Why not take lessons from a qualified professional? You stand a better chance of improving your game! An instructor can point out flaws in your swing that you may not see on your own and give you constructive exercises to correct them. If you do not take lessons, all you can do is guess at what you may be doing wrong or continue to practice bad habits.

The first step is to select your instructor, preferably a person with a proven record for improving his or her students’ game or swing. Word of mouth is a great way to judge an instructor’s ability.

The second step would be to observe the potential instructor at work, determine if your personalities would click, and if the information given to the student is in an easy to understand manner.

Thirdly, if the instructor seems to be busy, it usually means they are very qualified. So remember to take the time to schedule a future appointment for a lesson.

Find an instructor who will work with your present swing and not try to totally overhaul it.Try to avoid instructors who teach a new type of swing. The games best instructors are still using the swings of Ben Hogan and Sam Snead.Find an instructor who teaches simplistic methods and uses a video format. It will give the pupil the advantage of seeing their swing to use later for future study.

If you have any questions about finding an instructor, ask golf pro John White

Tags: GENERAL GOLF TOPICS by Jenn
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The ride was wild and the show was great, but in the end it was Woods standing on the 18th green with the U.S. Open trophy in his hands.
On a sunny day on the California coast, Tiger Woods beat a guy ranked 158th in the world - and the world couldn’t get enough of it.

This wasn’t Rocco versus Tiger for the U.S. Open title. This was Rocky against the champ in a slugfest so compelling that even an extra 18 holes couldn’t settle it.

In one corner was the superstar who seems to summon superhero powers when he needs them most. In the other was the common man who won over a crowd and a country with his ready smile and quick wit, someone we could imagine ourselves trading places with as he played Woods for the national championship.

They played 19 before the gritty underdog finally succumbed to the inevitable. They could have played 19 more and it would have likely been just as close. And in the end, a few words from the great one seemed to mean almost as much to Rocco Mediate as the U.S. Open title he so desperately wanted to win. “Great fight,” Woods told him. Tiger has now won 14 major championships, four short of Jack Nicklaus, and nearly every one of them has had a compelling storyline, from his runaway win at the Masters to his tearful win after his father’s death at the British Open.

That was all Mediate wanted to give Woods, all he wanted to be remembered for when the historians of the sport look back to the five days that unfolded on a muni perched on a cliff above the blue Pacific. He craved the respect of the greatest golfer of his era, while nervously cherishing the challenge of matching him shot for shot.

I am not surprised by the winner but i must say-Rocco, you are great! Great player and overall great guy. Congratulations to both.

Tags: GENERAL GOLF TOPICS by Jenn
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The world’s best against a qualifier.Who could have imagined that for a Monday at Torrey Pines?

As Rocco Mediate anxiously watched from the scoring area late Sunday afternoon, pacing at times, Tiger Woods pulled off the dramatic as only the world No. 1 can accomplish. He hadn’t holed a long, clutch putt for 17 holes, but when he needed to make a 12-footer for birdie, one that would decide if the U.S. Open was headed for 18 extra holes, Woods found the bottom of the 4¼-inch diameter circle to send the thousands gathered at the 18th hole into a frenzy.Woods, who is 13-for-13 at majors when holding the 54-hole lead, struggled the entire day, but that birdie at 18 gave him a 2-over-par 73 and a 72-hole total of 1-under 283, tying him with Mediate, who finished one group ahead with an even-par 71.

Wearing a Peace sign on his belt buckle, Mediate started the day two strokes behind Woods. By the second hole, he owned the lead after the 32-year-old Woods double-bogeyed No. 1 for the third consecutive day and Mediate birdied No. 2. Woods would add a bogey at the second then make six consecutive pars before recording his first birdie of the day at the par-5 ninth. He would make only two more birdies coming in: a 4-footer at the par-3 11th and his 12-footer at 18 after finding the fairway bunker off the tee and then the primary rough with his second.

If Woods wins, it will be his third U.S. Open title and ninth USGA championship, tying him with Bob Jones for the most at nine. He also would be just four major victories behind Nicklaus. Woods has never been in an 18-hole playoff, but he did beat former southern California junior rival Bob May in a three-hole playoff to win the 2000 PGA Championship at Valhalla, and Chris DiMarco in a one-hole, sudden death playoff for the 2005 Masters. Of his six amateur USGA titles, two went extra holes (1993 U.S. Junior and ’96 U.S. Amateur).

Tags: GENERAL GOLF TOPICS by Jenn
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