Phil Mickelson Makes a Change

November 6, 2015November 5, 2015 / The Grateful Golfer / 2 Comments

It is no secret that I am a fan of Phil Mickelson. I have always felt that his style of play was something I would like to emulate. Of course, without the skill it is very difficult, but heck it is worth a try.

The recent announcement of Phil Mickelson separating from his long-time swing coach Butch Harmon really comes as no surprise. Mickelson has struggled over the past few years and with only a few exceptions has not played to his potential.

Given Mickelson’s competitive spirit I would suggest that this parting is happening a year too late. It is not that Harmon has failed to help Mickelson or that Harmon’s teachings were not spot on, it is a matter of ‘time to move on”!

Both Mickelson and Harmon seem to be splitting amicably. And after 8 years, they both understand that it is time for a change.

“I’ve learned a great deal from him in our eight years together,” Mickelson said in a statement released to media. “It’s just that at the moment I need to hear new ideas from a different perspective.” Mickelson added, “Butch is one of the great teachers in the history of the game, and I believe he deserves to be in the World Golf Hall of Fame.”

“Helping him win the Open Championship in 2013 was one of the pinnacles of my career,” Harmon said through Mickelson’s representatives in the statement, which was initially released to Golf.com. “I see nothing wrong with him seeking advice from another source. We’re great friends and always will be.”

There is a bit of speculation about who Lefty’s new swing coach will be, but right now, it does not matter. Mickelson has decided it was time for a change and I completely agree. “If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got” (Henry Ford)

Phil Mickelson has made the first step towards winning on Tour in 2016! Lefty likely hopes that this fundamental change to his support group will result in something great. Personally, I am looking forward to seeing “Phil the Thrill” back in the winner’s circle and completing his career grand slam.

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

Golf Tips, We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Golf Tips!

November 5, 2015November 4, 2015 / The Grateful Golfer / 6 Comments

If you scour the internet for golf tips, 150,000,000 searches appear in 0.41 seconds. Now, I am an avid golf fan and enjoy increasing my knowledge about my favorite sport; but really, 150 million hits for golf tips! The challenge is to sift through all the white noise to figure out which tip is best for us!

Everyone has their own process to cut white noise. Everyday, we are bombarded with information that is filter, processed, acted upon, or discarded. The difficulty is to figure out what is important and which process works best; then apply it to golf. For me, the process is simple:

Identify the problem;
Collect information on the problem;
Analyse the information;
Determine possible solutions or courses of action; and
Decide on way ahead.

This process empowers me to move forward when faced with many challenges. In 2015, I did have the arsenal required to really improve my golf game and lower my scores. So, I have decided to fix that short fall starting next week.

I have decided my way ahead for the my winter golf project. I am going to write on article a week on golf tips. Not my normal, this is the way The Grateful Golfer does it, but a review analysing tips I find while researching golf. I hope to provide a video with each article, but that will depend on the tip that I find.

I cannot guarantee that each tip will be useful to you, but I suggest that it will broaden your library of golf resources that you can tap into at a moments notice. I think that this project will be fun and beneficial to everyone. If nothing else, I look forward to learning new golf tips that will help me reach my goal as a scratch golfer!

What do you think? Any suggestions on which tip should be researched first?

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

Golf Tip: Keeping your Head Still!

November 4, 2015November 3, 2015 / The Grateful Golfer / 6 Comments

Recently, I placed an image on Instagram with a caption: “keeping your head down through the entire golf swing is important for consistent low scores.” It was a quick note and I originally thought it was grammatically correct and to the point.

View this post on Instagram

Keeping your head down through the entire #golf swing is important for #consistent low scores. #golfer #golfswing #grateful

A post shared by The Grateful Golfer (@gratefulgolf) on Oct 28, 2015 at 4:07am PDT

After a short while, Rick Williams from mindbodygolf, a valued member of the Grateful Golfer Community, suggested that keeping your head ‘still’ instead of ‘down’ was the correct message for a consistent golf swing and lower scores. His suggestion started me thinking and wondering if his suggestion of keeping our head still was indeed the correct message.

After much thought, I agree with Rick. To prove this change in wording to myself, I actually grabbed a club and swung it about 25 times. Through the entire process I focused on the position of my head and whether it stayed in the same position through my entire swing. This is what I found out:

My head is in the center of my stance during set up
My head shifts towards my back foot slightly during my back swing. Additionally, my head turns slightly to the right to make room for my left shoulder at the top of my back swing
As my down swing starts, my head returned to the middle of my stance, but remained behind the ball through impact
On contact, my head is still and centered until my right shoulder pushes my head to look for the ball

My conclusion about Rick’s comments is that my head does need to stay still, but does slide during my golf swing. An important message to follow this diatribe is that my head stays on the same plane and does not bounce up and down like a bobblehead.

Thanks Rick, my new message to all golfers is to of “keeping your head still through the entire golf swing is important for consistent low scores.”

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