The Putting T-Bar

My General Manager Brent Krause, PGA purchased a new training aid for use at Wynlakes recently. I took it out on our putting green and found that it is one of the best putting training aids in golf! The T-Bar consists of light weight metal that attaches to your putter through the use of clamps.

Right away, I found myself in the exact setup that I try to teach all my students; forearms down the putter shaft, shoulders parallel left of the target, hands even with the ball, hands under shoulders, eyes over the ball.

During the stroke it is so easy to feel your shoulders move the stroke. If you are a player that over uses your hands this is a perfect tool for you to eliminate that movement and use your big muscles to make the stroke.

Watch The T-Bar in action!



After using the The Putting T-Bar, I quickly started hitting more solid putts that held a tight roll on the green. I recommend this training aid to any player and will be using it in all of my putting lessons.

If you would like to more information on The Putting T-Bar or would like to purchase, please visit http://www.wrightputtingdynamics.com/!

High Adrenaline - Shorter Club!

I really like Luke Donald, in fact he is one of my favorite golfers and is having one of the best years of his career. But I want to talk about his decision making on his last few holes on Sunday at the Heritage Classic. Luke found himself in-between clubs on the 2nd and 3rd hole of the playoff against Brandt Snedeker. He made the decision to take the longer club and swing easy or "take a bit off" and I believe it cost him the tournament hitting both shots short of his target.

Most of the time I would tell all my players to do the exact same thing - take more club. However in Luke's situation, he needed to take the short club and go after it. Instead, he took a longer club and swung too easy leaving both shots in the front bunker. In playoff atmosphere your adrenaline is much higher than in the middle of a round. Its easy to find a little extra strength when the adrenaline is high. If you find yourself in a high adrenaline moment and you are in between clubs, take the shorter club and make the best swing you can!

TIGER on 18!

I hope most of you were able to see the shot that Tiger hit on the 18th hole Friday that set up a birdie and a great round of 66. His drive went a little right off the tee and in order for him to get a good look at birdie it required a high left to right shot that landed softly. Tough task for any player and Tiger pulled it off to perfection.

In order to hit this shot you need to line up your feet, hips, and shoulders on the line that the ball will start on. Next, your club face should be pointed directly at the spot you wish to land the shot. This will make the club face appear open to your stance. The crucial element of playing this shot to perfection will be making sure you swing along your feet while holding the club face open. This out-to-in swing path will produce the proper spin to get you right next to the pin! Please keep in mind that should be practiced before put into play!

Pictures from golfweek.com and foxsports.com.

Comebacks!!!

Thursday at Augusta brings so much excitement for all that play. We might compare it to gearing up for our club championships, golf trips, or big money games. It is very easy to get too excited and make a few mistakes early. What separates the good players is that when they get amped up and make a few mistakes, they find a way to get back into their round. Today we saw several players get off to shaky starts only to find it and salvage a good round. Examples were:

Ricky Fowler +2 thru 14 - shot 70 Amateur Peter Uihlein +2 thru 14 - shot 72

Johnathan Vegas +3 thur 12 - shot 72

Anthony Kim +3 thru 12 - shot 73

Gary Woodland +3 thru 12 - shot 69

Luke Donald +3 thru 13 - shot 72

All of these players kept their focus and found a way to keep themselves in the golf tournament. Keep in mind that there is always a chance that you can get back into your round unless you give up on it. Some of the most rewarding rounds are ones that you make a big comeback and make something out of nothing!

Practice Rounds

Most of the participants of the Masters have arrived on property for the week. Tiger and Phil skipped Monday, but should be on the course early today. Some players have played the course a few times in the last week or so and are gearing up their game for Thursday. No matter what, all of these players find tremendous value in playing practice rounds.

I have seen it a million times... "I went out in my practice round and shot a great score! Then in the tournament I played horrible." Heck, its happened to me. The players at Augusta are not worried about what they are shooting in the practice rounds. Most of the players are out there trying to figure out what line to hit off the tee, where to miss it around the greens, and they are charting the greens for possible pin placements. Every player I have heard in an interview has been saying that on Monday the course was not playing like it will during the tournament. These guys have anticipate what the course will play like. That is why most people believe that it is almost impossible to win at Augusta during the first trip.

My recommendation during a practice round is to have a good time, learn the course, and not put to much importance on what you shoot. Take note from the guys at the Masters and learn where the best misses are, find out what clubs to hit off tees, and take a look at the greens to get a feel for the speed. Always remember the 5 P's... Prior Preparation Prevents Poor Performance!

Masters Week!

For some it starts the golf season, others see it as the second weekend in April when the flowers start to bloom, my friends up north find it to be re-energizing after a long winter. For me, it is the greatest week of the year. The historical, mythical, beautiful, Augusta National comes alive for all to see, only to reward those on top of their game and punish the players that just might not have it.

From now until the end of the Masters, please come back to this blog for analysis from the Tournament on topics that might pertain to your game!

MASTERS PREPARATION

Most of you have events throughout the year that you have to make preparations for. All week on the Golf Channel experts have been discussing the preparation decisions that the participants of the Masters have been making. Some take the week off and practice, some are playing in Houston this week, other players decide to have practice rounds at Augusta. I think it is very important that you develop ways that you get ready for competitions.

I find it interesting when a student comes to me a few days from an event and wants me to get him ready for a tournament. The fact is, it takes more than a few days to get your golf games in shape to be in competition form. Dr. Bob Rotella, a leading Sports Physiologist says there are two frame of minds for practice: Training Mentality and Trusting Mentality. In the days leading up to your tournaments you need to work starting in Training Mentality which focuses on working on swing techniques. As you get closer to the event, you need to decrease your Training Mentality and move to Trusting Mentality where you simply trust the training you have put in and react to your situations.

Lets say a player has a member-guest tournament in a two weeks. I would love it if he goes out onto the course and plays around of golf with friends. Following the round, he should take a moment to analyze what went well and what might not have gone the way he wanted. That is when you call your golf professional and seek out some additional help in the Training Mentality. If the instructor is good, he will address your issues and give you a plan to work on each part of the game working up to the event.

One week out, the player needs to be finished with instruction. This is when he truly needs to work towards Trusting Mentality and focus at least 15 min on each of the three parts of the game (full swing, chipping, putting) for every practice session. These 45 min practice sessions are highly realistic for the busy working person. Schedule them as much as you can on the days up to your challenge. Make sure that when you enter the practice round or the tournament, you are focused on trusting what you have. Don't continue to work on something your pro said you should work on, just TRUST IT.