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Duval Makes Cut!

David Duval has finally made a cut. He ended up tied for 60th at the Valero Texas Open this weekend. Started off with a very respectable 68, 69 and ended with a 70,74. These certainly seem like consistant scores to me. Duvall says: "It's a cycle that needed to be broken, but I've been playing a lot better than my scores have reflected for the last six weeks," Duval said after making the cut. "Each day I seem to hit the highest score I possibly could, the last six or eight rounds I've played. It's no different this week so far. I've hit it really well, just made a couple stupid mistakes." - Here's hoping Duvall is starting to feel and believe in his game again. It certainly would be one of the most dramatic comebacks in golf. I don't know about you but I'm secretly hoping there is more great golf within him.

Driving Ranges Don't Cut It

Let's face it, most public driving ranges aren't much good. That's not to say that I don't use them and that I am not appreciative that they are there at all. Given the choices they are a blessing. But in the grand scheme of things, how nice would it be to have a range nearby with grass tees, lots of greens for targets at different yardages, bunkers and even places where you could work on hitting lies that aren't flat.

Unless you play at a private club, why is it that most ranges are thin little mats on concrete pads with a couple of flags stuck here and there. Is there no money in owning a range? There are even some private clubs with questionable ranges. And sometimes they don't let you hit off the grass if they do have it. They save it for weekends and tournaments. How does hitting a ball off concrete prepare you for hitting it off grass? I'm not sure it's ever helped me very much.

A good practice facility needs some acreage. It also needs decent grass to hit from. Now maintaining sod isn't easy, but is it so expensive that it's prohibitive in all but the high end clubs. Of course 'nice' greens out on the range are going to cost you extra, but they don't have to be real greens. Just push a little earth around to make a raised target. I have seen some very nice public practice facilities, but they are few and far between. I haven't tracked them over the years to see if they've stayed in business, but I'd like to think they have.

Here's my idea, build a nice enough practice facility that you could sell memberships to it, just like a club. Of course you'd let people walk in and use the facility, but they'd pay more for single visits. Maybe they'd only get to use part of the facility or maybe make them hit off mats. I'd join a facility if there was one like that around and it was reasonable. If I add up all the buckets of balls I've bought during a season, I know I'm spending more than $200, maybe considerably more.

I don't believe I get a lot better when I just play a round. You need to hit the same type of shot over and over to get it grooved. That only happens on the range. And you need to practice lots of different types of shots - uphill, downhill, above and below your feet. Let's face it, you need to practice every type of shot you're going to encounter on the course and that includes hitting from the rough.

How about the short game, where most of us take most or our stokes. How can you consistently hit good approaches from 20, 30 and 50 yards if you can't practice lots of shots like these under course like conditions. How many weekend warriors are really good at getting up and down from 30 yards? Now you don't have to be in great shape or even very flexible to be good from that range, you just need lots of practice.

If anybody out there owns a range, please let me know how it goes. I'm really curious. I'd also like to hear from anybody who owns or uses a nice public facility. Are there any out there? And has anyone heard of memberships to upscale practice facilities?

Faster Pussy Cat, Kill Kill - Ryder Cup Agida

Is it just me, or are golf 'Cup' competitions like the Ryder and Solheim becoming more aggressive. I haven't been to recent competitions, but to read the mainstream media you'd think golf was a full contact sport.

For tour events, you rarely ever get the sense that one player is out to beat the bejeesus out of another. Everyone wants to win, but the players that don't always talk about 'beating themselves'. You'll hear comments like 'so and so played great down the stretch, and I just couldn't make key putts'.

I've never felt like someone beat me in the men's league I used to play in. I beat myself. I didn't have my A game. I couldn't make a lousy 3 footer. I shanked that last chip. I was hitting it fat. That's why I lost. I've rarely seen animosity between two players on the course, the way you see it in a basketball game for instance.

Why then, has aggression been injected into the Cup matches? And I don't hear it from the international side. It seems to be an American thing. 'We're going to kick their butts'. Maybe it's the result of 'what an honor it is to play for my country' thinking. Don't get me wrong, I think it is a great honor, but is that thinking what puts so much pressure on the American players. If they loose, are they forced into thinking they've let their team and country down. Because of that, do they figure aggression will help them play better? If the recent Ryder Cup competitions are any indication, then this attitude doesn't help you win.

Because the Europeans are from many different countries, does that take some of the pressure off them? It's not 'their' country against another country. So if they lose, the local press isn't clamoring what a dark day it is for Spain or Ireland. Because their side is a collection of countries, maybe that spreads the blame around so no one really takes it personally.

Or maybe we Americans are just more aggressive. If there's a war going on somewhere in the world, it's a good chance the Americans will be there. We were all raised on cowboy shoot-em-up movies. Hey, if you've been done wrong you do the manly thing - strap on a six shooter and take it out in the street. And when we take it to the links for team competition it's us against them, a fight to the death - no quarter to the enemy.

Golf isn't an aggressive sport and it never seems to be you against the other guy. It always you against yourself. So what's with this 'we're going to kick the stuffing out of those guys' attitude? It surely doesn't help American teams win in golf. Yes, the US ladies did win the recent Solheim Cup, but I think it was in spite of the tough talk, not because of it. Golf is great at showing ones true character. Wait until you see your friend miss an important 3 foot putt to find out what they're made of.

I've got some advice for the President's Cup team. Go out and enjoy yourselves. Feel good that you've played well enough to make the team. Be glad you're alive with most of your body parts working. And look at the 'office' you report for to work. Don't go obscuring all that because a few media folks are calling for blood. Wear some more 'fun' clothes, joke with the crowd and somewhere during the match do something nice for the guy you're playing against. It certainly didn't hurt the Europeans to do this in last year's Ryder Cup and I'd say most fans really appreciated it.

Final Word On Playing Better Golf

I promise this is the last word I'm writing on how to be a better golfer - at least for a little while!

Beyond technology, beyond teachers, beyond mindset and beyond understanding mechanics there are two important issues that limit our ability to get better. I'll even go out on a limb and say there are none more important.

First, our flexibility. Look at today's professionals. They are more athletic and better conditioned than ever before. They run, lift weights and stretch out. Like great swimmers, the best are extremely flexible. The flexibility gives them a range of motion that allows them to create tremendous power while maintaining key body positions. Think about that last idea - create power while maintaining key body positions. Once you turn, rotate, stretch or twist beyond your flexibility you end up destroying a key body position. And once you've lost the body position the body mechanics no longer work.

We all want to hit the ball farther. We are never satisfied with the current distance we get with a particular club. In the back of our mind we are always looking for another 10 yards. So we reach back a little further and destroy our good body mechanics. And we all know what the result is. Flexibility is extremely important to high level golf. Swinging within our flexibility limits is crucial for playing good golf at every level.

Lastly, what holds us back as much as anything are good practice facilities. Most golfers don't belong to a private club. Even then, many private clubs have so so practice facilities. Hitting off mats is not good for your game. I believe it was Lee Travino who said 'Never hit off a mat'. Yet most weekend warriors have no alternative. It's hit off a mat to warm up or don't warm up at all.

And mats are only the tip of the iceberg. I've been rereading Pelz's book on the short game. By the way, if you want to improve your play around the green (read if you want to reduce your handicap) get this book. It's factual and will really open your eyes about how to build a pressure proof short game. The key to Pelz's approach is ultimately to practice - practice on real grass to real greens hitting hundreds if not thousands of shots. Better golf is about repetition under real conditions. Great golfers warm up before they play and practice after they're finished. They always hit off grass and they practice under 'course like' conditions. They chip and pitch to greens of all different yardages. The hit balls out of traps on to real greens.

Unfortunately, good practice facilities are generally not available to the average amateur golfer. Until they are, golfers aren't going to get better, regardless of the club and ball technology available or the skill of their instructors. In a future blog I'll look at golf practice facilities in more detail. Tomorrow let's talk about the increase in aggression in international cup events such as the Ryder and Solheim.

Ingenious little product - GolfRound towel

Doug here, another member of the GolfDash team. I will be focusing on the latest and greatest new and cool golf products and accessories. Stay tuned - it's going to be fun. And please share your comments, suggest a product or accessory or ask any questions.

I just recently found this GolfRound product when I was playing in Myrtle Beach. It is a small round piece of material that has a water repellent outside and a terry cloth inside. All you do is wet the terry cloth portion fold it up and put in your pocket. Makes life much easier when you are trying to clean a golf ball or a club - no racing back and forth to your bag for that big horsey towel.

The Golfer That Has Himself For A Teacher Is..

..A fool? Maybe not. In the end, we all teach ourselves. Who else is going to get us to the right teacher, make us practice and give us the drive to get better? Maybe we just need a little help.

As I've said before, our knowledge of the golf swing is changing. I think we're starting to understand the real mechanics of a good swing for the first time. Sure, there were great teachers who had a feel for it, and players that could capture it for brief periods, but I think we are close to having tools that will give us the real mechanics. But that in itself doesn't make us better golfers. Even if you know the mechanics of a perfect baseball swing, that doesn't make you a .400 hitter. There's a lot more to any sport or game than just mechanics.

It will take time for a new breed of teachers to adopt the new tools, but it will happen. I still think there's some magic in the game that needs to be uncovered. The golf swing is very complicated when you look at mechanics, what amateur among us can learn the game that way. I think we're more likely to learn by understanding some key imagery that will put our minds in the right place for our bodies to execute.

That's a bit obtuse, so I'll try to explain it with an example. Let's say the correct image is of throwing a golf club towards your target. Think of a clock around your body while you're swinging. 12 is over your head and 6 is where the ball is. The image is to swing your club like your objective is to throw your club when it gets to, say, 8:30. Only you have to hold on. Maybe that's the way to learn golf. (I do recall in the far reaches of my brain that someone was actually having their students throw clubs.) Perhaps the mechanics only come in when trying to correct small things.

I envision a machine that is able to capture all your mechanics on a good swing. There are video tools out there now that go a long way in this direction already. When your swing goes off, they'd plug you into the machine to see what small things might be out of wack. Most often I think they are in the setup - grip, stance, alignment and posture.

Or maybe you'd just go back to your 'image' again and practice that. Throw the club. Forget everything else. Leave the mechanics for a 'tune-up' teacher. You'd be your teacher for the basic imagery. I had a decent 'arm' as a kid. I could throw pretty hard and was accurate. I never thought about mechanics, I just thought about a throwing image. If only I could hit a golf ball as consistently as I could throw a baseball, there'd be hope for me.

If anyone out there has a key image that works for them, please write in. I need some help!