Articles | Wayne DeFrancesco

No Excuses

I recall reading Carlos Castaneda’s epic “A Journey to Ixtlan” my junior year of college, my first year at Louisiana State U. after transferring from Wake Forest. According to NCAA rules I had to sit out a year before playing for LSU, and I found myself with quite a bit of extra time on my hands, especially considering I had injured myself while lifting weights and was unable to practice or play. I took Spring Break and headed to Arizona in my yellow Chevy Vega to see an old high school classmate I had convinced myself was destined to be the love of my life, in spite of the fact that I had not seen her in years and had never even dated her in the first place.

The Dreaded Slump

By Wayne | Articles: The Mental Game

It all starts to break down, slowly at first, so that you hardly notice, a bad round, followed by another. Just a few shots higher, but that feeling of control is slipping away. The shots aren’t as solid, there are more trees in the way of your imperfect drives, the putts are lipping out instead of in.

The Answer Man

By Wayne | Articles: Becoming a Better Player

I don’t claim to be the definitive source of knowledge when it comes to golf: these answers are opinions gleaned from decades of competitive golf and teaching, and are snapshots of what you would hear from me were you to come to me for a lesson.

How to Take a Golf Lesson

By Wayne | Articles: Technology, Equipment and Teaching

Almost everything I have ever read regarding the subject of golf lessons has focused on the instructor. But there is another side of the coin. Just as there are varying levels of instructors, there is the same variation when it comes to students. And being a better or worse student has nothing to do with achieving good results, or being able to accomplish what the teacher is trying to get them to do.

Searching for Something Positive

By Wayne | Articles: Playing Tournament Golf

[Premium] I took my time. I took a practice stroke. From 14 inches I make 100 out of 100 putts- maybe 1000 out of 1000. But I missed. Seventeenth hole, national television, standing one under through 52 holes and in good position in the top 10 in the PGA Professional National Championship at the Crosswater Club in Sunriver, Oregon, the same course on which I won the same tournament in 2001.

More Tales from the Tour

By Wayne | Articles: Playing Tournament Golf

Golf is an overwhelming game. The quickest way to find this out is to qualify for a PGA Tour event, play the course for the first time on Sunday, then spend the next three days trying to perfect all the shots that will be needed come Thursday when the first round commences. Among these shots are included long, straight drives, precise irons, deft chipping and pitching, and, of course, good putting. This list sounds as though it came straight out of one of the major golf magazines. You know, the 10 page spreads on “How to Break 90” that provide…

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Why “Those Guys” are on Tour and The Rest of Us Aren’t (Although That May Not be Such a Bad Thing)

By Wayne | Articles: Playing Tournament Golf

74 – 74–148. Miss cut. While a lot of interesting things happened at that year’s Kemper Open, that’s the bottom line: 148, six over par, miss cut. I may have been the low PGA Club Professional, but I got beat by about 120 guys. “So, I guess you’re disappointed with your play”, friends, students, and members say. And while in years past that statement would have been very true, I now have a much clearer understanding of what it takes to be good enough to compete successfully at golf’s highest level, the PGA Tour. And having arrived at that understanding,…

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The Right Kind of Practice

By Wayne | Articles: Becoming a Better Player

As you begin to read this article stop for a moment and think about where you are with your game. Things could be going very nicely, (you may have recently shot your best-ever round), or you could be mired in a dreadful slump, your handicap stranded on the “up” elevator. Most of us are probably somewhere in between, vacillating from good trend to bad. Whatever the case, we all have questions relating to the same subject- practice. How much should we be practicing? What should we be practicing? Where should we practice? How should we divide our practice time? How…

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Return to Hogan

By Wayne | Articles: The Golf Swing, Short Game and Putting

It’s not a great feeling when you know in your heart that you are overmatched, that a golf course and the conditions are too tough and that the true level of your game will not be enough to bring about a positive result, and that you will ultimately fail. I’ve had these feelings a few times in the past, almost every time at the PGA Championship after I have qualified through top 20 finishes in the National Club Pro. It is disconcerting to know that I am not good enough to compete in a major championship, but it is another…

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Just Trust It?

By Wayne | Articles: The Mental Game

How many times have you heard or been told, especially after a poor shot, to “just trust it”, or “just swing the club and don’t think about it so much”? Quite a few, I’d be willing to bet. Think back on how that advice affected your next shot, or series of shots for the rest of that round. Perhaps you started hitting it better, at which point you might have come to conclusion that mindlessly swinging was the way to go, and that complicating matters with swing thoughts was detrimental to your ability to strike the ball effectively. You probably…

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