KinG-NothinG

About 250 dollars for playing Kingsbarns - would do it a 100 times over (if I'd be be able to financially). The 200 we spent on Old Course were probably better experience wise - as some of you are already writing, just walking around with a big smile on your face is amazing. Playing TPC Sawgrass this X-mas, seems to land somewhere around 260 for each round so we'll see if the new max is the new favorite.

I'm not familiar with any of Adams drivers so I can't say to much about it. Can you set the length yourself without to much hassle? Cause first tip would then be to set it to 45" and see if it helps - its placement could possibly be doing something weird for you but thats no certainty. Anyway you'd probably enjoy the difference of a 45" instead of a 45.5".

I don't wanna bring you down, and I love hearing about players wanting to pursuit their dreams. But I think you need some perspective on the whole golf idea. WUTigers Karate-story is pretty much spot on. You need to practice A LOT and by that I mean thousands of hours. But you can't cover it all to quick as your body and mind will be exhausted. A dramatic improvement of your game will come with practice - there are no real short cuts in the game of golf no matter how much potential or talent (man I hate that word) you have. And the more practice you can do with a swing coach the better. You do mention the mental game as well and I do consider it a real important part but also there, you need to spend hours and get experience.

Cool idea, gonna be fun to follow. Best of luck!

Sounds like a possible shaft problem. Have you been able to test your Adams driver in a simulator as well or was it just the Ping and Nike drivers that showed that you're swinging straight? It could be that the stiff shaft on your Adams is to stiff for you (stiff in different manufacturers shafts isn't the same thing) and that's what creating the slices. That the driver head itself would be the problem in this case seems a little farfetched - I've never seen nor heard of a club head being the reason for it.

How do you define a good shot at the driving range? Way to many players who have the exact same problems you talk about usually practice with no clue. Are you picking new targets for every new shot at the range? Do you have some kind of reference to that target as to what is good and what is not? Personally I usually say practice like you play or else things are gonna happen.

It's a rather late bump but I'm hopefully bringing some news to the table. I am currently working with a few colleagues of mine to try in some way get a more proper idea of how the grip pressure actually affects the ball flight and the ball flight laws. As a step in that work I am currently in contact with the person whom conducted the studies on the PGA Tour about grip pressure during the late 90s. Hopefully I will be able to showcase the real work some time soon for you all to read if the author gives me the permission.

I've been playing courses in both Europe and the US but coming up with just a few of the best with a short motivation would leave the list as this - 1. Kingsbarns - Scotland, just outside the city of St. Andrews - I played it in early may and this course is a real beast when the wind is on. Add to it a lot of beautiful views and awesome architecture from the course designer and you have a great experience. This is the first time I've ever told myself several times "I don't have this shot in the bag, there is no way you can make this". A 78 (+6) made me real happy the day we played it. Cost was 200 british pounds but well worth every single penny. 2. St. Andrews, Old Course - Doesn't really need any kind of motivation. Sure the course is real short but the historical importance of it and just the big smile on your face cause of the simple fact that you're really there makes it one of the best courses I've ever played. 3. I can't really decide right now there are a lot of great courses up there, both in the US and in Europe. I will get back to you!

I got the tip to read this book from lecture we had, talking about talen pretty much. I've always found the premiss of talent to be something lazy people throw around (myself included from time to time) when they don't want to realize that other players are beating them cause they've got way more practice hours under their belt. Now I've started to debate this with several of my colleagues and it usually ends up in them realizing where I'm coming from, a few of them I've gotten to reading the book themselves. For an instructor of any sort and for any kind of teaching I'd consider this to be a very important read. It has given me a lot of thinking about how my players should train to improve the most and the players whom I actually been able to get on my ideas does actually improve quicker as far as I've seen it.

I fully agree that for the complete lifts you do need good control but also a good basic strength. But the simple dead lift motion done properly in posture and movement will teach you a lot of important things useful in your golf game. So just to clarify, not the complete olympic lifts at first, if ever, but parts of them using just a dowel will be useful. I've been doing olympic lifting myself for the last 18 months and it has really done a difference when it comes to both strength but even more power and mobility. And I almost never do any of the full lifts.

Olympic lifting is a great way to start working out for your golf game. If you've never done it before just going through the motions of the different lifts slowly and with focus of doing them correctly you will be working out the muscles that are needed for your golf game. Glutes, abs and of course your lower back will get stronger and you'll also learn how to activate the muscles correctly. Your thoracic spine will get a good stretch and you'll get a great way to learn how to hip hinge properly. And the best part? A simple dowel or the shaft of a broom will do for the first few weeks when you want to nail the technique. Eventually you can do the lifts for power (using strength and speed) which will help you activate the correct muscle types we're using in our golf swing. So olympic lifting techniques slow and focused on doing it right I'd say is the perfect help for your golf swing. Adding kettlebell swings and other powerful excercises is great once you have "woken" your body up and get it activated!

I'm a swedish PGA Club Professional. 23 years old and been working in the industry for four years by now. Passionate about the game and everything around it. Certified TPI Level 1 instructor and one of Europes first certified TPI Power Coaches.