2023 February

No, I don’t mean that you should beat-up on yourself. Every time you play a round of golf you should be using your strengths to improve your game. Why not play a game against your current handicap or an average score that you would like to beat. Or you may plan to shoot a round under 100 or 90 or 80. The best way to succeed is set a realistic score for each hole that you are about to play based on the handicap level for each of the 18 holes.

You will never improve your game if you keep taking the same approach to every hole.

Every hole on every golf course is rated from 1 to 18 based on the hardest hole being the #1 handicap hole and 18 being the easiest. Before you start a round of golf decide on the number of strokes that you will allow yourself over par and mark your card on each of the lower handicap holes (difficult holes) to play those holes as a bogie or double bogie hole.

Stay in the Right Frame of Mind
1/ Take the pressure off your mind and relax the swing with each club. You will be amazing at how easy it is to hit every shot to 80% of your expected distance with your chosen club.

2/ You will lower your scores if you take the pressure off your game by playing shots to a safe area at the front of the green and then chipping for a 1 or 2 putt green.

3/ Use a club with less loft so that you can back-off on the power that you are attempting to hit. This will improve the consistency of your shots.

4/ Be realistic about your ability to hit each club exactly with your best hit in the center of your club face. Typically 80% of your shots will not reach the distance that you expect.

5/ Driver is the only club that you want to hit with more power for more distance (to shorten every hole). Don’t get carried away! Know your setup and swing that will give you the most power with draws or fades using your driver. Know your ability and stick with a controlled swing.

Learn to be a strategic golfer BY AVOIDING KILL SHOTS. Choosing more club with less power will help you keep more shots in the fairway. They call your other option in the ROUGH because it’s not where you want to be.

Remember to play YOUR game against YOUR ability without trying to kill the ball. Take more time to rotate your hips as you start your backswing and add lag by cocking your wrists to generate more power. GOLFSTR+ is designed to remind you to keep your leading arm straight and to limit your backswing. Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com

I really enjoyed watching the final round of the Waste Management Championship with 3 leaders who fought neck and neck throughout the day. I like to root for the underdog, so Nick Taylor (ranked 223rd in the world) had a surprising performance as he kept up with Scottie Scheffler and Jon Rahm who were fighting it out to take the number 1 golfer position in the world. Nick Taylor has not won a major championship in years so I was really curious to find out how he had changed his game to stay in contention.

Bonus money was added to this tournament, so the winner took $3.6 million and second place took $2.18 million. That prize money added pressure on every shot for the leaders and especially on Taylor who really has been a Canadian No-Name in golf for some time.

Game Changer
Nick Taylor had to make a number of pressure putts over 10 feet throughout the final round. After the round he described his NEWFOUND SUCCESS. Over the past few months, he has been putting with a claw grip with his trailing hand.

–His lead hand is a conventional putting grip but with his first finger pointing directly down the leading side of his putter grip.
–His trailing hand is a claw grip with his wrist turned sideways so that it can’t bend during his swing.
-As long as he chose the right line and the right amount of swing speed his claw grip allows him to swing directly up his target line. Eliminating any trailing wrist action stops his stronger right hand from pushing his putter in an arc around his body.

I love this concept and plan to adopt this claw grip as I have been putting by releasing my trailing hand at the point of impact so that my leading hand swings my putter directly up my target line. Using a claw grip with my trailing hand should give me more stability in my swing especially for putts under 15 feet.

A key principle for putting is to avoid bending your wrists and ONLY using the rocking action of your major back and shoulder muscles. That’s why one of the 6 swing fixes provided by GOLFSTR+ is to hold your leading wrist flat during your putting stroke. The claw grip with your trailing hand ELIMINATES putter face rotation. BINGO! Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com

Recreational golfers love to imitate the pros that they watch on TV but it may be doing you more harm than good. Of course we all want to make shots like the pros but their exceptional shots may be killing our mental focus and sending our games down the drain.

If the pros can land a 150 yard shot over a well trapped narrow green, why can’t we? For one thing, we don’t have the height and backspin with our 6 or 7 iron to hold the green. I tried this shot yesterday and it cost me 2 more shots to get my plugged ball out of the forward lip of a trap. What was I thinking?

Here are 2 more common sense thoughts that we should learn from the pros.

1/ Sinking 10-15 foot Putts: Last year’s leader in this category was Alex Noren. He sank 43% of those mid-range putts. The Tour average was just 30%. Recreational golfers should be happy to sink 10-15% of these putts. My point here is that you should not lose your cool if you miss a 10-15 foot putt. Plan on passing the hole (as the short ones never go in) to give yourself a chance for success but you should be happy with a 2-putt from that distance.

If you miss a 10-15 foot putt DON’T GET ANGRY WITH YOUR PERFORMANCE.

2/ Chip Your 30-60 yard Wedges to within 10 Feet: Recreational golfers typically miss half of their approach shots to every green (and that’s including the short par 3 holes). That’s why you should be including at least 25% of your practice time developing your chipping skills to within 10 feet of a target hole.

Minimize your score by practicing chipping close to the hole and sinking more of your 1-5 foot putts.
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Ask any pro how they sink more long putts. ANSWER: Take a chipping or iron lesson!

Cut down on the time that you spend learning to perfect your long clubs. Over half your time should be spent on perfecting your chipping, sand shots and putting because that is where you will save more shots in every round of golf. Practice with your GOLFSTR+ to limit your wrist lag when chipping and to keep your leading wrist flat for putting. Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com

Each golf shot is a fresh new opportunity to deliver your ball to your target. You can’t do this without a methodical plan and response that works for you. I realize that very few golfers will ever achieve the distance and control of the male pros so I like to focus on the graceful swings of the female pro golfers. If they can consistently deliver drives that are controlled and over 250 yards, that should be good enough for 90% of all golfers who will never be scratch golfers.

When my game is going sideways, I have always been told that I’m swinging too hard. That’s exactly when I try to take control of my mind and body and place it in my own private box where I can take control of my takeaway tempo.

Slowing down your backswing gives you more time to complete a full shoulder rotation and wrist hinge for a 90-degree lag. Rush it and you will miss your opportunity for a great shot with less effort and an amazing result.

The Korda sisters, Nelly and Jessica, both have graceful swings. During a training session with their coach, Jamie Mulligan, they were asked how they controlled their takeaway. Nelly said that Jamie taught her to imagine that her club head is like a rock on the end of a string. She uses a slow acceleration through-out her backswing to create a graceful tempo (as she swing her rock away from the ground).

That’s a great image to help you create a wonderful tempo for your backswing. It will help you slow your transition and accelerate your downswing.

When you take more time for your backswing, don’t let your leading elbow bend to wrap your arm around your neck. Just limit your backswing and practice with GOLFSTR+ to find your straight leading arm limit and to also feel your trailing arm create a 90 degree bend for lag. Those are just 2 of the 6 uses for your GOLFSTR+. Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com