Educational Quotes from Golf's Legends

We can learn a lot from some of golf's greatest players. I scoured the internet and put together a list of quotes that I believe can have an impact on all of our games if we open our minds and apply the wisdom these legends have gained through years of experience.

“I never hit a shot, not even in practice, without having a very sharp, in-focus picture of it in my head. First, I see the ball where I want it to finish, nice and white and sitting up high on the bright green grass. Then the scene quickly changes, and I see the ball going there: its path, trajectory, and shape, even its behavior on landing. Then there is a sort of fade-out, and the next scene shows me making the kind of swing that will turn the previous images into reality.” - Jack Nicklaus

"Thinking instead of acting is the number-one golf disease." - Sam Snead

“Some people think they are concentrating when they're merely worrying.” - Bobby Jones

“Reverse every natural instinct and do the opposite of what you are inclined to do, and you will probably come very close to having a perfect golf swing.” - Ben Hogan

“Confidence in golf means being able to concentrate on the problem at hand with no outside interference.” - Tom Watson

"I sometimes get distracted easily and allow my mind to wander when I need to be focused. It's quite subtle, really, and just being aware of it helps." - Payne Stewart

"We create success or failure on the course primarily by our thoughts." - Gary Player

“You don't have the game you played last year or last week. You only have today's game. It may be far from your best, but that's all you've got. Harden your heart and make the best of it.” - Walter Hagen

"Aggressive play is a vital asset of the world's greatest golfers. However, it's even more important to the average player. Attack this game in a bold, confident, and determined way, and you'll make a giant leap toward realizing your full potential as a player.” - Greg Norman

“To give yourself the best possible chance of playing to your potential, you must prepare for every eventuality. That means practice.” - Seve Ballesteros

Strategize for Every Hole on the Course

If you are like most golfers, your plan for each hole is pretty much the same. You take out your driver, you hit the ball as far as you can, and then you come up with part two of your plan. But golf is no different than chess or billiards. The move you make now has a direct impact on the move you can make three turns from now. Follow these steps to make a plan for every hole and you may save strokes from your game immediately.

Look for easy shots - Birdies and eagles are great, but for most holes, par will do just fine. If you are playing a par four, map out the four easiest shots you can possibly take to make par and start from there. Try to leave heroic 220-yard iron shots over water out of the plan for now. Play your ball to safe parts of the fairway for the time being.

Work backwards - Instead of planning from the tee to the green, start your plan from the pin and work backwards. Where would you like to take an ideal approach shot to the pin? From that spot, trace back a realistic shot from the fairway. If you begin with the end in mind, you are less likely to get stuck with a difficult approach shot.

Take a close look at the course layout - Course designers can be devious when it comes to laying out a hole. They almost always reward the golfer who thinks before swinging. Does the fairway narrow anywhere? Is there a bunker waiting right around the distance you usually reach with your driver? Take the course design into consideration. If there's an obstacle that can devastate your score, stay away.

Control your ball - You have been conditioned to hit the ball as hard as you can, but when you do, it becomes much tougher to control your ball. Even if you can hit your driver 250 yards, it doesn't mean you can hit the ball in the air that full distance. Therefore, as your ball is rolling towards the 250-yard mark, it can find any obstacle along the way.

Consider the elements - How is the wind playing today? Is the course a little wet from some overnight rain? Your plan on how to attack a hole can change dramatically with a sudden shift in the weather. Before you power a drive through the wind or roll a ball off a wet fairway onto a green, consider how the elements will affect your shot.

Reference: PGATour.com

MANAGE YOUR EMOTIONS AND MANAGE YOUR GAME

By learning to manage your emotions you will give yourself the best chance for extended periods of optimum play. That should come as no surprise to you, and here are some tried and true methods that we have learned from Tour Players that you can use to maximize the management of your emotions. While positive emotions like excitement and dynamic energy make possible trusting swings, difficult stretches of play are preceded by the onset of negative emotions that are permitted to linger. Because negative emotions come unannounced – anger does not signal it’s eminent arrival – they can flood our senses without warning and block strategy decisions as surely as they can trusting swings. An effective plan is to allow negative emotions, (anger, fear, frustration, anxiety) that interfere with your game, to come into awareness, then let the emotions pass. By recognizing a negative emotion when it arrives – I’m frustrated - you can decrease its intensity, change its direction, and limit its duration. That might be a little scary, but while you really can’t control the onset of a negative emotion you surely have a choice as to how long you allow it to last. Conversely, when positive emotions such as dynamic energy and excitement become an integral part of your pre-shot routine, you have magnified your opportunities for a successful play. By allowing negative emotions to pass and positive emotions to surface and stay, you have done the important steps toward focusing your mind in present time awareness in preparation for each shot.

A special thank you to Dr. Glen Albaugh for his keen insight on this very important, and all to often forgotten, part of the game.

A Unique Look at the Swing Components of a Long Drive Champion

I have yet to meet a golfer that does not want to hit the ball farther off of the tee...There are some unique parts of the swing that help to create distance...Please visit www.golfdigest.com/go/sadlowskivideo to view a video on Jamie Sadlowski's golf swing, who at under six feet and 170 lbs has hit the golf ball 400 yards...

PGA Tour Settles with Ping to End Ping Eye 2 Wedge Controversy

The PGA Tour and Ping announced an agreement Monday that will allow the tour to finally ban square-grooved Ping Eye 2 clubs from the Tour, effective at the end of the month.

The club, which was allowed in play due to a grandfather clause in a legal settlement, touched off a debate when Phil Mickelson and several other players put the Ping Eye 2 wedge in their bags. Hunter Mahan and Fred Couples were among other players who had used the wedges this year.

PGA Tour player Scott McCarron characterized that as "cheating," but later apologized to Mickelson for the remark. Mickelson said he was simply playing with the club to make a point about the loophole that made use of the Ping Eye 2 irons legal.

An agreement reached 20 years ago that settled Ping's lawsuits against the PGA Tour and the U.S. Golf Association grandfathered in the Ping clubs as long as they were made before April 1, 1990 and not altered. But Ping has agreed to waive its rights from the settlement.

The clubs otherwise do not meet new grooves specifications for irons, which went into effect this year.

"We all believe it is in the best interests of golf," Ping chairman and CEO John Solheim said in a statement. "It levels the playing field on the PGA Tour and resolves a very unfortunate situation that we predicted would happen when the USGA first proposed the new groove rule more than two years ago."

Solheim said the settlement also allows Ping to retain its other rights from its settlements with the PGA Tour and the USGA. That means amateur players will still be able to use Ping Eye 2 clubs made before April 1990 at all amateur events played under the USGA Rules of Golf.

The ban also applies to the Champions Tour and the Nationwide Tour.

Players on professional tours were required to conform to new rules beginning Jan. 1 which narrow the space between grooves. Although highly technical, the change means less spin can be imparted on the golf ball, especially from the rough.

The old Ping clubs had more space between the grooves than allowed under the 2010 rule, but were deemed conforming due to the lawsuit.

The waiver goes into effect March 29, meaning the old clubs could still technically be used during this week's WGC-CA Championship, the Transitions Championship and Arnold Palmer Invitational. Ping will also apply the waiver to the U.S. Open in June.

"John Solheim and Ping had a terrific opportunity to do something very positive and significant for the game of golf and we very much appreciate his willingness to take this action," PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem said in a statement.

Source: ESPN.com