We all hit bad shots during a round of golf — yes even the Tour Players hit bad shots — but their bad shots are only 20 feet left or right of the flagstick! If your average score is 105, then you probably hit about 8 awful shots per round, while a golfer who shoots around 80 has about two. The problem is that when you hit an awful shot, you follow up with another one. Why is that? Because frustration kicks in after the first bad shot and you are not thinking properly on the next shot. You have to calm down, assess the situation and forget the last shot. Remember the old adage that “you play one shot at a time.”  Forget the awful shot and continue on — you can still salvage your score on the hole.  Do not give up just because you hit a bad shot. Years ago I played in a  Womens professional golf event. It was a par 3 of 180 yards. Well, I hit my tee shot so fat, the divot practically went farther than the ball! I was embarrassed to say the least. But I focused on my second shot and hit it to 2 feet of the pin and made a par. That felt like a birdie to me, and I knew if I can come back from that awful tee shot I could come back from any future bad shots.

So play one shot at a time, and after you hit a bad shot (which will happen), the most important shot of the day is the next one. Do not lose your focus!

10 Simple Habits of Popular Golf Partners  (as reprinted from the NY Times)

1. Be on time.

2. Be quick, be quiet. On the tee box, when someone else is about to hit, it is not the time to check your pockets or your golf bag. Be still, and please do not whisper to the person next to you, because you are heard. As for being quick, select a club, read greens and plan your next shot as others are playing their shots. You should be as quick as reasonably comfortable for you.

3. Know when to speak up and what to say.  Keep you partners in a positive frame of mind.  Be optimistic.

4. Mind the flagstick.  This not a  little thing, though it may seem so. If your ball is closest to the hole when you reach the green,  pull the flag because you are going to be the last to putt. You have the same responsibilityif you have putted out; look for the flags so others do not have to. It gets on people’s nerves if you treat the flag as someone else’s problem.

5. Watch the flight of everyone’s shots. A good golf partner helps us track where the errant balls end up.

6. Help others look for lost balls. We get lost all the time. Lend a fellow duffer a hand.

7. Don’t make everyone look for your ball for 10 minutes. The rule book says you have 5 minutes to look for a lost ball. If you hit your balls so far into the woods you need a miner’s hat to find it, don’t waste everybody’s time. And hit a provisional ball before you look.

8. Maintain a good attitude regardless of how your are playing.

9. Avoid giving unsolicited advice. Nobody likes a know-it-all. Besides, if you’ve got a good tip to share, your partner is going to be really steamed at you if it doesn’t work out.

10. Be generous, be honest, be nice. Be generous with praise, because it’s a hard game and we all need a boost. Be generous at the beverage cart — don’t just buy drinks and snacks for yourself. Be honest about your score. Swallow hard and admit you made a 9. Be honest about your handicap. Be nice; compliment other people on their  good golf shots.

You may want to think of your golfing day as an investment. Become a good partner, and others will want to play with you again. The ultimate payout? There is no doubt that good karma leads to good golf. 

November 15- 20th, 2011. Come watch the LPGA play in the season ending CME Group Titleholders at Grand Cypress in Orlando. Click link below to get tickets:

http://pga.nemexinc.com/gui/level1/emails/28773/LPGACMETitleholdersTicketPromo.pdf

While giving lessons to students, I have come across some students that have gaps in their set makeup. This means they may have a driver and 3 wood, then their next club down is a 5 iron through pitching, then no sand wedge. You can have up to 30-40 yards between your 3 wood and 5 iron that you are missing by not having clubs that fill in that gap. At the same time, having a 7 wood and 4 iron is like having the same club that will hit the same distance. Also, you MUST have a sand wedge to help you get out of the greenside bunkers. They are designed differently that a pitching wedge and will be much easier to get your ball out of the bunkers. Take one of those out, and add a club that will fill in your “gaps”. You can have up to 14 clubs in your bag  (13 plus your putter). Go through your set and see what you are missing to so you can improve your score using the right clubs for the right distances. Take a look into your bag, and then stop by SchiavettaGolf Academy @ Evie’s Golf Center and I will gladly help you with any recommendations of what you need to fill in those “gaps”. Happy Golfing!

According to the National Golf Foundation, only 11% of all golfers take golf lessons. 11%! Some golfers think they can fix the swing by themselves — so they go watch the golf channel or read a golf magazine, buy a new driver, then go to the range and spend $$ on range balls and still cannot hit the ball well.

Is it the “Indian” (the golfer) or the “Arrow” (the club)? I have had golfers come to me to get fitted for a new driver or set of irons. Once I see them swing, I have to tell some of them that I cannot fit them because their swing is not consistent and the ball flight is different in every swing they make. I then tell them that they need to take some lessons and work on their swing..THEN they can get fitted for clubs.

So, instead of going out and buying the latest driver, take a lesson –or 2 or 3…You will be surprised how it is not the club but your swing that needs work. Now, golf clubs these days are much easier to swing and will help you with you straighten out, to some extent, your mishits…..but you can still hit a slice with your new $500 driver just as well as your old one. It is your SWING  not the club!

So please —  take a lesson from your local PGA or LPGA Professional. It will be well worth it.

The TEE IT FORWARD initiative from the USGA and the PGA of America was designed to make golfers have more fun on the golf course.   TEE IT FORWARD can help you play from tees best suited to your game, based on how far you hit the ball.

          GUIDELINES FOR SELECTING TEES

Try it out and let me know what you think!

Congratulation to Michael Colgate, a Sarasota junior golfer, in qualifying for the 64th U.S. Junior Amateur. This prestigious event will be played July 18-23rd at Gold Mountain Golf Club in Bremerton, Washington. To help Michael with his costs for the trip, there will be a fundraiser event him for him @ The Meadows Golf Club. For more info, please click here:http://schiavettagolf.com/upcoming-events/fundraising-events/

We all wish Michael the best of luck and hopefully we can watch him on ESPN!

Do you stare at the ball when you putt? — Of course you do….but in other sports, you do not stare at the object that you want to propel…for example, if you stared at your hand as you shot a basketball or stared at a baseball as you throw it, you would not throw it very straight!

So next time you become ‘ball bound’ when you are putting, try this: step away from the putt and look at the hole as you make your practice strokes (do NOT look down at ball!). Now step into your stance,  place your putter behind the ball, then, while looking at the HOLE,  make your putting stroke. You will be amazed how accurate you can be because you are not fixated on the ball. Give it a try!

PS — this also helps with your full swing in that you want to move through the ball towards the target, and not stop your motion to hit the ball..

NEWS

Els looks to defend title at Bay Hill
 

Ernie Els will be out to defend his victory at the 2010 Arnold Palmer Invitational this week in Orlando. The Big Easy took last week off, but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t working after the Tavistock Cup ended. Els called in to the Callaway Tour Trailer to report that he is very pleased with his new Callaway X-Series JAWS 60-degree wedge (with 8 degrees of bounce). Els had the wide sole wedge ground to four degrees with the heel relieved, which he said he loved. “I can really slide the club under the ball,” Els said. “The 60 (degree) is going to give me more shots at Augusta.”

 At the Transitions Championship:

J.J. Henry finished tied for 20^th at Innisbrook Resort & Spa’s Copperhead Course. Henry used his Callaway RAZR X Forged irons to lead the field in Greens in regulation, averaging 83.3%. It was his fourth top-20 finish of the season.

 Pressel finishes 7^th on LPGA Tour
Morgan Pressel finished tied for 7^th at the LPGA’s RR Donnelly Founders Cup. She fired a 4-under-par 68 in the final round.

 On the LPGA Tour this week, 5 Callaway drivers finished in the top-10.

 Appleby switches Diablo Octane fairway wood shaft

After switching shafts in his RAZR Hawk Tour driver, Stuart Appleby requested a new Callaway Diablo Octane 3-wood with a shaft that matched the weight of his driver more closely. Since going to a 70-gram driver shaft, the 60 gram 3-wood shaft no longer matched the feel criteria. Two 3-woods were made and Appleby went with a heavier Diablo Octane Tour 15-degree fairway wood with a project X 8a4. The shaft is 43 inches and D-3 swing weight. Appleby felt it provided a better launch and still flattened out to allow the ball to penetrate through wind. He also switched into Callaway’s new, optimized Tour i(z) golf ball.

 LPGA Tour

Vicky Hurst put Callaway’s RAZR X Forged irons in play this week.

 European Tour

The player who is No. 2 on the European Tour in driving accuracy switched to the RAZR Hawk Driver this week at the Sicilian Open. I’d make a joke about him being threatened to play the driver by our Tour staff and the whole Sicilian angle, but you never know who is reading. I don’t want to be “sleeping with the fishes” by Monday afternoon.

 Eight players switched into the RAZR Hawk Driver this week. Jeev Milkha Singh switched to the RAZR Hawk, saying forgiveness and workability without compromising ball speed and distance were the keys. Overall, 27 RAZR clubs went into play this week in Europe.

   Callaway Demo Day was  huge success this past Sunday @ SchiavettaGolf Academy @ Evie’s

Golf Center. 

          Golfers were out there trying out the latest technology from Callaway Golf — from the new RazrHawk Drivers and irons to the Octane woods and irons! To those who bought clubs — enjoy them! To those who missed out — SchiavettaGolf does have the Callaway optifit system which can fit YOU for Drivers and irons!