Daly Quits Again

When is enough enough?  John Daly withdrew from an event in Australia this week because he ran out of golf balls.  It all started when he hit a wrong ball out of a bunker and proceeded to three putt from a few feet.  On the next hole he hit 7 balls into the same water hazard.  Are you kidding me!  I used to think this guy was great for golf, and he was for a while, but this has turned into a circus.  Johnny boy has withdrew over 30 times in the last 10 years.  He is a complete embarrassment for himself and anyone who gives him an invitation to play in an event.  Attitude is everything in golf and you have to have a good one to be on top.  Big John has the worst one and he is fittingly at the bottom.  His current world ranking...666!

Technical Tuesday

The term accelerate in putting is getting a lot of you in big trouble.  Yes the putter head should accelerate but only at the right time.  Bad putters move the putter head the fastest after impact because they think they need to accelerate.  Doing this really hinders your distance control and roll of the ball.  Good putters get their putter head up to top speed quickly in the forward swing and maintain that speed until impact and then it gradually slows down.  To make it simple:  If you struggle with distance your backstroke is probably too short and you are accelerating the club head too late(after impact).  In order to improve: Practice a backstroke that is longer than your follow through.  It will seem very "punchy", but that is ok.  Let the weight of the ball slow you momentum of the putter.  Light grip pressure helps.  Any added force at impact or after impact is deadly!!

Best Golfer in the World?

Who is the best golfer in the world right now? Is it Luke Donald?  Is it Rory McIlroy?  Bill Haas?  No I don't think so.  How about Yani Tseng?  You heard me.  Yani Tseng.  I don't watch a lot of women's golf but everytime I turn on the TV and they are talking women's golf they always mention her.  She has 11 worldwide victories this year!  That is incredible.  She has a great mindset, is very focused, practices hard, and does not tinker with her swing too much once she gets into competition.  All of these are nice ingredients to becoming great.  Everyone could learn a thing or two from the way she conducts herself.  Her swing is not too bad either!  And by the way, she is only 22 years old.

How to beat your buddies..

I have one of the few teaching jobs where I actually get to go out and watch my students play or play along with them.  A lot of times when a student comes for a lesson, they have this list of things that they think are wrong with their swing or their game.  Almost everytime the issue they think they have is not the issue that is causing them to shoot bad scores.  By watching my students in the heat of battle I get to see thier attitude, decision making, and course management.  It is amazing how much a great attitude, making smart decisions, and playing to your strengths can help your score.  I watch 12 students play everyday with virtually the same ability to hit a golf ball.  The students that have these attributes I am talking about win VERY consistantly.  Having high expectations pre round, getting upset when you encounter dissapointment, and trying to get it all back at once leads to under achievement.  After a player makes a double bogey they say, "I need to get it back with a birdie on the next hole."  They don't realize how stupid that sounds.  You don't NEED to do anything.  Isn't a par better than a double bogey.  Why not just try to get back on track with a par.  Players get too concerned with how many over par they are, and their decision making gets blurred because of it.  It does no good to change your decision making or get upset because of your score.  Have a plan for each hole that plays into your strengths and don't change it because you are 3 under or 5 over.  It doesn't matter!  The golf ball has no memory.  A killer short game helps too!! The next time you come off the course with a bad round, it might not be because of your swing!!!

Don't fall in love with your lob wedge.

I see far too many players using the same club for all of their short game shots.  Most of the time it is their lob wedge.  A lob wedge is fine if you need to get the ball in the air quickly and stop it rather quickly.  When I tell students that they can use a 5 or 6 iron to hit short game shots with, they look at me like i'm crazy.  When you use a less lofted club to chip with, you are effectively moving the target(landing point) closer to you.  Don't you think you would have a better chance of hitting a target if it were closer to you?  I think so!!  I encourage all of my students to expirement with different clubs around the green to see what works best for them.  The key is to use lots of clubs around the green and not to be in love with one.  Give it a try and watch this video from Scott Stallings as he demonstrates this technique.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oi1nVmref3k&feature=player_profilepage

The flying wiener incident

Apparently a man attending the PGA event this weekend had a few too many brews and decided he was going throw his hot dog at Tiger Woods.  So on the 7th green as Tiger was about to putt for birdie, the drunken man ran out towards the green and yelled "Tiger", and proceeded to throw his wiener at Tiger.  The bun didn't make it too far but the dog went onto the green in Tiger's line.  The man was quickly apprehended by the local security.  "I guess he wanted to be in the news," Woods said.  Just another famous wiener incident i guess!!

Another Victory

Congratulations to Yoshio Yamamoto for winning the Grand Strand Tour Championship at the Members Club at Grande Dunes.  Yosh had a great couple of days with rounds of 64 and 69.  He won the event by a blistering 7 shots!  He has been on a roll lately and he trains between events here at the Greg Norman Champions Golf Academy.  Keep it up Yosh!

Job Opportunity

Dustin Johnson's caddie Joe LaCava recently was pulled away from him by Tiger Woods.  Tiger simply announced the other day that he had hired Joe.  Dustin had no idea and Joe nor Tiger asked him about it.  This is simply business as usual for Tiger and this seems to be the way he does things.  Dustin won't skip a beat or worry about it too much.  He will find someone else soon.  If you are interested I would get your resume in soon.  It should pay pretty well!!!

Technical Tuesday. Accelerate?

You always hear golfers say, "make sure you accelerate through the ball."  In putting, this can lead to a stroke that is very short on the way back and very long on the way through.  This can cause a big problem in distance control.  In my opinion the followthrough in putting should be slightly shorter than the backswing.  The putter should get up to speed quickly as it nears the ball and slow down rather quickly after the hit.  This will give you a little "pop" to your strike and great control of the distance.  A putter is simply a weight on a stick.  Let the weight of the putter and its momentum do the work.  Any added force is bad.  Ben Crenshaw once said, "once i put the putter in motion it swings itself." 

Congratulations!

Congratulations to Patrick Lundy for winning the Carolina Series Hooters Tour event at Brunswick Plantation.  Patrick started off his week with a course record 62 that set the tone for the tourney.  He followed it up with rounds of 65 and 67 to win by 8 shots.  Apparently he had it firing on all cylinders!  Patrick trains here at the Greg Norman Champions Golf Academy.

Congrats!

Congratulations to Yoshio Yamamoto who won the Grand Strand Pro Golf Tour's event at The Dye Club at Barefoot Resort yesterday with a sizzling 65!  Yoshio trains here at the Greg Norman Champions Golf Academy.  Yosh had it 9 under for his round until he doubled his 17th hole.  Oh well.  He still won by 3!  Good Job Yoshio.

Monday Rewind

Adam Scott wins the 2011 Bridgestone Invitational.  Could this be a changing of the guards on the PGA Tour?  Adam Scott has always had that picture perfect swing.  Now he has Stevie on the bag and a little confidence and swagger.  Maybe a new rivalry has been born between Tiger and Scott because of all the Steve Williams talk.  Scott beat Tiger by 18 shots this week!  Seems like someone is moving in the right direction and someone is moving in the wrong direction!!

Tiger's physique

Is it me or does Tiger keep getting bigger and bigger.  His chest looks huge.  I think he has been playing too many tournaments with KJ Choi and talking about powerlifting.  After watching him play yesterday on TV his putting setup has changed bigtime because of how big he is and his new coach.  In his new setup because his chest is so big, he is more bent over, his elbows are further apart, his hands are lower, he appears further away from the ball, and his putter is flatter.  Not a big fan.  But we will see.  The first picture is how he used to setup.  Looks pretty good and it functioned well too.  The second picture is the new look.

 

Ketola Method Putting

Here is how to make every putt you look at.  First take a sharpie and put a single dot on your ball in your favorite color.  I would recommend red.  Red for red numbers on the scoreboard!  Walk off your putt to see how many feet you have. Make your read.   Imagine a point as small as the dot on the ball that you want to aim at.  Take a look into the hole to get a visual of your ball's final destination.  Go about halfway on your putt's line to get a feel for the break.  Place your ball with the dot up.  Go through your routine and imagine what part of the hole you would like your ball to enter.  Tell yourself something like "It would be really cool if I made this putt".  Address the ball, think about nothing but distance and the part of the hole your ball is GOING to go in at, and stroke it.  By the way, I didn't mention anything about technique or making a perfect stroke.  Save that stuff for the practice green.  Give it a try!

Stevie kicked to the curb

Tiger fired his long time caddy Steve Williams this week.  Not sure what Tiger is doing with his life lately but it seems to be a wreck.  Steve was the man for him for 13 majors.  Tiger was the best man in Stevie's wedding.  Not sure what Steve did to deserve this.  He did caddy for Adam Scott in a few events will he was sitting idle waiting on Tiger to fix his body, mind, swing, family life, finances, etc etc etc...It seems that Tiger has lost everything that was good in his life in the last few years by making bad decisions.  He has lost his dad, wife, family, endorsements, golf game, caddie, etc..What is next?  Guess we will have to tune in to find out.

Duck on Water

When it comes to playing good sand shots you must use your equipment in the correct fashion.  If you play in bunkers with a lot of sand you might be better served with more bounce on your wedge.  If the sand tends to be shallow and not very thick, then less bounce might help.  I see far too many golfers that don't use the bounce correctly when hitting a green side bunker shot.  If the face isn't open enough at address or if the hands are pressed too far forward, then the wedge will dig far too much and produce lackluster results.  The key is to get the club open enough with the shaft pointing at your belt buckle at address so the club face will slide right through the sand with ease.  A duck uses its rounded belly(bounce) to glide into the water on a landing so that the duck doesn't come to an abrupt stop when he lands.  Give it a try and remember to keep good speed with the club head as it moves through the sand.

3 peat

Steve Stricker wins 3 in a row.  What a great accomplishment.  Stricker has become one of the most consistant golfers on the planet in the past couple of years.  The reason for that:  a new found dedication to the game after almost giving up on himself, a VERY simple golf swing, and a silky putting stroke.  I only watched the last 20 minutes of the tournament but that was the best 20 minutes.  Stricker is one down going in to 18 and pulls his drive into a horrible spot in a bunker.  Ball below his feet with water to carry and a back left pin.  Stricker took his time until he was ready to pull the trigger.  When he did it came off perfect and finished just on the back fringe.  He then proceeded to fearlessly roll in about a 25 footer for the outright win.  This guy is a force to be reckoned with.  What a competitor!

Aim small-Miss small

Whenever we are picking a target to aim at it is important to pick a small one.  Claude Harmon once said " In golf just as in life, when we aim at nothing that is exactly what we will hit."  When you are on the course pick out something in the distance that is very small to aim at.  You will be surprised how much better your misses will become.  When you are putting from short distances don't just aim at the hole, aim at a blade of grass on the edge of the cup.  This technique helps your focus and narrows your shot pattern.  Give it a try!

Routines

Everyone has thier own daily routines.  I know I have mine.  Coffee before work, two showers a day, 3 workouts a week, eating habits, etc.  Normally we do those things without thinking too much because we have made them a part of who we are.  A solid pre shot or post shot routine should work the same way.  A routine in golf gets you prepared and comfortable to do your thing.  It should be consistant.  tiger's pre shot putting routine takes 17 seconds...every time.  When the pressure is on your routine will get you through it unscathed!  Your routine should be very individual.  don't copy someone else's.  Do what works best for you.  There is no rule that says you have to take 3 practice swings before each shot.  Especially if you shoot in the 100's...How annoying and tiresome.  It should be the same every time.  Have you ever watched the guys on TV?  There are some weird routines.  Hat grabbing, shirt pulling, eyes closed, tapping, stepping, licking, etc.  the way Jim Furyk hitches up his pants with his palms is so annoying.  JB Holes balking while he tries to line up...wow..and VJ Singh leaning sideways after a shot that is going right for the pin..AKA a pinseeker.  But maybe he has to lean sideways to see the pin because he hits it so straight.  Keep your routines quick, to the point, and in good hygine.  Haha.  If your superman undies are stuck somewhere on a hot day..just leave them there!

DK