Jaacob Bowden's Swing Man Golf Blog

Golf Christmas Gift?

by Joel Coe

Are you procrastinating going Christmas shopping?  Well you have just a few days left to get all those golfers the perfect golf present.  Check out Birdie Ball for any type of golf gift. 

If you don't want to take the chance of the golf gift being delivered on time you might want to give that golf buddy the "Gift of Distance".  Go ahead print the gift card below and put it in an envelope and there ya go!  Then create a Swing Man account by clicking on the "Sign Up" button at the top right of this page.  Don't forget to tell the gift card receiver the username and password you have selected!

What Club Should You Hit First on the Range?

by Jaacob Bowden

When you head out to the range for practice or before your round of golf, it's pretty common for teachers to tell you to start out with hitting shorter pitches and wedge shots first, and then working your way up through the bag with mid-irons, long irons, woods, and finally your driver.  I used to do this myself, however, training to warm-up this way has caused me problems. 

For example, one time I went to a tournament after a long layoff from tournament play.  The range where we warmed up was extremely short, and for that reason they wouldn't let us hit drivers or woods on the range before our round.  Consequently, the first driver driver swing I made for the day was on the first tee, under tournament conditions with lots of people standing around watching, and after a long layoff...I ended up pulling it in to the trees.  Fortunately, I punched through the trees in to a greenside bunker and still got up and down for par.

Another time I had a late morning tournament tee time.  The range was busy that morning and by the time I went to warm up, they ran out of balls and hadn't retrieved them yet for the remaining players.  It forced me to head straight to the tee without any warm-up where I uncomfortably sliced my first swing in to a creek just off the fairway.

There have also been numerous other times where I was running late for whatever reason and had to go straight from the parking lot to the first tee without making any prior swings.

The combination of these things made me realize that I should change the way I warm-up to make sure that I can put a ball in play when I'm under the gun and wasn't loose.  I was so "trained" to go to the 1st tee only after going through a warm-up routine from wedge to driver - where I wouldn't move up to the next club until I felt my groove with it - that it was extremely difficult for me to start out well doing anything otherwise.

So now what I do instead is to come straight off the train, grab my bag out of my locker and make sure it's packed as though I'm going to play a tournament round, head to the range, and make my very first shot a driver that I "have" to put in play.   As it usually seems to take a few holes for me to get going, I then proceed to mimic playing the first 9 holes on the range...going from tee shot, to approach shot, to a chip shot. 

Furthermore, even when I do still have practice time at home to warm-up, I'm also practicing going cold to the first tee to play a few holes.

I haven't been doing this for long, but I've already noticed a big difference in my comfortability and performance in these no-warmup type of conditions.

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Reducing Tension

Check out the Swing Man Golf YouTube Channel here.

Hot Putters

By Joel Coe

Changing putters is so common among golfers.  You buy a new putter, you like it for a little while and then you miss your first two footer and here come the “yips”!  Then you start thinking “maybe I need a new putter”.  So you go to the store, hit a couple putts with some different putters and pick the one that feels right.

You should get custom fit for your putter just like all of your clubs but if you don’t want to get custom fit or don’t have the time check out 2008 Golf Digest Hottest Putters!

Check them out here!!!

Golf Etiquette Part 3

By Joel Coe

In the last part of this series I talked about how you shouldn’t be that player that gives advice if you are not qualified or are not asked to give advice.  This usually confuses a player and just makes their round of golf less enjoyable.  Now that we are all ready to go let’s go to the first tee!

Going to First Tee

If you are riding in a cart always be aware of your surroundings.  Sometimes you must drive by other greens or tees to get to the first tee and there might be people playing.  Be courteous and if you see someone about to play slow down and stop.  This also is recommended if you are walking by greens or tees where people are playing.  You wouldn’t want the sound of a cart or the sound of clubs clanking together affect your shot so don’t do it to other players.

At the First Tee

First, if you see someone teeing off on the 1st tee don’t just fly up there in your cart, slow down and stop to wait for them to play.  Then you can proceed to the first tee.  When you arrive to the 1st tee you should introduce yourself to your playing partners.  If you already know them this isn’t necessary.  Then after you have introduced yourself and are all ready to go get your club and ball and walk up to the first tee.  The best place to stand on the tee box is (if you were looking out to the fairway) behind and to the right side of the tee box.  This is where tour caddies and players stand on tour.  NEVER stand right behind someone when they are getting ready to shoot.  This is distracting and very poor etiquette. 

When it is your turn tee it up and hit it long!  If you hit a poor shot don’t scream at the top of your lungs.  Remember there are other players on different holes that might be in the middle of their shot so if you like to scream at your ball try to tone it down a bit.

Let’s go down the fairway.  Stay tuned for Part 4.

Golf GPS

by Joel Coe

I see this product, Sky Caddie which is like having a caddie in the palm of your hand.  It has been around for awhile and it’s quite costly compared to a normal rangefinder.  From what I’ve heard it works pretty well though.

Anyway I was wondering when someone would create some competition for this company and make something that would be one step ahead of Sky Caddie.  Well someone finally has and that company is uPro.  And it look’s pretty cool!  It’s much sleeker (looks like a small cell phone) than the Sky Caddie and has features the Sky Caddie doesn’t offer like the Fly Over feature.  You know when you are watching golf and they fly over the hole while explaining it, well that’s exactly what uPro has done while  putting markers on the fairway for distances.

One bad thing about uPro though is they only have one version while the Sky Caddie has 4 versions ranging in prices.  Making it much easier of a decision to purchase the Sky Caddie if your on a budget.  The uPro has created there’s to compete with Sky Caddie’s most expensive version.  But I'm sure they have plans to create a few different uPro's.

Check it out here!!!