Think about it.  How may times have you had a pretty long first putt on the green?  15, 20, 45 feet or maybe more.  And rather than lagging the putt up close and leaving a 2-5 footer or less for our score, we try for that birdie or long par.  And then we watch as we misread the break or the speed and our putt ends up 12 feet on the other side of the hole.

Here’s a suggestion.  Your next three golf rounds, record the number of putts you take on each hole.   I think you will be surprised at the numbers.  And then if you think about why you had those extra putts, you will probably recognize where lag putting could have shaved 3-4 strokes or more off a round.  So here is a lag putting drill that I have written about before and it’s good enough to share it again.

Go to the putting green at your club with your putter, some golf tees, your golf balls, and a hula hoop.

This is a simple but effective  golf drill. Take the hula hoop and lay it around the hole you are going to putt to.  Center the hole in the middle of the hoop. Take 4 tees and put them around the hula hoop at the twelve o’clock, three o’clock, six o’clock, and 9 o’clock positions  Then take the hoop away and put it off  to the side somewhere.

Now practice putting from all sides and several different distances.  Focus on just getting the golf ball somewhere inside the circle of tees. Line your putt up normally as far as the line to the cup, but for distance just try to get inside the circle.  I normally use 6-8 golf balls each round in doing this.

You can do this any number of ways and even compete with yourself.  But one way to progress in the drill is to stay at one distance until you put at least half of your putts inside the circle from that distance. Move yourself back on distance until you have practiced from similar distances where you will most often encounter long putts on your golf course.

Simple, doesn’t take much time, but a huge help in lag putting.  Try it and see if you don’t cut some strokes from your golf game.

To execute this drill, grab your driver or 3 wood.  i would suggest the 3 wood until you have started to make some progress, then switch to the driver.  Get to an open area with no one immediately next to you.

Now hold the club straight out from your body, parallel to the ground at about belly height, likek you might hold a baseball bat.  Use your normal grip for this drill.

To start the drill take the golf club back in a backswing like you were going to hit a baseball, keeping the club on the same plane.  Do not take it up and over your shoulder.

When you have completed a comfortable back swing, swing the club forward, again like a baseball swing with the golf club staying parallel to the ground on the same plane.  Focus on bringing your right elbow (if you are right handed, opposite if a lefty) tucked in close to your right side as you swing the club forward.  Complete the follow through normally, but remember to keep the club on the same plane.

The tempo I recommend for this drill is to try and swing at what you think is 50-60% of your normal swing speed.  Just a really smooth easy tempo.

Now go back to the starting position again.  This time hold the club at a height about halfway between your belly and the ground.  Do the exact same swing motion as before, again focusing on bringing your right elbow in close to your right side as you begin the swing. Complete the swing as before.

In this drill, if you are bringing that right elbow in close to the body, you should start to get the feel of swinging the club from the inside at the golf ball.  Now do this one more time, but lower the club at the starting position until it will sweep the grass lightly as you go through the swing.

I tell my students to do this drill several times before they practice on the range or before they start a round.  You can also do it briefly during your practice session as you change clubs or during a round as you are waiting your turn (as long as it won’t distract your playing partner).

Using this drill to help develop an inside to outside swing path can really help with a slice. As always, good luck golf nuts!

Not long ago I was playing with a foursome and it was one of those weekend rounds that was  taking a little longer than it should, but it wasn’t real bad.  We could see some groups backed up in front of us, but couldn’t see the exact reason for the slow play.  But we just decided to relax and enjoy the golf for the day without letting it bug us.

All of a sudden this over eager beaver marshal rides up from behind us and starts chewing on us to speed up.  You’ve seen the type before, a little badge and a golf cart goes straight to their head.  Add in the fact that he was coming the wrong way on the golf course to start in on us when there were groups backed up in front of us and I thought I was going to have to pull one  of my partners off of the guy.

After we corrected him, he just sort of huffed and said something to the effect of  “Well just make sure you keep it moving” and roared off in a cloud of…..well not dust but maybe embarrassment and self importance.

This is typical of what I am seeing more and more of these days.  And I have no problem with the marshal going to the front group that is a little slow and ASKING them to pick up the pace a little.  But to harass and badger every foursome along the way is just ridiculous.

And the problem feeds one of my other pet peeves,  golfers hitting into the group in front of them when play is slow.  It is not only obnoxious and uncalled for, but dangerous.  I have a good friend who is blind in one eye after getting hit by a golf shot.

This happened to us recently and, in this case, like most of the time, they were hitting into a group of golfers who ARE NOT the group causing the problem.  It’s all I can do to not hit that golf ball that comes into our group out into the deep woods or out of bounds area to lose it.

Again, I believe that pace of play should be kept up, but with the rest of the world always going crazy, can’t we have a little peace on the golf course?

Here is a recent email comment I received that reinforces this point.  A reader writes ” Golf Nut,  I did it again today.  I let my brother in law ruin my score by letting me ego get the best of me.  On a par 5 and a really long par 4, I went for shots into the green that I really can’t hit and ended up with a double bogey on one hole and a triple on the other”.

I am not amazed by this because I have fallen into that trap many times myself,  often with no help from anyone in my foursome.  Why does “laying up” and playing smart seem so wimpy to us?   Yes we have that brand new Calllaway or Taylor Made 3 wood in the bag that we just bought.  But can most of us consistently hit it 200 to 235 into a small green surrounded by trouble and hit the green, much less hold it?

That is one of the things that I love about the game of golf and that also frustrates me about my game.  It’s that personal challenge to play good golf in spite of myself.

But the teaching point is this.  If you track your scores  (and I encourage you to do this), take note of where the wheels come off on particular holes and you can cut a number of strokes off your game immediately through playing good mental golf.

Good golfing all you golf nuts.

I am really amazed at how Rory is running away from the field in the Open.  Similar to what he did in Augusta the first 63 holes.  But even more so with the typical US Open setup at Congressional, you just don’t expect someone to be shooting lights out like he is.

And I think it’s just in time for the game of golf too.  Everyone has been looking for the last few years for the next young gun who could really challenge Tiger.  And now, with Tiger struggling, I believe that golf fans are looking for someone to put some excitement back in the game.  Here he is, just 22, with a great golf game,  he appears to have a very good head on his shoulders, and he also just seems likable.  Just what the doctor would have ordered for the PGA tour.

So I believe that he IS, IN FACT, the best thing to happen to golf lately.  And I could be wrong about him, but I don’t think he will fold on Sunday this time.  I believe he is on the verge of greatness in the world of golf.

Now you may be wondering about my comment about Tiger.  What I meant by that was, at least for his golf game, Rory may be the push that Tiger needs.  With Luke Donald the new #1 and Rory looking like he has the potential to dominate in the majors, for Tiger to regain the spot light maybe he needs to really feel threatened.  And he might now have the threat  he needs.  In other words, someone else (Rory) who is the new darling of the golf world.

So all around, I not only like Rory McIlroy, but also think he is the right thing at the right time for the game of golf.

I have talked and written for years about tempo and being relaxed to really strike the golf ball well.  And, as I’ve said before here on this blog, when we haven’t played much or if it’s been a while since we played last, we tend to play pretty well.  I believe it’s because we are more relaxed than normal because our expectations are so low.  We don’t expect to play well, we don’t over think or over swing and, guess what?  We strike the ball solidly and in what appears to be an effortless manner.

Until we get to about the 11th or 12th hole and look at our scorecard and realize  “Wow, I’m having a career day!”  Then we start thinking, we start trying to do too much, and typically the wheels come off of our golf swing.

The same thing occurs sometimes when we are getting killed in a competition golf match.  When it appears to be over and we quit pushing so hard, all of a sudden we are making shots and cutting the lead down again.

So, this all just reinforces the title to this post…..The Key To Golf Is To Relax.  Easy to say, hard to do.  But here is one pointer I have given out before that may come in handy.   Set a different goal for par.  In other words, if you are a golfer who shots above 90, than use bogey as your target. Don’t try to par each hole.  Set bogey as par and you will be surprised at how many “birdies”  (actual pars) you pick up!

Relax and enjoy the game….and play better as well.

First of all, I think it is going to be tough for Tiger to break Jack’s record on major victories.  Why you say?  He still has plenty of shots left.  Yes, you are right about that.  But right now, I think that Tiger’s game is starting to come around but he still has two key things working against him.  One is that he still doesn’t have the laser focus that once made him almost unbeatable  (more on that in a minute).  Two, he has some health issues he has to overcome and, unfortunately, one of them has to do with his knee.  And given the way that Tiger swings a golf club, that is not good news.

But I believe he will eventually get himself back to 100% healthy.  It just takes longer at 35 than it did at 25.  Which is why I don’t think he will make it,  time is just against him at this point.

The mental part of it, I believe, is the more daunting part of his golf challenge for Tiger.  If Tiger has really changed and is trying to build and keep relationships with his children and ultimately will remarry, it will be tough to have the focus he had in the past.  I used to marvel at how such an ultra successful athlete could be so focused and driven as Tiger was.  Well now I don’t wonder any more.  He was so focused because everything else didn’t matter to him.  I’m not saying that you can’t be a world class professional golfer (or athlete in any sport) if you have family and aren’t an egomaniac, self centered, totally indulgent type person.  But I do believe that Tiger’s focus and total belief in his invincibility (which I would think are attached to those other unflattering terms I just used) made him the dominant golfer in the world that he once was.

Now many of you out there may disagree with me on this and that’s ok.  But I believe that Tiger will be better off and golf will as well if he doesn’t get to that level again.  And could he break Jack’s record without that level of focus?  Sure he could, but I just think it’s unlikely given where he stands, his age, current health, etc.

So even if Tiger doesn’t break Jack’s record, I believe he will win again.  And will be recognized as one of the greatest golfers to have played the game.   But if he discovers a life outside of golf while he is doing that, I believe he will be happier in the long term with both his life and his career.  So I don’t think his career is shot, it just is heading in a slightly different direction…..maybe that is.

Of course we have to talk about Tiger, so let’s get it out of the way first.  I believe that Tiger is really trying to change his personal life and rid himself of his demons.  Good luck to him, only time will tell there.  But as far as the golf world, I believe that Tiger will never be the totally dominating golfer that he once was.  I believe that he will win again and probably win a good bit.

I don’t think he will blow away Jack’s record on major tournaments, he might just sneak past it.  But I say all of this because of my belief that part of what made him so dominating is also what got him into trouble in his personal life.  So I actually don’t think that what has happened is bad or that Tiger not being the golfer he was before is all bad.

Phil Mickelson, boy he just can’t seem to stand success.  The #1 ranking was there for the taking and he just couldn’t take it.  He has proved that he can win majors.  And overcome many of the labels that were used about him in the past.  But he just can’t seem to take it to the top.  Or can he?  I think that 2011 will be a defining moment for Phil if he cares anything about the label of “#1″.  But then again, maybe it’s not that important to him.

Young guns.  Wow a lot of exciting young golfers coming along and it’s exciting to see.  People ask “Who is the next Tiger?”.  Wrong question,  I think we should be asking “Who are the next Jack, Arnold, and Gary?”   I’m looking forward to there being a little more parity at the top of the PGA ranks in future years.  I think it’s a lot more fun for the golf fans that way.

The FedEx Cup.  It was definitely fun to see Jim Furyk win the FedEx Cup this year.  But I still think that the PGA Tour has a long way to go to make it something that will get fans and golfers excited.  I’m looking for a major shakeup, but, sadly, like a BCS playoff, I don’t think it’s going to happen.

Overall.  Well I have no crystal ball so I don’t know where the economy is going.  But golf has struggled and seems to have weathered the storm so far.  And golf without the dominance of Tiger wasn’t a disaster as some predicted.  So I am excited to see what 2011 will bring.  On this day of Thanksgiving, I thank all of my readers and fans for your support!  It means a lot and is fun to share with you.

First, the Rules of Golf say that a golfer may take relief, without penalty, from a movable obstruction.  And many out of bounds posts or stakes are movable. But unfortunately if you look at the definition of an obstruction, it’s not great news.  An obstuction is defined like this: 

An “obstruction” is anything artificial, including the artificial surfaces and sides of roads and paths and manufactured ice, except:

a. Objects defining out of bounds , such as walls, fences, stakes and railings;

Now I’ve looked pretty hard through th rules and I don’t see anywhere that contadicts this section so I have  to say that, from what I can see, you get no relief and have to play the ball as it lies.

Now many of you golfers out there may be saying, “Wow this is a basic rule, everyone should have alrady known this. “   And I don’t necessarily disagree with that.  But I welcome this question because I find more and more golfers don’t know the rules, even some of the basiic ones. 

So thank you for this question and I encourage all golfers to know the rules better. 

Know the game and enjoy the game.

The US won 6 matches and halved two for a total of 7 points just falling short 14 1/2 to 13 1/2.  And the Europeans needed the final match to pull it off.

Gutsy performance all around.  And some of the young guys really came through.  So I take my hat off to our golfers from America.  You can read about it here if you want more details.

Now, if the golfers from the US Ryder Cup team can avoid going into the singles matches in such big holes in the future, we might start winning these matches more consistently.

My hats off to the Europeans on this victory and their victories in recent years.  They have bested the US consistently and pretty much own the Ryder Cup in recent years.  Why?  Well lots of speculation but one friend of mine put his opinion in simple words today. He said “They want it more than the American golfers”. 

Could be.  I have my opinions as to why and you’ll read about them right here very soon.  Until then golfers, good golfing to all of you.

Starting with the historical perspective.  Only one time in history has it happened.  Coming back from 3 points down on the last day, which is singles.  We did it in 1999 at Brookline.  Which was a home match for us, by the way.  So what do you think the odds are for us to do that for only the second time in history, on foreign soil, with the kind of weather they have been having?

And given today’s results and the way our “big name” golfers have played, I don’t hold out much hope.  Phil Mickelson became the losingist (is that a word?) golfer in Ryder Cup history.  And Tiger got embarrased today.

And we have a number of untested golfers on this years’ squad.  Now one of the things about match play golf is that a lot of things can happen.  And, sure, the Europeans could fall apart (not likely).  So it’s definitely not over.  But my prediction is that we lose 17 1/2 to 10 1/2.

Prove me wrong guys.  I hope you will!

But the main point of this article isn’t the obvious prediction that we won’t win.  But it is to ask the question….What’s wrong with American golf that we have given up dominance of the Ryder Cup?  And, with the exception of The Masters, if you take Tiger out of the picture, we haven’t dominated any of golf’s Majors recently.

So the rest of the world has just gotten in recent years across the board.  Without Tiger, it appears that we Americans are basically pretty mediocre on the world stage at the game of golf.  Wonder why that is?  More to come.

Another reason that miss this is that we just don’t check it periodically.  I mean, we really should remember that we are just amateur golfers.  And that means that we don’t do things consistently.  So over the course of a round of golf our feet or our shoulders or both will get lined up one way or the other and eventually our alignment is off on a number of shots.

A third reason that I have found for this problem is golfers trying to make shots that they just aren’t capable of.  So their feet are in abnormal positions or their upper body may be leaning one way or the other.  You have probably all been in this kind of position at least once before.   And so a difficult shot from the beginning is compounded by a bad stance and bad alignment.

Here is some simple advice on alignment.  First, every time you hit some golf balls at the range, check your alignment.  It’s easy to do by laying a golf club on the ground in the direction you want to aim just beyond your ball.  Then take your stance.  Once you have your stance, hold your golf club in front of you with the shaft touching each the front of each shoulder.  Does the club point in the same direction as the club on the ground?

Then, without moving your feet or your body, lay your club on the ground with the shaft just touching the front of each golf shoe.  Ask yourself the same question.  This will help your focus on setting up correctly on a consistent basis.

Another little tip is just to have a friend check your alignment.  During a round of golf, have someone check your alignment 4-5 times randomly during the round.  Give them permission to correct your stance or alignment when it gets out of whack.

Just being a little more focused on it will help a ton on the results.  Give it a shot and see what happens.

This is a major competition and, quite frankly, the Europeans have mostly been kicking our butts lately.  Don’t agree with me?  Well let me give you some figures.

First, what is Tiger’s overall Ryder Cup record?  10-13-2.  Did you know that? Care to know what, for instance, Jack Nicklaus’s record was?  17-8-3.  Arnold Palmer?  22-8-2.  Tom Watson? 10-4-1.   So for all the hype from his younger days about what a tremendous match play golfer he was, he hasn’t quite lived up to the hype in Ryder Cup competition.  Now I know I am comparing him to some legends, but haven’t many called him potentially the greatest golfer of all time?

And he only shows up in the top five of categories of performance in the Ryder Cup in two categories.  Guess what they are?  Most matches lost –13  (2nd) and most four ball matches lost –6 (tied for 1st).

Here are some more numbers.  Wins this year—0.   Year of his worst four round tournament— 2010, total score 18 over.

In the past, people have openly questioned his commitment to the concept of team golf and, to me, his responses were always lukewarm.  But now, when he is playing the worst golf of his career, he makes the team, by a captain’s pick no less.

Now I don’t know if I can really blame Corey.  I mean talk about a no win situation.  He was definitely in one.  But while maybe Tiger is potentially the greatest golfer of all time…..for stroke play tournaments anyway.  But to me his career record and definitely his record this year DO NOT qualify him to be picked for this year’s Ryder Cup team.  Sorry Corey,  I understand why you did it, I just don’t agree with it.

Here is my current 3 step routine for a short but effective practice session at the golf range:

Step 1:  Take my favorite two clubs and hit about a five to six balls with each club to loosen up.  This is, of course, after some good stretching exercises before I pick up a golf club.  For me, the 7 iron and the pitching wedge are the two clubs that I am the most comfortable with, so they are my favorites.  Hitting with these clubs first gives me confidence and keeps me relaxed.

Step 2: Next, I will practice playing 3 golf holes, a par 4, a par 3, and a par 5.  This allows me to hit a variet of clubs during this short session.  I pick actual holes that I know pretty well and work on hitting the actual shots required to play these holes.  I use my normal pre shot routine and take the normal amount of time between shots.  I have found that this keeps me from rushing from one practice shot to the next.  When I used to hit a lot of practice balls, I would find that I keep speeding up and speeding up.  This affected both my swing tempo and that I was hitting too many shots too quickly.  There is no value to that kind of practice.

Step 3: The last part of my practice routine is to pick one or two clubs that I felt that I didn’t hit very well when I “played” those three practice holes.  Then I hit about seven to ten shots with each to work on what might have been wrong.

That’s it.  Now the hard part is fighting the temptation to keep hitting more golf balls to fix one more thing.  My experience is that once I start using this routine, after the first couple of times, it has become a very effective routine and I generally play better the next time I am on the course.

Of course, if you love to hit buckets and buckets of golf balls, this may not be for you.  But I encourage you to try it.

Until next time!

In the Golf Magazine article it said that a survey of 15,000 everyday golfers reported that 95 percent of golfers knowlingly break the rules.  It also stated that the Duke student who headed up the study said it was because in their minds, it was not cheating.

So look at a foot wedge that many of us may have used before.  Is that cheating, especially if we claim “winter rules”?  Yes, by the rules of golf, it is cheating.

So is this guy right?  Do we just rationalize it in our own mind?   I believe in most cases that is the case.  In some cases, I think that it is just really ignorance of the Rules of Golf.  But most often, I agree with him, I think we talk ourselves into it.  For a variety of reasons.

First there is the rationalization that it’s just a friendly game with our regular foursome and we all allow each other to improve our lies.  That’s fair and even right?  No, technically, it is cheating; even if we all do it. 

Then there is the one that the idiot that designed the course should never, ever have put that tree (trap, creek, bush, swale, etc) there so we are going to correct his obvious design flaw?  Or what about hitting your ball during a practice swing?  Well, it was just practice so it doesn’t count?

Many reasons why we do it, but we tend to rationalize almost all of them.  But here is what I believe is the more important question.  Is it ok?  Say if it is just a round with friends and we all allow certain things to be ignored.  Is that ok? 

We all probably have very different opinions on this one, but here is mine.  If you can separate the situations from when you are playing competitively against other golfers or where you are going to be in a tournament of any kind, then I believe it’s not a problem.  And I think also that this should be a situation where you don’t turn in your score for handicap purposes.  If all four golfers in your foursome, for example, agree to improve lies in the fairway and there is nothing at stake, then why not I say?

The only problem here is that a lot of golfers can’t separate the two situations.  And the golf purists will argue that cheating is cheating no matter where or when. And I understand their argument.  But I also want to enjoy the game without creating problems. 

And I believe that if you are in any kind of competition, turning in your score card, or playing with a new group, GO STRICTLY BY THE RULES.  And, by the way,  I go by the rules almost all the time.  For me, the exception where we waive the rules is not very often, but it’s a personal choice.

Hope you don’t lynch me on this one, golf nuts.

I might have held the club and didn’t finish my swing because I really didn’t trust the shot I was trying to hit.  Or I would try to steer the ball unconsciously and realize that I had stiffened up which really affected my mechanics.

But the key to me became to make sure that once I committed to a shot, to then totally relax and just swing a smooth, easy swing.  Not to think, not to try and do anything but swing the club.  Not that this is an easy thing to do, especially for us amateur golfers, but the more I do this, the better the result.

Where is it really hard to trust your swing and do this?  On a shot where hazards are in play.  Or on a shot to a really difficult green.  Or a shot where I am trying to help my partner and I to win a particular hole.   It’s why the younger pros struggle when they are first contending for a win or for a win at their first major.  It’s when the pressure is on that this becomes the hardest.

And that’s if we have learned to do this at all.  I still don’t have it down all the time. But when I can relax and not think about my swing or the shot while I swing, the results are so much better.  And to me that is trusting your swing.

Hope that helps some of you golf nuts out there.

One of the comments that I have heard that I think sums it up in my mind has to do with the “spirit of the rules”.  I can’t remember who said it, but the commment was something along the lines of “golf is the only sport where there is no spirit of the rules, only the law.”  And my first reaction to that is, I don’t know if that is true, but what is wrong with that?

I mean, the rules are the rules, right?  I don’t know if that statement is correct about the other sports, but it is true about golf and I like that about the game of golf.  You follow the rules and if you don’t, you are penalized.  No maybe or maybe not, let’s talk about it and discuss our feelings about it.

The problem, in my opinion, is that some of the rules probably need to be changed.  Now as unfortunate as it was, and as unfair as it seemed, Dustin Johnson screwed up.  No two ways about it.  He didn’t check with anyone before he hit the shot and he admitted that he didn’t read the notice that was given out to all the golfers.

In this case, I think that what is stupid is to have approximately 1,200 bunkers of which many your own groundskeeper doesn’t know if that are actually bunkers or not!  But that is an entirely different argument.

Back to the rules of golf.  What I think that this past weekend highlighted, to me anyway, is that maybe it is time for the USGA and the R&A to review the rules.  Let me give you a couple of examples.  Go back to the 1968 Masters and Roberto De Vicenzo’s tragic loss because he signed the wrong scorecard.  I just think that, as one of the ESPN guys said, if the Yankees and the Red Sox had an end of the season game to see who was going to the World Series and after the Yankees won it, an official came to the locker room and said, “Oh I’m sorry, your manager signed the wrong score book so the Red Sox are going to the World Series”, you would probably have a nuclear bomb go off.

And the rule that says that if, after addressing the ball, your ball moves, through no fault of the golfer, then you are penalized.   Or even the rule that Johnson broke.  I know a collegiate golfer who was penalized, during a tournament, because after he hit his shot from a lateral water hazard, the ball was still in the water further upstream and he dipped his club in the water to clean it off.

I believe the integrity of the game of golf and that there should be strict enforcement.  But I think that, although Johnson’s situation was unfortunate, but handled correctly, there are a number of rules that need to changed, removed, or rethought.   Let’s take the little bit of insanity out of the rules of golf and shut up all those talking heads who won’t let it go.

The complication comes in when your golf ball is not in its own pitch mark.   In that case, then Rule 13 kicks in, which is play the ball as it lies.  Many golfers I see play winter rules especially when it comes to divots and pitch marks from previous shots.  They roll the ball to a better lie and think nothing about it.  But the bottom line is, if your ball is not in its own pitch mark, you have to play it.

So the question is do you know that your partner’s ball was in its own or another pitch mark.  That’s the complication part.  My experience is that you can usually see or tell which is the case.  But that is really the determining factor in whether relief is allowed or not.

Thanks for the question, and thanks to all you golf nuts for the rules questions.  I am glad to see more and more golfers wanting to understand the rules of golf!

Here are the results of the poll:

63% answered yes, they would like to see the course set up be more difficult

37% said no, they like it just fine the way it currently works.

So golfers have answered and it appears that we’d like to see more challenging golf courses on the PGA and LPGA tour.  Thanks golf nuts for all of your responses.

Now here is a similar point about our approach shots to greens.  So often I see amateurs worrying about the yardage to the pin.  And then trying to hit their golf shot right at the pin, regardless of the placement.  I don’t know about the rest of you golfers, but I’m not good enough to land it on the pin on purpose a majority of the time.

So why don’t we do the smart thing and aim for the middle of the green.  On most greens, if you hit the middle and can two putt a majority of the time, you are going to score pretty well.  But no, we go for the pin in front and end up short in the bunker.  Or we go for the pin tucked in the far back corner and overshoot the green and end up in marsh on the back side.

So much of golf is mental and a big part of that is playing smart.  I encourage all of you golfers to go for it…. that is the middle of the green.  And watch your scores go down.

Good golfing.

But as much as I love golf and as much as I respect all of the pro golfers (men and women) on the professional tours, for me personally, a lot of tournament golf has become a little boring.  Except for the major tournaments where it just seems that the pros have to really work hard to score and to win.

So, for me, it just makes me feel a little closer to those pros.  It’s not just me and the rest of the amateur golfers who struggle with this game.  These guys and girls are so good that it takes some pretty extreme challenges to really let the game of golf do it’s thing to them like it does it to us sometimes.

I also find it interesting to see how the men and women of the PGA and LPGA react to these circumstances.  You get to see a side of them that we normally don’t see week in and week out.

Now this got me to thinking about an interesting question.  Should the professional tours make the golf courses for the regular tournaments a little more difficult?  In other words, when we are not watching The Masters, The US Open, The Open Championship, or the PGA, do we really enjoy watching pro golfers shoot -10, -14, or even -22?

I’ve never really asked myself this before, but in watching the US Open so far and thinking about it, I’ve decided that I am in favor of this.  I believe that, especially with Tiger at a major turning point in his career (more about this in a later post), that not only will this make golf more interesting, but the game of golf needs this.

You may agree or disagree, but I think that professional tournament golf (other than the majors) has become a little boring.  And as always, I am interested in your thoughts.  So, if you would, take a minute and complete this poll question below.  I’ll post the results in a few days.

When you look back over the years, just his success as a coach is enough to blow you away. His accomplishments include 10 NCAA titles, at one point winning 7 in a row.  During a stretch that included a record of 205-5, he had 4 seasons with a perfect 30-0 records.   But so much of what you will hear about Wooden and what impacted me as well is about the man himself.

What has always impressed me so much about John Wooden was how he achieved success while impacting so many of his players in huge ways.  If you watch over the next couple of weeks, you will hear those testimonies pouring out.  And they are well deserved in my opinion.

He was intensely loyal.  He taught life lessons, not just basketball.  He was all about team, not the individual.  And he cared about his players immensely.  And he knew how to win, and in a big way regardless of the talent he had.

As I observe sports at the college and professional level there is no doubt that they changed quite a bit since Wooden was at UCLA.   Many might say that he couldn’t achieve today what he did in the 60′s and 70′s.  We’ll never know, but based upon what I know about the man, I wouldn’t put money on that.

Everything I’ve read, seen, and heard about Coach Wooden can be summed up in one simple phrase  “He was one of the totally genuine good guys.”  And the world will miss him.

Thank you coach for all you did and taught to all of us!

This was the first time in 22 starts that Mickelson has missed a cut.  And if you play golf, you know that no one can play the game at their best all the time.  Everyone has spots where they struggle, even the guys and girls on the pro tours.   

But here is a question.  There was a ton written recently about Phil having the opportunity to gain the top spot with a victory at Colonial.  And he immediately misses the cut.  And let’s look at how he missed the cut at a tournament that he has won twice previously. 

It was his highest round at Colonial in six years.  He only hit 12 of 28 fairways and only 24 of 36 greens. And he was 17 shots behind the leader when he departed.  And it wasn’t just one part of his game, he seemed to struggle in all areas.

Now Phil has proven that he can take the pressure to win a Major golf tournament.  So he is used to the limelight and major golf tournament pressure.  But with all that has happened in the “Tiger era” and with Tiger now vulnerable, the media pressure and attention will be as it has never been before.

The questions and focus will be so intense on who may supplant Tiger that I believe it may be a type of pressure and attention that Phil, in fact no golfer, has not faced before.  And golf is most definitely a mental game.

So I don’t think that Mickelson is unable to win in the short term and possibly gain the #1 spot.  I question whether he has the deep mental toughness to grab the #1 spot and keep it.  Can he survive, and even thrive, under the glare of that spotlight?  He may prove me wrong.  But even as good a guy as he is and a great golfer, I’m not convinced he can do it.

Second thing that I am big on is to use your favorite golf clubs.  All of us have some clubs that we are really comfortable with and, thus, hit well.  For me, my favorite irons are my 7, 8, and sand wedge.  I just normally hit them very well.  So, based on where I am sitting after my tee shot, I am looking to typically do one of two things.  First to see if I can hit a 7 or 8 iron into a distance that I can then hit my sand wedge in for my third shot.  I usually get a decent chance at birdie if I can hit my sand wedge.

The other scenario that I look for is to hit my three wood for my second shot.  The 3 is my favorite wood.  If the green is unprotected and/or relatively flat and wide, I like to go for the green in two if a mistake won’t cost me too badly.

The third thing for scoring on Par 5′s is to get good at the bump and run or chipping.  If you can do a little practice with you 7 through pitching wedge, you can a lot of times save par or set up birdies with an excellent chip or bump an run.  (You can read more about this type of approach in this golf tip)

So, Golf Nuts, put those three thoughts into your game and you will find yourself doing pretty well on the Par 5′s and helping get some strokes off your golf score.

Have fun out there!

Freddie Couples playing great golf and just 4 strokes back of the leader as I write this.  Mickelson almost hits 3 eagles in a row, and there are a bunch of good golfers all together within striking distance.   This is the way that a Major golf tournament ought to be played out.

And one thing that I am enjoying is that it isn’t all about Tiger.  I am glad to see that the coverage is spread out, but then again I didn’t expect anything else at Augusta National.

Lee Westwood is currently the leader and playing very good golf. With Mickelson breathing down his neck, will he falter?  We shall see.

I know that I hear a lot of people say that golf is boring to watch on TV.  Well,  I will admit that sometimes it probably is, but if you are catching this 2010 Masters, I don’t really see how you can say that.

Here’s looking forward to Sunday’s final round!