GOLF FOCUS TRAINING

1. Foreword

I was working on those tricky 5 footers (1 1/2 meters) one evening few years back after making changes to my putting grip. I was putting quite well. Suddenly a question, how well should I putt, started to go around in my head. Was it good enough to know that I was putting QUITE WELL?

No, I said to myself. It's not good enough. I wanted to know exactly how well one must putt in order to play in a certain handicap level. I think you'd liked to know it, too. And not just how well you are performing at the putting green, but also when chipping, pitching, hitting greens and fairways, or getting out of the sand.

Since that evening I and my team have spent countless hours collecting golf related statistics (PGA Tour, European Tour, golf magazines articles and books etc.) to create a sound golf self-training method for all levels of golfer, from the high handicapper down to under par golfers.

Your Golf Focus Training Team

2. How to practice golf?

Golf practice can be divided into three equally important parts:

• A. Learning the right swing mechanics.
  Reading golf books and magazines, visiting your club pro and searching the net for golf tips.

• B. Repeating the swing mechanics enough to gain skills.
  Hitting hundreds and hundreds of range balls.

• C. Practicing golf the same way you play the game.
  Playing practice rounds, and turning driving and short game range into playing field.

Golf Focus Trainign (later GFT) is not about swing mechanics (A), or building a swing you can trust (B). GFT is about turning the driving and short game range into playing field (C).

Hitting balls is simply exercise. Hitting balls to a target is practice. On the golf course, everything relates to a target, and that's how it should be on the driving and short game range, too.

Fast results
Your practice time should encompass every element of golf game. The driver is used 14 or less shots during a round of golf, while the putter is used for 30-50 times for most golfers. Unfortunately, many golfers spend more time practicing their drives rather than their putting.

Golf Focus Training keeps your mind focused, and forces you to spend your time at the practice range so that your handicap will thank you.

Short practice sessions
Short but intense practice sessions are better than marathon sessions. "Never judge your practice sessions on how long you practiced or how many balls you hit. Some of my most productive practice sessions have lasted all of 20 minutes." (Tiger Woods, How I play golf, 2001-2002). Any longer and your focus will suffer.

3. Practicing principle

First, we'd like to explain you why GFT is not suitable for the true beginners, and what you should know in general to better understand GFT method. In chapter 4 we'll go though the training program step by step.

Not for the true beginners
We've learned that most beginners should work on their swing mechanics first, before they can really benefit from GFT. But when getting closer to hcp 36, you should definitively give it a try. Interesting thing what we've learned from our GFT test users is, that the lower handicap they have, the more they seem to appreciate GFT method.

>> to buy your personal Golf Focus Training Card , click here.

Every shot counts
Golf is played with one ball, and you don't have a second serve (tennis). Every shot counts. We believe, that this is the right way to practice golf, too. When you practice putting with one ball, you'll learn to read the putts. Or, when you practice chipping (up and downs) with one ball, you'll learn to place the ball so that it's easier to make the second putt into the hole.

Green size (target area)
When you buy Golf Focus training Card, you'll receive the exact target area dimensions.

Fairway width (target area)
When you buy Golf Focus training Card, you'll receive the exact target area dimensions.

4. Training program (step by step)

There are eight drills in Golf Focus Training (4 short game drills and 4 full swing drills). In short game drills your target is the hole. In full swing drills you try to hit as many greens and fairways as possible.

>> to see online training instructions, click here.

A. Short game drills

1. Putting
Putts make up 40% of the shots in the average round of golf. That's why we have included putting to all short game drills. Practice putting and your scores will start dropping.

Why it's so important to practice lag putting (long putts)? Three putts are caused by poor distance control on the first putt. Even the tour pros miss 47% of their putts from six feet. Practice distance control so you don't leave yourself a long second putt.

2. Chipping
Have you never seen someone practicing chipping by making one hundred shots to a single hole. I'd say 98 shots are useless (unless he or she is practicing swing mechanics), because the first chip will tell you how the shot will break.

During your practice, change your target for each shot. This will better prepare you for what you'll face on-course. After all, you'll don't hit the same shot twice during a round in a normal situation.

3. Sand save
One aspect of golf that clearly separates amateurs from pros is their ability to save from the bunker. Tour players get up and down in two in regular bases. For the rest of us bunkering an approach shot usually spells bogey (GolfServ Online, Inc.).

The problem is that scratch player (0 handicap) ends up in a greenside bunker once during 18 holes, and 18 handicapper has in average only 2 attempts per round. Feel free to repeat this greenside sand save drill as many times as you want, if you are not satisfied with the results.

4. Pitch
According to the GRA, the gap between scratch and 18 handicapper is so large within 50 yards of the hole (Golf Magazine). Scratch player can hit to within five feet every second shot, 18 handicapper just one out of six. What's the moral of this? Spend the majority of your practice time sharpening your shots around the green and the hole. Remember, golf is 60% short game.

B. Full swing drills

5. Short irons
Approach shots make the difference. Scratch (0 handicapper) hits 72 % of the greens when approaching from the fairway and 55% from the rough, about twice Bogey's percentages. This translates into to 12 greens hit in regulation by scratch, while 18 handicapper hits only four. But don't worry, you don't have to remember all these figures while on the range. We have made things easier for you by transferring the percentages into normal figures and shots (to buy your personal GFT card, go to www.GolfFocusTraining.com).

6. Long irons
When you are planning a long iron shot while playing on the course, you should select a strategy where your success rate is 75% or higher. This means that if you think you can go over the water 3 times out of four, then you should make the shot. If not, you should choose an other strategy.

7. Fairway woods
Fairway is one of the three ultimate targets in golf. The other two are the hole and green. Although we talk about woods here, you can also use long irons if you like. Long and straight is your target, but hitting the rough now and then is not a disaster.

8. Driving
Fourteen is a magic number on the driving range. Why? If you exclude par 3 holes, you end up having 14 driving holes on most golf courses. That's the reason why you have 14 attempts [driving 14 balls to an imaginary fairway] in the GFT driving drill.

When you have to keep track of the number of fairways you can hit, you improve your accuracy and impose the right tee tension on the driving range. This is just what you need in order to improve your score and handicap (Shrink Your Handicap, Phil Lee and Jeff Warne, 2000).

5. AFTERWORD

We are happy to share above information with you. As you can see, there is a solid base behind each number in Golf Focus Training Card. Now it's your time to find out what Golf Focus Training can do for your game. We hope Golf Focus Training prepares you for your best season ever.

Your Golf Focus Training Team

"To make your golf practice meaningful"

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