Will Curry

I developed GOLFSTR+ to help me remember to keep my leading arm straight in my backswing. If you bend your arm in the backswing it will always be difficult to consistently swing down to the ball with the exact same arm length. A bent leading arm causes topped balls or fat hits or hits off the toe of your club.

You will never see Tiger Woods swing with a bent leading arm because he still has the flexibility for a full rotation with a straight leading arm in his backswing. He, like every other professional golfer, knows that his leading arm is HIS YARD STICK to his golf ball. He has a straight leading arm in his setup and again at impact and that gives him a consistent impact with the ball.

Driving distance champions have longer backswing but hit a low percentage on the fairway. Accuracy with a limited backswing must be a critical solution for your game.

Aging Bodies Lose Flexibility
What are aging bodies supposed to do when they can’t create a backswing like Tiger and all of the other pros. Bending your elbow will often result in a swing over the top causing a sliced shot or hits off the toe of your club. If you eliminate the top of your bent arm backswing, you can also eliminate premature casting at the top.

3 Solutions to Keep Your Leading Arm Straight.
1/ Lift your leading heel slightly to allow for more rotation of your hips without shifting your body back. Jack Nicklaus and many other pros did this. Why can’t you?
2/ LIMIT YOUR BACKSWING to the point where your leading arm is NOT BENT and your FLAT LEADING WRIST is cocked for lag. Your power comes from the weight transfer to your leading hip but even more important the release of your wrist lag at the bottom of your swing.
NOTE: Even the pros normally complete a backswing with their leading straight arm just above horizontal when hitting irons. YOU DON’T NEED A JOHN DALY BACKSWING for you irons or your driver.
3/ Train your mind to limit your backswing using GOLFSTR+. Wear it while you play 18 holes to train your mind to limit your swing. [Unfortunately, it’s not legal to wear during a competition.]

Don’t compensate for limited rotation by shifting your head and shoulders. [Note from Tiger: When he loads onto his right hip in his backswing, his next thought is to turn as much as he can into his left hip. That keeps the club out in front of him and helps him hit fades. When he doesn’t load properly, he springs up and out of his posture, the club gets too far behind him, and it adds pressure on his back.]

Practice your straight leading arm swing using GOLFSTR+. Feeling GOLFSTR+ touching the back of your arm reminds you to limit your backswing. Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com

Thought For the Day: Why am I using a new putter?…… Because the old one doesn’t float.

Golf is NOT a “no brainer”. You can’t afford to setup and execute each shot without a mental plan and image. I have read blogs where the writer suggests that you should just choose your target and then swing without any mental preparation. Believe me, I have tried it and nothing could be worse. Every swing is unique for every condition that you face (wind, stance, ball location and the mental impact of your last shot).

Reading a recent issue of GOLF Digest, I was amazed at the detail that Collin Morikawa puts into every shot. I just wanted to share the thoughts that he quoted:
PLAN A: “When it’s critical to hit the fairway, I go with a little cut shape off the tee. My typical miss is to over cut the ball. It happens when my arms get disconnected from my body on the backswing [where his trailing elbow is almost touching his side at the top]. To make sure a cut doesn’t become a slice, I treat my arms and torso as one unit as I start back. Try it. You’ll feel like your backswing is abbreviated, yet fully wound.”

PLAN B: “When I want to reach back for a few extra yards, I tee the ball higher and make a bigger turn, which makes my swing longer. I’ll some-times put my right hand on my right hip and mimic a backswing to rehearse this longer drive. I want to feel my right leg straightening and my right shoulder moving back and around my body [where his trailing elbow separates from his side]. If I copy that when I swing, I can really turn it loose.” [End of Collin’s quote.]

Collin has a mental plan for each shot. And you should have one too. I try to follow his plan A to keep my trailing elbow close to my body to force my backswing rotation. I have to avoid his plan B (for extra yards as that is where I get into trouble with wild slices).

Collin Morikawa really does have flexibility to rotate and keep his leading arm straight throughout his swing. Stay tuned for next week’s blog when I describe a great solution for the backswing for less flexible golfers. Keeping your leading arm straight is critical for consistent golf so you should be practicing with GOLFSTR+. It also gives you 5 more golf swing fixes. Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com

Thought For the Day: It’s amazing how a golfer who never helps with house or yard work will replace his divots, repair his ball marks, and rake his sand traps.

Great golfers like Freddie Couples generate more power by swinging with a “lazy wrist”. As a matter of fact, you may not see the lazy motion in the takeaway, but powerful golfers lead their downswing with the butt end of their golf club. By adding lag and rhythm at the top of their swing, they automatically adds more power. Danny Maude’s (golf blogger) recent blog reminded me about this secret power builder.

If you are a rigid armed, fast swinging golfer, you will be surprised at how well you can swing if you loosen up. That’s right, put some rhythm in your swing and let your wrists do the work.
I mentioned Freddie Couples as one of the few golfers who has a swing where you can see him start his downswing with the butt end of his club while the head of his driver or iron still seems to be adding wrist lag at the top of his backswing. He is not rushing his swing, but his motion is the opposite to casting.

Casting at the top of your swing is where you lose most of your power. The only way you can add head speed is to “release” as the bottom of your swing to increase head speed and generate more distance during impact.

Danny Maude recently illustrated what I call “Lazy Wrist Action” by using a weak wrist takeaway like a waggle where your hands are moving the way you would waggle (in the opposite direction of the head of your club). As his hands approach the top of his swing, he lets the club head catch up and pass the wrists to add lag at the top of the swing as he pulls down on the butt end of his club and starts his forward hip press and rotation. Try to do this as you exaggerate the lag at the top and feel your wrists pulling the butt end of your club down.

Practice by waggling your club to get the feeling of leading your takeaway with your wrists (but you won’t actually do this for your swing). Then swing to the top and let the club add lag with your “lazy” wrists as you pull down with the butt of your club. Learn the feeling of letting your loose wrists create lag as you start your downswing.

You will know that the butt of your club is leading your swing when you whip the club head through the impact zone and hear the whooshing sound.

Save your power for the release of your wrists at the bottom of your swing. Learn the “lazy wrist” feeling in slow motion and then speed up the swing to feel the impact of a more powerful swing. Don’t forget to practice your straight leading arm swing with GOLFSTR+. Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com

Thought of the day: The pro-shop gets its name from the fact that you must have the income of a professional golfer to buy anything in there.

Every golfer has the strength to putt and sink putts. The best putters read the break and match the right swing weight directly up their target line to sink every putt. Easier said than done. Even Cameron Smith can’t sink every putt but he does give himself an excellent chance by setting up correctly and swinging with the right swing to start his ball rolling OVER and DIRECTLY UP HIS TARGET LINE. So why do YIPS creep into YOUR putting stroke?

I recently read the benefits of the EyeLine Putting Alignment Mirror. Unfortunately, it can’t tell you the 3 most critical features to make putts: (1) How to read the break: (2) The amount of swing required to reach the hole and (3) How to avoid the YIPS. You need to start by practicing on a variety of greens with different roll speeds to build confidence. Great putters learn to feel the right swing speed to manage the break and power the putt with a confident swing into the hole. To do this you need to swing with your shoulders AND avoid the YIPS.

A Putting Mirror is an aid to help you setup:
1/ Square up your feet and your shoulders with your target line.
2/ Your eyes should lineup directly over the target line or slightly inside of that line.
3/ Your head should not sway with your putter backswing or follow-through.

What You Can’t Learn from a Putting Mirror:
A/ Learn to swing by rocking your shoulders TO AVOID THE YIPS (using the LARGE MUSCLES IN YOUR SHOULDERS and not the small muscles in your wrists).
B/ Your putter must swing directly back (like a pendulum) and directly up your target line BY ONLY ROCKING YOUR SHOULDERS.
C/ Make a long enough putting practice swing WITH YOUR SHOULDERS to feel the power required to reach and pass the hole by 12 to 18 inches (to avoid a deflection from green imperfections as your putt slows down near the hole).

Avoid the YIPS and shaking hands by locking your leading wrist flat and lining-up your leading forearm with the shaft of your putter. Only use your shoulders to swing your putter like a pendulum up your target line. GOLFSTR+ helps you practice by locking your leading wrist to eliminate the YIPS. Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com

Thought for the Day: Golf balls are like eggs – they’re white, they’re sold by the dozen, and a week later you have to buy more.

Aging Golfers tend to slow down their swing and that can lead to more missed shots. (1) A slower wrist release for your heavier driver tends to create more shots that fade or slice. (2) Your irons are lighter, but your hip release gets out of sync with your swing and that results in more topped balls or miss-hits. If you are experiencing these two problems, I have some wonderful news for you.

Realizing what my aging body was slowing down, with a driver swing speed at about 80 mph, I decided to experiment by setting up for my driver and my irons to compensate for my slower swing. Yes, I decided to “Cheat” my swing so that I am now saving about 10 strokes per round. My golfing buddies are amazed at my game. Last week while playing in the Men’s Golf Association, I won the top prize money at $211 by winning my flight in Best of 2 Ball, a Closest to the Hole on a Par 3 and 2 Skins.

Of course, I am calling my new swing setup “Cheating” but I am really setting up with a slight modification to compensate for my AGING LAZY BODY. It’s not really cheating but I wanted to get your attention with this blog.

“Cheating” Setup for your Driver
I am definitely losing power in my arms and wrists, so I tend to hit more fades or when I try to swing faster I get more slices than distance. I know that I am getting more distance when I shallow my down swing at the top (with my flat wrist) but that is only making my fade or slice even worse. My solution is to setup with an open stance, with my leading foot back a few inches from my target line. [My swing from the inside to out is like throwing an underhand softball pitch with the wrist releasing close to my hip.]

Surprisingly, after my first 6 to 9 holes when my body is really loosened up, I minimize my open stance for my drive to avoid pulling my drives. Our bodies tend to loosen up as we play so it is up to you to sort out how much of an open stance your need for your drives as your game progresses.

“Cheating” Setup for your Irons
During your transition at the top of your swing, your body should be shifting more weight to your leading foot, to ensure that you bottom out the arc of your swing directly after your club impacts the ball. Trainers and pros to this to compress their ball with more power. As I age, I tended to lose this weight shift forward at the top of my swing. I now “Cheat” my setup by adding a slight bend to my leading knee so that I am pressing forward right from the start of my backswing. I understand that I lose power by using this “Cheat”, but it gives me better control of the direction of my shots with very little lose in distance.

SPOILER ALERT: Performance Golf offers the “Power Joint Secret” to get 30 yards further: JUST KEEP YOU LEADING WRIST FLAT IN THE BACKSWING. That’s just one of the 6 Swing Fixes that you get with GOLFSTR+.

Using these two “Cheats” I’m getting more GIR’s and makeable birdie putts. Of course, I also focus on my straight leading arm and flat wrist backswing by practicing with GOLFSTR+ . Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com

David Letterman: Why Golf is Better than Sex #1: “When your equipment gets old you can replace it!”

Are you one of those golfers who occasionally yips your chips? You know those short chips near the green when you want to reach the putting surface and roll out to the hole. How often do you blade your chips across the green or bouncing your club into the ground before you brush your ball with a weak result? Imagine the strokes you could save if you could make every chip count.

I am one of those golfers who tends to miss-hit my chips when the pressure is on to lift my ball out of deep rough with a very short run-out to the hole. Of course, I also stub those easy chips from a tight lie about 20 yards from the green. I have tried a few special chipping clubs that promise success but the weight of these heavier clubs have a different feel than my set of clubs, so my swing cadence is inconsistent and my results were poor.

Opportunity!
I found the perfect solution where I can use my existing clubs as well as the different lofts of each of my clubs. Danny Maude teaches the proper swing for chipping (the way Scottie Scheffler or any other pro chips), but he also provides this much simpler chipping method with a putting stroke. What could be easier to use for recreational golfers?

Learn to Make a Putting-Chip: By gripping down on any of your irons and standing with your eyes almost directly over your ball you can chip your ball from any lie to clear 1 to 20 feet of rough and settle on the putting surface.

1/ For shorter chips with shorter run-outs, use your highest lofted wedge and for longer chips with longer run-outs you can select a lower lofted club like a 6 iron or an 8 iron.
2/ Setup with a normal putting stance with your feet close together but your hands will be placed on the lower end of your grip or below your grip so that your shaft is almost pointing vertically from your hands down to the ball.
3/ The toe of your club will be pointing on an angle down to your ball [Sorry about the image above as the grass is hiding the toe pointing down] as you will be swinging as you would with a putter (with a flat leading wrist) to lift your ball with the TOE of your club. Use a limited backswing to chip your ball and let it run-out 1 to 35 feet across the green.
4/ You will have to experiment with different amounts of backswing and follow-through with each of your lofted clubs to sort out what works best for the air time and roll-out that you want to execute.

The fun part is that you are no longer miss-hitting chips because you are able to rock your shoulders to impact your ball at the bottom of the arc of your swing with the shortened shaft of any iron in your bag. Practice your flat leading wrist swing while wearing your GOLFSTR+ exactly as you practice a putting stroke. Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com

David Letterman: “Why Golf is Better than Sex (#2): You don’t have to cuddle with your partner when you’re finished.” (This is not my idea)

We all play this wonderful game to improve our golfing skills so that someday we may even break par. I’m sure that every golfer would like to achieve the same goal as we are all searching for that special combination that will help us get there. Last week I played a great round of golf and shot 1 over par on my back nine. My only thought was: “How did I do that and can I bottle that special feeling for all of my future games.”

My first 9 holes were mediocre at best with only 2 pars and no 7’s. So I started wondering why my game clicked into near perfection on the back 9?

-My drives were consistently going up the center of the fairway and always over 200 yards (and into 25 MPH winds).
-Approach shots were on target as my impact was with weight on my front foot and I finished in balance. (Only 1 approach shot went over a green.)
-I missed only 3 Greens In Regulation (GIR) where I chipped up to the hole for a 1 putt or hit out of a sand trap for a 1 putt SANDY. I could do no wrong.
-I missed one nervous putt for a 3-putt hole where I was not committed to the break.
Overall, my putting was excellent where I sank most of my putts under 6 feet

I could do no wrong. So why was I creating so much success? Could it be:
-I was playing with 2 single handicap golfers who inspired my game?
-I ignored the fact that I was playing on a par streak and ignored my score?
-I focused on the right club selection and the full swing that I needed to execute my shot?
-I made a clean practice swing and duplicated that swing for each shot?

I was calm and relaxed so the only thing that I can attribute my success to was my CONFIDENCE to execute each shots and my SKILL to select the right club and the right target line. In my case my SKILL must be more luck when I am hitting on a windy day and landing on a reasonable lie. My next round was 2 strokes higher, but I know that I am on the right track.

I built up my CONFIDENCE by marking my scorecard with a “1” on the upper left corner for each hole when I landed my drive in the fairway and a “1” in the upper right for each GIR (or S/sand or W/water or T/tree or P/pitch). Based on a quick glance on my score card, I could easily see where my success was coming from. The more GIR’s I made, the more confident I became.

Most golfers have the ability to par every hole, but we need to use our personal focus on every swing and CONFIDENCE to make every shot count. Even when we miss a green or miss a putt, we can still recover on the next shot. I learned to correct my swing for 6 swing flaws with GOLFSTR+. Now I believe in my personal performance to keep lowering my handicap. Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com

David Letterman: “Why Golf is Better than Sex #3: If you live in Florida , you can do it almost every day.”

If you want to improve your scores, stop trying to swing with speeds like the professionals. It takes a lot more effort than trying to swing faster. Crazy long-distance drives are not paying off when you play the game of golf.

Bryson DeChambeau proved to all of us that if you add muscle mass and work out to add acceleration power, you can increase the distance of your drives. But with all of his effort he is still hitting much shorter drives than the world record holders for distance. Those record holders are only landing a small percentage of their drives in-bounds. Trying to hit extreme distance with your driver is a crazy strategy, especially for most recreational golfers.

GOLF Magazine issued an interesting summary of the driving distance for male and female recreational golfers. Knowing these distances should help you contain your efforts to hit longer drives. The average professionals are driving 300 yards but the longer they drive the further they also hit off the fairway.

Get Realistic with Your Driving Distance
Recreational golfers should be choosing tees which are appropriate for they strength and age. The Professionals don’t have this option. You can improve your scores if you control your driving distance and land more drives in the fairway.

Average Yards Driven by Level of Handicap

Handicap:….<6……6-12…….13-20……21+
Male:………240…….220…….200………75 or less
Female……200…….175……..155……..140 or less

The GOLF Magazine article highlighted the fact that longer drivers had lower handicaps. You will never lower your handicap if you don’t learn to control your drives and your driving distance.

We all want to improve our driving distance but don’t sacrifice your game by trying to hit crazy long drives. Move up to the right tees. Focus on driving to land more balls in the fairway and enjoy your game. Practice with GOLFSTR+ to improve your drives with a straight leading arm and a flat leading wrist. Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com

David Letterman: “Why Golf is Better than Sex #4: Your partner doesn’t hire a lawyer if you play with someone else.”

Cameron Smith may have set a record for 1 putt greens during 4 rounds of championship golf at The Players this year. His 42 single putt greens over the 72 holes played is an amazing record. On his final 9 holes he had 8, single putt greens. We should all try to learn from Cameron’s amazing putting technique.

Cameron uses a unique Scotty Cameron putter but you really don’t need that putter to make more putts. Every putter in the world can sink every putt. Golfers only needs to choose the correct amount of swing, on the correct target line and impact on the center of your balanced putter face to impart a straight putt with a forward roll (minimizing any bounce).

Cameron takes a careful read of the slope and distance by walking around his putting line and looking from above and below the hole. He does not use a consistent process where he uses a line on his ball to line up his shot. But he often just uses the Titlist logo to line up the direction that he wants to hit.
1/ He chooses a target point that he wants to hit on his putting line so that the ball will break and run down to the hole.
2/ He takes a few practice swings to feel the swing required to reach and pass the hole.
3/ He move forward to his ball and looks from his ball to his target point 1, 2 or 3 times.
4/ He takes a final long stare at the distance to the hole and this is where the MAGIC STARTS: In one continuous sequence, his eyes trace the line from the hole up to his target point and then back to his ball where his SHOULDERS swing his putter back and through his ball EXACTLY ALONG HIS TARGET LINE.

During the back-swing and forward-swing with his putter, his head and eyes stay focused on his ball. He holds the focus of his eyes directly on the point where his ball is resting for a fraction of a second after the putter impact is completed. He must visualize swinging his putter directly up his target line.

Most golfers focus on their ball for many seconds before they swing. Cameron is not making that pause. He transfers his eye line to his putter back-swing line in one continuous motion without watching his putter back-swing. You can practice this motion with GOLFSTR+. It will lock your leading wrist flat so that all of your putting power comes from the rocking of your shoulders without any wrist action. Avoiding movement in the small muscles of your hands eliminates any tremor or shaking action as you putter makes it pendulum swing. Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com

David Letterman: “Why Golf is Better than Sex #5: Three times a day is possible.”

Have you ever wondered why your game has its ups and downs? Occasionally you play brilliant rounds of golf but more often than not, your score is well above your handicap. Why is it that you never know who is showing up to play super golfer or loser golfer? A few years ago, I started to pay attention to my sugar intake on the course when a PGA caddy mentioned in an interview that the pros are extremely careful about their fluid and sugar intake during a round of golf.

Recently I noticed that I have been scoring well in spurts followed by dry spells. That woke me up to pay attention to my fluid and sugar intake. When I realized that my game dropped off after eating an energy bar, I started paying attention to the eating and drinking habits of my playing partners. This was not a very scientific approach, but I did notice that anyone who ate an energy or protein bar immediately suffered a change in their game for the worse.

We all need a reasonable level of energy to play a round of golf. Unfortunately when your body is hit with an overload of sugar it must be adding a jolt your energy. You become invincible and tend to swing faster. Big mistake. Playing with 80% power is ideal. An overload of power just kills your swing. When your swing brakes down so does your game and and that crushes your mental attitude.

In summary, a sugar boost will overload your power causing mishits and resulting in a reaction to play more aggressively. Unfortunately your game will go down the drain.

Action Plan to Level your Energy while Golfing
1/ If you are going to eat an energy or chocolate bar just do it in moderation. Eat it slowly over a number of holes. Savor it and minimize your energy output.
2/ 1 beer may relax your swing but don’t get carried away. You know what multiple beers will do to your game and that will be the same result when you load up on sweats and energy bars.
3/ Plan on taking fruit or Gatorade to add electrolytes and energy in moderation.
4/ Stay hydrated with water as playing golf without water will zap your energy.
5/ Don’t get too excited when you birdie a hole as that boost in adrenaline will also destroy your mental balance. The success or lack of success on you next drive will tell you how wired you are.

Sugar and adrenaline will not help your game. If only we could all be as cool as Cameron Smith to play 8 single putt greens on the last 9 holes played to win the Players Championship. Practice with GOLFSTR+ for 6 swing fixes (including a flat wrist putting stroke) and remember that sugar overload and swinging at 110% will never improve your game. Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com