G P S -- Smile More!

What makes you smile from ear to ear on the golf course?

Is it that one dead-solid perfect shot (because it happens so seldom)?

Is it a well-executed draw or fade?

Is it a good shot from a difficult lie?

Or is it a great recovery shot?

If you are a golfer, only #1 applies, but for a player it's all of the above and more!

You see, golf is a game played on a course that changes with every shot -- that's pretty obvious.  Golfers try to work the ball straight, but players work the course.

What does that mean?  It means that not every shot should be hit solid and straight.  Hey, the course is not flat.  When the ball is above your feet it's supposed to pull or draw, and below your feet it's supposed to push or fade.

But they don't always.

Grass gets in the way.  Or it doesn't.

Wind happens.  Or it doesn't.

The ball bounces.  Or it doesn't.

Golfers?  Well, they keep trying to hit it straight...

Players know these things, and they use them to their advantage.

Let's start playing the game... and if we do we'll smile more!

Bob Duncan
GolfeCoach.com
contact golfsavvy@msn.com

Mis-Hits? Something You Can Use!

How about something you can use on the golf course?  Something... GAME-Specific, as in playing the game...

Most players are led to believe that they can and should hit the ball solid and straight from just about anywhere.

They can't.  Bear with me here - this makes sense...

Consider the images on the right - the ball lies on a 'tight' lie, tight to the ground.  This is not an optimum position, so you won't get optimum results... unless you change your definition of 'optimum'!

As you can see, the chances are strong that you will strike the ball below the sweet spot.  The 3rd and 4th images show about where the sweet spot or center of gravity is...

Many pros teach an impact technique with excessive forward lean of the shaft to try to hit the sweet spot.  Difficult to do...

Instead, by looking at what is most likely to happen -- missing the sweet spot by a couple of grooves -- your performance becomes more predictable!

What happens when you contact the ball low on the face like this?  It goes lower, shorter, and may fade. 

Or, think about what it would take to hit the ball on the sweet spot:  The clubhead would need to be lower to achieve that, which would put the sole of the club underground!  The result?  A fat shot!

Or, think about what it would take to hit a high draw off a tight lie -- probably not going to happen!

So, what should you do?  Accept the impact characteristics of a tight lie and play for them to happen!  Lower, shorter, fade...

But Bob, that means the ball might not stop on the green.  Or the landing zone calls for a draw shot.  Uh-huh, that's right.  If so, it means that 1) you're adding risk by trying something else that is less likely to happen, 2) maybe you're in the wrong place to begin with, and 3) you received a Rub of the Green that resulted in the tight lie.

Not every shot can be hit from every lie.

As my very Scottish Dad used to say:  "So what?  Deal with it!"

Bob Duncan, PGA
GolfeCoach.com
email  golfsavvy@msn.com

Swing Practice, or GAME Practice?

One phase of Game-Specific Training - GolfeCoach.com

Here's the worst golf advice I ever received:  "You have to hit balls until your hands bleed."

Have you heard that one before?  Swing coaches around the world have preached this massive over-training of the golf swing for years, and there's no sign of letting up.  Even the title of swing coach is so specific and limiting that it's no wonder golfers are not getting better.  This is swing-specific training.

Swing-specific training is like practicing the piano, and the piano teacher says play Billy Joel's 'Piano Man' song until your hands bleed.  Then he says go out and play Beethoven on the deck of a pitching sailing ship.  You might get some of the notes right....but you're no 'Piano Man'.

So what of only hitting balls until you 'groove your swing' and get the impact and ball flight exactly right? Too bad it only happens on the range.  If you just want to hit it straight, stay on the range.

Instead, players will benefit from a new concept called GAME-Specific Training.  GST is training under game-playing conditions, understanding that on the course your ball flight will change!

GST - Game Specific Training is a concept I've developed after years of studying on-course performance.  Everything is game-specific and must transfer to the golf course.  In fact, if I don't SEE it happen for you on the course then I'm not doing my job!

It stands to reason:  What it takes to hit a high draw on the range is NOT the same as what it takes to hit a high draw from a tight lie slightly below your feet.  So practicing only on your swing practically insures that your desired ball flight will occur only sporadically on the course.
 
Practicing GST takes an open mind and an understanding of choice - a perfect model swing will fail on the course when you most depend on it and least expect it to...

...Which is when you're under pressure and you choose to depend on your swing and ignore 5 of the 6 ball flight influences that occur on the course....

Bob Duncan
GolfeCoach.com
contact:  golfsavvy@msn.com

What's your PLAY?

120 yards?  No problem (shakin' in my boots!)

Only 110 meters or 120 yards, yet sheer terror!  How high do I tee it? Where's the wind?  What trajectory do I want?  What will the ball do when it lands?

How do I FIND the darn thing after I hit it?

All of these enter your mind on this diabolical par 3 at Barnbougle Dunes in Tasmania.  Known for the gentle (HA!) breezes off the Bass Strait, Barnbougle is a spectacular course to go immediately on your bucket list.

But what of the "play" on this hole?  The day we played the breeze was 'UP', and I hit a knock-down 6-iron (!) with no tee that missed the green 10 yards right, then putted up to 2 feet and made a 3.  The key in this shot was TRAJECTORY, with a 'secondary miss' to the right of the green.  Sometimes knowing where you can 'miss' and still play is just as important as where you can hit it to.

And where are the locations to be avoided?  Short and left -- avoid at all costs!  Which makes the miss to the right even more important.

Could I have hit a 9-iron that far?  Maybe on my best day, but hitting it that high would have been ridiculous in the wind.  It was not about making a model swing - it was about how to PLAY!

Oh, did I say my shot ricocheted off a pullcart AND a player in the group in front of us?  (No, I didn't play for that...)  Sometimes you get good bounces...  ;)

Bob Duncan

Do You Play?

Golf is a game to be played.  Unfortunately, many golfers hit a ball around a golf course and never really play the game.

Learn more at golfecoach.com

For many pros, teaching golf has morphed into fundamentals and mechanical practice.  Golfers can be limited by the belief that they must master one fundamental before tackling another.  It is not that fundamentals are irrelevant -- it is the premise that with the singular emphasis on fundamentals, golfers may never be 'allowed' to progress into the play of the game.

To play a game it involves different 'maneuvers' or plays.  You don't play Monopoly by rolling the dice and moving your piece around the board.  To play, you actually buy properties, charge rents, improve properties, and sometimes pay penalties for actions.  In golf, trying to hit the ball straight every time on the golf course is like rolling the dice, moving your piece, buying Baltic Avenue, sometimes falling off the board, and moving back to Go to try to it again.

Some pros won't teach golfers how to curve the ball until they can learn to hit it straight.  But, paradoxically, if they can't hit it straight, they can already curve it...and often, the course curves the ball for them.

Some pros believe that mental intensity is the missing link to performance.  But, even the most intense mental effort cannot overcome all conditions on the course, and failure to consider them contributes to failures.

Mandating straight performance is a mistake.  The search for a good swing nears success until the golfer hits the first hole.... then, it's about how well he plays...

Deep Play?

"Deep Play is the 'Play of the Game' that is lost to players who embrace long periods of mechanical practice as the most essential part of training." 


How does that grab you?  The 'Play of the Game' is what drives this blog, and it certainly includes swing mechanics.  But, somewhere along the line with all the launch monitors and videos and 3-D swing analyses, it seems no one is playing the game anymore.  Just what does 'playing the game' mean?  That's the key question. 


Players still fail on the golf course, even with massive amounts of practice.  Vijay Singh is one of the most renowned and revered 'practicers', but has he perhaps limited his success by what he practices? 


With Deep Play, we're going to explore what it means to 'play' golf, and how to effectively 'golf' your ball around the course. 


“The true difficulty in golf is not in repeating a swing. It is the belief that for ball control on the course you must repeat the same swing.”

 

What does it mean to you to Play Golf?

 

-- Bob Duncan, golfecoach.com