5 Stretches You Should Know About

Here are 5 stretches you should be doing to warm up before your game!

1. Twisting Stretch- Start with your legs wider than your hips. Rest your right hand on your lower back palm facing away from you. Inhale. With an exhale, bend the right knee and reach your left hand outside your right foot. With an exhale, lift your torso up and switch your hands, placing your left hand on your lower back. Twist toward the left reaching your right hand around the corner. Follow your hand with your gaze to exaggerate the twist. Repeat six times and switch sides.

2. Hip Press- Tight hamstrings tend to put a lot of pressure on your lower back. This stretch will loosen up the hips and hamstrings — releasing this pressure, alleviating back pain and increasing the range of motion in your legs.

Step your right foot forward in a short lunge position with both heels on the ground. Place your hands on your hips or hold onto your golf club with one hand to help with balance. Tuck your pelvis in. Engage your left glute and feel the stretch in your left hip flexor and quad. Inhale. With an exhale, bend your back leg and extend your front leg into a hamstring stretch. Lower your torso while keeping the back straight. Think of arching your lower back to intensify the stretch. With an inhale return to your lunge and repeat. Continue this action six times, breathing through it.

3. Scarecrow Twists- Start with your feet slightly wider than your shoulders. Place your golf club behind your neck and onto your shoulders with both arms over the golf club in a scarecrow position. Bend your knees slightly and inhale. With an exhale, twist to the right, pivoting in the left foot. Look around the corner to intensify the stretch. With an inhale, return to center. Repeat on the other side. Continue this twisting action six times on each side, breathing through it.

4. Standing Side Stretch- Standing up straight, plant your golf club into the ground with your right hand. Cross your left leg over the right and reach your left arm up and over toward the club. Then, open your chest and look at the sky. Allow your hips to go slightly to the left and feel the stretch in the left side of your body. Use your club as a balance point. Hold here for 3-5 breaths and switch sides.

5. Shoulder Flossing-Stand with your feet hip-width apart and grab your golf club with each hand. Lift the golf club over your head. With an inhale, begin to floss it behind you until it becomes parallel to the ground. With an exhale, return to your original position. If you want to intensify the stretch, inch your hands closed together; to simplify the stretch, move the hands wider apart. Repeat 6 to 8 times, breathing through it.

/by

Prepping the course for next year….

It’s been an incredible season of golf and it’s not over yet!! We experienced an abundance of wonderful golfing weather! We saw many new faces, all the regulars and we’re forever grateful for it after being so closed off the year prior. If 2020 taught us anything, it’s that we don’t take advantage of the great outdoors and what a little fresh air can do for us all. It’s so important, and with a sport like golf — you get to multitask — spend time outdoors, soak up the sun, enjoy the fresh air and relax while playing a sport you thoroughly enjoy! 

 

As we enter into cooler temperatures & begin prepping the golf courses for winter conditions, here is what you can expect to see during your last few rounds of golf this year. 

 

WINTER PREP

 

For the Oaks Golf Course:

 

We’ll begin overseeding the front nine fairways, trimming the trees along the tee boxes to enhance playability, applying a new surface road to the entrance road and upgrading some of the irrigation throughout the course! 

 

For Meadowview Golf Course:

 

We’ll begin overseeding all the fairways and doing some bunker renovations, too! 

 

WHY DO WE OVERSEED?

 

In golf, overseeding is a maintenance process. Grass seed is spread on top of the existing grass to promote new growth or to swap out seasonal turfs, essentially replacing once type of grass with another. 

 

Because various grass types go dormant in the winter, it is essential to overseed with a grass that doesn’t do this so that grass continues to grow throughout the fairways regardless of season. In the Spring, the process will be reversed; we’ll begin overseeding the fairways with the regular season grass so that it can grow throughout the Spring & Summer seasons.

 

This ensures the health of the fairways & overall playability for all.

 

While we’re sad the regular season of golf is coming to an end soon, we’re excited to begin prepping all the golf courses for Winter so that come the Spring, they’re in their BEST shape for yet another beautiful season!! 

 

/by

Join us for the Fall Golf Classic!!

Give us a call or visit the pro shop to register! 217-528-6600

Must register and pre pay by October 20th!

/by

Our Top 6 Swing Tips

Unless you’re superhuman, you may not have been born with superb golfing skills like the rest of us.

With that being said, getting the hang of properly swinging the golf club may not come as natural to you as you would hope.

Does this sound familiar? Swing. Miss. Swing. Dig up the green. Swing. Flies to the left. Swing. Flies to the right. Swing. Got it! But then the next time you go to hit the steps repeat themselves.

So what do you do?

  1. You can always get lessons. Highly recommended! What better way to learn how to improve your swings than to have someone observing you and teaching you all the fundamentals?
  2. Make sure your clubs fit you! Having clubs which are too short or too long can really impact your body positioning which will impact the direction the ball takes flight when you finally hit it 😉
  3. Speaking of body, remember that the power of your swing comes from your entire body, not just your arms. Focusing on swinging with your body will help you become more consistent and have more control over the depth of your shot.
  4. Even though your body controls the power, don’t forget you have arms and let them bend or “chicken wing” after you make contact. Follow through with your swing. Commit to the end.
  5. Practice, just like we’ve been told since we were younger. If you want to improve your swing, it may take you a few games to catch on, understand your body positioning and start to gain consistency.
  6. Have fun and remember that everyone starts somewhere.
/by

Our Advice to You!

Have you ever driven by a golf course and thought to yourself, “Wow, I really wish I golfed, but I have no idea where I would even start?” or reminisced with your friends and thought, “I wish I knew this before I started!”

Well, we decided to poll our golf courses through social media and find out what the golfers wish they knew before they started or what their best advice for new golfers were and here are some of the responses:

Stick with it! Be patient and have fun!
Practice and enjoy the game and remember that it is only a game.
Accuracy over distance!
Golf is a game that cannot be beat, remember that and have fun!
After your game, go relax and talk over things you could have done differently to improve your strokes.
The ball is not going to go straight every time you hit it. Don’t get frustrated, and focus on your next swing.
Play your ability and not your ego! So if you need a little bit of assistance, take it.
Don’t give up too easily, even the professionals have off days.
Tee the ball to the correct height. Tee high for drivers and low for irons.
Take lessons at your local course.
Ask questions!
And last, but not least, always remember that a bad day of golf is still better than a good day at work.

I guess what we can gather from all the responses is that golf is a game of fun, relaxation and time with friends, family and those we love (even if we want to beat them on that scorecard). Always remember to hold your head up and swing with meaning, because even if you miss the green it’s better than sitting at work.

/by

Join us for Men’s League this Summer!!

Join the Fun at The Oaks!!

Two mans teams! (allow one sub per team)

*Seniors 60 and over play gold, under 60 play white

Call the Pro Shop to sign up or for more information!!

217-528-6600

/by

Purchase or Renew your Membership for 2021 + 2022

2021 & 2022 Memberships are available for purchase!

Purchase your TWO YEAR MEMBERSHIP for 2021 and 2022 for only $248

That’s $114/yr. – plus a $10/yr. admin. fee

As a bonus, you can play our sister courses… Lakeshore in Taylorville, Timberlake in Sullivan, & Meadowview in Mattoon.

ONLY $248

TWO YEAR MEMBERSHIP

2020 & 2021

That’s $114/yr. – plus a $10/yr. admin. fee with unlimited green fees Monday thru Sunday 

* Golf cart rental required

Click here to purchase! https://theoaksgolfcourse.com/product/2-year-four-course-membership/

/by

Join our Team!

We are always looking for friendly, hardworking individuals to join our team! 

The Oaks Golf Course currently has the following positions open:

**Cafe Attendant-Full or Part Time 

Duties include, but are not limited to sandwich/food preparation, bar tending, cleaning and completing transactions on our point of sale system.  Weekday, weekends, daytime and evening hours available. 

**Pro Shop Cashier

Duties include checking in golfers, point of sale transactions, cart staging, cleaning and general duties as assigned.  Weekday, weekends, morning & evening hours available.  

**Maintenance Team Member

Duties Include maintaining and cutting grass on tee boxes, fairways, roughs, fringes and greens, maintaining bunkers, assisting with sodding and trimming, and using equipment such as walking and riding greens mowers, tee mowers, fairway mowers, rough mowers, rollers, bunker rakes, carts, push mowers and a variety of powered and non-powered hand tools.

Come join our team at The Oaks Golf Course!

MUST apply in person in the Pro Shop, 851 Dave Stockton Dr, Springfield, IL 62707 between 9am-3pm M-F.  Retired individuals encouraged to apply!

Please bring resume and two references!

/by

Tiger Woods’ TGR Foundation hits notable milestone as it celebrates its 25th anniversary

PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. — As far as golf goes, Riviera Country Club has not been friendly to Tiger Woods. At least, not as friendly as other golf courses—he does have a runner-up and seven other top-20 finishes at this kikuyu-covered gem, but he’s played 13 tournaments here and left without the trophy 13 times. It’s the most starts he’s made in a single PGA Tour event without a victory.

Woods’ relationship with Riv, however, extends much deeper than a scorecard. It’s where he made his first tour start, as a rail-thin 16-year-old in 1992. It’s a traffic-dependent hour away from where Tiger honed his game, at the Navy Golf Course in Cypress. And since 2017 it has hosted his event, the Genesis Invitational, which has coincided with major growth for his TGR Foundation.

 

Founded in 1996, the year Woods turned pro, the foundation’s initial mission was to give disadvantaged youth better access to the game of golf. Woods famously transformed the direction of his foundation shortly after Sept. 11, 2001, when during a 17-hour drive from Missouri to Florida (flights were grounded) he had an epiphany and instructed his father to change the focus to providing educational access to underprivileged kids.

Fast forward 20 years, and Woods’ foundation has now reached more than 2 million children through its in-person and digital programs.

“To have so many first-gens go off to college—then they come back and they’re the leaders of their community,” Woods, who is not playing this week at Riviera as he continues to recover from a back procedure, said before last year’s Genesis. “No one expected anyone in their community to go to college. And these kids go to Harvard and Princeton, Yale, Brown. You start meeting these kids who never ever thought they would go to college. It’s pretty unbelievable.”

 

This is the second year that the Genesis has had elevated status on tour, a change more significant than simply having “Invitational” replace “Open” in the tournament title. The field has been reduced from 144 to 120; the winner receives a three-year exemption, rather than the two for a “normal” PGA Tour event; and the purse increased to $9.3 million, highlighted by a $1.674 winner’s check. Symbolically, Woods’ tournament now stands level with Jack Nicklaus’ Memorial and the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

That, combined with perhaps the finest course on tour in Riviera, has attracted remarkably strong fields each of the past two years. Eight of the world’s top 10 players are teeing it up this week, and all the extra attention a field like this one demands only serves to bring more eyeballs to the TGR foundation and its mission.

“TGR foundation has experienced tremendous growth since Tiger became host of the Genesis in 2017,” TGR foundation President & CEO Gordon McNeill said. “As the benefiting charity, our programs have expanded to reach more students in the L.A. community and around the world.

“As we celebrate our 25th anniversary, we are excited to build on the 2 million students reached through our programs, in person and digitally.”

 

The foundation is particularly excited about Pathways Forward, the initiative it launched in January to enhance its current education programs and expand resources to reach more students on their pathway to college and career success.

Woods has always taken as much pride in his philanthropic endeavors as his athletic ones, and perhaps this week is a preview of what’s to come. Woods knows his days as a world-class golfer will not last forever, and there will be plenty of Genesis Invitationals that he does not play in. This is one of them, but his presence at Riviera is felt through the TGR Foundation, which will continue to impact children long after Woods’ playing days are finished.

Course: Golf Digest

/by

How to Cure the Shanks

We know, we know. You don’t even want to talk about the shanks for fear bringing the subject up will cause you to catch them. But like it or not, you might find yourself in a situation where you’re going to want to know a solution. Though awful, the plague of the shanks is curable.

First thing you have to do is take a break from the course. You need some alone time to sort this out on the range. Start by checking in on a few basics. Make sure you’re standing tall with your chest up during the swing, don’t hold the club too tightly, and make sure your weight isn’t sneaking up toward your toes. David Leadbetter told us that not tending to all of these little things could be the root of your struggles.

He also gave us a drill that will cure your shanking woes.

Set up like you’re going to hit it, and then put a tee in the ground just outside the toe of the club. While you’re swinging, think about keeping the grip end of the club near your body. “Miss the tee at impact, and you’ll hit the ball in the center of the face,” says Leadbetter.

 

-Keely Levins, Golf Digest (Source)

/by