I am off next week to play in a couple of major tournaments. First on Tuesday, July 1, I am playing in the U. S. Senior Open qualifier in Hamilton, New York. I am looking forward to this and I have a good draw as I am playing with a player that plays regularly on the Champions Tour. After that I go on to Ottawa to play in the Canadian Seniors Championship. This is a three day tournament and my first attempt at it. My game is good so I think I have a great chance in these tournaments.

I had three students competing in a major junior golf tournament in East Aurora, N. Y. the past week. The format of the tournament was 36 holes stroke play and then into match play in different flights. Two of the three made it into the top flight and the other player just lost in a playoff. The one boy went on to lose his first match and then went into the consolation of the Championship flight and won the flight. I am proud of all three as they did well against top juniors from all over the world.

Watching these players from all over the world, it confirms that how you play is mostly about your mental game. How you feel about yourself, the way you walk and act is extremely important on your performance. Some of these players think they are the best and the way they strut around definitely helps them perform. I will be working on that with my players. They are as good as all the other players.

Tags: Golf General by John White
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I was doing a golf clinic to brand new golfers last night and the object was to introduce them to the game, show them what to do at the golf course when they get there and just basically run through the whole game from some technique to showing them the course. It was a lot of fun and the ladies were great.

Everything was going great until I got to the explanation of the clubs. I was showing my clubs to them and telling them that the higher the number the shorter the club would go and that you had woods and irons. I said you have “woods” which are usually made out of metal or metal woods. They kind of looked at me funny. Then you have the 1 wood which is actually metal but on the bottom it says 10.5 so again they looked at me funny and wondered why it would go further than the 3 metal wood even though it is a higher number and I was trying to explain that the 10.5 was the loft. So, on some clubs they put a number and on some clubs they put the loft. That is how I explained the 52, 56 and 60 degree wedge that I have.

Then I said you could have a 5 metal wood and a 5 iron but you also could have a 5 hybrid which is a cross between and iron and a metal wood. They seemed to be getting it by the expressions on their face, similar to a deer staring at headlights, when I handed one lady a club to chip with and it had a P on it. I then started to explain that it meant pitching wedge and that various clubs had letters on them like P and L and there was no way of knowing what that meant unless you asked someone.

So be careful the next time you are trying to explain something to a rank beginner. I remember when I worked at a local club and the pro’s wife was not a golfer but a wonderful person in the pro shop and guys would come in all the time and tell her, “I had a rough time today. On the second hole I skulled the ball across the green, almost hitting the pin and then it buried in the trap. I proceeded to shank it with my 60 which I should have use my 56 and it plugged underneath the lip. It was a tough day. As he was leaving she said to me why do you bury balls and then keep playing and wouldn’t that hurt getting the ball underneath the lip.

Tags: General, Golf General by John White
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At my golf course, Beechwood Golf & Country Club, we have a lot of public play including tournaments. Most of these are companies or social clubs getting together to have a social outing and have some fun. Unfortunately sometimes there is alcohol involved and when this happens bad thing happen.

Golf is a fun game but it is a very difficult game for someone to try once in a while and can also be a dangerous game if people are not careful. People rent the carts and after a couple of drinks think that they are at the fair and are in the bumper cars. They do not realize that these golf cars cost over $6000.00 and can cause severe damage. We had a couple of gentlemen put one in our pond this weekend. They are liable for the damage and it could be quite costly.

Some of these people are respectful business people and when they get a few drinks in them they turn into these irresponsible acting adults. I always wondered if I were to go out and scrape their car or take my car and do donuts on their front lawn if they would think it would be funny. They get loud, rude and uncontrollable. If you are one of these people that think it is fun to go and get drunk at a golf course and plays golf then please do not come to my course.

Tags: General, Golf General by John White
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I am forever hearing students say that I have a baseball swing or I am trying to get rid of my baseball swing in golf. Well let me tell you that the golf swing is exactly like the baseball swing. The motion and everything is the same it is just that you are swinging at a low pitch.

The only thing I don’t like about the baseball swing is when they let there back elbow fly or stick out. The elbow should be in close to the body but the swing and sequence of the swing is the same. The hands work the same and as a matter of fact I get a lot of my students to make practice swings like they are swinging a baseball bat. This is a great drill to get the hands to work properly. One of the main ingredients of a good golf swing is allowing the hands to rotate or release during the swing. Sometimes we have to educate the hands and swinging like a baseball is one drill that is great for this.

Also the sequence of motion used in swinging a baseball or throwing a baseball is exactly the sequence of motion we need in the golf swing. If there was one secret in swinging the golf club correctly then it would be in the way the body moves. If you analyse the throwing motion you would see that the weight shifts back initially but as the arm is moving up the weight goes back to the front foot and it is followed by the hips, shoulders arm and then the hands. This produces a whipping like effect and everyone does this even if they just toss the ball underhand. One of the problems I face is that people do this naturally but when it comes to golf they don’t do it. Now I am trying to teach something that they do naturally which means they are thinking about it which usually means they become too mechanical. Golf is like walking and hopefully we do not think about walking. We need to relearn this motion in golf but we must constantly put the whole motion together and let it go naturally. This is the quest. I will be offering more on this as we go on in this blog.

Tags: General, Golf General, Lessons in Golf by John White
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I watched the last few holes yesterday in the U, S, Open playoff and it was awesome. The whole tournament was great for golf. The television ratings were tremendous with it being mostly in primetime and it couldn’t have hurt that Tiger Woods was the main star as usual. His uncanny ability to perform and pull off shots under extreme pressure makes everyone go WOW! even his fellow playing partners.

To me he looked like he was struggling though, not only physically but mentally he looked a little exhausted. It must be difficult to deal with all the attention and constant focus of millions of people. I know he was brought up to deal with this but with his brilliance on the course comes resentment from some people. I meet people all the time that say they hate Tiger Woods, maybe because of his fist pumps or because he wins most of the time and they don’t even know him. He must feel this attitude sometimes and it would not surprise me to see him take an extended leave, maybe even retire.

People should not judge people. I think that is the problem. Judging. There is too much of that going on. Certain Middle Eastern countries hate each other based on history between them. People are judged based on their skin color or their headwear and not what they are as a person. I am not saying that people do not act wrong but stereo typing one persons actions against a whole race doesn’t due anyone any good. Take each individual for what they are worth and what they do because deep down inside we are all the same.

Tiger Woods is a special person not because he wins. He wins because he is a special person, dedicated his life to his sport and worked extremely hard at honing his skills. He is also giving back to this world in very special ways. We should be extremely fortunate that he has allowed us to watch him perform and hope that he continues to let us. I think the world is a better place with people like Tiger Woods in it.

Tags: General, Golf General by John White
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