Month: October 2014

Categories
Golf Tips

Golf Nine Holes Instead of Eighteen

By Shooting 90

Most things in golf are based on eighteen holes. Most golf courses have eighteen holes, professional golf rounds are eighteen holes, and an official handicap is established based on eighteen hole rounds.

Golfing eighteen holes presents many challenges.

Finding the time is probably the biggest challenge for many of us. A round of eighteen holes typically takes four or even five hours to play. Slow play is a real problem in golf. Many new golfers lack proper etiquette and simply take to long to play. Searching too long for lost balls and not playing “ready” golf are two of the biggest problems. It only takes one slow group on the course to really slow down play. Committing four plus hours with our busy lives is at many times difficult.

It is much easier to find the two to two and a half hours for nine holes. This is especially true if you work during the day and want to squeeze in a round after work. Courses are less crowded on weekdays than they are on the weekends and summer evenings are a great time for golf.

Endurance to golf eighteen holes effectively is another challenge for many golfers. Many beginner golfers will get physically and mentally tired before the end of eighteen holes. This leads to miss hits and frustration. Walking, stretching, and core strengthening will all help you build up the stamina for 18 holes. Until you get there, it’s many times just easier to golf nine holes.

You may want to establish a handicap. Unless you’re planning to play in official tournaments, and if you’re a beginner you’re probably not, there’s no need for an official USGA or R&A handicap. Most courses will help you establish a local course handicap and this can easily be done by using nine hole rounds.

You can even establish a compliant course handicap by yourself by using one of several apps. Here at Shooting 90 we recommend using TheGrint to create your handicap and track your stats.

Even if you still want an official handicap, you can still combine nine hole rounds to establish one.

Golfing is a game that is meant to be fun and there’s nothing wrong with golfing nine hole rounds when you can’t do eighteen.

Categories
Hit More Fairways

How to Fix a Slice – Stop Casting the Club on Your Downswing

By Shooting 90

We’ve previously discussed the key for a golfer looking for how to fix a slice is to create an in to out swing path. Many high handicap and beginner golfers have the opposite, an out to in swing path, which is the main reason for their slice. Many golfers with an out to in swing path also “cast” the club during their downswing. Casting refers to straightening your wrists and losing the angle between your left forearm (for righties) and the club shaft very early in your downswing which makes consistent ball striking very difficult.

One reason for casting is the tendency to lift the club up with your arms and hands to start the backswing. This sets up what is referred to as a narrow to wide to narrow swing. Golfers with this swing lift the club during the back swing (narrow), extend their arms and cast the club to begin the downswing (wide), and finally collapse their arms through impact with the ball (narrow).

Creating a wide to narrow to wide swing is a great way to stop casting the club.

If you watch any professional golf, you’ll notice that a professional’s swing is much different. In fact it’s very much the opposite, a wide to narrow to wide swing. A professional brings the club back wide with their arms extended, keeps a narrow downswing with their wrists still hinged, finally releasing the club by extending their arms and going wide.

The following video by Simon Weston is a great explanation of a wide to narrow to wide swing.

 

There are big benefits to a wide to narrow to wide swing.

The first is a more consistent in to out swing, helping you to fix a slice. Rotating your body with hip and shoulder turn minimizes you using your arms and hands to swing the club. It is difficult to build consistency in a swing with a lot of hand and arm movement.

Secondly, you lose club head speed and shot distance when you cast the club. By keeping your wrists hinged until later in the downswing, you create lag in your swing. Lag refers to keeping your hands in front of the club shaft and releasing the club right before impact with the ball. A wide to narrow to wide swing promotes more lag and gives you a higher club head speed at impact.

One of the keys to a wide to narrow to wide swing is getting your weight moving forward towards the target to start your downswing. This helps to drop your hands down inside to start your downswing. If you start your downswing by dropping your hands before moving forward towards your target, you are more likely to come over the top with an outside to in swing path.

Here’s a great drill from Karen Palacios-Jansen to help you start your downswing by getting your weight moving towards the target.

 

By not casting the club on your downswing, you’ll help eliminate your slice, create more consistent ball striking, and gain distance through increased club head speed.

Categories
Golf Tips

Fall is a Great Time for Golf!

By Shooting 90

It’s fall here in the northern hemisphere, and depending on exactly where you are, this may mean nothing to your golf or it may mean you have a week left of your golf season. Some of you live in places which allow you to golf year round. Some of us, myself included, live in a place where we have a significant winter. I thoroughly enjoy four distinct seasons, so while it does not bother me, the approaching winter means no more local outdoor golf for me.

So while fall means your local course may soon be closing, it shouldn’t mean you should not golf as much as possible up until then. In fact, with the exception of dealing with aerated greens and possibly making a new local rule to handle lost balls in leaves on the ground, fall golf has many things going for it.

  • Fall golf is inexpensive. Let’s face it. Golf is an expensive sport. Two local municipal courses I golf on, St. Germain Golf Club and Northwood Golf Club, cost $45 for 18 holes in the summer. Granted, even though these are town-owned, they are 4.5 star courses. Still, I don’t know about you, but $45 to golf is a significant cost for me. Today I teed off at 3 o’clock in the afternoon at St. Germain Golf Club, took advantage of their twilight all you can golf rate for $14, and squeezed in 18 holes in the 3 and a half hours of daylight I had. Every course has deals like this. They’re still open and want golfers.
  • On many days, it is more comfortable to golf in the fall than in the summer. For me, many days in the summer are just plain too hot for golf. I’d rather put on a layer of clothes and golf in the fall than to sweat it out in the summer heat. The weather for my round today was 52 F, sunny, and very little wind. The temperature was not too cold for my hands to get cold and I was very comfortable with a sweatshirt and light jacket.
  • There are little to no bugs in the fall! The mosquitos and biting flies of spring and summer are gone or nearly gone in fall.
  • The chance for severe weather in the fall is very minimal. If fact, in general, there is much less rain in the fall. There were several times this summer that my round was shortened due to severe weather. Watching the radar and not going out if there is a chance of storms is just not realistic. Too many times you don’t go golfing and no severe weather turns up. So you end up taking your chances and being forced off the course by severe weather. Never golf with lightning in the area. Golf is never as important as your safety.
  • The fall colors are spectacular. If you are lucky enough to have a local course with woods, the course is an excellent place to see the changing colors. Being out in nature is one of the great perks of golf and the outdoors are many times most beautiful in the fall.

While many of us are sad that another golf season is coming to an end, don’t stop golfing just yet. Take advantage of all the things that fall golf has going for it and golf up until your course closes.