at Tales - Cattail Creek Country Club

at Tales
Golf
August 2011
1.
Golf Tip of the Month
‘Feet Together Drill’
Ricky Serrano, Director of Instruction
Keeping your feet together, practice
hitting balls with the ball teed
up. Your feet should be touching
or within 2 or 3 inches of each
other. This is one of the most
popular practice drills because it is
easy to do and does so much for
you. Use it as a warm-up or to stay
loose on the course.
Swing slowly at first. Concentrate on
making solid contact with the ball.
Always think tempo and rhythm.
Once you can hit consistently good
shots, work on hitting the ball off
the grass. This drill encourages you
to swing within your capabilities. It
reduces swaying because of the
narrow balance point. If you sway
or swing too hard you will almost
fall over.
3.
2.
You may be surprised how far you
can hit the ball with your feet together
as you groove your swing.
This drill helps you in many ways.
It's a good drill to do every practice
session as a warm-up. This drill can
actually prevent many bad faults
from creeping into your swing. On a
bad day some players actually use
this drill as an emergency fix during
a round. They actually move their feet closer together
to prevent extraneous body movements that
may be causing errant shots, resulting in loss of confidence
and wasted strokes.
When to utilize this drill:
Do the "Feet Together Drill" whenever you start to
lose confidence in your swing because of repeated
missed shots or ball flight problems.
GREEN UPDATE
Chris Harriman, Golf Course Superintendent
This summer’s weather has thrown a lot at the golf course.
This June was the 11th warmest on record, but still 3 degrees
below last year. July, however, featured more days above 90
degrees than July 2010 and broke a few high temperature
records. After less than an inch of rain in June, we thankfully
received almost 4 inches in July. The high temperatures, high
humidity, and abundance of moisture in the soil has encouraged
disease and put some serious stress on the turf.
The fairways, especially #4, have already
benefited from a good core aerification and sand
topdressing program. This will only improve!
August temperatures are predicted to be above normal, but
the average temperatures will start to subside along with a
much less intense angle of attack from the sun. We are really
looking forward to the fall, especially to start inter-seeding
some turf type tall fescue into the rough. Fall restoration will
take place during the weeks of August 15th and 22nd. The
Golf Course will be closed as usual on the 15th and 22nd. On
the following Tuesdays and Wednesdays, only nine holes will
be open. Fall restoration will most likely involve aerifying the
fairways with solid tines, and pulling cores out of the tees.
The greens will be dryjected on August 23 rd , and weather
permitting, we may pull a small core out.
Overall, the Golf Course has held up well this summer. Much
of that is due to limiting mechanical damage and implementing
the right amount of cultural practices and the right time.
Keep up with the Green Department Blog to see these practices
in action. I will see you all out on the Course!
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