Golf

[Ric Flair]

I still can't get over Mahan's collapse last night, sickening. I had £15 e/w on him and even a place would have been welcome as i'd got the e/w doubles sewn up of Van Zyl & Simpson and Van Zyl & Jacobson.

I got 11 points return on Andy Sullivan, 94.5 points on the Van Zyl & Jacobson double and 44 points on the Van Zyl & Simpson double. It could have been so much more and i'm probably being greedy but it was there for me to land the big one. Mahan can bollocks, he's on my hit list now.

Bank is up to 255 points, which is decent but I can't help thinking what might of been.

Looking forward to the match play this week. Schwartzel looks in fine fettle.

[The Year Of The Fox]

I'll try and get some videos up sometime of me on the range, but anyone's immediate thoughts on why I slice tee shots with a driver are welcome. On Saturday I was hitting some very good drives to start with, then halfway round they started to slice. On two holes I decided to aim off allowing for the slice and then proceeded to hit itperfectly straight hence ending up in the rough

Edited 18 February 2013 by The Year Of The Fox

[Donut]

I'll try and get some videos up sometime of me on the range, but anyone's immediate thoughts on why I slice tee shots with a driver are welcome. On Saturday I was hitting some very good drives to start with, then halfway round they started to slice. On two holes I decided to aim off allowing for the slice and then proceeded to hit itperfectly straight hence ending up in the rough

Hey there yearofthefox

If you can describe where your ball STARTS (relative to the target you are aiming at) and what the ball DOES in its flight, i can offer you correction you based on these two pieces of information. The balls initial takeoff direction relative to the target you are aiming at, and then what the ball does in terms of curvature within the air.

[Leicester Lass]

A nice compact action that is. Solid 2 handicap swing all day.

Is her natural ball flight a draw? I love everything about that swing except it looks like on the downswing, she gets a little bit too much inside and a little bit too much from underneath and flips the club through the ball. if you pause video two at two seconds you can see the right arm move up and away as the clubface crosses over. This is something i get some times too and the problem with this is when youre off, you can miss the ball both ways, you can block it from the inside swing path, or you can overcook a draw with the hand action.

But that is a very, very solid action. love it

Always been my problem, club has to play catch up with my hips that have already rotated through the ball. Not a pretty sight when the timing is off! Tend to take it away a bit on the inside sometimes too.

Haven't played for a good 3 years mind, and probably only been to the range a dozen times in that period so I'm surprised my swing has held up so well all things considered!

[The Year Of The Fox]

Hey there yearofthefox

If you can describe where your ball STARTS (relative to the target you are aiming at) and what the ball DOES in its flight, i can offer you correction you based on these two pieces of information. The balls initial takeoff direction relative to the target you are aiming at, and then what the ball does in terms of curvature within the air.

The ball always starts off heading dead straight (down the middle of the fairway I guess) It tends to spin to the right quite late on in flight really. Just as it starts to fall back to earth I guess. Hope that helps

[Donut]

The ball always starts off heading dead straight (down the middle of the fairway I guess) It tends to spin to the right quite late on in flight really. Just as it starts to fall back to earth I guess. Hope that helps

Thanks for that year of the fox.

OK. there are a couple of things in play here. Im going to assume that your gripping the club with a grip sufficient to play the game, and youre aiming somewhat near to where you want your shots to go and there are no weird angles or strange aiming going on.

The ball starts where the face of your club is aimed at impact. Its as simple as that totally, but its very close to that. So at the point of you hitting your ball, your clubface is basically pointed at the middle of the fairway. Theres no problem there, so dont worry about your clubface angle.

But your ball is curving left to right in its flight. its slicing.

The curve on the ball comes from the path your club is travelling on. When a golf ball curves, it curves AWAY from the direction your club took coming through impact. Your ball is curving to the right in the air.......this tells you your swing path (the direction your swing is going through impact) is going too much to the LEFT. The problem gets worse if you see the ball slice and your natural instinct is to aim further left to accomodate this. This will only make your swing go more to the left, and make a bigger slicing curve!

To fix this:

You need to feel like the path your club is travelling on is more out to the RIGHT. Feel as if the club is approaching the ball like a slamming door, the club approaching the ball from the inside (the side youre standing on) and the club moving down and out to the right through the ball.

Your swing wont actually go out to the right, its just a feeling that youll have during the swing.

Another way of imagining the feeling you need is thinking about how you would bend a free kick around a wall into the top corner. You would approach the football from inside the line youre kicking it on, and your bodyshape would kick across the ball out to the right, creating a curve.

The simplest way to feel a different swing path, is go onto the range, and go to a bay as far left on the range as you can. Then, aim at a target thats in the middle, or right hand side of the range. This will feel unnatural at first, as you are used to swinging a certain way. After a few shots, youll start to see the ball fly straighter. You may even start seeing the ball curve right to left in the air, or ''hooking'' through the air.

So in summary, the clubface is good, stick with that. The path of your swing however is a little bit off...so get to work on that swing path, and youll reduce your slice. you might even begin to curve the ball the other way with a little draw.

I will also add one other thing, which might sound a little strange:

DO NOT try and hit the ball straight. Ever. No, really! every golfer in the world will have a preferred shot shape that they hit most of the time, because it is reliable, and it increases your margin for error.

Lets imagine your standing on the tee of a par 4 with your driver in your hand. If your swing produces a little fade from left to right, this will give you the confidence that it gives you the whole width of the fairway to hit into, and youll also know where your bad shots will go, which will eliminate the danger on one side of the fairway. Likewise, if a player tends to draw the ball, it gives the player a shape he can work into the fairway, and gives him the confidence he will know where he will miss.

So having a little fade, or draw shape on your shots is GOOD! dont correct that. it only becomes a problem when youre curving it wildly.

Hope this helps

[BoneDog]

I still can't get over Mahan's collapse last night, sickening. I had £15 e/w on him and even a place would have been welcome as i'd got the e/w doubles sewn up of Van Zyl & Simpson and Van Zyl & Jacobson.

All he needed to do was par the last two holes and he'd won the pisser.

I had 11 golfers backed in that and Mahan winning would have returned double the total stake of all 11 plus 5 others in the Africa Open. He didn't even get a place in the end

[SOCCERROO FOX]

Match play match ups, Starts on Wednesday US time.

http://www.worldgolfchampionships.com/accenture-match-play-championship/leaderboard.html

First thing i noticied was Donald seems to have got an easy draw, but there is some tough match ups.

[BoneDog]

How is the betting different in matchplay? Is it like a knockout until a final?

Edit : Just checked the link.

Edited 18 February 2013 by El Empty

[Donut]

Matchplay is a whole different ball game. Betting on it is tough

[SOCCERROO FOX]

How is the betting different in matchplay? Is it like a knockout until a final?

Edit : Just checked the link.

Correct, so alot like tennis.

Might be worth a few mulitis in the first round, but looks very tough.

[Donut]

If your player makes a few bogeys early on and loses a few holes, he is already well on the back foot to being knocked out. this isnt a 72 hole torunament where you can have a bad round, grind out a 72 and come back on friday, this is cutthroat stuff.

There are no easy games either. the difference in quality between world number 1, and world number 64 is pretty miniscule. If you played the tournament again the week after, youd get a load of different results

[The Year Of The Fox]

Thanks for that year of the fox.

OK. there are a couple of things in play here. Im going to assume that your gripping the club with a grip sufficient to play the game, and youre aiming somewhat near to where you want your shots to go and there are no weird angles or strange aiming going on.

The ball starts where the face of your club is aimed at impact. Its as simple as that totally, but its very close to that. So at the point of you hitting your ball, your clubface is basically pointed at the middle of the fairway. Theres no problem there, so dont worry about your clubface angle.

But your ball is curving left to right in its flight. its slicing.

The curve on the ball comes from the path your club is travelling on. When a golf ball curves, it curves AWAY from the direction your club took coming through impact. Your ball is curving to the right in the air.......this tells you your swing path (the direction your swing is going through impact) is going too much to the LEFT. The problem gets worse if you see the ball slice and your natural instinct is to aim further left to accomodate this. This will only make your swing go more to the left, and make a bigger slicing curve!

To fix this:

You need to feel like the path your club is travelling on is more out to the RIGHT. Feel as if the club is approaching the ball like a slamming door, the club approaching the ball from the inside (the side youre standing on) and the club moving down and out to the right through the ball.

Your swing wont actually go out to the right, its just a feeling that youll have during the swing.

Another way of imagining the feeling you need is thinking about how you would bend a free kick around a wall into the top corner. You would approach the football from inside the line youre kicking it on, and your bodyshape would kick across the ball out to the right, creating a curve.

The simplest way to feel a different swing path, is go onto the range, and go to a bay as far left on the range as you can. Then, aim at a target thats in the middle, or right hand side of the range. This will feel unnatural at first, as you are used to swinging a certain way. After a few shots, youll start to see the ball fly straighter. You may even start seeing the ball curve right to left in the air, or ''hooking'' through the air.

So in summary, the clubface is good, stick with that. The path of your swing however is a little bit off...so get to work on that swing path, and youll reduce your slice. you might even begin to curve the ball the other way with a little draw.

I will also add one other thing, which might sound a little strange:

DO NOT try and hit the ball straight. Ever. No, really! every golfer in the world will have a preferred shot shape that they hit most of the time, because it is reliable, and it increases your margin for error.

Lets imagine your standing on the tee of a par 4 with your driver in your hand. If your swing produces a little fade from left to right, this will give you the confidence that it gives you the whole width of the fairway to hit into, and youll also know where your bad shots will go, which will eliminate the danger on one side of the fairway. Likewise, if a player tends to draw the ball, it gives the player a shape he can work into the fairway, and gives him the confidence he will know where he will miss.

So having a little fade, or draw shape on your shots is GOOD! dont correct that. it only becomes a problem when youre curving it wildly.

Hope this helps

Great advice thanks. Will go to the range soon andvtry it out. Will also try and get it recorded to stick on here. Thanks

[Ric Flair]

Donut, your knowledge is impressive. It's interesting what you say about never trying to play to hit it straight, it's something i'll always try and do when my game is in good nick. My natural shot shape is a draw, I drop the club down like Garcia does and when my timing is out it's wild. However when the timing is spot on I tend to hit the ball very, very straight and i'll always try and play like that. If my timing is off and i'm either drawing it or fading it then i'll go for damage limitation and set up to still keep my ball in play. When I was younger, if my draw was getting bigger and bigger i'd imagine I needed to swing the club like David Duval and really clear my hips and try and hit the power fade. This would inevitably straighten my draw somewhat. If I was ever fading it too much, which was rare but has happened. I would imagine hitting the ball with the butt of my club, which I think encouraged me to get my hands and arms to quicken up and not get stuck. It's funny how it takes years and years to work out little things that get you out of jail, it's so difficult to teach that to anyone as it's so individual.

I've been taking my missus the range on and off for a few years now and she's got a natural talent for it, well she can hit the ball fairly well given the lack of real practice. However, I know that it's the golfer themselves that have to understand their swing to take that next step up. Or pay a lot of wedge for a decent level of tutoring, but I grew up teaching myself and probably hampered my chances of getting down to anything lower than 6 as the margin for error really is so small and you need a reliable swing.

I've worked with a few pro's on the mental side of golf and loads and loads of amateurs as i'm a qualified hypnotherapist, it's amazing the feedback you get. They'll often say that they've got more tangible improvement out of hypnosis and EFT than from a lesson from their local PGA tutor, but it's simple why that is. Golf is a mind sport, more than any other. You have too much time to think and the margin for error is so small when you think of the dimensions and sizes of clubs, ball and impact. Most golfers have hit the perfect drive before, the perfect 3 iron off a tight lie, the perfect wedge in to inches from the hole and canned a 40 foot putt. Now this isn't just about law of averages that these shots have occured, it's because they can at times swing the club perfectly to produce that shot. What's stopping them from doing this on a regular basis is a lack of mental routine, relaxed muscles and confidence. Likewise the right grip and set up. It's easier to make a golfer relaxed and allow themselves to swing the club freely and therefore see the results quickly, than it is for a pro to change their technical swing and it often gets worse before it gets better. Yet most golfers will always go for the technical teaching rather than working on their nemesis, their own negative thought process. It is my goal to work alongside a very good teaching professional so that we could offer both the technical and mental coaching that will give golfers their best chance of making it.

[Ric Flair]

Matchplay is a bit of a lottery but I was on Mahan last year when he won, I think that's the only time i've ever had anything on matchplay events. I know the betting site I sometimes follow tips from had Colsaerts last year in another matchplay event but I didn't back that.

My early picks are:

Nick Watney, Thorbjorn Olesen and Charl Schwartzel.

I do fancy Justin Rose to do well this week but he'll face Olesen if they both get through fairly early on and I really think Olesen at 75/1 is worth a punt. He's fearless and he's got some big wins in him i'm convinced. Schwartzel is lining up a win as well, he's finished 2nd and 3rd in his last 2 events on the Euro and PGA Tour. I've chosen Nick Watney for a couple of reasons, firstly there's a freaky pattern occuring where players who finished 9th in this event have then gone on to win it. Check the stats over the years and about 5 out of the last 6 winners this has happened to. Watney has finished 9th the last 3 years and he's either gearing up for the win or this is a load of bollocks. I do rate the lad though and he's a birdie machine when he's on form.

[SOCCERROO FOX]

Here goes, you could make a case for so many of the players here. Tend to favour

Donald - 17/1 - Won 2 years ago and in my opion has an easy first 2 games in Siem and then the winner of Lawrie or Piercy. Also he seemed to be hitting form last week until his 75 on the final round.

Kaymer - 30/1 - I think his back this year, played well in his only events has played match player in Ryder cup and here well. 2nd and 9th in last 2 years plays Coetzee first round.

Moore - 50/1 - Not confident but playing well might play like he has nothing to lose and can make birdies. Just felt he had a slightly easier draw than a few of the others i likes, Henley, Day and Fraiser.

[Ric Flair]

Here goes, you could make a case for so many of the players here. Tend to favour

Donald - 17/1 - Won 2 years ago and in my opion has an easy first 2 games in Siem and then the winner of Lawrie or Piercy. Also he seemed to be hitting form last week until his 75 on the final round.

Kaymer - 30/1 - I think his back this year, played well in his only events has played match player in Ryder cup and here well. 2nd and 9th in last 2 years plays Coetzee first round.

Moore - 50/1 - Not confident but playing well might play like he has nothing to lose and can make birdies. Just felt he had a slightly easier draw than a few of the others i likes, Henley, Day and Fraiser.

I think I made my picks rather hastily, i've been going through all sorts of scenario's and i've decided to back Justin Rose as well as I can't leave him alone. I'm sticking with my 4 but I probably should have chosen from easier brackets like Donald who will be right in there at the end.

[BoneDog]

Went to check the scores again and it says that play's been halted due to a snowstorm. Looked fine when I saw a few holes earlier!

Edited 20 February 2013 by El Empty

[Bert]

No more play today.

Poulter is the boy in matchplay!

[BoneDog]

Had a double and a treble in the matches today. Will they carry on from where they were, or might it get cancelled?

[SOCCERROO FOX]

I think I made my picks rather hastily, i've been going through all sorts of scenario's and i've decided to back Justin Rose as well as I can't leave him alone. I'm sticking with my 4 but I probably should have chosen from easier brackets like Donald who will be right in there at the end.

That's why i do my form and stick to it and put no more bets on, or you end up with a 100 different bests that eat in to your profits should you get a collect.

Fair old snow storm, in arizona of all places

[SOCCERROO FOX]

Had a double and a treble in the matches today. Will they carry on from where they were, or might it get cancelled?

The tournament will carry on assuming the weather doesn't stay as is for the next 2-3 days and they can clear the course and get it to dry out. Worse case scenario is they cancel it and all bets refunded.

[Ric Flair]

How has it snowed that much, it was about 30 degrees on the west swing last week. Haha

[Ric Flair]

PS couple of other bets on the smaller tours. Justin Walters on the Sunshine Tour this week at 35/1 and Oscar Faustro on the web.com tour at 75/1 e/w singles and double

[SOCCERROO FOX]