2019 July

Why is it that the further we try to hit a shot, the worse the result?   You need to recognize that the Long Ball Driving Championships typically have the same problem. About 90% of their drives are off the grid. Long and into the woods or into the deep rough is NOT a great shot. We really need to prioritize our game to take advantage of the open fairways and the ideal approach to the greens.

Find this poster on eBay and let it burn into your brain.

I know that my best drives happen when there is a foursome about 260 yards ahead of us and I declare that “I’m just going to lay it up”. That’s when I take my time for a proper setup and a controlled backswing with lag and then release the perfect draw that rolls up just behind the golfers in front of us. Amazingly I swing at  80%  and nail the sweat spot.  My goal is to make that calm and controlled release every time?

Over-swinging is not a good plan for golf.  Why not try these thoughts:
1/ Choose the driver or wood that will put you in a good position for your approach to the green. [HINT: Your longest hit may not be your ideal location.]
2/ If you can’t reach the green or there are hazards along the fairway, choose the club and swing that will put you in a flat area for your next shot or for an easy approach to the green.
3/ Don’t use the club to hit your target if you have to crush a career shot to reach it.
4/ Choose the club that will easily reach your target and choke down if you have too much club but make sure that you take a full and controlled swing to hit your target. [Half swings with half power often end up causing you to open the face and hit a fade or slice so open your stance for half swings.]

Before you swing, think of the pause that refreshes your mind. Take a deep breath and exhale.

5/ Hitting the sweat spot on your club face can give you 5 to 25 more yards (with your driver), so work on a controlled swing to the safe side of the fairway.
6/ Playing from the fairway gives you your best chance to hit the green in regulation. Playing from the rough will almost guaranty a problem result which is short and in the wrong direction.
7/ If you land in a hazard or in the rough, take your penalty shot and make sure that your next shot is from the fairway for a chip and a possible putt to save par.
8/ Wind will mess up your mind. Accept the fact that wind into your face is going to take distance out of your shot or take it anywhere but the fairway. Use a hybrid or an iron to take control of your shot. Remember the old adage: “When it’s Breezy, Swing Easy.”
9/ If you can’t make a high soft landing on the green with one of your longer irons, plan to lay-up your shot on the side of the green with the easiest approach.
10/ Use words like “one, two” to control a perfect cadence for your putting swing. Or use the words “one, two” during your full backswing and “three” as you release through the ball to a balance pose.

Golf is an easy game if you can just choose the smartest shot and enjoy a controlled swing to reach your target. Practice with GOLFSTR+ to learn the benefits of a straight leading arm or flat wrist. Buy one today at www.golfstr.com

The more comfortable we are about our game the easier it is to put too much power into our next shot. Somehow we need a reminder to back-off and overcome the effects of an adrenaline rush. The next drive after a birdie hole is normally a “PBSU” (Post Birdie S—-Up).  An adrenaline rush may be causing the worst shots in YOUR game too. Rory McIlroy found this out when he stepped up to the first tee at the Open in Royal Portrush. He was an 8 to 1 favorite to win the OPEN.   CHOKE!

After Rory took an 8 on the first hole his odds of winning dropped to 33 to 1. His first shot smashed a women’s phone in her pocket as it careened out of bounds. His second tee-off attempt was lost in bushes short of the green. He finally chipped on and 2 putted for an 8 on the par 4. He did make a few birdies on his first round but on the 16th he 3 putted from 4 feet [including a stupid 12 inch putt missed in anger] and on the 18th he finished with a triple bogey for an 8 over par.

Tiger Woods had the same confidence as Rory and shot 7 over par on the same day. There has to be a lesson for all of us in this crisis for Rory and Tiger. Their failure on the first day of The Open prove to all of us that skill is important but if your mind is not in the right place, golf is an impossible game to play well.

Rory McIlroy carded a quadruple-bogey 8 to start the Open.  Just started with a little adrenaline rush to compensate for a fade during his warm-up round.

Rory said that he went out of bounds to the right during his practice round on the previous day. His mind was on not making the same mistake. His mind should have been on a nice draw that he knew that he has hit hundreds of times before.

Turn your Brain on to these points for every shot in your game.
1/ Calm Down: Take a deep breath and exhale to relax your body during your setup. Don’t let adrenaline spoil your next shot. Focus on your calm and relaxed mind to hit the shot that you know you can hit. BTW Rory stabbed at a 12 inch putt in anger and missed it- – – That stupid single mistake cause him to miss the cut. J.B. Holmes was tied for the Open lead starting day 3 and shot +16 on day 4. Possibly there was a little P&V in his veins.
2/ Take More Club and Grip Down to Swing at 80%:  Reach your target with a layup that you know you can make.
3/ Make a Practice Swing to FEEL Your Next Shot:  Feel your backswing with lag as you bump forward to start your downswing. For your DRIVES: Power up your target line. For your IRONS: Transfer your weight forward to ensure that you impact your ball before you take any turf or skim the grass.
4/ Focus on your Balanced Finish: Let the weight of your club do the work as you finish balanced on your leading foot.

Golf is a game of mental stability. Limit your thoughts to positive thoughts on the swing that you are making. Practice with GOLFSTR+ to build your swing for every club in your bag. Buy one today at www.golfstr.com

You will never be a good golfer until you understand what is causing a draw or fade. Of course it’s wonderful to control a draw or fade and avoid a hook or slice because the last two can be deadly for your game. More important is understanding the cause so that you can make very small changes in your setup to ensure that you are controlling or even minimizing your draw or fade.

Hitting from a Sloped Surface:
Anything that you do to setup for a draw or fade is exaggerated by the slope of the ground that you are standing on. ALWAYS look for perfectly flat ground when you are setting up for your drive between the tee blocks. A slight slope to the left will naturally pull your shot to the left and a slope to the right will naturally fade to the right. If the slope on the tee surface makes a difference then you can understand how the uneven ground on the fairway should even be more dangerous for your shots.

FADE: During your setup, open your club face from the direction that you are setting up to hit the ball at your point of impact.

To Fade Your Shot:
Tee up slightly higher and slightly forward than your normal position. Setup with a target line to the left of your target landing area (for right handed golfers) and slightly open your club face to point at your target. Your ball will launch up the line of your stance and then fade back to your target point.

[NOTE: Your open club face caused your ball to spin clockwise for your fade to the right.] Practice this on the range to understand how much fade you create with your open club face and make adjustments to ensure that you never create a major slice by swinging across the face of your ball.

Draw: During your setup, close your club face from the direction of your swing at the point of impact.

To Draw Your Shot:
Tee up slightly lower and slightly back than your normal position. Line up your shot to the right and slightly close your club face to create a counter-clockwise spin on your ball.

[NOTE: The direction of your swing path at the point of impact creates the path of your ball. The side spinning rotation of your ball with an open or closed face causes your draw or fade.]

Considerations for Your Draw or Fade
1/ The same rules apply when hitting with your irons (but of course you don’t use a tee to assist your setup).
2/ You can also create a draw with a slightly “stronger grip” with both hands (with the V formed by your thumb and first finger on both hands pointing to your trailing shoulder instead of your trailing arm pit). Jack Nicklaus swung with his elbow-IN during the down swing and called it his “palm-up-grip” (referring to his right palm swinging up his swing path).
3/ Swinging over the top and outside-to-in across your ball will always create a SLICE. Avoid the over-the-top swing by taking your club straight back in the backswing and using a slight loop toward your back at the start of your downswing to help you hold your lag and swing from the inside.

Practice with your GOLFSTR+ for your straight leading arm to learn the basics that cause your ball to start right or left and then draw or fade. Knowing what causes draw or fade will help you control more shots to land in the fairway. Buy your GOLFSTR+ today at www.golfstr.com

We have all seen videos offering “the perfect swing to get out of sand traps”. Unfortunately most of us still make “fat” shots and leave over 30% of our sand trap shots in the trap. You need the right setup as well as a SINGLE THOUGHT to complete your swing and get your ball out of the trap. The missing ingredient is to take your ball and an imaginary quarter (after the ball) out of the trap.

Your problem is that you need to swing through your ball and take the sand after the ball to complete your swing. Don’t get stuck in the heavy sand. Finish your swing. Imagine that there is a quarter in the sand about an inch beyond your ball. Swing with enough power to take your ball and the sand (including the imaginary quarter) after the ball with your full follow through.

ONE THOUGHT: Take the QUARTER with your follow-through.

I like to combine that though with the proper setup that I found in a recent blog by GolferRX:

1) Widen your stance (They suggested double your driving stance but I like to dig my feet down an inch or 2 into the sand with a bit wider and open stance for stability. An open stance helps you complete your swing.)

Rickie Fowler puts more weight on his leading foot to swing under the ball and the “quarter” after the ball.

2) Put more weight on your leading foot to help you swing through the ball and the sand after the ball). This forces a weight shift forward to get that extra sand.

3) Open your clubface – your ball should be able to rest on your club face. [When you open your sand wedge face to point straight up, you need to open your stance by at least 30 degrees away from your target line so that the leading edge of your club is square to your target.]

NOTE: Deep traps and short bunker shots need a high floating shot to clear the lip of the bunker by using a 30 degree open stance. For long bunker shots close your stance closer to parallel with your target line and close your club face to get more distance than height.

4) Keep your hands centered in your stance during your set-up

5) Swing with reasonable speed to take sand 2 or 3 inches before your ball as well as your “imaginary quarter“ in the sand after the ball. Complete your follow-through and end up balanced on your leading foot. [You will never get the ball out of the sand if you don’t transfer your weight to your leading foot as you complete your swing.]

Build confidence in your ability to make consistent sand trap shots by practicing with limited lag on your trailing wrist using your GOLFSTR+. Buy one today at www.golfstr.com

I just thought that July 4th would be a good time to spice up your swing. We would all like to hit dead straight, sweet shots every time we swing a club. Unfortunately our swing direction or the ground slope or our hands cause slight changes in our swing resulting in a draw or a fade especially when we don’t want that shot. Why not plan for a power draw or fade to avoid surprises?

I really don’t think you want to put fireworks in your swing like Bubba Watson. His lack of recent wins is one reason why we don’t want a huge draw or fade. He really has an overkill for his draw or fade. He plans for each draw or fade which can turn into a hook or slice that flies deep into the rough on too many occasions. Of course he also hits the occasional streak where he is able to execute a controlled draw or fade and even wins some tournaments but it’s not the best plan of attach for golf if you want consistent hits.

Bubba usully setups up with an open stance but he controls his draw or fade using the direction of the club face impact on the ball from a lower plane swing to the ball

In a recent golf magazine article I found the following: “No matter how many tournaments Watson wins, he will always be looked at as a freak show like a high-wire act. He hits the ball insane distances with his driver, and all that TV announcers want to talk about when covering Watson is how much he curves the ball, 30 or 40 yards at a clip. His swing defies convention, present or past. He does things no one would teach. In that regard, he claims never to have taken a lesson. Every announcer says Watson has the best hands in golf.” —-until he looses control.

Things we should learn from Bubba:
1/ Don’t Use Extra Large Grips on your Irons and Drivers: Bubba using anywhere from 10 to 13 wraps of tape under each grip as he progresses down each grip. “His grips look like Little League bat handles.”  Those oversized grips cause all of the extra action on his ball flight. NOT what you want.

2/ Plan to control your distance as well as your cut or slice. The greater the cut or slice, the more you risk playing your next shot from the rough or the trees. Your drive is your longest shot so you really should setup to aim for one side of the fairway and curve your ball back to your target line.

3/ A guaranteed draw or fade is what you should be planning on every shot. Hitting from a slight slope or using a slight rotation on your grip can change the face direction of your club and the outcome of your shot. Don’t risk it. Setup for your draw or fade by using your ball position slightly forward or back and your trailing foot slightly back (closed) or forward (open) from your target line. [Bubba setsup extremely open to his target line.  DON’T DO IT.]

4/ Generate Your Fireworks with your Lag and Release: I like to swing straight back and up to the top (not quite as exaggerated as Jim Furyk) with a slight loop at the top to power my hit with an inside to outside swing and forcing a power draw (like Jim McLean).

Practice to consistently draw or fade your shots at the driving range. Use your straight leading arm by practicing with GOLFSTR+. Use your wrist lag to naturally generate FIREWORKS for your power draw or fade. Buy one today at www.golfstr.com