Who Do You Play Golf For?

As we were looking through Golf Improvement Weekly archives for a quote of the week, we came across a Classic GIW from 2006. As we read it – we couldn’t stop laughing at how true it is. So we want to present this GIW to you to read. This truly is a classic!

Who do you play for on the golf course? Or let me put it another way - When you're on the golf course, are you ever worried what other people are thinking about your golf swing or your game?

The Monkey is more worried about how their golf swing looks to others rather than staying focused on their PLAN. Or in other words - it's more important for you to look like you know what you're doing in front of other Golfers, rather than staying focused on your game and scoring well!

OK, I understand that you might not understand what I'm saying or are in self-denial - so let’s go to an example.

Tell me if you've ever been in this situation -

You're paired up with one other Golfer and through the first 9-holes you're playing better than normal. The other Golfer that you're playing with is not playing as well as you. He/she is doing a lot of "Fiddling" with their swing on every shot and saying things like - "If I could just get the golf club set at the top a little better, I’ll be able to hit the golf ball so much better" and "You have to excuse me, but I'm not playing as well as I usually do. In fact, this might be the worst I've ever hit the golf ball" or "I'm not really concerned with what my score is today, I'm working on something in my swing."

So after 9 holes, you've scored your best score or close to your best score (pick a number based on your level of golf and use a score you want to break for 9-holes 49, 44, 39 or 35). The Monkey you're playing with is somewhere else in the stratosphere considering the 8-mulligans he/she's taken and of course I don't think that his/her ball has ever hit the bottom of the hole.

You stop in the clubhouse between nines to use the restroom and to allow the Monkey to get a hot dog and Diet Coke. As you're walking out of the restroom, you pass the Monkey putting some relish on their hot dog as they call you over - "You know Grover, you have a pretty good swing, but, you know if you could just take your club back a little more on the inside on the way back, you'd hit the ball so much better."

So you kind of blow them off by saying -

"Ok, thanks, I'll try that." But, they won't let it go. So on the way back out to your golf bag, you get the whole Monkey Digest synopsis on why the club must come inside on the way back "... because if it doesn't, then you can't bring the club back down on the inside swing path and you'll be way off plane. So if you can get your arms dropping more down on the inside, you'll be able to swing the club on the proper swing path through the golf ball from the inside to the outside."

And then as you get to the 10th tee, you have about 3-minutes to kill as the group in front of you is still in the fairway waiting on the group in front of them. So the Monkey looks at you and says - "here, get your Driver and come here - I want to show you what I mean. Set-up. Set-up like you're going to hit a Drive. Great, now you could probably get a better spine angle, but let's talk about your swing path first, though your grip does look a little weak." And then the Monkey proceeds to grab a hold of your club and put you into all these contorted positions as he/she regurgitates everything that's wrong with your golf swing.

And you shoot 60 on the back nine holes (which is probably what the Monkey shot – yet they told you that they scored a 41) as you lose a dozen golf balls and have to listen to the Monkeys commentary not just on everyone of their shots, but also yours.

So why'd you allow the Monkey to help you go from so good to so bad?

I believe it's that we all want to look good in front of others on the golf course. We all want to do things the correct way and don't want to look like we're doing things weird or wrong.

So all hail the Players whose swings are all wrong according to the Monkey philosophy of - "I'd rather swing correctly than score my best".

Let's salute these poor souls that do it wrong:

Annika Sorenstam for taking her eye off the ball as she over rotates into impact

Jack Nicklaus and his pathetic flying right elbow

Jim Furyk and that backswing - oh, that crazy backswing - "that swing can't hold-up for long, he's going to have to eventually change that"

Lee Trevino for aiming so far left with his feet that you wonder what golf course he's playing

Tiger Woods for straightening his left leg through impact - "Hey, wait a minute Marc - that's what a lot of Golf Pro's are teaching now." Yeah, but how many times did these same Pro's tell other Golfers to never straighten their left leg - before they heard Tiger was doing this?

And if you went to the golf course and used the claw grip for putting before Chris DeMarco made $10 million doing it - what would other Monkeys have said to you and how long would you have used it even if it did help you to make more putts?

All those Players have their own PLAN and nobody, nobody can change it!

And unfortunately for the following Golfers someone changed their PLAN - because if you have a chance to ask Curtis Strange - What happened to your game after you won consecutive US Opens or Sandy Lyle - What happened to your game after you won the British Open, TPC and the Masters or Hal Sutton - what happened to your game after you won the Players Championship, TPC and Memorial in the mid-80's and was called "The Next Nicklaus" and why it took 12-years before you won again - And if you get to ask Ian Baker Finch what happened after you won the British Open and then just totally lost your game - and if you get to ask ........

They'd all say - "The Monkey got me! They told me that if I could just change (feel in the blank) in my swing that I'd swing more correctly."

You want to be a Player? Then beware of the Monkeys - they're out there lurking - looking for weak minded Golfers that they can convert to their "Evil Monkey Ways".

The Player's motto - Hear No Evil, See No Evil, Speak No Evil!

Why Speak No Evil? Because as my good friend Todd Temkin from Chile so eloquently put it -

Monkeys gloat when they play well and mope when they play bad. Players just play!

The Monkey is more worried about what others think of their golf swing

The Player is too focused on their PLAN to really care what others think

Go ahead, be a Player!

Regards,

Marc Solomon - Your Instructor For Life
http://golfmadesimple.com/instructor-4life.html

New Bonus Material For Anyone Considering Video Analysis - We have added our report on: "Using Video Analysis To Improve Your Golf Swing" to Golf Made Simple website for you to download and view.

Just go to the website - www.GolfMadeSimple.com. On the left side of the page you'll see where you can download this Free 8 page report. It's easy, it's free and it's a pretty extensive report on our findings.

Past Indoor Practice Drills

If you'd like for us to email you a special Indoor Version of an excellent GMS Putting Drill that you could spend hours on this Winter - email us at indoorputtingdrill@golfmadesimple.com and put GIW in the subject line.


To view a segment that covers 2 swing drills you can practice inside, email us at: PushUp@GolfMadeSimple.com with the words 'Golf Improvement Weekly' in the subject line to receive a link and password to access the video segment from our DVD - How To Improve Your Golf Swing Indoors.

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THIS WEEK'S QUESTION:

Last Week's Poll Question:

When you have an 18 foot putt, where should you be focused on putting your ball?

A. Into the hole

B. Within a 3 foot circle that surrounds the hole

C. Into a 2 foot box beyond the hole

D. You shouldn’t be focused on anything

Poll Results

The answer is C–

Votes received by the readers of GIW:

C. Into a 2 foot box beyond the hole – 2,033 votes

B. Within a 3 foot circle that surrounds the hole – 578 votes

A. Into the hole – 472 votes

D. You shouldn't be focused on anything – 3 votes

Click here to see why that was the best answer

"I Thought The Instruction Was Excellent!"

I attended a 3 day class on June 23, 2008 at Lake Tahoe along with my two brothers. I thought the instruction was excellent.

I have found that staying with the "plan" and remaining as consistent as possible has proven to allow me improvement in my playing. I have improved in my ability to play the game and I feel I am continuing to improve.

My brothers and I have been talking about getting together and having another class again this summer. I can not see how Golf Made Simple would not help everyone that comes to see you. It is an excellent program!

John H – Sacramento, California – Sent January 24th, 2009

Attended Lake Tahoe location on June 23rd to 25th, 2008

Share Your Golf Made Simple Testimonials Click Here »

"My First Hole In One!"

Hi Marc,

Just wanted to let you know I was fortunate enough to have my first hole-in-one ever last year. It was on June 18, 2008 on the 9th at Valley Brook Golf Course in Rivervale NJ. The 9th is a short par 3 over water. It played about 115 yards that day and I hit a pitching wedge.

The ball landed about two feet past; spun back and went in. My focus on that shot was simply to make good contact. I focused on completing my “tick-tock” to insure good contact and it worked!

Alan I – Franklin Lakes, New Jersey – Sent January 12, 2009

Attended Amelia Island location on June 4th to 6th, 2007



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"Golf Made Simple - Believe It Or Not "

Excerpted from Classic GIW Issue 187 from February 6th, 2007

I recently observed a situation you might be surprised to hear. In fact, many of you may not believe this story at all.

On the golf course the other day, I was watching a mid 90's to mid 100's Golfer play a few holes. On the 1st hole (a Par 4), this Golfer was on the green in 3 shots and then 3 putted for a 6. On the 2nd hole (a Par 4), was on in 2 shots and 3 putted for a 5. On the 3rd hole (a Par 3), was on in 1 shot and 3 putted for a 4.

So after 3 holes, this Golfer looked at no one in particular and said – “I’m playing so ...."

To continue reading the rest of this Classic GIW - Click Here »

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Scoring 81 On The Golf Course

Scoring 81

Congratulations to Brian Vranesh. Who's Brian Vranesh? He's Mr. 81 on the PGA Tour this year!

What's Mr. 81? He's the first Player on the PGA Tour this year to score above 80. Now this isn't to make fun of or ridicule Vranesh – this is just to show that even people who play golf for a living can have a "bad" round. Yet a "bad" score for Mr. Vranesh might actually be a great round for you. As GMS is a big believer in using a Result Based Approach to help Golfers improve – and the results of our Golfers show GMS works – we're going to use Vranesh's "bad" 81 to help you score a "great" 81.

Vranesh scored his 81 this past weekend in the first round of the Sony Open in Hawaii. And after looking at his stats – I believe an 81 is well within the reach of many Golfers who previously thought of it being out of reach. Here are his stats:

Driving Distance – 261 yards per drive (not as far as it may seem, I'll explain below)

Driving Accuracy – 36% (which equates to only 5 out of 14 fairways)

Putts – 34 (almost 2 per hole)

Greens in Regulation – 33% (which equates to 6 out of 18)

Putts per Green in Regulation – 2.16 (no wonder he didn't have any Birdies)

Now those above stats may look ugly for a Tour Player – but if you were able to replicate these – you could score 81 (or close enough to be extremely happy). I believe each one of the above stats can be accomplished by just about anybody – yes, you'll need to practice your putting and your golf swing – but you can do it.

Even the Driving Distance stat can be achieved because you must remember – you're not playing on a 7,000 yard course like Mr. 81. What I mean is that the Driving Distance stat must be converted for you since Vranesh played on a golf course measuring 7,060 yards. And if you're presently not scoring 81 or below, yet you're playing from that distance on your golf course – you may want to play another set of tees.

As most men play around 6,300 yards and most women play around 5,300 yards – Vranesh's distance would be the equivalent of a man averaging 233 yards a drive (on a 6,300 yard golf course) and 195 yards (on a 5,300 yard course) for a woman. These should be attainable for most Golfers (especially after attending a 3 day GMS program). Yet, if you're a man or woman that drives the golf ball 20 yards less - 213 yards or 175 yards – although it'll be tougher to score 81 – maybe you could make up for the lack of distance by improving your putting.

What about Driving Accuracy - can you hit the same amount of fairways as Vranesh? Well, it really shouldn't matter since the most overrated stat in golf is hitting the fairway. If you've been reading Golf Improvement Weekly for a while, you've seen the stats that back this up. For example: in 2008, 6 out of the top 7 PGA Tour Players (Tiger Woods, Vijay Singh, Padraig Harrington, Phil Mickelson, Sergio Garcia and Anthony Kim) were ranked 150th or lower in Driving Accuracy. The other Top 7 Player was Kenny Perry who was ranked 120th as he hit "only" 62% of his fairways – which is "only" 8 fairways per round. You wouldn't think the top Players in the world would be missing 6 or more fairways every round they play – but they are – so don't get so down on yourself when you miss 7 fairways out of 14!

If these guys are scoring in the 60's by hitting 8 or less fairways per round – you should be able to score 81 by hitting 6 or less like Vranesh. Hitting Fairways isn't important – keeping the golf ball in play is. And although Vranesh didn't hit Fairways – he did keep the golf ball in play. Although he did shank it pretty badly on the 7th hole - a Par 3 of 176 yards – which left him an 84 yard wedge from the right rough.

Vranesh (in shooting his 81) averaged almost 2 putts per hole – which is not terrible, but it's not good either. However this is the area that 7 out of every 8 Golfers wanting to score 81 needs to work on. With most Golfers averaging over 40 putts per round – if you did get down to 34 putts – that's an instant improvement of at least 6 shots! And with many Golfers experiencing rounds of 44 putts – that's a 10 shot improvement!

How do you go from plus 40 putts to 34 putts per round? Well, have you used the Indoor Putting Drills that we've been offering our readers this winter in GIW? If you have, and are still doing them – 34 putts (and probably less) is in your future. If you haven't – 34 putts might be a dream. Start putting now and 34 or less putts will come sooner than you think!

Now, I believe the hardest stat for most Golfers to reach will be this next one – Greens in Regulation - Vranesh hit 6 out of the 18 Greens in Regulation. Whereas most Golfers that hope to score 81 hit only 1 or 2 per round. So tripling the number of Greens in Regulation you hit can be a tough task – albeit, not impossible.

The two key factors to hitting more Greens in Regulation are improving your ballstriking and understanding your Strengths and Weaknesses. In the GMS Alumni Bulletin (for GMS Golfers only), we've written pretty extensively about this topic. However, I know many reading this Golf Improvement Weekly don't receive the GMS Alumni Bulletin (and you won't unless you come to see us for a GMS Program). Yet, one of the things we speak about during a GMS Program is how to hit more greens by understanding your Strengths and Weaknesses. And the ones that continue to PLAN based on their Strengths – see significant improvement in hitting Greens in Regulation. And yes, many GMS Golfers that were hitting 1 or 2 are now hitting 6 or more.

Putts per Green in Regulation – this almost directly relates to your putting skills. Though remember – your putting skills aren't entirely about having a good putting stroke. Putting skills also have something to do with green reading as well as how your putting stroke reacts when you have a 10 footer for par or 29 footer for Birdie – do you leave that 29 footer 10 feet short because you're scared of going too far past the hole and losing your chance of making Par? Which leads you to the infamous 10 footer for Par – how do you handle this 10 foot putt with the thoughts of 3 or 4 putts dancing through your head?

Putts per Green in Regulation isn't entirely about having a smooth putting stroke – it's more about having Putting skills. How do you develop Putting skills? Not by practicing your putting like the Monkeys do – you need to practice like a Player.

Getting back to 2009's Mr. 81 (Brian Vranesh) – you can easily duplicate his 81 if you kept to the stats above. And if you can't keep to the stats above because you hit 20 yards less (equating it to the distances I converted for men and women above) – you'll be several shots higher. If you can't improve to 34 putts and end up with 39 putts – you'll be 5 shots higher. If you hit 2 Greens in Regulation as opposed to 6 – you'll be a few shots higher.

And once you add up all these additional shots - you'll understand why you're not scoring 81.

If you don't score 81, but want to – you'll need to develop a PLAN. Your PLAN starts by understanding what it takes to score 81 – and I've started that for you by listing Brian Vranesh's stats. Then you have to compare those stats to your Strengths and Weaknesses which will help you understand where you should spend the most time practicing.

Now, someone that's scoring above 100 or in the mid-90's that might not yet have the skills to duplicate the stats listed above – shouldn't get frustrated. Don't have the expectations that you're going to be able to duplicate these stats tomorrow. Though, by knowing your Strengths and Weaknesses, you can develop a PLAN so that you can move towards achieving an 81. You might have to go through 100 or 90 before you set your sights on 81, but you can do it if you have a PLAN. You won't if you continue to swing and practice like the Monkey.

The Monkey just goes to the driving range to swing

The Player has a PLAN to improve

Go ahead, be a Player!

Regards,

Marc Solomon - Your Instructor For Life
www.GolfMadeSimple.com

Past Indoor Practice Drills

If you'd like for us to email you a special Indoor Version of an excellent GMS Putting Drill that you could spend hours on this Winter - email us at IndoorPuttingDrill@GolfMadeSimple.com and put GIW in the subject line.

To view a segment that covers 2 swing drills you can practice inside, email us at: PushUp@GolfMadeSimple.com with the words 'Golf Improvement Weekly' in the subject line to receive a link and password to access the video segment from our DVD - How To Improve Your Golf Swing Indoors.