Stroke Saver: Get Off The Internet And Get Putting

I love the fact that you are reading my blog right now, but chances are, you read or watch way more than just my somewhat mundane blog every day. My question to you is, “Just how long do you spend online either reading golf news, watching golf videos or just trying to find a way to lower your scores?” Now, think about how long you spend doing all of that activity and think about if you spent that time working in your living room on your putting stroke. Could you imagine how grooved your putting would be by the time you hit the course. I use the 2 coin setup myself, which is placing two coins about 10 feet apart and putting two balls back and forth across the floor. It is the perfect way for me to get the most putting in, in the smallest amount of time. That said, I’m taking the 5 minute approach to blogging right now, so this post is just about done now.

If you have any questions about your game or would like to see some practice videos in the future, let me know and I would be happy to do some shooting, but not much editing on them. I figure if I have 20 hours of shooting and editing a week to do crazy stuff like that, my game better be down to a positive handicap. Until then, I’d be happy to share some insight with you either via this blog or my upcoming YouTube mini videos.

Stroke Saver: Stop Taking Chances On Trouble Shots

When your game starts to have issues, the first thing that goes through most people’s minds is how to get back to the green on the green on the next shot. Whether that shot is s cut-punch through a bank of trees or a dangerous draw over the water to a tight pin, attempting those tough shots will usually lead to adding at least one shot to your score card, if not more. Instead, here’s a simple way to look at those impossible shots that you will probably only want to attempt when you have quite a bit of money or maybe a club championship riding on them.

When you are buried in the woods and need an out, find the safest path. Sometimes this will keep you moving forward, sometimes it will be sideways, and other times you will have to go backwards a bit in order to save your score. To put this example in perspective, let’s say you put your drive 250 yards out into the trees on the right. You have 120 left to the hole, which is an easy wedge for you, but you can’t clear the trees. You’re forced to punch out, but which way? Forward gives you the most trouble as the trees are directly blocking your path. Rotating around, you see that punching back into the fairway isn’t really an option unless you are shooting backwards about 10 yards. This is the safe shot. It will also only increase your approach shot one club. You can punch out from the trees and still have a very solid chance at saving your par instead of possibly hitting a tree and getting into more trouble by punching the shot forward.



Another challenge that is faced in many rounds is the water around the green to a tight pin. As you look at  your drive sailing down the fairway and  rolling out to about 3 yards short of the water, you realize that you just made this hole much harder than it had to be. Your approach needs to carry 150 yards over the water, but stop quickly on the 4 yards of green between the fringe and the bunker behind. Had  your tee shot drifted right, you’d be in the clear to attack the pin, but in this case, the safe play is to the center of the green for an easy two putt. Going after the pin in this scenario will bring a water hazard into play as well as the trouble behind the green. By eliminating the trouble on the hole, you stand a much better chance of surviving the poor position that your tee shot ended up in.

Finally, the last scenario I want to walk you through is the dreaded in-between club syndrome. You hit a spectacular drive to the center of the fairway that leaves you the perfect distance for an 8.5 iron. You’re too far to push an 8 iron and too close for a solid 7. Normally, everyone brings up the point of muscling up on an 8 or just playing a lighter 7. Funny enough, most of the time, this leads to a perfectly chunked 8 iron or a 7 iron that flies the green by 20 yards because you hit it perfect with good tempo. The half club issue is one that seems to come up about 3 to 5 times a round, and it should be one you are prepared for. By doing some homework before the round, you can really prepare yourself for these types of shots. The solution is simple enough, know your club ranges. The carry of a draw should be longer than the carry of a fade. We will use 150 yards for an example here.  Too short for my 8 iron and too long for my 9 iron. I have to hit between them. You see, I hit my 8 iron about 155 yards on a normal swing and my 9 iron goes about 145 yards on a normal swing. This white dot area in the fairway is a terrible spot for me to be, unless I know three things: Where is the pin? Where is the trouble? And where is the easiest place to putt to the hold from?



With these three simple piece of information, I can make a few decisions based on how I hit my clubs. With a strong draw, I will get an extra 5 yards out of each iron (though a bit more on longer irons.) With a fade, I will lose about 5 yards a club (a bit more with longer irons.) This means on that 150 yard shot, I will need to look to see where the trouble is on the hole. If there is trouble back left, I will opt to hit the longer club with a fade. If there is trouble short right, I’ll hit the shorter club with the draw. This will minimize my chances of hitting the ball into trouble. Of course, if there is trouble in both areas, I can dial in the longer club, in this case the 8 iron, with the shorter fade play and still work myself in pretty close to the hole. Again, knowing some distances for the differ kinds of shots that you may have in your bag can be key in playing out these tough sort of shots.

Ultimately, if you have to ‘think’ how to play the shot, you should probably go with the easier, or safe option every time. You can be cruising along with a plus 2 round and one hole can push you into the upper 70’s very quickly. Two bad decisions can lead to the 80’s in no time at all. In fact, if you look at your average score card throughout the year, how many over par are your worst 18 holes for the year? Eliminating those blow-up holes by playing the safer play and taking your medicine will only benefit you in the long run, even if hitting that shot from the edge of the pound may seem like a great idea at the time.

Budget Beater: Get Some Off Season Deals On Great Gear

If you are in the market for a new GPS system to start the season off right, Amazon has a deal for you. The Bushnell Neo Ghost GPS unit comes in at a measly $49.99 in charcoal, green, orange or white. The Neo Ghost offers auto course recognition, auto hole advance and is pre loaded with over 30,000 courses. If you are tired of that GPS App draining your phone, or like to play in wet weather, the Neo Ghost is a great, low cost, solution. The Neo Ghost also ships free for Amazon Prime members.



There is also an amazing deal on last year’s Zepp 3D Swing Analyzer. This clip-on sensor attaches to a glove and is used with an App on your Android or iOS device to give you constant feedback about your swing. It’s perfect for working on tempo, swing path or even just collect swing data. The Zepp 3D Swing Analyzer is just $89.99 right now and ships free with Amazon Prime.



Another of my personal favorites is the Putt-A-Bout indoor putting mat. I’ve covered this one a few times in the past, but who can’t use a reminder and a sale on a great putting setup? The Putt-A-Bout indoor putting mat features three holes and two “traps”. It also sits almost flat, so there aren’t any of those annoying “ramps” to go up to find the hole. Speed practice is key on the Putt-A-Bout as well since you can’t run the ball too quickly to the hole. The Putt-A-Bout indoor putting mat is just $36.49 right now and also ships free for Amazon Prime members.

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The Journey To Scratch: Finally Some Warming!!!

So, this has been a long and painful few months away from the course. Unfortunately, mother nature has been playing havoc with my offseason efforts to get more playing in before the season begins. In fact, I really haven’t hit a ball since my last round. The weather has been so cold and snowy that even the range has been closed here. That’s pretty rare during the winter months, but this year has been a rough winter for many of the courses in the Seattle area. Those that didn’t play temporary greens, didn’t open early enough to get a full 18 in.

That said, the weather is going to be breaking this week and we should be seeing some wet this week. Fortunately, that means the frost that has be plaguing my local course should break and I should be able to get a few rounds going soon. Hopefully that will be the case and I can start putting up some rounds for everyone soon. Until then, just more putting for me.

The Journey To Scratch: A Frozen Winter

Well, I’ll be the first to admit that this winter has been a complete bust for me in the golfing department. After sneaking in a few early rounds at The Golf Club at Echo Falls, the Seattle area has been in a snow-deep freeze-snow-deep freeze pattern over the last month and a half. I’m not going to complain too much as this was the first time ever that me and the kiddo got to go out and play in the snow together, but like I said, it’s been a bust for golfing. My days have been spent working, putting and slowly dropping towards my goal weight, which is about all I can ask for when it’s a whopping 20 degrees outside. I’m not going to make this ramble on too long, as it is just an update on what I’m not doing at the moment, but the good news is that the 15 day forecast is showing fewer and fewer days in deep freeze territory and even some upper 40’s and rain by mid next week. Hopefully that doesn’t change to a monster snow storm before it arrives and I can get back out on the course soon!

Stroke Saver: Setting Goals For 2017

With the new year should come some goals for your upcoming year. Whether they are to have more fun playing or enter your first competition, goals are important to keeping yourself motivated in everything. Starting out a season with obtainable goals will help you make the most of every practice session and round you have this year. When you are working towards a goal, anything is possible.

For example, I started off the season last year just thinking of getting my game in decent enough shape not to embarrass myself when I played a round with my dad. Little did I know that it would turn into a journey to lower my handicap to scratch this year. In fact, even now, I still shake my head at the thought of how this last season progressed. From dusting off the old Wilson Fluid Feels to virtually replacing my bag, the 2017 season will be an interesting one to say the least. I hope you're as excites about it as I am, and hopefully this can be the beginning of you setting some great goals.

When setting these goals, take stock of your game. See where you can capitalize, and where you can use some improvements. From setting a goal of making 30 putts a round to hitting every fairway, there is something that the average golfer can do, and something that you should be doing to make the game more fun. Even if your goal is as simple as hitting more greens inside 100 yards or even just hitting your driver 150 yards, setting out your sights on the first set of targets will be something that will help you drop strokes from your scores well before you hit the course for the first time this season.

I would love to hear some of your goals in the comments below, so get posting or email them to me!

The Journey To Scratch: Welcome To 2017…

As the old year ends and the new begins, I find myself wanting to eliminate some of the outside distractions that may take away from me enjoying golf this season. Instead of continuing to publish multiple blogs, I’m dialing back to focus on this one. Instead of worrying about content for videos and reviews, I’m going to talk more about my progress towards my goals this year, in both word and video. Most of all, I’m going to reach my goal this season of finally reaching a zero handicap – and doing so while playing the Championship Tees.

I’ve spent the last few weeks looking at my blog, seeing that I’ve spent more time trying to get things to review than I have actually writing about golf. I’ve spent more time worrying about what people would think of my YouTube Channel than why I would want to have one. Wondering if I should live blog rounds, instead of really looking at the fact that if you are playing a competitive round, a camera should be nowhere in sight. It’s been a great month to get refocused and ready for 2017 and all its challenges.

So, as soon as the weather cooperates, I’ll be hitting the course again. We’ve had 2 very minor snow falls and one decent one that made playing a December round a bit difficult, and of course, without the rounds coming in, I haven’t had a chance to do much in the way of instructional thoughts since I have just been doing the same old drills at home. As I write this, I’m updating my January publishing schedule which will be rotating back to a Tuesday Stroke Saver and Friday Budget Buster setup through March. The equipment deals section will take a back seat during the off season since much of the new gear coming out won’t be deals, but new stuff. While I love new toys, they really do make golf much more expensive for the average player than it needs to be. For now, I’ll keep my eyes out for Budget Buster deals on gear, but the Equipment Deals/Reviews will be going to the way side.

I’ll also keep everyone up to date on my handicap movement, though (and I need to verify the date) I don’t think I can post again until March or April at this point in time. I will also be making a final decision on the tournament schedule that I will be trying to land this summer as well. I would like to get my Men’s Club decision made soon as well. The hard part is staying local is more expensive, but going farther is more time consuming – it’s a tough choice to make. Anyway, these decisions will be made soon enough and you’ll be the first to know about them once I make them.

For now, welcome in 2017 and I hope you are setting your season goals right now. I know it’s always easier to track your progress once you have a target to shoot at, so make those goals and get ready for an amazing year.