2024 February

There has been a recent spat of blogs about improving our golf swing with extreme freedom in almost every part of your body. I noticed that a professional golf trainer, Erika Larkin, was exaggerating statements to get your attention so that you will recall the critical importance of her instruction. I have to admit that we can learn from her instruction, so I used this no brainer to get your attention.

“No legs”: In this example she referenced a WW1 veteran who had lost a leg and became an exceptionally good golfer. KEY POINT: The arc of his swing always hit the lowest point directly off his single left foot (which was his leading foot as a right-handed golfers). So, your ball should be setup just behind that point for best impact. Make sure that the weight of your body finishes balanced on your leading leg. [NOTE: Your drives are teed up so the impact point for your ball needs to be about 4 inches beyond the bottom of the arc of your swing.]

“No Hands”: She suggested that you take your hands out of your swing as over control from a tight grip may be destroying the direction of your swing. A poor grip can open or close your club face during your swing.

“Lazy Arms”: This is my interpretation of her next point. Let the forward rotation of your body control the swing of your arms to generate more power. By letting your forward rotation pull your lazy arms down, you will create wrist lag at the top and extreme power when your arms and hands catch up to your body rotation at the bottom of your swing. I guarantee that this will give your more power, but you may have to play with your ball position to manage your direction control.

No Brain: I had to add this one after reading about a golfer who had a few too many to drink and started to play with the perfection of a pro golfer. As it turned out, the golfer forgot about the pressure to win and started stripping shots to the green and sinking putts. When a golfer in his 4some pointed out his new-found success, he instantly lost his game again. I don’t think that golfing in a drunken state will fix your game. Golf is not a no-brainer.

The good news is that we can learn something from each of these examples. Setting up fairway shots with more weight on your leading leg and with a relaxed light grip is a great starting point. Use your body rotation to start your lazy arm downswing for more power. You still need the basics like a straight leading arm so practice with GOLFSTR+ for every club in our bag. Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com.

Your driver is the only club that you need to depend on for maximum distance. Hitting closer to the green on your drives will give you a better chance for more one putt greens. You should be taking advantage with your teed up ball forward in your stance to launch it for more distance. A new high-tech driver may help but you should improve your impact and power before you spend more cash on another driver.

Impact on the Center of Your Driver Face:
Jack Nicklaus said that playing your shot is 50% mental and 40% setup. The easiest way to increase your driver distance is to impact your ball at the center of your driver face. You need to determine your best stance by trial and error for the unique characteristics of your swing to launch your teed up ball.

At the practice range, apply some foot spray powder on your club face to determine your point of impact. Your stretched arms at the point of impact are different for every golfer. Adjust your club head position behind your teed up ball as well as the distance from your body to determine your ideal setup to launch your drive upward at least 60 feet in the air. Make sure that your impact point is about 4 inches beyond the lowest point in the arc of your DRIVER swing.

Strengthen Your Shoulders, Arms and Wrists for More Power
1/ Over the past 5 years Rory McIlroy has increased his average driver distance by 10% to 330 yards. Daily exercise is the key for his success. He believes that throwing a medicine ball sideways with outstretched arms (up his target line) was the most effective exercise that he uses. Of course, he has a trainer who catches the ball and returns it for his next throw.

2/ Phil Michelson recently created a video of his warmup exercises using elastic stretch bands to activate and strengthen his swing. He ties them to his golf cart or a door handle and uses a series of dynamic stretching exercises with about 10 stretches on both sides of his body for at least 5 different motions to strengthen his shoulders, torso, arms and wrists. When you buy the bands in 3 different strengths, they offer a series of exercises. This is a major change from his younger days when he picked up a few clubs and swung them a few times to loosen up.

Pros are using dynamic stretch exercises to increase their power and you should too. Wear your GOLFSTR+ on your arm as a reminder to keep your leading arm straight while you exercise. Bending your arm is not helping your backswing. A longer rotation with a straight arm in your backswing adds more power to your downswing. Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com

Are you confusing your driver swing with your iron swing? As I watched Nick Taylor come from behind to win the Waste Management Phoenix Open, I noticed that his head seemed to stay in the exact same position from setup to impact. He never rushed his setup, and his body was just rotating (not swaying). Of course, the TV cameras were focused on his drives and hitting a drive is totally different than hitting an iron shot. That may be the solution for YOUR game too.

Don’t be confused between a teed up driver swing and all other club swings which are off the deck.

There are so many products, promotions and blogs about the swing with a driver and the swing with fairway woods, hybrids and irons. Unfortunately our brains seem to love the driver swing and tend to mess-up the swing for all other clubs. You can’t afford to make this mistake. The setups and swings are quite different.

One similarity is that you should be setting up your leading arm by rotating your elbow to face directly up your target line. Yes, you can actually grip your club with your leading arm and rotate your elbow. You will see all pro golfers do this automatically. It’s second nature for them but we rarely see anyone highlight this very important component for every setup. By the way, your trailing elbow should be pointing down away from your trailing side so that it can easily be bent during your backswing.

Driver Swing: The driver is designed with very little loft because you have the opportunity to swing up on your teed up ball for driver shots. Always setup with your teed up ball off your leading heel. Tilt your trailing shoulder down and point your shaft up your leading arm and shoulder. You may want to also setup with your club resting on the ground about 4 inches back from your ball as that is the low point in the arc of your swing. Impact the ball in the center of your club face.

Swing for Fairway Metals, Hybrids and Irons: Let the loft of your club do the lifting of your ball as you must impact the ball before you take any turf. Setup with your hands directly below your chin, shoulders level and your shaft pointing forward of your belly button [as you want your weight to shift to your leading foot at the point of impact]. If you are one of those “all arms swingers”, you may want to setup with more weight on your leading foot. If you are slicing your shots just bow your leading wrist in the back swing but a flat wrist is preferred as you want to eliminate angle.

Practice with GOLFSTR+ for every club in your bag and make sure that you are in balance at the end of every swing. Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com

The pros never fear a sand trap and you need the same confidence as they do.  You just need a technique that will guarantee that you can get out of a deep sand trap.  Too many golfers panic and sway back in their stance as they prepare for a killer swing to get out of any bunker.  Too often they top the ball or hit deep into the sand and then prepare for their next shot out of the same trap.  Sound like you?

There really are 3 types of sand traps. 

1/ Fairway Traps with a long flat bottom and a low lip can be played with any iron, hybrid or fairway wood as long as you have extra loft on your club to clear the lip of the trap.  CAUTION: Dig your feet down for stability and then choke down on your club about the same depth.  With your shortened length on your club you have to plan on hitting a shorter distance. 

2/ Shallow Lipped Traps next to the green can be played with any lofted club (like a 9 iron).  Just use a putting grip and stroke to exit the green and with enough power to roll out to the hole.  Make sure that you determine the break on the green before you swing as you should be attempting to sink your chip shot.  To minimize hitting sand with your ball, move forward to the ball in your stance and plan to hit the ball with the toe of your more upright club.

3/ High Lipped Traps:  Setup with the ball centered in your 10-to-20-degree open stance and wider than normal stance.  Short Game professional, Parker McLachlin said that your club face should be “dramatically open” so that the leading edge of your sand wedge will enter the sand and bounce as it lifts your ball on a carpet of sand.  Your wider stance will lower your club handle and allow you to make a more aggressive swing.  

Practice by laying a tee in the sand pointing up your target line directly after your ball.  Swing with enough force to fly the ball, sand and tee to the green.  Just increase your back swing distance and speed to increase the distance that you want to release your ball in the air.

You can also practice your sand shots using your GOLFSTR+ on your leading elbow as a reminder to eliminate any bend which will shorten your swing diameter in your backswing and your downswing.  Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com