Opinion & Analysis

5 things I wish I could tell every good new golfer

Published

2 years ago

Jul 18, 2022

I’m only 33, but in golf years I’m over the hill. That sounds like bad news, but I’m enjoying it.

As much as I miss the tournaments of my junior and college golf days, I’m loving the social golf I get to play with people my age who are newer to the game. I’m endlessly impressed at how good many of them have gotten in a very short period of time!

It reminds me of when I got into golf in middle school. It seemed like I was noticeably better with every month that went by. I was so excited about how good I could get, but as any good golfer knows, the better you get the harder it is to get better.

Over the course of any round, there are only so many opportunities to offer anything more than pleasantries to your struggling playing partners (at least without being that guy). But I’ve found a few things I’ve offered have consistently resonated.

Before I move into the list, here’s a disclaimer. I’m not an instructor; I’m not a mental coach; I don’t pretend to be. That’s serious work that demands serious study.

But…I do think there’s plenty of room for us over-the-hill golfers to share some of things we learned from our coaches and from our golf experiences that can help fast-improving newbies enjoy their journey and make the most of their time on the course.

Please share your best tips in the comments!

#1: Breaking 80 Is A Big Deal

Breaking 80 is a benchmark for a lot of golfers. That’s a shame because it’s really hard to do.

Look down the leaderboard in many PGA Tour events, and you’re going to find somebody who shot in the 80s. These are guys who can flirt with 59, and they still shoot in the 80s occasionally.

So, if your low round is 75 and you feel like you need to break 80 to “play well,” you’re going to be disappointed after almost every round. That’s a bad deal for a 5-hour investment of your time.

Think of it this way. If you shoot 80, you probably made at least 9 pars. That means you played high-quality golf at least 50 percent of the time!

#2: Remember Your Highlight Reel

When you watch a PGA Tour event on TV, you’re going to see mostly great shots because the coverage is focused on the players that are having one of the best weeks of their season. When you do see a bad shot, it’s either a blip or a shot that was so bad it was newsworthy.

After your round, take some time to remember your highlight reel. Don’t skip over the big drive you hit, the iron shot you stuck close, or your awesome up-and-down.

And don’t stop there. Ask yourself, “What was different on that shot?” You might get a quick answer. That’s great. If not, let it simmer. It will come to you.

The trick is figuring out what worked on those special shots so you can do it again. You need a top-3 or top-5 list of your own favorite tips that you can tap into when things go south (and they will).

#3: Take Range Sessions With A Grain Of Salt

It’s easy to live and die with your last range session. But as you know by now, a good range session does not guarantee a good round, and vice versa.

The range is a place for three things:

Getting your body ready for golf
Settling on a shot shape and/or swing thought for the day
Working on something new

Nos. 1 and 2 are acceptable before a round. No. 3 is best served for after the round or a standalone range session.

The golf course is going to expose the flaws in your game. Period. Embrace all the feedback from all 18 holes. Know that it’s going to make you better. And if you can, take that feedback to your next practice session where you can do something with it.

If you’re expecting a range session before a round to “fix” anything, you’re in for a long day.

Yes, you’re going to be lost from time to time, and that’s OK. Remember what you learned from your highlight reel and use those thoughts to get you through tough times. Those thoughts worked before, so they can work again.

Just don’t rely on anything new to work right away on the course like it does on the range. It does happen, but not often.

#4: Hit All The Shots

So many golfers I play with can only move the ball one direction. They fade, but they don’t draw. They draw, but they don’t fade. You can score that way, but you’ll only see improvement up to a certain point…especially if you’re a fader.

If you’re a fader, you absolutely need to learn how to draw the ball. If you’re a drawer, you need to learn how to fade the ball.

Lessons can help here, but if you’re averse, use your range sessions to experiment. Most golfers have played ping pong or tennis. They can curve the ball without any trouble. So why not golf? I think it comes down to the fact that it’s more acceptable to lose a point in ping pong or tennis than it is to make a triple bogey.

When you’re learning how to shape the ball, start BIG. Hit a 50-yard hook or slice. Try to hit five hooks in a row without double-crossing one. Once you’ve got that down, try alternating hooks and slices…and eventually baby draws and baby fades.

Over time, you’ll understand how to hit these shots without thinking too much about them, and you’re going to need them if you want to break par someday.

Know that you’re not going to screw up your swing learning new shots. If anything, your swing is going to get better because it’s going to have to get more neutral to curve it both ways.

#5 Stop Keeping Score (For A Time)

When I was playing a lot of tournament golf in the 2000s, Dr. Bob Rotella was the mental game guru and he preached “one shot at a time” and “adding up the score at the end.” That’s incredible advice, but if you’re finding it hard to do it might be simpler to just stop keeping score entirely.

As an over-the-hill golfer, I’m never going to be as good as I once was. But I can be as good once as I ever was. That’s from a Toby Keith song, but it applies to golf.

All great golfers plan every shot they hit before they hit it. And then they try to execute that shot exactly the way they planned. Few shots are going to be perfect, but if you don’t know what shot you’re trying to hit you’re almost certainly not going to be able to hit it.

The course is the best place to learn what works, but to learn we have to experiment. That’s why I like skipping the scorecard… at least for a round or two.

Without the pressure of the pencil, you’ll be free to try things you might not have tried before. Like hitting a three-quarter 9 iron instead of muscling a wedge. Or taking a more direct line on a dogleg that could be risky but could pay off if you’re swinging well.

A Final Thought For Every Golfer

Whether you’re new or have been playing golf a long time, it’s easy to get caught up in birdies and bogeys. But as we all know, the scorecard can lie. After all, how many times have you hit two great shots… and made a double. Or two bad shots… and made a birdie.

It’s fairer to ourselves to think of golf as a game of great shots, acceptable shots, and misfires. If you can approach each shot as its own individual challenge, then you’ll know when you did your best and when you didn’t.

Take what you can from the good ones and the bad ones. And if you do this only half the time during each round, you’ll be amazed at how consistent your scores can become, and you’ll probably shoot a few super-low rounds, too.

And more importantly, you’ll probably enjoy the game more.

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19th Hole

Vincenzi’s LIV Golf Singapore betting preview: Course specialist ready to thrive once again

Published

5 days ago

Apr 30, 2024

Matt Vincenzi

After another strong showing in Australia, LIV Golf will head to Sentosa Golf Club in Singapore looking to build off of what was undoubtedly their best event to date.

Sentosa Golf Club sits on the southern tip of Singapore and is one of the most beautiful courses in the world. The course is more than just incredible scenically; it was also rated 55th in Golf Digest’s top-100 courses in 2022-2023 and has been consistently regarded as one of the best courses in Asia. Prior to being part of the LIV rotation, the course hosted the Singapore Open every year since 2005.

Sentosa Golf Club is a par 71 measuring 7,406 yards. The course will require precise ball striking and some length off the tee. It’s possible to go low due to the pristine conditions, but there are also plenty of hazards and difficult spots on the course that can bring double bogey into play in a hurry. The Bermudagrass greens are perfectly manicured, and the course has spent millions on the sub-air system to keep the greens rolling fast. I spoke to Asian Tour player, Travis Smyth, who described the greens as “the best [he’s] ever played.”

Davis Love III, who competed in a Singapore Open in 2019, also gushed over the condition of the golf course.

“I love the greens. They are fabulous,” the 21-time PGA Tour winner said.

Love III also spoke about other aspects of the golf course.

“The greens are great; the fairways are perfect. It is a wonderful course, and it’s tricky off the tee.”

“It’s a long golf course, and you get some long iron shots. It takes somebody hitting it great to hit every green even though they are big.”

As Love III said, the course can be difficult off the tee due to the length of the course and the trouble looming around every corner. It will take a terrific ball striking week to win at Sentosa Golf Club.

In his pre-tournament press conference last season, Phil Mickelson echoed many of the same sentiments.

“To play Sentosa effectively, you’re going to have a lot of shots from 160 to 210, a lot of full 6-, 7-, 8-iron shots, and you need to hit those really well and you need to drive the ball well.”

Golfers who excel from tee to green and can dial in their longer irons will have a massive advantage this week.

Stat Leaders at LIV Golf Adelaide:

Fairways Hit

1.) Louis Oosthuizen

2.) Anirban Lahiri

3.) Jon Rahm

4.) Brendan Steele

5.) Cameron Tringale

Greens in Regulation

1.) Brooks Koepka

2.) Brendan Steele

3.) Dean Burmester

4.) Cameron Tringale

5.) Anirban Lahiri

Birdies Made

1.) Brendan Steele

2.) Dean Burmester

3.) Thomas Pieters

4.) Patrick Reed

5.) Carlos Ortiz

LIV Golf Individual Standings:

1.) Joaquin Niemann

2.) Jon Rahm

3.) Dean Burmester

4.) Louis Oosthuizen

5.) Abraham Ancer

LIV Golf Team Standings:

1.) Crushers

2.) Legion XIII

3.) Torque

4.) Stinger GC

5.) Ripper GC

LIV Golf Singapore Picks

Sergio Garcia +3000 (DraftKings)

Sergio Garcia is no stranger to Sentosa Golf Club. The Spaniard won the Singapore Open in 2018 by five strokes and lost in a playoff at LIV Singapore last year to scorching hot Talor Gooch. Looking at the course setup, it’s no surprise that a player like Sergio has played incredible golf here. He’s long off the tee and is one of the better long iron players in the world when he’s in form. Garcia is also statistically a much better putter on Bermudagrass than he is on other putting surfaces. He’s putt extremely well on Sentosa’s incredibly pure green complexes.

This season, Garcia has two runner-up finishes, both of them being playoff losses. Both El Camaleon and Doral are courses he’s had success at in his career. The Spaniard is a player who plays well at his tracks, and Sentosa is one of them. I believe Sergio will get himself in the mix this week. Hopefully the third time is a charm in Singapore.

Paul Casey +3300 (FanDuel)

Paul Casey is in the midst of one of his best seasons in the five years or so. The results recently have been up and down, but he’s shown that when he’s on a golf course that suits his game, he’s amongst the contenders.

This season, Casey has finishes of T5 (LIV Las Vegas), T2 (LIV Hong Kong), and a 6th at the Singapore Classic on the DP World Tour. At his best, the Englishman is one of the best long iron players in the world, which makes him a strong fit for Sentosa. Despite being in poor form last season, he was able to fire a Sunday 63, which shows he can low here at the course.

It’s been three years since Casey has won a tournament (Omega Dubai Desert Classic in 2021), but he’s been one of the top players on LIV this season and I think he can get it done at some point this season.

Mito Pereira +5000 (Bet365)

Since Mito Pereira’s unfortunate demise at the 2022 PGA Championship, he’s been extremely inconsistent. However, over the past few months, the Chilean has played well on the International Series as well as his most recent LIV start. Mito finished 8th at LIV Adelaide, which was his best LIV finish this season.

Last year, Pereira finished 5th at LIV Singapore, shooting fantastic rounds of 67-66-66. It makes sense why Mito would like Sentosa, as preeminent ball strikers tend to rise to the challenge of the golf course. He’s a great long iron player who is long and straight off the tee.

Mito has some experience playing in Asia and is one of the most talented players on LIV who’s yet to get in the winner’s circle. I have questions about whether or not he can come through once in contention, but if he gets there, I’m happy to roll the dice.

Andy Ogletree +15000 (DraftKings)

Andy Ogletree is a player I expected to have a strong 2024 but struggled early in his first full season on LIV. After failing to crack the top-25 in any LIV event this year, the former U.S. Amateur champion finally figured things out, finished in a tie for 3rd at LIV Adelaide.

Ogletree should be incredible comfortable playing in Singapore. He won the International Series Qatar last year and finished T3 at the International Series Singapore. The 26-year-old was arguably the best player on the Asian Tour in 2023 and has been fantastic in the continent over the past 18 months.

If Ogletree has indeed found form, he looks to be an amazing value at triple-digit odds.

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Opinion & Analysis

Ryan: Lessons from the worst golf instructor in America

Published

5 days ago

Apr 30, 2024

Brendan Ryan

In Tampa, there is a golf course that boasts carts that do not work, a water range, and a group of players none of which have any chance to break 80. The course is overseen by a staff of crusty men who have succeeded at nothing in life but ending up at the worst-run course in America. However, this place is no failure. With several other local courses going out of business — and boasting outstanding greens — the place is booked full.

While I came for the great greens, I stayed to watch our resident instructor; a poor-tempered, method teacher who caters to the hopeless. At first, it was simply hilarious. However, after months of listening and watching, something clicked. I realized I had a front-row seat to the worst golf instructor in America.

Here are some of my key takeaways.

Method Teacher

It is widely accepted that there are three types of golf instructors: system teachers, non-system teachers, and method teachers. Method teachers prescribe the same antidote for each student based on a preamble which teachers can learn in a couple day certification.

Method teaching allows anyone to be certified. This process caters to the lowest caliber instructor, creating the illusion of competency. This empowers these underqualified instructors with the moniker of “certified” to prey on the innocent and uninformed.

The Cult of Stack and Jilt

The Stack and Tilt website proudly boasts, “A golfer swings his hands inward in the backswing as opposed to straight back to 1) create power, similar to a field goal kicker moving his leg in an arc and 2) to promote a swing that is in-to-out, which produces a draw (and eliminates a slice).”

Now, let me tell you something, there is this law of the universe which says “energy can either be created or destroyed,” so either these guys are defying physics or they have no idea what they are taking about. Further, the idea that the first move of the backswing determines impact is conjecture with a splash of utter fantasy.

These are the pontifications of a method — a set of prescriptions applied to everyone with the hope of some success through the placebo effect. It is one thing for a naive student to believe, for a golf instructor to drink and then dispel this Kool-Aid is malpractice.

Fooled by Randomness

In flipping a coin, or even a March Madness bet, there is a 50-50 chance of success. In golf, especially for new players, results are asymmetric. Simply put: Anything can happen. The problem is that when bad instructors work with high handicappers, each and every shot gets its own diagnosis and prescription. Soon the student is overwhelmed.

Now here’s the sinister thing: The overwhelming information is by design. In this case, the coach is not trying to make you better, they are trying to make you reliant on them for information. A quasi Stockholm syndrome of codependency.

Practice

One of the most important scientists of the 20th century was Ivan Pavlov. As you might recall, he found that animals, including humans, could be conditioned into biological responses. In golf, the idea of practice has made millions of hackers salivate that they are one lesson or practice session from “the secret.”

Sunk Cost

The idea for the worst golf instructor is to create control and dependency so that clients ignore the sunk cost of not getting better. Instead, they are held hostage by the idea that they are one lesson or tip away from unlocking their potential.

Cliches

Cliches have the effect of terminating thoughts. However, they are the weapon of choice for this instructor. Add some hyperbole and students actually get no information. As a result, these players couldn’t play golf. When they did, they had no real scheme. With no idea what they are doing, they would descend into a spiral of no idea what to do, bad results, lower confidence, and running back to the lesson tee from more cliches.

The fact is that poor instruction is about conditioning players to become reliant members of your cult. To take away autonomy. To use practice as a form of control. To sell more golf lessons not by making people better but through the guise that without the teacher, the student can never reach their full potential. All under the umbrella of being “certified” (in a 2-day course!) and a melee of cliches.

This of course is not just happening at my muni but is a systemic problem around the country and around the world, the consequences of which are giving people a great reason to stop playing golf. But hey, at least it’s selling a lot of golf balls…

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19th Hole

Vincenzi’s 2024 Zurich Classic of New Orleans betting preview

Published

2 weeks ago

Apr 22, 2024

Matt Vincenzi

The PGA TOUR heads to New Orleans to play the 2023 Zurich Classic of New Orleans. In a welcome change from the usual stroke play, the Zurich Classic is a team event. On Thursday and Saturday, the teams play best ball, and on Friday and Sunday the teams play alternate shot.

TPC Louisiana is a par 72 that measures 7,425 yards. The course features some short par 4s and plenty of water and bunkers, which makes for a lot of exciting risk/reward scenarios for competitors. Pete Dye designed the course in 2004 specifically for the Zurich Classic, although the event didn’t make its debut until 2007 because of Hurricane Katrina.

Coming off of the Masters and a signature event in consecutive weeks, the field this week is a step down, and understandably so. Many of the world’s top players will be using this time to rest after a busy stretch.

However, there are some interesting teams this season with some stars making surprise appearances in the team event. Some notable teams include Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele, Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry, Collin Morikawa and Kurt Kitayama, Will Zalatoris and Sahith Theegala as well as a few Canadian teams, Nick Taylor and Adam Hadwin and Taylor Pendrith and Corey Conners.

Past Winners at TPC Louisiana

2023: Riley/Hardy (-30)
2022: Cantlay/Schauffele (-29)
2021: Leishman/Smith (-20)
2019: Palmer/Rahm (-26)
2018: Horschel/Piercy (-22)
2017: Blixt/Smith (-27)

2024 Zurich Classic of New Orleans Picks

Tom Hoge/Maverick McNealy +2500 (DraftKings)

Tom Hoge is coming off of a solid T18 finish at the RBC Heritage and finished T13 at last year’s Zurich Classic alongside Harris English.

This season, Hoge is having one of his best years on Tour in terms of Strokes Gained: Approach. In his last 24 rounds, the only player to top him on the category is Scottie Scheffler. Hoge has been solid on Pete Dye designs, ranking 28th in the field over his past 36 rounds.

McNealy is also having a solid season. He’s finished T6 at the Waste Management Phoenix Open and T9 at the PLAYERS Championship. He recently started working with world renowned swing coach, Butch Harmon, and its seemingly paid dividends in 2024.

Keith Mitchell/Joel Dahmen +4000 (DraftKings)

Keith Mitchell is having a fantastic season, finishing in the top-20 of five of his past seven starts on Tour. Most recently, Mitchell finished T14 at the Valero Texas Open and gained a whopping 6.0 strokes off the tee. He finished 6th at last year’s Zurich Classic.

Joel Dahmen is having a resurgent year and has been dialed in with his irons. He also has a T11 finish at the PLAYERS Championship at TPC Sawgrass which is another Pete Dye track. With Mitchell’s length and Dahmen’s ability to put it close with his short irons, the Mitchell/Dahmen combination will be dangerous this week.

Taylor Moore/Matt NeSmith +6500 (DraftKings)

Taylor Moore has quickly developed into one of the more consistent players on Tour. He’s finished in the top-20 in three of his past four starts, including a very impressive showing at The Masters, finishing T20. He’s also finished T4 at this event in consecutive seasons alongside Matt NeSmith.

NeSmith isn’t having a great 2024, but has seemed to elevate his game in this format. He finished T26 at Pete Dye’s TPC Sawgrass, which gives the 30-year-old something to build off of. NeSmith is also a great putter on Bermudagrass, which could help elevate Moore’s ball striking prowess.

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