Golf Practice-zine Newsletter
for April 2011

Thanks for signing up to receive the April 2011, Issue (#30) of the Newsletter.

We have details on the Zenio Putting System from Munich Germany, Secrets of Greatness, a description of the Golf Genie Practice Drills pocket guide, Golf Hazards during World War II in Great Britain, the Canadian Golfer's Toolbox from Swinkey and news Tidbits from the World of Golf.

Newsletter Contents:

1. Zenio Putting System
2. Secrets of Greatness
3. Golf Genie Pocket Guide - Practice Drills
4. Golf During WWII
5. Swinkey - The Golfer's Toolbox
6. News Tidbits

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Improved putting consistency. Zenio Sports has invented a device to help monitor your putting stroke by helping you feel the swing path your putter takes. As Justin Rose, currently using Zenio to tune his putting, says:

"Zenio is a putting system that you attach to your putter face and gyro to the shaft. It measures rotation thru the stroke, rhythm, and your ability to return the putter where you're aiming. I mainly use it for rhythm benefits." -- Justin Rose

Zenio Tour Edition

The Tour edition is for all levels of player who want to improve their putting. It's not cheap: about $850.00 Canadian plus shipping (putt for dough, remember).

What you get in the bag is:

• Training and Fitting software
• Battery Unit (4 hour life, 29 grams)
• Sensor Unit (6 grams)
• Charger Cable
• Leather Case
• 2 Software Licenses (for Smartphone & PDA)

The software is for Windows-based phones only. Software for summary analysis on a desktop or notebook PC will only work under XP or Windows 7. The software measures the putting stroke rhythm, impact, face angle (open/close) and whether you de-loft or add loft to the putter head at impact.

Setup

The Sensor unit is attached to the putter face; it is a thin-strip to measure impact and is connected via double-sided tape. A USB cable connects the Sensor to the Battery Unit (clipped to the putter shaft in the image at right). As the putter swings, a gyro in the battery unit measures the electric impulses from the sensor unit and the data is transmitted via Bluetooth to your Smartphone or PDA. Bluetooth works over a range of about 30 feet, so your Smartphone needs to be close -- in your pocket or your bag nearby.

The sensor and battery units can be connected to any putter.

How Zenio Works

Zenio uses sensors on your putter to measure key physical aspects of your putting stroke (impact, rhythm, angle of the putter face) and records those movements to your smartphone or wireless device via Bluetooth frequencies. With the Zenio sensors on your club and their software on your smartphone, they say, "..you have your putting coach in your pocket."

So, now you can simply hit the practice putting green to calibrate the system and get used to the software and visual reports of your performance. Best of all, you can take the whole system with you out on the course and just play your round. At the end of your round, you can compare results between practice and play to see how your putting stroke behaves under pressure.

By recording data from each session, players can track their progress over time on different types of putts (straight, breaking, uphill, downhill) from a variety of different distances, under different green conditions (fast, slow) helping to build up a clear picture of putting strengths and weaknesses and how to improve your putting consistency . Zenio's software uses the player’s 'BEST' performance as a benchmark for future sessions and also includes a Tour player consistency benchmark for comparison. Golfers can also use the Zenio system to find their optimum stance, grip and posture, and by using the fitting option can even reveal which putter type suits their stroke best.

Zenio provides a good Quick Tour guide to get you started on their website. There is also a video of Dr. Richard Jaekel from Zenio at the 2010 PGA Show that gives a great look at the system and the concepts behind it.

The only two issues for me are:

• Zenio only works on Windows-based Smart phones and PDAs (does anybody use PDAs anymore?)
• The price is a little high. I want my golf club to buy one and rent it to me by the hour.

Otherwise, what a great tool for putting practice! Outstanding mobility and very flexible in terms of how you want to use it. Measure lag putt performance or try it on your most difficult holes to see how your stroke holds up under pressure; or try different grips to see what style helps you strike more solid putts. Just put it on an iPhone and get the price down or rent it to me and I'm in. Or find me a pro who has one and I'll take a lesson for sure.

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2. Secrets of Greatness

The editors of Fortune Magazine compiled the work of researchers in the fields of business management, psychology and human performance to examine the question, 'What makes great people great?' What they found is that the lack of natural talent is irrelevant to the achievement of great success. The answer? "Painful and demanding practice and hard work.

Popular opinion expresses a belief that great performers such as Tiger Woods or Warren Buffet were born with natural gifts for achieving greatness in their respective fields. As Buffet states, "..I was wired at birth to allocate capital." People think that Buffet or Woods are 'one in a million'; their greatness is an "..either you have it or you don't" kind of gift.

Secrets of Greatness says these naysayers are wrong. Both Woods and Buffett are examples of exactly the opposite. They are classic exemplars of hard work and practice paying off. Woods, was handed a golf club at 18 months old, he began practicing with his father when he was 2 years, 7 months old. By the time he started playing professional golf, Tiger had 20 years golf experience. Buffet is legendary for his discipline and the endless hours he spends analyzing financial reports and researching he companies he invests in.

Research

Research supports these findings. The book gives many examples with consistent findings:

• Evidence does not support the notion that excelling is a consequence of possessing inherent gifts.
• In virtually every field the surveyed, most people need about ten years of hard work to become world-class, they call this the "Ten Year Rule" since the pattern was so evident. Researchers support the 10 years as a minimum. In many fields (e.g. music, elite musicians need 20-30 years) great performers need longer.
• The best performers in any field achieve results by devoting the most hours to "deliberate practice" through which they achieve outstanding performance. This practice drives the practicer beyond their level of competence, gives feedback on results and involves high levels of repetition.
• Although some important traits toward success can be inherited (physical size, intelligence) those things influence more what a person doesn't do rather than what he/she does. For example, a seven-footer will never be a jockey, a five-foot person will never be an NFL linebacker.

Practice must be deliberate: for example: Simply hitting a bucket of balls is not deliberate practice, which is why most golfers don't get better. Hitting an eight-iron 300 times with a goal of leaving the ball within 20 feet of the pin 80 percent of the time, continually observing results and making appropriate adjustments, and doing that for hours every day - that's deliberate practice.

The article cites lots of real-world examples; a study by prof. K. Anders Ericsson of Florida State U and colleagues, examined a group of 20 year old violinists. They found:

• the best group averaged 10,00 hours of deliberate practice over their lives
• the next-best group averaged 7,500 hours
• the next group averaged 5,000 hours
• the same story repeated itself for surgeons, insurance sales and every sport

Other Findings:

Take a long term point of view towards your development. Research shows that this attitude when taking a longer term approach is very powerful. Focus over the long term creates a higher degree of concentration toward gaining the most out of each lesson or practice session.

Feedback is also crucial. They quote a Goldman Sachs leadership development manager, who says, "If you don't know how successful you are, two things happen: One, you don't get any better, and two, you stop caring." Feedback needs to be immediate and ongoing.

Ultimately, great performers put the work in. The researchers know what behaviours enable greatness to happen. What they don't know is what motivates people to behave the way that they do. As one researcher stated, " We still do not know which factors encourage individuals to engage in deliberate practice."

It's In All of Us

To be great, you have to motivate yourself. You have to want it. Not all of us have the motivation -- maybe the price for greatness is just too great. What we have to give up to get that good is more than our personal lifestyle is prepared to invest. But one thing is sure, the path to greatness is open to all of us.

This article is indeed, GREAT. Maybe it will help motivate YOU. For more, have a read, its in Fortune Magazine (Geoffrey Colvin) October 2006.

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Practice Reinforcement

Practice Plans and Practice Drills are important supplements to your practice program. I've found that, extended practice sessions can be counter productive if you don't manage them carefully. So i look for ways to reinforce the gains made through practice.

You will lose the benefit gained from drills if you don't reinforce them. There are a few resources that help track and retain your good practice habits. As the Secrets of Success in #2 points out practice must be deliberate, provide positive feedback and result from your motivation to improve performance in measurable ways.

Golf Genie Pocket Guides

The Golf Genie guides are pocket-size references designed to be carried on-course and aid golfers with tips and reminders to help the master techniques, shots and course management as they learn the game. I described their Tee to Green booklet last time (Newsletter, March 2011, Issue #29)

The Practice Drills guide is, without a doubt, my favourite. The "Little Blue Book" is very well organized. The drills are colour-coded, tabbed for easy access, visually referenced and, best of all, grouped with lots of example practice plans and example practice routines.

Well Organized

Practice Drills is laid out in four major sections:

• Full Swing
• Short Game
• Swing Faults
• Practice Routines

Each of the first three sections contain 7 specific drills, an example of the chipping drills to improve your accuracy, consistency and distance control is shown below. The final section lays out notes on how to practice effectively, developing a mindset to help take practice results out onto the course. A practice plan is followed by detailed sample practice routines of different duration and to fix specific weaknesses in all facets of your game.

Chipping Drill

From page 35 of the Drills, you can see the drills are well-supported with graphics. The text is clear as are the goals of each exerccise.

The fundamentals are clearly defined in a pocket book you can carry with you to the range. I take it with me as a paint-by-numbers guide to keep me on track during early practice sessions. After a while, I'll have the routine ingrained but adjustable to the weaknesses in my game. I have to continuously practice all aspects to keep my feel consistent -- especially in the short game and especially for bunker play.

Practice Plans and Practice Routines

Practice Drills sums itself up perfectly with pages on How to Practice. This is my favourite part of the book; not only does it set out a good set of drills, but it reinforces all this information by fitting it into a coherent plan for making you a better player. All that's left is to insert motivation here.

The Practice Plan image here is augmented a series of games to help you exercise the drills in a way that keeps practice fun and fresh: Long ahd short putt games. There are a total of nine example practice routines you can take to the range. Each drill in the practice suite is given a 5 minute interval -- it can't be more structure than this.

This book is unbeatable for its clarity and quality. It is so portable, I think you will find it very useful to structure your practice both at season start and as a refresher throughout the year. I'm putting mine in my bag; it is my practice bible.

For a more detailed description of the Golf Genie golf pocket guides checkout the Golf Genie website

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BC Golf News published a letter submitted by a reader recollecting golf in Britain during the Second World War. The temporary rules posted at the Richmond (UK) Golf Club mark a different level of determination and dedication to golf during wartime. I highlight these rules here, but for more detail, you should read the full story at BC Golf News.

1. Players are asked to collect Bomb and Shrapnel splinters to save these causing damage to the Mowing Machines
2. In Competitions, during gunfire or while bombs are falling, players may take cover without penalty for ceasing play
3. The positions of known delayed action bombs are marked by red flags at a reasonably, but not guaranteed, safe distance there from
4. Shrapnel and/or bomb splinters on the Fairways, or in Bunkers within a club's length of a ball, may be moved without penalty and no penalty shall be incurred if a ball is thereby caused to more(sp.) accidentally.
5. A ball moved by enemy action may be replaced, or if lost or destroyed, a ball may be dropped not nearer the hole without penalty.
6. A ball lying in a crater may be lifted and dropped not nearer the hole, preserving the line to the hole, without penalty.
7. A player whose stroke is affected by the simultaneous explosion of a bomb may play another ball from the same place. Penalty one stroke.

I guess Rule 6 is really saying that craters are "ground under repair", although that seems a tad understated.

I don't know about you, but that last rule (7) is a bit rude. If a bomb goes off while I'm on my backswing (or any part of my swing) I'm replaying, no penalty. Damn those Nazis!

The rules underline the British attitude and determination to, as Churchill liked to say, "KBO" or "Keep Buggering On". I think we, as golfers worldwide, exemplify that creed nicely.

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Brian Benedictson is a Canadian Tour professional who has worked at the Crown Isle Resort and Golf Community in Courtenay on Vancouver Island. Brian's played the Canadian Tour for the past three years. In working to improve his game, Brian used:

• a weighted swing club
• a fitness pole
• a putting stroke trainer
• a string line
• stance alignment aids
• a camera monopod
• a club protector for travel

He found this tool collection too much to carry so, as a construction tradesman-turned tour player, he designed the Swinkey as a compact version of his toolkit more easily transportable on the road.

To seed the market, Brian put it in the hands of all the Canadian Tour players. He took it on the road to golf courses around the country; now 121 pro shops from Vancouver Island to Quebec carry The Swinkey. Currently over 200 professional tour players continue to use Swinkey as a day-to-day practice tool. At $99.00 per copy it is proving to be very popular.

PGA Tour Endorsement

Brian intorduced a close friend, Brent Schwarzrock, to his Swinkey in 2009. Brent loved it and kept using it, introducing Swinkey to neighbour pros at his home in Sea Island Georgia. Schwarzrock had some contacts on the PGA Tour, one of those was Davis Love III. Davis was very impressed, enough to invite Brian to the Heritage Classic at Hilton Head to represent Swinkey.

Swinkey Golf Inc. has announced an endorsement deal with Davis Love III. It looks like the deal is paying off. During two days at the Heritage driving range, 56 players put a Swinkey in their bag. Since that introduction, an additional 36 PGA players havee asked for a Swinkey -- that totals 92 PGA pros.

Since the endorsement deal, Brian has contracted with TMI Autotech to manufacture Swinkey in the USA, launched Swinkey Japan and opened a booth at the PGA Merchandise Show 2011 in Orlando Floriday (january 2011). So, Swinkey and Brian have come a long way. They have received a couple of licensing offers but have declined those in favour of controlling their own destiny. As Brian said in a recent blog post:

"The good things in life seem to take the most amount of effort. The biggest thing I have learned; trust your instincts and move to the target without fear. Take dead aim my friend." -- Brian Benedictson

For more on this story check out the Swinkey website.

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Other News bits of interest:

• Golf Town ventures into the U.S. golf market: as reported in the Globe and Mail. challenges big retailers (maybe even bigger) as GT will battle Dick's Sporting Goods and Golf Galaxy, two huge sports chains in the U.S. I think it's a smart move, they are staying in the Northeaster U.S. where climate and playing habits will be close to that in Golf Town's Eastern Canada market. And where the population base is even bigger, with a pretty fanatical golf fan base.

• Clicgear is named the Official Push Cart of the American Junior Golf Association. This is a big deal for Clicgear (invented by a Canadian while attending BCIT in Burnaby, BC). The AJGA is a huge and prestigious junior golf organization. Getting Clicgear equipment into the hands of arguably the best competitive junior tour is a great promotional boost to the company. Full disclosure: I own and love my Clicgear push cart!.

• EditNew Inc. has signed a deal with Best Buy Canada. Back in October 2009 (newsletter issue#16, of course you remember) I wrote about a bright idea a company had to put LCD screens on players' bags in order to show advertising.

  

  Pro Michael Allen displayed ProBag Ads while on the PGA tour that year.

  EditNew Inc.'s system consists of microcomputer packs that fit on the back of LCD screens to display everything from restaurant menus, company bulletins, airport schedules, product prices and in-house advertising. A wireless link allows users to change digital content on their screens at any time and from anywhere in the world via the Internet using laptop, personal device or home base.

  For Best Buy screens will be used for in-store ads in 1100 Canadian Best Buy stores, with potential for going into the U.S. at a later date.

  Currently, on the PGA Tour, John Daly is carrying LCD screen on his bag, at least for the rest of 2011.

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