AimPoint Comes to The Landings Club

Welcome to the future! 

We were very exited to have LPGA Teacher of the Year and Kiawah Island Club Director of Instruction Carol Preisinger visiting The Landings Club Friday, May 25 to present AimPoint, the revolutionary new way of reading greens that is sweeping the Tours, collegiate play and amateur golf levels. 

Carol is AimPoint certified and spoke about finding the 0 line, being able to figure out which way the ball will break and how much, and some great distance and accuracy drills. 

With AimPoint technology, players, caddies and golfers can now know exactly how much break will occur given stimp and slope measurements. AimPoint even has an app that helps a student learn the charts. 

But even without this science, one can learn how to read greens better and within 15 seconds of getting onto the green. It has definitely worked for me for the past two years and I love it! 

Contact me for more information on AimPoint!

Check out these photos from our event with Carol.

{Safe} Fun in the Sun

The summer sun and heat are fast-approaching and I'm trying a new experiment.

Usually I wear Banana Boat SPF 100 but don't always have time to reapply. I still get a tan and I just don't like constantly putting all those chemicals on me. I have been trying various long-sleeve sun protection tops and am finding more and more on the market, happily enough. I'm also wearing longer pants more consistently (capris instead of shorts or skorts). I've ordered some arm sleeves but haven't found a set yet that stays up well enough. My next step is to move into wearing bucket hats (but I'll need to cut out a ponytail hole!) that protect the neck, ears, top of the head (where sun can still get to the scalp) and face.

If you want to cover up instead of applying sunscreen to your extremities all the time, Plantation Golf Shop has an excellent new line called Sans Soleil (I have several tops coming in). I also have some PING Ranger tops I wear over my sleeveless (Marshwood Golf Shop carries PING) and then found some great Callaway long-sleeve tops with the thumb holes so I can cover the back of my hand (Deer Creek carries Callaway).

There are also some great websites with sun protection clothing (pants, tops, hats, neck, etc) that are worth noting -- http://www.sunprecautions.com/ and http://www.coolibar.com/. There are probably others out there but these are two I like to start with.

Stay safe in the sun... the damage doesn't show up until later! 

Putting, Putting, Putting

People often spend much more money on a driver fitting (a club that is used 14-18 times per round) or an iron fitting but not many golfers fit their putters, a club used nearly 50% of the time! Just a reminder to have your putter fitted for you based on your height, arms length, putting style, etc.  At The Landings Club, the professional staff at Oakridge can easily help with that fitting -- just call 598-3570!

Also, remember that it takes quite a lot of practice to gain excellent accuracy and distance control skills. While some golfers are blessed with a great touch, even the golf professionals must train their putting skills. The golfers we see on television each week are playing at the top of the leader board that week, so they are making many putts. The ones who are lipping out, missing putts and just not scoring will not be shown on television. Dare I say that many amateurs could relate to seeing their putting stats that week? 

Here is a great way from the PGA Tour website to keep your putting expectations in check -- Strokes Gained Putting Baseline.  Professionals are two-putting 49% of the time from 7 feet 10 inches. Out of four 7'10" putts that day, they will miss two on average. Does that sound familiar?

Learn and train your putting skills. You won't make everything but if you can keep your putting statistics between 30-34 putts for most amateurs that will make for a lower score and a much more enjoyable dinner!