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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: Part 1 - Ball Choice and Putterface Inserts Tour Greens: Tour Quality Synthetic Greens Tom's Bonus Tip: Harnessing Anxiety 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 Plum 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: Part 1 - Ball Choice and Putterface Inserts For simplicity, all advice on actual swings or drills is provided from a right handed perspective. In part 1 of this article, I'll address the issue of ball choice in general. In part 2, I'll connect ball choice and putterface inserts. An often overlooked component of consistent putting is consideration of a putterface insert that is compatible with your ball choice. Last year I went out to squeeze in nine holes in the afternoon at the Batavia Country Club, and I was hooked up with a twosome. As luck would have it, they were both readers of this newsletter, so we had a pleasant discussion of golf technique as we played. They were both above average players, and one player in particular had a pristine putting stroke. I watched him putt very well for the first four holes. On hole five, he pushed his tee shot out of bounds to the right then put another ball in play. On the hole five green he three putted from about 25 ft, and on the sixth he three putted from a shorter distance. All of his first putts went too long, and he missed the comeback putts. His stroke looked pretty good on both holes, so I asked him if he was nervous because he had hit a ball out of bounds. He said that it didn't bother him. Then I asked him what kind of ball he was playing - I had noticed that he had been playing a soft ball - a ProV1 - on the earlier holes. He said he had put a Pinnacle in play after he hit the ProV1 out of bounds because that was what he grabbed out of his bag. Specifically it was a Pinnacle distance ball, which is a pretty hard ball. There's nothing wrong with that per se, it just reacted drastically different from the ProV1 coming off his putterface. I suggested that he dig a ProV1 out of his bag if he had one to finish the round. He did so and putted very well for the last three holes we played together. Personally I used to be in love with the Titleist Professional Tour 90 golf ball, which was discontinued many years ago. At the time I was playing in some local mini tour events. I had that ball calibrated to tight distance control with my scoring clubs, and it rolled great coming off my putter. When I found out that they were discontinuing the ball, I bought ten boxes - not sleeves, boxes - so that I would have ample time to compare for a perfect replacement ball, which for me turned out to be the ProV1. I tell all of my students to find a ball that performs well for their iron approach game, and that feels how they want it to feel when it comes off their putterface. That doesn't necessarily need to be a premium, expensive ball. Simply test a few different types of balls, settle on what you like, then buy a lot of them. Then you will always playing a ball with the exact same landing and rolling characteristics, which is crucial for chipping and putting excellence. Don't play whatever you grab out of your bag if you've been stuffing found balls in with your regular balls. When you are playing a round that matters, use a ball that you are used to. It can make a HUGE difference in your scoring. Next issue - Putterface Inserts and how they can affect your putting game. 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: Harnessing Anxiety For simplicity, all advice on actual swings or drills is provided from a right handed perspective. I'll be including more golf psychology tips in future newsletters. One of my goals for 2016 was to become a better teacher of the mental side of the game, so I'm taking a course to become certified as an expert in the field through the IPGA, The International Golf Psychology Association. A lot of what you'll be reading on the subject in this newsletter will be a combination of my education through that organization and my personal experience. I hope you find it to be helpful in your quest to be as good as you can be at your game, Tom. There is an old adage in sport psychology: "It’s okay to have butterflies. Just make sure you get them to fly in formation". Being anxious is not necessarily bad. Actually, anxiety has the potential of increasing our capability to accomplish extraordinary feats. When we are anxious, our body surges with hormones that promote the accuracy of our eyesight, increase the acuteness of our hearing, and can even enhance the precision of our touch and feel. Of course, anxiety can also give you the yips if you allow it to. Anxiety can work to your benefit and make you play super golf, if you interpret this emotion as a positive force. Most successful golf professionals know that anxiety is an important part of competitive golf and it can motivate a golfer to demonstrate excellence on the course. Let this energy source - anxiety - help you sharpen your senses and make you play at a much greater level than when the event was unimportant and the nerves were non-existent. Unfortunately, most amateur golfers view anxiety as a negative emotion. They feel like their nervous feelings are leading to an impending disaster. They let their nerves get the best of them and their game sinks under the pressure. Think of anxiety as fire in your house. If your anxiety is controlled and seen as a positive, it can heat your house. However, when your anxiety is uncontrolled and seen as a negative, it can burn your house down. Personally I think it can boil down to "whether you think you can or you think you can't, you're probably right." That simply means think and believe that you can actually use your anxiety to your advantage and it will happen. Harness the powers of anxiety, and let it help you enhance your performance. 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. Early deep discount membership deadline has expired, but great discounts are still available until April 1st. The earlier you pay the larger the discount. Check website for specific rates then call or stop in to purchase your 2016 membership. 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 |
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