2015 July

Comments from a recent customer reminded me that GOLFSTR+ is a good starting point for a great swing. Keeping your leading arm straight in the backswing and down through impact is ONE important component of the swing. For some, it really is the missing ingredient in their swing. They have told us about their INSTANT success.

For others it takes a lot more instruction and practice to turn their straight arm swing into success. That’s exactly why we developed these Weekly Swing Tips. This week I want to share the important changes that I went through to create a better overall swing to lower my handicap. I hope that this will help you see some of your swing faults.

Overall Swing Performance:
In my quest to improve my game I quickly learned that I needed more consistent iron shots, longer drives and a higher percentage of putts sunk. I have taken my game down from rounds over 100 to the occasional round in the high 70’s. Fortunately various pros suggested 5 more uses for GOLFSTR+ to help me improve all of my swings in putting, chipping, pitching and driving.

I quickly learned that without continuous practice and rounds of golf I will have a hard time breaking 80. With my limited time for play and practice I have learned to be happy with my reasonably low scores and you should too. Don’t beat yourself up over the occasional errant or long or short hit. Golf is a game of touch and you can’t learn this perfection unless you live, eat and breathe this game. So strive for a reasonable score and enjoy this game based on the limited effort that you put into it.

Getting on the Right Track:
I recently received an email from a Reggie, a golf pro in Van Nys, California who has been instructing for 20 years. He thanked me for developing GOLFSTR+ and said: “I can’t wait to get it so I can fix that left arm bending on my students and for the other uses too. I thought about inventing something like your product years ago. Glad you’ve done it for me. Thanks again.”

Will Curry, Developer of GOLFSTR – Check out the lesson that got me on the right track.

[If you want a good laugh, check out this page and select the Video: The Embarrassing Lesson that Changed it All     Yes that was my swing being compared to Trevor Immelman which inspired me to develop GOLFSTR+.]

Key Components of the Swing:
My major break though in hitting longer and straighter came when I learned that I was bending my leading arm because I was NOT rotating my hips 45 degrees and my shoulders 90 degrees. Straight leading arm is only effective if you combine it with the right grip and setup, full body rotation, a flat wrist lag, good transition tempo and releasing from the inside to a balance finish. So simple!

Michael Breed helped me understand how to make the right corrections. I saw his lesson on the Golf Channel describing Adam Scott’s swing. He starts his swing by keeping BOTH arms straight during the initial takeaway (until the club was horizontal to the ground BEFORE YOU START BENDING YOUR TRAILING ELBOW). It forces your hips to rotated 45 degrees and then your shoulders to rotate 90 degrees at the top of the backswing. Swinging from the inside and keeping your trailing elbow bent near your ribs will help you release your lagging wrists with a whipping action from the inside.

Summary:
I learned to swing correctly and got rid of my old driver with an offset head. Don’t use dumb corrective products or a crazy line-up to try to correct your hooks and slices. Get your game together with a conventional grip, setup and swing to improve your game. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. – Benjamin Franklin – And don’t forget to practice with GOLFSTR+. Buy one today at www.golfstr.com

Fat iron shots are one of the most frustrating shots in golf. They always occur when you tighten up for an easy but important shot. Your practice swing is perfect but when it really counts you chunk your club into the ground before the ball and the shot comes up well short of your planned location.  Eliminate this problem and save many strokes each round you play.

You know how to swing an iron and you should also know that your iron shots need to reach the low point of the swing arc about 2-4 inches AFTER the ball. This causes under-spin and makes your ball elevate.  You need to allow your hips to shift forward a few inches from your setup position during the swing. Why can’t you make this happen for every shot?

Problem:
When you want to make an important delicate shot, your mind and body tighten up. You limit your back swing and swing a little faster with your focus only being on your arms. You forget the rhythm of your body. Your arms move ahead of your body and chunk the ground behind the ball. Chunking the club into the ground about 3 to 6 inches before the ball means that your hands are bottoming out well before you reach your setup position. This proves that the early (or faster motion) of your arms and hands caused the problem.

Sam Snead swinging and grounding the club with the low point of his swing after the ball location (marked in yellow).

Solution:
Knowing that the late motion of your body or the fast motion of your arms caused the problem will help your mind solve this problem.

Make sure that your practice swing is exactly the same swing that you want when you move up to the ball. Ensure that you see that you are grounding the club or skim the grass about 2-4 inches in front of the imaginary ball location and finish your swing. If you miss the ground then take another practice swing. Duplicating the rhythm is key. Use the same rhythm to execute the shot with ground connection after the ball as you follow through.

Summary:
In previous weeks we have talked about cadence, rhythm and tempo. I can’t stress this enough. If you don’t think about controlling your tempo you will swing faster, with less backswing, less hip rotation and less shoulder turn. [Blogs that I receive show that this is Tiger’s current problem.] Slow your tempo down by saying words in your mind to keep a consistent rhythm. You may want to use the words: “Sweep-in-and Finish”. Use the words “Sweep-in-and” to slow down your backswing and transition.  Say “Finish” in your down-swing and finish (in a balanced stance). Mental focus will improve your game.

Don’t waste strokes. Practice with GOLFSTR+ to learn your tempo. Straight arm backswing, wrist lag and release are so important to generate power WITHOUT FAT SHOTS. Buy one today at www.golfstr.com

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BONUS OFFER:  If you want to improve your tempo, transition and follow-through, GOLFSTR+ is a good starting point.  We write these Weekly Swing Tips by viewing other blogs, getting tips from pros and getting ideas from GOLFSTR USERS.  One of my great sources is ROTARY SWING GOLF.

I highly recommend this training service as they have almost 250,000 followers who love and receive their golf swing training videos.  If you want to LOWER YOUR SCORES today: click below to check it out & subscribe.

In honor of The Open Championship (or “The British Open” as it is called in North America), I have been offered access to interesting Facts and Stats about The Open. This year its being held July 16-19 on the Old Course in St Andrews, Scotland.

FACT #1: By tradition, The Open is only held in St. Andrews once every 5 years.

I was offered the following information by the Tour Planner at  Links Golf Ireland [Click to check it out].   This  INFOGRAPHIC detailing the history of the tournament, some interesting facts and some important information for people attending the event in St. Andrews. I hope you will enjoy the change from our weekly Golf Swing Tips.  [I know that Scotland is not Ireland but both have amazing courses to choose from.  It’s another wonderful world over there.]

It would have been a great match up for Jordan Spieth and Rory McIlroy had Rory not bummed up his ankle in a “little kick-about with his buddies”.  This really opened the door for the 21 year old American but this course is so challenging that all the best golfers in the world will have a chance to win.

BY THE WAY: When you have time during the commercials this weekend, make sure you check out GOLFSTR+ and hit ’em long and straight www.golfstr.com

When you have time during the commercials this weekend, make sure you check out GOFLSTR+ and hit ’em long and straight www.golfstr.com

What’s the most important component of the swing: speed, technique or tempo? You need to think about this in order to place your emphasis in the area where you will get the most benefit.

SPEED
Most recreational golfers work on SWING SPEED FOR DISTANCE. Hank Haney reminds us that we can gain 2.5 yards in distance for every mile per hour in swing speed. Unfortunately swing speed is the WORST CHOICE. Keeping the ball in the fairway and learning to consistently hit or putt the ball will save you more strokes than swing speed and a few more yards on your drive.

Swinging faster may give you 10 or 20 yards more but those yards are more likely to be deeper in the rough. I guarantee that your next shot out of the rough will hurt your chances of hitting the green in regulation a lot more than a longer drive will benefit you. Killer speed will kill your game.  It sure does kill my game when I go for the gusto.

TECHNIQUE
About a year ago I saw a series of blogs which promised great success if you blank out your mind, forget about technique and just swing to create success.  [NOTE: These ads stopped running long ago.]  I decided to improve on this opportunity by working with a specialist in relaxation and hypnotism. We agreed that I had a good understanding of the swing technique and it was time to let my subliminal mind take over.

I was expecting to lower my golf scores by swinging with a relaxed frame of mind. After a month of effort I realized that success in golf is the culmination of many components. A relaxed frame of mind will not help you cope with an uphill, downhill or sloped lie. It will not help with swing speed for the right distance adjustment. Golf is a game of concentration and focus. You also need to adjust for your weather environment, hitting & landing surface and your club selection to deal with every situation. Without focus your technique is useless.

TEMPO
Golf needs an intense swing to create distance but tempo and timing is the real key for success. Developing a straight arm backswing while practicing with GOLFSTR+ can be a real break-through for more consistent hits but your scores will really started to drop when you learned to control your tempo.

According to Hank Haney’s study, the time for your back swing to your forward swing should be about a 3 to 1 ratio. Unfortunately, if your transition starts with your arms casting over the top, your swing will result in limited power, many mishits and more slices.

Ernie Els is a great image to keep in your mind when you think about a smooth transition and acceleration through the ball.

Tempo is all about timing. Start your transition by pressing your hip forward and dropping your arms as you accelerate your wrists through impact (like snapping a whip). Release your hips, shoulders, arms and wrists in that order. Try to visualize the shifting of your body to transfer power through the ball. Using your driver you should be swinging up through the ball. Using your irons you should be focused on the forward press of your hips to ensure that you bottom out with the ground after you smash the ball.

Last week CBS Sports golf analyst Peter Kostis showed a slow motion comparison of Tiger on the practice tee and on the golf course.  He said that it was clear that “tension and tempo” were the culprits causing Tigers poor results on the golf course. A faster swing speed (back and forward) with a greater head drop were not helping Tiger’s results.

Too much speed will kill your control. Technique should be sorted out during your setup to cope with the conditions. Most important, you need a smooth tempo for amazing power and consistency. GOLFSTR+ will help your get there. Buy it today at www.golfstr.com

That’s right, knowing how to setup for a DRAW or a FADE will help you understand why your intended straight shots are NOT straight. A slight error in your setup can throw your ball deep into the rough (on the right or left of the fairway) if you don’t plan for some right to left or left to right motion in your flight path. You NEED TO PLAN for a slight draw or fade to make sure that you are controlling your shot?

First you need to understand what is causing your ball to draw or fade. [I found this on a PGA Swing Tip by Joe Plecker, Director of Instruction at Baltimore Country Club.   To access his video of draw and fade you will need to copy and paste the following URL in your browser:   http://www.pga.com/golf-instruction/instruction-feature/off-tee/how-draw-and-fade-video/?pga_cid=newsletter  .]

Draw Setup (when you tee up a drive):
-Place the ball slightly forward in your stance (lining up with your instep instead of your left heel when you are hitting your driver).
-For right handed golfers, shift the grip of your club back (pointing at your belly button) causing the toe of your club to point slightly left of your target line. [Make sure that you reset your hands to allow the club face to point slightly left.]
–Tilt your shoulders to allow your trailing shoulder to drop lower than your leading shoulder.
NOTE: If you are swinging over the top with a consistent slice you may need to move your trailing foot back from the target line and learn to swing from the inside to out as you impact the ball.

Bubba Watson loves to fade it. We all remember the great draw shot that Bubba made to win the Masters.  He is the master of both draw & fade.

Fade Setup (when you tee up a drive):
-Place your ball slightly back in your stance (lining up behind the heel of your leading foot.
-Shift your club shaft forward and reset your grip on the club to allow the heel of your club face to move forward of the toe of your club face.
–Weaken your grip by placing your trailing hand high on the club, with the V formed by your thumb and first finger, pointing at your belly button.

Practice both of these shots but make sure that you set up for a slight draw when you really want to hit it far down the fairway. An aggressive swing with the wrong setup will land your ball in the deep rough, OB or on the wrong fairway.

If you want to enjoy this game learn to control your swing and plan for a draw or fade.  Practice with GOLFSTR+ for every swing in your game:  www.golfstr.com