First; the pressure of the moment and how well the players usually handle it especially with the short game. The touch you must have when the nerves are going is something that you have practiced. Tour players are shown in this light of fancy living and play. In reality the majority of them work hard everyday. They spend hours hitting the same shot over and over and well you get it. Tour players don’t just practice for a few minutes and then go play all day with their buddies. They learn how to make that touch shot when it will matter most. Touch comes natuarally for some but some have to earn it the old fashion way through hard work.

Second; it is US Open and that means four days of grinding it out on a hard course. Smart and patient and touch win this week. Look for a player that is experienced, straight solid ball stricker and excellent touch this week.

I like Luke Donald and Steve Stricker. They look like they have earned the right to Touch the trophy.

Ok so what did that have to do with Golf anyway you ask. Here is my answer: Life throws you into situations you just need to learn to Deal with IT!

I think back to rounds of golf when I hit what I thought was a great shot. Straight down the middle, high, center of club, trajectory, WOW my best one of the Day. You know the One. As the ball flies and I bask in the glory of it and begin to smile it lands, Jumps dead right, bounces again and rolls under the lip of the fairway bunker. WHAT JUST HAPPENED!

Well I am sure that is not what I said or how I said it but if you have played golf this has happened to you. Now, I know it goes the other way and you get the great break but you do not have to Deal with That it dealt with it for you by getting the break.

Back to the bounce under the bunker. You are there now DEAL WITH IT !!! The goal in life or golf is what you do next. You have choices. I like to tell my students that this is your chance. What an opportunity!! Get prepared to really show them how good you are. Asses the situation and come up with this script. I hit a great shot now let’s figure out how to hit the next great shot. There is nothing you can do about the bounce you received just how you handle it. Be positive and go hit another great shot. Get the lowest score possible and forget the rest.
Golf and Life are not always fair. Golf and Life do not always turn out how you planned. The nice thing is you can work hard and succeed in both. Stay Positive in your outlook, do what you do Daily and improve, and when the ball bounces you into a tough position show the world you are ready and perform great. The trip turned out great and even the adults had a blast, oh that ball that bounced under the lip of the bunker – Well you can finish that however you like.

I hope this little tip will help you Play Better Golf and Have a Better Day!

Jay Reid
Jay Reid School of Golf

Typical instruction for the set-up of the shot is to place weight in the left side ( foot closest to green ) with the handle forward of the club head and ball position back or behind center.

Now for the left knee. If you take the left knee and bow it out toward to green. You will have a keep your weight to the left helping to eliminate a flip of the hands and the skull shot (thin shot). You can also bow the knees out at set-up. This just helps eliminate the lower body movement.

Have fun practicing this and I hope it helps you PLAY BETTER GOLF.

Jay Reid

I really wish I could have been at the summit this year but I could not. I will gather my information through the social media outlets of twitter, facebook, youtube and linkin.

This year I am looking for and will be interested to hear the discussion on D-Plane. D-Plane I think and I will continue to research is a challenge to the old school of Ball Flight Laws. It will be interesting to hear the twitter about this and see if there is going to be a shift or if the Old school of thought will win. My opinion in the future.

Aimpoint will also be discussed. Aimpoint is a putting theory that has a really good following and lots of great information. This will help a number of professionals become better teachers and players to become better putters. I think a couple of guest post or copies of post (with permission) will be needed here.

The new equipment will also be on display and I will send out a couple of reviews.

The PGA SHOW starts the year of golf. Warm weather gets us interested in playing and the Masters is the beginning of the season. I know it is early but I am looking at a great Sunday afternoon at Augusta where the true number one will appear.

May 2011 be a great year of golf for you and I look forward to helping you with your game.

Jay Reid

Watching tour players practice is way different than watching the range at the local course on a Saturday. Tour players always have someone line them up. They work at aiming every swing. They check the Alignment and ball position constantly. If it is that important to them with their caddies and coaches then there must be something to it.

Alignment controls it all, the total setup can change a persons swing and ball flight faster than anything else you can do in the swing. So my advice is simple. Never hit a ball without something on the ground that you know is aimed perfectly. Here is how I suggest you practice and play.

When you start your practice place a club on the ground aimed at the target. This is your target line. Now place a second club parallel to the first that you can use for your foot line. Your feet do not aim at the target they aim to the side of your target. You can remove the target line club and place it at a 90 degree angle to your foot line. This will become your ball position club to be sure that the ball position is good. Once you are set up using this new method be sure to look at your target to get a good view of what the target will look like when you play.

This should help you get more comfortable with better alignment. When you go play check your alignment from time to time by placing the club along your feet before you hit. I think you will be amazed at where you are aimed.

Work hard on the grip, posture, aim and ball position and your game will improve.

Let me know how I can help and I look forward to reading your comments.

Jay Reid
704-668-7343
Jayreid@windstream.net

I know that there are a lot of pictures out the showing Perfect Posture. I also know that there are some postures that do not match the picture that play on tour. The question becomes what is your perfect posture.

Posture is determined by the ability to anterior and posterior flex your hips, in my opinion. To check this get into your 5 iron posture. Place your hands on your hips you want to tuck you hinny under to create a flat back then stick your hinny up and out that will create a slight arc in the lower back. You will want to do this with a friend as it is fun to watch. If you have a fair amount of movement that is smooth in both directions, go for the magazine posture you can do it. If not let’s get you some excercises that will make it better and get you into a comfortable position.

Do not force your body into a position for any extended period of time as you will hurt something. If you need to work on your hips do that and while you play stay in a comfortable position to enjoy the game.

You can improve the hips and you should go to www.mytpi.com to get some excercises. No worries about the site it is free just like the information here.

Enjoy your time playing and I look forward to another post next week. If you have a topic leave me a comment. Please forward the blog along if you believe it would help someone.

I look forward to hearing about your rounds and Have Fun Playing Golf

Jay Reid
Owner
Jay Reid School of Golf
Jayreid@windstream.net

The comment that Tiger made was about the Quarter that he uses to mark his ball on the green. Tiger said it was a 1958 quarter one less than his lowedt round. He also said that he has a 1957 one waiting.

The belief is that he can shoot 58. TIger has always had a great game, the thing that gets forgotton is the mind and thought that he puts into the rounds. When Tiger won the US Open by so many I would be he had already thought about shooting that low. My belief is that if you would have had each player write the winning score Tiger would have won by a bunch anyway.

We all have goals or at least should. The question is are your goals easy to achieve, a slight stretch or something that is so far out there that only you can see it.

I read a statement about goals and vision that said True Leaders hit the bullseye of targets while others can not even see the target.

For 2011 set a goal you are the only one that can see it happen. Even if you miss think of where you will be.

Enjoy 2011 and may your goal and dreams become reality.

Good luck to Tiger as he goes after his new ball mark also.

Please comment and let me know if I can do anything for you.

Jay Reid
Jayreid@windstream.net

Living on the East Coast in North Carolina we get to play golf year round. There are times when we get cold weather and snow that limits this and forces us to take time off. No matter your reason for taking some time off when you get back to golf start at the beginning with the grip.

I am going to assume you are right handed for the remainder of the post. When placing your hans on the club always hold the club in the right hand on the shaft. This will allow you room to place the left hand on the grip. The club will rest along the base of the left hand just above the fingers. The heel pad of the hand will be above the shaft and the left thumb will rest just to the right side of the grip. You should be able to lift the club now using just your left hand.

Your right hand will sit above the left so the left thumb is beneath the right thumbpad. Your right hand will be in the fingers. You might be able to see the fingernails of the right hand.

Be sure that as you are gripping the club you watch the clubface to be square. The amount of tension in the hands and arms should be enough that will allow you to use the club and write your name in the sky using the club as the imaginary pencil.

Hold the club correctly and many poor shots will be eliminated. Next time I will post about Posture.

Have Fun Playing and I look forward to seeing you on the links.

Jay Reid

So the question is: is golf all about Distance. I would say yes       and no.

Back when John Daly won the PGA Championship the game changed. I know there are a lot of people who would say Tiger changed the game and that is another post but John Daly changed the game. When he won the PGA he hit the Tee shot on target lines that no other player in the field saw. I mean he hit it over the trees and played angles that left him with a wedge while the other players hit 5 irons into the green (or so it seemed). John Daly Changed the game to turn it into a Distance and power game.

So yes the game of golf is about distance but there is so much more than that. I bet every person reading this article can list 5 players that hit it farther than they do and yet still lose. This is because the game is not about just distance  but all the skills with Pitching, Chipping and Putting the big three.

I have always encouraged the juniors and families I work with to play from a yardage of 10 times the kids age and when they break par move back. You must be able to see yourself shooting 32 before you can and it is easy to do once you have a few times. the distance does not matter as much as the score and the comfort of knowing this is an everyday score for you. Most players will shoot the same score no matter the distance.

So when it comes to your junior golfer or yourself go play from the shorter tees, learn some new skills and help yourself shoot a lower score.

Have fun playing and I look forward to seeing you on the Course.

Jay Reid

One of the things I have been noticing ready blogs recently is they are all talking about end of year review and analysis of 2010. So while in my opinion there have been a number of success this year each of you must choose what made you successful in 2010 and how you will go about making 2011 even better.

Here is my 2010 and what I look forward to in 2011.

First a Thank you to my good friends Jason Sutton and John Graham, two of the best when it comes to blogs and being passionate about the game of golf and learning. I would also have to place Zig Ziglar, Jim Rohn and John Maxwell as writers and speakers worth exploring for personal and business development. I can say a Thank you to Dana Rader and Mr. HC Bissell for challenging me to constantly read and improve. Mr. Woody Allen for being the consummate professional. Each of the students that I was so fortunate to teach this past year. I hope to constantly exceed expectations and be better the next time.

My Success in 2010:  I was able to introduce new players to the game. Teach and work with Club Champions, College Students, High School State Participants, USGA National Competition participants and many career low round success stories. I was able to lose 20 pounds. I read at least 12 books that gave new perspective and information that will continue to make me better. I completed the Titliest Performance Institute seminar and passed the test to become certified. I was nominated for PGA Carolinas Section of the year. I think I have also been voted both Best Dad of the year and Biggest Fun Sucker by my kids. I was also blessed to be married for another year to my bride Martha. This year I watched as my Dad retired to join Mom and enjoy the life of travel from one kids house to the other sharing family time and success in what was happening at that household. I also got to see my son Andrew turn 12 after being diagnosed with cancer at age 5. I played some golf, did some fishing, and spent time with the family and friends. All in All 2010 was a successful year for Jay.

What will 2011 bring. Well I do not know exactly. I do have a plan of reading books to improve myself. Staying current on industry news and ideas. I will continue to lose weight and exercise so that I can demonstrate the TPI exercises and skill test. I will write my blog and submit articles for publication. I will remain committed to spending time with family as it is the one thing you can never get back after it is gone. I would like to play more golf but since I phrased it that way I probably will not.

The one thing I know that I will do is MY BEST. While it may not be good enough all the time it will be the BEST I had that day, week, month and year.

I hope that 2011 finds each of you a very successful year in whatever your goal may be.

To Sara Brown, one of the newest LPGA TOUR PROFESSIONALS, I hope 2011 finds safe travel, fun golf and good breaks. Congratulations again to you and Derek on the success thus far.