Most people have a misconception. They feel the main difference between a PGA or European tour pro and themselves is the ability to crush the ball 300 yards off the tee and shape their irons at will. While this is a significant difference between a tour pro and the average golfer, to their scores, this is not the main difference. Of course, the ability to hit long drives and shape shots helps. However, it is certainly not the main differentiating …
Most of us know from first-hand experience that if you rock up to the golf course without any kind of strategy, things can become very wrong very quickly. Poor planning leads to poor golf, which leads to frustration in its purest form. As Raymond Floyd said, “they call it golf because all the other four-letter words were taken.” But there’s really no need to pepper the golf course with expletives and terrible shots. Whether you’re a near scratch golfer or …
South African Ernie Els is one of the undisputed all time greats. With 70 career victories – including four major championships – and a World Golf Hall of Fame spot – there’s a lot to learn from the man they call “the Big Easy.” From his famous smooth swing to his incredible short game, let’s take a look at what makes Els such an great golfer and see if we can pick up some tips from the big man. Your …
One of the greatest golfers of all time, Bobby Jones had an influence on the game of golf that’s hard to overestimate. A naturally gifted sportsman with a swing as smooth as silk, he also had a great depth of knowledge about the game, as well as a great ability to articulate his theories. Amazingly for the modern-day but not unsurprising for his time, Bobby Jones never turned pro, retaining an amateur status throughout the whole of his career. Indeed, …
There’s something so uniquely exciting about match play golf. While golf is and will always be a stroke play game, just once in a while we all need a bit of match play in our lives. We’ve just had the World Match Play Championship, where Billy Horschel took the trophy, and later in the year match play fans have the Ryder Cup to get excited about. And while watching the pros duke it out one on one is always entertaining, …
Concentration is a slippery little rascal. Just when you think you’ve got a firm hold on it, it disappears, replaced by a random jumble of useless thoughts, emotions and anxieties. Being able to truly focus seems to be getting harder and harder. With the endless number of distractions around, from emails and social media to smartphones and tablets to smartwatches, it seems like the only thing not getting smarter is us. It doesn’t have to be this way. There is …
One of the undisputed all-time greats, Australian legend Greg Norman – aka the Great White Shark – was known for his bold, aggressive style of play. Sometimes criticised for too often being a runner-up, Greg Norman was, in fact, one of the most consistent golfers of all time, a point driven home by the fact that he finished 2nd only to Tiger Woods in Golf Digest’s Best Golfers of All Time. Yes, second again. But Tiger Woods is superhuman and …
Three Deadly Amateur Mistakes To Avoid “Never judge a person for their mistakes, judge a person on how they fix them” – Unknown author Let’s face it. Amateur golfers make a lot of mistakes. Heck, even professional golfers make a lot of mistakes. But that is the nature of golf. To quote the great Ben Hogan, “This is a game of misses. The guy who misses the best is going to win”. However, even if we accept golf is a …
Abraham Lincoln once said, “Give me six hours to chop down a tree, and I will spend four hours sharpening the axe.” What ol’ Abe knew, about as well as any successful person in his day, was that, without preparation, greatness cannot be achieved. Or perhaps not even greatness. Just fulfilling your own potential. So, with the approach of every new season, the best golf pros undergo preparation to bring their best game. But what kinds of techniques and methods …
Golfers have a big advantage over other sportsmen and sportswomen. We have the gift of time. No, I’m certainly not talking about the amount of time it takes to play a round of golf – for that is definitely not on our side! In fact, a work colleague once told me that he didn’t play golf because it takes up so much time it is more of a lifestyle choice than a sport! So, what is this gift of time …