I’ve stressed many times that the “off-season” is the best time to work on your game.  The reason being is that you aren’t playing much at all and therefore, the pressure and expectations aren’t there.  Instead, the focus can be on changing your technique as opposed to where the ball is going.

But coming out improperly dressed for lessons or practice during the winter can be quite a turn off.  I’ve seen many come out to the range on a freezing day dressed like it’s 60 out and after being miserable for an hour, they hang up the sticks until spring.  If you come prepared, you will not only have fun and enjoy your practice session, but it will be more productive.

Since I am the one standing there, I bundle up like I’m going sledding, but my students are often able to shed layers as they warm up into their practice sessions.  Non the less, dressing “too warm” from head to toe is the best way to go as you always have the opportunity to take layers off.

So what are the tricks to staying warm?

1)  First and foremost is the knit cap.  Your mom probably always told you to keep your head warm and that heat escapes if it’s not covered.  Knit caps are great for golf and make a HUGE difference.  They are comfortable and don’t get in the way so it’s a no brainer.

2)  Next, wear Under Armour or some other warming clothes underneath your layers.  Picking shirts that are designed to keep you warm will make a huge difference.  The same goes for leggings.  At the very least wear a layer of long underwear and on top of your pants a good storm pant will make a difference.  I am on Adidas staff and they make a great storm pant that I slip on over my golf slacks.

3)  Winter gloves.  Are they a good idea?  I find them bulky and annoying, but some practice is better than no practice at all and they do keep your hands from freezing.  Technology has come a long way since they first came out so not only are they thinner, they are warmer and more comfortable all around.

4)  Hand warmers.  These are great for sticking your hands in your pockets in between swings and warming up your finger tips.  I also stick them under my toes in my shoes and it works like a charm!

5)  Proper shoes.  Many tennis shoe designs are for keeping your feet cool.  They are like nets that allow your feet to breath.  This is not good for cold blustery conditions.  Leather golf shoes are much better.  So even though you may like to hop out of your car and practice in your sneakers, take the time to put on golf shoes.  Better yet is a good outdoor hiking shoe designed to keep your feet warm in cold conditions.  I have had both Keens and Merrells that have both been much warmer than tennis shoes and kept my toes warm while I was standing out on the range all day.

Golf is a year round game.  Remember that it was invented in Scotland where it is often cool and damp.  Just because we have 4 months or so of cold doesn’t mean you should let your game get rusty.  Be prepared, dress warm and you will have fun.   The Big Bend Golf Center now has wind shields between the stalls to make your practice even warmer on windy days.

Things are cooling off outside, but they are warming up at the Big Bend Golf Center in Valley Park.  The wind shields are up and the heaters are on.  So what do you plan to do about your game this winter?  The last thing you want to do is let all your hard work from this year go by the way side.  Think about how you make progress with an exercise program after a couple of months and feel great.  When you lay off for a couple of weeks though, you feel awful and it’s like starting all over again.  It’s the same with golf.

Here are a handful of things you can easily do to get a jump on the spring season:

• 1)   Take advantage of winterized facilities like Big Bend even if it’s just once a week to keep your body used to the swing motion.  (I know my other facility, Family Golf in Kirkwood stays open as well, but they shut out the lights at 6:00).    
• 2)  Get on a golf fitness program like the one I run with Jeff Pelizarro at Elevated Performance in Des Peres.
• 3)  Hit on a simulator.  Senior Pique’s in Ballwin has a really nice one in the back.  The owner Angel Jiminez is a golf nut!
• 4) Take by-weekly or monthly lessons to keep your swing honed.  I will be teaching both inside and outside this winter.
• 5) Get active on MyGolfInstructor.com.  There are over 30 indoor drills for working on your game indoors.  There are also hundreds of articls, tips and videos to keep yourself in improvement mode during the off season.  Reading the tip of the day and watching a video or two daily will make a big difference in your understanding of things by spring.

Whatever you do, do something!  It’s better than sitting back and hoping that your body and brain remember everything come play time.  While golf seems seasonal in the St. Louis area, for many places, even cooler climates, it is a year round sport.

If you have personal questions on what would be best for your game please feel free to contact me.

What are you doing for your game this winter?  Most likely not a whole lot.  What the cold weather is so useful for though, is creating your game plan.  When the weather doesn’t cooperate, fight back by letting the course know it’s not going to get the best of you this year.  This year you come prepared!

How many great players are great without practice and preparation.  The answer…none.  Of course there is natural ability, but the players that make it to the top and are impressive got there with a plan and a lot of hard work.  The first excuse is usually “Well, I could never play like a pro because I don’t have time to practice like one.”  While that is a very valid point, it is even more reason to design a plan.  If you, like the rest of us, are scheduled from the moment you wake until the moment your head hits the pillow, then every minute counts.  It’s the players who practice the least that need the best game plans.

What should your game plan entail?  Basically you need to look at every area of your game.  Think of a pentagram.  You have 5 points.  The points and not in order of importance are:   1) Fitness 2) Mental Game 3) Equipment 4) Technique or Instruction and 5) Course Management.

Start by making a chart with each point listed at the top.  Next, make a list underneath it of what your goals are for each point.  What do you want to do with that part of your game?  What do you want to do differently?  What do you want to improve on?  How can you make the improvements?  After this you now have your road map for success.  All you need to do now is put in in action by scheduling the time and enlisting the help of a quality pro for assistance.  Charting your progress in each area is a really good idea.  The first step of making the plan is easy for everyone.  It’s sticking to it that’s difficult.  Seeing your progress right in front of your own eyes is nothing but encouraging.  By charting it you may also catch yourself slacking in certain areas.

Once you are set with a game plan I recommend setting up your free Game Tracker and Practice Planner on MyGolfInstructor.com to help track your progress and formulate a complete picture of your golf game.  Here is the link so you can get started today:  http://www.mygolfinstructor.com/

Last week when Brandt Snedeker was interviewed on t.v. he said something I thought was oh, so important.  I’m not sure anyone else really noticed it though.  It was the night before he won the Tour Championship and the Fed Ex Cup.  The newscaster made a comment about  Brandt’s outstanding putting.  He asked Brandt “what in his opinion would he credit for his great performance on the greens.”  The FIRST words out of Brandt’s mouth were “I practice it alot.”

Those are 4 words I think every student of the game should take to heart.  These guys weren’t just born great.  They put in a tremendous amount of time, work, effort and concentration to improving every facet of their game.  Through my years of competing I never knew a great putter who didn’t put in hours and hours on the greens.  You could actually spot the best putters in the field before you even teed off  because where were they…on the greens.  They didn’t practice just because they were good at putting and enjoyed it so much.  They were good and enjoyed it because they practiced.

Back in the days of competing it was common for collegiate players and young pros to pull their cars up to the putting green, crank on the lights and night putt.  If you really wanted to be good, you never stopped.  While playing in tournaments we would putt and chip in the hotel rooms, even using the lines on the tiled floors in the bathroom to perfect our strokes.  What’s great about putting is all you need is to put in the time and you can do it almost anywhere and any time of the year.  You don’t have to be really strong, athletic or coordinated, you just need to practice.  I just asked a student yesterday when was the last time he spent an hour on the green practicing putting.  The answer….”never.”   Believe it or not that is the answer I always get!

Back to Brandt for a minute though.  What has all his hard work and putting practice gotten him?  The largest winning in golf history for one thing.  $11.4 million was Brandt’s take home pay last week after winning the Tour Championship and capturing the Fed Ex Cup!  Brandt is currently 3rd on the PGA Tour money list this year, first in Fed Ex Cup points and of course earned a spot on the Ryder Cup team.   Brandt is first in strokes gained putting and 2nd in total putting,  proving that his tremendous putting is to credit with most of his success.  What can you learn from Brandt?  Practice it a lot!!!

How do your shoulders affect your swing plane?  The answer is A Lot!   Having two students today at the Big Bend Golf Center who were struggling with coming over the top of the swing plane on the down swing made me wonder.  I wondered how often golfers think about what it is that is actually causing their club to get off plane.

Like anything in golf, there are many factors that can affect any number of things in your swing.  If I told you that your grip or ball position affects your swing plane would you believe me?  Well they do, as well as alignment, weight distribution, weight shift and hoards of other factors,  but for players who really struggle with coming over the top and hitting a wicked slice or pull hook, I think more thought needs to go into what plane their shoulders are moving on during the back swing and even more importantly, the down swing.

The first golf lesson I ever took from a top named professional was from Michael Hebron who was PGA National Teacher of the Year in the early 90s.  His shtick at the time was “the inside moves the outside”, basically saying that your core and big muscles move your arms and hands and small muscles.  He loved to say “the dog wags the tail”, rather than “the tail wags the dog”.  Makes sense right, but what does it mean for you?  If you are a slicer or pull hooker it should mean a lot.  Wherever your shoulders go, your arms an thus the club will go.   If you start your downswing while spinning your shoulders open before your arms have had a chance to drop on plane, your only choice is to swing over the top of the plane.

Try keeping your back at the target longer while your arms have a chance to start dropping down on plane.  Don’t be in such a rush from the top to get the swing over with.  This particular swing plane issue is not a position issue, but rather a sequence issue.  Get the arms down on plane and then worry about turning towards the target.  If this is a big problem for you over exaggerate it until you start striking the ball from the inside and starting it out to the right of your target.   You would be well served to even feel like your shoulders are closed to your target line at impact.  The biggest problem I see with golfers who chronically come over the top is that they don’t over correct enough.  Go a little crazy, exaggerate, have some fun and I think you will be surprised at the results.

Mats vs. grass.  Everyone has their opinion on which surface is better to practice from and I believe you will hear the overwhelming majority say grass is best.  Grass is of course the more realistic of the two as that’s what you play from on the golf course, unless you are for some reason in the desert in Iraq!

There’s a lot to be said about practicing from the grass.  It is more realistic as I said, more forgiving on your joints and gives you better feedback.  For instance, if you hit a shot fat (contact the ground behind the ball), you will know instantly whether you’ve got good feel or not, as you will see the chunk of grass fly up, your swing will slow, your ball will go all of nowhere and the mark will be on the ground behind where the ball was laying.  The same is true if you don’t hit down enough resulting in a thin shot.  You will observe that the nice dollar bill size divot in front of the ball that you should of taken if you were to have hit that iron properly doesn’t exist.

There is a downside to grass though especially from an instructor’s perspective.  For one thing, no lie will ever be exactly the same.  The blades of grass, curvature of the ground, etc. will be different from hit to hit.  If the lie is different, it only makes sense that the result would be slightly different, right?  How then do you know if it’s the lie that changed your result or your swing?  Hmmm….that’s a very good question.  The other negative factor with grass is when you hit those fat shots it can give you negative feed back and cause a lot of tension and frustration.  When going through changes which are difficult enough, it’s best not to add in any other causes of negative feedback to your brain.

Mats on the other hand are hard on your joints (many players myself included, have developed tendonitis from over use) and they can actually give you too much positive feedback.  You somewhat get away with bad swings as the club can bounce through the mat still giving you a pretty decent result and more distance than you deserve.  If you have good feel, you should be able to recognize this though.

The positive feedback and the consistent lie make mats beneficial when it comes to learning a new skill.  You will be able to focus on doing the same thing over and over without too much frustration if your contact isn’t perfect.

As you can see, both surfaces have their pluses and minuses.  Picking which surface to hit from is often not a choice as some practice ranges either have one or the other.  If you are stuck only on mats, don’t fret is as you can see some positives now.  If you are stuck only on grass I believe your practice time will be more realistic and that is never a bad thing. You just might get a little more frustrated.   Any professional player would choose grass in a heartbeat, but if you are a higher handicapper and want to focus on grooving a swing change, mats are a decent choice.

This is a question I get continuously from students.  “How many lessons should I take?”  I have never been one to push lessons as I don’t consider myself a salesman, rather an educator.  I believe everyone learns at their own pace and they have to be willing and ready to accept new information in order for it to soak in and be effective.

Throughout my years of teaching, I have noticed 3 common categories of lesson takers.

1) The “Fix Me” group.  This group consists of students who are having a current problem with their game that is causing them aggravation and just want it fixed as quickly as possible.  They are not in it for long term improvement.  That is not important to them.  These students will show up usually once or twice a year for lessons.

2)  The “Maintenance” group.  This group comes out every year.  On average they show up quarterly for swing/game checks to make sure they are doing things correctly and not picking up bad habits.  They like new information in small doses.

3)  The “Game Improvement” group.   This is the group that is really serious about taking their game to the next level.  These students will come out for a package of lessons which most commonly consists of between 4 and 8 lessons.  They usually schedule the lessons on a regular basis either weekly or bi-weekly so they will stick to the program.  They are really wanting to make a leap with their game and know that consistency and effort are paramount.  Typically they will do multiple lessons packages and will see huge improvement rather quickly.

No instructor can tell you how many lessons you need.  They can try to predict how many based on experience, but it is really up to you to decide which category suits your game and your desires.  Obviously all teachers would like their students to be in the “Game Improvement” category as we know it will make a huge difference, but it only will if that is what the student really wants.