Play Target Golf – Learn From the Best on Tour
By Mark H Wright

Do you think the best players in the world of golf are trying to get the ball close to the hole so they don’t mess up their next putt? If they played that way they would never make the tour. When you are chipping or putting then your sole focus should be on seeing that little white ball disappear into the hole. That’s it, there is nothing else.

Depending on your skill level you should also be looking to hole the ball with your wedge and pitch shots into the green. The rule of thumb I employ with longer shots is that whenever the flag is in a position that you won’t miss the green with the club in your hand and the shot you need to hit, focus on holing your shot.

If the pin is cut a few yards in from the side of a green then a high handicap golfer with a pitching wedge should play for a precise point in the middle of the green. A low single figure or scratch golfer should be very accurate with a wedge so they should focus on landing the ball on a precise target that puts the ball in the hole.

This precise targeting will not only get you holing more balls it also has another effect which is massively valuable and in itself will be responsible for better golf and more holed balls. When you target precisely it zero’s your mind down and focuses the concentration. Rather like taking a pair of binoculars and zooming in, focusing, zooming in, focusing etc.

Many players want to know how to focus better and play more in the present without concern and worry. To play with greater freedom and confidence. Here is a big part of that puzzle for you. Be precision target oriented. Never settle for the hole when you can focus on a blade of grass and imagine the ball rolling over a blade of grass and into the hole. The rule you should use for precision targeting is to pick the smallest target possible without eye strain.

While you may not be trying to hole every shot the one thing that remains constant is precision targeting. If you are driving it off the T with the big stick you should still be targeting a precise point in the fairway. A patch of grass that is a slightly different colour to the surrounds. You can target the branch of a tree beyond the fairway or even a tiny part of a building as the target line to send the ball at. I personally prefer that a precise landing point in the fairway is picked whenever this is possible. Once more, it should be the smallest thing you can target without eye strain.

Other forms of great targeting are: seeing a trajectory line through the air that you imagine your ball flies along and lands AT A PRECISE POINT. A line along the ground that your ball rolls along and drops in the hole. A channel of grass dictating the line. In the end it is an individual decision how you precise target your different shots, but precision you must have. Nothing else is acceptable and it’s that simple.

Go out and really give precise targeting a go for every shot and with shots from around the green and especially chipping and putting – PUT THE BALL IN THE HOLE.

Tags: GENERAL GOLF TOPICS by donwedderspoon
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What is a Golf Wedge and When Should it Be Used?
By Wayne Armstrong

The golf clubs within a standard set are arranged in order of their degree of loft; that is the angle at which the ball will be lifted into the air when it is hit with the club. You will find therefore that a new set of golf clubs starts off with a 1 wood, otherwise known as a driver which typically has an angle of loft between 8 and 13 degrees. This is followed by the 3 and 5 woods. The irons included within this set typically starts with the 3 (although 1 and 2 irons are available), which has a degree of loft between 21 and 24 degrees. Your set will top out with the 9 iron (45 – 48 degrees of loft), Pitching Wedge, which could also rightly be called a 10 iron (47 – 53 degrees of loft) and of course a putter.

However, it doesn’t stop there. While playing a round of golf the player will inevitably find himself in situations where he has to achieve a very high loft angle, usually to clear an obstacle such as a tree or a set of bunkers. The progression of loft angles therefore continues with some special clubs which are available to be added to the standard set. The greatest loft angle is given to the lob wedge which is designed to perform exactly how the name implies, that is to lob the ball over an obstacle or at least high into the air. The lob wedge has a loft angle of around 58 to 62 degrees. Below this is the sand wedge with a loft angle of 54 to 58 degrees and the gap wedge with a 50 to 54 degree loft angle. As the name implies the sand wedge is particularly useful for sand bunker shots, whereas the gap wedge simply describes a club which plugs the gap in loft angles between the pitching wedge and the sand wedge.

As for when these clubs should be used, well I have alluded to some situations already, in that the sand wedge is likely to be used for escaping from bunkers and the lob wedge is likely to be used to lob the ball over an obstacle. In reality though there is another factor that needs to be taken into consideration and that is the required distance for the shot. For example a typical male recreational golfer will probably hit a sand wedge around 65 yards. One of the characteristics to bear in mind though when choosing to play a shot with a wedge is that because of the very high angle of approach to the green the ball is likely to roll very little, if at all. Accomplished players can use this to their advantage in that they can put backspin on the ball and so instead of stopping dead when it hits the green the ball will actually grip and roll backwards slightly making for some very impressive shots.

Most players when starting out and even when they become more experienced will not have a need to include too many of these specialist tools in their golf arsenal but as the standard rules of golf allow for 14 clubs to be carried out onto the course, it is probably worth investing in at least one wedge. The most likely candidate and probably most versatile of the wedges is the sand wedge and so is the extra club of choice for most players.

Tags: Equipment, GENERAL GOLF TOPICS by donwedderspoon
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A Golf Lesson on Beating Tiger Woods
By Jack Moorehouse

Ben Hogan scoffed at the idea. Jack Nicklaus spurned it. Gary player scorned it. Among the game’s most respected legends, they disdained the idea of using a sports psychologist or a mental coach to help them win. Instead, these players preferred to retain the stubborn independence that drove them to succeed. They provided their own mental golf tips. They didn’t need a sports psychologist or mental coach. For a long time, this approach dominated on the Tour.

Then Tiger Woods burst onto the scene. He won time and time again. In fact, he won so much that other players began to ask how. Eventually, they realized what made Tiger win. It was his attitude. He thought he was supposed to win every time he played. And therefore he won. This realization transformed things radically. Now more of golf’s top pros work with mental coaches who provide a different kind of golf instruction session.

An Avalanche Of Change
Tiger’s rise to the top brought an avalanche of change. As Davis Love III points out, Tiger taught professionals that the winning edge in the pro game was mental, not physical. Tiger gets to a better mental place more consistently than the rest of the players, who get to it only occasionally. That’s why he wins. Tiger’s approach also taught the pros that the mental realm is where the greatest improvement can be made more rapidly.

While Tiger’s success was the driving force behind the change, the tipping point may have been Ernie Els’ victory in the British Open in 2002. Helped by Jos Vanstiphout, Els cruised to victory at Muirfield, St. Andrews. That spurred changes. Today, more and more sports psychologists are advising golfers about golf’s mental side. They’re also writing books about it. One noteworthy book is Tim Gallwey’s The Inner Game of Golf, fashioned after his breakthrough book, The Inner Game of Tennis.

In addition, more and more researchers are studying the game’s mental side. Some are using the latest technological advances to do it. Dr. Deborah Graham, a sports psychologist, has clients practice with a special monitor. It measures factors like heart rate and tension. The readings determine the player’s optimum performance rate. Meanwhile, Dr. Debbie Crews, a researcher at Arizona State, has found that the best predictor of successful performance is brain function milliseconds before and at impact.

Still A Ways To Go
Despite these advances, research in to the mental approach has a ways to go. So does the players’ regard for it as a legitimate weapon on tour. At a recent World Scientific Congress of Golf, a poll revealed that while elite players believe that mental skills are 50 percent of the game, the majority say they spend less than 10 percent of their practice time on them.

The research on the game’s mental side, however, has produced two key golf tips for the weekend golfer. First, before the mental skills can make a difference, a player must develop swing and course management skills. Knowing how and where to make shots is a must. Having learned this, golfers can then take their game to the next level by focusing on its mental aspects.

Second, the most successful golfers play not for glory or even to win, but for the challenge and satisfaction gained from the improvement process. It’s what Gio Valiante, a sports psychologist from Rollins College in Winter Park, FL, calls the Mastery Approach.

According to this theory, elite golfers, like Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods, are more concerned with learning and improving than winning. This drive for mastery gets then fully involved in the shot at hand. They don’t worry about who they’re playing, how much money they’ll win, or what people will say if they lose. It’s how they attain superior focus, concentration, and achievement.

The formula for improving your game is clear. Work first on developing your swing skills and course management skills through golf lessons, practice sessions, golf tips, and/or playing a lot. Once proficient at them, work on the game’s mental side. Combining both will not only boost your game to the next level, it will also help you whittle down your golf handicap.

Tags: GENERAL GOLF TOPICS, Mentally Speaking by donwedderspoon
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