|
TomTuckerGolf.com |
|
|
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: Wonder Wedge? Tour Greens: Tour Quality Synthetic Greens Tom's Bonus Tip: Putting Tip I Heard During The President's Cup Lesson Comments: What Students Have To Say Sponsors: Plum Creek Driving Range Batavia Country Club Tour Greens Western New York Genesee Community College Golf Management Program 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 Plim Creek's 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: Wonder Wedge? For simplicity, all advice on actual swings or drills is provided from a right handed perspective. I received this email from a senior player that I work with regularly: "What do you think of this wedge? I'm thinking of buying it" and he included a link to a wedge with a very deep, wide, and flat sole. It just so happened that I had received an email about a different wedge that was said to be rated the #1 wedge in golf by the Golf Channel (I never verified that claim), and it had the same basic profile of the wedge he inquired about (I'm not naming names, there are a lot of them on the market anyway). Here's my reply to him: "These gimmick clubs may work, but they are specialty clubs - meaning that there's probably only one great use for them for each golfer, perhaps for the player that always duffs his/her chips. Plus you will need to take a club out of your bag if you now carry the maximum allowed 14 clubs. They are band aid clubs for poor technique, but that doesn't mean that they won't work. Just make sure they are USGA approved for play before you put it in your bag." We all get bombed with email advertisements about the next best golf invention, but there's no substitute for good swing technique in the first place. If you own your swing, you shouldn't need a gimmick. There might be one caveat here. If you have the chipping yips due to age or whatever, a deep, wide, and flat soled lofted club may actually be useful for relatively short chip shots. The problem is that although that club may increase your chipping functionality, it will most likely inhibit every other shot a wedge is designed to execute. Manufacturers claim otherwise, but I don't buy it. To me that's not a good tradeoff. If you don't carry 14 clubs and you're a lousy chipper, then you might want to give it a try. It is fun experimenting as long as the club isn't ridiculously expensive. I've got to mention that "game improvement" irons have a wider sole than a player type iron. That sole - with relatively sound technique - is fairly forgiving, and will help you from making fat hits on your chip shots. The design allows for less precision with your strike. PLUS you'll still retain your wedge's functionality for other shots. That's a better option in my book. If these speciality clubs really were that useful, Callaway, Taylormade, Ping, Nike, and the other big club manufacturers would be including them in their iron sets. I will admit to having had a specialty club in my bag many, many years ago - a two faced chipper. Mine had the loft of a 7 iron and you could use it right handed or left handed, so it had functional dual usage. However, the USGA eventually deemed it to be non conforming - "Rule 4 Form and Make of Clubs: the clubhead must be generally plain in shape (Appendix II, 4a) and have only one striking face (Appendix II, 4d);" - so I had to take it out of my bag. If your nerves get so wracked over a chip shot that you absolutely can't execute a good chipping stroke, then maybe this type of club would be useful. Having said that, better advice is to get a swing before you get a gimmick club. Which reminds me of a story a student of mine told me. He had taken several lessons from me and showed very rapid improvement. A friend he played with regularly noticed his improvement ("noticed" in the form of shelling out a few bucks regularly after their weekend matches) , and asked him if he bought new clubs. He replied "No, I bought a swing." I thought that was pretty cool :-) 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 Would you like to be able to practice with purpose in your own back yard? Would you like your short game to progress from bad to good, or from good to great? Would you like to get the ball up & down with more frequency? Would you like 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? Click here TourGreensWNY.com for photo galleries and more information. 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. Click here to 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 - and they LOVE Western New York weather! For more information please click here: TourGreensWNY.com, or feel free to call, text, or email me to discuss your needs. Comments: ttucker@rochester.rr.com Love your practice, own your swing, own your health, Tom Tom's Bonus Tip: Putting Tip I Heard During The President's Cup For simplicity, all advice on actual swings or drills is provided from a right handed perspective. While I was watching the President's Cup, I saw an interview with Jordan Speith, who I think is one of the best putters on the planet. He said that he had been pushing some putts and discovered (golf is a game of discovery) something that got him straightened out. He said he started looking at a blade of grass just in front of the ball, then tried to roll the ball over the spot he was looking at, then he said he continued to look at that spot for a moment after the ball passed over it. The day after the interview (day 3) he carded 8 birdies in the first 14 holes. I'm thinking that I'll give that a try, how about you? 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. Tee times online or by phone in season. www.bataviacc.com (585) 343-7600 Tour Greens Western New York Practice with purpose in your own back yard on your own synthetic practice green. Our greens LOVE Western New York weather! Genesee Community College Golf Management Program Click on link for more information if you or anyone you know is interested in a dynamic career in the golf industry, or in 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 |
|