Junior Golf: 3 Big-Time Lessons From Jordan’s Win

In this Wednesday Waggle we can look at 3 huge revelations that your junior golfer can use right now in his/her junior golf career.

Photocredit:golfdigest.com

Jordan’s final round on Sunday was so full of educational moments that I hope you and your young golfer and your whole family watched it and that it is still on your TiVo so you can scan through it once more! This is 4 hours of golf greatness and golf lessons and golf memories that you may not see again for a number of years.

Here are 3 gigantic golf/life lessons that your kiddo can accept and use immediately:
Everybody hits bad shots. Jordan’s 1st 12 and ½ holes were a mess and after his win he mentioned he had a bit of nerves at the start of the round, but when he and Matt’s scores became tied, the nerves went away and he got back to playing his game. Lesson: the sooner your boy/girl accepts that bad shots will be a part of golf, the sooner they can begin dealing with them appropriately.
Everybody has emotions. Jordan’s drive on #1 appeared to be on a perfect line, and it was, but it ended up just short of the fairway in some very long grass. This pretty much meant bogie instead of par or birdie and Jordan was ticked off. By his own admission he already had a slight case of nerves and this didn’t help and he ended up with a bogie. Some people control/hide/suppress their emotions better than others. Emotional highs and lows are readily available on the golf course and there are times when every golfer just wants to bite right through his/her lip or bang their head against a tree in frustration. This behavior however, is not helpful and it hurts! Lesson: decrease the intensity of the highs and lows. Find a spot in the middle of that emotional range, not too high and not too low and that is where the kiddos need to be/stay.

Photocredit:Stewart Franklin/Getty Images

It is possible to turn a poor round into a better round. Yes, Jordan is exceptional and not every PGA Tour pro can turn a golf game around like he did on Sunday. It is possible though to hit a good or great shot after hitting a bad shot. Simply put, this is what Jordan did after his ugly tee shot on #13. He was able to leave the bad shots behind and refocus on hitting good shots, really amazing, mesmerizing shots to close out his win. Lesson: the sooner your son/daughter can forget about, leave behind, erase the bad shots from memory, the sooner they can focus on hitting a good next short. Having a very short memory in regards to one’s previous shots is very beneficial. Focus on hitting a good next shot, period!

Ok that’s it for now. Hope you can go back and take another look at some of those incredible highlights!

See you on #1 tee ready to be on the highlight reel… Sam

 

Junior Golf: Perseverance Changes Everything

In today’s Monday Mulligan we will take a look at how it is possible to move past bad shots and get back to hitting good ones. Perseverance is a big key.

Photocredit:jennleforge.com

Yesterday’s final round of The Open Championship was an absolutely amazing display of many aspects of this game we love. It was a classic, in it’s own way every bit as good as last year’s epic battle between Henrik Stenson and Phil Mickelson. It was filled with highs and lows, patience and excitement, classy behavior and good manners. Wow! This final round was all about 2 battles: one between Jordan Spieth and Matt Kuchar and one between Jordan Spieth and himself. Oh, and Jordan won them both!

Mom and Dad, this is why we have TiVo! So much happened during these 18 holes, there is not nearly enough time or words to address everything. My best advice is if you have a recording of the final round, make sure you and your junior golfer watch it. This is a ton of life lesson stuff and it is filled with so many highs and lows let’s get started. Your whole family will find this video to be very inspirational, enjoy!

Jordan and Matt were in the final pairing and Jordan hit a really good-looking tee shot on #1 and Jordan was smiling and feeling good about the shot. Unknown to him, his ball ended up in some very long grass about 3 feet shy of the shorter grass. When he got to his ball, his demeanor changed. He was not happy. Jordan bogied 3 of the 1st 4 holes. He seemed to lose his confidence and missed short putts that he usually makes. Tee shots were errant and the neck-and-neck battle between these 2 guys took at turn in Matt’s favor when Jordan blew his tee shot on the 13th hole nearly 100 yards to the right of the fairway.

It took more than 20 minutes before Jordan played his 2nd shot and he managed to get off of #13 with just a bogey. Something changed during that time span. Jordan played holes 14 through 17 in 5-under par, making 70 feet of putts on 14, 15 and 16 alone. His attitude was completely different. A par on 18 gave him a 3-stroke victory over Kuchar.

How did Jordan change his demeanor? Folks, he’s done this before. He kept his eye on the prize, persevering through those rough initial 13 holes. Somewhere on that huge sand dune on 13, he “shook”. With all due respect, that’s a term we use in our house when an attitude changes. It’s what dogs do when they change their mind, they “shake.” And whatever it was that Jordan found within himself to change from the erratic, not very confident player he was through his tee shot on 13, he became an absolute beast on those last 5 holes. It was a complete turnaround and Matt Kuchar played a decent round of golf but Jordan ran right past him starting on hole 14. Persevere, persevere and persevere some more!

Parents, encourage your kids that they can turn their game around. It is done every day, it’s life. It’s getting back up when those bad shots knock you down. How does your youngster do that? Well, there are lots of sports psychologists and golf books and self-help books that can address this in great detail. For now encourage your junior golfers that it is possible to leave those ugly shots behind and get back to hitting goods shots during a round of golf. It’s done all the time at every level, but not everybody can or will do it. Help your kiddo be a can do athlete! Find a way for him/her to “shake.”

Congratulations to Champion Golfer Of The Year, Jordan Spieth. And congratulations also to Matt Kuchar for playing some excellent golf and showing genuine class while he waited 20 minutes for Jordan’s ruling, drop and 2nd shot on 13. A fine man!

See you on #1 tee knowing how to shake… Sam

 

 

Junior Golf: 3 Lessons From The Thrilling Final Round Of The Masters

In today’s Monday Mulligan we will take a look at 1 of the most exciting days ever in a professional golf tournament. There were so many incredible happenings that the announcers were peddling as fast as they could just to try to keep up!m

photocredit:jennleforge.com

Here are some things Linda and I hope you will review with the junior golfer in your family:
Predictions are only worth so much. With a star-studded leaderboard, the announcers were discussing possible outcomes from Sunday’s play. While Sergio Garcia and Justin Rose, in the final group were serious contenders, most of the talk was about Jordan Spieth and Rickie Fowler in the next to last pairing. The analysts expected great things from these 2 young guns as each was on a roll and playing well. Sergio on the other hand, was playing in his 61st major and had never won. Justin Rose, with a seriously strong pedigree was given due respect as a possible green jacket winner as were several others in the field. Again, most of the talk was about how Jordan and Rickie were primed to make runs at the title. Perhaps you know the results. Sergio beat Justin on the 1st playoff hole. Jordan shot 75. Rickie shot 76. So much for predictions!
Sir Nick hasn’t seen everything. When Russell Henley jarred-holed out his 185-yard approach shot on #5 for an eagle it was a flag-rattling sight. The ball entered the cup on the fly, no bounces. Yes, this has been seen many times previously by all of us. The ball, however, upon entering the hole, actually damaged some turf around the edge of the hole and broke off a piece of the cup, rendering it in need of repair, and of the course, the turf needed to be fixed as well. By rule, a player cannot do these tasks. They must be done by course staff under the auspices of rules officials. So, staff were quickly brought in, the broken tin cup was removed, the turf repaired and a new cup was cut, by rule within the proper distance from the original cup and play was resumed. Sir Nick commented that in all his time around golf and golf tournaments, he had never seen this situation. Very fascinating and interesting stuff!
A very young fan can take home a once-in-a-lifetime memory from The Masters. Matt Kuchar got on a roll on the back 9. On the par 3 16th, he stepped up and hit a 7-iron. The shot looked good in the air, but Matt could only see the flag, not the cup, from the tee box. The thundering roar of the crowd told him his shot had gone in for an ace. What a thrill for all the fans and, of course, Matt. But the biggest thrill, at least for 1 little fan, was yet to come. Kuchar walked up, acknowledged the crowd, pulled his ball from the cup, wiped it off and signed it. As he exited the green he handed the ball to 1 of the youngest golf fans in sight. How old was he? Don’t know but he obviously knew something about golf because he was absolutely elated when Kuchar handed him the autographed ball. What a beautiful gesture by a true gentleman and he gave that boy a treasured memory! That’s what our sport is about! Be sure to check out the link above, it’s worth it!

photocredit:cnn

There were so many special moments yesterday, there is no way to do them justice here, so let’s wrap up and congratulate Sergio on a great victory!

See you on #1 tee ready to make some memories… Sam

Tour Championship Begins

And they’re off! The best 30 players on the PGA Tour have day 1 of The Tour Championship under their belt. And there were some surprises. (Dufner photo golfdigest.com)

Hideki Matsuyama shot a 66 to tie for the lead with Kevin Chappell and pre-event favorite Dustin Johnson. The low 11 scores feature plenty of high-powered players including Jason Day 1 shot back, then Jordan Spieth, Paul Casey and Rory McIlroy 2 shots back and finally Adam Scott and Matt Kuchar 3 shots back.

Notables who were in the back of the 30-man field were Bubba Watson at 2-over par, Patrick Reed at 3-over par and Phil Mickelson and Jimmy Walker, 4-over par. There are still 54 holes of golf to play, no 36-hole cut. The time to start shooting better scores would be now.

1 of the strategic truths of golf tournaments is that you can’t win an event during the 1st round but you can lose it. This means that if you shoot a terribly high score, putting too many strokes between you and the leaders, you have given yourself a slim to no chance to catch up and possibly take the lead.

This is an interesting field. Maybe ⅓ have won Majors/been on Ryder Cup teams/have won multiple events, about ⅓ have won maybe 1 event/no Majors or Ryder Cup but have been relatively successful and perhaps ⅓ who are young and very talented trying to elevate their success and status.

While statistically almost anyone in the field could win, the history is different. Look at the previous winners. Big names! Dominant players either historically or for the year they won. Billy Horschel is perhaps the only up-and-coming player to win and he put together a smoking hot final month of play culminating with winning The Tour Championship and FedEx Cup. He just wasn’t going to be stopped!

 

If we can skip ahead to Sunday and look at the leaderboard before the final round begins, keep in mind what the great Jack Nicklaus said about competition during final rounds of big events. To paraphrase Jack, “I’d look at the leaderboard to see who had a chance to win. The guys who had never won a Major or big event I didn’t pay much attention to them because the pressure was too great. It was the guys who had won Majors or multiple Majors that I had to keep an eye on. They’d already done it. They’d been there.” (photo bmw-golfsport.com)

Encourage your junior golfer to stay calm and keep big numbers off the scorecard during Round 1. A bogey here and there is just fine, but the doubles, triples and quads are round killers, if not even tournament killers. There’s a time for high risk shots but remember that there are only a few pros who go for everything all the time. Safe shots are a good thing!

Set the TiVo. This should be good!

See you on #1 tee looking for the safe zone… Sam

Junior Golf: Rio Points To Ponder

In this Friday Flop Shot we will look at some of the amazing takeaways from The Olympics, our points to ponder from Rio, things to get you thinking. (photo offcoursegolf.com)

1st what does it mean, if anything, that the 2 Golf Gold Medalists shot exactly the same score, on the same course, 16 strokes under par? Does it show that course designers Gil Hanse and Amy Alcott did a brilliant job allowing both men and women to have relatively equal opportunities on the Olympic course? Yes, I think so!

From the don’t judge a book by its cover realm, how many of you wondered as you watched the only Russian female golfer tee off Wednesday morning, “Wow, that’s a big hat and an unusual wardrobe for the golf course! Can she actually play dressed like that?” Well, in case you hadn’t noticed, Maria Verchenova finished T-16 at 280, 4-under par. Oh, did I fail to mention she shot a course record 62 on her final round! Yes, she can play. Don’t be distracted by trivial things like the clothes or the swing, look at the scorecard at the end of the round!

Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades! This old saying is particularly applicable in The Olympics because only the 1st 3 places count. 4th place and beyond are all equal, equal to zero, that is! Let’s look at Gerina Pillar whose 1st 54 holes were excellent as she began her final round 2 shots off the lead and in the thick of the medal hunt. For whatever reasons she was unable to stay with the leaders and finished well off the pace. She was in tears after and stated, “I need to work harder.” Pressure, pressure, handling pressure is key to winning and Gerina’s really tough pressure came in the final round of her Olympic tournament and she did not perform good enough to place. (Kuchar photo reuters.com)

Continuing with the Close doesn’t count theme…, let’s look at Stacy Lewis whose 76 on day 3 left her with a lot of space to make up to contend for a medal. She had a great final round of 66 and her birdie putt hung on the lip on #18, keeping her in 4th place 1 shot out of 3rd. So Stacy was as close as you could get without medalling, the dreaded 4th place…and by 1 shot. Wow!

What does this mean for your junior golfer? Yes, the ladies can play this game very well, too. Encourage your daughter and your son that everyone can play good golf. It takes commitment! Also your kiddos should work on maintaining their game focus so to not be easily distracted by unimportant things. And please emphasize that EVERY STROKE COUNTS! That 2-inch tap-in putt counts just the same as her/his longest tee shot ever. And the last stroke on the 18th hole counts just as much as the 1st shot on #1 tee.

See you on #1 tee looking focused… Sam

Junior Golf: Thrilling Olympic Battle

In today’s Monday Mulligan we look at the thrilling final 18 holes of the 2016 Rio Olympics Men’s Golf Competition. It was a classic battle which had a ton a drama and surprises! (photo jennleforge.com)

Yesterday started off with Justin Rose 1 shot ahead of Henrik Stensen and everybody else was basically fighting for 3rd in theory, at least, because these 2 guys were in good form. Rose appeared unflappable as he had been playing well for the 1st 3 rounds and Stensen had been playing good for weeks and recently won The Open Championship. Probably neither 1 was going to collapse during the final round. Bubba Watson was T4, 6 shots back and Matt Kuchar was T7, 7 shots behind Rose and Rickie Fowler was 9 behind and Patrick Reed was 13 shots down in the pack. Medal hopes for the Americans were not looking good.

With Rose and Stensen trading birdies nobody gave much thought to 3rd place until someone saw that Matt Kuchar, playing a couple of groups ahead of the leaders, had gone 6-under par on holes 5 through 10 and was blasting past people on his way up the leaderboard. Getting a bronze was looking good but a silver or gold was needing 3-under at least on the 3 easier finishing holes. After driving the par 4 16th, Kooch 3-putted for a par. Stuck his tee shot on the par 3 17th to less than 3 feet and made a birdie and just did not hit his 3rd shot close enough on the par 5 18th and made par, so he finished 13-under and locked up the bronze medal.

Meanwhile back in the last group, Stensen pulled even to Rose with a birdie on #17. Now they’re tied going into the par 5 72nd hole. Lead NBC announcer legendary US golfer Johnny Miller said,
“I think whoever birdies this hole wins! I don’t expect both guys will make birdies, the nerves are just too great!” All of the announcers made reference as to how everybody on the course, not just the players was feeling the intense pressure of being the 1st Olympic Golf Gold Medalist in 112 years!

So Henrik was 1st to hit to the 18th green leaving his approach almost 30 feet short of the hole. Then Justin stuck his 3rd shot to maybe 2 feet, pressure, what pressure? Henrik missed his birdie putt so that meant a 2-footer was all that Justin needed to win the gold medal and yes, he made it. Coming down to the final shots on the last hole, what a finish for golf!

Gold Medal-Justin Rose, Silver Medal-Henrik Stensen, Bronze Medal-Matt Kuchar. Great job guys!

Let me close with some quotes from Matt Kuchar and his USA teammate Bubba Watson. “I can assure you I’ve never been so excited to finish in the top three in my life,” Kuchar told Golf Channel’s Steve Sands. “I can’t explain to you the pride I feel just burning out of my chest. It’s something I haven’t felt before.” Watson, who was in contention for a medal at the start of Sunday’s round, was excited for Kuchar. “I was grinning from ear to ear every time I looked at the leaderboard and saw he was making pars and making birdies, he was going to get a medal. As long as he signed the scorecard the right way, he was going to get a medal.” Can you say team sport?

See you on #1 tee looking to be a part of something bigger than yourself… Sam

Junior Golf: Valero Texas Open-We Were There

In this Friday a Flop Shot, a bit late, sorry, we will look at the great time Linda and I had yesterday at the Valero Texas Open. There was an opening in our schedules and we took advantage of it to enjoy some time at a great PGA Tour event.

Transportation was easy as the shuttle bus lot is only a couple of miles from our house. The fee is $5 per car to park and the shuttle, both ways is free. This is a great deal and TPC San Antonio is just about a 10-15 minute bus ride. This makes for a low-pressure, no hassle trip. (photo offcoursegolf.com)

We were scanned and searched at the bus lot so when we got off the bus we went straight into the Vendor’s area. There are so many good deals and discounts, but we were early for the day and wanted to check things out and decide how we wanted to watch the players, so we kept moving, leaving the vendor goodies for later.

The 1st spot you come upon where you can actually watch the tournament is #17 green, 1 of our favorite spots. #18 tee is also close by but you can’t really see much except for the swings on the tee shots. Previously you needed upgraded tickets to sit at #17 green so we were keeping an eye out for a place to upgrade but when we arrived at the green, there was open public seating, as in free. And there was a concession stand and restrooms very close by. Since no Round 2 groups had come through yet there were some empty chairs and we grabbed 2 and sat on the 1st row with a perfect view of the green, including the cup and a look all the way to the tee box. We could see the guys hit every shot on this 347 yard par 4! Perfect!

An added bonus was that we had a north wind, which means the guys are able to choose true risk/reward on this potentially driveable par 4. The choice is to lay up to a desired wedge distance or to ride the north wind and try to drive the green. Let me offer a point to ponder for your junior golfers who like to go for everything: Linda and I watched about 60 golfers play #17 and there were 4 balls that were hit as far as the green and only 1 ball was on the green. That ball belonged to Brandon Grace who made a beautiful 2-putt birdie from the front of the green to a far back left pin.

The Oaks Course at TPC San Antonio is tough, the most difficult non-major course on the PGA Tour in the 2015 season. It is no surprise that our informal percentage of birdies on this short little par 4 was less than 25%. Phil and Koooch made birdies and Freddie Jacobson’s ball lipped out and stopped 1-inch from an eagle hole-out. Lots of interesting and exciting shots! (photo flickr.com)

While we could have stayed longer, evening commitments meant we had to leave. You know what, we knew we would enjoy ourselves, but even seasoned tournament attendees like us had more fun than we anticipated. Do you and your junior golfer, heck your whole family a favor and load up the car and go to a PGA Tour event, you all will love it!

See you on #1 tee with some good memories from watching the pros… Sam.