Of course over the past week or so, I have been asked my opinion on the ruling with Tiger Woods’ drop at the Masters. I have to state – at the risk of not making fans – that I’m not really a Tiger fan, although I believe he is a tremendous player, and great for the game and ratings. I always want him to be there on Sunday – I just hope he comes in second.
Joe Laurentino
News - The Negotiable Golf Swing
The USGA’s Ban on Anchoring the Belly and Long Putter
December 7, 2012 by Leave a Comment
I’ve been asked my thoughts on the “anchoring ban”, both from the standpoint of a golf professional and as a player who uses a long putter (I go back and forth between standard and long – not a fan of the belly).
First let me say that I believe that anchoring the long putter, once you get used to it, is an easier way to putt. The primary reason for this is it is much easier to control the clubface and keep it on line – and getting the ball along the right line (along with the proper speed) makes for better putting. This would be especially true of golfers who struggle with the “twitches” or “yips”.
What You Can Learn from Kevin Na’s Excruciating Pre-Shot Routine
May 15, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Did you happen to watch The Player’s Championship on Saturday? If so you witnessed Kevin Na’s per-shot routine, which was at times was tortuous to watch, is something you can learn from. The first thing is I have to give Na credit that he didn’t hit a shot until he was ready to swing. Whatever doubts were in his mind, he wouldn’t pull the trigger till they were gone. And that’s an important lesson to learn. If you are not committed to your
swing, target, and club selection, you are dramatically reducing your chances of hitting a good shot – which is why a pre-shot routine is so important. Most golfers think the pre-shot routine is just the number of practice swings you they take, the number of waggles, etc. But that’s just the physical part. The mental part is just as important – probably even more important – getting yourself set and committed to the shot before you start the physical part of your routine.
Bubba Watson’s Win at the Masters Shows the Golf Swing is Negotiable
April 18, 2012 by Leave a Comment
It was an exciting finish to this year’s Master’s and watching Bubba swing the club is obviously evidence that the golf swing is negotiable – it may not be pretty or a move you can teach someone, but there is one thing you can learn from it. Bubba said he never took a lesson – so we can consider him a self taught player. And I don’t think there is anyone on tour that curves the ball – while playing normal shots – as much as he does. What Bubba learned is how to make the club (clubhead path/clubface) work to make the ball do what he wants it to do and the degree he’s looking to do it. He obviously has a great command of the ball flight laws – something he learned on his own, but certainly it’s something everyone can learn. And once you learn them – and practice them through self discovery – you will be much closer to mastering and controlling your ball flight.
The Earth is Not Flat and Impact and Separation Does Not Exist
December 10, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Practicing the Full Swing
September 4, 2011 by 1 Comment
Now we are in the part of the practice program that I see golfers spend most of their time. This is for two primary reasons; the short game areas are often lacking and let’s face it, it’s more exciting to many of us to rip a driver on the range than it is to make a 10 foot putt on the putting green. And I don’t really subscribe to the statement “drive for show, putt for dough”. The fact of the matter is that if you are hitting it in the trees and OB off the tee, I don’t care how good you putt, it will be impossible for you to play your best golf.
How to Create an Effective Practice Session for Chipping and Pitching
August 10, 2011 by Leave a Comment
I’m not going to get into the particulars of the setups and techniques to hit chips and pitches (you can watch one of my videos here ), the only thing I will say is to approach chips as little swing and pitches as slightly bigger swings, meaning they both have a backswing and finish position, and require some body rotation and arm swing, just like the full swing.
But this blog is about how to be more effective with practicing these shots. There’s no mystery that you can hit the ball great, but without a good short game, you’ll never be able to take advantage of the great ball-striking days.
Making the Most of Your Practice Sessions (Putting)
July 22, 2011 by 1 Comment
This is Part 1 of “Making the Most of Your Practice Sessions.” In my last blog I laid out the time frame if you had only one hour to practice and the ration of practicing to playing. It’s important that we start close to the hole and work our way to the full swing when working on all aspects of the game in a single practice session. I recommend starting from the hole (putting) then work your way to chipping, sand, etc and finish with the full swing. The reason for this is if you start with the full swing, you may never get to the short game.
How Much Practice Do You Need to Become a Better Golfer?
July 3, 2011 by 2 Comments
So what’s the ideal practice plan? While it can differ from student to student here are some general guidelines if you have an hour to practice. If you are REALLY serious about improving your game, ideally for every hour you play you should practice close to the same amount of time. So if you play nine holes and it takes 2 hours, you should try to practice 2 hours. I know that’s a lot, but it gives you an idea of the ratio of playing to practicing, but I think if you can spend 50% of you time practicing that would be great. So in the same scenario, that would be 1 hour for every 2 hours of playing. So here’s an example of how I think you can effectively use 1 hour of practice time:
The Danger of Taking Only One Golf Lesson
June 1, 2011 by 3 Comments
Recently a student called me in dire need of a lesson, and unfortunately I wasn’t able to do the lesson the day the student was requesting. In the meantime, I was asked to watch a video of a lesson he had taken at a resort when he was on vacation. It’s pretty much become the standard, at resorts and golf schools, to either give a student a DVD of the lesson or to email the student a link in which they can view the lesson. Fortunately this was the latter so he emailed me the link, clicked on it, and viewed the lesson. This was at a very reputable golf school.
