2023 March

If you could discover the primary flaws in your game, would you be able to attack those flaws and lower your scores?  Of course, you can!  Just recognizing your areas of weakness will give you a renewed purpose to focus on those areas by looking for solutions, taking lessons and applying your findings to overcome your weaknesses.

The game of golf can be broken down into 4 components.  Each one has its own unique requirements and solutions for improvement.  If you look at Performance Stats for any professional golf tournament for the leading golfer as compared to the stats for the worst golfer, you will see glaring differences in the following 4 components of their games. Improve your stats and cut your scores.

1/ Driving Distance (DD): Longer drives will give you shorter approach shots.  

2/ Fairways and par 3 greens Hit in Regulation (FIR): Simplify approach shots and putts.

3/ Greens Hit in Regulation (GIR):  This is the best way to reduce your putts.

4/ Putts Per Green (PPG):  Two putts on every hole is an excellent target so 36 putts is a reasonable score.  Pros typically make fewer than 30 putts per round.

Use the corners of each box/hole on your score to record your successes.  Give yourself a mark for FIR, GIR and to record your putts.  Total each stat for every round as well as your total pars and birdies.  Track your success and focus on improving the weakness in your game.

Track Your Game and Don’t Waste Stokes

a/ Don’t Try Hero Shots.  Hit to a safe location for an easy shot to the green.

b/ Don’t add up your score after 9 holes or as you approach the end of your round.  Just play each hole without adding pressure to hit perfect shots.

c/ Take a Penalty Stroke when you are in a bad lie.   Drop your ball away from a dangerous shot.

d/ Beware of Post Bird Screw Up:  Calm down and get over that birdie on the last hole.  Don’t end up with a Duck Hook or a Slice OB for your next tee shot.

Every golf shot will create a new set of opportunities or disappointments.  Accept your situation and get on with your next shot.  The most important shot in golf is your next shot.  Nothing else should be on your mind.  You will enjoy your game if you lower your scores.  So practice with GOLFSTR+ to fix 6 swing faults.  Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com

GOLFSTR Swing Tip blogs are all based on articles written about solutions recommended by professional golfers and trainers. I present their thoughts in a simplified version because I’m always looking for the magic that will set your game (and my game) on fire. In a recent tip by GOLFPASS I discovered a tip that solved a problem for one of my physical limitations and realized every golfer who can’t swing like a pro may be faced with similar problems.

Whether you know it or not, we all have physical deficits caused by historic injuries or wear and tear on our bodies. Every time you recover from a broken bone or a torn muscle or cartilage, other parts of your body adjust to accommodate repetitive motions. That’s also a reason why you have a difficult time trying to change your posture or your golf swing.

In a GOLFPASS on-line lesson I discovered my upper body limitation and a solution to overcome my rotation limitation to improve my swing power and driving distance. When I asked other aging golfers about this limitation, I found that this may be a common problem for most golfers over 50 years of age.

Adding lag in your backswing is a key component which allows you to add power in every swing. Your arm rotation allows you to add lag. The trainer suggested that we should:
1/ extend your trailing arm (right arm for right handed golfers) horizontally from our side
2/ bend it forward (horizontally) from your elbow
3/ and rotate your bent arm (elbow to your hand) vertically and beyond vertical if you can.

My deficit (like many aging golfers) is that I can only rotate my arm upward about 80 degrees. Scratch golfers can rotation their upper arm about 20% beyond vertical. That’s 30 degrees beyond my ability. So that gives them a 30 degrees advantage to add more lag (and power) in their backswing.

Solution
To compensate for this limitation in my lag and backswing, the GOLFPASS trainer suggested that I move my trailing foot 2 inches back from the imaginary line along my toes and parallel to my target line of my ball. This added distance to rotate give me more arc distance in my swing to add power without bending my leading arm in the backswing.

With this new setup, I have been able to add more power and distance for all of my drives where I need more distance. I don’t make this change for my irons as I know the distance that they give me without making a setup change for my feet.

I have also increased my tee height (using a “Martini Tee”); flattened my leading wrist on my straight leading arm (to shallow my downswing) and swing with more confidence into the inside quadrant of my ball to add draw and distance to my shots. I also practice with GOLFSTR+ for the straight arm fix to add more power. Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com
 

Whether you know it or not, every golfer has his own personal swing problems. You may have been given advise like “Keep your head down or Slow your swing down” but these tips are not helping. You need professional help to sort out the root cause which is preventing you from landing every drive in the fairway.

Your golfing buddies can only advise you on what they see but they most likely can’t give you the proper approach to solve your swing problems.

Key for Golf Success: Longer Drives
Hank Haney recently reminded us in a blog that longer drives are the key to success on every par 4 or par 5 hole. Longer, accurate drives help you shorten every hole. The only way to achieve longer drives is with faster head speeds at the point of impact with your ball. You don’t want to swing harder, but you do want to swing faster by releasing your wrists with whipping action through the ball.

Your success depends on your ability to generate club head speed in the direct line with your target. Swinging with a slicing or hooking action is minimizing your resulting power. They are just as bad as hitting a shot fat or thin. You need a professional PGA trainer using a LAUNCH MONITOR (or golf ball flight analyzer) to measure the rotation of your golf ball and then present the ideal swing changes for your ideal hits.

My personal driver swing defect was identified as a downward slicing swing path. My correction was made by flattening or bowing my leading wrist at the top of my backswing to shallow my swing path as I swing from the inside and up my target line. I’m an aging golfer and I now drive consistently over 200 yards (up to 250). I have virtually eliminated my 100-yard mishits.

Of course, I have to relax my body and mind before I swing and keep my eyes on the ball through impact. My new power comes from taking a full backswing with lag and shallowing my downswing with more confidence to hit my ball off a higher tee from the inside . The elimination of any hook or slice action on my ball are critical for any golfers success.

Don’t waste more time driving yourself crazy with this game. Hire a pro to recommend the swing that will revolutionize your game and focus on hitting the sweat spot. Practice with your GOLFSTR+ for 6 swing fixes with a straight leading arm and controlled wrist movement for your new and improved swing. Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com

I recently read an article that described Tiger Woods’ past problems hitting poor drives on the first tee in many tournaments. I did not realize that it was a problem for Tiger but I certainly know that I, like many others, generate poor drives on the first tee for any round of golf. We all practice for that first tee shot but I did some research to understand first tee jitters and how best to fix them.

Chemical Release That You Need to Overcome
Nervous tension on the first tee automatically triggers the release of dopamine and serotonin as well as the hormones: adrenalin and cortisol. They affect the mental way that you react and the physical way that your body moves. You have no choice but to deal with these mental and physical limitations.

Dopamine speeds up your heart rate and serotonin affects your emotions. They get your excited and may be the reason why you are speeding up your swing on the first tee (or any tee for that matter). Adrenalin gives you an energy boost and Cortisol increases your stress level. They are the reason why you shorten your backswing and hit shots off the toe of your open faced club.

Set a Plan to Overcome your First Tee Emotions
Just knowing that you have to deal with your chemical and hormone release will give you a new advantage over your nervous body and mind.
1/ Calm Down: Take a few deep breaths as you select your club and setup for your shot.

2/ Keep Moving: Take a practice swing by shifting your weight from your leading to your trailing foot as you rotate your hips and generate a FULL backswing with your shoulders and arms.

3/ Loosen Up: Move up to your ball and look up to check your target line-up. Keep your hands and feet moving by lifting or waggling your club to avoid tensing up.

4/ Focus on Your Cadence: : Eliminate external thoughts by internally saying “1” to start your backswing, “annnd” as you rotate your hips and flatten you leading wrist to shallow and start your down-swing on the count of “2”.

The key to your successful first hole drive is to calm down and to overcome your swing limitations caused by chemical and hormone releases. Just make a full rotation for your backswing and hold your lag as your legs start your downswing. Practicing with GOLFSTR+ will help you overcome your fears. Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com

Every time you setup to hit a ball you need the right plan in your mind.  You are either planning to LAUNCH with your driver by hitting up or you are trying to POWER off the deck with all of your fairway clubs. You can’t afford to mix these up or you will pop-up your drives and top your fairway shots.  Positioning your ball forward for drives and centering your ball for fairway shots is easy to do but your mind also should focus on the right swing ANGLE OF ATTACK.

Too often we generate power off our back foot when we drive and then repeat the same swing and fall back when we are mishitting a fairway shot with a wood or iron.  We have all read articles where you can’t tell if the author is writing about a LAUNCH or a POWER shot (off the deck).  Make sure you tee up and tilt your shoulders 20 degrees to launch your drives.  It’s the best way to shorten the course.

EARLY EXTENSION Will Kill Your Launch AND Power Shots

Completing your swing by SPRINGING up with your knees will kill your driver or fairway shots.  Don’t do it.  I’m only making this statement to ensure that you don’t misunderstand the launch with your driver.  You still need to let your shoulder tilt and let your limited loft driver do the work.  Use the point of impact off the tee to allow your driver’s trajectory angle take care of the distance.

Tiger Woods Described How He Controls Launch Angle with Irons

He uses the same swing to launch his irons at different heights ONLY by adjusting the ball position in his stance. Of course, his drives are all completed with a forward ball position which is teed up.  (He even out-drove Rory McIlroy at the 2023 Genesis Tournament, so he isn’t losing his touch.)

For low to high iron shots Tiger demonstrates his technique with 3 balls in a row.  The middle ball in the center of his stance is for normal iron shots with a normal follow-through.  The back ball is for low shots where he wants to feel like his is finishing his swing at his waist.  For high shots all he does in move 1 ball forward of his normal position and finishes his swing with his hands high over the top of my head.”

These setup descriptions all require subtle changes.  That’s why your golf game may not be perfect.  The pros have swing coaches to watch for their mistakes.  I learned this when my professional instructor told me to swing more from the inside in order to keep the face of my club open.  BINGO!  I have a whole new game.

Watch your ball flight to spot clues for your swing mistakes.  Practice with GOLFSTR+ to sort out 6 corrections for your driver, fairway and putting swings.  Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com