Golf Essentials (for Weekend Warriors)

Just a regroup on why I'm bothering to deliver this podcast. It's two major reasons, both of which based on stuff that I've lived, experienced, and executed myself.

I come from a blue collar background, not from money and privilege. I believe that the strategies that have made me successful will help a lot of people in golf...whether as a player or as a golf course operator.

I welcome all commentary, good and bad, as well as any questions or topics you'd be interested in learning about.

Super simple pitching and bunker play drill for improving your consistency. It's all about impacting the ball or the ground in the same place every time.

Here's how it goes:

I promise that investing about 5 minutes daily into this drill will bring big improvements in your bunker play and pitching game.

Good luck!

https://www.about-golf.org/consistent-bunker-play/

Visiting my parents in Southwest Florida this week. Their golf community lost their golf course a couple years back and it's super sad to see. 

All the residents came here for social golf, sunshine and fun...now they have to take their games on the road. 

I talked with a group of them about strategies for underperforming clubs and how things could have been different. 

https://www.about-golf.org/golf-courses-turning-to-tumbleweeds/

The only way to perform optimally is to stay diligent and continuously prioritize highest impact activities.

There is no solution that allows for anything other than constant oversight and management. This is because conditions, economies, market positions, competition, and consumer preferences are always changing.

The only way to compete is to evolve with the times. Golf courses are quickly finding that they are not different.

John shares how his team’s initial assessment of this North Carolina club did not uncover the biggest wins.

Their focus was on membership and driving rounds and revenues for the first 6-12 months they owned the club.

Upon deeper inspection and market research, they determined that other areas of the club presented tremendous opportunity. The wins were certainly disguised as there was considerable costs to unlock these assets.

Good market timing, smart planning, and aggressive negotiation allowed the group to perform significant capital improvements at minimal costs.

The returns were exceptional. Listen to the podcast discussion to hear more.

https://www.about-golf.org/kpi-golf-data-driven-decisions/

Hammer has a wonderful way of revealing just how confident you are with your game. It's best played with other players of similar skill set, preferably with buddies who you can harass a little bit.

Knowing your opponent is key. You should be able to strategically add pressure where they'll feel it most. For instance, if you know your opponent is a lousy bunker player or putter, you can hammer often in these areas and expose these weaknesses (and make money).

• The game is match play (gross or net, team or individual)

Hammer has components that are a lot like poker. You need to sniff out the other player's level on confidence in certain shots, or capitalize on incomplete information (i.e., maybe you saw their ball roll up next to a tree and they didn't)

https://www.about-golf.org/hammer-golf-money-game/

Sounds super obvious, but so many players fail to deploy this simple method:

Most players that struggle with short game either aren’t making consistently solid contact with the ball, or, they don’t control distance very well. This simple strategy helps on both fronts.

They either take a short backswing, and then hurry the downswing to hit the ball hard. Conversely, they might take a long backswing and decelerate the club through impact.

For short shots, make a short backswing. For longer shots, make a longer backswing. It’s that simple.

If you truly focus on this, you’ll be able to swing the club with exactly the same tempo for all length shots. You can relax your hands and arms, and the club will bottom out at the very same spot every time.

Best part is that it works when you’re nervous – including with your putting. I promise your distance control will improve dramatically, but you’ve got to try your best to move away from the bad habits you’ve built up to this point. Could take a little time and effort. 

https://www.about-golf.org/simplest-short-game-tip/

If you're planning on playing some real competitive golf, moving forward the rules have changed quite a lot. You should rely on more trustworthy sources than me to get the details about what you're allowed and not allowed to do.

In my experience, knowing the rules will only help you in tournament play...it'll never hurt you.

Casual players shortcut a lot of the rules anyway, so there won't be huge impact for this crowd. That said, even if you're just playing some club golf or money games with your buddies, there are some rules that you should be able to take advantage of come crunch time.

Again, it never hurts to know what's going on.

What is it about pressure that causes our body to react so strangely. You may not even be all that nervous about the outcome, and for some reason, you can't swing the same way, your putting goes bad, and you can't even think straight?

It happens to all of us.

First of all, golf is hard. We tend to put a lot of pressure on ourselves. Pressure to product perfection, when we know that perfection isn't ever possible.

So how can we deal? How can be pull off good shots when we need them the most?

I attended a golf clinic with 6-time Major Champion Winner Nick Faldo a few weeks back. It was unique because the clinic was intended for elite junior golfers who are trying to compete at the highest level. Nick let us into his mental game in an amazing way.

One big takeaway from the session was that he liked to watch an imaginary player (i.e., Jack Nicklaus or Arnold Palmer for him) hit the shot before he did. This produced a beautiful vision of the shot before he stepped in and attempted it himself.

Nick also noted that through all his practicing, he was able to have a plan B, C, and D swings that he could fall back to when needed. This eased the pressure on his "A" swing for sure. He was extremely self aware, knowing which swings would produce certain shot shapes - and more importantly, which shots they wouldn't produce.

Very helpful when you're in a big tournament under lots of pressure.

Fred Couples used to imagine that last perfect shot he hit with the club he was pulling out of the bag. When he was hitting a 5-iron, he thought back to the pure shot he hit with that club weeks before and tried to reproduce that feeling.

For me, when I've been really nervous at certain points in golf tournaments, I like to imagine I'm on a totally different golf course, on a comfortable hole at home. This really helps if you can really try to role play all the way through the shot.

There are lots of tricks...try them all and see which ones work best for you!

I used to absolutely fear a 50 yard wedge shot in golf tournaments. I'd do all I could to avoid them. Mostly that meant laying up to 100 yards leaving a full wedge into the green.

While that might be a good way to avoid embarrassment, it's not the way to become the best player you can.

At some point, I read Dave Pelz's Short Game Bible. and my golf life changed forever. With some basic practice, I was able to turn my biggest fear into a huge strength.

Instead of worrying about skulling shots over the green or laying the sod over the ball, I was thinking about holing those same half wedge shots.

The first step is to get to know a basic half wedge shot, and how far the ball tends to carry. Do this the next few times you hit the range.

Grab your favorite wedge...perhaps your 56 or whatever. Hit about 20 balls with a swing that takes your hands back to 9:00 (about hip height) and follows through at the same height (3:00 position on a clock).

Try to swing with the same relaxed rhythm and repeat the same motion every time. Note the CARRY distance that the shots tend to fly.

Do this for a few days with each of your wedges, and you'll effectively be adding new clubs in your bag. This is the beginning of learning exactly what kind of swing and club produces these short range shots with precision.

This clip is from a clinic I did back in Phoenix for some relative beginners about hitting fairways woods. 

A lot of players struggle with this clubs - they're long, unforgiving, and you've got to be dead on to hit great shots. I hope these few tips help you out.