Golf video kicks off Daily Republic's 'How-To' series

The ladies love the long ball, an old television commercial used to proclaim.

Maybe that’s why typical advice-seekers ask Dakota Wesleyan University golf coach Adam Anderson how to improve their long game.

“More people probably want to know how to hit their driver longer or straighter,” Anderson said after playing 18 holes Thursday afternoon. “It’s frustrating for me because if I could change one aspect of everybody’s game, it’s their chipping and putting, rather than their driving.”

It’s best to trust Anderson’s judgment. He played collegiately at Notre Dame after a stellar youth career at Plankinton High School and today is a plus-1 handicap player.

These days, he’s leading Dakota Wesleyan’s golf teams, helping them to a spot among the nation’s elite despite coming from South Dakota, where the seasons are shorter and the days, at least during the late fall and early spring, certainly are not the best to be out on a prairie golf course.

Anderson also recently added another golf honor to his growing résumé: He was named the Great Plains Athletic Conference coach of the year for 2009.

So it’s no coincidence that The Daily Republic is using Anderson’s expertise in the first of this newspaper’s “howto” video series, which will air on our Web site, www.mitchellrepublic.com.

We’ve all been there. We could use some advice on how to, say, improve our short game on the golf course. Or how to best grill a steak, or prune that mangy old tree in the front yard.

Personally, I’m just too shy, or proud, to ask for much help. It’s likely many of you are, too.

So in the coming weeks, go to the Web site and see this interesting new series. We start today, with Anderson giving a brief two-minute lesson that golfers can use to improve their short game. We’ll post a new video each week, and keep the previous ones in an archive for future use.

We figure it’s best to open the series with a tutorial on golf since this is the time of year most folks are just getting into the swing of their game — pun entirely intended. Perhaps Anderson’s chipping tips can help solve a problem or two. He’ll have another one airing later in the summer that will, hopefully, help straighten a few putts as well.

After all, everyone could use a pointer on the short game, which tends to be the most maddening — and most difficult to master — part of golf.

Of course to most of us, all of golf — chipping, putting and driving — is maddening. The only driving I am even relatively consistent at is driving the golf cart, and even that has been questioned.

“I think it’s maddening because it can never be conquered,” Anderson said. “Every time you get off a golf course, even if you have the round of your life, you always say ‘If I would have done this or that.’

“You can bowl a perfect game and you can pitch a perfect game in baseball, but in golf, you can’t have a perfect score. I suppose 18 holes-inone is a perfect score, but it’s probably never going to happen. I think that’s why it’s appealing and maddening at the same time.”

Can a single online lesson help?

We think so, and we hope readers give it a try. Today’s video, featuring Anderson, is a great kickoff.

And to answer your question, yes, he did hit the pin on his first attempt. No editing or video trickery here.

Korrie Wenzel has worked at The Daily Republic since 1991. He was named editor in 2005.

Tags: korrie wenzel, opinion