Will Curry

We all love to watch the Major Golf Tournaments for the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. Of the 4 Majors, The Open Championship at Royal Troon is by far the most challenging because of those crazy pot bunkers, wild greens, the spiny gorse bushes, the ocean winds, cold fog & rain and that out of bounds railway track on the 11th hole.

What can we learn from the 2024 event to improve our games? Avoid the major golf courses in Great Britain? They are a challenge for the pros so you just may not enjoy playing there. Playing the forward tees will help but that won’t get you out of trouble.

World Class Golfers Missed the Cut
It is amazing how many top golfers missed the cut at +6. Seeing the names of the rejects will reinforce how hard this course was: Bryson DeChambeau (+9) Rory McIlroy (+11 with only 3 birdies and 10 bogeys or worse after 2 rounds), Tiger Woods (+14), Wyndham Clark (+16). Ernie Els and John Daly each dropped out after their first rounds shooting 82.

Golf Tips
I could not believe how Rory and Tiger both hit a booming slice OB on the #11 railway hole. So many other pros make the same disastrous slice. These are pros and they know how to hit a slice and how NOT to hit a slice especially in a heavy wind. How could this possibly happen? Guess that explains why all golfer have occasional surprising slices.

Could it be nerves? I don’t think so as they were on their eleventh hole.
Could it be the wind? It certainly made the slice worse, but their swing caused the slice.
Swinging hard for distance was the cause: They were both hitting 300+ yard drives so they had to make a 100% swing. Let that be a lesson to all of us. The harder we swing, the easier it is to leave our club face open and pound a screaming slice. [Rory hit a duck hook for his provisional and Tiger hit a beautiful straight recovery shot.]

Don’t get greedy in bunkers, especially pot bunkers. Take your penalty gracefully. Always take enough club to get out of the bunker or even hit out sideways if you don’t feel you can clear the front lip. NOTE: A new PGA rule allows the option to remove a ball plugged in a bunker lip and place it on the line of entry outside of the bunker with a single stroke penalty.

Practice with GOLFSTR+ to improve your straight shots if you plan to take on Royal Troon or any of the other wonderful courses in Britain or Ireland. Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com

Golf is an impossible game played with clubs that swing in an arc on terrain that is rarely flat, so how can SQUARE create perfection? As it turns out SQUARE is the new buzzword in golf. And that is why it is so difficult to figure out. We all struggle to create an impact with our golf ball in the split second when our club face is exactly square to the ball.

When you watch a high-speed video of a club impacting a golf ball, you can see that the ball is partially flattened during the point of impact. That flat surface controls the direction of your ball. So your swing path on the flattened surface of your ball is the critical factor in creating a square impact on your ball.

Setup Perfection
Ideally you should setup with a perfectly square alignment (shoulders, hips and toes) on a flat surface with no prevailing wind. Your setup position will create straight hits by using a swing that allows you to follow-through in the direction of your club face. Tiger Woods can actually feel the face of his club throughout his swing as if it’s happening in a super slow motion.

You will never hit enough golf balls to duplicate the emotions and feel for your swing that Tiger and so many other professional golfers do. But you can learn to setup with your ball in a proper position and hold your club in a square position to your ball so that you can execute your swing to your identical square setup position with the following adjustments:

• Adding draw or fade spin only requires a slight adjustment for your club face direction but your impact should still be square to your ball.
• Identify the best ball position for your natural swing with each of your clubs. Impact the ball before taking any divot or starting your upswing with your driver (off your leading toe).
• Adjust for wind speed by selecting the correct club to compensate for distance.
• Modify your stance and shoulders to offset the slope of the ground that you are standing on.
• Putting is so much easier if as your slow swing is easier to control to impact your ball squarely on the center line of the face of your putter.
• Choosing the correct target line for each putt is the most critical issue but a SQUARE impact is still the key factor for putting perfection.

Don’t let one hand overpower your swing and cause an early rotation of YOUR SQUARE club face. Build confidence in your swing by practicing these tips with GOLFSTR+ at the driving range. Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com

Stubbing a chip has got to be the most frustrating shot in golf next to missing a 3 foot putt (the way Rory McIlroy did at the US Open). We cover so much ground with our driver and irons and then waste so many shots when we try to finish our hole with a weak short game. Why is this so difficult? Sort out the right technique and you will save 10 to 18 strokes by hitting more one putt greens on every round.

Choose the Right Club for the Right Job;
Mid to High handicap golfers get frustrated hitting fat chips that often only dribble up to the green, so as an easy fix you may choose a putter to make your short approach shots. Choosing a putter to hit from off the green is the loser’s choice.
a. The grass surface is typically rough so you can’t control the direction with your putter.
b. Your mind is tuned into swinging your putter on the faster putting surface of the green . It’s extremely difficult to change your mental outlook when putting from off the green. You will most likely putt short or well past the hole.

When you are off the green use the right lofted wedge to clear the rugged grass, land on the green and roll to the hole. LEARN to use a wedge by practicing and using the right technique.

When pitching from off the green and especially on an uphill lie, practice for consistent success and to learn the flight and roll out for each of your lofted clubs.

Technique for Pitching Success up to 25 Yards:
At address, center the ball between your feet, position your chest forward of the ball (don’t think weight forward), think chest forward, allow your shaft to tilt forward and lift your club head slightly off the ground. From there, you should feel like you’re making an extended putting stroke.

Practice by keeping your leading wrist flat using GOLFSTR+. Buy one today for 5 more swing fixes at www.GOLFSTR.com

Today I received 2 blogs from amazing golf instructors who made opposite recommendations for your backswing and both claimed that you will get longer drives. As it turned out, they both may be correct, but I will bet that more Weekend Warriors will benefit more from a limited backswing than a longer, faster backswing.

Hank Haney recommends that you will hit your drives longer if you take a longer, faster backswing (even with a bent leading elbow) and a faster downswing. His logic is that your longer backswing will allow you to make a faster downswing. You will gain 2.5 yards for every mile per hour of impact speed. This fact has been proven under test lab conditions with “Iron Byron”, an electronic driver testing machine.

Danny Maude’s blog helped a student gain about 40 yards by limiting his straight leading arm backswing and generating a square clubface hit on the ball for a huge gain in yardage by eliminating a banana slice. The slice was killing his distance. The limited backswing allowed his student to control his drive directly up his target line for a lot more distance.

The problem with a longer faster backswing and downswing is that mid to high handicap golfers who try to swing faster will inevitably swing across the ball causing a horrible slice and send more balls into never-never-land. You will find that you can hit more balls in the fairway and longer than your normal attempts if you swing with a flat wrist, straight arm and a limited backswing (at about 1/3rd of a John Daly swing.)

As your confidence improves you will gain a lot more distance as you increase rotation of your hips and shoulders in your backswing. Then you can increase the speed of your backswing to build in wrist lag at the top and catapult your clubhead in the downswing to add even more speed AND DISTANCE ( as recommended by Hank Haney).

Practice this limited backswing technique with GOLFSTR+ and enjoy controlling longer straighter drives and hitting more fairways. Then you can add more rotation and speed for more distance with your future confident swing. Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com

Over the years we have seen amazing performances by Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods GOAT-(Greatest Of All Time) and now the new blood like Scottie Scheffler perform at a level so much better than other golfers. As they age their skills drop off but we should all learn to enjoy golf with the energy and skills that we have learned. Don’t let anger over a missed shot kill your game.

Bad Breaks Should not Kill Your Next Shot
Bad breaks, like hitting a branch or landing in a trap happen. Yes it would have been nice to miss those problems but there is nothing you can do to change the result. What you can change is the reaction for your next shot. Great golfers don’t swing their club in disgust. They step back, appraise their mistake, make the right practice swing and get ready for the next shot. They move on mentally with a fresh frame of mind.

Let Your Hands and Club do Their Work
Your hands make or break your next shot. They need to square your club face and add speed to the release through impact. Flatten your wrists in the backswing to shallow and square your club face with the plane of the back of your hand. Relax your wrists at the top of your swing to let your club add lag that will release with a whipping action AND SPEED at the bottom of your swing.

Scottie Creates Relaxation During his Pre-shot Routine
He plans his shot and then moves into a CALM MIND AND BODY to execute the shot that he wants. Whether he is driving, launching an iron or putting he visualizes the path that he wants his ball to take before he executes his swing. He know what he wants and can do.

Make the Best of a Bad Lie and Hit Shots that You have Practiced
Learn from the reaction that you saw so many pros take throughout their games at Pinehurst #2. Scottie’s game was not great during the US Open but he kept a “good head” and was able to bounce back on many holes. Build confidence with shots that you know you can make.

Keep positive mental goals in your head and stay patient. Scottie commits to what he can control and does not worry about the results. He said that, “It’s all about responding to the bad and kind of rolling with the good.” Put some effort into your game by learning the basics with GOLFSTR+. Straight elbow and flat wrist allow you to shallow your club and launch with power. Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com

Just when we thought that Scottie Scheffler had the magic solution for excellence in golf, his world came crashing down. On the second day of the US Open he just made the cut and we were shocked. We found out that he’s human after all. There really is hope for every struggling golfer. We should all learn from some of the comments and performance at the US Open.

Most golfers will never play #2 Pinehurst as it really is designed to humble any golfer who takes on the challenge. Watching how the pros handle their commitment to their game is the most important thing that we can all take away from this amazing golf event.

Scottie’s Weak Putting Performance:
Even before the start of the US Open, Scottie Scheffler was outside of the top 70 professional golfers for strokes gained in putting. In spite of his seemingly weaker putting performance, he still has an amazing winning record. OUR TAKEAWAY: His performance in other skills like fairways hit, scrambling, greens in regulation, sand saves and one putt greens are enough to keep him at the top of his sport. DON’T LET ONE WEAKNESS DESTROY YOUR MENTAL OUTLOOK.

Positive Attitude:
Roger Federer was a top tennis player who won 80% of the games that he played but he only won 54% of the points. OUR TAKEWAY: The top performer wins by the slimmest of margins. Attitude and Confidence can put you over the top in every sport.

Stay Focused:
Jack Nicklaus commented at his Memorial Tournament that Rory’s inability to win majors over the past 10 years: “He seems to not be able to focus all the way around.” When commenting on Scottie’s success: “He doesn’t make dumb mistakes.” OUR TAKEAWAY: Jack was right about Rory’s focus (when he missed 2 short putts) to lose the US Open and for Scottie: you are only as good a your next shot so keep your head in the game.

Learn Patience:
Scottie’s demeanor stays the same throughout the round. He navigates each shot the same regardless of the level of difficulty. Rather than getting upset over a mishit or a shot deflected by a tree, he takes his mind to a positive place and focuses on what he can control. OUR TAKEAWAY: Avoid #2 Pinehurst.

Over the past few weeks we have seen Nelly Korda and Scottie Scheffler lose their magic touch. We will never know the external pressures that may have thrown their games off but we do know that they are amazing athletes who have the mental fortitude to get back on their games. You can do this too if you practice to improve your swing with GOLFSTR+. Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com

You will never be good at any shot unless you practice a consistent swing that performs well for you. This is pretty basic stuff. Most golfers spend too much time on the range swinging with their driver. Unfortunately, golf is a game played with every club in your bag and each one can hurt or benefit your game every time you play.

Tennis is a lot like golf when it comes down to hitting any shot. Technique is critical but you need to perfect various types of serves, forehand shots and backhand shots to be a great tennis player. To improve my game, I took a single lesson to learn the proper serve as it seemed to be the most critical shot similar to being able to hit a great drive.

I was fortunate to have courts in a park next to our house so I would regularly practice serves using buckets of balls at least 4 days every week. Unfortunately, as a single player practicing my serve the rest of my game suffered.

Reading an article by an editor at GOLF.COM, I realized that his golf game suffered the same fate. His drives and full swing approach shots were great but he could not make chips and flop shots around the green. His friends complimented his game and said, “Its too bad he couldn’t score well”. That set him on fire with determination to clean up his game.

Solution
He learned to trust the bounce for each of his lofted clubs. His old habit was to close the face of his wedges to keep the ball lower to control his shots. When he saw the success that he was having with his open-faced lob shots, his game turn around. Consistent practice allowed him to build confidence for each angle of his lofted clubs so that he could roll or stick his chip and flop shots.

By practicing his short green shots instead of hitting without purpose, it made all the difference. He found the right setup position and with consistent practice he learned to get his chips close for more single putt greens.

Put some effort into your game before you waste more time playing golf. Practice with GOLFSTR+ for perfection with every shot in your game. Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com

Sports Illustrated’ s weekly blog: GOLF.com, recently had a great idea to improve our games. Just set some achievable positive goals before every round. That will help you enjoy your great shots and disregard your worm burners and shanks without setting a grenade off in your butt.

The enjoyment of golf is about setting goals that bring you energy and fun. When you’re having more fun you’re in a happy place. Ben Hogan, one of the greatest champions in the history of the game, said he was happy to hit just one or two perfect shots per round. He said that everyone — from high-handicappers to scratch players — would be wise to play the game that way.

Julie Elion is a mental-game guru, who reminded us of Bobby Jones’ quote: “Golf is a game that’s played on a five-inch course — the distance between your ears,” She found that the mind is the most daunting hazard out there on any course.

Set Your Goals
Julie helps golfers identify their personal goals before every event. The most common theme is CONSCIOUS POSITIVE INTENTIONS. All it takes is a simple message — distilled into a few easy-to-remember lines. Positive goals play better than those who play with fear of negative outcomes. An obsessive insight and analysis about a problem seldom results in a winning putt. Focus on your target Negative thoughts based on avoidance cause a bad case of energy drain.

Knowledge of a relevant hazard is useful, but it’s not a goal. Positivity is paramount. Elite athletes, like Scottie Scheffler with an optimal mental attitude are the ones who end up pulling away from the pack.

A/ Set measurable goals: Number of Fairways Hit, GIRs and 1 or 2 putt greens

B/ Set SWING goals that reinforce energy and concentration with specific steps:

• –Light grip to relax muscles as you swing though the ball.
• –Full backswing to allow time for wrist lag at the top.
• –Swing to a balanced finish
• –Finish your putting swing up your target line to let the ball pass the hole.
  
• Practice with your swing goals in mind using GOLFSTR+ before you reach the first hole. Then keep those thoughts throughout your round. Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com

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