What makes a good player?

Its been another week of wet weather but there is signs of it cracking, hopefully giving the golf courses a chance to dry out a little.

Since i last posted i have been on-course with a few regulars, done a fare share of range lessons, taken my girls Encourage Shield for another close loss to Bankstown Golf Club (they have lost 2 - 1 1/2 each week- The reserves match or a drawn match is Worth half a point) and spent more time than i wish to count attending to my new facebook and Linkedin accounts and all the trappings that go with them.

Dave and I have had some interesting discussions on what makes a good player and the things our pupils are striving for and amazingly how far apart these two things are. The player is someone who can hit a few shots but obviously has a good understanding of what their ball is going to do under certain circumstances, Their ability to make educated decisions on the type of shot necessary and act on them is what sets them apart, as well as the ability to miss hit this same shot and not get hung out to dry by the result of this same bad shot. Also a quality short game is an absolute necessity. Most of the people that we teach come with the preconcieved notion that a better swing will allow them to play better, when the skills that make a good player say nothing about having a great swing. If this was the case great players like Arnold Palmer, Lee Trevino, Gary Player, Raymond Floyd and so many more would have never made it off the driving range and onto the lederboards of world golf. There are things that good players do that are tendancies of a good swing, like impact the ball but apart from that it was each to his own. For instance Lee Trevino, Ben Hogan and Jack Nicklaus would all play heir shots with a fade (their ball would curve from left to right) most of the golfers i teach hate moving the ball left to right as they think a straight shot works better. Raymond Floyd was at times an unhappy hooker of the ball (over curving his shots to the left) but this did not stop him from winning two US Masters and two US Opens. Many players i know feel the need of using a 9.5 or 10.5 gergree driver as this will help them play better and drive further, but woth Lee Westwood using a 12 degree driver, Aaron Baddely using an 11 dergree driver and the news is Tiger is using a driver that has been bent to 11 degrees also, why would something that works for them be something that you believe dosen't work for you. So i have come to the conclusion that "what makes a good player is someone who works with what they have and learns to improve the outcome, not striving to fix the proceedure with no guarantee of improving the finished product." The old saying is that the squares on a scorecard are only 5mm x 5mm for a reason, they are not there for a story just to put your score.  If you want to see some of the greatest players ever to play watch this video and see what their swings have in common with yours. The players on this short video won 767 professional tournaments and 39 majors.   http://youtu.be/u3kh0bjlYX0 .

If you want to get the most out of what you do and become the player that you want to be Absolute Golf have some golf schools coming up that will improve your chances. Go to http://www.absolutegolf.com.au/ to find out about our Barnbougle Dunes Trip, GPS Schools with Bob Duncan, as well as some of our on-course days designed to make you a better player.

Until next time, see you on the course.
Jeff Mansfield 

Golf schools and Pebble Beach.

A new week and there is plenty on. David and I had our first school of the year this week with a small group attending our Sunday session on Myths and Influences at Riverside Oaks. (Fridays class was washed out with the rain). We had the group on the range for two hours before lunch and then headed out on-course for three hours of practical tuition and the guys responded to this session very successfully. Everyone had their individual needs they were looking at fulfilling and according to everyone they all left with those being meet. I haven't seen players improve this quickly since the last time we ran one of these schools. But seriously the boys did very well and at the end of the day everyone went home with a smile on their face. It was great being back out on the course running our days and as usual Dave was in fine fettle and a good time was had by all.

Peter Puerta hitting off on the 1st hole at Riverside Oaks

in the on-course section of our myths and influences school.

Some of the group assessing what needed

to be done to make this shot work.

 I have also been able to watch with great jealousy while the PGA Tour goes round Pebble Beach in the AT&T Pro am in our favourite part of the states "the Monterey Coast". The Tournament is played over three courses, Pebble Beach, Spyglass Hill and The Monterey Peninsula Country Club. What a great place, the ocean, the scenery and the golf. it doesn't get much better. Pebble and Spyglass are two of the three courses on the Monterey roster of our annual USA trip this year with Spanish Bay being the third and the second half of the trip being in Palm Springs on courses recently played in the Bob Hope Classic in La Quinta.

The famous 7th green at Pebble Beach.

Both David and I have ventured into the world of social media in the past 7 days, so if this is more your style and is a way for you to keep up with the tips, blog upcoming events or even the honour roll we are offering you the opportunity to do it in your way. Please find attached a link that will take you to both our Facebook accounts as well as out linkedin account. We hope there is enough there to keep you interested in what we do and we would love any feedback that you may have for us as being golf professionals we do not claim to be experts in all this social media stuff. Enjoy.

I look forward to seeing you on the course (even if it rains).
Jeff Mansfield

What can i learn from watching Golf on TV?

I have happened to have a couple of late starts on Mondays over the past three weeks and have taken the time to sit down and watch the final holes of each of the USPGA Tour events that have been played, with some crazy finishes and some excellent things to be learnt. I don't watch the golf to look at the swings or how far they hit, I get to see players hit great shots every day, you guys that we teach make just as many great swings as most of these guys (you just don't know how to appreciate them or what to do with them when you make them). I watch the golf to see how these guys "cope under the pump". We have been spoiled with great young players who come out in their first event in contention and run away with it or hole a ten footer on the last, this has been become expected but this is not the norm.
Over the past two weeks on the TV we have been witness to two massive unravels over the past nine holes with Kyle Stanley losing a 7 shot lead on the first day culminating with an 8 on the final hole at Torrey Pines in La Jolla, California and this week Spencer Levin had a 6 shot lead going into the final round, was run down by the afore mentioned Stanley over the last nine holes to take the "Waste Management Pheonix Open at TPC Scotsdale". These take us back to how people really learn, BY FAILURE..
These days we are so busy trying to be succesful that we don't really take the time to learn from our failures. Last year at the Masters, everyone was horrified that upcoming superstar Rory Mcilroy spun out of control over the back nine holes to lose after hoding a 5 stroke lead. Mcilroy then went to Congressional for the US Open with a new resolve and a determination that we had not seen from the young man in the past which spring boarded him to bigger and better things in that tournament and from then on. 
On the weekend Kyle Stanley after his horrendous lose to Brandt Snedeker the week before, bounced back to shoot a final round 65 (6 under par) he took his good breaks (with his bad) and bounced back for an unlikely tournament victory and huge steps forward for him in his career.
Levin the ultimate third is now left to deal with his recent lose and it will be a matter of time before he is on the winners podium. This guy is a great player and will be a regular winner on the tour, it's only a matter of time, starting with how he gets over his recent learning experience.
There is an old saying "you will learn more from a loss than from any victory" and i believe it. Take time to look at what went on, be aware to do something different the next time, you may not even get what you want then, but at least you are affecting your destiny.

The 8th hole at Barnbougle Dunes, the no1 hole on the course.

We have U.S. golf coaches Bob Duncan and Paul Buchanan (one time coaches of Spencer Levin, Natalie Gulbis and many other fine tour players to their names) are both joining us for our upcoming trip to Barnbougle Dunes in late March. We have 15 spots (only two left) with 5 pros going down to these magnificent courses and a weekend of golf, clinics, food and fun which is looking to be a great trip once again. If you would like to find out more contact us at www.absolutegolf.com.au , we would love to see you there.

See you on the course.
Jeff Mansfield