I'm one of the best carpet putters during the winter time, even in North Carolina. I usually have a couple putters and a ball in my TV room ready to go.
You can understand why I was excited to review the Boomerang putting system. Instead of putting at a coffee table leg or the corner of my dusty treadmill, I could use something that was not only more realistic, but could help my game.
It's no secret that physical conditioning is more important to your game than your equipment. While that doesn't necessarily mean you need to be as cut as Tiger Woods or Camilo Villegas, it's worth considering that even doughboy Phil Mickelson works out.
Strength and flexibility are obviously the keys to the golf swing and Mike Pedersen, a trainer and author specializing in golf, aims to loosen you up in his newest video as he leads you through an extensive stretching routine.
With an ever-growing number of DVDs and websites like the Titleist Performance Institute devoted to golf fitness, Pedersen's offering faces considerable competition. Here's how we think it stacks up…
My main goal for 2006 is to lower my handicap and I've made improving my short game my a priority. I've committed myself to spend more time at the putting greens both at my house and my home course. I've learned from Dave, who tells us week after week in the Numbers Game that the key to lower scores is hitting greens in regulation and putting. It's great to drive the ball well but you've still got to get the ball in the hole.
Enter the Ernie Els Training System. The Ernie Els Training System has a simplistic approach that almost makes you doubt its worth. After all, it's a late-night The Golf Channel infomercial product, isn't it? Perhaps, but after one practice session with this product I loved it. It hasn't left my bag since.
Tiger Woods sparked a lot of trends when he joined the PGA Tour ten years ago, but one of the most resounding of those was golf fitness. The old jokes about how anyone could win at golf - and with folks named "Lumpy" winning tournaments, they were true - faded away in the face of Tiger's workout regimen. Professional golfers became athletes - fine-tuned machines built for flexibility, strength, and speed capable of delivering a clubhead to a ball faster and with more strength than ever before.
It is no secret to those who follow professional golf that the players have a vast array of resources at their fingertips. All they have to do is ask and they receive the best equipment, swing instruction, psychological training, course management ideas and nutritional information in the world. The average player often does not have these resources at their beck and call.
Susan Hill, the President of Fitness for Golf and widely recognized golf fitness expert, has brought together a team of experts in "The Fitness Secrets of Championship Golfers."
You may have seen the David Leadbetter Swing Setter on television and wondered, "What in the heck can a golf club that makes clacking noises and looks like a weapon do for my game?" As I began this review I intended to find out if using this goofy looking contraption could improve my grip, swing plane, release, and tempo like it promised.
Leadbetter, the Swing Setter's creator, is among the world's most recognized golf instructors and founder of the David Leadbetter Golf Academy. He has made a name for himself instructing players like Nick Faldo, Ernie Els, Charles Howell III, and Aaron Baddeley. The Swing Setter is his attempt at providing a tool that any player can use to improve swing fundamentals.
"Drive for show, putt for dough" they all say. "Straight back, straight through" others say. The ProAim is the Professional Golf Teacher's Association's "Training Aid of the Year" and a Golf Digest "Top 10 Training Aid."
The product is endorsed by Butch Harmon (hardly a short game guru), Natalie Gulbis (who's yet to win on the LPGA Tour), Mark Calcavecchia, Craig Parry, and the most respectable man of the bunch, Irishman Darren Clarke. They all love it.
I have no idea why.
You can build your own outdoor putting green or you can have one built for you if you've got $5000 (or more) to spare. You can buy a typical roll-out indoor putting "carpet" for $20-$50. You can't build your own 8' x 8' indoor putting green for less than $250. Or can you?
I live in Pennsylvania, making "winter golf" a matter of either visiting the nearby golf dome or playing Tiger Woods PGA Tour on my GameCube. Eager to maintain my putting stroke during the snowy months, I sought to build an indoor putting green that would adjust to provide adjustable break and putts up to about 10 feet in length. Perhaps it could even allow some gentle chipping from a nearby mat.
The journey - and the project - is documented here.
Snow is not a golfer's friend. In fact, sitting around on your couch, watching football, and eating pizza is not a golfer's friend either.
Golf is a game of precision, flexibility, and power. I live in Pennsylvania, so to say our golf season is "shortened by winter" is an understatement. It's difficult to hit balls when there are three feet of snow on the ground, but despite that, I'll be improving my golf game this winter. How?
Using Mike Pedersen's Ultimate Golf Fitness Guide. Pedersen's eBook is priced at $47 and aims to offer a range of stretches, exercises, and dietary tips that will help you improve and maintain your golf game.
