The end of the year is always a good time to reflect on the things you have to be thankful for in your life. The end of December also happens to be my wedding anniversary so I am always thankful for my husband and the great relationship we have. Golf always has been and will always be a big part of our lives. To make a long story short, I met my husband Dan Jansen when he came to take a golf lesson from me when I worked at the David Leadbetter Golf Academy in Orlando, Florida back in 1996. You ...

The world’s No. 1 player has been absent from golf since the President’s Cup. Tiger Woods said in an interview last week that he hadn’t touched a club in two months. And like most of us, after taking a break from golf, Tiger said that when he did finally hit some balls that he hit it great. His exact words were “I hit it like a God, and then the next day like a 5-handicapper and the day after that like an 18-handicapper.” I am sure that Tiger will get back on track before the new year, but why is ...

The golf swing in its most simple form is really only a circle. The radius of that circle, back and through the swing is the left arm (in a right-handed swing.) Good players create a wide arc on the backswing and maintain the radius that they created at address throughout the swing. High-handicappers, on the other hand, in their attempt to create a wide arc usually over do it by over swinging and bending their left arm at the top of the swing, which is the opposite of what they should do. When a wide arc is established ...

For the beginner and probably for the majority of high-handicap golfers, the driver is the most difficult club in the bag to hit because it is the longest club and it has the least amount of loft. It will slice more often than not. Here are a few solutions to help you become a better driver. Solution #1 Learn the difference between hitting an iron and driver. When you hit an iron, the ball is placed in the middle of your stance, so your angle of attack will be down on the ball at impact. This steeper angle will help you get the ...

High-handicap golfers make the rough rougher than it really is. Some try to “help” the ball out with a sweeping motion, only to have the grass grab the clubface and close it, sending the shot low and left. Others hit down, on top of the ball with a karate-chop move that barely advances the ball forward. If this is your problem, here is some help: Just set up for a fade which will bring the clubface down on a steeper yet controlled outside-in path, thus producing cleaner contact and a soft-landing cut shot. And remember these three things: 1. Open clubface, ...

“Hit against a firm left side” is a classic piece of swing advice that many golfers misinterpret. They think it means that the left knee should be stiff and straight during the downswing- a mistake that forces tension into the leg, halts hip rotation, prevents proper weight shift to the left side, and destroys clubhead speed. At impact, either the left arm collapses (Fore left!) or the hands don’t release (Fore right!). Not pretty. Ernie Els had to miss the 2005 President’s Cup while recovering from surgery after tearing ligaments in his left knee while tubing in the Mediterranean on a ...

Just when the greens on your home course start getting fast and rolling smooth, it seems like the golf course superintendent purposely messes them up by punching and sanding them. Golf course maintenance can be frustrating for golfers. The other day, I played my home course with some friends and we had to endure bumpy, shaggy and sandy greens because they had just been aerated. Our greens, it seemed, had only just recovered from the spring aerification and now they were doing it again. Core aeration (also know as aerification, aerating or aerifying) is a maintenance practice that promotes ...

I have taught golf for more than 14 years now and it is funny to me, but according to some of my students, their most memorable lessons weren’t the ones where I spent hours pouring over video of their swings, trying to come up with the perfect swing analysis or practice program, but the ones where I gave them a simple swing image. I usually resort to corny swing images or clichés when I realize the person just doesn’t the gist of my instruction. “Pour the water of out the shaft,” I will say to help people understand how to ...

Albert Einstein once observed that, “Imagination is more important than knowledge.” The power of the mind in the game of golf is well-documented, but few players really tap into that power. In my next few blogs, I will present a few swing images that can help you learn the correct positions of the golf swing. Play these photos in your mind to help improve your game. Image for Posture For a solid base and athletic posture at address, imagine you are a swimmer in the set position waiting for the gun to go off to start your race. Let your arms hang naturally ...

A lot of my students ask me how to get backspin with their wedges. They see the pros hit short shots to greens that back up towards the pin and they want to do that too. High-handicappers usually have a misconception of how to get backspin with a wedge. They think that they need to get underneath the ball and scoop the shot. This is exactly the opposite of what you want to do. To get backspin you actually want to hit down. When you strike down on the ball, the ball rolls up the club face, the ball flies forward, ...

The tendency I see with a lot of my students is that the men are not flexible in their hips and shoulders, so they usually move off the ball in their backswing and come over the top on the downswing which is a huge power loss. My women students, on the other hand, sometimes are too flexible in their hips and shoulders and tend to over-rotate during their backswing which is also a power loss. To correct this, we spend time learning to separate what the upper body is doing from the lower body to create a coil effect. ...

Many people mistakenly think stretching is a warm-up to play golf. I always cringed when I see people stretching their arms over their heads and behind their backs, thinking that they are warming up their muscles, when they are potentially harming themselves. The worst thing you can do before you play golf is start to stretch muscles and joints cold before they are warm-up properly. You should warm-up muscles and joints before you stretch. To increase your blood flow, which brings needed oxygen to muscles and joints, you can jog in place, do jumping jacks or take a brisk walk. If ...

One of the reasons Tiger Woods creates a tremendous amount of clubhead speed in his swing is because he turns his left shoulder over his right knee at the top of the swing. To do this, one must be flexible in the shoulders and back. Stretching improves the flexibility of the muscles and joints necessary for a smooth , rhythmic golf swing. A complete fitness program should include stretches for your legs, back, shoulders and arms. One of my favorite stretches is a simple way to help increase your shoulder turn – and help your everyday posture. Standing straight, hold ...

Most people know it is important to begin a strength training program to improve their golf games, but they don’t know where to start. In my next several blogs, I will introduce you to exercises that are golf specific and easy to incorporate into your practice routine. Strength training exercises, important for increasing muscle strength and bone mass, require the addition of weight or resistance to challenge the muscles. But I feel that free weights and machines can leave a golfer tight in the shoulders and chest, so I recommend using resistance bands instead. Available at sporting good stores, resistance bands ...

I often hear golfers tell me that they can hit a series of good shots at the practice range, but then have a hard time taking their swing to the golf course. The reason is that the conditions on the course are different every shot from the consistent conditions on the practice range. Every course, every hole, every shot is different. So you need to make adjustments to your swing and set-up differently for different conditions. Many high handicappers try set-up and swing the same regardless of the lie, slope, green elevation or weather conditions. Good golfers are able to recognize these ...

How well do you really know the game of golf? Are you familiar with the golden rules of golf? Could you explain the basic fundamentals of the golf swing? You may not know as much as you think you do and this lack of knowledge may be holding you back from playing your best golf. The more you know about the basics and fundamentals of the game, the less intimating this game becomes. In Part I, I laid out a few questions to see how much you know about your equipment. Today’s quiz is on what I call the “golden rules of ...

Since my husband Dan Jansen is a native of Wisconsin, he is very partial to Wisconsin golf courses. He always talks about how great they are and how they may be some of the best golf courses in the country. I always appease him and say, “Yes, honey, I am sure there are a couple of nice little courses up in that area.” We all know that the Kohler Co. Resort has a very nice golf course: the Straits at Whistling Straits, home of this year’s U.S. Senior Open and the 2004 PGA Championship. Standing on the Straits course looking out at ...

How well do you know really know your golf game? Are you aware of the effects that different types of clubs and shafts can have on your performance? Are you familiar with the golden rules of golf? You may not know as much as you think you do and this lack of knowledge may be holding you back from playing your best golf. The more you know about the basics and fundamentals of the game, the less intimating this game becomes. So let’s see how much you know about your equipment. Today’s quiz is on equipment. You spend a tremendous amount of ...

“Drive for show, putt for dough,” “never up, never in,” “when it’s breezy, swing easy.” I hate golf clichés. I especially hate it when golf instructors like me use them. Of course, you want to “keep it in the short grass.” I vowed to never use them, but the other day I had to break my own rule and use a golf cliché to help myself. I was out in Las Vegas giving a golf clinic at Silverstone Golf Club with fellow Cobra Golf staffer and Pinnacle Long Drive Team member Mike “Lava” Moulton. We cut out early to play a few holes. ...

I wish I had a dollar for every student of mine who told me at the beginning of their golf lesson that they were great baseball players, tennis players or athletes in general and wondered why they weren’t better at golf. A good golf swing requires an athletic move, but you don’t have to be athletic to do it. I have seen plenty of over-weight, out of shape people play really good golf and I have seen plenty of great athletes in top shape play really bad golf. This month Golf Digest ranks 220 top athletes that play golf and ...

“I refuse to hit a driver on any par-3.” – Tiger Woods, referring to the 288-yard par-3 eighth hole at Oakmont Country Club, site of the 2007 U.S. Open and the longest par-3 in U.S. Open history. If Tiger doesn’t want to hit a driver on a par-3’s, then the average Joe golfer who thinks he is Tiger, will refuse to hit driver on par-3 holes even if it is the right club for him to use to reach the green in regulation. Most golfers do not hit enough club into greens and end up short- siding themselves, leaving themselves difficult greenside bunker ...

Ever wonder what sports stars and actors do when they retire? Play golf, of course, so much that a group of them got together and started the Celebrity Players Tour. I am married to one of those retired sport legends, Dan Jansen. Do you remember him, the speedskater? No, not the decathlete guy, you are thinking of Dave Johnson of the Dan and Dave Reebok commercials. People get them confused all the time. Dan won gold in the 1000 meters. No, he just won one gold medal. You are thinking of Eric Heiden, he won 5 gold medals. It is ...

My students often ask me which golf ball is best for them to use. Since there are so many different types on the market and new ones emerging every year, people aren’t sure if they are using the ball that best suits there game. I tell my students to choose a ball carefully because the ball is a critical piece of equipment. It does make a difference what ball you use. So to make an educated buying decision, here are a few things you should know about golf balls. Ball Compression Compression refers to the consistency of the ball and golf ball manufactures ...

Golf requires a lot of time and effort, not to mention a great deal of skill, mental fortitude and perseverance to excel at it. To play consistently, you must spend countless hours hitting balls, practicing out of the sand, putting, chipping and playing practice rounds. Then you need to head to the gym to achieve power, by lifting weights, build endurance with cardiovascular exercise and then stretch most days of the week. Most of us do not have the time and energy to devote to a game, but that doesn’t mean we don’t desire to improve; we just don’t have ...