4. Short Game

Your short game is another aspect of your game which can make or break your score so be sure to not just work on your putting, but your chipping and bunker play around the greens. I am one of those players that believes I don’t need to practice my bunker shots because I never end up in them and when I do I don’t think my bunker play is too bad. But there are those times, for example last weekend, where I just get unlucky bounces and end up in bunkers and it will take me two or three attempts to get out of them. Just a few extra shots in the bunkers definitely dented my nine hole round. So, the only tip I have for you for practicing your bunker play comes from a lesson I took about a year ago. Draw a half circle (wide circle) in the sand and make notches about 12 inches apart or how ever far apart you like and take a swing at each notch like it is your golf ball. This will show you how much of a divot you are taking and how much the divot is behind or in front of the ball and how deep your divot is.

Tomorrow I wil post some general information of how to play a bunker shot as well as some cool other shots to try the next time you go out and play. :) Happy practicing!

5. Putting

California’s rainy season has been putting a damper on my practice schedule, which has left me, when I am lucky, a three hour or so window to practice. But, because the driving range is closed I have been forced to practice my short game. Fortunately, I love practicing my short game and the rain has given me an excuse to do so. Short game practice is next on the list for winter practice tips.

If you can practice your putting as much as possible you will have at least one part of your game that can save your score. If you are unable to get to a golf course to practice your putting, my suggestion is to buy a putting system like this one. My father received this as a gift and I have used it a few times to just practice my putting stroke. This will not only help your putting but will allow you to keep the feel of your putting stroke and practice keeping your head and body still throughout the shot. Two years ago when I went to the LPGA Tournament at Blackhawk I saw Paula Creamer practice her putting by placing her golf ball between her wrist and the shaft of the putter. This allowed her to practice not breaking her wrists during the follow through as well as forcing her to rock her shoulders instead of using her arms to help the ball into the cup. Another drill, which is my favorite, and is another great alternative to the previous drill is the push drill. This is a great drill to work on your short puts from all angles of the hole. Place the ball a short distance from the whole (ex.1,2, or 3 feet) and instead of a back swing just “push” the ball into the hole. This will help you keep the face square throughout impact which will lead to a better stroke and more puts made. Once you have gotten the hang of it you can do the same drill at different position around the hole and you can keep increasing the distance until you are ready to try each location with your regular putting stroke. Enjoy!

Winter Golf Tips

Finally the winter storm has come and gone and hopefully for the rest of the winter we will have the beautiful California sun and chilly weather to play golf in. For those of you who are not as lucky as we are, weather wise, here are some tips to keep your golf game sharp.

7. The great thing about the New Year is that you can forget about all of those bad shots, lost golf balls, and the worst rounds of golf for the year. 2008 gives us a fresh start, so step on the tee and just remember you have the whole year to shoot low and high scores and loose some new golf balls. I can already say I can add 3 golf balls lost to my list and we are not even two months in. I guess I had better go buy some more golf balls.

6. In-door driving ranges are a great way to help your game or at least help you remember what the golf movements feels like. I have noticed when I take an extended break from golf and I go to the driving range my brain some how forgets how the golf swing should feel. I am a feel player and I know how my stance feels when I get it right or how a shot feels when I hit the ball in the sweet spot. Going to the range when I can and even just hitting a small bucket of balls keeps my golf swing fresh in my memory.

Here are a few tips that help me and since this post is already getting too long I will post the rest this week. Everyone has their own way of keeping in shape during the winter golf season and I am curious to know what works for you.

Customer Service

I don’t go shopping very often, but this year I have noticed when I have gone shopping that there has been a big decline in customer service. It seems that companies and stores are not caring as much about customer service as they have in the past. I am not sure if employees were required to take customer service classes, but it seems that companies and stores are not stressing enough to their employees how important customer satisfaction really is. My recent experience was when I went to one of my favorite stores, J. Crew and was kindly greeted by a sales person as I walked in. I walked towards the jeans section and was greeted by another sales person who was organizing the jeans and saw me sorting through them trying to find my size and yet didn’t help me. I finally found the size I wanted and walked to another section of the store and found two more girls folding sweaters and talking to each other and neither of them offered to help me even though they saw me looking for my size! I finally went to the dressing room to try on the clothes that I had found and the girl in there helped me find the right sizes. I finally found what I wanted and went to the register to pay and mentioned to the cashier that I passed three sales people and no one asked if I needed help finding anything except for the girl in the dressing room. He deeply apologized and said that he would talk to the manager and bring it up at their weekly meeting. I noticed at every register the employees were asking each customer if someone had helped them and I asked the guy who was helping me if they kept track of everyone’s answers and discussed the numbers at the end of the month? He sadly said that they do not, but that it was something they should do. In my opinion every store should care the most about customer service. That is how each store survives. Each store should make it a point to keep track of each customers experience in the store and try to improve upon them. They should have a few standard questions that they ask at the register and input the answers in a special program that keeps track of the answers and tallies the information so the store managers can track the progress of the store. Who knows, better customer service could drive more people to actually shop in stores instead of online.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

Hi everyone. This year has been full of highs and lows. Thankfully there have been more highs then lows. Every year for Thanksgiving my Dad asks everyone to say at least one thing that they are thankful for. We usually have our entire family from my mom’s side over at our house which makes for a warm house and great family memories. Last year was the best! My family from the east coast joined the rest of us for Thanksgiving dinner. My entire family was there which was very meaningful, especially since earlier this year my uncle passed away, and it was only after that did I realized how special pictures are. That Thanksgiving I took only a few pictures of my uncle with his sisters, sons, and wife, and because of those pictures my family has been able to remember my uncle when he was healthy and happy. So, the only thing I can say to all of you for this Thanksgiving is, remember who you are with and be thankful that you are with them and take at least one picture. That picture will help you remember that event for years to come, even though some of the people in it have moved on. Every Thanksgiving when it is my turn to say what I am thankful for I say, “I am thankful for having great parents and a supportive family.” This year will be no different, except that this year I will add, “I am thankful for great parents, a supportive family, and a happy and healthy family.” I wish all of you a happy and healthy Thanksgiving. HAVE FUN EATING ALL OF THE GOOD FOOD!!!

Pat Hurst

The other day I was looking at my many feeds in My Yahoo page, and on one of them said “Random Thought of the day: More Proof that Golf is Not a Real Sport” and there was a pictures of Pat Hurst. I wanted to slap the girl that wrote that. It was on a tennis fan site, so I assume that she was comparing tennis to golf and in that case Professional Tennis players are more conditioned in terms of being able to run longer and at a faster pace then golfers. But, I must say that every sport is different, but they all have a few things in common. All sports have competition, every athlete strives to be the best in their sport, and all athletes have their own way of getting stronger and more fit for each of their sports. Pat Hurst may not look like the typical athlete, but she has been part of the LPGA since 1995 and has won 5 times including a win last year. She is one of the most famous people in the sport and is a great ambassador for women’s golf.

Poor Britney

Happy Halloween everyone! So many things have happened since my last post. Let’s start with Britney Spears. After all that has happened to her I truly feel bad! I think she is in a huge rut and she needs one good thing to happened to her to help her get her life back on track. Hopefully the release of her new album will do well and give her the boost she needs. I am truly considering buying her album on iTunes just to give her a little boost. I will let you know what I think.