April 6 /11

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This week is Masters week, the official beginning of the golf season; some of us in the North are just getting started.

Starting with next month's newsletter, I'll be providing you with some great golf swing tips and drills. The focus of this email is to instruct you on how to practice swing improvements.

I received my Medicus Weighted Driver a few weeks ago. I've been in Australia for the past 2 weeks working on a golf project so I haven't had much chance to use it. Before I left, I did hit some balls with it why under the Flightscope Doppler Radar. Its weight distribution is towards the grip so it feels very different. I'll have more about it in a future email. I'll use the Swing Speed Radar to monitor my swing speed.

Click on any of the following Newsletter topics or just scroll down the page:

Practicing/Improving Your Golf Swing
Condition of Range Balls
Stimpmeter Reading of Augusta's Greens
Groovy Golf -- Backspin and Grooves
Intermediate Focus Review these principles before playing in 2011.

Going away on a golf holiday with a group? Need a golf draw that pairs each player with each other player exactly once? or twice? or not at all? I have developed draws that meet those requirements. Take a look at them by CLICKING HERE, Golf Draws.

Please provide me some feedback about my newsletter and future newsletters. What do you like? What would you like to see? Please just send me an email.

Practicing/Improving Your Golf Swing

Are you going to try to improve your swing this season? I hope you can spend a little time doing this. Such improvement can have everlasting effects if done correctly.

You may have heard that it takes 10 000 practice shots for your brain to commit the move to "muscle memory" and then the motion will become automatic. This is another one of those "myths" that has no scientific backing.

In fact, muscles don't have memory. It's the brain that has the memory. Practice just allows the motor skill to occur more efficiently and automatically. Repeating motor skills, such a swinging a club, causes fatty tissue to form around the circuits in your brain that guide the motion and make occur faster.

When learning a new motor skill, such as getting the club to a certain position in the backswing, the brain must control the movement in the same way each time. The brain senses the motion by feel in your muscles and nerve endings. So, it's important that you practice new moves carefully.

As you repeat the new motor movement, the brain will record the pathway of nerves and muscles that produce the motion. To make the process of learning efficient, it's important to do the following:

1. Repeat the motion frequently, especially before sleep. The brain spends a lot of your sleep time building up the fatty tissue around the nerve cells in your brain the "fire" in a particular sequence. So, if you're learning a new grip or position of the club in your swing, practice this before bed. It's very helpful to make use of a mirror to assist.

2. Motor skill researchers have determined that external cues are more effective than internal cues. An internal cue is one that focuses on a particular part of the body, such as "rotate the hands through impact." An external cue is one that focuses not on the body, but on an external object such as the club. A more effective swing cue would be "square the clubface at impact."

Don't think, "keep my left arm straight in the backswing." Instead, think "trace a wide arc with the clubhead."

The brain and body are better able to react efficiently to external cues than to the internal cues of what the body needs to do.

3. Work on your new swing motor skills more without hitting balls than while hitting balls. The brain and body need to learn the new motion. Hitting balls can add immediate negative feedback (hitting really bad shots) which will sabotage the practice. Your brain will attempt to revert subconsciously to your old swing which has been more successful (up to this point).

4. Keep your swing shorter than normal. Let's say you're trying to get the club to the 9 o'clock position in the backswing. When you hands are about waist high, the club should be parallel to the ground, parallel to the target line, and pointing directly away from your target with the toe of the club pointing skywards. Just start out by practicing getting to this position, and then swinging to the 3 o'clock position. Once it starts to feel less unconfortable, you can lengthen the swing a bit.

5. Related to #4, always practice with expectations of incremental change. You're not going to revamp your swing overnight. You must do so gradually. That's why I suggest starting with a short swing and progressing to a longer swing.

6. Focus on only one change at a time, othewise you'll confuse the brain as it will be getting mixed messages. The more uncomfortable something feels, the more difficult it is for the brain to learn the new motor skills.

Power Meter measures Swing Speed

Please complete this Golf Newsletter Feedback form so that I can provide you with more great golf tips you're looking for in 2011.

Condition of Range Balls

The condition of range balls can vary considerably. And some range balls are actually designed to fly less far than regular balls.

So when you're practicing, don't be fixated on distance. Be fixated on hitting the ball solidly and accurately. You only need to be concerned about distance on the course.

If range balls are quite worn so that the dimples are no longer smooth, this will affect the flight of the ball.

Range balls tend to be quite hard, and thus won't have the same amount of backspin when hit with your various clubs. Backspin affects the height of the ball as well as its carry distance.

So remember, distance at the range doesn't matter. You're there to groove a consistent swing, not break records of distance. If you do focus on distance, you'll be disappointed.

Developing consistent ball striking with a conventional set of irons is difficult as they have varying club lengths and lie angles. Thus, there are a multitude of different swing plans that the golfer must feel comfortable with to play consistently well. Most golfers tend to have a favourite club. For most, it is a 7-iron. What's yours? Each iron in a 1 Iron Set of Clubs has the same length, the same weight and the same lie angle. Thus, there is only ONE SWING!

There is an old saying:

"Beware of the man with only one gun - he knows how to use it"

I've been playing with a set of 1 Iron clubs for 4 years now. I'll never turn back to a conventional set. Every club feels the same. I play the ball in the same position for all clubs. I hit all the irons the same distance as I did my old, conventional set.

If you're contemplating a new set of clubs this year, I'd highly recommend that you become "unconventional!" You only need one gun.

Go to the 1 Iron website to learn more and order here. Enter the code 10504 and receive a complimentary set of club covers worth $25. Email me after your purchase and I'll send you a copy of my Golf Driver Distance Calculator ($25 value) and my popular Golf Tips of reading greens, elevation changes and playing the wind ($39 value).

Build a Stimpmeter for cheap!

As usual, Augusta promises to provide the game's best with some of the fastest greens in the world. Stimpmeter readings at Augusta at the Masters are usually in the order of 12 or 13, depending on the dryness of the conditions.

Ever wonder how fast your greens are? It's quite simple to make your own stimpmeter to measure the speed.

Quite simply, a stimpmeter is a simple ramp. You roll the ball down the ramp, the ball rolls across the green until it stops. The distance that the ball rolls is called the Stimp Reading. A Stimp of 10.5 feet means the ball rolls 10.5 feet once leaving the Stimpmeter ramp. A Stimp of 10.5 feet would be considered medium to fast.

I've created an entire page on my site dedicated to the Stimpmeter. Follow this link: How to Make a Stimpmeter

Trying to find answers on my website? Here's how.

1. Go to my Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page. There's a link to it on my pages from the left hand menu near the top of the page, just below the Search icon. It's called "FAQs." You then click on the graphic icon and you'll be taken to my database page. For your convenience, here it is:
FAQ

I've answered hundreds of questions over the past 6 years and have created a fairly large database. You can search it out. If you can't find the answer you're looking for, submit a question and I'll answer it.

2. On all of my web pages, there is a search feature in the top left section, right underneath my LOGO. Just place your search keywords in the search box, select "This Site" below it, and then press "Search." What will come up is a Google search of the pages on my site with relevance. You can also search the entire internet by selecting "Web" instead.
Go to my main page now: Home or just check the top left menu of this page.

3. Also, directly under the Google Search area, you'll find a pop down menu called "Your Topic." Select the topic of interest and press "Go."

I would suggest you bookmark my main page and/or your specific areas of interest so that you can find them easily in the future. On each page at the very top, there is a link you can click on:
"Click here to add this page to your favourites"

Hope you find all you're looking for.

You can learn more from NEW Titleist Pro-V1 by clicking HERE.

Ken Tannar