Lessons: How Good Do You Want to Get

I always ask “What are your golfing goals?”

I am the programmer for my students. I create what I call their recipe or program. I am a map maker. I find out what their goals are. They tell me. I do not tell them.

“I just want to be comfortable so I can play with my friends”. “I just don’t want to embarrass myself”. “I want my daughter to have a sport of her own that empowers her.” “I want to break 100.”

Then, I chart the route from where they’re at to where they want to go. From there, I instruct. I offer homework–drills, games and exercises. I guide, supervise, cheerlead, insist, redirect, etc. All in order that every client receives exactly what they need to arrive at the stated end. In a word, I give lessons.

Harping on Standards of Player Conduct

USGA Rule 1.2

All players are expected to play in the spirit of the game by:

  • Acting with integrity – for example, by following the Rules, applying all penalties, and being honest in all aspects of play.
  •  Showing consideration to others – for example, by playing at a prompt pace, looking out for the safety of others, and not distracting the play of another player.
  • Taking good care of the course – for example, by replacing divots, smoothing bunkers, repairing ball-marks, and not causing unnecessary damage to the course.

Perhaps now more than ever, there is a need for every one of us to take extraordinarily good care of the courses at Singing Hills. In particular, it is our job to replace, or sand (I’ll also use gopher dirt), or “kick in” your divots.

Secondly, we all want nice greens! Please carry a ball mark repair tool and be diligent. If we all fix a couple extra, we can stay ahead. Thank you in advance for your extra efforts.

 

Less Forced

I want golf to be less forced. And more fun.

I want golf to be more playful and carefree.

I want you to be able to look over a situation and honestly assess what shot you should play.

I want you to be able to simply walk up to the ball and play the shot without trying.

I want you to enjoy watching your ball travel.

I want you to produce low scores again and again.

This means fewer swing thoughts and less effort.

This means less wonder and more certainty.

Golf can be like a bike ride at the beach. No problems.

Less forced.
And more fun.


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Three Putting is Not Okay

Eliminating three putt greens is a super fast route to lower scores in golf.

There are two main reasons for three putts: 1. long putts not gotten close enough and 2. those missed short ones. Here are some steps to take.

The first step is to determine once and for all that you are going to dedicate yourself to improving your putting. There are no shortcuts! You have to go to a putting green and putt..and putt and putt and putt and putt. Think in terms of twenty hours of time spent over a few weeks in order to really make a difference.

I once asked a ski instructor what it really takes to get good at skiing. You know what he said? “Miles skied.” Think miles and miles of putting.

Another step is to always take time to go to the practice putting green before your round. Always. Skipping this step is about as amateurish as it gets. Anyone valuing a low score must get a feel for the speed of the greens before going out and hole some short putts for confidence sake. I recommend no less than twenty minutes. I know. Sounds like a lot. Sorry. I am not the one who is sick of shooting high scores. You want the truth. Right?

Also..putt in the house.

Putt in the evening after work . Putt uphillers and downhillers. Putt long ones. Putt lots of short ones. Strive to get to the point where you never miss inside four feet. Putt for an entire morning. Putt with buddies. Putt for money.

Ask for a putting lesson.

Three putting is not okay.

 

Did You Know? Singing Hills History

All of the courses were rerouted and redesigned by Ted Robinson after the big 100 year flood in 1980. The flood was devastating and took much of all three courses down stream along with the pro shop!

Hole number four (below) on Willow Glen is a Ted Robinson design.

Next time you are up there, look for the Native American artifacts in the granite. Metate (Native American grinding artifacts) exist to the right of the white teeing area and halfway down the hill on the right in the cactus (shown).

Related image

 

Handling Grassy Lies 

Golfers are taking the club for the yardage and worrying about the lie second. That’s backwards.

You absolutely have to consider how the ball is sitting first. Then, choose the correct club for the lie.

Choose the club that’s right for the lie. Yardage does not dictate club selection. The lie does.

Amateurs are guilty of using too little loft. If your ball is sitting down in the grass, I don’t care if the hole is a hundred miles away. Get out your eight iron!

Generally going for more loft is good when you’re in trouble.

I want you to reliably–not heroically–cover ground. It is better to relax and enjoyably cover some ground rather than risk wastefully duffing a shot.

 

Harping On Practice

When I was 14, I was ready. And so was my game. I went from a sixteen to a four handicap in three months. Scratch golf came very shortly thereafter. Now, here’s the deal. This advancement was hard earned. It did not arrive on a silver platter. I had taken weekly lessons since I was nine, studied harder, and out-worked every kid my age.

There are very few if any shortcuts. Music teachers know it. You want to learn piano? You have sit down, and suffer, and stay with it–for HOURS at a time.

For the sake of this conversation…tips, pointers, and quick fixes are to be avoided. 

Martial artists, kids learning how to drive, pianists–even writers–practice in order to get better. Coaches in all sports would agree.

I will give you the tools you need to spend your practice time effectively. 100%. No maybes. Let’s do this.

Checklists for Organized Practice

Practice sessions must be organized.

Follow these three steps:

  1. Arrive with a plan.
  2. Do the plan.
  3. Leave feeling good.

This policy for organized practice is simple to understand. Really though, only well trained tournament players of all ages are good at staying organized for an entire practice session.

Staying organized requires:

  1. Adequate stamina (including being well fed and rested)
  2. Adequate attention span (this is built up over time)
  3. The ability to fend off distractions.

Today, I am most concerned with the latter. You must be able to fend off distractions in order to run an organized practice session.

Distractions come from all over. Buddies appear and want to show your their new driver. They come along and want you to out and play. they want to chit chat. You have to get back to the office. Your smart phone is after you. The amateur next to you wants to “help” and starts sharing some key or pointer that has nothing to do with the lesson content you’re there to work on intently. Threats to your practice session’s organization are everywhere. To the degree that you allow your plan to get derailed, you will not get better.

Use the checklists above to help you get better faster. I want your lessons to really pay off.

Covering Ground

Golf may be boiled down to just two things: covering ground and holing out. That’s it.

In my book Easy Bogey, How to Break 90 I describe in detail exactly what it takes.

To break the 90 barrier, practically no firepower is required. All you have to do is cover little bits of ground and do a decent job of holing out once you are in neighborhood of the cup. It’s really pretty easy.

Regardless of your golfing goals, you have my permission to make golf as simple as possible. Cover ground and hole out.

What do I mean by cover ground? It’s just that. It’s getting your ball down the field. It’s advancing it along. It’s reliably sending it down there without trying hard. 

We have all been tricked. We have been tricked–and tricked ourselves–into thinking golf is difficult. It is not. There is a starting line and a hole in the ground. Golf your ball until your ball until it goes in the hole. Get it?

The golf course designer does not want me telling you this: Golf is simple.

The golf course designer is not in the keep it simple business. He is in the complication business. Bunkers, dog legs, elevation changes, trees, gulleys, deep grass and water hazards are placed, built, or left in order to deceive and beguile. These features do punish errant shots causing scores to blow up.

NOTE: Did you know most errant shots are brought on by greedy course management decisions rather than swing errors?

Golf courses are beautiful places. They are made scenic by mother nature and the course architect. But they do not mean golf is difficult or serious or complicated. Golf courses consist mainly of yardage. I urge you to also pay more attention than ever to the yardage of each hole. That information–found on the scorecard or yardage marker–is given to you by the architect. The yardage is a huge tip off. It’s a road map meant to keep you from bashing away aimlessly trying to hit far. Trying to hit it far is not golf.

“Players” check out how much ground they have to cover on each hole. Hackers and dabblers neglect this step. They think of it as “far.” Wrong approach. It is never far. It is an identifiable amount of ground to be gobbled up in well thought out realistic bite size pieces. 350 is not far. It’s 350. Using your skill level you have to intelligently cover that yardage, Then hole out. 460 is not far. It’s 460. And so on.

By the way, yardage is measured along the ground. It is not measured through the air. I very strongly recommend worrying less about making the ball go up. Covering ground is done by advancing the ball forward, not up.