This month's golf news and features

Society on the move
Our next three outings are planned as follows: 1 Gentleman's Away Trip to Pattaya - Monday 1st July till Thursday 4th July.
2 Phuket Ryder Shield - Mixed 19th August -22nd August.
3 Kanchanaburi - Monday 23rd September to Wednesday 25th September. This is classed by our chairman as a "Lovers Away Trip".
Anybody interested please contact Berny on 032 532 601.
Recent results: 22nd March at Milford A group 0-20 hcp, 1st Dave McBurney 33 pts, 12 hcp, 2nd Herbie 33 pts 14 hcp. B group 1st Fred Kroll 35 pts, 25 hcp, 2nd Han Hackvoort 34 pts, 25 hcp.
26th March at Lake View A grp 1st Fritz 66 net 12 hcp, 2nd Larry English 70 net 10 hcp, B grp 1st Alex Singh 40 pts, 29 hcp, 2nd Toby 39 pts, 21 hcp.
2nd April at Majestic Creek A grp 1st Pawn 61 net, 18 hcp, 2nd Mick Evans 69 net 12 hcp, B grp 1st Luciano 37 pts, 25 hcp, 2nd Fred Kroll 37 pts, 25 hcp.
5th April One group 0-40 hcp, 1st Bob Lloyd (visitor from Melbourne Cricket Club) 37 pts, 12 hcp, 2nd Han Hackvoort 37 pts, 25 hcp, 3rd Berbie 36 pts 14 hcp.
9th April at Springfield A grp 1st Mick Evans, 71 net 12 hcp, 2nd Herbie 73 net 14 hcp, B grp 1st Chris Davidson (visitor from Bangkok) 36 pts 24 hcp, 2nd Tip 34 pts 23 hcp.
12th April Majestic Creek A grp 1st Ult 41 pts, 6 hcp, 2nd Bernie 36 pts 16 hcp, B grp 1st Walter Sroka 45 pts, 25 hcp, 2nd Tip 41 pts, 22 hcp.

GOLF SOCIETY FIXTURES FOR MAY
Fri 3rd Palm Hills
Tues 7th Majestic Creek
Fri 10th Springfield (sub to confirm)
Tues 14th Hua Hin
Fri 17th Milford
Tues 21st Sawang
Fri 24th Kaeng Krachan
Tues 28th Lake View

Pro Tips - Good Contact

This month we look at the most significant aspect of the golf swing - the actual striking of the ball. Nothing in the golf swing is more important than the result - crisp, solid contact resulting in a good shot. If you don't strike the ball cleanly, none of the other stuff matters. A great backswing and a bad downswing gets you nowhere. But a bad backswing and a great downswing can still get the job done. Look at Jim Furyk. Great downswing. Let's take a look at some tips to help you strike the ball better.
ACHIEVE SUCCESS ON SHORTER, PARTIAL SHOTS AND WORK YOUR WAY OUT TO THE LONGER, FULLER SHOTS
Most golfers don't have trouble with contact on chip shots, lob shots, or 3/4 wedges.
Practice what you hit well. When you can consisently strike the ball on the shorter shots, you are ready to "go up a club." Your goal is consistent, square contact. You keep advancing through your bag until you DON'T hit it square. Then you back up a club and get your solid contact rhythm back. Your goal is to get square contact on every club in your bag. It takes time and work, but becoming a good golfer means hitting it square.
PRACTICE DOWNSWINGS ONLY TO WORK ON SOLID CONTACT
One of the best drills you can work on to achieve good ball striking is to start as close to the top of your backswing as possible, then concentrate solely on the downswing and the striking of the ball. Find your comfort zone as to where near the top of your backswing is a good place to "start." Then trigger your downswing and concentrate on smoothly striking the ball. It's a great drill for grooving the downswing.
REALIZE THAT EXCELLENCE IN BALL STRIKING MEANS SWINGING THROUGH THE GOLF BALL AND THE HITTING AREA
This is a concept that really needs to be understood. When you watch a pro or a really good golfer in person or in a sequence of pictures, you will see that the moment of contact is NOT the end of the sequence. There's still the follow through part of the swing. Every good golfer swings through the ball into some form of a follow through. The striking of the ball is really only the halfway point of a good downswing.
Look at pictures of the swing sequence and think of the club head during the swing like the numbers on a clock. The address possition is 6 o'clock. The backswing takes you backwards 5, 4, 3... past 12, and back to about 10 o'clock. Then the downswing takes you back through the clock numbers (12, 1, 2, 3...) to the ball at 6 o'clock and continues through the numbers on the clock until you go past 12 to 1, 2, or 3 o'clock on the follow through. That's 8 to 9 "hours" of distance the clubhead passes past the point of contact. If you were simply swinging AT the ball, the clubhead wouldn't move much past 6 o'clock. But clearly, as you can see while observing the swing sequence, good golfers don't swing at the ball, they swing THROUGH THE BALL.
FINISH SWING WITH WEIGHT OFF BACK FOOT, ON FRONT FOOT, WITH YOUR BELT BUCKLE FACING THE TARGET
The feet play an important, underrated part of the golf swing. The transition from backswing to downswing must include a transition from the back foot to front foot to support the weight shift. The natural follow through position you arrive at after striking the ball is with your belt buckle facing the target. Look at professional golfers. They all end up in that position. You should too.
DURING DOWNSWING YOU MUST THINK ABOUT AND CONCENTRATE ON SWINGING THROUGH THE BALL
You can only be thinking of one thing once you've begun your downswing, and that one thing must be striking the ball as your clubhead comes through the hitting area. If you're thinking of anything else, you're either in a hurry and way ahead of yourself, or you've got your priorities wrong. Because this is where you've got to be concentrating on hitting the ball, and if you've allowed yourself to be thinking about other things, you've got to get back in control of what's important. And that is striking the ball cleanly. Do that well first and foremost, and the rest of the game will follow.

Features

this month

regulars

stories

sports

golf

funnies

back issues