Tips

Golf Drill: Having Fun With Chipping

/ The Grateful Golfer / Leave a comment

Chipping is the second most important skill to master in golf; It sets up your putting (the most important skill to master). The closer the ball is to the hole, the easier the putt. I spend almost as much time working on my chipping as I do on my putting. Understanding the influences for each chip, which varies every time, is very important.

To be considered an expert short game player, I believe a 70% up-and-down percentage is required. To achieve this goal, a golfer should understand how the ball responds off their wedges and which wedge to use when. That comes with practice and all practice should not be arduous!

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Advance Golf Drill – Putting

/ The Grateful Golfer / 9 Comments

Putting is a very important skill to master for shooting low scores in golf. It is the core skill in my game and I am constantly working to improve my putting. Each round I play, I have a target number of 28 putts. It matches the PGA Tour average, but it is a realistic goal I meet or beat 50% of the time. My score is directly affected by how well I putt during the round, so I have high expectations.

To meet my high expectations, I work on my short game often. I try different drills and techniques to keep my putting sharp. Recently, I offered a simple putting drill for beginners. It involved two alignment sticks and three golf balls.

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Stretching Your Success Mindset in Golf

/ The Grateful Golfer / 6 Comments

I am always amazed by the mental aspects of golf. There are many different approaches to improving our success mindset in golf, however all these choices just complicate the issue for me. I constantly try to make positive steps towards my ultimate golf goal and sometimes I forget the simple things that make all the difference between moving forward or stagnating.

Not seeing the forest for the trees is debilitating for a golfer. We have so many thoughts racing through our minds when playing and practicing, that I a surprised any positive golf thoughts can make it through the white noise! I have talked about creating a winning mindset before and as I grow as a player, I realize it is important to simplify my mental game to really be successful.  Continue reading →

Tips for Beating the Heat in Golf

/ The Grateful Golfer / 9 Comments

Golf is a great outdoor sport. It affords us the opportunity to enjoy beautiful scenery, fresh air and other wonderful things that nature provides. We all love to golf in the bright sun with a slight breeze to keep things cool. However, when the temperature starts to push into the 30s Celsius, things start to heat up on the course!

Yesterday, I was playing a mid-afternoon round at Roundel Glen Golf Course. It was 31 degrees Celsius for the entire round with little or no breeze for most of the round. I was walking and pushing my cart. As the round progressed, I found that many aspects of my game started to strain. We talk about golfing in colder weather often, however it is no less challenging hitting the links in the heat!
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Remembering What Works In Golf

/ The Grateful Golfer / 6 Comments

For some reason, I stopped doing certain aspects of my golf game that are proven to be very successful. Does this ever happen to you? It is challenging and frustrating at the same time to relearn the same golf lessons.There are many reasons for having to go back to your roots, but lately I seem to be a victim of my own foolishness.

As you are aware, I like looking at all aspects of golf and sometimes I get lost in the labyrinth of the journey! Many paths lead to a dead-end, but now and then I strike it rich. Lately, my game has not been where I think it should be, but my recent adventure with pre-round visualization has opened my eyes and I am ready, like the phoenix rising from the ashes, to re-invigorate some of my past successes.
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