Lodinews.com Visitors Guide 2003

Visitors Guide 2003

Area pros have some useful golf tips

By Kevin Hietbrink
News-Sentinel Sports Writer

Whether you’re a golf pro or a novice, you can always use some tips on how to improve your game.

From the 4 handicap to the true duffer, everybody wants to improve. But you can’t get tips from just anybody, so who else to turn to help lower your score than some of the local club pros.

The first thing that you need to do is make sure you have the fundamentals down, Forest Lake Golf Club Professional David Ring said.

Ring, who has been at Forest Lake since 1988 and became a Class A PGA professional in 1998, said that the grip and body alignment is the first thing most people need to work on.

“You need to make sure that you have a good stance and have nice posture. Make sure that in your grip your hands don’t get rotated on top of each other,” Ring said. “For the right handed golfer don’t let your left hand rotate. It is important to have strength in your left hand. The better the grip, the straighter the ball will go.”

Another problem with many players, especially male golfers, is that they try to muscle the ball too much, Ring said.

“For the swing, don’t use your shoulders as much and don’t use so much body.”

Tony Troncale, head teaching professional for the city of Stockton and Class A PGA professional since 1988, thinks that there are five fundamentals that every golfer needs to know.

“The five basic fundamentals are grip, stance, ball position, swing plane, and club face angle. Once you know all of these you will be a better golfer,” Troncale said. “If you really want to get better you should take lessons from a professional.”

Steve Wolf, head golf coach at Lodi High School, said the main thing for any golfer is to stick to the basics.

“You have to keep it simple while playing,” Wolf said. “Maintain a real simple swing plane and try to get a swing with the least amount of moving parts.”

Once you start dealing with the more experienced player, Ring feels that more effort needs to be concentrated on the path of the swing.

“Seventy to 80 percent of the people I watch swing too much from the outside in. The swing needs to be in a straight line in a better swing plane.”

Troncale thinks that getting into a routine and being comfortable is important to good golfers.

“Pre-shot routine and post practicing is always good for a player.”

When dealing with playing in the general Lodi area, Ring said that the dry summer weather can be to your advantage.

“During the summer the ground will be dry and harder then it is in some other places around the country. In the dry fairways you can get a lot more roll on your ball. Instead of trying to make the ball carry in the air, let the ball roll if it helps you.”

Troncale said that since the area around Lodi is almost at sea level, the ball will be heavier than if you played in the mountains in the thin air.

If you are coming from the East Coast, Wolf said, the grass used here is different.

“In wetter areas Bermuda is used. Here we use bent grass for greens. The problem is on the West Coast we have Poa annua grass that will get into the greens and cause it to be a little bumpy.”

If you would like to contact David Ring, call Forest Lake Golf Club at (209) 369-5451.

If you would like to get lessons from Tony Troncale, you can contact him at (209) 601-3388.

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Area pros have some useful golf tips