Lower Your Score by Working Back from 100 Yards
7 Feb 2013

Lower Your Score by Working Back from 100 Yards

I wanted to share with you a great way to get your game sharp in a hurry.  This is one of the games that we play on my golf teams in Florida. Find a course that allows you to practice on a hole, or find a golf center that has practice holes.  Start at 100 yards with your 100-yard club and use five golf balls.  Your goal is to hit the middle of the green with all five balls and two-putt.  If you miss the green, you have to get up and down.  You goal is to make three shots on four out of the five balls.  If you make four out five from 100 yards, you can move back to your next club.  If you start with a wedge at 100, your next club would be a 9-iron. The idea of the game is to keep working back until you reach a point where you cannot hit the green, and/or get up and down with the consistency of four out five.  If you can’t take three strokes four out five times at 100 yards, then you need to take a look at your swing and your short game.   Keep working on your swing and short game until you can get four out five. The best part of this game is that you will consistently work on short game.  As you move back, you will notice what clubs need more work, and maybe you need to add some hybrids or more fairway woods.  As you develop your game around this scoring game, your driver will become your club to set up your yardage on par-4 holes and on par-5 holes. You just get to hit an extra shot to set up your scoring. Keep at this and your scores will drop dramatically.  
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Teach your students to make every course be thier favorite course
18 Jan 2013

Teach your students to make every course be thier favorite course

There’s an old saying in golf: “Different horses for different courses.” Some players just think and play better on certain courses.  This mental game principle fits Steve Stricker to a tee. Defending his crown, Stricker raced to a strong second-place finish at the 2013 Hyundai Tournament of Champions in Hawaii.  Stricker stated, “This is a special place to start the year.” Clearly, his enjoyment for the Plantation Course at Kapalua has propelled his play to great heights. Even with a pain racing down his left leg due to a pinched nerve, Steve proceeded to shoot a 69 on Sunday, and impressively, hit every green in regulation. But Steve Stricker is not unique in having a playing affair with a certain course.  Ben Hogan played so well at the Riviera Country Club that it has been dubbed “Hogan’s Alley.”  Pebble Beach holds the same magic for Mark O’Meara, who won the U.S. Amateur and five PGA Tour events there. Many factors influence why a certain course provides great play for a particular player. One is that the layout of the holes just fits a player’s eye.  If most of the holes go left to right, and your bread-and-butter shot pattern is a fade (for a righty), then this would make you feel very comfortable over every tee shot. Another factor is that some courses get the juices flowing more than others. I heard “Bones” (Phil Mickelson’s long time caddy) say how much his player loves Augusta National and gets amped up to play there. Perhaps that is a big reason why Phil has worn the “Green Jacket” three times (once at a fast food drive-thru with his family, but that is a different story). On the flip side, consider all-time great Lee Trevino, who’s won every major except the Masters. Trevino has stated that Augusta National and he were not a good fit. If he felt the love as Phil does for that “old nursery,” then he may have won there (and at least finished higher than a T10). What about your students? Do they talk themselves out of playing well on certain golf courses? Do they talk themselves into playing poorly on certain holes? It is really that simple. Self-talk has immense influence over the outcome of our efforts. You must convince you students to like every course, and every difficult hole. Remind them to enjoy the course with its wonderful layout and great greens. In that case, they will enjoy the course even more because they played so well. When they make every course their favorite, they will find their scores improve in return. Bio: Dr. Gregg Steinberg is a tenured professor of sports and has been the official sports psychologist for the United States Golf Teachers Federation for the past 15 years. Dr. Gregg has been the mental coach for many golf teams including the University of Florida 1993 NCAA Men’s Championship team. He also enjoys helping young golfers to “think better scores.” Golf Digest ranked him as one of the best golf psychologists. Dr. Gregg is the author of “Mental rules for Golf” and has appeared many times on Golf Channel.  You can see more about him at www.drgreggsteinberg.com and if you have any questions about the mental game, please e-mail him at mentalrules24@msn.com.
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Play the front tees to go low
18 Jan 2013

Play the front tees to go low

All players have a comfort zone when playing the game.  However, when you stray from the zone, say when you’re on pace to break 100 for the first time, or when you’re several under par early during a round, it’s easy to get nervous.  These emotions are natural, and it takes visualization and training to keep them under control.  There are several ways to do this when playing great golf.  One very successful drill I use with my students, to ensure a sense of calmness when entering the zone, is to play a few rounds from the front tees. When students play from closer tees, it helps them hit more greens in regulation, getting to par-5s in two and maybe driving some par-4 greens.  I want my students to have opportunities to get up and down for birdie, not par.  I want them to feel the excitement of draining a lot of putts inside 10 feet for birdie, not lagging from 40 feet.  The excitement which comes from consistent putting, translating into a low round, introduces positive nerves, which cements the experiences into memory recall.  Rather than reverting to the negative mindset of “don’t blow it,” the student can draw upon those positive memories and welcome an attitude of “how low can I go” to experience the thrill that only a great round provides. This aggressive behavior is beneficial in many ways.  The student won’t focus on the milestone that they are close to achieving.  It helps them focus solely on going lower, and not maintaining their current level of performance.  How many students have told you, “If I knew I could have made par on the last two holes, then I would have broken 100 for the first time”?  We want our students to think about making another birdie, making another par, not, “How much longer can I keep this up?” By playing more forward tees in practice rounds, your students will learn to shoot lower scores, and thus, you are training them to go low.  This will help keep your students calm when they are in the “zone,” allowing them to finish good rounds strong and turning great rounds into their best rounds!
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