As I reflect on my year and look ahead into the future, a key tool that I use is a writing journal. I have a journal for each area of my life: Spiritual, Family, Personal Development and Teaching. Before I can move forward, I must make certain that I am heading in the right direction. If you are serious about improving your golf game, I encourage you to start writing. No, you don’t have to write a book. Heck, you don’t even have to use proper grammar. As long as it makes sense to you, that is all that matters. I encourage all of my tournament players, elite juniors and serious golfer fanatics to participate in this practice of journaling. I have read hundreds of golf books over the years, some good and some not so good. No matter what I try to take something out of every one of them that will make me a better teacher or player. Nick Price wrote a book in 1997 called,”The Swing: mastering the Principles of the Game.” Although the instruction portion was average at best, the last chapter was interesting because Mr. Price published his swing journal that he kept while working with David Ledbetter. (The before and after pictures of his swing was quite interesting as well). Here is what he wrote which I think does a nice job of summing up the importance of keeping a journal from a major champion. He writes, ” During the course of my career I have kept a journal of my thoughts, primarily about my swing as I was working on it. I did not do this on a regular basis, but simply jotted notes down as they occurred to me, to reinforce ideas in my mind. Often after working with David Ledbetter I wanted to think about what we had discussed and to work things out in my own mind. Writing thoughts down helps me focus on what I want to do, and why.” When I look back through the journal now, I am struck by how I was obviously struggling toward the clear understanding of the swing that I sought. It is a never-ending journey that I enjoy-most of the time and keeping these notes helped me clarify matters.

Keeping a journal is a great way to keep thoughts that work (or don’t work) to remind yourself of what you are working on the last time you were on the lesson or the practice tee.  Here is an example of one of Nick Prices’ journal entries:

Supination : This is created when the left hand remains bowed through impact. The forearm rotates after impact, releasing the clubhead down the line of the target, still in the plane of the swing. This is undoubtedly the secret to consistent ball-striking, especially with the irons. When the left wrist is bowed incorrectly through impact, errant shots will result, the most frequent type being a hook. To insure against this happening, the thumb of the left hand must remain on top of the shaft, with the clubhead coming in low and after impact released. The normal result when this is done correctly is a very piercing flight of the ball, essential for extremely accurate iron play! The things to remember while trying or using this move are:

1. Make sure the club is taken away low from the ball

2. Make sure the backswing is completed

3. make sure the weight is transferred

4. make sure a  full turn is achieved

Wow! I don’t know about you but that is alot of stuff to work on in one session. This was only a portion of the post, believe it or not. I think this is the point of my career that I started giving my students less and less to work on in a lesson, right teachers. First understand that he is a tour player and it was his job to practice and secondly, he was a very analytical learner. The point is to jot down ideas that will keep you focused, you don’t have to write a book.

A Mental Excercise

For you “negative nellies” out there that only focus on the bad shots that you hit, try this in your journal. The next time you play, I challenge you to write down all the good shots that you hit (what club it was, yardage, how it looked, how it felt). This will start to project some positivity in your attitude and you will be amazed at how it will help your visualization skills.

So that is enough for now. Please share some of you goals for this past year and goals for 2011. I will post on how to help you set your goals if you are struggling soon. Leave a comment below.

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See you on the lesson tee (704-542-7635 to schedule a lesson)

Guru…….p.s. HAVE YOU PURCHASED YOUR DANA RADER GIFT CARD YET FOR CHRISTMAS?