What you do at the gym can be just as important to your golf game as what you do at the driving range. The repetitive nature of the game can put stress on your muscles - especially your hips and back. This workout will help to keep you injury free and add some distance to your drive!
Cardiovascular
Start with a 10 minute warm up of jogging, walking, or bike riding
Legs
Leg Extension - 3 sets of 8 repetitions
Leg Press - 3 sets of 8 repetitions
Chest
Bench Press - 3 sets of 8 repetitions
Cable Flys - 3 sets of 8 repetitions
Back
Seated Row - 3 sets of 8 repetitions
Lateral Pull Down - 3 sets of 8 repetitions
Shoulders
Seated Press - 3 sets of 8 repetitions
Dumbbell Front Raises - 3 sets of 8 repetitions
Core
Crunches - 2 sets of 15 repetitions
Lower Back Extension - 2 sets of 15 repetitions
Torso Rotation - 2 sets of 15 repetitions
Tips and Warnings
As with any fitness or work out plan, consult with your doctor before starting this workout or beginning any exercise program.
Don’t do this workout before you play a round because you will fatigue your muscles.
After you do the warm up, stretch your muscles - especially your back, chest, and shoulders.
Acey Ducey (also known as Aces and Deuces or spelled Acey Deucy) is a golf betting game that can get expensive very quickly if you are having an off day at the golf course. This golf variation is really only suitable for groups of four golfers of equal skill.
Before the round begins, an Ace bet and a Deuce bet are set. The Ace bet is usually twice the amount of the Deuce bet. For example, an Ace bet is $2 and a Deuce bet is $1. One each hole, the player with the best score will be the Ace and the player with the worst score will be the Deuce.
In our example, the golfer that wins the Ace gets $2 from each of the other players and the golfer that gets the Deuce owes $1 to each of the other players. So, for example, if player 1 wins the hole he wins $7 ($2 from each other player and an extra $1 from the player with the Deuce). The player with the Deuce will pay out $5 ($1 to each other player and $2 to the Ace player).
If there is a tie for either the Ace or the Deuce, no money is awarded for the hole but you can carry over the wagers from a tie hole. If you’d like to reduce the amount of money changing hands, you can just ignore ties but if you’d like to keep the game really interesting (and maybe expensive!) carry the wagers over from each hole.
Acey Ducey is a great game that makes for some very interesting rounds and you can see how a player who “wins” the Deuce too often in a round will have quite the expensive day at the golf course!
Often when you’re playing a dog leg right hole you’d like your drive to start off fairly straight but end up right - this is when you’d like to hit a fade shot off the tee. To hit a fade, you need to follow a few simple steps at alignment that will help create the swing path that will put the proper spin on the ball to make it travel to the right. The following steps are for right handed golfers, if you’re a lefty, just reverse the directions.
Address the ball on the tee with your standard alignment and grip
After you’ve setup as usual, you’ll want to aim your feet to the left of your target. You’ll want to adjust the aim of your feet about 10 to 15 degrees more than your traditional alignment. You can adjust this angle when you practice to get a feel for how different alignments affect the trajectory of the ball’s flight path.
Now, aim your club face directly at your target (open the club face) and maintain your regular grip.
Take your normal swing and your ball should fade.
Avoid the temptation of modifying your swing too much to ‘force’ a fade - let your alignment and the club do the work.
Make sure you practice this at the driving range before you attempt this on the course. When you are learning, an attempted fade can very easily turn into a severe slice and you can end up in unplayable territory.
As with anything in golf, don’t get frustrated if you don’t master this shot immediately - Practice makes perfect!
Sometimes you’ll come across a dog leg left hole and you would like your drive to start off fairly straight but end up left (for right handers) - this is a perfect situation for hitting a draw off of the tee. To hit a draw, you just need to follow a few simple steps at alignment that will help create an in-to-out swing path that will put the proper spin on the ball to make it travel to the left.
Address the ball on the tee with your standard alignment and grip
After you’ve setup as usual, you’ll want to aim your feet to the right of your target. You’ll want to adjust the aim of your feet about 10 to 15 degrees more than your traditional alignment. You can adjust this angle when you practice to get a feel for how different alignments affect the trajectory of the ball’s flight path.
Now, aim your club face directly at your target (close the club face) and maintain your regular grip.
Take your normal swing and your ball should draw.
Avoid the temptation of modifying your swing to ‘force’ a draw.
Make sure you practice this at the driving range before you attempt this on the course. When you are learning, an attempted draw can very easily turn into a severe hook and you can end up in unplayable territory.
As with anything in golf, don’t get frustrated if you don’t master this shot immediately - Practice makes perfect!
We’re often asked about rules and regulations that are in effect when a player is teeing off. One question that has been asked is where can a player legally stand on the tee box when teeing off? The answer is found in the PGA Official Rules - Number 11.
The teeing ground is defined as “a rectangular area two club lengths in depth, the front and the sides of which are defined by the outside limits of two tee markers.” To visualize this, imagine a rectangular box two club lengths back from the tee markers. Your ball must be teed up inside that box but the golfer is permitted to stand outside the box if they so choose. If your ball accidentally falls off of the tee before you strike it with your club, you can replace it without penalty.
Others have also asked about the legal limit of tees. There are actually no official PGA limits set in the official rules. A standard golf tee is 2.125″ (two and one eighth inches) long, but both longer and shorter tees are permitted and are preferred by some players.
Some more exotic tees have been released lately that are intended to deliver more distance to your drives by reducing the friction of the ball resting on the tee. These kinds of tees include the Brush Tee which places your ball on a set of bristles.
Another new variation on the traditional tee is the Epoch Tee which has 3 “prongs” that the ball rests on. This tee is also intended to give you further distance by reducing the initial contact between the ball and tee.
Some players have trouble using these tees because they struggle with balancing the ball or they are turned off by the tee’s non-traditional look. Others swear by them because they say their distance off the tee is greatly improved. If you’ve never tried them before, you might want to purchase a few just to make your own judgments. The Brush Tee and the Epoch Tee are available for only a few dollars at Golf Galaxy.
The TaylorMade R7 CGB MAX is the newest driver to incorporate TaylorMade’s Movable Weight Technology™ (MWT). MWT provides you with 3 weights that promotes up to 35 yards trajectory change from side to side. This will allow a golfer to correct either a slight fade or an extreme draw off of the tee and provide better accuracy and distance. The picture below shows how adjusting the weights will change your shots.
With this club TaylorMade decided to buck the trend of making drivers with square club heads and went with a 460 cc triangle shaped club head instead. According to TaylorMade’s engineers, they chose to use the triangle shape because it promotes a far-from-the-face center of gravity and a high launch angle helping your drives go further. This club also comes with a very light 45 gram shaft stock.
When using this club, shots really do fly off of the face and the MWT technology is great at moving shots based on your skill level. However, you do need to be aware that if the weights are left in the neutral position, your shots will still move slightly from right to left.
All of the technology packed into this club places it on the pricier side of drivers. You can currently buy it for about $500 at Golf Galaxy.
We’ve all been frustrated on the golf course before and this may have occasionally led to a club landing in the woods, being wrapped around a tree, or maybe even on the bottom of a pond.
Well, the video below takes it a step further and shows what happens when you put some golf balls in a blender! Have a look - you might want to track down this blender and bring it with you on the golf course for one of those “special” days!
The old golf adage goes “drive for show, putt for dough” and this golf variation rewards the better putters of the group. This game can be played with any group that has at least two players.
“Putt for Dough” is a game that is won by accumulating the most points throughout the round. You will only get points if you one-putt the hole and the amount of points is determined by your distance from the hole. For example, in a foursome, the player farthest from the hole will get 4 points if he or she one-putts and the person closest to the hole will get 1 point by making a one-putt.
Since this game is about the importance of the short game, poor putters will be punished. Any time a player three-putts a hole, subtract 1 point from that player’s score. Likewise, chipping in from off the green rewards a player with 5 bonus points.
Also, any player can get a 10 point bonus at the end of the round if he or she makes a chip in, a 4 point, a 3 point, a 2 point, and a 1 point putt throughout the game (if you have less than 4 players, award the bonus points based on the number of players you have - for a twosome, bonus points will be awarded if you make a chip in, a 2 point, and a 1 point putt).
At the end of the round, the player with the most points wins the game. You can play this game for bragging rights or you can place a wager on the game. If you do decide to bet on the game, you can wager on the final score or you can assign a dollar amount to each point scored. Good luck with your putts!
With all of the new drivers that have been released recently, we consumers are constantly told how great a club’s Moment of Inertia (or MOI) factor is compared to other drivers. Well, what exactly is MOI and what does it do for my golf game? Is this just marketing speak or is this a real term that you need to be aware of as a golfer?
In the golf sense, Moment of Inertia refers to how a clubhead resists to twisting from center when contact is made with the ball. For instance, if you have a less than perfect swing and you strike the ball off the toe of the club, a clubhead with a higher Moment of Inertia factor will not twist as much because of the mishit. This gives your ball a much better chance of flying further and straighter than if your clubhead had a lower MOI factor. Moment of Inertia is increased by club manufacturers by manipulating the size, shape, and weight of the clubhead.
If you are a higher handicap golfer, a higher MOI club will greatly improve your golf game - especially your position off the tee. These clubs are more forgiving and will increase the likelihood that your mishits are playable. However, if you are a low handicap golfer, you may want to steer clear of higher MOI clubs because they reduce your ability to really shape the ball’s flight path off of the tee. If you’re interested in one of these high MOI clubs, the Nike SQ Sumo Squared 5900 and Cleveland Hibore XLS drivers are two of the more popular newer models that you might want to consider.
The Ping G10 is the latest upgrade from Ping’s G5 Driver. According to Ping, their engineers used finite element analysis (FEA) driven by a Cray Supercomputer, to optimize the G10 Drivers’ crown, sole and face structure interaction to ensure maximum energy transfer to the ball.
The 460cc driver features a larger profile with a taller face and deeper crown that produces a higher Moment of Inertia (MOI) for greater forgiveness and increased ball velocity. This club’s thinner crown and face (compared to the G10) provide discretionary weight which is positioned inside the club head to lower the center of gravity for reduced spin and higher launch.
All of that scientific engineering talk seems to translate to performance on the golf course! This club has great forgiveness and packs a lot of power into a more traditional looking driver. You can have mishits off of the heel or the toe and it will still go straight and far. This club also seems to have the tendency to launch the ball at a high angle off of tee but it still provides significant roll.
If you’re interested in a new driver that looks more traditional than some of the more exotic drivers today, you can buy the PING G10 Men’s Driver for about $300 from Golf Galaxy.
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