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Archive for September, 2010

Tiger ends PGA Tour Season without a Victory

Monday, September 20th, 2010
PGA Centenary Course at Gleneagles, Schotland,...
Image via Wikipedia

Hi Guys:

This was the first season Tiger Woods has been winless on the PGA Tour and failed to make the Fed Ex playoffs. It feels a bit strange in a way.

A lot happened mostly in what seemed like a really long year. It felt more like three years combined from where I’m sitting.  A couple of guys really stepped up this year mainly Matt Kuchar but I do miss the “pumped-fist” exclaim and Tiger winning on Tour.

Tiger has the Ryder Cup here in a few weeks and that could really work to his advantage as a morale booster if he plays well and helps gives the US Team a boost and a win in Wales. Or it could be another  disappointment to a peculiar rather distressing season here.

He then moves onto the international scene with the HSBC  Open in Shanghai for a major event there in November. A change of environment might work just fine.

There’s talk of Tiger working on a new golf swing move and working with a new coach as well. Does he really need a new swing coach? Or does he really need a mentor and close friend type person to help shape his future where he’s going in golf and perhaps life.

My take on that is that he could swing a broom and perfect a swing move to make it work and work well. He is an extraordinary talented golfer. One in one hundred years of super skill level. 

Lee Trevino really never had a coach because he believed the coach needed to be better than he was as a player or have more knowledge of the motion of the swing, which he was a master of.  So does Tiger really need a swing coach for mechanics?  Who mentored Palmer, Player and Nicklaus in their prime? I don’t think so.

All great athletes can adopt to many situations with their bodies and equipment and Tiger is no exception. Butch Harmon and Hank Haney did improve his game skills but he has tremendous mental focus and heart. And  in my opinion that’s what needs to get fixed the most. Yes, he needs to change a few things in his life and hopefully he will and with new resolve and courage he will in time.  

But you can tell he is determined to get it right once again and he has played and shot some really good rounds this past summer. Just not consecutively.

His great mental game has taken a bit of a beating that’s for sure. Other players sense a vulnerability like never before. Tiger can and is getting beaten by his peers. He has weaknesses like the other players now. The invincible aura has been is gone. At least for now.

The ability to remain focused when your universe is shaken or in an upheaval plays more on the mind of a golfer than anything else, and when one is swinging at 125-127 mph in a split second and impact, one’s balance can be just off enough and you hit in the rough too often.

If there ever was a 15 th club in the bag it has to be confidence and that comes from the player’s outlook and view of his game and self.  The problems of life have a way of interjecting into the middle of it and when that becomes a bigger problem, then its hard to find your way back and play consistent great golf.

The great Jack Nickluas said in an article I will always remember and I tell to my advance players and pros, is that he wasn’t the greatest because he had better skills but he had his life in balance whereas many other players did not at the time in his era and were affected by relationships and in some cases did not  recover. Jack had real support and stability in his family and wife and he didn’t have these concerns or problems and he was able to do what he set out to do in golf and did for many years at end.

I look forward this Ryder Cup in Wales and Tiger contributing to the team and his own esprit de corps. It would be great to see the US team pull of a victory and Tiger sealing the deal and making the difference.

After that, I’m not sure what I’ll do. Maybe watch the Golf Channel and reruns of “The Big Three” (not The Big Break ) and head in that direction and I can find solace there with the rest of us who love golf. Some of those classics too and key matches with Hogan-Snead- Nelson, etc.

2011 could be a real interesting year with the Masters up first in the Spring.

Go US team in the Ryder Cup!

All for now, Bob Cisco, www.allaboutgolf.us

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How to Defeat an Opponent in Golf – Part 1

Wednesday, September 8th, 2010
Hi Guys:

Do you find you tighten up and feel the
pressure when “the heat is on” when it
comes to winning a golf event, match or
friendly wager with your golf buddies?

Well you’re not alone my golf friend. Many
a golf match or score has been spoiled or
ruined when “it’s on the line” and you
are counted on to perform.

Here’s my formula for overcoming this problem
and coming out on to top. (Part 1).

This is THE part of the game that many golfers
including pros have trouble with and it
can happen at anytime, where the momentum
shifts, and catches you off guard. The result
usually means a victory for “Old Man Par” or
your opponent who you thought you were besting
but now find you’re on the losing end of the
stick.

A decent good round is gone. You’re upset,
frustrated and round or match has been lost.
You suffer a stinging defeat.

First of all, those who win more than others
do so because of a couple of key factors: 1).
they know their limitations and stick to a
strategy that works, 2). they like being in
such a situation and get up for winning and
beating their opponent, and 3) they have a
better attitude and find ways to overcome
tough situations. They learn to dig-in” and
work their way back to what they can do and
somehow looking for the break that they can
ride the momentum back on top to than those
to “fold their tent” when adversity strikes.

Too many golfers don’t have a handle on what
they know they can do or pull off under pressure.
This is because they can’t judge a strength
from a weakness and because of this they don’t
know when to play aggressive or conservative
and can’t mount the right charge or keep
momentum when needed. This is the losing side
of the formula.

The player who knows his weaknesses, can stick
to what shots he knows he can hit and control
and can find the weakness of his opponent, has
an advantage and usually wins in the end.

What I recommend you look at for yourself is a
game plan you can stick to that works. If you
play best keeping the ball in the fairway even
if you’re shorter off the tee, by advancing the
ball just off the green gives you an advantage
because if you have a really good short game
you can hole the pitch or at the very least
get up and down.

If you tend to be wild off the tee and that
hurts your performance and penalizes you, then
swing easier and take one more club and work
on controlling your shots with a strategy where
you end up for the your next shot.

Always play from a strength position that you
can control as much as you can the outcome.

Work on managing where you want to hit or land
the ball or shot and have a strategy or game
plan in mind that you stick to.

You’ll win more times this way and be a
happier golfer especially at the 19 th hole.

When we get to the Ryder Cup here at the end of
Sept, will take up Part II of How to Defeat any
Opponent in Golf with some more advanced stuff
you will like.

I have a drill in my Ultimate Game of Golf

book in which you play nine holes and you hit two balls
off the tee with a driver and fairway metal. You
assess how having the ball in the fairway is a
real premium to scoring and if you do that and
can putt well, then you find the trophy is yours!

All for now, Bob Cisco
The Golf Doctor
www.swingmentor.com


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Secret to Getting Out of the Sand

Wednesday, September 1st, 2010

Hi Guys:

 

Well in most rounds of golf you will

have a shot out of a sand trap 

green-side and you will face a get

up and down situation. It might be a

pressure situation late in the round

or a match play scenario. 

 

So you’ll have to have the confidence

to hit this shot and get the shot close

enough to make the putt and save par,

make birdie or even a bogey.

 

So in other words you need to make this

shot work and perform for you when it

counts.

 

Here’s how you hit this shot and an

“inside secret” to getting it close and

at the very least on the green with a

chance to make the putt.

 

The key to the sand shot is learning to

hit consistency behind the ball at least

two inches and accelerate thru at impact

with the hands swinging thru.

 

This shot is like a flop shot where you

hinge it up steeply and let it drop down

but you need to develop the skill at the

bottom of the arc where you enter the

sand to stay with the shot and hit behind

the ball two inches or more.

 

In doing so you get the bottom of the club

face, the flange of the club where all the

weight is, to splash thru the sand and in

doing so ‘explode’ the ball out and up on

to the green.

 

The key is learning how to move thru the

shot with the knees and thighs braced and

the hands unhinging back behind the ball

and swinging the club up and thru to

completion.

 

I’m going to give you here a key drill

that makes this all work for you and it is

a great drill we use at our Ultimate Golf

Schools and the short game clinics.

 

I call it the “Johnny Cash Walk the Line”

Drill after the great country singer himself.

 

In this drill, you draw a line in the sand

and you practice hitting the line as close

as you can. So line up several balls just

ahead of this line and practice hitting the

line instead of the ball, which is two inches

behind it and perform the shot. Then go to

the next ball and do the same and the third

and last ball in a set.

 

This drill trains your mind to hit the spot

behind the ball roughly two inches or more

and to stay down and thru the shot.

 

Leave a comment on how you like this drill

and if it pays dividends for you next time

your in the trap and have to get up and down.

 

Bob Cisco — The Golf Doctor

www.allaboutgolf.us

 

For more tips like this go to my

web site at www.allaboutgolf.us

to improve your short game.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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