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?
- 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?
- 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 😉
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Have fun and remember that everyone starts somewhere.
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.
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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.
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**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.
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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
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)
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A two year membership to your home course of The Oaks Golf Course & sister courses:
- Meadowview Golf Course in Mattoon
- Lakeshore Golf Course in Taylorville
- Timberlake Golf Course in Sullivan
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