Another bio
The idea of golfers being athletes has become widely accepted in the Professional ranks, but maybe not as much in the amateur game. Regardless of how you see this idea, or what physical shape you or your golfing buddies are in, the fact remains that playing golf indeed requires these few things to be successful: flexibility, strength, endurance and stamina.
30 years after his PGA Tour debut, soon to be Hall of Famer, Tiger Woods, is still the golfer that moves the needle in golf and is still the golfer that shines as an example of moving the golf ball with speed and power.
If a golf course does allow walking and has a layout to accommodate this mode of transportation, it is an absolutely fantastic way to play the game. If you have not recently threw a carry bag over your shoulder and hoofed your way around the links in some time, you should rediscover this more traditional way to play the game.
Over the past 20 years, golf has seen a dramatic increase in the number of professionals starting to pay attention to fitness, nutrition, and other areas of wellness. In short, the modern golf professional has become an athlete. Is bulking up like Bryson Dechambeau to improve your game, really an avenue worth exploring?
With his ace on No. 16 at the Waste Management on Saturday, on one of the wildest stages in the game, Sam Ryder had a highlight that will be played over and over for many years to come. Sam’s back story is one that I also tell over and over again to the high school players that I coach. Ryder is what people would label a grinder. He found success a little later than other young golfers coming up. He has had an internal belief in his ability and has just continued to put his head down and put in the work.
As much as we talk about golf being largely a mental game, it is obvious that your body plays the biggest role in the actual playing of the sport. With any sport comes the risk of injury. Golf is no different in that respect. The positions and movements we put our bodies through to find some sense of success while hitting a golf ball with a full swing, or even down to setting up to practice and groove our putting stroke, can lead to potential physical issues. Especially after years and years of playing the game.
Among the many things that the best of the best in golf do versus what the rest of us don’t do, staying hydrated during the course of a round, or practice session is one of them. Some may think that the call for staying hydrated may be over hyped, but you simply can’t dispute the effects that becoming dehydrated have on the body…
This past weekend, Leona Maguire found her way into the winner’s circle for the first time in her LPGA Tour career, at the Drive On Championship. In doing so, she became the first woman from Ireland to win in the Tour’s history. I had the opportunity to chat with Leona about her win, got some insight on what she works on with her own game, and what she thinks you should concentrate on with yours…
On Saturday February 5th, at the AT&T Pebble Beach Po-Am, Beau Hossler and Jordan Spieth moved up to the top of the leaderboard with a 65, and 63 respectively. One of the things that stuck out most to me with their play in the 3rd round was the extreme planning, and preparation that went into each and every shot, followed by extreme trust and execution. Find out what you can learn from Jordan and Beau…
At some point, your mental fitness needs to be evaluated and if areas of weakness are identified, then a pathway forward, to become stronger in those area, needs to be planned out. In the interest of providing golfers a first step in doing this, I turned to one of the most renowned golf mental coaches in the game, Dr. Joe Parent.
There are countless ways to help improve one’s golf game that go far beyond just practicing or playing more. Taking professional lessons from a PGA Coach is one of the best ways to start to improve your game. Many golfers are familiar with the process of being fit for golf clubs and how this can help to put equipment in their hands that match the uniqueness of their golf swing, and ultimately, can help shave strokes off their score. However, far fewer are familiar with what constitutes a ball fitting or what the purpose of one is.
“I just wanted to hit one shot at a time…I know that sounds cliché, but we spoke about that early in the day.” This was a post final round comment from 2022 Sentry Tournament of Champions winner, Cameron Smith.
We hear this thought a lot in golf…One shot at a Time…Staying in the Moment…Staying Patient. Lets talk about this…
Making practice an activity that is fun, and challenging is the main reason golf coaches encourage playing practice games, instead of pounding golf balls aimlessly on the driving range. One of the benefits of gamification is that it provides feedback on performance in a positive and educational format. This Ten Hole Scoring Ability Game does just that…
Making your range sessions more interesting can certainly help in making what could otherwise become a boring session, into something more fun and useful in your journey towards improvement.
“Practice like you Play and Play like you Practice” is a common saying that floats around in the golf universe. The meaning behind this suggestion is basically to help golfers become more successful in transitioning from practice sessions, to playing the golf course.
Recently, I shared two great putting games that my good friend and fellow PGA Professional, Casey Bourque shared with me. In this post, I share one more great game you can use to spice up your putting practice..
There is a major difference between the process of learning to become proficient in the various techniques required in golf and the process of learning to become a player that can produce low scores on the course.
Playing good golf never happens by accident. There are countless things that go into being able to post a great score on the card. Many times, golfers tend to forget some of the little things…things that at the end of the day could be attributed to a stroke or two added to that final total.
Playing good golf never happens by accident. There are countless things that go into being able to post a great score on the card. Many times, golfers tend to forget some of the little things…things that at the end of the day could be attributed to a stroke or two added to that final total.
Assessing and evaluating our progress at any point in time is a very natural thing to do and if done correctly is a very useful and healthy exercise.
I had a chance recently to chat with my friend, and former student, Jonathan Ullivarri, Store Manager and Master Club Fitter at Club Champion in Orlando. I asked Jon about the influence of equipment on a golfer’s performance.
To me, one of the most fascinating things that PGA and LPGA Tour players do that most amateur golfers generally don’t do is make it a point to have a very, very precise knowledge of what distances they hit each club.
Over the course of my career, one area that I have found myself working on continually with students, from beginners to advanced, is that of proper Alignment. If a golfer is aligned even a degree left or right of the intended target line with their clubface, or a degree left or right with their body line, they could find themselves off significantly with the final result of their shot.
There are countless reasons why the average golfer is unable to reach the heights they want to with their games. Lack of time to practice, or not taking lessons are both very common examples of this. From a physical perspective, many golfers lack sufficient range of motion.