Stephen D. Simmons

Author and Publisher

StrategicGolfer Instruction Series

All good players understand the importance of prioritizing practice on areas of the game that make the greatest difference between good golf and great golf.  I will give you some interesting stats below that demonstrate what makes players like Phil Mickelson, Jim Furyk, and Tiger Woods the great players they are.

Most amateurs waste practice time beating balls on the range while neglecting the parts of the game that make the biggest difference to scoring and playing their best.  Go to any range and you will see the following bad practice techniques;  hitting full shots without a practice station, hitting more than 30 balls with a driver, and hitting very few wedges.

If you want to become a better player you must practice the things that Phil Mickelson and other pros consider to be important to playing their best.

During the US Open Championship this year, Phil Mickelson was asked by a reporter during his pre-tournament press tent interview what has made the difference in his game over the last 10 years.  Phil’s answer was very revealing.  He stated the most significant progress and improvement in his game are the result of;  distance control, variety of shots into greens, short irons, being able to take the spin off shots, landing the ball consistently the right distance, short game consistency, and putting.

These were Phil’s exact answer to the question.  So if Phil believes these things have made him a better golfer than what he was at 30 years of age, we should learn from his example.

Did you notice that he did not say anything about swing changes and the pursuit of a "perfect swing".

I find the promises made of instruction for the "perfect swing" to be amusing.  The greatest players in the world do not have perfect swings. With all the money on the line in today’s PGA Tournaments, the typical PGA Tour Player would be the first to signup for a swing of perfection if it was a reality.  It’s not…in fact lets look at some stats to demonstrate my point.

I looked up the stats for Phil Mickelson, Jim Furyk, and Tiger Woods in 2010.  Of these three players I would bet that most golfers surveyed would think that Jim has the least perfect swing of the three players.  Looks can be deceiving.

Of the three golfers, Jim won the most tournaments, won the FedEx Cup, and finished highest on the money list.

I looked at 6 statistical categories to give you a comparison of these great players and to show you how little full swing practice means to them.  I looked at Driving Accuracy, Greens in Regulation (GIR), Total Driving, Scrambling, Putts, and Scoring.  There are a total of 250 players that were included in the stats calculations.

When it came to Driving Accuracy, Jim was 9th, Tiger was 160th, and Phil was 184th.  When it came to GIR%, Jim was 76th, Phil was 134th, and Tiger was 153rd.  When it came to Total Driving, Jim and Tiger were 89th, and Phil was 111th.

Clearly these great players are not where they are in terms of winning performances based upon accuracy and driving supremacy.  So what makes the difference?

When it came to Scoring, Jim was 5th, Phil was 9th, and Tiger was 24th.  When it came to Scrambling, Jim was 16th, Phil was 39th, and Tiger was 164th.  When it came to Putts, Jim was 28th, Phil was 34th, and Tiger was 35th.

Establish your practice priorities to maximize your practice time on the things that will have the greatest impact on your score and not your ego.  Its great for the ego to bang balls as far as you can with the driver.  You will only use a driver 14 times in a round of golf.  You will use a putter about 32-36 times per round. Based upon those numbers, which is more important?

When you hit balls on the range, have very specific targets.  Have a plan in mind on exactly what you are working towards.  Set a goal in mind specific to how many balls you will hit towards that goal and then stop and work on something else.

Always include time at the short game area and work on the gate drill and magic circle practice stations.  Hit balls from tough lies…the kinds of lies you will face on the course.  Practice your pitch shots paying specific attention on carry distance and targets.

Practice your putts using the gate drill, string practice, around the world, and distance/feel practice.

95 percent of golfers do not know how to play golf like they practice.  This is the secret to playing great golf.

If you need help learning the art of practice we encourage you to check out the Making Practice Payoff Instruction System on the products page.  If you want to keep your own stats to validate the areas you need the most improvement we encourage you to download the Stat Master Golf Statistics Software System on our products page.

Stephen D. Simmons

Author and Publisher

StrategicGolfer Instruction Series

Remaining steady during the putting stroke is one of the most crucial aspects to successful putting.  During the Accenture World Match Play Championships this year we saw just how critical this fundamental of successful putting is.

During the semi final matches, Paul Casey and Camillo Villegas were matched against each other.  It was an exciting and close match throughout the day, so much so, the match was extended beyond the 18th hole.  Camillo took an early lead in the match and was 2 up after  3 holes.  Paul fought back on the back nine and went 1 up on the 15th hole only to loose the 18th to Camillo and head to the 19th hole All Square.

If you’ve played golf in Arizona you know how quickly it  gets dark as the sun sets behind the mountains.  The match was extending and as they played each hole they were running out of sun light.

There are several key fundamentals to successful putting including positioning your eyes over the ball and square to the line during your setup, hitting the center of the putter head at contact, accelerating the putter head through impact, and remaining steady throughout the putting stroke.

Remaining steady throughout the putting stroke helps to accomplish two major things.  First, it helps maximize your potential to hit the center of the putter head on a consistent basis.  Many golfers do not realize that missing the center of the club face by even a fraction of an inch can mean making or missing the putt.

Remaining steady also helps to keep your spine angle consistent which helps the consistency of the path the putter takes through impact.  If you have a putting stroke that repeats time after time but you change the position of the spine and the path the putter is moving through impact, you are probably going to miss the putt.

Putting is one of the most precise parts of golf; the other would be the pre-shot routine.  When conditions deteriorate due to wind, cold, or rain it can make remaining steady more difficult.

The conditions on Saturday of the Championship were difficult.  The day gave the players a dose of rain, wind, and cold.  As the day wore on it became a challenge to remain composed.  The conditions coupled with the length of a 24 hole match set the stage for a a dramatic conclusion to the days events.

After the match was squared on the 18th hole the players continued play on the front side.  Both players made par on the 19th, 20th, 21st holes.  Both players birdied the 22nd hole and you could tell that fatigue was setting in.

Because the match was more than 6 hours in length, the conditions were getting tougher.  It had been decided by tournament officials the 24th hole would be the final hole of the day and that play would be suspended due to darkness and resumed the following morning if there was not a winner on the 24th hole.

Camillo hit the long and difficult 5th hole in regulation and was 40 feet from the hole.  Paul was struggling and could only make a bogie 5.  Camillo’s first putt was a long and winding putt with about 15 feet of break.  Camillo studied the putt closely and determined that he should take a line 15 feet right of the flag and then let the putt roll down the fall line of the green towards the flag.

He hit the putt and judged the speed correctly which left him 2 1/2 feet from the cup.  If he makes the short putt he makes 4 and wins the match.  Camillo set up over the putt.  Camillo missed the putt which extended the match to the next morning.  Paul won the 25th hole and moved on to the finals.

The replays of the short putt showed that Camillo "peaked "at impact which caused the ball to miss the cup on the right edge.  The conditions and loss of sun light helped to cause this mishap and is a something we can all learn from.

One of the most difficult impulses in golf that we want to avoid is trying to see the ball go into the cup on a short putt.  Short putts are difficult for many golfers because of the importance that golfers place on them.  We expect to make short putts.  We want to make short putts.  Missing short putts carry negative energy  and can carry over to the next hole and set the stage for poor play.

Poor light conditions can even make this harder because it is more difficult to see. The subconscious mind understands the importance that you place on short putts and wants to help overcome your anxiety by forcing you to see the anticipated result.  Of note, when light conditions deteriorate due to lack of light, for most of us it is easier to hit full shots because we know that we can’t follow the ball after it is half way to the hole so why even try to see it anyway.  We pick our intended line of play, setup to the ball, and then rely on our muscle memory to give us the intended swing result.  So it should be with putts.

In Camillo’s case, it was 2 1/2 feet from the final’s match and potential victory.  The light conditions made the instinct to peak even more forceful. Camillo putted great all day and faced several critical short putts earlier in the match which he made successfully.  Even great players can find the impulse to peak difficult to overcome.

The best lesson for short putts and remaining steady is "Listen to the Cup" for confirmation that you made the putt.  The idea is that you remain rock solid while making the stroke and then keep your eyes focused on the ground where the ball was after it is on the way to the cup.  Because of your proximity to the cup, you can listen for the sound of the ball falling into the bottom of the cup to confirm that the ball went in.

You should employ this same technique on all putts.  On longer putts you can look up after the ball is well on the way to the cup.

To make this easier, try to find a blade of grass that will be your focus after the ball is gone.  As you place your ball on the green in preparation for your putt, imagine that blade of grass under the ball.  After the ball leaves and is on the way to the hole, find the blade of grass and maintain your focus on the grass until you hear the ball in the cup.

The best place to learn and practice this skill is on the putting green.  Make sure you dedicate time in all of your practice sessions to this technique.  Make sure that you practice this technique before heading to the first tee.  If you do not get a chance to practice your putts before playing, make sure to include this in your pre-shot preparation on the first several short putts.

Remember….Thou Shall Not Peak

Stephen D. Simmons

Editor and Publisher - StrategicGolfer Instruction Series

You are standing on the 18th tee box with a 1 shot lead.  All you need on this demanding par 4 is to make a par that all but guarantees a win for your first tournament victory or club event.  Maybe a par will win all of the bets with your buddies.

If you were to ask most golfers what they need to be thinking about in a circumstance like this, they would respond, "win the hole".  While that may sound like the right answer it’s actually getting the cart in front of the horse.

Your highest priority in this situation is hitting the fairway on your tee shot so that you have a higher probability of getting the ball close to or on the green with your second shot.  That’s where the "Go-To’ shot has tremendous importance.

This article discusses how to find and practice your go-to shot.

Your go-to shot, is a shot you have practiced many times, and because it is repeatable has the greatest probability of success under the circumstances.  You’ve seen Tiger hit his "stinger" many times under the stress of tournament conditions.  You have seen many examples of the go-to shot when watching a PGA Tour telecast.

Tour players are willing to sacrifice significant distances to increase the odds of hitting the fairway.  These players understand that the probability of hitting the green from 200 yards away in the fairway is much greater than hitting the green from 150 yards away in the deep rough, a deep fairway bunker, or behind the trees.  They are willing to choose a club, even an iron, that increases the probability of hitting the fairway.

Finding your go-to shot happens during a practice session on the range.  This practice session needs to have your full attention and should not be part of your normal range practice.

Start by analyzing the range for structures that can be used as imaginary boundaries.  Two greens or flag positions would be an example.  The structures need to be the approximate width of   a typical fairway on your course.  One flag will mark the left rough, the left most position you can hit the ball without going into the rough. The right flag defines the right most fairway position.  Your goal is to imagine a golf hole on the range that can be used to evaluate the success of several shots.

The next step is to select the longest club you think will be used on the greatest number of tee shots during a typical round of golf.  Most golfers start with the driver.  If you are a beginner golfer you can save yourself some time by starting with a three or five wood.  Most golfers do not have the fundamentals to use the driver as their go-to shot.  Even Tiger Woods has a go-to shot other than a driver.  For 99% of us, the driver serves as a starting point that will not end up as our go-to shot.

Hit ten balls at your imaginary hole.  Measure the results of the ten shots.  How many shots stayed on the fairway and did not roll into the rough?  If you hit more than 7 drives that stayed in the fairway you can congratulate yourself and then re-evaluate your imaginary hole to make sure it’s not too wide.  You want this test to be difficult enough to really help you find a shot that you can rely on when the pressure is on.  Your go-to shot should have a success percentage of at least 70 percent.  Chances are that your success percentage with the driver was less than 70 percent, so go to the next club in your test, the three wood.  Hit ten more balls using the three wood and measure the results.

Continue this process until you  find a club that you can use that will get the ball into the fairway at least 70 percent of the time.  You may find that you can only keep short irons in the fairway because your shot dispersion is to wide. 

The first time you try this test you may find that your shot dispersion is all over the range, some right and some left.  The success of your go-to shot will be higher if you can identify your most natural ball flight tendency.

For Kenny Perry, his natural ball flight tendency is a right to left draw.  The process of finding his go-to shot would be to aim down the right side of the hole and rely on his natural shot shape to curve the ball to the left and into the middle of the fairway.  For a left to right player that hits a fade , the process would be the opposite.

In both of these cases the player is maximizing the space the ball can curve in the air, roll after landing, while staying in the fairway.  All great players learn how to eliminate  one half of the course or the other.  It might seem that aiming down the middle of the fairway is your best option, however, that only gives you half of the golf hole to work with.  Ben Hogan learned how to eliminate the left side of the hole which gave him the entire width of the fairway to work with.  Jack Nicklaus also hit most of his shots with a left to right ball flight.

It will be much easier for you to find and practice a go-to shot if you can find your natural shot shape.  If you hit a slice because you have an over the top club path, play your slice until you can straighten your shots.

For beginner golfers it is important to work with your PGA Professional to find your most natural ball flight pattern.  Your goal should be to find a simple golf swing that  repeats itself with reasonable certainty.   If you want to change your pattern over time, work on that change during your practice sessions.  Learn how to play golf by maximizing your opportunities for success. Learn how to play golf with your most natural ball flight tendency; right to left, or left to right.

For more accomplished players find the shot that has the highest probability for success.  Your go-to shot will save you many dollars if you gamble or will help you win more competitions as a tournament golfer.  Your biggest challenge will be learning a second go-to shot; the shot you can rely on if your primary go-to shot is not an option.  What are you going to do if your primary right to left shot is blocked by a very large tree guarding the right side of the hole?  Have you found a go-to left to right shot that can be played under these circumstances?  If you can’t hit a left to right shot with any level of reasonable accuracy, what are your options for shooting the lowest number on the hole?

Regardless of your skill level, you need to practice your go-to shots during every practice session.  You don’t have to hit a lot of go-to practice balls but you need to hit enough that keeps your confidence as high as possible so when it comes time to use the shot your ready.

You will also want to keep searching for the longest possible shot that you can rely on from the tee box.  You may start out with a 2 iron as your go-to shot from the tee and then club up to a three wood with practice.

Go-to shots should not be limited to tee shots.  You need to have a go-to fairway approach shot. and you need to have a go-to short game shot. Your golf scores will be lower, if  during  a round of golf, you only play golf shots that have been practiced on the range.  Play golf like a pro.  Find and practice your go-to shot.

During the recent President’s Cup we saw the impact distractions can have on even the best players in the game.  Distractions disrupt the flow and efficiency of the routine used to play golf shots. 

Distractions that occur during the final stages of the routine are particularly harmful unless the player knows how to react.  This article discusses two examples seen during the Presidents Cup and what we can learn about handling distractions properly.

Distractions are an integral part of golf so players have to learn techniques for handling distractions as they occur.  Without handling distractions properly prior to striking the ball,  the player can expect unpredictable and in many cases, bad results.

During the Foursome matches on Thursday, the European Team of Retief Goosen and Y. E. Yang were playing the US Team of Jim Furyk and Justin Leonard.  On the tee of the Par 5 18th hole, the US team was 1 up.  All the US team had to do was tie the 18th hole and they would have won a full point over the European team.

While Y.E. Yang and Jim Furyk played the hole along with their partners, as the drama played out, the two players that could impact the final results were Justin and Retief.  Both players played good tee shots and had second shots that were within range of hitting the green in two.  Retief’s second shot missed the green right while Justin’s hit the green in two. 

At this point, all Justin had to do was two-putt unless Retief hit his third shot into the hole.  Justin hit a first putt that was a little short of the hole but certainly setup a very makeable second putt for birdie.  Retief played his shot within range of having his next shot conceded, which left the door open for Justin to tie the hole and win the match.

Retief lost track of where the match stood and took off his hat in a gesture of sportsmanship as Justin was finalizing his putting routine for his makeable 3 foot putt.  Retief thought the US team had won the match if he did not sink his chip shot.  When Retief took off his hat it was a puzzling thing for Justin and caused a serious distraction.  Justin seemed to back off momentarily and then proceeded with his putt which missed and gave the European team a tie and 1/2 point.

The Friday Four Ball matches featured a pairing of Hunter Mahan and Zach Johnson playing Robert Allenby and Camilo Villegas.  This was a match the US team was ahead in most of the day.

On the Par 4 17th tee box, the US team was two up and dormie.  Robert Allenby and Zach Johnson both had makeable birdie putts.  If Robert made his putt and Zach missed the match would be extended to the 18th hole.

Robert made his putt which put pressure on Zach to make his putt.  Zach went thru his routine and as he made his last practice swing with the putter prior to stepping into the ball, a highly spirited observer in the gallery, yelled "go in the hole".  I wish people like that would stay home.  They are an embarrassment to themselves and have no place in the game of golf.

Zach was clearly distracted and annoyed.  He backed off, reset, and went back thru his whole routine.  The enormity of that putt was significant.  Zach made the putt and the US team won the match.

I do not believe we will ever know for sure whether Justin had completely cleared the distraction with Retief from his mind prior to striking his putt.  It’s not the kind of thing Tour players discuss.  From my vantage point it did not seem like he did.  The announcers also asked him about the incident so they also were also curious.

On the other hand it was obvious that Zach handled his distraction, completely reset his routine, and hit his putt with more authority than Justin.

Justin is a great golfer and one of the games really good putters.  The example shows that distractions can have a negative impact even on the best players.

The type of distractions faced by Tour players, and the average Joe playing with his buddies on the weekend, are different but no less harmful.  The truth is that most of us could not handle the pressures and distractions that Tour players face.

Contrast the Tour player with the average golfer who faces golfers yelling from the next fairway over, players in your group talking as you’re trying to hit your shot, or someone in the group behind you slamming on the brakes of the cart as your ready to hit.  We can induce distraction on ourselves by engaging in a conversation while trying to hit a golf ball.

How many times have you been distracted, hit the shot anyway, and after the bad result, said…"I should have backed off?"  If it has not happened to you yet, it will because distractions are everywhere in golf.

So what can the average golfer learn from these examples?   There are two things to consider when dealing with distractions.

The first thing to consider is awareness.  Start to think about how many times distractions, whether external or internally induced, result in a bad outcome.  It is also important to see how the distraction causes a break in your concentration and pre-shot routine. Some golfers are affected more by distractions than others.  I’ve had friends who could hear someone talking 100 yards away.

If the distraction happens as you are gathering yardages, picking targets, or formalizing your strategy, it will be easier to deal with than if it happens during the last 10 seconds of your routine.  Remember from past articles, the last 10 seconds of your routine is about seeing the target, feeling the desired swing, and then triggering your back swing by saying trust it….your mantra is see it, feel it, trust it.  Distractions during this 10 second count down can be disastrous to your outcomes so learn when to back off and start over.

Please be careful not to make your rounds a 6 hour adventure because of backing off of every little thing that causes some amount of distraction.   This point leads us to the second consideration.

Train yourself to handle distractions better.  In many cases this means learning how to make the distraction less meaningful.  As your pre-shot routine becomes better and you become more focused, your concentration levels will become more intense making distractions less noticeable. 

You have probably had times after hitting a great shot one of your playing partners remarked about a distraction that took place as you played the shot.  You were aware of the distraction as a back ground noise but because your concentration levels were high, the distraction for the most part went un-noticed and had no impact upon the success of your shot.

Learning how to deal with distractions is critical to your success as a player.  Not only do you have to increase your awareness, train yourself to be less effected by distractions, but you will also have to refine your pre-shot routine so that your maximum concentration efforts are focused to brief 10 second intervals.  If you try to concentrate for extended periods between shots you will exhaust yourself and your efforts will have marginal success.

The ability to handle distractions and remain focused is part of your mental toughness.  As you become mentally tougher your scores will drop and you will become a better player.

Stephen D. Simmons

Editor and Publisher StrategicGolfer Instructional Series

This weekend we were treated to a great display of exceptional tournament golf.   More importantly, we were treated to an excellent example of how important the pre-shot routine is to playing great golf.

Before I get to the discussion of the pre-shot routine I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Phil on an amazing performance.  Whether you like Phil or not,  you have to be impressed with his  performance on Sunday.   Phil shooting 65  yesterday under those conditions was one of the best golf performances of 2009. 

I may be one of the few that likes to see tournaments where other players challenge Tiger.    Multiple winners on golf’s grandest stages is good for the game.

As I was waiting for the television broadcast of the final round to start yesterday, I came up with an idea that turned out to be very supportive of the StrategicGolfer instructional message. At the core of our instruction we stress the importance of moving beyond swing mechanics to the creative side of golf; the mental and strategic aspects of golf.

Strategy, visualization, and the pre-shot routine are the most important skill elements that must be learned as part of significant golf improvement. 

Very important …as the numbers from yesterday’s tournament will demonstrate.  I wanted to measure the importance of the pre-shot routine as outlined below.

My idea was to pick three players that would get the most television coverage during the final round of the tournament.  Obviously, Tiger was going to get lots of coverage and Kenny Perry was playing well so they were my first picks.  I believed Phil was going to play well because of his new found confidence with the putter,  so I picked him.

My goal was to measure the pre-shot routine with a stop watch from the moment they made a move towards the ball until the club started the backswing.  In our intruction we define this as entering a "bubble"; a place where no conscious swing thoughts exist and this part of your routine should only take 10-15 seconds of time.  We stress the importance of limiting any conscious swing thoughts and only think about the target, the feel of what your intending to do, and then initiating the backswing with a trigger like "trust it".

Because television coverage is structured to bounce around and show as many golfers highlights as possible, it was impossible to time every shot.  I was able to time at least 30 shots per player.

I divided the type of routine into two types; full swing and putting.  We believe it is permissable to have up to three different routines by adding short game shots to the mix.  Whatever number of routines you have, it is important to make those routines as solid and consistent as possible.

 What I found from the analysis was very interesting.  Based upon the measurements of Tiger’s routine, his average full swing routine took 11.47 seconds.  Sixty one percent (61%) of measured routines were within .5 second of his average.  More noteable, he made two bad swings coming down the stretch; his tee shots on 16 and 18.  His routine on the tee shot at 16 was  2.5 seconds longer than his average.  The tee shot on 18 was 2 seconds longer than his average.  Something triggered the delay and the results were dissappointing.

Kenny Perry had an average full swing routine of 13.19 seconds.  Only forty four percent (44%) of his routines were within .5 seconds of his average.  The numbers indicate a lot of time variations, some faster and some slower than the average.  This is not good if you want a machine like performance. 

Phil Mickleson’s full swing routines averaged 11.25 seconds.  Ninety three percent (93%) of his routines were within .5 seconds of his average.  He did not have any measured routines that exceeded 1 second from his average.

 Based upon the measurements,  Tiger’s average putting routine took 8.61 seconds.  Sixty percent (60%) of measured routines were within .25 second of his average. 

Kenny Perry had an average putting routine of 6.25 seconds.  Eighty three percent (83%) of his routines were within .25 seconds of his average. 

Phil Mickleson’s average putting routine was 8.04 seconds.  Sixty seven percent (67%) of his routines were within .25 seconds of his average. 

All of the players on the PGA Tour have solid routines.  It is a very important aspect to playing great golf.  The proper routine allows players a safe haven from distraction and a consistent starting point on every shot.  The numbers show, that the best players in the world, can have variations in the pre-shot routine resulting in a significant impact upon athletic performance.  Most amatuers do not have a pre-shot routine or have variations that are sigificant and are a major contibutor to poor performance.

Phil had a statistical advantage over Tiger and Kenny because of the consistency of his routine.  He was very machine like in all of hits shots.  You could see it in the way he played.  I would bet a lot of money that when Tiger has his "lights out" days, his routine has very little variations in time and are indicative of a machine like performance.  Yesterday was not one of those days.

The other thing that was very impressive was watching how consistent all three players approached putts.  They all have a unique approach to stalking the putts and took a different number of practice swings, but when they moved into the ball it was the same every time;  or certainly within .25 seconds of their average on almost all of their putts.  This is especially true on shorter putts.

So what lessons can we learn from this discussion?  Here are a few things to consider if you want to play your best golf:

• Consider the pre-shot routine the most important club in your bag.
• Build a solid routine that can be used on all of your shots.  You can have up to three different routines; full swing, short game, and putting.
• Refine the routines to include the smallest number of steps  possible.  Steps could include the number of waggles, the number of times looking at the target, how you step into the shot, etc.
• Strive for quality and consistency in your routine.  Your scores and ability to play at your best levels will go hand in hand with the quality of your routine.
• As part of your move towards the ball, make the last 10-15 seconds of your routine as repeatable as possbile.  If anything distracts you start over.

Stephen D. Simmons

Editor and Publisher                 StrategicGolfer Instructional Series

I was invited to play golf this last weekend with a friend of mine and it’s a story that has to be told.

Tim and I know about how powerful the instructional message is we write about inside StrategicGolfer.  When you see it in action, especially for a higher handicaps, and how the creative side of golf if allowed to surface can overcome significant golf swing flaws, it’s a message hard for me to surpress.

Its Saturday afternoon and a beautiful fall day in south Texas.  The temps are around 85 degrees and while there are thunderstorms in the area, none of them will bother us this day.

My friend is an 18 handicap golfer give or take a few strokes.  On easier courses he can break 90 but this day we are playing a private layout that is blanketed by tree lined fairways, heavy rough, very deep green side bunkers, and small undulating greens.

I don’t get to play his course a lot but its a real gem.  Nick Price and other tour players compare it to the Valderrama Golf Club in Spain.  Exacting tee shots, lots of doglegs, elevation changes, and small target greens.  Needless to say this is not a pushover golf course.

My friend gets off to a slower than hoped for opening hole.  The opening hole is not long but requires a very exacting tee shot and approach shot into a heavily fortified green.  He makes double and we move on.

While standing on the tee of the demanding par 3 second hole he starts to describe his strategy for this hole.  He wants to intentionally hit a shot that end ups short of the green and then chip and putt for par.  The green side bunkers are severe and he knows his limitations.  He does exactly what he intends on his tee shot, hits a pitch shot, then lips out his putt.  He almost makes the par he strategized from the tee.

As we walk along on our golf journey that day he continues to tell me what his strategy is for some of the more challenging shots he faces.  He is offering this information to me unsolicited. 

All of our golf nstruction on StrategicGolfer.com emphasizes the importance of playing with pictures.  Pictures give the brain a much clearer sense of what the intended action is than words.  Pictures are more in line with feeling and golf is all about feeling, tempo, and touch.

When golfers try to execute based upon specific verbal ques the outcome will be suspect. What do you think would happen if you tried playing golf like this?

"I’m going to keep my left arm straight until the 9:00 position on the back swing and then I will rotate the forearm 45 degrees to the right and back which will allow me to set the club in a parallel position to the target line….."

I don’t know why my fried was in such a verbalizing mood last weekend but I did not interfere.  I let him continue to tell me as much about his strategies as he wanted to.

On the toughest golf hole on the course, a 440 yard dogleg right par 4, playing uphill and into the wind, he pictured a strategy that would play to the right side of the fairway to minimze the length, hit a three wood to within wedge range, and then pitch and 2 putts for a "bogie".

He did everything he intended but made his 6 foot putt for par.  4 net 2….hmmmmm.  Later he pictured a shorter club on a dogleg right par 4 from the tee to keep the ball out of the rough.  From there is strategized hitting a 3 wood to somehwere around the green with his pitch and putt strategy.  He hit the green in two.  While getting ready for his putt he said I should be able to two putt this for par.  I said why not 1 putt for birdie.  He one putted for a natural birdie…3 net 2….hmmmmmm.

The more he verbalized his strategizes the better his pictures were.  He played great and I think it was his personal best on that course.  This picture development process is one of the most important aspects to playing great golf. 

Most golfers chase the perfect swing.  They spend hours trying to develop something that does not exist.  Try spending that time learning how to develop a picture based strategy.

Its Called Visualization

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Stephen D. Simmons

Editor and Publisher – StrategicGolfer Instruction Series

Our highest priority in short game practice is learning how to convert more up and down attempts.  Most golfers use the same method of practice in the short game area.  They dump a pile of balls and rapidly work thru the pile hitting a variety of shots to one or multiple targets without any effort at attempting to convert those shots with a putter. 

How can we measure our success if we do not calculate our conversion percentage?

Practice like the pros….learn to convert!

Your ability to shoot lower scores is dependant upon how well you convert your scoring opportunities.  The way you convert more shots is by hitting shots that finish close to the hole.  Actually, we want the ball to end up past the hole if it does not go in.

We need to be conservatively agressive…meaning, we need to hit crisp shots that get to or beyond the hole with the correct read of the slope and break of the shot.

The gate drill can be used for any short game scoring shots.  Generally the gate drill will be used for shots of less than 30 yards.  The gate for a putt is different than a pitch or chip shot. 

The gate in putting practice is just wide enough to let the ball pass thru the gate without going into the hole.  For longer putts of 40+ feet you may have to adjust the gate to be about two cups wider than the hole.

You can see in the example below, the gate for putts of 15 feet is 2 inches to either side of the hole and 18 inches deep.  The gate is intended to help you get the ball to the hole with a good degree of accuracy.  If we miss the hole we want our shots to be just outside the hole and stopping within "gimmie" range.

The gate in chipping and pitching practice is 24 inches wide of either side of the hole and 36 inches deep.  If we miss the hole we want our shots to be just outside the hole and stopping within "gimmie" range.  Statistically most golfers have a fairly high percentage of conversions from less than 3 feet.

Stephen D.  Simmons

Editor and Publisher - StrategicGolfer Instruction Series

Think back to some of your best rounds or greatest shots.  Everything around you at the time seemed to be moving in slow motion; with vivid colors, sounds, and smells.  It was like you were part of a painting that was happening without effort and you were the center of attraction.  Your canvas was the course.  Your brush was creativity and sense of inner calm.

There were many things you noticed; birds chirping, the wind, the warmth of the sun.  Many things…other than swing mechanics.

Great players express their paintings with a lot of detail.  Poor players struggling with their performance do not see details or they see a lot of details, all of which are about the wrong things.  A beginning or poor player will tend to see a lot of detail about process and mechanics….head still, arm straight, low and slow.  Good golfers tend to see a lot of detail about the intended outcome.  Good golfers see the process of playing golf as part of a bigger picture with successful outcomes being paramount.  Amazingly they paint  smaller paintings that become part of the whole; several shots that become a great round of 65.

Learn how to play golf with good mental pictures.  Your pictures can be created from the creativity of your brain in the form of visualization.  See the result before you make the golf swing.

I recall Jack Nicklaus talking about playing golf is going to the movies.  He saw very vivid and detailed pictures about hitting good shots before he would swing the club.  His greatness came from his ability to do this repeatedly, time after time.  He would see the flight of the ball and its roll.

Raymond Floyd talked about seeing the ball in the air with the proper trajectory, hitting the green, bouncing twice, and then spinning back into the hole.

Intention is a very powerful expression of the mind.  When you intend to do something you set the stage for success.  You give the brain all of the signals needed to chart a great course of action.

I believe that Tiger Woods is the epitamy of the power of intention when it counts the most.  His last two putts at Bay Hill on the 18th green to win his last two starts there are the story of legend.

After his last Bay Hill victory this year he described what his mind and his pictures were like as he pondered the putt.  Among other things he spoke about a temperature change, more dew on the blades of grass in the late afternoon,  the impact those things would have on the grain, and how that would influence the break and speed of his left to right downhill breaking putt. 

 Are you getting the picture…."a master at work".

It’s as if he is willing the ball into the hole.  Non of us would presume that his mind can control the ball after it leaves the putter blade, however, his power of intention is strong enough to control all of the variables before the stroke is made and that intention manifests itself as success, time after time.

You can intend to make good putts or you can intend to make your putts.  We would encourage you to work on the latter.

The key to playing great golf is to play using pictures.  You must learn how to create a sense of feel and a design for the intended shape of the ball flight to hit your best golf shots.  Great players call it visualization.

The brain responds better to pictures than words.  Picking targets is critical to giving the brain a sense of what needs to be accomplished.  If you were standing on this tee box and thought to yourself, "I’ll aim at the fairway in the direction of the apartments", you are defining an area that is far too large.

The smaller the target the better.  Small targets are much more specific.  You give the brain a very exact area that we are hitting the golf ball to.  Typically if you aim at a small target you will have a very good picture of what the shape of the ball flight will be; left to right, right to left, straight, high, or low.

Depending upon the intended ball flight we would pick one of these targets.  If we intended to hit a draw we could aim at the corner of the apartment.  Unless we don’t have a choice we would prefer to aim at targets that are close to the ideal landing area.  In this case if we intend to hit a draw and the ball goes straight we will still be in or close to the landing area.

If our preferred ball flight is left to right, the corner of the red roof in the distance would be a good selection.  A good straight shot target would be the tree top in the distance.

Occasionally you will hear a pro on TV say that he was not committed which led to a bad shot.  In many cases it’s because the target and shape of the shot were not pictured.