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Practice Makes Perfect - Have FUN Practicing Golf

By: Charlie G Wallace
Practice is absolutely crucial for the golf beginner as it is for the golfer who has been playing golf for some time. Golf is such a technical and precise game that you will never improve unless you play and practice regularly.

You only have to look at the pro tour golfers. Take Tiger Wood for example. He has been out of the game for about 9 months and although he wasn't practicing golf for some of that time to avoid aggravating his injury, it is quite obvious that he had been working on his golf fitness.

He did exceptionally well to win the Arnold Palmer invitational recently, but even by his own account, he is ahead of schedule in getting back to full competitive golf readiness. If the greatest player of our generation - possibly of all time - needs practice and competition to get back into the game, mere mortals like us need it more.

As a golf beginner you need to spend hours practicing different parts of the game. I have suggested that you start with putting and chipping to begin just to get the feel for hitting the ball correctly in the centre of the club. This will give you confidence when you have your first pro lessons.

But practice doesn't need to be and shouldn't be a chore. You need to have a commitment to learning anything new and starting to play golf is no exception. There is no point in being half-hearted about starting to play golf. If you are not fully committed, don't bother because learning to play golf is not something you can do lightly. YOU HAVE TO SPEND TIME ON IT.

I have suggested that you learn to play golf with a friend - maybe two or three friends so that you always have someone to practice with.

And practice should be a pleasure - an opportunity to acquire and develop some skills in learning to control the ball with you clubs.

In previous articles I have suggested that you devise some friendly 'competitive' games around the putting green. When you are chipping, award yourself points for getting balls closest to the hole. Earn enough points and your playing partner buys the beer!

Do the same with putting. Scatter some balls around the practice putting green at different distances. See how many you can get into the hole or close to the hole and don't lose sight of the importance of improving your technique and skill in the process. Friendly competition can sometimes be more about 'winning' than technique and developing your technique is the crucial thing to develop in these exercises, not 'winning'.

When my golfing buddies and I go to the driving range we often finish our practice by going onto the mini putting green and competing with each other to hole the ball in the least shots. It's a bit of fun and adds tremendous enjoyment to our practice.

Starting to play golf should be FUN, not a chore, so think about ways you can make it enjoyable. I'm sure we can all remember what it was like when we played games as a child and the sense of fun and enjoyment we had living in an imaginary world where we made the rules.

Take out those memories onto the practice areas with you and enjoy practicing golf. It'll improve your enjoyment of the game enormously and we are all learning to play golf to have fun as well as getting better at it.
# by jaclynseo | 2013-09-07 14:26

Teenager Ko sets the pace in Australian Open

New Zealand 15-year-old amateur golfer Lydia Ko holds the early clubhouse lead in the Australian Open after a stunning first round at Royal Canberra.

Australian Open broadcast times on ABC 1:
Friday, February 15 – 3.00pm*
Saturday, February 16 - 2.00pm*
Sunday, February 17 - 1.00pm*

* LIVE in the eastern daylight saving states of NSW, ACT, Victoria & Tasmania.
Fresh from her win in the New Zealand Open last week, Ko set the pace on Thursday with a 10-under-par 63.

Columbian Mariajo Uribe, 27, is one shot further back on 9-under after an opening round of 64 in pristine morning conditions in Canberra.

Best of the afternoon group was Jiyai Shin of South Korea who is another shot further back on 8-under.

Australia's former world number one Karrie Webb, in her quest to win the Australian Open for a fifth time, was 2-under after her first round, tied for 34th place.

The best placed Australians after the first 18 holes were Katherine Hull-Kirk, Kristie Smith and Sarah Jane Smith, all tied for eighth spot on 5-under.

View the Australian Open's full scoreboard here
But the star of the day was Ko, though her round began with a bogey on the 10th.

Not to be deterred, she followed that up with four successive birdies and then an eagle on the 15th thanks to a brilliant wedge shot from 75 metres out.


AUDIO: Media Call: Lydia Ko (ABC News)
Another bogey followed but there were seven more birdies to come to give her an opening round of 63.

"After my bogey on the first hole I thought 'oh, what's today going to be like,'" Ko said after her round.

"But after a couple of birdies I settled down and felt fairly comfortable."

Ko said she was pretty nervous to start off with playing alongside world number one Yani Tseng and another former teen star in Michelle Wie.

Teenage golfer Lydia Ko
PHOTO: Star in the making ... Lydia Ko tees off at Royal Canberra. (AAP: Lucas Coch)
'Pretty inspiring'

Tseng had a solid opening round of 68 while Wie shot a disappointing 1-over-par 74.

It was Ko's best round in a tournament, surpassing the 8-under-par she shot when winning the NSW Open as a 14-year-old.

Despite heading Tseng on the scoreboard Ko said she was in awe of the world number one out on the course.

"It was pretty inspiring," Ko said.

"Today was a really good round for me but I do know that there are many things I do need to improve.

"She (Tseng) was pretty much faultless in my way."

Tseng hadn't met Ko before Thursday, and she was impressed by the amateur's performance.

"I mean she still looks 15, I don't know how she hit the ball that well, I don't know, I wasn't even close to her when I was 15", she said.

"You can tell she is very relaxed, I don't think she even knows that after 13 holes she has only made one par."

Ko has won three professional tournaments to date but heading into the Australian Open said she is not ready to give up her amateur status just yet.

"At least not this year," she said on the eve of the event.

"We don't want to rush anything and I haven't seriously talked about it with my parents or my coach."
# by jaclynseo | 2013-09-05 12:21

Flawless Kuchar takes control at Riviera

Matt Kuchar took advantage of ideal early scoring conditions to charge into a one-shot lead in the first round of the US PGA Tour event in Pacific Palisades.

With hardly a breath of wind on a glorious morning of unbroken sunshine at Riviera Country Club, the 34-year-old American fired a flawless 7-under-par 64.

Kuchar made a sizzling start with birdies on his first three holes and picked up four more to finish one stroke ahead of Spaniard Sergio Garcia, who carded a 65 late in the day as fog began to roll across the course.

Play was eventually suspended in fading light with 18 players yet to complete the opening round.

American Brandt Jobe, who is playing the PGA Tour on a major medical exemption this year because of a lingering neck injury, shot a 5-under 66.

Greg Chalmers was the best-placed Australian, sharing 18th position following a 2-under 69.
# by jaclynseo | 2013-09-05 12:21

Columbian Uribe takes lead at Aus Open

Colombian Mariajo Uribe holds a one-stoke lead in the women's Australian Open after hitting 6-under-par 67 in the second round at Royal Canberra.

Uribe sits at 15-under for the tournament, with New Zealand teenager Lydia Ko and South Korean Jiyai Shin one stroke behind.

Kristie Smith is the best-placed Australian, sitting five strokes behind in fourth position after shooting a 5-under 68.

Queensland's Sarah Jane Smith shot a 3-under 70 to be tied for sixth.

View the Australian Open's full scoreboard here
Four-time winner Karrie Webb was close to missing the cut after a round of 74 left her at 1-under for the tournament.

Starting in the morning, two-time major champion Shin fired a 6-under 67 to follow her opening 65 and surged ahead.

The seasoned Shin was not too concerned by a bogey on the final hole of her second round.

Overnight leader Ko wasted little time in catching former world number one Shin in the afternoon and was tied with her on 14-under after her first eight holes yielded four birdies.

Fifteen-year-old Ko was backing up her dazzling opening-round effort of 10-under 63.

There is a good chance that Shin and Ko will be the leading pair and play alongside each other in round three on Saturday, something Shin welcomed despite some mixed emotion.

"I'm really happy to play with her," said Shin.

"She's so young. She's nine years younger than me. It makes it a little sad for me because I'm still young, but when I play with her, not any more."
# by jaclynseo | 2013-09-05 12:20

Shin, Ko lead Aussie Open

New Zealand amateur Lydia Ko and South Korean star Jiyai Shin charged out in front of their rivals to share a massive six-stroke lead going into the final round of the women's Australian Open at Royal Canberra.

Setting up what appears to be a two-horse race, both shot solid 3-under-par 70s on Saturday to be on 17-under after the third round, well clear of nearest challenger Beatriz Recari from Spain, who is on 11-under.

Catch all the action of the final round on ABC 1 from 1:00pm.
Ko, 15, jumped to the outright lead early on the front nine with birdies on the second, fourth and sixth holes.

But former world number one Shin responded immediately, pegging back Ko's two-shot lead with an eagle out of a deep green-side bunker on the par-five sixth.

"I was too short to watch the eagle. I was surprised that it went in, but a little sad I couldn't see it," Shin said.

View the Australian Open's full scoreboard here
A consistent Shin then moved into the overall lead when Ko bogeyed two holes on the back nine, two holes the teenager has admitted to having difficulty with.

The pair traded blows in the final few holes of the round, with Ko hitting a birdie on the 18th to level the scores.

The six-shot gap to third place sets up a tantalising matchplay-like scenario.

"It makes it comfortable for us, because I'm just focused about her score and she will also just keep looking at my score," Shin said.

"But this course has a lot of chances to birdie, a lot of par fives, so I will still keep watching for other players."

Ko says she is looking forward to playing alongside Shin, acknowledging the duo's playing styles were similar.

"She's a pretty accurate player off the tee," she said.

"A great player and there are things that I do need to learn off her."

Ko cools down
PHOTO: Cooling down ... Lydia Ko takes a break on the sixth hole (Getty Images: Stefan Postles)
One facet where the two could not be more different is the emotion they show on the course.

When Shin landed her eagle on the fifth she let her celebration rip, whereas Ko has been noted for her calm manner in both good times and bad.

"I don't really like to show my expressions a lot unless it's pretty big," Ko said.

"There has been [times] in the past where I've shown emotion or expression and, even if it was good, it has led on to not a good hole after."

Meanwhile, overnight leader Colombian Mariajo Uribe had a forgettable day, shooting a disappointing 79 and dropping almost entirely out of contention.

Western Australian Kristie Smith, who started the day in fourth, also tumbled with a 77.

Queenslander Sarah Jane Smith is leading the charge for the Australians, finishing her round (73) in equal ninth at 8-under.

Four-time tournament champion Karrie Webb also had an improved performance with a 69 but at 5-under after three rounds she remains too many shots behind the leaders to pose a threat.
# by jaclynseo | 2013-09-05 12:20


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by jaclynseo

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