I recently purchased the newly released Stack and tilt book and gave it quick read. I plan to give it a closer read - their were parts I liked and of course parts I didn't like as much. I'm also considering giving the book an in-depth review here on my blog.

But with my recent book purchases (I also purchased the new Jim McClean and Hank Haney book), I started to think about the possibility of writing a second book. In fact, I've already had some preliminary conversations with my literary agent about it. So why another book and how would this one be different? Well, to start, I certainly haven't changed my philosophy since the first one, but rather it would be delivering the same philosophy in a different way.

First, let me state that there is no one book that is the "end all" of golf instruction for golfers.  If you're looking for a book that has all the answers - forget it - it doesn't exist, and this is an author stating this. Just as one method can't work for all golfers, one book can't have all the answers for all golfers. One book can be really helpful for one golfer and be disastrous for another and the same can be both for the same golfer - depending on how the material is interpreted and applied. I've read a lot of golf books and have pulled "gems" out of a book that I felt - for me - was 95% useless. I've read others where I felt the much of the information was very helpful.

There's what one of my Amazon reviewers, who gave my book 3 stars, called a "reader-book mismatch". My interpretation of this is that I was just not connecting with the reader and while I have been very fortunate that my book, "The Negotiable Golf Swing", has received overwhelmingly positive reviews on Amazon, I'm sure there are readers out there that found my book not as helpful and disappointing and just didn't bother to write a review.

So how can I help all of the golfers in the world? Well, I can't. But I do believe if the next treatment of my philosophy is different then possibly I can help some of those golfers that missed my message the first time (if they give me a second chance), help golfers similar to them, and provide more help to the golfers that found my first book helpful, and help golfers who will read my second book, but didn't read my first. And when, and if, I do write the second book, it will be with the understanding that it can't be helpful for every golfer - that's just something I have to accept and try to deliver a message that can help a "majority" of the golfers seeking help with their game.

I'm currently looking for a GUITAR instructor. I've been playing for a little more that a year and I'm basically been teaching myself through material I've found on the internet. And while learning guitar and golf has it's similarities, it also has it's differences. But the one thing it has in common is that students are looking for the best instructor they can find. So how do you go about it?

 

Well, the one thing I've learned about guitar instructors is that they don't need much credentials to call themselves "guitar teachers". It appears that all you have to do is be able to play and you can hang a sign outside your shop (or basement of their home) that reads "Guitar Teacher" and start giving lessons and getting paid to do just that. To me this is very scary, and it makes me think about how students seek out an instructor. After all students, whether you are a golfer or guitarist, are going to be spending their hard earned money and dedicate precious time to practice what the instructor gives to them. So I started searching the net and doing some research on some guitar instructors - who they've worked with and whether they have any "certifications" and/or were educated in the area of education. I've found someone and will be starting with him this week, with hope that he will work out well. But the fact is he might not.

 

And so the search for a golf instructor should not be much different. If you are currently in search of a golf instructor you can start by asking your fellow golfers who they have worked with (I didn't have the benefit of knowing a lot of guitarist who take lessons) and which ones they have liked. But keep in mind that one golfer can think a particular professional is a genius and another golfer thinks that same professional is a terribly ineffective instructor. You could also go online and start doing some research there. Some things to factor in are credentials - most golf instructors, at least in the Metro NY area are PGA Members, or at least, PGA Apprentices. Now this certainly has some value, but due to the fact that, in my opinion, the PGA does not require enough studying in the area of instruction, that credential by itself can only be weighted so much. There are PGA Members who I consider very good instructors and others who, well let's just say are not as good - just like in any profession. If you belong to a private club, you could start with the instructors at your club and they may or may not be good for you (my fellow pros are going to hate that I said that). The fact of the matter is that I have a handful of members at my club who seek the help of professionals not at my facility - and I have to accept that I or my other assistants can't be the right instructor for everyone or it could be as simple as we don't have a female professional and some women prefer to take a lesson from a woman. Other members have found other instructors that work for them - that's just the way it goes and to me all that really matters is that the golfer is finding someone they are comfortable and confident with.

 

Now, even if you do find someone you think you might want to start taking lessons from, you should at least make the commitment to do a handful of lessons before you start to evaluate whether it's a good fit or not, unless you find the communication skills of the professional just doesn't work for you. If that's communication between you and the instructor isn't good then you might want to start looking for another one sooner rather than later. But trying a few lessons is really the only fair way to see if the relationship is going to be a beneficial one. I've more than few times where I was working with the same student and it wasn't until the third or fourth lesson where we were really able to make a breakthrough. I've also had many golfers come to me for one lesson - then to never see them again. We'll never if our relationship could have worked if given a little more time.

 

Finding an instructor can be similar to find a therapist. You may have to work with a few before you find the right one for you. So I'm excited to work with this guitar teacher, but also realize that he may not be the last one I work with. 

I recently returned from the 2010 PGA Merchandise show and spent some time looking at the new clubs and balls that will be offered in the upcoming season and of course they come with all the promises - drivers that go longer and straighter, irons that produce more accurate approach shots, putters that make more putts than any other, and wedges that will spin like no other. 

  

So what does all this mean for the 2010 golfer. Honestly, not much. This "new" breed of technology won't really make any difference in the game of golfers, just as past equipment really hasn't had that much of an impact - which is proven by the fact that golfers scores/handicaps are not improving. Now I don't want to downplay the importance of club/ball fitting, because I think that each golfer should be fit with the proper equipment, and the right ball. But I can't help but wonder whether equipment changes and benefits are just as much mental as they are physical.  

  

The reason I say this is the countless times I've experienced the following scenarios with golfers; a golfer finds and purchases a new driver that he absolutely loves, then a couple of months later is looking for a new one because he can't hit that one anymore. Or a golfer finds a golf ball - a brand/model he's never played - on the golf course, decides to play it and plays the last 7 holes of his round really well - so now he wants to buy that brand of ball. A golfer is struggling terribly with his putter so he buys another one - then starts to put really well. Another golfer tries a demo set of irons, that he loves, so we order the set, but then he finds he can't hit them as well as the demo set so we sell him the demos and we end up putting his new/used set in stock as the demos. Now in this last example, could there have been a physical difference? That's possible, but I doubt enough of a manufacturing physical difference to explain the radical performance difference the player was experiencing.

So what all these things mean to me is that much of it is mental. I see golfers with the same 5 wood in their bag for the past 15 years and ask why they haven't changed it - the new technology is clearly proven to be better. But they'll say they've tried the new technology, but they just love that 5 wood and have confidence in it. This is especially true with putters -  once you find one that you like, most golfers tend to use it for a long time - which makes sense since, in my opinion, there really isn't that big of a difference in technology when it comes to putters. In fact sometimes when a golfer comes in and I ask him or her if they love their putter, and they respond "no", I suggest they look at possibly trying some other putters. Why? Because chance are if they change their attitude toward their putter, their putting will start to improve. And once it starts to show some improvement, the player gains more confidence, which then improves their putting even more.

So as the season begins (and it will for those of us that live in colder climates), there will be new equipment choices that will be presented to you - and may even tempt you. But I think you owe it to yourself to make sure that you are using the correct equipment - both with clubs and balls. Then after that you have to ask yourself the question, is it the club, or is it my attitude towards that club? So you have choices. You can change the club, or change your mental approach/attitude, or maybe do a little bit of both.

So I just got back from Florida where I took a 4 hour golf lesson with Mike Bender, who was recently named the 2009 National PGA Teacher of the Year.  It was really a great experience.  Mike is a very accomplished instructor with several tour players and upcoming players being students he works with.

What impressed me most about Mike was that he is a very humble guy and during our discussions, on topics we did not see eye to eye, he never came across as a know-it-all and was always willing to listen, and be open to learning, which I think is a wonderful quality for any golf instructor.

So after I warmed up Mike took some video and we went in and took a look.  I explained to Mike what I saw in my own golf swing and how I was trying to work through the elements of it which I felt were holding me back from improving. What happened next was very interesting - Mike made a diagnosis and a prescription for my golf swing that I would not have come up with on my own if I lived another 100 years! It was so counterintuitive, as golf can often be. What I saw as the cause of the problem, Mike saw as more the effect, which could possibly be why I hadn't had much success with my approach. But the changes he suggested, as is often the case, required two things to change. If I only changed one, my problem would actually get worse.

We then headed over to the range and Mike put in his MEGSA Perfect Practice Equipment, which is described as "The theory behind the MEGSA system is rooted in physics and the science of motor skill training. MEGSA-which stands for Most Efficient Golf Swing Attainable-is the closest thing to a perfect practice station. The equipment can be set up to counteract any swing fault. Once it is set up, you can hit balls from inside the unit. This guarantees that the golfer will receive proper feedback as to whether or not the prescribed swing changes are occuring".

 

So I hit some balls in the station along with doing some work with Mike on a plane-board. At the end of the lesson Mike put everything a CD for my review.

I plan to work on the prescribed corrections while the weather still permits and see what happens and how successful I can incorporate these changes. But it was definitely a learning experience, which for me is always fun and exciting.

More on what I learned to follow.

 

Before I started to write my book I took many lessons from fellow professionals, some who were top 100 on varying lists, authors of books, along with visiting several academies of some household name professionals.  These experiences, I felt, were all a part of my learning journey, both as a golfer and as a golf coach. Once I started to write my book I stopped taking lessons from other pros. It's not so much that I felt I knew everything (because nobody ever does), but rather I needed to stay focused on what I was doing and I found reading (or hearing) other theories was not helping me stay the course I needed to be on to finish my book. So in a sense I shut down.

It's been about 7 years since I took a lesson, but that's about to change.  Next week I'm flying to Florida for two days to take a three-hour lesson. So who did I choose to see? Mike Bender. Bender was just named 2009 PAG Teacher of Year. But that's not the reason why I chose to see Bender. I had heard of him, but didn't really know anything about Bender, but listened to him speak when I attended last year's PGA Coaching Summit in Port St Lucie. I really liked his presentation and what he had to say.

So what is my purpose for going for the lesson? Well, of course it's to get myself back on my learning journey, but more specifically I'm going there to hopefully learn about three different things. The first is to work on some of the things I've been struggling with as a player. Sometimes it can be very challenging to "teach" yourself and I find I become much too critical of my technique, so I want another set of eyes to take a look. Second, of course somewhere in that lesson I will learn some things that I will be able to apply to my teachings which will help my students. Last I hope to be able get some insights from Bender on how to better promote myself - he's on the top lists that matter, has multiple academies, one of them being in Korea where he is teaching some of the highly skilled players in that country.

I'm looking forward to the experience and I hope to have some things to share when I come back.

Watching the President's Cup this week has brought about a couple of ideas when it comes to playing better-ball team match play (also referred as Four Ball).  This format is certainly one of the most common, popular formats in the game, where two players play the other two players in the foursome in a better-ball format. I often play this format when playing matches with the members of Indian Hills.

But the thing that bothers me is that many times I see golfers make, what I consider, strategic errors that reduce their chances of winning the match.  Here are two things I see on a regular basis:

The first is a partner making a decision based on what the other partner does.  Now this is certainly one of the strategies of this format, but it's used too frequently, to the detriment of the team.  The strategy I like to employ is to make every effort to have both players keep the ball in play, and be in the hole till the end of the hole. What I see is a player, who is in trouble, because his partner is in good shape, take a very high risk shot, screw it up, and now the partner is left on his own.  For example on a par 4, let's say Player A hits his tee ball in the middle of the fairway and Player B hits it in the woods.  Now Player B can't hit the green (unless from he hits a miracle shot) but he can advance the ball and maybe leave himself a 50-yard shot for his third shot. But instead of doing that, he thinks since his partner is in good shape, he'll "go for it".  He ends up playing hockey in the woods for a couple of shots and now he's out of the hole, leaving all the pressure on his partner.  Now certainly there are times where you need to go for it, maybe when you're down, playing the last couple of holes in the match, and you have to take risks, but for the most part, play smart and KEEP TWO BALLS IN PLAY as much as possible.  The pressure will be much less on both partners throughout the match - which can only help the team's play.

The other strategic error I see in this format is on the greens.  Let's say that your opponents are in for a par.  Your partner has a 5 footer to halve the hole and you have a 25 footer to win the hole.  Some teams would choose to have the player with the 5 footer go first, and try to make the putt for the halve, to give the other player a "free run" at the 25-fotter to win the hole.  Here's the problem.  If the player misses the 5-footer, now the player with the 25-footer now goes into a defensive mindset because now he has to make sure he two putt to halve the hole.  What I think is a better way to approach this particular scenario would be to have the player farther away putt first, knowing that his partner still has a makeable putt to halve the hole. This takes some pressure off the player that's putting to win the hole and if he does miss, the team now has TWO chances to halve the hole.  Of course every situation is different and if the two putts in this example were instead, a 2-footer and a 10-footer, then the other strategy may seem to make more sense - but maybe not if they are both severe downhill left-to-right putts!  I think you get my point.  Also on the same topic, one of my pet peeves is when a player has a putt to win the hole, and the guy blows the putt 8 feet by the hole, and someone says "at least you went for it and didn't leave it short".  Went for what?  That putt isn't going in at that speed anyway!  

So next time you play a two-on-two better ball match, think about how you approach these two strategies, it might just help you win that $5 Nassau.

 

In this blog entry I'm going to review my "Golf Swing I.Q. Quiz" along with giving a brief explanation for the questions and answers. If you have not taken the quiz and you are on FACEBOOK, you can do so by clicking here. You can also take the quiz on my website by clicking here. Please take the quiz BEFORE you read the rest of this blog entry!

 

First, I'd like to thank all of you on FACEBOOK, which there were several thousand of you, which took my quiz. I also want to apologize to those of you who took the quiz before I modified it so that you when you answered a question incorrectly, you didn't see the correct answer. I'd also like to invite FACEBOOK users to join my NEGOTIABLE GOLF group on FACEBOOK, and you can navigate to that page by clicking here. Feel free to start a discussion in that group.

 

Before getting to the quiz, I'd also like to state that some of the questions/answers are facts, while others are subjective - they are my opinion. If you would like to learn more on my philosophy on learning golf, you can download my FREE 25-page eBook, "Unraveling Golf's Greatest Mystery; How to Negotiate Your Own Effective Golf Swing", by clicking here.

 

 

 

Here's the quiz with the correct answers, score results, and a brief explanation: 

 

1. These two images illustrate the possible paths the clubhead can travel, as well as the possible alignments of the clubface, through impact. Which has the most influence on the starting direction of the golf ball?

 

                 

a.      The direction of the clubface alignment has more influence.

b.      The path of the clubhead has more influence.

c.       Both have an equal effect on the starting direction of the ball.

d.      I'm not really sure.

e.       I have no idea of the influence of either.

 

28% of quiz users got this question correct. In my experience most golfers don't even consider or think about these things, but I believe they are VERY important to understand.  These two laws will determine the direction your ball will travel and how much it will curve (FACT) and when a golfer truly understands ball flight - the relationship between the club and the ball at impact and how the two produce the flight of the ball a golfer sees - a golfer can truly start to make progress and see improvement in their ability to control the flight of their golf ball. Humans learn physical skills, like riding a bike or throwing a ball, through feedback, and learning golf shouldn't be any different - that's why golfers need to be able to understand ball flight. This is the main premise of my book.

 

 

 

2. In this picture, the golf club is approaching impact. Which point would mostly closely represent where a proper divot will begin?

 

 

 

  

a.       Point A

b.      Point B

c.       Point C

d.      Point D

e.       I'm not really sure.

 

43 % of quiz takers got this question correct. These results were a little surprising to me - I thought the score would have been much higher. Again this understanding is extremely important when hitting the ball when it's not on the tee. You can never really hit your irons solid if you think the divot starts before the ball. The divot is made after the ball is struck (FACT).  As the saying goes - "hit the little ball, before the big ball (the earth)!"

 

 

 

 

3.  The image shows three grip positions for a right-handed golfer (weak, neutral, strong). If a right-handed golfer rotates his hands from the neutral position, more to the right, or to what is referred to as a "stronger" grip position, it will cause the clubface to be?

 

 

 

 

            a. More closed at impact.

            b. More open at impact.

            c. The change would have little or no impact on the clubface.

            d. Traveling faster through impact.

            d. I'm not really sure.

 

55 % of quiz takers got this question correct. Here is an example of a pre-shot element that is negotiable - there are different ways to do it - and no one way works for everyone.  The important thing to understand is the fact that the grip has a major influence on the clubface position at impact - which has a major influence on the direction the golf ball flies (FACT).

 

 

 

4.  Which of the following is/are the most common reason golfers hit poor shots?

 

a.       Golfers take their eye off the ball.

b.      Golfers lift their head through impact.

c.       Golfers' tempos are too fast.

d.      Answers A and B.

e.       Answers B and C.

f.       None of the above.

g.      I'm not really sure.

 

5 % of quiz takers got this question correct. I would probably be cursed for this question as it's a little tricky and subjective, but the reason I wanted to have it here is to bring the attention to the fact that a, b, and c are the reasons golfers believe they hit bad shots, but the fact of the matter I almost NEVER see a student with one of these things as the primary reason they hit bad shots. Golfers don't take their eye off the ball or lift their heads - they just think they do - and by the way, blind people can play golf, and Annika Sorentam and David Duval both play great golf rotating their head and eyes up before impact.  And as far as tempo goes - well that's negotiable - some swing the club and have a tempo that is faster than others - look at Nick Price and Ernie Els. Players would benefit more from trying to make their swings "smooth" as opposed to trying to slow them down.

 

 

 

5.  With respect to putting, which is a true statement?

 

a.       The putter head path has the most influence on the starting direction of the ball.

b.      The putter face and where it aims (open, square, closed) at impact has the most influence on the starting direction of the ball.

c.       Whether the putt is struck on the "sweetspot" or not has the most influence on the starting direction of the ball.

d.      None of the above.

e.       I'm not really sure which (a, b, or c) has the most influence on the starting direction of the ball.

 

58 % of quiz takers got this correct. Again this is important to know. Most golfers work on their path - trying to make it straight-back and straight-though, but the reality is where the clubface is pointing at impact has much more influence (FACT). Ever see PGA Tour Player Billy Mayfair's putting stroke? He dramatically cut across the ball, but his clubface was square to where he was aiming at impact, and has had a pretty successful career. 

 

 

 

 

6. If a golfer moves the ball more forward in his stance, which of the following would be most directly influenced?

 

a.       The path the clubhead travels will be more inside-out.

b.      The path the clubhead travels will be more outside-in.

c.       The clubhead will travel faster though impact.

d.      The clubhead will travel slower through impact.

e.       None of the above.

f.       I'm not really sure.

 

32 % of quiz takers got this correct. Ball position is another pre-shot fundamental and I also consider it to be as a negotiable element. Players can be different, yet still effective, when it comes to ball position, but the important thing to understand is the farther back in the stance (more toward the right foot for a right-handed player) the more this position encourages and inside-out clubhead path. The more forward the ball position is the more it will encourage an outside-in clubhead path (FACT).

 

 

 

7.  As the club gets progressively longer (i.e. 9 iron, 8 iron, 7 iron, etc), a player should try to swing the club a little faster with each club in order to get the ball to travel farther?

 

            a. True

            b. False

            c. I'm not really sure.

 

95 % of quiz takers got this correct. This one should have been pretty much a "gimmee". It's one swing for all the clubs in the bag. The longer the club gets the faster it moves and the less loft it has, so the ball will go farther without any additional energy coming from the player (FACT). 

 

 

  

 

8.  If a golfer slices the ball, the primary reason(s) the ball slices more with his driver, than say with his 5 iron, is?

 

a. The driver has less loft than the 5 iron.

b. The golfer swings harder with the driver than the 5 iron.

c. The length of the driver is longer than the 5 iron.

d. Answers A and C.

e. Answers A and B.

f. I'm not really sure.

 

35 % of quiz takers got this correct. This relates a little to question #7 and to ball flight. The driver has less loft than the five iron which means there will be less backspin, and backspin offsets sidespin - so sidespin will be greater with the driver. In addition, the driver is a longer club, naturally creates more clubhead speed, which will also create more sidespin. So a golfer that slices his 5 iron, with all things being equal, will slice his driver even more (FACT). And of course, if he swings little harder with the driver, which many golfers do, he will make the club move even faster, which will make it slice even more!

 

 

 

9.  In this photo, the golfer is setup so the clubface is pointing at the intended target, and his shoulders, hips, knees, and feet are all aligned parallel to the target line. Is this the most effective alignment for all golfers?

 

 

 

a.       True

b.      False

c.       I'm not really sure.

 

18 % of quiz takers got this correct. I may get cursed on this one too, and the answer is subjective. I think a lot of golfers can play very effective golf, not necessarily with the "model" alignment shown in the photo. After all, there have been many great players who played aligning there body either left or right of the target. Trevino and Couples aimed left and "pushed" the ball, and Snead, Palmer, Mediate, and Parnevik are examples of PGA Tour players who aimed left and "pulled" the ball back to the target.  The most important things to understand is where you are aligning yourself relative to your target and to do it consistently.

 

 

10.  Looking at the clock on the ball (with 12:00 being opposite of where you stand and 9:00 facing the target), if the clubhead is traveling on an inside-square-inside path, what point on the clock is closest to where the clubface should strike at impact?

 

 

 

 

a.       1:00

b.      2:00

c.       3:00

d.      4:00

e.       5:00

            f.    I'm not really sure

 

44 % of quiz takers got this correct. Let me put a disclaimer on this right away - I can't say for certain that its 4:00, but I can tell you it's not 3:00. The reason for this is what's called "impact and separation". Where the clubface comes in contact with the ball, and where it leaves the clubface are different (FACT). So in this example, I use the clock and explain to golfers that you want the clubface to contact the inside quarter of the ball, and leave the clubface at 3:00. Trying to hit the back of the ball (3:00) is probably one of the primary reasons golfers slice the ball. This insight has helped me to help golfers correct their slice more than another single idea I've shared with them.

 

 

 

Again, thanks to all of you who took my quiz.  I truly hope you learned something from it. Please feel free to email me at info@joelaurentino.com with any questions you may have.

 

And keep striving to realize your full golfing potential!

 

Best,

 

Joe Laurentino

PGA Professional

Author of "The Negotiable Golf Swing"

 

 

 

 

I'm sure someone has wondered, "Does the teacher struggle with and apply the same principles to his own game as the one he sees and prescribes to his students".  The answer is a resounding "YES"!

As the summer starts to wind down I've been fortunate enough, in the past couple of weeks, to be able to play a few times and find some time for some short practice sessions.  I didn't play or practice much this year, so this has been my first real opportunity to "work" on trying to get my game back in shape. And like nearly all of the golfers I work with, in order to better get my ball flight under control, I had to improve the effectiveness of my clubhead path and face angle through impact. My struggles, which we all have, is that I tend to swing the club and get the clubhead moving on an excessive inside-out path, which causes me to hit pushes when the face is open and hooks when the face is too closed. So, like most players I need to change both of these things to get the ball flying with less curvature to the target.

But before looking at what I need to do with the club in motion, I had to start first with my setup fundamentals, grip, alignment, posture, and ball position. Now I've worked on these elements for years, countless number of times, so you would think I would have it down by now. Wrong. My posture was terrible, and like most players, I didn't have enough spine tilt (from my hips), my ball position was too far back (contributing to the inside-out swing path) and my alignment was too far to the right (like most players). And this is why the "pre-shot" fundamentals are so important and that we constantly need to do two things with them: keep an eye on them on a regular basis when we practice, because we all drift away from effective setup positions, and when we are hitting the ball poorly, look at them first, BEFORE going through our own "personal Rolodex" of swing thoughts that we think we need to make to correct the ball flight we are fighting.

So with the pre-shot fundamentals in place, and the understanding of how they influence the movement of the club, then and only then, can you start working on the movement of the club, otherwise your pre-shot fundamentals could potentially be working against what you are trying to do with the movement of the club - which was definitely what was happening in my case.

 

 

I've only had the opportunity, as much as I love it, to practice and work on my game, but a handful of times this year. However, this week I found a couple of hours to hit some balls and work on my swing.  Since I don't have the time to make some of the "bigger adjustments" in my swing, I work mostly on tempo and rhythm, with the main focus on trying to get the transition, the part of the swing from backswing to downswing, as smooth as possible. I have the tendency, like many golfers, to rush my downswing. I'm not working on making my motion slower; I'm working on getting it to be smoother.               

So I start out by hitting a sand wedge with a full swing, then move to a pitching wedge, and start working up to the longer clubs. Now in theory, the swing is the same whether it's a wedge or driver. We don't need to swing harder, the length of the club, and lesser loft with the longer clubs, will take care of the distance. 

But somehow that seems to be very counterintuitive for golfers, me included. I make very smooth swings with my short irons, but once I get up to the mid irons I can start to see a difference, there's a slightly more abrupt movement in the transition. It just seems that, as humans, some of us just can't get our minds to convince our bodies, that the same smooth swing can be used for the pitching wedge as well as the 5 iron. As we get farther from the target, there's a switch in our mind that tends to make us swing harder and faster. And what's really crazy about that switch is that right before I hit a shot I'm telling myself to be patient, smooth in the transition, and allow the club to gradually accelerate, and yet I get the club to the top and BAM!, the switch goes off and I jerk the club down in the transition. It's amazing! And of course, I know I'm not alone with this.

So an exercise (drill) I do, one that I've heard is one of Tiger's favorites, is I hit a 5 iron with a FULL SWING, but only try to swing at 50% and hit it about 120 yards. Then slowly, I try to increase the amount of energy and the distance I hit the ball, till I get up to about 90%, which will get me to hit my normal distance. What's good about this exercise is that I really learn how sooth and effortless I can swing and still get the ball to fly the required distance - all the while developing better rhythm with my swing. It's also a great exercise when trying to integrate new swing thoughts.

Remember, as humans we learn to do physical skills slowly, before doing them at faster speeds (we walk before we run), and golf is no different.

Last year I attended the PGA show in Orlando and during it attended a couple of seminars.  One of them of the seminars was on teaching and my friend, Tom Patri, who is also a top 100 instructor, was one of the speakers. Tom was talking about how he helps students and how he uses a 1/3, 1/3, 1/3 approach to helping his students. He spends one third of his time with them on the full swing, one third on the short game, and one third on the golf course.  I thought this was a very balanced approach, and while I was already working with my students on the full and short game, it was rare that I gave playing lessons, so I started suggesting these to my students and it turned out to be one of the best things I've incorporated into my teaching.

The reason for this is simple.  When I go out with one of my students and actually watch them play, I learn far more about their games then I can working with them on the range. And ultimately, on the range we end up working too much on "golf swing" and not enough on "playing golf" - which is an entirely different thing. When I watch a golfer play, I can better see things like pre-shot routine, alignment, strategy, club selection, trouble shots, etc., and the insights I gain from these observations are invaluable - I really learn how the student plays golf.  And many times the discussion we have about these areas on the course really helps the student to improve their games, and of course their scores, just by improving these parts of their games.

I would highly recommend, to anyone taking lessons, to ask your pro about taking a playing lesson - he will learn so much more about your game then he could possibly learn sitting on the driving range watching and helping you hit ball after ball, while working on your golf swing. And you will most likely learn things about your game that can bring you instant results - which is nice.