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January 2007
February 2007
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2007 Draws
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2007 Junior News
2007 Photographs
2007 County Rosebowl
Golf Tips
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| Renfrewshire's Team coach Karyn Burns
from Mearns Castle Golf Academy has some tips for 2007 |
| Tip Links: Jan
Feb Mar Apr
May June
July August
Sept Oct
Nov / Dec |
January Tip.
NEW YEAR, NEW YOU, BETTER GOLF IN 2007!
 So
just how are you going to achieve that? We know it will not happen by
itself so we must take the action now and get out there and do something
about it! If you have been playing and practicing over the winter so
far, congratulations and well done you! You should have a fair idea of
were you are at with your game. If you have struggled to play or
practice due to the weather or you have been too busy on the run up to
the festive season, NOW is the time to begin making a positive
difference to your game! Imagine what it would be like to have your best
golf season ever! Wouldn’t it be GREAT???? It is only you who can really
make that difference and the more you put in then the more you should
expect to get out!
My Recommendations for the month of January are:
 | Bring your Clubs out if they haven’t been throughout
the winter and give them a new year clean!
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| Ease yourself into practice, hitting as little as 25 balls at a
time to begin with.
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| Don’t get stressed if you are not striking the ball at your best.
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| Commit to making your practice regular. |
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February Tip.
WHAT DOES YOUR GAME NEED?
Following your practice sessions in
January, you should now have an idea of what needs attention most in
your game prior to the season starting. Is it your driving? Your iron
play? Your pitching or putting? Or are there any shots you always seem
to fail at or play poorly? How about your course management, do you have
a ‘bogey’ hole?
 It is very important that we highlight our strengths and
weaknesses……you will have both no matter how good or bad you think you
are. If you need guidance as to what you need to concentrate on to
become a better player, have a lesson. You are never too young, too old
or have too many bad habits for a lesson to help.
Once you have highlighted your weakness or weaknesses, you may begin
your journey to improvement in your performance and consequently reap
the rewards.
My Recommendations for the month of February are:
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Spend time
on ALL elements of your game. |
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Work
especially hard on what you need to improve on the most. |
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Work to a
timetable so that you can cover all areas with no confusion. |
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Keep a
record if you can so you know where you are with your practice. |
All of the
above will give you the best chance of improving your performance for
good!
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March Tip.
ARE YOU READY? ARE YOU CONFIDENT?
 You should
be confident if you have been putting in the work we’ve planned
over the past two months, even if you have just done a little!
Remember… ANY work, practice or effort that you have put in this
year that you haven’t in the past will make a difference and lead you on
your way to improvement, simply because you have changed your approach!
If you have recorded your practice sessions and the progress you
were making this will be a good confidence builder for you, also, try to
remember where your game was in December or January or
even this time last year; were you as prepared for last season as you
now are for the season ahead? If the answer tells you that you are more
prepared then Congratulations for putting in more effort, you
have taken the first crucial steps to a better performance this year!
Do
you know what your potential is? If you have had a lesson you
will perhaps have been given an idea of what this may be. If you are
trying to judge for yourself you need to recall your best round ever,
which was possibly a bounce game and your potential is probably a few
shots better still! Imagine the possibilities!
April Tip.
PUTTING. ---- plus why not have a group lesson
Now that the greens are getting better it is time to focus on a sure
way of reducing your score no matter what level or handicap you are
at. I often ask people how there short game is and the reply is
often ‘my short game is pretty good, it is my saviour’ or words to
that effect. However, it is not in fact the case on a lot of the
occasions, we almost don’t give enough credit to how the little
shots can mount up because they are ‘little’ shots, they are, of
course, a lot of the time quite costly! So if we can assess this
area with our eyes open and attempt to improve it first then we will
be on the motorway to success as opposed to the old zig zagging
country road!
Putting is the easiest part of the game to control as it is played
on the smallest area of the golf course. How many putts do you
average a round? Have you ever counted? If not you are probably
missing the reason your scores aren’t what you want them to be.
Let’s go back in time for a moment to the last round or rounds of
golf that you played: as many as you care to remember. Can you
remember missing any putts you thought you should NEVER have missed?
Well there they are….those stray shots that found themselves on your
scorecard!
Let’s Reduce these shots by improving your putting.
Can you stroke your putter between 2 sets of tees/golf balls without
hitting any? If not this is definitely your first port of call.
Practice the following between now and next months tip where I will
be covering putting again.
Putting Tip Slideshow -- CLICK HERE
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Click
on photo to enlarge
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Click on photo to enlarge
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Click on photo to enlarge
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Click on photo to enlarge
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Karyn can also do a ladies one day school which can
be tailored to cover as many areas of the game as wished. If ladies
get together their own group and call her on her mobile at 07720
442492 to arrange a suitable date. The day could last as long as
10am-4pm including lunch and would cost approx £60 per person -
minimum of 4 people in a group.
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May Tip.
PUTTING – GOT A GREAT PUTTING STROKE?
Now that you have a solid putting stroke all you have to do is be
able to judge 2 things: Direction and Distance. Our natural
instinct and ability can get us to the hole from a distance if we
trust it, but how do we get to know the distance because the green
speeds change under numerous circumstances? All you have to do is
develop your ‘feel’.
To do this we need to practice our pace putting as set out below,
but we must practice in different conditions:
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Different Times of Day |
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Different Weather Conditions |
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Different Directions |
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Different Surfaces (if possible) |
Set up a semi-circle with a 2ft Radius around the hole, (or
an object representing the hole if you are indoors or on an
artificial surface), Then set up stations between 3 paces and 15
paces from the hole. To begin with putt 5 balls from each of your
stations, score yourself 5 points for holing the putt in one and 1
point for putting into the semi-circle. Then putt just a single
ball randomly from 5 different stations using the scoring method
from above.
REMEMBER: Keeping a record of your scores will give you
feedback of your strengths and weaknesses and will allow you to
build your confidence as your scores improve.
Click to enlarge
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Click to Enlarge
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Once you have improved your feel you will have minimised
the probability of 3 putting for good!
July Tip
MID-SEASON ASSESSMENT.
It is now a good time to re-assess your game. For your next 6
games record the following:
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Fairways hit from the Tee. |
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Greens hit in YOUR regulation**. |
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Putts taken. |
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This simple exercise will give you an
indication of where your score may be being won and lost,
consequently we must show attention to our weakness in an
attempt to move forward and improve for the remainder of the
season. Some people keep these statistics for every game;
statistics can be a good indication of where your game is at but
over assessment will not always tell you the true story
as circumstance always plays a big part in the game of golf.
NB: ** YOUR regulation is how many shots you
are capable of hitting the green in assuming you are playing the
beat shots you are capable of. |
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August Tip
Hopefully you managed to assess your game
since last month and have addressed any issues you came up with
from that. This month the tip is fairly short and sweet:
–
GRIP TENSION
How tight is your grip on a scale of 1-10
where 10 is the tightest???? Possibly off the scale at 12? You
may have to wait until the next time you have a club in your
hand. Your grip tension should be no less than 4 and no more
than 6 on the scale.
1 = Lightest you can grip
the club without it dropping from your hand.
10
= Tightest you can squeeze the grip.
Most people tend to grip the club more
tightly when they are trying hard to play the perfect shot or
when they are looking for more distance.
Gripping the club with the correct tension
will allow:
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INCREASED POWER |
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INCREASED CONSISTENCY |
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INCREASED FLUENCY OF MOVEMENT (RHYTHM) |
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DECREASED Poor shot quality |
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DECREASED sore or tired hands, arms and
body. |
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September Tip.
Distance and Power.
Distance is probably the most sought
after thing in golf, yet to me it is not the most important
thing by far as you can probably tell due to the fact it has
taken me until September to bring it up! Unfortunately
there are too many influencing factors on how far we hit the
ball for me to write a quick tip for. These factors
include:
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Clubs and Equipment |
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Physical Fitness
(including strength and flexibility) |
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Set up Position |
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Swing technique |
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Weather and Ground
Conditions |
The best thing to do if you are unsure or
disappointed about the distance you achieve is to have a
lesson. Your coach should be able to advise you if the
distance you are currently capable of is your limit or how
you could improve on the required elements to increase your
distance. |
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October Tip.
Now is a great time to evaluate your
game and the success of your season to see whether you
have made progress towards your potential. Once you have
reflected on your evaluation you may begin to make steps to
improve things for next year (you may want to discuss this
with your coach). Many people come for lessons in April to
begin their preparation for the season – this is way too
late especially if you want or need to make any
technical changes to your swing or physical changes to your
fitness. So don’t put the improvement of your game until
after the winter, use the winter as your relaxed work
time! |
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November / December Tip
Winter is here!
Just a few important things for you to remember:
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You will lose
distance with the climate change, on average we get 20%
loss of distance in the winter as opposed to the
distance your are capable of in the summer. Ground
conditions may affect this even more so don’t panic
and think you have lost your swing or your power!
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Try to stay
‘golf fit’ by devising a practice plan (ask you
coach for help with this). If possible, try to work on
all areas of the game including putting, invest in a
putting mat for indoors and use the driving range at least
once a week to do pitching and full swing when you can’t
get on the course.
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The winter
will fly by so you definitely need to be prepared for
the season ahead! |
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