Instant Golf Tips

Sometimes you get lucky. Back in May I read that 16 year old phenomenon Michelle Wie would playing in the U.S. Open Sectional Qualifying Round in NJ on June 5th. By coincidence, my schedule accommodated and I was able to get over to study her golf swing mechanics for a few hours. She came up a little short in her bid to qualify, but she still managed to beat half the field, including several past PGA tournament winners. A tremendous achievement.

The qualifier was held at Canoe Brook Country Club in Summit, N.J. and was free to the public. Without Michelle’s or a similar presence, these types of events are subdued with thin “crowds” and no fanfare. It’s also not uncommon to see high school “kids” chasing the dream with homemade swings, and their best friend carrying the bag.

As I entered the grounds, there were a few groups in sight on the North Course. Canoe Brook has a North and South Course and the players were to complete 18 holes on each track that day. A quick set of directions from a marshal and I was off to the South course in search of the “adolescent” prodigy.

After a good 3/4 mile walk, I came down around a bend and off in the distance to my left I spotted a massive crowd through the trees. If Canoe Brook was actually a canoe, the sheer mass of people on the far edge of the course would have flipped it!

Here came 100’s (it would swell to 1000’s later in the day) of onlookers down the sides of the 6th fairway, and out in the dead center I saw flash of a pony tail and I knew I was in the right spot. Wie’s approach shot landed 10 feet from my position around the 6th green. Looking every bit as poised and focused as on TV, she made a routine par and moved on to the next hole.

Whenever I get to a tournament, there is always the initial “wow” factor seeing the best players in the world, and then it is down to business. Tournaments are like taking golf lessons from the best players in the world, and on this day the lessons were free.

If you have been to a tournament in person, you know that the proximity to the players is unparalleled in any other sport. I hope it always stays this way for the sake of the fans, particularly those golfers looking to improve their games.

This day afforded me the opportunity to study Michelle’s incredible golf swing up close as she launched pure, cannon-like tee and fairway shots. Her swing is a thing of beauty… and as perfect as it gets. You can’t fully appreciate it until you have heard the sound of the impact off her driver. It’s truly a 3 dimensional percussion that chases all the way up the fairway.

I think every pro golfer’s swing can best be described with different adjectives. Here’s a few:

John Daly - “free wheeling”, Tiger - “awesome”, Ernie Els - “balanced”, Vijay Singh- “languid”.

Michelle Wie’s golf swing is “precise”. She makes a precision move through the ball with no wasted effort or “slack”. Her body turns back and through, and the golf club responds to that motion. In a flash the club head tears through the impact zone and the golf ball is sent screaming down the fairway.

With every swing I saw her make that day, I was reminded:

A precision golf swing repeats… and repeating swings create lower scores.

That should be the goal for any golfer, whether they are picking up a club for the first time at 45, or trying to shave off those last few strokes to break 70.

When I developed and wrote The Key To A Repeating Golf Swing, my goal was to unscramble the complex golf motion and create a simple, precise way to create perfect impact. This is the impact of a Repeating Golf Swing.

In more detail, I achieved a simple method of getting the golf club from point A (address) to point B (impact) on the way to point C (finish position).

Once you feel it, you won’t want to swing the club any other way.

Monday’s finish to the 2005 PGA tournament resulted in a remarkable and popular victory for the world’s #3 player Phil Mickelson, netting him his second career major. The tournament also turned out to be a battle between 4 of the top 5 players in the world. Ernie Els was absent from the mix due to a recent and unfortunate season ending injury. Upon even closer examination of the final standings, 8 of the top 10 finishing positions were held by major championship winners!

Due to the tournament being close to home, I was fortunate to attend Friday’s round. The morning groups produced the dynamic threesome of Vijay Singh, Davis Love III, and John Daly (all major winners). As we followed this group, the contrasting mannerisms of the 3 couldn’t have been more dramatic. Vijay strolled the course with relaxed strides, while Love “marched” down the fairways with purposeful steps and intensity. John Daly’s “everyman’s” appeal was evident and he acknowledged his adoring crowds with a boyish grin and nod of the head.

Tiger teed off in the afternoon and we joined the masses that had assembled to get a glimpse of the best golfer in the world. As is well documented, he was having a rough tournament to that point culminating in a ball finding the water on #4. His round was also distracted by a falling tree limb 40 yards from his (and our) vantage point. However, in a remarkable show of determination, he made the cut on the number by birding 18. What’s more, he finished the tournament in an incredible 4th place.

As stated earlier, 8 of the top 10 final positions were held by major championship winners. This is a remarkable statistic considering 156 golfers teed off on Thursday in a field that was already select due to its major status. Let’s examine this phenomenon and why the cream seems to rise to the top in major tournaments.

Major tournament venues are famous for their challenging conditions. High rough, fast greens and difficult pin placements are the order of the day on these courses. But when they tee off on Thursday, all the players have an equal chance at glory. On any other given day, everyone in the field can routinely shoot in the mid 60’s and most have probably flirted with 60 or below having played hundreds of rounds. So why do the same names usually appear at the top of major leaderboards (including past champions who appear out of nowhere and jump into contention).

In my opinion, the best players in the world have polished routines and they stick to them, particularly under pressure. They resist the need to “do something extra” or “turn it up a notch” because it is a major tournament. I am not talking about course strategy here. All courses require individual plans of attack. I’m talkng about shot execution. Or like the old saying, it’s better to “stick with what brung you”. If you don’t, then a repeatable golf swing becomes unreliable, desparation sets in, and scores rise.

A telling example of this not happening occurred during Saturday’s round. Vijay Singh motored along making par after par and ended up with a third round score of 69 (17 pars with a birdie on 18). Was this a frustrating round? Perhaps. But who else in the field would have traded that consistency and a 69 for their own third round score. Vijay gave himself coveted pars with chances at birdie by sticking to his routine. He knew he had another day to chase the lead and move further into contention. More importantly, he was in the mix on Sunday because he didn’t try to win the tournament on Saturday. Hence, if you try to force the issue on a major championship course, you will be sent packing Friday afternoon. Phil, Tiger, Vijay and the other major winners know this lesson all too well.

How can you apply this principle to your game? Here are some ideas:

1) Resist the temptation to “do something extra” when the heat is on. Performing up to your regular standards is something extra under those conditions. Whether you are on the verge of breaking 100 or 70, giving it your best shot means hitting your best shot.

2) Develop a pre-shot routine and stick to it. Familiarity breeds success. Next time you watch the best Pros in the world, whether in person or on TV, take notice of their routines. They may act casual between shots, but when it’s time to perform their focus is entirely on execution. The best golfers stay in the moment until the ball is long gone.

3) Every golfer has individual physical characteristics and mannerisms. There are golfers of all shapes and sizes that have succeeded at the highest levels of golf. They have succeeded because they know their strengths and weaknesses. Practices your weaknesses on the range, but use your strengths on the course. If you can hit a 5 wood 180 yards down the middle then fire that gun time and time again. Three repeating swings with that club has you putting for birdie on a 540 yard par 5!

What golfer wouldn’t want that putt?!