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Gotta Get it Close

WITH A BONUS AT THE END OF THE ARTICLE

You gotta get the short game shots close to have any hope of scoring.

In Easy Bogey How to Break 90, I stress getting on the green in one over regulation and two putting for bogey. 

To really score lower, you gotta get the short game shot close enough for a one putt. Pitch shots, sand shots and chips must be gotten within four feet–preferably closer–in order to save a stroke. Same with lag putts.

Average golfers crack me up sometimes when they compliment each other on a short game approach shot ends up six or eight or ten feet from the hole.

This is not good enough when you want to save strokes. Statistically, we miss those longer “short” putts nearly every time.

If you want to truly get to the next level of scoring–whatever that means to you–I recommend dedicating yourself to some 20 hours of lag putting, pitching, chipping and bunker play practice. Oh. And I recommend getting instruction and coaching to ensure you have the know how and the drills are right for you.

BONUS: For anyone who reads this all the way to the bottom and asks nicely, I will give you a FREE 10-minute putting lesson to help you make sure you hole those short putts. There’s a trick to it!

Bob Madsen makes golf into ART. He is gifted. He is visionary. He is fiercely dedicated to the PGA of America, to his employer Sycuan Golf Resort, and to the teaching arts.  He is humble and quiet about himself, which in some way explains his not being recognized quite enough for who and what he is. 

I went to Scotland and played links golf with him, because of him.  I know course design because of him. I walk courses instead of riding because of him. I have read 100 classic golf books because of him. I understand the game because of him.  I am merely one of the thousands of lives he has touched deeply.  I am not a man of means, but I save all year in Pennsylvania so that I can go to HIM for knowledge and encouragement.

So, whoever it is out there who has influence over Top 100 teacher lists, you’re missing one very important dude. I implore you to meet him in person, play with him, watch him teach, and listen to his graceful presentation of our beloved game.

 Bruce Wilson    Rochester, PA       724-814-2512  

> Quick story,

> I played with my father Glen last week. He birdied the first 3 holes and parred a bunch after that. As I’m not supposed to, I let it affect my game instead of concentrating on MY game. Not ready to quit golf, but it did bum me out quite a bit and setting any future tee times were nowhere in my thoughts. That was until I got half way through your book Easy Bogey this morning. It reminded me to re-center myself and ease up, to add that extra shot to par in my thought process before I take that first swing. I immediately put the book down and made a tee time for Monday. Thanks, Bob.

 From a high handicap amateur. 

 Hi my name is Will.  I started golfing about 10 months ago and started working with Bob Madsen (PGA Pro) 7 months ago.  Bob has helped me lower my handicap to a 16 and my best round so far is 90 on a par 72 course.

I think every hole in one shot has a combination of luck and skill.  When a pro hits a lob wedge 5 yards past the pin that spins back into the cup, one could argue there is a greater portion of skill than luck in that shot.  When first time golfer tops a 160 yard drive off the tee that roles in, most would credit luck.  My hole-in-one falls somewhere between those two extremes.

Two days a week I play the Pine Glen par 3 course and usually shoot in the mid to high 60s.  The course has a nice mix of 150+ yard par 3’s and challenging greens that keep patrons engaged.  This particular round I was golfing with my new Ping G irons for the first time.  Hole 6 is a narrow 180 yard flat par 3 with trees on either side of the fairway.  I play my 5 iron on this hole with the expectation that my average shot will yield a 20 yard layup, while a particularly well struck shot will roll onto the green.  Today my tee shot was dead straight, low and a bit thin (I never use tees in this course as I am trying to improve my fairway shots).  It took the first bounce 15 yards before the green and started rolling a couple yards before the small berm that guards the front edge of the green.  I lost site of the ball as it trickled over the berm, but re acquired it just as it started breaking towards pin.  It was kind of hard to see from far away, but as the ball slowed I lost it.  I calmly said “no f—ing way” and shook my head as I jogged to green with my pushcart.  I remember thinking, “this isn’t supposed to happen to new golfers like me.” Sure enough there was my prov1x with orange sharpie staring at me from the bottom of the cup.

I’m not sure if there is anything to learn here. I was making the safe easy tee shot Bob trained me to see.  The kind of smart beginner tee shot that does not challenge the surrounding trees by attempting dramatic and unnecessary shot shaping.  My focus was to hit the ball straight, low and just short of the green.  I succeeded at two of those three things.

In one sense you could say I am lucky because my shot that purposefully fell short of the green happened to roll in.  In another sense one could say smart shot selection from the tee box (skill not luck) yielded that shot.

So I guess I have a question. Is the hole-in-one that rolls onto the green more luck or skill, if rolling onto the green is exactly what the golfer was trying to do?

Hi Bob.  I keep a journal to reflect on and record what I learn in lessons.  I just thought I would share my entry from Wednesday.

 Wednesday 4/12: I watched Bob coach a very good amateur.  

 Mr. Dan Sivadge

Coach introduced me to Dan Sivadge who he described as one of the best and most competitive amateur golfers in southern CA.  This golfer said he hadn’t golfed in 3 months which was a longer break than he had ever taken in his life.  He seemed a bit frustrated because he had lost control over his shot shape and lost his “feel” at impact. 

He asked coach to look at his stance and ball position and swing. Bob took pictures of him at address with his 9, 6, and driver.  Coach said there was nothing wrong with his set up or his swing.  He would not give the golfer advice – saying it would be very bad to start “chasing geese” as the golfer regains familiarity with his swing.   

Coach then asked the golfer the same question several times and wouldn’t let the golfer dodge it – “in the next 1000 balls, how many do you think you will mis-hit?”  When the golfer finally said 20%, Bob said “well you’re gonna mis-hit more balls than you are used to in the next week and you just have to choose to be OK with that and trust and be patient that the % of mishits will go down as you start to practice more”.  It would be a bad idea to start changing things while he is out of practice.  Here I could see that the advice to “do nothing” because nothing needed to be “fixed” was invaluable. 

Of course for Bob to be able to give this advice, he needed a trained pro eye to determine that there was indeed nothing “wrong” with the swing. That is to say, this is not general advice that can be given to by anyone advising an out-of-practice golfer – it still takes a pro’s eye to determine the swing is indeed in ok shape.  

He then asked the golfer what he has done in the past to “get his swing back”.  The gentleman said short game, because it allows him to practice feeling the swing at the impact position while taking a smaller swing.

Coach then watched him hit small PW shots for an hour.  Coach noted the golfers pre shot routine got more consistent.  Simultaneously the golfer started to hit a very consistent 80 yard shots with a draw that seemed to please the golfer.

Also, just after Bob complemented a particularly good sounding impact, the golfer said something very interesting.  He said “Yeah I can do that, it’s just that right now I need to concentrate a little harder”.   

Here is my opinion of what happened.  The golfer was thinking that his errant shots were coming from some physical mistake when really it was all mental.  The fact that the shots got better simultaneously with pre-shot routine shows that the golfer just needed to reestablish his relaxed concentration mental state where he could unconsciously perceive and control the impact condition. The golfer already knew and said that shot control came from club head awareness (mental – not physical) and that shorter swing shots were the way to rebuild that awareness or “feel”. 

Interestingly Bob’s role here was to help connect the golfer with what Dan already knew was correct, and to steer the golfer away from getting distracted by physical “fixes”.  Bob had to work very hard to remind the golfer of what he already knew by asking him thing like “When did your swing last feel good?” and “What did you do last time to get your swing back?” 

I also liked how Bob would stand directly over the golfer’s ball to take control of the lesson and conversation.

Thank you Dan and Bob.

Will Stuart

As a PGA Teaching Professional, I feel obligated to help golfers continually increase their knowledge and appreciation for The Rules of Golf. I typically start familiarizing folk brand new to the game with basic Definitions, Rules and Ettiquette starting right away. For example, I might start with a little course tour before I ever hand the person a club. “You see those two markers lined up with one another over there? Those are called tee markers. Got it?”

“Yes.” (note the lesson begins with the student being right: comfortable and succeeding)

“Good. Can you draw an imaginary line between them using your imagination.”

“Yes.”

“That’s the starting line. You have to start behind the starting line. Got it?”

“Yes.” (Big smile. Happy student beginning to get hooked on the game for the rest of their lives.)

“Okay. See down there a ways? Can you see that flag waving in the breeze.”

“Yes.”

“Can you see that it’s up on a stick?”

“Yes.”

“That’s called a Flagstick,” I tell the learner who’s quickly becoming a begining golfer and student of the game. Love that. “What’s it called?”

“Flagstick!”

“Excellent. Where did they stick it?”

“In a hole?” they say inquisitively.

“Correct!” I acknowledge.

“So, you start here” I point to the teeing ground. “And you golf your ball until it goes in the hole…Got it.?”

The comeback is usually something like “Sounds easy enough.”

“Yep. And if anybody ever comes along and makes it seem complicated , they’re wrong. Got it?

“Yep.”

They ask, “Just play golf.?

Exactly.

Is it every golfer’s duty to become a better student of the game? I think so. One aspect of this is The Rules. I feel strongly that we all have an obligation in this regard. Please do your part.

…Good players want to be coached. Great players want to be told the truth

– Doc Rivers    Head Coach Los Angeles Clippers

When you do something for the number of years that I have you learn a lot and see patterns. I think Doc Rivers has it right. Good players want to be coached.

I have been hanging around coaching since I was a kid. I started taking golf lessons in 1969 and took somewhere in the neighborhood of 500 lessons over the next fifteen years. Every Saturday. I still go see my coach when I am training.

Since I turned pro, I have probably given over 30,000 lessons.

I’ve had several teachers really. All were very good players and had a complete command of the subject. The best ones told the truth and NEVER blew smoke.

In golf, we tend to be called “teachers”.  We are expected to help by instructing. This is certainly one part of the craft. I teach people stuff all the time: everything from etiquette to correct ball striking techniques. It’s plain old telling or sharing of information. I know something the student needs to know. So, I share it with them.

Coaching is something a bit different. Coaching is the art of giving the student the responsibility and the tools they need: concepts, drills, games, exercises, etc. Coaching insists the student do the discovering. It involves asking questions, coaxing answers, getting the player to experiment, and find out for themselves what’s happening and what’s best. I guide and kind of stay out of it. I get the student to study. This begins with their wanting to be coached.

Are you ready to study and be coached? That would be good.

We’ll make a good team.

MadsenGolf    bmadsen@sycuanresort.com

This is a conversation that took place via text between me and a 33 year old male triathlete and math teacher. He was completely tangled in knots–thinking too much– and could not hit the ball at all. He took his first lesson from me where we talked about moving better and letting things happen. He had this to say in the coming days of practice and drilling.

Dear Bob,

It’s a really weird feeling but I’m starting to build trust in the solidness of contact.  I realized I was totally obsessing on the ball and on the contact.

Now, I’ve gotten to the point where I can mentally let go of it and trust the contact will be there.  This allows me to pour all my mental energy into simply moving (my body better).

As a result I pulled off a pretty insane stunt today at the range. I hit four balls in a row with perfect contact and a full swing with my eyes closed!

My “full swing” now feels absolutely nothing like the full swing I had before.  It is completely effortless.

Today, I hit 20 balls eyes closed.  5 were miss hit.  The other 15 were identical super high fades that landed within a 5 yard radius 110 yards out.  I have no idea why my eyes closed shots are so so much more consistent than my eyes open shots. I’ve never hit a grouping that tight before.

–W.S.

_________________________________

Want to hit it better? Worry less about the hit, free it up and let it go.

Crafting a Better Golf Learning Experience

–BM

One way is to spend some practice time “kicking” field goals. That is, instead of shooting down a line to a pole or flag or sign on the range, pick out two “goalposts” and shoot between them. This creates an alleyway not unlike a fairway which has width. Greens do too. There is too much concern about perfect alignment and shooting down a line. Instead, pick out two yardage signs or range fence poles. This offers relief before you even walk up to address the target. It’s obviously easier to send the ball into an area 30 yards wide than it is to hit an exact line.

Hitting to an imaginary fairway breeds confidence. Each shot can be a relieving and reassuring victory instead of a depressing failure.

Start out wide. You can always narrow it up.