Today’s Friday Flop Shot will be our introduction to creativity, one of the keys to really learning how to play golf. And when your junior golfer learns to be creative on the golf course, she will get lower scores.
So golf is a sport, but is it also an art or a science? Although there is plenty of science utilized in all aspects of golf, it is not really a science. I think it’s a sport that requires a lot of creativity/art in order to be competitive. (photo from offcoursegolfnetwork.com)
With The Open Championship, previously called The British Open Championship under way this week, this is a perfect time to begin a discussion on creativity, as in visualizing the shot your junior golfer needs to hit and then execute. In other words you help your junior golfer see the shot and then encourage them that they can successfully hit it.
The style of golf required to be competitive in The Open is links golf which is very different than the common American-style golf of hitting the ball to a spot in the fairway and then taking aim at the flag with the approach shot. Links golf has hard rolling fairways and trying to get the ball to end up in a safe zone requires genuine visualization: seeing the flight, where you want it to land, calculating the roll to hopefully have the ball stop somewhere in the vicinity of a spot where you can have a decent shot to the green. Now links greens are usually so hard that it is rare that you can fly the ball and land it within 30-50 feet of the pin. So the greens are designed for roll-ups, landing your approach shot well short of the green and rolling toward the hole. There are numerous rolling contours both on the fairways and the greens as well as the dreaded round and deep pot bunkers, which are basically a 1-shot penalty when you go into them because it’s almost impossible to advance the ball. You are just trying to get the ball back into the fairway.
This is the week to get a great introduction to links golf and get your kiddo starting to think creatively. I encourage you to record Live From St Andrews on the Golf Channel and record The Open Championship on ESPN? If you do not have the Golf Channel, this is the time to add it to your package! Do your smart search and record the series because live coverage will start at 3:00am Central Time. (photo standrews.com)
See you on #1 tee… Sam.
Parenting Junior Golfers... 