Can You Really Have A Mistake-Free Round of #Golf?

Navigating a golf course using the five-and-a-half inch space between your ears is quite a task, even for professional golfers. Golf is a game of recovery. Can this game be played mistake-free?

Golf for Beginners, with the help of Robert K. Winters, PhD and his new book "Mistake-Free Golf - First Aid for Your Golfing Brain" hope that, by identifying consistent mental errors, they can be corrected leading to a better state of mind and less frustration. Will you suddenly drop your handicap to +1 and score a 59 in every round? Highly unlikely but what might happen is that you will learn from your mistakes, "treat the afflictions" and move forward.

A world renowned sports psychologist, Dr. Winters offers readers a look at the negatives which plague players on the golf course, on the driving range, putting green and even in real life from lack of commitment to lack of execution.

Mike Hulbert, PGA Tour and Champions Tour professional states in the book, "My greatest mistake is to start thinking too much into the future...I just can't make the mistake of not staying in the moment." This is true for anyone, not just a golfer, in order to stay committed to any task yet it is so difficult to do!

Here are a few Tips Which Players Should Be Aware of in order to have a better round of golf:

1. Don't Replay the Past - Stay in the Moment. "This is a new moment, this is not the past. Let go of your past and focus on the shot for what it is, not for what it means to you in personal recognition."

2. Who's Watching Me? Feeling uncomfortable? Sometimes, when I get set up on the tee box to take my shot, I feel that I have an audience and "all eyes are upon me." No hurries, no worries - don't be anxious and don't worry about what others think of you. Chances are their eyes are on you but their minds are on their next shot.

Question Mark Shape Donald Trump Golf Course Aerial Balmedie Aaron Sneddon

As the great Sam Snead said, "Forget your opponents; always play against par."

3. Let go of Huge Expectations. The example that Dr. Winters offers in his book is of golfer Michelle Wie and her unrealistic perfectionism was stopping her from success. "I probably placed too much emphasis on results and score." Instead of thinking score, think about executing each shot the way you want to and let the score take care of itself!

There are many more tips in "Mistake-Free Golf", many of which you will agree with as you read the book but it is good to have this refresher on your shelf to remember that golf is a game of dealing with disappointments, fear and commitment. In some ways, this book is a manual about life.

Golf is not just an exercise; it's an adventure, a romance... a Shakespeare play in which disaster and comedy are intertwined. ~Harold Segall

If you wish to hide your character, do not play golf. ~Percey Boomer

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Have You Ever Competed and Won a Team #Golf Tournament?

It is certainly an exciting time for NCAA golf, isn't it?

Teams have recently been selected for the 2014 DI Men's Golf Championships and regionals began on May 8th for nine Pac-12 women's golf teams with the DII Women's Championships being held this week. These are the top annual competitions in collegiate golf and they are well-represented.

I have to say that golf is definitely a growing and thriving sport, wouldn't you?

It is inspiring to see these young athletes participating in the sport that lasts a lifetime. Next year, with the addition of match play to the women's lineup (already part of the men's lineup) watching teams go head-to-head “brings everybody together pulling for each other,” said competitor Rocio Sanchez Lobato. Announcements and more visibility than ever will come from The Golf Channel, further proof that there is a place on TV for Team Golf!

Team play also makes viewers feel as if they are watching well-known events like the Ryder Cup or the Solheim Cup - individuals banding together gives the audience reason to cheer and a sense of pride.

Team pride - from the youngest competitors to the top players in the world - believe in the saying, "One for all and all for one!" Just ask Team Asia's Captain Thongchai Jaidee who stated, "Now that we are in the team, we are all fighting for our pride and honor and it is important for Asia to show the golfing world that we belong on the world stage by producing our best golf and win the EurAsia Cup."

Yes, the coveted trophy...aside from pride it's one of the main reasons these Teams go out onto the fairways and give it their all! If you were ever a member of a Team, you will probably fill with exuberance at just at the thought of being a member of a golf team.

Have you ever competed on a golf team and won the trophy with your mates?

If so, Golf for Beginners wants you to know about a great contest called "My Team Rocks!" held by Crown Awards, America's Largest Trophy Supplier.

Teams usually are thrilled to have their picture taken with their coveted award - it's the light at the end of the tunnel-vision geared at the win. Here is your chance to open the photo album and pull out the picture of that win you shared with your teammates! Crown Awards wants to see that celebration moment, that feeling of elation and pride that just can't be described in words.

Enter via the Crown Awards Facebook page for one chance to win, then upload your picture and that's it! You are entered to win Crown bucks.

Since this is also a voting contest, if your picture gets the most votes on Facebook, you will also have the possibility of winning again! You should probably let your teammates who shared in the glory in on your contest entry so that they, too, can vote for their picture! Don't want to enter via Facebook? You can get an entry by uploading your photo to Twitter with the hashtag #MyTeamRocksTrophies.

Here is the link to the official rules of the Crown Awards MyTeamROCKS Contest.

I would also love to see and retweet your team pictures too ... I love trophies and happy faces ...so it would be nice if you could add @Golf4Beginners to your tweet!

"T.E.A.M = Together Everyone Achieves More."

Voice your opinion on Twitter @Golf4Beginners - and make sure to Follow @CrownAwards!


As seen on Hypersweep.com!

How Science and Golf Converge on the Green

From the flight of a golf ball to the friction and path of that same ball rolling along a green towards its destination, science and golf are naturally connected. If we pay more attention to the physics of the sport, we may just improve our game!

Short game instructor, Dave Pelz may very well agree with the above analysis. A former senior NASA physicist, Pelz has applied his own technical logic to his Putting Bible after leaving the Goddard Space Flight Center, from aim line to actual path of the golf ball. 

Mr. Pelz has also helped research and test a SYNLawn golf green which he says reacts and performs as if it were real grass. The SYNLawn Precision Putting Green, for example, comes complete with heat-block and UV stabilization and offers the same level of performance expected from a professional golf course.

It is one thing to look like a golf green…It’s quite another to actually perform like one. 

Mr. Pelz’ teaching philosophy? “If we can't test it or prove it or show it, we don't teach it.” So science and golf do converge on the green!

A few of Dave Pelz’ scientific putting tips include:

1. “Years of experiments have shown us that the optimum speed for making putts is one that would, if the hole were covered or missed, roll the ball seventeen inches past the back edge.” - minimizes the chance of the dreaded three-putt coming back. from Dave Pelz Putting Bible

2. Let Face Angle Be Your Guide - Research data shows that where the face angle of your putter is aimed at impact determines where the ball travels. 

Study the two factors of a solidly struck putt and you'll discover that face angle determines eighty-three percent of the starting line while putter path direction determines seventeen percent. In other words, a square face angle is five times more important to starting putts on line than putter path. – taken from Golf.com Article – “All My Secrets”

3. “Almost every golfer I know could improve simply by remembering this one rule: All putts are speed putts.”

Why not try Pelz' 20-Foot Putting Game for practicing a reference 20-foot putt.

Dave Pelz on SYNLawn Golf Green showing 20-foot putting game.

What about those golfers who seem to take a more haphazard approach to putting?

If trusting your instinct is all you feel that you need when standing over a long or short putt, think again. 

“Putting is pretty much what your eye sees and then the signals the eyes give your body, nerves…and then it finally translates out to the club,” Suzann Pettersen says in The Science of Golf Video presented by NBC Learn and the United States Golf Association. 



If you cannot see above video, here is the link:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dB36sW-iYBY

Although LPGA Tour golfer Pettersen may not be thinking of the science behind the putts that she takes during a golf tournament, know that the physics principles of “work, energy and power” are always operating behind the scenes.

That being said, no need to have to drive to a green; you can now hone these scientific principles with the accuracy of a professional golf green in your own backyard!

Voice your opinion on Twitter @Golf4Beginners and on our Golf for Beginners blog.
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Photo credits: SYNLawnGolf.com, DailyMail.UK

Why Tiger Woods withdrew from the Players Championship in 2011

With Tiger Woods' astonishing withdrawal from The 2011 Players Championship, could Woods' departure from golf be close at hand?

The Twitter world was all abuzz today after Tiger Woods hobbled off the exacting TPC Sawgrass golf course playing a six-over 42 through nine holes. On May 5th Tiger Woods' opted out of the Wells Fargo but, in a Terminator-esque video statement declared , "I'll be ready!" for the 2011 U.S. Open.

Should Woods have decided in advance to pull out of The Players Championship focusing his sights on the Open?

In 2010, Tiger withdrew from the Players Championship before the final nine holes on Sunday declaring a sore neck in spite of a respectable three-round tally of 70, 71, 71. Giving Woods the benefit of the doubt, even with a bum knee Woods managed to win against Rocco Mediate in the final round of the 2008 U.S. Open.

Is Woods deciding to take a hypochondriac approach to golf, bailing out of regular-season events in order to focus on the Majors? The desire to overtake Jack Nicklaus is strong and, with only about a month to the U.S. Open, nursing Tiger Woods' wounds should surely take presedence.

Tiger said he felt pain from the opening shot, “The knee acted up, and then the Achilles’ followed after that, and then the calf started cramping up,” adding "I'm having a hard time walking."

One unfortunate bi-product of his hasty exit from the Players is that it distracts from the Championship. More people will talk about Tiger Woods this weekend than about the great golf to be played.

Although Tiger Woods certainly was in no way ready to play golf at the Players Championship this week, could it be, as @sports_business‎ recently declared on Twitter, "Years from now, we will just look back at this and call it Elin's curse...right?"

Let the Twitter barrage begin!

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Good Ol' Southern Boy Bubba Watson Hits The Masters Big Time - Why Me?

Golf for Beginners blog loves to hear the opinions of our readers and followers, so when this article by Spencer Blohm was submitted, we just had to print it! Thanks again for sending in your blog. If you want to submit an opinionated blog to Golf for Beginners, email Stacy at golfforbeginners@aol.com or DM on Twitter @Golf4Beginners.

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For the second time in three years, Bubba Watson, the thirty-five year old from Florida, has won The Masters, making him the fastest golfer to win two green jackets. His score of three-under-par 69 put him on top of twenty-year-old phenom Jordan Spieth and Jonas Blixt, who tied for second after a close race for most of the tournament. Watson’s triumphant victory has earned him the praise of many celebrities and golf fans, as you can see in these Tweets compiled by ViralHeat.

What a superb performance @bubbawatson. Happy to see you to you win your second Green Jacket at a tournament that we all love @The_Masters.
— Gary Player (@garyplayer) April 14, 2014

What are you gonna do with 2 Green Jackets, @bubbawatson??? Congrats Bubba!!! :D
— Jordin Sparks (@JordinSparks) April 14, 2014

.@bubbawatson What a great player you have turned out to be but also, what a great guy! Congratulations on another fantastic Masters win.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 14, 2014

            Despite his win, it wasn’t a perfect game for Bubba Watson, with many of his shots being called questionable. 

His first birdie putt missed the mark on the second hole, putting Spieth in the lead, but they were tied when Spieth also pissed his birdie putt on the eighth hole. By the 13th hole, Spieth was tied with Blixt for second, with Watson leading the group three-up with another four to play. However, on the 15th it looked like it might be over for Watson as his ball landed dangerously close to the water. But the 16th, 17th, and 18th all went off without a hitch and Watson emerged the victor. 

After his final putt, Watson’s 2-year-old son Caleb rushed onto the green for a Kodak moment you couldn’t plan if you wanted to.

            After his professional debut in 2003, Watson was a largely overlooked player during the late 00’s with his highest finish in that period being a 5th place slot at the 2007 U.S. Open, his first professional championship tournament. However, with the new decade came a renewed game and his first PGA Tour win at the 2010 Travelers Championship. That same year he came in second at the PGA Championship. He progressively improved in 2011 with second and third PGA Tour wins at the Farmers Insurance Open and the Zurich Classic of New Orleans.

It was 2012 that proved to be Watson’s year. The golfer, who boasts to have never taken a golf lesson, dramatically improved his game, jumping from 38th in the Masters in 2011 to the winner in 2012. In fact, his two Masters wins are the only two wins Watson has out of his twenty-five total entries in the big four golf championships. He himself cannot believe his own success telling the L.A. Times, “Why me? Why Bubba Watson from Bagdad, Florida? Why is he winning? So I just always ask the question, why, why me?"

            It’s a triumphant moment for a golfer who has played most of his career in the shadow of Tiger Woods. He’s a sort of anti-Woods in fact, when it comes to public persona. His down home, Southern family man personality is a stark contrast to Woods’ flashy lifestyle. Despite the enormous boost to his profile, and bank account, that these recent wins have brought him, he’s still stayed true to his roots through this sudden success. In fact, to celebrate his 2012 win, he bought the original General Lee from The Dukes of Hazzard and restored it. It would appear that even after all this success, Bubba Watson is still just a good ‘ol Southern boy.

A Mother's Day Giveaway for Your #Golf Mom!

Has your mom taken you to compete in countless junior golf events, in spite of the fact that she has never picked up a golf club and might not know the difference between a "sandie" and a "bump-and-run?"

Does Mom hold a Sweet Spot in your heart? We know you are going to say YES! Now that you believe that you have the World's Greatest Golf Mom, it's time to enter into the World's Best Mom Contest being held on Instagram and Twitter by my associates, Crown Awards!

Crown Awards, the leading supplier of Awards and Trophies for over thirty-five years, is running a #CrownAwardsMom Contest which is simple and fun to enter - just Snap, Tag, Follow and Vote and you will be in the running to win this exclusive crystal filled with fresh flowers to give to the mover and shaker of your family. It's a beautiful memento that Mom will treasure forever!

- Snap a photo of you and your mom.
- Tag that photo with the hashtag #CrownAwardsMom and another hashtag that describes just how #wonderful she is!
- Follow Crown Awards on Instagram
- Vote for one of the other moms (isn't that what we do in golf anyway...be gracious to the other entrants?)

One lucky winner will be selected from the votes - read the Crown Awards blog with the full details.

Good Luck!

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