Aloha and Welcome Back to the professional golf season 2008!
After an off-season break, I'm back in the saddle with many stories and interesting information already teed up to share with you throughout the year. Each story is also posted on my new blog at www.thumbsdownmethod.com, which is also a website with a new Turn Golf Into Business theme. Please check it out, but pardon the appearance during the next few weeks, as it's still under construction.
While the NFL playoffs heated up and football fans like me were enjoying the first three rounds,the 2008 PGA golf season officially kicked off in Hawaii. Even though most of the game's big names didn't play at the Mercedes and Sony Opens, it was still fun to watch the rest of the world's best golfers make the game look easy. Coincidentally, last weekend Tiger Woods made itlook too easy as he coasted to victory by eight shots at the Buick Invitational, after leading by eleven on the back nine of the final round. Stay tuned for more on this.
This weekend it's Super Bowl XLII (42), with my NY Giants playing the role of this year's Cinderella team, against possibly the best team in football history. After suffering with my Gints for forty years (with the exception of two Super Bowl wins and the 2000 Super Bowl loss), a die hard fan can only hope the magic lasts one more week, as they try to spoil the New England Patriots historic unbeaten season. While the football teams are in the desert in Arizona, Tiger and a few friends: Mark O'Meara, Ernie Els, Retief Goosen, Darren Clark and Thomas Bjorn are in the desert in Dubai. On the eve of the opening round of the Dubai Desert Classic in the United Arab Emirates, I'm watching the Golf Channel's telecast of the team competition.
I love watching great players do what they do best, but I'm getting tired of seeing their fluid swings, perfect ball striking and follow-throughs in super slow motion, then listening to the experts as they analyze what we just saw. This year, a new toy called Track Man shows each player's ball and club speed, spin rates and gives even more feedback. I have absolutely no problem with the quality of the commentator's credentials and expertise, but their explanations are filled with technical information I don't understand, in a language I can't relate to. In their attempts to keep it simple for all of us, most of the messages go right over our heads, better suited for the top 1% of all golfers. In sharp contrast, the Thumbs Down method is targeted at the other 99% (10's of millions of us), because it was created by a peer (ME), not an expert. My big advantage is that I relate to amateurs better because I live in your shoes every day.
It drives me crazy when I see and hear instructors do side by side comparisons between the best in the world and recreational players. Hey, don't get me wrong because watching the best players (Palmer, Nicklaus, Player, etc) on TV is how I learned and taught myself to play golf. I also learned to bowl by watching Dick Weber and started hitting topspin forehands by watching Bjorn Borg destroy the world of tennis in the 1970's. It's a mystery to me why the golf swing is analyzed more than in any other sport. Unfortunately for too many golfers, the term paralysis through analysis applies all too often.
I have a very strong opinion that a majority of the instruction to focuses on the wrong order of importance for the average player. To me, a pretty swing don't mean a thing unless you're making solid contact and able to control where the ball is going. Golf is a lot like skiing in that it's essential to initially learn the correct fundamentals first, but after that you're on your own. Like it or not, we learn and teach ourselves every time we do it.
This year I'm branding the Thumbs Down method as the premier "Teach Yourself" method and myself as a Teach Yourself virtual coach, with a virtual coaching program using the internet. Contact ME to learn more.
This issue's 60 second Thumbs Down method golf tip emphasizes one of my pet phrases, "start with solid ball striking …then works backwards. See what I mean by checking out my new video at www.golfinstructionmadesimple.com/Downloads/FreeStuff.htm. It was filmed live for the Inside Golf show (6:00PM Saturday's on Comcast Sportsnet) on November 14, as I cured the producer's slice and made him a better ball striker in minutes, just as advertised. The video tells my story exactly as it was originally intended.
On Feb 4 I'll be unveiling a new website look, with a unique Pro Shop and Online Store. Check it out and tell your friends to do the same. As always, your comments, replies and input are welcome.
About Me
- Alan Martin
- My name is Alan Martin, a single digit handicap golfer for over 40 years and the author of Thumbs Down, Golf Instruction Made Simple. My book showcases the simple solution for squaring the golf club I invented, called the Thumbs Down POWER MOVE. Get ready for some outside-the-box thinking for improving your golf game. You probably never thought that Thumbs Down was a positive thing, but this negative expression may just be the best thing that ever happened to your golf game. Thumbs Down is your how to solution for increased power and better ball striking. Plus it's a unique on-course training aid ...that's legal under the rules of golf. It's The Answer to the question what do I do now? just before striking the ball. Discover The Missing Ingredient for better ball striking. Simplicity at last! Lower scores are not a guarantee ...they are the natural results.