Will Curry

We are all impressed with Scottie Scheffler’s confidence and consistency. Both traits are something that we all need to strive for in our games. Scottie is averaging 75% of Greens Hit in Regulation (GIR). That’s 10% better than the tour average. He also shanks the occasional shot, but his mental recovery is instantaneous. You may never achieve his success, but you should add this challenge to your game.

Mind Control
We are all human and we all make mistakes in life and in our rounds of golf. When you make a bad swing, you know it instantly and may drop your club in your follow-through. That’s an indication that your reaction is out of control. You know it and you also know that you are allowing your mind to possibly destroy your next shot and your round of golf. Focus on letting your reaction be the start of your NEW and Improved mental reaction.

A shank or a mishit should be your wakeup call. Calm down and shake it off for your next shot. Scottie Scheffler just lets it go and so does Tiger. It’s a decision that they make. A mistake is in the past and there is nothing that you can do to change it. Take a deep breath and move on with a relaxed attitude to slow down and take a full backswing for an improved swing and to finish the hole with a reasonable score.

Improve Your GIR’s
You may never achieve what Scottie does with his Greens In Regulation but you will improve your game if you commit to marking your score card and counting your GIR’s in every round. Your focus on improving your GIR’s will improve your game.

Your Alternate Plan
A secondary plan should focus on your 1-putt greens. You may never approach the skill of hitting 75% of your GIR’s but you can improve your chipping to get them within 4 feet of the hole. Too many missed chips should be a wakeup call to change your chipping technique. Why not change your full swing chip to a putting stroke with a lofted club (putt-chipping)? A putting stroke is so much easier than a full chipping swing.

Select a club that will lift your ball over the ruff, trap or fringe and then roll out to the hole. You can’t appreciate how easy this shot is until you practice with different clubs and different levels of backswing. You will improve the consistency and accuracy of your putt-chipping if you grip down on your club so that you stand with your eyes directly over your ball and you are only hitting with the TOE of your club to avoid interference with the turf.

Practice your putt-chipping with a flat leading wrist using your GOLFSTR+. Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com  

As we age, “DING Dong Hits” start to take over your game. We all wonder where these crazy mishits are coming from. They could be caused by physical injuries and reduced strength. So, its important to sort out what is causing your missed shots and make some minor changes in your swing to get your game back on track.

The most critical areas to consider are your backswing, impact and finishing pose. You can exercise more to improve our strength, but mishits are your greatest concern as they are the primary reason for your higher scores. Focus on these areas:

Setup
Using a lighter grip to relax your muscles and allow your floppy wrists to add lag at the top of your swing for more whipping action and power at impact.

Backswing
Rotate your wrist to open your club face to keep your leading wrist flat and to shallow your downswing. [Use a mental count (such as Cocaaa-Cola or Wateer-Loo or 1-aand -2) to allow for more time in your backswing to add wrist lag.]

Study Your Divot and Club Face Impact Point
Your practice swing should be touching the grass just after the point where your ball is resting (you may want to try moving your ball back a few inches in your setup). Your divot should be a square cut but more important you need to determine if you are hitting on the center of your club face. An inside hit may be hitting your housel and directing your ball as if it is hit off the toe of your club. Spray your club face with foot powder to determine your point of impact and make appropriate adjustments.

Finish Pose
Besides the mental count to slow down your backswing, your focus should be on a balanced finish as you watch your ball fly to your target.

Plan to Putt Up to 3 Feet Past the Hole
Now that most golfers are leaving the pin in place while putting, we are forgetting to putt past the hole. You can’t afford to leave your putts short as they NEVER GO IN. ALL PUTTS break more as they slow down near the hole so you should always plan to putt with less break as you putt about 1 to 3 feet past the hole.

Practice with GOLFSTR+ to keep your leading arm straight and your leading wrist flat for every shot. Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com

You should be able to save more strokes when you have a higher lofted iron or putter in your hands. So why is it that you can’t hit it close for a 1-putt every time you are near the green? Of course, you need to read the green before every approach stroke, but you need to use the right club and practice to make more 1-putt greens.

We have all heard that it is better to putt when you are near the green but in most cases, this is hogwash.

Why not make a putting-chip?
1/ On any given round of golf you have hit many putts, and you know the speed of the green. Your mind is tuned in to that speed for your putter. Unfortunately, you can’t get that feel out of your head. I have seen too many rounds of professional golf on TV where a pro makes a SHORT putt from off the green.
2/ You can’t trust the fringe or the ruff grass just off the green as the bent grass will push your putt off course every time. You need an easy way to lift your ball over the ruff so that it can roll out to the hole.

Solution
Putt with an Iron or Hybrid: That’s right, just make a putting stroke with any of your lofted clubs to lift your ball over the ruff and let it rollout on the green up to the hole. This may seem revolutionary but what could be easier with clubs that are already in your bag.
1/ You don’t need to make this adjustment with a heavier new club that take a lot more time to learn the feel. You are already familiar with the feel of your clubs for a full swing.
2/ The only thing you need to learn is how much backswing is needed for the hit that you want to make. We are not talking about a full backswing. A putting stroke is easier to make than any chip shot.
3/ It’s so much easier to let the weight of your club control your swing for a putting-chip that will only travel up to 30 yards.
4/ The simplicity of this shot is all in the ease of swinging your club head directly under your eyes like a putter. Grip down on your chosen club so that the shaft is almost vertical and your club head is only touching the ground at the TOE to minimize turf contact (NOT THE FULL LEADING EDGE ). Just hold the face of your club so that the flat is perpendicular to the direction that you are hitting.

Of course you can practice with your GOLFSTR+ to keep your leading wrist flat for your putting-chip stroke. Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com

The concept used in the movie, Money Ball, should be applied to your golf game. In that movie, Brad Pitt used a new set of statistics for baseball by counting a walk as equivalent to a single. Getting a runner on base is the only way to score runs. It’s the same in golf. Getting your ball in play or on the green is the best way to minimize bogeys or to get pars or birdies.

DECADE GOLF is a course-management system, founded by Scott Fawcett, which uses a statistical approach to course management to lower your scores. He offered Tiger Woods’ personal rules to for scoring.

1. Par-5s are prime scoring holes: Most golfers will have an opportunity to hit a short scoring club into the greens so it’s important to take advantage of par-5s. His goal was to avoiding bogey. Don’t feel like you need to make birdie on these holes, just focus on eliminating bogeys instead.
2. Avoid Double Bogeys: Making a double bogey can kill your game. If you find yourself in the trees, punch out and play for bogey. Don’t try the hero shot and bring a huge number into play. Eliminate doubles and you’ll see your scores come down in a hurry.
3. Avoid 3-putts: Three-putting add up quickly on the scorecard. To become a great golfer, you need to become a good lag putter. If you can dial in your touch from distance, you’ll have a much easier time keeping three-putts off the card.
4. Make Your Scoring Clubs Count: Your higher lofted clubs are your scoring clubs. When you have these clubs in your hands, you simply cannot make bogey. Play smart, hit for the fat part of the green and take your 2-putts. When you start to do this consistently, you can go for the pin and eliminate bogeys and possibly make a few birdies.
5. Eliminate Double Chips: As a recreational player, you should use a chipping technique to eliminate double chips. When you’re around the green, your first priority should be to leave yourself with a putt on the next stroke. You may want to try gripping down on your scoring clubs and chip with a putting stroke to guarantee that you next shot will be a putt.

Always get the emotion and any anger out of your next shot and make a smart shot. Practice with GOLFSTR+ to improve every shot with a straight leading arm and a flat wrist. Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com

It really sounds like an impossible task to swing in an arc to hit a ball straight at a target. Of course, that’s what you are trying to do with every golf swing. It’s the real reason why we have so many problems trying to hit our ball at a target.

The Golden Bear, Jack Nicklaus, used VISUALIZATION to hit his targets. He was making an imprint of his visualized shot on his brain. That memory controlled his swing direction and club face direction to create amazing shots. I suspect that it takes years of practice to achieve his skill level.

Understand the Science of Your Golf Swing
Your driver is your longest club, so the longer swing radius generates the most club head speed and distance but swing direction and face direction can generate the worst results. You need to understand what causes both of these “direction problems”.

Problems for Direction Control:
1/ Your left and right arm extend from the left and right sides of your shoulders. Your shoulders should initiate the start of your downswing and your leading shoulder ends up further from your ball at the point of impact than your trailing shoulder.
2/ At setup, your leading wrist is slightly bowed but at the point of impact you want you leading wrist to be flat (for drives) or slightly cupped (for irons).

Cause of Direction Control:
Hank Haney reminds us that we need to minimize angles to control the swing direction and club face direction. Unfortunately, your shoulders and wrists need to adjust during your swing to bring your club face to square at the point of impact.

Every pro (including Hank Haney) instruct us to SHALLOW OUR DOWNSWING (in order to swing on a path from inside-to-out) but they never tell us WHY. ANSWER: As your left and right shoulder rotate, a swing path from inside-to-out will minimize the arc of your swing to give you a straighter swing up your target line.

Solution for Direction Control:
Setup with a light grip and ensure that the V’s between your thumbs to your first fingers on both hands point to your trailing shoulders. During your backswing, allow your trailing hand to rotate your club open to flatten your leading wrist. That action also allows you to shallow your downswing to square the face of your club and swing in a straight line through impact.

You also need to keep your leading arm straight throughout your swing for a consistent distance to your ball. Practice with GOLFSTR+. Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com

Wouldn’t you like to know why you are topping shots and hitting worm burners? It really is frustrating when you know that you need to clear a pond in preparation for a perfect third shot to the green. That’s when we rush our swing and dump our ball into the pond. Thankfully, Danny Maude described the cause and fix in a recent blog.

YOUR MISTAKE: To make a mishit and top your ball, you must be swinging up and through the top side of your ball. The only way to do this is by shifting your weight to your trailing foot in your backswing and rush your downswing before you shift your weight back to your leading foot. Most recreational players make this mistake.

HOW THE PROS DO IT: Pros don’t rush their down swing so that they can easily shift their weight forward during their transition at the top and make a perfect swing down to their ball. Recreational players should eliminate swaying back during their back swing to keep the bottom of your swing arc at your point of impact and inline with your ball.

Know that your club will (a) bottom out at the bottom of your swing arc and (b) – for right handers- spray your shots right when you connect early in the radius of your swing and spray left when you connect late.

Solution
(a) Bottom Arc Correction: For iron shots (off the ground) setup so that your nose is directly over your ball and DON’T SWAY BACK in your backswing. For your driver (off a tee) setup so that your nose and club head are on a line 4 inches behind your ball and allow your club to swing up to launch your ball.
(b) Swing Radius Correction: To control the direction of your shot, the further you place your ball back in your stance, the more you need to open your stance (by moving your leading foot back an inch or two). Since your ball is forward in your stance for drives, you should close your stance (by moving your trailing foot away from your target line).

If you bend your leading arm in your backswing, you will have to straighten it out before you connect with your ball to control your distance from your nose to your ball. Bent arm swingers should place their ball more forward in their stance, hoping that you can straighten out your leading arm before impact. Unfortunately, you will tend to top more shots with a ball forward in your stance.

Ideally, learn to swing with a straight leading arm and your leading elbow pointing up your target line. Practice with GOLFSTR+ to feel your straight leading arm and keep your distance consistent from your nose to your ball. Don’t sway back and keep your leading wrist flat to shallow your downswing. Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com

If you don’t hear that whoosh of your club as it impacts your ball, you are loosing 25% of your club head’s release speed. Of course, that also means that you are losing power and distance. Most golfers, including myself, are afraid to whip their club through the impact zone as they may lose direction control. When you follow the simple steps in this blog you will be amazed at how simple it is to gain control and power for every club in your bag.

1/ Straight Leading Arm: Ideally you need to keep your leading arm straight during your backswing and your downswing to maintain the consistent distance from your nose to your ball throughout your swing. That’s why I developed GOLFSTR+, a training aid to remind you to keep your leading arm straight throughout your swing to impact.

2/ Light Grip: Your upper hand needs to do 90% of the work during your swing. That’s why you need to keep your upper hand grip pressure at about 5 out of 10. Your lower hand can destroy your direction control and your power with a tight grip. It should be gripping with a pressure of about 2 out of 10 just to help you guide your club and your shoulders through your swing.

3/ Point Your Leading Elbow: It is critical to rotate your leading elbow during your setup to point up your target line. That rotation also helps you lock your straight leading arm.

4/ High Backswing to Shallow Downswing: Your takeaway should be directly back for the first 12 inches as you rotated your shoulders & hips as you lift your arms to a high backswing. Flatten or slightly bow your leading wrist during your transition in order to shallow your club during your downswing (to avoid an over-the-top swing causing a slice).

5/ LAZY WRISTS AT THE TOP: Don’t rush your backswing. You will feel your light grip allowing your LAZY WRISTS to add lag at the top during your transition. That relaxed lag will allow you to start your downswing without casting at the top. You will feel the casting and whipping action at the bottom of your swing through impact. [Unfortunately you will gain at least 10% more distance with every club. The good news is that you can now back off on rushing your swing and get better direction control. Accept the change and enjoy the results.]

The whooshing noise that you just heard at the bottom of your swing is caused by your added power during release. About 75% of golfers never experience this powerful sensation to create longer drives and iron shots. You will be excited to create more distance and direction control with your new swing. Use your head when you setup and practice with GOLFSTR+ to improve your game. Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com.

Wouldn’t you like to hit more fairways with your driver? We all practice hitting straight shots with our driver as that is what we hope to do on the golf course. Unfortunately a lot of our practice shots go left or right or even hooked or sliced. Even the pros have problems hitting fairways from the tee box.

If you are ever going to be successful in hitting more fairways you will have to learn the setup and swing that creates your draw or your fade. Practice those shots so that you can plan to hit them on the course. When you build confidence in those shots, you can setup for a left or right fairway shot to allow your ball to move back to your target point near the middle of the fairway.

Bubba Watson was able to create tremendous distance with his excessive draw and fade shots but his game has gone downhill because he was missing too many fairways and greens in regulation.

In an SI Golf blog, Dethier asks Mickelson what the difference is between hitting a straight ball compared to a draw or a fade. Mickelson said “It’s a feel thing. If I’m hitting a draw, I’ll let [my arm] release over. If I’m hitting a fade, I’ll get a little wider and try to hit the outside part of the ball; which slows down the release of the club. When hitting a straight shot, I’m just feeling the club go back to square.”

Translation: Phil may be able to feel his draw or fade but you need to setup to swing to impact the inside back quarter of the ball for a draw and the outside back quarter of the ball for a fade. Setting up with a slightly closed face will add to your draw and setting up with a slightly open face will add to your fade.

He also highlighted “You won’t find a good ball-striker who doesn’t setup with a straight-line arm and club. You can return to that position (at a high speed), and feel yourself going back to square. If you start with your lead arm bent, there’s looseness. If you start there, you can’t go back to a certain point in the backswing, stop, and go forward. But if you start in a straight line, you can take it back and you’re in a position to go forward with your downswing. All good golfers will start with their lead arm straight. So I’ll start with a straight line going back, and then I’ll feel it cast back to a straight line [coming down] to impact.”

Translation: Setup without bending your lead elbow and point your club straight out on the same plane. GOLFSTR+ is a great training aid to remind you to keep your elbow straight throughout your back swing. Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com

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