Is Your Golf Game In Season or Off Season

The Answer is - not the middle of July. The Question – When should you be practicing to get better so you play your best Golf in July? For many Golfers, the next few months are the time you should be working on your golf game to improve. Unfortunately, many Golfers in the US, Canada and Europe don’t use this time effectively.

If you’re waiting for your season to start – you’re waiting too long. Players have two seasons – Off Season and The Season. Monkeys unfortunately have just one season – The Season.

Now this might not make much sense to a lot of Golfers because The Season is the only way they know how to do it. The frustrated Golfer is trying to improve too much at the same time that they’re trying to play. And because of this – more frustration is produced every year during The Season. Yet, even though this frustration is repeated yearly – the Monkey continues to do the same routine over and over expecting to eventually see – different, more improved Results.

The Player isn’t trying to learn anything new during The Season – they did most of their learning and improving during the Off Season.

The Monkey is putting too much pressure on themselves to improve from round to round by trying to combine learning, practicing and improvement in each round of golf. The Monkey is going from swing to swing hoping and wishing to improve something they could’ve improved during the Off Season. That’s why the Frustrated Golfer is continually finding inconsistency on the golf course round after round and year after year.

The Player has spent their Off Season learning, practicing and improving so that all they need to do each round during The Season is to make their PLAN to play to their Strengths and away from their Weaknesses. By being able to focus primarily on their PLAN, as opposed to thinking about their golf swing on every swing – the Player is free from tension, anxiety, and the pressure of trying to do everything correct on every golf swing. And without all these swing thoughts - the Player becomes more consistent.

Think about it this way - Why would you start practicing your game during the time you should be maintaining your game? And that’s a statement many Golfers won’t understand because they’ve never thought of it that way. In other words – Is spending The Season learning and practicing to play better going to help you to play better during The Season?


No, all it will do is frustrate you like it has in the past. The best way is to learn and practice in the Off Season so you just need to maintain during The Season. And when you’re focused on maintaining during The Season – you’ll actually be improving because all you’re worried about is repeating the swing you worked on. As opposed to the Monkey that’s trying out new things every round of golf.


Take Professional Baseball for example. Before their season starts, they have Spring Training for a couple of months so that they can get ready for The Season. This is where all the teams come down to Florida or Arizona to practice and play exhibition games to get ready.


Though, even before Pitchers and Catchers report – the majority of the Players are learning, practicing and improving at home during the Off Season. Not every Baseball Player lives in Florida, Arizona or California, where they can go outside to practice every day. Yet, they find ways to improve before their season starts. Then during The Season – Players are just maintaining what they have – which actually helps them to improve as the season goes on.


A Rod (Alex Rodriguez of the NY Yankees and the best Baseball Player on the Planet), doesn’t work on or try to learn his swing during The Season. He does that work during the Off Season – so that during The Season, he can concentrate on just swinging the bat without thought. You should do the same with your golf swing.


‘Thinkers are Stinkers’


How should you practice during the Off Season? When’s the last time you did 5 push-ups? When’s the last time you did a putting drill in your house? When’s the last time you practiced your swing using Swing Drills in your house? Or are you waiting until your golf season starts?


Which way do you think the Player does it? Do you think they wait until The Season to improve? Or do you think that they use the Off Season to improve so that they’re playing their best golf all summer?

Which way do you think the Monkey does it?


The Monkey keeps their clubs in the closet until late Spring or until they make a Golf Trip to Florida or Arizona for 4 days of golf. Then once late Spring arrives – they start to practice and play. Unfortunately, many Golfers don’t have the time to go practice, so they combine their learning, practicing and playing into the same round of golf. Can you say – ‘Huge Mistake’?


This is where the Monkey continually runs into trouble – Learning, Practicing and Playing can’t be combined to produce a good round of golf. Many of the Golfers frustrations come from the fact that on the golf course you’re trying to practice your swing. Yet, any successful Player will tell you that the less you’re practicing your swing during a round of golf – the more successful your shot will be.


‘If you Think, you’ll Stink’


The Player is successful because they practice during the Off Season and then once the season starts – they just PLAN. Their golf game is ready; they don’t need to continually try to improve from game to game. Sure, from time to time, they need to conduct some routine maintenance on their golf swing – but it’s nowhere near the battle that the Monkey is going through every time they hit the golf course.


Why is Tiger so dominate? How can he “not play” for weeks at a time and then come back to tournament play and look at the rest of the Players as if to say “Who's Your Daddy?” Do you think he’s just sitting around the house drinking beer? Trust me; he’s practicing so that when he goes to play a tournament – he doesn’t have to practice – he can just play to his PLAN.


He’s now taking “a few more weeks off”. Which translates into – I may not be in the public eye playing in tournaments – but you can bet that I’m still practicing and working on my body so that I can be even more dominate when I come back.


The Monkey spends their Off Season reading Golf Digest


The Player uses their Off Season to get ready for The Season


Go ahead, Be a Player!


Regards,


Marc Solomon - Your Instructor For Life


www.GolfMadeSimple.com





By the way – Golf Made Simple has just completed our first DVD. After years and years and offers upon offers from people that wanted to produce a DVD for us – we decided we wanted to do it our own way. We’ve created a DVD for Players, as opposed to all the other Monkey stuff that’s already out there.


Our DVD - How To Improve Your Golf Swing Indoors – is improvement GMS Style. What’s GMS Style? It’s a Results Based Approach as opposed to a Theories and Assumptions Based Approach.


And as a bonus – we’re including free shipping thru December 31st, 2007

Click Here To Order DVD

Golfers Are Funny

And I Don’t Mean The Good Kind Of Funny

Click Here To Listen to The Audio Version of Golf Improvement Weekly


‘I’m going to try to the Stack and Tilt. I’ve tried the 8 Step Swing, The X Factor, Slow and Low, Square to Square, along with every other new swing that has come out.


‘I’ve tried video analysis, I’ve tried the new Matt System, I’ve tried Golf Tec, I’ve even tried getting down on my hands and knees to pray.


‘Yet, I still have the same inconsistent golf swing. I’ve spent hundreds – well, thinking about it …. I’ve spent thousands …. well, let’s just put it this way …. my kids inheritance isn’t what it used to be – trying to find something to help me become more consistent.’


We live in a society that thrives on making things simpler. Perfect example: Would you rather use Microsoft Word or go back to loading the paper into a typewriter and then having to go through the hassle of making a simple mistake. (Really, I tried to type mistake wrong to illustrate my point, but Microsoft won’t let me make a mistake even if I wanted to).


Make Life Simple


Yet, the Golfer that’s having a hard time on the golf course seems to be looking for more difficult. We’re actually thinking of changing our company name to Golf Made Difficult, but we feel if we did – there would be too much demand and we wouldn’t be able to keep up with number of Golfers calling and emailing us to help them make complicated swing changes.


So we’ll keep it Golf Made Simple


Why do most people today have their automobiles shift gears automatically as opposed to manually shifting? Why don’t you have a rotary telephone in your house anymore? Do you know anyone that still fiddles with an answering machine that’s hooked up by a cord to your telephone as opposed to voice mail?


Yet, the Golfer isn’t happy until your Instructor sits you down to analyze every movement of your golf swing. The Golfer wants to know everything they’re doing wrong in their swing. ‘You see my right elbow at the top of my swing, is that where it’s supposed to be?’ “Well Mr. Lewis, you’re right, according to our highly advanced technology that can analyze every movement in your golf swing, along with determining if you’re getting enough calcium in your diet – shows that your right elbow is about 2.394 degrees out of place.”


In every aspect of our life, we’re trying to make things ‘Simpler’. We’re trying to use less thought to accomplish difficult tasks. Yet in Golf – the so-called Swing Guru’s are trying to make things more difficult!


An 8 Step Swing? I have difficulty walking and chewing gum at the same time.


To give you an idea on how embarrassed I am about this ‘complicated is better philosophy’ that has hooked Golfers to the point of me relabeling it as ‘Crack for Golfers’ – somebody sent me this amazing comment they found on the Golf Tec website – ‘By primarily working in an indoor, controlled environment, clients can focus on the swing process as opposed to simply relying on ball flight. By ignoring ball flight in some of (the) lessons, clients can avoid reinforcing bad habits.’


Ignoring your ball flight can avoid reinforcing bad habits? Is that a joke? Are they trying to be funny? Don’t tell me they’re serious. That comment may be the #1 reason that company will really mess up your golf swing!


Do I smell Snake Oil?


Technology has helped us create better golf clubs and golf balls. It’s helped to make the golf club out of better materials (from Persimmon Wood and Hickory Shafts to Titanium and Graphite Shafts), along with allowing us to fit you to the correct equipment to match your golf swing.


All these other complicated swing techniques that are based upon you copying Jim McLean’s 8-Step Swing or the Golf Tec model swing or the Stack and Shank … ahhh, I mean the Stack and Tilt swing - hasn’t helped anybody (I have ever met) swing better. It might make a Golfer feel better that at least they’re doing something to try to improve – but has it helped your swing to improve to the point that your scores have gotten better?


So why over the last two weeks have I gotten into the whole gimmick swing, video analysis, you better be careful what you do next to improve your golf swing - rap? Because it’s that time of year that millions of Golfers can’t go outside to play – so they feel the next best thing is to sign-up to take golf lessons at one of those video simulator places that you can get your swing analyzed, or wile away your time with a book that explains 8 different swing moves you need to master or get on a Golf Internet Chat room that’s filled with closeted, anonymous Golf Gurus with nicknames such as Golf Genius that are looked up to like Rock Stars to frustrated, desperate Golfers that will do anything not to be frustrated anymore.


My question is – Do you know anyone that has signed up for a 6 lesson Golf Tec series and taken all 6 lessons? On the other hand – Do you know anyone that has signed up for a 6 lessons series and only taken 4 or 5 lessons? Why is that so commonplace? Well, they bait you in with promises of Glory – and after the 4th week, when you’re so confused that you’re scared to swing the golf club back because you’re thinking about everything you’re doing wrong and how you want to make sure that you do it correct – something deep down inside says to you – ‘this stinks!’


‘This is too complicated, why am I making it so hard on myself?’


The Monkey is constantly swinging from vine to vine looking for answers – unfortunately they believe that the more difficult the vine is – the better it is for their golf swing


The Player just Tick Tocks and smiles


Are you swinging vine to vine as you grit your teeth or are you smiling?


Go ahead, Be a Player!


Regards,


Marc Solomon - Your Instructor For Life


www.GolfMadeSimple.com




By the way – Golf Made Simple has just completed our first DVD. After years and years and offers upon offers from people that wanted to produce a DVD for us – we decided we wanted to do it our own way. We’ve created a DVD for Players, as opposed to all the other Monkey stuff that’s already out there.



Our DVD - How To Improve Your Golf Swing Indoors – is improvement GMS Style. What’s GMS Style? It’s a Results Based Approach as opposed to a Theories and Assumptions Based Approach.



And as a bonus – we’re including free shipping thru December 31st, 2007

Video Analysis For Your Golf Swing

Click Here To Listen to The Audio Version of Golf Improvement Weekly



So the Golfer said to me – “I want to get my swing on video so I can see what I’m doing wrong. I want to compare my swing side by side to a PGA Tour Player’s swing to see what I need to correct.”


And I said to myself – Here’s another Golfer that’s about to take a drive down the infamously long road of Frustrated Golfer Lane. For some Golfers this road never ends – it just goes on and on and on until they either quit or just accept their fate of not being a good Golfer (or as some frustrated Golfers would call themselves – I’m just a hack).


The use of video is like the story of the Emperor’s New Clothes – nobody has the guts to stand-up and say that they actually got worse using video analysis. Though in reality – I have yet to see a Golfer improve their score after having video analysis – yet have seen hundreds of Golfers that have gotten worse. Golfers are scared to tell others that, gasp – I didn’t improve afterwards. They think that everybody must improve with video and if you don’t – well, you must be an inadequate, untalented Golfer that has no hope of improving.


Why is video bad for you?


Think of it this way – Instead of wanting to hit your Driver like Tiger Woods, you desperately wanted to be able to dunk a basketball. So you signed up for the Michael Jordan School of Dunk, to learn how to slam dunk a basketball through the hoop like the greatest of all time.


So you’re off to go to The School of Dunk to learn. They start off by watching you dribble the basketball, do a few lay-ups to the basket and then test your jumping skills. Next, they video you trying to dunk a basketball through a hoop 10 feet from the ground; – just like a Golfer getting a video of themselves trying to hit their Driver 300 yards. And on your first attempt, you’re not able to dunk the ball, though you do catch the bottom of the net.


Now you begin the comparison – So they split the television screen with one side having a picture of you and the other side being a picture of Michael Jordan. They then start running the tape and we see some major differences – as you’re stepping towards the basket, the strides of your steps are 4 feet apart; while Jordan’s are 7 feet apart. As you jump to the basket, you jump from 3 feet away; while Jordan takes off from 12 feet away.


You then get into the mechanics of the dunk. When you jump, you bend your knees at a 65 degree angle and Jordan at a 90 degree angle. They have also found that as you jump that your posture is bent over about 10 degrees more than Jordan. So they tell you that you need to bend your knees more when you jump, along with thinking about your posture while you’re thinking about your knees.


So you spend hours upon hours practicing what you saw yourself doing wrong on the video. And then you go to the local basketball court to try and dunk the ball. You line-up with the ball in your hand, you look at the basket, you start to move towards the basket concentrating on doing it exactly as Michael Jordan had done, and as you get towards the basket, you start to jump from 12 feet away just as Jordan had and ….. you don’t even come close to dunking. You actually don’t even come close to reaching the bottom of the net.


Why didn’t you dunk?


Why couldn’t you even reach the bottom of the net this time? You watched what you did wrong on the video, you watched what Jordan did correct, and you practiced. Well, you’re 55 years old, 5 feet 7 inches tall, spend most of your day sitting behind a desk, spend more time on your Blackberry than you do on the court, have a bad back and just started playing basketball about 4 years ago. While Jordan is 6 feet 6 inches tall, has spent 41 of his 44 years devoted to the game of basketball, is a 6 time MVP and could be the greatest Athlete ever.


What makes a Golfer think that if they can watch Tiger, or as the brilliant marketers of video analysis put it: ‘we’ll compare you to someone that has a comparable body type as you’ – what makes you think that’s going to help you?


Listen, you could join the Spud Webb School of Dunk – Spud Webb was a real Professional Basketball Player that was 5 feet 6 inches tall that could dunk a basketball – try to copy Spud’s dunking movements and still fail. You could be the same 5 feet 6 inches tall and still not be able to jump as high as Spud. So having a video comparison with a PGA Tour Player of similar size is just as ridiculous.


The thought of video analysis helping you to swing better is absurd. If you’re being compared to Tom Kite and trying to do the things he’s doing – how’s that going to help you? Why won’t you hit the golf ball better? Well, even though you’re the same height, weight, physique as Tom – he’s been playing golf for 40 something years on a competitive level. He’s practiced 7 days a week for 8 hours a day over those years – what makes you think that by watching a video of him swing next to your swing will allow you do the same as his body?


You can practice getting into the same swing positions as Kite for hours upon hours – yet there are more factors that go into hitting a golf ball any where near his level. One – practicing swing positions has nothing to do with improved swing motion – you can’t practice positions and think that it’s equivalent to swing motion; Two – are your golf muscles as trained as Tom’s – he may not look like an athlete, but his muscles have been conditioned for the last 40 years to work with his swing; are your golf muscles going to learn to work like Tom’s by watching a video of his swing; Three – Tom has hit millions of good shots that has given him true confidence that he can hit the golf ball well on a consistent basis – you’ve hit millions of bad shots that has had the opposite effect.

Video Analysis is really a silly concept when it comes to Golf Improvement!


Does seeing everything you’re doing wrong in your golf swing help you to hit the golf ball better? No, it actually helps you to hit the golf ball worse because now you’re thinking of everything you’re doing wrong in your swing on every swing. Video Analysis is the negative approach to improvement. Video Analysis is the ‘I have to get worse before I get better approach’ – which in reality is: ‘I got worse and as of yet, have not gotten any better!’

So how is video analysis negative if so many Golfers are trying it? Well, I’m still waiting to hear from a Golfer that has gotten their swing analyzed and then improved 6 to 11 strokes. Yet, on the other hand, I’ve heard from 100’s of Golfers that have had their swing analyzed and have promptly had their scores get 6 to 11 strokes worse.



Theories and Assumptions (which is the marketing mumbo jumbo that Monkey Digest and the Monkey Channel use to lure desperate Golfers to sell magazines and attract viewers) say’s that if you get video analysis – you’ll improve. Though, Results (which is reality) show that Golfers are getting worse after video analysis. Would you rather depend on Results or Theories and Assumptions to help you to finally have a consistent golf swing that will have you feeling more confident on the golf course?


The Monkey believes others have improved with video because other Monkeys are too scared to say that video didn’t help them because they don’t want to be scorned by other Monkeys by saying that the Emperor is standing naked in front of you


The Player looks at Results and actually doesn’t care what the Monkeys think – they’d rather think like a Player


Go ahead, Be a Player!

Regards,

Marc Solomon - Your Instructor For Life

www.GolfMadeSimple.com





By the way – Golf Made Simple has just completed our first DVD. After years and years and offers upon offers from people that wanted to produce a DVD for us – we decided we wanted to do it our own way. We’ve created a DVD for Players, as opposed to all the other Monkey stuff that’s already out there.



Our DVD - How To Improve Your Golf Swing Indoors – is improvement GMS Style. What’s GMS Style? It’s a Results Based Approach as opposed to a Theories and Assumptions Based Approach.



And as a bonus – we’re including free shipping thru December 31st, 2007

Are You a Monkey or a Player?

Click Here To Listen to The Audio Version of Golf Improvement Weekly



Why do we call a frustrated Golfer a Monkey? It has nothing to do with one’s ability. It has to do with how a Golfer goes about learning. I’ve seen Monkey’s that shoot in the low 80’s and I’ve seen Players that are just starting to break 100. The difference is that the Monkey will become frustrated because they’re in the same scoring range for an extended period of time – while the Player is excited because they’re seeing improvement every time they step on the golf course.

The Monkey uses the same bad habits over and over expecting to improve. The Monkey continually goes to the practice range without a PLAN banging ball after ball in rapid fire succession expecting to hit straighter shots. The Monkey hits their 3 wood for their second shot on every Par 5 regardless of the situation expecting to get closer to the green. The Monkey tries every new tip and gimmick hoping to find something magical.

The Player on the other hand has a PLAN. They know what the Strengths and Weaknesses of their golf swing are. They know how to practice their Driver. They know how to practice their fairway woods. They know how to practice their wedges to create backspin. They know how to practice their putting for 45 minutes without it becoming as boring as watching paint dry.

What’s the difference between a Monkey and a Player? It’s how they go about learning to play better. The Monkey gets stuck in a scoring range and then will try anything in desperation to start improving again – though often times they become more and more frustrated. The Player sees and feels continual improvement – the Player often has other Golfers asking them how they’ve improved so fast.

For example: when the Monkey wants to improve their Driver; they go to the driving range to hit ball after ball towards the middle of the range. And this Golfer will often hit the ball well enough to feel that they had improved. Yet, the next time on the golf course – reality sets in – and you’re not hitting youir Driver as well as you did on the driving range.

Why does this happen so frequently to the Monkey? Why can the Monkey hit it so well on the range and then when they go to the golf course ….. well, let’s just say it doesn’t go as well. While the Player often hits their Driver as well and in fact, many times they even hit their Driver better on the golf course.

When the Player wants to improve their Driver; they also can go to the driving range. Though, they have a PLAN that they’ll stick with. Part of that PLAN is that the middle of the range isn’t a target. Why? Because the middle of the driving range isn’t as defined as the golf course. When’s the last time you saw a fairway with the middle as wide as the middle of the driving range? Also, when have you ever seen the middle of a driving range include water, trees, fairway bunkers and other assorted distractions such as houses?

The Player hits their Driver to different targets just like they do on the golf course. And the Player that’s really taking their game to the next level is the Player that makes their targets on the driving range – smaller than the targets that they’ll see on the golf course. The Monkey does the complete opposite by making a target on the driving range that’s over twice as big as the target they’ll have on the golf course.

No wonder the Monkey gets frustrated on the golf course!

The Player uses a PLAN to make ‘fairways’ on the driving range. I say ‘fairways’ as opposed to the ‘fairway’ because as the Monkey just keeps hitting to the middle of the range – the Player is constantly changing their targets. Why? Well, is every golf hole straight and over 100 yards wide like the driving range?

You have the talent to be a Player. You know it and I know it. The problem is that you might be going at it like a Monkey.

The Monkey will read the above and say ‘I know what I’m doing, I’m so close to improving – I just need to hit more balls and I’ll improve’

The Player knows that Tiger, Annika, Jack, Lorena and every successful Player has a PLAN that doesn’t include just banging golf ball after golf ball into the middle of the driving range.

Are you happy with your progress? Do you have a PLAN other than just banging ball after ball into the middle of the driving range?

Go ahead, Be a Player!

Regards,

Marc Solomon - Your Instructor For Life

www.GolfMadeSimple.com



By the way – Golf Made Simple has just completed our first DVD. After years and years and offers upon offers from people that wanted to produce a DVD for us – we decided we wanted to do it our own way. We’ve created a DVD for Players, as opposed to all the other Monkey stuff that’s already out there.

Our DVD - How To Improve Your Golf Swing Indoors – is improvement GMS Style. What’s GMS Style? It’s a Results Based Approach as opposed to a Theories and Assumptions Based Approach.

This program was designed for Golfers that might not be able to get to the practice area as much as they want. And with Winter coming up for many Golfers – where you might not be able to go outside to practice – this program is perfect.

If you’re frustrated with such Monkey Problems such as ‘coming over the top’, ‘swinging outside in’, ‘casting’, falling back when you swing, 3 putting or not making enough 1 putts, coming out of posture, along with losing control of your club as you swing – then this DVD is for you!


Click here to order our new DVD - How To Improve Your Golf Swing Indoors


The DVD is divided into 3 parts: First, we go outside and speak about a swing fault that you might be experiencing; Second, we move inside and talk about why that swing fault is happening, along with prescribing a drill that you can practice inside to improve your golf swing; then Third, we stay inside to work on an exercise that will make you stronger so that you'll be more able to fix this swing fault, along with gaining better control of your golf swing.

As good as the Drills are – and they are good – the exercise portion is what makes this DVD shine even more. Each exercise is paired with a swing fault and swing drill so that you can work on the part of your body that might be causing the swing fault to happen.

All the exercises are divided into 3 categories – 1st category: for people that really haven’t been physically active in a while, but want to start so that they can improve their golf swing; 2nd category: for people that have done some training, are in pretty good shape, but want to get into more golf specific workouts; and the 3rd category: for serious athletes that want to take their workouts to the next level.

The beauty of the program is that you can work at your level and then when you start to see progress – you can progress to the next level. Click here to order our new DVD - How To Improve Your Golf Swing Indoors.

And as a bonus – we’re including free shipping thru December 31st, 2007

Your Golf Game in 2008

Click Here To Listen to The Audio Version of Golf Improvement Weekly


Did you achieve the goals you set for yourself on the golf course this year? Was your goal to break 100 or 90 or 80 or 70? Or maybe you didn’t set a goal?

Unfortunately, year in and year out – I hear Golfers that aren’t happy with their golf game say that they get stuck within a range of scores that regardless of what they try – they can’t get out of that range. You have the 100 Golfer that can’t seem to get lower than 102. You have the 95 Golfer that every once in a while is so close to breaking 90 – but something happens on hole 13 or 14 that causes you to make an 8 on an easy Par 4 that stops your momentum and bumps you up back into your scoring range.

And you have the Golfer that can break 90 once in a while – but usually finds their score hovering between 88 and 95 – thus labeling themselves as the infamous ‘Bogey Golfer’.

To break through to the next level of Golf, you need to make a goal and commit to it. Now, when I say goal, I don’t mean that it’s as easy as you saying – ‘My goal for 2008 is to break 90 every time I play.’ And as popular a goal as this is for millions of Golfers every year – what percentage do you think actually achieve their goal? Unfortunately, not too many because your goals shouldn’t be score influenced.

The goal could be – ‘Well, in the past, I’ve spent 95% of my practice time on the driving range. This coming year I’m going to spend only 50% of my time on the driving range and 50% of my time on and around the green.’

Why is this a good goal?

Because if in the past you’ve been stuck with the same scores - though, you continue to practice the same way you’ve always practiced (spending the majority of your time on the driving range) – why would your scores be any different next year? If you’re scores are the same from year to year and you practice the same way year to year – it’s no wonder you don’t see the improvement you’re looking for year to year.

Maybe it’s time to switch things around because as Albert Einstein said – ‘The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results’. Golf Made Simple has adapted that saying to say – ‘The definition of an insane Golfer is doing the same thing over and over again hoping for better results’.

Do you know any insane Golfers?

So maybe your goal shouldn’t be about score. I don’t believe that Tiger Woods has a scoring goal. I don’t believe he’s saying that his goal in the Masters is to break 65 each round. I would believe his goal is to win the Masters – but I don’t believe he’ll be focused on score. He’ll be focused on his PLAN.

Most likely he’s saying – ‘Well my goal is to work to improve my performance in the sand bunker. Because in the 2007 Masters I only got out of the sand and made my next putt for par on 2 out of 7 chances. And considering that I was only 2 shots away from being in a playoff or 3 shots from winning – I only really needed to have made 2 or 3 better shots out of the sand to have won another Masters Title. So my goal this winter is to become a better player out of the sand.’

Now, how’s that different from your goal of breaking a certain score? Well, I can guarantee that Tiger will make Par from the bunker at the 2008 Masters at a higher rate than the 28% he made in 2007. Anyone want to bet me on this?

Your scores on the golf course – meaning the 100 or 90 or 80 that you’re using as a measuring stick are determined by how you Drive the golf ball, hit your iron shots, putt the golf ball, hit your wedges, play out of the sand, stick to playing to your Strengths and away from your Weaknesses on the golf course, along with how you control your emotions on the golf course.

So instead of making your goal based on score – why not make your goal to improve one of the above.

At the 2007 Masters, Tiger scored 73, 74, 72, 72 - to end his 4 rounds at 3 over par – whereas the winner Zach Johnson was 1 over Par. If Tiger now makes his goal in 2008 about improving his score to scoring 72 each round (which would’ve won the 2007 Masters), will that goal help him to succeed as much as if he made his goal to improve his sand shots around the green?


‘Play to your PLAN – don’t plan for your score’

If your goal for 2008 is score oriented – you might see the same results you’ve seen in years past. Though, if your goal is focused on improving your weaknesses (like Tiger’s PLAN in the sand bunker will be) – then your scores will improve.

Are you score oriented or PLAN oriented? Make your goals about improving your PLAN and your scores will improve. Make your goals about improving your scores and your frustration will continue.

The Monkey is focused on their score and more times than they’d like to admit, they find a way to mess up during the round and not achieve that score

The Player is focused on their PLAN and usually doesn’t know that they’ve accomplished a better score until the round is complete

How are you going to accomplish your goals in 2008?

Go ahead, Be a Player!

Regards,

Marc Solomon - Your Instructor For Life

www.GolfMadeSimple.com

How To Hit The Golf Ball Farther

Click Here To Listen to The Audio Version of Golf Improvement Weekly



Hitting the golf ball farther should be a priority of yours. If you look at the top Golfers in the world – the majority of them hit the golf ball a good distance. The problem is that many Golfers continually hit bad golf shots because of their quest to hit the golf ball farther.

For the struggling Golfer – hitting the golf ball longer usually comes down to swinging harder. For the Player – hitting the golf ball longer comes down to having an efficient golf swing so that every part of your body is moving together. There’s a huge difference between these two strategies.

Which strategy for distance do you use?

The coordination of your body so that it moves together is more important than your ability to swing hard. I know many Golfers that can swing harder than Tiger Woods – though, there aren’t many that can hit it farther on a more consistent basis.

If you look at the Professional Long Driver Tournaments – Tiger wouldn’t be able to compete with these guys. Their drives in the competition would smoke Tiger’s drives. Yet, on the golf course – Tiger wouldn’t just smoke them – he’d vaporize them!

Who would you rather model your game after?

So why can Tiger hit it so far, yet so consistent? Because over the years of playing he’s been able to coordinate the movements of his body so that he’s become more Symmetrical. He’s been on a quest to have both sides of his body to become equal. Equal in strength – equal in coordination – equal in talent.

The more a Golfer is right-hand dominate or left-hand dominate – the more this Golfer will need to compensate in their golf swing for the less talented hand. Now when I say hand – I don’t just mean your actual hand. A better way of saying it is right-side dominate or left-side dominate.

Meaning if you’re right handed, it doesn’t only mean you’re doing things better with your right hand. It means you’re doing things better with your whole right-side: right hand, right hip, right foot, right leg, right shoulder, etc. It means that your whole right-side is stronger and more coordinated than your left-side.

So the more right-side or left-side dominate you are – the more compensations will be in your golf swing to make up for the weaker, less coordinated side. What type of compensations will you see, well in Monkey Terms – swinging over the top, outside in, picking up, reverse pivoting, lunging, falling back, losing posture, etc., etc., etc. Though at Golf Made Simple we just take all those Monkey Terms, throw them together in a pot and call them Compensations.

Do you have any of these Compensations? Do you want to fix them?

Hopefully you do want to fix your Compensations because ‘Compensations equal Inconsistency’. The more you compensate in your golf swing – the more inconsistent you’ll be on the golf course.

So as Albert Einstein came up with E=MC2; GMS uses C=IC - Compensations equal InConsistency.

The key to hitting the golf ball farther is not to consciously try to swing your golf club harder. The more you do that – the more you’re dominate side will be compensating for your less dominate side and thus fighting each other. The key to hitting the golf ball farther is to have both sides of your body to become more and more equal.

Then as you use Drills designed to make your sides more equal, you’ll see your weaker side starting to improve – along with you starting to see more and more distance on your shots without trying to swing harder. This will be in direct correlation to you becoming more symmetrical – which will do two things:

One – it’ll coordinate your body so that your swing becomes smoother and without your weaker side of your body getting in the way of your stronger side, you’ll be swinging with more power without trying to swing harder. Second – as your weaker side gets stronger, there’ll be less of a need for you to compensate to make up for the weaker side. And less Compensation will allow you to hit the center of the club more often.

How much distance will ‘Centerness of Hit’ add to your Driver? This could range from 10 to 45 yards of instant improvement in yardage. Instant!! Because hitting the center of your club is the number one way to increase distance – yet look at your Driver. Where are all the markings of where you hit the golf ball? Are they in the center?

This is why GMS uses drills such as ‘The Symmetrical Drill’ on Day One of your 3-Day Program with us. And this is why so many Golfers that come to see us are hitting the golf ball farther and more consistent after just 3 days.

The Monkey will try to swing harder on a Par 5 or long Par 4 to get extra distance, but the only extra they get is extra frustrated and extra penalty strokes

The Player has a PLAN to improve both sides of their body on the practice range so that they don’t need to swing harder to get more distance on the golf course

What are you doing for more distance?

Go ahead, Be a Player!

Regards,

Marc Solomon - Your Instructor For Life

www.GolfMadeSimple.com

Do You Hate Blow-up Holes on the Golf Course?

Click Here To Listen to The Audio Version of Golf Improvement Weekly



What’s the percentage of time that you take out your 3 wood for your second shot on a Par 5 hole? If you’re like most Golfers, the answer could be 80% or higher. Though, the Players on the PGA Tour aren’t even close to that high of a percentage.


So why are you using your 3 wood more than the PGA Tour Player? And please don’t say because the PGA Tour Players hit their Driver so much farther than you - because they play a golf course that’s much longer than the course you play – so things balance out.


I feel this is an important question to ask since we’re always working to help Golfers with their personal battles to combat the ‘Blow-up Hole’. I believe that the number one culprit in holding you back from playing more great rounds of Golf maybe the occasional ‘Blow-up Hole’.


For example: You’re going along – playing a pretty good round of Golf after 7 holes and then all of a sudden ….. ‘Blow-up’. How did this happen? You were playing so well and then out of nowhere you make an 8 on a Par 5 and now your score is back to what it always is after 8 or 9 holes. If you do this once on the front nine and once on the back nine - it’s the difference between the 89 you want and the 95 you keep getting. Or the 99 you want and the 105 you keep getting.


You look back after the 9 holes and say to anyone that will listen (even though they’ve most likely heard you say it after every 9 holes), “If I could just get rid of those ‘Blow-up Holes’, I’d have a good score.”


Let me ask you a few questions – How many ‘Blow-up Holes’ have been caused by your 5 iron? On-the-other-hand, how many ‘Blow-up Holes' have been caused by your 3 wood? Has your 3 wood caused more or less 'Blow-up Holes' than your 5 iron?


Now, there will always be one person out there that’ll say that they make more ‘Blow-up Holes’ because of bad shots with their 5 iron than their 3 wood. Though, I’d probably need to see it to believe it – but I guess it’s possible.


Now what causes most ‘Blow-up Holes’? Does a bad tee shot into the trees automatically cause you to take an 8 on a par 5? No, not at all!


Just yesterday, I was with a Golfer on a par 5 that hit a good drive that had a little hook to the left. The ball took a big jump to the left when it hit the ground and went into the trees about 250 yards from the center of the green with no shot to advance the golf ball closer to the hole. The Golfer hit it out onto the fairway and had 260 yards left to the center of the green after two shots.


What would’ve you done from here?


I feel that if you would’ve gone on to make an 8 or more on this hole, that the bad Drive would’ve had very little to do with your bad score. I believe that the 3 wood that you would be trying to get as close to the green as possible for your 3rd shot – but ended up half-topping into the fairway bunker 200 yards away from the green, that led you into hitting your 4th shot with a 3 iron that hit the sand a little behind the golf ball (in your attempt to get close to the green); that led into your 5th shot being a 180 yard shot to the center of the green with your 4 iron which you hit pretty well and ended up only a few yards left of the green in another sand bunker - did more to influence your ‘Blow-up Hole’ than the bad drive did.


Have you ever - “been there, done that”?


Look at the Stat of the Week below in this Golf Improvement Weekly to see where the Players on the Nationwide and PGA Tour have their worst scores. It isn’t on the Par 5’s where they use their 3-woods less than you do even though the Par 5’s they play are often well over 575 yards.


Well, the Golfer that I was with yesterday took out his 5-iron from 260 yards for his 3rd shot and hit the golf ball to about 110 yards to the center of the green. Then hit his Pitching Wedge to about 20 feet of the hole and made the putt for Par.


And you know what? He made it look simple. And even if he didn’t make the putt – he would’ve got out of the hole that had the potential to ‘Blow-up’ - with a Bogey that wouldn’t have hurt his score.


‘Blow-up Holes’ don’t happen just because of bad tee shots – ‘Blow-up Holes’ happen because you’re not playing to your Strengths. ‘Blow-up Holes’ happen because you’re playing to your Weaknesses.


The Monkey doesn’t play to their Strengths or away from their Weaknesses – they just hit ‘whatever’


The Player plays to their Strengths so that they’ll never even have to consider their Weaknesses


When’s the last time you played like a Player and made a conscious effort to have a PLAN for all 18 holes?


Go Ahead Be A Player!


Regards,


Marc Solomon - Your Instructor For Life


www.GolfMadeSimple.com

The Evolution of a Golfer

The Evolution of a Golfer

Go From a Frustrated Golfer to a Happy Player!

Why is it that it seems like some people that begin to play golf pick-it-up right away? Then before you know it, they’re breaking 100, busting through 90 and in less than 2 years – they’re in the 80’s for a short spell before moving into the 70’s in year 3 or 4.

On the other hand – Why is it that some people begin to play golf, make some progress, but then get stuck and don’t improve from that point? They start off like most people learning the game, taking baby steps towards improving and then wham – they hit a wall and stay there for the next 5, 7, 10, 20 years.

Which group are you in?

7 out of every 8 Golfers are in the second category. You start off with high hopes and dreams of playing well. And you slowly make progress after taking a few golf lessons. At this point Golf is still exciting and you’re pumped-up to be out on the golf course, along with going to the driving range to practice your golf swing. You like that you’re seeing improvement – even though it may be slight, there’s some improvement.At this point, some people will progress into the 80’s every once in a while – though most get stuck in the 90’s or 100’s. And thus two categories of Golfers are created – ‘The mid-90’s Golfer’ and ‘The Low 100’s Golfer’.

Look below this article to see how you can make a Donation to The San Diego County Red Cross, along with Winning a 3-Day GMS Program

It seems to me that once Golfers put these labels on themselves – they almost never lose that label. Is it because they don’t have the talent and ability to break through 90 into the 80’s or through 100 into the 90’s? Is the game just too hard and complicated that you can never do it? Is there not enough time to devote to your game on the practice range or enough time on the golf course?

I believe the answer for all three questions is: you do have enough talent – the game isn’t that hard and complicated – you don’t have to devote that much time to your game to see consistent improvement.What happens to many Golfers is that you get so caught up in ‘the grip’ – in ‘getting your knees, hips and shoulders aligned’ – in ‘keeping your head still’ – that you make hitting the golf ball with a consistent swing, more complicated than it should be.

Have You Ever Heard of the Book – ‘Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff’?

Let’s go back to the Golfer that breezes through the 90’s, then the 80’s, and into the 70’s. How is this possible? No, taking Mulligans isn’t the answer! This is the Golfer that’s focused on striking the golf ball with a smooth golf swing. These Golfers aren’t concerned about all the details that the ‘mid 90’s Golfer’ and the Low 100’s Golfer’ are concerned about.

The Golfers that get stuck in the 90’s and 100’s often read Golf Digest and Golf Magazine or watch the Golf Channel and think that all this stuff they read or hear needs to be done to get into the 80’s and 70’s. They think this is the stuff the 70’s Golfer is thinking about on every golf swing. And that this is the stuff that the 70’s Golfer practices all the time.

Who do you think reads Golf Magazine more often – The ‘mid-90’s Golfer’ or the ‘70’s Golfer’? Who do you think is trying the tips on the Golf Channel more – The ‘Low 100’s Golfer’ or the ‘70’s Golfer’? Who do you think reads Tiger’s tips in Golf Digest more often – the ‘mid-90’s Golfer’ or the PGA Tour Pro?

Well, I can answer these questions very easily – Do you think Tiger would reveal his ‘secrets’ if he knew that other guys he was competing with were going to successfully use his ‘tips’ to improve and potentially beat him? That’s how unimportant those ‘tips’ are. If they were so valuable – why would he (Ernie Els, Sergio Garcia, Annika Sorestam and others) give their ‘secrets’ away for some other Tour Pro that was competing against them every week to use to beat them?

That would be like Coca Cola giving their secret recipe to Pepsi. Or Warren Buffet telling every investor what he’s buying before he buys.

The Evolution of the Frustrated Golfer to the Happy Player begins with getting away from basing your Golf Swing on all the ‘tips’ you’ve read and heard throughout your ‘golf career’. You’ll start the Evolution of transforming into a Happy Player once you get away from the ‘Tip Mentality’ that keeps ‘mid-90’s Golfers’ as ‘mid-90’s Golfers’. You’ll start to see the transformation once you start to develop a PLAN and then stick with that PLAN!

Your PLAN goes beyond your strategy on the golf course. Your PLAN is your swing – Your PLAN is what you take to the golf course so you can swing with consistency – Your PLAN is what will help you go from a ‘mid-90’s Golfer’ or ‘Low 100’s Golfer’ into a ‘Bogey Golfer’; then into an ‘80’s Golfer’ and potentially a ‘70’s Golfer’.

If you want to read how one Golfer did it – click here to read how a Golfer like you went from a 16 handicap to a 3 handicap using his PLAN.

But, you’ve got to have a PLAN to improve like that as opposed to the Frustrated Golfer that relies on the mailman to bring them Golf Tips Magazine each month.

The Monkey relies on ‘Tips’ and ‘Secrets’ to improve their Golf Swing

The Player has a PLAN to improve their Golf Swing

Which do you rely on?

Regards,

Marc Solomon - Your Instructor For Life

http://www.golfmadesimple.com/

Special Message – Donation to the San Diego County Red Cross – Win a 3-Day GMS Program

In the wake of the devastation in California – and since GMS has an allegiance to California with our three locations in La Quinta/Palm Springs, Lake Tahoe and San Diego – along with all our GMS Golfers that live in the path of the fires. GMS is holding an auction for a 3-Day GMS Program – with all money going to the San Diego County Red Cross.

The winning bid will win a 3-day GMS Program (including accommodations) in either of our newest locations. Meaning you could choose either – La Quinta/Palm Springs, California - Phoenix, Arizona - Boca Raton/Ft Lauderdale, Florida.

Again – the money from the winning bid will go to the San Diego County Red Cross so that they can use the money to buy supplies or whatever they need to help those in need. Each week I write about Golf almost as if it’s the most important thing in the world. Obviously when we see what’s happening in Southern California – it unfortunately shows that there are a lot more important things than Golf.

Also, as a special note – I’d like to highlight a very special person - Wataru ‘Wat’ Tomita – our Instructor in San Diego lives in the area of Qualcomm Stadium, were people that were driven from their houses have congregated to stay safe. Yesterday, Wat went over to the Stadium to donate clothes, blankets and supplies to those in need. He has also volunteered to help-out so that people in the terrible position of having to evacuate – are a little more comfortable. I applaud Wat – he’s a true Gentleman and I’m proud that he’s a part of the GMS Team!

You can also help out, along with getting something we feel is valuable (a 3-day GMS Program) in appreciation for your donation to help those in need. We have listed our Charity Auction on Ebay.com – if you’d like to make a bid to help those in need, along with winning a 3-day GMS Program – please click here.

GMS in Palm Springs, California

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This could be the biggest announcement GMS has ever made!

GMS is proud to announce that we have reached an agreement to add a new location in the Palm Springs, California area at The Trilogy Golf Club at La Quinta.

If the name - The Trilogy Golf Club at La Quinta sounds familiar – it might be because it was the host course for The PGA Tour’s LG Skins Game from 2003 to 2006! We’re not fooling around. This was the golf course that held The PGA Tour’s LG Skins Game that featured Tiger Woods, Annika Sorenstam and Fred Couples competing against each other for some big bucks!

And now GMS is giving you the opportunity to spend 3 days with us learning how to develop a more consistent Golf Swing, along with developing a PLAN for improvement in this fantastic location. You’ll be developing this PLAN each afternoon on the golf course that held one of the most prestigious events in golf for 4-years in a row!

Could you think of another place on the West Coast where you’d rather be playing golf when it starts to get too cold up North? What could be better than the golf course that held The PGA Tour’s LG Skins Game! Are you excited?

Set at the base of the majestic Santa Rosa Mountains of Palm Desert, California, The Trilogy Golf Club at La Quinta is a Gary Panks-design that was the home of the 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2006 PGA Tour LG Skins Game. This 18-hole championship Southern California golf course has been played by Tour Players such as the aforementioned Tiger Woods, Annika Sorenstam and Fred Couples, along with Phil Mickelson, Fred Funk and Mark O'Meara.

Have you ever been to the La Quinta/Palm Springs area?

If so, then you know why I’m so excited about our newest location! If you haven’t been to this area – now’s your chance. Let me tell you – I’ve always heard how nice this area is and I’ve seen the scenery on television – but you can’t understand it till you’re here. Words can’t describe the beauty of La Quinta – the sunshine, the blue sky and the mountains leaning up against the green golf courses. It’s no wonder why the Hollywood movie stars vacation in this area and why the PGA Tour always comes back to the La Quinta/Palm Springs area!

We have arranged accommodations at a brand new and beautiful Embassy Suites (that you might mistake for being a Ritz Carlton), that also offers additional accommodations in their beautiful casitas. With a pool, fitness center and full breakfast each morning – you can’t go wrong. Then add that you’re right across the street from Old Town La Quinta with Clint Eastwood’s Hogs Breath Saloon – and you’re in good hands.

Our first class at our La Quinta/Palm Springs location will be held Friday, November 30th to Sunday December 2nd and will continue through the end of May with a 3-Day GMS Program held every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday – along with Friday, Saturday, Sunday.

So sign-up's start right now and continue through the end of May.

2007 and 2008 Rates and Dates are in place – click here to access our webpage for our La Quinta/Palm Springs location at The Trilogy Club at La Quinta.

For more intimate details about the hotel and facility – take a look below in The Buzz. November 30th can’t come soon enough!

Go Ahead, Join Us in La Quinta and Be A Player!

Regards,

Marc Solomon - Your Instructor For Life

www.GolfMadeSimple.com

Hard, Smooth or Easy - How Do You Swing Your Driver

Click Here To Listen to The Audio Version of Golf Improvement Weekly



The thought of swinging too hard is enough to make even the best Golfer stop to take a deep breath. For as long as many of us can remember, it’s been beaten into our brains that swinging too hard is one of the 3 Golf Commandments never to betray.

And so it is that whenever you hit a bad drive – the first thing that pops out of the mouth of anybody within a half-wedge away is: ‘Man, you looked like you were really trying to kill that ball!’ And your reply is most likely: ‘Yeah, I tried to hit that one a mile.’

Yet, have you ever taken into consideration that the fear of swinging too hard could actually lead to more lost golf balls than the actual act of swinging too hard?

‘Huh? Marc, what are you talking about?’

As most Golfers are so worried about swinging too hard and hitting a bad golf shot – the best Players in the world are swinging close to 30 miles per hour (48 kilometers per hour) faster than you. Yet, nobody is telling them that they’re swinging too hard – and by the looks of things – they’re hitting some pretty decent golf shots that are translating into some pretty good scores. Would you agree?

“Excuse me, excuse me – Mr. Woods, I think you’re swinging too hard with your Driver. I think you should try to slow your swing down a little.”

“I’ve just won 4 out of my last 5 events and 7 out of the 16 events I’ve played this year – I think my swing speed is just fine, thank you.”

From the research that I’ve seen, the average Male is swinging his Driver at 85 miles per hour (137 kph) and the average Female is swinging her Driver at 75 miles per hour (121 kph). Yet, Ernie Els, who’s often envied for how smooth he can swing – swings his Driver at 118 miles per hour (190 kph). While Tiger swings his Driver upwards of 125 mph (201 kph).

So it’s funny to hear a Golfer that says – “I wish I could swing as smooth as Ernie Els. He swings so nice and slow. I wish I could swing as slow as he does.”

Ah ha, nice and slow? There’s nothing ‘nice and slow’ about 118 mph. Frankly, he’s swinging his butt off! And what’s funny is that when you’re trying to swing your hardest – you’re still more than 30 mph slower than what you might call a ‘slow’ Ernie Els swing!

Yet, the fear of you swinging too hard, even though you’re swinging 33 mph slower than Ernie – is most likely causing you to hit more bad shots than when you do actually swing too hard. Meaning – because of this fear of swinging too hard, you’re most likely decelerating with your Driver. Which could lead to such horrible effects such as slicing and loss of distance. Have you ever experienced either of those?

And the Golfer gasps – ‘Decelerating with my Driver? Are you kidding me? I’ve never decelerated with my Driver. I’ve might’ve picked up my head once-in-a-while, but I’ve never decelerated with my Driver!’

The next time you’re standing by the first tee waiting for your tee time – watch the group that’s teeing off. And I believe you’ll see most Golfers decelerating their golf swing to the point that they actually have most of their weight on their back foot at impact with the golf ball. Have you ever ended up with your weight on your back foot?

Meaning that because they’re (you’re) trying so hard not to swing too hard, that they (and possibly you) are using their (your) body to slow down their (your) swing by leaning back on your back foot. Again, have you ever caught yourself on your back foot after a Drive? Deceleration!

Believe me; on and around the greens aren’t the only places you’re decelerating. You’re also most likely doing the same with your Driver. Though, deceleration is often not blamed for the bad tee shot – it’s often mis-diagnosed by the ‘swing experts’ that you may be playing with as “picking up your head, swinging too hard, swinging over the top, bending your left elbow, not turning your shoulders, blah, blah, blah, blah.”

Yes, being able to swing smooth can help you to hit a better golf shot. Though, trying to swing slow will actually cause you to hit a bad golf shot just as frequently as when you’re trying to swing too hard.

The Monkey is trying to swing slower and slower after each bad shot and then when they do hit a good shot – they complain about not hitting the golf ball far enough

The Player just makes a smooth “Tick Tock”

Go Ahead, Be A Player!

Regards,

Marc Solomon - Your Instructor For Life

www.GolfMadeSimple.com

South Florida Golf Schools

GMS Location#6 - South Florida!!

Click Here To Listen to The Audio Version of Golf Improvement Weekly


Wow – do we have some exciting news for you! Today we’re proud to announce Golf Made Simple’s newest location at Heron Bay Golf Club in South Florida right between Boca Raton and Ft. Lauderdale!

After years of being in Northeast Florida, followed 4 years ago by an expansion of GMS to Southern California, then last year with the opening of our Gulf Coast of Florida location in the Tampa area, and then earlier this year into Lake Tahoe, California – we’re now ready to give you South Florida!

If the name Heron Bay Golf Club ‘rings a bell’ – it was formerly known as The TPC at Heron Bay – which held the PGA Tour’s Honda Classic Golf Tournament for 6 years from 1997 to 2002. With winners such as Vijay Singh, John Daly and Lee Janzen – the Honda Classic was a formidable tournament held the week after Doral and the week before Arnold Palmer’s tournament in Orlando! So you know that the quality and conditioning of this golf course, along with the practice facilities - has to be top-notch!

And we’re privileged to have GMS Location #6 at Heron Bay Golf Club as our South Florida home. In addition to this PGA Tour quality golf course and practice facility – we’re also excited to announce that accommodations are available right on the property of the golf course at the beautiful Coral Springs Marriott. This is what you could call a classic South Florida golf resort!

One of the perks of our new South Florida location is basically each morning you can have breakfast and then just walk out the back door of your hotel to meet your GMS Instructor for a day of Golf Improvement. And once you’re day of Golf Improvement is complete ….. it’s just steps back to your hotel room for a shower and some dinner.

Our first class in South Florida will be held Friday, November 30th to Sunday December 2nd and will continue year round with a 3-Day GMS Program held every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday – along with Friday, Saturday, Sunday.

If you’re looking to come see us in our newest and possibly nicest East Coast location – sign-up's start right now!

As with every time we announce a new location – dates start to fill-up right away. This is often attributed to Golfers that have been to see GMS before, would like to again take their game to an even higher level and at the same time – try our newest location. And believe me – our locations are getting better and better!

GMS is frequently approached by golf courses and golf resorts around the United States to bring our program to their facilities. And although many of these facilities are really nice – we frequently decline. Though, when we went to the facilities at Heron Bay Golf Club – we were ‘floored’ by this former PGA Tour golf course and the beautiful Marriott property on site. If you’ve been reading (or listening) to Golf Improvement Weekly for a while, you know I have no problem telling you how I feel – good or bad. And I have to tell you – this is as good a golf facility as I’ve seen – and I can’t tell you how excited I am for GMS to be at Heron Bay Golf Club. November 30th can’t come soon enough!

If you want to improve your game; if you want to be in the semi-tropical environment of South Florida; if you want to be able to walk out of your hotel each morning and right onto a golf course that hosted a PGA Tour event – our South Florida location is for you!

2007 and 2008 Rates and Dates are in place – click here to access our webpage for our South Florida location at Heron Bay Golf Club.

For more intimate details about the hotel and facility – take a look below in The Buzz.

Go Ahead, Be A Player!

Regards,

Marc Solomon - Your Instructor For Life

Try This New Golf Swing!

Click Here To Listen to The Audio Version of Golf Improvement Weekly



These days more is written about the golf swing than I can ever remember. It seems as if almost every year there’s a hot new golf swing that everybody is trying. Did you try one of these “new” golf swings this summer? Have you ever been involved in a conversation like the one below?

“Hey, I’ve been using stack and tilt golf swing. Have you ever tried it?”

‘No I haven’t. How’s it going? Are you hitting the golf ball better?’

“No, not yet. But I think it’ll take some time for me to learn this new swing.”

‘How long have you been using this new swing?’

“Oh, I don’t know – maybe 4 or 5 months. I started after watching The Masters this past year.”

‘Four or Five months? And you haven’t improved yet? How about your scores? Are they better?’

“No, not really. I think they’ve actually gotten a little worse. But you have to get worse before you get better. Don’t you? Besides, there are a few guys on Tour that have started using this swing.”

‘Well those guys on Tour were good enough to make it to the Professional level using their own swing before using this new swing. So they must’ve had some talent to even have gotten to the Tour in the first place. Have any of them won a tournament using this new swing that you’re trying?’

“No, I don’t think so. How can they - it seems as if Tiger, Phil, Annika and Lorena are winning all the tournaments.”

Isn’t it funny how the Golfers that are always winning are the Golfers that never get caught-up in these new, goofy, industry changing, everybody needs to try it because it’s the only way to swing – golf swings?

Why is it that the best Players are able to find their swing and then stick with it for years – when the others that have more of a struggle are always trying something new and never getting to the next level because they’re always experimenting with the latest “fad” swing?

Could one reason be that these top Golfers – the Tiger’s and Annika’s of the golf world – know that it’s better to stick with one swing? A golf swing that’s not perfect, a swing that they’ll still need to work on from time to time, a swing that they’re consistent with because they’ve used it for years.

Maybe Tiger’s swing looks a little different now than it did in the year 2000. There’s a lot of talk about how he has changed his golf swing two or three times in his career. And when this news is reported - the shock waves that are sent to the “Legion of the Frustrated” are so strong because the ‘Best Player on the Planet’ is reported to have changed his golf swing – it starts the ‘Million Golfer March’ to the driving range so they can also change their golf swing. And thus the “Legion of the Frustrated” starts their journey into the infamous (and frustrating) – “I need to change my swing” mode.

Though, look at Tiger’s swing when he was 18 years old and look at it now. My belief is that you won’t see much difference – except for his body. The underlying principles of his swing look the same. His body motion is the same. The way the club moves is the same. His impact position is basically the same. It’s all so similar – how can it be so different?

So what’s different about his golf swing?

Without a doubt, he has more control of his golf club when he swings. Besides that, tell me what he’s doing different!

So what’s the point and how does this relate to you?

Tiger has stayed so consistent over the years because he has his golf swing and he doesn’t try a million different things every year like you might have a reputation of doing. And those million different things cause you to have a 1,000,000 different swing thoughts every time you’re standing on the tee box holding your Driver – as you hope to swing perfectly so that you can keep your ball in the fairway.

And the funny thing is that this Golfer that’s trying this new swing (usually without any luck); had probably tried an entirely different swing (with the same unfulfilling results) last year. And possibly has repeated the same process for as long as they can remember.

So why is it that so many Golfers are always jumping from swing to swing? And why is it that even though they don’t ever see results using this style of learning - they continue to use the same strategy year after year?

My belief is that - when you love something so much, yet are so frustrated with your performance – you’ll try anything! Unfortunately, that’s a trap the many Golfers fall into (and also unfortunately, never get out of).

Learn your swing. Learn what the Strengths of your swing are. Learn what the Weaknesses of your swing are. Learn how to improve your Weaknesses. Learn how to take advantage of your Strengths. Once you learn how to do this ……. Happiness and confidence starts the process of allowing you to take your game to the next level!

The Monkey is going to the range to practice the stack and tilt and then next year they’ll probably practicing the tilt and stack

The Player couldn’t care less what the stack and tilt is

Go Ahead, Be A Player!

Regards,

Marc Solomon - Your Instructor For Life

www.GolfMadeSimple.com

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Interview With A Player

Click Here To Listen to The Audio Version of Golf Improvement Weekly



This week we have a very special Golf Improvement Weekly. If you remember from last week’s Issue – we wrote about a Golfer named Jim that had set a goal to qualify for the Championship Flight of his County Golf Tournament. In order to qualify for the Championship Flight – Jim needed to have a 3.0 Handicap or less.

Last summer after the 2006 County Tournament – Jim made a goal to qualify for the Championship Flight in 2007. Now, many of you aren’t trying to make it to the Championship Flight or even play in your County Championship. Though, I’d bet a large sum of money that you’d like to continue to improve your golf game. And that’s what we’re going to speak to Jim about.

Jim went from an 8 handicap to a 2.8 handicap – which isn’t an easy task. I believe that an 8 handicap improving over 5 strokes (a 63% improvement) is equivalent to a 105 Golfer improving 19 strokes and a 95 Golfer improving 12 strokes. Too put this in more ‘real-life’ terms – It’s likely going to take the same amount of effort for a person that’s 30 pounds overweight to loose 19 pounds, as it would take a person that’s only 8 pounds overweight to lose 5 pounds.

So if you use Jim as an example and do the things that he did to improve – I believe you can make great strides with your golf in the next year.

Though, because of the length of the interview – it would be hard to fit the whole interview, along with the emotion in Jim’s voice into this written Golf Improvement Weekly. So, to hear the interview in its original form – please click here to have it play on your computer. If for any reason, your computer won’t play the interview – please email us at WhatDoYouThink@GolfMadeSimple.com and we’ll email the interview to you.

I believe that this interview is too valuable for you to miss. For example, just five of the questions that I ask Jim are:

What is the #1 thing that helped you improve like you did?

What do you see other Golfers doing that are causing them frustration on the golf course?

When you used to have rounds in the 90’s, would say that the reason why was because of the ‘blow-up holes’?

How do you now stop yourself from having those ‘blow-up holes’?

What did you do over last winter to get yourself ready for this next year?

If you’re looking for some insight from a Golfer that’s just like you; that has a full time job, along with other interests besides golf – a Golfer that was frustrated with his game, but is now proud of what he’s accomplished – then listen to this interview. It’s too valuable to miss!

Go Ahead, Be A Player!

Regards,

Marc Solomon - Your Instructor For Life

www.GolfMadeSimple.com

How To Achieve Your Golf Goals

Click Here To Listen to The Audio Version of Golf Improvement Weekly


Would you be happy if you shot what might be your best score ever in an important event or tournament, then shot a disappointing score the next round? Would you celebrate or would you lament?

This is the story of a Golfer that I’ll call Jim.

Jim has been playing golf for a number of years and generally has played pretty good, though he always wanted to get better – probably just like you hope to do. Jim enjoyed playing and competing in his county’s Amateur Golf Tournament every year. Yet, there’s been this nagging feeling that he desperately wanted to play in the Championship Flight - which wasn’t a terrible stretch since Jim has competed in the First Flight numerous times.

But, there was a formidable barrier standing in his way. To qualify for the Championship Flight you needed to be a 3.0 handicap or less!

So Jim set a goal after the 2006 County Championship to work on his game so that he would qualify for the Championship Flight in 2007. Now there’s two ways you, as the reader, can go from here: One – you could say ‘who’s Jim and why should I care about him. He could be a fictional character for all that I know. Besides, I’m not even close to playing in my Championship Flight (or I don’t even compete in my County Golf Championship), so what does this have to do with me?’

Or

Two – you could say ‘This could be interesting. Marc might give me some strategies that Jim used to improve his golf game that I could use to improve mine. Trying to make it to the Championship Flight or trying to break 90 or 100 for the first time are relatively the same goals – aren’t they?’

Now, fast forward to this past weekend – Jim playing in the Championship Flight played the greatest round of his life. Playing against Golfers that he’s looked up to for years, Jim went out and shot a 2 under par 70! After the round he telephoned the GMS Office and his first words to me where – ‘I now know that I can play with the best in the county.’

Tell me if you think he was excited?

In the coming weeks, I hope to give you more detail on how Jim made this incredible improvement in such a short period of time. I’ll display the techniques and strategies Jim and I used and I believe that you’ll also improve like he did. Maybe not go from scoring 105 to the Championship Flight in one year (Jim was a pretty good Golfer before we started), but I believe that the 105 Golfer should realistically see an 89 within a year and a 95 Golfer should see the low 80’s.

But at this point, I want to illustrate what Jim did on the golf course this past weekend and see if you could do the same.

He was the leader for much of the first day until one Golfer scored 68 and another 69. But still, 3rd place was pretty dang good!

So knowing that he was in third place starting the second round – Jim scored a 46 on the front nine. Now, a lot of Golfers reading this might be happy with a 46. Though, Jim was coming off the round of his life. And 10 over par for the first nine holes pretty much had to be a major letdown.

Have you ever done the same? Played a great 18 holes – then the next day you come out and it doesn’t feel like you can do anything right - nothing feels good and you struggle. Well, there’s two ways you could go at this point. One – you could start “Fiddling” with your golf swing and your PLAN trying figure to out what’s wrong.

Or

Two – you could do what Jim did and say to yourself ‘You know, I’ve been playing really good golf in the weeks leading up to this point in addition to playing better than ever yesterday. So, I played a crappy nine holes. I know if I stick with my swing, with my PLAN – I could turn this round around.’

So what do you think happened on the back nine? He played holes 10 through 16 at even Par before three putting holes 17 and 18 to score a 38. An excellent 38 - not that there ever is a 38 that’s not excellent.

What would most Golfers have done? Would they have chosen number One or number Two above? Which would you have chosen? The Golfer that chooses number One and starts “Fiddling” with their golf swing and PLAN might find something to get back on track, but in my experience of watching Golfers – 7 out of 8 will end up getting more confused and start playing even worse.

However, the Golfers that choose number Two experience more positives. One being that at the very worst they wouldn’t start playing worse like the Golfer that chooses to “Fiddle” with their swing and the other is that they most likely would get over the bad nine holes, smooth out their swing and play much better.

Jim obviously made the best decision. And ultimately led Jim into having a positive attitude going into the third and final round where he scored a very respectable 80. As opposed to the Golfer who might have chosen the other path after the first nine holes of the second round (by “Fiddling” with their swing and forgetting about their PLAN) and continued to play poorly or worse on the back nine. What kind of attitude would they have coming into their next round? And because of that attitude, how much fun would they have had and how poorly do you think they would’ve played?

Jim sent me an email after his 3rd round and I want to highlight a couple of things he said:

One – ‘Sunday I met my second objective of this year (the first of course was qualifying for the Championship Flight), the second was that I teed off with the top 20 golfers on the front side (golfers in 21st to 40th place started their round on #10). I had 4 birdies in the round of 80 and birdied 3 of the 4 par fives. I am totally jacked up.’

Two – ‘You live by the sword and die by the sword.....the putter. I must become an excellent putter, not just a good putter.’

What are you going to do the next time you play a bad nine holes? Are you going to “Fiddle” with your golf swing or are you going to think of Jim?

The Monkey will panic after a bad 9 holes and then search for anything that’ll work

The Player takes a deep breath, clears their mind and stays with what they know

Go Ahead, Be A Player!

Regards,

Marc Solomon - Your Instructor For Life

www.GolfMadeSimple.com

To Read More articles from this Issue of Golf Improvement Weekly - Click Here

Halfway Through Your Summer Golf Season

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In many parts of the United States, Canada and Europe, you’re halfway through your summer Golf Season. You might only have a few months of good golf weather remaining until your golf clubs are put-a-way in the basement, garage or wherever you put them until spring.

So tell me (or tell yourself) – what have you accomplished so far this year on the golf course? Lower scores, more consistent ball striking, a better understanding of your golf swing, or did nothing get better? Hopefully the answers are one of the first three options as opposed to the last.

Yet, year in and year out for many Golfers the answer is “I accomplished nothing. I’m still where I was when I began this year and at the beginning of this year, I was where I was when I began last year. I haven’t improved or answered any questions about my golf game in a couple of years.”

If this isn’t you – excellent! Then you’ve been able to do what over 8 out of 10 Golfers can’t do – which is improve. So if you’re the Golfer that has improved their scores or developed more consistency in your golf swing or now have a better understanding of your golf game – how did you do it? What would you tell a Golfer that hasn’t improved in the last couple of years? What’s the key?

Fortunately for us, we get many emails every week from Golfers from every continent besides Antarctica. And of the emails that speak about improvement – the majority of emails point out one of the four points below (and I’m going to paraphrase because these points are described in many different ways):

Point One - ‘I’ve settled on one golf swing - my golf swing! As opposed to fiddling around and trying to adapt someone else’s swing theory to my swing. One plane swing or two plane swing isn’t important to me – I just want a swing that’ll be more consistent and when I do hit a bad golf shot, I can easily self-diagnose what I did wrong and have a drill to correct it before my next shot. As opposed to going 6 or more holes before figuring what I did wrong on just one golf swing’;

Point Two - ‘My putting and short game have improved tremendously. I now know that I don’t have to be on every green with every shot. I have the confidence that if I miss the green that I’ll be able to get the ball close enough that I could one or two putt every time’;

Point Three - ‘I’m now practicing correctly. I used to go out like every other Golfer and just hit balls to warm up. I’d start with my wedge and progress up to my Driver and eventually I’d lose my swing just before I had to go to the first tee. Now I know how to warm-up my swing. Now I know the difference between practicing on days I’m not playing and warming up on days that I am playing. Yet, before I learned the difference between practicing and playing, I did the same thing regardless of the situation.

Point Four and something you’ve probably seen in Golf Improvement Weekly or heard on our Podcast every week – ‘I’ve stuck with my PLAN. I’m not hitting a golf shot without weighing my options. I’m not hitting my 3 iron to the green just because everybody else is. I know when I can go for it or when I should play a little bit safer. I’m now playing smart by playing to my Strengths and avoiding my Weaknesses regardless of what the others in my group think and do. I now know I need to play for me, not for anyone else!’

If you have improved, would you say that one of those four points includes what you’re now doing better compared to what you did in the past when you didn’t improve?

Though, if you haven’t improved:

Would you say that you haven’t settled on one swing that you can make more consistent and that you’re able to easily self-diagnose? Did you try any of the tips in Golf Digest last month? One tip isn’t as innocent as you may think? One tip a month for 12 months is 12 different swing thoughts. And one tip a month for 2 years is 24 swing thoughts – which is 23 too many. And I know Golfers that have had subscriptions for 5 or 6 years!

Would you say that your short game and putting hasn’t improved? I’m not asking if you already do have a good short game or are a good putter. That’s not the question. The question is – Have you improved? Most Golfers believe that their short game and putting is decent enough or even the best part of their game. And this might be true. But, most Golfers that score in the 90’s and 100’s can still improve their short game and putting in a big way. For example: Is your short game and putting as good as a Golfer that averages 83? No, then you’re not going to shoot 83.

Would you say that you never practice before a round of golf? Most Golfers that struggle are still trying to figure out their swing before a round of golf on the driving range. They’re practicing new golf tips, they’re practicing Swing Drills, and they’re working on their golf swing! And with the anxiety of playing a good round (or for some the anxiety of not embarrassing themselves on the golf course) – many Golfers panic on the Driving Range and get themselves into a bad situation with their golf swing before even walking to the first tee. You should know the difference between going to the range and practicing your swing before a round; and going to the range and warming up your swing before a round.

Would you say that you have a PLAN for every shot as opposed to just ‘aiming down the middle’ on your drive or trying to hit the exact yardage to the flag without processing other important information about the shot or aiming for the flag on every shot to the green or hitting your 3 wood for your 2nd shot on every Par 5 regardless of the situation or trying to hit a high shot over the sand bunker and onto the green every time without considering other shots or etc., or etc., or etc!

So tell me (or tell yourself) – what have you accomplished so far this year on the golf course?

The Monkey is waiting for next year to improve

The Player is continuing to work on the four points above

Go Ahead, Be A Player!

Regards,

Marc Solomon -Your Instructor For Life

www.GolfMadeSimple.com


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