Houston National Golf Club – Summer Deals

Houston National Golf Club has some great summer deals on green fees.

Monday-Thursday are just $42. Play Friday-Sunday for just $52! Enjoy Super Twilight fees of just $29 (includes cart). Super Twilight starts at 5:00 pm and is a great way to spend a summer evening!

Call the golf shop for more information: 281-304-1400.

Testicle Therapy

"I woke up this morning and this Asian guy was attached to my foot."

Here’s a funny joke that guest author Brian Blackburn sent in.  Happy Friday!

Two women were playing golf. One teed off and watched in horror as her ball headed directly toward a foursome of men playing the next hole. The ball hit one of the men. He immediately clasped his hands together at his groin, fell to the ground and proceeded to roll around in agony. The woman rushed down to the man, and immediately began to apologize. ‘Please allow me to help. I’m a Physical Therapist and I know I could relieve your pain if you’d allow me, she told him.

‘Oh, no, I’ll be all right. I’ll be fine in a few minutes,’ the man replied. He was in obvious agony, lying in the fetal position, still clasping his hands there at his groin.. At her persistence, however, he finally allowed her to help. She gently took his hands away and laid them to the side, loosened his pants and put her hands inside. She administered tender and artful massage for several long moments and asked, ‘How does that feel’? Feels great, he replied; but I still think my thumb’s broken!

Six Reasons to Play Golf

Came across this nifty little article today in my Google Alerts.  Take a gander.

Six Reasons to Play Golf
Houston Style Magazine
By M. Ernest Marshall

Golf is a strange game, particularly, to those who don’t understand it. One must ask why so many people want so desperately to play the game as often as possible. With a little thought, at least ten reasons emerge for this:

1. Golf is a very difficult game. If it were easy, there would be little interest in it.

Read More…

FixYourGame.com – Why am I not Getting Any Better?

Guest Author: Brant Kasbohm
PGA Director of Instruction
Fixyourgame.com
info@fixyourgame.com

“Why am I not getting any better?”  This is a question asked by golfers since the first game was played.  We should take a look at how we learn, and the psychology of learning that applies to all tasks, including golf.  Believe it or not, but there are only two ways that humans learn things–instruction and repetition.  Unfortunately, there are no ways around this. (Despite the nearly unlimited number of quick fixes out there, like “learn a foreign language in one weekend”, and “buy this club and take six strokes off your game.”  You get the idea.)  If you think I’m crazy, I’ll get you two examples to prove my point.

1.  Think of you first day at your current job, vs. what you know now.  If you’ve been at the same job for 5+ years, I’d bet that you can nearly do it in your sleep.  The amount of initial instruction, and continuous repetition have built the tasks into your long-term memory.  But on that first day, you were likely clueless.

2.  Think of the last time you drove a new car, or someone else’s car.  You probably couldn’t figure out how to turn on the wipers or lights, and the cruise control buttons are completely different.  Compare that to your own car.  I’d bet that you can adjust the radio, and cruise control without looking.  I’ve had the same car, and automatic, for about one year now, and my previous car, a stick-shift, for about 9 years before that.  I still am not used to the automatic, and reach for the clutch with my left foot.  That tells you how hard it is to change long term habits!

Learning golf is no different.  Without quality instruction, and repetition of the fundamentals, a golfer is going to revert to their old habits.  Most golfers play once a week or less, and practice even less often, so they’re simply not getting enough repetition necessary to build the fundamentals into long term memory.  And it’s human nature to want the quick fix, (lottery anyone?) so when working on a swing change, many give up if immediate results are not there.  There is a learning curve to everything.

A very interesting and unique look at the learning curve is presented in Malcolm Gladwell’s book, Outliers, where Mr. Gladwell postulates that it takes 10 years or 10,000 hours for one to become an expert at something.  While no one that I know has 10,000 hours to spare on their golf games, the point is that success is no accident.  Golf may be the hardest of all sports to learn, everyone is a beginner & high handicapper at some point.  So don’t get discouraged if you aren’t seeing rapid improvement in your game.  Keep working, and keep practicing.

For instruction, see your local PGA Professional, and for affordable, online, interactive golf instruction, please check out www.Fixyourgame.com.

More July Golf Trivia Winners

The winners of the 2nd July 2010 Trivia Contest are:

Zak Fehrmann (Blaketree National Golf Club winner)
BJ Rieck (Bear Creek Golf World winner)

Here’s a recap of the question.  Do you know that Oosthuizen employs a mind-training trick to help him with his concentration on the course? The idea came from sports psychologist Karl Morris. What technique is credited with helping Louis Oosthuizen win the British Open?

A) Focusing on a small red spot on his glove during his swing
B) Thinking of the taste of his favorite sandwich as he setup to the ball
C) Right before each shot, extending his left index finger off of the club
D) During his pre-shot routine, looking up into the clouds for 2 seconds to clear his mind

Here’s a quote from The Independent (author Steve Connor) that details the answer:

A small red spot on the glove of golfer Louis Oosthuizen is credited with playing a critical role in his winning of The Open Championship at St Andrews last Sunday. The coloured spot was a visible manifestation of the growing influence of psychology in sport – it was designed to help the 27-year-old South African concentrate on his swing in the crucial moments leading up to a shot.

The next contest is starting tomorrow, so come back soon.

Fort Bend Country Club – Summer Deals

Fort Bend Country Club is running a special on fees for the summer, Tuesday-Thursday $31.88 for 1/2 cart and grren fee and $42.50 on Friday – Sunday.

Call the pro shop to book a tee time: 281-342-8368.

Southwyck Golf Club – BLOW OUT Sale

Southwyck Golf Club

BLOW OUT on ALL golf clubs in STOCK

VR S8 Driver Retail $399.95 Buy it NOW for $220.95

Method Putter Retail $249.95 Buy it Now for $182.95

Plus MANY MORE Deals on clubs!

Call the golf shop for more information: 713-436-9999.

Houston National Golf Club – Summer Deals

Houston National Golf Club has some great summer deals on green fees.

Monday-Thursday are just $42. Play Friday-Sunday for just $52! Enjoy Super Twilight fees of just $29 (includes cart). Super Twilight starts at 5:00 pm and is a great way to spend a summer evening!

Call the golf shop for more information: 281-304-1400.

Kids Play Free at Clear Creek

Clear Creek Golf Club is running a kids play free promotion. Right now for every paying adult, one junior (15 and younger) plays free. Good anytime Monday through Friday and Saturday/Sunday after 11am.

Call the golf shop for more information: 713-738-8000.

Tour Striker Review

Welcome Guest Author Brian Blackburn, aka “Club Ho“

Well my equipment ho ways continue with this training aid I purchased not long ago.  It is called Tour Striker and is designed to teach you to swing your irons with your hands in front of the ball…..making a descending blow……hitting the ball first then the ground.  I am sure you have all heard these things before….and I have read many times that this is a very common amateur mistake.

Well I thought, I might as well give this a shot.  What do I have to lose besides some cash.  I started checking eBay and could not find one cheaper than around $100.00 and thought like most of my other purchases….if I don’t want it I can put it back on eBay and get all or most of my money back (sometimes I even make a few bucks).  It arrived about a week later and I was lucky enough to get the box off the front porch before my wife spotted it.   The club comes with an instructional DVD that is fairly simple.

The way this club works is this, it has a rounded leading edge at the bottom of the face of the club.  If you cast your club from the top, or if you flip your club at impact your bottom lead edge will hit the ball first as opposed to the sweet spot in the center of the club face.  It is also called “scooping”.  If you hit this way with the rounded bottom of the tour you are likely to get a skulled ball, or worm burner.  With a typical “game improvement” iron you are likely to get a high shot that lacks power.  So basically you get better feedback if you are impacting the ball too low on the club face.

I took it to the range immediately and noticed that among my many, many swing problems, this is not one of them.  No skulled shots for me.  It did hit the ball lower than any other “8 iron” I use but that would be expected since it is thinner at the very bottom, the opposite of any other clubs I use.

The other thing I learned is that “trying” to hit down on the ball causes the exact opposite.  When I made an effort to ensure that I was holding my wrist cock through impact, or that I had a descending blow….I achieved the opposite.  This is the only time I skulled this club.

So the club did not work for me and will be going on eBay soon where hopefully I will get all my money back.