Mental Game

Jul
12
2008

Is the Next Putting Grip the Best Putting Grip?

I’m always fascinated at the number of different variations of putting grips I see.  It isn’t just down at my local course, either.

Tune in to any PGA Tour event and look at the number of variations you see.  Fingers overlapped and interlocked in different ways.  Hands rotated around the shaft to different degrees.  And that’s just variations on the conventional grip.

Then you have all sorts of unconventional grips:  left hand low, the claw, the saw.  There seems to be a [...]

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posted in Mental Game, Putting Tips 18 Comments

May
07
2008

Ditch the Negativity

That’s right. I said it. You want to play better golf? Positive attitude is a great way to do it.

I’ve never read a book that covers the mental game that advocates anything but a positive attitude on the golf course. I’ve never heard otherwise in a lesson or from a pro or from watching an instructional program on television.

So why is it that so many players have such a poor attitude on the course? I’ll [...]

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posted in Mental Game 9 Comments

Mar
31
2008

Choking

I was kind of surprised when I tuned in near the end of the Zurich Classic on Sunday, to hear Woody Austin utter the words, “I choked my guts out” in his post-round interview. He seems like a straightforward, honest guy, but I was surprised to hear that coming out the mouth of any professional golfer. I was even more surprised that he uttered similar comments to himself on the course while the walls crumbled around him.

Choking is [...]

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posted in Mental Game 3 Comments

Jan
13
2008

How’s Your Strategy on Par Three Holes?

This month, as I was leafing through the current issue of Golf Magazine (Feb. 2008), I came across an article featuring Retief Goosen about how to dominate par three holes. It’s a nice article with some good tips, but there was one bit of information in there that blew me away.

Now, I should preface that by saying that I’m amazed sometimes at what I think I understand but really don’t, at least until something clicks. This article gave [...]

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posted in Course Management 5 Comments

Dec
04
2007

Widening Shot Target Expectations

In the December 2007 issue of Golf Magazine, there was an interesting piece of instruction by Charlie King that I’m not sure I agree with.

In the “Your Game” section (p. 68) in an article titled “How to Putt for Birdie Every Time“, King brings up an interesting concept in target selection in golf.

He says that instead of shooting for the pin (in a situation that calls for it – fairway lie, center-cut hole), that you should instead give yourself a [...]

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posted in Mental Game 5 Comments

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  • Random Tip

  • What's Your Favorite Chipping Club?
  • Conventional chipping wisdom says that the best plan of attack in a chipping situation is to use a club that gets the ball on the green rolling like a putt as soon as possible. That means chipping with anything from a pitching wedge to a mid or even long iron. It’s not uncommon to see people chipping with woods when the conditions call for it.

    Assuming conditions are right for running the ball, you want to land it [...]

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