Golf Tips

Bay Hill week always provides me the opportunity to watch some of the world's best golfers tackle an extremely tough course. Here are some of the things I came away with:

1- Tour players hit bad shots. Even the best players screw up from time to time. (they tend to recover better than the rest of us, though!) For example, I saw John Daly chunk two wedge shots on back to back holes. Adam Scott 3-putted for par from 40 feet on a par 5, when the worst he should have done was make birdie. Tiger Woods yanked a tee shot onto the driving range during his 3rd round on the 9th hole, and was reaching for another ball before the ball even landed. He also popped up his opening tee shot on Thursday morning, hitting his 3-wood 198 yards. (He made par, though.) What we can all learn from this is that even the best players in the world make mistakes, but the great ones leave the past behind and look forward to hitting their next shot pure.

2- Tour players have great rhythm. Of all the things I observed watching many different types of swings, the one element permeating all of them was tempo. Every single player I saw had such a wonderful flow to their swing. The "effortlessness" of the swing motion is something we can all copy. Never do they look like they are "hitting" a ball. Rather, their real swings look remarkably like their practice swings. If you struggle finding good rhythm on the course, or even on the range, try taking 5-10 practice swings without a ball, then immediately slide a ball in place and copy the feeling of your practice swing. Try that a bit and see if you can't immediately sense a change in your tempo.

3- Length is an asset off the tee, but accuracy can make the difference. The rough was extremely penal at Bay Hill, and those players who drove it straight were in contention. How else was a guy like Corey Pavin in the top portion of the leaderboard on the weekend? Hitting it in the rough was an automatic bogey. So, for those of you who are losing distance off the tee, don't be too discouraged. Become as precise as possible, and keep the ball in the short grass. Each of us should work on targeting on the range. Hit irons to various flagsticks, and practice hitting tee-shots between flags, imagining you are hitting into a fairway. Try to simulate on-course conditions as much as possible.