Golf News

Whether teeing off in the final group in the final round of The Masters, or standing over a 4-foot putt to win a couple of bucks from your buddies, golfers at every level experience nerves and anxiety.  Experiencing so-called butterflies in sports is a common feeling – and can be a beneficial one. It means you care about your performance. The key is learning, through experience and awareness, to harness the nervous energy and to still perform at the top of your game. It is a mindset that has been referred to as keeping the butterflies flying in formation. Matthew Keller, a PGA Certified Professional at Cripple Creek Golf and Country Club in Bethany Beach, DE, offers his insights on mastering your nervous energy while on the course. Analyze Past Performances – There are a number of techniques you can use to help relax during the round. First, think back to your best performance. What was going through your mind during your round? Now, ...

Starting a new activity of any kind can be a bit overwhelming. There is a whole new language to learn. There is new equipment to buy. There are new like-minded people to meet. Golf is no different. Once that initial learning curve has been overcome, however, the new possibilities and new friends that come with it bring a level of enjoyment and satisfaction that make the challenging start all worthwhile. Michele Trimarche, a PGA/LPGA teaching professional at Alpine Country Club in Demarest, N.J., offers helpful tips particularly for women interested in taking up golf for the first time. The National Golf Foundation reports that nearly 45% of the beginning golfers in the United States are women. Women are turning to the sports for a combination of reasons: fitness, a leisure activity with family and friends, and to conduct business. Many women, however, often have important questions on how to get started, particularly with regard to equipment...

It is a painful scenario that every golfer knows. You drive the ball well and hit more fairways than normal. Your approach shots find the greens with regularity. You lag putt to within make-able range. And, then, you can’t find the bottom of the hole. Your ball-striking puts you on the verge of a great round but you watch it all fade away due to your inability to make short putts, the so-called knee-knockers. Corey Fields, a PGA Class A Professional based in North Myrtle Beach, SC, offers his assistance for better consistency on the critical short ones. Fields says it is the “small things” that cause problems and can be corrected with practice on proper mechanics. Develop a pre-shot routine – Develop a routine where you make the same amount of practice strokes and get settled into your set-up. The best players in the world all have a routine and can be timed almost to the exact second. This will relax you and make short pressure putts easier. Prope...

Golf’s Holy Grail for a certain population of golfers is not a scintillating short game. It’s not precise iron play. It’s not even great scores. What is sought, for better or worse, is the long ball; banging the ball by your buddies off the tee trumps getting it into the hole faster. Granted, there is a tuning fork in the knickers excitement to watching your golf ball soar into the distant horizon like it came off the bat of The Babe. Golfers on every end of the skill and scoring spectrum, regardless of their agenda, can benefit from hitting a longer tee ball. Par-5s become reachable and greens look larger and more inviting with every additional yard gained.       Nick Jacobi, a PGA Master Professional based in Monroe, N.C., provides insightful tips and drills on gaining additional power and distance. Have you ever paid attention to the best players in the world when they are hitting their driver? There are a few things you can...

Long irons – 2-, 3- and even 4-irons – have, with the exception of a few hold-out traditionalists, disappeared from most golf bags. They have been replaced with the hybrid club, an easier to hit blend of the long iron and fairway wood. Most golfers think of using a hybrid club for longer shots from the fairway, but there are a multitude of other uses. Michele Trimarche, a PGA/LPGA teaching professional at Alpine Country Club in Demarest, N.J., details five ways to best utilize your hybrid clubs, and tips for doing so, that can improve your game and lower your scores.  The advantage of using hybrid clubs is that they are adaptable to nearly every type of shot. You can hit tee shots, high shots into the green from the fairway, fairway bunker shots, shots from the rough and chips from around the green. Hybrids do not require any significant swing changes, only slight modifications. Mastering hybrid clubs will improve your game and increase your enjoy...

Jack Nicklaus stood behind every shot beforehand and visualized the future in an out-of-body experience. Nicklaus’s visual imagery included seeing – in his mind’s-eye – the setup, swing, ball flight and shot result before he ever physically stood over the ball. You can’t argue with the methods of an 18-time major champion. Golfers at every level can benefit from doing the same. Kim Kleinle, a PGA Certified Professional in Instruction who teaches in both Pennsylvania and California, provides firm advice for golfers looking to develop, or improve, a pre-shot routine. Forget mechanics and visualize – Part of the reason for the pre-shot routine is to help you focus on the task at hand and, ultimately, calm your nerves by giving you a sort of security blanket that you can rely on during even the most pressure-filled match. Imagine the shot you want to hit; don’t think about all of the things that could go wrong. Be consistent – Your pre-shot ...

A precocious tyke named Eldrick Woods appeared on The Mike Douglas Show back in the 1970s when he was only two-years-old. The pint-sized golfer had amazingly already carded a 48 over nine holes on a regulation golf course. At age 2! Eldrick was a once-in-a-generation prodigy who transformed into the more recognized Tiger Woods. Tiger’s dad Earl gave Tiger a significantly modified putter when he was only six months old. It would be a challenge to start your child in golf much earlier than that. Jex Wilson, a PGA Master Professional, is the Director of Junior Golf Development at WillowBrook Golf Course in Manchester, Tenn. He offers his experience on when and how to introduce your child to the game of a lifetime. How young? – I am frequently asked when I should start my child playing golf. My answer comes from one of the legends of golf instruction, the late Harvey Penick. Penick, who groomed Ben Crenshaw and Tom Kite, wrote in his “ Little Red Boo...

Other than the four-putt complete meltdown, nothing more quickly ruins a promising round of golf than frequently three-putting greens. The PGA Tour categorizes this player statistic as the rather menacing “Three-Putt Avoidance.” Not surprisingly, the game’s best professionals rarely succumb to this malady. Luke Donald once went 434 holes in a row (24-plus rounds) without one. Imagine what consistently rolling the ball only twice on every green can do for the average golfer’s score. Corey Fields, a PGA Class A Professional based in North Myrtle Beach, S.C., offers his assistance for keeping the putter out of your hands by rolling the long ones close and making the short ones automatic. The best way to avoid the dreaded three-putt is to improve your lag putting technique. Most golfers don’t realize how many strokes this can save you. For example, a 20-handicap player averages seven three-putts per round; tour players average only one per round. ...

Life gets busy. No matter your commitment to improving your golf game, finding the required time to do so can be hard to come by. We have all heard the stories of golfers hitting so many balls in a practice session that their hands blistered and bled. Most of us don’t want to go that route, plus hectic schedules might only allow occasional windows of opportunity to squeeze in an hour of practice here and there. But even if your time is tight, you can still find improvement by focusing on the elements of the game that bring the most dividends. Nick Jacobi, a PGA Master Professional based in Monroe, N.C., lays out a suggested practice routine that will allow you to get the biggest game-improvement returns for a limited time investment. If you could commit to 60 minutes of practice a few times a week your golf game would improve. Here is a schedule that would ensure that you get the m...

Most beginning golfers continually fight the slice when learning the game. The malady is so pervasive that swinging over the top and cutting across the ball must be hard-coded in human DNA. It takes hard work and a focused teaching professional to overcome natural swing tendencies that undermine a solid golf game. Being able to draw the ball — a controlled right-to-left flight for right-handers — on command will allow you to gain more distance and more control over swing and your overall golf game. Kim Kleinle, a PGA Certified Professional in Instruction who teaches in both Pennsylvania and California, offers easy-to-follow tips and drills that can help you turn the ball off your clubface moving in a direction that perhaps you have never experienced. There’s more than one way to draw the ball and more than one professional opinion about the best way to do so. Sometime...

Like a football team inside the Red Zone – threatening to put points on the board inside the opponent’s 20-yard line – golfers inside 125 yards of the hole are also expected to consistently score with lofted wedges in their hands. Be it a pitching wedge, sand wedge or lob wedge, golf inside the Scoring Zone morphs from a power game to a precision game. Hitting a wedge tight to the pin is all about distance and direction; it sounds simple, but weekend golfers, in particular, know it is a skill that is anything but routine. Nick Jacobi, a PGA Master Professional based in Monroe, NC, provides valuable tips on improving your skills with the most lofted clubs. The key to hitting wedges close is controlling your distance. The simplest way to do this is having a consistent setup and learning three different backswing lengths. First, you setup should consist of choking down on the club, positioning the ball in the middle of your stance, placing more weig...

Golf is a phenomenal and enjoyable sport, but nothing can ruin a great day on the course more than being log-jammed behind inconsiderate foursomes intent on stretching 18 holes into an all-day affair. Slow play is one of golf’s most pressing issues. Golfers should be back in the clubhouse within four hours of teeing off; it’s possible to get around in significantly less time than that. Speeding up pace of play requires attentiveness to a few basic rules and ongoing thoughtfulness towards fellow golfers sharing the course. Kim Kleinle, a PGA Certified Professional in Instruction who teaches in both Pennsylvania and California, offers easy-to-follow tips any and all golfers should follow to speed up play and make the golfing experience more enjoyable for everyone. As Kleinle points out, saving just two minutes per hole (30 seconds per player), shortens a round by more than a half hour. Keep up – Your place is behind the group that’s in front of...

    While the impact of the golf clubface with the golf ball is the moment of truth that determines the ultimate success of your golf shot, consistently arriving at that impact point in the correct position is a never-ending challenge for golfers. Success or failure frequently starts with the first few feet of the backswing as the club moves away from the ball — better known as the takeaway. A proper takeaway sets the stage for a solid backswing, leading to a consistent downswing and solid contact. An improper takeaway sets in motion a chain of incorrect movements, awkward compensations and bad habits that rapidly dismantle a proper golf swing before it ever has a chance to develop. Corey Fields, a PGA Class A Professional based in North Myrtle Beach, S.C., offers his assistance in achieving a proper takeaway that will improve your overall swing and more consistent ball-striking. The thing...

    Nike Golf rolled out its literal and figurative biggest hitters, along with a talk-show celebrity, in announcing its newest line of irons. Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy and Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon were on hand for the product unveiling at Liberty National Golf Club in New Jersey in August. The star-studded presentation of the Nike Vapor irons in the shadow of Manhattan was – in contrary to the club’s brand name – anything but misty, foggy or nebulous. It was a bright-light media event worthy of the sporting goods and marketing giant. It marked the debut of Nike’s first new blades in more than three years. The Vapor irons consist of three models: Vapor Pro, Vapor Pro Combo and Vapor Speed. All are currently available. Woods and McIlroy were not just pitchmen for the Vapor line. They are long-time users of Nike’s VR Pro Blade, the Vapor Pro’s predecessor. The input and feedback from the multiple major champions played a significant role in ...

    Golf club manufacturers continue to provide annual equipment upgrades that do everything but proficiently swing the club for you.  Callaway is no different and continues to push the envelope with technology seemingly influenced by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Its recently launched (appropriate verb) Big Bertha Alpha 815 driver arrives with a plethora of features that allow golfers to individually tweak and personalize the club. Make an adjustment here to accentuate your swing strengths; modify it a little bit there to smooth over areas in need of improvement. The soul of this newest Callaway driver lies in the heart of its sole. A “Gravity Core” rod, the approximate size of   a AAA battery, screws into the bottom center of the Alpha 815 driver to adjust the center of gravity higher or lower. One end of the rod has 10.5 grams of heavier tungsten; place that end on the bottom for a more forgiving lower center of gravity, which red...

    German immigrant Fred Leupold undoubtedly had no visions more than a century ago that his expertise with surveying equipment would be guiding golfers on which club to pull from their bag. Leupold opened a store in Portland, Oregon, in 1907 to repair optical tools used in surveying. A century-plus later his name is prominently displayed on high-end golf rangefinders around the world. Leupold is a leader in rangefinders as well as scopes, binoculars, trail cameras and mounting systems used by hunters, target shooters, police officers, the United States Armed forces – and golfers. The Leupold GX-4i2 golf rangefinder is the Maserati, the Learjet and the Hope Diamond in its category. Leupold’s family of GX rangefinders includes five models, with the 4i2 the prominent beacon. Stand in the fairway with the Leupold GX-4i2 and know that not even NASA could help you land your ball more precisely. The majority of rangefinders and GPS syst...

    If golf push carts have an equivalent to the Humvee, the Clicgear Model 8 is a clear frontrunner. This well-designed 4-wheeler securely chaperones your precious golf clubs around the course with a muscular and wide-bodied stability that turns your focus where it needs to be. Having full control over your equipment can only help you do the same with your game. The Model 8 is the latest push cart iteration from Clicgear. It was designed based on requests and input from its devoted customer base. Along with the four wheels, its primary engineering breakthrough is what Clicgear refers to as 4XFOLD. (Product marketers love to uppercase letters.) The golfer friendly technology allows all four wheels to fold, allowing the cart to easily collapse into a surprisingly tight package that can be easily toted and stored. That can be great news if your transportation to the course is a SmartCar or a Mini Cooper and not a Humvee. The Model 8 can be quick...

    Many golfers would pay a small fortune if they could quickly redistribute weight to where it is most needed. Well, now they can — and without Weight Watchers or a Bowflex machine. The Cobra Fly-Z+ driver allows golfers to move a 15-gram weight in the sole of the club to the front or back to manipulate the launch angle of their shot. Set in the rear, the weight provides additonal spin for a higher ballflight and maximized carry. Moved to the front and the driver creates a lower and more boring flight with minimal spin. This so-called center of gravity (CG), and precisely where it is located, is a primary buzz term in the golf club industry.  Cobra refers to its front or back weight adjustability feature as FlipZone technology. It is the company’s response to the current debate on whether a forward center of gravity position is more beneficial than the more conventional belief that a rear location – away from the clubface – is mo...

    You don’t need to be a CNBC junkie to know that when a company purchases a competitor, the name of the company consumed is quickly dropped and long forgotten.  You do know that line about dogs eating other dogs. Exceptions are made, however, when the associated quality and name recognition of the acquired business has exceptional value all on its own. Many readers may still not be aware that Adams Golf was acquired by TaylorMade in a transaction that took place in 2012. Adams is so well known for its easy-to-hit, game-improvement clubs – primarily its fairway clubs – that TaylorMade astutely left many things alone after the procurement. Adams may now be a subsidiary of the TaylorMade mother ship (itself inside the Adidas galaxy), but Adams still forges on under the standard of its established and respected brand.  The most recent club releases by TaylorMade, er, Adams, are their Tight Lies fairway woods and firs...

    Amateur golfers should consider taking a flying leap onto Luke Donald’s bandwagon. The Englishman Donald, regarded as one of golf’s best wedge players, has provided his insights into the design of Mizuno’s new MP-T5 wedges. Donald has skillfully wielded Mizuno’s wedges for at least a decade. While mimicking the club choices of top players is no guarantee of game improvement, it is an intelligent path to consider. Mizuno markets the benefits of its “Grain Flow Forging” method of wedge production. The claim decoded basically means that the clubhead is manufactured from a single carbon steel billet. This allows the flow of the metal’s grain – not dissimilar to the grain in wood – to continuously flow from the heel to the toe. This process is deemed to provide better strength, a truer vibration and better feel. For golfing machinists and materials engineers wanting more, an in-depth video on Mizuno’s forging methods can be found with a...

Anyone ever pulled over and ticketed by a law enforcement officer for driving too fast may not put their faith in speed radar. Surely it was an erroneous speedometer in need of calibration that led to the fine. The policeman with the handcuffs and Taser must have mistakenly pointed the radar gun at a leaf falling from a tree; a lead foot surely could not have been the culprit. While speed radar may mean an expensive ticket and short-term stress disorder in some capacities, it is the friend of the golfer – unless rushing late to a tee time. Callaway’s Speed Regime is a radar game-improvement system that encourages golfers to move at their quickest pace. Knowing your true swing speed is an important component in your golf game for several reasons. First, it is critical to have an accurate speed reading to choose the correct shafts for your clubs. Fast swing speeds with shafts that are too flexible can lead to snap hooks; slow swing sp...

Garmin Approach S6 A Back To The Future Powerhouse     If George Jetson played golf in his time off from work at Spacely Space Sprockets, he surely would have had the Garmin Approach S6 strapped to his wrist. The animated “The Jetsons” series from the 1960s highlighted futuristic technology – most that has not yet come to pass unless you fly to work and drop your passengers off in tubes, or have a robotic maid to keep house (a Roomba doesn’t count). What the Hanna-Barbera creators of “The Jetsons” a half century ago did not foresee was a powerful computer the size of a half-dollar coin that pulled in wireless signals from geosynchronous satellites orbiting the earth that could improve golf games. That was too far-fetched of an idea. But that’s exactly what the S6 is and does. It’s marketers have slyly positioned the device as “wearable intelligence.” With the potent microprocessor fastened on the arm, golfers can utilize the S6 to navigate...

Dancin' Dogg's OptiShot Infrared Golf Simulator Avid golfers can lay down four Benjamins and still not come up with enough cash for the green fees at some of America’s most loved public-accessible courses. Lay down a lesser $300 for the OptiShot Infrared Golf Simulator and you can be teeing it up in your own home 24/7 with 11 scenic layouts for the taking. Dancin’ Dogg’s OptiShot Infrared Golf Simulator Even better, you can play in your pajamas (or not), set your own tee times, laugh at the outside weather, keep your car in the garage, play as fast (or slowly) as you want and get in as many swings as your free time and relationships allow. The OptiShot can never replace a real-world round of golf, but it is an affordable and believable simulation that goes a long way in satiating your year-round golf obsession. All that is required is plenty of room to swing, a Windows-based computer, and the provided OptiShot sof...