15 PGA wins. That’s how many victories Fred Couples has in his long and esteemed history. It seems like it should be more, doesn’t it? That long, loping swing, the PGA Tour Player of the Year awards in 1991 and 1992, the Masters victory in ‘92, all those Skins Game wins, and most importantly from a public perception standpoint, the value of the name. Couples’ name has a weight to it equivalent to any post-Nicklaus/Watson and pre-Tiger golfer you’d care to mention. But those 15 wins and one major through all these years put Couples alongside Tommy Bolt, Jim Furyk, and Corey Pavin – great golfers all, but hardly Pantheon-dwellers. Those numbers put him behind contemporaries like Greg Norman and Nick Price, though his reputation as a pure shotmaker remains undiminished.

The decline after those early triumphs was less a matter of the yips, and more a case of one swing sticking half a fork in a career filled with so much potential. "It was at Doral [in 1994]," Couples told Golf Digest in April of 2009. "I was on the range with my teacher Paul Marchand, and I hit a shot and it was like a bomb went off … I’ve been living on Celebrex my whole life. Now I’ve stopped that and I take two Aleve in the morning and one before I hit the sack. I feel like they help, but am I going to take 900 of these things a year?"

While getting ready for the U.S. Senior Open this week, Couples talked on Wednesday about where the back problems are now. Friends say that he’s never been so fit, and though there’s a good reason for it, Couples said that the alleged cure doesn’t always meet up with reality. "Well, I’ve been dating a girl for about four months and she works out in the morning and the afternoon and at night, it seems like. She works out a couple of times a day. And I go to the gym with her and she does her thing, and I just walk on the treadmill and she gives me a couple of other things to do.

"But she’s very athletic, and I’ve lost some weight walking. I’m not doing anything I have a back guy that’s wanted me to lose some weight, but my back actually feels worse today than it did three months ago when I started walking a lot. I just get on a treadmill while she’s exercising and doing her program. I just go walk on a treadmill. I have lost some weight. It’s been very good. But my back is very tight."

The course he’ll be playing this week, as close to his hometown of Seattle as it may be, presents its own series of pains. Sahalee is tree-lined target golf to an extreme degree; only the most accurate off the tee and with the approaches need apply. "The firmness of the greens … I can’t say they’re the hardest greens I’ve ever played on, but they were the hardest greens on Tuesday that I’ve ever played. I didn’t really make a ball mark. And I played at nine yesterday and nine today, and you’re not making many ball marks … This is brutal. If you ask me what the lowest score I think shot was going to be shot this week, if you laid the line on 67, I wouldn’t go under it. It’s just that hard, because of the way the course is, how long it is, and the greens are going once you get it in the fairway, you know, you’re hitting a lot of 5 and 6 irons on the greens. It’s hard to stop it right where you want to."

Couples will be going off with Tom Watson on Thursday and Friday – between that and the Seattleites who desperately want their favorite son to do so well (even at the practice rounds, the crowds for Couples dwarfed all others), is making a stand near the home front a distraction or an inspiration? "First of all it’s a U.S. Senior Open, so that would be incredible," Couples said when asked what it would mean to win here. "It would rank right up there with any other tournaments, probably, besides Augusta. When people talk about the majors on the Senior Tour, you know, I played in Denver, I thought it was a very tough course. This is just like a U.S. Open; no one’s going to tell me any differently. It’s very tough out there. And I’m from Seattle, so it would be a great, great accomplishment … it would be very special for me."

But in relation to PGA wins, how special are Champions Tour victories? Couples has won three of his first four tournaments since joining the Champions Tour this year. Watson, who was asked on Wednesday about the importance of Champions Tour wins in Hall of Fame consideration, was succinct (and most likely, not alone) in his evaluation. "I think if you’re looking at the Hall of Fame, I think the regular [PGA]Tour really takes precedence. We play some quality golf, but we don’t play against the best. And that’s what the Hall of Fame is all about, the best. That’s the way I assess it."

An easy assessment for a man who has 39 PGA wins and eight majors to his name. Watson has seen (and been) the best for far longer. For Fred Couples, who found an unfortunate detour on the way to greater things, the here and now still provides compelling drama.

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In any sport, the proper equipment can have a remarkable impact on the quality of play. Golf is no exception. Playing with clubs that don’t fit your body, that are either too long or too short, or with inappropriate grips for your hand size can create more problems for a golfer than many players may even realize. Besides affecting a golfers game, the wrong clubs can cause aches and pains with overuse. Adjusting the way you play in order to be able to use a set of the wrong clubs for your body will do nothing to improve your game and will probably take away from your ability to enjoy it.

Getting the correct clubs for your body size and the proper grips for your hand size is possible whether you get custom made clubs or simply find the right size on the shelf. The important thing if you aren’t sure is to get someone that works at the store where you are going to purchase your clubs and make sure they help you find what you need.

The right length of clubs is obviously the first most important consideration. The taller a person is, the longer their clubs need to be to avoid bodily injury at worst, a terrible golf game at best. If you are going to purchase custom clubs, the company you buy them from will measure you for the proper fit, and typically they will assess your swing, your strengths and weaknesses in the game, and help you find the clubs that will maximize you golf game potential. The best players often have the best equipment whether you’re golfing in Algarve or Florida.

Another thing to look for when purchasing clubs is a proper grip on the club for your hand size. Women with larger hands may not necessarily be able to use the typical grip size made for women. The same applies to men and children, there are so many different hand sizes, make sure you get the right size for you. A golfers grip on his club affects every other part of a swing so the more comfortable the grip, the better the swing, and therefore, the better your golf game will be. Custom clubs will have grips that are made especially for your hand, to make sure you get the perfect grip on your club and your game.

Custom clubs certainly have many positives going for them when you are considering purchasing a new set. A few of the possible down sides include a larger price tag than clubs off the shelf, a wait from between 2 days and 2 weeks before you can get your clubs in your hands, and if you are purchasing the clubs for someone else, the element of surprise is limited.

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As a beginning golfer there tends to be some confusion when it comes to selecting the proper golf iron during the course of a round. Without proper club selection your score will add up very quickly and frustration will kick in rather quickly. In this article we will look at the basic mechanics of the golf iron, a method to determine distance and how weather will affect your golf shot.

The design of a golf iron would have pretty much all going the same distance but this is not the case for the angle on the club face differs from club to club which changes the length of travel as well as the flight path. Take a typical three iron which club face is set at twenty one degrees which will send the ball on a low trajectory and go for a longer distance. On the opposite side we have the nine iron which has a forty one degree club face which sends the ball much higher in the air and for shorter distances than the lowered numbered golf irons.

For a beginner golfer the best way to figure out your iron distance is to head for the golf range with your five iron. Measure your distance over a series of shots to figure out what your average is. Now for each lower iron add ten yards for example if your five iron averages 150 yards the four iron would average 160 yards and the three iron should travel around 170 yards. For the higher clubs minus ten yards so the six iron is 140 yards and the seven iron is 130 yards and so on. Needless to say this is not a perfect system but is should give you an indicator of your range.

Weather tends to screw up the great distance chart we created in the previous paragraph. Lets say your seven iron typically travels around a 150 yards but if you are striking into a high wind the chance of the ball reaching the distance is going to be less as the balls flight path is at great risk in the wind. Now you need to make a decision on finding a lower numbered club that will be able to cover the desired distance and it should be kept in mind that the lower the number the less of an arc in the golf flight path so the weather factor is reduced.

It will take you time to figure out how to use your scoring irons in the right way and as your technique improves so will the distance on how far the ball will travel. At the beginning it is essential that you build your swing so that it will be consistent over time no matter of the iron that you have selected. Of course it is essential that golf is suppose to be fun so take a moment to appreciate the beauty surrounding you and the company of friends and your golf game will develop naturally.

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There are two things you need to know about Sahalee, the course in Sammamish, Washington where the 31st U.S. Senior Open Championship will he held this week. First, it is a ridiculously vertical tree-lined course – the fairways and doglegs will widen a bit as you go, but half the time, you feel as if you’re hitting your tee shots at the doorway of a very large broom closet. If you have an aversion to your precious drives hitting a tree every now and again, you’d best stick to links golf.

Second, there isn’t a Stimpmeter these greens couldn’t offend – I don’t yet know how they’ll will be calibrating the greens this week, but whenever I’ve played Sahalee, it’s been like putting on a tile floor.

This ain’t no muni, this ain’t no disco, this ain’t no fooling around. Sahalee is an Indian word that means "High Heavenly Ground", and the course lives up to its name – it’s an absolutely beautiful place, which distracts from, and numbs the sting of, the 9 you just took on the last hole. Of course, such provisos apply far more to duffers like me; I saw a PGA field fight this course to a draw during the 2002 NEC Invitational World Golf Championship, and it wouldn’t surprise me to see a few of the old pros in this field give the course a good upbraiding. One name in that NEC field is worth mentioning most of all.

Fred Funk: Funk tied for second behind Craig Parry at that NEC, and appeared undaunted by the constraints of the layout – he spent the week walking around with a confidence reminiscent of Bruce Dickinson in the "More Cowbell" sketch. Can Funk emerge as the "cock of the walk", so to speak? Sahalee rewards accurate hitters above all, and Funk currently ranks sixth in fairways hit among Champions Tour golfers with more than 400 possible fairways this year. Funk won last year’s Open with a 20-under 268.

Bernhard Langer: Langer beat Corey Pavin by one stroke at the British Senior Open last week, picking up his first major title on the Champions Tour and moving ahead of Fred Couples for the lead in Charles Schwab Cup points with 1,450. His wire-to-wire finish, despite losing momentum on the final day with three-putts on the eighth and ninth holes, should give him the confidence needed to play a course like this. Carnoustie is a world away from Sahalee from a design perspective, but belief is half the battle.

Fred Couples: The honorary chairman, Couples obviously knows the lay of the land rather well. The Seattle native cut his teeth at Jefferson Park, and he’s always had a strong affinity for the area – a feeling that is entirely mutual. He’s currently above Tour average in driving accuracy and greens in regulation; probably the two most important non-putting numbers at this course. And there’s no doubt whatsoever who the crowd will be pulling for. Couples and Langer are the Tour’s only three-time winners this season.

Corey Pavin: He’s been a bridesmaid all year; finishing just behind Langer last week and losing a playoff at the Travelers on the PGA run. Where Pavin comes into play on a course like this is in his driving accuracy (196 out of 252 fairways hit), his #1 rank in scrambling, and his T11 in putts per round.

Dan Forsman: Ladies and gentlemen, your Greens in Regulation leader also has the most Top 10 finishes this year (eight in 14 events). He ranks 48th in driving accuracy (which tells us that he doesn’t mind blowing it out of the rough) and 60th in putts per round, so he’ll have to put the little things together for a shot at this course.

Who has the edge? Having seen the way Funk dealt with this course last time he played it, and given the T-3 283 he put up last week in Scotland, I’d be hard-pressed to project this trophy into anyone else’s hands. I like Couples as a sentimental favorite, and goodness knows I’ll be following Tom Watson around wondering if another miracle is in sight, but whatever adjustments need to be made by others through practice rounds may have Funk working more on specific things and less on the whole-game approach. That will come in very handy on a precision course that is less about recovery and more about execution.

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Plenty of golfers get discouraged and are scouring the web for golf tips and hints, merely because an eighteen hole round of golf can easily take in excess of 5-6 hours and additionally take a full day out of a rather busy timetable.

If you find this is one of your annoyances, there are various remedies to your issue.

Of course you have got to check to see if you’re one of the causes of slow play. Do you look for lost golf balls for more than a few minutes? Do you require thirteen practice swings? Do you require a long time to putt?

Should you have some of the turtle-like habits previously mentioned you’ll need to overcome them by golf tips, golf putting tips and also golf practice tips.

Some tips which I found beneficial in having the ability to play a more engaging and a lot less time consuming round of golf are listed below.

Be part of an exclusive country clubhouse that is hardly ever crowded.

You should not play on a course which allows fivesomes.

Make an effort to play during the weeks time if you have an adaptable schedule.

Find what time the first players are allowed on the course and be among the earliest groups to play perhaps even if it is 5 or 6 am.

If you should live in a metropolitan area, you’ll probably have to drive an hour or so out of town to locate a considerably less crowded course. It could be really well worth the drive together with your friends.

Do not forget these golf tips if you’d like to play a far more faster game of golf while not having to wait around 10 or 15 mins on every hole on account of turtle-like golfers.

One particular reason that many people will not play golf is simply because it can take up a lot time. A leisurely pleasurable game of golf needn’t take much more than four hours for 18 holes so try to remember these tips and you could play so much more golf much faster.

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Pressure is one of the reasons why you can get out of focus when playing golf. There are several reasons for you to feel pressure on the actual game. Among these are your intimidating opponents, lack of skill, inability to prepare for the game, and most of all the score card or the result.

More often than not, the score card or focusing on the result is the main reason why several golfers end up with failure. If it holds true to you, then I bet the best thing that you should do is to forget the score card when playing.

Being aware of your scores from time to time has two sides. It can be both positive and negative. In some cases it can be good given the fact that you can determine where you are at in the game. Moreover, when you have a glmipse of the scors, you are given the determination to even fight harder.

The best golfers use their awareness of score to advantage. Sometimes, they have the tendency to immediately think of strategies to be done. There are also those who become tougher and more resilient if they know they are in a close match or are fighting for a good score.

However, this does not hold true to everyone. Experts would prove that when a golfer has an eye always on the score, pressure can mount and this will lead to a poor decision. The focus in now diverted from pre- shot routine plans they have created into on the spot plans which can be disastrous. Instead of being targeted on the goal set prior to the game, the focus is on fixing the score here and now. Sometimes, dependent on the situation this can be a good sign of flexibility and ability to adapt to changes in the game. However, eventually, focusing much on scores serves no good.

Again, golf is not just a physical, but a mental game. Thus, total focus on the mental aspect of the game such as focus must really be given. If focus is lost, everything else follows. For an elite mental approach, score cards should not be given attention anymore. It’s godd to see the score card for some updates at times. Yet, if it is done very frequently, then it is falling towards a result or outcome focused game.

If you’ve read this far you certainly want to improve your golf, you need to develop the understanding that the best players in the world play the game in a process focused manner. They only use the score card or leaderboard when they really need to understand where they’re at in a situation. Keep coming back for more golf mental tips.