Wilson World Pro-Am at Pebble Beach and FOCUS!

Merry Christmas and a Happy Holiday to you all.

Let me start by apologizing for the delay in getting our new post up.  As you may already know, I was playing in the Wilson World Pro-Am at Pebble Beach a few weeks ago and ever since my return I have been hard at teaching my students.  In the weeks leading up to my tournament I had to be a bit selfish and work on my game to insure I was ready to compete.  Once I got back it was time to give my full attention back to my students.

As I always say: "Practice makes permanent" and I am living proof.  All of my preparation and practice paid off and I won the event.  

I wanting to take some time in our last post of the year to discuss tracking your practice and your performance.  I strongly believe that anything you track will improve.  As any of my students can attest to, you must track your progress, positive and negative, to assist us in getting better.  So I submit to you, my stats, from my winning run, at Wilson's World Pro-Am at Pebble Beach.

A few points of interest to begin.  While my home course of Celebration Golf has an average green size of 6600 sq. feet, the courses we played had greens that averaged 3800 to 4400 sq. feet.   These greens are 1/3rd the size of normal greens.  While the fairways didn't get the 40 yards of extra roll and the greens were not as firm, everything else was setup like the U.S. Open: firm, tight and heavy rough.

	Spanish Bay	Bayonet	Spyglass Hill	Pebble Beach
FWY	8	6	9	10
GIR	15	14	12	13
Putts	36	28	34	34
Score	74	70	73	72

I have only put the summary stats here, but I kept a number of stats whilst I was playing.

So let's review. We can tell from the stats that my short game and irons were phenomenal.  I missed 18 greens out of 4 rounds and the greens I missed my short game picked up the slack.

Now comes the question: What can I take from this week? I need to work harder and learn more.  I need to work on equating speed of slope on Poana grass.  Poana is dormant during the winter.  It is not cut, but rolled.  The nap is down and much faster this way.

We were the last group of the day at Pebble.  It took 6:05 to play the final round which is ridiculous.  The last 3 greens looked like a heard of elephants had march across them.  This may sound like I may be whining or complaining, but I share these observations with you to say if there is nothing you can do about it, get it out of your head.

McDivot Tip

Which brings us to the last tip of the year.  FOCUS!

• Forget
Forget all of the things that you can not control. Course setup is the same for everyone, the wind may be stronger when you play a hole than when others did, all of the things you can not change, get them out of your mind!
 
• Only You
There is only you out there. Let go of what others are doing and concentrate on what you have practiced to make you the golfer you are. Play to your strengths. 
 
• Create
Create positive thoughts. A positive mind will perform better. 
 
• U - You
Only you can control the outcome of your game, no one else.
 
• Succeed
Success comes from proper preparation, practice and a positive mind. Follow these steps and success will follow you.

Looking forward to seeing you all in the New year.  Here's wishing you a Merry Christmas and a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year.

Keep it on the short grass,

McDivot's Second Windows Mobile 7 Application

Another quick update.  Still out on the Monteray Coast, but received an update last night that our second Windows Mobile 7 Application has been approved and placed on the Windows Phone 7/Zune Marketplace.

The McDivot's Green Slope Reader is an application that you can use as a tool to assist you in developing your own feel and read for a green.  It is design to show you the slope of your putt by placing your Windows 7 Phone on the green at various intervals form the hole to your start point.  It will let you know if the putt is left, straight or right and if it is up hill, level or down hill. A number from 0 to 10 will be displayed with 10 being the most severe.

Each person has a different putting speed and style and this can affect the read of the slope.  So use this tool as a guide to help you develop your own feel and read for the green.  With the proper practice your putting will improve and as I say "Practice makes permanent".

To see screen-shots and to get more information check out http://www.kennynairngolf.com/kngmobileapps.asp.

A special thanks to Noteable Success (http://www.noteablesuccess.com) for all of their hard work on these mobile apps.

Keep it on the short grass.

McDivot's First Windows Mobile 7 Application

Quick update with great news.  I am out on the Monteray Coast, but received an update that our first Windows Mobile 7 application has been approved and placed on the Windows Phone 7/Zune Marketplace, so I had to post.

As many you already know,  I strongly believe that anything you track can and will improve as long as you have the proper information to work from. The 9 Ball Challenge is a practice routine I have developed for my Students to help them determine what their common shot type is per club; Hook, Pull, Straight, Push, Slice, Short or Long. This also helps me determine what clubs they are spending the most practice time on and in converse what clubs they are neglecting.

To see screen-shots and to get more information check out http://www.kennynairngolf.com/kngmobileapps.asp.

Keep it on the short grass.
                    

Pebble Beach Week and How to Play in Windy Situations

It's that time of the year again.  I am off to Pebble Beach on Wednesday night!!!  I play in the Wilson World PRO-AM every year.  This year the format is Pros individual stroke play, 3 Amateurs play their own ball for lowest gross and net score with handicap.

 

Late flight into Monteray, early doors on Thursday, rest up and then practice and play a nine hole practice round. So check out the schedule below:

Friday

Practice round at Spyglass Hill.  I have played here for 8 straight years and still can't figure the first 5 holes along the ocean as the wind is so difficult and different every year.  Which brings us this week's McDivot Tip further below.

Saturday

Practice round at Pebble Beach.  This is third in line for me in regards to the best in the world.  Royal Dornoch is number 1 and St. Andrews in number 2. 

Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday

First round, course to be selected on rotation. Second, third and fourth round.

Thursday

Fly back and get ready to return to the beautiful Celebration Golf Club.

McDivot Tip

When playing into the wind the BALL FLIGHT is critical as we must avoid letting the ball get up into the wind.

1. So a great tip I have used countless times in the home land was to take an extra club and choke up 1 inch.  In chocking up the grip, this makes the golf shaft play a little stiffer and of course makes the ball fly lower with less spin.
2. Lastly SWING EASY WHEN IT'S BREEZY.  This applies to into, down and cross wind situations.

Keep it on the short grass.

The future of golf on many levels: Teach the juniors and then watch PGA tour players maintain their future

What a day Saturday was. It started with some warm up getting prepared for my Tournament Level Junior Academy at Celebration Golf. Then we spent one and a half hours working on their short game.  As this is a tournament level class we had a competition for 2 passes to the Children's Miracle Network classic.  These boys are really good and congratulations goes out to Nick for winning the pair of tickets. You can see our image galleries of our morning here : http://www.kennynairngolf.com/knggalleries.asp. I also have a video with some excerpts from the class you can view here : http://www.kennynairngolf.com/kngvJRTournLvlNov13.asp.

After another lesson I headed straight for number 17 on Disney's Magnolia course to see some of the third round action.  Met with Steve Powel, the creator extraordinaire, of the Kodak Challenge in preparation for Sunday as the team from Leaderboard Radio (http://www.leaderboardradio.com ) will be there for the finally of the Million Dollar Kodak Challenge.  I have to tell you I think these is going to be a playoff between Merritt, Fowler & Baddley.  While I was there I got a quick insight into how the playoff would be handle.

As I sat at the 17th green you just saw player after player struggle with their second shot.  I watched as our tournament leader Saturday, who stood on the 17th tee with a 6 shot lead, throw up over the last 2 holes (Double Bogey 17 and Bogey 18).  Several players failed to get up and down.

McDivot Tip

One shot in particular sticks out in my mind.  A ball hits the green and rolls out past the fringe and nestles up right against the rough.  In theory and practice there are 2 good options to insure the best results.

1. Belly a wedge and avoid hitting down on it.  It is ideal to grip the club like your putter to avoid too much wrist action.
2. Use a fairway metal.  Only if the grass is short enough would I suggest a hybrid in this situation as it does not have as much sole as a fairway metal does. Your grip and stance should match that of your putting grip and stance.  Your stoke should flow like you are putting, allowing the weight of your fairway metal to do the work and move the ball to the hole.

The reason we want to avoid using a lofted club is that really you take a lot of the control away.  Remember the purpose is to put the ball in the hole and it is my belief that using a lofted club is to "get the ball close".


I am looking forward to going back later on Sunday to watch the exciting conclusion to the season long Kodak Challenge.  I really think a playoff is in our future.

Keep it on the short grass.