If you head to the driving range, you want to be productive. You’re there to practice and not to just swing the golf club a couple times. Well that’s what I too often see people doing. Just swinging with no purpose.

So how do you get a purpose? You show up with one. And the best tip to show up with is to know where you’re aiming. I know it seems simple but just remember back to your last time at the driving range. Were you lined up to your target? Or were you lined up to where the mat or lines or divot marks were point you?

Next time you head to the driving range follow this one tip. Move around on the driving range area and point at angles to the mat or the divots or the golfers around you (just don’t point at them, try 10 – 20 degrees off of your normal, don’t be silly, be safe.) By doing this you may find out that you’re actually hitting the ball where you want to and will help get you closer to playing scratch golf.

If you watch swing vision on CBS and study what the pros do you’ll notice that one thing they don’t do is take a full back swing. They stop at the top or even half-way up to the top. And this isn’t probably why you think they do.

For one, they are resisting and building power in their midsection and hips by keeping them pointed straight ahead and not rotating out of position. They don’t turn the golf club around their body by rotating their hips. They rotate their upper body.

Doing this requires them to stop towards the top of their swing making them have more control of their downswing. You, probably having less control than a professional golfer, should take this swing tip and run with it.

It takes a lot of practice but this is something you can do in your spare time watching TV. Just take the club back half way, and keep repeating. Repeat until your tired and you’re not thinking about taking the club back. Just make sure the golf club only goes half way.

This can be a great golf practice tip if you’re looking for something to do off the course and help you get to playing scratch golf.

It’s raining outside.  Most people don’t want do much of anything except watch movies or sit wishing they were outside.   Well, you don’t have to be most people and you can practice a little golf while doing those things most people are probably doing.  You can practice some golf to get to playing scratch golf.

What you do isn’t anything new, but the rain can remind you to practice away.  Take the rain as a reminder to practice putting on a variety of surfaces, like those when it’s raining out.  Even though most people say that practicing on carpet can be silly, I say that’s just silly.

Carpet is just like any other green you could putt on has it’s nuances and speeds.  But what you need to remember is that it’s just a surface to help you get your speed and your routine down.  Like these 10 putting routine tips. It’s just the repetative strokes that help you practice your strokes.

Golf is a game of being able to repeat the same thing over and over again and it shouldn’t matter if you’re on grass or if you’re in the middle of your living room. See…. It’s the same thing. It doesn’t matter if there is rain on the green or dirt from your sneakers, just the practice of your putt stroke can help shave your score and get you to playing scratch golf.

Everyone knows its drive for show and put for dough. Most of your golf score comes within 50 yards of the hole with more than a third coming on the green. Most of the time it can be half of your score. So how do you easily lower your score? Your putt better.

How you putt better can be a difficult egg to crack, but we have a tip that can really help, without having to put in a ton of practice.

If you watch the pros putt there is one thing they consistently do, they repeat their same setup every time. Watch Tiger Woods or Phil Michelson sometime, they both have almost identical timing on there set-up to each and every putt.

What we suggest is a simple way to remember and go about doing this. It will get you into a routine that can easily take several strokes off your game and help you get to playing scratch golf even faster.

1. Look at the lie from the opposite side of the whole
2. Look at the lie from the side
3. Look at the lie from the behind the ball
4. Address the ball
5. Place one foot to the back of the ball
6. Place the other foot to the left of the ball
7. Take 3 practice strokes
8. Make sure you take 3 practice strokes getting a feel for the speed
9. Repeat 5 and 6 now placing the putter face in the correct angle behind the ball
10. Repeat the correct stroke you practiced in 7

If you follow a routine, like this, or one you make up on your own, you’ll be able to easily shave strokes off your game.  It keeps you thinking about something besides the shot you may miss.

Many sports players develop injuries due to repetitive movements, including golfers and tennis players. Rotor cuff tears, tendinitis, knee cartilage wear, and various other problems occur from a very active sports lifestyle. Various websites and supplements cater to correcting the effects of these hobbies on our body and lifestyles.

These bodybuilding forums have many posts and threads on various supplements and ways to treat repetitive stress injuries. These supplements includes various products for sports related injuries. An article posted at this website indicates how shoulder problems and joint problems occur and some methods and supplements to correct these problems.

We’d like to thank IronMass for pointing out some great forums and threads to help our golf readers deal with injuries as well as helping to support our blog. We found tons more sports related threads there.

Phil Mickelson, who fell apart late last year after taking the PGA tour by storm in early 2006 won his 30th career title at Pebble Beach in California.

The left-handed Mickelson pocketed $990,000 to exceed $40 million in career earnings with his win in Cali. This is a much better way for Phil to start the 2007 year which he needed to start brilliantly after breaking down in the US Open in which he was leading going into the final holes, only to lose in what many thought was poor poor course management.

But that’s in the past and this is a new year. With the Fed Ex Cup at stake it seems like there’s a whole new PGA tour, with people gunning for as many points as they can, the overall PGA tour victor will be decided by a new system, and Phil is creeping towards the top.

Phil didn’t just win Pebble Beach he crushed the competition. A field that in the top 10 included the likes of Davis Love III and Jim Furyk, two of the tops in the world. He didn’t win by 1 or 2 strokes, he won by a decisive 5 strokes shooting 20 under for the tournament.

We look forward to what has already been an exciting 2007 on the PGA tour.

The past weekend at the Sony Open wasn’t about Vijay Singh or defending champ David Toms. It wasn’t about Michelle Wie making the cut, but it was about a teenager making the cut. The youngest teenager in the last 50 years to make the cut in a PGA tour event that is. Hawaii’s own Tadd Fujikawa that is.

Once Tadd made the cut on Friday and then followed that up with a stellar 66 on Saturday, the world was watching Tadd Fujikawa. He was in contention just 6 strokes back of the lead.

But it wasn’t his magnificent drives or the fact that he was making them using his small 5’1″ frame. No it was his excitement for the game, his love of the game. The golf channel showed a clip of him late into the night practicing his putting Saturday night, getting ready for the next day, where he was to be paired up with Jim Furyk, the worlds number 2 player.

Tadd Fujikawa wasn’t talking like the world owed him something. He wasn’t speaking as though he was better and deserved to be in the top ten (even though his play was great and definitely warranted it) he was just happy to be there. He was all smiles as he played, and had to tip his hat often to the crowd.

I was able to make it over to the Waialae Country Club on Sunday for the final round and quickly figured out where Tadd was playing. Some of the best players in the world were on the course that day but you couldn’t have guessed where they were. The leaders had about 50 people following them while Tadd and Jim had the fairways lined from tee box to green.

Around the green you were 10 people deep trying to get a glimpse of the smile from the 5’1″ Tadd Fujikawa. People were racing to the next hole as if Tiger Woods were battling it out with Phil Mickelson. No it was the hometown crowd cheering on the young Tadd.

Even the other players were getting into it, watching how the crowd reacted to this young man who plays with such heart and just has fun.

The biggest moment of the day was when Tadd was walking up the 18th fairway and even Jim Furyk had to stop and clap for him. It was quite a sight. Tadd had just tried to cut the corner with a blast off the tee on the par 5 18th, missing the bunkers edge by a few yards. He then shot a magnificent shot from about 220 out of the sand to the green-side bunker where he saved a birdie try by managing a sand shot within a few feet of the cup.

It was a perfect ending to the day where Tadd was often going for it all, playing with guts, to go for glory. He had amazing shots to guarded pins, that others played safe and wen to the center of the green. He often tried and usually made it while cutting the corners.

Tadd Fujikawa was a lesson for all young golfers trying to make it big. Play for fun and play with your heart. Don’t love the sport just for the money. You’ll never make the cut if that’s all you play for.

On Friday, one local high school student famished and one local high school student flourished. Michelle Wie missed the cut again at her fourth Sony Open playing at her Waialae Country Club home course. But the big news was coming from a few holes ahead of Michelle Wie.

Tadd Fujikawa, who last year became one of the youngest players to ever qualify for the US Open, was fighting for a spot to play in the weekend. On the 18th hole, a par 5, Tadd needed a par to make the projected cut. Instead, he settled for an eagle, throwing his arms to the sky.

With that, Tadd Fujikawa became the youngest player in 50 years to make the cut in a PGA tour event. Afterwards Tadd was ecstatic about making the cut and doing it in front of his hometown crowd of friends and family. He also jokingly said he didn’t think, or better, didn’t expect to win or even come close to winning. He was just happy to be moving on to the next round.

Well, joking aside, he came out today and shot another 66 to put him in the top 10 going into the final round of the 2007 Sony Open. He sits at 7-under par, 5 strokes behind the expected leader Paul Goydos.

Hawaii looks to have some great up and coming golfers with both Tadd and Michelle. We’ll keep you in the loop with up to date info on the Sony Open. 

The Sony Open, the second stop on the 2007 PGA Tour is underway, as first tee times went off at 7:10 am HST. (That’s 5 hours behind United States East Coast Time).

Vijay Singh is coming off a big win at the Mercedes Championship on Maui and David Toms, last years Sony Open winner at the Waialae Country Club is ready to defend his title.

But the big news, as is always the case if she’s playing in a Men’s tournament, is Michelle Wie. She’ll be playing in her 4th straight Sony Open on a sponsors exemption and looking to make her first cut in a PGA event.

Some are calling the Sony Open a must win for Michelle Wie. Either way, her 8:30 tee time today will surely have a huge crowd following it.

Quick news on the Michelle Wie front.

It looks as though Michelle Wie will be headed to stanford come fall where she will attend school. She won’t be able to play golf because she’s already turned pro so she won’t really be following in Tiger Woods’ footsteps.

She seems excited but I’m not sure how long she’ll last over there.

What do you think?

technorati tags:Michelle, Wie, Stanford, Golf