Well, it’s Masters week again. And that means the “official” start of golf season for nearly everyone. Of course, the big question is whether Tiger will play, but we’ll all know the answer by the time this is published. I cannot remember a bigger story before the tournament even starts, but Tiger doesn’t just move the needle . . . he IS the needle.

It is sure to be a wonderful week to be a golf spectator, for sure. But let’s talk about your games for now and leave the PGA Tour players to theirs.

Depending on where you live, you might have played a little bit (or a lot) of golf already, but if you’re like me, you are still chipping away at off-season rust that has taken hold. That happens even here on the Texas coast, where occasional cold fronts, blustery winds and other treats of nature keep us from getting into our regular weekly golf routine from December to March.

I find this a great time of year to re-visit the basics, check my fundamentals, and devote more time to the range to chip away at that rust. My late father used to tell me as a kid, “there’s nothing wrong with your game another five thousand practice balls won’t fix.” That guidance made me into a “range rat” as a kid, and I’ve been one ever since.
But today, I want to share what I think are some great tips for getting back to your end-of-season form as quickly as you can this spring, so that you can make 2022 your best golf year ever. So, let’s go:

Improve your flexibility. If you have not been playing golf through the off-season, your flexibility has likely suffered heavily. I am a great believer in daily stretching, and even more so as I passed the 70 mark a few weeks ago. Most other senior players I observe are severely restricted in their swing movement simply because their body won’t “go there”. And way too many younger folks suffer the same restriction. Regardless of what you do on a daily basis, it doesn’t call for the same range of motion as the golf swing. You will be amazed what only 5-10 minutes a day of good stretching will do for your distance and consistency.

Check your grip. I’ve written about this before, but a faulty grip all but prevents a functionally sound golf swing. It’s not a personal thing, other than your preference for overlap, interlock or ten finger grip. Once you are past that choice, you simply have to work hard to learn how to put a sound grip on the golf club and make it a habit.

And check your grip pressure. Our early season golf will undoubtedly produce a higher number of mis-hits, and the natural tendency is to grip the club a bit tighter as a result. I find that to be a major pre-determinant of the next bad shot. Right before you start any swing, pay attention to how tightly you are holding the club . . . and loosen up.

Stance, posture, ball position. Golf is the only sport that let’s you get completely in the position you want before you take your physical action. Every other sport relies on similar fundamentals to that activity, but your execution is almost always reactive to the ball. What would the score be in a major league baseball game if they played tee-ball? Heck, we’d never see the end of the top half of the first inning. We, on the other hand, do not have to take our swing until we are good and ready, so give those fundamentals their due attention and you will see dramatic improvement.

Take dead aim. If you’ve ready Harvey Penick’s Little Red Book, you know this one, but it is amazing to me how many golfers just walk up to the ball, take some kind of stance, give the target a look . . . and swing away. I watch pretty good players have wide variances in their aiming line from shot to shot . . . and they get those same variances in their shots. I have long adopted the practice of never hitting a shot on the range without my alignment stick down, so that I am always practicing my alignment. You’ll see the pros do that as well. It all starts with taking a dead aim at your target.

So, there are five tips to help you kick-start 2022. Make it your best year ever.

And if you have a topic you would like me to address, please send me an email to [email protected]. I’ll do my best to give it a shot.