End of the Week Tip: Dealing with Cold Weather

Every Friday I post a new golf tip on this blog. Please comment and share my tips if you wish!

Cold weather doesn't have to be the end of your golf season. I tell my students all the time that a sunny day above 40 degrees and minimal wind is a good day to golf. However there will be a few things to consider before heading out to the course on a cold day.

Here are a few tips to keep your game sharp the next time you decide play in cold weather:

·      Be prepared.  Having played college golf in the spring I learned very quickly that it pays to know the weather forecast and prepare accordingly.  The technology in winter apparel has come a long ways over the years and it would be a good idea to make sure you have the best.  When you have to dress warmly, do so in layers so that you can easily shed those layers if the temperature happens to rise during the round.

·      Re-adjust yardages.  Cold weather will affect the distance a golf ball travels.  How much it affects it will depend.  A range session with a launch monitor that measure the actual carry distance of the ball may be a good idea so you can get real distance numbers in the colder conditions.  On the course, be willing to adjust your club selection quickly if you notice a drop in carry distance.

·      Spend extra time on the practice green.  Short game and putting is all about feel and your hands are responsible for producing that feel.  When your hands get cold as the temperature drops, your feel will be affected.  Do your best to maintain the temperature of your hands (extra pockets, gloves, and hand warmers work well) and spend some extra time practicing distance control on shorter shots around the green.

Black Friday Special Today Only!!

Black Friday Special!!

From Tyrus York, PGA

Two lessons with Tyrus York, PGA for only $100 (save up to $100!!) 

Today only you can contact me and purchase 2 lessons for only $100! The lessons must be used by August 1, 2017.  
 

You can use the lessons for yourself or give them away as a gift. Lessons are limited to two specials per person (4 lessons total) and must be used by the expiration date.

The lessons are 45 minutes each and the time can be used for any of the following lesson types: full swing, short game, putting, K-Vest training, iron fitting, or Sam Putt Lab training. 
 

How to Purchase

Take advantage of this special by contacting me TODAY ONLY by emailing me at tyrus@hpgolfacademy.com, or by calling or texting me at 859-274-6558.

You can swing by the High Performance Golf Academy this afternoon to pay by cash or check, or you can simply respond with the following credit card information:

Credit Card #

Expiration Date

3 or 4 Digit Security Code

Billing Zip Code

Number of Specials (Purchase Amount)

If you wish to pay over the phone just call and leave a message and I will get back to you ASAP.

I hope you had a great Thanksgiving and I'll be looking forward to hearing from you!

End of the Week Tip: Make More Birdies and Pars

Every Friday check out my blog for a new golf tip. Please share and comment if you wish!

One way to ensure a lot of birdies and pars is to hit a high percentage of greens in regulation.  

Hitting more greens in regulation sounds great, but if it were so easy everybody would be doing it.  What’s also important is that when you miss a green in regulation you are at least near the green where you have an easy chip shot to make salvaging par much easier.

Here are a few tips to not only hit more greens, but also leave yourself in a good location to make par if you miss the green:

·      Forget about the pin.  Firing at pins can be a sure fire way to make bogies or worse.  It is much wiser to aim to a larger part of the green that isn’t protected by bunkers or hazards that can inflate your score if your ball ends up in them.  Sometimes the best option may be to play to a location just short of the green so you can be left with an easy chip.

·      Know your yardages.  The best way to discover the true yardage each club in your bag will travel is by testing each one.  You can do this by hitting 20 shots with each club using a Trackman or similar device to get real numbers to measure your distance.  Instead of picking the one that goes the farthest and using that yardage, take out the farthest 2 and shortest 2 and count the average of the other 16 shots.  This will give you a much more accurate yardage that you would most likely end up with on the course. Don't have a Trackman? Simply get on the internet and find the nearest PGA professional who does.

End of the Week Tip: Putting Under Pressure

Every Friday I post a new golf tip on this blog. Let me know what you think and please share if you like!

Most of us will never know what it is like to have an important shot to win a PGA Tour Event, or even begin to know the feeling you would have knowing that your next putt could be the difference of several hundred thousand dollars.

But there are still plenty of times when we play, especially if you play competitively, that you will feel the tightness of added pressure.

Here are a few tips to help the next time you start feeling the pressure mount over an important putt during your round:

·      Breathe. When the pressure builds, anxiety starts to overcome even the most seasoned veterans. Your first defense to calm those nerves is to breathe properly.  You want to make sure you are breathing deeply and using your diaphragm to fill all of your lungs with air.  This will get more oxygen in your brain and help to calm you down. I imagine filling my stomach with air as I take a breath to make sure air is getting into the bottom of my lungs.

·      Block out distractions.  This is sometimes referred to as “getting in the zone”.  Unfortunately “the zone” isn’t a place we can always go to on command.  When you are able to ignore distractions going on around you, whether it’s 10,000 spectators or the grounds crew using machinery nearby, you can bring yourself closer to getting in the zone.  Block out distractions by placing all of your attention on your routine.

·      Stick to your routine.  Successful golfers all have routines.  No two routines may be exactly the same from player to player, but good players rarely change their routine in the middle of the round.  Spend extra practice time polishing your routine by going through it over and over. Change the parts you don’t like and stick with the parts of the routine you do like.  Then be sure to stick with it on the course.   

End of the Week Tip: Make the Most of Your Putting

Every Friday I post a new golf tip to this blog. Please, like, comment, and/or share if you wish!

Making good contact on full swings is a skill that improves as the overall skill of the golfer improves.  But being able to get the ball in the hole with the putter is a skill that anyone of any skill level can master.

Here are a few tips to improves your putting:

·      Hit it solid.  The biggest reason golfers struggle controlling the speed of their putts is their impact point on the putter face changes too often.  The sweet spot in the center of the putter is ideally where you want impact.  Increase your chances to hit solid putts in the sweet spot by setting up the same way each time.  When in my posture, I prefer my eyes to be just inside the target line and my arms to be close to my body.

·      Hit your line.  When it comes to executing a putting stroke, every putt is a straight putt.  The ball may curve after it leaves the putter face, but your job is to pick a line and hit it.  Practice hitting your line by using a chalk line on the practice green.  If the green is flat, the ball should roll consistently down your line.

·      Trust your reads.  Green reading is an acquired skill that will only get better the more you apply yourself and gain experience.  The bottom line is that green reading is always going to be an educated guess that will have more than one answer to get the ball in the hole.  Once you are comfortable picking a line, avoid changing it when you address the ball.  If what you see over the ball doesn’t look as good as your original line, step back and reevaluate.

End of the Week Tip: Master Bunker Shots

Every Friday you can check out my latest golf tip on this blog. Please share and comment if you like!

Tour players are well known for their bunker play. Statistically, the average Tour player is just as likely to hit a sand shot on the green and two-putt, as he is to get it up and down.

For most players it is very important that we are good enough from greenside bunkers that it should never take more than 3 shots to get the ball in the hole.  Here are some tips to help you get the most from your bunker play:

·      Learn to hit the sand. If bunkers scare you, start by finding a practice bunker and learning how to hit the sand.  Draw a line in the bunker perpendicular to your target line and simply make practice swings making the club enter the sand on the line.  By controlling where the club hits the sand, you will be on your way to good bunker play.

·      Setup consistently.  I’ve seen too many players get twisted up like a pretzel thinking they have to setup a certain way in a bunker.  With the ball slightly forward in your stance, the only adjustment you may want to make will be to slightly open the clubface (pointing right of the target for RH golfers) and your stance (left of the target for RH golfers) to match.

·      Finish the swing.  Allowing the sand to stop or significantly slow down the club through impact is a big no.  Keep the club moving through the sand and hold your finish an extra second or two to reinforce your balance.  The length of your follow through should closely match the length of your backswing.

End of the Week Tip: Gaining Strokes on the Field

Every Friday I have a new golf tip posted on this blog. Be sure to leave a comment or share if you like what you read.

The strokes gained statistic on the PGA Tour has revolutionized how we understand what it takes to win. It should be of little surprise that the players who hit the most greens and putt well on those greens tend to do very good.

Hitting greens in regulation for most golfers is a great thing, but being able to capitalize and make some putts on those greens can have you playing great golf.

Here are some tips to help you make more putts and maximize your ability to make putts when on greens in regulation:

·      Know yardages with your wedges.  Most birdies on Tour are made when the players have a wedge into the green.  It is easier to get the ball close to the hole when you can use a shorter club.  You must however be able to control these shorter clubs to take advantage of getting to use them.  Practice distance control by practicing a stock shot to a comfortable yardage using a less than full swing.  For example, use your sand wedge and practice making the ball travel half of its full swing distance.  From there you can make slight adjustments to account for the difference in yardage.

·      Expand your makeable putt range.  I’ve never seen a putt I didn’t think I could make and hopefully you haven’t either.  But the truth is that the farther you get from the hole the more luck is required to make it.  Begin by making 2 footers your 100% make range.  Practice by spending more time making 2 footers than any other putts.   Once you feel like you’ve accomplished this, expand your range to 3 feet.  Keep expanding your distance until you feel like 5 feet is your 100% range.   The goal is to build the confidence of knowing that any putt 5 feet and in should be an easy make. This will allow you to be more aggressive on longer putts and reduce the fear of running the ball past the hole.

End of the Week Tip: Approaching the Green from Thick Rough

Every Friday be sure to check out my End of the Week Tip. Please comment and share these tips, especially if you like what you read!

Rough conditions vary course-to-course and sometimes even day-to-day on the same course.  Most courses will have a period of time where for whatever reasons the rough gets super thick.  Here are some tips to help you escape the rough and put yourself in position to score:

·      Beware of the flyer.  When your ball finds the rough you can experience a variety of different lies that require different plans of attack.  Occasionally the ball will sit up in the rough creating what is called a flyer lie.  Use a higher lofted club than normal in this situation as the ball will likely come out fast with little spin.

·      Adjust your angle of attack.  If the ball is sitting down in the rough, you will need to attempt to hit down on the ball to reduce the amount of grass getting between the ball and the clubface. One way to increase attack angle (hit down on the ball), is to keep more weight on your lead leg, left leg for RH golfers, throughout the swing. 

·      When in doubt, play it safe.  Most players get in trouble by being too aggressive in the rough, often resulting in shots that miss their targets or even worse stay in the rough.  If the ball is swallowed up by tall grass, there is no shame in taking a high lofted club like a pitching or sand wedge and simply getting the ball back in the fairway.

FREE SEMINAR: How I Use K-Vest and Sam Putt Lab for Winter Training

When: Tuesday November 1, 2016 from 6pm till 7:30pm

Where: High Performance Golf Academy (5600 Harrodsburg Rd. Nicholasville, KY 40356)

Cost: FREE

What: Join me as I demonstrate how I use K-Vest and Sam Putt Lab during winter months to train my students. We will also spend time discussing winter training programs and why they are a benefit for any golfer wishing to improve their game.

Who is this for? 

This seminar is designed for any golfer, male or female, that is unfamiliar with K-Vest and/or Sam Putt Lab and wants to take their game to the next level by continuing to learn and train in the winter months. Players that have benefited from winter programs the most tend to be middle school, high school, and college players as well as adults that still love to compete or simply want to lower their handicap next spring.

Please RSVP by texting your name and "sign me up" to 859-274-6558. You can also email me at tyrus@hpgolfacademy.com

Coaching Sessions Available this Winter

Ready or not, winter is almost here and now is the time to plan for how you will improve your golf game during critical cold weather months.

Winter time in central Kentucky is the perfect time to set a coaching and practice regimen to keep your game sharp and improving while many others put their clubs away. 

Over my 10+ years of teaching I have seen over and over how committing to a coaching program pays huge dividends when spring comes back around. 

It doesn't matter whether you are wanting to compete for a high school or college team, or if you simply want to shave a few strokes from your handicap. Winter is when you can make significant improvements to your game.

COACHING PACKAGE

My coaching package is designed as a 4 month term with 16 sessions that average about 1 session per week. Sessions can be used however they are needed to complete the package in 4 months.  

Each session can be used for any of the following:

• Club fitting/evaluation
• K-vest 3D Motion training/evaluation
• Sam Putt Lab 
• Trackman training/evaluation
• On course training/evaluation  

Adult - $1,120 (or $300 per month w/ auto pay)

Junior - $960 (or $260 per month w/ auto pay)

Our facility at the High Performance Golf Academy, located at the incredible Keene Run Course of Keene Trace Golf Club, is equipped for indoor/outdoor training and is suitable for all weather conditions.

Simply click here to schedule your first session and let's start improving your game for 2017!