I just got back from a long practice session with one of my professional players. We were working on distance control with his long pitch shots, and fine tuning his pre-shot routine.
Our session consisted of setting up five golf balls at 30 yards, five balls at 40 yards, five at 50 yards and five at 60 yards. Every single ball, our purpose was to execute a perfect pre-shot routine. To give you some idea of what his pre-shot routine consisted of:
See the shot you want to hit! (Stand behind the golf ball on line with the hole for a minimum of five seconds. Here is where the player needs to see the entire shot he or she wants to hit)
Feel the shot you want to hit! (Take a practice stroke to feel the shot you’ve chosen)
Hit the shot you want to hit! (Once the player gets to the ball, all there is to do is hit the shot with confidence)
This pre-shot routine is incredibly simple, and it helps a player feel completely committed to the shot at hand, which allows for a confident golf swing! On average it took this player roughly 25-30 seconds to see it, feel it, hit it on each shot… and about 10 minutes to hit all twenty golf balls that we set up. Simple enough right? Every single shot hit had a purpose, and every shot was hit with confidence.
Hitting golf balls next to us was a husband and wife couple that were also practicing long pitch shots… each had a bag of golf balls (maybe sixty balls in each bag). Before we got done with our twenty golf balls, both the husband and the wife had already finished each of their bags… between the two of them hitting about 120 golf balls in 10 minutes.
When everyone went to pick up their golf balls, the professionals balls were very tightly packed next to the hole and took about thirty seconds to pick up. The couple had their golf balls spread throughout the entire putting green, and took them about five minutes to pick up. The couple was admiring how well the professional was hitting her pitch shots and decided to practice quicker to see if they could improve their shots at a more rapid pace… didn’t quite happen!
Remember that professionals get to that level through disciplined and organized practice sessions. Make your next practice session full of quality golf shots and challenge yourself to make it as easy as possible to pick your balls up!
Yes, I think just about every single one of us golfers love watching the Masters Tournament each and every year… especially Sunday’s final round! How can we not? It’s a masterpiece of a golf course with outstanding competition, tons of amazing golf shots that produce thunderous roars, and many not so great golf shots that make the higher handicap player feel pretty darn good about themselves!
Today though, when you’re kicking back and appreciating all the wonderful things that the Masters Tournament has to offer, I recommend that you take a bit more out of your 2008 Masters experience than just pure enjoyment. Let’s try to learn from watching the greatest golfers in the world attempt to manage, or plot their way around one of the most challenging tests in the game. Course management is crucial if a player wants to have a chance to win at Augusta. Observe how players play away from the pins on certain holes, and how they position themselves off the tee, in order to get the best angles into the greens. It will be interesting to notice which players stay the most patient on the back 9 today see if the less experienced, or those at the top of the leader board without major championship titles, go for pins that they don’t necessarily need to go for… and end up making major mistakes. Many Masters tournaments are lost because of poor decision making under extreme pressure, and many Masters tournaments were won through extreme patience… and maybe just waiting for the others to make the mistakes.
Think about how you can learn to manage yourself around your home golf course better than you have in the past. Could you lower your scores by being more aware of positioning of the tee… do you really need driver on every hole out there? How about those par 5 holes that you can’t reach in two, but can easily reach in three… maybe a 3-wood off the tee would get you out there into a good enough position to set yourself up for a nice birdie or par chance? Ask yourself if you really need to aim at every pin out there… or might playing away from pins, or for that matter not even paying attention to the pins at all, will help you hit more greens in regulation… which in turn would keep me out of trouble and lower my scores a bit.
So here’s a few good examples of certain strategic decisions you’ll see on Championship Sunday at Augusta:
Hole #11 - Any shot you see that’s hit right at this pin is either a mistake or pure in experience. A back left hole location with all the trouble in the world left of the pin. Ben Hogan used to say that he would aim to the right of the green on #11 at Augusta, and if he hit the green at all then it was a mistake. Par is a good score on this hole… even for the greatest players in the world!
Hole #12 - A short par 3 hole, nothing more than an 8 or 9 iron shot… but again, any player you see firing their ball right at this pin is either a fool or incredibly desperate!
Hole #16 - Another par 3 hole. Typically you’ll see players hit their shots well to the right of the pin. In doing this though, if placed deep enough into the back of the green could have the ball funnel right down towards the pin.
Another great week for Justin Peters! Finishing this weeks Gateway Tour event at 11 under par, with rounds of 70-69-66. Justin made six birdies & one eagle in the final round, missing a playoff by only two strokes… and ending the week with seventeen total birdies
Take a peak at Susan Choi’s Media information for the up & coming Big Break Ka’anapali on The Golf Channel. Don’t miss the first episode starting on April 15th at 10pm!
Did you know 60% of Golfers lack the flexibility or strength to make a mechanically correct golf swing, and 70% of golfers play with performance inhibiting injury?
Golf Fitness Magazine has some awesome articles on injury prevention, flexibility, golf strength training… even sports psychology tips. Good stuff!
For those of you who haven’t already, I highly recommend subscribing to Golf Fitness Magazine.
Check out the improvements being made to McGolf this coming season. Very exciting stuff! New Cafe, new Clubhouse, new Short-Game practice area, which will include a bunker. And most impressive is the brand new covered radiant heated hitting bays, for all-weather golf! Awesome!!!
Yesterday I gave a golf lesson to a very talented 6 year old girl named Emma. It was clear to me that Emma really had a passion for the game of golf. Just the simple smile on her face after each golf shot made that quite clear!
Emma’s father introduced her to the game by giving her a disposable camera to take out to the course while he was playing rounds of golf, with the direct intention of getting Emma interested in the game… very creative!
So with all that being said, this was Emma’s first ever golf lesson from a professional golf instructor and her father was understandably passionate about making sure Emma was given the correct instruction. Last season, when he recognized that Emma really loved hitting golf balls, and saw that she really looked forward to spending time out on the golf course and at the driving range with him, he started reading every instructional golf book he could get his hands on. Very respectable, and obviously a wonderful and caring father. However, aside from maybe one good golf book on very simple fundamentals, I would highly recommend leaving the instruction up to a professional golf instructor that is clearly not going to overwhelm the young golfer with complicated thoughts on the golf swing. Work on very simple golf fundamentals and come up with a simple pre-shot routine that will encourage good fundamentals. Other than that, just try to find some creative ways for your child to have fun and not get board. The idea is for them to fall in love with the game of golf. The idea is to always keep your kids laughing and smiling! Just remember, kids aren’t mechanical, kids are creative… which is basically the job you should hold!!
Here’s a couple good golf book ideas:
Great book for adults & kids getting into the game of golf… keeps everything really simple.
There’s a particular blog that I’d like to refer everyone to, and not because the founder of the blog just happens to be my brother, Eric McInerney… but because it’s very informative and has some wonderful information! EricMcInerney.com
