WomenInGolf Newsletter 1

Welcome to our very first WomenInGolf Newsletter.

In this first issue, we are pleased to announce the participation of four very experienced, knowledgeable and prominent women golf professionals. They all have very impressive touring and coaching careers. They belong to a rare breed of golf professionals. They are WOMEN! I am most delighted and honoured to gain their participation in our WomenInGolf web community!

Golf is a journey. In our quest to master the game of golf, what better strategy than to find a role model? Some one who has already been there and done it?! Someone who is most happy to impart hard earned, valuable knowledge to you.

Included in this issue is some valuable advice and also tips from three of our participating professionals. Let me introduce our participating professionals to you:

• Dennise Hutton
• Sally Smith
• Shuri Yasuda-Hines
• Anne Rollo

Dennise Hutton

Dennis has been a golf professional since 1986, spending the majority of her time coaching all levels of golfers. Dennise is one of the most highly qualified and experienced golf professionals, both from a teaching and playing basis. Dennise had notable success winning the 1986 and 1987 Australian LPGA Championships and in 1989 Dennise won two tournaments on the European Tour, The European Match play Championship and the French Biarristz Open. That year, Dennise was ranked No5 on the European Order of Merit and No 1 Australian Women worldwide, based on tour earnings.

Dennise retired from tournament golf after the birth of her son in 1992. For 5 years, Dennise was President of the Australian Ladies PGA. During this time the VETAB accreditation teaching course was introduced.

From 1987 to 1999, Dennise was either the Playing Editor or Teaching Editor of Golf Australia Magazine, with over 70 instructional articles published. See Dennise’s article on “Golfers’ Back and other Ailments” in this issue of the WomenInGolf Newsletter.

For the last two years, Dennise has been listed in the top 50 coaches in Australia, with only two women being listed. She is also the Patron of the Women’s Golf Club NSW, which was formed this year. Dennise was also the first woman to be qualified as a Henry Griffitts club fitter in Australia.

You can contact Dennise at the Barton Park Golf Range on (02) 9567 7234 or on her mobile 0412 611 792.

Sally Smith

At the time when Sally wanted to be become a professional, the only training available to her was with the men’s PGA. Sally took up the challenge and was one of a few females to be qualified as a PGA professional. Sally also competes regularly on the Australian Ladies Tour and even plays off at the men’s tee in the PGA ProAms. Sally has played with top ladies champions like Karrie Webb and Rachael Hetherington.

During her time as a golf teacher and in her role as State Development Officer of the Women’s Golf NSW, she has worked with people having a wide range of golfing abilities, from beginners to the advanced, including some of our elite female juniors in NSW.

You can meet Sally at Macquarie Golf Range, telephone number (02) 9878 2084 or you can call her on her mobile 0414 555 985.

See Sally’s “Tip on bunkers play”.

Anne Rollo

Since turning professional in June 1987, Anne has become one of Australia’s most accomplished players.

During an impressive amateur career, Anne represented the University of San Jose State for two years in intercollegiate golf in the United States of America. The international experience gained as an amateur enabled Anne to compete with distinction from the very beginning of her professional career.

A rookie professional on the Women’s Professional Golfers’ European Tour, Anne had three top ten finishes and gained an Order of Merit ranking of 31 in 1987. In the years since then, Anne has had a further 20 top 10 finishes on the WPG European Tour, enabling her to be consistently ranked among the top 25 on the WPGET Order of Merit.

Anne has also enjoyed a number of outstanding performances throughout Australasia, including top ten finishes in Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Daikyo Ladies Masters. Anne’s consistency has given her regular rankings among the top ten on the Australian LPGA Orders of Merit. In 1991, Anne made the decision to reconstruct her swing technique in order to further raise the level of her game. She devoted the major part of 1991 to a swing reconstruction under the watchful eye of prominent international coach, Dennis Pugh, a colleague of David Leadbetter. Anne broaded her international experience by qualifying for the 1993 Japanese Lady Professional Golfers Association Tour.

During her impressive touring career, Anne has beaten top golfers such as Laura Davies and many others.

For the last two years at the Ladies Australian Open, Anne was one of the course commentator for Channel 7.

With two lovely young children Anne assumes a coaching career at the Baulkham Hills Golf Range 9838 9787, or you can contact Anne on 0404 235 563.

See Anne’s advice on “Misconceptions and Untruths In Golf”.

Shuri Yasuda-Hines

Teaching is one of Shuri’s great loves, so after a short break from golf, the decision to join the ALPG (Australian Ladies Professional Golfers Inc) was easy.

Shuri speaks Japanese and English. She coaches both Japanese and Australian. She has a loyal group of pupils in the Japanese community in Sydney and recently, she has conducted a Japanese junior clinic. Shuri works at Hudson Park Golf Range.

You can contact Shuri on 0419 428 131.

Articles from our participating professionals

Tips on Bunkers Play
By Sally Smith

Many women I teach come to see me with a fear of bunker play. One of the most common errors I see is where a player contacts the sand in relation to the golf ball.

Some golfers believe that to hit a shorter shot, they need to take more sand e.g. 5cm behind the ball, and for a longer shot they need to take less sand e.g. 1cm behind the ball. I believe an easier approach is to take the same amount of sand for each shot and vary the length of your back swing for the distance.

One of the best drills for contacting the sand consistently is to draw a line in the sand. Simply practice your bunker swings without a ball trying to hit the line or start your divot on this line. It gives you an instant feedback on whether you are taking too much sand or not enough. You don’t even need a ball to practice this!

Good luck with your practice!

Sally.

Golfers’ back and other ailments
By Dennise Hutton

The most common golfing problems are bad backs, shoulders, hips and arthritis. With a correct swing for your build, and clubs that are correctly fitted to your best balanced swing, these ailments can be eliminated or reduced dramatically.

The most obvious adjustment for a bad back is to stand a little taller at set-up. Standing a little taller alters the swing plane and places less strain on the back. Also, try turning the right foot out a little in set-up, to reduce the tension in the back. This allows an easier coil, if your back is the problem. I also suggest to people with a bad back to allow the left heel to lift or roll a little on the back swing, allowing for a free flowing coil.

At the completion of your swing, finish tall with your back straight and all the weight on your left leg.

Apart from swing mechanics, there are many general golf tips to avoid back problems.

• Have your clubs correctly fitted to you Use longer shafts and light weight materials in clubs
• Use more flexible shafts and lower compression golf balls
• Replace long irons with fairway metal woods
• Use a suction cap on the end of your putter to retrieve your golf ball In the bunkers, pick the ball clean to avoid resistance
• Stand tall and swing the arms when chipping to the green
• Push rather than pull your trolley If possible, walk rather than use a cart
• See you local golf professional and develop a swing that takes the strain off your back

For arthritis sufferers, try oversized grips and use a baseball palm grip. If you have the double whammy of arthritis and a bad back, try investigating the swing mechanics of Canadian professional Moe Norman. I have found remarkable results using the Moe Norman method with people who suffer with the above problems.

A final word, a proper warm up and warm down with stretching, hitting range balls, chipping and putting is very important in getting the body loose and in tune for the golf ahead.

In the next newsletter, we will talk about getting clubs that are correctly fitted and made for you, so that you can do your best balanced swing without compensating.

Great Swinging!

Dennise.

Misconceptions and Untruths In Golf
By Anne Rollo

How often do we hear the advice “keep your head down” which is, of course, one of the worst things you can do to your golf swing. I have listed some of the most common misconceptions about golf below, hope they help your game.

1. Misconceptions: The head Stays Still

What should happen?
It is impossible to keep your head perfectly still because it is attached to your shoulders, which should be turning. Your head should start behind the ball at address and move slightly further behind the ball as you take your back swing. The only direction your head should not move is up or down. If you concentrate on keeping your head very still, you will encourage a reverse weight shift and top the shot.

2. Misconceptions: The club travels on a straight line back and through the ball

What should happen?
If you try and move the club along a straight line back and through the ball, you will sway your body instead of turning it. The club should travel on a tilted circle around your body.

3. Misconceptions: Your toes point straight ahead at address

What should happen?
If your toes are pointed straight ahead at address, this will restrict your ability to turn your body during the swing. Your toes should point out slightly.

4. Misconceptions: Your arms and club make a Y shape at address

What should happen?
The club is designed to be used with a slight angle in the shaft leaning towards the target, or the hands in line with the front of the ball. This will encourage you to hit down and through the ball creating more power.

5. Misconceptions: Your left arm stays straight (Right Handers)

What should happen?
It is estimated that on the PGA Tour, the average bend in the left arm is 30 degrees. Ideally, you should set up with your left arm fairly straight (not rigid) but trying desperately to keep it this way through out the back swing will create tension and probably lift your top half up, off the ball.

6. Misconceptions: Your feet aim at the target

What should happen?
Your clubface aims at the target and your feet, hips and shoulders aim slight to the left. If you aim your feet at the target, it will force your clubface out to the right (opposite for left handers).

7. Misconceptions: Back swing and follow through are a mirror image of one another (right handers, opposite for left)

What should happen?
The back swing is compact with both feet flat on the ground and the left shoulder under your chin. The follow through is a bigger movement turning your stomach to completely face the target with your right heel up and off the ground.

8. Misconceptions: The arms and club form a straight line at address

What should happen?
Arms hand straight down from the shoulders at address and then there is an out to the club.

9. Misconceptions: You need to scoop the ball up in the air

What should happen?
The loft of the club is there to do the work for you. You do not need to help it. Particularly with chipping, the more you try and scoop it, the more the ball will go along the ground.

Your hands should lead the way ahead of the club head and the loft of the club will lift the ball for you. Anne.

……And What Else……..

In the coming issues, we will feature more professionals, hopefully from other States such as Qld, Vic, WA and SA. We are in the quest to gain their participation.

If you have any questions about your game, our pros are glad to give you their valuable advice. Log onto www.womeningolf.com.au and ask your questions in the “Questions and Answers” section and you will get your answers pronto!

We are continuously running promotions and giving away prizes.

Log onto WomenInGolf.com.au and:

• Sent us a story and you have a chance of winning a dinner for two
• Chat on the “Coffee Shop” chat. Do you know that your comments stay on the chat for a week! Anyone can chat with you within that week!
• Another way to improve you game. Get a video by woman professional Jane Lock.

This is the most IMPORTANT PART !

As this is our first issue of our WIG Newsletter, we would like you to send this to a friend and register their web address in our “Suggestions“ section. We will include your friend in our email address list and send her/him an electronic copy of the WIG Newsletter. Register a friend and receive three WomenInGolf golf balls or if you register five friends you will receive a free half an hour lesson with any of our participating pros of your choice. NOTE: This promotion only valid in Australia. Also, you will be entitled to a draw of a grand prize of a golf clinic that is run by our participating pros of your choice. What better way to improve our golf game and lower that handicap!!!