Golf 20/20

Golf 20/20 7 Community Golf Support & Learning

Just for grins – I stumbling around poking at various golf sites while at work and here’s one organization(s) I didn’t know about but found interesting especially for community golf event stuff and First Tee stuff which I think one day I’ll definitely want to be a part of…….

http://www.golf2020.com/

http://worldgolffoundation.org/

http://www.thefirsttee.org/Club/Scripts/Home/home.asp

Honestly – in my head I’ve been toying around with either joining, participating or doing something pro-active with some of these types of organizations for a while but I haven’t been able to focus yet – still trying to find time to practice my game let alone volunteer but this is definitely part of my long-term plans to stay involved in the game and maybe give back one day.

Thought for food.

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Retro Journal Notes No.9 – Raymond Floyd on Fundamentals

These notes were taken last summer as I tried to get a firmer grip (pun intended) on golfing fundamentals.  As usual they are from a recorded training show from one of the golf channels.

Raymond Floyd is known as the guy with no discernible flaws in his golf swing and is a 4 time Major champion.

Swing Technique

Fundamental No.1 – the grip. How do you ‘take’ your club?  His suggestion;

• Lay it down (as you address)
• Get your left hand in position
• Then marry your right hand to the left

Fundamental No.2 – Set-up – like just about everything else in golf, including practicing, it’s good to have a routine that you follow each time.  He suggests;

• Start from behind the ball
• Pick a target (I’ve heard others say it’s important to be very precise about your target – not just a general area like a tree – pick a branch on the tree or a noticeable sub-part of a bush or something – the important thing is to be precise)
• Then pick/draw your target line
• Then address the ball (“Hi, you cute little simple little ball you – now let’s do this!” – SVG trying to be funny)
• Lastly, adjust your body by shuffling it to adjust to the club
  

  No discernible swing flaws for Floyd

I would add that you should make sure your club face is facing the target spot-on the target line.  Sometimes it helps to find a near spot on your target line (just 10-15 feet in front of the ball to align to). For me, when I address the ball (this is a new routine I started after reading another blogger) I now make sure my club face is square on target while my two feet are together. I do so with my right hand on the club but maybe I should change that up.  Anyway, then I move my left foot towards the target and then my right foot back to its position as I get set and assume the right posture.  I think I need to make sure that my arms are truly hanging freely during the set-up process but I haven’t incorporated that just yet into my routine.

Anyway – I think Ray’s main point is that you let the club lie and club position dictate your body positioning versus the other way around – starting by getting set-up and THEN placing down the club.  Too many chances for getting your alignment messed up if you do it backwards.

Fundamentals No.3 – Alignment and Related Issues

• Try to imagine right angles as you align yourself.  Ray believes alignment is one of the biggest things amateurs fail to do correctly.
• Also – weight distribution is important.  Try to get your weight sorta on the balls of your feet and then settling back thru to your heels.  Feel like you’re planted.

Fundamentals No.4 – On Transition

There are 2 distinct pieces to the golf swing – Don’t Mix Them! First you get set then you go. [This resonates with other words of advice I’ve stumbled across.  Many state that the first part of the backswing is really all about getting your club in place to swing forward – think more like getting ready before taking off in a sprint and putting your feet in the blocks and your fingers on the track and getting locked into take-off position….first you get your feet and body set and then your go…., or, more appropriately, like getting into position as a batter in baseball with the bat cocked behind you.. ONLY, you have to get the bat – or club in this case – from the ball-address position to the start position – that’s what the beginning of the swing is for, no more no less.  The main point is that the beginning of the back swing is all about getting your club ready – it is NOT the real part of the swing.]

More from RF:  make sure it’s a 2 piece move – 1, get set, then 2.

• Keys to remember: Get the shoulder rotated and pointed towards the ball (the left shoulder for you right-handers).  Turn the right hip to point behind you.

A Practice Drill:

• Rotate hitting hooks, draws, punches and high shots – all at the same target.  This is a useful drill for the driving range.  Try and focus on your weakest of ball flight shapes.

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Tips from the Pro – Solid Foundation, Speed and Healthy Golf

Good stuff thank you. I’m not in the area but your speed drills I will take to heart. I’m also thinking doing a few sit ups everyday might not hurt either. The golf swing seems to force the body to obey celestial orbiting laws with the body core or literally the solar plexus grounding and holding all body parts and planetary objects like the hands shoulders knees and elbows in perfect elliptical balance as they spin round – sometimes it seems this game is a metaphor for managing the many zodiac type influences that drive our day to day because every principle that stands for executing a good golf swing equally applies to managing a good daily life at work with friends and at play. Thx!

Golf Now! Chicago's Blog

By Duane Borcherding, PGA Professional & Director of Golf, White Hawk Country Club

The golf season for Northwest Indiana and the greater Chicagoland area is just about here.  To help you get off to a good start this golf season, here are some of my tips to help you with your game.

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2015 U.S. Amateur Championship

Who Knew? – Useful Info. Won’t be in Chicago any time soon but one day….. passing this along in case any readers are in the area and want to volunteer. SVG

Golf Now! Chicago's Blog

By Andrew Lamie, Championship Director
115th U.S. Amateur Championship
(708) 679-6776 • andrew.lamie@kemperlesnik.com

The U.S. Amateur Championship is the nation’s oldest golf championship dating back to 1895. Past winners of the U.S. Amateur include Bobby Jones, Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson. The last time a U.S. Amateur was contested in Chicago was in 1997, when Matt Kuchar was victorious at Cog Hill.

This summer, the 115^th U.S. Amateur Championship will be contested over the North and South courses of Olympia Fields Country Club. Competition will begin on August 17, when 312 of the world’s best amateurs will battle to reach the match play portion of the championship. Match play begins on August 19 with the low 64 players from the stroke play portion of competition. The final day of competition, August 23, will see the two finalists compete in a 36-hole match for the famed Havemeyer…

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A Couple of Good Golf Instruction Sites

For all of us who are constantly perusing the web for the holy grail of video and other types of instruction I offer up these two just for grins.

The PGA’s Instruction Site – has decent short videos from tour players and instructors.  I’m sure the USGA does too but haven’t checked:

http://www.pga.com/golf-instruction

And, while I was at the PGA Super Store several months back I came across this little booklet with tons of basics and fundamental check-points, warm-up exercises and stuff that were literally quite amazing if I do say so myself.  Who knew you needed to stretch your wrists and fingers before you play?

Have I said it before? – this is a journey of continuous learning and exploration.  Maybe that’s why we Silicon Valley types keep chomping at the bit.  You never reach the “I know this down cold” phase.  Instead, it’s a constant “Who Knew?” and “Riddle Me That,” and “What the ?@# heck – you’ve gotta be kidding!” and “Aaah – that makes sense”, as you turn every painstaking corner.

GOGI – (stands for Game of Golf Institute) – FYI if you come across a little booklet in any golf store with their acronym across the front it’s totally worth the $10-20 bucks (not intended as an endorsement just an opinion).

http://mygogi.org/

Happy surfing, reading and viewing.  With my current work load and the ton of other books, magazines and recorded golf shows I try a get to every week (or month) I barely’ve had a chance to dive into these but I will.  There are many more resources out there and this is not to negate the great tip from the Grateful Golfer on the swath of good YouTube stuff out there (note to self – check out GG’s posting on that to help shrink the search time allotted).

SVG_out

Hey – this isn’t a golf course

Sitting here thinking about playing a local 9-hole course this weekend and chomping at the bit to get this work week over with. Just finished a major trade show that went well. Also thinking about something I heard while watching a John Daly special – all the real power in the swing comes from cocking the wrists.

I understand this conceptually especially when thinking about analogs like a baseball throw or a tennis forehand BUT when I checked out my swing I barely hinge my wrists at all. I’m using my arms and body more than anything. So I think I’ll play around with wrist action as I do my homework lessons over the weekend.

Picture Fred Flinstone sliding down the dinosaur’s back and jumping into his car. That’s me in 2 hours.

Yabba Dabba…. Schwing!

Shout out to my Hoyas making the first cut in March Madness! FYI you can’t shoot a jump shot with a flat static wrist. You gotta cock and then roll that wrist for the trajectory and finesse and nuthin but net – right?

Retro Entry No.8 – Daily Diary: 9 Golf Paths

[Stardate: sometime last late-spring/early summer.]

SVG Practice Target Tidbit – who knew? There are 9 fundamental golf swing paths of ball flight.

A picture

 Logged sometime last spring/summer….. (side note: the constant discovery of fundamental truths in golf just kept coming as I continued working on my pitch shot) sidenote2: actually – a lot more than just a tid bit but a very usefully chunk of information).

Maybe it’s common knowledge but it wasn’t to me. Knowing these 9 fundamental golf swings and fundamental ball flight paths will help me practice smarter. Instead of just aiming for a target with my long irons, I can aim and practice deciding the best ball flight to get these.

Step 1, however, what the heck are these 9 ball flights and why ONLY 9 not more or less?  Basically, I guess it’s like the other “small object” sports – I’m thinking baseball and tennis. There are only so many pure ways to strike the ball efficiently and place it within a targeted space. Dead straight, slight right or slight left on slight up and slight down.

So in tennis you can hit a ball flat straight, down the line or cross-court. You can hit it topspin straight, down the line or cross court. And same for underspin or drop shots. These are similar in concept to the fade, draw, dead-on etc. (side note: gotta love my vocabulary huh?).

Same could be analogged when thinking about pitching in baseball and strike zone and such.  Why it gets to 9 I guess has something to do with the 3×3 strike zone boxes kind of thing.

Plus I remember watching a Golf Channel special with Bernhard Langer on flight paths and he kept showing how by shifting your toe-line’s relationship with the ball’s target line (dead-parallel, closed or open) you could consistently change your ball flight path from fade to draw, push or pull, high fade/ high draw, etch.  It was quite uncanny and all how deceptively simple it was to do that – for him at least, on camera no less – by just swinging the same but just changing the alignment of his toe line by some 20 degrees – facing inwards or out from parallel..

So maybe that’s why those practice line-sticks are so important! (SN – funny, I ended up buying a pair of yellow sticks about three months ago when picking up some used Titleist performance enhancing clubs in preparation for my first set of golf lessons. I think they really help with immediate corrective feedback).

Go figure. It was totally news to me. (SN: I really should be thinking more in terms of those fundamental flight curves when visualizing ball flight and breathing so I can play more with my heart and lower body tension like my new instructor is saying)