Take your clubs in for a winter checkup

You don’t have to go out and buy the latest and greatest driver, irons and putter this winter, but you should make sure your equipment—from driver to putter—is ready to go when spring rolls around. A golf club has more than 20 components and you should make sure you check on the most important ones as part of your winter tune-up.

First you need to check the loft and lie angles of your irons. Over time the lofts and lie angles can change through use. Make a visit to a club-fitting professional to ensure your clubs have the proper loft and lie. Improper lofts and lies can result in the ball being pulled or pushed even when properly hit. The club-fitting professional will also make sure there is a uniform distance between each iron and that your wedges are spaced apart properly for distance control.

Next you want to check your hybrids, fairway metals and driver to make sure the lofts fit into the spacing of your set. After that be sure to check your putter, because even if you had your putter properly fit when you purchased it, no club’s playing characteristics will change more. Your putter has the softest metal built into it, which is why it can change so quickly. For example, just leaning on your putter can change its loft and lie.

Finally, change the grips on all your clubs at least once a year—better yet, change them to start the season and midway through it. It’s not a bad idea to have the club-fitting professional make sure the new grips fit your hands properly, either.

Golf Magazine Top 100 Teacher Mike Perpich teaches at RiverPines Golf Club in Alphretta, Ga.

3 keys to post your best round ever

Are you ready to shoot a personal best this weekend? Use the these three simple but effective tips and you’ll have no problems at all.

1. Pick Specific Targets
On every tee, focus on a target where you want to hit your next shot, but don’t designate a broad landing area, like the middle or left center of the fairway. Make it very specific—the smaller the target, the better. For example, the first hole at my home course, RiverPines in Alpharetta, Ga., has two huge trees in the background off the right center of the fairway. On the right tree, a branch sticks out, and on that branch there’s a limb that you can see very clearly. I always make that my target and aim at the tip of the branch. You can even try visualizing your ball sitting out in the fairway at the exact distance you want it. Zero in, pick your target, and be very specific as to where you want to aim.

2. Forget The Flagstick
On every approach shot, take the flagstick out of the picture and divide the green into thirds from the front to the back. If the flag is in the back third, pick a club that will allow you to hit the ball to the middle third. Use this simple rule: Flagstick up, ADD a club, flagstick back SUBTRACT a club. Don’t over-think this, just try it and see what happens. This simple rule should help eliminate the problem of taking too much club, or not enough, on your approach shots.

3. Focus on the Present
When you drive into the parking lot at your course and get out of your car, picture in your mind a huge door one inch behind your back. Wherever you go on the course that day that door is going to follow you. You can never look back without seeing the Big Door, so you should focus your thoughts and mind on tasks that lay ahead. This visualization trick helps you keep your mind on what you are about to do—not on what has already happened. Keeping your thought away from the last hole or the last round will help you focus on the shot you are about to hit. No matter what happens during your round, do not open that door!

Give these three simple ideas a try and you just might achieve a personal best this weekend. Good luck!

GOLF Magazine Top 100 Teacher Mike Perpich teaches at RiverPines Golf Club in Alphretta, Ga.