Golf course visualisation - see it then do it

A little golf course quote from Jack Nicklaus.......

“It’s like a colour movie scene. First i see the ball where i want it to finish. Then the scene changes and i see the ball going there. Then there is a sort of fade out, then the next scene shows me making the kind of swing that will turn the previous images into reality.”

                                     

How good is your visualisation prior to taking a shot? And is it as positive as this?

If your thoughts include that of an image where a ball dunks into a pond or bunker short of the green, then you need to work on your visualisation prior to the shot. Practice it on the range first then take it onto the golf course.

Good visualisation leads to positive beliefs and execution of shots.

Give it a try next time you’re out there.

Good luck

Daniel Gale

PGA Professional

Dan is a PGA Professional & TPI Certified Instructor

Check out his website at www.dangalegolf.com

Golf, the winning formula - goal setting for the new season

The golf lessons are going well, everything is feeling good on the range and you are already looking ahead to 2011 as being your year on the golf course. Your golf handicap will come tumbling down and the game will be more enjoyable than ever. Or will it? Is it that straight forward?

Practicing hard and having a vision in your head of picking up trophies is all well and good. However you need effective goal setting to maintain your drive and performance throughout the year of golf. Without it your determination and drive will slowly diminish and 2011 will fizzle out as years may have done previously.

Why set goals for 2011?

• Goals direct attention and action to important aspects required for development.
• Goals assist sustaining drive when practicing
• Goals that are realistic assist in reaching optimum levels of confidence and motivation through successes which are achieved.
• Goals are proven to reduce stress and anxiety.
• Goals develop self-control, concentration and commitment.
• Goals are an important tool in monitoring success. (Short game tests, driving accuracy etc)

Types of Goals

When you set your golfing performance goals for 2011 you need to have a mixture of 3 types of goals. Short, medium, and long-term.

·         Short-term goals are targets to be achieved within the next one to six weeks.

Short-term goals are important because they allow you to see immediate improvements (e.g. improvement in short game test results). In addition, they also help golfers keep sight of their long-range goals.

·         Mid-term goals are targets to be achieved in the next 6 weeks to six months.

·         Long-term goals are targets to be achieved in the next one to two years.

The mixture of goals is like a conveyor belt onto achieving your long term goals. Without short term goals you will not achieve any mid – term goals, and without mid – term goals you cannot work towards long – term goals.

SMART goals

For goals to be effective then they must be SMART goals. Without this goals can be unrealistic leading to a defeatist attitude. Goals that are too easy will result in lower work levels and fail to develop determination. Make sure your goals are SMART goals before setting them out for the year ahead:

Specific: I will reduce number of putts per round to 32 from 34

Measurable: I can record my stats from each round to measure my development

Achievable: Not an unrealistic target (‘I will shoot 59 gross this year’)

 Realistic: Similar to achievable. Remember you can always re set goals as you achieve them.

Timed: I will achieve my goal by May 2011

Make sure you have your goals set in place for 2011. Put them on the fridge door or pin them in a prominent face so you can see them regularly, helping to keep sight of what you want to achieve. Sitting down with your coach is a good idea for setting realistic, yet challenging targets. Remember though your goals and dreams are yours. Nobody can take those away from you and stand in the way of your progress.

Good luck

Daniel Gale

PGA Professional

(Source PGA Psychology in golf certificate)

Dan is a PGA Professional & TPI Certified Instructor

Check out his website at www.dangalegolf.com

Golf - prepare to succeed. How to be a winner.

Golf competition and practice requires preparation. By preparing yourself in the wrong way physically as well as mentally, you will damage the intensity and quality of your practice and competition play. We all want to reach peak performance in golf, our drive is to improve and be the best we can be. However we need the combination of complete physical and mental control in order to achieve peak performance. Here are a few tips to make sure you give yourself the best chance to enhance your golfing performance.......

• Stock up well on good foods the night before and during the day of golf activity. Carbohydrate and protein intake will keep your energy levels up which will keep a positive frame of mind for practice and competition intensity
• Avoid late nights or alcohol the night before competition and practice. Fatigue and muscle slowness will prevent you reaching anywhere close to peak performance and decrease concentration levels
• Plan your practice sessions and set targets for improvement in technique. Keep a practice diary to record any key points from your sessions that may be forgotten, swing thoughts/feelings etc
• Set 1 or 2 goals each time you go out to practice. Having goals creates drive, the need to achieve, which causes a higher quality of practice. Remember the goals need to be a challenge, but not impossible

Remember this is advice to give you a better chance for success, there are no guarantees. However without taking basic factors such as these into account you are more likely to fail. 

Remember.........it is not just the will to win, but the will to prepare to win that makes the difference!!

Good luck
Daniel Gale
PGA Professional

Dan is a PGA Professional & TPI Certified Instructor

Check out his website at www.dangalegolf.com

Beginner golfers - learn to play golf!!

Beginner golfers must get onto the golf course asap!! Once the basic essentials have been learnt (grip, stance posture etc) then the sooner the beginner golfer heads to the golf course the better. Once this happens then you are learning to play golf. It doesn't matter if you do not keep score, which i would recommend at first, and you shoot 250. The fact is you are only going to improve from there. You can monitor your progress and witness hard evidence of your improvement on the scorecard from that day forwards.
Time after time i walk up the driving range and you see somebody bashing golf balls away, 150 yard straight 7 irons, and you assume the person plays to a good handicap. Further investigation uncovers the fact that the person has never broken 100. Hitting balls on the range is not 'playing golf'. It is a false environment that should be used to work on a skill or a movement or as a place to warm up before a round. Not to judge how good a golfer you are.

This is also very much the case for junior development.Kids who roll up with their parents for 1 hour clinics get bored. I don't enjoy hitting balls with a 7 iron for an hour, so why would a kid. An adults attention span is only about 20 minutes so a kid id going to get bored pretty quickly. However introduction to the golf course opens up the opportunity to introduce new games and light competition. This will maintain interest and also get kids playing the game young, aiding there junior development. Golf Professionals will notice that kids remain in there junior clinics a lot longer as a result.

Don't be afraid to head out onto the golf course. The game is fun out there, just get over the ball and swing the golf club. If you relax and enjoy yourself then you will hit good shots, and you will become a golfer.

Daniel Gale
PGA Professional

Dan is a PGA Professional & TPI Certified Instructor

Check out his website at www.dangalegolf.com

Winter golf - use this time wisely

Winter is now upon us. Mitts are in the bag for the cold frosty mornings, umbrella is ready for the heavy downpours and you are trudging around the course in 6 items of clothing to keep you warm. Also we are out of the qualifying competition season. The period now where your handicap is not going to change. As a result of this, the winter is the best time for you to set new goals and get your game in the best possible shape for the new season next year.

Golf swing changes
Attending an intensive golfschool or investing in a block of lessons during this period will allow you the time to learn any swing changes. It will also allow you to put that new swing on the course without the worry of your handicap being effected. One of the problems with lessons being taken during the competition season is the issue of trust. Trusting what you have been taught on the range or course with a professional can actually work in a pressured environment like competition golf. The tendancy is always to fall back into what you know or what feels comfortable believing it will lead to a better score than the new technique. Use the winter as your 'no fear' season. Try new shots, experiment with your short game and take on new swing changes so you can push forwards as soon as next season begins.

Competition practice
Use winter golf competitions as your practice ground. For long term development this would work in a similar way to that of a tour professional, setting a periodised timetable resulting in peak performance for a certain time of year, major championships. Use your winter competitions like a dress rehearsal for the coming season. It is the time of year where you can make try various shots and push yourself forwards with your swing without any concern or repercussions on your handicap.

Goal setting
Goal setting at this time is also very important. You need to have specific goals to work to. The main reason for this is that it maintains your focus through practice and tournament play. Being too short sighted with how things have gone on one particular day, or too expectant too soon is damaging to your long term development.
Set long, medium and short term goals to work towards. Your drive and determination will be greater working towards something you want to achieve. Talking to your professional about your short term goals is great so you can work as a partnership. Setting achievable and timed goals together will assist your progress.

Using the next few months wisely will have a huge benefit on your golf game when the season restarts. Make sure you are giving yourself the best platfrom to push your golf forwards for 2011!!

Good luck, and enjoy your golf.

Daniel Gale
PGA Professional

 

Dan is a PGA Professional & TPI Certified Instructor

Check out his website at www.dangalegolf.com

Junior golfer vs Tour Professional - Physical screening

Junior golf development is again the topic hitting blogger today. Turning kids into athletes first through constructive junior development is giving them the greatest chance of being successful in the future. It should be interesting this weekend seeing the TPI screening results from a couple of my under 13 junior golfers and also that of a European Challenge Tour golfer. All of the sessions are taking place on Saturday and i am looking forward to seeing how the juniors are developing along their road to seeking elite level golf. Also to see how their results compare to somebody who is near the top in the game of golf.

The Challenge Tour player, Ben Evans, has just completed a full playing season. During this time it is difficult to maintain the physical training and exercise that can be carried out pre season. In and out of countries week after week barely getting everything out of a suitcase is not entirely conducive to training well for golf. The results of the screen will be interesting to put against the work that Ben is carrying out with his coach Jeremy Bennett. Maybe we will find a few things that will assist Ben in making his swing improve mechanically and also in the consistency of his movements. Ideal results would show that Ben will pass all the screens with flying colours, meaning we can send him on to a personal trainer and just work him harder and build upon his physical vocabulary.

With the juniors it will be slightly different. They are just in the age where things like flexibility, mobility and speed needs to be developed before they miss there chance. However i would expect their mobility to be very good. If anything i would expect their weaknesses to lie in their bigger muscle groups such as the glutes and core muscles. If we can improve on these and make their swings more stable then building a solid swing foundation will be a lot easier. 

Having taken a look at one of the juniors briefly last week i was able to identify a very obvious early extension on the downswing. This would lead you to believe that there will be a difficulty to perform exercises such as a deep squat or rotations and the inability to separate lower and upper body. We will see what happens but the results will be interesting and will give me a good base to set some programmes for the juniors to work on improving their physical performance. As i have said with my previous blogs, the idea with the junior golfers is to turn them into athletes. If they can perform a full range of fundamental movements and sport specific skills then we are giving them the best chance to be successful in the future. By leaving this area untouched now we i would be seriously damaging their chances of success in the future.

I am looking forward to getting the results together to see where the golfers are at present. Maybe some interesting findings will lead to vast improvements in each of their golfing stories.

Keep posted to see how the results came out.

Daniel Gale
PGA Professional

Dan teaches at The James Andrews School of Golf in East Sussex

Check out his website at www.dangalegolf.com

Junior golf development - building speed

Junior golf development has taken a serious upturn in the last decade, and now the attention and time being put into junior golfers development is greater than ever. As i explained in one of my earlier posts i went to a junior golf development seminar last week hosted by Michael Dalgleish for the Sussex junior golf squads. The seminar gave some great information about how the human body develops and the effect it will have on the long term aspiration of junior golfers. The main point seemed to be getting the involved in a more all round physical programme as soon as possible. This will mean they are able to create the key actions and positions required for an athletic movement such as the golf swing.

One of the key points raised was that kids lose the ability to build speed from the ages of 12 - 13. Therefore teaching your junior golfers to create speed early will benefit them in the long term. The technique can be build whilst the speed is being created. Leaving it after this age bracket will make it very hard for the junior golfer to reach their full potential in the future.

Since hearing this information i have been carrying out a more explosive teaching sessions for my young junior golf prospects. Lots of throwing (very hard), hitting balls and using teaching aids to generate speed has been done.


Bare this in mind.......Tiger Woods driver clubhead speed is around 130mph. If a 17 year old comes to you with a 110mph speed then you will probably gain 5mph through technique improvements. However the extra 15 mph is a long way off and unlikely to be found due to the age bracket he/she is now in. This kid is going to struggle to hit the long ball as a result of what was happening maybe 8-10 years earlier.

Give your junior golfers the best chance in the future and focus on the correct path for junior golf development. Athlete first, golfer second!!

Daniel Gale
PGA Professional

Junior Golf Development

Junior golf has changed a lot over the last few years. Junior golf lessons consisting of 10 kids killing balls on a driving range is being replaced with a wider range of activities to enhance long term junior performance. I went to a great seminar at East Sussex National Golf Club last Friday. The Sussex County Golf Union set up the seminar for their junior teams and parents to highlight the importance of junior development. Turning the juniors into athletes first, not the usual path of just golf golf golf.

The speaker at the seminar was Michael Dalgleish, founder of The Golf Athlete and one of Australia's leading physiotherapists. The information that was presented was both fascinating but also scary. Fascinating in how we can develop and get the best from our juniors, therefore giving them the best chance in the future. Scary in the fact that i have seen the number of bad junior lessons being carried out and how schools physical education offerings are damaging the chances of our children to be successful athletes.

 
The seminar has given me a fresh outlook on how to develop junior golfers i am teaching at present and give them the best possible chance in the future. Tackling key physical movements and developing the fundamentals needed to be successful athletes.

We are already looking at ways to improve the quality of junior golf lessons within our facility, and set out a broader approach to improve general athleic performance. This will be in place for all children who come through our golf club doors. This will not only lead to better quality performances from the juniors, but also will be more likely to keep their interest in the game for longer, with a more fun and varied programme.

Daniel Gale
PGA Professional

 

Dan is a PGA Professional & TPI Certified Instructor

Check out his website at www.dangalegolf.com