All posts by recgolfer

slow play

A New Solution For Slow Play in Golf

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Yesterday at the Gainbridge LPGA, Danielle Kang took forbleedingever to read an 8-foot putt on the 17th green and hit it.

Today I found a Twitter post that had me on the floor. Here it is:

Here’s what I think we should do.

If a player takes more than one minute to hit a putt, and subsequently misses the putt, a one-stroke penalty will be given. Sink the putt, no blame.

How about the same thing from the fairway? If you take more than one minute to hit your shot, and miss the green, you get a one-stroke penalty. Hit the green, no blame.

short game

The Fundamental Short Game Strategy

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Bobby Jones said, “The secret of golf is turning three strokes into two.” That’s the goal.

The fundamental strategy for putting you on the road to achieving that goal is this:

From close in, get the ball on the green with one shot. Getting the ball near to the pin is a secondary goal.

That does not contradict Jones’s dictum. It is the only way it can be achieved.

people

Bob Goalby (1929-2002)

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Bob Goalby, one of the major stars on Tour in the 1960s, died Thursday. He won eleven tournaments, including the 1968 Masters at which Roberto De Vicenzo, who tied Goalby at 277, signed an incorrect scorecard giving him a 278. The rules of golf required the mistake to stand and Goalby was declared the champion.

Read this article at Golf Digest.

And in The New York Times.

Goalby set a PGA record of eight straight birdies at the St. Petersburg Open in 1961 that stood until Mark Calcavecchia recorded nine straight in 2009.

In addition to his Masters win, Goalby finished second in the 1961 U.S. Open and in the 1962 PGA, both times by one stroke. Overall, he had seven top ten finishes in the American major championships. He never played in the Open Championship.

playing the game

Straight Beats Distance in Recreational Golf

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Terry Kohler, who writes for GolfWRX, wrote recently about how good touring pros are, or rather are not, when they have to play their tee ball out of the rough.

It seems, when we watch them play on television, that it doesn’t matter where the ball ends up. They still get on the green and make their par and even some birdies.

One thing you always want to remember is that the players we see on TV are the ones who are playing really well that week. So of course they will tend to play well out of the rough.

But they aren’t as good from the rough as you think they are. The fairway matters.

This chart, suggested by Kohler’s column shows how far the ball is left from the pin, on average, from the fairway, and from the rough, for a given distance.

Notice, as Kohler points out in his article, that guys get it closer from 150-175 yards from the fairway than they do from 75-100 yards from the rough.

What does that tell you about your game, when you are not as strong as they are, not as athletic as they are, and not as talented as they are? Hmmm?

If you said the recreational game depends on getting your tee ball in the fairway, you win the prize.

Now I don’t mean to pull back so much that you handicap yourself, but that on some holes you can let it out with your driver and on other holes you need to leave it in the bag.

Or, if you can drive 260 and miss a few fairways that is much better than hitting 230 and not missing any. But then…

Colin Montgomery said on a Playing Lessons With the Pros show (when he was standing in the fairway), “People say I was a good iron player. … The only reason I was a good iron player was because I’m hitting them from this, and not from that. No one’s a good iron player from there. Nobody. The only good iron players are the ones who hit it from here.”

If hitting the fairway off the tee is not your honest expectation, it’s time to re-think your tee game.

Hitting straight in your approach game is even more important, but that’s another post.

Saudi tour

The Excuse for Saudi Complicity

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I ranted a here and here about players wanting to play in Saudi Arabia, exchanging their sense of human decency for money.

At least Tiger Woods’s humanity can’t be bought.

Now the Super League, headed by Greg Norman, who should know better, but doesn’t, is attracting even more players who say they are athletes not politicians.

As if being an athlete also means you don’t know right from wrong.

Bryson DeChambeau and Shane Lowry are singled out in this article and podcast, but there are many more.

Disgraceful isn’t even the word. Golfers who playing the Super League and the upcoming Saudi International are part of the plan to whitewash a government that is an international pariah for crimes against humanity–the murder of Jamal Khasgoggi and the brutal war in Yemen.

That’s not politics. That is basic human decency, which these golfers are saying they will sell to the highest bidder to help Mohammed bin Salman and his government can whitewash his crimes.

Disgusting. Disgraceful. Unforgivable. Unconscionable. I can’t think of the right word to describe what certain professional golfers are doing.

A pox on them all.

It saddens me that this post has such limited each. I can only hope the the worldwide golfing press picks up the issue and goes down hard on the players who let themselves be used like this.

shot-making

The Easiest Way to Draw or Fade

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There are so many ways to hit a draw or a fade. I want to give you probably the easiest way to hit either shot. They both involve your right thumb (left thumb if you play left-handed).

In his book Five Lessons, Ben Hogan said:

“School yourself when you’re taking your grip so that the thumb and the adjoining part of the hand across the V–the part that is in the upper extension of the forefinger–press up against each other tightly, as inseparable as Siamese twins. Keep them pressed together as you fix your grip, and maintain this airtight pressure between them when you fold the right hand over the left thumb.”

He said the reason is that it lets the right hand be strong where it should be strong (which is not in the thumb and forefinger, in his opinion).

This pressing of the right thumb against the side of the hand has another effect which no doubt pleased Hogan but that he didn’t mention. It is an anti-hook move.

The pressure between the two freezes up the right wrist somewhat so it cannot unhinge freely through the hitting area and close the clubface. It actually delays the closing of the clubface to produce a fade, the shot Five Lessons was all about creating.

And it’s true. The next time you go to the range, press your right thumb against your hand and see what happens.

Now if you want to hit the opposite way, a draw, loosen the connection between the thumb and the hand. Place your thumb on the shaft so there is a gap between the thumb and the side of the hand. The wider the gap, the looser your wrists.

The pictures below show my normal grip, draw grip, and fade grip.

NORMAL DRAW FADE

Try that and see what happens.

You will have to adjust your aim to account for the curving of the ball, but that’s all. Your swing stays the same. Just a little movement of the thumb one way or the other is all it takes.

You can use this technique to your advantage to stay away from trouble off the tee. Move the thumb away from the trouble to ensure the ball doesn’t curve toward it.

For example, if there is trouble on the right, move the thumb on top to the left to produce a right-to-left shot. Hold the club a bit looser than usual with the same hand.

To avoid trouble on the left, move the thumb on top to the right and hold the club a little tighter than usual with that hand.

golf swing

A Basic Golf Swing

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A new work, over a year and a half in the making, is now available on this blog in .pdf form and on an accompanying video on YouTube.

The .pdf and video must both be consumed. There is material on the .pdf that is not in the video, and vice versa. Together they explain the concept. Read the .pdf, then see the video.

Find the .pdf here: http://therecreationalgolfer.com/Swing4el.pdf

Find the homespun video here: https://youtu.be/YQdP6gECFNw

I hope you like it.