I have to admit, I am very spoiled when it comes to golf and the weather I have chosen to work in and around all my career. Personally, I detest cold weather: playing in it and teaching in it STINKS. Therefore, I have always lived and worked during the winters in Florida or Southern California and the weather is always conducive to improving your golf game no matter what month of the year it is. After doing this for the past 15 years or so, it hit me that not everyone plays golf in the winter on green grass and in short sleeves!

As I type this article I am on vacation in Vail, Colo., where we used to spend our summers. It is 38 degrees outside and snowing and it dawned on me that I have become too soft. I remember as a kid growing up in Memphis and playing golf all winter long. The best time was when the lakes froze over and I wouldn’t have to worry about hitting the ball into the water whatsoever: it would just bounce to the other side. Sometimes, I could even gingerly step out and hit it back to the land without a penalty. This is what most of you deal with on a yearly basis. Therefore, I wanted to help you get your “summer game” back as soon as possible.

There are four things that you must focus on to get your game back that I want you to remember for this season (in no particular order):

• Physical Fitness
• Long Game
• Short Game
• Equipment and Set Makeup

Physical Fitness

Now I know what you are thinking. I’m not asking you to spend an hour per day in the gym after doing nothing all winter long, but I am asking you to work on a few things you might have neglected that will really improve your golf.

• Stretching: Please take the time to get on some type of stretching program that will “remind” your muscles as to what they should do to hit golf balls again. You can find sources like www.mytpi.com or google “golf stretching programs” in efforts to find a program that will help break the rust off of your physical movement.
• Swing a Heavy Club: Now, I did not say swing all out or see how fast you can move a 10-pound driver. The goal here is to swing it SLOWLY and fully a few times a day. We are trying to loosen up and stretch your golf muscles a little bit at a time. At NO time do I want you to swing fast with a weighted club. Just loosen up.
• Treadmill: Because golf is a walking game and relies on ground reaction forces during the golf swing, I would suggest walking on a treadmill a few times a week and gently working up and down inclines through various programs on the machine itself. We are not going for a new land-speed record while doing this; we are trying to strengthen your legs and improve your endurance. There is nothing worse than playing on “tired legs.”

Long Game

Everyone wants to know how to get your long game back when you begin again, but sadly most go about it incorrectly.

• Ask your teaching professional to provide you with a photo of the correct setup he’d like you to emulate from the front and down-the-line views. Practice this for a few minutes nightly so you can “remember” what you should feel at address.
• Ask your teaching professional to provide you with a photo of the correct grip that he’d like you to utilize. Practice this on your chair while watching TV. This will remind your hands to do the right thing when you hold on to the club.
• Next, go to the practice range or an open field and work on the following drill to re-learn “connection.” Hit balls 30-to-60 yards with a towel under your armpits with the feeling of everything working together. You want hit the ball solid, flat and in a consistent direction in regard to the ball’s curvature. It’s here that you will discover how the body, hands and the club works together.
• Finally, when you can hit the ball solid again and have an idea of where it is going (it shouldn’t take too long), it’s time to to take a lesson! Seeing your teaching professional after working on your setup, grip and connection will allow them to fine tune your plane, transition and face-to-path relationship at impact so you can hit the ball effectively once again.

Short Game

Your short game should be broken down into two parts: regaining feel with your pitch shots and then putting. The other parts of your short game will come back quickly, but I don’t want you to waste your time working on things that will repair themselves like chipping from a few feet off the green.

• I would suggest finding grass that will perch your ball up so you can focus on hitting the ball solid first. Just hit a few pitches from about 20 feet to 80 feet. Your goal is to hit those shots solid and in the direction you want.
• Once you can hit the ball solid, the next phase is to see if you can land your ball in a hula-hoop-size area that will encourage your ball to finish next the pin.
• After hitting these simple half-in-the-air, half-on-the-ground pitch shots, the next phase it to back up and work these shots from slightly longer distances and repeat.
• Next, work on your putting, however, do not work on short putts! I only want you to focus on long lag putts, big breaking putts and super-fast putts from across the green. It’s here that you will regain your lost feel from not playing in the winter.
• After you can lag these three types of putts, then it’s time to take a short game lesson!

Now that you have honed in solid contact and feel, now you can work on your mechanics and short putts after you have had a refresher lesson.

Set Makeup and Equipment

Are your grips slick? Are your wedges worn? Do you have a gap in your iron yardages? Are you missing a club or hybrid that you need?

These are just a few of the things that I suggest you fix before your first real summer round. These are things that you can easily be amended if you take a few moments to inspect your set and see a club fitter.

Don’t think you are good enough to make due without a certain club or gap in your yardages? The pros don’t, so why should you?