From the Pro:
Let’s Make 2020 the Best Golf Year Ever
Because we have such a short golf season, I can imagine it is important for you to want to get the most out of it. But you don’t have to completely accept that your first few weeks of the season will be challenging. Here are four great tips for making 2020 your best year of golf ever. Hopefully if you take advantage of these four tips you will be ready right out of the gate when the season begins.
- Putt short putts better. If you work on your putting, your scores will come down dramatically. Working on putting should be your primary focus all season when you practice. The first area to focus on is getting deadly on putts under five feet. You can practice in your living room or basement every day if you are so motivated which I hope you are if you want 2020 to be the best season ever. Learn how to groove your stroke so that your short putts become automatic. And tempo, tempo, tempo. Slow back, slow through.
- Strengthen your left side. If you are a right-handed person, your left side is likely not strong enough to maintain a leadership role in the swing, because you don’t use it as much. On the simple side, keep a 5-lb or 10-lb dumbbell near your desk or sofa and do curls and other exercises several times a day. Even better is to swing a weighted club with only your left hand 15-25 times a day. A strong left side will do more for your golf swing than just about anything else you can do.
- Improve your short game. Sorry, but that means practice. Again, you can learn and groove a good chipping/pitching stroke in your garage or basement with foam golf balls. Just about everyone including myself needs to practice chipping during the golf season and the off season. Get better at getting up and down and strokes will fly off your scores.
- Visit Top Golf or other simulators. There is never a substitute for actually making swings and hitting balls, so treat yourself to some time in our simulator which only costs $10 for 1 hour.
When you get back out on the course, have realistic expectations—after all, you’ve been out of the game for months. When you do get out there, however, remember the old adage: One bad round—forget it. Two bad rounds—practice. Three bad rounds—get a lesson. We are looking forward to a great 2020 season here at Dellwood Country Club.
From the Teaching Pro:
Hockey season comparisons of what makes a good fundamental golf swing
As I did last year I think it is again time to give some Golf & Hockey comparisons since we do live in the State of Hockey. I am always amazed at how well long time hockey player’s pick up the game of golf and how the fundamentals of Hockey translates so well with the fundamentals of Golf.
By studying what translates so well from Hockey to Golf might give you a better understanding of the golf swing and what’s important. First of all, they are good athletes, strong, well balanced, and tend to be well coordinated. Also, the slapshot is a very similar motion to a golf swing which I focused on last year’s hockey article. This year I would like to focus on the Core Muscles of the body (see picture below).
Hockey Player: Every time a hockey player skates, they engage the core muscles of the body. To maintain balance on your skates a hockey player’s core muscles are constantly being worked and made stronger along with keeping them flexible with all the different movements. They are also using the core muscles to push off with their skates to move forward and backwards.
Golfer: For a consistent and fundamentally sound golf swing the key muscle group is the core muscles. These core muscles are used in the golf swing to stabilize your body on the backswing and then create speed, acceleration, and consistency in the downswing. The stronger and more flexible the core gets the easier it is to engage these muscles during the golf swing naturally without thinking about it.
Using the hockey reference in this article is just to confirm and help prove that the core muscles are what powers your golf swing. Obviously, you don’t have to play hockey to be a good golfer, you just need to strengthen and work the core muscles of your body in a different way. Next time you’re exercising, work the core! Even if it’s just stretching them.
LESSONS AVAILABLE NOW!
Get a hold of me & we’ll get started.
Chris Peterson, PGA
Teaching Professional
651-303-2816