I would say that 90% of the students who come to me for a lesson have a lousy grip. Now, in some instances, I may not change that grip. For example, if a student is slicing every shot, but has a strong grip, I won't change the grip. As Hank Haney would say, "they have more slice in their swing than hook in their grip." So, I won't change the grip until they are hooking the ball.
For many students though, I just wonder who they were watching before they put their hands on the club. When I see a student with a horrible grip, I will demonstrate that grip to them, then ask one question..."Have you ever seen a player on the PGA Tour hold the club this way?" That's a rhetorical question of course. While some tour players, such as Fred Couples, do not have the nicest looking grip in the world, their grips are still way better than most golfers.
So ask yourself this question next time you are watching some golf on TV..."does my grip look like that?" Well, I will make it easier for you...just go to this page to see a good grip!
The moral to this story is this...the greatest golfers on the planet play on the PGA and European tours. To improve our own game, shouldn't we try to imitate them? While we may not be able to swing the club like them because of physical limitations, chances are we can at least hold onto the club like them, and stand up to the ball like them.
If Tiger Woods is always trying to improve his swing, don't you think you might want to improve on some things as well in order to get better? While I may not agree with what he may be trying to work on now, at least he is still striving to get better!
As the golf season here in Maryland begins to wind down, we still can have all winter long to work on the fundamentals, and the most basic fundamentals are grip and set up. Get to it and I guarantee you will be a better golfer next year as a result!
Scott Cole
www.onlinegolfswingcoach.com
www.powergolftraining.net
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Monday, October 4, 2010
Europe Wins Ryder Cup
Europe held off a hard charging U.S. squad to win the Ryder Cup today 14.5 to 13.5. The Americans needed just 14 points to retain the cup, but came up a little short. Phil Mickelson finally came to life, and Tiger Woods played well, but the effort was not matched by the rest of the squad, except for Steve Stricker.
One other bright light was the late charge by Rickie Fowler to get a half point in his match against one of the Molinari brothers. Fowler won 4 of the last 6 holes, including the last three with birdies, to get the half point.
Unfortunately, Hunter Mahan was not up to the task today, as he made only one birdie. Still, he was just 1 down with three to play, but Graeme McDowell closed him out with consecutive birdies on 16 and 17.
Overall, the U.S. performed a bit above expectations and gave the favored European squad all they could handle. Pavin's decision to bury Woods and Mickelson into the depths of the singles lineup may come into question, as they U.S. needed early momentum. Stricker provided some with his victory of Lee Westwood in a match of top 5 players. Unfortunately, it was not enough to get the ball rolling for the U.S.
Scott Cole
www.onlinegolfswingcoach.com
www.powergolftraining.net
One other bright light was the late charge by Rickie Fowler to get a half point in his match against one of the Molinari brothers. Fowler won 4 of the last 6 holes, including the last three with birdies, to get the half point.
Unfortunately, Hunter Mahan was not up to the task today, as he made only one birdie. Still, he was just 1 down with three to play, but Graeme McDowell closed him out with consecutive birdies on 16 and 17.
Overall, the U.S. performed a bit above expectations and gave the favored European squad all they could handle. Pavin's decision to bury Woods and Mickelson into the depths of the singles lineup may come into question, as they U.S. needed early momentum. Stricker provided some with his victory of Lee Westwood in a match of top 5 players. Unfortunately, it was not enough to get the ball rolling for the U.S.
Scott Cole
www.onlinegolfswingcoach.com
www.powergolftraining.net
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Ryder Cup - Session III
Wow, Europe has asserted its will in Session III of the Ryder Cup, winning 5 1/2 points out of 6. Lee Westwood and Luke Donaled trounced Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker in the opening match, 6 and 5, and it was all downhill from there. The U.S. should be happy they even picked up a 1/2 point as they were down in all six matches for much of the day.
Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson continue to be the weak links of the squad, as both have lost all of their matches, two while playing together. I have not seen much of the matches, but from what I have seen, Tiger Woods has not helped Steve Stricker much. In the one four ball match, I noted that Tiger's score counted five times and Stricker's score counted 12 times. That does not mean much, but it does say that Tiger was not making many birdies. One shot Tiger hit sticks in my head. He hit a wedge or short iron about 30 yards too long on one shot. That is a fault he had in the two years he spent between working with instructors Butch Harmon and Hank Haney. Looks like distance control is back to being an issue.
Overall, the other players on the U.S. squad have played fairly average. The Europeans seem to have more energy and determination. This is a reflection of the two captains. Pavin has been stoic, Monty has been expressive.
Tomorrow, the U.S. squad will need to pull off their second biggest comeback in history if they want to retain the cup. They need 7.5 points out of 12 to reach 14 points. It is doable, but with Mickelson and Woods not on their game, not likely.
Scott Cole
www.scottcolegolf.com
www.onlinegolfswingcoach.com
Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson continue to be the weak links of the squad, as both have lost all of their matches, two while playing together. I have not seen much of the matches, but from what I have seen, Tiger Woods has not helped Steve Stricker much. In the one four ball match, I noted that Tiger's score counted five times and Stricker's score counted 12 times. That does not mean much, but it does say that Tiger was not making many birdies. One shot Tiger hit sticks in my head. He hit a wedge or short iron about 30 yards too long on one shot. That is a fault he had in the two years he spent between working with instructors Butch Harmon and Hank Haney. Looks like distance control is back to being an issue.
Overall, the other players on the U.S. squad have played fairly average. The Europeans seem to have more energy and determination. This is a reflection of the two captains. Pavin has been stoic, Monty has been expressive.
Tomorrow, the U.S. squad will need to pull off their second biggest comeback in history if they want to retain the cup. They need 7.5 points out of 12 to reach 14 points. It is doable, but with Mickelson and Woods not on their game, not likely.
Scott Cole
www.scottcolegolf.com
www.onlinegolfswingcoach.com
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Ryder Cup
The Ryder Cup matches between the U.S. and Europe begin Friday with the Europeans a heavy favorite to win back the cup. I have to agree with the consensus in that regard. One of the big wild cards of course is whether Tiger has found his game over the last two weeks while continuing his work with Sean Foley. He spoke positively at his news conference today.
The European side looks loaded, but with the glaring exception of Phil Mickelson, the American side is entering the event in pretty good form. Home field advantage to the Europeans though.
On another note, in recent weeks I have been trying to simplify my own golf swing a little bit by simply focusing on what my body is doing during the swing, and forgetting about takeaway positions and the position of my hands at the top. I am trying to swing the arms more behind my body, and then I am trying to be more aggressive with my lower body in the down swing by turning the hips a little more aggressively. The end result has been that I am striking the ball better than I ever have, EVER!
One key test of this swing will come tomorrow. I have not touched a club in a week due to a little time off. I am back at Olney Golf Park tomorrow to practice and give instruction. Normally, I would expect to be a bit off with my ball striking after a little lay off, just due to timing. But, I think I grooved this swing pretty well this time, so we'll see.
Scott Cole
www.onlinegolfswingcoach.com
www.scottcolegolf.com
www.powergolftraining.net
The European side looks loaded, but with the glaring exception of Phil Mickelson, the American side is entering the event in pretty good form. Home field advantage to the Europeans though.
On another note, in recent weeks I have been trying to simplify my own golf swing a little bit by simply focusing on what my body is doing during the swing, and forgetting about takeaway positions and the position of my hands at the top. I am trying to swing the arms more behind my body, and then I am trying to be more aggressive with my lower body in the down swing by turning the hips a little more aggressively. The end result has been that I am striking the ball better than I ever have, EVER!
One key test of this swing will come tomorrow. I have not touched a club in a week due to a little time off. I am back at Olney Golf Park tomorrow to practice and give instruction. Normally, I would expect to be a bit off with my ball striking after a little lay off, just due to timing. But, I think I grooved this swing pretty well this time, so we'll see.
Scott Cole
www.onlinegolfswingcoach.com
www.scottcolegolf.com
www.powergolftraining.net
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Furyk wins Tour Championship/Fedex Cup
Jim Furyk likely clinched player of the year honors today with his win in the Tour Championship and Fedex Cup. This is the third win of the year for Furyk, most on tour.
Furyk's win allows me to again bring up the point that you can play great golf with any kind of golf swing, as long as you learn how to hit it solidly, and you can repeat it. Do we want to try and teach Jim Furyk's swing? No. However, Jim's dad is a professional who showed him how to play, and once Jim demonstrated his ability to hit the ball consistently and repeatedly, his father did not see the need to change his swing.
Ideally, I would have liked to see Furyk make some changes to his swing over the long run to try and find some extra distance. And, in certain situations, I see some bad shots come out of the swing when the heat is on. Overall, though, Furyk is one of the game's most consistent players, and he does it with a very unorthodox swing. And, over his entire career, he has worked with one coach, his dad.
It is my view that a good golf coach/instructor is one that can guide the student down the path toward improvement, by getting them to understand the fundamentals, and how the golf swing works. Then, it is a matter of showing the student how to get the most out of their own physical abilities based upon how much time they have to practice.
Scott Cole
www.onlinegolfswingcoach.com
www.scottcolegolf.com
Furyk's win allows me to again bring up the point that you can play great golf with any kind of golf swing, as long as you learn how to hit it solidly, and you can repeat it. Do we want to try and teach Jim Furyk's swing? No. However, Jim's dad is a professional who showed him how to play, and once Jim demonstrated his ability to hit the ball consistently and repeatedly, his father did not see the need to change his swing.
Ideally, I would have liked to see Furyk make some changes to his swing over the long run to try and find some extra distance. And, in certain situations, I see some bad shots come out of the swing when the heat is on. Overall, though, Furyk is one of the game's most consistent players, and he does it with a very unorthodox swing. And, over his entire career, he has worked with one coach, his dad.
It is my view that a good golf coach/instructor is one that can guide the student down the path toward improvement, by getting them to understand the fundamentals, and how the golf swing works. Then, it is a matter of showing the student how to get the most out of their own physical abilities based upon how much time they have to practice.
Scott Cole
www.onlinegolfswingcoach.com
www.scottcolegolf.com
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Golf Swing Models
Over the last 25 years or so, there has been a lot of focus on whether one swing model may work better than others. This is due to the emergence of top instructors such as Jimmy Ballard and David Leadbetter in the 1980's, Butch Harmon and Hank Haney in the 1990's, and now such instructors as Sean Foley, Jim Hardy, and Brian Mogg, among others, in more recent years.
These instructors above became popular due to the success of some of their PGA Tour students. Jimmy Ballard worked with Curtis Strange. Leadbetter notably helped Nick Faldo become a dominant player. Butch Harmon worked with Greg Norman in the 1990's and Tiger Woods soon after. Hank Haney gained fame as Mark O'Meara's instructor, than worked with Tiger for six years. Now, the torch has been passed on to these younger instructors.
Throughout this period, we have seen a variety of swing models espoused by these instructors. Jimmy Ballard was noted for emphasizing a bit of a sway in the golf swing to help increase power. Haney brought a new emphasis on the swing plane by taking Ben Hogan's thoughts a little bit further. Harmon is noted for mainly working with a player's strengths and eliminating his weaknesses. Since then, we have also heard of Stack and Tilt, One Plane vs. Two Plane, Natural Golf, Peak Performance, etc.
The question is, are any of these swing models superior to the rest? Unfortunately, I don't believe there is any one particular model that can work for everyone. The reason is simple...every golfer is different! We come in all different shapes and sizes, athletic backgrounds, physical abilities, etc.
The key then is to find a swing that can work for you personally. With that in mind, I believe it is not a good thing for an instructor to simply focus on one particular swing model and try to fit it to all of his students. I believe it is necessary to develop a strong foundation of fundamentals, but ultimately, the instructor must also work with the physical abilities of his students.
Here at Olney Golf Park in Maryland, I have the good fortune to work with PGA instructor and former tour player Jim Estes. Jim is a co-founder of the Salute the Military Golf Foundation. As such, he teaches many military veterans, many whom have physical disabilities due to their service to our country.
Working with these golfers and other folks I have taught previously has helped me immensely in realizing that to be the best instructor possible, it is necessary to identify a golfers strengths and weaknesses, help them learn the fundamentals of the swing, and to improve their body so that they can more easily improve on these fundamentals.
The bottom line is the golfer wants to be in the best position possible at impact, according to their own abilities. As their physical abilities improve, so will their ability to get into this position. No one particular golf swing model will get a golfer in this position any better than the others.
With all this in mind, golfers should strive to find an instructor who has a good grasp of how the body works, how to improve the body to make it work better, and who has a tremendous grasp of the fundamentals of a good golf swing.
Scott Cole
www.scottcolegolf.com
www.onlinegolfswingcoach.com
These instructors above became popular due to the success of some of their PGA Tour students. Jimmy Ballard worked with Curtis Strange. Leadbetter notably helped Nick Faldo become a dominant player. Butch Harmon worked with Greg Norman in the 1990's and Tiger Woods soon after. Hank Haney gained fame as Mark O'Meara's instructor, than worked with Tiger for six years. Now, the torch has been passed on to these younger instructors.
Throughout this period, we have seen a variety of swing models espoused by these instructors. Jimmy Ballard was noted for emphasizing a bit of a sway in the golf swing to help increase power. Haney brought a new emphasis on the swing plane by taking Ben Hogan's thoughts a little bit further. Harmon is noted for mainly working with a player's strengths and eliminating his weaknesses. Since then, we have also heard of Stack and Tilt, One Plane vs. Two Plane, Natural Golf, Peak Performance, etc.
The question is, are any of these swing models superior to the rest? Unfortunately, I don't believe there is any one particular model that can work for everyone. The reason is simple...every golfer is different! We come in all different shapes and sizes, athletic backgrounds, physical abilities, etc.
The key then is to find a swing that can work for you personally. With that in mind, I believe it is not a good thing for an instructor to simply focus on one particular swing model and try to fit it to all of his students. I believe it is necessary to develop a strong foundation of fundamentals, but ultimately, the instructor must also work with the physical abilities of his students.
Here at Olney Golf Park in Maryland, I have the good fortune to work with PGA instructor and former tour player Jim Estes. Jim is a co-founder of the Salute the Military Golf Foundation. As such, he teaches many military veterans, many whom have physical disabilities due to their service to our country.
Working with these golfers and other folks I have taught previously has helped me immensely in realizing that to be the best instructor possible, it is necessary to identify a golfers strengths and weaknesses, help them learn the fundamentals of the swing, and to improve their body so that they can more easily improve on these fundamentals.
The bottom line is the golfer wants to be in the best position possible at impact, according to their own abilities. As their physical abilities improve, so will their ability to get into this position. No one particular golf swing model will get a golfer in this position any better than the others.
With all this in mind, golfers should strive to find an instructor who has a good grasp of how the body works, how to improve the body to make it work better, and who has a tremendous grasp of the fundamentals of a good golf swing.
Scott Cole
www.scottcolegolf.com
www.onlinegolfswingcoach.com
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