Below Average Golf

Avoidable Mistake # 6 Driving angry...

2011-08-03T07:30:00.000-06:00

"It does not work on the highway or off the tee box"

If driving angry was a good strategy, every morning we would grab our bag of lunch off of the counter, snatch up our cup of coffee, make a point of yelling at our wives and kicking our dogs as we head out the door to go work each day.

We would then tear at the door handle of the car, drop our keys, spill our coffee on our pants, drop and kick our lunch and then yell curses at the neighbors as we pulled out of the driveway, spilling more coffee into our laps as we speed around a corner and down the road to the office.

Once on the highway we would drive as if our ass was smoldering and the water to put it out was waiting for us at work on our desk. We would be pulling one risky maneuver after another, following too close to those in front of us, yelling at them for being too slow and not knowing how to drive. We would be accelerating into the curves, slamming on the brakes, screeching our tires, sliding dangerously close to the edge of safety, narrowly avoiding the trees and bushes and ponds along the way, and recklessly shooting at small openings and narrow gaps, attempting the unwise and the fool hearty as we try and merge along with the flow of traffic. We would whip into our parking space, slam the car door and run up the stairs into work with our brief case spilling all of our important papers for today's meeting as we go... Finally arriving at our desk pissed off, out of breath, sweating profusely, and ready to tear into the first person who has the temerity to say "Good Morning!"

As absurd as this illustration is, we have all witnessed something similar to this at some point in our existence. Maybe not as dramatic, but just as idiotic and disruptive to those around them.

Chances are that you have seen this guy in action out on the roads and on the golf course, and at times even been guilty of this behavior yourself. If you have, I would recommend that you try and put a stop to driving angry.

It does not help you play better, it does not help you feel better, and it does not help you hit the ball any farther. All that it does is make you look like the jerk that you are and the jerk that you accuse other golfers of being.

I have a saying that goes "If being angry helped us play better golf, we would start acting that way on the first tee!"

Obviously you have never seen a playing partner show up fuming mad, foaming at the mouth, ranting and raving like a lunatic, completely disheveled from head to toe, totally out of control, ready to tear someones head off and shove it down there golf bag, and then watch as they make a nice smooth pass at the ball and smoke it down the middle 310 yards off of the first tee... It just does not happen!

We have however witnessed the complete opposite display, albeit not on the first hole. It usually takes 5 or 6 holes. It usually takes a little time for our frustrations to build and then to run afoul of our high expectations. It can be a series of bad shot, poorly played approaches and missed putts that cause us to lose it... But once we do, we magically become this guy who claims that "I play better when I am angry" and then we get to watch him drive all over the course like he has a bad case of road rage... Spoiling the rest of the round for himself and for all those within 2 or 3 holes of your group.

14 Women... 1 Date

2011-04-08T05:22:00.003-06:00

How do you go on a date with 14 women all at the same time? The answer is not very effectively!

The same holds true for your clubs. It is hard to get to know your individual clubs when you only spend a short time with each of them on the range during practice.

Each club is different

Each one needs different handling

Each one needs special attention

Each one performs differently at different times

I suggest that you take only (one woman) and one club out at a time.

The more time that you spend with each one individually, the more you will get to know them as individuals, and the easier it will be to eventually learn what it takes to score with each of them.

So if your game is suffering and you are not finding satisfaction in your game, try going out to the range with only one club and learn all that you can.

You will be amazed how well a club will perform and how much more trust you will have in it when you have invested the time it takes to get to know each of them... one shot at a time.

What women know about length and golfers don't

2011-03-18T08:33:00.006-06:00

"If distance and length really mattered, there would be a tee box in the parking lot and your wife or girlfriend would be dating a male porn star!"

I have a simple philosophy... "If you cannot break par from the women's tee box, then you should not be teeing it up from the back of the men's tee's!

This sort of thought is foreign to most males who think that pleasure is derived from length. But if you ask any woman, they will tell you that it is not the length of the club that matters but rather how you use it that is important. It is not how hard you try (to swing) when on the box, but how fast can you get it in the hole.

So if your score is not as satisfying as it should be... Consider teeing it up with the ladies and watch your scores drop while your satisfaction will rise.

Practice what you do well

2009-07-13T21:11:00.004-06:00

What

Every golfer has at least one thing that they do well, something that they do better than any other aspect of their game. Find your strength and make it stronger. If you are good at lag putting, practice this until you are great and become the “King of the lag.” If it is driving that separates you from the rest, then make yourself the “Designated driver” of your group. Whatever it is that you do really well, identify it and strengthen it!

Why

The natural tendency of all golfers is to do this instinctually. When we practice (if we ever do) we tend to shy away from practicing areas of our games that expose our weaknesses. We do this out of fear and embarrassment. Sometimes out of fear of embarrassment. In most cases we are unwilling to even admit that we have personal golf failings. We will deny the existence of the problem by never exposing it to the light of day, or to others, and even to ourselves. By practicing and refining the parts of the game that you already do well and which come naturally, you will see immediate and rapid improvements in this area of strength. When this happens it will show that you can make improvements with a sustained effort, even to an area of your game that was already strong. This will lead to a subconscious belief that practice can and does show results.

How

Having confidence in one area of your game will lead to confidence in other areas of your game. By starting from an area of strength in your practice routine, it will give you confidence to try and work on an area of weakness in your game. Spend five minutes doing whatever it is that you do best, followed by five minutes of doing that which is hard and frustrating, followed immediately by five more minutes of your strength. This approach will give you confidence going into a practice session. It will allow you to have the confidence and self-esteem that is necessary when attempting to improve a weakness. And it will leave you feeling strong and confident when you are done practicing.

Summary

We have been given weaknesses so that we can remain humble while golfing. By having humility and admitting that we have a weakness, we gain inner strength. When we use this inner strength to work on other areas of our personal failings we gain more skills. More skill equals more confidence. More confidence gives us the willingness to be humble and try that, which is hard. When we face adversity and look it in the eye we start the process of overcoming that which we fear. Loss of fear and embarrassment will allow us to be free to accept the inevitabilities of golf. Golf was meant to be hard. Once that is fully understood, we will find that practice becomes easier and easier to do.

Undeniable Truths of Golf

Practicing something that you do well is easy and it is fun.

It will breed confidence and permanently ingrain your natural inherent ability.

It will become a building block from which to strengthen other aspects of your game

What Flag?

2009-05-21T00:01:00.000-06:00

"Shooting at the flag will elevate your score faster than almost anything else in golf!"

Rarely if ever is the pin placed in a can’t miss portion of the green, relative to your position in the fairway, trees or bunker. Usually it is tucked behind, on the edge of, or very near, the unseen obstacles that have been designed into each and every green complex by the devious golf course architects.

There is a reason why they call it a “sucker pin”… they are designed to suck you in and pin you down!

Ignore the flag, and you will lower your scores. The flag was placed on the top of a pin to help you gauge the wind on your approach into the green. The pin is there to mark the location of the hole. When the colorfully designed flag and narrow pin are combined together, they magically act as a powerful magnet to attract the unsuspecting and gullible golfers who walk among us. You may even be one of them.

The problem with aiming at the flag is that our eyes are looking on a straight line that our golf ball rarely if ever travels along one! Let me say that again… Our eyes see straight lines… our golf balls never travel that way! Golf balls hit by all golfers are bending in one direction or another as they approach the green. Professionals do it intentionally, amateurs do it accidentally… but regardless of the means, the end is the same; golf balls are curving at the end of their flight. and we need to adjust our aim point accordingly.

Knowing your ball flight is more important to your score than knowing where the flag is placed on the green. When you remove the flag from the green, you remove the distraction from your mind. We are after all trying to land the ball “on the green” not “on the flag.” Lets run the numbers and see what happens when you take away the pin.

If you were to remove the 1 ½ inch round, nine foot high hunk of fiberglass/metal combo, and the artfully designed, eye catching piece of fabric, what are you left with? You are left with somewhere in the neighborhood of 5000 to 6500 square feet of green. That is a much better target than a 4 ¼ inch hole, and the accompanying attachments, is it not?

Your golf ball needs to be targeted to fly in such a manner as to maximize its flight over a safe landing ground, and minimize its exposure to the greenside hazards… regardless of where the pin is set. The biggest target is usually the safest target. If you were to somehow hit the fat side of the green, eighteen times in a row, your score would plummet and your day would be bright! Hit eighteen greenside hazards, and it is just another day at the course when you wished you had stayed at the office!

Summary

Golf balls rarely fly straight so we need to adjust the way in which we see the hole location. Working the ball in one direction or another is a lost and dying art. Cory Pavin may be the last of those few who were “capable of and willing to” move the ball both ways as needed, in order to hit the highest percentage of greens.

Learn to move the ball in one direction, adjust your aim to fit your ball flight, play to the fat part of the green, and your score will go down and your enjoyment will fly higher than the flag that you now have learned how to ignore.

Undeniable Truths of Golf

The only reason to look at the flag is to know where not to aim.

The hole is not the final destination, it is just one of eighteen stops along the way.

Tight pins locations are like pretty women with mean boyfriends… avoid them!

Building a better game

2009-05-20T21:54:00.006-06:00

If you can “build it up” in your mind, then it stands to reason that you can “tear it down” in your mind as well.

Let me explain. Often when we are faced with a tough situation that “we think” is outside of our comfort zone or beyond our ability to effectively handle with the skills that we currently possess we have a tendency to blow it all out of proportion and “build it up” in our minds.

We might be facing a very important drive on a tight hole or a really long putt on a slick and undulating green where a two putt will give us the victory. Regardless of the situation in which we find ourselves we tend to make the moment seem more important than it really is.

As we examine the situation before us, oft times we start to “build it up in our minds” by overstating the difficulty, or by focusing only on the impossibility of a successful outcome, or by dwelling so strongly on the many possibilities for negative outcomes, that a task that once may have been difficult is now absolutely impossible to accomplish.

The mind is where it all takes place. We are the ones responsible for each and every choice. When we focus only on negative that is what we are choosing to see. When we focus on doubt and indecision that is what we will have and be. When we come to the conclusion that something is impossible to overcome, then it is. But we must recognize that WE were the ones who made the decision to take each brick of doubt off of the pallet that holds all possible thought combinations and place it firmly on the wall of negativity that we are building up inside our own heads.

It is important to recognize that all of these doubts that we have, the lack of confidence that we allow to develop, and the fear of failure that we see before us, ALL OF THESE THINGS first develop as mental images and are only taking place in our own thoughts… But if we do not get a hold of ourselves and change the way in which we think, then these thoughts will materialize into the real world in the form of a flubbed chip, or as a bad drive into the lake, or a three putt.

Once you understand the impact that your thoughts have on your game, you will begin to understand how vitally important it is to keep any negative thought from taking root in your mind. And if golf really is 90% mental, then you owe it to yourself to keep 100% of them positive.

“Is This Good”

2009-05-19T00:01:00.002-06:00

"No course record was ever set with the aid of a gimme putt!"

Napoleon Hill exposes a very important truth that we all can learn from in his book “Think and Grow Rich.” He refers to a story of a man who stopped digging when he was only three feet away from the gold that he was toiling so hard to gain possession of. The man in question after finding only a little gold, soon grew increasingly frustrated and eventually gave up when the vein ran dry. His team of men tried and tried again to find the ore once again, until finally they decided to quit. The man then sold his gold mine to another and gave up his quest for riches, only to have the other man succeed in reaching that which he had failed to acquire… simply by moving three more feet of dirt!

I point to this story because of the parallel that is apparent as we are toiling away to become better golfers and enjoy the riches that we perceived buried within our own games. Quite often in golf we find ourselves a short three feet away from a breakthrough that would allow us to attain the treasure that is confidence and consistency, only to be turned away because we do not see the immediate rewards of our continuing efforts.

It is true that we may find some of the precious ore… but the true discovery that would have us crying “EUREKA… I have found it!” at the top of our lungs will allude most golfers who set out to make a lasting change in their games… all because they decided not to deal with the short distance of three feet.

If you have not guessed it by now, I am referring to the last three, four or five feet of distance that many golfers often refuse to allow their golf balls to travel. This is the critical distance that stands between you and the improvement that you seek. And like the earth that hides the gold, if you are unwilling to move that three feet worth of ground, then you too will be denied that thing of value for which you have been seeking.

Instead of marking the ball and standing aside to contemplate how they are going to negotiate the terrain that makes up the distance between their ball and the hole, and ultimately sink the putt, most “Above Average Golfers” will instead ask the question that begs to be answered in the negative. That question being “Is this good?” to which the answer should be a resounding NO! It is not good! It is not good for you… it is not good for golf… and it is not something that you should engage in if you want to become the best golfer that you can be and take your game to new highs and your scores to new lows.

Take a good look at the picture that preceeds this post... Can you remember the moment when a putt of less than 3 feet changed the course of golfing history? Do you remember how taken for granted the putt was percieved by the TV analyst's? How it was considered a sure thing? A lock? An automatic sure thing? How about the image of Nick Faldo one hole later raising his hands in victory after holing a 25 foot putt?

The difference between winning and losing quite often is the same 30 to 36 inches that most golfer's are afraid to stand over, face down and hole out. And whether or not that distance is covered as the last part of a 25 foot putt, or as a stand alone 30 inch gimme... it is never over until it is over, and it is never in until it is in the bottom of the cup.

The great illusion of passion

2009-05-14T18:50:00.004-06:00

"Hiding behind the word passion when you really want improvement is delusional"

It takes courage to dream. More to admit that you want something better, more courage still to act and stand up and go after it.

Some may look at the guy kissing the trophy and see a deranged fool who is obsessed with the game of golf.

I see a man who made a choice to commit himself to a course of action and who then was willing to make sacrifices in direct proportions to what he wanted.

Passion is great. Add it to effort and you have improvement. Add improvement to performance and you have the foundation for obsession. Add commitment to obsession, and you have the beginning of what it takes to be a champion.

So next time you see a champion kissing a trophy, do not mistake that kiss for passion. That kiss is the payoff that only those who are obsessed with achievement will ever get to know.

"I knew that I was going to do that…!" and six other lies we tell ourselves

2009-05-13T23:52:00.004-06:00

Golfer's would never admit to cheating. Sometimes we are guilty of not keeping very good track of our scores (see picture), and sometimes we may fudge them just a bit to feel better about ourselves... but we would never cheat! Would we?

Even if we did cheat a little, we are only hurting ourselves. And even if we do bump our ball in the fairway, it is not because we want to hurt anyone, we simply deserve a better lie... after all, we are in the fairway (as if that mattered).

One of the biggest impediments to improvement is the fact that all golfer's are of the opinion that golf is a great mystery. But that really is not the case... golf is just a bunch of (not so great) myths and stories (say it real slow and with a lisp)... myyyythstooories. And the only real mystery is how many we tell, and how many we choose to believe.

One is that we all think that we are better than we are. Golfer's are never the sum totals of there cumulative efforts, they are a carefully culled collection of the better and best efforts that we have collected in our collective imaginations from over the years.

Another one of the great myths which would be called a lie by any other name is that we know what we are doing when it comes to the rules, the records, and the meaning of etiquette and sportsmanship.

But of all the stories that we tell, of the one that got away, of the time when you had the tournament sewn up, of the string of birdies that never were... perhaps the biggest one is the oft used phrase "I knew that I was going to do that!"

Usually this is pulled out and dusted off when we have missed a putt that we think, feel and know that we would have, could have, should have and did not make, all because we think we are better than we know, we know we are better than we think, and somehow we just cannot seem to show the world what we really are sure of deep down inside... namely that we are capable of great things, if we can just hit enough extra balls off of the first tee (everyone is doing it), scrape enough 3 1/2 foot putts away from the hole and calling them good (It was inside the leather), taking enough drops away from cart paths or ponds (line of flight rule applies?), and picking up somewhere between 8 and 10 strokes later and writing down a 6 (since that is all that my handicap will allow).

Time to grow up. Learn the rules. Learn that they DO apply to you. Learn to accept the result of each shot, and finish what you start... then when you reach the end of your days, you can look back over the many rounds that you played, and say in a quiet voice... "I wish that I hadn't done all of that that I knew I was going to do but did not have the courage to stop doing!"

Thoughtless golf… less thought = lower scores

2009-05-13T23:16:00.006-06:00

"Sometimes the best thoughts are the one's that we do not have."

There is a saying in golf leads us to believe that the game is 90% mental. My question to you is; "How many of your bad shots can be blamed on this same 90% of the game?"

How many shots are you throwing away round after round due to over thinking your technique, your swing, or your strategy?

How many shots do we waste questioning ourselves, second guessing our club selection, our shot patterns, or the line, speed and break of the putt that we are facing?

Sometimes, the thoughts that we have about golf all seem to be trying to crowd onto the stage of our minds all at the same time, and they all seem to be shouting for attention... one louder than the next... one more insistent than the other. Until we are left with a golf game that is 90% mental, and only 10% committed to the task at hand.

My thoughts, random though they may be, is to try and turn off the 90% that is our mental game, and turn up the 10% that seems to be more reflective and reflex driven. The 10% that is thoughtless has a great capacity to act without considering the consequence of those same actions. It responds best to minimum input and exertion. It acquires a target, swings a club, and accepts the results without weight or measure or meaning.

My opinion is that great golf is played in two mental fashions... Either you are like Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus who both have minds like a steel bear trap. They can quite literally crush a thought down to a fine powder by the strength of their will and their unrelenting belief in themselves and their own abilities... Or you are more like Fuzzy Zoeller and Peter Jacobsen. Care free, casual, free of serious thought until the very last second possible, and then only as serious in thought as the situation requires, and only for as long as is required... and then it is back to distracting the conscious mind with merriment, jokes and playful banter.

It is focused or foolish. Grinding along or whistling a song. Full of thought or thoughtless. For most of us it would be better to try and focus on one thought, one target or one goal, and let the rest go, than to try and master 90% of what even the great golfer's cannot seem to control.

If you cannot do it right… do it slow but with rapid repetition

2009-05-13T22:20:00.008-06:00

Why try and hit it hard when you cannot hit it?

Why try and hit it far when it is going sideways?

Why waste your time grooving a swing that never contacts the ball with anything other than a glancing blow?

If you cannot do it right... why not do it slowly, but with rapid repetition?

The answer is that this is how everyone else does it. But that doesn't mean that it is the path to improvement. Most golfer's have the notion in their heads that golf practice equals time on the range.

My thoughts are that it would be better to chip balls than to top them. It is better to stay in balance and hit punch shots than it is to shank a ball swinging from your back side.

Instead of feeding the meter down at the local range, why not try a different approach. Put up a blanket in your garage, thrown down a few balls on an old piece of rug, and start grooving a chip shot that actually makes contact with the ball each time. Then move on to pitches, punches, and 3/4 shots that are full of rhythm and feel, instead of hitting that hard slicing banana peel and falling flat on your game.

Slow it down, slow it motion, repeat only what works... repeat it as often as you can when it does. Soon you will be a ball striker and shooting lights out, instead of striking others with your wayward shots and having them punch your lights out.

Just another Random Thought.

Rip off the Rear View Mirror

2009-05-07T19:01:00.005-06:00

The junk goes into the trunk to be sorted through at the end of the drive.

While golf may not be the most physically demanding sport there is, it can be mentally draining. And if you dwell too much on what has just happened, instead of focusing on what you want to make happen next, it can wear you down mentally to the point of exhaustion.

Below Average Golfer's know that your mental energy is far better spent on the challenges that wait for you up ahead, than they are spent on the things that you can no longer change or control. It is much better to think about the birdies and par opportunities that remain out in front of you, than it is to ponder over what went wrong on the last hole and why.

So if you find yourself thinking about the past events, whether they be good or bad, it is time to rip off the rear view mirror in your mind, throw it into the trunk and focus on the good that is waiting up ahead.

There is always plenty of time to rummage through your bad swings, missed putts and lost shots after the round is over, but you only have one chance to make a great memory out of the next hole.

"Golf… As Good As You Can Think" A 52-Week Golf Improvement Program

2009-04-30T23:38:00.005-06:00

“Play your best golf today… without changing a swing.”

I know that you won't do it. Even though it it guaranteed to work (if you do). But on the off chance that there is more than one hardy soul (Tip of the cap to "Steady") out there who really wants to learn, I am here watching, waiting and willing to help.

I feel like Will Smith from the movie "I Am Legend" sitting on a pier at high noon, broadcasting on the AM band... reaching out to everyone... to anyone!

And if you do not have the courage to come out of the dark and into the light and admit that you want and need help, I will make it easy for you to have access to what the information that it took me 30 plus years of trial and error to understand. You really can play better golf... without changing a thing, or a swing!

Robert@belowaveragegolf.com or Bestgolf63@aol.com if you want to meet the wizard behind the curtain... face to face.

Remember Dorthy, the power has been inside of you all along!

Control

2009-04-30T17:42:00.005-06:00

"In golf, you cannot always control what happens, but you can always control your response to it."

Learning to respond in place of reacting is the first step towards controlling your swing, then your ball and eventually your score.

Unpleasant things can often occur in the course of a round of golf... and learning how to learn from them is a key to better performances and lower scores.

Week 1... "A Team of One"

2009-04-29T07:26:00.008-06:00

If you do not believe in yourself… who will?

Read that question again, for it holds an important key that will allow you to unlock your own unique potential… “If you do not believe in yourself… who will?

One of the keys to playing your Personal Best Golf is to understand that if you cannot be your own best source of strength and confidence, then you will never achieve the desires and dreams that you hold in your mind and heart. This is a critical point to understand.

Golf is a sport that by and large is devoid of coaching and coaches. A fortunate few may have the means to access instructors and mentors to help them battle the demons that exist in their swings and minds, but most of us are forced to go it alone. Golf is at its very core is a very personal and lonely experience.

When we play golf, we stand alone in the pursuit of our own achievements. We are solitary figures in our drive towards our own brand of excellence. We accept the sole responsibility for our failures and our shortcomings, and we are required to share our triumphs and our victories with no one other than ourselves.

You may have noticed that there is only one name that they ever need to engrave on a Championship golfing trophy, and that is the name of the person who faced down their own personal demons, as they fought off the hard charges of their competitors, and the only way an individual can stand alone under the heat of battle is to learn to rely upon themselves.

I am fond of saying “There is no bench in golf.” Golf is not like basketball. There are no substitutes sitting on the pine, waiting for you to wear down and tire out, or to play so poorly that the coach will pull your butt out of the game and replace you. In golf, YOU ARE THE TEAM… and in golf the bench is the reserves that you have stored up in the form of personal pride, unshakeable confidence, and a personal belief that you are capable of playing golf at the level required to

That is why it is imperative to learn this first lesson on the road to playing your Personal Best Golf:

“You must learn to believe in your current abilities and learn to trust in your future potential.”

Week 2... "Define what “Improvement” means to you"

2009-04-28T20:18:00.002-06:00

Improvement rhymes with movement... and since we all are headed in one direction or another, it really is up to us to identify and define what real improvement means.

The first question that I ask any prospective student seeking my advice is "What do you want?"

Every golfer will tell you that they "want to get better" but very few ever take the time to define what that means to them, and they make even less of an effort formulating a plan or an approach towards making it happen.

So the second step on the road to where you want to be is to decide where that road should lead you. My advice to anyone who seeks a better way is:

To be specific...
Have a time frame...
Make the destination worthy of the efforts required to attain it...
Be afraid to be mediocre...
Track the progress...
Understand that it is the journey...
Don't be afraid to want less...
Have the courage to be a visionary...

Specificity leads to actual plans that have purpose. Endless journeys will get old fast without mileposts to measure our progress. The journey's hardships need to have gain to hide the pain. Mediocrity is for the masses, rise above yourself, and rise above the rest. Knowing how far you have come is how you know how far you have to go. The destination is just a point on a map that is fluttering through the eternal void that is space. Bogey golf begot par golf, par golf begot sub-par golf, and sub-par golf is the launching pad that leads you down the road to golf perfection, any and all of which are great places to visit along the way.

Seeing the end of the journey may never come about for you in this lifetime, but I can promise you that if you are driving though golfing country, and you have your clubs in the trunk, your mind focused on what is important to YOU; then you are halfway to your destination already... even if it is only in your mind!

Week 3 "Start at the hole and move back"

2009-04-27T22:41:00.007-06:00

Want to get better? Want to shoot lower scores? Then put down the driver, pick up your putter and follow me!

Ever see a 5 year-old child shooting baskets, bombing away from the three point line in their driveway? How long does it last? If the kid is anything like mine, the answer is not long. It takes about three shots for my son to realize that the three point shot is waaaay beyond his range... one or two more to convince him that the free-throw line is still too far. But within the next few efforts, he has not only identified where he needs to shoot from, he is starting to find success and gain confidence.

You are not a 5 year old child... you are an adult golfer, and therefore this simple concept for improvement has eluded you and it is up to me to explain.

Even small children understand that the concept of shooting baskets is not to simply shoot... but it is to actually make a few of the shots that you are taking. They realize even at a tender age that the enjoyment that is found in shooting baskets goes up as more and more shots go down. The same can be said for the confidence that they feel which grows with each successful effort. As well as their eventual willingness to step back, and test their improved accuracy and technique on a more distant and difficult target. The more success that they have, the better they feel about themselves and the simple game that they are playing... AND IT IS NO DIFFERENT IN THE GAME OF GOLF!

Take this same child and force him or her to shoot 3-point shots that are far beyond their ability, and never allow them to move closer and closer, but instead mandate that they become successful at this unrealistic distance, and tell me how long these children will last? It would take four or five shots to have a frustrated child... ten more and you will have a child who is crying... fifteen to twenty beyond that, and they will walk off never to play the game again. They will resent you, they will hate the game, and they will never overcome the shame of being incapable of reaching their goal.

Obviously this is an extreme example, and yet this is just about how most golfer's go about taking up the game, and this is why they ultimately will end up giving up on themselves, and this great game of golf, long before they even were allowed to have a measure of success or experience enjoyment.

If you want to start back down the path towards better golf and more enjoyment... move a little closer to your goal. Give yourself a chance to reconnect with what it is like to be successful. Allow the golfer that you want to be the opportunity to come to the surface. There is nothing like success to breed success. And even small triumphs will lead to bigger and bigger victories... mostly over yourself... but occasionally over the game that you desire to control and master.

The next time that you find yourself struggling with your game, I dare you to move away from golf's equivalent of the three-point line (The range and the driver) and move closer to your goal (which rhymes with HOLE) and start becoming a master over little things. Then and only then can you allow yourself to be tested by greater and greater challenges.

Revisiting the small child who dreams of power, but who commands none. Are we so very different that we cannot see that in our quest for distance and power, that we give over almost all control and direction... never allowing ourselves to make a few shots because we feel imposed upon by some artificial distance restraint?

Who says that you have to play the back tee's? What committee was formed that could keep you from moving up into the middle of the fairway (if that is what it takes) for you to start seeing a measure of success! What does it matter if you are driving greens and putting for eagle on each and every hole? Is this a crime? Is it against the rules of golf to want to feel good, and actually be good, even if it is in a contrived setting?

Try it one time to prove me wrong. In your next warm up session, try starting right next to the hole, and start knocking in 1 foot putts... then move back to two-footers, and then three. In the space of 10 minutes time, you will have holed 40 or 50 putts. You may even have missed a couple (which will help you adjust your aiming point), but your confidence will be through the roof. And when you find yourself on the course, actually standing over one of these putts, suddenly you will be in YOUR COMFORT ZONE, which has magically expanded by the simple process of small successes leading to greater willingness to try greater things.

Then when you tee it up, start at a point where you can hit a 3-wood to within 75 yards of the green. So what if it from the ladies tee's, or even in front of them! Watch what happens to your score when you start hitting 14 or 15 greens. Watch what happens when you make 5 or 6 birdies. You will start to see that the possibilities for your own game improving actually do exist... You will learn that it is just about finding the right distance that you can score from, while you learn to gain the confidence that is necessary to believe that hard work and focus can, will and do pay off... even if it is only at some distant point in the future.

In my book, it is better to make them all from three feet and find success and happiness, than it is to miss them all from thirty, falling short, failing consistently and enjoying nothing

Reputation

2009-04-25T23:57:00.007-06:00

“A reputation is a nice thing to have… provided that it is a good one!”
VRS

Never let a reputation beat you! Let me repeat that because this simple line is as equally important in your business life as it is in your golfing life.

Never let a reputation beat you! Never allow the words of another to count more than the reality that you can discover by the use of your own senses.

Let me explain: The word reputation is defined as:

“The estimation in which a person or thing is generally held.”

Notice and pay close attention to the words “estimation” and “generally” for these are the keys to dealing with a golf opponent or a business rival who comes to the table or the tee with past accomplishment hanging off of them like ribbons on a decorated general.

Far too often in this life a reputation is used as a means of predicting future events without the supporting evidences.
Often it is done by those of us who know nothing of the facts that support the reality of the person that we must face across the table or during the course of a contested round of golf.

Somewhere behind the words that we have heard regarding the past accomplishments of another, are the realities of the individual that we must meet on the field of battle on that given day.

The bag of bones that sits down across from you in fierce negotiations, or tees it up in direct competition has done nothing to earn your respect or fear until it is proven valid by the events of the day on which you meet toe to toe.

Entire golf matches have been decided on the first tee before a single shot has been struck, all because the reputation of one golfer has been blown way out of proportion by his opponent.

Entire business deals have been decided before a single latch of a brief case has been loosed, all or in part due to a reputation besting the reality that is yet to be.

The sad thing is that it is in the mind where the victory is lost, long before it starts to unravel on the field of battle.

Golfers and negotiators have been known to tremble in fear long before they are called to the defining moment, with nothing more than an invisible and seemingly invincible reputation to battle.

While a strong reputation may have been hard earned and can be iron clad, those thoughts that we entertain which precede the actual events are nothing more than words upon the wind. It is the deeds that are carried out in the here and now that decide who will be triumphant, and who will take home the condolences of his friends.

Remember…

· Never make the mistake of giving someone “The benefit of your doubt!”
· Past accomplishments do not define our current state of existence, for either side!
· And finally, a reputation can be as hard to carry into battle, as would be an extra sword… while it may come in handy in helping one defeat a worthy foe, it also has the power to weigh us down, and it can be used to cut any and all down to size when things start to go bad!

Is your cup half full or always empty?

2009-04-06T06:42:00.007-06:00

It matters what you think.

I once played a round of golf with a pro who was a very accurate ball striker, but who could not get the ball into the hole. After the round, he asked me "What do you think about when you putt?" He was asking me the question because he had striped it down the middle and hit the ball inside of 10 or 15 feet all day, and could only manage to shoot three under par. I on the other hand was scrambling all over the course, missing fairways and greens and had shot four under par. The difference between the two rounds was that I made almost everything that I looked at, and he made almost nothing... so naturally, he wanted to know what I was thinking about when I was doing something well which he was struggling with.

I will ask you the same question... What do you think about when you putt? Because it does matter. In a game where control is what we all seek to gain, and yet struggle to find, we need to take advantage of every opportunity to control what we can, and our thoughts are the place to begin.

When I putt, I do more than think... I see, and I feel the ball going into the cup as well. My thoughts are focused on making the putt. I focus, visualize and project all of my energies into the stroke and the positive result that I want. And I want that ball to go into the cup. I want it in there in a few strokes as possible. So I spend my pre-shot routine actually seeing the cup full of balls, BEFORE I pull the putter blade back.

I spend zero time thinking about what could go wrong, what people will think, what will happen if I fail, and what the outcome (good or bad) might be... I choose instead to focus my efforts on the things that I can control, and trust in my preparation.

If there is a metaphor for the way that I putt, it would be have to be the glass of water filled to a point equidistance from top to bottom. But instead of a water glass, it is a golf cup... instead of water it is golf balls.

And the only question that you need to answer if you want to start seeing more putts go in the hole is this; Are going to start seeing the cup as half full BEFORE you putt, or as always empty after you are done? Because it does matter how you think.

The images that you choose to entertain on the theater of your mind will be the vision that you see when you look at the world through your natural eyes. See a ball rolling into a cup, and that is what you will get. See it sliding by the cup or coming up short, and that is what will happen. If you want to start pulling more balls out of the cup with you hand, start seeing them go into the cup with your mind.

For as a Golfer Thinketh... So Is He.

Building a better game... thought by thought

2009-03-09T07:40:00.005-06:00

If you can “build it up” in your mind, then it stands to reason that you can “tear it down” in your mind as well.

It is far better to think positive thoughts. Far better to keep an image of what you desire to accomplish in your mind. Even if the images is fuzzy or vague. It is better to hope and dream of a better result, than to dwelll on the possibilities of failure, disaster or trouble... for as a man golfeth, so is he!

No Goalie in golf

2009-03-07T09:53:00.005-07:00

What is stopping you from playing your best golf? When it comes to the time that you spend on the greens, the answer is NOTHING!

In most sports there is a competitor trying to block a shot, steal a pass, return a volley, strike you out, tackle you, deflect or intercept a pass, or turn aside your scoring effort. All of which has lead me to coin the phrase “There are no goalies in golf!”

By goalies, I mean the kind that crouch in the net in hockey, seemingly blocking all access to the goal. In golf, the hole is the goal, and there is nothing standing between your ball and the bottom of the cup… except possibly fear. Fear of what people will think if you miss. Fear of what you will think of yourself, if you try too hard… and then miss!

As in life, so is it in golf, the only thing standing between you and the success that you desire... is you! If you are not willing to put all of your fear aside and give it your best effort on each and every putt… then you may as well be in the stands as a spectator, or home watching golf on TV.

Just for a second, imagine if there were a goalie all decked out in pads, with a hockey stick, ready to push aside all but your best efforts when you putt! Would it make you focus more intently if you could blame your failure to get the ball into the hole, on the defensive efforts of another?

For most who golf, the fear of the miss is greater than their desire to succeed. So as soon as you get it into your head that it is ok to miss putts, you will start making more of them. And as soon as you understand that the ball that slides past the hole, had a much better chance of going in than the one that you picked up and put into your pocket... the sooner you will start trying and quit shying away from attempting short putts.

Run Up Stairs… Putt Down Hills

2009-03-06T10:06:00.003-07:00

Often in golf and life, the hard things are made easier by doing the reaaally hard things.

Many times, golfer’s and lifer’s will shy away from doing something just because it is a task that is harder than what they are used to doing, or something that puts their self-esteem on the line and their comfort zone in question.

Remember that when something makes you uncomfortable or uneasy or down right scared… then and only then are you onto something. Fear means that you are closing in on something that has meaning value and is desirable. Often it is exactly what we want, like a date with a beautiful girl, or a job promotion, or a new purchase. The reason that we shy away from these things is because we have conditioned ourselves that when we feel these feelings, we run away! We have trained ourselves that the easy way is the only way. This is how we have always done it, and it is too late to change anything now! This is why we never ever get what it is that we want… because when we sense that it is close, our fears and imaginations of what might happen override our abilities to focus and MAKE it happen, and before we can uncover our eyes, the moment has passed and we are back to being comfortable but unsatisfied.

If you find yourself feeling comfortable, then prepare to never be satisfied and have the things that you really want. If you are comfortable where you are, then that means that you are not being pushed hard enough, or you are not pushing yourself hard enough… in golf and in life!

I propose that you try this from now on . In golf, putt down hills. In life, run upstairs.

Running upstairs makes you look tough. It will impress the women and your boss. It will make the fat people feel bad, mad or motivated. You will get in better shape. You will pass all of those who choose to walk up stairs like the rest of the average people, and you will get to where you are going faster.

In golf, putting down hills will make you mentally tougher. You will develop touch, feel, imagination and nerves of steel. The hole is smaller, and the putts are faster. Mediocre attempts will not go in. Putts that normally catch the lip and fall will now just burn the edge and miss. You will become reacquainted with the center of the cup. You will grow accustom to getting the ball to the hole… and beyond. You will aim smaller and miss smaller.

You will learn how putting from above the hole can drastically effect your score. You will train yourself to “read the putts for rollout.” You will learn that focus and concentration is something that is develop through effort and sweat. You will learn through repetition that these putts are not as scary as we make them out to be. Familiarity breeds contempt… you will develop contempt for these putts as you develop a healthy respect for them at the same time.

And when you are done putting the hardest downhill putts that you can find, when you have missed more putts that you can believe, and made more than you ever thought that you would… every other putt that you face will be that much easier. Average putts will seem simple. Simple putts will become routine (thought you will never treat them as such)… Hard putts will become very make able with your new found confidence and perspective.

Do the hardest things first and do them often. Do them until they become easier and easier, and then do them some more. That which was the hardest thing you could do, will now seem only hard or at best difficult, but definitely within your ability to handle. The hard things that you faced before will be almost easy. The average will be easy to deal with…

In life we always talk about hard things being all up hill… as in “I walked five miles to school… uphill, both ways. In life we talk of things that are easy being all down hill from here on out. But in golf it is all reversed… Up hill putts are by far easier to make, while the downhill putt is full of danger and difficulty.

In life if you do the hardest things first, everything else that follows will seem like it is all down hill…

Avoidable Mistake # 12 Powering Up for the Big Hit

2009-02-12T21:15:00.008-07:00

"When hitting a tee shot, nothing will destroy your rhythm quicker than trying to reach back for a little extra power."

Rhythm is the heartbeat of the golf swing, and you should seek to find and establish the one that works best for you. It should feel like the beat of a drum in a really good song. The music and melody that only you can hear, with a beat designed for you and you alone.

The perfect rhythm is the fastest pace at which you can swing while still retaining total control over the club, while at the same time maintaining optimum balance. The rhythm that you choose should be such that you can repeat it over and over again, and also be able to use it to perform a wide array of shots.

Your rhythm should also be the same on the first tee as it is on your last shot. It should feel the same whether you are chipping, putting or teeing off on a long par five... and while there are any number of things that can disrupt your rhythm, the worst of the worst is the desire that we all feel from time to time for more power.

At times it is almost like Captain James T. Kirk has taken over control of the star ship in my mind, and is yelling at me... "Robert... we need more power!" And as tempting as it may be to reach back and add a little more "uhmpf," or a little more speed, and a little more "Hit" when teeing off, doing so will not only destroy the golf shot that you are playing, but most likely the next few after that.

Rhythm is what you seek to find on the range and on the putting green, and then try and maintain throughout the round. It is obviously easier said than done, but it should be something actively sought after by those who hope to play golf at a higher level and achieve a lower score.

How we do it is tougher still. The easiest method is to try and look at it through the eyes of a physicist, and from the point of view and perspective of the golf ball.

Swinging harder than you can maintain control of the club or balance of your body will make it so that even if you happen to generate a higher swing speed, the direction and the contact will be compromised and altered to such a point that the gains in clubhead speed will be completely offset by the coefficient of the tree that you hit in direct proportions to its density and mass. And you cannot hit (very often) what you cannot see (very well).

Translation: Swing too hard, and you are likely to whiff the ball, or hit a tree off the tee, and probably need to see a proctologist after the round is over to sew up your butt. Swinging from the rectum will get you into a pile of deep, deep sh@t more often than it will help you reach your goal of better golf.

So if you want to add some power into your game, learn to do it on the range. Swing just as hard and as fast as you can, while trying to maintain a semblance of balance, and in no time you will have added 3 to 5 yards to your tee shot, and a new chiropractor to your health care service provider plan. Or you can simply learn to swing within yourself. Learn to improve your contact and release, and sooner than you can say "Fred Couples swings like a silk pair of undies" you will be swinging smoother, hitting further, and come to the conclusion that in the golf swing... centrifugal force trumps brute strength every time that it is tried.

Avoidable mistake #11 Using the wrong colored tees

2009-02-11T06:52:00.001-07:00

“It is about the color of your tee’s, not the length of your skin!”

In golf, length does not matter!

What does matter is the score that you post. However, most golfer's think that there is a direct correlation between the length of the hole, and their manliness or manhood.

There is not!

Some of the greatest golf holes in the world are so short that if they were sized up in this manner, they could never satisfy a woman or a golfer who thinks that length is the only determining factor in what could would and should be a pleasurable (I am talking golf) experience.

Most above average golfer’s tend to choose the color of their tee’s by the length of the course, instead of on the basis of their own skill level. Thus destroying many opportunities to gain confidence, to learn how to score, and to shoot lower scores. These golfer’s think that if they tee it up from the tips, then they are getting to see the whole course, “The way it was meant to be played.”

My thoughts are that "if you are not putting for birdie on at least half the holes, and chipping for birdie on the other nine, then you are playing from tee boxes way beyond your ability."

So if you want to start shooting lower scores, and posting scores that don't look like you have just been bowling, try putting your game to the test. Before you ever step on the back tee’s, try breaking par from the front tee’s. Most of the golfer’s who hope, pray, dream and fantasize of shooting or breaking par could not even do it from the middle of the fairway let alone one of the designated teeing grounds. Yet they persist in playing from a distance that is way over their heads, and getting about as much enjoyment as they really deserve out of their rounds.

If you want to look tough and score high, tee it up with one foot in the rough on the back, back tee box… but if you want to learn how to score and lower your comfort zone at the same time (more on this later), then try teeing off from a distance that allows you a reasonable shot into the green, and a reasonable shot at reaching the fairway first.

Remember… in golf and in women… it is not how long you are, it is whether or not you know how to score!

Avoidable Mistake # 10 Golfing in denial…

2009-02-10T17:18:00.003-07:00

You may not be as good as you think if you think like this

Coming soon

Avoidable Mistakes # 9 Rushing to the first tee...

2009-02-09T08:30:00.004-07:00

Coming soon

Avoidable Mistake # 8 Attempting the impossible, improbable or the unlikely...

2009-02-08T08:01:00.009-07:00

The higher the risk, the higher the score

Coming soon

Avoidable Mistake # 7 Playing through too fast...

2009-02-07T07:46:00.006-07:00

Do it right, or do not do it at all

Coming soon

Avoidable Mistakes # 5 Unrealistic expectations...

2009-02-05T15:28:00.003-07:00

Start small... think big... accept what comes in between the two

Coming soon

Avoidable Mistake # 4 Becoming overly score conscious...

2009-02-04T15:21:00.002-07:00

Our minds contain an infinite number of thoughts. We are quite capable of thinking about anything that we choose, and doing it whenever we choose to do so… except it seems when we have just made our third birdie in a row, or a long string of pars… then our abilities seem limited to thinking only about what we have just done, instead of thinking about what we might be able to do next.

Getting on a good scoring roll in golf is a little like finding a winning lottery ticket for 2 million dollars. All of the sudden and out of the blue you can lose your ability to think about anything else other than what has just happened. Your mind seems to have been hijacked by the thoughts of your sudden prosperity. But just like the lottery ticket is nothing more than a worthless piece of paper if not validated by the proper authorities, and your string of birdies or pars will mean nothing to anyone, not even to yourself, if you cannot find a way to get it all the way to the scoring tent, to have your score posted on the leader board.

In my opinion, becoming overly score conscious is perhaps one of the hardest of the 32 avoidable mistakes to avoid. The reason for this may be that for most of us we spend all of our golfing days dreaming of such a moment, and when it finally happens, and we get on the birdie or par train, we do not know how to react. The better that the string becomes, and the longer we stay on this roll, the worse our abilities to form rational thoughts become.

Our mind becomes like a video playback device that is caught in a loop of our last few holes… we play it back over and over and over again, until we can think of nothing else. We end up thinking about it so much, that we start to think about how we can protect our streak, instead of thinking about how we can extend it.

So what is the key to great scoring…? Think about the NEXT birdie... not the last one!

One of the things that makes Phil “The Thrill” Mickleson so great is his ability of doing just what I described. He is I am sure, thinking about trying to birdie each and every hole that he plays. Regardless of what his card shows, or how deep under par he might be, Phil has got the peddle pushed to the floor for all eighteen holes. He never would think to cover the brake peddle... not even for a second!

That is the only explanation that I can think of to help understand the way that he plays the game, or to explain how often he seems to be recklessly attacking each and every pin, often going against what would be better judgment. In my mind, it has to be that he is trying to knock down each pin, and trying to hole out each shot from the fairway to boot. Which by the way is a powerful mindset to have, and it is one that eludes and exceeds the thought patterns of all but a select few amateur golfers.

The ability to train yourself to forward think about the next birdie or par does not come naturally. Our minds are stimulus driven. When we find something we like, we will stop and dwell on it, reliving and relishing the memory of the moment. But in golf, we do not have the luxury of taking time to do this. The fact that golf takes so much time to play, actually works against our ability to keep playing great. We are forced by slow play to stop, wait, and think… when we would much rather move on and get the birdie train to the station.

So how do you do it… how do you keep the past success in the past, and focus on the future possibilities? Well, that is a sermon for another day. But to give you a taste of it, you simply have to practice doing it over and over again on the golf course in your mind. You need to simulate the thoughts, feelings and emotions that you will eventually feel, and do it BEFORE you ever step foot on the course, or before you find yourself four under par after five holes, and scared out of your mind, instead of being thrilled out of it like Phil Mickleson would be!

I will write more about the importance of simulation in the “My B.A.G. of Tricks” section, which is coming soon.

Avoidable Mistake # 3 Attempting the great escape...

2009-02-03T15:17:00.002-07:00

Do your time, take your punishment, leave through the front door.

Attempting the great escape.

One of the consistent things that bad golfers do to screw up there rounds is to make poor decisions… especially when they find themselves in trouble. And it seems that the worse the situation, the worse the decision making seems to be.

There is a saying that goes like this… “When in trouble, amateurs will often attempt shots that even the pro’s would never think to try!” The reason for this, is that the pro’s know from past experience that it is almost always better to take play the safest shot that will allow you to have a free, wide open swing on your next shot. Very seldom will you see a professional golfer go from bad to worse when deep in the woods… they almost always go from bad to better.

Just like being in prison, chances are that if you find yourself in jail on the course, you probably did something stupid to put yourself there, and that you deserve to be punished. In situations like this, be it golf jail or real jail, it is always better to take your punishment, pay for your crime, and leave through the front door, rather than to try some impossible escape attempt, and end up making the situation worse. The front door in this case being the one that offers the easiest path of least resistance back into the fairway.

So why do we do this? Why do we make the wrong decisions time after time, and compound our problems instead of taking simple steps to eliminate potential scoring disasters?

The answer is our high expectations!

When we stand on the tee box, we always envision ourselves hitting the fairway, reaching the green in two, and putting for birdie. This is our unspoken and sometimes unconscious thought process. So when we find ourselves in jail, with little or no chance of reaching the green, we become frustrated. Our minds are still in “scoring mode” while our balls and our bodies are deep in the stuff! We still have the desire to reach the green firmly in our minds, and yet our ability to accomplish this is being limited or totally removed by our current predicament of being in the woods. When this happens, and our balls end up in the junk, we really need to be in “survival mode” and start thinking of a way out, and quit thinking of a way “on” to the green.

I have developed a simple mental process that will help you the next time you are in the deep stuff. This method will make it easier for you to accept your punishment, pay for your mistakes, and move forward and onto better scoring opportunities. This is really a game within a game, which I have found is the best way to play golf… little games to keep your mind focused, your interest sharp, and your attention and concentration high. It also combines competition and measurable progress… all of which are key components in learning how to score your best.

The idea is simply to adjust the par, and to ask yourself “What can I make from here?” If you hit your tee shot into the woods and you are lying one… and you find yourself faced with the choice between an impossible shot, and a high percentage conservative recovery, the only method that I have found is to think long term scoring, with short term competition.

I simply tell myself that the par on the hole has now changed. When I find myself in the crap after a poorly played shot, I first admit to myself that I deserve to be there. And since I hit the shot, this is easy to accept for me. Second, I imagine that I am now on the tee box of the new hole that I just designed. Sometimes the tee shot that I will face on my “new hole” might actually mean chipping or punching out backwards, but that is ok with me, because my new goal is to make “par” from where I am!

If I can safely punch out and reach the green, which is usually the case, then I am now playing a new par four, and I act accordingly. If it is going to take me two shots to reach the fairway, which can happen, then I take my lumps and now play my new par five. But whatever the situation, my goal is to always make it better, not attempt to make it best by attempting an impossible shot and end up doing more time in jail, and trying to recover from a much worse condition when I could have left the way that I came in and moved on with my round.

So the next time you find yourself faced with the near impossible heroic escape attempt, and the easy exit, remember that it is always better to shoot yourself in the foot, and be able to drag yourself to the hospital, than to shoot yourself in the head and be left for dead in the woods.

Avoidable Mistakes # 2 Letting one bad shot define the entire round...

2009-02-02T13:20:00.004-07:00

"If you do this, you may not be as good as you think."

For most of us, a round of golf is nothing more than a series of loosely connected miscues, mistakes and misplayed shots. And no matter how well we are swinging, chipping, putting, or playing bunker shots, sooner or later golf will catch up with us… and that is where the true test of golf begins.

Have you ever witnessed a human meltdown? Have you ever stood by and watched as your golfing buddy or a playing partner did an impression of the Wicked Witch of the West?

For most golfers, we take these missteps in stride. After all, we are playing golf… and most of us realize that we really are not that good. But for other golfers, there is a delusion of grandeur that they carry around with them as they play. A self-perception that says that they really are “that good,” and anything that takes them out of this happy state of thought had best beware.

For most golfers, it takes an accumulation of mounting errors, flubs, shanks and missed putts to set them off. They are like a volcano, slowly building up pressure before they blow their tops. You can actually see the explosion coming before it happens, and you have plenty of time to clear out.

But these other type of golfers are more like a hand grenade, and all that it takes to pull the pin on them is one bad shot! These golfer are a danger to themselves and a danger to others, and they should be avoided at all cost.

But what do you do if you are one of these people?

If you are one of these golfers, I would say to quit the game... it is not for you! Volatile personalities have little hope of ever enjoying the game of golf and playing it at a high level, because they are demanding perfection in a game where all that you can really hope to do is to strive for it. But if you persist in playing, then I have three suggestions for you.

1. Start expecting more out of yourself, and less out of your game. Start by imagining how lame your meltdown looks to others, and decide that you have done it for the last time. Hold yourself accountable, and up to a standard of conduct that you would expect out of any other civilized human being.

2. Understand that the bad shot does not define you as a golfer… it is your reaction to the bad shot that does that! Everyone hits it in the sh!t every once in a while… So what makes you any better than them? It is your delusional belief that you can do no wrong? Is it a belief that the rain can fall, but is not suppose to touch your head? If you believe this, then take a look at your score… compare it to your expectations of the day… if there is more than a 5 stroke difference in what you shot, versus what you wanted to shoot, then chances are that you are nowhere near as good as you thin that you are.

3. Have a friend videotape your WW of the W impersonation, watch it, burn it and then take up bowling instead… golf has no room for the likes or dislikes of you!

Avoidable Mistake # 1 Persistently hitting a driver off of every tee...

2009-02-01T13:04:00.002-07:00

The driver is not always the best option.

Did you happen to notice that the heading reads persistently, instead of consistently?

Hitting your driver consistently is a virtue. Hitting your driver persistently off of every tee is one of the many thoughtless acts that define the bad golfer. The higher the handicap, the more insidious the behavior tends to be.

Nothing will destroy your golf score faster than the habit of reaching for the driver first, and asking questions later. Questions like, “Is there really water over there? Or “Did anyone see where that went?”

The average golfer subscribes to the modern trend in golf, which is namely to “Grip it and rip it,” on each and every tee shot. This does not include par three’s, but with the continual lengthening of our courses, it can only be a matter of time.

Your average golfer, and this is one of the reasons why they are average, will automatically reach for the biggest club in the bag.

They give little if any thought as to the location from which they would like to play their next shot.

For those of you who would like to lower your golf scores, your frustration levels and your blood pressure, consider a second option for putting the ball in play.

Your tee shot is your first opportunity to either set up the hole, or screw up the hole. The wrong decision, or one made in haste or out of force of habit can instantaneously end your chances for birdie or par, and can quite possibly destroy the rest of your round as well.

This then becomes a big decision. A decision that is worthy of a little thought and contemplation. But one that does not always require the big head to do all of the thinking!

As you approach your tee shot, several factor need to be considered, the least important (believe it or not) is the length of the hole. Some of these items are wind direction and speed, elevation change, up hill or down. Is the fairway wide or narrow, are there any potential hazards, what is the pin position on the green (“Say what?”) and finally the location of our landing strip.

I think that golfing is a little bit like flying. Anything that goes into the air and flies around will eventually have to come down and land. That is true of birds, balls and planes.

Just ask any pilot and they will tell you that the number one priority while flying is not seeing how far they can fly, but instead they are constantly searching for a safe place to land the plane in the event of an emergency.

And that should be your goal as well. Your thought process on the tee box should be centered on the best place to land your golf ball safely.

Golf is a game of position as well as the appropriate application of power. But most of us have an over-developed sense of the one, and a lack of understanding of the crucial nature of the other. Putting a ball in play (read that again) does not require an all out assault on the course.

Golf is first and foremost about control! Learn to control your emotions first, and then control your thought process next. Eventually you gain control over your swing, then your club, your ball, and ultimately your score.

Your mindset when selecting a club to tee off with should be based solely on the requirements of the particular hole. Ask yourself, “Where do I want to play my next shot from?” Then take the club that will give you the best chance to put the ball in that position.

I had a habit of teeing off with a four wood for the longest time. I gave up twenty-five or thirty yards of distance on each hole, but I split each and every fairway.

Some will say, “What about distance?” Just look at the cover of any golf magazine, and you are sure to find an article that shouts the benefits of adding distance to your game. The entire golf ball and equipment industry seems driven (Pun intended) to help you squeeze out those last few yards. But I am here to tell you that it is a fools paradise.

The best anecdotal evidence that I can relate along these lines comes from the story of a local pro. On his way to shooting a sixty-five (seven under) and winning the event, he hit three successive six irons on a par five hole, in the process of making a birdie. This hole could have been reached in two, with a driver and mid-iron over a small lake fronting the green, so why not be a man and hit a driver like everyone else?

The answer is that you do what feels right at the time. Let the other guy be the hero. Let him look for his ball in the woods. Some will say. “If you’re going to be in the woods, then you might as well be deeeeep in the woods!” It’s good for a laugh, but not so good for your score.

Take an extra moment of contemplation on the tee box. Ask yourself, “What am I trying to accomplish?” “Is this a long drive contest or a round of golf?” “Is my goal to score lower, or fly further?”

Try it for a round or two. Put it to the test. See which goes farther, a bad drive hit hard or a low score, hard thought, hard fought.

Love golf, but hate the way that you play?

2009-01-30T15:05:00.023-07:00

If you are not getting the results that you want, then you obviously need to change something.

And it is not your clubs, your ball, you putter, your instructor, or your swing… What you need to change is your ideas of what golf instruction really is and what it has done for you. And if conventional golf instruction is not helping you to become the player that you want to be, then why not consider something decidedly unconventional?

Why are you trying to change your swing, when you would be much better off trying to improve the way that you think and the approach that you take to learning how to play golf.

The instruction that you are about to read in the posts that follows are the equivalent of an express elevator which can take your games to new heights, and lower your scores faster than you would have believed possible.

The only caveat is that I cannot want it for you... I cannot do it for you... And I cannot force you to follow through. But if there is even a glimmer of hope in your mind, if you have dreamed of getting something better out of your game and something less out of your scores, then give these ideas a try.

They worked for me... because I worked. They helped me reach my goals, because I stretched myself. They changed my game, because i changed my thoughts, goals and expectations of myself and my golf game... AND IF I CAN DO IT (proving that it can be done) then there is nothing to stand in the way of you getting the same results (or better) if you only want them bad enough.

“See you in the seventies”

How a broken tee can rebuild your shattered confidence

2009-01-29T16:43:00.017-07:00

Do you know how a broken tee can rebuild your shattered confidence? (I do!)

When you are struggling with you swing, have you ever stopped to think that the answer to your swing problems might be laying all around you? (I have!)

Do you know how easy the game can be when you start to learn something from each and every swing? (I know... and I can teach you!)

The average golfer wants more, does less, and scores higher than they should... when the answers to there problems are just one broken stick away.

This post is the first step towards getting you on the road towards playing better golf. So if you are ready to begin... so am I.

The first thing that you need to know is that it is not your swing that is holding you back, it is your contact! Get that through your head, and you will have moved that much closer to par golf.

Every golfer has a unique and individualized swing, that is based on what they see, think, and understand a golf swing is to meant to be and to do. Every one's perception of a golf swing is different, and their interpretations and imitations of what they see, hear, and imagine all are key factors in the development of how they will whack the ball.

Look at Tiger Woods, Lee Trevino, Jim Furyk, and John Daly as examples (these are the first that came to my mind) that most swings vary in length, tempo, style, form and function... but they all share one specific thing. It is the three inches on either side of the ball, as the club approaches, then contacts and compresses the ball, and then moves through the hitting zone, on the way to a finish position. It is less important "how" a golfer gets to these positions, than it is to know what the club should be doing "in" these important positions. And it is also important to understand, that this knowledge is in fact the greatest difference between bad golf and good, and good golf and great.

But since I cannot teach you everything about the contact zone, I will teach you the most important keys that a high handicap golfer needs to learn and implement if they ever have hopes of shooting par golf consistently.

The first thing to know is that the practice grounds on most courses is vastly different (more of a sand base with thinner grass) than is the actual course. And practicing from thin lies where contact can be compromised does nothing for your self confidence and your ability to get the most out of each and every practice golf shot.

When on the range, your goal should be to diagnose and correct any flaws in your swing. And the only way that you or a instructor can identify shot patterns is to see the ball struck into the air, as often as possible... not trundled along the ground.

When I teach a lesson, I always ask my students (when they have sculled one thin, or laid the sod over another)... "What kind of a swing was that?" They invariably answer, "A bad one!" To which I answer "How can you tell?"

The only way to tell if you are making good swings or bad, is by actually contacting the ball. For all we know, many swings classified as BAD were actually good swings, which may have come in slightly too steep (chunky and fat) or too shallow (thin and bladed). The only way to tell if one was good or one was bad is to see the results of the flight of the ball.

So I have all of my students slip a tee under every shot attempt that they take... and you should do it as well. Here is why:

Air is far less resistant than is the ground or sod.
Crashing into the ground, time and time again at a steep angle will wear you out.
Hitting a thin shot will vibrate your hands and head with negative feedback.
Contact is far more important than anything else in golf (I will prove this).
Identifying a shot pattern is the only way to change it.
Divots on the course have a cushioning root system, the range does not.
Range balls cost money and should not be wasted.
Grooving a swing is easier to do when the feedback is from solid shots.
If it is good enough for the pros on par three's, then it is good enough for me and you.
Because I said so, and since I am better than you, you need to start trusting me.

The proof of contact as the be all end all in my mind is simply this. Imagine these two scenarios.

#1. You have two golfer's, one big and strapping, and one small and puny, who get into a fist fight on the first tee over who gets to tee of first. The bigger golfer starts throwing hay makers, big old fast moving round house swings trying for the knock out... he is putting all of his energies into every swing of his arms and fists, but he never connects! While the smaller golfer, slips inside the storm of windmilling hay makers, and from a distance of six inches, punches the big fella squarely in the nose with a short, quick, firm jab.

Does this end the fight? Of course not. But who is the guy who is bleeding, and who isn't? Whose eyes are watering? Whose nose is busted (try it on yourself if you don't believe me)?

#2. A golfer with a swing speed that is so fast that it makes Tiger Woods look like a little old lady driving to church on a Sunday, takes a mighty cut at the ball and whiffs? What is gained?

It does not matter what your swing is doing, good or bad, fast or slow, stylish or not, unless and until you start striking the ball solidly and in a consistent manner through impact. The point cannot be argued. For most golfer's, this simple act of slipping a broken tee under their practice balls (even on chips) will free them up from trying to be "too perfect" and will allow them to start making some improvements... which is why we go to the range in the first place.

And if anyone bothers to ask you what you are doing, simply tell them that you are becoming a scratch golfer... one good swing at a time. (And it would help if you believed it when you said it!)

"See you in the seventies!"

Tee of from the middle of the fairway

2009-01-28T14:15:00.001-07:00

Have you ever considered teeing it up in the middle of the fairway as a method for improving you game? The middle of the fairway is where you want to be... right!

I can tell you why you should do it.

I can show you how it will dramatically change your golf game in as little as three rounds.

I can let you in on a secret that will lower your scores faster, give you more confidence quicker, and have you playing the best golf of your life.

I can also tell you that you will never try it!

Want to know more...?

Email Robert@belowaveragegolf.com

"See you in the seventies"

"Simulation"

2009-01-27T08:38:00.001-07:00

Coming soon

Count to 72 and then do what I say...

2009-01-26T14:49:00.001-07:00

Want to break par?

Want to shoot lower than you have ever shot before?

Want to improve and learn what it really takes to shoot in the sixties?

Then count to 72 and then do what I say!

In less than one complete round of golf, I will guarantee that you will understand what type of effort and commitment is required to shoot the types of scores that you can only dream of shooting.

When you are ready, email me. Robert@belowaveragegolf.com

Mulligone

2009-01-25T18:40:00.004-07:00

“I’m going to hit another one!”

We say on the first tee

And often times it’s said before

Our first ball hits the tree

We want to hit it straight and long

And nothing else will do

Unless we find it in the rough

And can bump it with our shoe.

It’s normal to want something more

Far better than we’re able

But when we hit a mulligan

Our score becomes a fable

So remember this, if nothing else

You take away from me…

To play a better game of golf

It’s best done honestly.

Operator Error

2009-01-25T18:28:00.003-07:00

“I’m looking for a putter blade

The kind that’s full of magic

Cause when you see me on the greens

It’s really kind of tragic!”

Putts go offline, or come up short

Sometimes they roll like rockets

And if I hit them more than twice

I put them in my pocket..

“The reasons why I pick them up…?

Are many and they vary.”

But if I were to tell the truth,

I think their kind of scary!

A two-foot putt that breaks a bit

Three-footer’s with a twist

When given time to dwell upon…

In my mind have been missed.

“So do you have a magic blade,

The kind they sell the pro’s…

The one’s that makes the balls they putt

To dive right in the holes?”

You say the price is kind of high?

Two hundred buck$ or three…!

“Well then I guess I’ll have to pay…

Cause it’s the putter blade, not me!”

How to break 80 by wanting less and expecting more

2009-01-04T00:01:00.003-07:00

Do you want to learn how to break 80?

If you are an average golfer, you are probably saying yes. But I would ask the question... "Why not set your sights a little lower?

The way to make sure that you break 80, is to set your goal somewhat lower than that, and decide that you will break 70 instead.

While 80 is a worthwhile goal, it is still a goal that is mired in mediocrity. A goal of 70 on the other hand is a goal that will require maximum effort, concentration, and a degree of discipline that has been heretofore missing from your game.

Also, by having a goal that requires you to change the way that you play the game, you will learn what Below Average Golfer's know; which is that for a goal to have meaning, purpose, and effect a change in you game, it needs to scare the golf right out of you, and forces you to seek something better than you believe you are capable.

A goal that does not require you to stretch yourself, to raise your effort and energies, or that causes you to doubt and fear your ability to succeed, will never cause you to move out of your current scoring comfort zone...

(To read the full post email Robert@belowaveragegolf.com)

See you in the seventies!

Below Average Golf... Explained

2009-01-02T01:01:00.010-07:00

In golf, average is the enemy.

An average golfer is someone who shoots somewhere between 90 and 100 for a round of golf.

They claim to love the game of golf, but they hate the way that they play it.

They own on average 2.5 sets of clubs, the .5 is either broken or at the bottom of the lake.

They have an average of 3.5 putters, none of which they know how to operate.

They play on average of 20.4 times a year, posting on average 3.2 rounds

They know that rules are made to be broken, but not the actual rules themselves.

They claim to want to get better, but take little or no action towards that end.

They buy into the latest and greatest promise of equipment and technology, to no avail.

They complain about slow play, when they are part of the problem.

Their expectations always out pace their abilities.

Their enthusiasm is low.

Their frustration is high.

They are one round away from quitting the game.

Below Average Golf (B.A.G.) is a different approach to playing better golf. It is the actual road to improvement that all golfer's seek. It is the "difference defined" that separates good golf from bad. It is the secret that good golfer's know, and bad golfer's do not. It is the answer to all of the questions that you have ever had about the game of golf, and were afraid to ask or to try.

B.A.G is the culmination of my 47 years of thought, playing, and coaching others, teaching them to play better, think deeper, and to expect less out of their golf games...

(To read the full post email Robert@belowaveragegolf.com)

"See you in the seventies!"

Undeniable Truths of Golf

2009-01-01T00:01:00.004-07:00

These are a collection of my personal thoughts on the game of golf. These 72 truths are simple in nature, but deep in meaning. Some are hard to understand, others are painfully obvious. We will start with the truth... later we will define them just a bit more as we move along.

As a self-taught scratch golfer, one who has gone from a high of 104 all the way down to a personal best low of 63, I have learned that as a golfer's raise their standards of personal conduct, become more truthful with themselves, their scores tend to drop rapidly.

One day, I hope to write a book titled Liar, Liar, your golfing pants are on fire! using these 72 undeniable truths of golf as the template for a book "that will honestly help you to play better golf."

Undeniable Truth of Golf # 1

2008-12-31T00:01:00.008-07:00

“You can never birdie them all, if you never birdie the first hole.”

Myth: “No one can birdie each and every hole in the course of one round, it cannot be done”

Fact: One thing that we know for sure, is that it will not be done by you with that attitude! To my knowledge, no one has ever birdie each and every hole in a regulation 18 hole round of golf… but the chances are that when it is done, it will not be done by someone who has the word cannot in their vocabulary. It is more likely that it will be someone who has the heart of a champion and the soul of an explorer.

Logic will get in your way. The laws of probability will work against you. Past experiences will intrude on your present thoughts. Can’t will replace can. Friends will chide and deride. Frustration will replace focus. Faith with be replaced and chased by fears. Determination will fall to doubt in the battle for space on the stage of our minds. It will seem as though everything is conspiring against you to drag you down… But I still think that you need to say “You can never birdie them all, if you never birdie the first hole” as you prepare to tee off on each and every first hole that you face from now on. You may never birdie them all… but you should think, putt and play like you can and will…!

It is said that Ben Hogan once had a dream in which he made seventeen consecutive hole in ones… only to have the ball lip out on the last hole. Hogan is reported to have awoken from this dream “as mad as hell” at having not played the perfect round of golf, even if it was only in a dream.

There is a powerful lesson to be learned from this story told of one of the greatest golfers of all-time. A story which gives us the briefest of glimpses into the kind of thinking takes place in the mind of a champion.

Hogan was widely regarded as one of the greatest ball strikers of his time, and was also known as one of golf’s most dominant “thinkers” out on the course. As this story illustrates, this habit of powerful thought extended well beyond the golf course, all the way into his dream state. And while most of us will never have a similar such dream, we all can and should have the same mindset.

The statement; “You can never birdie them all, if you never birdie the first hole.“ is something to remind yourself that great things can and do happen in golf, when and if we choose to focus our minds and our energies upon them. Chances are that you have already birdied or parred most if not all of the holes at your course. What’s to say that you cannot string 18 of them together. Logic and reality some would say. I would be curious to hear what Hogan would say to that kind of thinking.

The problem for me was that I could never remembered to say it to myself before I teed it up on the first hole. Like most golfers, I would be so caught up in the events of the first tee; meeting other golfers, preparing to play, and trying not to be nervous, that I would totally forget why I had come to the golf course. Which is to shoot the lowest scores possible.

If you are addicted to the game of golf, but never seem to get off to the kind of start to your round that you want. Or if you never shoot the types of scores that you know you are capable of shooting, I would recommend that you give this a try.

By saying this statement before you tee off, it gives you something to focus on besides being “performance” nervous. It also helps to clarifies what it is that we came to do… namely score as low as possible. It gives us a definable and measurable goal. It also gets us into a positive, “action oriented” frame of mind. It helps to preset our attitudes from one of passive acceptance to one of aggressive controlled thought.

I am convinced if I could have remembered to say this before I teed off, instead of after the rare occasions when I birdied the opening hole, I would have had many more sub-par rounds of golf, and many more low rounds of golf than I did over the course of my playing days.

If your golf game is not to the point where you can think in terms of birdies, then think of making a par on every hole. I know a heck of a lot of golfers who would give almost all that they have to be able to do just that (par every hole)… but almost to a man, most of them would never think to set a goal such as this, nor would they hold themselves to the types of standards of conduct that would allow themselves to think this way.

So the next time you head out to play a round of golf, give this a try. Set a goal, any goal. It may be to hit every green. It may be to play without making a double bogey. But whatever the goal that you set turns out to be, it will be better than having nothing to shoot for at all.

Remember this simple thought: Having no goals would be like playing golf with no flags to shoot at. It still would be golf, but it would be far less interesting.

"See you in the seventies!"

Undeniable Truth of Golf # 2

2008-12-30T00:01:00.003-07:00

“A well-struck shot is still subject to outside forces… golf balls can, will, and do, bounce and roll contrary to our fondest wishes.”

Balls bounce. Sometimes up and sometimes down. Sometimes good and sometimes bad.

Sometimes for us and sometimes against… but always subject to the known laws of physics, gravity, inertia, momentum, and the unknown laws of Murphy the god of golfing.

We can’t change it, and we can’t alter it! If you can’t deal with it… Try bowling or billiards instead!

There is a unique phenomenon that takes place in golf once we have finally hit a shot straight or when we get a ball started dead online, tracking for the bottom of the cup. *The phenomenon is that we expect it to stay online!

This happens on the greens when we putt, when we strike approach shots in the fairway , and we when we hit our tee shots.

On those rare occasions when we perceive that we have started the ball online, our over-exaggerated expectations and desires take over, and we expect the best possible outcome...

(To read the full post email Robert@belowaveragegolf.com)

"See you in the seventies!"

Undeniable Truths of Golf # 3

2008-12-29T01:01:00.002-07:00

“The longer that you wait, the worse the swing will be, when trying to reach a par five in two.”

Good golfers struggle with this situation… so why should you be any different. Golf is a game of rhythm, lose it… and your ball will not be far behind. If you have to wait to hit a shot, it can slip away, wait long enough and it will seem like it was never there at all. Wait with a club in your hand, desire in your heart, and a group watching from the tee, and you may as well lay up and be done with it already. Your chances of reaching the green at this point have vanished. The best way to deal with it…? Don’t think about it. Don’t think about attempting it… Or walk so slow to your ball, that the group behind you won’t realize that your were waiting to hit the entire time while you were walking to your ball.

One of the most exhilarating moments in golf is when you get to putt for an eagle. Perhaps the only thing more exciting than this, is the wait that you sometimes have to endure just to get the opportunity. Waiting for the green to clear on a par five so that you can take a shot at reaching it in two can seem like an eternity. The thoughts, fears, doubts, indecisions, and scenarios that you play out in your mind during these moments can seem like an eternity spent in hell. The pressure and tension that you feel to pull this shot off is magnified by the length of time that you have to wait, and the proximity of the group behind you, and further multiplied by your skill level, or lack thereof. Sometimes that big drive that you just hit seems more like a curse than a blessing...

(To read the full post email Robert@belowaveragegolf.com)

"See you in the seventies!"

Undeniable Truth of Golf # 4

2008-12-28T01:01:00.002-07:00

“Golfers never consistently hit the ball over the green, yet they select clubs, and play golf as if they do.”

Falling short of the mark. This is the trademark of the unsuccessful individual in life and the unsuccessful golfers who play the game. Delusional club selections, and yardages based off of faulty and incomplete data is the rule rather than the exception. If you want to be safe when people hit into a green, stand next to the flag… If you want to be really safe… Stand at the back of the green! Most golfers could add an additional 10 yards to there distances, choose a club off of that yardage, then they would only fall 10 yards short of the green instead of 20. The only time golfers visit the back of the green is when they are heading to the next tee or looking for a place to pee.

The one thing that the average golfer does really well and with great consistency, is to under club on most if not all of their approach shots.

The reason for this is not because golfers are unwilling or incapable of hitting the back portion of the greens, instead it stems from the manner in which they calculate the distances that their clubs actually go.

The average golfer has a nasty habit of calculating the distances that their clubs fly, off of faulty information. The tendency amongst high handicap golfers is to only factor in their best efforts with each club, and then they use this erroneous yardage as their go to information...

(To read the full post email Robert@belowaveragegolf.com)

“See you in the seventies!”

Undeniable Truth of Golf # 5

2008-12-27T01:00:00.002-07:00

“No matter what the score is that you end up shooting, you will always remember the ones that you missed.”

We always want more than we have. We always want something better than we have. We always want the ones that got away. And we desperately want to believe that we are better than the score shows that we are. Honesty is non-existent in the scoring tent. In our minds, the lip outs were dead center. The misreads were made with prior knowledge, even though we knew the correct line was not where we aimed. We chose to ignore what we knew, then hit the putt anyways for some inexplicable reasons (probably someone else’s fault), it still should have gone in, since we knew that they were not going to break long before it didn’t. The ones we missed were “good” putts that were not given to us by our callous competitors, and the greens keeper and the course designer are both idiots. And “who put this hole here in the first place!” when my ball clearly thought that the hole was going to be cut three feet shorter and to the right! Where is my eraser as I need to correct this injustice!

One of the things that I always find myself doing after a tournament or a round of golf is to count the ones that got away. I look back over the round in my mind and count the putts that lipped out, the ones that came up an inch short, or the times where I normally would have gotten up and down for par… but didn’t.

This is akin to counting the number of fish that have wriggled off of the hook and are now swimming free in the lake, instead of the ones that I am actually taking home. This behavior does not make much sense, but I do this anyways…

(To read the full post email Robert@belowaveragegolf.com)

“See you in the seventies!”

Undeniable Truth of Golf # 6

2008-12-26T00:01:00.002-07:00

“The practice bunker at your course will always be empty, and when it is not, the best bunker player at your course will be in it.”

Bad bunker play stems from your bad experiences at the beach. Everything from sand in your sandwich, being buried alive by your brother, to sand in your shorts is keeping you from playing a good bunker shot today. Stories of the beach bully kicking sand in the face of the 90 pound weakling are holding you back from playing golf shots like you are capable. Falling sand castles and your inability to build them continue to haunt your dreams and make it difficult for you to step foot in the sand let alone practice in it. A day at the beach is no longer a picnic. Sound absurd? How else do you explain the travesty that is your sand play?

Have you ever seen a line of people waiting to get into a practice bunker? Me neither! I have seen lines form at the doors of the pro shop in the early morning hours. I have seen people in their cars by the locked gates of the local course, waiting for the pro to arrive. I have seen people lining up for a tee times the night before. I have even seen people waiting in line for a spot to open up on the range… but I have never seen a line form outside the practice bunker. Absurd as this may seem, there ought to be a line, and it ought to be long, and you ought to be in it...

(To read the full post email Robert@belowaveragegolf.com)

“See you in the seventies!”

Undeniable Truth of Golf # 7

2008-12-25T00:01:00.002-07:00

“On the first tee we sense the possibilities of golf… as we leave the last green we must face the realities of our own games.”

Dream on, for reality waits just beyond your first swing. Nothing makes you realize how bad your game is like having to tee it up and count the strokes. The possibilities of golf are an illusion for all but a few. If it wasn’t for beer or your enabling brother or buddy, the courses would be empty. It would be better to go into the locker room and look yourself smack dab in the mirror and say; “You are going to shoot 94 today… You know it… I know it… Now what are we going to do to prevent it!” It sure beats thinking that “today is the day,” without having a clue what that means, or a plan to see it through to fruition! Don’t quite get it, do you? That is why you are going to shoot 94 today, and deny that it ever happened by not keeping score!

One of the greatest feelings in this world is the anticipation that we all feel as we approach the golf course. There is a sense of eagerness that we feel at the unlimited possibilities that lie ahead. The day seems to be ripe for the picking, filled with unlimited potential. We feel a sense of freedom at the limitless opportunity in front of us. A blank scorecard upon which anything can be written.

After all, today could be the day where we break the course record, where we beat our longtime nemesis, or just play the best round of our life. Regardless of how bad our last few rounds of golf may have been, today is a new day where anything is possible...

(To read the full post email Robert@belowaveragegolf.com)

“See you in the seventies!”

Undeniable Truth of Golf # 8

2008-12-24T00:00:00.002-07:00

“Trouble is only one swing away… disasters take a consistent effort of at least three or four consecutive shots.”

Trouble is like a detour on the road that we are driving on. They are frustrating and time consuming. But if we follow the signs, we will soon find ourselves headed in the right direction. We may have been inconvenienced, it may have cost us some additional time (strokes), but we can soon be moving forwards again if we follow the path of least resistance. On the other hand when we head off into paths unknown, we can find ourselves frustrated, floundering and hopelessly lost.

Even for the greatest players in the world, this is a true statement. No one who plays golf is immune from the occasional bad shot that puts them smack dab in the middle of trouble. But what we do when we find ourselves in the middle of these situations is what makes the difference between the trouble which we all face, and the disasters that we all hope to avoid. Disaster which often times ruin good rounds even before they have a chance to develop...

(To read the full post email Robert@belowaveragegolf.com)

“See you in the seventies!”

Undeniable Truth of Golf # 9

2008-12-23T00:01:00.002-07:00

“You only get out of the hole, that which you put(t) into the hole.”

Can you imagine the uproar that would ensue in golf if upon reaching the green if your foursome were to discover that the greens keeper had simply jammed the flagstick into the green… without cutting a hole?

Can you imagine the outrage, the rants and raves that would follow if with each and hole that you played you found the same situation, flagstick in the ground but no cup?

As ridiculous to contemplate as this may seam, for most golfers, this would have little or no impact on the way that they play the game of golf. And if this were to ever take place at your local course or club, you can bet that the first thing that most golfers would do would be to ask for your money back. Never stopping to realize that more often than not, they never use the cup in the first place!

If you are among the myriad of golfers whose golf ball finds the bottom of your pocket before it is finding the bottom of the cup, then you are doing it wrong… and you are cheating yourself out of the challenge...

(To read the full post email Robert@belowaveragegolf.com)

“See you in the seventies!”

Undeniable Truth of Golf #10

2008-12-22T12:40:00.005-07:00

“Golfers, who willingly give three-foot putts on the green, should be willing to give away 300 hundred yard drives on the tee.”

What is the worth of a stroke? Are all strokes of equal weight and measure? Who determines what is “good” and what is not? Why would we be willing to give one shot (putts) and not the others (drives or approaches)? Why only putts? Why not chips and bunker shots? If you are going to cheat yourself out of the challenge that is golf, why play the game at all?

Obviously this is an absurd notion, to give a three hundred yard drive to your buddy, but why should it be any more absurd than giving another grown man a three foot putt that he has yet to prove that he can consistently make?

This is a tender subject to many, since it hits so close to home. Most golfers are simply not willing to be honest with themselves and accept that putting is an integral part of the game, and play it the way that it was meant to be played...

(To read the full post email Robert@belowaveragegolf.com)

"See you in the seventies!"

Undeniable Truth of Golf #11

2008-12-21T10:43:00.007-07:00

“The groups of slowpoke idiots that are holding you up have no right to complain after they let you play through their group.”

Coming soon

Undeniable Truth of Golf # 12

2008-12-20T06:58:00.006-07:00

"The head pro does not care about your score, nor does your wife, your kids or your dog."

Undeniable Truths of Golf # 13

2008-12-19T06:14:00.000-07:00

"If you cannot break par from the ladies tees, then you should not be playing from the back tees."

The above statement is more of a rule than it is an undeniable truth, but I would still like to see it added to the rules of golf, even though no one plays by them. Still, there is lots of truth in the above statement, and many would do well to check their egos at the bag check and abide by this thought, or go color blind.

The first reason is an obvious one. The back tees should be reserved for the more accomplished golfers. They are there to stretch the course, and test the metal of the top amateurs or the local pros to whom distance is not a problem, until it comes in the form of a 485 yard par four or a 235 yard par 3. However for most of us who play, the yardages on these holes would make for a decent par 5 and par 4. For some, they would be all that they could ever hope to handle. But if you take your average to above average golfer and take them back to the tips, all that you are asking for is a log jam on the course, a seven hour round, and higher scores.

The second reason is that most golfers have mistakenly connected distance with their ego or penis… which ever is bigger as the case may be. They think that if they do not go to the back tee’s, then they somehow are no longer men. Even though these very same “men” in many cases cannot get it up past the ladies tee’s, they still continue to associate length with manhood.

The third and final reason for moving up and trying this is to see if in fact you can break par. Most golfers cannot! Most average or above average golfers could not break par if the tee’s were moved up within a hundred yards of each hole… and if this is you, then this is where I advocate that you start teeing it up from.

The best way for you to lower your score is to cut down the distance that you have to cover with your ball. And if that means starting on the fringe of each hole, then that is what you should do.

I have for the longest time thought that golfers who either want to improve their confidence, or lower their scoring comfort zone would do well to tee it up from the ladies tee’s and see how many birdies they could make. And to see if they can hold a round together from 5200 yards before they try to do it from 7200 yards.

This is actually a technique being used by some college coaches to help their “scratch golfer’s” lower there scoring comfort levels, and get them more familiar with going low, staying low, taking it even lower still, doing it more often, and having more than a passing familiarity with the pressure that come with trying to keep a great round going.

Still think that you are too good to try it? Chances are that if you are not willing to try it now, when you really need to try something different, then you never will be good enough to let yourself do it later.

If you would let yourself try this once or twice, you just might be surprised by how fun golf can be when you are putting and chipping for birdies and pars, instead of scrambling for bogey’s and double. So move up to the reds, earn the privilege to play from the back tee’s, and see if you don’t have a better time and achieve better result as well.

Undeniable Truths of Golf # 14

2008-12-18T06:23:00.000-07:00

"We allow on course behavior from ourselves and from our friends, which we would never tolerate anywhere else in society."

Undeniable Truths of Golf # 15

2008-12-17T06:38:00.000-07:00

"Declaring in a loud voice “I knew that was going to happen” is an admission of your own indecision and your inability to accept the outcome of your efforts."

Undeniable Truths of Golf # 16

2008-12-16T06:52:00.000-07:00

"When in trouble, amateurs will attempt shots that even the professionals would never think to try."

Undeniable Truths of Golf # 17

2008-12-15T07:17:00.000-07:00

"The worst lie that you can have in the fairway will never compare with the one that you must tell yourself… after you have bumped your ball."

Undeniable Truths of Golf # 18

2008-12-14T07:37:00.000-07:00

"Hitting a drive as hard as you can on the next tee box, will never make up for the short putt that you just missed on the last green."

Undeniable Truths of Golf # 19

2008-12-13T07:51:00.000-07:00

"Your short game should be part of the solution… not part of the problem."

Undeniable Truths of Golf # 20

2008-12-12T08:00:00.000-07:00

"Short games are absolutely free… and everybody should have at least one."

Undeniable Truths of Golf # 21

2008-12-11T08:12:00.000-07:00

"Golf is a never-ending series of challenges that most golfers sadly cheat themselves out of."

Undeniable Truths of Golf # 22

2008-12-10T08:26:00.000-07:00

"Your handicap is golf’s version of the welfare system."

Undeniable Truths of Golf # 23

2008-12-09T08:37:00.000-07:00

"The time to call it a “good shot” is not while it is in the air or rolling on the ground, but rather when it has stopped moving or gone into the hole."

Undeniable Truths of Golf # 24

2008-12-08T08:44:00.000-07:00

"Hit as many mulligans as you would like… as long as it is on the range."

I am often asked the question; "Why can't I take it from the range to the course?"

"It" of course is the great practice or warm up session that a golfer has just had on the range. And most golfer's struggle with the task of taking what they have just done on the practice ground, and duplicating it on the course.

There are many reasons for this to occur, but one of the most obvious is that hitting multiple balls down the range does little to prepare you to play just one ball out on the course, especially if you are simply going to continue your practice session on the first tee by hitting extra balls. At some point the practice sessions must end, and we must prepare ourselves to play golf and take full responsibility for our actions and our errors.

One of the most insidious habits in golf is the use of the mulligan. It takes a perfectly good round of golf and destroys your ability to post a "clean" score, before your round even has a chance to begin. It also eliminates any chance that you might have to learn how to deal with the first tee pressures, by always allowing you to "feel" as though you have a back up ball in your mind, if not in your pocket.

How exciting would the 2009 Masters have been if on the 1st hole both Tiger and Phil (Who both hit wayward tee shots) wanted to have a do-over? Or if on the 12th hole, Phil Mickleson had said... "Hold up a second... I'm going to hit a mulligan" right after his ball had trickled into the pond fronting the green. Of course this is absurd to even consider, because where would it end. Kenny Perry would surely want his chip shot back on the 17th hole. Chad Campbell would want his final putt back on 18th green. And on and on it would go... where would it stop... nobody knows, except you!

You have the ability to transform your own game right now... today! Simply stop cheating yourself of the challenge that is golf. Stop pretending that you are better than you are. Start accepting the results on each and every shot, NOT just the one's that you like, but each and every one. Start acting as if you are now the golfer that you want to be, and you will be on the road to the lower scores that you want, and the self-respect and esteem that you deserve.

And remember, If you think that you are different, special, and that the rules of golf do not apply to you, then you are not near as good as you think that you are, and chances are that you never will be.