Friday, June 26, 2009

Nick Taylor is Low Amateur at Bethpage

Congratulations to Nick Taylor, the low amateur in last weekend's US Open golf tournament at Bethpage Black. Nick, one of only three amateurs to make the cut thanks to an impressive second round score of 65, finished +8 overall for the tournament, and tied for 36th place. Well done, Nick!
Nick is a member of the Canadian National golf team, and his stellar performance at Bethpage solidifies his #1 standing in the R&A World Amateur Golf rankings. Nick is a long-time student of Henry Brunton, a Master Professional and Top 100 Instructor. Henry is also one of the world's leading experts in the development of junior golfers. He preaches that measurement is an important part of development and improvement in golf, and has over 200 private students actively using the ShotByShot.com game analysis program. In addition, all of the Canadian National teams have used ShotByShot.com since its inception.
ShotByShot.com is proud to think that our game analysis program has played a part in the development of such fine young players as Nick Taylor, and his Canadian National teammate, Matt Hill, who recently won the NCAA golf chamionship.
For more about Henry Brunton's innovative approach to developing junior golfers, see http://www.henrybrunton.com/index.php.
To learn more about how the ShotByShot.com game analysis program can help you shape and achieve your own personal golf improvement goals, go to www.ShotByShot.com.

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Glover's 16 Seconds to US Open Victory: The Importance of a Pre-Shot Routine in Golf

Lucas Glover's win at BethPage was an excellent example of the importance of a solid pre-shot routine, and the pay-off for golfers who have a consistent regimen. He had a few stumbles early in round 4, but hung on and played well on the final holes under extreme pressure. I paid close attention to his pre-shot routine, noted how well he stuck with it down the stretch, and believe that it was the difference at the end.

A well constructed pre-shot routine accomplishes two important purposes. The first is physical. It creates the platform for a successful shot - proper setup and alignment. The second is mental in that the routine occupies the conscious mind with a rehearsed set of positive thoughts that lead to a trigger. This is the part that helps ward off the negative effects of pressure. It creates a mental suit of armour against the doubts that can creep in and derail the shot-making process. Lucas took a consistent 16 seconds from the time he stepped forward from behind the ball until he struck each shot - full swings and putts.

While I do not pretend to know what he was thinking, here is what it looked like to me:

Shot selection - First, Lucas and his caddie would go through the decision making process and agree on the exact shot called for.

Visualization - Then from behind the ball, looking down the line at the target he would visualize the exact flight of the ball as planned.

Start - Next, he moved forward to address the ball - tick tock, tick tock.

Alignment - (to the target and proper ball position) 1) He'd place the club behind the ball aimed directly at the intermediate target. 2) Then he set up to the club and the ball.

Posture - Check posture and balance: spine straight, head high, arms relaxed and hanging.
Trigger - One quick waggle to loosen the hands and forearms & GO!

Coincidently, a close friend with whom I play a lot of golf recently asked if I would help him develop a routine in preparation his club championship. We spent two separate sessions at the range working on just this. Together, we developed a pattern of well-choreographed moves to insure that he is properly lined up to the target; standing tall to give him plenty of room to swing freely and release the club; and a waggle-trigger to start his backswing with his torso. While I did not subject him to a stop watch, I did tap my foot and count the seconds so that he could become comfortable with the tempo and timing of his new routine.

So far, he has qualified and won 3 matches and has the 36-hole finals this weekend. Two of the three matches were against better players, at least according to the USGA, and Tom credits the confidence in his routine for helping him prevail. I will be able to observe our work closely while I caddie for him in the finals. Good luck Tommy and stick to your routine!

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Aussie Rules





Greg Norman has a new toy. It is a 228-foot boat called Aussie Rules. It is among the largest private yachts in existence. Apparently it cost more than $70 million dollars to build. The company that built it gave it to Greg at cost because they wanted the publicity of The Shark sailing their product. They are rumored to actually have taken a loss on the deal - for the moment. If this motivates you to work harder on your golf game, try re-reading some of my prior posts on the importance of practice in the improvement process. Here's a good one:
http://niblicksoftruth.blogspot.com/2009/05/approach-to-practice.html
Or if you're not sure what part of your game needs the most attention, perhaps it's time to try a game analysis program. If you want the most accurate assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of your golf game, go to http://www.ShotByShot.com. Remember, knowledge is power!

Monday, June 15, 2009

Brian Gay: Putting for Dough!

Throughout the telecast of the St. Jude Classic on Sunday, Ian Baker Finch, once known as a great putter himself, commented on how the strength of Brian Gay's game was clearly putting. Ian made an excellent point to note that Brian had NO 3-Putts at that point in the telecast, and, true to his reputation, Brian did not let this comment jinx him into a stumble down the stretch.

Brian Gay finished five shots clear of his closest rivals and it was clearly his putting that was the difference. He was ranked #1 and #2 respectively in the old standby golf statistics - Putts per GIR (1.538) and Total Putts Per Round (25.0). I am no fan of these stats, but in this case Brian's performance was outstanding enough to drag them into relevance. Before we look more closely at his putting, his other stats support the point that the remainder of his game was solid but not spectacular.

As was said over and over again during the telecast (there was no drama to this ending so they had to fill the last 2 hours of air time with something), "Brian's game is not long but very accurate and consistent and he is a great putter." And the Tour stats bear this out.
  • Driving Accuracy: T9th - (71%), quite good, averaging 10 of 14 fairways. More importantly, none of his missed fairways could be considered an ERROR (Penalty situation or poor enough result that it required a pure advancement shot to recover.)
  • Driving Distance: 76th (266 yards - short by today's standards.)
  • Greens in Reg.: T19 (12.25/round). I am more accustomed to seeing 13+ from the winner.
  • Sand Saves: T24 (6/9, or 66.6%) with 1 ERROR (a shot left in the bunker). Winners are usually 70% or better with no errors.
  • Scrambling: 65%, and again, lower than the usual Winner's profile.

Thus far, Brian's profile is not matching up to what I would expect from a Winner on the PGA Tour. This is where his putting prowess separates him and particularly from outside 10 feet where the averages for EVERYONE including the PGA Tour fall off rapidly. Note, in the above graphic which compares Brian's 1-Putt % to the average for the Tour (YTD 2009). Combine the fact that he had ZERO 3-Putts, his putting accuracy from 11 to 30 feet was remarkable. Had Brian putted no better than his peers in this range alone, he would have finished six shots higher and tied for 3rd.


Saturday, June 13, 2009

Big Ben's the Boss

Golf Digest's US Open Challenge was held yesterday at Bethpage Black. This now-annual event grew out of a comment made by Tiger Woods several years ago after the US Open was held at Oakmont. Tiger, so impressed by the difficulty of the course, challenged that a 10-handicap golfer couldn't break 100 there. Three celebrities known to be accomplished golfers, and a contest winner from Arizona, put Bethpage to the test.

Here's how they did:

Roethlisberger +11
Jordan +16
Timberlake +18
"Larry" +31

Roethlisberger led the group shooting 81 on the par 70 Bethpage Black course yesterday, but was awed. "Every golf course we play from now on will seem easy," he said after the round. Jordan was second with an 86, and Timberlake followed with an 88. Larry - representing all earthly golfers - shot 101. Had it not been for a fateful 10 on the 16th hole, Larry would have broken 100 as well. "But that's the way it is. Life goes on," was his philosophical post-mortem. We feel you, Larry!

For more insights on the day of fun at Farmingdale, go to: http://www.golfdigest.com/magazine/usopencontest/2009/06/usopen_challenge_weinman_0612

For more perspective on how the course and the set-up at Bethpage Black differs from your weekend track, check out my prior post on this blog:

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Three-Putts in Golf: How Many are Too Many?

We've talked about how putting well is critical to scoring well in golf. Most golfers know that 3-putts are the enemy when you are trying to pull together a good score. It is important, however, to set realistic goals and expectations based on your skill level. Before you beat yourself up excessively, use the chart below to tell you how many three-putts a round are made by the average golfer in your handicap band.


HANDICAP RANGE# 3-PUTTS/ROUND
0 to 50.8
6 to 101.1
11 to 151.4
16 to 252.1
26 to 353.4


If you are at or below that number on average, relax and move on when it happens. If you are above the target, consider taking a putting lesson from your pro. Get a simple basic stroke that you can repeat over and over, and ask for a few practice drills that you can use to work on your own.

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

How Tough Will Bethpage Black Be?



As we are about to watch the second US Open at Bethpage Black, I bet a lot of viewers will be wondering: “How much more difficult is this golf course that what my group plays on weekends?”


Golf Digest picked up on this last year and started the US Open Contest wherein four celebrity amateur golfers attempted to break 100. This contest grew out of a comment by Tiger Woods that the previous year’s course (Oakmont) was so hard that “… a 10 handicap couldn’t break 100 there.” Tiger was right – the 10 handicap shot 114. Tiger is clearly the best at his craft, but is he also clairvoyant? I’ll try to describe why this was a very safe prediction for Tiger to make.


Personal experience

In 2002, I played Bethpage Black on the last day before it closed for US Open grooming – boy, do I have some good friends. My group consisted of four low handicap golfers ranging from 2 to 5. We approached the round with great confidence, each anxious to see how well we would do. Five+ hours later, we emerged battered and exhausted and were all shocked at how brutal and relentlessly difficult we found the course. One of my friends said it perfectly: “I have never played so many par 5’s in my life!”


What makes an Open so hard?

Let’s do a statistical comparison of US Open venue, Bethpage Black (BPB) to the average courses played by ShotByShot.com’s male subscribers (AVG):

Total Yards / Par

· BPB: 7,426 / 70 = 106 yards per par stroke

· AVG: 6,400 / 71.5 = 89 yards per par stoke

Course rating: (The score that the scratch golfer should shoot)

· BPB: 78 (an educated guess as I have not seen it published)

· AVG: 71.5

Slope rating: (The relative difficulty for the “average” golfer)

· BPB: 155 (another educated guess but with confidence)

· AVG: 131


What do these numbers mean?

Chew on these niblicks: Bethpage Black is at least 6.5 shots harder for the scratch golfer and 11 shots harder for the bogey golfer. This means that the average male 18 handicap golfer that averages 92 with his group on weekends would average 103, and I believe this may be significantly understated.

In addition to the obvious difference in length, there are several other important conditions (that most of us will, thankfully, never see) to consider:

  1. The typical fairway width of 30-40 yards is cut in half for a US Open setup (30 - 40 yards).
  2. The rough height is generally twice the height that we amateurs face (from 2.5 – 3 inches and up in places vs. 1 to 1.5 inches at home).
  3. Finally, the greens at an Open are usually very firm and fast making them unreceptive to shots from the rough, not to mention difficult to putt.


While you enjoy watching the professionals struggle for pars in a US Open, bear in mind how much more difficult the conditions are than what we typically play on weekends. Finally, if you ever get the chance to test your game on a US Open prepared course, get ready for the shock of your golfing life.

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

More on Short Putts

Practice makes perfect. Too bad it is so tedious. But it is really important if you want to improve your golf game. And there is no area of the game where your time and effort will yield more pay-off (in every way!) than with short putts. Confidence in this area will take pressure off of the rest of your golf game, and consistent success will drive your opponents crazy!

Here's a statistic you can use: for golfers at every level putting represents approximately 40% of their strokes per round. Putting offers a premium improvement opportunity because of the relatively low correlation between proficiency and physical strength/flexibility/coordination. With regular and focused work on the practice green, most golfers can shave 3-5 strokes off of their average golf score.

I’d suggest that you do what the pros do and divide putting into two separate categories: lag putts, and short strokes. A different mindset applies to each. Let’s tackle the short ones today.

Short Strokes
A short stroke is any putt that starts close enough to the hole that distance should not be a factor even if you miss. Practice a stroke especially for the job at hand. One of the most common causes of misses is deceleration due to last-second “result anxiety.” A good image is to picture a croquet wicket spanning the width of the hole. Make a stroke that will put the ball through the wicket. Remember this niblick of truth: 100% of putts that stop short of the hole will NOT end up in the hole.

Something that I struggle with is how to simulate the pressure of that "must make" short putt on the practice green. First, let’s define short. Even the average PGA tour golfer has to get inside 3 feet before he can expect to make 95% of his putts. The pros make just 50% of their 8 foot putts, and only 30% of their 12 foot putts, so make your improvement targets achievable.

Try placing five golf balls in a “must make” circle around a hole - preferably one with some slope. Don't let the session end until you have holed out all five balls. When you've mastered that, you can increase either the number of the balls or the distance from the hole (or both). You will be limited by your patience and the time you have available, but trust me, that final putt has a way of becoming quite real. But a key component of this drill is to build confidence, not frustration, so be sure you are starting with an achievable distance.

For more specific analysis of your putting performance, go to www.ShotByShot.com.

Monday, June 8, 2009

Tiger does it again – How does he do it?

More heroics for the Tiger Woods fans’ scrapbook. A spectacular closing golf round of 65 capped off by birdies on 3 of the last four holes and the now almost expected finish - a mid-iron from 183 yards, up hill to 1’ 2” and then sinking the birdie putt he needed to win by one. If it had been 18 feet, we all know that the outcome would have been the same.

What really won the Memorial for Tiger? First, let’s agree that Jack’s course is the most difficult non-major venue. As I believe Mark Lye said during the Golf Channel coverage: There are lot’s of X’s waiting out there.” Not only lost balls in the lush woods that line every fairway but WATER and lots of it. The stream that meanders through Jack’s property comes fully into play on 11 of the 18 holes and is a factor near or around 9 of the 18 greens.

Some years ago I had the opportunity to walk Muirfield, following Jack for all 18 holes of the Wednesday ProAm. I was fortunate to be able to get close to almost every tee and get a golfer’s eye view of the shots presented. They are relentlessly daunting and intimidating! Much more so than even the TPC Sawgrass.

OK, we’re in agreement – Muirfield is a very hard golf course. Tiger worked his way around Jack’s labyrinth flawlessly. He was 2nd in Fairways Hit – not a golf statistic that I normally like – but in this case it is meaningful. Although the rough was cut lower, there are almost no good places to land a tee shot that are not in the fairway. Of equal importance, in Tiger’s seven fairways missed there was not a single mistake or penalty situation. The closest Tiger came to an error off the tee was on the Par 5, 7th hole in the 3rd round. His tee shot found a deep fairway bunker from which he could only advance the ball 140 yards leaving him 159 from the green. No worries from there as he hit the green and 2-putted from 15 feet for par.

Once safely in play off the tee, Tiger did what winners tend to do – he hit greens. He was tied for 3rd in this important statistic, averaging 13.25 GIR’s per round. Never one to diminish Tiger’s short game or putting but in my opinion, on this difficult golf course, it was Tiger’s long game that was clearly the difference. One more point, Tiger’s win was made possible by another very Jack-like feat. He managed the 2nd round, when he was not playing particularly well (only hitting 11greens), to an acceptable 74. Another trait of the best of the best, they find away to fight through the “bad” days.

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Not the Whole Truth: The Problem with Traditional Golf Statistics

My father was an engineer. He taught me that numbers are your friend, and that they don't lie. I took up golf seriously 25 years ago and became determined to improve. I started tracking the statistics that I read about in the golf magazines: Fairways Hit, Greens-in-Regulation, Sand Saves and Total Putts.
I quickly became frustrated as I encountered two major problems. The numbers are not always your friend, and while they don't lie, they don't always tell the whole truth.
First, the only numbers I had to compare myself against were those published for the PGA Tour. As a 14 handicap, these numbers were not friendly - the tour golfers were obviously playing a dramatically different game from mine. Second, even using these statistics to compare my own best and worst rounds was of limited value. I found that there was at times a disconnect between my statistical performance and my scoring performance.
And as I said, traditional golf statistics don’t lie - they just don't give the whole truth. This is because golf is a multifaceted game, played in three dimensions – up, down, right, left, long and short. But unfortunately, traditional statistics provide flat, YES or NO answers to one-dimensional questions. Here are some niblicks of truth to nibble on:
Fairways Hit:
This may be the best example of a flawed traditional golf stat. It asks for a true/false answer to what should be a multiple choice question. Think about it. In traditional stats, a YES answer (Fairway Hit) is always presumed to be a better outcome than a NO answer (Fairway Missed). But is this correct? Which would you rather have – a drive that ends up 175 yards out in the middle of the fairway, or a 275 yard rocket that ends up in the first cut of rough? And if you do miss the fairway, wouldn’t you prefer the 275 yard rocket over a ball hit Out of Bounds or Lost? The Fairways Hit stat treats those two outcomes as equals.
Greens-in-regulation (GIR’s):
This may be traditional golf stats at their best because a YES tells us something definite and positive about that hole. As we all know, hitting a green in regulation is a true accomplishment! There are two problems, however. First, most amateurs do not hit very many. The average male 18-handicap golfer will hit less than 4 of 18 greens per round. Second, the stat gives no "color" on all those other holes - what happened? How bad was it?
Sand Saves:
A Sand Save = a 1-putt following a greenside sand shot. The problem with this statistic is that it encompasses two facets of the golf game – sand play and putting. Since the two skills are blended into one stat, it can mask issues (or excellence) in one skill vs. the other.
Unfortunately, traditional golf statistics also ignore the rest of the short game. And this is usually a far greater number of shots per round since everyone isn't always approaching the green from a sand trap - although sometimes it might not feel that way.
# Putts per Round:
This stat is relatively easy to keep but has a major flaw in that it ignores the distances of the putting opportunities. A 2-putt from 3 feet counts exactly the same as a 2-putt from 75 feet. Would you balance your checkbook just based upon the number of checks you wrote? Let’s hope not!
ShotByShot.com represents my solution to the issues with traditional golf statistics. Visit www.ShotByShot.com for friendly numbers that tell the whole truth and will help you improve your golf game.

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Is Greenside Sand still a “Trap”? Not on the PGA Tour!

I think Jack Nicklaus was on to something when he had his sand “traps” groomed with special large-tooth rakes at the Memorial. These unique rakes create large enough furrows so that the ball often comes to rest in a place from which even the best in the world cannot precisely control their shot out.

Why would Jack have the audacity to inflict this hardship on the new generation of Touring Professional? Because he wanted to put some “teeth” or downside back into the sand trap – after all it signifies a target missed. He obviously recognizes that in our modern era the sand is so finely groomed and so consistent that the “save” is far more the rule than the exception to the point where the sand trap is many times the desired target when a player is faced with an approach shot from which they may not be able to hit and hold the green itself.

Let’s look at some recent evidence that supports Jack’s position (and mine) from the Crown Plaza Invitational at Colonial CC in Fort Worth, TX. I captured the ShotByShot data of the three players that tied for the lead and played off and threw in Zach Johnson (T-9th) for good measure. This admittedly “hot” group found 24 greenside bunkers and got up-and-down 20 times (83%) and without a single mistake (shot that did not finish on the green). Steve Marino topped the list at 100% saves (6 for 6) with an average putting distance of just outside 5 feet. Perhaps we should scrap the term “Sand Trap” and refer to these collections of sand as “Safety Zones.