Question: I ended up on a par 5, drive off the tee, 359 yards. Bad side of it was, the ball bounced down the cart path about 122 yards, coming to a rest in the center of the path. It was a clear line to the flag, but rocks and trees lined the back of the path. I was trying to break 80 for the first time, and took 3 off the tee and re-played the drive. What should I have done? - Brian Rule 24-2b Immovable Obstruction – If your ball lies on or near the cart path, or when the ob

We have the wonderful winter season to go indoors and re-focus on swing fundamentals, improve our chipping and pitching and putting. But, should it stop there? At the start of every winter season I advise my students to do at least two additional things: 1. Club/grip tune-ups 2. Body tune-ups (the mind) Your Clubs You have used them all summer, now is the time to check if the lie angles have changed (easy enough to tell with a lie board and lie tape without going to your mast

The 3 Fundamental Principles most teaching professionals start with are GPA , Grip, Posture and Alignment. Then we move on to contact . You can have all three fundamentals wrong and have great consistent contact and therefore play great golf!  (Simplistically put, if you can't hit a golf ball  you cannot play golf). You need to hit the golf ball with your irons where the lowest point of your swing arc is in front of the ball to some degree, thus having that "downward blow" yo

The right mindset is important in everything for success in life! My previous blog ELA started to address how emotions can be properly used in a golf shot. But obviously, there is a relationship between the mind and the body. No matter what level of player you are, you will benefit when there is balance between the two. When playing you first need to reduce your stress levels. One easy way, is to lower your expectations on your score. You probably have heard of Tour players w

Basics for the tournament golfer may look like this: Hushed whisper... 1. You start from behind the hole, walking around and looking at your putt from a few feet behind the hole gives you a better perspective on what’s going to happen. 2. Evaluate left-to-right break. While you’re behind the hole take a look at the turf on both sides of the cup. Which side is higher? Reading the left to right slope at the hole will give you a great idea of how your putt will break when it beg

Many people subscribe to the hype that the Titleist ProV 1 or ProV 1X is the right ball for the touring pro and for the recreational golfer at the same time. Since a tour pro practices for hours, plays thousands of the same shot and has a way higher club speed than the average amateur, how can that logical make sense? “ Golf balls have kept pace with the technological advances of clubs.” That statement can be good and can be bad! People seem to devote a lot of money to the ne