Perform Better Golf Blog

Driver Putting Drill ~ Putting Drills

Back in the fifties and sixties (well before I was even born), wristy putting strokes were common on the PGA Tour. The Big Three of the day, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player all used a stroke that is vastly different from most players on the tour, nowadays in the 21st century. A wrist-only putting stroke was effective back then because of the length of the grass on the greens. Now, with the addition of 50 years of mowing technology, greens are firmer, faster and roll truer. Thus an arms and shoulder motion has become the putting stroke of choice because of its consistency and simplicity.

Using too much wrists leads to poor distance control, accuracy and ball-club contact. Also if you find yourself flicking your wrists like this picture here, you’re getting the ball airborne. The motion has too many moving parts which makes it very difficult for amateurs to repeat it consistently. If you’re having trouble with the transition of your putting stroke from a wristy motion to a arms and shoulder one, try this drill.

The Drill:

Head out to your putting green with your driver in hand. First, choke down on your driver so you only have your top hand on the grip. Then set up to a ball with the grip end of your driver on your left side, as shown in the picture. Putt. If you flick your wrists now, the grip of your driver will hit your lead side. This will reinforce the proper technique and limit your wrist movements in your putting stroke.

Give it a try!

Duncan at the Golf Drill Guru.

Just got back from the course with my son Trent. On the 18th hole, he got his first legitimate par!!!

It was a par 4, 285 yard hole from the junior tees.  He went 3 wood, 5 iron and two putt. He was so excited (and so was I). The course we played is an Arnold Palmer design at Wildfire and is no easy course. It’s not quite target golf, but there is lots of desert to lose your ball in.

We are just having a ball! He called me his best friend today:). How cool is that? It was my dream when he was born to have him as a golfing buddy and so far it’s coming true.

I’ll keep you posted on his progress…but at this moment he is already improving everytime we go out.

I just recently got by 10 year old son Trent back into golf and he is loving it!  I was in heaven, when at the age of 2 we got him a club and he could hit a ball with it.  We even have pictures.

As any other typical boy, he got onto other things (electronics, etc) and golf was non-existent.  I got him a US Kids Junior set about 2 years ago and he’s used them about twice in that time period…until 2 weeks ago.

We are now going out for 18 holes twice a week and really having fun (my game has gone south a bit, but that’s okay).

Yesterday I got a “wild hair” and started looking at a bigger set, and decided to splurge on it.  We had to drive one hour to a Golf Smith store that had the set, but had a great time together driving down there.

He loves them!

They are a Lynx set, with not one, but 3 woods, two irons, a wedge and matching headcovers and stand bag.  He only had one wood, and no wedge.  He got so excited, we got to the car in the parking lot, and he wanted them out of the box immediately!

Needless to say, we are going out on our routine Thursday round and it can’t come quick enough for him.  The joys of having a son who golfs.

WOW!

I just got done watching my alma mater Oregon State University win their first baseball world series in the history of the college!

I’m stunned!

Baseball championships from a state where it rains 9 months out of the year?

And the coolest thing is the head coach is from my “hometown” of Newberg Oregon. The two big sports families in Newberg were the Casey’s and the Pedersen’s.  I don’t want this to sound boastful, but it is a true fact.

The Casey’s had 4 excellent athlete boys (including Pat), and we had my brother Dale, the number one ranked javelin thrower in the nation and myself bringing up the rear.

This is cool stuff!!!!

Golfers workout can mean many things and either help your golf game or hurt it. With the adoption of golfers workout programs on tour, it has become mainstream with the golfing population.

But what is golfers workout, and what makes it effective?

First off, a credible golfers workout program is one that incorporates both strength and stretching exercises specific to your golf swing. I see so many programs that have one or the other, but very few that incorporate both.

By incorporating both, you not only improve your power, consistency and mechanics, but your “feel” around the greens with your newfound body awareness.

For every golf strength exercise you do, you should do a proceeding stretch for that muscle. This is the most efficient approach that will also save you time.

Also, try to mimic your golf swing positions when doing your golfers workout. That means “on your feet” and in your golf posture. This will give you a double benefit of golf specific strength and stability in your golf swing.

How many of you suffer in the bunkers? Are you extremely inconsistent?Do you chunk one, then skull the next?First off, don’t worry, it’s very common. I will explain why:There are two laws to greenside sand play that must be abided by for consistency.

I am in the above category, are you? How many of you use to do athletics at a reasonably good level, and now the years have gone by and you’re hacking up the golf course?

How about your current fitness level compared to when you did sports? Can you honestly say you’re close to that level right now? Sorry for all the questions, but I have received a couple of emails and phone call lately where the person contacting me starts off by saying they “use to be a competitive athlete”.

I hate the phrase “use to be!” It doesn’t have to be that way. I know priorities like job, family, etc… take up most of your time, but give yourself back just a little bit of time, to awaken that athlete inside of you.

You know somewhere beneath the years of abuse he’s down there. Hopefully you don’t have to look too far. But if any of you are looking to lose weight, get fit AND play better golf…there is no better way than exercise.

Wouldn’t it be nice to regain some of that lost flexibility and sport-specific strength? To get more pars then double bogeys? To be the low scorer in your foursome once in a while?

Get to it! No excuses! Don’t start tomorrow, or next week. Do something today!

I have been contacted many times from men searching for exercise, fitness, workout and weight loss related solutions who also golf. This is a phenomena that is quite common and I didn’t even know it.

With over 27 million golfers in our country, many of them have health, fitness and weight loss goals, but they don’t realize there are golf specific programs that can help them achieve all the above.

If you are in the demographic of golfers between 50 and 80 who want to improve not only their health but golf game, you can do both. It’s not a bad thing to focus on your health and indirectly improve your golf game is it?

The majority of golfers I work with through my golf training membership site and golf exercise dvds, all want to lose weight. Some only 5-10 pounds, others up to 50 pounds. Carrying extra weight on the golf course not only makes it hard to perform sound golf swing mechanics, but the risk of injury is much higher.

Why not put your health, exercise, fitness, workout weight loss and golf goals all in one program? It’s doable and will take care of many issues at the same time.

Golf warm up.  I hear many stories of what golfers do (and don’t do) before a round of golf.  It’s comical…because many golfers tell me they pound 60-100 balls and still hack up the first few holes they play.

Why is this?

I can tell you it’s because they never properly did a golf warm up consisting of dynamic (movement) stretches  to warm up their golf muscles first…before they started hacking balls.

Golfers are athletes…you may agree or disagree.

If so, don’t all athletes warm up by doing stretches first?  They do!  It’s a known athletic fact, you warm up your muscles, then do your specific activity.

Examples of a golf warm up would be arms circles, squats, side lunge stretche, toe touches without holding and many others.

Do these first, then hit balls.  You’ll see a world of difference and maybe even BIRDIE the first hole!

I hope all you fathers had a great day yesterday!  Lots of TV right?  A great US Open finish, then the NBA Finals game.  And how about a round of golf to boot?

I got the coolest gift from my wife and kids yesterday.  I’ve been complaining about my golf bag for a year now.  I am kind of a freak.  I bring a ton of snacks and drinks (water & yes… diet coke) with me to the course.

Living in Arizona gets very hot, so keeping my mini-fridge cold requires using an old soft lunch box of my daughter Taylor’s.  It is lavendar with flowers (I’m secure in my manhood).  I always get teased when I awkwardly pull it out of my bag every other hole to get something.

Well…no longer! I got the coolest golf bag ever!

Since golf here is mostly cart (I know what you’re thinking…I’m a fitness guy and should be walking right?  Well I get my 3:30am “one hour” cardio in every morning, so I don’t need the exercise) golf, so this bag works great.  It has tons of compartments for separating tees, balls, glove, cell phone, sun glasses and more.

I hope you got something as cool as I did :-).