A Funny (Yet Sad) Thing Happened At The Range Today

I went to the range to hit a bucket of balls in preparation for the Australian Seniors PGA Tournament at Byron Bay this weekend.

A fellow was asking about demo drivers. I ended up hitting balls in the next bay. He was struggling a bit but soon started hitting a few nice straight shots mixed in with the usual ugly ones. Then he worked his way up to the driver. Again inconsistent, but a few nice straight ones.

The sad thing was that he showed quite a bit of talnet, a big strong fellow, and those drives were getting out there, maybe 120 metres. As I hit my 8 irons past his best driver, I wondered about the priorities of this fellow (and a lot of other golfers).

Spending a couple of hundred dollars on a driver or getting a package of lessons from a good pro? The other sad thing is the amount of people who have taken the last option and still haven’t had the results they should have. But that’s another story.

How Do You Measure Yourself Against Other Golfers?

Said Judge Smailes from Caddyshack to Chevy Chase, (Ty), who replies, “By height” after he tells the Judge he doesn’t keep score.

It is interesting that most people measure their performance by handicap, which really isn’t a reflection of scores at all (at least in Australia). I have heard that the Slope System is a better measure, but handicap isn’t the best way to measure your golf game. With course ratings and a fraction of a stroke added to each shot over par, it’s a messy system but necessary because of the number of competitions that don’t even require you to hole out every hole to return a score. After all, if you have had 36 points with 3 wipes, have you really played to your handicap?

Improving your golf requires a dose of reality and brutal honesty. Try keeping your average score as well as tracking your handicap. Measure your stats like fairways hit, greens in regulation and some short game stats like up and downs when chipping, how many times you hole out in 3 shots from 50 metres and of course, putting.

Even when you practise, how many shots do you hit well out of 10. Better still, give each shot a score out of 10, and see what you score out of 100. These are the real measuremnets of a golfer’s game. When you can measure your skills in each area of the game in practice and play, you are ready to start lowering your scores (and that handicap).

Golf - Your Perfect Plan For Practice And Play will help you with an easy fill in the blanks way to measue the skills of your own game. And start improving them for lower scores. www.dougkerchergolf.com/Golf-Instruction-Program.html

But for you to improve your golf

Another Playing Lesson

I had another keen golfer come out for a 9 hole playing lesson today. He felt like he hit the ball pretty straight and wanted some more distance.

On the first hole, a par 3 he hit a great shot onto the green, hit his next putt 8 foot past and holed it for a par. Not bad for a 17 handicapper with borrowed clubs.

Anyway I asked him how long his putt was on the first hole and he said 20 feet (7 metres). He was shocked to learn that it was in fact 15 metres. So the first thing we addressed was distance control of putts. Pace out the putt, find out what backswing will send the putt that far, rehearse it three times and putt.

Next hole, he hit a nice drive and then had a 5 iron to the green which he hit into the right hand bunker. I checked his ball position and alignment and he was aiming right where he hit it and the ball was opposite his left heel. You just can’t have an efficient swing if these basics aren’t right. If you have to move forward to hit the ball, you lose power and direction. We hit another couple of balls and bingo, he had a taste of true golf shot.

On the third hole, he hit a slice but just down the right side. He had to carry a tree 130 metres and I suggested a pitching wedge over the tree short of the bunkers guarding the green. He thought he could make the shot and did, a beauty onto the green, but then 3 putted.

He tried the layup shot as well, which was great as well, leaving a 60 metre pitch to the pin which was up the back of the green. He said he wanted to putt the shot, such was the state of his short game. Once again, his setup was the main problem.

So I showed him a simple punch shot. Once I got his setup and ball position right, I simply got him to swing mainly with his upper body and he hit down and through the ball, and it flew straight and solid with a lot of backspin. Then he repeated two more shots the same.

On the fourth hole, a slice into the trees onto a bare sandy lie just required a chip out onto the fairway. Instead, he tried a miracle shot, a big slice out of the trees onto the green which was tucked out of sight. The shot went too far, out of the frying pan and into the fire. A double bogey or worse. So I got him to take his medicine, and hit a controlled chip onto the fairway. A nice pitching wedge from about 80 metres to about 20 feet and an easy bogey. 

Fifht hole, a par 5, and a reasonable drive put him in good position to make par. A well struck shot straight into the right trees, again poor alignment was the culprit. A chip out and a nice 60 degree wedge (from the middle of the stance) flew ont o the green and a bogey. He didn’t carry a lob wedge, but just about every pro does, and a middle handicapper needs just as good a short game, if not better.

Next hole he hit another slice and it hit a tree and bounced back on the fairway. Then we started to do some swing work. Even though there were a few poor shots, the good ones were exactly what he needed to get a taste of. More distance, higher ball flight and straight where he was aiming.

On the last hole, I showed him how to chip and those shots came out great instantly. The six steps to setting up for successful chipping are as follows: 1. Open stance 2. Lower spine more toward the target 3. Head over the back foot 4. Ball position of the back foot 5. Weight over the left leg 6. Hands forward so front arm is in line with the shaft

Then you just swing the triangle you have formed witht he arms and club with the chest and shoulders. You wil swing down into the ball, catching the ball first and then the turf, giving you the spin and control. To change distances, just change length of swing and the loft of the club.

So that lesson will save him plenty of shots and win him many bets. Once again, it’s not a lack of ability that prevents the average player becoming a good one, it’s a lack of knowledge and a lack of motivation.

Once you have a taste of what you are capable of, you will want to make a bit of time to put a bit of work in to master these skills. If you can learn them in an afternoon, it doesn’t take a lot to maintain them.

If you want to learn some of these strategies and plan your improvement, why not get Golf - Your Perfect Plan For Practice And Play from my website - www.dougkerchergolf.com  If you have already signed up, just use the link to go to the next page to order. www.dougkerchergolf.com/Golf-Instruction-Program.html  

Ben Hogan, Stack and Tilt and Connection

Does anyone agree that Hogan is a great model for the swing?

If so, check out your book of Modern Fundamentals or do a search for Hogan stuff on youtube.

You will see that he turns level at the start, he said you feel as if you are pushing your feet into the ground.

Then he tilts. If you keep turning level, your head and spine are forced up. He said the right elbow stays in the same relationship to the right hip until halfway back. The tilt of the shoulders allows this to happen. 

Then the left arm rotates to the top. You will feel your chin touch the top of your left shoulder. Hogan wore a hole in his golf shirts doing this.

When you rotate the left arm, the right elbow will point to the ground. The arms stay connected to the upper chest.

If you do this properly, you will see your core rotates about 6 inches (to move the club a metre), your shoulders tilt about 6 inches (again the club moves a metre), and then your left arm moves about 2 feet. There is a rotation of the arm as the clubface begins to open.

Fairdinkum, if you are trying to do anything in your downswing except hit the ball, you are making compensations. And you will be inconsistent.

From a great top of the backswing position, you can just perform a natural throw down the plane to the ball. Once again, Hogan demonstrates a sidearm throw and a 2 handed basketball pass. A powerful throw is initiated by the shoulder. You can help that throw by helping it with the right knee going toward the ball. On the downswing, Ben Hogan said his forearms were rotating and he wished he had three right hands to hit the ball.  

If your spine is not tilted correctly, the downward throw will not cause the hips to shift laterally. BUT you have to be in good position at the top. Elkington said, at the top, your backswing position is exactly right or completely wrong.

The snt guys have offered something pretty good but they are missing the first part, therefore they have to compensate on the downswing. Great if you have a lot of time to practice.

Jimmy Ballard, who developed the connection theory, had some profound things to say about the pivot, but I had two problems with his advice. One was to bend the left arm to keep the left elbow down (I would get narrow at times and a little shut). Also loading into the right side laterally (ala Curtis Strange) made me get ahead of it (causing blocks).

Hope this helps, Doug 

Two lessons on alignment

Two golfers of different standards had lessons today. One a C grader, a fellow who hit 2 out of 10 7 irons straight about 100 metres, the rest weak slices, and the other an A Grader, who hit 7 irons 145 metres with a loopy draw.

While both had totally opposite ball flight problems, the first thing I addressed was the alignment errors. When fixing an error, you must have the static areas of alignment and ball position correct before any swing mechanics.

“C” was aligned well to the left of target with both feet and shoulders, and shoulders even further left with clubface aimed to the target which was was to the right of where he was aiming. So a correct swing would have sent the ball 20 metres left of the target. So if he made a good swing, it would not have gone to the target, so he would try to hit to the target by making a bad swing, he could not release the club squarely, it would always have to be open to hit to the target, causing a weak slice and lack of distance.

At the end of the lesson, after having moved on to some swing mechanics, he was hitting 9 irons high and straigth 100 metres, a 20 metre difference in distance.

“A” had another problem. His feet were aiming correctly, parallel left of the target, but his shoulders were aiming well to the right. He was feeling like he was slapping the ball and the ball had a 10 metre draw with a 7 iron and when he felt like he made solid contact, the ball would be pushed to the right.

The alignment problem also caused swing problems. He was taking the club straight back, but this was done with the arms only. So he couldn’t start his pivot early enough in the swing, so the arms got out of balance to the body, even causing him to fall forward onto his toes in the downswing.

Once we had the shoulders aligned correctly, he was able to start the club back on line with his pivot. His balance was immediately better, ball contact was solid and the 10 metre draw became a 2 metre draw.

He played today and said, “Swing was good today, hit some very long drives.”

80% improvement in both lessons. You just need to know where to start, build on the base of setup and then build the swing on top of the correct foundation.

Until next time, Doug..

Byron Bay Practice Round 2

I played my second practice round at Byron Bay today in preparation for the Australian PGA Senior Championship starting December 9.

4 3wR 4iS Lob 2p 20′ 5

4 3wF 7iR 3wC 1p 4′   4

3        7iG 2p 15′           3

5 DF 3wF SiG 2p 30′  5

5 DR 3wF 60G 2p 20′ 5

4 3wF SwG 2p 15′       4

4 DR 5iL C 2p 12′        5

3      5iG 2p 21′             3

4 DF 7iR Lob 2p 15′    4

+3   4F 5G 17p

4 DF 6iG  2p 12′    4

4 DF PwG 1p 12′   3

4 DL C Swg 2p 12′ 5

4 DR 5iG 2p 30′     4

3       6iG 1p 20′     2

5 DF 3wF 8iG 2p 15′  5

4 Do 5ws S 2p 25′  5

3      5isb B 1p 4′     3

5 DF 3wF LwG 2p 15′  5

e    4F 6G 15p

+3 4F  5G 17p 

+3 8F 11G 32p  

So 3 over par, second time I had seen the course, no warm up, missed fairway on 1st hole, missed simple up and down on 7, missed 9th green with 7 iron from 130m on 9, poor drive on the short tight 12th, a perfect driver blocked from hitting to the green again on 16 and no birdies on the par 5s.

So I have some work to do in the next couple of weeks.

Online Golfer Survey

Two major surveys have been done asking Australian golfers their thoughts about golf. As a teaching pro, I have an interest in the questions about performance of golfers and their thoughts about instruction.

Here is a brief rundown of the results - 

Golf Lessons in the last 12 months -

1-3 35% 4-6 12% 6-10 5.5% 11-15 1.5% More than 15 1.7%

Most expected to pay for a 1 hour golf lesson -

<$30 9%  $40 15% $50 29% $60 19% $70 9% $80 8% $90 4% %100 7%

Age group 30 - 60 was 74%

Handicaps - Single figures <5 3.5% 5-10 14%

11-15 23% 16-20 23%

21-27 18%

>27 19%

This survey was taken by regular golfer, mostly members of a club.

Practice Round At Byron Bay

I played at Byron Bay today in preparation for the Australian PGA Senior Championship starting December 9.

4 3wF 7iG 2p 25′

4 3wF 7iO C 2p 20′

3        6iG 1p 45′

5 DL 5wF 6iG 2p 60′

5 DF 3wR 60r C 1p 2′

4 5wF PwG 2p 30′

4 DF 8iG 2p 35′

3      6iG 2p 25′

4 DF 7iG 2p 18′

e   6F 7G 16p

4 DF 4is C 1p 10′

4 DF 8iG 2p 12′

4 DR PwG 2p 35′

4 DF 7iG 2p 40′

3       6ir C 1p 4′

5 DL 4iF 7iG 2p 15′

4 Do 5ws P 2p 25′

3      4io C 2p 6′

5 DL 3wF 5iG 2p 25′ 

+2 3F 5G 16p

e    6F 7G 16p

+2 9F 12G 32p  

So 2 over par, first time I had seen the course, a couple of irons over the back, a perfect driver blocked from the green and three makeable putts missed.

I played with a pretty good local player off 8 handicap. A local sponsor of the event. Thanks Bill!

The Time Taken To Play Golf

The time spent playing golf. Is it worth it? Not according to a friend I spoke to today. He said to play golf he left at 11am, paid $50 to play while he could earn money at work, got home at 6pm and didn’t feel any better because of the way he played. He’s given up the game. How many others are there who give golf away because of the time golf takes and the difficulty of the game without the right help?

 My other friend plays at a course every Saturday. He plays early, drives 30 minutes, plays in the Saturday competition and gets home before lunch so he has the rest of his day with his family. His handicap has dropped from 23 to 12 and he shot 81 last week. He’s feeling pretty good about his game.

Golf takes a long time to play and with the added commitments of work and family it’s tough to get a game. So if you are fortunate to get a game, why not make the most of it? Improving and mastering the skills of golf so you can shoot lower scores is a great achievement.

My golf program will definitely help you make the most of your game and help you improve more efficiently, giving you a plan and strategies so you get reach your goals in the quickest possible time. It helps you find the areas that will make the biggest difference to your scores and help you make time for practice at home and streamline your practice if you go to the range.

I read an article by Jack Nicklaus that said with the time pressures on golfers these days, there is an argument for golf being reduced to 12 holes. Personally, I think 9 holes isn’t enough and after 12 holes I have pretty much had enough. Three hours to play golf instead of five? I’d like to see that.  

The other thing is slow play. Unfortunately it only takes one slow group to add an hour to the time it takes to play. You don’t get much change from five hours to play theses days. If the 18 hole courses were split into a 12 hole competition courses, you would then have six holes left over for juniors and beginners to play and learn the game without the pressure of holding up the field.

It’s a common sense solution to two big problems facing the game. People not having enough time and giving beginners access to courses. It would also give golf pros a better opportunity for playing lessons, so people can learn on the course.

Thanks for reading, Doug.

Feedback from 2 students

I rang an old client today in Melbourne who I hadn’t spoken to for two or three years. I now live on the Gold Coast so we had lost touch over the 2000 kilometres or so.

And he told me that the handful of lessons I gave him had stopped him shanking and his handicap dropped form 21 to 11 and is now back out to 14 (at a championship sand belt course in Melbourne). This is with no maintenance lessons at all. Just solid principles that he could understand, put into practice and keep.

The second fellow I met today in our search for a car. He used to be off three and is now on 19. He explained to me that he was getting lessons and showed me how he was keeping the right elbow connected in the backswing and making a bigger turn.

After I explained the swing scientifically and biomechanically and showed him exactly what to do, he could relate it to how he got power in tennis, a sport in which he had been a very good player. He said to me, you should have people lining up to hear this from you.

To this I replied, how many of your golfing friends have lessons? He shook his head and said none. He said he was having some but they didn’t work. I said that is the sad reason that not many people have lessons. They have lessons that don’t work and think that it is all too complicated or they are not good enough to put into practice what they have learned or that it takes too much practice.

None of the above are true. As Ernest Jones once said, Good golf is easy and it is tragic that so many people make such hard work of it. Sadly, not much has changed in 81 years.