Tips

Being Engaged in Golf

/ The Grateful Golfer / 9 Comments

Scoring in golf is sometimes very challenging. A player can play well and score poorly. Conversely, a player can play poorly, but score well. Regardless of where you fit into this spectrum, being engaged in each shot is very important.

To explain what I mean, golf pro Darren Everett, from National Club Golfer, explains the importance of engaging with your target during all phases of your swing. Everett’s point of being engaged and focused on your target during your pre-swing routine, during contact, and after contact is a simple, yet extremely important lesson for all amateur and professional golfers alike.

Next time I am on the range or the course, I will engage the my target with intent. This important point will help me stay focused and should result in lower scores! We shall see tomorrow.

I am a grateful golfer! See you on the links!

The Best Part of Playing Golf

/ The Grateful Golfer / 8 Comments

Well it is 02 June and my scores officially start to matter. I have one game under my belt and I can honestly say that I am not near early season form. I have really struggled this year and I am not sure exactly what the problem is…..YET!

Today was a typical round. This is how my round went.

  • 3 bogies
  • 4 pars
  • 2 bogies
  • 1 par
  • 2 bogies
  • 1 par
  • 1 double
  • 2 pars
  • 1 double
  • 1 birdie
  • for a grand total of 82!

I cannot seem to put a string of 6 or so pars together, I count of 2 or 3 birdies a round and I cannot stop shooting double bogies. I realize that…..wait, wait, wait.

Fixing a Swing

Change your thoughts, Change your world!

As Norman Vincent Peale said: Change your thoughts and you change your world!

Well, as a grateful golfer, I need to heed this statement. Golf is about having fun, interacting with like-minded people, and enjoying my surroundings. Although my round looks bad, I actually played better than my score would indicate.

The best part of playing golf is remembering the positive things from each round. Today, for instance, I played golf with 3 nice gentlemen. One was a usual partner, the other two were strangers until, through chance, we played golf together. I hit my driver well and the last hole provided plenty of hope for my next round.

The last hole on our course is a 463 yard par 5 that plays longer than it is measured. I hit my driver about 260 yards, but was left with about 225 to the green. I hit my three wood into the wind and my ball rolled up to about 20 feet from the pin. I was putting for eagle! My putt was perfectly on-line, all 4 of us thought it was dropping for sure, but unfortunately it lipped out to 2 inches and I was left with a tap in birdie.

Golf is an amazing game. No matter how I play, I can always focus on something positive and build on it for my next round. I am officially changing my thoughts and changing my world on the golf course!

What was the highlight of your last round of golf?

I am a grateful golfer! See you on the links!

Golf With Friends and Etiquette

/ The Grateful Golfer / 6 Comments

As per our weekly routine, on Saturday and Sunday my friends and I converged on our home course for a round at golf. Starting at 7:08 am, we enjoy the weather, the friendship and loads of fun as we walk the course. Our 3 hour and 15 minute round is often filled with jokes, jabs, laughs, and the odd barrage of colourful language. It is something that we all look forward too and rarely miss.

We have played together for years and sometimes this familiarity creates certain learning opportunities. Today, for instance, was a lesson on surrounding the player making the shot. I happen to be taking the picture, but I could easily be interchanged with any of my friends.

With a military competition coming up, we will start to tighten the rules, focus on etiquette, and take a bit longer to make our shots. But, for now all is normal. The picture below is definitely something that would not happen during competition. As you can see, all the players have stopped to watch one of the guys take his shot. The sun is still quite low in the horizon, so standing behind the player gives the best opportunity to track the ball.

Golfing with Friends

Can I have a bit of space?

However, as I stated before, our familiarity and comfort of playing together for years does lead to the odd etiquette breach. As you can see, we have the shooter surrounded. Everyone is standing within 10 feet of the player and in his sight line. This type of configuration is not uncommon for us because the fellas were likely talking all the way down the fairway. We would not give it a second thought that something was amiss.

As we inch closer to the competition (in less than 2 weeks) all of us will be more cognizant of where we stand, how close to be to the shooter, and at what angle to stand of the player making the shot. We will focus on proper etiquette and make sure that we are aware of it during the competition.

The point to this diatribe is that etiquette is very important in golf. Understanding the finer points of where to stand, being ready to play when it is your turn, and not interfering with a player’s routine is quite important. The only way to fully understand the proper etiquette in golf is to ask questions and be aware of your surroundings.

Golf is a gentlemen’s game and etiquette is very important. Arnold Palmer has identified 10 important etiquette points that are good to know. If you have any other questions about etiquette, drop me a line. I will find you the answer.

I am a grateful golfer. See you on the links.

Golf Swing Transition

/ The Grateful Golfer / 7 Comments

Transition of the hips is one of the biggest faults in a golf swing. Most amateurs have a tendency to over rotate their hips and as a result, the club comes through on an outward-inward swing plane. This type of rotation generally creates that dreaded slice. In some cases, like myself, I generally pull the ball to the left side of the fairway.

My problem, other than having a bobble head, is in my hips. When swinging at the correct tempo my hips are in sync with the rest of my swing. However, if I swing too fast, thinking that I will hit the ball farther, my hips pop open and my right knee finishes pointing at the ball. This is a known fault of mine and I continually work on correcting it.

I also have difficulty explaining the proper hip / thigh process. So, I found this quick video from the National University Golf Academy. Ted Norby explains the proper process to follow to make consistent, solid contact every time.

Watching the video highlighted my challenge with my right knee. Now that I have a fix, I am off to the range.

What do you think? Is the hip / knee transition as important as Norby highlights?

I am a grateful golfer! See you on the links!

How Wide is Your Golf Stance?

/ The Grateful Golfer / 13 Comments

Last fall, I was fortunate to take part in a golf clinic given by PGA Tour Canada for serving members of the Canadian Armed Forces. During my time on the range, several Pros commented on how narrow my stance was and how I was losing power and distance because I had very little body movement.

Take a look at my stance before the lesson.

Now take a look at my stance at the beginning of the year. I slowed this video down by 2x.

Do you see any difference? It may not look like much of a change, but the lower video has my stance widened by about 6 inches! That is very dramatic and I am still getting used to the difference. Interestingly, I am hitting the ball a bit further, however my accuracy is not quite at its normal level. It is still very early in the season and I only have 8 games under my belt since I started golfing on the first of May.

My new stance looks and feels better. My balance is more consistent through the entire swing. However, always the analyst, I slowed everything down to take a look at my whole swing mechanics. For the most part I was fairly happy and I cannot really complain since it is so early in the season. But….I guess there is always a but…. there are two things I did notice that I need to fix.

First, my left arm bends too much as I draw the club back. Just above waist height, my arm starts to bend. This is not good! There are two reasons for this (in my mind) flexibility and the second error I noticed. My transition at the top of the swing is too quick. I need to slow down the movement of bringing the club back to bringing it forward. If I can manage to conquer these two things in the next month or so, my GAF (golf attitude factor) will only improve.

What do you think of my analysis of my swing? I really what to know what you think!

I am a grateful golfer! See you on the links!