TomTuckerGolf.com
 
Golf Tips Newsletter - Issue 258 - August 14th, 2013

 

Prepare to play your best golf by doing something now!

To comment or respond to this newsletter, please click here ttucker@rochester.rr.com

In This Issue  

- Tom's Featured Tip: Structuring Your Practice
- Tom's Bonus Tip: A Little Humor - Top 10 Caddy Responses
- Lesson Comments: What Students Have To Say
- Sponsors: Batavia Country Club   Chestnut Hill Country Club 
Plum Creek Driving Range and PGA AboutGolf.com Golf Simulator 
GCC Golf Management Program  Provoto Putting Systems

PLUM CREEK DRIVING RANGE IN BATAVIA, NY, IS OPEN ALL YEAR Outdoors in season; Indoors - simulator available for play or practice. Call 585-993-0930 or email Mark at plumcreek4@rochester.rr.com to reserve your simulator time! Great money saving monthly specials, check them out here: http://www.plumcreekdrivingrange.com

Buy Gift Certificates for Lessons   Sample Gift Certificate

Golf lessons - Outdoor and Indoor - are available at Plum Creek, please call me at 716 474 3005, email me at ttucker@rochester.rr.com, or visit my website at   http://www.tomtuckergolf.com/lessonrates.html   for details.

Indoor or Outdoor Driver Fitting Get the most bang for your buck when you buy a new driver by getting professionally fitted first. Click for details:
http://www.tomtuckergolf.com/indoor.html

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Tom's Featured Tip:
Structuring Your Practice

For the sake of simplicity, all advice on swings and drills is provided from a right handed perspective; lefties .... well, you know what to do!

When I'm not giving lessons or practicing myself, I like to observe the variety of swings that I see on the range.

When I see someone I know - not a student - often I ask what they are working on. Rarely are average players working on anything specific, most just bang drivers and throw in a few irons swings - when they get tired I suppose.

Good players, on the other hand, usually have a structured method to their practice.

Here is a structured sequence for a good practice session. Practice the grip and posture components at home until they are second nature, and the others at a practice facility:
  1. Don't rush - quality is more important than quantity, although sufficient repetitions are required to reinforce and develop neural pathways.

  2. Concentrate - you develop the most enduring brain patterns for swing development when you are in a "deep practice" mode.

  3. Grip - actually practice getting your grip on the club, it should be as natural as shaking hands. Once you've got it, maintain it throughout your swing or stroke.

  4. Posture - practice setting up in good golf posture in front of a mirror. Check your angles viewed from the target back, as well as the "face on" view.

  5. Stepping into your stance - do this every time without variation:
    • Get your grip
    • Position your right foot
    • Square your clubface to your aimline
    • Position your left foot
    • Make final foot position and weight distribution adjustments
    • Stay loose

  6. Swing radius for the club you are using - take some slow motion practice swings just above the ground that define your radius and plane angles for the club in hand. Your radius should always feel the same, but your angles will feel different due to longer or shorter clubs.

  7. Slow motion stroke for swing mechanics - make slow motion swings actually striking the ground lightly where impact would occur. Play close attention to where your swing is bottoming out.

  8. Normal speed swings with emphasis on swing mechanics and compression - for full swings as well as putting strokes, make a few strokes or swings without a ball, then strike (or stroke) balls. For putting, try to feel good contact. For irons, pay attention to your divots and make sure that you are getting ball first and ground second strikes. Click - thud is what you should be hearing; if the click is muffled, shorten your swing until you are making perfect contact then lengthen it.

  9. Irons - normal speed swings with emphasis on accuracy. Target awareness is the goal here

  10. Putting - feel and lag drills, then short putts concentrating on a straight back and through stroke

I didn't spell out pre shot routines, but you may find them here:
Pre-Shot Routines

Love your practice, enjoy your golf, own your swing,

Tom


Tom's Bonus Tip:
A Little Humor - Top 10 Caddy Responses

For the sake of simplicity, all advice on swings and drills is provided from a right handed perspective; lefties .... well, you know what to do!

I don't normally include a lot of humorous stories or jokes in this neswletter, but a friend sent me this and I just had to share it - thanks Ken!

Ten Best Caddy Responses . .
  • Number :10
    Golfer: "I think I'm going to drown myself in the lake."
    Caddy: "Think you can keep your head down that long?"

  • Number : 9
    Golfer: "I'd move heaven and earth to break 100 on this course."
    Caddy: "Try heaven, you've already moved most of the earth."

  • Number : 8
    Golfer: "Do you think my game is improving?"
    Caddy: "Yes . . . . You miss the ball much closer now."

  • Number : 7
    Golfer: "Do you think I can get there with a 5 iron?"
    Caddy: "Eventually."

  • Number : 6
    Golfer: "That can't be my ball, it's too old."
    Caddy: "It's been a long time since we teed off, sir."

  • Number : 5
    Golfer: "Please stop checking your watch all the time. It's too much of a distraction."
    Caddy: "It's not a watch - it's a compass."

  • Number : 4
    Golfer: "How do you like my game?"
    Caddy: "It's very good - but personally, I prefer golf."

  • Number : 3
    Golfer: "Do you think it's a sin to play on Sunday?
    Caddy: "The way you play, it's a sin on any day."

  • Number : 2
    Golfer: "This is the worst course I've ever played on."
    Caddy: "This isn't the golf course . . . . We left that an hour ago."

  • And the Number : 1 . . . . Best Caddy Comment:
    Golfer: "You've got to be the worst caddy in the world."
    Caddy: "I don't think so . . . .That would be too much of a coincidence."

Love your practice, enjoy your golf, own your swing,

Tom


Golf Lessons

I conduct lessons at The Plum Creek Driving Range & Practice Facility
there's a link for Plum Creek info here: http://www.tomtuckergolf.com/

Lessons are available for all ages and skill levels, please contact
me - Tom Tucker - at (716) 474 3005 or email me at ttucker@rochester.rr.com
for more information.

Outdoor Lessons Details and Rates:
http://www.tomtuckergolf.com/lessonrates.html

Indoor Lessons Details and Rates:
http://www.tomtuckergolf.com/indoor.html

Driver Fitting Rates:
http://www.tomtuckergolf.com/indoor.html

Testimonials:
http://www.tomtuckergolf.com/testimonials.html


Sponsors

Plum Creek Driving Range and Simulator  Outdoor range and play indoor golf on any of our 40 Simulator Courses. Call 585-993-0930 or email Mark at plumcreek4@rochester.rr.com to reserve time for simulator play or practice!

Provoto Putting Systems   readers get a 30% discount on putting greens. Click on their catalog link, and select the green you want to purchase. After you decide on features, add it to your cart. You'll find the field for "Discount Coupon" near the bottom of the page. Enter PGApro in that field and your product cost will be discounted 30%.

Batavia Country Club   Best greens in WNY, great rates. Back by popular demand: Friday Night Golf and Dinner at BCC 18 holes of golf, cart, dinner, tax and gratuity - $35. 9 hole package - $27. Choose from 4 entree's with side and salad bar. Dinner served from 4:30 pm - 9:15 pm. Dinner available for non-golfers also. Menu and band schedule posted at www.bataviacc.com

Chestnut Hill CC   Great rates, 20 minutes East of Buffalo, NY .

GCC Golf Management Program   click for information on GCC's degree program for anyone interested in a career in the golf industry or teaching golf.

All the best,

Tom Tucker
Teaching Pro, Plum Creek Driving Range & Practice Facility
WGTF ' "Top 100 Golf Teacher"
USGTF Class "A" Teaching Professional
Cell: (716) 474-3005
Email: ttucker@rochester.rr.com
http://www.TomTuckerGolf.com
http://www.usgtf.com/top_100_wgtf.html

"There are no substitutes in the quest for perfection!"
~ Ben Hogan