Above and beyond this is I will add my own little tidbits and experiences for you about visiting and playing golf in this famous town.

I am a regular visitor to St Andrews since I have the great fortune of having my wife’s sister move there in 2005, the year tiger Woods won the open, and the year Jack Nicklaus said an emotional farewell to St Andrews having been adopted by the townsfolk as their hero for many years.

The Royal Bank of Scotland even had big Jack printed on their five pound notes as a tribute to how much he is respected in that part of the world!

As much as St Andrews is known for the fame of the "Old Course" there are now 6 other courses run by the St Andrews Trust which are as challenging if not more challenging as the old lady:

The “New Course” opened in   1895.

The “Jubilee Course” opened in 1897.

The “Eden Course” opened in 1914 on July 4^th.

The “Balgove Course” opened as a 9 hole course for children in 1972.

The Strathtyrm Course” opened in 1993.

The “Castle Course” that began construction in 2005.

How to get on the Old Course

You have two choices:

1)             Book a golf holiday through one of the many golf holiday companies listed on the St Andrews Trust Website to guarantee a tee time.

2)            Call  24 hrs in advance and ask to be placed on the “Old Course Ballot”, again done through the St Andrews Trust. The ballot is a lottery process. Here you get a tee time if your name is drawn in the ballot and the results are posted on their website and at the starter box at the end of the day. Telephone: +44 (0)1334 466666

I played the course for the first time using the ballot process. I had a confirmed tee time on the New Course but also placed my name in the old course ballot. If you use the “ballot” system do not get fussy about what time you play – you will stand a better chance of being drawn. You can still get 18 holes in quite easily mid summer after 5.00pm.

Even if you do not get accepted on the ballot do not give up hope. If you are a single or even a twosome you still have a chance at getting on if you go the starter hut and enquire about open spots. Unlike the US system, if a tee time is booked, that whole tee time is reserved for the player who booked it and is not filled with other players if there are less than four people in reservation.

As was the case when I booked our time for a twosome. At the first tee the starter graciously asked my playing partner and myself if we would mind having another twosome join us, and a lucky US couple walked onto the course having only waited an hour.

Note: Remember to bring written proof of a handicap to show the starter as this is a requirement for playing the Old Course.

Be Prepared

The wind and the “Har” (fog) that blows across the course off the North Sea at any time of the day can make your day on the course an unforgettable challenge to say the least. Come prepared with a game for the wind and clothing for the cold – even in the middle of summer!

I would also practice your bunker play before you come over. You will be faced with bunkers that 8 times out of 10 can only be played back the way you entered, if you have the misfortune of finding one of the more than 100 bunkers on the “Old Course”. US bunkers by contrast will feel like playing from a beach!

Bring your pitch and run game as well. Do not expect to fly the pin on these courses, the greens are often very hard.

Accommodation

History

St Andrews and the surrounding towns are steeped in Scottish History. The University in the town is one of the oldest in Britain and was the heart for Scottish religious theory and birth place for much of the religious reform that took place in Scotland many years ago.

Only an hour and a half by car, or an hour on a great train ride over the famous Forth Road Bridge by rail, it is well worth a day’s excursion from St Andrews between rounds.

Golf Strategy

How to keep you scores down, if you have little time to practice.

If you are like many other golfers, the pressures of business and family prevent you from getting in a lot of practice time for your game. Let me show you how you can keep your scores down by simply changing your playing and practice strategy.

Don’t have a playing strategy? Well, you are not alone. Very few golfers step onto the first tee with any specific strategy other than to play the course to the “normally accepted” methods. That usually translates into playing each shot as it comes and trying your level best not to screw up!

Yet when you think about this “normally accepted” strategy on how to play golf, the level of your proficiency in the game has to be wide across many different skills from tee to green. Skills that many of you have not perfected.

Setting a strategy for your game has only one objective. How can I plan the way I play the course around the “strengths” of my game to give me the best scoring opportunities. Not around the general expectations on how the game should be played.

A well designed golf strategy directs you to play the course using the skills you have perfected and know you can execute with confidence on the course. That way, the consistency of your shots during the round is likely to be higher than trying to execute shots that you have had little practice perfecting on the range.

The majority of golfers who find it difficult to put in the practice time, shoot in the 90’s and low 100’s. For them, the area that destroys their scoring more than anywhere else is around the greens. If you don’t agree with me, count up the number of strokes you consumed around the green on your next round. You will surprise yourself!

Knowing that the short game requires more practice time than any other area in the game to gain any level of proficiency, most golfers typically resign themselves to the fact that they have to live with their skill deficiencies and do the best they can. They hardly have time to hit a bucket of balls on the range, never mind spending time practicing chip shots or bunker shots.

So I encourage you to think “Out side the Box”. If you short game is terrible, and accounts for most of the strokes you consume on the hole, change your playing strategy to eliminate the need for a short game altogether!

Here is how it is done.

The 65 yard Approach Shot Strategy

Instead of always going for the green in regulation (i.e. 2 shots to get on a par 4), which could be anywhere from 130 yards to 190 yards out depending on your drive, where you have a 85% chance of missing the green, design a strategy around only approaching the green from no further than 65 yards out.

“You are crazy! That consumes an extra shot from tee to green. I thought we were trying to eliminate strokes, not add them on!” I hear you say.

Well before you dismiss this strategy altogether, let me explain the benefits:

1) Your chances of hitting the green from 65 yards out are very high, especially if you change your practice strategy to spending 75% of your next bucket of balls on the range with a pitching wedge. You will develop a higher level of proficiency with that one club that will be more valuable to your game than trying to bash drivers past the 250 yard marker or trying to hit two to three balls with every club in the bag.

2) Let’s assume you are aiming for a score of 90 on your course that has a par 72, your goal for every hole is one over par for each hole (think about that). That means you have 5 strokes on every par 4 to meet goal. 3 of those 5 strokes are planned for 2 putts on the green and the 65 yard approach shot. That leaves you 2 stokes to get yourself within the 65 yard position for the wedge shot. Even on a long 400 yard par 4, that is an average of only 168 yards per stroke. This eliminates the pressure to go for distance off the tee, or on the long second shots into the green. This is where are other strokes are consumed due to miss hits. Instead you are are able to tap a gentle three wood down the fairway followed by a 5 or 6 iron to get yourself into position.

3) Not only do you avoid all chip shots and bunker shots caused from miss hit long second shots with this strategy, but you also have a very good chance of getting within 25 feet of the pin from 65 yards out, giving yourself a chance of a single putt for par on every hole. Or at least a high level of certainty of always getting down in two putts once you are on.

4) The final point to consider is that your limited practice time will be used mostly on one club – the wedge. Now if you combine that practice time with a few minutes a day on the living room carpet with your putter, you have now covered 65% of all the practice requirements for this strategy.

5) The 65 yard approach shot should be used on every hole with maybe the exception of short par 3’s. In no time you will develop a skill with the wedge that will become deadly effective as not only a way of avoiding the short game, but also as a stroke saver in the future as your game progresses

Wedge Practice Routine

• Starting with no more than a ½ swing and very little lower body action, hit your wedge to a target 40 yards away. You goal is to get within 20 feet 5 shots out of 5. If you miss the goal with one shot, start the count again.
• Only after you have achieved this goal, move the target out to 50 yards and repeat the routine until you can achieve getting within 20 feet 5 shots out of 5.
• Only after you have achieved this goal, move the target out to 65 yards and repeat the routine until you can achieve getting within 25 feet 5 shots out of 5.
• Finally, move the target randomly between 40 yards and 65 yards and repeat the routine until you can achieve getting within 20 feet 5 shots out of 5.

With a little bit of practice, the wedge will be an extremely useful tool that will become a major “strength” of your game. Not only do you avoid the short game for better scoring, you eliminate the pressure for distance on your long game which will have the effect of improving your swing consistency in this area and reduce the number of miss hits. To top it off, you will give yourself the opportunity of a par on every hole. - How often do you find yourself in that position with your current game plan?...........

Swing Consistency

Your Hands and Swing Timing

The coordination of the hands during the down swing is a key factor governing the “timing” of the swing and the consistency of the accuracy of your swing.

You are looking to avoid two conditions at impact:

1)                  The hands are released too early on the downswing causing them to be ahead of your left side at impact.

2)                  The release of the hands is too slow causing them to lag behind your left side at impact.

In both circumstances the timing of the swing is lost and along with that, power and accuracy of the swing is severely impacted.

Early Release

Indications of early hand release are pulls to the left or “topping” of the ball. For many golfers the early release of the hands is a common fault. Much of that is caused when you push the “go” button for the downswing. It is hard to hold back and control one specific muscle group when all the other muscles are blasting out the gates, especially when it is difficult to feel or sense these muscles.

There is another aspect that affects the control the hands and that is the speed of the backswing. Not only does a fast backswing affect the balance of the swing which in itself causes a problem with your body position at the impact point, but there is also another effect caused at the top of the swing and that is “hand bounce”.

Muscles are like elastic bands, when they are stretched they spring back. That’s what can happen with the hands when the high momentum of the club head continues to pull against the wrist muscles after the left arm stops at the top of the swing. The stretched wrist muscles “bounce” back causing an early release of the hands.

Increased hand control at the top of the swing to avoid early release can be improved in several ways:

1)         Slowing down the speed of the backswing to reduce club head momentum and avoid the "bounce".

2)         Shortening the backswing to reduce the tension in the muscles of the left side.

3)         Totally relaxing the hands to allow them to extend to their fullest range.

Slow Release

When the hands arrive late to the impact point the result is normally a push or slice to the right with very little power. To correct this problem the first area you should review is your grip position on the club.

Move your grip to a "stronger position" by rotating the left hand clockwise as you look down on it so that you see at least two knuckles on the left hand and where your left thumb is more “behind’ shaft than on top of it.

Your thumb provides tremendous leverage in your grip to transfer greater power from the wrist. If the thumb is resting directly on top of the shaft it is providing zero leverage.

To feel the effect of the thumb, swing the club gently holding it only with the left hand positioning the thumb directly on top of the shaft. You will find all the power of the wrist is loosely transferred through the last three fingers of the hand.

Now rotate the thumb more “behind” the shaft providing greater leverage and swing the club. You will notice a big difference and feel more in control of the club.

If having made an adjustment to the grip you are still late at impact, the strength of your hands may not be able to overcome the torque requirements to swing that particular club. You have three other choices:

1)                  Reduce the torque on the hands by shortening the effective length of the club by chocking down on the grip by ½ - ¾”.

2)                  Increase the physical strength of the hands through exercise.

3)                  Reduce the speed of the trunk turn on the downswing allowing the hands to match the speed of the left side.

My long term recommendation would always be to increase the strength of the hands as that will translate into additional swing power in the future. However, the recommendations of 1 and 3 are immediate fixes that will give you immediate control of your swing timing.

Swing Power

Power of the Hands

The pure “physics” of the golf swing is not often discussed simply because many teachers are unaware of the laws of motion that govern the mechanics of the swing. This is unfortunate since many students end up learning the game “parrot fashion” from teachers who apply the swing techniques of top players without really knowing “why” their techniques work.

Yet having a little knowledge of “Golf Physics” goes a long way towards understanding the mechanics of the swing and removing a lot of the “mysteries” behind successful golf swings.

The swing consists of many moving parts all of which contribute in some way to the power of the swing. However, none are more critical than the motion of the hands. Not only do they play an important role in the timing of the swing, they also contribute a huge amount of energy for the swing.

In simple physics terms, power (P) is defined as the rate (t) or speed at which energy (E) can be transferred to an object given by the following equation:  

P = E/t

If we look at this equation you realize you only have two choices to increase the power from the hands:

1)                  Increase the "energy stored" in the cocking of the hands on the backswing.

2)                  Increase the speed of release of the hands through impact.

Hand Energy

If we first try to understand how “energy” is stored in the hands we have to apply the physics governing circular motion since the hands travel in a circular path.

The stored energy (E) in the hands is calculated by multiplying the rotating force or “torque” that can be generated in the hands by their “angle of rotation” in their cocked position.

E = Torque x Angle of rotation.

Hand Torque

If we first look at Torque, it is defined as the force applied at a radius from a point of rotation that causes circular motion.

                                    Torque = Force x Radius

How do we translate this into meaningful terms for the golf swing?

Well, the “torque” generated by the hands causes the club to rotate around the wrist joint. Hand torque is determined by two factors:

1)                  The strength of the wrist muscles which create the rotating force of the movement.

2)                  The radius of rotation around the wrist which is governed by the length of the club.

Since the radius of rotation is fixed by the length of the club your only option for increasing hand “torque’ is to strengthen the hands.

This is one of the easiest of exercises to perform that all serious golfers should be doing on a daily basis. All it requires is a rubber ball or hand spring exerciser that can be used through out the day to strengthen your hands.

Hand Angle of Rotation

The second factor governing hand energy is the “angle of rotation” of the hands in the cocked position on the backswing. This angle is fairly small - somewhere in the region of 40° – 45°.

It is imperative that you use the full range of motion of your wrists. You will “waste” the energy that can be stored in the hands by as much as 25% for every 10° that you fail to cock the wrists on the backswing.

In order to achieve this, you must keep the hands relaxed as much as possible. It is muscle tension in the forearms that restricts the motion of the hands wasting valuable potential energy for the swing.

Likewise energy will be wasted if you release the hands too early on the down swing. Keep them fully cocked as long as possible until they are ready for release.

Speed of Release

The other end of the power equation is the speed at which you can release your hands. This is closely related to the last point that I made on keeping the tension out of the forearm muscles.

Ask any martial artist expert how they generate the amazing speed in their movements and they will say it is all about keeping your muscles relaxed. The same can be said for the hand release.

You have to teach them to “explode” like a punch within a small range of motion.

In the next section on golf fitness I have outlined a drill that you can apply to increase hand explosive speed.

This exercise trains the hands to accelerate through the strike zone which is where they will help generate the maximum torque for the swing.

The next time you "wonder" how the small slightly built guys on the tours achieve the incredible distances they do, realize they are applying the “physics” of the hand motion to their fullest extent.

Who said physics was boring. Had we all known how it was going to apply to our golf swing we might have paid more attention during high school!

Golf Fitness