By Wayne | Articles , Articles: Becoming a Better Player
10 MORE MISCONCEPTIONS 1. “The pros make it look so easy.” Golf instructors hear this one all the time. When the average player gets a chance to see a tour caliber player in person they always marvel at how little energy the quality player seems to expend to hit the ball great distances. “Their swings […]
Continue readingBy Wayne | Articles , Articles: Becoming a Better Player
Nothing is true. Everything is permitted. Jim Carroll So here it is, right in front of you. 200 yards, elevated tee, wind slightly in your face, pin front right, water surrounding the green. A hard four-iron gets the front third of the green and a chance at a birdie, a Rescue 3 clears the […]
Continue readingBy Wayne | Articles , Articles: Becoming a Better Player
“‘How long will it take me to master aikido?’, a prospective student asks. ‘How long do you expect to live?’ is the only respectable response. Ultimately, practice is the path of mastery. If you stay on it long enough, you’ll find it to be a vivid place, with its ups and downs, its challenges and comforts, its surprises, disappointments, and unconditional joys. You’ll take your share of bumps and bruises while traveling–bruises of the ego as well as of the body, mind, and spirit–but it might well turn out to be the most reliable thing in your life. Then, too, it might eventually make you a winner in your chosen field, if that’s what you’re looking for, and then people will refer to you as a master.
Continue readingBy Wayne | Articles: In Golf as in Life
When my editor asked me to write an article that would be the “last of the season”, I began to wonder: “What if it were the last one, period?” What if this was the end and I had to say what I wanted to say now, because there would be no more chances? Well, luckily I’ll be around and kicking for a while, so that won’t be the case, but it does offer up an interesting approach, almost like a last will and testament. So instead of telling a story, or making one particular point, I thought I might dispense some random thoughts that I find important, or that have been important to me in what has been my career in golf up to this point.
Continue readingBy J | Articles: Playing Tournament Golf
It was déjà vu all over again. Wednesday afternoon, on the driving range, at the PGA Championship, searching for a swing that would hit the ball within 10 yards of where I was aiming while traveling at least 260 yards in the air. And when hadn’t I been looking for that? No time I could […]
Continue readingBy Wayne | Articles: In Golf as in Life
I am asked at least once a week by struggling students if I would tell them if I thought they were “hopeless”. I tell them that I would never do that, that there is no telling when a breakthrough might occur, and that as long as they wish to try I will be there trying just as hard to help them.
Continue readingBy 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 | Articles: Becoming a Better Player
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 | Articles: Becoming a Better Player
After teaching for 30 years one thing I can tell you for sure is that the average player is not very good at aiming. Aligning properly for a golf shot is difficult because, unlike shooting a gun or a bow and arrow (or most other activities that require aim) in golf you have to stand to the side of the target line and figure out how to get your body and you club to be square (perpendicular) to that line.
Continue readingBy Wayne | Articles: Becoming a Better Player
One of the problems I have observed over my 30 years of teaching is that a lot of students tend to view a lesson as a “fix” to a particular problem they are experiencing. I have heard the phrase “help me, just don’t change me” enough times to realize that the person who believes this is possible has probably played the game at the same level for many years, the point being that if you want to improve you are going to have to learn some new concepts about the swing or the short game, and you are going to have to try to change what you are doing presently to something better.
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