playing golf

Why We Watch Golf!

Dan Hernandez, PGA, , , 1 Comment

An older book I’ve studied on and off over the years is a tome named. “The New Golf Mind.”  Very early in the book we’re asked why we watch sports; what exactly is our vested interest?;  will the outcome of the game have any effect on our life?; why do we get so very excited and then so very disappointed?

It’s all just because we all want to see the players BRING IT! We can hardly wait for that GREAT MOMENT!

And man…what a great moment I saw!

I’m not sure what tournament I was watching yesterday (Saturday) – I think it was the WGC at Doral – or it might have been the Puerto Rico Open. Apologies for not knowing. I almost always turn off the sound and just watch the players play.

Golf was on and that’s all I really know. The other thing I know is that I saw two (2) HIO’s within 30 minutes. Not only were they on the same hole, the landing area of each ball and the ensuing hole-out were virtually identical!  Now that’s freaky and a great moment!

No wonder we simply watch…….. and wait.

U.S. Open Championship - Final Round

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Think Different? Uh..maybe not

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Never venture away from the norm…something amazing might happen! (DH)

Thinking different is not for everybody!

If you like the status-quo, the safety in numbers, and the traditional golf doctrine, you should stay in the place you feel the best in.  Just don’t complain about your golf game…!

Please visit one of my peers at: http://www.mindmedicine.co.uk

P.S. for Grant:  You’re always first to me! I just got confused and did this one.  Takes a lot of guts to be us doesn’t it? Especially in America….

Think Different? Uh..maybe not

Hit More Greens and Play Faster

Dan Hernandez, PGA, , , , ,

Tee it Forward!  Sorry for the trick but most men would not read this post if the title was Tee it Forward.  The fact is that there is a ton of research that supports the viability of the  Tee it Forward program.  You can see the basic reasoning here:

http://www.golfdigest.com/golf-courses/2011-05/golf-barney-adams-forward-tees?currentPage=1

From there, you can go as deep as you like until you uncover the original work from Barney Adams.  When you’re watching golf on TV don’t go off into fantasy land! You and me CAN NOT hit golf shots like “they” do.  What you can do is hit more lofted clubs into greens and putt for your par much more often.

I whole-heartedly endorse the Tee It Forward program and I think you should too.  If it’s good enough for Jack, it’s good enough for me!

http://www.pgamediacenter.com/videos/2013_TeeItForward_JackNicklaus.cfm

Hit More Greens and Play Faster

Thinking and Analyzing

Dan Hernandez, PGA, , , Leave a comment

Lots of players complain that they’re fine on the driving range but can’t take their groovy swings and deft touch around the greens to the course.  The problem is a root misunderstanding of the differences between practice and play – both of which require thinking and analyzing. The trick is to know how, when, and where to do so.  Even though there are thousands of books that address this topic in mind-numbing detail, most of them address the general ideas and concepts.

I’m going to boil the topic down to its most basic ideas.  Be aware that though basic, many players find these ideas difficult to incorporate.  Here we go:

IDEA ONE: PRACTICING AND PLAYING ARE NOT THE SAME THING
What you’re training yourself to do on the practice area is not usually going to transfer to the course.  There are a million reasons for this but here’s my top five differences:

  1. You are using a different ball
  2. You don’t have the same lie all the time
  3. You are always looking at a different shot
  4. You are not using the same club over and over again
  5. You don’t know real carry distance

IDEA TWO: EXPERIENCE LEVELS DICTATE WHAT TO PRACTICE
MOST PLAYERS should be using the practice areas to either learn something new, or reinforce personally relevant physical actions and/or mechanical technique.  It’s my view that learning or monitoring the basics will provide the best foundation for on-going analysis.  Grip, set-up, and alignment are always key.  Without a clear understanding of how these basics apply to you, hitting real golf shots on the course will be almost impossible. There are far too many average players “practicing”  like advanced players!

FYI – Advanced players generally use practice areas to burnish existing skills and/or experiment with an extensive array of ball-striking variations. Most of the variations will center around face/path/attack control. The resulting ball flights are observed and archived until recalled and executed during the course of play.  Advanced players are far more experienced at intentionally manipulating their bodies.  For example, when working on full-swing technique they are able to accurately sense positive physical pressures such as large muscle loading and resistance. 

IDEA THREE: ANALYTICAL TO PHYSICAL TRANSITION
Regardless of skill level, there must be a transition from thinking and analyzing to physical action. If a transition doesn’t occur, playing golf will rarely be rewarding and fun.  There are techniques that can help you make this critical transition. Here are just a few:

  • Understand that hitting a golf shot is a physical event, not a mental exercise
  • Be deeply engaged with your ultimate target instead of the ball
  • Hand-eye coordination is your best friend, especially around the greens
  • Correctly analyze your lie
  • Correctly locate specific landing zones

Well, that’s it in the proverbial nutshell. If you learn and implement just one of the ideas, an amazing door of opportunity will open for you. In the end, playing golf has very little to do with that crazy list of things you think you’re supposed to do. That’s just playing “golf swing” and “how do I do this?”,  neither of which I think we can watch on television.

Thinking and Analyzing

Myths and Facts

Dan Hernandez, PGA, , , 1 Comment

Lots of teachers have addressed a few of the common swing myths, including me.  The things that players perceive as absolutes is astounding!  Dennis Clark has done as good a job in describing the Big Three as anyone.  Getting past these myths can be very difficult for players and even some teachers.  OK readers, go ahead and click the link below and let the controversy begin!  Thank you Dennis for your article.

3 golf swing “myths” that can hurt your game – GolfWRX.

Myths and Facts

Attaining Perfection

Dan Hernandez, PGA, , , 2 Comments

Searching for it; working on it; dialing it in; figuring it out.  I do it, you do it.  It’s never-ending isn’t it? Looking for a way to make the magic continue is our quest.  “I want to be more consistent”  is what I’ve heard most from students when I ask them what they want to accomplish – except for maybe,  “If I could hit my driver farther I know I’d have a lower score”  (my tongue is in my cheek on that one.)

There are players who believe that mastering a certain thing – or group of things – will lead them to perfection.  What a load of hooey!  In its most severe scenarios, perfectionism and golf will create a downward spiral so vicious that a player becomes totally lost in the black abyss and can’t find their way back – ever.  Some players even quit the game because they just can’t accept realistic success percentages.  Depending on your outlook, playing golf is a nightmare waiting to happen or an immersive experience that brings together an exciting series of emotional and physical delights.

Only golfers who truly understand how the game works can be called players of the game.  True players of the game enjoy everything about it – the ebb and flow of the game and the ups and downs of physical/mechanical performance.  True players of the game exist at every skill level.  I know some 15 handicaps who are players and I know some professional golfers who are not.  The real difference is being able to accept how the game works and enjoy EVERYTHING the game offers – including going back to basics in order to sort out problems.

No player in history has understood this better than Jack Nicklaus.  Here is an excerpt from the introduction of his book,  “Play Better Golf”   Jack Nicklaus with Ken Bowden, Pocket Books, New York, N.Y. 1983.  Highlighted text is mine and for your consideration.

“One of the most frustrating – and fascinating – things about golf is its impermanence.  One day you “have it” and the next you don’t. This is true of every element of the game from driving the ball to holing it out.  The number one reason why no golfer can stay at his or her peak indefinitely is that human beings aren’t machines. Our ability to exactly repeat a certain set of actions is limited, and thus our abilities as shot-makers are bound to fluctuate, This is compounded by the tendency, present in all of us, to eventually overdo or exaggerate whatever we have found to be successful. In terms of the golf swing this tendency often creeps up on us subconsciously, but it is none the less destructive for that. And, when it has done its dirty work, reality has to be faced: if we want once more to play up to our maximum potential, the rebuilding or returning process must begin all over again.“

Jack Nicklaus was clearly a true player. He knew what was possible and fully accepted the terms and conditions of the game.  He was humble in his approach and understanding.  He truly enjoyed EVERYTHING  the game had to offer.

Searching for it; working on it; dialing it in; figuring it out.  We all do it and it’s OK to work on stuff.  But, along the way we have to know that perfection is unattainable. We have to know when we’ve over-cooked something and lost our way.  And we have to know how to get back home.

Attaining Perfection

Tip of the Week

Dan Hernandez, PGA, , , Leave a comment

Before I direct you to the tip here is a little background:

“Jack Nicklause’s Playing Lessons” is my all time favorite book. I used it extensively and it helped me understand how to play tournament golf.  I even went back to the lessons when I was struggling to pass my PGA Playing Ability Test (PAT).

There is nothing mechanical in the book, just lessons on how to play, how to think, and how to stay in the game.  In researching this week’s tip I somehow stumbled across Jack’s book on Amazon. Turns out that the book is now a collector’s item with a top price of $160!  Darn……my copy disappeared long ago – loaned to someone or lost in a move.  Especially troubling because my copy had Jack’s autograph in it – which I got because I took the thing to the L. A. Open one year – probably 1982 – and asked him to sign it for me.

I bring all this up this week because I found a wonderful site that reminded me so much of Jack’s book – Greg Norman’s Golf Tips.   On Greg’s site he has combined an excellent set of mechanical and non-mechanical tips – much like in Jack’s book. There are 100 “Instant Lessons” with drawings and a very brief description of each lesson.  There is additional content there as well from Norman’s golf manual called “Shark Attack!”

I wasn’t able to review all of the lessons but I did look at quite a number of them and didn’t find anything objectionable.  I was even pleased to see one about aiming the club-face first and another having to do with high targets. Both of these are common points during my own lessons that I have been teaching for a very long time.  OK, finally – click on the link below and I hope you find the information useful! Let me know if you have questions or comments.

http://www.shark.com/sharkwatch/instruction/

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Golf Tip of the Week – The Rules of Golf

Dan Hernandez, PGA, , Leave a comment

By now, every golf person on earth knows what happened Friday at the Masters.  Additionally, every golf person on earth has an opinion on the ruling that ultimately generated a 2-stroke penalty for Tiger Woods.

Way back when during my apprentice days here is what I was taught:   No one can possibly know all the Rules of Golf.  As a Golf Professional (as in not a professional golfer) what you are required to know is HOW TO USE THE RULE BOOK.  There are PGA Professionals who have spent a lifetime in the Decisions Book.  Google the Rules of Golf Decisions Book, find Rule 26 and then follow that up with Rule 33 – which was revised in 2011.  These are the sources of the Tiger Decision.   I like Bondy’s view as expressed in the link below.

via Method of how Tiger Woods was penalized at Masters shows golf is going off course – NY Daily News.

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Tip of the Week

Dan Hernandez, PGA, , , , , , 1 Comment

I was stunned recently when a junior golfer I was with didn’t know who Jack Nicklaus is. I did, in a loving and professional way, slightly admonish his Dad who was standing nearby. So, this weeks golf tip is for the youngsters who need to know and for everybody else who wants to hear some really great tips.

Jack Nicklaus – Golf Channel 12 Days of Instruction 2010 – YouTube.

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Golf Tip of the Week – Keeping it Real

Dan Hernandez, PGA, , , 1 Comment

Jim Flick passed away in November of 2012. He was one of golf’s most respected and honored teachers.  Flick thought that the majority of amateurs should be simply trying to swing the club with their arms and hands and allow the body to support that simple motion.  Ernest Jones (Google him) thought much the same way.  He also thought that being more engaged with the target than the ball was a better way for most of us to play the game. Sadly, this thinking is not very popular today and the reasons why can’t be addressed in today’s post. I will however, present an expanded article in the next few weeks on this subject. In the meantime, please give careful consideration to Jim Flick’s article below.  I’m not certain, but I believe it was his last posting for Golf Digest.  I’ve highlighted the points that are the most interesting.

Practice To Play

Stop thinking mechanically and become more confident on the course 

Jim Flick
Illustration by Dan Page
November 2012

I hear this all the time from average golfers and even struggling tour players: “I hit the ball great on the range, but I’m a different golfer on the course. I don’t have the confidence to make the same swing when I know a bad shot will get me in trouble.”

Confidence comes from controlling the ball, but how do you go from hitting solid and accurate shots on the range to producing those same shots on the course? It’s helpful to understand the four stages of becoming a confident player:

  • First, you are unconsciously incompetent. You have no idea what to do in your swing or how to get there. This is the stage in which you learn the basics of the swing.
  • Second, you are consciously incompetent. You know what you want to do with your swing, but you can’t do it. You use drills prescribed by your teacher. It’s helpful to place rods or clubs on the ground to set up a “learning station” to check your alignment.
  • Third, you are consciously competent. On the range, you hit balls to perfect your swing, but you have to think mechanically to make the shot happen. Because you’re using verbal cues and thinking of positions, you often lose your tempo and rhythm.
  • Fourth, you are unconsciously competent. The best golfers compete in this stage. On the course they think about the conditions, select the right club, and play shots from point A to point B by focusing on the target. They no longer think about positions but feel how to use the club to create shots.

So how do you get from the first stage to the fourth? As Jack Nicklaus once told me, “I practice mechanics and play by feel.” Remember that practicing and warming up are two different things. When good players practice, they break the swing down into mechanical parts and then put those parts together to control the clubhead–and the ball. This is the only time these players think about swing mechanics. When they warm up before a round, they forget mechanics and rehearse hitting shots to various targets, creating playing situations. Seve Ballesteros would “play” entire holes before his round: Replicating a par 5, he’d hit a driver, then a 4-iron layup then a wedge approach. When he got to the first tee, he felt he’d already played a few holes and was in the rhythm of the round.

A strong picture can override a flaw in your swing to produce a playable shot. On the range, practice visualizing the entire shot, the ball curving in the direction you want, then landing where you intend and rolling to your target.Use the same visual technique when you hit real shots on the course. You’ll be on your way to playing your best golf ever.

FLICK, a Golf Digest Teaching Professional, is based at the TaylorMade Learning Center, in Carlsbad, Calif.

Dan’s additional comment: In the end, trying to make a golf ball go where you want is a physical activity not a mental exercise. There is a visual-neurological process happening that is more biological than it is in-swing processed mechanics. A common name for all of this?  Hand-eye coordination.  Swinging a club and striking a round piece of plastic can be as simple or as complicated as you like. I think simple as possible is best but I see most golfers making it as difficult as possible. What do you think?

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