If you’re wondering why you go through so many gloves, the answer is probably in the palm of your hand. Examine your TARGET HAND for more consistent club face control and less wear and tear on your glove.

Here’s what to look for:

- The inside heel of the palm – on a diagnal from your index finger sits on top of the grip when the club is square (at a 12 o’clock position).
- The handle is held mainly in the fingers.
- The wrist is rotated toward the body so you can see 2 knuckles on the target hand.
- The thumb and the side of the hand are connected (touching).
- The thumb rides down the handle and slightly away from the target.

If all of this is right for you but you still have signs of glove damage to the palm, pay attention to your grip pressure throughout the swing. Though hand pressure varies during the swing, the connection of your target hand to the handle should stay in tact all the way to your finish.

AVOID – loosening up the grip and letting go of the club at the top of the backswing. You may not even realize you’re doing it.

DO – pay attention to the grip pressure in your target hand pinky and ring fingers to maintain connection to the club. This will help you return the club squarely at impact and ALSO – extend the life of your glove!

Some swing changes are similar to the experience of driving a stick shift car as a new driver. New drivers attempt to consciously juggle pressing down on the clutch, shifting the gear shifter and releasing the clutch as the gas pedal is being depressed… There is often lots of jerking, spinning of tires and even stalling the car at the beginning. As the driver continues to practice, they begin to discover a flow, rhythm and timing to the process that becomes so familiar and comfortable, that it can be turned over to their subconscious mind…and their conscious mind can be freed up for other things – like following directions, paying attention to traffic lights and carrying on conversations!

This is similar to what happens as a new swing change is being formed. You’ve got to understand what you want to do and consciously think about the new swing key first. Then ingrain it with drills and practice swings.  When the new motion is incorporated into your swing, it will feel different – which can often be distracting; this is all part of the process.  Once you know the feeling of this new motion, focus on rhythm and timing – this is the final step to integrating the new swing. You have to be able to feel it before you can repeat it consistently.  After you are past this, your subconscious should take over the mechanics and your conscious mind can be used to focus on the target.

1. Understand the change.
2. Find the swing key.
3. Drill and practice to ingrain it.
4. Work on rhythm and timing.
5. Let go and turn it over to your subconscious.
6. Focus on target!

Ysolette Nicoson, is an avid golfer who recently moved to the Riverside area from Texas and is member of the Executive Women’s Golf Association. The national organization provides opportunities for women to play, network, socialize and develop their golf skills. Ysolette, who is a local real estate agent had been attempting to start a chapter of the Executive Women’s Golf Association in the Inland Empire and consulted with me on some strategies to grow the group and provide golf clinics and playing opportunities. It looks like the group is beginning to take shape and is gathering momentum. She has partnered with several other executives who are passionate about golf and growing the chapter.

I am conducting group instruction for the EWGA twice per week.  Please consult my calendar for updates and skill-specific clinics – and let me know if you’d like more information on how to join!

To view photos of Saturday’s EWGA Opener:

Hoping this is finding you happy, healthy and experiencing joy in your lives – especially, your golf games!  This is the first of a series of newsletters that I hope will inspire, uplift and awaken your curiosity as you explore this crazy game we all love so much!

Questions for Coach:

Here’s a question I received recently that I know we’ve all wondered about from time to time:

“I’m a relatively new player though an avid learner of all things and a natural athlete.  I love golf so much and find myself thinking about it all the time.  I watch the golf channel and read any golf magazines I can get my hands on.  The tips always sound so easy when I read them.  When I try to implement the ideas on the range, I notice they tend to work for a little while, but not really “stick.”  Why is that?”
- M Lyons, Riverside.

We live in the Age of Immediate Information. The Golf Channel, golf magazines, and even videos on YouTube are all great sources of detailed instruction on everything golf-related. You’d think there’d be tremendous opportunity to harness information technology and see the benefits immediately in our golf game. Despite all these advances from the Internet to equipment, average golf scoring has not improved in the last 10 years according to the National Golf Foundation and scores continue to hover at bogey golf on average.

This is also the Age of the Do-It-Yourselfer and I have personally witnessed the negative effects of information-overload on some of my first-time clients.  Tired of trying to integrate every piece of information they’ve exposed themselves to, they are ready for a little intervention and some improvement strategies that actually work.

Back to the question - “Why don’t the tips stick?” This is a pretty general question and I’d love to make it a little more concrete by applying it to something slightly unrelated to golf.  Your washer appears to be leaking water all over the floor. You figure you can find an instructional video on plumbing repair.  Here are some things you know about that leak: 1) The floor is wet. 2) Water is coming out from under the washer and  3) It has to stop before it causes any significant damage. You are handy and decide to get your toolbox out and fix that thing yourself – afterall, you did replace a showerhead with wonderful results.

What happens next?  Parts and pieces scattered all over the floor. Loads of time wasted trying to figure out how to make sense of the how-to video.  You conclude that you need additional tools, and lack the patience to figure it all out even if you did have everything needed for the job.  Finally, as you decide to take a brief time-out, you glance behind the washer and notice the water is not coming from the washer at all but from a huge wet spot that is continuing to seep onto the floor… from the wall!

What has plumbing to do with your golf game, you wonder?  There is probably about as much relevance as that last tip you tried. Not all golf tips can be applied to all swing faults. Applying the tip, “Keep your head down,” is likely not related to why you are unable to stop taking divots before you make contact with the ball.  In fact, “keeping your head down” may even be the cause of your fat shot!  You know a tip is working when the ball travels better, more often!

After analyzing his swing video, we determined he did have a few issues to work out but that there were also lots of great things happening in his swing. We talked about his swing thoughts and how he had attempted to incorporate various ideas from golf magazines and The Golf Channel – without much success. After establishing a plan of action, we hit the driving range, worked on a couple of drills and his ball flight dramatically improved.

He couldn’t believe how much better he was hitting the ball – and in such a short amount of time.  I could barely believe he waited as long as he did before taking any real action.

This fear that your swing may become unravelled as a result of taking lessons to me is crazy. This can only happen if you are working on swing thoughts that have no positive effect on your swing.  Don’t buy into the idea that if you keep working on something that has not produced results, it will eventually.

When working on positive swing changes from your golf lesson, you should observe the following and these things should happen pretty immediately:

• The new concept makes logical sense to you.
• You CAN do what is asked of you.
• Your ball flight improves.
• It feels more physically efficient to your body.
• The ball travels better more often than before.

These few markers indicate that you are on the right track and should motivate you to continue to practice the new motion.  If at least some of these are not present, you won’t be inspired or motivated to change and the golf lesson may not have been a good one.

I was giving a playing lesson last week and was working with an excellent player with a two handicap. I observed his routine and how deliberately he scanned back and forth between his intermediate target, his ball and the flag stick. His routine seemed flawless and technically perfect. However, his alignment was so far right that clearly, the intermediate target wasn’t helping. He had to make a compensating motion in his swing to get the ball to go where he wanted. When we eliminated the intermediate target, he appeared to align himself correctly and had much more freedom to swing. Yet for some others, an intermediate target is essential.

To continue to improve, we have to be willing to make adjustments. Even the most subtle changes can have dramatic impact. The first step is to ask ourselves if what we are doing is working for us. Do we know for sure it is? Are we willing to experiment with the components of our pre-shot routine to verify its value? Our golf swing only takes two seconds to complete. How we use our thoughts and the sequence of actions just prior to pulling the trigger weigh the most heavily in determining the success of our shot. Relying on a consistent pre-shot routine allows for the physical and mental freedom to focus more intently on where we want our ball to go. And getting our ball to do what we want… isn’t that why we play this game?

What if we created an additional measurement for ourselves? What if we had a system that provided feedback and direction for our game improvement plan and practice? Keeping our statistics on each round we play is an integral component of gauging how our entire game is progressing. In the beginning, we might simply keep track on the score card of how many fairways and greens we hit and the total putts per round. Adding a check mark here or an ex there won’t take much time as we are marking the score after each hole. Once this feels effortless and we become more aware of some of our short-comings, we can create a more in-depth system that will give us additional feedback. A more detailed system will then further illuminate the areas we need to focus on as we create our practice plans.

If you take a moment to consider this desire for consistency, you may come to the conclusion that this game is not one that demands consistency from its players. How often are you repeating the same shot twice in a round of golf? The game requires adaptability, clear decision-making, imagination, focus, commitment and balance. Are you looking for consistency in the form of solid contact? Is it that you’d like to have a consistent shape of shot that you hit? Would you like your clubs to go consistent and reliable distances? Each of those desires for consistency requires a different approach. If you are serious about improving your game, you have to know where your weaknesses are first. Then you need to develop a reliable plan to strengthen those areas. When your approach changes, the consistency you are seeking may just find its way into your game.