-Golfers believe it is bad luck to borrow a pencil.

-Only 11% of American Doctors play golf.

-Men break 90 about 25% of the time, women about 7% of the time.

-Statistics say the average golfer is a 38 year old male who plays 14 rounds per year.

-The club head of a driver stays in contact with the ball for half a thousandth of a second.

Be a Copy Cat 

I was at a PGA conference a few years ago and our guest speaker was the great teacher Butch Harmon. At that moment in time he was instructing Tiger Woods. Besides being a really neat guy and super speaker he passed on to us a few really cool ideas. They were:

a. He claimed some of the best instructional ideas he ever had he got from some else. From that I might suggest all golfers watch the great players and how they setup and hit the ball. We see them every weekend on the “telly”….check it out! A great example is… why does Tiger Woods have a big black line on his golf ball? You can see it every time he putts. It relates to perhaps the easiest and best putting tip of all. A total no brainer!

b. A professional in the house asked him what was the main underlining theme about his teaching technique. He said without a blink….basic fundamentals. Grip, stance, posture and ultimately the swing. If one of the first three are not right the swing thing is made real tough! 

c. He showed an early video clip of Tiger from 155 yards to a hole at the Doral Country Club in Florida. Tiger hit a wedge. One year later under Butch’s influence he was hitting an 8 iron! Butch wanted Tiger to concentrate more on accuracy than distance. He believed hitting the ball at 80% was a better and higher percentage strategy than 100%.Golf is all about SCORE…..

If I can expand on any of these ideas for you please seek me out! 

Wishing you a great golf summer!

Cheers,

Scott

HANDICAP SYSTEM NOW AVAILABLE!

Keep in mind, that with every shot in golf there are many different options a golfer can use. Depending on the level of golfer, certain shots are much tougher than others. For example, how many of us have been presented with this shot? You’re in a grove of trees, with a small gap between you and the green. Now do you go for it, or do you pitch out into the fairway and go from there? There are many factors to consider when hitting this shot: 

1. How big is the gap to go through? 
2. How confident do you feel about hitting that particular shot? 
3. How far do you need to hit it to get to the green? 
4. How low do you need to hit it? 
5. What are the chances out of 10 that the shot will be executed properly?
6. Is it worth going for the shot (depending on where you are in your round)?

Once you’ve weighed out your options, you must commit to the shot and trust that you’ve made the right decision. Here’s how to play both shots:

Go for it shot:
Make sure you take a low enough iron so that you ensure hitting a low shot. It could be anywhere from a 7 iron right down to a 3, depending on the distance you have to go. Put the ball back in your stance. This will put your hands and weight slightly ahead of the ball. Aim for the biggest gap possible through the trees, and take a pitching or halfswing at the ball. The ball will fly fairly low and straight, and get you going as far down the fairway to the green as possible.

Pitch out shot:
This is obviously a MUCH easier, and less risky shot. You may have to go sideways, but this will be the path of least resistance. Club selection will be anything from a 7 iron down to a pitching wedge. Again, ball position will be back in the stance, putting the weight and hands forward. Take a nice smooth swing back and through, and boom, you’re back in business!

Remember always take the percentage shot, and you will be an ace troubleshooter!

It is time for us all to stand and cheer for the do’er, the achiever; the one who recognizes the challenge and does something about it.

-Vince Lombardi

Ability is what you are capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it.

-Lou Holtz

My philosophy in life is this: if we make up our mind what we are going to make of our lives, then work hard toward that goal, we never lose; somehow we win out. 

-Ronald Reagan

Every man builds his world in his own image. He has the power to choose, but no power to escape the necessity of choice.

-Ayn Rand

The first annual BIG KP Contest took place on June 24th. The competition was fierce and the stakes high with first place winning a trip for 2 to VEGAS! After the precisions shooting we saw displayed, there was one golfer left standing, Jon Milne! Jon is a member at Island View and also a student of Scott Keenlyside. He stepped up, and with the crowd watching, lasered a ball to 3’3” of the cup! You see folks, memberships combined with lessons at our golf academy equals phenomenal golf. You can’t argue with results! 

Thanks to James McNulty, Evanne Bednarski, Glen and the rest of the Island View Staff for helping run the contest and we wish Jon and his lovely wife a great time down in the glamorous city of Las Vegas!

The Island View Golf Team is starting to gain some serious ground on the Victoria Golf scene. After Andrew Wintraub’s near win at the Cedar Hill Open in May, the team has kept its eyes on the prize. The Winspear Cup took place at Glen Meadows on a beautiful Tuesday afternoon on June 26th. The format was teams of two, 2 ball best ball. Andrew and myself teamed up and after scrambling around the first few holes; we turned it up a notch and shot at combined 8 under 64 to win the tournament! As a bonus, we got to play the round with none other than Marty Richards in his 31st year in the tournament and Tommy Doyle. It was a great time!

Happy Canada day and look forward to seeing everyone in July!

Why is that so? 

Well, there are many reasons for this. The hybrid has become popular because it combines the distance of a wood, and accuracy of an iron. More and more golfers even on the PGA tour are starting to take the long irons out of their bag, and quickly replacing them with various hybrid clubs. They are just that good! The reason for them doing this is that a long iron can be very difficult to hit off fairway and rough. A hybrid has more mass to it, and a lower profile, which makes it much easier to get the ball up in the air, and have it land softly on the green. Put a hybrid in your bag and see how fast your scores go down. 

Satisfaction guaranteed!!