Coaching Across all Steps of Mastery We are lucky to announce that we have 5 students who played their way through the Local Qualifying of the U.S. Open and are now headed to Sectional Qualifying.  Once through that stage, they'll be playing on the big stage at The Olympic Club in June.

Many people contact us and say what makes us different from other golf teachers or academies in town.  Here at our golf academy we like to coach across all levels of mastery.  That means that we work with students on (1) Understanding what they're doing and what they need to do to gain better ball control ... improved mechanics to better move the ball from Point A to Point B (2) Intentional Practice: we expect them to practice and work on their game in the same manner in which we did during the lesson ... this means using a drill, training aid, mirror, or supervised practice all in a focused state (3) Transfer Practice: this is practice that simulates play or better yet, it is practice that is more difficult than what is experienced during play ... this is the bridge between practice and play and is a big part of what scratchgolfer.org is all about (4) Play: we spend a fair amount of time with our students on the course coaching them through situations, measuring risk-reward, making sound decisions, managing themselves and their game. 

It's a process that has really developed some outstanding players here in our region but it does take dedication.  For those who are truly dedicated this sort of plan will help you excel.   Talk to someone in your area to see about taking on a similar approach.  And if you don't have the time needed then spend  more time working on steps 3 and 4 with a coach - you can get better simply by practicing in the Transfer mode and learning some helpful on-course tactics.

Enjoy,
Trent Wearner
scratchgolfer.org  -  The Premier Golf Improvement Community and Practice Resource Center
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A Bad Golf Shot is Like a Brick I heard a great answer last week from my friend, Dr. Rick Jensen, when asked about getting over bad golf shots.  His reply was something like the following:

Imagine that you play golf with a backpack on and a bad shot is like a brick.  You can decide to pick up that brick and put it in your backpack and carry that brick around with you or you can leave that brick right where that poor shot was hit.

Strive to finish your round with an empty backpack!

Trent Wearner
scratchgolfer.org  -  The Premier Golf Improvement Community and Practice Resource Center


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Flighting the Ball I was watching The Players Championship last night on the Golf Channel and I heard something that I thought was interesting.  The announcers were talking about club selection on the par 3 island green 17th hole at Sawgrass.  One of the announcers asked Nick Faldo when he played did he look at other players' club selection on that hole.  His answer was no but that he simply watched the players' trajectory who teed off before him and if that person's trajectory produced a sound result then he just tried to copy that trajectory.  If the person hit one that was hit high and came up short for instance, he would hit a lower trajectory. 

It's always great to hear how good players think about the game and that's why it's important to hang out with players who are better than you.

Play well,
Trent Wearner
scratchgolfer.org  -  THE PREMIER GOLF IMPROVEMENT COMMUNITY AND PRACTICE RESOURCE CENTER
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