John Graham Golf» Tournament Golf

Congratulations to John Riegger and AimPoint Golf

John Graham — Wed, 26 May 2010 03:19:16 +0000

John Riegger won his 2nd Nationwide Tour event this past weekend at the 2010 Rex Hospital Open. John shot rounds of 66, 64, and 63 for a 54 hole total of 193 (-20 under par). This score set a 54 hole Nationwide Tour record.

John attributed his win in part to his understanding and use of the AimPoint Green Reading Method. He had recently attended an advanced green reading clinic held at the Rob Noel Golf Academy and given by Mark Sweeney and AimPoint Certified instructor Rob Noel. Rob also is John’s swing coach.

Congratulations John.

If you would like to learn the same items taught to John at the advanced clinic, contact me and I’ll tell you how it’s done.

How to Shoot 67

John Graham — Sun, 23 May 2010 02:14:25 +0000

Here’s a picture of Jordan Spieth’s scorecard from today (Saturday, May 22, 2010):

Jordan Spieth's Stats for Saturday

Does this ball striking look familiar? I see this type of ball striking stats in my own game and the game of some of my junior and tournament golfers. The stat I don’t see often, with this type of ball striking, is the 24 putts needed. This clearly shows how well he either, chipped/pitched and/or putted. How many of you are capable of shooting 67 when hitting 4 fairways and 9 greens?

How many of you are disciplined enough to spend time away from the range and focus on your short game even after a day like this? All the time and preparation that wedge play and putting takes, shows it’s true benefits on days like this. To be able to score well on our off days is the sign of a golfer that can win a four day tournament.

This is powerful reminder of where your practice needs to be focused at the higher levels.

As a reminder, this is from a high school golfer. Youngest to have chance to win a PGA Tour event in a long time.

Monroe Community College Golf – 2009 National Champions

How to Make More Birdies

John Graham — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 03:21:25 +0000

I get this question often. How do I make more birdies? I wrote a blog post a while ago called Make More Birdies!!!! that talked about getting comfortable knowing that you need to make at least 5 birdies a round to be tournament competitive. However, that post didn’t give any advice on how to do it. Let’s address a common problem I see for very good golfers.

I see too many golfers trying to make birdie with their irons. By that, I mean they are trying to stuff it in every chance they get so they skip over the putt part of making the birdie. I think Jason Sutton wrote a nice post about red, yellow and green light pins. Here’s a link to his article. This post talks about how player’s will aim at every flag. As a player improves, there needs to be a point when they determine for themselves which opportunities to try and take advantage of. There also needs to be a point where they determine where is the best place on the green to be putting from.

Players need to learn that the best rounds come from making birdies with the putter and not the iron. Clearly, having an iron game that will allow you to hit specific places on the green is important but more attention needs to be paid to sinking more putts from the easy locations on the green even if they are a little farther away. Where to putt from is at least as important to birdie making as distance from the hole. I’ve seen many player’s miss 3 footers from the wrong side of the hole and ended up in a far worse situation than someone 10 feet from the hole but on the right side. Learn how to read the green from the fairway so you can choose a proper landing position. This will not only give your putter a chance to shine, it will also help prevent bogies. Many times, 3 putt bogies are due to poor iron play location and not necessarily poor putting.

Clearly, the par 5′s will provide the best chances for birdies. Good driving and wedge play become very important for making birdies here.

Just remember that you will more often shoot lower scores by making birdies with the putter vs. the irons.

Make More Birdies!!!!

John Graham — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 02:50:36 +0000

I hope it is becoming clear to you tournament player’s out there. You can not compete without birdies and lots of them. Rarely do you see 67′s or lower without at least one bogey. If you make 6 or 7 or 8 birdies, it’s pretty hard to shoot a high score. If you only make 1 or 2 birdies, you can not shoot low. Add in a couple bogeys and you can’t compete.

So how does someone learn to make more birdies? I think it starts with the understanding that the goal is make more birdies. It isn’t about getting 1 or 2 under. That is not enough. You need to keep trying for more. Learning to let go of the fear of messing up your round is the challenge. Just as it is to mentally prepare for the idea that you need to birdie a bunch of holes and not to let up.

I’ve always said to try and make everything. This does not mean hit it harder. It means make putts. Working with the aimchart and getting a better understanding of how to read the green will help. When you start making more birdies, you will see a change in your scoring.

Finishing the Round

John Graham — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 02:54:55 +0000

I felt it necessary to write a little something about this topic and give a few pointers on how to get it done. There has been a local tournament the last couple of days and there have been at least a few people that had a good round going and gave it all away toward the end. This blog will give you some ammo to combat this tendency.

What causes a player to struggle bringing a good round in? Usually, it’s a lack of experience. This lack of experience is fostered mentally as a lack of true, inner belief. Only players that are unsure of their true ability struggle bringing it in. This lack of inner belief causes a player to not trust their ability. They no longer are confident in there ability to avoid making a mistake.

Because they were playing so well, any mistakes cause them to think they are on verge of choking. This is not the case. When a player gets low enough to feel uncomfortable, they are worried that all their hard work will be lost and they race for house. Shouting the war cry “Let me just par out.” The confident player says all right let’s get more because I’m playing well. The unconfident player starts to play defense because they don’t want to lose what they have. Like somehow 3 under is good enough to compete against someone trying to get to 6 under.

At the beginning of the day, I’m sure they would have been very happy with 18 pars. Now that they are 3 or 4 under, pars seem to become taken for granted. Somehow par has been cheapened and just finishing with a bunch is good enough. Par is a good score and it requires a strong mind to go get it. You don’t just get to par out. Par is way more difficult than that and if you treat it like something easier than what it is, you are doomed not to achieve it. You are not putting in enough effort to deserve pars so you shouldn’t expect them.

I have only recently been able to play without knowing my score. It came to me when I stopped caring about what I scored and started caring about how I engaged myself with every shot. I started to grade myself based on the effort I gave each independant shot. I even started to keep score on the card the number of shots I was fully engaged in and tried to hit the best shot I could.

Don’t take pars for granted and learn to stay involved in each shot. Try to earn what you have and don’t play 12 or 15 holes. Play them all and I can promise you, the value of 4 on 18 equals the value of 4 on number 3. If you think you shouldn’t go for more han you think deep down that you don’t deserve what you already have.

Why do I Play Better in Practice vs. Tournaments?