Archive for November, 2011


What is the Most Pressure Filled Week in Sports?

Wednesday, November 30th, 2011

This is the toughest time of year for a lot of golfers that have the dream to play on the LPGA or PGA tour.  This week is the final stage of qualifying to reach the goal that many of these players have had their entire life.  It is also a week that many players who lost their tour cards are trying to regain their card or improve their status so they can play in more tournaments.  It is hard to believe David Duval, Rich Beem, and Lee Janzen are all major championship winners and they are playing this week.   It is hard to believe it all comes down to one week.

I have three players at the LPGA qualifier and two are there for the first time.  Having experienced the qualifying school myself I know exactly what they are going through.  As I try to prepare these players for the week I emphasize to them that all the hard work is done before you get to the tournament and now it is time to have fun and enjoy the week.  They have to control the things they can control and worrying about results is not one of them.  It is important to stay in the moment the entire week, it is important to go through your routine on every shot and it is important to keep your emotions in check.  Everyone will be nervous and if the golfers can just find a way to enjoy being there and realize they have done all they can by preparing ahead of time for this week and now they need to treat this week as the party.  Easier said than done.

The good news about this week as most of the players will leave with some status whether it is on the LPGA or PGA tour or a mini tour most of them will be playing somewhere next year.  For the young players that are there for the first time, I tell them to go into the qualifying school with no expectations and to play golf like they are playing with their friends at home.  This will give them a much better chance of playing well and they will learn a lot as they go through the week.  Whether they make it or not it will definitely be easier the next time they have to go to qualifying week.

I also feel for the young players that it is not a bad thing if they do not qualify.  They can learn so much on the mini tours.  Playing professional golf is a lot different than amateur golf or college golf.  The golfer will now have to make all their own travel arrangements, learn about new golf courses, learn to play for money, and manage their schedule weekly.  Managing your schedule can sometimes be tricky.  You now have a full day without anything scheduled.  However, to make it as a professional golfer you have to workout, practice, practice rounds, pro-ams, laundry, travel days, clinics plus much more and this can be overwhelming when you are new to this lifestyle.  So as glamourous as the tour life looks it is only glamourous for the top money winners and it takes a lot of hard work to reach that level.

So I encourage the players to enjoy the week and I wish everyone the best of luck.  I encourage the fans that are looking at the final rounds on television to remember how much pressure is on these golfers (as they miss short putts, hit bad approach shots and just hit shots they would not normally hit) and what an amazing accomplishment it is for them to just make it to the finals.  Some will make it, most will not and the sun will still shine tomorrow and they will continue to work hard to reach their dreams.  I especially want to wish Kandi Comer Golf students Whitney, Leah and Riki the best of luck this week and to remind them to enjoy the week.

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Golf Should be Fun for Kids

Saturday, November 12th, 2011

I spent a couple hours at an after school program that I am teaching this winter at an elementary school and it warmed my heart to see so many kids having fun playing golf.  It is always my goal as a PGA golf professional to introduce the sport to new golfers and I have chosen to go into the school systems this fall and winter.  The youngest kid was 4 and the oldest was a 6th grader.  We divided the kids into two groups; pre-k through 2nd grade and 3rd grade through 6th grade and they were each taught in a 45 minute session.

I can promise you these two 45 minute sessions made me smile and laugh and have a great time with some wonderful kids that just wanted to have fun playing golf.  We warmed up by doing some stretching, running, sit-ups, throwing a ball and basically working on coordination and running off some energy.  Then we worked on chipping and putting and the focus on each shot was the grip and posture.  We never put an emphasis on anything else.  We threw a couple targets out there and told the kids to try to hit the targets.  It is so fun to see their natural strokes and how they can get the ball to the targets.  Most of all they were not overloaded with too many thoughts, so they were still having fun just hitting the ball.

The important thing to remember is that we were in a gym and we were using SNAG golf equipment.  This means we were using plastic oversize clubs, tennis balls and large targets and it was easy for the kids to swing the clubs and make contact with the tennis ball so they were getting instant results which equals fun and a sense of accomplishment.  I feel it is so important when teaching young kids the game of golf that we do not overload them with the mechanics because they will get bored and that is the end of golf for them.

It is important to keep the kids moving and to also work on developing the motion through other activities so as they get older they will have the foundation to swing the real clubs and not get frustrated.  So we might swing a baseball bat and hit some balls off a tee to just start feeling the motion and again the kids think this is FUN.  Then we end the session for the younger kids by playing duck, duck goose and one kid comes up to me at the end and tells me about a new game and wants to know if we can play his game next week.  So the answer is yes and now the kids cannot wait until next week.

The name of the game is to get them to love the game and to keep coming back.  Next week I will learn the game of Octopus and let the fun keep happening.

For more information and ideas please do not hesitate to contact me at Kandi Comer Golf located in Charlottesville, Virginia. You can email me at kandi@kandicomergolf.com or reach me by phone at 434-817-0500.

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Are You Practicing Correctly to Improve?

Tuesday, November 8th, 2011

How many times do we hear, “I can hit the shots when I practice, but I cannot do it on the golf course?”  I always have students that tell me they practice their golf game a lot, yet they never seem to improve.  I always end my lessons by giving my students suggestions on how to get the most out of their practice sessions.  I feel proper practice habits are very important for the golfer to improve after a lesson, and then take what they’ve practiced to the course.

There are a couple ways to practice and I believe we need balance in our practice sessions to see results.  The first type of practice is called block practice. Block practice is used most often just after you have taken a lesson.  This is where you have a pile of balls and you are working on making changes in your swing or with your short game.  You hit each ball focused on the changes you are trying to make.  This is also the time you are working on the drills you received from your instructor during your lesson.

The second type of practice is random practice. Random practice is when you hit different clubs to different targets with your focus on target and not technique. It is important to have good fundamentals throughout your golf game, but you also have to be able to transfer the changes to the golf course.  I encourage golfers to go through their routine on every shot during the random part of their practice session.  It is important to treat these shots as if you were playing on the golf course.  I even encourage the golfer to play some holes on the range hitting the clubs they would normally hit on each hole.  Make each shot mean something. For example, “This shot is to win the club championship”, or “This putt is to beat my lowest score”.  This will allow you to be more comfortable when you are actually playing golf on the course.

It is also important to practice all aspects of your game.  You need to focus on your full swing, chipping, pitching, bunker shots and putting.  There are too many golfers that just go to the range and hit balls.  During their range time they are just rapid firing balls instead of having a plan for their practice.

So the next time you go to practice try these steps:
1.  Write out a plan before you leave for the course and stick to your plan.  Your plan should include a couple different areas of practice (full swing and short game).
2.  Include some block practice and end with random practice.
3.  Play a few holes on the range before you leave.
4.  Make notes on your practice session before you leave.  For example, What you were working on and the results you were seeing.  What were you feeling?  etc.

I hope these practice suggestions will help you lower your scores.  For more tips and information please feel free to visit our web site at http://www.kandicomergolf.com or come visit us at Kandi Comer Golf located near Charlottesville, Virginia.

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