2020 June

Too many golfers pull the trigger too early in their swing. I’m an active recreational golfer and I watch a lot of other golfers (as well as myself) who get so frustrated by their ability to hit a golf ball perfectly 100% of the time. They would even be happy with 50% or any improvement but they can’t seem to calm down and execute the shot. I know the secret.

Unfortunately golfers love to watch the pros on TV executing every shot perfectly. We rarely see the duck hooks or the fat shots or the topped balls, but the pros do it too. The program producers just make sure that they only show the best of shots unless they happen to be following one of the tournament leaders who happens to make a poor shot.

My point here is that the pros have an amazing ability to start the transfer of their weight from the trailing foot to the leading foot during their swing transition at the top of their swing. They have no problem doing this with amazingly fast swings. We see this and our minds think we can repeat it on the golf course.

Ernie Els is a great image to remember your weight transfer starting during your transition. And he holds off on the wrist release.

In the Heat of Battle on the Golf Course
We are always wondering where our bad shots are coming from especially when we do them on the golf course. It seems so simple to repeat great shots on the driving range. But on the course it all changes. When our minds are caught up with our last amazing drive or our last disappointing flub, we tend to internalize our feelings and release them by pulling the trigger too early in our next shot.

The Problem
You rush your downswing with your arms and never give your body the time to transfer your weight from your trailing foot to your leading foot. Your practice swing may be perfect because you are calm and relaxed. I see it all the time. Your practice swing is at 60% of your actual swing. At the moment of truth, YOUR ARMS TAKE OVER. You are already bottoming out the arc of your swing 4 inches before your club head reaches the ball.

The Result
Either you hit a fat shot, a topped-ball or you power through the ball causing a pulled shot or major slice. This is caused by 2 situations. 1/ When you are over confident because of an amazing last shot [often referred to as the PBSU, Post Birdie Screw-Up) or 2/ You are really steamed after a missed last shot and you are trying to make-up for lost distance.

The Solution
Slow down. Realize what is going on in your mind. Take control of your mind. You can’t afford to let your arms take over the swing. Make sure that your backswing takes twice as long as your down swing by saying “1,2,3” during your swing. “1” during your takeaway, “2” during your transition and weight shift and “3” as you swing down to impact.

In your practice swing, feel an early weight shift to allow you to impact your ball before any turf. This is a critical step before you move up to your ball. Feel your weight shift when you practice with your GOLFSTR+. Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com

Golf Truism #12: No golfer ever swung too slowly

The different length and style of each club has a major impact on the way that you swing that club. Past Swing Tips have focused on swinging up with your driver off a tee. For an iron the point of impact is just before your swing arc bottoms out. The face is actually dropping and causing a reverse spin. When hit properly your ball will actually climb before it drops to the ground.

You may have seen a training video on the proper way to swing an iron by using a towel. When you swing with an iron, your goal is to impact the ball before you impact any turf (before your swing arc bottoms out). Practice your iron shots by placing a tee or a bottle cap or towel flat on the ground about 2 or 3 inches behind your ball. Shifting your weight to your leading foot during your swing will allow you to impact your ball before the arc of your swing bottoms out.

Impact you ball first before the bottom of your swing arc.

Turning Point
Practicing with a towel is wonderful but when you are on the course, your mind goes into autopilot and your arms take over. My wakeup call came on the course while hitting my ball out of the rough. I knew that I had to swing down to hit the ball before catching any of the fluffy grass behind the ball. Thinking about my downswing, I impacted with the ball before I swung through the rough and nailed the perfect shot. BINGO, EUREKA!
1/ Setup properly with the ball midway between your feet depending on the iron that you are using.
2/ During your swing transition at the top of your swing, allow your weight to shift from your trailing foot to your leading foot.
3/ Weight shift is caused by what some pros call “the bump” as hip rotation starts your down swing (and weight transfer).
4/ Don’t rush the start of your downswing or your swing will be all arms with your weight still on your trailing foot. Another way to feel this is to keep your wrist weak as they hold their lagging position from the top of the downswing. The combination of weight shift and whipping your wrist release through the ball will generate surprising power. Let your club do the work. Don’t try to muscle your arm through your swing.
5/ Impact on the ball should be just before the bottom of your swing arc which is directly below your leading shoulder.
Practice with GOLFSTR+ by letting your straight leading arm control the consistency of your swing while your wrist release generates the power. Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com.

Golf Truism #11: It takes 17 holes to really get warmed up.

In our weekly Golf Swing Tips I typically minimize humorous comments as some may be offended. I just wanted to provide some interesting thoughts. I suspect that COVID19 may mess up our lives as well as our golf for the next year or 2 as I hear that the vaccine may not be developed for up to 3 years.

I know that President Trump continues to pump the positive comments to keep our spirits as well as the stock market up. Unfortunately the common cold is a Virus similar to the Coronavirus and how successful have we been in eradicating the COLD?   Scary isn’t it?

Please golf responsibly so that governments don’t reverse their thinking and decide to close it down. I’m hoping that these rules will help you keep your spirits up.

You may only understand how important this is when you lose a friend.  Please Play Safe and apply Social Distancing at all times.

The New Normal Rules of Golf:
• Hazmat suits are permitted. As an alternative, one can wear a college mascot costume or big bunny pajamas.
• Masks are not permitted, because we would look more like stagecoach robbers than a foursome. (Social distancing is critical.)
• Leave the flag in. And to avoid retrieving balls from the hole, any putt shorter than Lebron James is good.
• Ride in separate golf carts and don’t come closer to another player than a fully extended ball retriever.
• Don’t touch another player’s balls. This is always good advice.
• No high fives. Fortunately, we seldom have a reason.
• No petting the geese or the cart girl.
• Don’t use the Porta-Potty. More disease in there than Wuhan China.
• No excuses. Slicing or hooking are not side effects of COVID-19.
• Make an online bank transfer to pay your bets. No cash allowed.
• Straddle the sprinkler on the 18th hole before getting into your car. (Chilly but refreshing.)

Unfortunately, there is no vaccine for bad golf. Practice with your GOLFSTR+ to avoid those poor swing habits. Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com

Golf Truism #10: One good shank deserves another.   [Unfortunately as it’s all in your mind]

If a crazy quirk works for you, Just do it!  COVID19 forced me to take a break from golf. In my first round back on the course I learned a few things about my game as a result of my physical limitation. My inspiration started when I watched Rory McIlroy partner with Dustin Johnson in a skins game against Rickie Fowler and Matthew Wolff at Seminole Golf Club, Florida, Why was Wolff using that crazy quirk in his pre-swing motion?

By now every passionate recreational golfer has either seen Wolff in that first live broadcast since the start of Covid19 or winning his first tournament in 2019. He looks like a freak of nature when he incorporates his pre-swing motion into his swing. As he explains it, he is just duplicating the turn of his body that he wants to feel at the point of impact. He just includes that “motion and feeling” instead of a waggle at the start of his swing. It works for him so why not learn from his quirk.

He also includes a major leading heel lift and a huge Furyk type of loop at the top and shallowing of his downswing.   All of this extra motion must have some effect on his consistency which must cause good and bad rounds of golf.

Matthew Wolff adds about 10 moves to his swing that no other golfer tries. It’s mind boggling. Klick image to see the video of his swing.

As it turns out, every professional golfer has their own quirk, even though it may be hidden to the viewers:
-Dustin Johnson: His takeaway has an early wrist break and his transition has a bowed wrist.
-Jim Furyk: He loops his golf club at the top of his swing.
-Bubba Watson: He loves to hit a huge draw or fade on every swing of his club
-Matt Kuchar: His light practice swing is from the outside and across his ball to avoid his duck hook. He also hovers his club behind his ball before he swings.
-Phil Michelson and many golfer love to press their shaft forward to initiate a swing or putt.

I now realized that every golfer that I play with have their own quirks. Some are minor and some are almost hilarious, but they work.  One of the most interesting quirks that I have seen is the closed driver setup stance (for a person who shall remain nameless), where he moves his trailing foot at least 12 inches back from his target line (to create an inside-to-out swing.

This got me thinking. I like to shallow my driver in my downswing but I tend to hit my longest drives up the right side of the fairway (or into the right rough). I must have a physical limitation that is stopping me from driving up the center of the fairway. To fix this, I now open my stance about 10 degrees to the left (as a right handed golfer), shallow my downswing (to swing from the inside or slot) and drive my best drives directly up the center of the fairway with a slight draw. This only works for my driver so it must be my limited strength handling the extra weight and length which was causing my push shots.

I’m sold on my quirk. Practice with your GOLFSTR+ to improve your consistency and incorporate any quirk that improves the consistency of your drives and iron shots. Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com

Golf Truism #9:  Progress in golf consists of two steps forward and ten miles backward.