vol. 5, number 10                              

 

In This Issue
10th Annual AGCP Roundtable: The Tom Wishon Keynote!
Are You Ready To Scrimmage?
Putting Improvement Day December 5!
Game Improvement Golf Newsletter

Information to Improve YOUR Golf Game (NOVEMBER 2015)



The USGA And The New Rule Changes

It was great to see some of the rule changes that the USGA and the R&A just implemented.  In case you are not aware of these, here is a link that describes them....

 

     2016 USGA and R&A Rule Changes

 

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Jordan Spieth mania continues!  I think you will enjoy the two video links below.  The first show some of the putting statistics that illustrate why he has been such a good putter.  The second was done about two years ago, and talks about one of the ways that Jordan - at least then - worked on his swing tempo.  And in this second one - wow, did he look young!

 

     Sport Science: Jordan Spieth

 

     Jordan Spieth As A Junior - Tempo and Rhythm

 

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Ever since my friend Glen Coombe (The Putting Doctor) told me about the iFocusBand, I have been intrigued by it.  Your Fearless Podcast Interviewer is working to arrange a future interview with the developers of iFocusBand - but until then, here is a short video about this interesting new device...

 

     iFocusBand - What Is It?

 
10th AGCP Clubfitting Roundtable:
The Tom Wishon Keynote Address!    
    
The 10th Annual Assn. of Golf Clubfitting Professional (AGCP) Roundtable is now history.  Every year, about 50 of the best custom club fitters in the world get together to spend two days learning how to improve about ability to help golfers play their best. 

We had a real treat this year - Tom Wishon from Tom Wishon Golf Technology presented a 3-hour Keynote Address.  I have talked about Tom often in this newsletter.  He has had a 42-year career in the golf industry - and in my view is the best friend of golfers and custom club fitters.  He has many, many club design firsts - like the first high-COR iron head design.  With his permission, here are a few of the highlights from his keynote address.

Tom talked about what he views as The Most Important Things in Fitting.  Here are the things that he mentioned that golfers should be aware of for their golf clubs...

  • Shorter length drivers and fairway woods - fit to the ability of golfers,
  • Proper length irons that are fit to a golfer's comfort and ability.
  • Fit golfers in the highest COR iron heads when distance is a priority,
  • Fit for the greatest off-center hit club performance, depending on the preference a golfer has for the look of a clubhead,
  • Fit clubs for the right total weight / swingweight / MOI for the golfer's strength, swing force, tempo, and feel,
  • Be sure that the lie angles of all clubheads that are "hit off the deck" are dynamically fit,
  • Fit for the best club shaft bend profile for a golfer's swing speed, swing force, release, and feel, and
  • Fit grip size for comfort.
He said many other interesting things in his talk, but here are two that you might consider for your game....

  • "Performance wise, there is not anything in a high $ driver shaft that cannot be duplicated - performance wise - in shafts that cost in the range of $50."  Custom club fitters have shaft bend profile databases to help them find options that can perform well for golfers.
  • "If clubfitting did not exist, far more average golfers would play better with the standard club specs of the 1980s."  What were these specs? - 43 inch drivers, and 37-1/2 inch 5 irons that had 32 degree lofts.  The point? - the desire for more and more distance has resulted in 46-inch length drivers and 5 irons that have lofts of less than 25 degrees that are much more difficult for golfers to play their best golf with.
Thanks to AGCP and Tom Wishon for a great week of learning!

Are You Ready To Scrimmage?    

Make Practice Stick! - I guess my words, but I think one of the real frontiers in how golfers can learn to play their best.  

Trent Weaver is a golf coach who has written an excellent Amazon Kindle book titled "Golf Scrimmages: Realistic Practice Games Under Pressure."  Here is a link to his book...


But you can get access to a number of his great practice game ideas through the GolfWRX web site; he writes an article every week or so with a different practice game.  Here is a link to six of them, and you can find links on the GolfWRX site to more in his articles...







Enjoying your practice more AND improving your skills - how can it get any better than that!

Putting Improvement Day
Saturday December 5!

On Saturday December 5, I will be doing 1-hour putting improvement sessions at the Centennial Academy.  These will include measuring the specs for your putter, doing a full SAM PuttLab stroke evaluation, and creating a personal report with recommendations for how you can improve your putting stroke and results.  AND a copy of "Make More Putts," the putting improvement book written by Juan Gutierrez. Contact me soon - only 5 slots left!


 
Taking YOUR Game To New Heights!
 
Tony Wright 
GAME IMPROVEMENT GOLF
Oak Ridge, TN
The TRUE Custom Club Fitting Center in East Tennessee!