2022 January

Hitting Greens in Regulation (GIR) is by far the most important shot that you need on every hole, but it may not be the best strategy for YOUR GAME. Driving and Putting perfection are critical to be a good golfer but hitting more greens in regulation can cut 1 stroke on every hole. As a mid to high handicap player you may be far better off hitting to a safe location for an easy shot to the green near the hole.

To improve your GIR, golfers with a handicap over 10 should focus on improving the consistency of your approach shots and also use STRATEGIES TO ELIMINATE BLOW-UP HOLES. You can’t afford to play by the strategies used by the pros who can pretty well hit what they want to hit. STOP PLAYING IN THEIR WORLD.

Strategies to Score in the 70’s or 80’s
1/ Move Up to the Right Tee for Your Game: We all know that shorter irons are easier to control than your driving clubs and that’s exactly why you need more distance with your driver OR to drive from a tee that allows you to reach the green in regulation.
2/ Use Your Irons to Get back on the Fairway: If your drive land in the rough on a par 4 or 5, DON’T TRY FOR THE MIRACLE SHOT. Hitting out of the rough with a 3 wood, 5 wood or hybrid is not the easiest shot. Your irons are designed to be hit down and through the rough to dig out your ball. It is so much better to hit your 6 iron 100 to 150 yards out of the rough and up the fairway than topping your ball 10 yards further along the rough with the wrong club. TAKE YOUR MEDICINE.
3/ Hit Short of a Trap or Water Hazard Near the Green: When you know that you need the perfect shot to miss a hazard, just lay-up. Your short chipping and pitching irons are much easier to hit over a hazard and possibly stick one close for a 1 or 2 putt hole.
4/ Plan for Rollout and the Break on the Green: Whatever club you are using to target the green, consider the depth and slope on the green. If you know that you can’t hold the green, just lay-up on a safe side of the green and enjoy your chance to pitch your next shot for a 1 putt green.
5/ Record Your Greens Hit in Regulation: I mark my score card with a 1 in the upper left corner of each hole when I land my drive in the fairway (or on a green for par 3’s) and a 1 in the upper right corner for GIR’s. You will quickly learn that those 1’s will drive your your pars or birdies up. The pros typically hit 13 to 16 GIR’s per round. Challenge yourself to keep improving your GIR’s.

You will never improve your GIR’s if you don’t plan for draws, fades and straight shots. Reducing the bend in your leading arm and your wrists for every shot will help you hit straighter shots and get more GIR’s. Practice with GOLFSTR+ for 6 swing fixes. Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com

Golf Truism #93: Golf is like marriage: If you take yourself too seriously it won’t work, and both are expensive.

Golf is not a casual game that you can play without changing your swing thought for every type of club. The most dramatic change should be made when using your driver and your irons but every club requires attention. These swing thoughts can revolutionize your game.

Every golfer has different physical injuries, flexibility, and strength as well as clubs with different weights and shaft flexibility. I am recommending that you test all of your clubs at a practice facility using the recommendations below and then make slight adjusts for your stance, grip and ball position to accommodate your physical issues. Determine your ideal setup for each type of club.

There are some basics that never change for your setup and swing sequence:
–Your grip should be light and relaxed. Tense muscles used by Bryson DeChambeau will NOT improve most golfer’s games. Muscle tension only changes the consistency of your game. You may even have to adjust your stance and swing as your body and mind relax or tense over 18 holes of golf.
–Avoid swinging over the top by keeping your leading wrist flat to help you shallow the downswing for all of your fairway clubs (driver, woods, hybrids and irons).
–Your backswing should take at least double the time of your downswing to give you more time to coil your body and to add wrist lag. (Rushing your backswing limits your swing and power!) Hideki Matsuyama showed us that a slow backswing can create powerful results.

Each Type of Club Requires a Unique Swing:
Driver: Position your teed-up ball forward of the center of your stance so that the arc of your swing is RISING to launch your ball upward. To optimize your swing, tilt your spine to your trailing side for more power to launch your ball upward as you push forward with you trailing foot.

Fairway Woods and Hybrids: These clubs are designed to slide over the surface of the ground to avoid slowing down their impact speed at the launch angle of the face of the club. Impact should be at the bottom of your swing arc. You can’t afford to be swaying back on your trailing foot during impact. To optimize your impact, rotate your hips and shoulders around your straight spine over your ball and avoid swaying back during your backswing.

Irons: These are the only clubs designed to impact your ball before the arc of your club reaches low enough to take any divot. Ideally you want your hands leading the shaft forward at the point of impact. To optimize your impact, your weight should be moving to your leading foot during the transition at the top of your swing.

Putter: Your best point of impact is exactly where your swing arc is starting to rise to ensure that you are rolling your ball OVER instead of pushing your ball (and causing it to bounce). Ideally your putter face needs to be swinging directly up your target line at the point of impact (without any slicing or side motion to the swing).

Golf is NOT a no-brainer. To improve your game, you can’t afford to make a swing without planning the impact motion of the club that you selected. Commit to your swing and make a practice swing to ensure that you are making the correct impact with the ball and ground for the club that you selected. Practice with GOLFSTR+ to ensure that your arms and wrists are in the ideal position throughout each swing. Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com

Golf Truism #92: If your best shots are the practice swing and the ‘gimme putt’, you might want to reconsider this game.

I have seen and reported on many techniques to escape sand traps, but I really believe that this approach is the best of them all. If you are in a sand trap next to the green, you want to get your ball over the lip and to settle on the green. This blog gives you the easy way to avoid 2 or 3 extra strokes wasted in the bunker.

I have shared some recommendations by Danny Maude in the past but this time he has come up with a very SIMPLE solution. The closer you get down to your ball the easier it is to make a consistent swing to lift it out of the sand. The closer your hands are to the ball the easier it is to guide your club through the sand on a level plane under your ball.

This method is for sand shots out of SOFT SAND
1/ Slide your hands down to the bottom of your grip and take a wider stance with bent knees so that your hands are much closer to the ball than your normal bunker stance.
2/ Use your normal grip with the ball forward of center in your stance and the club face wide open to use the bounce on the leading edge of your sand wedge.
3/ Take a 3/4 swing on a more horizontal than vertical swing with a good club speed so that your club will enter the sand 2-3 inches before the ball and exit 2-3 inches after the ball position and lift you ball on a carpet of sand.
4/ Finish your swing by swinging freely and throwing your ball and a spray of sand on the green.

For HARD PACKED BUNKERS
1/ Select a club with less bounce than a sand wedge and grip down on your club (similar to the soft sand setup above). Practice with different clubs to understand the impact and rollout on the ball.
2/ Stand with the ball slightly behind the center of your stance and your weight forward on you leading leg.
3/ Take a full pitch swing. Practice with GOLFSTR+ on your trailing wrist to limit wrist lag and take less sand than you would in a soft sand trap.

In both cases you are playing with a shorter club grip for better control to take sand with your swing and avoid fat or thin shots to at least get your ball up and on the green. These are not flop shots so you should be practicing with GOLFSTR+ on your trailing wrist to minimize your trailing wrist bend. Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com

TIME TO CASH-IN YOUR OLD CLUBS: Click here to trade-in your golf clubs for cash or a credit with 25% bonus value to purchase premium brand clubs or pre-owned clubs.

Golf Truism #91: Golf’s a hard game to figure. One day you’ll go out and slice it and shank it, hit into all the traps, and miss every green. The next day you go out and for no reason at all you really stink.
 

It’s the RUSH in your swing, to hit it longer, that kills your consistency. Just stop and think about this. Your major mishits happen when you try to get more distance out of your swing. When you rush your swing to add POWER you are actually messing up your chance to keep your body in sync for your perfect swing. The pros that we watch on TV seem to get away with a very fast back and down swing. You are NOT a pro.

Your golf swing only finds consistency when your arms have time to reach the top before you hips start your downswing. Rushing your arms by a fraction of a second will throw each physical component of your swing out of sync. I have seen this a thousand times and I know that I have done the same thing every time I hit the ball narrow, thin or heavy. Just watch your playing partners and analyze why they hit the perfect shot and at other times they miss-hit their ball. It’s almost impossible to see them speed up their arms by a fraction of a second but that’s all it takes.

Watch for the Signs
Rushed players may pause a little longer before they start their takeaway as they build up power in their brain to get an extra 30 yards. That extra time just builds up tension in their arms and back. Then BANG, there goes a booming slice or topped ball. Loosen your grip and enjoy the moment.

Take Control of your Mind and your Swing
1/ You can’t afford to put a lot more energy into your drive and then expect to hit your next shot with a different lofted club with less energy. Your body will just be out of sync.
2/ It’s too easy to rush your arms for a faster backswing and downswing. When you do this, your hips and shoulders will have a delayed reaction.
3/ The only club that you want to hit longer is your Driver and possibly your 3 or 5 wood when you are trying to get further down the fairway or to reach the green. The longer shaft on these clubs are designed to do the work for you. The whipping action of your wrist release generates a faster club head speed with a longer shaft. The coiling and uncoiling of your body for a longer shafted club and a shorter shafted club should be completed at the same speed.
4/ You don’t need more swing speed to gain distance with your irons. Just select a lower lofted club (for more distance) and make your controlled swing.

Your backswing should take twice as long as your downswing. When you are setting up at the first tee or for an important shot, mentally count “1 and 2” where 2 is the start of your downswing. Take more time to coil your body and create wrist lag as you bend your leading knee to start loading weight forward at the top of your swing.

Practice with GOLFSTR+ to keep your leading arm straight as you cock your wrists for more power when you release them through the ball. Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com

TIME TO CASH-IN YOUR OLD CLUBS: Click here to trade-in your golf clubs for cash or a credit with 25% bonus value to purchase premium brand clubs or pre-owned clubs.

Golf Truism #90: An interesting thing about golf is that no matter how badly you play; it is always possible to get worse.