We have had a great month of July with a successful Independence Day tournament despite the rain before the event. The golf course is in excellent shape after our first closure. We have one more closure August 11 through 19. We hope to see you at our Labor Day Golf tournament on September 1.
The Club at Gateway Performance Center has enhanced our ability to fit members and guests for the clubs they need, and has given us the opportunity to teach at a higher level with video analysis via Trackman. Even if you are not a member, please feel free to reach out to the golf shop to book a fitting or lesson with one our golf professionals.
For those of you with Junior golfers in the family, our Junior Golf Summer Camp is going strong. We offered five separate weeks and four half-day camps from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. for ages 5 to 12. All of these camps include lunch, drinks and snacks. Our instructors cover all areas of the game, with plenty of time to spend on the range, putting green, short game area, and golf course. For more information, please see the flier in the newsletter or to sign up your favorite Junior golfer, give us a call in the Pro Shop at (239) 561-1010.
GOLF TIP
WANT TO BE A BETTER CHIPPER?
There are some very important fundamentals when you are chipping. Use these fundamentals while practicing to improve your chipping in minutes.
Choose the club you want to use by imagining the shot you want to hit. If it’s a higher shot, you need more loft. If it’s a lower running shot, you need less loft. One of the most important parts of chipping is deciding where you want the ball to land. All the best players in the world are looking at the point they want to land the ball because they have decided how they think the ball will roll after it lands.
Make sure you preset your weight 60% on your leg closest to the target at address. If you do this correctly it will lock your lower body so your upper body can control the swing.
With your weight 60% on your left, make sure the end of the grip is pointing at your belt buckle and your ball position is just in front of the middle of your stance. (Your hands should be ahead of the ball.) If you want to hit a lower chip shot you can move the ball back in your stance.
To control the tempo of your swing and therefore the distance of your shots, try to make the club head travel as far back, as it does through.
Make sure you accelerate the club through impact (this can be scary for some people). If you have the correct fundamentals this won’t be as scary because you will create spin and ultimately have more control of the golf ball. When these fundamentals are correct you will make the club bounce into the ball and brush the top of the grass.
In this tip I didn’t mention anything about opening stance or adding loft to your club. These are used for different shots – not a basic chip shot. If you would like to learn more about different types of chip shots and the techniques we use to hit them, please contact me at [email protected] or members can log onto Foretees to book a lesson.
