Manage Your Left Arm For Better Contact

I said I wasn't going to give people advice on how to hit the ball, BUT.... I love the game and when I find something that works for me I can't resist passing it on.

My latest and greatest tip has to do with the left arm. For me the change has worked wonders and proven to be effective the last 3 times out so I'm confident it's a real fix. I was practising a few weeks ago and not making consistently crisp contact. I was also pushing a lot of shots. As is my habit at these times, I try to put my consciousness in my body and let it find where the problem is.

What I discovered was that my left elbow was bending a small amount just prior to contact. This was probably from an overly aggressive swing and desire to 'beat the snot out of the ball', something I have to constantly fight against. My fix was to keep the left elbow straight at the end of the downswing and to make sure I pulled the outside of it (where the sharp protrusion is when you bend it) in towards my body. Low and behold! I now had something to hit against, AND the club face was squaring up beautifully.

Try this little drill. Even without a club I think you'll see why this move has to happen or your shots are going to be erratic. Make a downswing in slow motion, you don't even need a club. Bend your elbow slightly just before contact and watch were the club face squares up - past the point of ball contact. That explains your (and my) weak push. Now try the same slowmo downswing keeping the elbow straight before contact and pulling it in towards your body. Does the clubface square up perfectly? How can it not! Try this move on your chip shots and you'll notice a dramatic improvement in how crisply you hit the ball.

I hope this tip works as well for you as it did for me.

Getting the Most Club for the Money

It ain't cheap to own the latest and greatest golf equipment, but there's no doubt that technology has improved balls and clubs in the last 15 years. Anyone who doesn't know that by now has been golfing in a cave. The big question for all golfers is how to buy what will actually help, avoid what won't, and stretch your money as far as possible. Based on my own experience, I've got a few tips that may help.

Forget the $40+ a dozen golf balls. Yeah, they're nice, but for anyone with a double digit handicap they aren't going to make a noticeable difference. There are actually some good 3 piece balls for less than $26. Check out the e5 and e6 from Bridgestone for starters. They're soft, they fly long, and they spin well for the short shots. Most major golf ball suppliers have there own version.

If you have to get the latest equipment, try to wait for the sales - which happen more frequently than you may think. Lots of clubs get marked down this time of year in an attempt to move inventory for the new '08 models. Let's face it, if it was the new 'hot' technology for '07 or '06, it will be just fine for you. Before you buy, go online and check the price of your equipment at the major Internet retailers. If you don't know who they are, go to www.golfdash.com and look under equipment/ishop. It won't take you more than 10 minutes to find the street price. Your local golf shop will match it if they plan on staying in business. You can also go to the GolfDash website and find out street prices for many items under the Daily Specials tab.

My final piece of advise is for anyone looking at Callaway equipment. I just bought my wife a used Ladies Big Bertha 460 driver and saved one hundred bucks - honest. If I showed you the club, it would be impossible to tell it wasn't new. They test every club they sell and guarantee it will perform as new. If you don't mind a few cosmetic scratches, you can even save more.

Good luck shopping.

Bandon Dunes - Great Golf Destination

I have been fortunate enough in the last 4 years to play at Bandon Dunes twice, once at the Bandon Dunes track and once at Pacific Dunes. If you love links golf, then this is the place to go in the US. I can't say enough about the quality of the courses there and how much it feels like Scotland.

The property sits on the dunes, high up over the beach below - a very typical Scottish landscape. There are currently 3 top level golf courses at the resort; Bandon Dunes, Pacific Dunes and Bandon Trails. Though I have never played Bandon Trails, I've seen many of the holes and it looks like it's right up there with the other two. If you can only play one course and you want the toughest one, then Pacific Dunes is for you.

If you're looking for a place to play golf and also party, then this isn't your destination. This is hard core golf at a fair price. The full price in peak season is a bit stiff, but it's greatly reduced from November to April. If you're worried about the weather, then you're not a real Scottish links golfer. You may encounter a bit of wind and rain, but this is golf as it's typically played in Scotland. (I once inquired of a Scotsman who planned a week's golfing trip in Scotland for myself and a friend about what would happen if we got rained out of a round. His response, 'I don't know, I've never known it to happen' - meaning they don't stop playing for a 'wee bit of rain'.)

You can also knock down the price of a round by staying at the hotel. It's not a bad idea to consider as there aren't many alternatives in the area. A bit of advice, don't get the room my wife and I had that is over the downstairs bar, you'll be up until the last golfer's go to bed. The food at the resort is not to die for, but it's reasonable fair.

If you go, plan in advance as the course can be booked out at certain times. Be prepared to walk, I don't think they even have carts. For those of you not used to hoofing it, there are caddies available. There are also pull carts readily available. It's an easy course to walk, as most links courses are because they are relatively flat. Though I haven't played the 'Trails' course, it looks a bit more up and down than the two 'Dunes' courses.

If you can possibly swing a trip to Bandon - do it! I'm not being compensated in any way by the people who own the resort to promote it. In fact, they don't even know I'm writing this. If you get a chance to play any or all of these courses, please let me know how you fared.

A Fix For Too Much Pro Distance

The PGA tour gets longer and longer. Everyone has been talking about it for at least 5 years. There have been many suggestions on how to deal with it, but the powers that be have not budged. Meanwhile top notch courses are forced to continuously add yards if they want to host the top events. Seems like an expensive way to fix a problem that results primarily from one club - the driver.

Take away the 340+ yard drives and the pro tour could continue as it has without all the expensive course modifications. The classic layouts in the game could be preserved as they are and not gimicked up as some say they've done at Augusta. Some have proposed limiting the distance of the pro ball, but this has some serious drawbacks that have been discussed at length. Why not just take the driver out of the pros' hands. I don't propose that they do it on all courses, just select ones. It would be just fine to leave some tournaments where the pros can bust the long ones. It would also work out well for the club manufacturers. They could still promote who's using their big sticks. With pros hitting their 3 woods like they did drivers about 10 years ago, we could roll back the clock with very little pain.

Who said the game can't be protected by limiting distance and still keep everyone pretty happy. And it doesn't have to be implemented all at once. Do a pilot at a couple of events next season at courses particularly vulnerable to monster drives and see how it works out.

Jack and One Basic Swing

Jack Nicklaus Please Help Save The Game

If you have read this blog over time, you know I'm a big fan of Jack Nicklaus, not only as a golfer, but for his views on the state of golf and what needs to be done to keep it great. Jack Nicklaus has done plenty for the game. If it weren't for him and Arnold Palmer, today's pros would only be making a small fraction of what they currently earn. He's also been a steadfast supporter and protector of golf's great tradition, sometime having to take unpopular stands to make his point.

So Jack, it's probably not fair that I ask you to do even more. You've done more than your share and have earned the right to live your 'golden years' in the manor you see fit and not hounded by the likes of me. But the game is in serious straights Jac, so I'm asking you to do one more thing for the game to keep it from following in the footsteps of so many other sports that are now mere shadows of what they once were.

And what is this herculean task I would give you? Figure out how to teach the average Joe and Jane how to play this game competently. Actually, that's too much to ask so I'll downsize the task, just figure out a way to teach us how to make decent full swings. If the average golfer could feel good about making a decent swing, I think he or she would learn to putt, chip and pitch on his own. I see golfer after golfer giving up the game because they can't make consistently decent contact on a full swing, even after years of playing and lessons.

Jack, you've shown that besides your prodigious playing ability, you understand so much about every aspect of the game. So who better to take on this challenge. And you'll give Tiger something to think about. Playing at the highest level is great, but can it compete with teaching at the highest level. You'd be giving the gift of this wonderful game to millions and help this sport move off it's now stagnant dime. You'd also ensure that there would be plenty of players for the golf courses you've designed. Right now, that's not a given since the sport hasn't grown its base in at least 20 years, yet new courses are being turned out faster than pizzas.

Jack, you've got the knowledge, the drive and the resources to take on golf's greatest challenge, one that's more difficult by a factor of 100 than matching Bobby Jone's Grand Slam, namely teach us poor amateur schmucks how to make a simple, effective and repetitive golf swing. Thanks, Jack - you're the greatest!

Best of Times and Worst of Times For The FedEx Cup

Tiger wins the FedEx Cup in grand style. What could be better for Tom Finchem, the PGA and Federal Express than to have the best player in the game win the inaugural competition? That takes care of the best of times. Now what about the worst of times?

First, the scoring system was of the wrong magnitude. As many times as the commentators tried to get you excited about what-if scenarios, it was still ho hum. Who can keep track or get excited about a scoring system that has tens and hundreds of thousands of points? We like small numbers for our sports.

Second, it's too much golf for one trophy. The top pros care about the Majors, everything else is a 'nice to have' not a 'must have'. The season already wears them out. And this time of year golf has to compete with the NFL and Major League Baseball. Like every pro sport in the last 50 years where a league president comes along who thinks he'll earn his legacy by extending the season, Finchem figures that more of a good thing is even better. Only if you have another major, but the problem is you can't just declare something important and have it be so. Others have tried and it didn't work for them either.

Third, Tiger isn't going to play in it next year. No, he didn't tell me that, but think about it for a moment. The tournament didn't live up to the hype. He's already won it. Next year there is the Ryder Cup to take even more out of him. And his daughter will be one year old and with Tiger's dedication to family he'll have all the more reason to skip it. He'll simply tell the PGA he's tired and banged up, needs to spend time at home and why not let someone else have a chance to win it anyway.

And there's another problem for the current FedEx format, namely a four tournament in a row competition plays into the hands of the world's best golfer. Other players get hot but it lasts only a tournament. Who's going to stay with Tiger over 288 holes? At this point, no one. Right now the rest of the pack hopes they can steal the occassional 72 hole tournament from him when he isn't looking, anything beyond that would be a miracle. Look at poor Phil, who you can argue is the next best golfer at the moment. He finally beats Tiger in a tourament on the last day, acts like he's got Tiger in the palm of his hand and can, therefore, skip Chicago and then is so far behind he's written out of the script after Day 1 at Eastlake.

The only hope for the FedEx is to rework the format. Even then it's going to be tough to make this work out. Here's my advice to the committee that will evaluate this. Whatever you come up with, run it by Tiger and see if he likes it. If he does, you can guarantee that the rest will follow. If he doesn't, then go back to the drawing board until you get it right.