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My Philosophies for Being a Better Golfer

 

Here is the secret to playing great golf:   If you can swing a golf club so that it strikes the ball in the center of the clubface while remaining square to your intended target line on a swing path that is also moving toward that same intended target line, with sufficient force (at least 75-85 miles an hour), and can repeat that swing consistently, well, then you will play some great golf.  If you can do that you should also have the ability to make smaller such swings with less force (pitches and putts) and develop the right touch to get the ball in the hole in fewer shots than 90% of most golfers.  Sounds easy, doesn't it?  As the saying goes, "The devil is in the details."  Somewhere between this ideal and not being able to even make contact with the ball lies most of our swings!  Golfers are all working on trying to get closer to that ideal swing, but it is more a matter of managing the margins.  You don't have to hit it 300 yards, you don't have to have Phil Mickelson's touch around the greens.  Just play to your abilities and play with intelligence.

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I am a Level I Affiliate Member of the U.S. Golf Teachers Federation, which was founded in 1989.  It boasts as one of its members Mr. Bob Toski, for more than four decades one of the games most respected teachers.  His student Birdie Kim won the U.S. Women's Open in 2005.  As he told me at the 2010 PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando, the golf swing is about rhythm and feel.  Mr. Toski believes in "feeling" a golf swing, in fact this is the only way I believe we can master the game.  That sounds like a simple premise, doesn't it?  Of course we feel the swing, I can hear you saying.  But how many of us can feel where the clubhead is throughout the swing.  That is the key, to feel the clubhead and control it.  Our hands connect to the club, which connects to the clubhead, so we have to feel how to take the club back and bring it back through the ball with sufficient force and proper direction in order to hit acceptable shots.

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I believe in keeping instruction simple, and not overloading you with too much information.  Part of that includes simplifying the game by using fewer clubs than you think you need.  (Beginners and intermediate golfers can play good golf with 7 or 8 clubs.  I've played pretty good golf - for me at least - using just 1 club all the way around the course).  We will lay a solid foundation and build upon it, block by block, building a serviceable swing reinforced by positive thinking and practice.  We will also have fun while we learn, and I'm sure there are many things you will teach me along the way.  I don't see myself as much of a teacher as a coach - I will help guide you along the way, but in the end you will become your own best teacher, able to know your swing and fix it when it goes haywire.  A few things I can do are help you understand the traditions of the game and some of the features unique to it.

 

Golf 101 - Slovick's Tutorial on the Game

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Unit 1:  Etiquette or "Please Act Like You Have Some Manners"

Unit 2:  Golf Terminology - Golf Glossary.com and World Golf.com Dictionary

Unit 3:  Teaching Theory

Unit 4:  Learn the Game's History

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