2018 March

The US Golf Association and the R&A have announced changes to The Rules of Golf which will be effective at the professional level in January 2019. I’m all for adopting these rules at the club level today. Here is an abbreviated listing of the new rules.

General Rules

Its about time that we souped up this game. Speed up and Simplify.

> Dropping procedure: When taking relief, drop from knee height.
> Measuring in taking relief: Use your driver for a 1 or 2 club length relief.
> Removing the penalty for a double hit: When you make a continuous swing.
> Balls Lost or Out of Bounds: Allow golfers the option to drop a ball in the vicinity of where the ball was lost (two-stroke penalty) or re-hit from the initial spot (counting a second stoke plus a penalty stroke).
> Elimination of “ball moved” penalty: There will be no penalty for accidentally moving a ball on the putting green or in searching for a ball.

Relaxed putting green rules:
> There will be no penalty if a ball hits an unattended flag stick.
> Players may repair spike marks and other damage
> There is no penalty for merely touching the line of putt.

Relaxed hazard rules:
> There will be no penalty for moving loose impediments or touching the ground or water in a penalty area.

Relaxed bunker rules:
> There will be no penalty for moving loose impediments in a bunker or for generally touching the sand with a hand or club.
> You are still NOT allowed to intentionally ground your club next to the ball.
> Unplayable Ball: It can be dropped outside the bunker with a two-stroke penalty.
> Relying on player integrity: It is up to a player’s best judge when lifting a ball (checking for ownership or damage) or choosing a line of entry into a hazard (without making an announcement).
> Pace-of-play support: Play ready golf. Up to 3 minutes to search for a lost ball and 40 seconds to play a stroke.

It’s about time that someone brought some common sense to this game. Too bad they didn’t go farther. They could have included: Move your ball out of a divot, clean mud off your ball, remove an embedded ball from the wall of a sand trap or the ground. It takes a long time to make changes in a historic game. Don’t forget to practice with your GOLFSTR+. Buy one today at www.golfstr.com

You can’t be good at this game if you have blow-up holes. Why are you trying to hit your record long drive or miracle shot with pin point accuracy when the pros have a hard time doing it every time they swing a club? In many of the major tournaments MOST OF THE PROS are not even breaking par. The TV cameras only focus on the top 10 golfers who are making the miracle shots or birdie putts. The rest of the field is struggling (but not as badly as we do). Don’t try to play the same game!

Golf is a game of consistency for 18 holes with 3 to 5 unique shots on every hole. You need to set a plan to give yourself the best chance to par every hole. Here are some suggestions that you should be considering:

FOCUS! Close your mind. Its just you against the course. Make it happen!

1/ Swing at the same speed with every club. If you alter your swing speed, its difficult to change the cadence of your body with relationship to your club speed. If you don’t synchronize every motion in the attempted slower version of your swing, you will most likely end up leaving your club face open and spraying your shot wide.

2/ Adjust your distance for each club by gripping down on your club and swinging at your normal speed. When you know that you have too much club, just choke down on the grip to hit a shorter distance. This is the only way to ensure consistency.

3/ Play a game with your mind to hit 18 out of 18 fairways in regulation. Blow-up holes are typically caused by a bad drive. Every golfer should know their “big miss”. If you tend to stand too far from your ball and hit it off the toe, check your setup every time. It takes constant focus to get this right so add a tick on your score card to track your success. Check to see if you bogie or double bogies correlate with your missed drives.

4/ Hitting your GIR (Greens in Regulation), is the real focus for your game. The pros are happy when they hit 75% of their GIR so anything over 50% is a good target for you too.

5/ If you are having problems keeping your leading arm straight and creating lag with your trailing arm, you should buy a GOLFSTR+ and use it to train for a more consistent swing. Improve the cadence in your backswing and limit your backswing when you feel GOLFSTR+ touch your forearm as you make your transition to your downswing.

Learn to focus on each shot. Make your shot selection, select your club and select your last perfect shot with that club (out of your memory bank). Hold that thought and enjoy your success.

Take your mind into a trance as you recall your last perfect swing with the club that you are about to swing. Use the words “calm and relaxed” to take your mind into your focused state of mind. If you need more practice to learn the right swing, buy a GOLFSTR+ and use it for 6 swing fixes with your driver, fairway clubs, irons and putter. Buy one today at www.golfstr.com

Golf tips that we read or see on TV may be damaging our thought process as we prepare and execute every swing in our game. I started to realize this while reading a blog from Top Speed Golf. Clay asked the question: Is it better to drive longer or straighter? He referenced the earnings of the longest driving pros to declare that longer is more important than straighter. If you are not a pro, I don’t think that this relates to YOU.

Don’t get sucked in by the blogs that you read about swinging faster to hit longer. What you read about the top 1% of golfers, most likely will not apply to the recreational golfer. Consider the following facts to improve your game:

1/ The Haney Project on the Golf Channel tried to train celebrities like Charles Barkley to learn a proper golf swing. Some of the celebrities like Ray Romano, improved their games by controlling the tempo of their swing but Barkley could not get rid of the hitch in his downswing. Swing change is difficult.

2/ Jim McLean endorsed the amazing improvement that you can expect with a wedged plastic boot that was worn on your trailing foot to force you to push forward and finish forward in your swing. It was a nice endorsement but the product died when the contract ended. Don’t believe everything you hear.

3/ Have you ever noticed that a golfer who hits 3, short hits, straight up the fairway on every hole will avoid the rough & hazards and typically avoid double bogies?

I predict this!   Tiger is back!    Hit more fairways like Tiger and your scores will drop. 

4/ Tiger hits long drives. When Tiger is missing over 10 fairways in a round, he seems to be able to scramble from the trees or the rough but his score still suffer. Don’t try to scramble like Tiger because it is so much easier to hit from the fairway.

5/ When you swing with a smooth rhythm; hit your ball in the center of your club face; finish your swing in perfect balance and see your ball land exactly where you wanted to hit it: were you trying to kill the ball or were you trying to lay the ball up to a nice comfortable location?

I love the recent thoughts from GolfersRx: “A golfer’s finish position tells you whether or not they made a well-balanced swing. It basically comes down to this… If you’re off-balance at any point from set-up to follow-through, you’ll be off-balance at the finish.”

When you swing your arms faster than your hips and body rotation, you are swinging out of sync. Use your practice swing to feel the start of your weight transfer from your trailing leg as you approach the top of your swing. Feel like your club is heavy at the top of your swing so that you will swing from the ground up (trailing foot, hips, torso and finally the arms). Take your time to hit with the same 80% swing rhythm every time.

Faster and harder is NOT farther especially if it lands off the fairway. Practice with GOLFSTR+ to learn the right swing cadence for YOUR body. Learn your calm and relaxed swing on the driving range and THEN take it to the course. Learn to control your arms and wrists during your swing with GOLFSTR+ and hit more fairways. Buy one today at www.golfstr.com

Why are golf training videos of professional golfers always showing a straight leading arm in the back swing and down swing? It seems so easy to bend your leading arm and wrist to achieve the same effect? A bent arm works well for baseball. Unfortunately, Golf is a whole new ball game.

The primary focus of golf is to hit that little stationary ball on the center of the face of each club. Swing speed and direction control are really secondary concerns but your game is destroyed without them. Your straight leading arm gives you a consistent distance to the ball at a maximum arm distance for maximum power. Distance control is wasted if you don’t cock your wrist to create lag in your back swing and release your wrist at the right time in your down swing. In addition to a more consistent swing on your chosen swing plane, you will increase your club head speed for more power and distance.

Test your Destructive Bent Arm Swing
Try to make a backswing by only bending your arms and wrists to wrap your club around your back [without rotating your shoulders and hips]. Notice that your club will naturally point down across your back. You can also bend your wrists and arms to lift your club and point it up over your head. When you swing your club from either of these positions, it’s difficult to make enough corrections to find the right swing plane to consistently hit your ball with direction control. This test proves that you need to use your shoulders and hips to add power to your smooth swing in a consistent plane.

Tiger does it and you should too. PREDICTION: Tiger will win this year.

Lesson Learned
Another benefit of keeping your leading arm straight in your backswing is that it forces the rotation of your shoulders and then your hips. That coiling effect by your spine in your backswing allows your club head to travel a longer distance as it accelerates back down through your ball. The sequence of uncoiling your body and releasing your wrists, generate your club head speed.

Benefits:
1/ A straight leading arm forces you to rotate your chest in the takeaway.

You can feel GOLFSTR+ touching the back of your straight leading arm. It’s a great reminder.

2/ If you don’t keep your leading arm straight, you will naturally swing over the top .

3/ Rotate your shoulders and hips before you lift your arms and cock your wrists.

4/ Reverse the order when you uncoil from the ground up. Shift your weight from your trailing leg as you uncoil your hips, shoulders, arms and finally your wrist release through the ball.

GOLFSTR+ is the ideal training aid to remind you to keep your leading arm straight in the backswing.  It can also be used to create a 90 degree bend in your trailing elbow for the perfect lag at the top of your swing. Buy one today at www.golfstr.com