Tuesday's Tip: Windy Conditions

Last weekend the Transylvania Women’s Golf team, which I am the head coach, travelled to Franklin, IN to play in our last event of the 2021-22 season. The team closed out the season with a big win, and needless to say, left me very proud of the season they had.

If you were to go to the scores however, you’d see that they were high. In some cases very high. What you won’t see on the scoreboard (found on Golfstat) are what the weather conditions were like for both days of the two day event.

It was warm, which was nice. But it was also super windy. In fact during the final round there were several wind gusts over 30 mph. To put that in perspective, that is getting close to the level where a PGA Tour event would suspend play.

We did not suspend play, and instead had to fight through the tough conditions while fortunately coming out on top.

So what are some general tips for playing in the wind? Below you will find some ideas that hopefully you’ve heard before, and maybe one or two that you haven’t.

How to Succeed in the Wind

• “When it’s breezy swing it easy.” The rest goes without saying. Trying to force your swing in windy conditions can result in poor contact, and even worse, extra backspin that can dramatically effect the overall distance of your shot when facing a head wind.

• Know that wind will not effect your ball as much as you might think with cross winds. On well struck golf shots, a cross wind may only move the line of your shot slightly. Now, if you draw a ball with the direction of the wind it will curve a lot. So try not to do that. Otherwise hitting a normal, straight shot with a cross wind won’t need dramatic aim adjustments.

• Hitting into or down wind? Know how to adjust club selection. Most of you know that you need more club into the wind. Obviously the severity of the wind will determine how much, but just know that hitting into the wind will require more of a club adjustment than down wind. For example, with the winds we had over the weekend, most of the time a head wind needed +2 clubs while down wind only needed -1.

• Know how wind affects short game. Primarily the wind will be most noticeable on distance control. A downwind chip, pitch, or putt will roll out farther than normal. And vice versa when into the wind. The biggest thing is keeping your body stable during the swing so that the wind does not affect your balance. This is especially true for putting.

Lastly, be mentally strong. Remember that the wind is effecting everyone on the course, not just you. So if you can manage your emotions better than your competitors, you will have a very good chance to beat them when the conditions get tough!

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I’ll be honest, the product below is related to what I just wrote, but it’s a nifty tool to see your swing path when you practice. I recommend.

Tuesday's Tip: Read It, Roll It, and Hole It!

When it comes to golf instruction, it is easy to fall into the trap of taking on too much information. The true value of a well qualified instructor is that they can help you, the player, sort through all pertinent information so that you can quickly get to work on what matters most in your golf game.

Putting is no different in that something that seems so simple in technique can actually paralyze the mind with too much information. That is why I try to adopt the message you see in the title of this post…

Read It, Roll It, and Hole It!

Taken from one of the best putting books I’ve read in a long time, Hole It! by John Dunnigan, embracing the simple slogan above is a great way to cut through the clutter and focus on what will matter most in your putting. Dunnigan accurately points out that there are only three skills required to be a good putter:

1. Skill of controlling your speed

2. Skill of ability to hit your line

3. Skill to read a green

Here at the High Performance Golf Academy, we’ve embraced the importance of those three skills. Notice how the skill of a certain putting stroke, or even the ability to aim is not listed above. Now… will your ability to accomplish the first two skills effectively be easier if you’re aiming at your target? Probably. But at the end of the day you only need to be good at the three skills above.

As an instructor I have dedicated a lot of time and resources in finding all the ways to help my players improve their putting. With tools like Sam Putt Lab, and now AimPoint Express for green reading, I feel that I am truly equipped to help golfers of all skill levels be their best on the greens.

In addition to the AimPoint Express clinics I am offering (check them out by clicking here), I offer what I’m calling a Putting Boot Camp for those that are serious about investing in improving all three of the skills listed above. The best part is that we will use one of the sessions to learn AimPoint Express, which you will quickly see is an amazing way to efficiently read greens.

PUTTING BOOT CAMP

Now with AimPoint Express!!

Are you sick and tired of being a bad or simply average putter? If so, Putting Boot Camp is designed for you to start making more putts than ever before. This 3 sessions in 3 weeks package is designed to utilize the latest technology and techniques available to quickly improve your putting.

Session #1 - Sam Putt Lab Stroke and Putter Evaluation

Session #2 - Sam Putt Lab Training and Drills

Sessions #3 - Green Reading w/ AimPoint Express

All sessions are 45 minutes and must be used within 3 weeks of your first session.

Cost is $375 and includes all sessions.

Click Here to schedule your first session and let’s get to work on improving the three skills you need to be a great putter!

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Check out John Dunnigan’s Hole It! below…

Tuesday's Tip: Takeaways from The Masters

I have a small confession to make… I don’t watch that much golf on television. That being said I do watch The Masters, and hopefully you were able to as well.

It’s not hard to gush over the incredible beauty and ambiance that Augusta National provides golf fans once a year. Nor is it hard to excitedly talk about the numerous story lines that emerge from the players in the field each year.

This year was no different. Tiger Woods made a triumphant return to competitive golf, the usual suspects were lurking around the leaderboard all week, and one of the hottest hands in golf kept it rolling with a convincing victory.

But as a golf instructor, I enjoy watching professional events, especially majors, to find little nuggets to share with my students to help them learn to play the game better. Below are a couple of those little nuggets:

Lesson Nuggets from Augusta

• There’s no such thing as perfect golf, especially in a 72 hole event. Scottie Scheffler was dominant in his victory. After round 2 he had all but completely separated himself to close the day with a 5 shot lead. As difficult as the course was playing for every one else, this was a major accomplishment.

  However, on the par five 13th hole, he shanked his second shot (yes I used the “s” word) nearly taking out a group of photographers. He then proceed to hit his next shot a few feet from the hole where he would make birdie, beginning the propulsion to his 5 shot lead.

  Too many times I’ve seen players hit the panic button when they shank a shot. One bad shot turns into several because they simply can’t get over it. When playing golf it is sometimes helpful to have the mind of a quarterback that just threw an interception. You have to forget about it! For someone like Scheffler the was easy. After all he has an unlimited supply of confidence to know that that last shot didn't matter. It’s the next one that matters most.

• Take it from Tiger, master your short game! One thing that stood out to me on Thursday and Friday was how Tiger Woods’ short game seemed a little off. The surprising part to me was that I figured he would have been able to practice that aspect of his game much longer than the rest given the nature of his injury and his recovery.

  Of course that is speculation, but I believe it exposed another aspect of short game practice that goes unnoticed by many. It’s one thing to spend hours and hours working on every aspect you can from short game, and that is necessary in order to improve. But the thing you have to remember is that as important as mastering your technique is, you must also practice executing short game shots in a competitive environment.

  I’m not going to condone gambling, but one way to do this is to be constantly challenging your friends to chipping and pitching contests and try putting something on the line. This will help you tap into a different part of your golf brain that allows you to perform better under pressure. Short game mastery requires a lot of hours and even more competitive hours on the course or challenging your golf buddies.

  Coming back to Tiger, I don’t believe he was unprepared as it relates to his short game. Augusta National demands precision around the green and the more greens you miss, the more opportunities you are going to have to be less than precise.

If you find yourself changing the channel away from live golf coverage, especially during the majors, do yourself a favor and watch just a little longer. I’m constantly reminding my students that the best players in the world don’t hit it as great as you might think. They do hit it way better than anyone else, but my point is that they still miss fairways and greens. If nothing else, watching golf can add a little perspective to your own game.

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Do yourself a favor and get out in the yard with a chipping net like the one below:

Tuesday's Tip: AimPoint Facts and Fiction

Cutting through the clutter of information and disinformation on social media and the internet can be a full time endeavor. Whether it’s sports or politics, there seems to be an over abundance of people with differing opinions, and in some cases differing “facts”.

This week I want to cut through the clutter of information surrounding AimPoint, specifically AimPoint Express.

The motivation to tackle this topic right now comes from a particularly strange couple weeks for Aimpoint. It began with Keegan Bradley going through a green reading process that looked like AimPoint, only to miss his putt badly. This led to a crowd of online hecklers that poked fun of the fact he used what they thought was AimPoint and it didn’t work. (The truth is… although it appeared he was attempting to use AimPoint, what he did is NOT what is taught, aside from the fact that his speed control was off which would render any read he made likely useless).

Then, just as things started to quiet down, a kid (literally a kid less than 13 years old) was spotted using AimPoint at Augusta National during the Drive, Chip, and Putt Finals. The kid used the green reading process (way more accurately than Keegan Bradley did), which took an incredible 15 seconds to complete! Can you believe that?!? Someone taking 15 seconds to read a putt, especially a really important putt! Who does that??

Yes… that is sarcasm because we see on a weekly basis players on the PGA Tour using their fully allotted 40 seconds (sometimes longer) to read putts using methods not called AimPoint, if they even have a method at all. But because someone uses AimPoint, instead of using their eyes, it’s considered a bad look and bad for the game?

So what is AimPoint? AimPoint is a green reading technology (or system, technique, method, whatever you want to call it) developed by Mark Sweeney. It began as a very technical system that involved using a book to look up your correct read.

Believe it or not, about 12 years ago, Larry Ward and I participated in one of the first AimPoint clinics in the state of Kentucky. However, we both agreed that AimPoint in it’s current state was simply not usable for many of our clients.

Apparently Mark Sweeney agreed because it wasn’t long after that when he created AimPoint Express. This is what you see people now doing (or in Keegan Bradely’s case attempting to do). The biggest noticeable difference is that the books used to read the green are gone. Instead there is an expedited process that involves using your feet to feel the tilt of the green and assign it a number. You then take the number you felt and use the corresponding number of fingers to determine your line.

One concern, and the one I’ve always found the most legitimate, was that in order to feel the tilt of the green that is affecting your putt, you have to get in the line of your own putt between the ball and the hole. In the early days this had to be done with a somewhat “code of ethics” by straddling your line and avoiding actually making contact with your intended line of play (which would be a penalty). But now the USGA has decided (albeit for other reasons) that intentionally touching your line on the putting green is no longer a penalty. Therefore opening the floodgates for people to walk in their own line in order to feel the tilt.

Another concern is that when walking in your own line you may interfere with the line of another player. This one is easy… just don’t do it. You can always make a slight adjustment to where you need to stand in order to avoid stepping in another player’s line.

The biggest misconception with AimPoint Express is that it negatively affects pace of play. As we mentioned earlier, good players that are trying to grind out a made putt during a round will take a lot of time to do so. The Tour gives them about 40 seconds. This is a long time. However, when used correctly from beginning to end, AimPoint Express should take no longer than 20 seconds. In most cases it will take less than 10. However, if you want to use it, you better learn how to use it properly by attending an AimPoint Express class taught by any of the several certified instructors across the country.

Or you can log in to Twitter and make fun of what you don’t understand, which seems to be the route of many people that I would normally consider trustworthy and knowledgable individuals. (sorry for the sarcasm again)

If you are interested in actually learning what AimPoint Express is and how to use it, click here to check out the multiple opportunities I am offering.

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Looking for a great mat to work on putting indoors? We have the one below at the High Performance Golf Academy and it has been great!

Tuesday's Tip: Do You Know Cause and Effect?

Do you understand cause and effect? In other words, what are the primary causes that make a golf ball go where it goes?

It is always surprising to me how many players, some of them pretty good, don’t know something as simple as the ball flight laws. Although up for debate, the good old fashioned ball flight laws given to us several decades ago hold up in many aspects as far as most golfers should be concerned.

The purpose of this article isn’t to delve into the ball flight laws, or debate their accuracy, but instead to stress the importance of having a basic understanding of cause and effect.

For example, you hit a drive that begins flying down the middle of the fairway, only to have it start curving left, into a bunker or a hazard. Why did this happen? Assuming there is no wind, try using the following sequence of possible solutions (based on a right handed golfer) to come up with an educated guess:

Ask yourself the following…

1. What did the club do to the ball that made it fly that way?

   • Was contact in the center of the clubface?

   • Was the clubface open or closed?

   • Which direction was the club swinging? (right, left, or at the target)

2. What did you do to the club that made the following occur?

   • Contact was center

   • Club face was closed to the path*

   • Path swinging right of where the club face was pointing*

*You can determine this with a basic understanding of the ball flight laws

Using this sequence to address the issue, the first thing that occurs would be a closed face relative to the swing path. Simply check the possible reasons that you clubface may be closed. Here’s a hint… it was probably already closed before the swing began. In other words… check your grip and/or alignment.

This is just one of example of how you should approach correcting a miss on the golf course. I present it this way because too many times I have asked one of my players what happened and they jump straight to trying to change something about the golf swing.

It is true that there may be a swing related cause to your miss, but when you are in the middle of a round, especially a competitive round, you’ll want to avoid trying to make wholesale changes to your golf swing at all costs. 

Lastly, and this should go without saying… but working with a swing coach can help you better understand your swing and potential issues you could face. We can also help you find the quickest, and most sensible solution. 

Need to schedule a session? Click the link below.

 The book below isn’t exactly relevant to this post’s topic, but it is required reading as far as I’m concerned for all golfers.

Tuesday's Tip: Break Your Next Scoring Barrier with These Mental Tips

Yes I know it is Wednesday. Hopefully I’ll be back on track next week!

Breaking a scoring barrier can be an exciting time for any golfer. It can also be the source of unwanted anxiety as the end of your round approaches. These barriers typically come in bunches of 10 strokes at a time; breaking 100, 90, 80, 70, etc.

So when you’re on the cusp of breaking a new barrier, regardless of your overall skill level, what are some things you can do or think about to finish your round strong? In other words… not to blow it!

• Embrace the fact that you are playing good! If you are playing a good round of golf, chances are you’ve put in the work in order to do so. When you are playing good, enjoy the moment and stay positive no matter what until you’ve holed out on your last hole and the round is over.

• Be aware of negative self fulfilling prophesies. Avoid thinking that a bad shot or stretch of holes is just around the corner. Again… embrace that you are playing well and don’t give in to thinking that it will come apart at any moment.

• Perfection in golf does not exist. Technically, a perfect round of golf would be 18 birdies for 18 holes. Last I checked this has not yet been achieved by any professional golfer. Allow yourself to make mistakes and do not think that just because you make one, you’re going to miss out on breaking that new scoring barrier.

• Never want the round to end. The only thing that you should be thinking about when you are playing well is hoping you get as many chances as you can to keep posting good scores. If you’re just trying to hurry up and finish before you screw it up, chances are you will screw it up before you run out of holes to play (the negative self fulfilling prophesy).

Do you have an elusive scoring barrier? Put it in the comments below and let me help you break that barrier this year by working with me at the High Performance Golf Academy!

Also… if you like to read I highly recommend the following books for work on the mental game:

Tuesday's Tip: Ideas to Make Practice Effective

Many golfers approach the game with a variety of goals that can range from just wanting to make contact with the ball on a full swing to winning a professional major. The number of goals in between those two extremes can be virtually limitless.

So how do we design a practice that makes the best use of your time yet also gives you an opportunity to succeed at achieving your goals?

To answer this question I think we need to quickly review what a goal is, or more importantly what a goal should be. Any goal, regardless of where it falls on the spectrum of possibilities listed in the opening paragraph, must be S.M.A.R.T.

• Specific

• Measurable

• Achievable

• Relevant

• Time-Bound

I really don’t think we need to spend any time breaking down this acronym further, so just make sure that whatever goal you are setting yourself up for can be explained using the criteria above. For example, if you’ve never played and want to play on the PGA Tour, you better make sure it fits in the achievable portion of the acronym.

Once you have your S.M.A.R.T. goal defined, you then need to start planning. This is of course most easily done with the help of a qualified instructor that can help you identify weaknesses and set you up on a plan for improvement. Then it is time to get to work.

So now that you have your plan and you’ve got the time set aside to actually practice your golf game, what are some things you can be doing to make sure your practice is effective?

1. Plan ahead. Have a practice plan before heading to the course/practice facility. It doesn't have to be a long, written out plan. Just know ahead of time the areas of your game you need to work on and stick to the plan to work on those areas. Again… this is easier with the help of a qualified instructor.

2. Diversify. When most people think practice, they don’t think much past hitting golf balls of the driving range, working up a sweat, then calling it a day. Diversify your practice plan to include all parts of the game, include (especially) putting. Golf is the only sport where you practice in a completely different environment than you play. Make sure your practice sessions would include all parts of the game, just like a round of golf would.

3. Avoid pitfalls. Here are some tips to help you avoid common pitfalls when you practice:

   • Space out time in between shots on the range. In other words, never rake and hit! It takes over 4 hours to play most 18 hole rounds of golf. During that time you may hit 30-50 full swing shots. Why in the world would you try to hit a bucket of balls that contains 70-100 balls in less than an hour? This is not me saying to take 4 to 5 hours on a bucket balls, just make sure you are incorporating pre and post shot routines as well as varying your club selections and targets.

   • Practice like you would play. For example, do you use a line on your ball when you putt? Then you better be setting that line up for the overwhelming majority of the strokes you make on the practice green! Do you have a green reading method (like AimPoint)? Use it! Even on those 3-5 footers that can drive golfers mad when they miss them in practice.

   • Be aware of LaLa Land. Our human brains just simply aren’t wired very well to sustain a high level of focus and energy during a long practice session. In fact the average max attention span for adults is about 20 minutes. Whenever you catch your mind drifting to other thing, simply take a break and start working on another aspect of your game.

Do you need help identify your weakness and getting you plan to improve created so that you can start playing better golf? Then contact me today so that we can together help you put your plan to improve in action!

Tuesday's Tip: Learn from Missed Putts

As I write this, I am sitting in the airport in Savannah, GA coming home from our first spring tournament at Savannah Quarters (I am the head coach for Transylvania Women’s Golf, an NCAA DIII school).

Getting on the golf course with my team in competition for the first time since October is always exciting and also provides me with several ideas for golf tips.

One big take away from this week has been the importance of examining your misses on the green. Not all misses are created equal, so it is very important to pay attention so that you can see how to improve your next putting attempt.

What to Look For

Remember the 3 skills required to be a good putter:

1. Speed Control

2. Direction Control

3. Green Reading

If you miss a putt, at least one of these three skills (if not two or all three) are to blame. In my experience, speed control is the number one issue causing most players to miss putts. However, if it is not your speed control, you better be able to distinguish between a bad starting line (direction control) or a poor read.

This is so important because hopefully you can make some in-round adjustments to make sure your speed control adjusts to the speed of the green. If your speed remains a problem, then you know that all you need to do is get on the practice green and practice your distance control.

But let’s assume that your speed control is pretty good. If you’re still missing putts then it’s either your read or your direction control. Knowing which one can be tricky, so here’s a few tips to help you know:

• Verify your read using a green reading technology like AimPoint. Reading a green using AimPoint allows you to objectively identify an exact line and commit to it. If you hit a putt and it does not start on that line, then you’ll know to get to work on your direction control.

• Learn how to adjust your reads mid-round. This is again where AimPoint gives you a great weapon to do this. Otherwise, you have to kind of wing it. For example, you are under reading putts and everything is missing on the low side (which can also give the appearance of poor speed control). Force yourself to add more break to whatever you’re currently reading.

Speed control is of upmost importance if you want to be a good putter. Without it, you simply will not be successful. Contact me today about how I can improve your putting!

Also… learn to read greens like the best players in the world by checking out my AimPoint clinics this spring by clicking here.

Tuesday's Tip: Putting's Most Important Skill?

I guess I’ll start this post by addressing the question mark… because actually there is no question in my mind what the most important skill is in putting.

SPEED CONTROL

That’s right, good old fashioned speed control on the putting green is the single most important skill you can possess on your way to becoming an accomplished putter. That doesn’t mean the other two skills (green reading and hitting your line) are unimportant. It just means that without the ability to control your speed, there is little the other two skills can do for you.

Speed control is so important to green reading that AimPoint founder Mark Sweeney has integrated speed control instruction into his green reading classes. If you need further proof that speed is the most important skill, feel free to contact me with your skepticism and I will help you see the light.

So what are some ideas that may help you become a master of touch and feel on the greens? The first is understanding that the skill of controlling your speed is simply the skill of making the ball stop where you want.

On putts inside 20 feet, you will want the ball to stop 18-24 inches past the hole if it doesn’t go in. Practicing with a ghost hole (see the pic associated with this post) is a great way to see if your roll out past the hole is adequate.

For those putts outside 20 feet, simply getting the ball to stop within 10% of the total length of the putt will suffice. For example, if you are 40 feet from the hole you should be able to stop the ball within 2 feet short or 2 feet past the hole (total of 4 feet: aka 10%).

If you struggle with speed control, here are some quick tips to get you on track:

• Check the length of your putter. Most players simply need a putter that matches the length of your wrist to floor measurement. If you are a few inches off on this, you may have a hard time making consistent contact with the sweet spot.

• Be consistent on where the ball hits the putter face. The sweet spot in the middle of the face should probably be the goal for everyone. But if you consistently hit the same spot on the putter face then you will get the desired result of the ball leaving the face with a consistent amount of force. When the impact spot changes from putt to putt, your ball speed changes making it very difficult to acquire touch/feel/speed control.

• Rhythm and tempo. Most putting strokes will operate pretty well with a tempo of 74-82 beats per minute. If you’re starting from scratch on this, just pick a tempo in that range using a metronome and get to work. The putter will go back on a click then return to impact on the next click. Do not hesitate to adjust the speed if it feels too fast or slow.

I could write a lot more on this subject seeing as how it is the most important skill in putting. But hopefully this is enough info to get your mind right so that when you are ready to commit to getting better you will know where to start. And don’t forget… come in to see me at the High Performance Golf Academy so we can get to work on making you the best putter you can be!

Need a metronome? Check the one out below:

Tuesday's Tip: Line? Logo? Blank? Using Your Ball to Aim Putts

In what is sure to be the most hotly debated topic in golf (lol I doubt it)… Should you or should you not use your line on the golf ball to aim your putts?

This question is asked almost every time I give a putting lesson to someone new. And every time I give the same answer: it depends.

So what does it depend on? After all, when using the PGA or LPGA Tours as examples or a place to find best practices on stuff like this, there doesn't seem to be a clear answer.

Before we go head first in settling this debate, it is important to understand exactly what the three skills are that makes a great putter:

1. Speed Control

2. Direction Control (ability to make the ball roll on your intended line)

3. Green Reading

Please note that Aim is not listed above. This means that it is entirely possible for you to be a great putter but not necessarily be very good at pointing your putter precisely on your intended line. Now, that doesn't mean that I would ignore poor aim in the middle of a putting lesson. I believe that it is always better to know where grandpa’s gun (aka the putter - I stole this from putting guru and Flatstick Academy founder David Orr) is pointing. But there are some cases throughout history of some excellent putters that did not point the putter on their intended target line.

Tiger Woods may be the most famous of these putters, as he was notorious for aiming his putter about 2-3 degrees to the right of his intended line (although not necessarily on purpose). In Sam Putt Lab terms, that is a lot.

So now that we know it isn’t a big deal if you aim precisely on your intended line, should we even worry about using the ball to help us aim?

I tell my players the following if they are considering using the line or logo on the ball to help aim:

Use the line or logo IF…

• You can accurately point the line or logo precisely on your intended line in two attempts or less. In other words, you can set the ball down, check the line, then fix it one time. If it takes more attempts than that you are running into a pace of play issue and you should not be wasting time using the line!

  • This doesn't mean you need to give up ever using the line of logo. Just simply get to a practice green and rehearse using the your ball to help you aim.

• You can make the line on your putter match the line or logo of the ball. It drives me crazy when a player goes through the trouble of setting the ball up only to abandon their work and aim somewhere else. Even worse, you must be able to see if the line on the putter matches the ball or not (this happens way more often than you might think).

• It does not affect your ability to control your speed or hit your line. I’ve seen too many players (me included) that get so caught up in their initial line that they lose their feel or try to steer the ball precisely on the line, versus being an athlete and stroking the putt.

It is the last bullet point that I believe needs more conversation. Currently I have developed a hybrid model in determining whether to use the line or logo in my own game. I will use the logo on the ball for any putt inside 8 feet, which is when I am less concerned about getting the speed correct. Personally, I felt myself lose the ability to feel good speed control when getting locked in on my line for longer putts.

That being said, now that I am AimPoint certified and my green reading confidence is at an all time high, I may extend how far back I use the logo (or line) to closer to 20 feet. Why this distance? Anything inside 20 feet is considered a makable putt. Outside 20 feet and the goal is to get it close and avoid three putts! And the more confident I am that my line is correct, the more energy I can direct to making a good stroke with good speed control.

So what should you do? The answer is experiment! Just make sure you are following the three guidelines above and you are good to go on using the line!

Do you need help deciding or just need to get better at one of those three skills required to be a good putter? Contact me and click here to learn more about my programs and how I can improve your putting. Specifically, click here to learn about green reading with one of my upcoming AimPoint Express Clinics!

If you're going to use the line, I recommend the tool below to make sure you are getting the most accurate line you can possibly draw on your ball.