of the different wedges will travel the same distance for different swings but once you are finished you have 12 to 16 shots in your bag that you are confident to make and you know the distances each will go. For those shots that go the same distance there will be a big difference in loft.

Build Your Arsenal

For instance a 60 degree lob wedge may travel 25 yards with an 11:00 o’clock swing, while a 48 degree pitching wedge may travel the same distance with an 8:00 o’clock swing. However, the difference of course is loft which gets the lob over the bunker to a close pin and stops versus the pitching wedge which will roll 10 feet after it lands on the green.

When you are armed with all these shots in your golf bag your short game gets to a new level in a hurry. The great thing is that you only really have to learn 3 repeatable swings to have 16 in your arsenal.

Hit them straight and seldom!

Bobby Eldrige put out his Pitching and Chipping video a few years back. I have used it to dramatically improve my short game it is the same system that I have described above.

Visit his page at Purepoint.com

Technorati Tags: golf short game instruction, golf short game practice, Golf Short Game Tips

Golf training is a never ending pursuit for the golfer who has been bitten by the allure of golf.  As golfers there is always something more to learn and improve upon.  When you spend time on the range you find yourself wondering what this or that shot would look like on the course. When you are on the course you only get one chance to make your best golf swing for that particular hole.  The goal is to find a way to take your best golf swing onto the course every time you go.The Ultimate Golf Society may be the answer  for you.

As you think about your round of golf coming up tomorrow.  What are you planning for tonight? Do you know you can go online and get all your questions answered ?  Do you have a routine for when you arrive at the course?   If you are like me, you like to arrive at least an hour early and hit some balls to warm up. Then head for the practice green and get a feel for the speed and break of your putts.   If there is time, you go over to the practice chipping green and work on your short chips as well.  With any luck you will be able to demonstrate your best golf swing on the tee box.

This game has so many aspects to it.  On the tee box you want to hit the ball as far as you can;  then you get to the green and try to slow your shot from  deep rough to a close pin. Of course the putting green can be a whole different story.  I played last year for the first time on “rolled greens”, after the morning cut they bring in a heavy roller and mash the grain down.  Wow, if you hit the ball too firm and miss you are easily 12 feet beyond. If you gently tap it the ball literally moves like a snake back and forth.   I felt lucky to get away with a two putt on most of those holes and three was my average.

Score Card From Lakota Canyon Colorado; Yes those are real piles of rock along the right hand side

One of the joys of golf is getting to play different courses. Each course is unique and each will have some things that are deliberately designed to frustrate the casual golfer.   So, how do you maintain your handicap when you go to these different courses for a one time experience?   In most cases you are not quite sure of what to expect.

Having sound fundamental skills is essential to enjoying the game.   When you get into trouble, the ability to recover critical.

That's me in the sand, 100 yards out at Bear Dance

I know the professionals play a different course every week,  but you and I  probably play a different course 5 to10 times a year with most of our time spent on our home course.

Tracy Reed spent over 20 years analyzing the golf swing.  He put together Golf Swing Control and released it as a book to selected few.   A client convinced him to put together a golf training video, which was released in 2008.   (That video completely turned my game around)  On his Blog he has an 18 minute slow motion critique of Tiger Woods golf swing; which is the best explanation of the complete process of a golf swing you will ever see.  Last October he put together The Ultimate Golf Society to make sure that as golfers, we are prepared for what ever a golf course can throw at us. This website features discussions and training on all aspects of the golf game.

This is a membership website, a 21 day trial is available for a buck and then it will cost you  a monthly fee.  You will get access to Tracy Reed live in a monthly training call, access to videos on all aspects of the game, short game, putting training, a member forum and much much more.  For a buck it is well worth the visit.   With help for all aspects of your golf game available 24/7.

The Ultimate Golf Society

The Bullets below are just a sampling of what you will find:

• Putting and Chipping
• Long Game
• Mental Game
  
• Golf and Business
• Monthly Coaching  Call
• Golf Humor
• Member Questions
• Featured Resources
• Discussion Forum
• Member Profile
  

The Ultimate Golf Society

Technorati Tags: golf setup routine, Tracy Reed, Ultimate Golf Society

The video above is available on “Youtube”, there is an even better analysis done by Tracy Reed on the Ultimate Golf Blog. On this video (Not available on youtube) Tracy takes 18 minutes to dissect one swing in minute detail. As you watch you see the things that Tiger is instinctively doing. This is not your average weekend golfer swing, rather it is the product of years of practice. The fundamental of it all is the balance that he demonstrates through out the swing.

During the whole swing Tiger is staying centered over the ball as he turns into his back-swing, his shoulders and upper body turn, but they never change in relation to the ball. As you watch and listen you see his uncanny ability to use his legs, upper body and hands to deliver maximum power to the ball. I couldn’t possibly do justice to the already fine analysis that Tracy does. I will say that 2 years ago I ponied up the $187 or what ever he was charging for the “Ultimate Golf Swing”. Your mileage may vary but it was one of the best investments I ever made. Here is the link.

While you are there, take a look at the two other analyses of Sergio Garcia and another student.  Notice the importance of the finish in the golf swing.  Where you end up with your chest, shoulders and even your back foot can be good indicators of what parts of your swing you should be concentrating upon.  This is great information to have as it gives you the ability to look at your own swing and see where you can improve.

Once again here is the link: UltimateGolfBlog

Technorati Tags: Golf Swing Control, Tiger Woods Golf Swing

If you have any questions regarding the content in this website, about the products that are mentioned, or just any questions at all don’t hesitate to contact me at the following address. I’d also love to hear any feedback on the site if you’ve found it helpful or have some ideas about how I can improve the site in some way.

Please contact me at  senfuka@gmail.com

I will reply to all messages as soon as possible.
Michael Brown

Technorati Tags: Contact Us

Our Commitment To Your Privacy

Your privacy is important to us. To better protect your privacy we provide this notice explaining our online information practices and the choices you can make about the way your information is collected and used. To make this notice easy to find, we make it available on our homepage and at every point where personally identifiable information may be requested.

Our Commitment To Data Security

To prevent unauthorized access, maintain data accuracy, and ensure the correct use of information, we have put in place appropriate physical, electronic, and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect online.

Our Commitment To Children’s Privacy

Protecting the privacy of the very young is especially important. For that reason, we never collect or maintain information at our website from those we actually know are under 18, and no part of our website is structured to attract anyone under 18. Under our Terms of Service, children under 18 are no allowed to access our service.

Collection of Personal Information

On visiting this site, the IP address used to access the site will be logged along with the dates and times of access. This information is purely used to analyse trends, administer the site, track user’s movement, and gather broad demographic information for aggregate use. Importantly, IP addresses are not linked to personally identifiable information.

Links to third party websites

We have included links on this site for your reference. We are not responsible for the privacy policies on these websites.

lterations to this Privacy Statement

The content of this statement may be altered at any time.

Have a question? Just contact me at senfuka@gmail.com

Technorati Tags: Privacy Policy

A few days back I went down to my local course for another round of spring golf.  This is the time of year when you get to fool yourself into thinking that you are better than you really are.  The grass is still dry from the winter, the snow is gone but the new growth is not sufficient to impede your ball.  This means the distance of your drives and fairway woods is outrageous.  I reached all of the par 5′s in two strokes, coming up a few yards short of the green each time.  Whoa, this would never happen in July; it’s a nice feeling but well, it ain’t true.

Since I was playing by myself I made a special effort to take each shot and concentrate on all the factors necessary to make a great shot.  Approaching the ball from behind, picking out my long distance target, my intermediate target and then beginning my setup routine.  The main thing I want to emphasize today is the whole question of balance.   How many times on the course have you seen someone take a swing and almost fall over?  I spend a day each week as a marshall, driving around in my cart urging players to keep up with the group ahead of them, and this is a phenomena that I see too much.  I think that once we have mastered this important foundation that a number of our golfing woes are cured.  This is the area that I spent the most time with the other day and I came away really pleased with the results.

When you watch the pro’s on TV you will see them finish with this magnicifent turn and club held high finish.  They are perfectly in balance through out the entire swing, which gives them the ability to come through the ball unimpeded or blocked by any part of their body. You never see them struggling to stand up after their swing (unless they are trying something crazy like hitting out of a lake).  So, how do you find a way to copy those efforts, and make your finish look and feel that perfect?

The process begins with the setup.  When you have decided upon your target and are now establishing your body beside the ball to send it on its way down the fairway.  After I have insured that I have the proper grip, the next thing I want to establish is the proper distance from the ball.  I want my arms hanging directly down from my shoulders in a relaxed position I check to insure that I am standing close without crowding the ball or reaching out for it.  Now that I have established the proper distance I want to insure that I have good knee bend and straight spine alignment.  You have undoubtedly heard this before but it is critical to the balance process, good knee bend insures that you will maintain your balance through out the swing and the straight spine insures that your swing will follow a path around your body that enables you to return to the ball with maximum power.

There is a lot of hype these days about “swing path” ; single or dual, inside to out, etcetera.  There are whole websites devoted to the “biomechanics” of the swing.  All of of the major club manufacturers have a mechanical robot set up with the “proper swing path” so they can test their clubs.  The bottom line is that it is different for everyone who picks up a club.  Shorter players will swing more around themselves while taller players will have a more vertical swing.  The important thing to remember is that the swing needs to revolve around the straight axis of your spine.  The best visual way to achieve this is to focus on the triangle formed by your hands on the club and your shoulders.  That triangle should never break down.  As you turn into your back swing your hands should always remain constantly in front of a fixed point on your chest.  When you reach the top of the swing, the triangle will simply rise straight up as you coil the shoulders to store the power for the downswing.  This focus keeps the swing on the correct path for anyone who uses it, short or tall.  The best thing is that it keeps the elbows from flying out and enables you to apply maximum power to the ball on the downswing.  Another tremendous benefit is that it keeps you from swaying away from the ball on the backswing which means your downswing is a simple uncoil through the ball into your balanced finish.

One of the reasons the game of golf is difficult to master is the fact that it is impossible to think about any of the above while you are actually executing the swing.  It typically takes about 1.5 to 2 seconds to complete the whole golf swing.  Any thought that you try to add to the swing mechanics during the swing itself is sure to only complicate the swing.  By focusing on the knee bend before the swing, and the shoulder triangle during the swing the rest of it takes care of itself.  Try this next time you go to the course, I am sure you will be pleased with the results.  When you find that your finish is a posture that you can hold for 5 seconds or more, you have achieved the balance that is critical to your success.

Michael Brown

March 2009

Golf Swing Tips : Improve Your Golf Swing Technique …

The golf swing requires balance in order to develop tempo and execute each phase of the swing. Specific exercises such as Airplane Rotations can improve the ability of your body.

Sports | Flexibilty and Golf Fitness :: By Max W Johnson …

3) It must follow a symetrical protocol – the true key to maintaining optimal muscle/tendon/joint balance on both sides of the body. This allows for enhanced golf swing power.

Technorati Tags: Balance in golf, biomechanics of golf swing, golf instruction dvds, golf instructional videos, golf swing techniques, inside out golf swing, two plane golf swing

I live in a mountain community and our local course is just that, mountainous. This means that there is no such thing as a flat lie from which to hit the golf ball. This is kind of an exaggeration as the tee boxes are generally level, but not always. It is a municipal course owned by the city of Denver and their budget over the years has not been very generous. A few of the more shaded tee boxes will loose their grass over the course of the season and you find yourself looking for a place to stand that is level enough to hit the shot.

I mention the above to stress the amount of awareness that you need to bring to the course when you come to play golf. Standing on an unlevel tee box can present some subtle challenges to your game and it is important to be aware of those differences. Paying attention to the level can be very important, if the ball is slightly below your feet and you are not standing close enough you could hit it off the toe.  On the course itself you are usually aware of the fact that the ball is above or below your feet and make adjustments accordingly. I say usually but that is not always the case. If your drive sliced off into the rough above a sloped fairway and the others in your foursome were all in the fairway you might hurry to your ball and (even though you selected the correct club for the job)take a hasty shot to get back into the fairway. In the process you neglect to correct for the fact the ball is above your feet and wind up pulling the next shot way left across the fairway into the rough on the opposite side.

This brings up the importance of having a pre-shot routine that you employ with every shot that you are going to take. You cannot have a a consistent golf game without a consistent approach to the ball and a routine that you use every time. It took me years to figure this out and when I finally did the change in my overall score was amazing. Starting from behind the ball as I approach, I am thinking about the lie of the ball itself. is it standing up on the top of the turf or is it nestled down? This makes a big difference in your club selection. Next I check the ground above/or below the feet? What are the other factors that I need to correct for? Do I have trees or obstructions to get through or around? All of this plays into the club selection. Once I have made up my mind as to the club that I will use then I start my pre shot routine.

Standing behind the ball I pick out a long distance target, usually beyond the green itself. A big tree, a house across the hill, even a mountain top. Then I pick out an intermediate target about 3 to 5 feet past my ball. When I approach the ball and get into my stance I am focused on aligning my body with that intermediate target. Now I want to check and insure that my grip is correct. Next I insure that I am the correct distance from the ball. I set the club down centering the face at a perpendicular angle to the target and check to insure that my hands are comfortably hanging straight down from my shoulders. (Not reaching out or too close to my belly) Next I check my balance am I comfortably balanced on the center to the ball of my feet and are my knees slightly bent without sitting down. Is my back straight and am I keeping my chin slightly up so that I see the ball staring down a line from my nose rather than looking straight at the ball with my head angled down. Now I am ready to pull the trigger and make my shot. I have refined this to take about 30 seconds or less but the results are so much better than when I had no routine at all.

Your results may vary, and I am not suggesting that you copy my routine.  More to the point if you are not using a routine you need to develop one.  When I finally understood the importance of a good routine, I looked around for the best training that I could find to help me develop one.  I found actually two instructors online who stressed the importance of a good setup routine.  The first person I would recommend that you read is Tracy Reed.  His Ultimate Golf System is a bit pricey.  He has the most excellent video review of Tiger Woods swing that I have ever seen. And his blog is full of excellent points and advise on the whole game of golf with special emphasis on maintaining your balance through out the swing.  His free golf instruction videos are fantastic.

Obviously the second system that I would reccommend is the Purepoint system for the rock solid fundamentals that Bobby Eldrige teaches.  Bobby recognizes that we are all different in swing speed, heighth and ability and his teaching is designed to take you from where you are and help you to improve.  The  apprentice class will enable you to chart your current ability and then set goals to improve over time. The  golf instruction DVD’s that he offers cover all aspects of your game.  There is no better way to improve your golf game than by having good fundamentals and the beginning of that is a good setup routine.

Technorati Tags: golf instruction dvd, golf instruction tips, golf instructional videos, golf lessons dvd, golf setup routine