2024 August

Direction Accuracy and Distance Control are the most important aspects that you need to break 80 in every round. We all know this, so why do we miss so many important shots? Instead of paying attention to the basics our minds wonder. We focus on the shot that a pro would make. We put a lot more power into the swing to clear water or sand traps when we should be laying up and chipping to 3 feet. This game would be so easy if we just play with a comfortable swing and the following basics.

In an article by Zephyr Melton in Play Smart on the GOLF.com blog I found the basics that “Joe Durant used in order to be among the straightest drivers in golf history.” . During his peak performance years his driving accuracy was between 75% and 82%. The following 3 points were key for his success.

1. Check Your Lines: You have to check your setup to line up your shot. He used alignment sticks to pick his direction and the square of his feet to his target line. He would imagine that he had alignment sticks through his shoulders, hips and feet and set them up parallel to each other.
2. Use Alignment Sticks: When Durant hits shots on the range, he kept two alignment sticks on the ground in front of him. One was inside his ball, while the other was parallel to it just outside the ball. He was trying to make sure that his foot line was parallel to the inside pole. The outer pole was a guide for his club swing plane. If he could take his club along the same path on the takeaway, he knew he was in good shape.
3. Tee It Low: Generating as much distance as possible is a popular strategy among pros these days, and that usually involves teeing it high and swinging up on the ball. But when you want to promote accuracy, it’s in your best interest to tee it low. It helps you take spin off your ball.
   When he was under pressure, he teed it lower to squeeze it out there with a fade for better control. Overpowering the ball was never good for his shots.
   Practice with GOLFSTR+ to control the flat of your leading wrist and elbow for more consistent hits. Joe Durant recommended controlling your direction and your power to limit the spin on your drives. Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com

Most courses are designed to destroy shots within 75 yards of the green. If you can’t hit a perfect shot to land on the green the course designers make you pay for your poor shot by landing in water, sand or on a steep pitch beside or over the green. Hitting a great shot to land in the perfect location for your approach shot will save more strokes.

Bobby Jones said that the easiest way to lower your score is to turn 3 shots into 2. One difficult missed shot can easily turn 2 approach shots into 3 or more shots (depending on the level of your anger).
The most important
One of the most important tips that I received from a scratch golfer was to plan for your preferred approach shot. He did this by developing a consistent carry distance for his wedge from 100 yards. (The total distance is frustrating because it includes the rollout depending on backspin and the contour of each green.) On a par 4 or par 5 he would always lay up to 100 yards. Using this commitment, it give me the focus to hit more Greens In Regulation and save a lot of strokes.

1/ Break 85 by eliminating penalty strokes (including sand traps, trees and water). Try these tips for a more controlled hit for your approach shot from the ideal location and distance.
• Tee the ball lower for more control.
• Move the ball slightly back in your stance
• Choke down on your grip
• Use cruising speed versus your full speed. A pause at the top my your solution to slow down your transition.

2/ Know your Carry Distance as you can never trust the ground to increase your Total Distance

3/ Sink more short putts by practicing 3, 4 and 5-foot putts. Practice to hit past the hole by 1 or 2 feet so that you eliminate any imperfections at the hole as well as the increasing amount of break as your ball slows down.

Don’t blast your shots and hope that they will miss the penalty areas. Focus on hitting to the perfect point where you know you can make your approach shot land close to the hole and stay on the green. Practice with GOLFSTR+ to add more control to your direction and distance for every club in your bag. Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com

When you understand that there are 2 arcs in every golf swing and low points in each arc, you will have a better chance to control direction and shape for every shot. This may sound a little confusing, but your club is swinging with a Target-Arc up your target line as well as a Body-Arc wrapping around your body. Its your job to sort out what is happening with the position of YOUR body at the Low Point with each arc on every swing. Use your practice swing to determine your low point before you move forward to your ball. First we are looking at iron swings.

Target-Arc (swinging up your target line)
Danny Maude was the inspiration for this blog as he described the bottom of the swing arc as either FORWARD, CENTERED or BEFORE the ball:
-FORWARD is typical for High Handicappers who bottom the arc 1 to 4 inches beyond the ball.
-CENTERED for Low Handicap Players bottoming the arc at the ball position.
-BEFORE for Professionals who bottom their arc 1 to 4 inches before impact.

Recommendation: If your body is out of sync with your Target-Arc, setup with your leading knee slightly bent to ensure that the bottom of your swing arc happens before you impact your ball to compress it before you take any divot.

Body-Arc (swinging around your body)
Right handed players impacting the ball before the low point, will push the ball to the right. Impacting it after the low point will pull the ball to the left. A closed or open face at the point of impact will add more motion to a draw or a fade and turn them into a hook or a slice.

The bottom of your arc is normally below your leading armpit so you can’t afford to allow your body to sway back during your backswing and freeze-up in that position during your downswing. That’s why you need a consistent tempo throughout your swing so that your body can recover with your follow-through.

Recommendation: Determine if you are hitting early or late in your Body Arc swing and slightly close or open your stance to minimize the affect of an early or late impact.

Driver Swings: You have the same arc issues with your driver but in all cases you should be teeing your ball so that half of the ball is higher than the crown of your driver and somewhat forward of the center of your stance to impact during the upward finish of your target-arc. You may have to close your driver stance slightly to avoid pulling your shots as your club wraps around your body-arc.

The low point of your swing should be below your leading armpit as long as your body rotates with your backswing and downswing. Your hips, shoulders and arms can’t afford to be out of sync with the arcs of your swing. Practice with GOLFSTR+ to learn the proper straight arm or flat wrist to control the distance to your ball throughout your swings. Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com

Sports Illustrated blog GOLF.COM published an interesting article by Nick Dimengo last week about the shot you need to score well in every round of golf that you play. Of course, every shot counts but a good drive landing in the fairway gives you the chance to par or birdie every hole.

Control Your Swing Path
If you’re a slicer, lining up for a slice is a bad solution. To break 80, you have to eliminate your slice and avoid lost balls and balls going out of bounds. Swinging over-the-top, causes the clubface to open-up and cut across as it impacts the golf ball.

One drill that Dimengo found really helpful is to draw a line on your golf ball — similar to what you’d do to line up putts. Instead of pointing this line straight at the target, point it a little out to the right (for right-handed golfers). This is the path that you want to swing on.

Line-up your feet square to your target line and close your shoulders in line with the line on your ball. That’s the direction that you want to swing into the ball to create a straight or a draw shot. That’s going to keep your upper body closed to the target and get you to swing a little bit more from the inside.

Shallow Your Swing Path
To ensure that you are swinging from the inside for your driver as well as your iron shots, flatten your leading wrist during your backswing so that your trailing elbow will stay close to your side during your downswing. This process was not in Demingo’s article but I find that it forces my swing to come from the inside and across the ball.

SIDE NOTE
Even Bryson DeChambeau has decided to change his approach to golf after he failed to make the cut in The 2024 Open Championship. We all know that he had ended his diet adding massive muscle and fat in order to hit longer drives. His latest awakening was to stop trying to hit every drive as long as possible with a high draw. He has now decided to add more control to the shape of his drives to account for the wind, hazards and contour of each fairway. Managing his driver for draws and fades has become his new focus.

If you are committed to eliminating your sliced drives, practice your swing in slow motion with GOLFSTR+ on your leading wrist to hold it flat. It will also shallow your downswing so that you feel your trailing elbow pass close to your side. Buy one today at www.golfstr.com