Practice Tips
|
NEW YORK TIMES ARTICLE: Paula Creamer calling for women to break the grass ceiling
BILL PENNINGTON
Published: August 24, 2008
NY TIMES ARTICLE:http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/25/sports/golf/25golfcreamer.html?_r=2&oref=s&oref=slogin
After reading Bill Pennington's column which featured LPGA Tour star Paula Creamer giving her two cents on why more women weren't taking up the game, we figured we would let you hear our thoughts and how we can help change the situation.
We constantly hear about how women are having trouble getting into the game of golf because they are affraid or intimidated by the traditional rules or etiquette. It's also very intimidating for a beginner to 'spray balls' on the driving range and frankly...look like a beginner. I know I didn't enjoy it.
So for any beginning golfer afraid or intimidated by traditional golf courses, we suggest you start out using almostgolf balls around your yard, park or neighborhood. Our balls make learning the game easy and convenient, so when you go to the course you have more fun. Also, our ball doesn't hurt your hands when you mis-hit shots so you really hit a lot of balls.
PRACTICING GOLF IN YOUR YARD OR NEIGHBORHOOD HAS SEVERAL ADVANTAGES:
1. CONVENIENCE: Since all you need to do is walk out your back door, you can now p ractice more often, get in a lot more swings and improve faster without any stress.
2. MAKE MISTAKES: Now you can 'look bad' and make mistakes without anyone seeing or judging you. It's important to note that everyone learning golf needs to hit a lot of balls before they groove a repeatable swing. Why not do it for 15 minutes a day where no one is watching.
3. EXPERIMENT: Now you can hit as many balls as you would like and discover your game. You can experiment with foot position, different shots and swing patterns without worrying about looking bad or 'wasting range balls'.
4. HAVE MORE FUN: By practicing in and around your yard or neighborhood, you can have a lot of fun. You can include your family and friends. And the more fun you have, the more you will want to play and having fun is what its all about.
Tell us your opinion.
|
HOW TO CREATE AN ON-CAMPUS DRIVING RANGE TO STRENGTHEN YOUR GOLF TEAM: For too long golf teams and recreational golf clubs at all levels have had to leave school, separate themselves from all the other students on campus and go to a dedicated facility to practice and hopefully improve. This is a barrier to participation and performance that can cause collateral effects in terms of player moral, attrition and the inability to get new players up to speed and competitive in a shorter period of time.
All these issues can be eliminated by allowing the players to supplement their golf course and driving range time by practicing on campus. By giving students the ability to use a playing field as a driving range t hey can practice a lot more and improve faster.
WHERE: Football or baseball field, parking lot, and even inside a gym during the winter.
YARDAGE NEEDED: Since the almostGOLF ball flies about 100 yards max, all you need is the length of a football field at most.
SET UP AND TAKE DOWN: You want to have mats the players can just drag out to the field and a way to shag the balls efficiently. Then add a few targets and let the players hit away. It's really that simple.
ADVANTAGES TO CREATING ON-CAMPUS PRACTICE RANGE:
1. IT MAKES GOLF TEAM PRACTICE CONVENIENT: By making practice accessible, players practice and hone their skills more frequently. You want your players to be able to grab a bucket of balls and go to a field and hit shots for 15-30 minutes when they have time between classes or during the off season. This is something you never could do when you had to drive to a range just to swing the sticks.
 2. ITS THE BEST WAY TO ATTRACT NEW PLAYERS: When you have new players who have a hard time hitting the ball straight, what they need is as much off season and on season practice as they can get. On campus practice gives them the freedom to work on their swing, even when there is no formal practice or instruction. This is also a good suppliment to junior golf instruction as well.
3. CREATES ON CAMPUS VISIBILITY: Our research has shown that when a golf team is able to practice on campus, the team grows significantly because now other athletes and students notice that there is actually a golf team. On campus visibility for your golf team also helps build moral because the players are no longer isolated from their friends
4. ELIMINATES MID-SEASON ATTRITION RATE: We have seen, especially with girls golf teams that being seen on campus and being able to conveniently practice gives players the contact with other athletes and students that keeps them practicing longer. Basically isolation causes attrition and on campus practice eliminates this barrier.
|
JUNIOR GOLF INSTRUCTION SEES A NEW HORIZON: These are exciting times for junior golf development, thanks to the almostGOLF ball. Now you can teach juniors golf almost anywhere. They can learn golf in a gym, on a playing field, around the schoolyard, at a park, in the backyard or around the neighborhood. Best of all there is no compromise in performance and/or ball striking feedback because the ball goes exactly where the club tells it to go. This new level of convenience allows juniors to actually get hooked on the game as opposed to simply being exposed to the game of golf.
ALMOSTGOLF BALLS HAVE BROKEN ALL THE TRADITIONAL BARRIERS TO ENTRY IN GOLF:  For years, few people inside the golf industry wanted to admit that there were some very large barriers to entry facing the new and junior golfers. With the almostGolf ball all those barriers are gone. By breaking the golf ball safety barrier and allowing kids to practice, learn and even play around their yard, park or schoolyard, we make it possible for kids to do more than just get acquanted with the game. By making golf convenient, safe and exciting to play, kids and adults can practice as much as they want. That's revolutionary. This daily and/or weekly practice can suppliment any golfers course play and practice and allow them to improve faster.
|
HOW TO CREATE YOUR OWN PARKING LOT GOLF DRIVING RANGE: Everyone jokes about how golfers never practic e. But they don't joke about how most golfers can't break 90. The reason is obvious, most golfers don't have the time to get to a range enough to actually groove a real golf swing. Well, unintentionally, I discovered an easy way to solve this time honored dilema of access by creating my own, super convenient, home driving range within walking distance from my house. So here is a breakdown for how - why and what the benefits are of creating your own 'golf training facility' as close to home as possible. 
HISTORY OF HOW OUR FIRST DRIVING RANGE CAME ABOUT: It all started in 2002-3 as I was inventing the almostGolf ball. I would come back from a prototyping session at the factory, and sprint the 90 yards to the First Federal Bank Human Resource Training Center parking lot down the street. There I would take our new batch of balls and beat them into submission, hoping that this batch could take a punch. I knew I was inventing a new golf ball, but I didn't know I was inventing a new way to practice. Eventually this driving range became the official 'almostGolf Testing Laboratory' in Santa Monica, CA.
HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN GOLF DRIVING RANGE...AT HOME: The key to creating your own driving range is to first find the location. It should be at least 60 yards long to accomodate at least a 5 iron. Also make sure you have access to adjacent buildings or areas..because you will shank balls. Finally, make it convenient, because Jack Lalanne, the inventor of the modern day gym, proved that if you live too far from where you work out, you stop going and working out. So your driving range or personal almostGolf course needs to be CONVENIENT - CONVENIENT - CONVENIENT. Your range can be a park, schoolyard, parking lot, anywhere there is open area. Learn more about creating your own backyard golf course>
|
ALMOSTGOLF AND THE CGA JOIN FORCES TO GROW THE GAME OF GOLF ON COLLEGE CAMPUSES: During the recent USC Open, we had a chance to sit down with Mike Munson, the recreation director at USC and the president of the CGA about how having on campus tournaments and events are helping build campus golf clubs within his network of nearly 300 participating schools.
To start, I met Mike four years ago at a Roger Dunn Demo day in Santa Ana, Ca. Our meeting seemed to be destiny. We had set up 30 yard hole in one contest right in front of the store. (Something most people had never seen before) We had people hitting away, laughing, trying to win prizes, but no one was able to make a hole in one. Then this tall, tan fellow sautered up holding the Titleist Volkey wedge he had just won from another contest. Without even taking off the wrapper, he set up and sunk his first shot. As I stood in amazement, he turned to me, shook my hand and said, "My name is Mike Munson, I run a golf club at USC...What did I win?"...from that point on almostGOLF became a sponsor of Mike's growing organization and we are now partners in growing golf within the hundreds of college golf clubs associated with the CGA.
Learn more about the almostGOLF College Golf Tour>
|
|
|
Practice Tips 
