Blog
Main > BlogThe PathtoPar Notebook 
Winter Practice Aids
10/25/09 by MJAlthough the weather is quickly turning colder here in the northeast, I'm not ready to give in to mother nature. However, although there may still be a few weeks of golf left in the season, now is a good time to get prepared for winter practice. Below are a few suggested practice aids for the winter. Using them correctly and regularly through the winter can only help to start next season on a positive.
Straight Shooter
10/22/09 by MJOut of respect and admiration of Moe Norman's ball striking ability, I would like to share the following from the "Amazing But True Golf Facts" calendar:
Canadian Moe "Pipeline" Norman was considered the greatest ball striker golf has ever known. One time he bet putting guru Dave Pelz that he could drive straighter than Pelz could putt. Norman offered to put a post 250 yards away while Pelz could putt at a hole 80 feet away. "We'll take turns," Norman told him. "I bet I'll hit the post before you hole a putt." Pelz refused the bet because he knew Norman would win.
A Lost Month
10/20/09 by MJAs if awaking from a coma, I stare at my "Amazing But True Golf Facts" daily calendar in disbelief. What the hell happened to the last month? I'll tell you where it went. Work, work, more work, and a little sleep. There has been precious little time for recreation including golf. Not that my golf game of late has provided any satisfaction. Slice, pull, more slice, with some occasional brilliance thrown in. Sigh!
Mad Swing Scientist
09/20/09 by MJUnfortunately, I missed publishing an article last week. I became absorbed in diagnosing why my ball striking turns from consistently pure to pathetic seemingly as instantaneously as flipping a light switch. Fortunately, I happened across Philip Moore's book "The Mad Science of Golf - On moving past golf industry hype and learning to play better golf". Phil refers to the science of golf as the detailed study of equipment and swing mechanics. However, when you get trapped into lowering your score by chasing better golf equipment or by continuously changing your golf swing, improvement becomes almost impossible. You have climbed aboard the merry-go-round of mad golf science.
Keep It Simple
09/06/09 by MJHaving managed operations for over 21 years in the automotive manufacturing sector, my brain has become wired to look at everything as a collection of processes and to maximize results by systematically leaning out these processes. This basically involves removing the waste, such as unnecessary steps or motion, that prevents the product from moving rapidly and easily through the plant to the customer. So, it should be of no surprise to anyone that I would apply lean thinking techniques to the game of golf.
When stripped down, golf is simply about hitting a ball with a stick. Of course, one must understand the physics and fundamentals involved and apply them in a consistent manner to match the genetic limitations of their physical abilities. Regardless, since the only objective of the golf swing is to present the club correctly to the ball, it should be done with the simplest most streamlined process possible. In this way, the likelihood of the casual golfer reaching their potential is maximized. This is the basis for my decision to change to the single axis method, specifically Moe Norman's variant, as the model for further developing my golf swing.