Berlin
Connecticut native World Class Golf Pro Mike Colandro has championships including the Air New Zealand Shell Open in 1987, the West Australian PGA, 2 Connecticut and Maine Open Victories, and a playoff win in the Victorian Open on the Canadian Tour. Mike brings his expertise and experience to CTGolfTips to help you improve your game, keep up on the latest info on Golf, Courses, and Equipment.
Weekly Golf Update for April 22, 2006
Nice to see that the PGA Tour is back in the state through 2010. St. Paul Travelers came to the party in a big way and Connecticut is grateful for that. Without any other major professional sport being played in Connecticut, the PGA Tour keeps us on the map. (Except the Connecticut Sun – WNBA)
This past week, both Aaron Baddeley and Lorena Ochoa broke through to win on the PGA Tour and LPGA. Badds had his first victory on the Tour, and earlier that Easter Sunday, he made a blessing at an Easter morning service on the last hole. Good to see another Aussie breakthrough. Good on you Badds!
Received my new 735-CM Irons from Titleist and they look and feel great. They have the traditional blade look but from the 6 iron – 3 iron, they are cavity back clubs. I will be playing in several events this summer so only time will tell.
On June 8th, I’ll be with “Clothes Make the Man”, at their 2nd Annual Golf Outing. If you want to play, contact Clothes Make the Man by clicking onto their banner and there is more information on the event.
Also, I’ll be at the Mikey’s Place Charity Classic on the 10th, raising funds for a great cause. The Daversa family lost Mikey at age four to a form of M.S., and they now raise funds in his name for other families in need. Contact Mikey’s Place by clicking onto their banner for more information. Other Charity Events are listed on CTGolfTips.com by clicking onto Charity Golf Tournaments.
CTGolfTips.com is now offering, to any Charity Golf Outing, a listing of their event and an appearance by me (Mike Colandro) at your event. Contact us and let’s get together. We also are looking for someone to write about golf from a junior, senior, and woman’s point of view once a month. Email us and we will start in May!
A Tour-Eye’s View
The year was 1986, I was in Australia and had just got engaged to a beautiful lady, Georgia. We had a great engagement party at her mom’s house, and with her aunts and uncles being singers, it was an entertaining time. It was in February (summer) on a hot Melbourne day and Georgia’s dad, Ken, said, “Let’s all enjoy this day because you never know what the future will bring.” Then March 10, 1986 came and we all lost Georgia in a car accident. Very traumatic for everyone, but I was loved by her family and they became great friends.
The end of March I moved back to the States, back to Newington, Connecticut, where I grew up. I met a psychologist and he helped me get through this time, and I helped him with his golf game.
I took a job at Waterbury Country Club as an assistant and worked on my game to qualify for the U.S. Open at Shenecock Hills Country Club. I got through the local stage and then in the 36 hole sectional, I won a spot in a playoff to play in my first U.S. Open. Georgia said I’d play in a major championship that year, so I called her mom and told her the good news.
It was now off to play the U.S. Open and my good friend and member of Waterbury Country Club caddied from me, Harry Cashin. My first look at Shenecock Hills was one of amazement at how tough a course it was. On Wednesday, I was practicing and Seve Ballesteros came over to offer his condolences to me for the loss of Georgia. I had only played one round with Seve and was surprised that he took the time to do that.
After the first day, I shot 80, and still beat 50 other players, so my work was cut out to make the cut. A 76 the second day had me going home early, but what a great experience and I did get to play with some young kid from Arkansas, his name “John Daly”. I was filled with confidence after the Open and went on to win the Maine Open, shooting 63 in the first round along with my first Connecticut Open win at Hartford Country Club. It was fun to win the Connecticut Open with many of my friends and family there.
Golf Tips
More on how to play in the zone ...
The most common mental mistake:
Golfers all have something in common. This similarity is what we call a “blindspot”. One of the most common mental mistakes of golfers is to confuse the primary and secondary targets. This is even true for teaching professionals and tour players. And this type of thinking causes golfers to come out of the swing too soon... because they are focused on the landing area (secondary target) instead of the ball (primary target). This especially happens around the green when beginning golfers are chipping. A future tip will clear up a common blindspot with putting.
To experiment with reversing your primary and secondary targets, go to the practice range and hit 20 balls while focusing on the pin. Use your same alignment procedure and once you’re lined up forget the “landing area” and focus on an 8 inch path through the ball. Hit 20 more balls and be sure to include last week’s lesson for focusing. This will also help you from getting fixated on the ball. Then measure your results and hit 20 more balls if necessary to prove how important it is to be “present” throughout the entire golf swing. Once you’ve learned to make the swing path through the ball your primary target you’ll notice how effortlessly the swing unfolds.
In conclusion, there are many other tips that we will go through each week. I hope these tips will help and visit CTGolfTips.com next week for more Golf, and check our Archives for past Golf Tips.
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See you on the course! - Mike Colandro
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Enter The Weekly Trivia Contest Congratulation to last week's Trivia winner - Sean Welsh of Old Saybrook This Weeks Prize: This weeks winner will win a beautiful “Flash by Bruce Fleisher” Golf Shirt! Compliments of Lord Daniel Sportswear of Florida.
This Week's Question: Where is this year’s U.S. Open and who won the last Major championship played at that course
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