2017 June

If you want to shoot low scores you’ve got to be a good putter. Pros sink 95% of their 3 foot putts, 75% of their 5 foot putts and 50% of their 8 foot putts. Reading the green, choosing the right direction and swing weight will help your minimize your 3-putt holes.  But you will never be a great putter if you can’t hit straight putts, exactly where you are aiming. You have to swing straight up your target line. Now let’s improve YOUR success rate for those 3, 5 and 8 foot putts.

One of the biggest mistakes many golfers make is pulling putts to the left (for right handed golfers). In your next round of golf, focus on putting with enough speed to pass the hole by 12 inches (the short ones never go in). Keep a record of the number of putts inside of 8 feet that you hit to the left or right of your target line. Most right handed recreational golfers will pull their putts to the left of their target line. Why?

1/ Putt with a flat wrist by rocking your shoulders. Practice with GOLFSTR+.

Pulling a putt is often caused by looking up and turning your body toward the hole as you swing through the ball. This causes your shoulders to open up and forces your putter on an outside-to-in path, causing the ball to miss on the left side of your target line.

Keeping your head (and hips) still and focusing your leading eye (left eye for right handed golfers) on the ball is a common fix for golfers who struggle with this problem.

2/ Lock your wrist through impact. [Shown here practicing with GOLFSTR+.]

Drill to Stop your Hips and Legs Moving when You Putt

3/ Follow through and up your target line only by rocking your shoulders.

On a practice green, lean a wedge at a 45 degree angle against the side of your trailing leg so that the end of the grip rests on the side of your leg. Practice 5 to 8 foot putts to determine if you can putt, by only rocking your shoulders. If your hips move, during the putting stroke, the wedge will fall off the side of your leg.

Swing Up Your Target Line
Always gripping your putter lightly with both hands and let your shoulders do all the work. To ensure that you are putting up your target line, swing your putter by rocking your shoulders and try releasing the grip with your trailing hand at the point of impact. Continue to swing your putter up your target line, only holding it with your leading hand.  This really takes practice but it sure does stop your from slicing your putts.

To help you putt by rocking your shoulders, practice putting with a locked leading wrist using your GOLFSTR+. If your putting swing is totally controlled by your shoulders, your will stop pulling putts to the left and you will sink more putts. You may never do as well as the average pro but that would be a nice goal. Sink more putts! Buy your GOLFSTR+ today at www.golfstr.com

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It’s the fine details of golf that create consistency. You may not know it but your mind and body change throughout each round of golf. That’s why a positive start for every round is so important. Just arriving at the golf course with a rested mind and limber body can make all the difference. A bad hole can spoil the rest of a round. Your success in golf is based on keeping your minds refocusing on the little details that create perfect shots. This Swing Tip gives you 3 checks to refocus your mind.

Recently I saw a friend arrive for a round of golf in a very quiet mood. He commented about his last round, shooting 79.  Unfortunately in perfect weather conditions, he shot a round of well over 101.  After his first bad shot he seemed to hit every shot long, short or wide of the target. He could not get back on track. He was uptight and out of focus.

GET BACK ON TRACK
When you are frustrated with a poor shot, you need to get your mind refocused. You need a mini check list to help you refocus. If you have not developed your own list of refocusing thoughts, why not start with this list: Grip, Eye Ball & Posture, People can buy ICU Eyewear now, which is an import eye gear.

Make Love to Your GRIP:  With Greg Norman holding the 54-hole lead in a Memorial Golf Tournament, Jack Nicklaus interrupted Norman’s dinner to give him a swing tip. “I was squeezing,” said Norman, recalling the advice. “I was holding on too long, wasn’t releasing the golf club.” Nicklaus suggested that Norman relax his grip pressure. Norman took the tip to heart and won that tournament.

Norman said, “I started a little saying within myself to make love with my hands, And if you make love with your hands, you’re actually caressing your club.” [Don’t strangle it.]

Glue Your Leading EYE BALL: If you start to top your ball, you may be lifting your head too early as you peak up to watch your ball dribble down the fairway. Try Jack Nicklaus’ favorite trick. Glue your leading eye ball on the Ball. Well, not exactly glue it, but you should slightly turn your head back during your setup so that your leading eye (left eyeball for right handed golfers) can focus on the ball. It also helps you rotate your shoulders and to transfer your weight to your leading foot during your downswing.

I love Jack’s trick but to add extra focus with your leading eye, you could close your trailing eye during your backswing (but this suggestion is not easy to do without practice). Your left and right eye have a different point of view as you can see when you see with one eye and then the other eye. Your trailing eye will see the bridge of your nose or sun glasses during the backswing. If you close your trailing eye, that visual distraction will disappear. Your mind will just focus on the ball. [This has been an amazing breakthrough in my game and I hope it will do the same for you.]

This is my favorite video of Rory McIlroy’s swing in slow motion.  The center line of his chest just rotates without swaying back in the backswing.  You should do the same.

Line-up your POSTURE:  Don’t sway back. Mike Bender noticed that many golfers sway back in their backswing for more power. Unfortunately they never get the axis of their chest back to line-up with the ball for a clean impact. [Swaying back during your back swing normally gets worse late in a round when you get tired and are searching for more power.] Keep your chest rotating and centered over your hips throughout your backswing and downswing. Use your hips to rotate your body through the ball to a balanced finish.

When your game starts going down the drain, snap out of it. Go through your mini-checklist to get back on track. Practice all 3 of these tips while your work with your GOLFSTR+ at the range. Buy one today at www.golfstr.com

I recently read a Consistent Golf blog that gave an easy solution to eliminate chipping and pitching yips. You may not have the yips but we all need to smooth out the transition to avoid jerking our club in the transition. Practice with this technique to build confidence for success during your round of golf. I’ve tried it and it really works.

You know how to swing a club to make the perfect chip or pitch (with your feet close together and 60% of your weight on your leading foot), but when you are on the course with a must make shot, your brain may backfire, lurch or pass gas. You hit it fat or thin. You need to build confidence to get your body moving with fluid motion during the swing. You need a way to trick your mind to find the motion of the perfect chip or pitch and then execute the shot.

Note: Practice your chipping separate from your pitching. Chipping is more like a putting swing with a flat leading wrist where the ball flies a shorter distance than it runs out on the green (depending on the loft of the club that you use). Pitching is typically a longer shot where the club cuts under the ball to create a reverse spin to limit the roll-out on the green. Decide on the roll-out that you need, then choose the right club for the chip or pitch that you need to get close to the hole.

David Leadbetter illustrates the right way to chip with your feet close together and 60% of your weight on your leading foot.

Solution: Build muscle memory and rhythm of a great chip. All you need is to get your mind and body in a mental and physical state where you can make a confident swing. Practicing this tip will give you the confidence and using the 3 ball preparation will relax your body to execute on the course.

YIPS cause JERKY SWINGS.   Power and distance comes from the height of your backswing so make sure that you practice for each height. Eliminate any jerky action in the transition from backswing to downswing. Use the weight of your club (not the force of your arms) to allow for a smooth transition and impact through the ball.
1/ With about 25 golf balls, hit one ball after another, as quickly as possible, without any concern for the distance or location. Your mind will automatically know if each hit was good or bad. You can feel a clean shot off the center-line of your club when you impact your ball before skimming the ground. This will help you smooth out your swing with a free effortless feeling.
2/ Now line of 10 ball in a row and repeat the free swing exercise.
3/ Now repeat this with 3 balls in a row.
4/ On the course, imagine that you are hitting 3 balls with 3 swings as you move closer in continuous motion and finally hitting your ball on your third “fluid” swing.

Have you ever noticed that you can mishit a ball and then drop another ball and hit it perfectly. It has to do with being locked up on your first attempt. Free your body, swing with fluid motion and create success. Practice with GOLFSTR+ for all 6 swing fixes. Buy one today at www.golfstr.com

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Golf is a mental game. We don’t really understand why a streak of low scoring holes will happen but it has to do with our minds. An aura of confidence takes over our bodies so that a streak of pars and birdies just start happening. We should all be watching for the changes that we make or the actions we take to change our mental outlook. It has to be caused by something more than GOOD LUCK.

Here are 3 tricks that that you should try. There is really NO reasonable explanation why they work as our brains must be reacting and giving us confidence to execute a series of swings that help us par or birdie holes.

LOCK YOUR BRAIN ON A POINT: Jack Nicklaus always talks about focusing on a very specific target. Of course he is referring to his drives and iron shots.

I found that this works for PUTTING too. After I read the green, choose my target point and rehearse my practice swing for distance, I step up to the ball and STARE at my target point for at least 2 to 3 seconds, then STARE back at the ball for 2 seconds and swing by rocking my shoulders (with locked wrists). You must duplicate your exact practice swing and don’t follow your ball with your eyes. Initially staring at my target seems to burn an image like a laser target in my brain for both the distance and the line of the putt. I have no explanation for this. Very weird but I sink more short and long putts as long as I choose the right target point.

My wife Mary has always told me that her success in putting comes from a deep inhale and then exhale before she putts. June 3rd, 2017 she shot her first hole-in-one and skipped the putting.

EXHALE AND PUTT: Jason Dufner won the Memorial Golf Tournament using his newly found trick. He has always had problems with short putts. He recently adopted the trick used by military snipers. Inhale, exhale and shoot. In Dufner’s case he exhales before he makes his putting stroke. This is a very minor change in his routing but breathing is one less motion that must have been disturbing his putting motion. We should all try this. It can hurt.

KNOW YOUR CLUB DISTANCE AND THEN UP-CLUB: Mike Bender is a pro who played a lot of Pro-Am’s before tournaments. He saw that recreational players don’t handle pressure shots too well. We choose the club that we think our “perfect swing” will reach the green. Invariably our perfect swing rarely happens under pressure. When we need to make the perfect approach shot, there is a high percentage chance that we will hit our ball fat and short or blade it long and across the green. He recommends using 1 more club and swinging in control to hit the perfect distance. Works for me!

Get your GOLFSTR+ and start practicing with locked wrists for putting. Practice your straight leading arm swing at 80% of your power for more consistent hits. Buy one today at www.golfstr.com

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