The power of positive thinking!

I am fortunate enough to be able to speak to a number of excellent instructors, and recently I spoke to Ted Sheftic a Golf Magazine top 100 instructor, and he had told me about this piece he had heard both Rory and Keegan saying at a press conference, and I felt it would be very valuable to those who want to play better, hope you enjoy. Keegan Bradley said something interesting in his press conference. He said he wanted to “under react” to anything that happened today. He opened with a double and then fought back. It was impressive. Hey, Brendan Steele and Keegan were both on the Nationwide Tour last year. Brendan was talking about how much he loved the Springfield event. I love reading the interviews from the post round press conferences. So many of the players talk about adjusting their attitudes, staying positive, trusting, etc. Listen to what Rory McIlroy said after a tough day today:
Q. Do you feel disappointed with what’s happened these three days or optimistic for a good round tomorrow?
RORY MCILROY: I’m disappointed that I have not been able to play my best, but I’m optimistic. I’ve got another chance to go out and play 18 holes tomorrow, and have another chance to go out and try and shoot a good score. I haven’t shot under par so far this week, so it will be — I think it will be a good effort to go out and do that tomorrow. (My underlining! I love this optimistic attitude. It’s what all of the great golfers have.)

British Open 2011

Darren Clarke has certainly proved himself to be the most popular winner of the open for many a year, and while him winning was a story all by itself, what else did we see during this tournament? Well we have now gone 6 majors without an American winning one, and this has never happened before, but American golf is by no means dead, round of the week for me was Ricky Fowlers 2 under on Saturday in the worst of the weather, Dustin Johnson performed well, as did Anthony Kim, Phil Mickelson(30 for the front nine on the final day!!!!) and of course Tom Watson, do not be surprised if an American wins the USPGA next month. Tom Lewis performed great to be the leading amateur, but what else of the British challenge, Donald, Westwood and Poulter all had their feet up over the weekend, and Casey and Rose finished well done the field, so a slightly disappointing showing. But the course looked fair, if the weather was not, and a very deserving win for Darren.

The importance of the third shot

I saw this article in a magazine written by Fred Griffin, and wanted to share it with you,

When faced with a chip or a pitch shot, 100 shooters are twice as likely to miss the green(25 per cent of the time) as they are to get within a reasonable one putt distance, defined as within five feet.
Lesson-dont worry about getting the ball close focus on getting the ball on the green.

On putts in the 50 foot range, players shooting in the high 80s, average 2.5strokes, in other words they 3 putt 50 per cent of the time, research shows that this player has to get within five feet to have at least a 50-50 chance of making the next putt. Make it your goal to beat five feet.

Players just breaking 80 make about one in ten putts from 15 feet(about 12 percent of the time), even scratch golfers average fewer than two in ten, if you think that percentage seems low, consider changing your expectations, enjoy the easy two putts instead of stressing over misses from 15 feet,

Shut Your Face(to stop the slice)

OK, this is going to be short and sweet, but very effective if you are one of those golfers who like to play from the right hand side of the golf course more often than you should. Please understand that if you are hitting your ball to the right then your clubface at impact is pointing to the the right more than it should, so I am going to let you know three ways that you can shut your face.

1. A lot of players like to roll the clubface open the moment they take the club away from the ball, so to prevent this be sure that you feel like you are keeping the clubface looking at the golfball as you begin your golf swing, sense how your right hand and arm are more on top of your left hand and arm as you begin the swing.

2. When halfway back(when the left arm is level with the ground), have a look at the back of your left hand, the logo on your glove should be facing slightly away from you and most definately not toward you, you should sense that you are trying to round out your left wrist somewhat.

3. If after trying the first two moves you are still slicing, then through impact get a sensation that you are going to get the knuckles on the back of your left hand facing the floor as soon as you can, so that by the time your clubshaft is level with the floor in the follow through, you should have rolled your left hand enough that you would be able to catch rain drops in your left palm.

Try these and let me know how you get on, you can download my e-book from www.ianclarkgolf.co.uk which is filled with drills that you can do to help improve your game.

Zach Johnson, Stats and Numbers

I thought that you would find the following both interesting and useful for your own game, in 2007 Zach Johnson won the US Masters at Augusta, the interesting thing about Zach winning is that he is not by his own admission the longest hitter on the PGA Tour, a fact often overlooked with regard to him winning in 07, was that he did not hit any of the par 5s in two shots during the entire tournament, yet played the par 5s in 11 under for the tournament!! Some feat. So have a look at the following and take note, this might just help your game.

Interesting fact-Zach is one of only 8 players to average over 280 yards off the tee, whilst still hitting better than 70% of his fairways over the last five full seasons.

Interesting Fact-Zach has hit 71% of fairways in his PGA Tour career!

Interesting Quote-Staying on plane is critical for me because I have to hit fairways. Zach Johnson.

Interesting Quote-Please get your lasers out and start working on your plane!. Ian Clark

Trackman numbers-those of you who have taken a lesson with me recently will now all about Trackman, I managed to get hold of Zachs Trackman numbers with his driver.

Clubhead Speed 108.1mph

Ball Speed 158.7mph

Smash Factor 1.48

Launch Angle 12.2 degrees

Carry Distance 259.5 yards

Please read the carry distance again, yes thats right it says just over 250 yards! So in this day and age of players trying to hit the ball as far as possible, Zach is a plyer who keeps his club on plane, and has a great career record. If you fancy a flutter at Augusta, you could do much worse than a few bob on Mr Johnson.

Hope this helps your game.

See you on the lesson tee

Ian

www.ianclarkgolf.co.uk

The Man Who Fixed Phil

Phil Mickelson starts his 2010 season next week at Torrey Pines Golf Club and will play five straight weeks, with Tigers well documented troubles, this could be a huge season for lefty. Phil also has a new guy on his coaching staff, in addition to Butch Harmon and Dave Pelz, Phil has been working with Dave Stockton to help improve hs putting stroke. Stockton is a previous winner of the USPGA Championship, Ryder Cup winning captain( he was captain in 1991, the infamous war on the shore!) he has won 10 times on the PGA tour and 14 times on the seniors tour, and now is starting to make a name as a putting guru, Stockton gave Michelle Wie a putting lesson the week before last years Solheim Cup in which Wie putted just great, Mickelson and Stockton started working together back end of last year, after which lefty won twice, and now has said he is putting great.

In a recent golf magazine feature, Stockton talked about 5 secrets to holing more putts, I have put them below, read them, give them  try and you might start putting as well as Phil Mickelson.

1.Get a Better Read

Stockton says that green reading is tricky, but remember there is more to it than judging slope,speed determines the line as much as anything, but if you dont have a clue about how to read greens, use the ultimate basic, where would the water drain off if it had accumulated on the green. The first third of the putt has next to nothing to do with break, since the ball is moving so fast, whats important is the last third, as this is where the ball is slowing down and turning the most.

2 Get a Routine

Treat your putts like drives, use your usual preshot routine on the green as well as on the tee, if you practice swing, do same on the green, and be sure to visualize the ball dropping.

3 See the Line.

Think onlyabout speed and line when setting up to the putt, lose the technical thoughts! and try to picture a four inch wide strip from your ball to the hole, then pick a spot one inch in front of the ball, and focus on that during the stroke and try to get your ball rolling over that spot.

4 Stroke Dont Hit

Well hit putts start to roll end over end as soon as you make contact, you just cant get that kind of roll if you are jabbing or hitting at the ball, think stroke, think smooth.

5 Dont try to make it.

The more you try to make a putt, the less likely you are to sink it, get your mind into autopilot, go through your routine, feel good about your read, and go ahead and pull the trigger, there really shouldnt be any need to try, just putt and see what happens.

Hope you enjoy this piece, I think you are going to see more tour players pay Dave Stockton a visit this season.

www.ianclarkgolf.co.uk

Thoughts from the sand

I believe one of the most poorly taught areas of golf instruction is the bunker shot, those of you who know me will know that I read all the golf magazines each month, and too often I read the thoughts of a tour pro telling us all how he does it, or (and sometimes worse!) the thoughts of a well known guru repeating the same teachings that have failed the average golfer up until now. Well I am going to have a stab at changing this, someone has got to stop making this game so difficult!!!!

So firstly, and this may sound obvious, please get yourself a decent sandwedge, stop trying to play the bunkershot with a pitching wedge or your 60 degree lob wedge, you want a sand wedge with about 56 degrees of loft, and a decent amount of bounce(bounce is the angle created on the sole of the club between the leading edge of the sole, now called the digger, and the back edge of the sole now called the skidder!) so now you have the right club for the job, I want to give you my top three myths about bunker shots.

Myth 1- Hit the sand one or two inches behind the ball, it has been proven you can hit the sand anywhere up to 6 inches behind the ball and the ball will still come out, many tour pros actually contact the sand about 4 inches behind the ball, and anway if you were so good that you could hit the sand exactly an inch and a half behind the ball every time, you wouldnt be in the bunker in the first place!

Myth 2- use a V shaped swing and break your wrists abruptly, if you truly want to slow down your progress at golf, think about this daily every 10-15 minutes, and then go and buy yourself a boat, because golf will really not be much fun! you want a shallow swing, taking just a small scratching of sand, rather than trying to remove the entire content of sand with each stroke.

Myth 3-stay still during the stoke.You need some motion in the bunker shot, and the body really needs to keep moving, I like my students to try and finish with their belt buckles facing the target.

So next time you are in the bunker try these few tips below, and please let me know how you get on.

1.open the clubface before taking your grip

2.feet at least shoulder width apart, if not wider, ball positioned just left of center, and the end of the handle pointing at your belt buckle, weight EVEN, and your spine vertical, not leaning away from the target.

3.on the way through, please do two things for me, try to hit the sand as far as your target, and keep your body turning, as already mentioned, finish with your belt buckle facing the target.

4. Practice!

www.ianclarkgolf.co.uk

The Plane, The Plane.

I know, I know, there has been so much written about swing plane, but I just wanted to get this down, and once and for all give golfers a good idea of what swing plane is all about.

I have read many many golf books, and the best definition of swing plane I have found was in Homer Kelleys writing The Golfing Machine, now before you all throw your arms in the air and scream at your computer screen, please bear with me, so to quote Mr Kelley ‘the clubshaft always points at the plane line except when they are parallel to each other’ (1-L, 6). Now that wasnt too painful was it?? So lets have a look at what is being said here, when you are in start-up, the bottom of the shaft points at your plane line(target line), I didnt say covers it, please dont think I am asking you to swing the clubhead away from the ball on a straight line, the shaft POINTS at the plane(target) line, so imagine you have a laser attached to the bottom of the shaft, and as you begin your swing, that light will still be pointing at your plane line(target line). The shaft stays pointing at the plane line, until the shaft becomes level with the floor(1st time in the swing the shaft becomes parallel to the plane line) now when you go beyond this point, the end of the handle is now closer to the floor, so it is this that should be pointing at your plane line(target line). So to quote Mr Kelley once again, ‘the clubshaft always points at the plane line except when they are paralel to each other’.

So here is your first new years resolution, go out and buy some lasers and attach them to both ends of your golf club and start practicing tracing your plane line, and lets make 2010 your best golfing year yet.

For more information go to www.ianclarkgolf.co.uk