If you have been watching The Golf Channel, maybe you have caught the
excitement from the start of a new PGA Tour season
If you have been watching
Golf Channel, maybe you are caught up in the excitement of the start of a new
PGA Tour season.Besides the first
full week in April with that tournament that unofficially gets everyone excited
about golf, watching golf from Maui, Oahu, San Diego and Scottsdale, while I’m
sitting in semi-cold Philly in January gets me excited for a new season.
Watching these early-season
tournaments does two things for me.First, it gives me a chance to see how the players have taken care of their
golf games over the off-season (some would argue that golf has no off-season).
There is the winner of the
first event of the year, Steve Stricker.After having played through most of November, Stricker retires back to
Wisconsin for his off-season of practice.During his post-round interviews, Stricker said he was excited to just
play holes.Obviously the chance to
play holes in Wisconsin during December does not happen.He works on hitting balls indoors and
some rehabilitation for his neck and back, plus some putting and chipping, I am
sure.Sticker also stopped in
Arizona on the way to Maui and played several rounds of golf to gear up for the
actual tournament.
Being able to hit a 6 iron
on the range perfectly is much easier than trying to pull off the shot during a
competitive or even fun round of golf.You can only hit so many balls during the off-season, or hit from heated
bays or hit balls into a net.This
may keep the golf muscles loose, but it will do little for your confidence out
on the course.
A practice range does not
need to be perfect?How many
perfect lies do you get on the golf course?Fine, I agree, make one part of the
range tee flat and even to warm up before you head to the first tee, but let’s
try to challenge golfers with the second tee or second half of the range
tee.Build some contour.Have some side hill, down/up hill,
moguls, various levels of rough and other imperfect lies on the range tee.I get bored hitting from a flat tee -- not
bored because I am such a good ball striker, but bored because I want to
practice the shots I get on the course.
Stricker said that he wants
to hit shots that he will hit under tournament pressure.He would probably agree that the best
way to get ready for an event is to actually play.Play so you get comfortable hitting all
sorts of shots.
Secondly, watching these early
tournaments, I can see whose games are better designed for certain
courses.There might not be a
greater difference between two courses back-to-back on the schedule than what
you have in Hawaii.The Plantation
Course at Kapalua is wide open.Hit
is hard and far.Waialae, home of the Sony Open, is an old Donald Ross course with tight, palm tree-lined
fairways with small greens.Hit it
straight!Even short is ok on this
course sits Oceanside just east of Diamond Head.
How does this translate to
your own games?Before you play a
round of golf, understand how the course fits your game.If you like to hit it long and far,
maybe you will struggle on a tight, but short course.If you are a short, but an accurate
player, understand that you might pull more long irons, hybrids or fairway
woods from your bag during your round.
There is a course out there
for everyone.Once you realize
which courses suit your game better than others, you can adjust your expectations
for each round.This is the same principle
that explains why Annika picked Colonial in Texas, a short, tight course, to
try her hand at the PGA Tour. Would
she have gone out to play a course similar to Aronimink and had the same
expectations.No way!
Watch golf with a purpose
early in the year. This is a great
time to see how the pros managed their games early on in the season.You can learn much from their preparations
as you wait for March and April in Philadelphia.
Ryan Gingrow is PGA teaching professional at Whitford
CC. His full bio is here.
It seems like every month, the
top golf magazines give us their lists of "Tops:" The "Top 5" this, the "Top 10" that,
whether it’s golf instructors, public courses, swing tips or putters.
Okay, it’s my turn.Here are my "Tops."
Top 3 Tips:
Putting: Not holing a
lot of makeable putts?No worries.Grab a tennis ball.Get rid of your cell phone for 30
minutes.Head to a putting green.Begin by putting from two feet, then go
to five, then to 10, then to 15.Attempt to hole-out putts from each distance before moving on to the
next.Looking down at the
tennis ball for 30 minutes will do wonders to your confidence.By the time you put down a golf ball,
the ball will look so small and the hole will look so big, your confidence will
soar.
Controlling ball flight:Grab a few irons and head out on the
course when the fairways are less crowded.Find some shade under a group of trees and drop a few golf balls.Make sure you have chosen a collection
of trees that have branches high enough off the ground so that you can make at
least a ¾ swing.Hit balls
in the direction of the green and work on controlling your ball flight.To prevent hitting the ball straight up
into the trees, focus on leaning the shaft ahead of the ball at impact,
ensuring the clubhead is working down through the
ball.The forward lean of the shaft
should be continuous and the clubhead should not
release.You should see the ball
flight stay low and escape under the last tree and out toward greener grass.
Play it backward: We
all have our favorite clubs and our least favorite.Take the five or six clubs out of your
bag that you hit the most.Leave
the rest in and head for the first tee.Play several holes and learn to shape shots, hitting half- and
three-quarter shots.If you want to
really challenge yourself, play the hole backwards.Choose the shortest club in your bag and
tee off with this club.You will
experience shots that you never have before and when you go out for your next
competitive round, the course should play a whole lot easier!
Top 5 Tour Players of 2011:
1.Luke
Donald:13 top-ten finishes in
18 events and leads in scoring average and money.
2.Yani
Tseng:6 wins, including 2
majors.Leading the money list by
nearly twice as much as number two.Leading scoring average by almost a full stroke.
3. Jason Day:T-2 with 10
top-ten finishes.Also finished T-2
at the Masters and 2nd at the U.S. Open
4.Webb
Simpson:2 wins and T-2 with 10
top-ten finishes.2nd
in money and 2nd in scoring average.Not as good of a showing in
the Majors as Day.
5.Nick
Watney:2 wins, including the AT&T at Arnomink,
and T-2 with 10 top-ten finishes.3rd in money and 4th in scoring average.
Top 3 Golf Holes I have played since moving to the Philadelphia
area (with an honorable mention)
1.Whitford Country Club,
No. 4:A true 3-shot par
5 with a very challenging, sloping green from back to front, guarded by bunkers
and a creek short and left of the green from the tee.The practice range on the left side does
not frame the hole well, but regardless, you know it is there.With deep rough and willow trees on the
right, a tee shot in the fairway is a must.Long second shot up a hill leaves a
wedge to a short iron in hand from a sloping fairway.Positioning the ball properly on the
green is challenging and necessary.The first time I saw PGA Head Pro Mike Ladden
putt this green, he left his 15-foot downhill putt about 8 feet short.The speed confuses many on this
hole.
2.Pine
Valley, No. 13:From the tee
box, this par 4 hole screams, "Hey you, you can hit your tee shot anywhere,
swing away!"For your second shot,
a bailout area (which looks massive and makes the green appear closer than you
think) to the right of the green complex is one option.The other option is to play to the
green, well-guarded in the front right by a waste area and in the back as
well.The green slopes to the left
and a great second shot does not mean a par is a guarantee.
3.Merion
GC, East Course, No. 17:I am
not a huge fan of long par 3’s, but this hole gives the player absolutely no
bailout area.At well over 200
yards, a long iron or hybrid is the play.Native grass and deep, greenside bunkers surround the multi-tiered
green.Getting your ball onto
the green from the tee only means 1/3 of your work is over.A two-putt par is most players’ wish,
but walking away with a 4 can happen fast.
Honorable Mention.French
Creek GC, No. 15:Every course
should have a reachable par 4.Stand on this tee and the only thing in front of you is a steep,
elevated green with bunkers short, and a small fairway to the right of the
green.There is nothing more
rewarding to me than having the option to pull off one great, risky shot and to
be rewarded.I guess it doesn’t
hurt that I hit a hybrid onto this green and 2-putted for my birdie.The green slopes toward the front and
from right to left.A two-putt is
not automatic if you hit the green.Measuring in the mid to upper 200 yard range, the hole provides a great
opportunity to snatch a birdie before heading to the final three holes.
Ryan Gingrow is PGA teaching
professional at Whitford CC. His
full bio is here.
As
the PGA Tour and its Improving FedEx Cup Playoff format is coming to a
conclusion, I have had a few more chances to be irritated by the Rules of
Golf.Just wait a few waggles here!
Which Rules of Golf am I talking
about?The Rules of Golf that the
am’s play by or the Rules that the Tour pro’s get to play by?
Fall
is here no matter if we are ready for it or not.The month-long rainy reason, which used
to be known as August, is gone and cooler temps are here.Soon, red, orange, yellow and brown
leaves will collect in the now lush rough.What is significant about this?Finding your golf ball will now be more difficult than finding someone
in the Philly metro area who isn’t a Phil’s fan this fall.
Tour
Pros get everything.Courtesy cars
from high-end dealers are a norm. Free food all week in fancy clubhouses
could never get old.Complimentary this,
complimentary that.Each week they
receive an all-inclusive package of goodies just for paying an entry fee.And their benefits do not stop after
they tee up their ball on Thursday.
Have
you ever been to a Tour event and have seen a player walk or ride a cart back
to the tee because he couldn’t find his ball just of the fairway in the
rough?I will answer that for you,
NO!Have you ever seen a player hit
a ball on top of a clubhouse and get a free drop?I will answer that for you, YES!Ever see an errant drive hit a spectator
and the ball caroms back into the fairway?Reaching far back into my Spanish classes at PSU, Si!The list of questions could go on for a
few more Ôgraphs.
What
got my attention even more was what I saw Thursday during the first round of
the BMW Championship.Webb Simpson,
ranked at the top of the FedEx Cup standings, is in the middle of the fairway
on his 9th hole of the day.SHANK!Not a problem.He even admitted that he hits one of
those now and again due to swing path.The ball found its way to a bleacher adjacent to the green and Simpson
received a free drop.Really?You shank a ball not even close to the
green and you get a free drop?He manages
to get up-and-down for a par four.
If
I shank a ball on the 9th hole at my home course, I am either in a
pond or some long, gnarly fescue on the side of a hill.Can I pay to get bleachers set up around
the course to stop my ball in case I hit a shank?While some may argue that his ball may
have come to rest in long rough if it did not settle in beside some spectators,
there needs to be a penalty for this type of shot.One stroke and drop at your nearest
point of relief.That works for
me.Webb probably wouldn’t
argue.Have you seen him
interviewed?Seems like one of the
nicest guys on Tour.
Let’s
go back to the ball lost in the rough.The rough is not normally this thick around Philly this time of
year.Now we are left searching for
balls like it is May around many courses.If you and your partners agree
that the ball is lost in the rough, in a specified area, take a stroke, drop at
where you think your ball is lost and continue play.None of this "go back to the tee"
stuff.If we had spectators and
galleries lining fairways, the ball would be found and the round would go
on.Pace of play would
definitely improve.
Oh
yeah, forgot one thing.Those balls
that Tour players hit into the rough and the bleachers.Of course they are free too.Those balls that you hit into the
rough and can’t find?Not free!Maybe not having to re-tee would soften
the blow of losing another $4!
Ryan Gingrow is PGA teaching professional at Whitford
CC. His full bio is here.
I am suddenly inspired to address an alarming trend that most golfers
would agree is currently hurting our great game.No, I am not talking about the great
advances in equipment, especially the controversy surrounding the long
putter.I am talking about s-l-o-w play.
My moment of inspiration came while I was caddying for a member from
Whitford CC in a State Amateur event last week.Exact moment?The 8th fairway at the
Country Club of York.Exact time to
inspire?Roughly 12 excruciating
minutes.
Under golf’s pace of play policy, the group in front of us was making
okay time for their match, as rules officials watched from a distance.What I witnessed on the green in
front of us, however, was mind-blowing at times and a textbook case of the kind
of dawdling that needs to be banished from the game.
Practice is for the range and the short game area, not for the course in
the middle of a competitive round, while others in the group are trying to keep
pace.
Specifically, I watched a player 3-putt the 8th green.Okay, three-putting on a fast green does
not make for slow play.Heck, if
the player 5-putted, who cares, so long as they do it in a reasonable amount of
time?
What set me off was the selfish slowness of it all.Each putt was meticulously examined,
reviewed, reconsidered, like the U.S. Open was on the line.
Meanwhile, back down the fairway, my player and I waited and waited and w-a-i-t-e-d,
along with the opponent in the match.Up ahead on the green, Miss Stall (thinking four-corners in basketball
here) was taking three and four full rehearsal putts. Even the tap-in 2 footer
(the third putt that wasn’t conceded), required the full pre-shot routine.
Much of this time-wasting foolishness was a result of the pressure from
Miss Stall’s caddy, I’m sure, who also happened to be her dad, coach and no
doubt future business manager.At
one point, he actually straddled the line of one of his daughter’s putts,
crouching like Carlos Ruiz, staring into her face as she lined up the
putt.Maybe she had something in
her eye and asked her dad to take a look.Who knows?I can’t explain
that move.
Her routine was just as slow off the green.Several times I watched as this young
player took several practice swings for a short pitch shot, holding her finish
position, seeming to watch the ball trickle to the hole in her mind.If all this didn’t take hours, it felt
like it.I’m pretty sure my
good-luck beard was a little grayer in spots when we finally got off the
course.
So, here is my advice, especially to young players:Golf is not a game to take lightly if
you want future success.However,
remember that you are learning to play the game.Just because you don’t see a play clock
or shot clock behind each green, as a quarterback or point guard would in their
respective sports, doesn’t mean you can let the world wait on you.
The majority of your mental and physical preparation should take place
on the practice tee, before the round.After repeating the process of your pre-shot routine and your swing so many
times on the range, your body and mind will ultimately follow on the golf
course.
Juniors, from the moment you tee off and you feel the first-tee jitters
– and you will feel jitters -- trust your swing.During the actual round, just react.
And a note to parents, too. If you want to caddie for your son or
daughter, caddie.But coaching is
for the range.
The third major of the year
has come and gone.Sun,
clouds, rain and wind.Sun, clouds,
rain and wind.Without a
well-deserved victory by well-liked player, those elements would have been the
story of yet another Open Championship.
There is one more chance for an American player to help buck the trend that has
dominated golf for much of the last two years.Phil,
Dustin and Rickie were all close
waiting to forge ahead, but just like wishing for four days of perfect weather
in the south of England, it never happened.
There is much more, however,
to take out of watching the Open
Championship for the normal golf fan, the mid-to-high handicapper.The style of golf necessary to succeed
on links courses can actually benefit your games here in the States.A claret jug is not at stake for you,
but maybe lower scores can be just as rewarding and cause you to celebrate with
a few pints of "black stuff," as Darren
Clarke referred toGuinness on
Sunday.So pay attention, Mr. or
Mrs. Handicap because this is for you.
Wind
There is no doubt that the
wind is the harshest element of links golf.But the number one thing you hear pros
say when they play in the wind is to make sure to swing easy.
Can you take this swing
thought with you anywhere,to any
course you play?Absolutely. Swinging
harder can cause two major problems.One, poor balance; two, imparting too much spin on the golf ball.
Set up a fan at home or
practice one day when the winds are up.Learn to keep your balance until the finish of your swing, and until your
ball has landed.
How many times at Royal St. Georges did you see a player
attempt hit his ball high into a green?Not many.Playing under firm
conditions, the goal was to keep their ball below the wind, often playing three-quarter
swings and running their balls up to the front of the greens.
Have you ever played your
shots to the fronts of greens instead of chasing pins?Why not take a club that will get you to
the front of the green, avoiding bunkers, heavy rough and the trees surrounding
many green complexes?Take an extra
club and flight the ball lower and keep it under the tops of the trees.There is nothing that says golf has to
be played in the air.
Recovery shots
Recovering from trouble is
the norm, if your game is a little off when playing across the pond.The best players in the world take their
lumps and attempt to recover as quickly as possible.Shots are played out sideways and
backwards from deep bunkers.Shots
from the heavy gorse are played with sand wedges.Putters are used from 30 yards out to
curve a ball on the ground around a bunker.Has it ever taken you three shots to get
out of a bunker?If you are not a
skilled bunker player, and you are faced with a wall of sand or sod between you
and the green, hit it out backwards to the fairway.After all, a bunker is a hazard. Sometimes
it’s better to swallow your pride and take a stroke to play your shot to a safe
area, rather than pulling off a shot which you can only hit one out of ten
times.
Mickelson’s new attitude
Phil Mickelson tied for second at Royal St.
Georges, his best finish in any Open
thus far.He went into the week
with a whole new attitude.He
convinced himself that this was his first chance to play links golf and took
what the course gave him.It almost
worked.
As for you, do not try to
out-smart a course.Play the shot
which lies in front of you.If you
can’t hit a draw, don’t hit it.If
your fairway woods roll more than fly, pull an iron.Learning to hit shots that you can
actually hit will also help make this game more enjoyable for you (and for your
playing partners).
Yes we are blessed with more
sun and fewer windy days during the summer months in Pennsylvania, but focus on
playing your game as if you were an ocean away.Play the ground game.Leave the air for the guys who don’t
work a nine to five!
For Father’s Day, a surprise trip to the U.S. Open
Wednesday, June 22, 2011 By Ron Romanik
So a day planned a few weeks in advance to surprise my dad with a trip
to the US Open at Congressional for Father’s Day, ended
Step
back a few years to 1995.I was
home for the summer prior to my sophomore year of college and my dad suggested
going to see my first major golf tournament.
The
host club was Congressional Country Club
and the event was the U.S. Senior Open.I remember a few things from that
day.Jack Nicklaus "fatting" a chip shot from the approach of the 11th
fairway.Seeing Tom Weiskopf during the second round,
having no idea that he was going to be crowned champion two days later.
My
dad remembers one "special" memory that he never fails to mention whenever Congressional Country Club is
mentioned.We left the course that evening after stopping by the
merchandise tent only to find it closed.We wanted a souvenir before heading heading
back to Pennsylvania after a long day of watching golf. I spotted a trash container with the
official U.S. Senior Open logo on
each side.Large and cumbersome, I
managed to fit the large box container in the back of my dad’s Honda Accord and
off we went.I never knew that action
of minor thievery would be remembered by my father for so many years.
We
returned to Congressional in 2005
for the Booze Allen PGA Tour.By
then, I was in the golf business and living in Richmond, Va.; and my dad met me
at Congressional for the event.We hung out mostly on the 3rd
green and watched Sergio Garcia
knock in a remarkable chip shot from just behind the green.
Congressional seemed to be
a place where my dad and I had enjoyed many special moments in golf
together.I knew the 111thU.S. Open was coming to Congressional, but hadn’t decided that
I wanted to go and make the trip.But as the Open neared, I
knew I had to find a way to get back to the course -- not just go back by
myself, but to surprise my dad for Father’s Day.
As
a PGA Member, I receive
complimentary admission to the event each year, but I did not want to go alone.
A couple of well-connected friends
helped me get a ticket for my father for the final round on Sunday.
A
week in advance, I secretly communicated to my dad’s wife the surprise I had in
store.On Saturday, I traveled to
my dad’s house in Hanover, Pa., trying to surprise him that I was coming home for
Father’s Day. We watched the end of
the of the third round of the Open on
TV, then had dinner, drank a few beers
and tossed a soggy, wet tennis ball around to my dog.I needed to tell my dad of my plan for Sunday.
"Hey,
dad,"I said, grabbing a copy of Sports Illustrated with a map of Congressional on the inside."Look at
this page and tell me where you want to sit tomorrow."
He
looked at me and paused.I wasn’t
sure if it had sunk in yet.He
said, "No."I said "Yes...we are
going to the Open tomorrow."
After
the 90-minute trip down to Congressional
Sunday morning, we parked and hopped on the shuttle bus. As we entered Congressional just off the 17th
fairway, I was reminded of 1995 and 2005.This time we were both older and, hopefully, wiser.But what attracted us to the event was
the same thing:Our passion for
golf.
My
dad had taught me the game at a very young age.I would wack a putter around at a par 3
golf course named Sluggos, just east of York, Pa.It wasn’t until about the 7th
grade that I began to take the game more seriously, and it would be four more
years before I beat my father for the first time.Over the years, my dad and I definitely
have had our moments on the golf course -- several that I will not mention (I
had some growing up to do).
At
Congressional on Sundayon we went to watch the golf; we soon found
ourselves on the same knob behind the 3rd green, where we watched Garcia six years earlier.
Me,
my dad and my cousin, who went with us, were three of 40,000 fans at the course
that day.Fans were stuffed in
bleachers, stacked behind and under trees, lined eight- and nine-deep at each
tee box, green and fairway approach.
Birdies
were going up on the boards early by many who started out their final rounds
over par.My father, my cousin and
I crossed fairways and perched ourselves on knobs behind greens to witness the
early action.What we would see
later could be the beginning of a long list of majors for Rory McIlroy.
Being
a spectator early on was manageable.We could get close to some greens and tee boxes to see the players
coming through.I even made eye
contact with a friend who caddies for Brian
Gay, and we exchanged a handshake and a quick conversation at the fourth
tee box.But that mellow atmosphere
would change as the 3 o’clock hour approached and so would the ability to get
close to the players.
As
we were standing outside the ropes to the left of the fairway on the first
hole, waiting for the leaders tee shots, you could hear the echo’s of "Rory, Rory, Rory" and "Let’s Go Rory" throughout the front nine.Before he drilled a fairway wood down
the fairway and avoided a divot by a centimeter, I thought to myself that even Tiger, who has heard louder ovations
for his play, probably never had an entire following of fans voice his name
that loudly prior to teeing off.
Following
McIlroy for all 18 holes would have
been asking for a possible trampling by the bulls of Pamplona.A little fresher in the legs than my
father these days, I would serve as the leader and direct my father to where we
would try to catch the action next.
After
watching McIlroy’s approach into No.
1, we headed over to the seventh tee box, an up-hill par 3.From there we had a nice view over to
the sixth green, a reachable par 5 that day.I played the course, firmer and faster,
in 2006 during a PGA Section
Championship while living in Virginia, and I remember having a 4 iron into
that green.But on this day, Lee Westwood caught my demons and he
hit his second shot into the front right pond as I did.
Here
is a helpful hint to any of you who want to see a U.S. Open in the future, more specifically at Merion in 2013:When
you get well ahead of the leaders on Sunday, and you find yourself standing
against the ropes guarding the tee boxes in hopes of getting a great look at
the next group coming to the tee, get ready to be disappointed.Is there really a reason why seven, yes
seven, marshals need to be surrounding the back of the tee with there hands
held high, saying "Quiet Please!"?Each one of them seemed to block our previously perfect view.I found myself trying to always make
sure my dad had the best view to see the action.
McIlroy and Y. E. Yang came through the seventh and
headed up to the green.What
accompanied this final group was spectacular.I would say easily there were 50-60
people inside the ropes.From USGA
Executive Director Mike Davis, PGA
Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem,
agents, close friends, media members from ESPN, NBC and The Golf Channel, even
Isao Aoki from an Asian media group following Yang, to dozens of photographers ready to capture a possible
historic photo, the following was intense.
This
was the red carpet of golf.It just
so happened that the red carpet was laid out for McIlroy after each tee shot.
We
headed to a familiar spot on the back nine, settling in to the left of the 11th
fairway, where 16 years earlier we had witnessed my father’s golfing hero and
mine growing up, Nicklaus, fail to
hit a solid pitch shot.It was
comforting to know some things in life hadn’t changed.It was still my dad and I, at Congressional, watching golf and
nothing else mattered at that time.
For
most of the day, I had been traveling with a large, bright green leprechaun hat
tucked in the back of my shorts.I
had given the hat to my dad during a family Christmas exchange a few years ago.With Irish blood in me, I figured I
would support the Northern Irish player at some point during the round.On went my hat as McIlroy strutted up the 11th fairway and as he
approached the 13th tee box.My dad joked that he wouldn’t stand beside me if I wore the hat.Really?My dad had to be worried about being
embarrassed by me?Ha!
With
the sun finally peaking out and my dad and I getting tired from the nearly
eight hours at the course, we decided to watch the finish at No. 18 from a
bleacher behind the 10th green.The mob of people lining 18 and sitting in the stands was
impressive.What was more
impressive was looking over at the leaderboard just behind the pond behind the
18th green and seeing how far the 22-year-old was out in front of
his chasers.
It
was good to see Rory celebrate with
is dad on this day, and it was good to be with mine.We headed back to catch the shuttle to
our parking spot, but not before stopping in the merchandise tent to grab a
couple of souvenirs from the day.This time the tent was open.
The
merchandise tent is more like a department store and the responsibility of
running this store lies with a friend, Michael
Quirk (thanks Michael for the lunch vouchers as well)!A great job he does each and every
year.He has a watchful eye over
the massive sales floor; having his staff stock the shelves to make sure there
is quality merchandise available right up to the final minutes after play.
So
our day at the U.S. Open at Congressional Country Club, planned a
few weeks in advance to surprise my dad, started early and ended in a sea of
red and white (on the scoreboard)!A dominating victory by a player, whose nation’s flag carries those same
colors, was not expected.What was
expected was a great day to celebrate Father’s Day and I will always remember
my dad’s words to sum up the day, "This was the best Father’s Day I can
remember!"
Good
luck next year on Father’s Day, Beth.Beth is my sister.
Ryan Gingrow is PGA teaching
professional at Whitford CC. His
full bio is here.
Thanks for sharing you story.You and your father are both lucky.
Mom
[6/23/2011 1:00:10 PM]
GREAT ARTICLE FROM BEGINNING TO END! THANKS FOR SHARING THE MEMORIES; PAST AND PRESENT.
Ryan Gingrow
Play nine holes in your mind
Thursday, May 26, 2011 By Ron Romanik
I am always unsure of what I will learn from my first month
of teaching at the start off a new golf season.April 2011 was no different.Each year that I teach, there is a new
thought or concept that seems to be easier for students to grasp.
So, what have I learned so far this year?My students want to play better.
Wow!Now there
is a revelation!Who takes a golf
lesson with the goal of getting worse?How could I overlook that simple goal of scoring better on the course
for so many years?Sure, I have
talked many times about playing better, scoring better and so on, but I have
never actually really stepped out of the teaching box and stressed practicing with a purpose.
As the season moves into June, it is time to refocus-- refocus on lowering scores so my
students can see results.Not many
players have the time and energy to commit to truly changing a faulty
swing.Most want to lower scores,
hit the ball farther and cleaner and improve some aspect of their short games.
So as the season moves on, I have to marry a sound starting
position and a more technically correct golf swing for my students and the
ability to shoot lower scores on the course.I cannot just be the guy they come to to
make their swings look perfect on the range.I have to be strong and guide my
students into playing better golf...on the range!
Try this out the next time you hit balls.In your mind, play the front 9 of your
course on the range.
Don’t hit the same club twice in a row.Pull out your driver, then your 6 iron,
then your wedge.Play a par 3
next.Hit a hybrid club to a long
par 3, or hit a punch 9 iron to a back pin.Practice the shots you are going to be
hitting on the golf course.Chances
are that perfect 7 iron swing that you have grooved on the range with flat lies
and perfect turf, will not be the same on the course.
Sure, there will be days on the range when you need to
concentrate on one aspect of your game to make swing changes effective.But don’t beat a new swing into the summer
sod.Feel the changes taking
place, and put your swing into play on the range before you head to the
course.Simulating the course on
the range will test your new swing and will create comfort on the course the
next time you play.
Ryan
Gingrow is
PGA teaching professional at Whitford CC. His
full bio is here.