18February2008
Posted by BQ Browning under: Golf Chat.
Golf Bags are heavy, even lightweight bags are heavy with all the paraphernalia that we put into them. So what should you have in your bag as absolute essentials. Just out of interest today I emptied my bag to see what was there.
First and foremost – clubs, full or half set. I carry Driver, 3 and 5 Woods, 5 Rescue, 5-9 Iron, Pitching Wedge, Sand Wedge, 60 degree wedge and putter – one more is allowed for the maximum but I don’t feel the need for it. Next, what I think of as essential accessories. A good supply of whatever your choice of balls, an appropriate selection of tees and a pitch mark repairer. A damp sponge to clean my clubs, a towel and an umbrella. Strictly speaking that is all you need but I do have one or two other things which I think are fairly essential.
I have a small cleaning widget that will get serious mud off my clubs or balls, ball markers, pencils and score cards in one pocket of my bag. In the next big pocket I carry ’supplies’, drinks (at least a 1 litre for a round), muesli bars and bananas, cap or visor and waterproofs if the weather looks like I might need them. The next small pocket has a spare glove or two in case it’s wet. Next large pocket contains a lightweight shower proof jacket that lives in there all the time, and my ‘golf specs’ – special glasses to help compensate for my atrocious eyesight. A copy of the Rules of Golf always comes in handy and a small first aid kit with plasters, antiseptic wipes, and so on. Most important is that little pocket is the Sun Block – you can easily get badly burned on the golf course.
Throw in a couple of packs of tissues and a tin of mints and I’m all equipped – how about you?
17February2008
Posted by BQ Browning under: Golf Product Reviews; Golf Techniques.
Very occasionally I shall review products which I think are useful and will benefit your game, and this is a product I think is of value.
We all know that Golf is game of mind and muscle – and persuading your muscles to have a memory is the one of the things you must do to play good golf. A good golf swing is all about repetition. Once you get a good swing action all you need to do is repeat and repeat and – you get the picture? Perfecting your swing is not easy and if you try to do that without help you can often train your muscles to remember a swing that is not good and won’t do the job.
The Dream Swing Trainer is a piece of equipment that helps take the chance out of your Swing development. Easy to set up and take down in your garden or wherever you want to practice, it helps you to develop a muscle memory by ensuring you stay ’on plane’ throughout your swing. Because you can’t see what you’re doing when you swing it is impossible to know if you are in the right position at the top of your swing – with the Dream Swing you know that you are. This helps develop muscle memory so that when you go out on the course you just repeat that perfect swig position every time. You can practice using any of your clubs to absolutely perfect your golf technique.
It’s not a cheap piece of equipment but it is good value in my view and it will save you hours of frustration and help you enjoy your game more. Dream Swing do a number of specials in terms of reduced prices for online ordering and free trials so you have nothing to lose by giving it a try.
17February2008
Posted by BQ Browning under: Golf Chat.
I love playing golf competitions and I love playing as part of a team. It gives an added edge and spice to the game and makes you concentrate and play better. I also love watching team golf, especially the Ryder Cup. There is something special about any event that brings the best of the best together and pits them in competition. I sit glued to the TV at whatever stupid o’clock the game might e on depending on where it is being played. I hate to miss a shot. I will be spending the next few months watching how the teams are developing and speculating over who will be in the final mix, and who the wildcards will be. I would hate to be the Captains to have to make that choice.There is continuous debate over which of the methods of picking the team is best.
The Europeans pick the top five eligible players from the world points list and then the next top five from the European rankings with the Captain picking two wild cards. The Americans pick the top eight from the points list and four wild cards. Both cut off dates are in August, the USA on the 11th and the Europeans on the 31st. I wouldn’t presume to say which was the better system but I do think this date difference does give an advantage to the Europeans as the Captain, Nick Faldo this year, already knows who is in the US team and can tailor his picks accordingly.
6February2008
Posted by BQ Browning under: Golf Techniques.
At the end of a bad round do you just throw your clubs down or do you think what golf technique might help you. Most of us throw the clubs in the back of the car rather than thinking about how we hold them, or other small things of that nature.
For example your grip can be at the root of many issues – not how you place your hands but something even simpler than that. You’ve probably already experienced this situation – in fact I don’t know a golfer who hasn’t. You hit a bad shot and then you tell yourself that the next shot has to be better to compensate and you start piling the pressure on yourself.
As you increase pressure you start to grip the clubs too hard. Tension has a tendency to make us do that. Along with this tight grip on the club goes a corresponding loss of control. The ball starts flying in all directions, and the tension builds ever more, until you look at your knuckles and they are white from the pressure. If your clubs could breathe you would have strangled them by now.
I have a playing partner, Peter, who has a laminated card with a simple list of points that he reads when his game starts to fall apart and at the top of that list is ‘Let the clubs breathe’. It’s simple and we all know about it, but this quick visual reminder is all that it takes to get his game back on track and ensure that the tension wasn’t there in the rest of his game.
This simple technique of having written notes about the five or six top bugbears in your game is so powerful that more people started using it. It was like having your own personal golf pro walking with you and giving you the necessary instructions when things started to go wrong improving your golf technique as you play.
6February2008
Posted by BQ Browning under: Golf Techniques.
The key to good golf technique is practice, practice and more practice, but we only have limited time available to us so the big question is where should spend that limited time.
It’s an old but true say that you ‘drive for show and put for dough’. Your short and mid game are the most important shots you will play, you should be as familiar and comfortable with your short irons and wedges as you are with a knife and fork.
Not only will these clubs get out of trouble if you are unfortunate enough to hit a wayward drive, proficient use of those shorter clubs will negate a lot of the benefits some of the big drivers feel they might have. Heavy hitters can often get over-confident and rely on their length of the tee to win a game – they will always be beaten by someone who can play a better short game.
The mid-range ‘approach the green’ shots are the ones that flummox most players. It is not only novices who struggle to master these clubs, many a low handicap golfer loses games because of their inability to control those tricky approach shots. The high trajectory irons – pitching wedge, 8 and 9 iron are the hardest to master and for that reason many people are reluctant to spend the time required to put in the necessary practice on the range.
There are many things to think about so it can be quite nerve racking to remember all the aspects of short-range play. A little too much swing and you will be over the back of the green or maybe you won’t get enough lift or alternatively too much and fall short. If you practice enough your muscles develop a memory and the shots become second nature to you, all you have to do is concentrate and let your body do the work – but they key to that, as with any good golf technique, is practice, practice and more practice.
6February2008
Posted by BQ Browning under: Caddy's Tips.
A good Golf Caddy is worth their weight in gold – these tips will be an occasional series of tips that I have picked up from these knowledgeable assistants. On of the best tips I was ever given is so simple – water! If you don’t drink enough you become dehydrated. If you become dehydrated your game suffers.
Whether it is due to the inconvenience of needing to go to the toilet (especially for women golfers), or the fact that most people just don’t even think about drinking enough water when they are playing, there is no doubt that your game will suffer if you become even slightly dehydrated. You don’t need to drink gallons of fluid, but you do need to drink sufficient to maintain the correct balance of fluids in your body.
The hotter the climate where you are playing, the more likely it is you will need to address this issue, as you will be losing a lot more fluid from your body when playing in hot conditions. It’s quite simple to carry a water bottle around with you and get in the habit of taking a small sip before or after each shot, or maybe on the tee before you drive. In fact it is better to take more small sips than to our half a litre down yourself all at once – watch the pros.
Your mind is one of the first areas to suffer from dehydration – the way you think and concentrate. Your levels of concentration will diminish rapidly as become dehydrated and we all know the most important club is the one between your ears, you can expect your ability to play well to diminish accordingly.
It is a handy addition to your golf technique kit – and an inexpensive one at that.
