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Course Management Tips 10/10/10- Chris Smeal, PGA Out here watching the players compete at the FCG Pacific Coast Championship at Sandpiper Golf Club in Santa Barbara. A wonderful course that really challenges your short game and putting. Every course has certain characteristics that make it unique. This course is all about managing your approach shots and scoring around the greens. There is not one hole location out here that you can be above the pin and have a decent chance at birdie and even par. Pin high out here is also tough because as you play break the ball goes above pin high and as it approaches the hole you are now downhill. The key to playing Sandpiper is to keep your shots below the pin and leave it on the correct side of the hole. many of the greens slope back to front and down towards the front right side of the green so your approach needs to be short right of the pin to have an uphill putt. If you can keep it below the hole out here you can score. Pretty easy system if you have good distance control and almost impossible if you don't. On days like this you will see scores around par and then scores in the low 80's if you don't figure it out and manage it well. Set up Your Schedule 9/23/10- Chris Smeal, PGA School is back in session! It's getting darker earlier and your in a time crunch. Take a deep breath and take some time to come up with a schedule. If you are looking to get better at golf you need to schedule your time accordingly. Here is a Sample Basic Schedule. Advanced schedules are available by contacting the Academy.
Role as Coach vs. Role as Swing and Short Game Instructor - Chris Smeal, PGA This journal entry is primarily directed towards top playing juniors. I have experienced situations where the student is not accurately describing to me his or her weaknesses in competition. This is very common when working with younger and talented players age 13 and under. I can recall last year when I was working working with a student and he lost our world championship by 2 strokes and I asked him what he did wrong. He explained to me that his putting was off and that he couldn't make anything so he wanted a putting lesson that day. I had him go over shot by shot and quickly learned that it wasn't his putting but simply his attitude about is putting. He missed a couple of short birdie putts early in the round and started to complain that he wasn't making anything. Then he started to 3 putt a few times and followed up with a rare four putt. Quickly learning that this student was now trying to force the ball in the hole rather than let it happen. You must let things just happen and not try to force it in the hole. Just because you want it the most, just because you hit 17 greens a round, doesn't entitle you to anything. Improve your process, improve your attitude, throw away expectations, and start seeing some results. We discussed his attitude during that competition and set some goals for the next few events and how to better look at his putting. He is doing very well... The Learning Process! Don't Set Yourself Up to Fail!!! - Chris Smeal, PGA Everyone wants to get better at golf but only a select few have the system in place to do it. For example - Do not expect to see great results on the course immediately following a lesson if you do not work on it first. If you are working on something techinical in your swing or short game and this is a new skill for you that is not yet habit, don't set yourself up to fail by immediately going to competition. There is a cycle in developing a golfer that you must follow in order to set yourself up for success. Many juniors and adults do not understand the learning process and how important it is to focus on key areas at certain times. We want to help you set up the right program for success. You must know that you first learn a technique, then you must master the technique by working on it very hard on the practice tee or short game area. Then you need to take that newly learned skill to the course and figure out how to use it out there. Drop extra balls if needed and don't keep score. This is the time you need to learn how to use it out there. Then when you feel like you got it you can try it in competition. Drop us an email and let us know your program and we will help you tweak it if needed. Developmental Lesson vs. Quick Fix Lesson - Chris Smeal, PGA Make sure when you are taking a lesson you tell your instructor what you are there for and what the status is of your game and needs. I have found great success in having short but detailed conversations at each lesson understanding exactly what my student is in need of at the time of the lesson and I cater to those needs. For example if a student comes to a lesson on a Friday before a weekend golf tournament we will not be making changes that make the student guess in competition. The goal of this lesson will be to reinforce what is working well and work on finding a repeatable shot pattern, go to shot, and plan for the weekend. We may roll some putts and work on green reading and alignment or ddo some visualization drills for short game to get the player "Tournament Ready". If a player is not competing and is working to improve his game and develop better technique then we will focus on long-term development and detail the process and reasons for the changes being made. Drill Stations - 8/19/2010 - Chris Smeal, PGA All players should have a set of drills they do on a regular basis. Here is a list of 3 key drills that FCG Students are working on. Email us for a breakdown for exactly how to do these drills. EMAIL: info@futurechampionsgolf.com - Green Reading Drill- The most important drill you can do. Expectations! 8/19/2010 - Chris Smeal, PGA So you are working really hard on your golf game and feel you should be scoring much lower in competition. Why is it not happening? Well first... just cause you want to play well and your practice hard doesn't mean you will play well. Most players try too hard to be perfect. You don't have to be perfect when you play golf. I see too many players trying to have the perfect golf swing. You need a system for scoring which includes so many things other than golf swing. Really you just need to know where the ball is going before you hit it and a system for getting up and down when you miss your target. #2- Your practice must translate into scoring lower in tournaments. Focus on the following areas of your game always- distance control with irons and wedges, ball flight pattern, short game, putting speed, short putts. Your practice routine! 8/19/2010 - Chris Smeal, PGA What are you working on? What are your goals? Do you find yourself just going through the motions when you practice. You should have a strategic plan for each practice session to make the most of your time. Especially now that we are heading into the fall and you have limited time with school and daylight. You should set up a weekly schedule that will develop your game over the next few months. Start by setting some goals that you want to achieve over the next 4-6 months. Figure out where you will practice, when you will do homework. Set some fitness goals for the fall and get to work on those goals. You need academic goals too. For help with developing a strategic practice routine please contact us at info@futurechampionsgolf.com Note for players who want to play college golf 8/19/2010 - Chris Smeal, PGA What do you think coaches are looking for when you are playing? They are watching key areas to see if you have what it takes to play for their team. One of the most important things they are watching is how you handle yourself after a bad shot. They know you are not perfect so don't try to be. They like to see how you bounce back from a bad shot. They also watch carefully how you act on the course, how you carry yourself, how you interact with others. They like to see how well you control your ball flight and the decisions you make off the tee on certain holes. For more help please contact us. Wedge Control- "Get Dialed In" 8/19/2010 - Chris Smeal, PGA One major focus to your practice routine needs to be on distance and trajectory control with your wedges. You need a system in place for each yardage so anytime you are within 100 yards of the hole you are getting down in 2 shots, sometime 3, but never 4. "Nick Faldo says that to be a great player you need to turn 3 shots into 2"- this couldn't be more true! Starting this fall the FCG Academy will utilize a short game hole at another local facility and we will be training our juniors to be more precise on their approach shots and we are going to get "Dialed In" Stat Tracking 8/19/2010 - Chris Smeal, PGA Players working hard to lower their scores need to track your stats. We have a great system for keeping track of your stats while you play and in tournaments. We have a list of key areas to focus on and an easy way to read your stat sheet and know exactly what your weaknesses are so you can fix it. Send us an email to info@futurechampionsgolf.com and we will send you our STAT TRACKING SHEET! Developing a Better Golf Game! 8/18/2010 - Chris Smeal, PGA One Key to Becoming the Best Player You Can Be is to Improve on your Worst Shots! All players can hit great shots, some more than others. We try to help our players understand the importance of consistency and playing solid golf on a daily basis. This is the only way to play consistent in multi-round tournaments is to not rely on luck. If you can't do it everytime in practice then you cannot pull it off when it counts on the final hole of a tournament.
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