Our friends at Revel Golf help raise money for the V Foundation at the The JimmyV Celebrity Golf Classic which is held at world famous Pinehurst Country Club in North Carolina. This year, in addition to hosting their Revel Challenge at the event, they’re selling a great long sleeve t-shirt to raise more money for the foundation. This great shirt costs only $25 and $12.50 from each sale will be donated directly to the V Foundation.

Golfers in general seem to be a very charitable group (how many tournaments for charity have you played in?) so if you’re in a giving mood, visit the Revel Golf website and buy the shirt to help support a great cause. And, if you happen to be going to the JimmyV Celebrity Golf Classic, good luck in the Revel Challenge!

A fun and useful game that you can play alone or with friends at the beach is a bit of a variation on the basketball game H.O.R.S.E.

Pick various targets on the beach (tip: avoid picking people as targets!) and use your sand wedge to hit the target with your golf ball. Alternate turns between the players and the player that hits the target in the fewest strokes gets a point. You can play to as many points as you want but 5 points is usually a good number to use.

This game will give you another fun beach activity while improving your skill for chipping out of the sand.

• Being relaxed reduces tension in your muscles. If you’re tense, this will lead to tight muscles and inconsistent swings.
• Clear your mind. Picture yourself relaxing on the beach or wherever it is that you feel the most relaxed. Just don’t think about your upcoming golf shot!
• Focus on being more relaxed in your grip, stance, and swing.
• Introduce the ‘wiggle’ to your pre-shot routine. The wiggle will help you release some tension from your entire body and lead to a more relaxed swing.
• Practice a relaxed swing before you address the ball.  To develop a relaxed swing, take continuous swings back and forth without stopping.  This will loosen you up and remove any tension before you take your swing.

These tips will help reduce the tension in your body that can lead to all kinds of problems like fat shots, topped shots, loss of tempo, loss of balance, forced swings, or too much arm movement.

Putting is one of the great equalizers in golf. A player who consistently drives the ball 250 yards but is awful on the greens may see similar scores as a great putter who can only drive ball 150 yards.

If you are used to three putting and you learn how to get off of the green in one or two putts on most holes, your score will see a drastic improvement. Follow our tips to help shave some strokes off of your score next time you hit the golf course.

1. Make sure you accelerate through your putt rather than decelerating on the forward swing. Your front swing is the most important part of the swing for controlling distance and decelerating throws off your putt’s distance.
2. Keep your head down and focused on the ball during your follow through. Lifting your head too early can cause you to pull or push your putt to the left or right.
3. Follow through your stroke so that you almost feel like you are “pushing” the ball into the hole.
4. When reading the green, try looking from the back of the hole towards your ball. This view will help you see more of the contours of the green.
5. Don’t rush your putts when you get on the green. Focus and take a few practice swings before making your putt.

If you have any other tips that work for you, please let us know in the comments!

For the average golfer though, you are more likely to chip the ball over the green, leave it short, or blow it right past the hole. Your potential birdie just turned into a triple bogey and now you’re frustrated and upset with your missed opportunity.

We’ve all been in that situation before but the following tips will help you improve your short game around the greens and shave strokes off of your score.

1. Avoid moving your wrists when chipping. It seems natural to move your wrists but keep them locked when you’re chipping.
2. Use the length of your back swing to control the distance of the chip, not the speed of your forward swing.
3. Always follow through fully with your swing. Many players stop their swing when they get to the ball because they fear a full forward swing will send the ball over the green. This is a mistake - a short back swing with a full follow through will leave you with a short chip that gets in the air and rolls when it hits the green.
4. Line up the ball with the heel of your back foot. If you’re right handed, the ball should be in line with your right foot when you line up for your chip.
5. Try to keep slightly more of your weight on your front foot than your back foot. If you’re a right handed golfer, more weight should be on your left foot when chipping.

Use these tips to help shave strokes of your score next time you’re golfing.

Knowing that I would be purchasing a new driver this year I spent a great deal of time testing models last fall. After testing almost every manufacturer’s driver, I narrowed the choice down to the
Cleveland HiBORE XL Tour Driver and the Cobra F/Speed LD Driver. It was a hard decision between these two because they both performed similarly for me, but when I walked into the local Golf Galaxy to pick one of them up, my decision was made for me.

After picking up each one I decided to go back to the simulated range to hit a few balls. Walking back to the range, I walked past the pre-owned clubs and decided to take a look. Needless to say it didn’t take me long to find what I was looking for.

There, mixed among the pre-owned clubs, was a HiBore XL Tour model just like the brand new one that I had in my hands. After looking the club over I thought for a second that it was just in the wrong spot because it looked brand new. It wasn’t until I saw the price tag that I knew I wasn’t mistaken. This club was probably bought by someone who hit it once or twice and decided that it wasn’t for them. After hitting a few balls, it didn’t take me long to realize that this was the club I would be going home with.

Now that I have played two actual rounds with this driver in my bag, I am very pleased with my purchase. My drives are long and straight and I am able to place the ball much better with this driver that I was with my old one. In a testament to how pleased I was with this club I just purchase the Cleveland HiBore XLS 3 Wood to go along with it.

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Hole Descriptions
1. The course starts off with a par 4 that dog legs slightly to the right. This hole is fairly simple and provides a birdie opportunity to start off your round.

2. Hole 2 is a relatively straight par 4 with a slight dogleg right. Beware of the two sand traps to the front of the green.

3. Hole 3 is the first par 3 of the course. There isn’t too much trouble here, just avoid going over the green because there is some thick grass that will give you trouble when you try to find your ball.

4. Hole 4 is another par 4 that doglegs to the right. If you’re feeling really confident in your drive you can try to go over the trees to the right of the tee and cut some significant distance of the hole.

5. Hole 5 is another par 4 that plays relatively straight without much cause for concern.

6. Hole 6 is the second fairly simple par 3 of the front 9.

7. Hole 7 is a par 4 that doglegs to the left. Beware of slicing the ball off of the tee because there is a pond to the right off of the tee.

8. Hole 8 is a par 5 that you can birdie and make up a stroke. It bends slightly to the right and there is some very think grass off to the right of the tee that you should do your best to avoid.

9. Finish up the front 9 with this relatively simple par 4.

10. After the turn you begin the back 9 with a straight away par 4.

11. Hole 11 is another par 4 that plays relatively straight. Avoid the bunker along the front left of the green and you should end up in good shape.

12. Hole 12 is a par 5 that is pretty long but it doesn’t present too much trouble other than its distance.

13. This par 4 doglegs left and runs down hill so if you hit a decent drive it can potentially run up very close to the green.

14. Hole 14 is a par 4 that has some of the most character on the course. Big hitters can attempt to drive the green while players that prefer to play safe may lay up off of the tee to land in the fairway in front of the stream and put their second shot on the green.

15. Hole 15 is another straight par 3 with some bunkers in front of the green.

16. On this par 4, just avoid duffing your tee shot into the creek and you will be in good shape to birdie the hole.

17. This par 4 is slightly tricky because the green is well protected by a tree on its right side. If you can, try to stay on the left side of the fairway as you approach the green.

18. Finish up your round with this straight par 4 and avoid the bunkers to the left and right of the green.

Golf Course Ranking Scale (1 - 10):
Cost: 8
Maintenance: 2
Difficulty: 3
Scenery: 3
Originality: 2
Overall:5

Many people like to go to the driving range and blast away with their drivers. This is great if you’re going to the range to work on your drive specifically but there are other techniques that you can use to make the most out of your driving range time. Use the tips below next time you’re at the driving range to help improve your score.

1. When you get to the driving range start off hitting your short wedges then work up from your 9 iron through your lowest iron. This will help you find your swing and loosen you up. Studies show that wedges and irons are the clubs that help you score better scores so you definitely shouldn’t neglect them at the range.
2. Once you’ve warmed up with your irons and you are comfortable with your swing, take a few swings with the driver. Analyze how you hit the first couple balls. If you notice that you’re slicing or hooking the ball, use this time to practice techniques that will help you fix these problems. (Earlier, we posted videos that will give you advice on fixing your slice or your hook).
3. Don’t just mindlessly hit all of the balls in your bucket. Pretend you’re actually on the golf course and pick specific targets for each of your shots. This will help you determine the range and accuracy of each of your clubs so the next time you are on the course you will have a better idea of what you are capable of with each of your clubs.

Hopefully you’ll find these tips useful and make the most of your next visit to the driving range. If you have any of your own tips, please let us know in the comments below.

The course was in surprisingly good condition considering it was just last week that we had about a foot of snow. Of course there were some wet spots but that is expected with early spring golf. I think that the greens were what I was most surprised by. The greens seem to take the snow the hardest and usually have spots on them that are burnt out, but not yesterday. All of the greens were in very good shape for the first day of the year.

After not really doing much this winter with my swing I was very surprised how well I was hitting the ball. But needless to say the rust was ever present on and around the greens. But all in all I was just happy to be out on the course.