Sunday, December 31, 2006

Tiger Woods Is Going To Be A Dad!

Yes you read the correctly. The number one golfer in the world, Tiger Woods, is expecting his first child. I wonder if Tiger is hoping for a boy.

Boy or girl they're going to have a lot of expectations put on them. If Tiger is smart he'd point them into another sport other than golf because they would never be able to live up to Tiger's legacy.

How tough would it be to be the son or daughter of Tiger Woods? It would be cool for a while, but it would be tough because I'm sure they'll be under a microscope. Always being compared to their father Tiger Woods.

What do you think?

Friday, December 22, 2006

Is Golf Making You A Mental Case?

With over 30 years of golfing experience I can say without a doubt that golf is one of the most mental sports to play. How many times have you been over a 3-foot putt with the mental image of missing it... and just last week you were making 3-footers like they were 1-footers.

Who can forget what Phil Michelson did on the 18th hole of the US Open this year. In my opinion he has yet to recover from it.

Putting is probably the most mental part of golf. Meaning, I think the putting game is most affected by your mind. Other parts of your golf game can be affected like driving and chipping, but putting in my mind (pun intended) is the one that can make or break your golf game.

There are a lot of golfers who are great ball strikers and I'm sure a good percentage of them could make a run on the PGA Tour if they only had the mental toughness in their putting game. These guys can drive a ball 300-yards down the middle of the fairway and get the ball on the green in regulation, but making the 8-footer for birdie or the 3 to 4-footer for par is a completely different story.

In comes
Golf Mental Mastery, which is a program I came across recently that's designed specifically to help golfers get past their metal blocks. It's designed to help a golfer keep their mental focus and to get past mental blocks like those 3 to 4-footers.

For most sports the 80-20 rule applies... where 20% of the game is physical and 80% of the game is mental.

All sports including golf require you to master the mechanics of the game to be good at it... and there are a lot of drills, teaching aids, coaches, trainers, etc... out there to improve your mechanics, but there are very few mental coaches, teachers, or mental teaching aids to improve your game.

The
Golf Mental Mastery is one such program and it's worth a look if you have a mental block in your golf game that's keeping you from taking it to the next level.

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Golf Common Sense. Do You Have It?

One of the biggest mistakes amateur golfers make these days is attempting to hit a low percentage golf shot. They'll pull out their 3-wood and attempt to hit it 220-yards over water and say, "I can't believe it didn't carry the water."

As a golfer, amateur or professional, you want to play golf to your strengths. You want to play the golf shot that you can hit over and over with a high percentage of success. If there's a bunker that cuts into the right side of the fairway 240-yards off the tee and you typically drive the ball 250-yards then you should lay up with your 210-220 yard club to take the trap out of play. Why take the chance of putting your tee shot into the bunker?

It really boils down to golfing with common sense. Forget the golf shots you've seen the pros make on TV because you're not a PGA Tour professional. Bring yourself back to reality and play the golf shot you know you can hit.

With a little golf common sense and course management, I guarantee you'll drop a few strokes from your next round of golf.

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Friday, December 08, 2006

Want 17 More Yards Out Of Your Driver?

How would you like to hit your driver 17-yards longer? If I told you that you could gain 10 to 20 more yards on your drives by changing the golf ball your using or by increasing the loft on your driver would you be interested?

In a previous posts I've discussed things like getting properly fitted for clubs, launch conditions, etc... Well I'm here to say it again. I recently read an aritcle in Golf Digest that discussed the importance of launch angle, spin rate, and angle of descent.

The article stated that they test 80 club champions and they were able to increase their tee shot distances by an average of 17-yards just be tweaking the equipment they used. When I say tweaking I mean changing the ball and loft of their driver.

You need to remember that these guys are club champions and for them to gain 17-yards is a lot. Can you imagine what the average golfer could gain on their drives by doing this? We're probably talking about an additional 20 or 30 yards on their drives.

As a golfer we all want to hit the golf ball farther, so with a few small changes in your golf equipment you could be the longer hitter in your group and your buddies will want to know your secret.

The golf article is at Golf Digest if your interested.

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