By Wayne | Articles: Playing Tournament Golf
I invite you to follow along with me as I play the first round of the 2002 Kemper Open. Actually, the story begins 10 days earlier, at the Holden Cup, an 18-hole tournament for Middle Atlantic Section members at Belle Haven CC in Alexandria, Virginia…
Continue readingBy Wayne | Videos: Pro Tip of the Week
It would be nice if one swing would work fine for every shot. Certainly, every swing has elements that are similar or even exactly the same, but if you are going to drive the ball well and hit your irons well you are going to have to make adjustments. The key factor here is that with an iron the ball is on the ground (if you’re on a par 3 and can use a tee you should still tee it up low enough to simulate a very good lie in the fairway) while the driver is teed about halfway above the top of the face of the driver, a good inch and a half off the ground.
Continue readingBy Wayne | Videos: Lesson of the Week
I’ve been encouraged by some members to do more lesson videos with middle to higher handicap players. Jack is 65 years old and over the last few years his game has deteriorated to the point where his swing feels short and stiff with no power and the ball going all over the place. Jack is particularly inflexible, so I know that if I can get his swing some freedom he can lengthen it a bit and get it coming down less steep.
Continue readingBy Wayne | Videos: Online Students
Chip is lucky enough to be a member at Winged Foot, which is where he met another long -time website member and online lesson taker John Lamendola. John has done an amazing job rearranging his swing, and suggested to Chip that he send me a swing. In the video, you will see that Chip exhibits some common swing patterns that compromise his ability to square his club face consistently and compress his irons.
Continue readingBy Wayne | Videos: Swing Analysis
This is a great golf swing. Finau is a strong, rangy guy at 6’ 4” and 200 lbs., and he has come up with a simple, compact move that produces oodles of power. There just isn’t a whole lot going on here you might have a problem with other than the fact that the shaft is a hair under plane in the takeaway, but he opens the face and gets the club up on plane at left arm parallel so nicely that when that’s just about all the swing he needs to hit the ball a mile there’s not much that is going to go significantly wrong.
Continue readingBy Wayne | Videos: Playing For Money
After watching the video I sent him with suggestions regarding his first batch of swings Chas worked on it a couple days and then sent back these swings. It’s amazing how much difference there is between keeping the face shut on the backswing and trying to open it. You can see that he doesn’t really get the toe up when the shaft is parallel to the ground in the takeaway, but he does continue to try to open it to the top which completely uncrosses the shaft.
Continue readingBy Wayne | Videos: From The Vault
Here is another in my series of golf’s greatest major champions. Raymond Floyd won 4 majors between 1969 and 1986, along with 22 PGA Tour events and 15 Champions Tour events (and 4 Senior majors). Lee Trevino came out of nowhere to make his first Tour win a major, winning the 1968 U.S. Open. He won 5 more majors for a total of 6 between 68’ and 1984, with the 1984 victory being his last PGA Tour win. Trevino won 29 PGA Tour events and 29 Champions Tour events, adding 4 senior majors. Tom Watson won 8 majors between 1977 and 1983 along with 39 PGA Tour events between 1974 and 1998, and 14 Champions Tour events (including 6 senior majors).
Continue readingBy Wayne | Videos: Playing For Money
Chas came to me through his friend and my long-time student Jason Gandy. Chas played well enough to earn his Web.Com card for 2016, but only made 8 of 21 cuts with 1 top 20. Jason encouraged Chas to send me a few swings to look at and that is what you will see here. Chas obviously has a powerful and fluid swing with excellent rhythm and tempo.
Continue readingBy Wayne | Videos: Online Students
Wayne, “It feels pretty good overall. The start of this year my play has been good and I managed to get to +4 which is cool, but largely thanks to good driving. My iron play is sporadic; with some misses that are too large and I definitely still need to improve the knock downs we worked on last year. – In this video lesson, you will see that Matthew (who incidentally has an excellent swing) is spot on about his concerns with his lower body movement and how that contributes to his right arm issues in the downswing.
Continue readingBy Wayne | Videos: Lesson of the Week
I met Andy about 6 years ago, when he was an intern at Woodmont CC where I worked at the time, and he was struggling to pass his Player Ability Test (PAT). We managed to get through that and have continued to work on his swing periodically since then. Andy’s chronic issue has always been the fact that his lower body pushed out from under him and by the time he gets to impact he is standing almost straight up.
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