Scott Lehman

Yesterday, I watched the entire U.S. Open which was held at one of my top 3 courses to play in the world, Pebble Beach Golf Links.  Even though the golf wasn’t spectacular by any means, I observed a lesson by Graeme McDowell which was was a lesson my Dad taught me over 40 years ago.  Since yesterday was also Father’s Day, I thought that it would be appropriate to share this lesson with you.

I was 8 years old when my dad introduced me to the game of golf.   I grew up in Ripon, WI a small town of about 7000 people in the southeast part of the state.  We lived on about 3 acres and on April 12, 1969 my dad brought home a Northwestern 7 iron and a sleeve of K-28 Wilson golf balls for my 8th birthday.

Dad had buried 6 clay flower pots in the yard and soon opened the Lehman Country Club.  We would chip around the yard going from hole to hole but the course designer had two simple rules.

Rule #1:  I had to play each hole in succession and not skip any holes or try to hit shots over the garage or try to slice a shot around the front porch.

Rule #2:  I had to keep the trajectory of my shots head high or lower.  I guess that dad knew that low shots were low risk.

Well, for the first two years of strolling the fairways of the Lehman CC I was very obedient to the rules of play but when I turned 10 my confidence grew 10 fold and I just knew that I could hit a shot over the roof of the house to the back hole location.

The day finally came when I was going to pull off “The Miracle Shot.” As I set up with my seven iron and got to my back swing my dad was coming down the road at the same time and just before impact I heard the beep of the horn as my dad was watching this ALL unfold.

I caught the middle of the golf ball and sent a low line drive right into the window of my sister’s bedroom.  Ouch!!!  I dropped the club and ran for the back of the house and dove into our big ol’ John Deere tire tractor that was filled with sand.  I didn’t know if I should cry or laugh of what just unfolded.

Let me tell you something, when you hear your dad’s voice shout out your first name, your middle name AND your last name…you had better start crying.  “Scott Nelson Lehman, where are you?” came this bark from the front of the house.

I knew that I was in BIG trouble and the only thing that came out of my mouth was “I’m sorry dad.”  “I’m sorry dad.”

My dad came screaming around the corner and the faster he ran, the faster the tears came streaming down my cheeks.  But something happened in the next 20 yards because as my dad approached me his voice got softer and said, “Son, get out of that bunker and he brushed the sand off of me and said these four powerful words…”Son, you are forgiven.”  Wow!

My dad then shared with me that in golf and in life you are going to hit some bad shots but reminder one thing, “Keep Swing’n!  Never stop swing’n my son!”  What a powerful lesson for me to learn as a ten year old.  Graeme McDowell didn’t hit any miracle shots yesterday, in fact he and many of the other pros hit some bad shots including Tiger and Phil.

But Graeme kept swinging and as he walked off the 18th green at Pebble Beach declared as the 2010 U.S. Open Champion he was welcomed with open arms by his dad.

SWING THOUGHT: God looks on you today with the love of a Father.  He wants you to be the person he envisioned when he created you.

I look forward to seeing you on the course and remember to keep swinging no matter how bad things appear.

Scott

I have been using the Momentus Swing Trainer for over 10 years and wanted to give a shout out for this incredible training aid.  I am not sponsored by Momentus, I wholeheartedly just believe in the product and the guys behind the product.

Jim Sorenson, President and Founder of Momentus is a first class guy and has built a dream team of people around him.  They are based in a small town in Iowa and have that warm midwest hospitality. They also have Freddy Funk (another 1st class guy) endorsing the product. The MOMENTUS is a revolutionary swing trainer that incorporates a patented technology, whereby the clubshaft embodies most of the weight which is evenly distributed throughout the length of the shaft.

The reason this is so beneficial in a practice club is because as a golfer swings the MOMENTUS, the evenly weighted shaft generates momentum. The momentum causes the club to swing along a balanced and proper swing plane. Through repetitions with the MOMENTUS, a golfer ingrains the feel for swinging the club on-plane. This leads to a drastic improvement in consistency and clubhead speed. The momentum of the shaft swings the club, so a golfer’s muscles are stretched by swinging the trainer. Additional flexibility and strength are benefits also gained from swinging the MOMENTUS. It is an excellent club to use for warming up prior to playing a round of golf.

Let me know what your favorite training aid is in  your bag.  Love to hear your comments.

I look forward to seeing you on the course.

Scott

Black Mountain Golf Course in Asheville, NC

This past Monday I met Mr. Hicks Anderson, an 83 year old golfer at the Black Mountain Golf Course in Asheville, NC.

Hicks was a warm gentleman, filled with life and shared with me some incredible stories and golf was the central theme.  One story included strolling the fairways with his good friend Billy, that would be Dr. Billy Graham to you and I.

As Hicks shared his stories with me he ended the conversation with “You know Scott, golf and life have amazing parallels and one of those I would like to share with you is that Golf and Life are Games of Opposites.”  Here you go:

Golf Lesson #1

If you want the ball to go up you have to hit down on it.  Many golfers try to help the ball get airborne and lift up on it.  The good golfers actually hit down on it and compress the ball against the turf and the divot is after the golf ball vs. seeing a divot before the golf ball like some of your golfing buddies.

Golf Lesson #2

If you want to hit it further…swing easier!!  Wow!  How true is that?  I like to refer to the 80/100 principle which means swing your driver at 80% to hit 100% of the sweet spot.  Most of  your golfing buddies swing their drivers at 100% of their power to hit only 80% of the sweet spot at best.

Golf Lesson #3

If you want to hit the ball to the right you must aim left and if you want to hit it left you must aim right.  You will start to see a pattern with your buddies that have a tendency of slicing.  They will always be aiming to the left.  Players, like myself that play a slight draw will always be aimed slightly to the right and swing from the inside to see that right to left trajectory.

LIFE LESSON

Hicks then shared with me that most people try to work hard to make it to heaven but we need to let go and allow God to take hold of our lives.  There is a great scripture in Ephesians that helps cement this for us.  Ephesians 2:8-9
“8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.”

It is truly amazing to see all of the parallels between golf and life.  I would love to hear what your favorite one is.  Please feel free to comment.

I look forward to seeing you on the course!

In His grip,

Scott

How many times have you heard your friend tell you that “This is going to be my best golf season EVER”.  They then get to the middle of the season and haven’t improved ONE stroke but you still hear them say, “I am going to turn my game around the second half of the season.”  Yet, they didn’t improve their handicap by even ONE stroke.

How would you like to make this your best season every?  There are two key areas to focus  on  and I believe that every golfer can improve their game by putting time and emphasis in these critical areas of the game.

Number 1 PRACTICE WITH A PURPOSE

Many of your friends head to the driving range and which club do they pull out?  That’s right, the Driver.  Hmmm, if 75% of golf shots are 100 yards and in, wouldn’t it make sense to spend some time on the short game?  I have just released my new golf instructional dvd called “Master Your Short Game” where I focused on putting, chipping, pitching, lob shots and bunker play.  It is a good review of the basics.

I like to break up my practice time with 50% on the full swing and 50% on the short-game.  It is amazing how much your full swing improves by practicing your chipping and pitching.  You start to get a feel for your tempo and timing…two key ingredients for any good golf swing.

Number 2 Track Your Stats

If you want to improve your game, you really need to know which area of your game needs the most improvement.  I always track how many fairways I hit, how many greens I hit in regulation and how many putts I have.  You will start to see a trend of where you should spend your practice time.  Here is a great chart to help you set goals:

Score                                  90                                      80                                PRO

Fairways Hit                          6                                          7.5                                  9.5

Greens in Regulation            5                                           9                                     12

Number of Putts                  38                                        34                                    29

The next time you tee it up, be sure to track these stats and put them up against this chart to see how you did.  Let me know what you discovered, I would love to hear from you.

I know that by spending quality time on your short game and tracking your stats, this can and will be your Best Golf Season Ever!

I look forward to seeing you on the course.

Scott

I absolutely love this time of year.  March Madness is upon us which triggers the March to the Masters.  How many of you have been fortunate to stroll the fairways of Augusta National?

I was blessed to receive 4 tickets for M-W practice rounds in 1997 which was the year that Tiger won by 12 shots.  This was a dream trip for me and I haven’t been back since.  That is all changing as I am humbled to share with you that I will be in Augusta from Monday through Friday this April.

I have been asked to share my “In His Grip” story at the Masters Prayer Breakfast on Tuesday, April 6th at 7am.  This great event is hosted by FCA and will be held again this year at Warren Baptist Church located 1.6 miles from the front gates of Augusta National on Washington Blvd.  They are expecting over 1000 people in attendance.

The week kicks off on Monday, April 5th from 7:00am-7:30am as I will be on WAFJ 88.3 with John and Cleve In The Morning as we talk Masters and about the Master, Jesus Christ.  Later in the day I will be joining Dr. David McKinley, Senior Pastor of Warren Baptist Church on WBPI Channel 49 for an hour show as talk faith and fairways.  Be sure to join us if you are in the Augusta area.

My Augusta trip wraps up on Thursday evening as I have been asked by Lifeway Christian Retail Store to be available for an in-store signing of our new “Master Your Short Game DVD” at their Augusta location from 6pm-8pm.  I have been told that they will have a bunch of giveaways and the golf cart will be parked in the front of the store.  Feel free to stop by I would love to meet you in person.

I will be sure to keep you posted as we get closer to Masters week but for now, I ask you to pray me through this spring season that leads to Augusta National for Masters week.

I hope to see you on the course!

In His Grip,

Scott