The only useful training aid.

Besides weighted clubs which have been a proven training aid for the last century, as Harvey Penick prescribed the use of the weighted club to properly reinforce muscles used in the golf swing movement.

There is maybe only one useful training aid on the market. "The impact bag"

At least 95% of golfers have their hands behind or on top of the golf ball at impact position. The correct position would be to have your hands in front of the golf ball at impact. That's where the impact bag comes handy as you can see and feel your true impact position. I'm not saying you should get one, I'm just saying next time you hit the range concentrate and try feeling where your hands were when your golf club touched the ball.

8/10 for the Impact Bag. You don't need one, but it could help.

Practice Smarter / Improve your ball striking

Spend more time at the practice green chipping and improve your ball striking.

Seems too good to be true?

If you spend more time practicing chipping you will save more par. When you'll be facing a long 180 yds iron shot off the fairway of the 15th hole, knowing it's easy for you to get up and down will make your shot easier with less pressure as you won't feel you need to hit the green to make a par.

Knowing you can save pars, will make your driving and iron play easier and a more confident overall golfer.

Played my first 18 holes of the year yesterday.

Mid October 2009

Montreal, Qc, Canada.

8 am it's cold outside, like every other day in the past 2 weeks I'm first on the range, warming up with my 54 degrees. Half swings, trying to practice my 60-70 yards pitch... between each swings I'm dreaming of a nice sunny day in florida, thinking I'll be driving there in two weeks. Now hitting full 54, 120 yards...wanting to be in my best possible game shape for florida, where I'll be spending 6 months, playing and teaching golf. 9 iron in hands, trying to hit nice cuts, something I've always had a hard time doing with a high lofted club... I kept thinking I needed this shot to compete in florida. Was hitting every thing dead solid when something cracked...my back. Couldn't make a turn without enduring immense pain. I fell on my knees, took a deep breath, got back on my feet, slowly walked to my car and drove home.

Something happened to me, never stretched before hitting a golf ball thinking It was only for older folks. I went to the doctor, had prescription from pain relievers.

2 weeks later, my back felt better, drove to florida with my friend, we rented a condo near a golf course. Enjoying nice weather and sunny days, haven't been hitting a ball in 2 two weeks, I thought I was ready to get back on course and play. I was wrong. The pain came back. Frustrated with my back and my life I decided to quit golf. Spent 6 months in florida far from home not playing golf...

Finally came back home, decided to keep my job as a golf teacher, working at the range seeing others practice, I wanted to de the same. Once in a while I took a club and hit a few, no pain anymore. So yesterday I tried to hit the course again for the first time in 8 months, it felt great... weak drives, ok iron play, terrible short game, good putting. Ended up playing 74, not bad... I was mentally prepared to play over 80.

I'll be playing again soon, I want that course record, 63 is the number... time to hit the range and most of all the short game practice facilities.

60 min / From 10 to Scratch: Practice Schedule

Simple.

7 days a week.

Full Swings

Using Mental Imagery

Hit 50 balls max. to a target : 10 with Sandwedge

10 with 9 iron

5 with 6 iron

5 with 3 iron/hybrid

5 with Fairway woods

15 with Driver

10 minutes Pitch. 80-30 yards (Get the distance right)

20 minutes Chips (Long and short sided ones)

10 minutes putting (mostly short ones)

Practice Smarter / Chipping

How to be the best chipper.

Chipping is all about the feel for distance, practice is golden. If done daily, 15 minutes a day is enough to be a scratch golfer. 5-7 days a week.

Frequency is a short game key. Why?

Great chipping for better players is not about precision, but about distance control. Distance control comes from feel, the only way to maintain feel is by practicing every day. If you can do 10 minutes per session 2 times a day you would be even better.

Try it for a week, I want your feedback on this advice. You'll see amazing improvement.

Mental Imagery / Why?

Why Mental Imagery and a Swing Model?

Close your eyes and think about a cube, what does your mind see? A Perfect Cube. 90 degrees angles, every side the same length, it is well defined. You can even make it rotate in every directions.

Now close your eyes and think about your top of the swing position, what do you see? You can probably see a top of the swing position. Do you picture it as clear as the square? Probably not.

Why?

Well a Cube is a Cube, you know what a cube looks like because it never changes. A Cube will always look like a Cube.

A swing on the other hand is always different, you see thousands of different swings in a lifetime. That is the reason why it's so hard to picture. And the reason why you need a model, a swing to look at, a swing that will be for you a truth.

Using a model, you'll be able to picture the swing positions just like you can picture a Cube in your mind.

Model Golf Swing : Tom Purtzer

To help you find videos of your model golfer, I’ll once in a while update a post featuring a video of a pro golfer’s swing in a loop. Having a model golfer helps create a correct Mental Imagery of your golf swing.

First on the tee: Tom Purtzer

His swing as been described by his peers as the “sweetest swing on tour”

Now on the champions tour, he is the 3rd longest hitter. How can a guy with a short and easy swing can be so long? The answer is not in the driver he uses, since he still plays with an old Titleist 975J, I think. Here's an article about his length off the tee.

Practice Smarter / How Many Balls?

It’s not : How many? It’s only: How?

You don’t have to hit 3000 balls a week to become a scratch golfer. You won't be able to keep your focus on every swing, focus is a key.

Hitting 200-400 max is enough if you use mental imagery and a model. You will groove your swing by always repeating it the same way.

Mental Imagery / The Swing

"Seeing in the mind's eye"

Visualizing yourself doing the exact movement is golf's greatest key.

How to do so?

You have to know and see what a great golf swing looks like. You may see 1000 good golf swings on a weekend while watching the PGA TOUR on TV. But all of them are different and conflicting with one another in term of form and tempo.

3 steps. Repeat 3-5 times a week

1.Find a model

Find a pro golfer that fits your shape and most importantly your temperament as it will reflect in your tempo.

2. View and review his swing from different angles until you know it by heart.

Ex: Tom Purtzer

(Good exemple of a simple and powerfull swing)

3. Pratice

After watching 15 minutes of your model swings, hit the range. 100 balls max. Before each swing: Recall and see in your mind the swing of your model. Just should already see a big improvement in your ball stricking.