ASK DIANA D'ALESSIO!
(LPGA Tour Star!)
(you can ask Diana a question, watch her LPGA interview,(funny!) and read past answers at the end of this intro. or by clicking here!)
Hello "I Suck at Golf" fans!!!
My name is Diana D'Alessio and I am your new touring professional. Please feel free to ask me questions or make comments. I will do my best to reply in my monthly column.
Anyway, I've been on the LPGA Tour for 8 years and enjoying my 9th season. I'm originally from Flanders, NJ and now reside in Florida. Had to move south for the nice warm weather. Right now, I'm up in New Jersey preparing for the Sybase Classic at Upper Montclair Country Club, and the weather couldn't be worse!!! It seems that crap weather follows the LPGA from state to state. We have nicknamed the tour the Ladies Precipitation Golf Association. Cause if you have a drought, host a tournament, we'll bring rain!!!
I'm currently in my fifth week of eight straight tournaments. So needless to say, I'm absolutely exhausted. I'm not sure how many of you play competitively, but it is very tiring especially when you play in crap weather. Which unfortunately is all we've played in the last four weeks. I started my stretch in Orlando ...windy!!! Then went to Miami....more wind!!! Then to Tulsa....30 mile per hour wind...and last week we were in Williamsburg, VA where we got to add rain to the wind. Not very much fun. I'm really looking forward to a nice 80 degree day without any blowing, but I don't see that in my future for a quite a while.
So far this year, I've been doing pretty well. I have had some good starts to tournaments, but haven't been playing particularly well on the weekend. I'm having trouble pin pointing why I play well the first two days, and not the last two days, but I'm hoping that is something I will figure out with my coach tomorrow. I work with David Glenz, and he's been coaching me since I was 15. We've had a great working relationship, and he pretty much knows what makes me tick so hopefully he'll be able to shed some light on my crappy play on Saturday and Sunday. For some reason, I can think my way around the golf course the first two rounds, and then I get very tentative on Saturday and Sunday. One would think it would be the opposite, but we'll figure it out.
Well, I hope you all enjoyed the brief introduction of ME!!! Please email questions to me by clicking here!, and I will answer them. I love questions. So ask away!!!
Thanks and keep in the short stuff!!!
Diana
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(Video used with permission of the LPGA)
Play or Practice & What's in the bag?
Top 8 LPGA pros you'd like to play with?
Playing better on "The Weekend"
(May 08 )
ISAG note: Hi Cindy, thanks for the question to Diana! We're thrilled that she's taking the time to answer questions for us and our readers, especially with her very busy tournament schedule the last 2 months.
Just to put things in context, Diana had been struggling a bit on the weekends when she started writing for us only 3 weeks ago, and in her first column above she mentioned recognizing the need to address her play on the weekend. Which is a bold thing to do in itself, as that can add even more pressure if you can't deliver! Diana shot better rounds on the weekend than she did on Friday and Saturday for the last two tournaments after writing that column, firing back to back 68's last weekend to keep herself in contention throughout the final round! The rest of us who may "suckatgolf" may want to take note on how isolating a problem in your game and working on that rather than just beating balls at the range til exhaustion can reap great rewards. Nice job Diana!
...and nice job to her swing coach David Glenz as well!
Play or practice & what's in the bag?
(JUNE '08)
Hi Diana,
I watched your video on ISUCKATGOLF.net, very funny that you signed that fans butt! You seem very nice. I’ve been playing golf for about 5 years. Can you tell me what clubs you play now and if you ever switch drivers or putters if you’re not hitting them well? I’d also like to know what shaft flex you use, what ball, etc. Also how often you practice vs. play, especially if you’re not playing in a tournament the next week or in the off season. I want to improve my game as I have the summer off, but I don’t know where to focus my efforts and if I’m playing with the right equipment etc. (I shoot around 90 right now, but I’ve gone lower!)
Thanks so much for taking my question!
Susan T.
Edison N. J.
Hi Susan,
Thank you for your questions. I do try and accommodate fan's requests, so if the butt is what they wanted signed so be it.
As for the clubs in my bag, I have quite a mix. Here is what I use:
Driver - Callaway FT-5 9.5 (New Tour head) Shaft- Diamana Stiff
3 Wood- Callaway X 15 degrees Shaft- Diamana Stiff
3,4,5 Taylor Made Rescues, Shaft Fujikura YS-6 Regular Irons 4-PW Srixon 706, Shaft Nippon 1050 Regular Steel
58 and 52 Wedges, Srixon Dynamic Gold Stiff Putter - Scotty Cameron Newport Fastback, center shafted
Ball- Titleist Pro V-1
Glove- Footjoy
Shoe - Footjoy
I do change equipment when something isn't performing the way I would like it to. But for the most part, if I find something I like I stick with it. Your best bet would be to go to a demo day and try everything out. Because there's nothing worse then buying something bringing it home and you don't like it. So I would try everything out there.
That's it for my equipment. As for practicing vs playing...During the season, I usually don't practice too much. The season can be quite long and you can burn out quickly, so if I know I have a long stretch of tournaments coming I usually have this kind of schedule. Monday, travel day (day off). Tuesday, practice round. So I usually spend most of time that day practicing on the course. Wednesday, pro am day. So once again, I'm on the course and then I'll do a bit of practice after. Thursday-Sunday tournament rounds. So during the season, my weeks are pretty chock full of playing. Off season, I usually work with my coach a few times a week, and that generally means we hit balls and work on certain things in my swing. But we also play quite a bit too. I'm the type of person who actually gets more out of playing than practicing. I like to be on the course
trying different things and trying to get myself in competition mode.
But it just depends what kind of person you are. For example, Karrie Webb is a big practicer. She likes to be out on the range hitting balls and preparing that way. The more balls I hit on the range, the more I mess up my timing. So you sort of have to pinpoint how you think you can improve on your game whether it's a lot of practice or a lot more playing or both.
My suggestion for improving your game, would be to find a teacher/ coach that you trust. They can figure out what kind of equipment would be best for you, what exercises would be best to help you achieve certain things in your golf swing, etc. So it depends on how serious you want to be. All of us on tour have teachers that we work
with. That's the only way to get better. I work with David Glenz.
He owns the David Glenz Golf Academy in Hamburg, NJ. I've worked with him since I was 15, so I trust him and what he has to say about my game.
I hope I helped answer your questions. Feel free to ask me more.
Good luck this summer!!!
Diana
Diana's top 8 pros to play with:
(Aug 08)
Hi Diana,
If you had to pick the top 8-10 ladies on tour that you would like to play with who would they be and why? (they can be one’s you’ve already played with or one’s that you haven’t but would like to.)
Thanks!
Ray C.
New York
Hey Ray C,
I'm sorry it's taking me so long to respond to your question. I've been busy playing really crappy first rounds of golf tournaments. Therefore, I've had to practice a lot more than usual to try and get my game back in shape.
Top 8 Ladies....Hmmm....Good question! I know it was top 10 ladies, but I didn't have two more. These are not ranked, just listed!
Girls I've played with:
1. Annika Sorenstam - My first experience playing with Annika came this year at the McDonald's LPGA Championship in June. I had never been paired with her and I was psyched that I would be able to tee it up with her since she will be retiring at the end of the year. She is a pleasure to play with. Very professional, very courteous. And she hits it so freakin' straight, it's ridiculous.
2. Rosie Jones - I know Rosie is retired, but when she was on tour every time I was paired with her I would shoot in the 60s. I need her back out here. Plus, Rosie is just a fun person to be around. She's a very scrappy player and can turn a so-so round into a great round because she never gives up and has so much determination.
3. Becky Morgan - Haven't been paired with Becky for a while, but we play a lot of practice rounds together and she's a lot of fun. Most people think that the Welsh Wonder is very shy, but she's actually quite out-going and funny. She makes me laugh!! And she hits it ridiculously straight too.
4. Becky Lucidi - I had the pleasure of playing with Becky in Kingsmill the first two rounds this year. We were doing a little side betting and we just had a great time. Laughing, giggling...it was refreshing to actually joke around during a competitive round.
5. Ai Miyazato - I absolutely love playing with Ai. She has incredible rhythm in her swing. It's unbelievable.
6. Natalie Gulbis - Last year I seemed to get paired with Natalie a lot. Another really great girl. Super nice. And usually she has quite a crowd of people following her, which I like playing in front of people so that works too.
Girls I would like to play with:
1. Lorena Ochoa - Unfortunately, I've never been paired with Lorena. It's probably a good and bad thing cause I think I'd be really nervous. Even though, she is by far the nicest person on tour. She's an amazing champion, but what I love about Lorena is that she is so humble. I would really like to see her hit it cause she hits it so freakin' far.
2. Paula Creamer - I think eventually I'll have the opportunity to play with her. I think it would be good fun. She's a lot of fun in the locker room and fitness trailer. Plus, I want to see her play in person when she gets that putter going. Cause as we've seen, she can go scary low.
Thanks for the question. Once again, sorry it took so long to get back you, but I really had to think about it.
Good luck!!
Diana
Visit Diana's Web site at www.dianadalessio.com !!!
