Problem Solving in Golf
Sunday, August 11, 2013Problem Solving in Golf
"Golf is a thinking man's game. You can have all the shots in the bag, but if you don't know what to do with them, you've got troubles." - Chi Chi Rodriguez.
Playing the game of golf well requires completing the course using the fewest strokes possible. Your ability to problem solve on the course is vital to shooting low scores. Problem solving on the course requires using strategies that best utilize your existing skills, knowledge and experience. Using an effective problem solving method will improve your performance and optimize skills by focusing your attention on your game plan and helping you evaluate shot risks/rewards.
Problem Solving and Decision Making Method
1- Identify and Select the Problem. In Golf the problem of the game is to use the fewest possible strokes to complete the course. The goal of each shot is to maximize your chance to complete the hole with the fewest strokes possible.
2 - Analyze the Problem. Arrive at a clearer understanding of the problem. The goal of the game is to use the fewest possible strokes to complete the course. My goal is to strategically use my existing skills, experience and knowledge to my advantage making the best decisions possible about each stroke taken, using each shot to position myself to complete the hole in the fewest possible strokes. Defining the best target for each shot is the best way to do this.
3 - Generate Potential Solutions. Identify the possible target areas to land the shot to complete the hole with the fewest strokes possible.
4 - Select and Plan the Solution. By evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of alternatives, including potential risks and benefits, and short- and long-term consequences I can select and plan the best possible target area for my next shot. Considerations in evaluating my best target include: Looking at the ball to see what kind of lie it has before choosing a club. Taking the wind into consideration. Finding any fairway trouble, and playing away from it, if possible. Always playing short of trouble or going over it if possible. Considering how high the rough is and whether I can get out of it. Noticing if the course is wet or very dry. Asking myself if this is an uphill or downhill shot. Choosing my target and club by the lie of the ball. Thinking about whether I want the ball to stop or roll after it reaches its target. Using this information I select the target that best utilizes my available skills, experience and knowledge maximizing my chance of completing the hole with the fewest strokes possible.
5 - Implement the solution. Commit and perform my shot.
6 - Evaluate the Solution. Post game evaluate decisions made on the course, and note any skills that could be improved or built on.
Golf grip
You may well be shocked or at least taken aback at how many players
there are who work typically on their swing action but hardly ever (if
ever) work on their golf grip.
In this instance, I mean the golf grip of their hands, not the rubber
grip on the shaft. When you think about it though, the full swing action
begins with the golf grip, which will need to boost its relevance in
getting it correct.
If your golf grip does not work, why should anything that comes after
work?There is a unbiased grip for any golf enthusiast. That golf grip is
when your arm hangs straight down from the shoulder socket and the
direction of your target side hand.
It can make no distinction whether you use an overlapping, interlocking,
or ten-finger grip. What IS crucial is the slope the club is placed in
your hand.To uncover your neutral grip, to begin with take your address
spot, but without having a golf club, and make it possible for both arms
to hang downward from the shoulders. Remain relaxed, there ought to be
no stiffness in your arms or hands.
The majority of golfers find that their target side arm hangs anywhere
in between the midsection of the target side thigh to the inside of the
thigh, based on the width of foot position and or the width of the upper
body.
As you start looking down at your target side hand pay notice to the
angle it hangs. A number of of you will view two knuckles of the hand,
many can see three, and a few could even see four. It isn't going to
matter how many you see. No matter what the number, this is your body's
way of informing you its natural predisposition and that is the neutral
angle for your golf grip.
Whenever you place your target side hand on the golf club it ought to be
at the identical angle you just saw.The golf club then extends
diagonally from in between the first and second joint of the index
finger to the bottom part of the pinkie finger. Shut the fingers and
then shut the hand with the heel pad on top of the shaft with the thumb
to the rear of the shaft.This provides force from the heel pad downward
and the last three fingers apply pressure upwards.
Then take the lifeline of the trailing hand, situated between the thumb
and heel pads, and position it on the thumb of the target side hand.The
lifeline towards the thumb exerts the pressure. The right forefinger
should be segregated, in a "triggering position", yet with no pressure.
It is crucial to fully grasp that the forefinger and target side thumb
both be on the similar side and angle of the shaft for the perfect
support.
The trailing thumb ought to be on the target side of the shaft. You
under no circumstances want the thumbs to apply any pressure. Last but
not least, as a way for the hands to perform together, they need to be
parallel to each other.This might all appear tricky, but try it and see
for yourself if discovering the proper grip angle doesn't enhance your
shots.
Golf clubs
The weapon of choice for any golfer is a good golfing club. A set of
golfing club would be a fairway wood, iron, putter and at least one
driver. Today there are many clubs that replace the traditional gold
clubs. These mostly replace the longer irons and the fairway wood club.
The USGA determines the rules of the golf. It is an entity to itself
that determines the number of golf clubs that can be used in a round of
golf. The limit is normally set to fourteen clubs. There are different
combinations of golf clubs that are used by various golfers. There are
more of the hybrid golf clubs that are being used because of their
utility in the game.
The driver remains to be the most favorite golf club of the golfer. This
club might not be useful for every hole; however the driver club is the
longest club available with the biggest head at the shaft. This will
allow the golfer to hit the ball at a great distance. However, the
accuracy of the shot cannot be guaranteed. The size of the club head is
regulated by the rules. There are many name brand golf clubs available.
These can range between $200 and $400; however, you can buy discount
golf clubs for $100 or even less an amount.
The fairway clubs are known to have a loftier head than the drivers.
These are normally chosen for the long shots when the ball is lying down
on the ground. These club heads used to be made of wood but they are
mostly made of metal now. These can cost between $150 to $300, but then
again, you can go for the discount golf clubs which would cost you much
lesser than the branded golf clubs.
The real essence of the golf set is the golfing irons. Almost two thirds
of the shots in a golf game are played using a golfing iron. These are
used to hit the ball up to a distance of 225 yards. Each iron is
assigned a number based on the loft in its head. The 9 iron will have
the most lofts and it is used to hit short high shots. A 2 iron will
have very little loft and a longer shaft. These are used to hit long and
low shots.
A golf club wedge is also a part of a golfing set. These can include the
pitching wedges the sand wedge and the loft wedge. These will normally
be used for shots that are within 100 yards or closer to the green. The
shots played by using these clubs are also often known as money shots as
they can get you very close to the pin. The number of wedges that a
golfer carries will depend upon their own individual strength and
weakness and also the kind of game that is being played.
Golf Short Game Secrets
Monday, June 18, 2012Golf Short Game Secrets
For those golfers who are struggling to find a better swing, and more consistency, review this specially crafted program designed to integrate the golf fundamentals into your existing swing without the pain and anxiety of normal lessons. California Golf Schools has developed a unique approach to the "how" of teaching the golf fundamentals.
Unlike most golf instruction today, this program teaches from the "green out" and not from the "tee in" The result is an easier, more productive learning situation which develops confidence and effectiveness sooner than conventional methods.
From the first teaching hour, the golf instructors teach the fundamentals through the "short swing" This is a natural progression to the longer more difficult clubs.
This series of 2 compact four-hour instruction sessions allow golfers to select a very specific golf area where they need the greatest help. Each segment is organized to focus on the fundamentals of the complete golf swing- but these fundamentals are taught and reinforced from the green out.
Most traditional golf teaching is done from the tee in. This "short swing" method is the opposite. There are no gimmicks or quick fix issues here. The essential philosophy of the instruction is that the golf swing is simpler than it is made to appear. However a golfer must know certain fundamentals and practice them, or progress is slow or non-existent.
There is one golf swing with all the clubs, not different swings for the short clubs and one for the long clubs.
The fundamentally correct golf swing contains certain basic moves, which can be taught "from the ground up." From the smallest (simplest) swing to the largest (complex) those swing fundamentals are taught which are appropriate for all the golf clubs.
(The driver swing contains the same fundamentals as the nine-iron swing even though the nine-iron swing does not include all the fundamentals of the driver swing.)
This simple to complex swing progression aids the student in understanding his personal golf swing. The mini-schools are instructional alternatives to normal 2 or 3 day 15 hours school programs. The 8 hour sessions are designed to be complete in themselves, easily adaptable to varying student skill levels. Each segment illustrates the appropriate swing patterns while providing the drills and practice programs to be used in changing the students swing faults.
In practice the first day, the student will hit few full shots but, but rather will work on achieving club face contact, proper grip tension and physical positioning.
The takeaway, the most critical part of the golf swing is particularly emphasized by use of the "toe up to toe up" drills. These skills/fundamentals are taught in a "mini-swing" (short-swing, ½ swing, ¾ swing) context.
The reason? A golfer can easily feel the swing parts, since the club head is moving slower-back and forward with less brute strength and force. A player at all levels, can feel the timing of the legs and the upper body. He or she can even see the parts of their swing in real time. Advance skills such as visualization can be taught to the moderately skilled golfer.
When a student has reached a success level from a 30-40 yard pitch shot distance with most fundamentals in order, then he is ready to move to the 50-80 yard shot, and as the day progresses, the clubs change from PW to 7 iron to 5 iron etc. No drivers!
The teaching process develops from the short swing to the full swing and leaves few fundamentals behind.
The most important part of this process, is that at some level even the moderate player has success, and he knows what he must work on. The more advanced player moves rapidly, but not until the fundamentals are clear to him. One reason golfers do not improve is that the relationship between distance and consistency. Too often brute force dominates the golf game, while a consistent golf swing leads to better scoring for the vast amount of golfers.
To change and improve, leave the driver in the bag, and practice with no club longer than a 7 iron and watch your scores go down, and your enjoyment go up!
Why You Should Learn to Play Golf - Golf Master Secrets
Friday, July 8, 2011Why You Should Learn to Play Golf
If you are wondering what the benefits are to learning how to play golf, then I'm willing to bet that you fall into one of the following categories:
1. Someone has suggested golf to you as a sport you might enjoy; or,
2. You are feeling some social pressure from others, e.g., colleagues at work.
In the first case, you just have to find out whether golf would be fun for you or not. In the second case, my guess is that you feel it necessary to learn golf so you can join in on the 'bonding' and 'networking' experience, even if golf doesn't excite you all that much.
So, if you need some 'convincing', then read on! There are plenty of good reasons to learn golf, and you'll find them here.
Reason #1: Mental Focus
Golf is a game of focus and strategy. You use your mind, your senses and your ability to time and coordinate movements at every step of the game.
Golf is not a game of brute physical strength the way some other sports are. In fact, the stronger you are, the more you'll probably have to work on containing and directing that strength when it comes time to hit the ball.
The best players are those who have learn to still their minds and visualize making that perfect swing. It may look easy from the outside, but there is actually a lot of 'multi-tasking' going in the mind of a golfer.
You learn to judge distances and correlate those distances with the amount of force to apply in your swing. At the same time, you must aim your swing and account for any factors that might change the direction of the ball.
Believe it or not, training yourself to focus in this way will have useful applications not just in other sport, but in other areas of your life. If nothing else, it teaches you to take a step back and calculate all of the variables standing between you and a goal.
Reason #2: Low-impact Exercise
You can actually get a great work-out by playing golf.
How?
First, consider the motion of a full-on golf swing. Even if you're in tip-top shape, you're probably going to feel sore in your arms, shoulders, lower back and maybe even your abdomen the day after your first round of swinging that club.
Next, consider that each hole on a given course can be separated by anywhere from 200 to over 700 yards, with varying types of terrain. Unless you rent a cart, you're going to be walking those yards and lugging around a bag full of clubs to boot!
All that walking is a great, low-impact work-out for your entire body.
Reason #3: Respect
Golf is also a game of respect -- for the rules as well as other players. Some would say that golf is the most 'civilized' or 'dignified' of sports. Even though you may want to 'best' your 'competitors', the person you're really playing against is yourself.
There are no 'tackles' in golf, and there is no 'stealing of plays'. Everyone takes his or her turn in an orderly fashion, and keeps an eye out on the location of other players at all times so as not to strike them with a club or bean them with a stray golf ball.
Reason #4: Business and networking
This is probably what many people think of when they think of golf: wealthy and/or connected individuals making sweetheart deals over 18 holes at the country club.
It's a stereotype, but one with a lot of truth to it.
Golf was once a sport strictly of the upper-classes in Scotland and England. Even in the United States, many of the best greens were connected to exclusive country clubs that the average person couldn't access without knowing someone on the inside.
Thankfully, in this day and age, golf is a much more inclusive and accessible past-time for the average person, as well as anyone else looking for an informal activity to share with friends, clients, partners, colleagues, etc.
You can hold relatively private conversations while playing golf, and you don't have to change into a uniform to play, either. In fact, you can play golf in a business suit if need be, although you'll probably want to take off your jacket!
Those are the four biggest reasons I can think of for why you should learn to play golf. If you still aren't convinced, then rent a set of clubs and do a few practice rounds on a local course. You just might enjoy it after all, once you get the 'swing' of it!
The Top swing training Aid That Will Tune Up Your Golf Game
Some people who play golf ask themselves can a golf training aid in truth catch swing problems for the normal golfer and then become unhinged to provide quick feedback to the golfer? After wondering for years if this medicus golf trainer aid is the real deal, I decided to give it a try.
I was amazed at how weighted the golf club head seemed. As I started taking practice swings it felt like the medicus golf training aid would collapse in two! The more I swung it the more I started to become conscious of just how solid this golf golf swing training aid really is.
Then I hit some golf balls with my regular mizuno clubs. They felt less heavier and more easy to hit than average, and that was after training with the Medicus Driver for only a few minutes. The fact is if you are a golfer with flaws in your swing, the Dual hinged Driver will give you instantaneous assessment about what is not right with your backswing and how to fine tune the flaws.
It's legitimate the Medicus Driver can be a bit expensive. Compared with golf lessons from your local club pro which can cost you upwards of $100 per hour, the Medicus Driver is actually a very intelligent investment in your golf skills.
And it gets better, with instant feedback from the Medicus Driver you can fix your golf swing problems and not keep reduplicating them. What good is practice if you keep repeating the same backswing problems again and again? In fact the more you practice without a golf swing training aid the more you're molding your backswing faults into a tendency. You might assume you know what you're doing wrong, but in actuality you assumably have no idea without correct feedback.
Oh, did I mention the Medicus Golf training aid is the biggest selling golf training aid ever? Over a million Medicus drivers have been sold, and that statistic only keeps growing. So the Medicus Training aid must be doing something good.
Sure, golf lessons are incredible, but they do not come cheap. So by purchasing the counterpart of a some golf lessons with a teaching pro you can own a Medicus dual-hinged Golf driver and be consistently monitoring your golf swing at each practice session or when warming up before every round.
And it gets even more desirable, because the Dual hinged Golf driver not only comes with fantastic teaching videos, you can try the medicus dirver out for 60 days for only about 40 dollars after which you get a 20% discount and free shipping.
And to top that off you will get a free putter golf swing training aid that helps you understand how to putt with your shoulders, just like the pros! I do not know how extensive this fantastic proposal will be in effect, so it would be a wonderful idea to act now and make sure you take advantage of it.
Golf Training
Saturday, October 2, 2010If you've been golfing for some time, you will know that many people have the same problem, the slice. This can be the number one thing that kills your golf game, and can be the most difficult thing to correct. Instead of changing your aim, you will learn how to correct the problem with minimal work on your part.
To begin with, take a look at your posture. If you are slouching that could be part of your problem. First, begin by putting your feet into a stance that is as wide as your shoulders. Your stance should match up with the area you are aiming for. Your feet should be positioned as well. The right foot aimed directly ahead, while your left foot pointed towards the left.
Bend your elbows slightly and then adjust your stance just enough to be comfortable without changing your entire stance. Head out to the golf course, and practice this on the driving range until you get it down perfectly. This will be the best way to improve your slice.
One more thing you will need to do is grip the club properly as well. Many people don't realize there is a correct way to hold their club. When you look down on the club, your left hand and your thumb should go down the shaft. These should line up with the right side of your face. You will the need to cover the left hand with your right one with your palm directly over your left thumb.
This will likely lead you to improving your slice drastically. Golf magazines and other sources have cited this as the one thing that kills the slice for more people than anything else. If you aren't sure about how you are holding the club, you can check with a trainer, or there is another solution you can use.
A good training guide will not only help you to improve your slice, but will give you tips over the entire golf course as well. This guide can help you to understand the areas you might need improvement with, while keeping you informed on new techniques and methods that can be added to your current playing for the best result possible.
One other area you will need to focus on is your swing. Correcting it will be a simple solution for getting the best results from your game. This will be as simple as allowing your arm to follow through from your shoulders as it connects with the ball. This should all be in a single, solid motion.
In comparison, the downswing should be with turned hips, and keeping your eyes solid on the ball. Your head should never be lifted as you follow through with the swing. You listed and hear what the ball does in this case, and avoid the sense of sight.
Golf can be a fun game to learn and will take a lifetime to master. Review these tips, and see how your golf game can be improved with simple changes to your posture.
