Resolutions again?

So we are back to the beginning of the year (soon)....New Year's Resolutions and all that Jazz. But how long do your typical resolutions last? If you are like most people, yours probably last a few weeks, maybe even a month or so. So why do you quit or give up?

Here are a couple of things to consider to make lasting changes or new habits:

(1) Make your desire to change A MUST.

Examples: You MUST improve your putting. You MUST improve your fitness or nutrition. You MUST see your coach every 10 days or so.

When your desire is a "should", it is real easy to cop out and quit. It's not a big deal to give up. But when your desire is a MUST, you have no other choice. Think about if your doctor says that you "should" cut back on sugar or quit smoking. Do you? Not a chance. But what if your doctor says, you "MUST" otherwise you are going to die. You have no choice. Obviously, no one is going to die on the golf course, but the point is to make your change a MUST!!!

(2) Little victories win in the long run. Jack Nicklaus did not win 18 majors overnight. It has taken an entire career of small victories to amass this great feat. The key to moving forward is momentum and with a bunch of little victories, it is a bit easier to get the energy needed to stay on course. For example, if you want to improve your stroke average by 4 shots, you should definitely celebrate when you knock off one stroke. Keep celebrating with every stroke or fraction of a stroke until you meet your goal. Celebrate the little victories and the process!

(3) Challenge your beliefs. Look at any weight loss program and you will see people living in a new environment for weeks to months at a time. They learn how to exercise and which foods to eat. They are constantly challenging their beliefs about themselves and how they react to their environment. Everybody achieves their goal and loses weight in that environment.

Not that you need to move into a golf academy for a month, but you might need to change your paradigms to make new habits and ultimately lasting improvements. If your practice methods are not producing results, then change how you practice. Challenge your belief about practice and change your paradigm! If you want to improve your first tee shot of a round, challenge your belief about that shot and change your paradigm.

Don't be another Resolution Dodger this coming 2012! Consider the points on making new habits and lasting changes. If you don't like a certain aspect of your game, do something about it. Thanks for reading!

Regards,
Steven

First Tee Nerves

So you have practiced your technique!

You are feeling good on the range and then.......

...............the first tee!

If you are like most people (who are alive), then you are feeling IT on the first tee. It is the feeling of being anxious or nervous to get going. There are people who are scared of what is going to happen (the future) and there are people who use the feeling to focus on the now (the present). Be the latter, and here is a tip that I learned from Karl Morris that will help you:

Pay attention to your breathing.

By paying attention to your breath, you are doing two things (1) calming yourself (2) putting your focus onto something relevant...in the present. Since golf score is out of your control, the only thing that you can really do is to control your breathing and get yourself into the moment! And this is a place that all golfers need to spend more time in.

Thanks for reading,
Steven McDaniel
Certified Mind Factor Coach

Super Six

So I just got back from Manchester, England and the Mind Factor Course with Karl Morris. Karl has coached some of the greatest players such as Lee Westwood, Darren Clarke, Charl Schwartzel, Louis Oosthuizen, among others.

Karl introduced me to a game he calls "Super Six." The premise is very simple: Divide your 18 holes of golf into six small rounds (of three holes each). Instead of playing Two "nines", you are playing Six "threes".

The reason for this is because of our human nature in wanting a "Fresh Start." Why do you sometimes play 18 holes with two completely different nines? For example, you played your worst golf on the front nine and lit it up on the back. How does that happen? Does your technique change? Probably not. Most "nines" are somewhat equal in difficulty. It's simple, you need a fresh start and thus you normally get one on Hole 10. But rather waiting until half the round is over, why not get a couple of fresh starts before getting to the back nine?

By grouping into "Super Six" you are also identifying problem areas within the round. Let's say the first three holes are "always" a bit more over par compared to the rest of the round. With your coach, you could develop options on how best to start a round....Or...What could we conclude about being over par on holes 16-18? Maybe you are getting tired and need to eat better or perhaps you are getting nervous due to the pressure of the result.

Try Super Six for 10 rounds and see if you can break the current pattern of two nines. This will help you get into the flow of the round and identify potential problems that you could work out with your coach.

Thanks for reading!

Steven McDaniel
www.mcdanielgolf.com

A typical lesson with Golfer-29

Since I was mentioned as a Coach who dares to be different (See article here), I thought I would write about a typical lesson/coaching session in my studio. This is an example of a lesson with a person who has played golf many years and still maintains a handicap of 29. "Golfer-29" is approximately 58 yrs old, has worked at the same company for 22 years and plays on Wednesdays with the guys. He gets in some 9-hole rounds with his wife, but doesn't really practice at all. He travels a lot with his job and one can see the affects of beer consumption around his waist. His idea of working out is taking a 25 minute walk 2-3 times per week.

Steven "Welcome to my studio. What can I do for you?"

Golfer-29 "My swing is all messed up. I am slicing the ball."

Steven "What type of shot do you normally play? and How long have you been slicing it?"

Golfer-29 "I usually hit it straight. I have been slicing it this entire season (2 months) and thought I could fix it myself. This is why I am here."

Steven "Do you slice it with ALL of your clubs or just your driver?"

Golfer-29 "I slice it most with my driver. My buddies tell me to finish my swing, so I try and swing MORE LEFT, which only makes the ball slice more."

Steven "Ok, I see. How often do you practice?"

Golfer-29 "I don't have time to practice. When I do have time, I want to play. I might, though, hit a bucket of balls before going out to play."

Steven "Do you have any injuries or limitations that I should know about?"

Golfer-29 "Nope. Perfectly healthy."

SIDE NOTE: When I do a quick TPI screen later, it is revealed that my student can not disassociate his upper and lower body. Very important to know when creating an improvement program.

Steven "Ok, we are going to hit some shots (from a perfect lie and toward the same target on the range) with a variety of clubs: SW, 9i, 7i, 5i, 3-wood, Driver. With each shot, I want you to talk through your routine with me. Where is the ball placed? Where is your balance? Tempo- Is it slow, medium or fast? How you align yourself."

Golfer-29 "What? You want me to what?"

Steven "Tell me what you are doing on every shot."

Golfer-29 "Hmmm? Ok. Let's see........"

As he started hitting shots, it was clear that this golfer NEVER paid attention to what he was doing within his own space (body, ball, alignment). Once we started talking through where he might have his ball position and balance, we progressed on to his tempo. He felt that his tempo was 100% but after examining shots at MAX speed, we realized that he likes to swing the club at about 70% tempo. Within the past few months, he was swinging the club WAY too fast and thus his lack of ability to disassociate his upper from lower body showed up. This made the club swing too steeply down to the ball. TEMPO was the culprit to faulty swing mechanics in this situation. However, I stressed that this person should start thinking about a routine to keep his body, ball, alignment consistent with every shot. Once we got the tempo down to a manageable level, he could start hitting the shots that felt familiar. It was up to him to pay attention to his routine / tempo and thus he could always play close to his potential (and handicap).

This is an example of this player using his mental energy to do what he already knew how to do. I didn't really do anything to change his swing. This session was a matter of "bringing out" shots he already knew how to play, thus making his shots and hopefully the game more predictable.

Thanks for reading!
Steven

It's the end of the season, now what?

As I am writing this, I am watching the greenskeeper preparing for the winter months ahead. The golfers have stopped playing and there is less and less light during the day. So that begs the question, "What do you do at the end of the season?" Now is the time to take an honest look at the state of your game and decide how/what you want to do to improve it. Hopefully, if you have read my blog posts in the past, you will know that I am a fan of recording stats throughout the year. Let's look at my stats from Shot by Shot:

My handicap is 1 and is always being compared to handicap range +1-+3 of players who enter their information into Shot by Shot. You can see from the picture (above) that my best shots are bunker shots, which I find interesting because I love bunker shots and teaching bunker shots. No surprise there. My Tee to Green game and Short Game is closely compared to a 5hcp. Both of these areas need further investigation. Let's take a closer look at these stats. Below you can see that the solid green line is the # of greens that I hit and the solid pink line is the distance (in feet) from the hole after hitting the GIR. My average GIR is 8.9 which is about 3 greens away from my goal. I am happy with the average distance from each hole and I am aware that with more GIR, the average distance will likely go up. So if I have approximately 9 GIR that are average of 17 feet from the hole, why am I so much over par? Let's take a closer look at my putting below.

Improvement area #1 is Putting. During 2011, my putting closely resembles that of a 12-handicap player. There could be lots of reasons why, not the least of which is lack of practice time, but let's look a little closer at my putting stats: A couple of areas *POP* out at me. First, I need to improve the quality of my three-footers. 79% doesn't cut it. That number needs to be around 95%. To improve I will focus on (1) Square face to the hole (2) Square path of the putter head (3) Proper speed to reduce lip outs. Second, I NEVER make anything 16-20 feet. This is alarming since my average distance to the hole is 17 feet. To improve I will focus on (1) Knowing my speed (2) Starting the ball on the proper line. Third, I have 3-putted 100% of the time from 30-40 feet and 51-99 feet. Improvements here are speed control.

So, I am at the end of the season and see that my putting needs desperate attention during 2012. I need to improve my putting technique during the winter. I need to take this information to my coach and create a plan that I can do just a couple of minutes each day! If you are curious about how you can improve, feel free to contact me! Thanks for reading.

Regards,
Steven

Hit your Vokey Wedge different distances

A couple of important keys to hitting any great wedge shot is:
(a) Solid contact with the ground. Make sure you know where the bottom of the swing is.
(b) Good Tempo.

When learning how to hit your wedge different distances, always start with a baseline swing. In the following video, my baseline swing is a 9 O'Clock - 3 O'Clock swing. Become an expert at this swing and this distance. Know the distances for all your wedges with this swing. You can easily adjust up or down with the length of your arm swing if you need a shorter or longer distance. Check out the video below and good luck!

Steven

Custom fit clubs do lead to more learning

I had a student yesterday who was having difficulty hitting the club face of his new irons. Since he is 6'4," we extended his irons to closely match his posture and promote a better posture through impact. Because his old irons (standard length) forced him to get shorter through impact to find the face (think "Keegan Bradley set up" and then lunging forward about 5 inches at impact), he hit "heel-side" portion of the face with the new irons, sometimes even missing the ball. I actually saw a shot go backwards between his legs. Impressive!

If you find yourself in a similar situation where you just can not find the face, slow down and find a couple of fundamentals:

(1) With him, he had to learn what it felt like to stay "Tall" through the swing. This meant lots of rehearsal swings at 10% speed. He had to find impact and learn (a) where is the balance (b) where is the face (c) where is the bottom of the swing...where I would strike the ground.

(2) We started to put these swings into motion, but at a 10% tempo and no more than a half swing.

(3) Rather than jumping for a new ball when he hit one poorly, he had to take at least 10-15 seconds to understand what went wrong. NOTE: This is probably the difference between regular players and great players. The idea of slowing down between shots to figure things out. Flip the notion that (a) a mistake is bad into (b) a mistake that reveals opportunities for development...but only if one PAYS ATTENTION TO MISTAKES.

(4) When he felt that he could put the swing together, his full swing thought is now "50% Tempo." I like speed, but I only want my students to swing fast until they (a) lose stability of their body, (b) control of the bottom of the swing or (c) awareness in general about what they are doing.

After simply extending the length of the irons, my student has a new perpective about how to practice.

Leave a comment if you like what you have read! Thanks for reading!

Regards,

Steven

"Twenty One" Chipping Game

Here is how it works:

You and a buddy (or three) play two balls each from a spot. The ball that is comes closest to the hole earns 2 points. The ball that is 2nd closest to the hole earns 1 point. The winner is the one who gets to 21 points right on the money. If you go over 21, go back to 11. Rotate back and forth to pick the spot, but make it fun, challenging and like the real game.

Note: You can always add "-1" point variations like (a) short of the hole is -1 or (b) outside of 3 yds is -1.

Good Luck! Steven

Let your juniors make mistakes!

Lesson with a youngster today! Only 9 years old.

His grandfather (who is not a golfer) came with adult clubs and during the lesson basically apologized for his grandson's lack of focus. During the lesson, the youngster hit shots on our short course and then ran to pick up the balls (approximately 80yds each). We focused on the proper grip during the lesson and my goal was not to "nag" the kid but let him experiment his way through different feelings. After he hit the ball too short / far, and after hearing the grandfather apologize for the kid's lack of touch, I finally had to say something. "Kids are kids and they need to experiment. They need to feel too long and too short. They need to understand the correct pre-swing fundamentals but in due time and only when they can handle the information according to their maturity level. This "little man" was off to a great start but will ultimately hit a road block if the grandfather steps in and tries to make his kid act like an adult.

My Advice: Let your Juniors make mistakes and learn their way through golf. Create a fun and educational environment, but then step away and let kids be kids!

Thanks! Steven

Travel with me to Scotland in 2012!