Visualize Your Shot

photo credit: nantucket_01 In every aspect of life you must think it in order to do it which is especially true in the game of golf.  Golf IS visualization.  Every shot should be visualized in your mind’s eye prior to addressing the ball.  PGA Professionals are masters at the art of visualization which is the primary reason they resemble walking zombies most of the time (no offense meant).

Whether it’s a drive, fairway shot or putt, study the lay of the land, the wind conditions and estimated distance.  Once you have determined the various factors that will affect your shot, visualize the ball’s flight to it’s landing zone.  If you intend to hit a fade or draw imagine the ball curving gently to the right or left while proceeding to your target.

While at the practice range visualize every shot you take.  Watching the pros, you will notice how they watch their practice shots until they come to a complete stop.  This is all part of the process of visualizing.  Using this method will shave precious strokes from your game and that’s a guarantee !

Swing Axis

photo credit: Ray McFadyen   Take a pencil, next, take a short string and attach a weight on the end and tie the string on the end of the pencil.  When you twist the pencil, the string rotates.  If you tilt the pencil one way or another, the axis of the string will change.  Now pertain this example to your back and arms:  your back is the pencil and your arms are the string/weight.

In order for your swing to be consistent, your back must remain straight during the swing.  Any tilting or swaying of the back, will cause variations in your club-path.

Most amateurs don't realize the importance of maintaining good posture during the golf swing, or the importance of rotating your swing around a stable axis (your straight back).

What is Golf?

photo credit: Garycycles4     Golf is:   trying your best but your best just isn't good enough.   Golf is:   tempting fate most of the time.   Golf is:   both physical and mental, it's physically  stimulating and mentally baffling.   Golf is:   a way to make great friends.   Golf is:   a way to make mortal enemies.   Golf is:   a way to win money.   Golf is:   a way to lose money.   Golf is:   a fun day in the sun.   Golf is:   a miserable day in the rain.   Golf is:   maintaining composure.   Golf is:   losing your head.   Golf is:   praying for an on-course restroom.   Golf is:   hitting a little white ball into  eighteen, 4 inch holes and paying big bucks to do so.   Golf is:   the greatest game in the world.

The Grand Slam

photo credit: D.Hilgart     It was 1930 when the term “Grand Slam”  was coined by sports-writer O.B. Keeler.   The term  described winning  the British Amateur, British Open, U.S. Open and the U.S. Amateur Championship by Bobby Jones in the same year.

Bob Drum, another sports-writer, revived the term to include the PGA Tournament and the Masters Championship.   The U.S. Amateur and the British Amateur tournaments were excluded.

Since Bobby Jones, there have only been five players to achieve the slam, Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods.   None have done it in a single season.

Winning  these four prestigious tournaments in the same year is a monumental feat that may very well be the epitome of  achievement in  all of sports.

Golf Gear Oddities

photo credit: splashypants     In the 1930s, Walter Hagen's golf set consisted of  twenty irons and  four woods.   The irons were in  half-steps from one to nine (one – one and a half etc).   This occurred well before the 14 club rule.   Hagen's bag weighed  40 lbs!

In the early days of golf, a five  iron was called a “Mashie.”   The term was derived from the French word  masse, which is used today to describe the backspin put on a billiard ball.  

In a 1950s tour event, at the treacherous, wind-beaten, 110-yard 7th hole at Pebble Beach G0lf Links, Sam Snead teed off with his putter (rather than a nine-iron).   He purposely  bounced his ball down the hill and into a front bunker.   Snead made par.

Unusual Golf Facts

photo credit: Chris Breikss     Fred McLeod defeated Willie Smith in the playoff for the 1908 U.S. Open Championship, Fred weighed only 108 pounds-the lightest golfer ever to win a U.S. Open title.

Caryl Meeks, of Stamford, Connecticut, buried some of the ashes of Stephen Signore, her longtime companion and an avid golfer, on the 9th fairway of Sterling Farms Golf Club-public course where he played until his death in 1997.   No one would have been the wiser, except that the ashes were dug up by the course superintendent's dog.

Tom Jewell is a self-admitted golf junkie-and a very polite one at that.   Since 1987, he has, without fail, written letters of congratulation to every winner of every single PGA, Senior PGA and LPGA tournament.

Unanswered Facts

photo credit: linein     At the Masters tournaments, the previous year's winner gets to choose the menu for the champions dinner.   Here are some choices selected:   Nick Faldo (1966) > fish & chips;   Ben Crenshaw (1995) > Texas barbeque; > Jose Maria Olazabal (1994 > bluefish & garlic, oil, and perejil sauce;   Bernhard Langer (1993) >  turkey & stuffing and German wedding soup;   Fred Couples (1992) > chicken cacciatore.

There is one man that prepares for the Open (British Open) like no other.   Ivor Robson does not eat or drink for 24 hours prior to the start of the tournament.   You see, Robson is the tournament's first-tee starter.   He says he wants to ensure he can remain vigilant at his post for eight hours without heeding nature's call  !

Old Grooves vs. New

photo credit: musescore     GOLF MAGAZINE    commissioned Hot Stix Golf to run tests to determine the difference between the old and new grooves.   The results:   From Fairway – BACKSPIN > pre =  2010 = 9,113 rpm –  post  2010 = 8,330.   LAUNCH ANGLE > pre  =  28 degrees – post =  29 degrees.   APEX > pre = 84 ft.  - post = 87 ft.   DESCENT ANGLE  > pre =52 degrees – post =  52 degrees.   ROLL > pre 2.6 ft. – post 5.9 ft.   From  the  Rough – BACKSPIN  > pre = 7,246  - post = 4,899.    LAUNCH ANGLE  >  pre  = 29 degrees – post = 34 degrees.   APEX > pre  = 86 ft – post  = 102 ft.   DESCENT >  pre  = 50 degrees – post = 50 degrees.   ROLL >  pre  = 10.6 ft. – post = 18.9 ft.

“Nothing but the Truth”

photo credit: The White Wolves     Many members of the Baltusrol Golf Club complained that Robert Trent Jones, course designer, had made the par-3, 194-yard 4th hole too demanding for the 1954 U.S. Open.   So Jones, who was escorted by the club pro and club president, went out to the 4th tee. . . and proceeded to knock the ball into the cup for an ace!   He then stated “As you can see, the hole really isn't too difficult.”

Barry and Jody Wolfe, 15 year old twins, each aced the 2nd hole at the Scott Country Park Course in Gate City, Virginia.   First, Barry holed his six-iron,  then Jody  smacked his  own six-iron  shot into the hole, right on top of his brother's ball!   It was the first ace for both.

Putting Gone Wild

photo credit: James Chutter     Hale Irwin blew a two-inch tap-in at the 1983 British Open at Royal Birkdale.   Irwin's tee shot, on the par 3 – 14th hole came to rest 25  ft.  from the cup and a chance for a birdie and a win.    After missing the  putt, his ball came to rest 2-inches from the cup.   Unbelievably, he whiffed the two inch putt and finished tied for second.

Mark Calcavecchia faced an extremely long putt over a mound at St. Andrews, Scotland during the 1990 Dunhill Cup competition.   Rather than putt, he  used his wedge to pitch  the ball to  within a few feet of the cup.   The gallery was horrified at the size of the divot Calcavecchia took.   He  proceeded to  sink his 2 footer for his par.

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