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Scratch Golfers Aren't Superheroes + How to Sync Up Your Upper and Lower Body
Plus, this Pete Dye VA Course Has Hints of Whistling Straits
Wild Golf
September 03, 2024
Hope everyone enjoyed a round or three over Labor Day weekend- you know who wasn’t thrilled by his weekend score? Sahith Theegala… he finished in 3rd place in the FedEx Cup standings, 2 shots behind Collin Morikawa for 2nd, but it’s how he ended up there is the crazy part. On the 3rd hole at East Lake on Sunday, while hitting from a fairway bunker, Theegala called a penalty on himself for making contact with the sand prior to his shot. Even the tv cameras didn’t pick it up, but Theegala said he saw a few grains of sand move while starting his backswing. This resulted in a 2 stroke penalty, pushing him out of a tie for 2nd place and costing him $2.5 million in prize money. Don’t cry for Sahith though- he still went home with a cool $7.5 million. Even still, the rules of golf can often be cruel.
In today’s newsletter…
✅ TIPS & DRILLS: Upper and lower body out of sync? Hips flying open too soon? Use an alignment stick in this unconventional way.
✅ COURSES: VA Tech’s home course is a Pete Dye gem with hints of Whistling Straits to it. It’s the #6 College Course in the US.
✅ STATISTICS: How frequently does a Scratch Golfer make a Bogey (or worse)? It’s probably more than you think.
✅ TRIVIA: How many golf balls are lost per year in the US? Answer for a chance to win a HackMotion Core Wrist Sensor Training Aid!
Happy September!
TIPS & DRILLS
Upper and Lower Body Out of Sync? This Will Fix You Up In No Time
Learn proper sequencing to maximize power and accuracy simultaneously
To Recap…
The golf swing is challenging for a whole host of reasons, but one of the biggest difficulties is getting the right sequencing between your upper and lower body. If you can time things properly, you’ll hit the ball straighter and with much more power. An alignment stick is the simple tool you need to master this fundamental move, and yes, you may have seen Bryson Dechambeau do this drill online somewhere:
-STEP 1: Place an alignment stick through your front belt loops such that it runs parallel to your target line.
-STEP 2: Practice some slower, abbreviated swings without a ball in front of you, aiming not to make contact with the alignment stick at any point. To avoid contact, you should feel your arms drop slightly before your hips start to fire.
-STEP 3: Once you’re comfortable with the proper sequencing, try hitting a few balls with the same abbreviated swing, slowly graduating to full swings and eventually removing the alignment stick altogether.
PRO TIP. If you do make contact with the stick on your downswing, it’s likely that your back heel is coming off the ground and your hips are flying open far too soon. If you’re feeling really adventurous, try placing a golf ball under your back foot, and aim to maintain contact with the ball throughout your swing until well after impact.
COURSES
This Course Was Blown Up By Pete Dye Just 3 Years After Opening
VA Tech’s Home Course has Hints of Whistling Straits To It
Pete Dye River Course of Virginia Tech
Radford, VA
Continuing our back-to-school college tour, we head to Radford, Virginia. The River Course first opened for play in 1999, but the Virginia Tech Foundation acquired the property in 2002. And just as soon as they closed on the deal, they brought in Pete Dye to blow up the course and put his unique spin on the property, moving 40,000 cubic yards of earth in the process ahead of a 2006 grand re-opening. In true Pete Dye fashion, he left the fairways rather wide but instilled plenty of challenge around the greens, with clever bunkering, plateaued greens and amazing views along the water.
Marked by “deception off the tee,” as one reviewer put it, this is definitely a course where’s it’s helpful to have some insider knowledge so you know where to aim. Playing this links-y layout a 2nd time is a totally different experience, as is often the case with a Pete Dye track. The course can play quite long at 7,665 yards from the back tees, and choosing the appropriate length can alter your experience entirely. We definitely recommend moving up a tee box if you can stomach it, at least for your first attempt.
The Pete Dye River Course (as it’s now called) is bordered by 2.5 miles of the New River, the oldest river in America. With the Blue Ridge Mountains in the background, playing the course in the Fall when the leaves are changing will leave you with some incredible photo opportunities - see examples HERE. Numerous online reviews mention that the course has hints of Whistling Straits to it (a Pete Dye crown jewel) for its fantastic routing out and back along the water. The course serves as the home venue for both Virginia Tech and Radford University, and Golf Digest has it ranked as the 6th Best College Course in the country (and 12th best in Virginia overall).
Rates: $85 during peak season
Check out this overview from the VA State Golf Association
STATISTICS
Stat of the Day: Scratch Golfers Make Mistakes Too
presented by…
The Stat: A Scratch Golfer will make bogey or worse on 30% of the holes they play (or 5.4 holes per round).
The Takeaway: On average, a Scratch Golfer will make ~4.6 bogeys per round and ~0.7 double bogeys or worse. The flip side here is that they make ~2.2 birdies per round. But the most telling stat is that a Scratch Golfer will avoid making a double bogey or worse during 43% of their rounds. So they aren’t infallible by any means, but they definitely know how to avoid the big numbers.
TODAY’S TRIVIA
Answer to Win a HackMotion Core Wrist Sensor Training Aid
(1 winner chosen on 9/30/24 across all September trivia entries, 1,000 correct respondents minimum)
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How many golf balls are estimated to be lost in the U.S. every year? |
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