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swing thoughts

Golf Swing Thoughts

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In almost every mental game book, you are told that having a swing thought can focus your mind on swinging the club the right way, and help keep out intrusive thoughts that would otherwise disrupt your swing.

I disagree.

Using a swing thought while you’re swinging at the ball is the fundamental mistake of the mental game. This is none other than allowing the conscious mind to intrude into a process that it should stay out of.

Most of what we do in life is automatic. We do not need conscious thought to eat a bowl of cereal, for example. We have done that so many times that we no longer have to pay careful attention to getting cereal in the spoon, and not spilling it while we bring the spoon up to our mouth.

In the same way, if we have a well-schooled golf swing, we don’t have to keep reminding ourselves how to swing.

A concert pianist spends no time thinking about where the fingers should go. To think about this during a performance would likely bring it to a frustrating halt.

When you’re over the ball, swing thoughts make you concentrate on just one part of your swing, to the detriment of all the rest. It’s best to avoid them altogether.

I have to admit, though, that a swing thought can work in the very short term.

Have you ever been on the range and had a hot swing idea pop into your head, started doing it, and hit three or four great shots in a row, and then, back to normal?

The magic can fade that fast. And then what do you do?

When you are swing thought oriented, golf becomes a continual search for the magic thought that will help you do what you can do quite well if you would just leave things alone.

Again, swing thoughts insert the conscious mind into a process where it doesn’t belong. If you can play golf with a calm mind, and make swinging the club as simple as eating your cereal, you don’t need any more help. You don’t have to remind your body how to hit this shot. It already knows what to do.

My new book, The Golfing Self, is now available at www.therecreationalgolfer.com. It will change everything about the way you play.

tournaments

2011 U. S. Open

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Winner: Rory McIlroy by eight strokes over Jason Day

The U. S. Open starts tomorrow. It’s my favorite golf tournament of the year. In fact, I have told my family that I am available for them 364 days of the year, but for that one day, the one which they play the fourth round of the U.S. Open, I’m not there. It’s my day to spend watching the greatest golf tournament on earth.

This year it’s back at the Congressional Country Club in Washington, D.C. , where Ken Venturi won in 1964 while almost having to be hospitalized for heat stroke. I remember watching on TV and wondering how on earth he was even staying upright, much less playing golf.

This year, the weather should be rather pleasant. The temperature forecast is for the mid-80s the entire week, though rain is possible on Thursday, and thunderstorms are possible on Friday.

Did you know that the Congressional CC grounds were taken over by the OSS during WWII to train teams of spies, saboteurs, commandos, and undercover agents? And that the fee paid to the course owners for the favor probably saved the course, which was in financial trouble at the time?

The USGA likes to play with its first- and second-round pairings. Part of the fun is trying to decode what the threesomes have in common. This year, Edoardo Molinari, Francesco Molinari, and Matteo Manasero are playing together on Thursday and Friday. Get it? Another group is composed of Brian Gay, Thomas Levet, and Gregory Harvet. For those of you who aren’t students of the French language, all those last names rhyme.

These might be a little harder. Charl Schwartzel, Trevor Immelman, Zach Johnson. Luke Donald, Lee Westwood, Martin Kaymer. Phil Mickelson, Rory McIlroy, Dustin Johnson.

Give up? In order, former Masters winners, the top three in the current World Golf Ranking, and three players who have blown a commanding major tournament lead.

The traditional pairing is Graeme McDowell, Louis Oosthuizen, and Peter Uhlein this year. The USGA always pairs the reigning U.S. Open, British Open, and U.S.Amateur champions the first two days.

The opening shots will be hit by this year’s dew-sweepers, Daehyun Kim, Chez Reavie, and Shane Lowry on #1, and Chad Campbell, Harrison Frazar, and Marc Turnesa on #10.

I know all the players love the Masters because of the gifts everybody gets and the lifelong adulation accorded past winners, but it really isn’t a major tournamant. It’s just an over-hyped invitational. The British Open is historical and the most cosmopolitan tournament, the dean of the majors. The PGA is a major because it is the championship of a major governing body, but it doesn’t have the same sense of a major, really.

It’s the U.S. Open title that carries the most respect. It’s the one that deep down, players want to win the most. It’s the one I won’t miss.

So who’s my pick to win? I’ll go with Alvaro Quiros. This is a long course, and he’s silly long, and straight. His short game is up to snuff, too. He has already won this year, and I think he is a force whose time will come. Maybe this week.

While you’re waiting for the Open to start, get the tips you need to become the best player you can be at www.therecreationalgolfer.com

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How Women Can Get Started In Golf

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If your boyfriend plays it, if your husband plays it, if your girlfriends play it, or if it’s just something that you want to try, welcome! Golf is a lifetime game that gets you out into beautiful surroundings having fun with friends. There’s quite a bit to learn, but if you take it in small steps, it will always be enjoyable.

The absolute first thing to do is sign up for some lessons. Hitting the ball is not as easy as it looks, and you need someone to teach you how. Please, if your boyfriend or husband wants to teach you, politely decline, and get lessons from a PGA professional who knows how to teach someone who is just starting out. A series of five lessons should get you started on the golf swing, putting, and little shots around the green that have their own special ways of being hit.

You don’t even need clubs to take lessons. The pro shop will have some you can use while you’re there. When it’s time start playing, though, you’ll want to buy some clubs. Make sure you buy ones designed for women. They have a different weight and balance than men’s clubs do, and will be much easier to swing. Make sure you get a fitting when you buy your clubs so they are tailored personally to you.

Speaking of buying, here is what else you’ll need to start playing. You’ll need a golf bag to put your clubs in, a wheeled cart to strap the bag to so you don’t have to carry it (it can get heavy), golf balls, of course (ask your pro which ones would be best for you), and golf tees to put the ball on when you hit it.

A towel clipped on to your bag is a must for cleaning the face of the club after you hit the ball, and for cleaning your ball once you get it on the green. You’ll need a marker to mark your ball on the green, but a coin in your pocket will do.

Be sure to wear clothing that is comfortable. Golf clothing has its own styles and wearing them makes you feel more a part of the game.

Golfing fashions are not just for the golf course these days. The updated golf fabric cuts and structures cross the fashion boundaries into other sports and street wear. You can feel comfortable playing 18 holes of golf, a quick meal in the clubhouse and out on errands without a change of clothes.

New fabric materials and layers allows for adjusting temperatures. Carry a rain jacket, though, in case it rains unexpectedly, and bring an umbrella if rain is possible.

Golf shoes are not a necessity, but they have special soles that grip the ground so you won’t slip when you swing. If you are serious about playing, invest in a pair. Until you do, wear shoes that are sturdy and comfortable for long periods of walking up and down hills.

Being able to hit the ball is only half of what a player needs to know. There are principles of golf etiquette that you must learn to become a welcomed playing partner. They mainly involve ways of keeping pace with the flow of play of the other golfers on the course, and of not creating disturbances for the golfers you are playing with.

The best way to learn them is to have a playing lesson from your professional, where you go out on the course to see how to apply the shot-making skills you learned, and to find out in practice what the principles of golf etiquette are and why golfers observe them.

I recommend two procedures for all beginning golfers, not just women. First, tee up the ball whenever you hit it from the tee or the fairway. The rules say only from the tee, but hitting the ball off the ground is hard to do at first. Tee it up (without taking too much time about it) while you’re learning the swing to make it easier on yourself. Around the green, where you use little part swings, you can play the ball off the ground.

Second, if you’ve hit the ball five times and you’re still not on the green, pick up your ball and walk it up to the green. This helps maintain the pace of play. Experienced golfers won’t mind that you’re learning and don’t hit great shots all the time, but they will mind if you’re slowing down the group. Also, you need to be aware of players in the groups behind you who will be expecting your group to finish the hole in a timely fashion.

Most golf courses, public and private, have a women’s league you can join to play with more experienced golfers who will help you get started playing this wonderful game.

So again, welcome to golf. We’ve been waiting for you. If you want to read more about playing golf, there are many web sites you can go to, but for the absolute best one,

Visit www.therecreationalgolfer.com

playing the game

Do You Play From the Right Set of Tees? – part 2

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[Note: This post has been superceded by Do You Play From the Right Set of Tees-Part 4]

Last February, I posted some advice on playing from the right set of tees based on how far you normally hit your drive. If you hit your drive 225 yards, then around 5,600 yards is the right set of tees for you. That calculation is based on the average driving distance of touring professionals and the length of courses they play. See that post for the details.

Now the United States Golf Association and the PGA of America has gotten into the act, and is singing the same song. They recently started a “Tee It Forward” campaign to urge golfers to play from the tees that reflect their ability, not their ego.

Based on driving distance, they recommend these course yardages:

DD       CY
300     7,275
275     6,800
250     6,300
225     5,900
200     5,300
175     4,500
150     3,600

Those are actually the mid-points of suggested ranges. Their formula is somewhat inconsistent, but if you do the math you’ll see that the CY to DD ratio at DD=300 is 24.3. It climbs to 26.5 at DD=200, then descends again to 22.0 at DD=150.

About the time I made my earlier post, I talked to the supervisor of the men’s club where I play and pointed out that our weekly competitions are played from a set of 6,400-yard tees, and a set of 5,900-yard tees is available.

There are a few, but not many, guys in the club who routinely hit it 250 off the tee. There are a lot of them who come in reliably at 225. Maybe I’ll suggest this to him again, because the Establishment has taken up the cause and it’s not just some guy with a calculator and too much time on his hands.

Sure, the bombers would shoot better scores, but they always shoot better scores than the rest of us right now. Maybe we could have two flights – a white tee flight and a gold tee flight. There’s a set of red tees at 5,100 yards, and some of the guys should really be playing from those, but I won’t go that far.

So again, I say make an honest assessment of your skills, and play from the right set of tees. You’ll get more pars, play faster, and have more fun.

See I Played From the Red Tees Today

My new book, The Golfing Self, is now available at www.therecreationalgolfer.com. It will change everything about the way you play.

Footnote: June 16, 2011
The June 17, 2011 issue of GolfWeek magazine printed my letter regarding this campaign. It reads:

“I was pleased to see the Tee It Forward notice [In the News, June 3]. I blogged earlier this year on the same idea. Touring pros would howl if they had to play an 8,000-yard course every week, but that is what many amateurs do, relatively, by choosing a set of tees that is too long.

“If you’re not hitting short-iron second shots into half the par 4s, you’re playing from the wrong tees.”

equipment

The Golf Ball That Won’t Slice

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The way our bodies are put together, combined with the angles of the golf swing (not flat, like baseball), almost makes a slice the natural stroke to hit. No wonder so many golfers slice. It’s so easy to do.

You could cure your slice by learning to swing differently. It’s not hard to do, but it does take work, and who has time for that? Or, you could buy the right golf ball. Like the New Polara golf ball.

This ball is made with a dimple pattern that minimizes spin. If you align the pattern the right way when you tee it up, the simple physics built into the surface of the ball helps it go much straighter.

Actually, this ball is not new. It first came out in 1977, but was banned by the USGA in 1981 and the ball disappeared. Last year the ball came on the market again.

Just two things you might need to know about it. First, the ball is illegal for any round where the rules matter, such as tournaments or establishing a handicap.

Second, you get the low-spin advantage only on the tee, since that’s the only time you can guarantee the dimple pattern will be aligned. But if you’re going to use this ball, you don’t care too much about the rules, so go ahead and line it up whenever you want to. Just don’t tell anyone I said it’s OK.

Some golfers want to know if there is a golf ball that won’t slice, but will still spin around the green. This would be the best of all worlds. Unfortunately, no. We live in a world of trade-offs. Get a little more of this, and you have to give up a little of that. Nature requires a balance.

You can use a ball that minimizes spin (legally) but as it won’t spin so much off your driver, but neither will it spin so much off your wedge. The opposite is true, of course, If you want a ball that dances a jig on the green, it’s going to exaggerate any spin you put on it from the tee or the fairway.

For higher-handicpap golfers, I would recommend getting a low-spin ball. Keeping the ball in play from tee to green is the best way to keep your score down as you learn to control the ball off your swing. Once you begin to break 90 regularly, you should switch to a spin ball, sometimes called a Tour ball, as your swing improves and you learn to get a more refined short game.

Play a round with a Polara just for fun, but if you’re serious about developing your skills, get a ball that rewards what you have learned to do.

See also Buying the right golf ball

My new book, The Golfing Self, is now available at www.therecreationalgolfer.com. It will change everything about the way you play.

distance, playing the game

How Far Should Novice Golfers Hit Their Clubs?

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Distance. That seems to be the reason play golf, to see how far you can hit the ball. There’s the part about getting the ball into the hole, too, but if you asked any golfer if they wanted to hit the ball farther or score lower, the answer would likely be farther, every time. We can take care of scoring later.

This is a question that new golfers face, and it’s a mistake to look at the professionals for the answer. Male professional golfers routinely hit their 5-iron 200 yards. Heck, it was reported that Dustin Johnson recently hit his 7-iron 240 yards.

Let’s not concern ourselves with those numbers. What can golfers new to the game expect?

The answer depends on you. Most novices don’t hit the ball very far. Men might hit a 9-iron 120 yards, a driver 200. A woman new to the game might get 90 and 150, respectively. Whoever you are, much of it depends on your athleticism and your prior experience with ball-and-stick sports.

Every golfer has to realize there is a limit to the distance they can hit the ball. Hitting the golf ball a long way is a talent. Some baseball players hit home runs, others don’t, and you can’t tell by looking who can hit them and who can’t.

Similarly, some people can just hit the golf ball a long way.

What is important for the novice is learning how to hit the ball accurately. That means you make contact in the center of the clubface, with a square clubface square to the swing path. When you do that, you will get all the distance you are capable of. What that distance is doesn’t really matter. All you have to do is play from the right set of tees and you can play for fairways and greens all day.

Really now, what distances can a novice attain to? Look at the Trackman data for professional golfers. Go the LPGA Tour Averages chart, second column from the right. Make sure the Select Units button says Yards. For male novices, take 85 percent of these distances, female novices, 75 percent.

Those are the distances you’ll get until you learn how to hit the ball on the center of the clubface, with a square and in-line clubhead, and hitting the ball first, ground second.

And you know what? Even if you never hit the ball farther than that, if it goes straight, you can get a good score.

See also: Leave the Long Clubs Home

My new book, The Golfing Self, is now available at www.therecreationalgolfer.com. It will change everything about the way you play.

putting

How Well Should You Putt?

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“Silly question,” you say. “They should all go in.” Well, yes, but the question is really the title of a book by Clyne Soley, who collected extensive data on amateur and professional putting the the mid-1970s and published his findings in 1977.

Most of what he found confirms what you might think about putting, but here are some facts that might surprise you.

The number of putts per round varies directly with a player’s handicap. Scratch golfers, he found, average 30.8 putts per round, and 20-handicappers average 34.7. That’s not a surprise, but that means putting is a greater part of the scratch player’s score (42.7%) than it is for the 20-handicapper (34.7%). You might not have thought of that before.

When a player who is 20 strokes better overall is only four shots better on the green, this is further evidence of what many golfers believe, that the key to improvement lies in becoming a better ball-striker. Good putting starts making a difference only when you get good.

Soley’s next finding is truly amazing. The number of two-putt greens does not vary with a player’s handicap. A scratch golfer averages 11.67 two-putt greens per round, and a 40-handicapper averages 11.59. That’s a difference of one two-putt green in 225 holes, over 12 rounds.

The difference in total putts, then,  comes in the breakdown of one-putt and three-putt greens. Scratch golfers average 5.31 one-putt greens per round, and the 40-handicappers average only 2.42. When it comes to three-putt greens, the averages are scratch, 0.90 per round, 40-handicap, 3.60.

Soley then goes on to ask how good professional golfers are at putting (pretty darn good, actually). As you would expect, pros are better from any distance than amateurs are, but here’s something about short putts that you might not have guessed. For any given distance, Soley found that the success rate (sinking the putt) for professionals for putts of five feet and under is lower if it is a first putt than if it is a second or third putt. It is lower by almost half.

The probable explanation is that a four-foot second putt is left over from an initial putt that went by the hole, giving the player a chance to see what the break coming back would be. Amateurs, take note. Missed putts that go by the hole had a chance to go in, and they give you an excellent indication of the line coming back, if you watch the ball until it stops. Putts left short will never go in, and you might still not be sure of the line.

A final note is on sidehill putts. Most right-handed golfers feel that putts breaking right to left are easier to make than putts breaking left to right. Soley found no difference favoring the right-to-left putt. Putts breaking in either direction are made, and missed, at the same rate.

My new book, The Golfing Self, is now available at www.therecreationalgolfer.com. It will change everything about the way you play.

putting

Knit Your Way To Better Putting

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For the ball to go in the hole, you have to read the green to find the right line. Then you need a stroke that sends the ball off on the line you selected. Here’s an easy way to take care of number 2.

It involves knitting. The needles, not the yarn. The knitting needles that your wife or SigOth uses to make you sweaters are just the thing for building a secure stroke. A pair of number 6s will be just right.

You can do this at home, too. I tie one end of the string to the handle on the lowest drawer of my dresser, and the other end to the pole of a floor lamp. A tin can lid serves for a hole. Set up the same way, and play on.

Straight back, straight through. Very machine-like, very accurate. Spend a few minutes every week with your knitting needles. It will pay off.

playing the game

How to Make More Pars

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Par is a good score for a recreational golfer. There are two shots you must play well to make pars: your tee shot and your approach putt.

To put par into play, you have to get the ball in the fairway. Use the longest club you feel confident doing that with. For most of us, it ain’t the driver.

When you hit a green, you are likely to be a good distance away from the pin. From there you have to be able to set up the par putt. More three-putt greens come from leaving an approach putt too far away from the hole than from missing three-footers.

More likely you will miss the green, so your greenside chip stands in for the approach putt. Did you ever hear that your worst putt is better than your best chip? That just means you’re a lousy chipper. This is an easy stroke to get good at if you put in the practice.

Clearly, there is a lot more to getting pars than just these two strokes. But these are the two strokes that do the most to put you into a position to make a par. If they are weak points, you are leaving a lot of pars on the course.

My new book, The Golfing Self, is now available at www.therecreationalgolfer.com. It will change everything about the way you play.

playing the game, ten rules

Ten Rules For Hitting More Greens

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The shot into the green is your scoring shot. Hit the green and par is yours for the taking. While no one hits every green, these ten rules will help you hit more than you do now.

1. Use enough club. Figure out which club you would use to hit the back edge of the green and take one less club than that. -or – Determine the distance to the pin and add five yards. Choose your club on that distance.

2. Make generous allowances for unusual conditions. Use one club more, at least, when hitting into the wind, and one more club hitting with a cross-wind. Use one club more when hitting off uneven lies, including a downhill lie. True, the downhill slope will de-loft the club, but you will be swinging more easily to keep your balance, and a perfect strike is hard to come by.

3. Aim for the center of the green. Save pin-hunting for the pros. The center as your target gives you the most room for error in direction and will leave you with the shortest approach putts on average in the long run.

4. Know which iron is the longest you can reliably hit the green with. When you hit longer irons than that toward the green, favor the side of the green that will give you the easiest up and down if you miss.

5. Get good with your 8- and 9-irons. When you have one of these in your hand, it is a money shot and you must have the confidence that you can hit the green with that club every time.

6. Get good at the 50- to 100-yard pitch. This is the shot you will be hitting into par 5s if your first two shots were adequate. Good pitching sets up an easy par and makes birdie a real possibility.

7. Irons are for direction, not distance. If you hit the green from 140 yards eighty percent of the time, the only person who will care that you need a 7-iron to do it is you.

8. Start your divot in front of the ball. This is how clean, crisp contact is born. Your club does hit the back of the ball, but what you should be hitting at is a spot on the ground about a half inch in front of the ball.

9. Aim yourself correctly. When you end your practice swing with a classic high finish, the spot you are looking straight at is where you are aimed. -or- look down at your thighs and mentally draw a line across them and down the fairway to show you where you are aimed.

10. Work on your short game at five yards from the green and in. The majority of your misses will be in that zone. You will swing with more confidence if you are not worried about a miss, and you can still save your par if you do.

Bonus: Swing easily with your irons. Slug your driver if you want to (well, really don’t do that), but make an easy pass at the ball whenever it is on the ground to make sure you hit it neatly.

My new book, The Golfing Self, is now available at www.therecreationalgolfer.com. It will change everything about the way you play.