2013 August

Do you arrive to play golf and wonder who is going to show-up?   Will it be your Confident Self or could it be that other guy, your Doubting Thomas?

If you are going to play this game, you need to learn self-confidence from the get-go. Your attitude is based on your state of mind for that day. You need confidence in Every Swing in Your Game before you start.

The best way to build confidence and attitude is to work on your game. Knowing the basics of stance and ball position for every shot needs to be learned.  Of course you need to read about the right technique and take golf lessons to learn the right motion for every swing.  Using a golf training aid to practice and build confidence FOR EVERY SWING IN YOUR GAME is also a great starting point.  If you don’t practice the right motion you will miss two critical components of your game.

• Knowing the right combination for the perfect result: club selection, amount of back-swing and follow-through.

• Building muscle memory for relaxed confident muscles, cadence and mental outlook. [Yes we are including that big muscle between your ears.]

Learn to swing with confidence from the inside. Brandt setups with confidence faster than anyone.

Playing this game without practice is hog wash. All of the pros including Brandt Snedeker are constantly practicing to build confidence in their swing for every shot. Brandt’s mind works a lot faster than most golfers but he still has a swing that delivers.  Practice gave him the confidence.   This is a great shot of Brandt building power by swinging with a straight leading arm from the inside and firing his body through to a balanced finish.

GOLFSTR+ is designed to give you confidence with every swing in your game: Driving, Fairway Shots, Pitching, Chipping, Sand and Putting. Practice with GOLFSTR+ before you play to lock in that feeling for a STRAIGHT ARM or FLAT WRIST or HINGED WRIST. Wear GOLFSTR+ while you play 18 holes to lock in that feeling of success when swinging with a straight arm in the back swing.

Practice allows you to hit well. It’s contagious to the rest of your body. Your cadence, your posture and your focus on the direction will all benefit. Why not buy a GOLFSTR+ and practice with it to build confidence.

CLICK HERE TO WAKE-UP YOUR GAME.

Our son David Curry (www.davidcurry.info) performs opera throughout the world.  He made a surprising analogy between the focus needed to sing opera and hitting a golf ball.   The conscious mind can’t possibly manage the intricacies of music the way you can’t possibly consolidate every component of the perfect golf swing.

Using your conscious mind to focus on the thousand ideas which you have learned about the golf swing tends to cause the occasional mishit.  Only your subconscious mind can get it right.

If an opera singer thinks about the performance of each note, the quality and overall performance is destroyed.  As David explains it, the sound from his voice is like an out of body experience.  It’s as if he has little control as his subconscious manages this amazing sound as it departs his body.

Craig Sigl is promoting a book called: Break 80, 52 Ways to Lower your score WITHOUT Practice.  [52 ways sounds like practice to me.]  He suggests finding a swing that works for you and just do it consistently. 

Jim Furyk may have a strange swing but it works for him and he does it consistently.  Craig suggests that you let your sub-conscious take over.  He even talks about letting your mind rest outside of your body and observe your consistent swing.

There may be some truth in this.  Have you ever hit a golf ball with an effortless swing and wondered where that came from.  It felt like the amazing swing of Ernie Els.  You are actually letting your subconscious mind take over.  The result is surprising.

So learn the right swing using GOLFSTR+ for a straight arm in the back swing, wrist hinge and flat wrist in the back swing, putting and chipping.  Then internalize YOUR swing with words which have meaning in your subconscious.  If you mentally say a series of words while you setup and swing then your mind won’t wonder.   It can’t think of two sets of words at the same time.

I use words for my FOCUS TRANCE: “Calm and Relaxed, STRAIGHT ARM, Sweep in aaand Finish”.

Just figure out what works for your swing to trigger your subconscious to perform a smooth and consistent swing.   The words that I use have the following meaning:

• Calm and Relaxed: I breathe in and out as I relax my arms, hands and shoulders
• STRAIGHT ARM:  The final command as I complete my Mike Weir waggle.
• Sweep in:  Sweep the club back along the ground and let my lagging elbow touch my side.
• aaand: Opening my club face with a controlled transition and swing from the inside to out.
• Finish: F is the point of impact to a balanced Finish.

Create your Swing Mantra (one for fairway shots and one for putting) and let your subconscious take over.

Click HERE to check out GOLFSTR+ and develop your consistent swing today.

• The most important shot in golf is the next one.    Ben Hogan

• A golfer’s diet: Live on greens as much as possible.

• Golf is always testing your skill against your opponents LUCK!    Anonymous

• Show me a good looser and I will show you a man playing against his boss.

• “Isn’t that a new putter?“    Yes, the old one couldn’t swim.

• I found a wood to lower my score.  It’s called a pencil.

• Golf is like Taxes.  You drive hard to make the green, then end up in the hole.

• I can’t retire.  I have a golf addiction to fund

• A Golf Ball: If it goes right it’s a slice.  If it goes left it’s a hook.  If it goes straight it’s a Miracle.

Or you must be practicing with GOLFSTR+ 

Comment received from W. Coleman, Martinsburg, WV, the proud owner of a GOLFSTR  purchased in July 2012 who recently asked us how to get a Black Rubber EXTENDER:   “I use GOLFSTR  every time I practice or am playing a casual round. I can honestly say it has improved my score 3-4 strokes.”   (Of course there was no charge for the EXTENDER when I receive heart-warming comments like that.)

Hope you enjoyed this change of pace for GOLFSTR  Swing Tips.  Love to hear from you about your success with GOLFSTR  and  GOLFSTR+.

Want the solution to avoid hitting fat and thin shots with your irons: Keep your hands forward of the ball through impact.  And now, as Paul Harvey would say: The Rest of the Story.

Jim McLean’s blog this week reminded us to “get forward at impact”.  Get your body forward and over your leading foot through impact.  Don’t cup your wrists.  All pros keep their leading hand forward of the club head to maximize power at impact. [These comments inspired me to find out HOW.]

Thomas Golf provided a great video this week on “How to hit it pure.”   The solution is easy: Setup with your hands leading the club.  Lineup with your hands forward of the ball so that the shaft of your club lines up with your leading arm.  It also sets you up to hit a draw so check it out at the range before you experiment on the course.  Your arms will return to the same point at impact if you focus on swinging down to nip the grass or take a divot after the point of impact.  Hit the ball first as you are driving your hips through the swing to a balanced finish.  CHECK OUT THIS GREAT VIDEO.

I was surprised at the power and release when I tried this.  I know that I have done this in the past but could never understand what was causing me to hit it “Pure”.

Keep your hands forward at impact to connect with the ball first and get more distance.

Sergio Garcia’s secrets for hitting pure iron shots:
Golf.com has an amazing sequence and description (seen by clicking the arrow in the upper right corner) showing the 16 images of Sergio Garcia’s swing.    The wrist hinge helps Sergio to get the shaft leaning forward at impact.  It’s a delofting move that helps add yards to every club.  CHECK OUT THIS GREAT SLIDE SEQUENCE ON www.golf.com

A FINAL THOUGHT FROM SERGIO: If you focus more on staying in balance, you’ll hit more good shots than bad. Try to hold your finish after every shot. Hold it until the ball lands on the ground. If you can’t, then you’re swinging too hard. Dial it back until you can hold your finish position and use that speed on every swing — even with your driver off the tee.

Read back over the points which are highlighted.  Practice with GOLFSTR+ to keep that leading arm straight and your wrist flat in the back-swing.   And in the tradition of Paul Harvey’s sign-off:  And now you know the rest of the story.