2024 May

Every shot in your game can be corrected with a consistent tempo. Every club in your bag is a different weight and different length to accommodate your shots of different distances. Your driver, fairway woods, hybrids and irons all have different contact points with the ground during your swing. For a consistent impact (with each club), you need a consistent tempo, for your backswing and downswing.

Golf is a simple game if you can only control your mind and point of impact with every club.

Tom Watson said that he controls his tempo by saying the word “Edelweiss” for every swing in his game.

I like to use the phrase “One annd Two” where Two is the start of my downswing to a balance finish.

Calm yourself down by choosing the right club to make your shot and then lining up your shot before you move to your stance beside your ball.

MOST IMPORTANT of all is THAT YOU TAKE A PRACTICE SWING AND SAY YOUR TEMPO PHRASE TO SLOW DOWN YOUR BACKSWING.

Take a final look at your target and then execute your swing as you say your tempo phrase AGAIN!

Saying your tempo phrase helps you take more time in your back swing to create more hip and shoulder rotation as you add wrist lag at the top of your swing with a flat wrist and a straight leading elbow.

Taking your practice swing, as you say your tempo phrase, is critical in order to repeat those actions as you execute your full swing to a balance finish. Practice with GOLFSTR+ to control your leading arm and straight elbow. Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com

No two golfers have the identical golf swing so you should be able to make minor adjustments to accommodate your physical limitations. We all suffer from past injuries and different strength in every muscle in our bodies. So, it only makes sense that you should be able to take corrective action by changing your foot pressure, shoulder tilt or ball position during setup. Only you can test out your best setup to create more success for your game.

Lee Travino came up with this tip to fix topped balls, thin shots and fat shots. If you are consistent in hitting your mishits, this tip may be the best way to take corrective action.

If you are topping the ball, just move your ball back a few inches in your stance when you setup. Take a full practice swing to see exactly where you are first touching the grass. Your goal is to impact the ball just before you take any divot.

If you are hitting thin shot (worm burners), use the same correction as topping the ball. You may also be standing too far from the ball. Move an inch closer to the ball and lineup some extra tees inside or outside of your ball to see the result from your swing. You may also want to arch your back (belly in and bum out). Holding this position from setup to impact will keep your club face at the same point through impact.

Hitting it fat (taking turf before you hit the ball) is one of the most common swing problems. Too many golfers sway back in their backswing and never recover by shifting from their trailing foot to their leading foot as they start their downswing.
-Moving the ball back in your stance will give you a better chance to hit the ball first but it is really a dumb correction.
-Stop trying to kill the ball. Your backswing is pulling your body away from your ball and your downswing is not giving your body time to shift back over the ball.
-SOLUTION: Slow down your backswing as you keep your nose over your ball and swing down through the ball without shifting your head.

Testing your swing on the practice range is the best way to find your swing flaws. Making adjustments with your ball will give you some confidence with better hits. A better solution is to set up with 65% of your pressure on your leading foot. Its the easiest way to keep your nose and body forward during your swing.

Practice with GOLFSTR+ as a reminder to keep you leading arm straight throughout your back swing and down swing. It will help you keep your ball at a consistent distance to your nose until impact. Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com

I was blown away by a tip that allow us to naturally shallow our downswing. Of course, shallowing your downswing prevents you from coming over the top and slicing the ball. Too many thoughts will always mess up your swing so you can’t afford to be thinking about each motion that should naturally happen in your down swing. You need one thought to focus on.

David Leadbetter keeps releasing blogs about the first foot of your takeaway in order to sell his miracle training aid. But if you setup with your leading elbow rotated and pointing down your target line, it is very natural to start your takeaway with a flat leading wrist and a straight leading elbow as you turn your hips and shoulders in your back swing.

Clearing Your Hip Starts the Chain Reaction up to Your Shoulders
As long as you take time to add wrist lag at the top, it will also give you time to press forward on your leading leg as you start to CLEAR YOUR HIP. By starting the pressure shift to your leading leg you will also start your powerful downswing.
a. Pressure on your leading leg will help you drop your trailing shoulder.
b. That shoulder drop will shallow your club head (to avoid an over the top swing)
c. This starts a chain reaction to rotate your hip and then your shoulders
d. And finally to drop your straight leading arm to power through the ball
e. And finish in balance on your leading foot and leg.

Your ONLY Swing Thought
Your setup with a proper ball position and leading elbow position is completed before you start your backswing. Your only swing thought is to slow your backswing (by counting ”1 annd 2”) to let the forward pressure on your leading leg start your down swing during your transition at the top.

Your pressure forward starts the chain reaction from the ground up. Of course, you need to swing to a finish in balance on your leading foot but should happen naturally. Every pro finishes that way and that part needs to be burned into your mind.

Your downswing starts with a pressure shift to your leading foot during your transition from up to down. Learn to keep your leading arm straight for a consistent distance down to your ball throughout your swing. Practice with GOLFSTR+. Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com

Using your putter as a plumb bob to determine the break near the hole will cut strokes from your game. Unfortunately, too many golfers try to plumb bob from behind their ball and without a calibrated putter. Those mistakes result in more missed putts.

Gravity and your clubs are the only tools that you can legally use to determine the slope of a green. Plumb bobbing only helps you understand the slope of the green where your feet are standing. For any putt, your ball will bend more with the slope of the green as it slows down near the hole. That’s why you need to plumb bob with your calibrated putter on a line from BEHIND THE HOLE and back to your ball.

Calibrate Your Putter
Every putter head has a different weight, and every shaft has a different taper. Calibrate your putter by standing 6 to 10 feet away from any door frame and letting your putter hang freely from your fingertips. Close one of your eyes and rotate the face of your hanging putter until one side of the shaft lines up with the door frame. [ RECORD the eye that you used, the side of your shaft (NOT INCLUDING THE GRIP) and the putter face orientation.]

Use Your Putter as a Plumb Bob to Determine the High Side Near the Hole

• -Stand on the line behind the hole so that you can see the hole in-line with your ball.
• -Hang your putter shaft in front of you to line up the hole near the bottom of your shaft.
• –The top of your shaft will line up on the high side of your ball so that’s the high side of the slope near your hole.
• -The greater the gap from your shaft edge to your ball, to greater the slope and the faster your ball will break down to the hole.

If there is a significant double or triple break on the green leading to the hole, you need to consider what those breaks will do when your ball is rolling at a higher speed where the slope will have less impact. Plumb bobbing will only help you determine the slope near the hole. If you can see an obvious slope near the hole, DON’T WASTE YOUR TIME PLUMB BOBBING.

On televised golf matches you will often see a golfer plumb bobbing from the ball to the hole. This is useless, unless the slope is exactly the same from the ball to the hole.

Choose your putting line ABOVE for the slope near the hole and limit a slight break by swinging hard enough to pass the hole by up to 3 feet. Practice with GOLFSTR+ to keep your leading wrist flat as you putt by rocking your shoulders. Buy one today at www.golfstr.com

PS: Please forward to Brooke Henderson and Justin Rose (They are examples of misguided Plumb Bobbers).

I have seen too many poor golfers who try to cut or hook their putts with the face of their putter. Your putter face may have up to a 3% tilt to start your ball rolling over and only on a straight line. By adding to the complexity of a swing where you add a curve to your putt is a crazy idea. We all need to use the KISS principle. Keep It Simple Stupid!

Your Starting Point
A student asked: “How do I sink long putts?” The pro replied: “Take a chipping lesson”. It’s so true. Chipping it close for a 1-putt green should be the goal of every Weekend Warrior. Just chip to 3 feet and sink the putt. What could be easier?

Your Putting Goal
Putting is the easiest stroke in golf, so you have no excuse but to make it the best part of your game. You will sink more putts when you commit to a target and only rock your shoulders and torso to send your ball at your chosen target point. Practice putting by locking your wrist with GOLFSTR+.

Scottie Scheffler is the best example of a great putter:
a. Lift and Set: After he considers the slope of the green and lines up his putt, he always lifts his putter directly in front of his face and sets his hands with a conventional grip so that there is no gap from the palm of his hands to his grip.
b. Line-up His Putter: He recently changed putters to a TaylorMade Spider X mallet style head with a bold line extending along the center line on the crown of his putter. His caddy said that it gives him more confidence for a square line-up from his putter on his target line.

Understand the slope: Look at the slope from behind the hole and back to your ball as well as the side view from below your putting line. Determine your feel for the break based on testing the putting speed and breaks on the practice green.

Understand the distance and slope combination: Test the speed of your putts for distance on up-hill and down-hill putts. Before every putt, make a practice swing to feel the amount of swing required for your exact putt to pass the hole by up to 2 feet.

Lock Your Eyes: After you square your putter on your target line. Focus your eyes on a line or the ball’s logo on the exact point that you will impact your ball until 1-second after impact. [Never watch the putter in the backswing or the follow-through.]

Make your putting stroke with a cadence count of “one-two” and practice with a flat leading wrist with your GOLFSTR+. Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com