With the first week of September in the books, I look ahead and see that my golf season is quickly approaching. I realize that I can still golf through October, however as the weather changes, the number of hours that are available during any given day are drastically reducing. The shortening golf season happens every year and it is something I am prepared to accept. This year, I will end my season with a two day trip to participate in the 2024 Ontario Open Hickory Golf Championship.
Continue readingYear: 2024
Considering How Far We Hit Our Golf Ball
In many cases, we amateurs overestimate the distance we hit our golf balls. In many cases, we include the roll in our average and rarely focus on distance traveled before the roll. Many times I discussed the distance many players hit their ball with each club and most of the time players are off as much as 10 to 15%. I know, I do not hit the ball as far as in my younger days, however my ego keeps trying to tell me the opposite. Hence, my club selection is a bit off some days and unless I really focus on the situation, I live with the result of being short hoping it will change on my next shot. Talk about the definition of insanity.
Continue readingShort Putts Never Go In!
Putting is the great equalizer. It is the one stroke that can change the fortunes of your round. Putting is a huge topic at this blog and I have tried to present different ways for players to improve on the short grass. Improving our putting is no epiphany for any player, but it seems to be one that I keep revisiting because of its importance. Today’s point deals with hitting the ball past the hole. For this drill, Jordan Spieth comes to mind and his unique putting style a few years back.
Continue readingBecome A Better Putter!
We are fooling ourselves if we think putting is not the great equalizer in golf. This simple stroke can make or break you score. Since most of our shots of any round happen on or near the green, it only make sense that we spend a large portion of our practice time on our short game. Putting is by far the most important area of play if you are planning on lowering your golf score. I have talked about putting a great deal at The Grateful Golfer and today, I will provide three putting drills that could improve your game.
Over the years, I have offered many putting drills. The ones today fall into new, old and I am not sure with respect to usefulness. Regardless, I think it is important to see different drills as some may resonate home better than others. For now, here are the three drills:
The new drill for me is placing two elastic bands on the putter head. This is a very simple drill and I can see the value of ensuring we hit the ball on the center of the club face. It is adjustable, sustainable, and repeatable; talk about a great drill. I definitely recommend this drill. If we combine the elastics with two tees as gates, then something special might happen improving the consistency of our putting.
The right handed putting drill is not new. It is something I have talked about before and provides a stable connection between the club and our body through our right (or left) hand. I figure if Tiger Woods uses this drill it has to have value. I have used this drill in the past and found that it helped me control the putter head to ensure square faced contact between the club and the ball. Overall, this is a great drill.
The coin on the back on the putter. To be fair, I have never used this drill and I will have to give it more research before assessing its value. In principle, I see the value. However, during execution I am not so sure. Again, I will not assess this drills value without experimenting more. If you have used this drill, please drop me a line and tell me how it worked for you.
There you have it. Three new drills to help improve your putting. Improving our flat stick results will definitely lower our golf scores. You may not like all the drills presented, however I am sure there are a few that will help your game. It is up to you to pick and choose. Regardless of which drill is good for your game, practicing your putting is a sure fire way to lower you golf scores.
I am a grateful golfer! See you on the links!
Thinking Through Tough Golf Shots
Every golf shot requires a certain amount of thought before execution. Sometimes it is a straight forward process, however more often than not, it takes a bit of brain bites to hit the appropriate golf shot. There are many different stressors on each shot that should be evaluated, however most of those challenges can be mitigated through one thought on tough golf shots. Yup, I have narrowed the multiple influences down to one thing can control to help make challenging shots.
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The Grateful Golfer 