==================================================== Newsletter - Issue 51 Date 04/23/08 ==================================================== ==================================================== Equipment ==================================================== In the last newsletter I talked about a club I ordered, a Odyssey Marxman X Act Putting Wedge. It finally arrived yesterday and I tested it out, here are the results. First of all, the club fit my eye well, in other words it looks cool. I hit 50 long chip shots (45 feet) with my 8 iron and 50 shots with the Marxman. I hit the Marxman closer to the hole about 10 percent of the time, made two shots with my 8 iron, made 4 shots with the Marxman. But here's the stat that tells the story as far as I'm concerned. I tell my students that learning technique in golf is not about making your great shots better, it's about making your bad shots better. Most of my misses with my 8 iron were short due to too much spin or contact that had too much grass between the ball and the clubface. Most of my misses with the Marxman got to the hole or beyond, largely due to the way the face is made - small holes to disburse grass between the clubface and the ball, and no grooves. Overall, the misses with the Marxman were closer to the hole than the misses with the 8 iron, and the alignment of the shots with the Marxman was more consistent. I tried some short range chips where I would normally use a pitching wedge, and once again, the Marxman was much easier to hit close to the hole. The only thing that is going to take some getting used to (in addition to perfecting the length of my stroke for certain distances) is the feel at impact. It feels different than the feel you get with a good chip with a traditional iron. The traditional iron actually feels more solid at impact - but I can get used to the feel easy enough considering the superior results from my testing. I'm going to Florida for two weeks tomorrow, and the Marxman will definitely be in my bag. If I'm playing a course with a relatively few amount of sand traps, I'll take my sand wedge out of my bag; if I'm playing a course with a lot of traps, I'll take my 4 iron out of my bag since I carry a 4 iron hybrid anyway. I absolutely recommend this club to any golfer, regardless of their skill level. I think it will be a stroke saver. ==================================================== TCT Quick Tips - Chipping ==================================================== Don't scoop the ball when chipping, keep your weight on your front foot and your hands ahead of the ball. ==================================================== Golf Tip : Putting ==================================================== If anyone has a golf question that they would like answered, please email your question to: teachingpro@bataviacc.com and I'll do my best to answer it in an upcoming newsletter. This weeks tip is copied verbatim from a newsletter I get from Andy Brown, I'm going to incorporate a couple of his drills into my junior golf camp, enjoy. They say ... Practice makes perfect, and the more you practice your putting, the better you should become at it. The other saying that rings true is, "Drive for show and putt for dough". You may get the ego boost of being a long hitter,but at the end of the day, it's those eighteen greens that you putt on that will have a bigger impact on your scorecard than those ten tee boxes that you were able to launch monster drives from. The key to becoming a better putter is developing a consistent putting stroke that you can rely on every time you reach the green. Putting is one of the few shots in golf that should not change significantly based on distance and ball lie. The best part about practicing your putting is that it can be done virtually anywhere, whether it be on the course, on a practice putting green, on a practice turf mat, or even on the carpet. Though the surfaces you practice on may be different,and may cause the ball to roll differently, there is no replacement for the muscle memory that your body will gain with each practice stroke. If you watch a pro putt, you will notice that they are perfectly still over the ball, and their head does not move. A good drill to help you keep still is to lean your head against a wall while you take some putting strokes. You should be able to feel your forehead move against the wall if you are not perfectly still. This perpendicular alignment to the wall should also show you if you are taking the putter head on a straight line back and forth. Playing a game called "golf ball bocce" is another good practice drill, and one you can play at home. To play the game, take out about five or six golf balls, including a colored ball. Putt the colored ball a distance away from you, and then try to hit the colored ball with the other white balls. This is a good drill to gauge speed and distance on flat surfaces, but it gets really fun on practice greens that have undulations that will force you to read the break of the green. Another good drill is called "around the world, and it should be played on a practice green. Take four golf balls and place them at equal distances around the hole (start at three feet away). Putt around the hole from the same distance until you can sink all four balls from the various points surrounding the hole. Good luck on the greens!