Take a closer look at yourself - Video Swing Analysis

Or seeing is believing.

Video swing analysis: every pro uses it. If video analysis is good enough for the best golfers in the world, then why not for the rest of us? If you own a video camera you can get painstakingly detailed diagnosis of your swing online. No more guessing or trying to figure out what your pro is telling you. With new technology you can really see what you’re doing wrong and, also, if your practice is actually working. All you need is a video camera or a friend who has one. The online video surfaces will show you frame by frame how your swing compares with the ideal. You mean I come across the line that much! Fix that slice for once and for all. Sometimes all it takes for a major breakthrough is to see yourself the way your pro does.

Still more ideas to come.

Get thee to a gym!

What's really going to lower your handicap this year?

Physical training and flexibility: We’ve heard for years now how Tiger Woods revamped his game, no small part of which was revamping his physique, or how VJ Singh goes to the exercise trailer after every round. Going to the gym 3 times a week may do a lot more for the average golfer’s game than another $500 state-of-the-art driver. Look at golf specific physical training aids, they proliferate daily and some really deliver results.

The web is a great way to do research and find out what's working and what's not. New analysis of the swing indicates that flexibility and balance are more important than strength for hitting the golfball where you want to. Of course this takes work, but remember what your old coach told you 'No pain, no gain'. She was right!

More ideas tomorrow.

What will make us better golfers this year?

What are going to be the hottest golfing items this season? The simple answer – anything golfers believe will lower their score

We all know that shooting lower scores takes work, but can’t seem to admit it to ourselves. It’s much easier to think that you can open the wallet and buy a score via technology. However, after about 10 years of expensive new technologies without a corresponding drop in handicap, most golfers are facing realty – new clubs and balls will not make you a discernibly better golfer year after year.

So here's what I think will be the items most likely to lower your score:

Custom clubs: After years of pushing by custom club fitters, and with many major manufacturers now offering some level of customization, the age of custom club fitting may be taking off. The message is that regardless of how good the new technology is, it won’t help you unless it’s adapted to you.

More tomorrow.

Handicap Systems For Everyone

Some teaching pros have turned to using the new handicap systems to help their students figure out where to spend their practice time. It also shows if practice is effective on the course where it really matters. Once you start to track drives in fairway, putts, up and downs from the sand, and scoring average on par 3's, you quickly find out the truth about your game - like maybe it's time to leave the driver in the bag. Did the new $500 driver really help you hit it longer consistently. Did the switch to a new ball give you better feel around the green. Is the new Two Ball putter reducing your total putts per round.

For the pro shop, there's even a space to advertise on the custom score cards based on an individual golfer's needs. What if you could advertise a special on size 13 Nikes to your golfers with big feet, or maybe a new sand wedge for someone having trouble getting out of traps. How about if you could track play. Why are so many members playing twilight rounds across town. Maybe you should offer a cheaper twilight rate.

The list goes on for what you can do with a computer and a database in the age of the internet. And why should the USGA try to master something that's not their core expertise. They should stick to determining how the handicap is calculated and then let someone else do it. They can still collect a royalty from every handicapped golfer in existence through licensing agreements. And the game of golf might become a little more honest and a lot more fun.

Golf Cheats and Sandbaggers

The USGA implementation of its handicap system makes cheating easy. Enter your own score. Puff, you're done. Who's looking over your shoulder - no one. When is the last time a handicap oversight committee bagged someone. Oh it happens - about once in a blue moon.

The new systems that are available offer some good checks and balances, like having to enter a score for every hole. Hey, you want a handicap you will use to compete against other golfers for money and glory, then what's an extra minute to enter a score for each hole. By entering a score for each hole you can also learn something about your game. Some systems have analysis tools that will let you look at trends and more. It's called game management and can help anyone become a better golfer. These systems also automatically make the adjustments, so your true score remains. Sophisticated algorithms can catch cheats that no oversight committee will ever find.

These systems also allow you to track more information, like number of putts, drives in fairway and more if you so chose. This may seem like a lot of work, but there are even tools to make that easier. At least one product from New Level Golf allows you to print out a custom score card for over 30,000 courses. And it's easy to add a new course. These cards have places to record things like putts and they can even be read by an HP scanner so all the work of entering a score is almost non-existent.

Tomorrow I'll look at what's in it for pros and pro shops.

Fixing the Handicap System

Golfing times have changed; new clubs, balls, training aids and courses to name just a few. The number of courses and golfers has grown dramatically in 40 years. The USGA implementation of the handicap system hasn't changed since who can remember when. Though they have started to use the internet - a little - they are really missing the boat.

I don't blame the USGA, their expertise is not the internet, it's the game of golf. However, they need to know when it's time to get help. There are a number of handicap tracking tools available on the web, and they all offer significant advantages over the USGA system. Make no mistake, they all follow the USGA rules, they've just updated how scores are entered and tracked.

The USGA gets significant revenue from every golf club/group that uses their system. I don't begrudge them that. The game needs them along with the R&A to manage the rules and promote the game. They could still generate revenue by subcontracting the handicap system for someone else to execute. And they could make a significant improvement in the value and integrity of the handicap itself.

Tomorrow I'll talk about some of the advantages of these new systems.

USGA Handicap Tracking System is Broken

There's nothing wrong with the way the USGA calculates handicap, there is everything wrong with the way they've implemented the tracking system. It's old, outdated, and makes it easy for folks to cheat. Yes, cheat. What golf club or league doesn't have a sandbagger - the guy who claims a 12 and plays to an 8?

Most clubs have a computer in the locker room where members post their own scores. Their score means just their total score, one figure. Every golfer is supposed to know the required deductions for their level of play and calculate these in advance. Ask any golfer in your group what these are and 9 times out of 10 I guarantee no one really knows. And there's no oversight. No one really checks the scoring history and if they did, how would they know what's right and what's not.

There's a way out of this mess if the USGA opens its mind and does the right thing. And golf will be better for it. More tomorrow.