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golf predictions

It’s officially 2011 and a new PGA season is under way. Yes, I know you folks down under have b een at it awhile….I’m jealous.  I think it would be great to live there for half a year and here in the states the other half. A true endless summer, yes! I’m dreaming of that right now as I look outside at the snow and ice outside my window.

What I’d like to do is to give you an opportunity to publicly make some predictions for the upcoming golf year.

Put your guesses down below in the comments and then we’ll revisit it at the end of the year and see who has the best foresight in the golf world. You can always go back to this page and show your buddies how accurate you were (if you were!).

I’m predicting that Tiger comes back with a roar…watch out world. I think he’s done the mental work he needs to and his skills just won’t be held back any longer.

I predict a brand new driver from a major company that takes the world by storm (just like every year). And I might even swing it at the pro shop because I just can’t resist it!

Seriously, I’m also going to predict big things from a golfer from this part of the country, Ryan Moore.  He’s from the Seattle-Tacoma area.

I predict that I will play about 12 rounds this year starting in March and ending in October and that my 16 year old son will overtake me in scoring and get into a single digit handicap.  I’m not going to let him mind you!! He’s going to have to earn it, right!?

I predict that there will be a new name that comes out of nowhere to win a major and that major will be the PGA.

Ok, it’s your turn. Put down what you think this year holds for us golfers below

Greens and fairways,

Craig

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Develop confidence in your golf game

I have a 16-year-old son who is on the high school golf team and also works at a local country club. He is on fire about taking his game to the next level with the ultimate goal of playing golf in college. I am extremely proud of him! For years we have played together and I haven’t offered much advice except for one time when we bet on a round. He needed to 2-putt on the 18th green from 20 feet to tie me in a bet we made. If I won, he would owe me 5 car washes. If he won, I would buy him a new pair of fancy sneakers.

How to get confidence in golf

gaining confidence

To make the story short, I played a little gamesmanship with him and asked him something about his breathing while putting. He ended up 3-putting and from then, he started asking me about developing mental toughness for his golf game. And yes, my car looks pretty clean right now!

Flash forward to today and he is soaking up everything I can give him. Awww, that really warms my heart!

I think the biggest piece of advice that I am helping him with is in taking full advantage of his strengths. This applies to you just as much and here’s what I mean….

He’s undersized compared to the other kids (sorry about those genes I passed on) and so he is not going to overpower any golf course. Therefore, devoting whatever time he has to building his game is NOT going to pay off much if he works on his long game. On the other hand, right behind his house is a school yard where he can chip and pitch to his heart’s delight whenever he wants.

If you have Break 80 Without Practice, you know how I have explained about how chipping is the most efficient way to drop strokes because the improvement works it’s way through all parts of your game.

Also, I have provided him with a number of top pros from the past and present who have won pretty much because of short-game wizardry. My favorite of all time is Paul Runyon who used to beat Sam Snead regularly while being outdriven by 50 yards!

Next, we have devised a strategy where he is turning himself into the best bad-weather player in our area.  I had asked him how often that his competition was played in wet conditions and he said about 50%. Bingo!  Most golfers use bad weather as an excuse to have a bad attitude and lose focus. I told him: “What if you went out there in the bad weather and got all excited about it? Like it was a huge advantage?”

This game is mostly mental. You can’t deny it. Get the fundamentals, strive for repeatability and then clear your mind of garbage. That’s the formula for a low score.

What if you had an advantage or two over your buddies every time you went out? Or just believed you did?  Wouldn’t that create confidence? Bob Rotella wrote a whole book called:  “Golf is a game of confidence”

Haven’t you ever looked at a putt and just had a very certain thought or feeling that you KNEW it was going to go in? That’s confidence.

Chip it close!

What if you believed that you were a cut above every average golfer out there in:

reading greens?

100 yard approach shots?

Recovery shots?

Keeping the ball in play?

No balloon scores, EVER!

etc.

Find your strength or create one now. Work that area hard…harder than the others and don’t worry so much about the other parts of your game for awhile. Develop a true foundation for confidence in your game and then work out from there.

I think you have something untapped there for your game. Go get it!

I’d love to see some ideas for an advantage us golfers can create over our competition.

Put them in the comment section below.

Greens and fairways,

Craig

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Real “Distance” advice from a Long Drive Champion

There’s advice, videos and everything under the sun from every golf instructor who ever lived about how to hit your longest drive possible with your skills and body. Let’s face it, golfers want this and there are definite benefits as you know.Players-Tour-2006-Eric Jones

Very few people are really qualified to actually teach anything worthwhile however and so I went about to find someone who really is. Eric Jones is someone who actually has won the World’s Long Drive Championship. The really astounding thing is that he is one of the smallest competitors out there. If you’ve ever seen a long drive competition, you know that most of these guys are hulks! Either totally ripped muscles and/or very tall. Eric wins with maximum efficiency of movement. Extremely impressive.

He still competes to this day and teaches golfers daily at his facility in California as a PGA instructor.

If that isn’t enough, he also has a Masters in Sports Psychology. I had the pleasure of interviewing him for his secrets for about an hour. I was planning on making this interview a bonus as part of a paid product. But what the heck, I’m giving it to you now right here:

longest golf drive interview with Eric Jones

If you want some free video instruction from him,  Go here:  Eric Jones

This guy is amazing and I highly endorse him and his teachings.

Eric-Jones-World-Long-Drive-Championship-Swing

Eric Jones Long Drive Champion

Greens and fairways,

Craig

If you want more of Eric Jones and some free instructional videos,   Go Here

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Bring your “vacation” golf back to your home course

golf vacation resortsI can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard from my clients about how well they have played on their vacation.  And I’m right there with them. I think I wrote to you somewhere already that I was taking my annual golf vacation with my two boys to Canada.  We had an amazing time cruising around BC and Alberta golfing, camping, and seeing the sites.

I think we ended up golfing 4 times in a week and, as usual, I played the best rounds of the year on this trip.  What’s going on with us golfers when this happens?  Could I call it “proof” that we play our best when we feel our best?  I’ve even found that I still play very well at the resorts under pressure just because I am having such a blast and enjoying myself so much.

Oh, I have to tell you about an area that I didn’t know about that has some fantastic golf and gorgeous scenery to go with it up there in British Columbia.

It’s the Upper Columbia River Valley area in BC. There are 15 courses within 40 minutes of each other!  We stayed at a town called Radium Hot Springs and yes, we did have a great soak in the natural hot springs.  The area is so beautiful and the weather is perfect during the golf season, dry and warmer than most of Canada.  We stayed at a very nice resort there and the staff was very friendly.   Did I mention 15 courses!

Anyway, I shot a 77 on a par 70 course and was very happy with my game. My son, on the other hand, still hasn’t learned how to bounce back when he makes bad shots and he lets it get to him and then it’s all downhill from there.  But I must say that I give partial credit to being on vacation. I was smiling, I was happy being with my boys, the weather was perfect, life was just so good…and my golf game just flowed from all of that.

Now, when I go out to a local course, I do everything I can to re-live those types of vacation feelings.  I stop and smell the flowers, I definitely smile a lot, I make it a point to laugh and joke with my partners. I  really find good feelings in this one word: “Appreciation”

Appreciation for being healthy enough to play. For having eyes to see the green grass and the outdoors. To be able to afford this wonderful activity and how much I have learned from it that I have applied to all aspects of my life.

Golf resort sceneryI mean, c’mon…what percent of the world’s population gets the privelege to play this great sport? Do you realize how lucky we are to have enough abundance to spend money on playing a grownup game?  I can sometimes work myself up into a frenzy of “Appreciation” if I really try. I see so many golfers with serious and sour-puss faces out there on the course. Aren’t we there to have fun? Even Tiger wrote in his book: “Even when I’m grinding in a tournament, I’m still having fun”

I would love to hear your thoughts on either your favorite golf vacation resort or area and why you love it so much.  If you have tips on how to bring that vacation feeling into every game, I want to read that too and share it with everyone as well.

I’m busy planning next year’s golf vacation and can’t wait to discover another golf treasure. Maybe we should meet up there, eh? (I love Canada).

Greens and fairways,

Craig

Filed Under: Craigs Journey, Mental/Emotional, Misc
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New golf driver

I have been playing a Tour Edge driver for about 6 years. If you’ve followed the development of drivers over that time, you know that they have gotten bigger and more interactive. You can actually make adjustments to some of these drivers…interesting. I don’t quite understand why since if the driver doesn’t fit you, get a different one. Am I missing something?Golf driver adjustment

The maximum size has gone up to 460cc since 2007. Don’t you wonder what drivers might look like today if they hadn’t limited them?

Anyway, my Tour Edge Tour Edge driverhas been pretty darn good to me over the years. I have had plenty of rounds where it felt like I could pretty much call my shots and they would happen. Of course, plenty of days where I had to put it away and use the 3 wood as well…that’s golf right?

So, at the beginning of this year, my 16 year old Varsity golfer son gets a new Taylor Made R9 and what the heck, a few months ago, I give it a try.
And I’m shocked! I hit 10 perfectly straight shots in a row and then I almost TRY to make a bad shot and I can’t!

He tells me, “sorry Dad, I need it” when I ask if he would sell it to me…

I go home and I catch it, you know what I’m talking about…I catch the “new driver” bug. I start imagining what my scores will start looking like with 2 more greens in regulation than normal per round. I totally forget all of the advice I give in this website and start looking for an R7 like me son’s. I go on ebay and craigslist, I check out the used club sellers (there’s no way I’m paying full price for last year’s model).

I finally find it! It’s a 460 Taylor Made R9 and I buy it online. A couple weeks later, it shows up at my door and boy am I excited! I immediately go in my yard to take a whack at some whiffle balls with it…and it feels soooooo good.

My first holes with it are magical. I hit almost every fairway! Only problem, is, the grip is not what I’m used to and by the 12th hole, I can’t even barely hold onto it anymore as my hands are raw. (I’ve never used a glove). I think I posted an 80 and I beat my son in a little side bet where he now owes me 5 car washes. Taylor Made R9 driver

The next round with it, I get prepared and buy a glove. I do pretty well with that driver but you know what, not much different than my old driver actually. But I’m in denial about the whole thing because, dang it, I’ve got to justify that purchase. I have a really good round because I made a bunch of putts outside of 4 feet. The really funny thing, is that the magic had worn off that driver.

Where did the magic go? How can just buying a new club instantly fix my swing to perfection? Can we create that magic even if we don’t get a new club? What’s going on here?

I’m now of the belief that our body will adjust to whatever driver or other new equipment we get, according to our setpoints. That belief may change.

You know, my old driver is still there in my garage with that nice, cushy grip that doesn’t hurt my hands.
(I drove around for weeks with the new driver in my car vowing to drop it off and have it regripped but I never got around to it)

I’ve got a lot to think about and find some lessons here. What’s your experience and how can we make that magic last? Love to hear your comments below.

Greens and fairways,

Craig

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Golf pressure

The Europeans have won the Ryder cup this year and it came down to the last match between Graeme McDowell and Hunter Mahan. On the 17th hole of their match, under tremendous pressure, Mahan flubs his chip and can’t make the next long putt from off the green while McDowell gets a conceded par.  The key, though, is how McDowell made a pressure-packed birdie on 16. No doubt, this played huge in Mahan’s mind.

Long story short, one golfer stepping up under pressure and the other folding.

Now, Mahan has won 2 tournament events this year but McDowell won the US Open. Every golfer has his boiling point for how much pressure he can handle and it seems that McDowell had the edge having won a major, the pinnacle of golf.  Can you imagine how much more pressure there would be on you when you have a team of golfers counting you at the end of the Ryder Cup? For your home country?

Golfers need to continually work on increasing their tolerance for pressure…prepare for it, practice it in their minds before they ever get to the course. Do you remember, as a kid, pretending to play professional sports and imagining you hit the winning home run at the bottom of the ninth, or you score the winning goal as time runs out, or you sink that 30 foot putt to win the Open?

What creates the feeling of pressure? It’s your thoughts…your representation of what is going on as experienced by your unconscious mind and it sends signals to your nervous system to give you the feelings of pressure.  Those feelings ultimately turn into interference of our find muscle motor movements and destroy the golf shot, especially little touch shots like Mahan had on the 17th.

What’s the solution?  Well, ultimately, it’s to find ways to be able to control your thoughts and therefore, your emotions. You have to either

make change at the unconscious level through either:

1. repetitious conditioning -continual and increasing exposure to pressure in reality or in your mind and perceiving that it turns out ok (such as what McDowell experienced having won the US Open)

or

2. unconscious communication -  clearing the interference to a direct rapport with your unconscious mind. The centerpiece of this would be self hypnosis or meditation, whatever you want to call it.

Here’s a quickie that will certainly help you the next time you feel pressure and it’s too late to work on either 1 or 2 above:

The next time you feel pressure on the golf course, embrace it. Tell yourself to “bring it on” “I love pressure” “Let me have some more of this feeling”

because I can feel pressure AND sink this putt…

It’s an AND world

Greens and fairways,

Craig

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Tiger Woods Troubles

So I’m lying here on my bed this weekend sick with the flu and contemplating weakness. I couldn’t swing a club 10 mph right now let alone play a decent game. My body just pretty much told me I need a break and it shut me down. My thoughts started flowing from weakness to our hero, Tiger Woods. Here’s a quote I pulled from ESPN:

“But 2010 — the Lost Year — has been a direct byproduct of Woods’ personal and professional issues. He has gone 11 consecutive rounds without breaking 70, tying the second-longest such stretch of his pro career. Five more rounds of 70-plus and he breaks his record.”

Conclusion, if the greatest golfer in the world is not immune to mental problems messing up his game, what makes us think we are any better? And this guy is said to be the most mentally tough athlete on the planet!

Did you ever think about why there is a “home field advantage?” Why is it that grown men and women don’t play as well on visiting playing fields/arenas as they do from their home? It sounds all so silly. They play on the same exact dimensions at home as when visiting and yet, many is the team that has a poor away record.

Does this happen in golf? You bet it does. Don’t you feel differently on your home course than one you’ve only played once on a practice round? Why does all of this happen? How do we prevent or turn it around?

What happens in all cases (except my flu), is that our perceptions of things become more than just fleeting thoughts. They actually sink into the muscles and tissues and cause interference. Look up “applied kinesiology” or “muscle testing.”
You see, we have zillions of neurons firing all of the time and when we put intention into something, those neurons follow patterns to get that something done. Tiger Woods has created some serious interference in his neural network that actually gets in the way of his intentions to win again. Every time he thinks about his problems, he strengthens that interference.

If you have perceptions or learnings during a time when you have strong emotions, well now you’ve got a double whammy.

Bottom line…disempowering thoughts literally get stuck in the body whether they are right now: “I can’t buy a putt” or from a couple months ago during a divorce. The mind affecting the body is real my fellow golfers.

There is a solution, you can get rid of that interference. There’s actually multiple ways but I only practice one of them. You can do accupuncture, you might get lucky with counseling, and there are various forms of “energy” work. I use golf hypnosis.

I can’t wait to see how Tiger does next year. Tiger has done hypnosis and other forms of mediation since he was 13 and I”m betting he’ll come back to his old self next year. He still has the skills and tools, physical and mental. You want to make it a regular habit to find ways to “let go” of your chokes, mistakes and other interference however you do it…or it will continue to haunt you.

Greens and fairways,
Craig

Filed Under: Mental/Emotional, Misc
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How to review online golf instruction

There are a lot of websites and golf instruction programs out there on the web these days. Some are headed by big name golf instructors with some touring pros behind their name. Others are by amateur golfers who have figured it out….and everything in between.

So how do you know how to pick the golf instruction that will work for you that is delivered online? Because let’s face it, if we could get our instruction from a golf instructor who knew the best way to TEACH ME, then that would be optimal. Unfortunately, there are many golf pros who have their “pet” program and they try to fit everyone into it.

Canadian golf course

If it isn’t confusing enough to find a good instructor in person, I can see how choosing a program online is even more tricky. Let me see if I can give you some helpful advice to ferret out the bad from the good.

The first thing that I would want to know before I spent one dollar on anything is…do they have a good guarantee and do they actually fulfill on that promise if the customer asks for one. I, for one, make this a top priority for everything I do and anyone I recommend to you as well.

The next thing that I want to know, is does the instructor actually golf well! You would be shocked to learn how many people out there are selling online golf instruction and do not golf themselves. Many of these sites are run by very good internet marketers who don’t have a clue about how to golf or how to instruct golfers. You would also be very surprised to know how many “mental game gurus” out there couldn’t golf their way out of a paper bag.

golf view

driveable downhill par 4

Another big one is getting instruction on ALL facets of the game. I think the best instruction will be well-rounded for driving, putting,
short game, and the mental game. And there will be enough info that you will never run out of strategies and drills to work on over time to continue improving

Finally, you want to choose golf instruction that is fit to you and your game. This is a biggie and let me explain it a bit. Many times, the top golfers in the world have no clue how to teach average golfers how to improve. Conversely, the pro who spends every day working with golfers with handicaps over 20 probably doesn’t know what it takes to put a golfer on tour.

For example, I’ve read so many tips from Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods over the years that should be completely ignored by MOST golfers except those going for a tour card. Remember, I’m an efficiency fanatic and I want to get to my goal as fast and with the minimum amount of effort that I can. This means that you need to focus on what is most likely to bring your scores down and not what Phil and Ernie are doing lately. Be selective and don’t get carried away by the big names…they play a different game than most golfers.

Review golf instruction online for what seems to match where you are at. Read between the lines of advertising and banners for honesty. There is no silver bullet to dropping 10 strokes from your game in 5 minutes with one magic swing move.

I hope this helps you in separating the wheat from the chaff of online golf instruction.

Greens and fairways,
Craig

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Lower Golf Scores…really?

Most golfers don’t REALLY want to lower their golf score.

Golf BC Canada

BC Canada golf course

What? How can I say that when golfers everywhere spend billions of dollars on this game chasing the lure of the great feelings of achievement they get when they improve.  Here’s why: when you start to read golf instruction in books, you start to find that there are some universal truths about how amateurs should play in order to actually cut their scores. I have and will continue to cover these ways in my writings and lessons in this site.

The problem is that many amateurs are far more interested in things other than scoring lower such as:  big booming drives, making miracle shots, having a pretty swing (rather than an effective one), mimicking their pro idols, keeping up with their playing partner’s club choices, and/or just partying out on the course.

Golf in Radium Canada

Craig Sigl in Radium, Canada

All of those outcomes are fine and dandy and I indulge in them too, but many times, they are directly opposed to you scoring lower!

Wake up and smell the coffee! It’s time to make a decision that you are interested in lower scores and that you are going to do everything in your power to allow that to happen now aren’t you?

Having said that, sometimes you might still want to go out on the course with the idea of just having some fun, or working on the the ideas here and not caring about your score. Great! So long as that is your  INTENTION for the day.  Too many golfers go out there in complete denial of reality thinking they can have that cake of appearances and eat it too. But not you or any of my clients anymore. From now on, you are going to do everything with INTENTION with regards to your game.

INTENTION simply means that you are going to make conscious decisions about what it is you are doing.  Decide right now that when you have the INTENTION to score lower, you are going to follow through with that.  Just so you know, INTENTION is my favorite word and I’m going to be using it and other important words in CAPS throughout the book because words have meanings beyond the obvious.  :-)

In summary, with everything you do, think or ask yourself out loud such questions as:

“Will this ______ help me to a lower score?”

“How can I turn this _____ into helping me lower my score?”

“What can I be doing right now that will lower my score?”

What happens out there on the course is you get tempted. Really tempted to “go for it.”

Resist that temptation with the sweet feeling of looking at your scorecard at the end of a round and not finding any double bogeys. If there is anything that age and wisdom have taught me about this game is that a conservative strategy is the way to go.  When your buddy is using a 6 iron and you feel that a 5 iron is the more sensible choice, LISTEN to that feeling…it’s your unconscious mind communicating to you.

Decide at the beginning of a round that “Today, I am all about making every decision on the course that a lower score is my priority.”

Think back on rounds in the past where you indulged in useless activities, thought, or emotion that hurt your shot at a a lower golf score.  Yes, it’s true, negative self talk is undulgent!  I want you to fight it, dispute it, push through it. Stay focused and robotic on your preshot routine, keep to your plan, and play within your game and you will lower your scores.

Greens and fairways,

Craig

Filed Under: Mental/Emotional, Misc
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