July 1, 2002

Putt The Percentages

Live on the pro side and sink more putts

There’s no quicker way to establish yourself as totally clueless on the greens–and to inspire confidence in your opponent–than to set up for a right-to-left putt, make a little pull stroke that sends the ball dead left, and watch the ball meander aimlessly on a path five or six inches below the cup, totally oblivious to the hole. Ditto the left-to-right breaker that you push well right of the hole. There’s a reason they call this missing on the amateur side–these are the putts that haven’t got a chance.

July 1, 2002

Drop 5 Strokes

Add to your arsenal of short-game shots and hit to tap-in range every time

Instead of taking advantage of clear scoring opportunities from less than full-wedge distances, most recreational golfers unnecessarily struggle, often needing additional strokes to get the ball into the hole following a poor approach. Not only does this situation work to balloon your scores, it robs you of the momentum you might have gained had you made par or birdie._Ê Fortunately, it doesn’t have to be this way.

July 1, 2002

Score From Anywhere

Shotmaking Tips From The Seaside Links Of Scotland

Regardless of how good your golf swing is or how crisply you strike the ball,_Ê you won’t post good scores if you don’t know how to think your way around a golf course. Obviously, solid technique helps, as does driving the ball long and straight. But throughout the course of a round, there are a variety of situations in which fundamentally solid golf skills simply won’t get the job done. Instead, you must be able to rely on good decision-making to put yourself in position to shoot the lowest score possible without risking double and triple bogeys.

July 1, 2002

Speed Plane

One of the main reasons why recreational golfers can’t generate the power they’d like to is that they never fully get the club in their hands on-plane, especially the longer irons and, to an even greater extent, the driver. What recreational golfers need to understand is that the plane on which the club should travel changes from club to club–it’s a path dictated by the lie angle of the iron or wood you wish to swing. As the lie angle decreases from the short irons to the driver, the desired swing plane becomes flatter.

July 1, 2002

Get Some Shut-Eye

Golfers tend to get worked up about putting. They make it into a far more complex exercise than it has to be, which is why I often jokingly compare putting to performing brain surgery. No doubt about it, we put unnecessary pressure on ourselves as we stand over that little white ball and whisper a prayer before pulling the trigger.