The Biggest Problem with Golf Today

April 26, 2011 By 6 Comments
Golfer Holding a Twenty Dollar Bill

There’s been a poll running in the sidebar asking what the biggest problem is with the game of golf today. It’s been up for a while and currently, there are 429 responses. Let’s have a look at how they break down. It costs too much (33%, 142 Votes) Slow play (29%, 123 Votes) Lack of general etiquette (9%, 38 Votes) Cheating or lack of integrity among fellow players (8%, 36 Votes) It takes too long to play (aside from the issue of slow play) (7%, 32 Votes) Perception that the game is only for certain kinds of people (i.e. wealthy Caucasians, etc.) (6%, 25 Votes) The game is too difficult (4%, 15 Votes) Insufficient access (i.e. not enough courses, courses already overcrowded) (2%, 9 Votes) Bias of some kind (i.e. sexism, racism, etc. in clubs or organizations) (2%, 5 Votes) There’s a little bit of error in the results because someone voted for “Cheating or lack of integrity among fellow players” around 18 times because I didn’t realize when I did a major site upgrade that I hadn’t remembered to configure the poll plugin

Filed Under: Miscellaneous
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Improving Practice with Personal Challenges

April 12, 2011 By 6 Comments

To excel at anything, practice is a must. Unfortunately, most of the time, we like doing the thing at which we wish to excel, but practicing it can be boring and monotonous. Golf is no exception. Well, in my case, maybe it is because I actually like to practice, but for most of you, I know it’s a grind. To be honest, it’s kind of a grind for me too sometimes. After a while, repetition can just tire you out mentally. Quality practice, especially in golf, should be disciplined. It’s important to stick with a plan. Doing things like planning out each shot and executing your pre-shot routine each and every time is crucial to grooving good habits that will translate to the course later. That’s great, but as I said, it gets old to hit shot after shot after shot after shot the same way. That’s where spicing up practice can help to break up the boredom. I’ve discussed some ways to make practice fun before, like playing an imaginary round on the driving range.

Filed Under: Practice Tagged With: ,
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Progress Update: March 6, 2011

March 6, 2011 By 13 Comments

Even though I’m still on the tail end of winter, there’s suddenly a lot to talk about again. Let’s get right into it. First off, as you may know, I had bariatric surgery for weight loss last year. In the 6 months since then, I’ve lost 82 lbs. and I’m still going. I’m feeling better, and most importantly, I’m swinging better. That was a big decision moving forward for me and so far it’s really paying off. There’s been another big decision that came up lately. Namely, I took a job within my company in Fort Worth, Texas. I start work down there around five weeks from now, in mid-April. There are several reasons why I’m doing this, but one of the big factors is to put myself in a situation where I can play more golf during the year. I’m trading hotter summers for much more mild winters. That should eliminate the long winter layoffs that I deal with living in New Jersey. Not to mention, there are lots of golf opportunities there, including a

Filed Under: My Progress Tagged With: ,
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Learning from Ball Flight

February 22, 2011 By 1 Comment
Golf Ball in Flight

I was quite satisfied after leafing through my copy of Golf Digest this month. The March 2011 issue contained an article by famed teacher John Jacobs, with Jaime Diaz, featuring a number of nuggets of teaching wisdom he has amassed over a career in golf that has spanned many decades. Now 85, Jacobs was an accomplished tournament player in his younger days, having won a couple of times in the 1950′s. But, he points out that his talent turned out to be teaching. Admittedly, I only know of Jacobs by name, but reading those few pages of random thoughts gave me the sense that Jacobs is my kind of teacher. He’s a different kind of teacher, much like Harvey Penick was. He focuses on keeping things simple. In this era of video analysis and launch monitors and swing planes and angles, that kind of philosophy is like a beacon in the dense fog of golf instruction for me. One thing he said really gave me pause and led me to write this post. He wrote:

Filed Under: Instruction, Swing Talk Tagged With: ,
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Accessory Review: Starter Coin

February 16, 2011 By 1 Comment
Starter Coin

Most of us that play golf have, at one time or another, been standing on the first tee, trying to figure out what the teeing order should be. Some foursomes use the tried and true method of standing in a circle and throwing a tee in the air, with the honor going to the person closest to the pointy end. Other groups kind of just figure it out somehow, despite the fact that everyone really wants to play last. And some groups just don’t care with whomever is ready playing first and the others following in some unspecified order. Well, the folks from Starter Coin think they’ve brought order to chaos. They call it “the gentleman’s way to start the gentleman’s game.” The Starter Coin is a two-sided, well, coin, with markings to indicate the order of play. Simply gather your foursome around, flip the coin, let it land and the markings do the dirty work of establishing teeing order. On one side, the Starter Coin contains the word “Honor” in the center, written as

Filed Under: Accessory Reviews Tagged With: , ,
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