2015 August

We golfers are constantly looking for that miracle fix to improve our scores. Let’s just take a reality check instead of wasting our time. The golf swing and equipment has been refined over the past 500 years. After all this time the best golfers must be getting close to the ideal swing but they are all unique.  It’s amazing that we can recognize the distinctly different swing of the most famous pros without seeing their faces.

Rule #1 Accept the fact that professional golfers have a basic technique which we should adopt if we ever want to improve our game.  [Swing with a straight leading arm, lag your release from the inside, impact the ball up the target line to a balanced finish.]

Hank Haney ran a golf swing training series called The Haney Project on the Golf Channel with Ray Romano, Rush Limbaugh and Charles Barkley. Each of them had their own swing demons or physical limitations. After hours of lessons and hitting thousands of golf balls each of these celebrities made some improvement. Surprisingly their improvements were noticeable but limited.

Rule #2 Accept the fact that your game can improve to the limitations of your mind and body.  [It takes time to change but you have to work at it.]

Many books have been written about ways to improve your game. Many of them present some pretty crazy ideas in order to sell books. I saw one recently called “Lowest Score Wins”. Sounded like a good plan. Then the introduction said: “putting might be the least important skill in golf, driving the ball far is much more important than driving it straight and that Phil Mickelson might just be the best strategist on the PGA Tour?”     This stuff is Rubbish!

Rule #3 Stick with the proven objectives of golf and you will be on the right track: (a) putting can be 50% of your shots so work on it (b) hitting from the fairway is much easier than in the rough and (c) hitting the ball more consistently (rather than farther) can cut your fairway strokes in half. Straight and consistent is far more important than long and ugly.

Take lessons to determine the right swing for your mind and body. Hold that thought and enjoy your game.

You have a unique mind and body. Professionals can tell you where you are making your setup or swing mistakes SO TAKE LESSONS. Understand what is destroying your swing. Get back to basics. Practice with GOLFSTR+ to hone your skills because a correct setup, upper body rotation, wrist lag, hip press, impact up the target line and a balanced finish WILL BREED SUCCESS.  (sounds like something that Michael Breed would say.)

TIP FOR SUCCESS: At the British Open you may have seen Zack Johnson constantly referring to his note book. In addition to verses from the Bible for positive thoughts he has a list of key swing thoughts for his setup and his game. He plays conservatively to eliminate the bogeys, knowing that the birdies will happen.  Why not list your key swing thoughts and read them over to calm and focus your mind  when you are on the course.

Take lessons, exercise for flexibility, buy a GOLFSTR+ swing training aid to practice Every Swing in YOUR Game and write out your key swing thoughts. These are the keys for your future success. Ask for GOLFSTR+ at your local golf retailer or buy one on our website at www.golfstr.com

Do you ever follow a slice with a duck hook? How can this happen when you think you are gripping your club exactly the same way each time you step up to the ball? Well I have news for you. Give you head a shake. You are changing your setup and you don’t even realize it.

Consistency in your setup and your mental attitude can really change each swing in your game. If you don’t sort out why you are hitting great shots then you will never figure out where your bad shots are coming from. YOUR correct setup with consistent tension in your arms and hands will produce consistent shots. Every person has a different muscle strength and physique so you need to figure out the right grip and setup for YOUR body and then lock it into your memory bank.

1/ Standing too close or too far from the ball will really mess up your brain. [You need a comfortable swing path because your hand to eye coordination is trying to make corrections every time you step up to the ball.]

2/ After watching one of you playing partners slam an extra-long drive, do you rev up your mind to a new gear to add extra power and speed to match that distance? [Extra swing speed is just changing the coordination of your complete swing. Don’t do it!]
3/ Are you gripping your club tighter because you want to compensate for your last miss-hit. [A tighter grip causes tension and shortens the muscles in your arm causing miss-hits off the toe of your club.]
4/ Are you changing your trailing hand to a stronger or weaker grip without realizing what is working for you? [You may be adding a hook or a slice to your next hit.]
5/ Are you forgetting to follow-through so that you club face stays open causing a slice. [When you know that you have too much club, you may be backing off your swing and minimizing your follow-through and causing a slice.]
Golf is a game of perfection with consistent swing tempo. If you don’t stay consistently relaxed with a consistent grip pressure and a consistent follow-through, then you are the cause of those hits left and right.

SOLVE THE PROBLEM

Ernie Els has such an effortless swing. Keep YOUR mental picture throughout your game.

Develop a relaxed, consistent hit at the driving range before you play. Make adjustments until you hit clean shots. Find out what works for your body on any given day and stick with it throughout your game. Don’t try to duplicate John Daly or Bubba Watson or Tiger Woods.
a/ Check your posture, distance from the ball and speed of your backswing, transition and acceleration.
b/ Pay attention to the grip position of your trailing hand. Is it strong or weak?
c/ What was your grip pressure? A mid-level pressure avoids tension.

Learn YOUR personal consistency with GOLFSTR+ at the driving range before you play. Then hold that thought through-out your game. It’s so easy. Buy one today at www.golfstr.com

If you want to lower your scores, you need to be long and accurate off the tee! If you normally shot over 90, concentrate on technique and accuracy. If you are ever going to consistently score in the 80’s or 70’s, you need longer drives which land in the fairway to improve your chance to increase your Greens Hit in Regulation (GHIR).

Be Realistic in YOUR Expectations:
-The top 5 professional female golfers average 267 yard off the tee.
–Lydia Ko: became the No. 1 ranked woman professional golfer on February 2, 2015 at 17. She’s 117 pounds, 5 foot 5 inches tall & averages 250 yds off the tee.
– 12 year old scrawny amateurs can hit drives 240 yards.

Accept the fact that muscle strength is NOT the starting point to win at this game. If you aren’t hitting your drives 240 yards, you need to work on your CORE STRENGTH.

Without strong, pliable muscles in your stomach, hips, butt and lower back, you can’t make a golf swing that is both powerful and technically sound. Any youth who is active in sports will have flexibility and core strength. All they need is the technique to coil properly in the backswing and uncoil in this sequence: hips, shoulders, straight arms and finally the whipping action to release your wrists through impact.

Top Players initiate their downswing with the powerful muscles in their abs and hips. Once the desired momentum is generated by the lower body, they use their arm and wrist muscles to power through impact.

Unfortunately, Recreational Players tend to use their shoulder and arm muscles from the top of their swing. As a result, they are unable to recruit the latent muscle-power in their lower body, while the arm muscles work extra hard to power and guide the club. This results in inconsistent swings!

Google “Core Strength for Golf” or click to check out this one.

Of course strength in your arms and wrists will give you extra power and distance (like the pros) but if you want to keep your body in shape for golf, focus on flexibility and core strength first. Just GOOGLE: Core Strength for Golf  to find exercises. I like this CORE exercise because you don’t need any special equipment, you can start training with a single arm or leg and you can do this exercise in a short amount of time as you watch your favorite sports on TV: Best Core Exercise- Golf Fitness Video

When your core is solid and stable you will be able to perform a more consistent swing. Remember to practice with GOLFSTR+ to learn the right technique for the 6 swing solutions. Buy it today at www.golfstr.com

Do you ever notice that you can play a round of golf and everything goes your way? The drives are great, you hit more greens in regulation and the putts are sinking. On those special days, there is definitely a “force” at work in your brain or body that gives you improved coordination in your golf swing. Unfortunately this happens less often than you would like and it rarely happens for all 18 holes on the same day.

I have been trying to sort out what causes my good days and my bad days. Obviously Tiger lost his Mojo and is trying to get it back before he starts to lose his strength and flexibility as he ages. What happened?

Recently I was playing a round of golf and was shooting 3 over par after 14 holes. At that moment a flash of lightening streaked over our heads so we headed for the club house. After a brief shower and the skies cleared, we headed back out to the course. Unfortunately my game fell apart. I had tree trouble, bad lies in the rough, shanked hits and putts anywhere but in the cup. Was my game messed up by a change in barometric pressure? Not a chance. It had to be my mind and concentration that was messed up.

Major League Baseball and NFL Mind Games
Why is it that over the last 9 years about 54% of all Major League Baseball games played were won by the home team? What is more interesting is the fact that the leading team in each division is winning 67% of their games in their home park. This is consistently better than their away-game record. This means that the winning team is more inspired to play better when their audience is rooting louder for the home team. It also means that the skill of the home team actually improves when they are in a positive mental attitude.

In the NFL the numbers are even more in favour of the home team with 58% of all games played on a home field are won by the home team since 1990. Home audience and inspirational cheering must be a factor helping the winning team win OR causing the losing team to lose focus, panic and make more errors.

Baseball and Football games are definitely influenced by Positive Mental attitude and the teams will to win. Golf is not a team sport. It’s a sport that YOU play against the course. Only you can control the success or failure in your game. Don’t blame the barometric pressure, the wind or the heckling from your playing partners.  It’s a mind game that you play against yourself so use your positive mental attitude and lower your score.

GOLF is wonderful when you are playing in “THE ZONE”.  Only you control your game.  It’s up to you to control your mind to take control to lower your score.

Another way to look at this is that if you can par a hole or birdie a hole on any given day, then why can’t your par or birdie all 18 holes on the same day? What’s stopping you? Right, it’s that grey mass between your ears or as an Aussie friend of mine once called it: That steel plate between your ears.  Relax your mind, enjoy the game, focus on a controlled swing and a picture perfect finish.

Troy Merritt won $1.2 Million at Quicken Loans National with a 4 day total of -18. One week later he is dead last at WGC-Bridgestone at +14 after his second round. Is this the same person?  He has the same skill but a different frame of mind. This proves that your game success is all in your head and that you need to be relaxed and focused in the ZONE.

As Ben Hogan once said: “The most important shot in golf is your next one!”  Clear you mind and make every one of your next shots a perfect swing. Don’t think about the outcome. Focus on your rhythm, inside-to-outside swing and a perfectly balanced finish. Line up your putt and hit the ball exactly on the center of the putting face as you swing straight up your chosen line. Get your swing right and your ball will deliver. NO OTHER THOUGHT IS IMPORTANT WHEN YOU ARE IN THE ZONE.

Make sure that you practice with GOLFSTR+ to create that perfect swing for driving, pitching, chipping and putting. Buy one today on our website: www.golfstr.com .

Confucius say: “Success depends upon previous preparation and without preparation there is sure to be failure.”   Applying this to the game of golf: If you try to swing with all muscle and no brain your result will be doomed. Your body needs to be in sync with your arms. This is easier said than done!

When hitting from the deep rough, into a strong headwind, on the first tee or whenever the pressure is on, we all get tense. Our bodies tighten-up and our minds focus only on swinging harder and faster. Nothing could be worse. Normally your hands and arms move faster than the rotation of your body and the result is a fat hit or a miss-hit.

Paul Dunne, an amateur golfer, started the final day of the 2015 British Open tied for the lead. He’s only 5’8” and weighs 160 pounds. His power and skill comes from his swing rhythm and positive mental attitude. Unfortunately on the final day the pressure got to him. His body rotation got tight and his arms took over. It was game over for him.

Just recognizing that you are in a “panic mode” will help you solve this problem. You CAN take CORRECTIVE ACTION before you swing.

PLAN OF ACTION:
a.  Realize when your mind is taking over. Snap out of your negative mind-set and take control.
b.  When your body tightens-up, you tend to limit your back swing and rush your arms ahead of your body rotation. This causes fat hits because you are NOT letting your body rotate as your arms and hands are doing all the work.
c.   When your mind is only focused on slamming that ball as hard as you can, you will forget your follow-through to a picture-perfect finish. Your body will flails away at the ball and fall out of position. This will cause you to spray the ball away from your target line like Paul Dunne did.

STOP AND FOCUS your mind on finishing your swing (BEFORE you start your swing) so that you are not swing with “all arms”. If you FOCUS ON finishing with your belt buckle facing the target, your transition at the top of your swing will start your hips moving so that you can get your body rotating through the ball with more power.

MORE TIPS TO IMPROVE YOUR RHYTHM
1/ AJ Hathaway, a pro at the Augusta Golf Training Center in Augusta, GA suggested: You need something to stop yourself from rushing the transition so that your lagging wrists will relax and whip through impact. Think of it as keeping in rhythm when dancing to music. “Sing while you swing”.
2/ AJ also suggested: Hitting on a variety of uneven surfaces on the course requires attention to each setup and your attitude from your last shot demands a mood change for the right rhythm.
3/ Visualize Ernie Els. He never looks like he is rushing because his transition is so smooth as he presses his hips forward during his downswing.
4/ I know that I mess up shots out of the sand trap when I rushing my backswing. I shorten the back-swing and pull my hands ahead of my body shift. Bingo, miss-hit. Slow down by saying the some words in a swinging rhythm. I sing the words: “Sweep in and through”

Practice with GOLFSTR+ both on and off the golf course to improve your rhythm when it counts. Buy one today on our website: www.golfstr.com