Home About Us The Instructors Clinics Private Lessons Junior Golf Instructional Tips Oak Marsh Golf Club Phone: 651-730-8886 Fax: 651-730-6711 institute@wpgolf.com A Great Time of Year! September 2003 By David La Pour The fall is one of the most beautiful times of the year to play golf and it's right around the corner. Although the summer has been great, I'm looking forward to cooler weather with fall foliage. This is also a good opportunity to relax and apply all the hard work that you've been doing this past spring and summer to your golf game. What I'm talking about is the art of golf, not to be confused with the science of golf. The art involves less tangible things of which a few I've listed below. For the next month or two, try and work on your touch, feel, rhythm, and what the course is offering, not what you can take.  • Take a look at your distance by checking the sprinkler head or yardage markers (pace off your distance if you have to). Also check to see how the ball is sitting, is the green hard or soft, and what the wind is doing. Do you want to hit a 150 yard shot 150 or do you want to hit it 140 and let it release to 150?  • I think feel is acquired through practice swings, playing, and visualization. This is a good opportunity to use your imagination especially around the green.  • Rhythm is one of the biggies when it comes to playing the game consistently. Doing the above 2 things in a pre-shot routine and then closing the deal with a ritual will help your rhythm tremendously. I will talk more about rituals in the up coming months.  • Finally, greed can get you into trouble when playing golf. There are times to be aggressive and times to be conservative and from my experience the golf course and golf gods rarely reward the aggressive shot. The margin of error is usually small, to that add a little pressure and look out. I can still hear my old golf coach saying "fairways and greens son, fairway and greens". Try some course management this fall you may be pleasantly surprised. With a little bit of science and a lot of art, you too should have a better chance of avoiding those darn leaves that cover your ball in the rough! Have a great fall and good luck with your game. MORE TIPS Home / Putting / Short Game / Full Swing / Mental / Health / Other "The Golf Gods rarely reward the aggressive shot"