April 30, 2003

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Finally - Learn What The Big-Bux Equipment Companies Don\'t Want You To Know About Power, Distance, Accuracy AND…Instantly Vaporizing A Chronic Slice With Two, SIMPLE \"No-Brainier\" Exercises That Will Destroy Your Slice Forever - No Matter What Brand Clubs You Play
www.thinkandreachpar.com


Special Notice


I would like to thank all of you that responded to my email about the website makeover. I appreciate you taking the time and I appreciate your comments.

If you like this newsletter, I would appreciate it if you would forward a copy to your friends and ask them to subscribe…it’s a free gift!! They will also receive the free book, “8 Steps to Golf.”

Quote of the week:


What helps luck is a habit of watching for opportunities, of having a
patient, but restless mind, of sacrificing one\'s ease or vanity, of
uniting a love of detail to foresight, and of passing through hard
times bravely and cheerfully.

-- Charles Victor Cherbuliez



Golf Quote of the week:

If it goes right, it’s a slice. If it goes left, it’s a hook. If it goes straight, it’s a miracle.

Unknown

Had several subscribers respond to the article on walking the course last week, so I thought I would share a few of them with you.

Would appreciate your thoughts on any of the articles that we publish in this newsletter.


I think walking is the way to go, however there are also some tricks in that
quote!
1. some of the courses we play at here in Illinois, have a large or very
long walk area from some greens to the next tee! I remember a course we
played in the southern part of the state once, and we swore that between the
#9 green, the clubhouse, and #10 tee box was over a mile away! That\'s a far
piece to walk between holes?
2. Some people I watch play, if they ride will play consistent for 18
holes, if they walk, the last 3 or 4 holes are shaky, along with a few holes
on our home course where walking up a steep hill, running out of breathe,
then having to hit!
3. We as the hackers, \"the non-paid golfers\" do not have the luxury of
someone else lugging our clubs around for us. I have one time walked the
course with not having to worry about carrying my clubs and wow, yes it\'s
still walking, but not carrying, or pulling that bag around makes a big
difference. Before they say we should walk, lets see the pro\'s, \"the paid
golfers\" go out every weekend and carry their own bag. We could even let
them use a pull cart, cause I betcha a lot of them couldn\'t do it as much as
we hackers do! Don\'t get me wrong I don\'t want to sound like a anti-pro
slayer, because I\'m not, but before anyone in their ranks start\'s
complaining that riding in a cart is destroying the game, we know they can
talk the talk, but will/can they walk the walk??
Play, \"walk\" my course a few times and you\'ll get in to shape pretty damn
quick!

Best regards,
Chad




Richard, Just huffed and puffed my first round yesterday.
My wife bought me a new golf bag with intergal pull cart built in.
It called the LA Golf bag, and she bought it online from J.C. Penny.
It worked better than I.
Did break 100 though.
Walking will make me stronger.
You do have to wait a minute or two after those hill hikes, to catch your breath and get your pulse slowed a bit.
I enjoyed it.
Hit a bunch of good shots. (been practicing in the back yard)
Hit a few chunkers
Happens
Gotta work on the putting 3-Three putts.
Thanks for the newsletter.
Tony


Regarding walking: DO IT, whenever possible! Take the
stroll, establish a calm, unhurried (not SLOW! repeat,
NOT SLOW!)comfortable pace; see more of the course,
feel the sun, the wind, the turf below you; give
yourself time to cool-off after a bad hit or settle
down after a \"miracle-shot\"; talk to your playing
partners. If a cart cannot be avoided, let your
partner drive and opt out for walking more than
riding. The more you walk, the easier it will become.
The part that I hate about walking is carrying the
bag. The pros can wax all they want about how \"for the
good of the game\" we should walk but have you ever
seen one of them packing their own bag? No way, Dude,
that\'s the hard part! I\'ve tried the pull cart (yanks
your elbows, wrists and shoulders). I have a
double-strap (kills the neck, shoulders, plus your
legs get more fatigued with the extra weight). I
sometimes strap my bag onto someone else\'s cart (some
clubs frown on this or some flat out tell you \"NO\").
My solution? An electric personal caddy, my
Hill-Billy. Get one: enjoy the walk and be sure to
SMELL THE ROSES, MAN!
Yours in golf,
Jack





Thank you Mark. I have been out a couple of times to try your method and
it\'s as you say; if I can stop getting things between my brain and the ball
everything goes great. I can see that I will have to try some self hypnosis
to stop myself from trying so hard to play the perfect shot every time.

Thanks for your advice Bill. I have been under the impression that the start
of the downswing was a rotating movement of the hips. Do you mean the
downswing starts with a rotation of the shoulders?

Unfortunately, when I took up golf at age 24 there were no coaches, so I
learnt all my basics from a book by \"Henry Cotton\", would you believe ?
Since then, where ever I have been there has been no coaching facilities. So
now at 73 I am starting to learn something from you guys

In my golf swing I have always let the club do the work without me
physically hitting it with my hands. I would really appreciate if I could
find out the correct way of doing this. Every time I try, I\'m all over the
place.

Glad you\'re back to full health again and ready to attack the course. Would
love to have a game with you; particularly getting 15 shots. Perhaps Richard
would give you my E-Mail address and I could get some more help on improving
my game.

Thanks once more from New Zealand. Ralph.


Richard. Get off the carts and walk !!! Not only will your game improve but
you\"ll feel a hell of a lot fitter.

(Okay…okay…I hear you!) Richard

Are you still a hacker on the course?
• Tired of slashing banana balls into the woods?
• Have you had enough of contradictory swing advice from every source imaginable?
• Sick of hitting a driver 100 yards straight only to have it boomerang 150
yards to the right?
• Frustrated by trying to concentrate on 500 different things while
swinging - only to watch your ball do the same thing over and over and over again?
• Order now www.thinkandreachpar.com/tarp/bodygolf.htm




This is letter from subscriber, and I got my good friend Ken Black, that has been in the manufacturing of golf clubs to answer it for me. You can view Ken’s website at www.golfrevelations.com

I am thinking of purchasing a set of golf clubs that I love the look of,
but I have never heard of the manufacturer - \"Mercedes Golf\' or MG, and
the model is \"Charisma\". I was unable to find any info on the internet on
this company or brand, and was wondering if you or any of your subscribers
might have some info on these clubs. They have a very wide sole, and are
cavity back style, graphite shafts, and set consists of 3 iron thru PW. I
know its psychological, but the sole of these clubs are so large that it
almost looks like the bottom of a wood club, and since I hit my woods
better than most of my irons, it would be a big confidence builder. I am
very interested in purchasing them, but wanted to get some more info
(availability of woods to go along with the set, sand wedge, etc).

Any info you might have would be appreciated.

Please keep up the great work on the newsletter - I really enjoy the
articles and tips!
Dave

Ken’s reply:


Hi Richard,

I looked at various sources and I could find an \"mggolf.com\" page, but, it was inactive (likely out of business). I could not find any clubs called by the name of Charisma. I also could not find a manufacturer called Mercedes or MG.

So, they may very well be components that the company he visited had made for them overseas (their own brand). He should go back to the Golf Shop he saw them at, or phone them, and ask them what company manufactures the clubs, or do they assemble them themselves. If he can get the manufacturer that way, he can then look up the info. on the Internet, if the company has a website.

He should also ask what materials the clubs are made of. If they are cheap in price, they will likely be made of inferior materials. If the metal woods are made of any aluminum at all, they will not perform well. Metal woods should be made of 17-4 stainless steel and/or Titanium.

Also, what are the iron heads made of ? Hopefully 431 or 17-4 stainless steel, or Carbon steel. If any mention is made of any other material, they may not be that good.

Also, what kinds of shafts are used ? In the golfing industry, there are 3 grades of shafts - the best stainless steel shafts used in irons are made by True Temper, Brunswick or Accles & Pollock. In addition, the cheaper steel shafts will have larger step patterns.

In other words, one step on the shaft is often 3 inches in length - these are the cheaper shafts. The good ones like Dynamic Gold or TT-Lite, will have 1 1/4 or 1 1/2 inch steps. Steps are visible on the outside of any shaft and are usually the same length throughout the shaft. For graphite shafts, good makes are Aldila, Penley, Graffaloy, Harmon and a few others. The shaft make should appear on the shaft label on the outside of the shaft, near the grip.

The bottom line is that he should go back to the store where he saw them and ask them questions about the clubs, before buying. Also, maybe they\'ll let him try them out before buying them.

Most good golf shops will let a person borrow a club or two (they normally have demo clubs) for a few days (he would have to give them his credit card number first). He can then compare the performance of them to his current set. If they won\'t let him borrow anything and do not have any demos at their shop, that is not a good sign.

He could also ask them what guarantee the clubs have on workmanship, and is it in writing.

Another really good idea is for him to ask his local Golf Pro, at whatever club he plays at, what they think. They will often give good opinions. He could also visit another golf shop in the area and ask their opinion.

The more questions and actions he takes, the better the chances are that the clubs will be a good purchase or not. In this case, it is necessary, because the brand is really unknown.
Hope that helps.

Ken
www.golfrevelations.com



Joe DeLorenzo’s article this week:

Paralysis of analysis…and what to do about it

I read somewhere that Ralph Guldahl was on his way to
becoming one of golf’s all-time greats. He won the US
Open in 1937 and 1938, and he won The Masters in 1939.
Then he was asked to author an instruction book. He
went into great detail, which forced him into thinking
about parts of his swing which had always come
naturally to him. After that, he lost his game and
never recovered it.

The moral of the story: If you try to make your golf
swing too complicated, you are doomed. It is not
reasonable to expect golfers like us, who play once,
maybe twice per week, to be expected to swing the same
way as a pro who practices and plays every day. Pros
also have personal swing coaches watching their every
move, yet they all seem to swing somewhat differently.
Is there such a thing as a mechanically perfect swing
for all types of body builds? Unless you are built
like Tiger Woods, trying to imitate a mechanically
perfect swing may make you a worse ball striker than
you are with your natural swing. No golf instructor
should ever try to make you do something that your
particular body build is not capable of doing. You
have to admit that all people are born with different
degrees of muscle flexibility and hand-eye
coordination. Pro golfers have outstanding hand-eye
coordination, and because they play or practice every
day, they probably will always be more gifted in this
area than you and I.

It is not reasonable to expect an overnight quantum
leap of improvement just because you took one lesson
or read some tips. So in order to get the most
enjoyment out of the game, set a few smaller goals
that are reasonable, and keep track of them.
Achieving any goal can make you feel better even when
your scores do not show immediate improvement. It’s
like the old saying “How do you eat an elephant – one
bite at a time”. For example, we all know that
sometimes we concentrate on fixing one part of our
game, only to see another part of our game go sour, so
your overall score at first may not show improvement,
but hey, you did fix one part of your game. What if
your fix is a lasting fix, and then you fix another
part of your game, and then another? In a normal
round of golf, what if you 3-putt one less time than
normal? What if you got up-and-down one more time
than normal? What if you hit one more green in
regulation than normal? What if you hit one more good
drive than normal? What if you made one less
mental/strategic mistake than normal? What if you had
one less flub than normal? Each one of these
improvements seems minor, but they can add up to
several strokes improvement per round!

These are only a few examples of goals, there are many
other ways to set them. Start with small goals like
these for yourself and keep track of them, and
celebrate the ones you achieve. One day you will put
it all together and have your best score ever.

Joe DeLorenzo


Amazing New 3-Video, Golf School-in-a-Box INSTANTLY Gives You Pro-Level Power & Accuracy...WITHOUT Years of Practice
Finally - Learn What The Big-Bux Equipment Companies Don\'t Want You To Know About Power, Distance, Accuracy AND…Instantly Vaporizing A Chronic Slice With Two, SIMPLE \"No-Brainier\" Exercises That Will Destroy Your Slice Forever - No Matter What Brand Clubs You Play
www.thinkandreachpar.com








Richard’s Thoughts:

Okay, this is the last article on walking the course that I wrote for someone’s newsletter, so after this week, I will let it go.



Walking The Golf Course for Everyone’s Health

Years ago riding in golf carts was the favored type of transportation on the golf course, because it was thought that it allowed more players on the course at the same time. And carts do shorten the gap in between tee times.

Of coarse we now realize that walking a course is usually faster than riding in a cart. By the time each player rides to his ball and his partner’s ball it usually takes longer in a cart.

Walkers go directly to their own ball, thus saving time. Plus it saves time because you are not sitting in your cart, before taking your shot, talking with your partner. Instead, you can walk to your ball and think about your next shot or your next club selection, while walking.

Walking also gives you a chance to enjoy nature more. It gets us closer to the golf course. You will pay more attention to the lie of the course, the different types of grass, where the sprinkler heads are. You may even notice the beauty of the fairways, trees, and just the natural surroundings of nature.

Long ago carts were introduced when our fairways were not of the quality we have now. They were hard and the grasses used then were not of the quality that we now have. Therefore it was okay to ride on the fairways, it was no big deal.

But with advancement in research, grasses have been bred and introduced to grow in areas that we could not grow grass. Areas of hardpans and shade could not grow grass; but now with all the advancements we have beautiful green grass growing on all areas of the course.

And with these new improved grasses, it is much better to walk on them, than ride a cart on them. Carts are heavy and pack the soil, hindering the growth of these hybrid grasses.

Many courses now restrict carts on grasses when they are wet or have frost on them. Carts can damage the grass and I have seen them leave “ruts” in the fairway, when very wet.

Walking a golf course is good for the sake of the course itself and helps preserve the wet and sensitive areas, which makes better golfing conditions for all of us.

I’m not saying that carts should be banned or that anyone that wants to ride should give it up. There are many good reasons for using a golf cart.

But, I am saying, that the next time you step up to the tee, you will be doing yourself, your game, and the golf course a favor if you just walk the course. Give it a try! I did and I truly enjoyed it.

Thanks for listening and good golfing.

Richard Myers
www.thinkandreachpar.com

100 Gilderbrook Rd
Greenville, SC 29615
864.675.0038




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