How to Get the Most out of Your Practice

Try these tips to achieve the most efficient practice that will get you better, faster.

Trap Five LogoA little over a month ago, I gave you Five Ways to Play Golf Over The Winter, and one of the options was to go to the driving range. While going to the range is great practice, if you simply hit golf ball after golf ball without a plan for improvement, you won’t be able to make the most of your practice. When I hit the range, I see too many people take a very inefficient approach to hitting golf balls, and this doesn’t allow them to improve quickly. By following these steps, you will find yourself getting better, faster, and more able to go from the driving range to the course.

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Staff Predictions: 2011 Season Preview

High hopes for Tiger Woods, little expected from Mickelson, and the bar is set high for Kaymer. And remember Sergio? You might be hearing from him again this year.

Thrash TalkWith a full offseason to put his off-course woes even further in the rear-view mirror, the golf world is bracing for Tiger Woods, the golfer. Not Tiger the partier, the cheat, or the punchline. Wood finished 2010 winless, and each time he tees it up in 2011, the question will surface: when will the losing streak end? If you believe The Sand Trap staff consensus, Tiger’s slump is all but over. But will he return to dominate, or just look like an ordinary Top Ten player?

As for sleepers, there’s more than a little love for Sergio to surge. As for players of the year, will the Europeans build on their gains of 2010? Or can the Americans find the magic atop to rankings again?

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Ten Questions for 2011 #4: Which Golfers Will Win for the First Time?

Which golfers will get their big breakthrough victory in 2011?

Thrash TalkThe holidays have come and gone, and it’s time to see some PGA Tour golf. The 2011 season starts this weekend in Hawaii, and it’s going to be one of the most intriguing years in recent history. One of the things that happens every season is golfers picking up their first PGA Tour win. Graeme McDowell, Rory McIlroy, and Justin Rose are three golfers who broke through and won for the first time on American soil in 2010.

Which golfers will get their PGA Tour breakthrough win in 2011? Keep reading to find out. I’ve put together a list of five golfers who will find the winner’s circle for the first time this season. Some are probably more obvious than others, but it’s a strong list nonetheless. Enjoy!

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TaylorMade Announces R11 Drivers, Burner SuperFast 2.0 Drivers, and Forged TP MB, MC, and CB Irons

A new year means a plethora of new clubs from TaylorMade, ranging from game improvement drivers to the latest in the “R” line to new forged irons.

Bag DropFirst and foremost, I hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Years! Now that we’ve got that out the way, it’s time for Bag Drop to get back on track, and what a better way to do just that than with a huge release of products from TaylorMade?!

They’re back at it again with the latest additions to the proven Burner and “R” lines of drivers, but they also churned out a what will likely be a real treat for fans of TaylorMade’s forged players irons. We’ve got a lot to cover, so lets not waste any more time with introductions!

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Mizuno JPX-800 Pro Review

Mizuno has dropped the MX line, but filled it in with the JPX. How do the first replacements stack up?

Mizuno JPX-800 ProThough Mizuno said goodbye to the MX series this year, they had the new JPX series waiting in the wings to fill the game improvement gap. Of course I jumped at the opportunity to review the new JPX-800 Pro, since this new series would replace that which contained the MX-300s I loved so much.

Though a large number of players may not have been very excited about this change, Mizuno was there to reassure everyone, saying that this was their biggest commitment to the game improvement category yet, and that the JPX series may in fact be a game changer. When a global company such as Mizuno pools all of their talented engineers from around the world, you know they really do mean business. So how did that pay off in real world results?

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Next Generation with Sean Foley DVD Review

Sean Foley caps a year in which his stock rose significantly with a new instructional DVD.

Sean Foley DVDSean Foley made a splash in 2010. Though he was known prior to this year as the coach of Sean O’Hair, Justin Rose, and Hunter Mahan (along with lesser knowns Stephen Ames and Parker McLachlin), Foley’s dim star became noticeable at dusk as rumors that Tiger Woods, dumped by his coach Hank Haney, was going to begin working with the 36-year old Canadian. When the arrangement became official around the time of the year’s final major, the Foley star became one of the brightest in the sky.

Capitalizing on his new-found fame (and helping charity – see comments), Sean Foley has put together a Blu-Ray/DVD instructional video that shares his understanding of the golf swing with the masses. Tiger’s already shown remarkable improvement, despite remaining winless in 2010, but with solid performances in the Ryder Cup, Australian Masters, and his own Chevron World Challenge. For about $50 USD including the $12.50 S&H charge, you too can learn from Sean Foley.

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Hoping, Praying for Tiger to be Tiger

Whether rooting for him or against him, the game’s not the same without Woods at his best.

Thrash TalkThis time a year ago it was hard to fathom what laid ahead for Tiger Woods. Would his personal problems be a blip on the radar? Would he have renewed focus on his game? Would he even play in 2010? We got all those answers, and most of them were quite ugly. So rather than venture a guess at how he’ll return with a fresh start in 2011, I’ll just cling to the hopes that he’s back to being the Tiger Woods that we’ve grown to know, and love, and hate.

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Five Stories From the World of Golf

Silly Season golf mixes with serious stories. Here are the top five.

Trap Five LogoEven though the season has been over for a while now, there is still a lot going on in golf. Q-School just wrapped up, and the PGA Tour has a bunch of new members. Tiger’s Chevron World Challenge provided one of the most exciting finishes of the year, and the pick of Rickie Fowler as PGA Tour Rookie of the Year has provided some controversy (in the form of “Why not Rory?”). Speaking of controversy, it has been almost a year since the groove rule kicked in for pros, and we’ll take a look back on just how well it worked.

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The Sand Trap’s Holiday Gift Guide, Part Two

Didn’t see anything last week? Maybe this new list of gift ideas will help! Christmas is getting close, better not wait too late to get that perfect gift for your favorite golfer!!

Bag DropWe’re another week closer to Christmas day, which means seven fewer days to shop. It’s getting closer, but have you been able to scratch your favorite golfer off your list? If nothing really caught your eye last week, we’ve got another list of potential gift ideas that will definitely keep him or her smiling well after New Year’s has come and gone.

In case you didn’t catch last week’s Bag Drop, we’ll categorize a few items, broken down by price range, with $10 at the bottom end, up to $1000 at the top end. So let’s get started!

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