Golf Article

Focus on your least-favorite shots

Leonard Kamsler

The I-L-P process takes the fear out of scary shots.

I've been teaching the short game for more than 30 years, and it continues to be a wonderful ride in Golf Magazine, between the ropes at PGA Tour events, on the Golf Channel and at our schools with everyday golfers like you. To celebrate this 50th Anniversary of Golf, I want to commit to giving you the best possible instruction to improve your game over the next few years. That may sound like a difficult task to accomplish, but I can do it based on something I've learned from my teaching: When you set up over a shot with fear, anxiety, dread, or a feeling that "this probably won't turn out well," you've got a problem. The tension of fear tightens your muscles, restricts your swing, degrades feel, and distracts your mind with negative thoughts and apprehension.

How to Control the Speed of Your Chips

This story is for you if...

• You're afraid of decelerating the club when you chip...
• ...so you accelerate it and run the ball past the hole
• You have the chipping yips

The Fault

When you only concentrate on accelerating through the ball, you'll be too fast and won't make enough of a backswing. That'll give you a sure case of the yips.

The Fix

Focus on solid contact and forget about decelerating or accelerating.

Try this drill:

Lay your bag down about 18 inches in front of your ball. Address the ball with your sand wedge, and keep your weight shifted forward and your hands ahead of the ball. Make your normal chipping stroke so that the ball clears the bag but the clubhead doesn't touch the bag.

How to Mark a Golf Scorecard

Please click the score card picture to enlarge.

01. Stroke Play
The simplest way to mark the scorecard is very simple indeed: When playing stroke play, count the number of strokes you've taken on the hole just completed, and write that number down in the box corresponding to that hole on the scorecard. At the end of each nine holes, tally up the strokes for your front nine and back nine totals, respectively, then add up those two numbers for your 18-hole score.

(For space reasons, we'll just be showing one nine in this and the other examples to follow.)

02. Stroke Play, Denoting Birdies and Bogeys (Circles and Squares)
Some golfers notice that on PGA Tour broadcasts, and on some websites where the scorecards of PGA Tour players are recreated, those cards include some holes where the stroke total has been circled or squared. The circles represent below-par holes and the squares above-par holes. A score that is neither circled nor squared is a par.

5 Secrets to Holing More Putts

Erik Isakson

If you have trouble reading greens, go back to the basics. Ask yourself, "Which way would water run off?"

MY FATHER, GAIL, TAUGHT ME HOW TO play, along with thousands of others. He'd often book five lessons in a row, and warn the student next in line, "Don't listen to what I tell the person in front of you." I agree with Dad: you can't spoon-feed the same mechanics to everyone. That's why we've had such success with Annika Sorenstam, Michelle Wie, Phil Mickelson and other big-name golfers. Our goal is to simply get golfers comfortable with putting.

Sure, we look at the stroke, but what's more important — and something I've focused on during my 40 plus years of playing and teaching — are the fundamentals that come before it. If you can't read greens, see the line, and become comfortable in your setup, then you're toast. So keep your stroke (for now), and follow my five key pre-putt moves. They'll have you putting lights out in no time.

Ten Basics of Rules and Etiquette for Your First Round of Golf

1. Equipment
Taking the right equipment to the course involves both rules and etiquette. The rules place a limit of 14 clubs in each golfer's bag. There is no minimum number of clubs you must have, but borrowing clubs from your partners is not a good idea. Borrowing clubs during a round is permissable under certain circumstances, but it is against the rules in most. So it's best for a beginner to simply make sure he or she has all the clubs they need, up to the maximum of 14.

Even if you're not playing strictly by the rules your first time out, you won't want to be badgering your playing partners to borrow equipment.

Make sure you have in your golf bag plenty of tees and, most importantly, plenty of golf balls. After all, if it's your first time out, you'll probably be losing a lot of balls! And take a ballmark repair tool with you (more on course care below). These are small tools that can be found for a couple bucks at most pro shops. You will need one to repair ballmarks on the greens.


Tournament @ Rainbow Hills - 5/04/2018	Tim Mackay 2018 - Registration	Tim Mackay 2018 - Lunch	Tim Mackay 2018 - Ceremony

Tim Mackay 2018 - Group	Tim Mackay 2018 - Swing	Tim Mackay 2018 - Course	Tim Mackay 2018 - Dinner

Tim Mackay 2018 - Prizes	Tim Mackay 2018 - Winner	Tim Mackay 2018 - Ending	Tim Mackay 2018 - Together

Tim Mackay 2018 - Branding


Tim Mackay 2017 - Registration	Tim Mackay 2017 - Lunch	Tim Mackay 2017 - Ceremony	Tim Mackay 2017 - Group 01

Tim Mackay 2017 - Group 02	Tim Mackay 2017 - Swing	Tim Mackay 2017 - Course	Tim Mackay 2017 - Dinner

Tim Mackay 2017 - Prize01	Tim Mackay 2017 - Prize02	Tim Mackay 2017 - Winner	Tim Mackay 2017 - Other

Tim Mackay 2017 - Album	Tim Mackay 2017 - Branding


Tim Mackay 2016 - Registration	Tim Mackay 2016 - Ceremony	Tim Mackay 2016 - Group	Tim Mackay 2016 - Swing

Tim Mackay 2016 - Course	Tim Mackay 2016 - Dinner	Tim Mackay 2016 - Prizes	Tim Mackay 2016 - Winner

Tim Mackay 2016 - Ending


Tournament @ Rainbow Hills - 15/01/2015	Tournament @ Palm Hills - 05/02/2015	Tournament @ Imperial Karawaci - 05/03/2015	Tournament @ Sentul Highland - 07/05/2015

Tournament @ Rainbow Hills - 03/09/ 2015


Tournament @ Soewarna - 6/01/2014	Tournament @ Sentul Highland - 6/02/2014	Tournament @ Rancamaya - 6/03/2014	Tournament @ Imperial Karawaci - 3/04/2014

Tournament @ Klub Golf Bogor Raya - 8/05/2014	Tournament @ Permata Sentul - 5/6/2014	Tournament @ Pondok Indah - 10/07/2014	Tournament @ Soewarna - 14/08/2014

Tournament @ Palm Hills - 4/09/2014	Tournament @ Emeralda - 9/10/2014