Quote of the Week

The World Golf Rankings

It seems to be much talked of but did you know that it’s only since 1986 there has been an official world golf ranking list. I say ‘only’ because I truly believe that 1994 was 10 years ago. Anyway, Bernard Langer was the first official number one when the list was inaugurated prior to the 1986 Masters. Greg Norman soon overtook Langer and he finished the year on top of the rankings.

The calculation of the world ranking is quite complex using averages over 2 years and different values for the various golf tours. 

The purpose of the calculations is to give a higher ranking to the most consistent players while also rewarding those who perform well in the majors and other big events where the number of higher ranked players is greater.

Only 2 players have been at world no 1 without winning a major; Luke Donald and Lee Westwood.There are always complaints when the world rankings don’t favour your favourite player but you should always remember that being consistently highly placed in a tournament is often more rewarding that being a one time winner and doing nothing else of note.

Since the average is taken over 2 years it has happened that a golfer who has been dominant in one year can hold on to the number one spot despite have a poor second year. As an example, in the year 2000, Tiger Woods earned so many points that even if he had not gained any points in 2001 his average points would have had him in the number 1 spot.

This was really just a general musing into the history of the number one players in golf. Although some may disagree, even with the rankings officially starting in 1986, I’m still not convinced that the number one golfer is always the best either in a season or long term. 

Should the system be changed to reflect a more season to season raking - yes, probably - but at the end of the day being number one is just a title and I’d rather be world number 8 and hit all my professional goals. 

On that note, with my love of statistics I thought it would be of interest to have a look at the players that have been world number 1, how many weeks they have held that position and what percentage of time they have spent at number one across all number 1 golfers.

More Christmas Gifts for Golfers

As promised, I’ve been searching around the internet for some more gifts to buy the golfer in your life this Christmas. Even if that golfer is you and you are buying for yourself, you’ll find lots of fun golf gifts.

So without further ado...

Golf Fitness by Gary Player (Foreword)

This is a book about being and getting fit for golf which is definitely something we all need! Gary Player was one of the first pro golfers to recognise the need for fitness and it’s he who has written the foreword in this worthwhile book.

Click here for more information and to buy.



Socks 

You think I'm joking but I'm not! When you have run out of ideas why not give socks as a present? Good quality comfortable socks are a must to complete the golfing outfit and there's a pair for anyone that golfs. Yes, it's not just men that can have the joy of receiving socks for Christmas!

Click here for more information and to buy.


Galvin Green Angus Gore-Tex Waterproof Golf Jacket 

Playing golf in the winter? Or Scotland in June? Well, you will need some good quality waterproofs. These Gore-Tex jackets come with a lifetime waterproof guarantee so it's worth a fair whack. You will have to pay a fair whack as it's currently priced at £239.95 but it's the last waterproof jacket you'll ever need to buy.

Click here for more information and to buy.


Yoga for Golfers by Katherine Roberts

The author has combined her passions to create the "Yoga for Golfers" program - an integrated educational system providing instruction on how to improve flexibility, range of motion, and concentration on the course. Be bendy, my friends.

Click here for more information and to buy.




Longridge Power Band

This is a swing aid designed to keep your arms working together and stop the ‘flying right elbow’. Continued use of this training aid will improve technique and as a consequence length and accuracy. And it's under a tenner, too!


Click here for more information and to buy.



Motocaddy S3 Pro Electric Golf Trolley

If you are looking for a bit of help getting around the golf course a motorised golf trolley is the best gift for yourself. This trolley will get you round 36 holes, includes distance tracker (not for competition use) and a usb charger for your mobile devices - among other cool gadgets. Okay you have to fork out a pretty penny (£599) but look how cool it is!!

Click here for more information and to buy.

iTunes Voucher

Now who doesn't like an iTunes voucher at the best of times? But, by giving the golfer in your life (or yourself) an iTunes gift voucher for Christmas then they/you can buy the R and A rules app for your iPhone. Keeping a copy of the rules of golf with you wherever you go and wherever you play. It also has lots of extra information and quiz questions. Admittedly, it's currently free to download but then you still have the rest of your iTunes voucher to use!

Click here for more information and to buy.


Perfect Plane Putting Training Aid

The SKLZ Perfect Plane Putting Training Aid teaches a consistent putting stroke path, proper acceleration and how to square the club face. This guide can be used on the practice green, at home or in the office - between meetings, obviously!! At under £30, it's a great buy.

Click here for more information and to buy.




Game Golf Digital Tracking System

Check out this new gizmo. It tracks your progress around the golf course, recording the club you use and where you hit the ball from. It conforms to PGA and R&A rules so can even be used in competition. The purpose is to analyse your round, showing where you were on the course for your shots. It retails at £159.95 but it will keep the golfer in your life occupied for AGES.

Click here for more information and to buy.


Momentus Swing Trainers

Momentus Golf has been producing swing aids for some time and so have a strong reputation. This particular weighted swing trainer can be can be used to hit balls on the practice range and is designed to improve timing, rhythm, and tempo and add distance to your iron shots. It's only £34.99, too! Now I did say that you shouldn't buy clubs for a golfer but this training aid is an exception.

Click here for more information and to buy.



I have even more ideas for gifts so check back soon...

All prices were correct at the time of writing this post. If they go up - sorry. If they go down - yay!

Quote of the Week

What’s Happening in Golf?

Well, I was all set to blog about the Race to Dubai with the upcoming and final event, the DP World Tour Championship, this week in Dubai.

However, all good plans can (and do) go awry it seems. Rory McIlroy has secured the Race to Dubai prize as none of his nearest challengers could do enough over the last 3 tournaments to take the race to the final tournament.

The penultimate tournament at the Montgomerie Maxx Royal Course in Antalya, Turkey (aka The Turkish Airlines Open) was the maiden European Tour win for 24 year old American Brooks Koepka. This win means that neither Marcel Siem, Jamie Donaldson nor Sergio Garcia, who had to win the Turkish Airlines Open and the DP World Tour Championship, can overtake McIlroy. Bit of an anti climax really.

Still, over the season there is no doubt that McIlroy deserved to win the European Tour money list so while being unexciting in terms of drama, he still deserves a huge congratulations!

In other news, Charley Hoffman won on the PGA tour at Playa Del Carmen in Mexico. This is his third Tour win and his first in 4 years. A few interesting facts here; he has had 108 starts since his last win - even winners can find it tough and mentally gruelling on Tour, it would seem. Yet to add a consistency to his game this weekend, in his final round he hit 16 greens in regulation. Nice. 

Danny Lee from New Zealand had a 7 in a row birdie streak to turn in 29, but three bogies on the back nine left him 2 shots off the winner.

Russell Knox of Scotland tied 37th, 10 shots back but only 4 shots from a top ten finish. The smallest of margins are important. 

The European tour qualifying is in the final stages and the six round competition for places will finish on the 20th November. At the time of writing Anirban Lahiri is leading the way. He is 76th in the world rankings and still has to progress through tour qualifying! Other notables in the field of 156 players include 2 Ryder cup players - Philip Price and Ignacio Garrido and previous European Tour winners that include Ricardo Gonzalez, Kenneth Ferrie, Jean-Francois Remesy and Nick Dougherty. The leading 25 players will qualify for tour privileges.

The web.com tour qualifying for the PGA in the USA is also in progress. 

In the second stages, I noticed that Arjuna Atwal, Daniel Chopra and Shaun Micheel have failed to progress to the final stages. Frank Lickliter has finished tied 13 in his second stage qualifying and will progress to the final stage (6 rounds) in December at Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.

More on this next month.

Look out for the Australian Masters at the Metropolitan Golf Club in Melbourne this week end. Adam Scott is looking for three wins in a row.

Still lots to keep us golf lovers amused in the winter months! Check back soon for more golf chat.

Quote of the Week

Practice Makes Perfect: How to Practice Golf

“Practice makes perfect”

“The more I practice, the luckier I get.”

“Practice by the objective not by the clock.”

These mantras have always stuck a chord with me and as I get more senior (okay, fine - older) I am gaining an understanding of what they really mean.

One thing that has changed with me throughout the years is that I am now an advocate of sensible practicing. I can imagine the response I would get if I told my younger self to do anything sensibly!! By practicing in a sensible way, I mean that I no longer hit several hundred balls one after an other in a session and think I’m practising well. Why not, you ask! Surely this will imprint muscle memory allowing me to swing consistently.

Certainly on the practice range, after a long session of rote, I would often feel that my swing is in sync and everything was ready for the course. Bring on the next round - I am ready!

However the pressure of actually playing introduces different challenges from hitting the first tee shot in front of your fellow players and dealing with a shot from semi rough to hitting a 50 yard approach or making that final 6ft putt. 

Once you make one mistake your brain fixates on that and the round does not get better.

In theory, hitting ball after ball will help your swing - in a purely physical sense. But, and this is a big but, golf is not purely a physical game. If it was, you could probably train a 300 pound gorilla to play.

So three things come to mind from that - and I’m always willing to share!

I often see golfers on the driving range start out by hitting a driver as hard as they can. Seldom do they warm up and seldom do they hit 50 yard approach shots. And very few go to the practice green (or the practice bunker).

When you are playing a round of golf you are faced with a wide array of different shots and yet we rarely practice them. We should practice a wide range of shots and try to replicate the shots you face on a course. You hit your driver maybe a dozen times - you putt 2-3 times as many times as that. You hit iron shots at most holes. We really need to practice in the same ratios. Try to replicate playing a round of golf when you practice.

Hit a driver then a five iron, ensuring that you have chosen a target. Depending on where the ball lands, make a chip shot (or longer approach). Go to the next virtual hole and do the same again

Consider the mental aspects of the game and also the aspects of “feel”.

I recently read an article which mentioned “interleaving”. This is a fancy name for alternating clubs, targets and drills. Let’s assume your practice objective is to improve your shots to 100 yards. Your routine should be to hit a number of shots to 80 yards, a similar number to 100 yards and a similar number to 120 yards.

This alternating routine will help to improve your feel for the shots by imprinting memory patterns in the brain. You can also introduce shot difficulty into the session by simulating lower or higher shots.

These types of practice introduce feel and keeps the brain alert.

If you take a golf lesson and the pro gives you advice on how to correct a swing flaw you feel good. Yes? Until your next game when nothing seems to be right.

Don't get down on yourself. Remember that when a tour pro changes their swing they will often say it will take a year to get the benefit of the change.

That seems a long time, especially when they are hitting shots every day and they have coaches on hand to help. Golfers need coaches to give them the swing drills, monitor the progress, give them feedback. Why do you think most tour players have coaches on their team?

Most of us can’t afford the cost of a coach (or even regular lessons) - so let’s set out your own objectives, plans and drills for the next season and use short regular sessions to try them out. It’s all about training the mind.

Christmas Gifts for Golfers

What shall I get the golfer in my life for Christmas? What are the ideal golf gifts?

I don’t really understand it but almost as soon as Hallowe’en and Guy Fawkes are over, all eyes move towards Christmas. It’s more than 7 weeks away, people! Let’s just get through November! No?

Perhaps it’s part of the great gender divide but my better half (and children, too) have started to ask the question that quite a lot of us dread… what do you want for your Christmas?

Oh, I dunno!

But then I thought that others may have the same problem in either buying gifts for golfers or knowing what to ask for when the ‘present question’ comes around - as it invariably will.

Just a quick note… If you’re buying gifts for golfers, please do not get golf clubs. These are very personal items and need to be selected by the golfer themselves.

So have a look at this lovely selection of gifts that any golfer would be happy to receive.

Personalised Titleist Golf Balls

Want to make sure that it's definitely your ball that you're fishing from the water hazard? Then buy Titleist Golf Balls before Christmas* and you can get free engraving on each. Get a name, initials or any fun message you choose. Plus, buy a dozen balls and get a free ball marker, too!

Click here for more information and to buy.

*(before 8th December for Christmas delivery)

Play Golf Scotland Gift Bag

Of course I have to add our own fabulous gift bags onto this list. Perhaps I'm biased but these bags would go down a treat for any golfer. The bag contains several individual and unique items including hints and tips cards, golf tees, Nike balls and more.

Priced from £25 plus postage.

Click here for more information and to buy.

Chipping Net 

If you are interested in chipping practice a chipping net is fun and helpful. And did I mention it's fun? I spotted this PGA Tour Perfect Touch Practice Net on Amazon and it's a steal at only £7.50. If you're planning to use this indoors then consider buying foam practice balls and moving any precious bits and bobs before you play!

Click here for more information and to buy.

Soap for Golfers

A natural hand soap designed to ease sore muscles. I can personally attest that this is fabulous stuff.

Click here for more information and to buy.





The Golfing Good Life: Golf Instruction for Golfers Over 50 

Your golfing career doesn't have to end just
because you're the big 5-0 or older! This book is a great gift if you know someone looking to revive a golf career or for a newly retired person who's looking to get into the game.

Click here for more information and to buy.



No Limits: My Autobiography by Ian Poulter

Okay, I'm going to be honest - I haven't read this book yet as it's on my own Christmas list! But if you're interested in finding out how IP is motivated then this would be a great stocking filler. (It's got good reviews, too!)

Click here for more information and to buy.

Indoor Putting Mat

Indoor putting practice is easier with a putting mat. This putting mat from the PGA is an ideal practice assistant to achieve a consistent putting stroke. It is better than using your carpet and is only £14.50 for 6ft!

Click here for more information and to buy.


Golf Tough: Practice, Prepare, Perform and Progress

Golf Tough is an original and inspiring book- a book that will transform your game. Once again, I haven't read it but again, that's because I'm hoping to find it under our tree on December 25th!

Click here for more information and to buy.





Base Layer Clothing: Stuburt Base Layer

This is an inexpensive base layer to help keep the body warm on cold days on the golf course. The price is currently £19.99 (20% discount) from Direct Golf. Plus, if you buy before 23rd December you get a free gift card. Bonus!

Click here for more information and to buy.




Golf Trolley

Who doesn't love a good golf trolley? Especially one that's on offer! This Masters Golf iCart Duo Trolley is currently on offer from American Golf and is great value at just £79.99.

Click here for more information and to buy.






Ben Hogans Five Lessons "The Modern Fundamentals of Golf”

A classic book from one of the best golfers of all time. It's no longer in print but there are some great offers for it used on Amazon or eBay and it's definitely worth getting hold of and having a read.

Click here for more information and to buy.

I have more ideas for gifts so check back soon for more...


All prices were correct at the time of writing this post. If they go up - sorry. If they go down - yay!

Lest we Forget...

It's really difficult to find appropriate words so I'll just share this portion of a poem 'For the Fallen' by Robert Laurence Binyon.

They went with songs to the battle, they were young,

Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.

They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted,

They fell with their faces to the foe.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning

We will remember them.

Quote of the Week