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TomTuckerGolf.com |
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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: AimPoint & Poker - Tour Greens: - Tour Quality Synthetic Greens - Health, Wellness, Fitness: Age Group Body Change Cycles - Nutrition: Get Your Daily Essentials - Tom's Bonus Tip: Picture That! - 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! 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. Subscribe - http://www.tomtuckergolf.com/signup.html If you like this newsletter, please do me a favor and forward it to your friends so that they may subscribe, thanks! The Unsubscribe link is at the bottom of this newsletter. Tom's Featured Tip: AimPoint & Poker 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! Last week I saw a quote from Hunter Mahan on his commitment to AimPoint as a way of reading greens: "It’s like poker. It’s easy to learn, but it’s hard to master. I like it because it travels. I can feel flat with my feet, but it’s hard to find with your eyes." His comment struck home to me because it about sums up how I feel about AimPoint as a preferred method to read greens. In September of 2012, I invested $325 for a day of Fundamental and Advanced AimPoint Green Reading classes, and I came away with mixed emotions. AimPoint utilizes three main factors to establish break: distance, slope, and angle. Nothing new there, as that's what goes into establishing your aiming point for all breaking putts. Pros and Cons Pros: For me, I felt that the most useful aspect of these classes was developing the ability to identify a good aimline and ball pace for short putts with a lot of break. Cons: First of all, the whole system revolves around a player being able to stroke a putt at a speed that would carry it 8" to 12" past the target. The player also needs to be able to start their putt on an intended aimline consistently. It's been my experience as a teacher that these two skill sets are not present to any significant degree in most players - especially rolling the ball at a correct, consistent speed. As a result, a lot of players might feel that the system would not work for them - and in fact it wouldn't - because the speed of the roll is a critical factor in the AimPoint method. AimPoint's claims to precision rely on several factors that embrace a lot of variables. You first have to establish the stimp (speed) of the greens, which you are taught to do on the practice green with a level and the AimPoint chart. Then you need to get an accurate distance estimate for each putt, as well as a fall line read and a correct slope percentage estimate. A lot of the estimation involves visual reads as well as tactile reads from your body. Again, as a teacher I have found that a lot - perhaps most - of my students have a tough time making visual reads and estimations. For many students, making tactile reads with their feet is a new concept. Last but not least are time considerations in making all of the reads and calculations, then consulting the chart to get your aim point. It takes practice to get these calculations down quickly. Here's how I see things a couple of years after this class. I think AimPoint is slipping in it's use among touring pros as well as amateurs, because it's too time consuming and complicated, and there are still a lot of "guess" factors involved. Having said that, I still use one facet of the training and it's improved my green reading considerably - using my feet to feel slope and break. Being aware of the tactile sensations your feet can provide regarding slope and break will make you a better putter if you take the time to practice, then "stalk" your putt when you play. "Stalking" your putt means walking from your ball up to and around the hole, paying close attention to the slope and break with your feet, and identifying the fall line. In the end, whether you use the AimPoint system or not, choosing the perfect line for your putt and getting the perfect speed involves lots of practice, a little educated guessing, and a little luck. (Just like poker :-)) Keep in mind that everything doesn't need to be "perfect" to make a putt, the size of the ball and the size of the hole allow for some margin of error.
Comments: ttucker@rochester.rr.com Love your practice, own your swing, own your health, Tom Tour Greens: Tour Quality Synthetic Greens For Superb Short Game Practice How great would it be to have a short game practice area in the privacy of your yard for practice and for friendly competition with your kids, your wife, and your friends? Perhaps even a friendly wager or two at home parties? Click here for Tour Greens Photo Gallery If the thought of having a beautiful tour quality practice green in your yard appeals to you, you're in luck. In addition to my golf instruction business, I am also the exclusive Western New York sales associate for Tour Greens Western New York. With Tour Greens you can experience the ultimate home short game practice solution. Read what Tour Pro's Fred Couples, Rich Beem, Boo Weekly, Blake Adams, and Chris DiMarco have to say about their Tour Greens. You all know me well enough to know that I don't affiliate with any product that I don't have a passionate belief in. These greens are the real deal. They are extremely durable - they can even withstand our challenging WNY winters. For more information and a photo gallery of installed residential Tour Greens, please click here: Tour Greens Photos and Information, and feel free to call, text, or email me for more information. Comments: ttucker@rochester.rr.com Love your practice, own your swing, own your health, Tom Health, Wellness, Fitness: Age Group Body Change Cycles Disclaimer: DO NOT PERFORM ANY STRENUOUS PHYSICAL EXERCISE LIKE THE ONE LISTED BELOW, WITHOUT CONSULTING YOUR DOCTOR. I wanted to share this chart I found that outlines the normal changes that you can expect as you go through the aging cycle:
Make a small investment of your time now and learn to get more from every rep, of every exercise, of every set, of every workout you do to 'exponentiate' your success. There are a lot of great books available on the subject of exercise, and any book on HIIT Training (High Intensity Interval Training) would be a good place to start. Get one, read it, then get started. You'll love the results when you do. Comments: ttucker@rochester.rr.com Love your practice, own your swing, own your health, Tom Nutrition: Get Your Daily Essentials Do you lack energy, sleep poorly, or feel generally lousy a lot of the time? If that describes you, maybe it's time to try the Isotonix Daily Essentials Kit supplements that I personally use daily. If you haven't tried them yet, why the heck not? Note that they are called Daily Essentials - not Daily Optionals - for a reason! Simply said - if our body doesn't make it, we need to take it. These all-natural supplements have made a profound difference in my health. I used to take high blood pressure and cholesterol medication, and I now have normal blood pressure and normal cholesterol levels and take none of those medications anymore. In fact, all of my blood work is perfect. The only change I made to get off these medications was taking my Daily Essentials, and that's not even why I started taking them, it was a side benefit. I started taking it to increase my energy, and it did that too! Why the heck not give it a try? How to take your Isotonix Daily Essentials For more information or to buy your Isotonix Daily Essentials Kit, click here. And when you check out, make sure to enter 10OFFMA in the discount code box to get the 10% discount that I offer to family, friends, and newsletter subscribers. Comments: ttucker@rochester.rr.com Love your practice, own your swing, own your health, Tom Tom's Bonus Tip: Picture That! 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! The best swing thought is actually an image, not a conceptual thought. The reason is that the best results come from actions that are responses to an image of the actual target, not conceptions. Picture it in your mind, then make your swing. Comments: ttucker@rochester.rr.com Love your practice, own your swing, own your health, 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 Great rates, the best greens in WNY, Golf Digest Four Star rating for public courses to play in New York State. Make tee times online in season www.bataviacc.com (585) 343-7600 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 |
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