Weekly Swing Reminder - One shot at a time

Do you ever get ahead of yourself by thinking about the
shot after the one you’re about to play? Never get ahead
of yourself, only think about the shot you’re about to play.
You have to stay in the moment, if you start thinking ahead,
you will almost always hit a bad shot. It’s hard enough to
stay focused on the shot at hand. Play one shot at a time.

Weekly Swing Reminder - Play to your strengths

If you hate 30 yard pitch shots, don’t leave
yourself that shot. It goes hand in hand with
“play within yourself”. For instance you have
250 yards left to a par 5, do you hit a 3 wood
(that has no chance of reaching the green)
or lay up with a 7 iron and leave yourself
a 100 yard full shot. Until you have practiced
that 3 wood shot, don’t think you can just
walk up and hit it. Chances are maybe 1 in 10
that you can get it anywhere near the green.
Know your limitations.

Slow Down

We've all heard it hundreds of time, "slow down" life's too short. But, do we really pay much attention to it? It seems lately, that nobody does.

I like technology as much as the next guy. I mean I am writing this blog on my laptop using wifi, from a classified location. But, I really think that technology has caused people to speed their lives up to a point where it's just out of control. I've had to drive to Tucson three times this week (200 miles round trip each) and being on the road that much, I have seen some really, really bad drivers. I mean BAD. And yes, you guessed it, technology is a key part to their loss of driving skills

Let's start with how many people are talking on cell phones while driving 75 mph. Are you kidding me, they are so engrossed in their phone calls they disregard everyone and everything around them. A guy yacking & driving a huge Expedition was almost rear ended because he had slowed down to about 60 mph in the left lane. Then there was the lady in the 79' Bonneville who was driving down Hwy 90 @ 70 mph texting on her phone. She was all over the road...it was crazy. What about the guy who sets his cruise control at 77 mph in a 75 mph zone and then stays in the left lane. I sometimes wish I had an 85 F-350 4 x 4 that I could just use to run them off the road. Wow, was that my external voice? It's just maddening. Driving is already tough, why do people have to make it so much more difficult?

I guess I am just an old mountain man at heart (thanks for that thought Andy). I like the slow pace of the country. Like throwing the ball with Cody Bear, walking to the garden to pick a few tomatoes or my favorite thing, sitting on the porch and watching sunsets with my honey.

Life is too short, so take some time to slow down and spend time doing the things that make you happy. Have a great day.

Is your shaft too stiff ??

That's a heck of a question to start today's blog post. But, I think it's fitting considering we are smack dab in the middle of the golf season. How many shots do you hit to the right? That's another great question, and these two questions go together like a pb&j.

I took a survey last week at Turquoise Valley Golf Course and asked 15 golfers these same questions. I got alot of weird looks and couldn't figure out why. Of those 15 golfers, only one was a single digit handicapper. The rest were between 12 and 28, and 9 of them had a stiff shaft in their driver. Of the 9 with stiff shafts, only one (the 4 handicapper) hit the ball with a draw. All the others hit a weak to moderate fade. Now that I've dropped all those stats on ya, do you have a clue where this is going?

I would bet that 95% of those surveyed bought their driver right off the rack, without hitting it first. Did you know that there are 5 normal shaft flexes, X, S, R, A & L. That's Extra Stiff, Stiff, Regular, Senior, and Ladies. Shaft flex is the ability to bend the shaft during your golf swing. Have you ever hit a really flexible shaft and realized how much you had to slow your swing down to actually hit the ball decent? That might be a good clue for you. If you have to swing out of your shoes to hit a club, don't you think that might be a little too much? How about going to a lesser flex and not swing so hard? Wow, what a concept. An even better concept might be to see your golf pro or local club fitter and try out some different shafts to see which you hit more consistent. A good club fitting will normally cost about $50, but then if you purchase the club from the fitter, they will usually knock that $50 off the price of the club/clubs.

Is your golf game and your sanity worth $50? That's another good question, and one you will have to answer on your own. Have a great golf week.

Weekly Swing Reminder - Visualize

See the shot in your minds eye before
you pull the trigger. This should be a standard
part of your pre-shot routine. In everything we
do, we should be visualizing the outcome. You
don’t put the keys in your car ignition without
thinking about the car starting do you? See the
perfect golf shot in your mind before you swing
the club.

Blueprint Golf - Great Resource

Junior Golf is near and dear to my heart, but it seems I am not the only one. My buddy Scott Rynning has created a great resource for Junior Golfers and their parents. Blueprint Golf Magazine is quarterly online magazine that comes right to your e-mail. Pretty easy stuff, all you have to do is sign up.

I really like the slogan Scott came up with "building a solid parent/child foundation through golf". It basically says everything that's important about junior golf. As a child, I never played golf. My Dad tried to get me to play, but I thought it was for wimpy kids. Yeah, I know, I knew nothing. I didn't start to play golf until I was 23 years old. Had I listened to Dad and started playing earlier, maybe I could have been a great player. Okay, stop laughing. But, I certainly would have learned earlier the lessons we get from this awesome game.

Do yourself a favor and go checkout Scott's Blueprint Golf magazine. If you have kids, grand kids, or just want to learn about junior golf, you will be pleasantly surprised with this wonderful resource for golf.

Thanks Scott for putting together a great publication.