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Following Big Lefty Bubba Waston‘s Victory at the Travelers Championship, like many others I decided to do some digging on Bubba Watson News and came across an interesting article over at Golf Digest called Bubba Watson’s 10 Rules to hit it huge.

He lists out ten tips on getting more distance  out of your driver and rule number one was a slap in the face to everything I’ve believed.

1. You Probably Need More Loft

Bubba Watson used his wife as an example. Until recently, she’s been using a nine degree driver and carried the ball 170 yards. This year, before the Bob Hope Classic Pro-am, she switched to a 13 degree driver and instantly increased her carry to 215 yards with just about the same amount of roll that she was getting from the nine degree.

Can anyone shed some light on this? Why would a higher lofted driver give the same amount of roll as a lower lofted club, isn’t this one of the biggest contrasts between higher and lower lofted clubs?

Coincidentally, I was talking to a friend who’s a weekend hack and had a driver custom fitted. After hitting various degrees and types, the fitter put him on a 16 degree driver, which he hits between 240-250, with 280 being the absolute max. I’d never heard of a 16 degree driver..

Bubba Watson also says to get a custom fit lighter shaft and says that alone can give you an extra 20 yards.

The other nine tips from Mr. Watson are below (see article for full explanation)

2. Utilize your best physical trait

3. Try a shorter shaft

4. Learn to hit a draw

5. Accept days when you don’t have it.

6. Tee off like you just made bogey

7. If you’re small, hit more balls

8. Flare out your front foot

9. Beware: Rust forms fast

10. *Turn everything

#10 I’m guessing that’s what the title is supposed to be, in the article there is a typo and it says “tee off like you just made bogey.”

It’s a good feeling that even professional publications like Golf Digest make mistakes every now and then.

Hope you had a stellar weekend!

- Dave

Golf Genie – Tee to green pocket guide is a nifty little book that made it’s debut at the 2010 PGA Merchandise Show.

The concept is great, it’s a quick reference guide to whole slew of things that sometimes slip your mind when on the golf course.

For example,  and I swear this happens every time I play, whenever I’m in a green side bunker, I ALWAYS forget where the ball should be in your stance (trivia question: Where SHOULD the ball go?).

I used to ask my playing partners, but I quickly learned that some folks have no idea and just give you the ball placement they use.. which isn’t always correct.

Golf Genie is broken down into three different sections, the basics, advanced shots and Quick Fixes.

Under basics there’s pages of information on tee to green fundamentals. Some of the topics covered are; selecting the right club,  average club distances, common ball flights, grip and pre-shot preparation, straight, draw, fade shots, and  short game basics.

It’s good and easily digestible stuff. They illustrate and briefly describe what they’re discussing. The Pitching section, for example has five steps:

1. The “pitch shot” spends more time in the air than on ground. Use lofted club-sand wedge or lob wedge
2. Grip firmer
3. Slightly open stance
4. Ball position slightly forward from middle
5. Weight on left side 60/40

Advanced shots are the next segment of the Golf Genie and it covers six different shots as well as pointers on how to achieve more distance from your clubs. The shots discussed are:

• Up/Down & Sidehill
• Lob Shot
• Plugged Lie
• Trees, Rough
• Wind, Hardpan
• Advanced Bunker

Similar to the basics there’s corresponding illustrations and some have numbered steps.

Quick fixes cover the major issues one can stumble on during a round of golf. They are:

• Pull Hook
• Hook
• Pull
• Push
• Slice
• Push Slice
• Thin/Fat
• Shank

Each errant shot in the Golf Genie is broken down into two sections. The first section is called the fault and it explains the reason(s) why the shot is occurring. The second section is the Fix section that gives you pointers, complete with simple steps and illustrations on how to correct the shot. But, as you are aware, knowing and doing are two totally different beasts…

The Golf Genie booklet retails for $14.99 and they’ve recently released an Iphone app for $4.99. In my opinion, either option is worth the investment. Having instant access to game improvement tips and pointers while on the golf course is invaluable, you never know when it might salvage a round or shave off a few extra strokes.

Last week, Golf Channel released a beta version of a new, revamped version of their golf instruction page and it’s pretty cool. They scoured their video vault from the past couple years and compiled them all into an easily navigable game improvement site.

I recall visiting the old instruction section only a couple times because it was difficult and frustrating trying to find what you were looking for. They’ve made some serious beneficial changes that make it a lot quicker and easier to find what you need.

There’s a couple different ways you can search for golf instruction videos; keyword search, search by category (there’s 13 categories, such as driver, irons, putting, sand traps, etc.. ), search by skill level (advanced, intermediate, beginner, junior, general), search by instructor (too many to count) and search by golf show (The Golf Fix, Daily Brew, Rymer Reason, etc.. ).

I don’t know if you ever look for instructional golf videos online, but other than youtube, there’s never been any real good repository or one stop shop for free videos. Youtube has tons of videos, but you always have to wonder about the credibility of some of the golf instruction videos posted up there.

Once you’ve  created an account, you can rate and comment on all of the videos and also see others ratings and comments, which to me is always a pretty good indicator of the videos worth.

One of the coolest features about the new golf instruction section is that you can create lesson plans for yourself and add the videos to them. I have it on good authority that down the road your going to be able to export these lesson plans to your Ipod and other video compatible devices. How awesome would that be? I always pick up tips from watching golf instruction videos and when I head out to the range to practice them, I’ve usually forgotten most of what I watched, for me exporting the videos to my Ipod would be extremely beneficial.

There’s also supposed to be a mobile app in the works, which could also be pretty cool.

Things I don’t like.. True to Golf Channel fashion, there’s an advertisement leading every video you watch, which gets very annoying. I don’t mind it every now and again, but they’ve got ads all over the instruction page and then in addition to that, they’re adding one to every golf instruction video as well and it’s usually the same ad you just saw or, at least in the beta it is.

Here’s a video from David Leadbetter, who’s coming out with a new game for the Nintendo Wii called My Personal Golf Trainer

“I am the am tour.. ”

Laaaame..

But, I suppose annoying, frequent advertisements in exchange for a wealth of free golf instruction videos is bearable..

Oh, another cool feature, for all you golf blogs and other websites, you can embed every golf instruction video on the page, which is great, especially if you’re looking for some quick, useful content.

Here’s a link to the page -> Golf Channel – Golf Instruction

Take a look and leave a comment with your opinion of the new site.

The Little Linksters is a junior golf program in Orlando, FL (eventually nationwide! ) for children ages three-eight. My good friend PGA Golf Professional and Head Golf Pro out at Winter Park Country Club, Brendon Elliott created the program a couple years back and has made some great progress in developing the curriculum.

Little Linksters Junior Golf Program is a great way to introduce all your aspiring PGA & LPGA junior golfers to the game we all love. The concepts introduced to the children are very simple to learn and it’s delivered in a fun and interactive way combining traditional and non-traditional golf teaching methods where there’s always an emphasis on fun.

Little Linksters – Orlando Junior Golf Program Information

• Program Runs in Five Week Sessions
• Each Session is One Hour
• Two Age Groups: 3-4 Years, 5-8 Years
• Limited to 10 Kids per Age Group

CURRENTLY OFFERED AT:

StarChild Academy (StarChild Students Only) – Lake Mary, FL

City of Deltona (OPEN TO ALL!) – Deltona, FL

Legacy Academy (Legacy Students Only) – Lake Mary, FL

My four year old Aiden, attended a couple sessions last year when they were using the SNAG Golf Clubs and he loved it. You can read about it here.

Little Linksters Weeks One & Two

Little Linksters Weeks Three & Four

We’re going to be attending the new session kicking off March 6th, 2010 out in the City of Deltona.

As part of the new Little Linksters Junior Golf Program, they’re going to begin the program using the US Kids Golf Training Clubs and eventually transition over to the Littlest Golfer Clubs. They’re also going to be using Almost Golf Balls, Almost Golf Targets, The Golfers Footprint, Eyeline Golf Training Aids and few other gadgets thrown in for good measure.

The entire five week session only costs $60 per child at the City of Deltona location and the other locations are $75 per child.

If you have a child who has shown some interest in the game, or if you are looking for a way to introduce your child to golf, the Little Linksters Junior Golf Program is a great way to do so.

Let me know if you’re going to be out there Saturday, I’d love to meet you!