Troon North Golf Club has released their calendar for the 2012 3-day Summer Junior Camps. This unique opportunity provides a fun-filled way for kids of all ages to improve their golf game, in a safe environment while playing and practicing at one of the best golf facilities in Arizona.
Beginner Camps are offered Monday – Wednesday from 8-11am
Open to all kids age 5-9 years old
Cost is $150 per 3-day camp
Advanced Camps are offered Monday – Wednesday from 8am-2pm
Includes lunch and on-course instruction in the afternoon
Open to all kids age 10-17 years old
Cost is $200 per 3-day camp
June 2012 Camp Dates
June 4-6
June 11-13
June 18-20
June 25-27
July 2012 Camp Dates
July 9-11
July 16-18
July 23-25
July 30-August 1
For more information or to sign up, call 480.585.5300 ext 251 or email rmahoney@troongolf.com
Jim McLean Gof School – SunRidge Canyon Golf Course
Fountain Hills, Arizona – Greater Scottsdale’s list of Ivy League golf schools just became more prestigious with the debut of the Jim McLean Golf School at the Keith Foster-designed SunRidge Canyon Golf Club . The instruction facility is located on SunRidge Canyon’s practice facility with a permanent structure to be built in 2012 to house the school activities. McLean’s stable of instructors began teaching students in November 2011 with frequent visits from McLean as his calendar permits.
Jim McLean has long been recognized as one of the top golf instructors in the world, named 1994 PGA Teacher of The Year, and currently ranked No.3 by Golf Digest, among many other distinctions. Along with the world’s best database of golf swing clips and video content, Jim McLean has completed more than 35 years of research on the golf swing.
Using corridors of success and safety zones, Jim McLean’s teaching system can accommodate a variety of golf swings. Every student that attends a Jim McLean golf school or lesson will improve their game and leave with an organized plan for improvement. On average students improve their handicap by 4.6 strokes after taking a golf school program. Golf Schools feature The 8-Step Swing®, The Slot Swing™, X-Factor®, Y-Factor™, and Powerline.
Jim McLean & SunRidge Owners Don & Cindy Misheff
McLean’s stable of instructors teaches golfers how to improve their game with lessons ranging from a 30-minute “pre/post round” golf lesson to a one-day “ultimate” golf program, which includes seven hours of instruction, playtime and analysis.
In addition, the school offers two- and three-day programs that fully immerse students into McLean’s cutting-edge game-improvement methods.
AZGA Arizona Golf Tool Chest – AZGA Breaking the Code:
Lee Trevino is credited with a statement uttered almost 20 years ago that’s as true today as it was then: I can beat you today with any bag of clubs on this range because I can manipulate the club face, precisely, every single swing, and make the club perform the way I want it to. You tell the everyday golfer they can’t do that, and that’s why it’s more important their clubs fit them, than it is my clubs fit me.
Gary Blaisdell
Throughout my 20+ years as master equipment fitter and instructor for Henry-Griffitts®, Slazenger® and since 2000, my own Blaisdell Performance Systems®, I still find it to be the simplest expression of why the avid club player and recreational golfer must have equipment custom tailored to fit them.
The Arizona Golf Authority has invited me to share my thoughts on the current state of the custom-fitted golf equipment industry with you. Throughout this series of articles I will explain the substantial difference between “fitted golf equipment” and “golf equipment custom-fitted to you”. Don’t think you have been properly fitted just because a store clerk has watched you hit balls ten feet into a net, or used a swing simulator. There’s a lot more to it than that, as we will discuss in later articles.
We will also visit the common elements that constitute an enjoyable golf experience for the player. Our research has demonstrated that regardless of the level of play, professional competition, club or recreational golf, each golfer expresses almost the exact same answers to questions about “enjoyable golf”.
The warm-up is complete, now we’re off to the first tee to get started by debunking a few myths.
“Gary, my golf swing is so inconsistent, I’ll score well for a while and then poof, it’s gone.”
Not true, my friend, you are as consistent as the day is long and I’ll prove it to you. We go stand off to the side of the first green, turn back and watch the first tee. We can’t see anyone’s face from over 400 yards away but invariably, simply watching whomever it may be strike their tee shot immediately reveals the name of the player. “Yea, that’s Wally, that’s his move.”
Ladies and gentlemen, don’t fret over your perception of inconsistency, rather, let’s capitalize upon the highly predictable consistency you own right now, and most likely will own far into the future.
“Gary, I don’t play as well as Mr. B who’s in our group because he’s a former all-conference athlete blessed with supreme hand-eye coordination.”
No sir that cannot be true. Hand-eye coordination has no significance in the game of golf because the ball is at rest, it’s not moving. If hand-eye coordination had any role to play in the act of striking a golf ball well, the blind players I have fitted and who are currently enjoying the game would not be able to do so. Yet they are, right now, even though they can’t see anything.
I assure you, a proper golf swing for you is a simple exercise in choreographed balance. Focus on that last word, balance, as we will return to it often.
The topic of balance requires a column in itself and I’ll address that next month. Between now and then, here’s what you can do to prep. Absent a golf club, assume an address position that feels balanced to you. To do so, image a shortstop or a point guard preparing to move athletically in any direction, or perhaps someone about to propel a 460cc lump on the end of a stick at 80, 90 or 100 mph through space. Once you have found your position of balance, don’t move. Have someone hand your golf club to you and make note of where it contacts the ground in relation to you. You may be surprised to see your club doesn’t touch the ground at all and could inhibit your ability to address the golf ball in balance.
Check in for the next edition and we’ll help you understand what you have just discovered. In the meantime, if you have questions, Gary would be happy to respond. You can use the form below to send them his way.
Gary Blaisdell is the Founder and CEO of the custom golf equipment fitting and instruction company Blaisdell Performance Systems, Inc. headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona. Gary can be reached at:
Beginner Camps are offered Monday – Wednesday from 8-11am
