TomTuckerGolf.com
 
Golf Tips Newsletter - Issue 296 - May 7th, 2014
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Prepare to play your best golf by doing something now!

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In This Issue  


- Tom's Featured Tip: Improve Your Par 3 Scoring
- Tom's Bonus Tip: Golf Facts You May Not Have Known
- 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 


Click here:  INDOOR GOLF LESSONS  for details on how to improve your game over the winter.

PLUM CREEK DRIVING RANGE IN BATAVIA, NY, IS OPEN ALL YEAR
Check out the Equipment & Apparel and Simulator Course Play Specials: http://www.plumcreekdrivingrange.com Call 585-993-0930 or email Mark at plumcreek4@rochester.rr.com to reserve your simulator time!

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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.

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Tom's Featured Tip:
Improve Your Par 3 Scoring

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!

This newsletter is coming from Port St. Lucie Florida, my last newsletter from Florida, as I return to Batavia on Thursday. We've enjoyed great weather and I've gotten in a little golf.

Once again I've observed that swinging my irons between indoor lessons this winter has paid dividends. I think I picked up a few yards and my accuracy has been great. However, I need a driver session on the range to get a few things tweaked. I haven't been as consistent as I'd like to be with that club, but on the other hand it's a club I neglected during my winter swings.

So - just like I tell my students - I have to have realistic expectations if I haven't put in the time. But that's the thing about getting older (and hopefully wiser), a bad swing or two doesn't destroy the day anymore. I'm thankful to just be out and enjoying the game and the company.

Man, am I'm getting mellow :-)

Improve Your Par 3 Scoring

High Handicappers

Problem: The first and foremost mistake (besides poor ball striking) that high handicappers make on par 3's is not taking enough club. This usually stems from not knowing the carry distance of the club that is selected, combined with selecting the club that will give you the distance with your best swing ever - not your stock swing.

Cure: develop a realistic awareness of the carry distance of the clubs that you typically use on par 3's for your stock swing, not your maximum distance swing. Then when you play, take more club than you think you need (after factoring in weather conditions and elevation changes). Keep track of how many times you hit it over the green then make adjustments. My guess is that it will be none or very few times, and your score should improve as you develop true distance awareness.

Problem: The second mistake is flag hunting.

Cure: This is simple, aim for the center of the green. Period.

Better Players

Better players usually are fairly consistent ball strikers, and have the carry distance for their irons pretty well dialed in, so their problems usually involve aimpoint. The key here - besides improving technique - is to play to your strengths to lower your scoring on par threes.

Problem: distance control better than shot dispersion.

Cure: Mentally, from the tee, divide the green into three parallel sections running left to right from the front of the green to the rear of the green. Then aim for the center of that section that contains the pin, regardless of pin placement. Set up on the side of the tee that allows for the best setup for your normal ball curvature: left side of the tee for drawers of the ball, right side for faders.

Problem: shot dispersion better than distance control.

Cure: Mentally, from the tee divide the green into four quadrants, then aim for the center of the quadrant where the pin is located. Set up on the side of the tee that allows for the best setup for your normal ball curvature: left side of the tee for drawers of the ball, right side for faders.

And of course, the absolute best way to lower your scores on par 3's for any level of player is to become an outstanding putter!

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

Tom


Tom's Bonus Tip:
Golf Facts You May Not Have Known

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!

A friend of mine sent this to me, enjoy!

Golf Facts You May Not Have Known
  1. 125,000 golf balls a year are hit into the water at the famous 17th hole of the Stadium Course at Sawgrass.

  2. The longest drive ever is 515 yards. The longest putt ever is a monstrous 375 feet. (Editore note: I googled these claims and found out that Mike Austin hit the drive, and that Fergus Muir made the monstrous putt on the par-3 fifth hole at St. Andrews Eden.)

  3. Phil Mickelson, who plays left-handed, is actually right-handed. He learned to play golf by mirroring his father’s golf swing, and he has used left-handed golf clubs ever since.

  4. The chances of making two holes-in-one in a round of golf are one in 67 million. 5. Tiger Woods snagged his first ace at the tender age of eight years old.

  5. Balls travel significantly farther on hot days. A golfer swinging a club at around 100 mph will carry the driver up to eight yards longer for each increase in air temperature of 25°F.

  6. The longest golf course in the world is the par 77 International Golf Club in Massachusetts, which measures a fearsome 8325 yards.

  7. The highest golf course in the world is the Tactu Golf Club in Morococha, Peru, which sits 14,335 feet above sea level at its lowest point.

  8. The longest golf hole in the world is the 7th hole (par 7) of the Sano Course at the Satsuki Golf Club in Japan. It measures an incredible 909 yards.

  9. The largest bunker in the world is Hell's Half Acre on the 585-yard 7th hole of the Pine Valley Course in New Jersey.

  10. The largest golfing green is that of the 695-yard, 5th hole, a par 6 at the International Golf Club in Massachusetts, with an area in excess of 28,000 square feet.

  11. The driver swing speed of an average lady golfer is 62 mph, 96 mph for an average LPGA professional; 84 mph for an average male golfer; 108 mph for an average PGA Tour player; 130 mph for Tiger Woods; 148-152 mph for a national long drive champion.

  12. There are 336 dimples on a regulation golf ball.

  13. The first golf balls were made of thin leather stuffed with feathers. Tightly packed feathers made balls that flew the farthest. Feather balls were used until 1848.

  14. The youngest golfer to shoot a hole-in-one was Coby Orr, who was five years old at the time. It happened in Littleton, Colorado, in 1975.

  15. 22.8% of golfers are women.

  16. Golf was banned in Scotland from 1457 to 1502 to ensure citizens wouldn't waste time when preparing for an English invasion.

  17. The term birdie comes from an American named Abe Smith. While playing 1899, he played what he described as a "bird of a shot", which became "birdie" over time.

  18. The word golf does not mean "Gentleman Only, Ladies Forbidden". This is an internet myth. It is thought the word golf comes from the Dutch word "kolf" or "kolve", meaning "club". Historians believe this was passed on to the Scottish, whose own dialect changed this to "golve," "gowl" or "gouf". By the sixteenth century, this had evolved into the word we know today.

  19. Don't feel bad about your high handicap - 80% of all golfers will never achieve a handicap of less than 18.

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!

Batavia Country Club   Best greens in WNY, great rates.
Mother's Day Special - FREE GOLF for mom, and only $15 per person for 18 holes, cart included, for the rest of the family! www.bataviacc.com

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

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