Club Corner

A Sneak Peek at the New 2013 Mizuno Product Lineup
Doug Rikkers, GolfTEC Director of Club Fitting & Merchandise Services, PGA Member

Mizuno recently launched its new 2013 product line and the company has done a great job at creating a product blend with an appeal to players of all abilities. Whether you’re a low handicap player looking for the feel and workability to move the ball at will or a player seeking more distance and maximum forgiveness, Mizuno will have a club for you.

For the experienced player who prefers to carry a 3- and 4-iron, the new MP-64 is designed to make the long irons more playable. By creating a thinner muscle and deeper cavity, they improved the launch and forgiveness of the long irons. In addition, the shorter irons have a thicker muscle and shallower cavity for improved feel and precision. Finally, Mizuno improved the irons’ turf interaction by increasing the mid-sole camber while blunting the leading edge.

The revolutionary MP-H4 irons are unlike any irons Mizuno has ever made (estimated availability date of mid-November). Incorporating a hollow, hybrid design all the way through the 7-iron, and with Mizuno’s patented Grain Flow Forging in the 8-iron through pitching wedge, the MP-H4 promises to be a highly playable iron that still ensures a soft, solid, consistent feel throughout the set.

The JPX line again offers two models – the 825 and the 825 Pro. The JPX-825 promises to be the longest, most forgiving iron in Mizuno’s history and is perfect for the high handicap player looking for the ultimate in distance and forgiveness. The 4- through 7-irons utilize Mizuno’s MAX COR Ultra Pocket Cavity to maximize ball speed and create a massive sweet spot and low/deep COG for maximum forgiveness and high launch. For the low to mid-handicap player looking for a more traditional head size and design, the JPX-825 Pro may be the ticket. It offers improved feel and forgiveness, without increasing head size, and has a thinner top line than the 825 to generate a more solid feel.

Mizuno also released the MP-T4 wedges. One of the key features of these wedges is in the grooves; they’ve made them narrower and deeper in the 50- through 54-degree heads and wider and shallower in the higher lofts. These variances help create the optimal spin rate best suited for each club. Mizuno wisely offers a range of bounce options from 5 to 13 degrees to suit your preference based on the course conditions you most commonly play. These great wedges can even be customized with up to six characters in 12 different colors.

If you have any questions about these clubs or about a club fitting, please contact your GolfTEC Coach.

Performance Secret

Lasting Swing Improvements Start with Proper Aiming
Craig Hunt, GolfTEC Certified Personal Coach and PGA Member, GolfTEC Cascade Station

Aiming properly parallel to your target is a prerequisite to making any lasting improvements to your swing.

Incorrect Alignment

If you are like most golfers (right-handed), you may be aiming too far to the right on every shot you hit. This will require you to either swing to the left with an outside-to-in path or flip your wrists at impact in an effort to make the ball land on the target. In other words, an incorrect aim will require you to make a compensating swing. In addition, misalignment leads to incorrect information. If you do not know how you are aligned, you will not truly know what your miss pattern is, as it will only be based on perception.

For a normal golf shot or putt, your body should be aligned parallel left of the target (if you are right-handed) so that your body line and the target line are like two railroad tracks. In other words, your body should NOT point at the target; it should point just left of the intended target.1. Take your stance and aim at a very specific target.First, you need to test your aim to see if it is faulty.2. Lay an alignment stick, or club, along your toes and along your target line.3. Check to see if the stick you laid down on your toes is actually pointed parallel left of your target.If the stick is not pointed parallel left of your target, start practicing shots with the following practice station:

1. Lay an alignment stick, or club, on the ground just outside your golf ball pointing directly at the target.

2. Lay another alignment stick, or club, close to your toes and place it parallel to the other stick.

3. Leave both alignment tools on the ground (being careful not to move them), walk back behind the ball 10-15 feet and double-check the relationship of the two lines.

Correct Alignment

The two lines should be EXACTLY parallel (like railroad tracks), with the one on the right pointing at the target and the one on the left pointing left of the target.

Aiming properly parallel may seem a bit tricky at first, but using a practice station with alignment sticks will help ensure proper alignment and remove the need to develop compensations in your swing, thereby enabling you to make lasting improvements with the help of your coach.

For more information and a closer look at proper alignment, check out the video below.

Match Play Mindset

5 tips to win more holes
Patrick Nuber, GolfTEC Manager of Teaching Quality, PGA Certified Professional, 2011 Colorado PGA Teacher of the Year

This is the time of year when match play becomes the focus of the golf world. Many of us tuned in to watch the greatest match play competition, the Ryder Cup. But, for most players, match play isn’t a common format to play. At least, not officially. For those of you who like to spice up each round with a friendly wager, your focus will switch to winning holes rather than an 18-hole score. Even if wagering isn’t part of your game, thinking about your round with a match-play mindset just might be the best way to improve your results.

1. Play to hit the fairway. Hitting the fairway sets you up for success from the start of each hole. You cannot win each hole by playing from the trees, out of fairway bunkers or simply when out of position. This means that you may have to give up yards at times by using a 3-wood or possibly even a hybrid. Be selective on the holes that allow you to do this. In other words, if you can hit a 3-wood 225-230 yards and you are playing a 350-yard par 4, by hitting a 3-wood you would only have 120-125 yards left into the hole, which is a short iron shot. If you hit a hybrid, for example, that went 210-215 yards, you would allow yourself to hit an 8 or 7-iron into the hole, which are still considered middle to short irons. Play smart, hit fairways and put pressure on your competitor.

2. Plan on 75-80%. Golf is a game of misses and it is unrealistic to expect to hit most of your approach shots “perfectly.” I hear too many times during playing lessons that my students tend to select the club that would get them to the yardage they need IF they hit it 95-100% solid. With most amateurs this rarely happens throughout the round. Even the best players in the world only hit a handful of shots throughout the course of a round that came off just as planned. Pick a club that allows you to swing comfortably and carry the distance you need, but also allows for an off-center shot. This will lead to more greens in regulation.

3. Miss appropriately. As explained in the previous tip, golf is a game of misses. Ask one more question to yourself, “Why do you aim for the pin so much?” Most players have a miss tendency where they miss either right or left most of the time. To give yourself the best opportunity to win the hole, you need to take your miss tendency into account when selecting a target. Amateurs get in serious problems and add strokes to their score or lose a hole when they miss on the short side of the pin on an approach shot. Plan your misses to be on the larger or fatter side of the green. This will make up and downs easier to achieve!

Hitting the fairway not only sets you up for success, it also puts added pressure on your competitor

4. Warm up the critical putts. Prior to each round, spend a significant amount of your warm-up time making the critical short putts. Start by building trust in your stroke with some straight putts from 3-6 feet. Once you build confidence in your stroke, start to move around the hole at those same distances making putts that break left, break right, are uphill and downhill. Finish this warm-up by going back to the three-foot long straight putt and try to make 10-15 in a row. By doing so, you will build confidence in your ability to make these critical putts that will surely make a difference in every match!

5. Have a game plan. Too many times golfers hit that first tee shot without a game plan for the day. This game plan could be focused on anything that you feel will help you win each hole, such as having a thought to “swing easy” throughout the day or committing to play your game and not trying to keep up with others. Better players always have a game plan of what they want to accomplish on that particular round. You cannot have too many items in your game plan, as you will tend to forget what they are. Keep them limited to one or two keys. I recommend trying to limit the amount of words it takes you to say it out loud. This ensures that your game plan is simple and concise.

BONUS TIP: Pretend the course is your match play opponent. Consider your handicap or average score and apply it to the course you’re playing. If you are a “bogey golfer”, then pretend that the “Course” has shot a bogey on each hole. Then, when you tee it up, play to beat that score.  Consider this: if you miss a fairway and end up in the trees, you might normally try to still make par by attempting a heroic shot. (Trees are 90% air, right?) But, if a bogey can still salvage the hole, you’ll start making the smarter play back into the fairway.

By approaching every round you play with a match-play mentality, you’ll find that you start improving your overall score as well. You’ll play to your strengths and recover from bad shots more quickly. Try playing your next few rounds with these tips in mind. You just might have to find a bigger wallet!