Golf Essentials (for Weekend Warriors)

Had a great time this weekend playing golf with some old college buddies. We had an intense competition called the Floyd Manny Invitational at the Publix Par 3 Course in Lakeland, Florida. 36 Holes of pure pressure. 

It's actually the 16th event we've had dating back to 1997...great times. 

In looking over the scorecards (by the way, we were victorious), I wanted to compare my scoring with the Tour. Turns out it wasn't too bad...although DEFINITELY not an apples to apples comparison. Nevertheless, I believe that an occasional statistical comparison is a good thing to do. 

So, here's a link to the PGA Tour stats page for "Birdies or Better < 125 Yards"

So many players struggle with those 40, 50, 60-yards wedge shots because they don't have a real plan to pull them off. Usually it's a matter of guessing the yards, grabbing a lofted club, maybe opening the face a bit, and praying for some good luck. You can do a lot better. 

This episode is about giving you something to work on in your practice. Practice with purpose right? Well, I know this methodology REALLY helped my game, and I know for a fact that most Tour players do something similar - including Nick Faldo. 

Start simple and build it up. This part of the game is where you can really gain a ton of ground in terms of scoring. 

Charity and company golf tournaments are a blast. They can also be pretty daunting experiences for novice golfers. Maybe you're playing with the boss, or some prospective clients and you don't want to embarrass yourself. You haven't played golf in years, and you're nervous. 

This session is all about a strategy for contributing to your team, and which areas you can focus on before you tee it up. Don't worry, you don't need to learn how to hit 300 yard drives the morning of the event. 

All things remaining equal, try to land your chips and pitches in low areas rather than high areas. This strategy alone will improve your results. This episode explains why you should always avoid landing short shots on mounds and high areas. 

I get a lot of questions about bunker play. 

The pros make it look so easy. Well, of course they practice a lot, but there are other reasons they get such great results out of the sand. 

They set up for huge margins of error. Even if they mishit shots by even a few inches, the outcomes are usually pretty good. They're really good at their stock, standard bunker shot. From there, based on the circumstance, they'll make adjustments. The key is to have your standard comfortable shot to fall back on under the heat. 

As you play more and more golf, you begin to notice patterns. Maybe shots with certain clubs tend to go higher or lower, or probably curve left or right. Different conditions will affect these outcomes as well. 

I want you to be able to "read" your shots and know exactly why the ball goes where it does. Over time, this helps you to diagnose yourself and gain the self awareness you need when you're out on the golf course. 

Hope it proves helpful for you. 

Stuart Lindsay has been in technology and data-driven marketing research since the early '80's. He's one of the golf industry's foremost thought leaders on data-driven golf operations and decision-making. 

Today, we're digging deep into where the golf business has been and where it's heading...and most importantly, what club owners can do about it. 

Stuart's of the opinion, just like Rory McIlroy, that the rules are the rules...deal with it. At first, I was surprised that this was his opinion. Stuart is a big proponent of making golf accessible and compelling to the next generation of players.  As we talked further, he made it clear that the rules themselves are not the issue making newcomers feel confused or overwhelmed - it's more in the messaging and our on boarding processes.  Many the rules, especially those having to do with etiquette, are designed around safety, pace of play and convenience. If our messaging would do a better job of clarifying, he believes that the rules would not be nearly the sources of confusion that they are today. 

In fact, things like our focus on medal play rather than match play seems to be perpetuated my media coverage of the major tours. Match play simply isn't conducive to television. 

Stuart has many years of experience consulting with and performing research for golf facilities - marketing research, feasibility studies, comparisons, operations reviews, etc. 

As his career has taken him through various technological endeavors, he's well equipped to speak to the importance of data-driven decision making in golf operations. 

Data allows club owners to understand the ecosystem that they exist in - their customers, competition, and potential differentiators. 

The problem is that aggregated data in the golf industry is extremely hard to come by. Rounds, spending, and participation data is complete fragmented largely because point-of-sale systems haven't evolved to the point of truly integrating their respective data sets yet. 

Stuart points out the importance of comparative data - simply measuring performance relative to prior weeks, months, years in real-time will prove to be a game changer for golf facilities. 

He also points out that club operators need to be paying attention to this stuff and who is "owning" their customer data. Companies like Google and Facebook, as well as 3rd party bartering systems are really good at selling off customer data. This can drive a wedge between your club and your customers if you're not careful. 

This conversation was fascinating for all of us at KPI Golf considering what we have on the horizon. We're rolling out performance tracking and real-time data technologies that even the smallest facilities will be able to afford. 

If you'd like to reach Stuart at Edgehill Golf Advisors or Pellucid, he can be reached at (262)241-7088. 

It's all about club face ladies and gentlemen. The ball almost always goes in the direction that your club face is looking at impact. 

If you miss to the right or slice the ball all the time, you're leaving the club face open. If you hook or miss left, the club is looking left at impact. It's that simple. 

In terms of working the ball on purpose, you need to think about your swing path to get it started in the right direction. Basically, you need to take the direction you want the ball to start it's curve, then double that angle...and swing in that direction. 

So, if you want to hit a 10-yard slice, you need to set the club face to look at your target, then swing 20-yards to the left of the target. 

Hope this one helps clear up some misconceptions. 

We've got our annual Floyd Manny Invitational coming up in a few weeks - a college buddy trip. This year, we're heading back to Hilton Head, South Carolina. 

I'm super interested to hear your suggestions on other great golf trip locations you know of that we should be considering for next year. 

Moral of the story is:

The end.