February 2006

In Chapter 2 of ” How To Break 80…. And Shoot Like The Pros “, Jack starts teaching us about executing the golf swing/shot. He starts with the 3 Keys from Chapter 1 and uses those to get us some Rhythm. Then he ingeniously uses a towel to teach us about Timing. This is the drill that helped me get a more connected golf swing. I now am more compact and even though I swing easier, I hit the ball more solidly. I played a round today and every time I remembered to setup properly….tall and connected are my two thoughts, I hit quality golf shots. According to Jack’s teachings, I was wasting my 6′2″ frame and was playing like I was 5′10″. I blew several drives about 30 yards past my playing partner today and all he could say was ” Where’d you get that ? ” I told him about Jack’s ebook and all that I learned and he went home this afternoon to read this blog and follow along. I hope he waits about 2-3 weeks before he invests in the ebook, as I will have gotten enough out of his pocket to repay my investment !

Next it goes into Beginning The Swing and from there to Where And How Should I Hit The Golf Ball.

In the subhead, Aimming For Success, Jack gives you a plan to implement every time you get ready to hit a golf shot. Follow this plan and build a routine and you’ll be more likely to execute a quality golf shot. I mumbled my way thru my routine today and as it becomes more and more familiar, I won’t have to move my lips to remember !

I’m sure I looked and sounded funny to my playing partner today, but the beating I gave him didn’t leave him any room to make fun of my routine.

He also noticed that I’m hitting my hybrid irons like a Pro. I used the 22 degree from the fairway for a green in regulation on the second hole. 175 yards out, a little breeze and a 20 foot putt for birdie that I hit about 17 feet. I gotta get a new putter !

The 18 degree and the 14 degree are Par 5 killers. I either get ‘em home or I leave a short pitch shot. And if you give me a 10 - 30 yard pitch shot, I’ll get up and down for birdie about 5 of 10 times. 5 birdies and 5 pars in 10 times thru a series of par 5’s is good for the ol’ Handicap and the ol’ confidence.

My sand game was better than my friend had ever seen it, too. My new Eidolon wedges and my new swing ( thanks Jack ! ) got me 2 sandy’s today. I’d have gotten 1 other, but I gotta get that new putter !

Shotmaking is the next subhead and hitting a draw and a fade are dealt with thoroughly. I turned a couple of balls right to left today and my friend was amazed. He’d never seen me do anything but fade the ball. Several dead straight drives and a couple of draws with my hybrids were enough for him to ask me to write down the URL of this blog.

The photos Jack gives you to show you how to setup for a fade and a draw are very easy to understand. Just print out that page and take it to the range with you.

Again, that’s what makes an ebook the real deal. You can print out any one page or the whole ebook. Take each chapter to the range and work on it til you’ve got it. I did that a few days ago and a guy at the range asked what I kept looking at. I showed him what I was working on and he asked if he could have the pages/photos. I said sure, I can print more, so you might make a new friend while you’re making you’re game better.

Tomorrow, I’ll go over Chapter 3 which is all about the short game. You don’t want to miss it, so come back and learn a thing or two.

The first chapter of How To Break 80…And Shoot Like The Pros is called The Keys to Success. It starts out by helping you build a good foundation for your swing.

” When you see the Pros on television, do you ever see them falling back or forward after a swing ? “

Of course not, nor should you fall backward or forward. As I’m typing this, I have The Golf Channel Academy on in the background and Gary Player just intimated to the fact that even when he’s going after the shot hard, Tiger Woods never gets out of balance. You must get the foundation set properly or the building will not stand the test of time. Neither will your golf swing.

Then Jack takes us back to basics and starts with the grip. Let me say, as someone who plays with a lot of different people, in my business life, I see more bad grips than I see good grips. Jack reveals the secrets to having a good golf grip and then shows you a good grip from several different angles. He then explains it all very closely and in easy to understand terms. He also has a drill to check your grip pressure that is very ingenious, but I promised Jack that I wouldn’t reveal any secrets during this review, so I can’t tell you what his drill entails.

If you don’t have a better golf grip after you’ve read this chapter, it ain’t Jack’s fault.

Setup and posture come next along with a lot of photos from several angles. If you can convince a friend to look at these photos and compare them to your posture, you’ll be able to make any necessary adjustments that you need to make to improve your posture, which will improve your setup.

There’s also some drills here, too, to improve your posture and setup.

There are 4 KEYS and 3 Practice Drills, along with a LOT of photos.

These 4 Keys and 3 Practice Drills are approximately 10 ( plus or minus ) pages long and will take you several trips to the range to go thru all of them.

Here’s a tip, after you invest in this ebook, and you should, print out 1 Practice Drill at a time and take just that part of the ebook with you to the range.

You and I know you can’t take a book to the range and keep it open to the right page, but if you only print 1 or 2 pages at a time, not only can you conveniently take it with you, but it will make it easier to focus on that one drill and make it easy to discover the secrets of that part of the golf swing.

That’s one of the reasons this ebook is the real deal. Being able to print just the pages you need, whenever you need them, over and over, makes an ebook a lot better than a paperback.

You can also print out 1 Key at a time and keep it with you during the day, rereading and reinforcing that Key. Most studies suggest that you need to read something about 7 times before your mind wraps around it.

I picked up on a ” trick ” Jack gave away on page 25. I discovered the difference between a turn and a sway ( or slide ). Just that one move has enabled me to bring my swing more from the inside, like it’s supposed to be, and I’m hitting the ball straighter and with more authority.

I can also turn the ball from right to left for the first time in my golfing life.

The first 3 photos on page 30 are a mirror image of my swing… NOW. I have a more compact, shorter, easier swing. I also am shooting in the mid to high 70’s, rather than low to mid 80’s with this new swing.

These new setup and swing drills have made me deadly with my hybrid clubs. I use 14 degree, 18 degree and a 22 degree hybrids. I hit them a lot straighter and higher than any 3 iron or 4 iron I’ve ever owned. The 14 degree is my secret weapon off the tee on tight fairways. I hit that dude about 225-250, depending on roll. I carry the 18 degree up to 215 and the 22 degree up to 190. I mostly hit them shorter than that, but at 6′2″ and 250, I can mash ‘em when I want to.

Tomorrow I’ll get into Chapter 2. For now, go check out the salespage for this ebook and look closely at the Bonuses. They’re worth the investment all by themselves.

I just became the proud owner of an ebook that bills it self as a guide to help me break 80 on a consistent basis. I already have a USGA Handicap of below 7, so I break 80 almost every time out. BUT, there are times I don’t and I want to eliminate those. There’s also some parts of my game that need a little shoring up, so I’m hoping that I can glean a few pointers and help you find some help for your golf swing problems as we go.

Personally, I’d have bought this ebook without the bonuses, but they made it a no-brainer for me. Maybe you’ll see something in there that will make it an easy buy for you too.

I’m already familiar with Mike Pedersen and if you’ve been around Travelling Golfer for any length of time, you are too. Look under Golf Fitness, in my Categories and you’ll find some of Mike’s fine work. His ” Fit To A Tee ” ebook is a welcome addition to every golfers library.

BTW - I’m printing out every one of these ebooks on my Canon inkjet printer, but you could take the files on a CD to one of your local printers and have them print them out and bind them for a very small charge.

It’s February 26th, as I start this review, so we still have time to positively affect our golf fitness in time for the start of the golf season. Don’t hesitate too long, or you won’t be ready to kick your buddies butts when the weather turns warm !

The ” Pro ” version of Jack’s Newsletter will be a welcome addition to my inbox everytime he sends it. I’m always looking for a tip or thought to take to the range or the golf course. Jack sells this for $89 per year to golf portals online, so my $37 purchase was a bargain, when you think of all I’m getting.

The ” 25 Lessons to Improve Your Game Immediately ” ebook might be as valuable as anything here and you’ll enjoy the tips I share when I get to that part of this review, in a few days.

The ” Secret Low-Handicapper ” series of articles is a great read and some of them are gonna reinforce some of the things I’ve been missing.

The best part of the package, for a 6′2″ 250 lb. golf geek like me is the software that Jack includes to help you track your Handicap and keep up with your stats . I’m gonna be able to quote a few ugly stats to my buddies every time we play. Like, ” You guys know I hit 87 % of the faiways, don’t you ? ” That ought to be worth a stroke or two in every time we play and I can use that to aggravate them.

So for now, I’m gonna go thru the package, step-by-step and chapter-by-chapter, bonuses included and you’ll be able to see if it’s something you want to go and buy. For me, it was an easy, no-brainer. All that golf info, a newsletter, software and several ebooks for just $37. I should be able to save that for me and my close friends just in ‘ not lost ‘ golf balls !

If you want to go read the salespage, or if, like me, this is a no-brainer for you, just CLICK HERE to go and visit Jack’s site. He has a blog, too, and I’ve added it to my Blog Roll.

The logo you see above this belongs to Ian Andrew and his new blog about being a golf course architect. It’s called The Caddy Shack.

I found this gem of a blog via my blog friend Robert Thompson’s Going For The Green, which has been on my Blog Roll for a long, long time.

BTW - Robert has something brewing over at GFTG, so you might want to keep an eye on him for a while.

I believe it will be shaking out in a few days, so it might be worth watching that blog.

As for Ian, I went over and read EVERY post he’d put up and was hooked. I love golf courses and usually end up cursing the architect who made them, so it will be fun to see what goes thru their teeny,little brains as they mangle an otherwise fine piece of ground into 7200 yards of terror.

There’s a few problems over there, so just to get you ready and to help Ian figure out blogging, I’ll let you in on them.

1) He’s on blogger. Bigger problem than he could ever imagine. Just as soon as he figures out that he has severly limited his growth as a blogger, it’ll be too late.

2) He has no RSS feed yet, so I can’t add him into my feed reader and get updated everytime he posts.

3) There’s no way to contact him and tell him about any of this.

Even though he’s got some learning to do, he’s a great writer, as you would imagine a freind of Robert’s to be, so we’ll cut him some slack and check back on his progress and hope he finds someone to build him a Word Press blog and host it for him.

In case he wants to find somebody to do just that, HERE’S A LINK that will get him some help.

EDIT : I just found Ian’s email and have sent him a Wecome To The Blogosphere.

I forget about those horrible ‘blogger things’ having a Bio page.

Herbert Warren Wind’s Golf Book is an awesome collection of magazine articles and excerpts compiled from The New Yorker Magazine, Sports Illustrated, Holiday, Golf, Golf Digest and a few other sources. It was first published in 1948 and most recently reprinted in 2004. This book, I believe, is made up of Wind’s most unforgettable works from 1941-71. The book includes articles such as ” North to the Links of Dornach “, ” The 1964 United States Open: The Third Man “, and ” Some Thoughts on Golf Course Architecture “.

His legacy as a world class golf writer lives on. Classics of Golf publishes and keeps in print the finest literature and history of golf. Classics of Golf, faithfully publishes a cost effective, attractive library of sixty-five volumes of the works of Herbert Warren Wind, Bernard Darwin and other significant authors.

Click here to check out their site.

As a former resident of the state of Florida, I still have a few friends down there and most of them are in and around Orlando.

I also still get florida golf info in my email inbox and today’s email brought word that Eagle Creek would be hosting the 2007 Florida Public Links Championship.

That’s mighty high praise for a course as new as Eagle Creek.

Some of it’s other accomplishments are :

” Top 10 New Florida Courses Of The Decade ” by Travel & Leisure Magazine…

One of six courses in Orlando to achieve “4-star” status by Travel & Leisure…

Grill Room named among the “Top 10 19th Holes” by Orlando Magazine…

Selected to host the Buick Scramble National Finals…

Named host site of the Golf Channel’s Mutual of Omaha Drive, Chip & Putt Junior Challenge…

Click here and visit their website and if you’re nearby, play a round and let us know how it was.

Here’s something you don’t see everyday…a golf mystery book.

I’ve seen golf books about the swing, your golfing mind, putting, fitness, etc. But I’ve never seen a mystery golf book.

I’m gonna run over to Amazon and order this dude right now and I’ll give you a link so you can do it, too.

Click HERE for the authors site…

Just in case you’re gonna be anywhere near Myrtle Beach, S.C. on April 7th & 8th, 2006, I’ve dug up the info on an event you absolutely not miss.

From their website :

” On Friday, April 7th, Myrtle Beach, SC, the “golf capital of the world,” kicks off the spring golf season with the 3rd Annual Golfapalooza, a weekend celebration of golf. We’ll be joined by our friends from Golf Digest, Golf World and Golf for Women, along with many of the leading golf equipment companies. “

From their website :

” Right on the heels of Golfapalooza, comes one of America’s premier Celebrity-Pro-Am golf events. On Monday April 10th, come on out and follow your favorite pro’s and celebrities at Monday After the Masters, one of America’s premier Celebrity-Pro-Am golf events, hosted by the Grammy Award-winning rock group, Hootie and the Blowfish. “

In years past, you would have seen Tiger Woods, John Daly, Samuel L. Jackson, Dan Marino, Michael Waltrip, Peter Jacobson, and others. Word on the street is that The King, Arnold Palmer, is planning on being there this year, so don’t miss it !

On Monday evening, Hootie and friends will gather at House of Blues for a concert that will rock the house! For more details visit www.hootiegolf.com.

If you see my buddy Gary McCord, tell him Mike said ” Hey ! ”

Even today, 68 years after bursting onto the national scene, Sam Snead remains the standard. He was the winner of seven major championships, a seven-time member of the U.S. Ryder Cup team, and an original member of the World Golf Hall of Fame.

Until today, though, few people could truly say that they knew Sam. Al Barkow, veteran golf reporter and recipient of the 2005 PGA Lifetime Achievement Award in Journalism, has written the definitive biography of one of the greatest golfers of all time.

Sam: The One and Only Sam Snead is not only a peek behind the mask, but an arresting look into the life of one of the game’s most engaging yet enigmatic figures.

“…it’s a story of Sam he would never tell himself, but one that needs to be told. It will enrich the memory of him for those who knew him and saw him play and give him a presence he deserves.” — Jack Burke Jr.

Here’s a reason to visit your local golf supply store today. Get your ticket to view the biggest beast since Kong was captured and brought to New York !

The biggest footprint in golf has come out of hiding. Glimpses of yellow have begun appearing on the PGA Tour — yellow tracks belonging to the new Nike SasQuatch (SQ) 460 Driver, with its visually distinctive head design and yellow sole design. The SasQuatch sightings have occurred in the last month as a number of Nike Golf’s Tour Staff, including Stewart Cink, K.J. Choi, Rory Sabbatini, Paul Gow, Carl Pettersson, John Cook, Franklin Langham and Stephen Ames, have recently tested and highly praised the SQ Tour 460 version of the new driver on the PGA Tour.

It’s Unique. It’s Powerful. It’s Dangerous. It’s New Geometry. And it’s the only adjustment you need. Nike Golf’s club wizard Tom Stites has designed the ideal ratio between the width of the clubface and the depth of the club head. The SasQuatch geometry pushes the breadth-to-face length ratio up, resulting in a larger, more forgiving sweet spot.

Through the power of geometry and Max Back Center of Gravity (CG) technology, Nike Golf has been able to achieve a lower, deeper CG without the use of weights. With its CG set back, low and deep, the SasQuatch is a highly engineered, streamlined instrument of size, power and forgiveness. By way of Max Back CG, geometry teams up with physics to create three advantages:

* Forgiveness - increases the club head’s Moment of Inertia (MOI) or resistance to twisting during off-center hits

* Distance - Wider, taller sweet spot

* Accuracy - moving the CG farther back makes the clubface easier to square for straighter drives.

All of the benefits from the Max Back add up to a higher launch angle, low spin and longer distance.

Nike Golf has the Powerbow technology, which provides the visual cue of the Max Back CG’s radical geometry. Placed on the back of the driver, the Powerbow technology expands the perimeter of performance making it easier to get the ball up and hit it straight. The Powerbow adds a trailing volume of mass to apply more power and control to the ball without overstepping the 460 cc legal limit. The radical design of the Powerbow, makes the SasQuatch Driver look unlike any driver on the market because there is no driver like it on the market.

To get a hotter response and greater consistency, the SasQuatch has a face of layered yet tightly compressed titanium called NexTi, developed exclusively for Nike Golf. Available only in Nike Golf drivers, NexTi brings a revolution of control to the chaotic world of titanium structure. The NexTi titanium face is thinner, stronger and lighter than conventional titanium.

Availability :

SasQuatch 460

Lofts: 8.5° (X/S); 9.5° (X/S/R/A); 10.5° (X/S/R/A);
Lucky 13° (X/S/R/A);
Sweet 16° (S/R/A)
LH: 9.5° (X/S/R/A); 10.5° (X/S/R/A); Lucky 13°
(X/S/R/A)
Womens: 10.5° (W); Lucky 13° (W), Sweet 16° (W)

SRP
$359

SasQuatch Tour 460

The SasQuatch Tour 460 has a taller face height with less breadth than the SasQuatch 460. This unique profile delivers a more boring trajectory and the increased workability desired by better players. The SQ Tour utilizes the tour-proven, distance-enhancing NexTi, the hottest and strongest titanium that Nike Golf has created. Combining NexTi material with the SasQuatch Geometry provides a powerful blend of distance and accuracy.

Lofts: 8.5° (X/S); 9.5° (X/S/R); 10.5° (X/S/R)
LH: 9.5° (X/S/R)

SRP
$419