I recently had the good fortune to play at our Troon Golf sister property, Black Diamond in Florida with a good friend and Lake of Isles member Paul Slosberg.  Black Diamond is a spectacular facility consisting of 45 holes of golf set inside a private gated community in central Florida.  One of the nines is built around an old quarry and provides some spectacular views as well as demanding some precise shot making.

This was the first time I had played the course and thus I wasn't always certain of the shot to hit and more importantly the yardage i had to my target.  I have always stepped out yardages for every shot using the markings on sprinkler heads, used a yardage book for green depth and pin placement and then chosen the club from there.  But on too many occasions when I compared what I had paced with the distance my playing partners had shot using a laser I was out by a full club.

This raises two very important points to consider when you are playing a course for the first time:

1. Get an accurate yardage for every shot you are going to play.  GPS systems and lasers are ideal for getting the most accurate yardages for every shot.  If you don't have access to either of those, consider using the courses yardage book if they offer one, and be sure to factor in where the flag is located on the green which can be sometimes mean adding or subtracting a full club.

2. Once you have an accurate yardage, trust it.  Make a definite decision that you are going to commit to the club that will hit the ball the distance you have measured, and then go ahead and swing positively with faith in the fact you have chosen the correct club.

I hope you will have to opportunity to travel and play some golf this winter.  If you do, remember to get accurate yardages for your shots, choose the club carefully, and the commit to the shot.

I recently took our Junior High Performance team to Newport National Golf Club for their end of season golf trip.  It was a wonderful day for many reasons.  We all had a great time playing a fantastic golf course, and it was very pleasing to see the improvements that each of them had made throughout the year.  As a result of their hard work, several of the team will be bying for places on College golf teams in 2011.

2009 was the first time we have conducted such program and it was born out of a need to give the best young golfers in Connecticut the opportunity to learn the skills required to play the game at the highest level.  During the year we had regular instruction sessions and tracked each participants technical and physical progress very closely.  At the conclusion of the season every person had made significant changes physically, technically and mentally, which was shown in their results. 

Their skills test results improved 32% over the year, but more importantly they're on course results showed significant improvement.  On average the players achieved the following:

• Increased their greens in regulation by 23.5%
• Decreased their total putts per round by 3 strokes
• Decreased the three putts per round by 47%
• Improved their chip and pitch up and downs by 95%
• Reduced their average scores by 4 strokes.

The feedback we have received from the juniors in this program and their parents has been extremely positive.  WE will continue to work with this group through the winter and then start our in season program again in early April.

If you or someone you know has shown they are willing to work hard towards achieving their goals and are committed to being the best player they can ge, contact the Academy for more information about what we can do to help achieve those goals.