“You mean you have to think in this game” (Golf Quote)

“Thinking your way around the course…That’s a concept I have never done before.”

This is the quote after my lesson yesterday and it seemed quite funny to me. I have this student, Jack, at my club and he was in desperate need of a lesson or so he said. He told me that he had been hitting the ball pretty well, but had no consistency and that it was impossible for him to hit our first green even from 100 yards. I watched him hit the ball on the range and he was hitting a slight pull because he was losing lag because his body stopped rotating through the shot. I gave him a simple drill of hitting ¾ finishes similar to a punch shot that everyone here in Texas knows and needs to hit in the high winds. This finish did wonders for him because in order for him to finish in the way that I wanted he needed to synchronize his body with his arms. This instantly allowed him to hit the ball with greater control and allowed him to hit very repeatable shots. I then changed our lesson plan very quickly and took him straight to the first hole about 130 yards away. To describe the first hole at TPC Craig Ranch, it’s a beautiful hole with a creek that runs down the right side of the fairway. The second shot (which is where we were hitting in from) is a side hill lie with the ball below your feet to an uphill green with bunkers short and left and a severe slope to the right of the green. Anything that lands on the right side of the green will end up 20 yards to the right of the green. Jack aimed slightly right of the flag (expecting his pull) and hit it perfectly where he was aimed; however the ball faded slightly to the right and missed the green. I will not tell you what he said, since this is a family website, and a clean one at that, however I asked him if he accounted for the side hill lie. He said no, so I asked him to act like he was hitting towards the tee box and now he was faced with the ball above his feet. I asked him if he thought the ball would curve and he said absolutely he could feel that it would hook. I asked if he thought the same for the ball below his feet and he never thought of that. He then proceeded to hit the next five balls very well and all of them hit the green. He was so excited and I left him to play the next few holes and report back to me.

After his few holes he said that quote to me “Thinking your way around the course…That’s a concept I have never done before”. I challenge all of you to find something simple for your swing so the ball is repeatable. It does not matter if it curves as long as it is curving the same way every time. If it does do that then it is repeatable and applying a bit of course management can make all the difference in your game.

Keep em Long and Straight,

CJ

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Sincerely Tiger?

Has there ever been a more anticipated press conference? When the embattled Tiger Woods finally stepped to the podium at TPC Sawgrass this past Friday morning, it had been nearly three months since he was last seen in public. Consider how your opinion of this one-of-a-kind sports icon had changed since the last time you saw him. From the penthouse to the outhouse is as apt a description as any.

That said, I thought Tiger did an excellent job in front of this handpicked group of media allies and close associates. He showed some emotion, some regret, some humility. He said he was sorry on a number of occasions, and appeared to really mean it. He seemed genuinely pained when he recounted how much his multiple affairs have cost him with his wife and family. At times his voice wavered a bit, but the cynics will note that the times he truly seemed the most disturbed was when he was blaming the media for putting his wife, mother and children through undeserved scrutiny. It seems that no matter what the circumstances, Tiger reserves his deepest emotions for defending his own turf, only in displaying his own self-righteousness does he truly come alive. Well, my opinion, anyway.

As avid golf fans, we regret the fact that his absence from the PGA Tour will continue into the indefinite future, as he continues to wrestle with these inner demons. But in the scheme of things, it’s more important for Woods to get his life on track before he attempts to get his game back on track. If the comeback to the game that made him rich and famous beyond all measure is to proceed, lets consider today to be the opening hole of the round. Most observers will say he made a solid par, even a birdie. But lets watch what transpires in the coming weeks and months, and see if Tiger can keep the ball in play, and build on this solid beginning. I don’t think anyone with a heart wants to see him drive one out-of-bounds, or otherwise blow up after this promising start.

What did you think of Tiger’s press conference? Let us know what you think by post a comment below.

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BCS Championship Game (Golf Goals)

I wanted to post a quick article on the college football National Championship Game from last night that occurred between the Texas Longhorns and the Alabama Crimson Tide. I know many of you were pulling for one team or the other or really could care less depending on where you live. That’s not the important point I observed last night.

At the end of the game after Alabama won, the interview with head coach Nick Saban was the most interesting for me. For all watching and paying attention Coach Saban said “we had a goal at the beginning of the year, and to achieve that goal we just needed to focus on the process on how to achieve that goal.” It was great for me to hear that and was just a simple reminder to those that any person that is successful in business, sports, or any endeavor understands this simple, yet often overlooked, fundamental to success. That is setting goals and laying a process goal on how to achieve those goals.

The road to success that each of you will encounter this year in golf will ultimately come down to this fact that you had a goal and a clear concise game plan on how to achieve that goal.

If you have not set your goals this year please do so now and get started on your road to improvement. I would also like my readers to submit questions that they would like me elaborate on and write articles about. My being involved with the blog daily is for one purpose…to help you and answer your questions. Looking forward to reading your questions and be sure to read tomorrows article about the proper position of the right arm. Best of luck to all.

CJ

The TRUTH about your typical round of Golf (Dave Pelz)

According to well-known short game wizard Dave Pelz, most golfers play to their handicaps for 15, sometimes 16 holes a round. The problem is those last couple of holes, where many times the big number creeps onto the scorecard—the double bogey, triple bogey, or dreaded “other,” turning a good or great round into something far worse. “Even the best golfers get into rough predicaments due to errant shots or bad breaks. How they recover from those situations determines how well they will score,” says the former NASA scientist. “Our recent research indicates that golfers play two to five strokes better than their handicaps for most of each round they play. But they also have disaster holes mixed in, bringing their total scores back up to their handicap level.”

“Most players aren’t aware that when their lie gets worse, their swings get much worse, and their shot patterns get even worse than that,” continues Pelz, who regularly works with PGA Tour stars such as Phil Mickleson. “They don’t know the set-up postures and swings required from trouble lies are different from those normally used and practiced, and the real problem is they don’t realize where their shots are going to go when they make really bad swings from trouble lies.”

“Golfers don’t escape well from trouble lies on side-hill, sloping-terrain, deep grass, or from under low-hanging tree limbs because they try to do so using normal golf swings. Normal swings don’t work from trouble lies. They seem to use the exact recipe for disaster scoring: Swing from an unusual posture on bad terrain, attempt a swing they’ve never practiced before, aim at a target they have almost no chance of reaching and hit shots out of the frying-pan into the fire anddisaster!

There’s more to it than this, but Pelz provides the short answer: “Get the ball back on the fairway. When you’re in trouble, play back to safety, even sideways if necessary. Prepare to settle for bogey, maybe steal a par, but realize a double might be in the equation. Keep the disaster, the huge number off the scorecard.”

Michael Jordan VS Tiger Woods

Michael Jordan was in the news last week, but unfortunately for the wrong reasons. To steal a famous magazine headline from his woebegone professional baseball days, Air Jordan became “Err Jordan” when he delivered a Hall-of-Fame induction speech that was more than a little discomforting.

It’s not like MJ was a total boor in his overly-long acceptance speech. He was gracious to a point, thanking his mother repeatedly, longtime Bulls running mate Scottie Pippen, college coach Dean Smith, and others. But the problem was that Jordan used this special, once-in-a-lifetime moment to attempt to settle a couple of long-simmering scores, and assert his dominating self one more time. He should have basked graciously in the glory and adulation of an adoring crowd, but he didn’t.

Using the guise of “stoking his competitive fires” as a reason for naming names, MJ called out, among others, his college roommate (who entered school with more hoops accolades) the aforementioned Coach Smith (who deigned to exclude Jordan from a Sports Illustrated cover shot featuring UNC ballers) Isaiah Thomas and George Gervin for allegedly freezing him out of the action in his first All-Star Game, various members of Bulls management, and on and on.

Maybe he’s frustrated that now his career is finally, officially over. Maybe he’s ticked that good buddy Tiger Woods quickly caught and passed him in terms of championships won. (Current standings are 14—8 in favor of Tiger.)

In retrospect, as he was throwing brickbats around the auditorium last week it’s surprising he didn’t take a moment to castigate pro golfer Jeff Sluman, all 5’ 7” of him. Sluman once famously commented after watching Jordan play golf that, “I’ll be in the NBA before he’s on the PGA Tour.”

Despite his missteps, it’s definitely still good to “Be Like Mike.” But if he wants to hold yet another vendetta, prove Sluman wrong, and perhaps someday make his mark on the Champions Tour, Jordan needs to check out the new Power Secrets System below to learn the quick and easy way to bring more efficiency, accuracy and distance to his game—instantly!

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4 Easy Ways to Take Your Golf Practice to the Course

One of the most often-mentioned concerns by golfers is “How come I can hit the ball so well on the range but have a difficult time replicating this on the golf course”? When left on their own to try to figure out this question, many people look at their on-course behavior, thinking and playing for the source of the answer. Frequently, the answer lies more in their practice behavior than it does in their playing behavior.

It is necessary, but not sufficient, to hit a lot of golf balls in order to become proficient at golf. In addition to hitting bucket after bucket of practice balls, what is also imperative is that the type of practice that one undertakes approximates as much as possible the actual experience of playing the game. Watching people’s typical practice involves seeing them hitting ball after ball on the range – frequently using the same club and hitting to the same target over and over and over again.

This is not real golf.
Why then would you practice in this manner?
The key is to practice more like you play!

Here are 4 easy ways to make your practice sessions translate to better golf while playing.

1. Change targets frequently.
On the golf course, you rarely hit two balls in a row to the same exact target. Practice hitting to a different target with each shot. This has application whether with the full swing, pitching, chipping, or in the bunker. Each shot is thought through and executed as a unique entity – just like on the course.

2. Change clubs frequently.
On the golf course, you rarely hit two balls in a row with the same club. If you regularly hit your 7-iron three or four times in a row on the course, your game is in big trouble! However, this is how people practice. Changing clubs regularly – say every second or third shot – is a good way to approximate what it feels like to be on the course.

3. Use your pre-shot routine more frequently.
Preparation for each shot on the course and preparation for each shot on the range are generally vastly different for most players. This creates a rhythm that’s different, a thinking process that’s different, and a result that’s different!

4. Putt using one ball.
You are not given the luxury of hitting the same putt two or three times on the course. Yet many people drop two or three putts and stroke the same putt over and over to the same target. Practice using just one ball – with a full read – to create an environment that’s similar to the golf course.

It is true that early in the process of learning one’s swing it is sometimes helpful to hit the same club to the same target without a pre-shot. However, once you are ready to go play, make sure that you’re preparing yourself to deal with some of the same sensations that you have on the golf course!

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Match Play Thoughts in Stroke Play

One of the things that I’ve noticed over my years of consulting with players is that the vast majority of players with whom I work feel that they play better in a match play situation than they do in stroke play.

This is certainly not true for everyone, but for those who do, the positive difference is often related to how they approach each hole. When playing in match play, these players are regularly playing with more abandon and less fear. The notion that the “worst that can happen is a lost hole”, frees some players up to swing with more assertiveness, go for more direct lines, and putt more aggressively.

While it is also true that there are some players that are overly aggressive to the point of playing unwise shots or trying to overpower a golf course, a lot of players have the opposite tendency of playing more tentatively.

Match play enhances the likelihood that a player will play one shot at a time (or at least one hole at a time!) and creates an environment that is easier for most to let go of what happened on the last hole and focus more on the one they are in. This is a critical mindset that is the essence of strong mental discipline and mental toughness.

For each player, I would advise that they recognize the self-talk that they use after a hole in match play and incorporate how they interpret each hole and how they get themselves on track. Using that same internal dialogue strategy can pay off in a big way in stroke play as well!

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Where Do You Want the Ball to Go?

It is interesting to me to observe athletes in various sports as they perform their tasks.

Watch a quarterback looking for a receiver, a basketball player fixating on the rim before shooting a free throw, or a baseball pitcher staring at the glove before delivering a pitch. Each of these athletes – and dozens more examples like them – is looking at where he or she wants the ball to end up.

From a mental perspective, what’s happening here is that the player is focusing on the where of their task, rather than the how of how to get it there.

Compare and contrast this with how many golfers act.

The players that play well will spend a fair amount of time staring at their target before they proceed to hit the ball – looking at a distant specific target to which they want to hit the ball or the hole itself if they are putting. Contrarily, some golfers will get what I call “ball-bound” and have their eyes primarily stuck looking down at the ball with very little attention paid to the target.

This is a clue to me as I’m working with players that their attention may be in an unhelpful place. Some will be thinking too much about their mechanics – the path of their putter or take away of their swing – and not completely trusting or relying on their body to get the ball to where they intend. Others are worried about making a mistake and are trying “not to mess up”. There are a lot of examples of distracting or unhelpful thinking.

In order to get over this, in my teaching I strongly recommend that the player spend much more time looking at the target than they do at the ball. The phrase I use is, “Stare at the target, and glance at the ball”. In this way, players will have a tendency to be more focused on their objective and have a more clear intention for what they want the shot to do, and will be less caught up in the thoughts that can be a distraction.

So spend a little more time in your pre-shot with your eyes and attention on your target, and watch yourself be more successful as you hit shots and roll putts!

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Anticipate or Expect?

As with many things when using language, there are sometimes subtle but important differences between words. I’d like to explore the difference between anticipation and expectation, and apply this to golf.

The reason why I think this distinction is important is that I respectfully disagree with some in my industry who suggest to players that they should expect to play well, and expect to win. My issue with this is that I believe that while expectations can create a positive anticipation, I also believe that when people have enough trials of not getting what they expect, there is a more significant negative response. For some players these negative responses are sometimes more difficult to overcome.

In other words:
To expect….for many means to get the outcome that they “should” get
To anticipate… for many means to see the outcome that they “want” to get

How is any of this important to your golf training and your golf performance?

When helping a player prepare for an event or a round or even a particular shot (when I’m caddying) I want the player to be anticipating the best will happen. This helps the player to see a picture in his mind of that which he wants to create.

Anticipating a positive outcome might mean things like seeing the shape of the shot, visualizing the ball rolling into the cup, picturing oneself on the phone after an event excitedly talking about how they won. I believe these types of exercises create a positive internal environment that actually influence whether or not these types of positive things occur.

However, an expectation that these things will happen regularly bring on a sense of worry or anxiety for some players – “What if I don’t get that outcome”? – and for some creates a standard of performance that is expected by themselves or somebody else. This tendency leads to many players thinking about how they should have played or ought to have hit the ball – the kind of thinking that puts some players on a negative mental spiral.

In order to stay enthusiastic and excited and hopeful, anticipate that something good is going to happen!

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Three Elements of the Pre-Shot Routine

Probably one of the most fundamental elements of a player’s mental game is the development of a pre-shot routine. I have been providing mental training services for golfers for more than 20 years, and I’m still amazed by how misunderstood the pre-shot routine is by most players.

“Should I take a practice swing or not?”
“How many times should I look at the hole when I’m putting?”
“When is the best time to take my deep breath in my routine?”

The answer to these questions is going to differ with each player, and the answers to these questions for you, while important, are only important as long as we address the real purpose of the routine.

The entire purpose of a pre-shot routine is to create a consistent, purposeful ritual so that one is optimally prepared to execute a golf shot. There is no right or wrong type of pre-shot to employ, as long it meets these criteria. Let’s look at each of these elements.

1. Consistency
Consistency has to do with making sure the routine does not vary from situation to situation. While I believe it is acceptable to have a slightly different routine for shots off the tee vs. shots from the fairway vs. chips, I would suggest that there is consistency within each of these golf elements. In other words, if you find it helpful to take a full rehearsal swing before tee shots and on approach shots, but you find that when chipping you’d like to stand next to the ball and make little passes next to the ball, that’s great!

However, if you find yourself changing your chipping routine or your full swing routine because there are college coaches watching or you have a lead in the tournament or because you are so far over par you don’t have a chance, then you are allowing circumstances to dictate your routine, rather than having your routine influence your circumstances.

2. Purposefulness
Being purposeful simply means making sure that there is a reason for all that you do in the routine. If you like a full-tempo rehearsal swing because you like to feel the shot you’re going to hit, great. If you prefer a waggle similar to Mike Weir on the PGA Tour, fine. If you like to get behind the ball and see the shot in your mind, OK!

Whatever you do, make sure there is a reason for why you do it. This increases the likelihood that you will have efficiency in your routine and that it benefits you for all the reasons that routine assists players.

3. Optimal Preparation
This refers to making sure that the internal environment that you create before each shot is the atmosphere that works best for you to execute your golf shot as well as you are capable. If this isn’t happening on a consistent enough basis, then one place to look for the reason is in your routine.

To conclude, it is not as important whether you swing the club once or twice, look at the target two or three times, take a full rehearsal swing or a shorter slower swing. What is important is to make sure that the routine meets the standards outlined above: consistency, purposefulness, and creation of an optimal internal environment!

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