Will Curry

That famous quote by Ben Hogan is so true: “The most important shot is your next one.”  Learn from the past and move one.  This is easier said than done but your game will never improve if you don’t develop the right mind set and confidence.  GOLF TIPS MAGAZINE recently provided a great summary of the 5 Mental Mistakes in Golf.  So use your MENTAL CADDY to help you avoid dumb mistakes?

1/ Getting Distracted: Let your mind slow down and dump all of the clutter from outside of your game (emails, to do list, your last poor shot, that annoying bird >>> )

2/ Focusing on Your Score:  If you are having the best or worst round of your life, it will not improve your game by focusing on your score.  It can only get worse.  So just stay in the moment.  Clear your mind with thoughts about preparing for your next shot by focusing on your routine.  Make your next shot count.

3/ Reacting to Poor Shots:  We all react in different ways when we screw up a shot.  The harder you get on yourself the longer the impact and worse the effect on your next shot.  You came to play this game so don’t waste the time stewing about it.

4/ Lack of Course Management:  If you mishit your ball into a poor location just chalk it up as a penalty and hit your ball back into an area when you have a clear shot.  Don’t expect that you can hit like Phil or Tiger to save your butt 9 out of 10 times.  Odds are you will only end up in a worse position.

5/ Losing Confidence:  If you make a poor shot, try to understand what went wrong and get over it.  Negative self-talk is not going to help you.

So get on top of your game.  Build confidence in your game by practicing or warm up with GOLFSTR+.  Get the feel for great shots and use that feeling when you get out on the course.  Straight leading arm and straight wrist shots will give you better results.

We all make mistakes but don’t make 2 in a row.  Keep your mind focused and you will drop strokes in every round that you play.

Do you arrive to play golf and wonder who is going to show-up?   Will it be your Confident Self or could it be that other guy, your Doubting Thomas?

If you are going to play this game, you need to learn self-confidence from the get-go. Your attitude is based on your state of mind for that day. You need confidence in Every Swing in Your Game before you start.

The best way to build confidence and attitude is to work on your game. Knowing the basics of stance and ball position for every shot needs to be learned.  Of course you need to read about the right technique and take golf lessons to learn the right motion for every swing.  Using a golf training aid to practice and build confidence FOR EVERY SWING IN YOUR GAME is also a great starting point.  If you don’t practice the right motion you will miss two critical components of your game.

• Knowing the right combination for the perfect result: club selection, amount of back-swing and follow-through.

• Building muscle memory for relaxed confident muscles, cadence and mental outlook. [Yes we are including that big muscle between your ears.]

Learn to swing with confidence from the inside. Brandt setups with confidence faster than anyone.

Playing this game without practice is hog wash. All of the pros including Brandt Snedeker are constantly practicing to build confidence in their swing for every shot. Brandt’s mind works a lot faster than most golfers but he still has a swing that delivers.  Practice gave him the confidence.   This is a great shot of Brandt building power by swinging with a straight leading arm from the inside and firing his body through to a balanced finish.

GOLFSTR+ is designed to give you confidence with every swing in your game: Driving, Fairway Shots, Pitching, Chipping, Sand and Putting. Practice with GOLFSTR+ before you play to lock in that feeling for a STRAIGHT ARM or FLAT WRIST or HINGED WRIST. Wear GOLFSTR+ while you play 18 holes to lock in that feeling of success when swinging with a straight arm in the back swing.

Practice allows you to hit well. It’s contagious to the rest of your body. Your cadence, your posture and your focus on the direction will all benefit. Why not buy a GOLFSTR+ and practice with it to build confidence.

CLICK HERE TO WAKE-UP YOUR GAME.

Our son David Curry (www.davidcurry.info) performs opera throughout the world.  He made a surprising analogy between the focus needed to sing opera and hitting a golf ball.   The conscious mind can’t possibly manage the intricacies of music the way you can’t possibly consolidate every component of the perfect golf swing.

Using your conscious mind to focus on the thousand ideas which you have learned about the golf swing tends to cause the occasional mishit.  Only your subconscious mind can get it right.

If an opera singer thinks about the performance of each note, the quality and overall performance is destroyed.  As David explains it, the sound from his voice is like an out of body experience.  It’s as if he has little control as his subconscious manages this amazing sound as it departs his body.

Craig Sigl is promoting a book called: Break 80, 52 Ways to Lower your score WITHOUT Practice.  [52 ways sounds like practice to me.]  He suggests finding a swing that works for you and just do it consistently. 

Jim Furyk may have a strange swing but it works for him and he does it consistently.  Craig suggests that you let your sub-conscious take over.  He even talks about letting your mind rest outside of your body and observe your consistent swing.

There may be some truth in this.  Have you ever hit a golf ball with an effortless swing and wondered where that came from.  It felt like the amazing swing of Ernie Els.  You are actually letting your subconscious mind take over.  The result is surprising.

So learn the right swing using GOLFSTR+ for a straight arm in the back swing, wrist hinge and flat wrist in the back swing, putting and chipping.  Then internalize YOUR swing with words which have meaning in your subconscious.  If you mentally say a series of words while you setup and swing then your mind won’t wonder.   It can’t think of two sets of words at the same time.

I use words for my FOCUS TRANCE: “Calm and Relaxed, STRAIGHT ARM, Sweep in aaand Finish”.

Just figure out what works for your swing to trigger your subconscious to perform a smooth and consistent swing.   The words that I use have the following meaning:

• Calm and Relaxed: I breathe in and out as I relax my arms, hands and shoulders
• STRAIGHT ARM:  The final command as I complete my Mike Weir waggle.
• Sweep in:  Sweep the club back along the ground and let my lagging elbow touch my side.
• aaand: Opening my club face with a controlled transition and swing from the inside to out.
• Finish: F is the point of impact to a balanced Finish.

Create your Swing Mantra (one for fairway shots and one for putting) and let your subconscious take over.

Click HERE to check out GOLFSTR+ and develop your consistent swing today.

• The most important shot in golf is the next one.    Ben Hogan

• A golfer’s diet: Live on greens as much as possible.

• Golf is always testing your skill against your opponents LUCK!    Anonymous

• Show me a good looser and I will show you a man playing against his boss.

• “Isn’t that a new putter?“    Yes, the old one couldn’t swim.

• I found a wood to lower my score.  It’s called a pencil.

• Golf is like Taxes.  You drive hard to make the green, then end up in the hole.

• I can’t retire.  I have a golf addiction to fund

• A Golf Ball: If it goes right it’s a slice.  If it goes left it’s a hook.  If it goes straight it’s a Miracle.

Or you must be practicing with GOLFSTR+ 

Comment received from W. Coleman, Martinsburg, WV, the proud owner of a GOLFSTR  purchased in July 2012 who recently asked us how to get a Black Rubber EXTENDER:   “I use GOLFSTR  every time I practice or am playing a casual round. I can honestly say it has improved my score 3-4 strokes.”   (Of course there was no charge for the EXTENDER when I receive heart-warming comments like that.)

Hope you enjoyed this change of pace for GOLFSTR  Swing Tips.  Love to hear from you about your success with GOLFSTR  and  GOLFSTR+.

Want the solution to avoid hitting fat and thin shots with your irons: Keep your hands forward of the ball through impact.  And now, as Paul Harvey would say: The Rest of the Story.

Jim McLean’s blog this week reminded us to “get forward at impact”.  Get your body forward and over your leading foot through impact.  Don’t cup your wrists.  All pros keep their leading hand forward of the club head to maximize power at impact. [These comments inspired me to find out HOW.]

Thomas Golf provided a great video this week on “How to hit it pure.”   The solution is easy: Setup with your hands leading the club.  Lineup with your hands forward of the ball so that the shaft of your club lines up with your leading arm.  It also sets you up to hit a draw so check it out at the range before you experiment on the course.  Your arms will return to the same point at impact if you focus on swinging down to nip the grass or take a divot after the point of impact.  Hit the ball first as you are driving your hips through the swing to a balanced finish.  CHECK OUT THIS GREAT VIDEO.

I was surprised at the power and release when I tried this.  I know that I have done this in the past but could never understand what was causing me to hit it “Pure”.

Keep your hands forward at impact to connect with the ball first and get more distance.

Sergio Garcia’s secrets for hitting pure iron shots:
Golf.com has an amazing sequence and description (seen by clicking the arrow in the upper right corner) showing the 16 images of Sergio Garcia’s swing.    The wrist hinge helps Sergio to get the shaft leaning forward at impact.  It’s a delofting move that helps add yards to every club.  CHECK OUT THIS GREAT SLIDE SEQUENCE ON www.golf.com

A FINAL THOUGHT FROM SERGIO: If you focus more on staying in balance, you’ll hit more good shots than bad. Try to hold your finish after every shot. Hold it until the ball lands on the ground. If you can’t, then you’re swinging too hard. Dial it back until you can hold your finish position and use that speed on every swing — even with your driver off the tee.

Read back over the points which are highlighted.  Practice with GOLFSTR+ to keep that leading arm straight and your wrist flat in the back-swing.   And in the tradition of Paul Harvey’s sign-off:  And now you know the rest of the story. 

When I really want to hit an important shot (especially when I want to avoid hitting out of bounds to the right) I often tighten-up, rush the back-swing and end up spraying my shot to the right (even with a straight arm back-swing).  Hallelujah, I finally discovered that I was rushing my back-swing and limiting the rotation of my shoulders and spine.   

BINGO!   Slow down, loosen the grip and take time for the shoulder rotation, back-swing and wrist hinge.

Snedeker wins COOL MILLION with great body rotation, flat wrist, great lag and straight leading arm

Straight arm in the back swing is so important but if you don’t rotate your shoulders and spine you will never swing from the inside or finish in a single plane down the target line.  SO DON’T RUSH THE BACK SWING.  Let it happen.

Brent Snedeker showed beautiful form as he won the Canadian Open just 600 yards from where I am writing this Swing Tip.  I could feel the vibes.

Recurring themes in blogs that I received over the past week:

• Straight arm in the back-swing is wasted if you let your lagging elbow fly like a chicken wing.

• For some time Jack Nicklaus turned his head to the right and focused with his left eye on the ball during his setup.  He felt that because he was left eye dominant that his right eye was distorting his focus on his ball.  What he was really doing is initiating (or allowing) the rotation of his shoulders and spine in the back-swing.

• Mike Breed feels that a pre-swing waggle loosens up the arms and hands.  Mike Weir had a better idea.  He does a pre-swing waggle by taking his club back to start the shoulders and spine moving.   The Jason Dufner waggle seems to be a nervous tension release.   The Weir Waggle is just loosening up the shoulder rotation (to avoid swinging over the top).  Try it!

• Jim McLean at the Trump Doral Golf Resort reminded us to stay connected.  Rotate the arms back and keep the body rotating back and then through the shot.  “Stay connected.”

• Martin Chuck, Revolution Golf Blog suggests:  Tuck a golf glove under your arm pit to keep the trailing arm connected to the body.  It also forces an inside out swing.

GOLFSTR+ helps you train for wrist hinge, flat wrist and straight leading arm in the back-swing but it’s all wasted if you rush the back-swing and forget to rotate your spine & shoulders; swing from the inside and swing up the target line.  That is how I found my Hallelujah Moment for consistent hits.   You will be amazed.

Set your goal to break 100 or 90 or 80 on your next round.  Keep your mind focused and don’t freeze up before you complete your back-swing with a nice straight leading arm and flat wrist.

Recreational players often grab a club like a baseball bat.  It’s the first club that they ever grabbed so it feels natural to hold it in your palm (not your fingers).  But it is not helping in your swing, tempo, arm muscles and game.  This week a number of pros commented on the right grip, the right pressure and the right speed to get the results that you want.

Don Trahan discussed the importance of gripping in the fingers not the palm.  Holding the grip in the palm or the fleshy base of your hand will cause strain all the way up your arm.  It will cause strained muscles in your arm and elbow if you grab it too tightly.

A doctor commented in the Trahan blog: “For someone with frequent elbow soreness they may be gripping the club too tight”.  He recommended thicker grips to help anyone with elbow issues.

Holding the grip in your palm also gives you less flexibility when you hinge your wrist for lag.

“A light grip will calm the nerves and slow down your swing and give you control.”

In a recent interview, one of the contestants in a Longest Drive event said: You can’t develop lag with a tight grip.  He also suggested that the driver head needs to impact in the center of the face, with an ascending blow on the inside of the center line of the ball (swinging from the inside).

Gary Player talked about a 3 knuckle grip to hit further.  When you are ready to swing make sure that you can see the 3 knuckles on you glove hand (leading hand) to avoid slicing the ball (the primary problem for the recreational golfer).  This actually forces you to swing from the inside and up the target line.

Gary Player also advised that a light grip does not mean that you allow the club to release from your fingers at the top of the swing.  “You must own the club.  Your grip has to be complete throughout the swing.”

Another blog reported:  To hit longer drives you must have relaxed hands for a fast release through impact.  Most golfers who want longer drives grip the club waaaaay too HARD!

So use a relaxed but complete grip in the fingers of both hands so that you can see 3 knuckles on your glove hand.  Practice with GOLFSTR+ to limit the bend in your elbow in the back swing.  Learn to keep your wrist flat (no bowing or cupping of the wrist).  And practice your 90 degree wrist hinge for lag in your back-swing.   CLICK HERE  TO Practice and play with GOLFSTR+  for more POWER & CONSISTENT HITS.

Next Week’s Swing Tip:       Halleluiah Moment!   Don’t Freeze up in the Back-Swing

Why is Tiger Woods back on top of the Race for the FedExCup?  Answer: He works on every aspect that will make him successful: Strategically, Physically and Mentally.

If you are weak in one of these areas you will never reach your goals to improve in this wonderful game.  Why frustrate yourself?  Take inventory of what you are missing and make it happen.  The following points recognize the value of the mental game, core strength, flexibility and balance that you can gain from Yoga  (CLICK reference for the full article: Yoga for Golfers) .

YES, IT CAN HAVE A HUGE IMPACT ON YOU GAME!

• Perhaps no game is more wrought with mental hazards than golf. The sport introduces a constant struggle between the conscious mind — analyzing, alert, logical — and the subconscious mind — the well of intuition and long-term memory.

• This clash between subconscious and conscious mind presents an opportunity for the awakened athlete to override the mental strife created by the over analyzing conscious mind and reach toward the wakeful, clear mind state accessible through the intuitive subconscious.

• By incorporating elements of yoga practice, you can develop the mental discipline that golf demands.

• All the instruction in the world won’t help you if you allow stress to seep into your game.

• “in the zone“—a state athletes reach where thought is suspended and focus & concentration are heightened. Many golfers invariably bring in the element of performance pressure and wham!—the zone disappears.

Inspiration for Tiger and all golfers.

• Avoid negative self-talk: In his book, Training a Tiger: A Father’s Guide to Raising a Winner in Golf and Life (HarperCollins, 1998), Earl Woods, reminds his son, “If you don’t clutter your conscious mind with endless pointers and tips, you make it easier for your subconscious instincts to guide you.”

• Striving toward symmetry and balance is the essence of a yoga program, which breaks down tension the body has learned to work around. It is an intuitive process that takes practice to develop, much like a good golf game.

• A balanced body is a flexible body, and flexibility remains the cornerstone of a good golf game. As Earl Woods tells his son, “What you’re looking for is a soft, flexible, fluid swing—that’s power.”

Practice with GOFLSTR+ to ingrain success in your mind.  Relax and allow muscle memory and your subconscious mind to give you the confidence to improve every swing in your game.

CLICK FOR:  5 Training Aids in 1 wonderful device!

Watch for next weeks Swing Tip:   GET A GREAT GRIP AND ENJOY YOUR SUCCESS

Relax Like a Boss: This site give you access to blogs that relax your mind.  Yoga gives you mind control, mindfulness, flexibility and strength throughout your body.

Golfers need a change of pace to find peace of mind when they enjoy this wonderful game.  CLICK   to check this out:  YOGA BLOCKS AND GREAT MIND GAMES

We are excited to announce that Mike Calbot www.GolfDoctorUSA.com, a Professional Golf Swing Analyst and Master Instructor at the Old Corkscrew Golf Club,  (a Jack Nicklaus Signature Course) in Naples, Florida is working with us to expand the use of GOLFSTR.  In the following ad Mike is quoted as saying, ” I’ve added GOLFSTR+ in my training program and recommend it to help in so many ways.”  

We now promote GOLFSTR as 5 Training Aids in 1.  It helps you train for EVERY SWING IN YOUR GAME.

We are now re-launching GOLFSTR under the new name of GOLFSTR+.   This half page ad has been released for publication in Golf Tips Magazine and Golf Magazine for a combined circulation of  2 Million subscribers.

Straight Elbow and Straight Wrist for Straight Shots

Mike Calbot’s experience, while instructing with GOLFSTR, woke us up to make changes and offer new applications for this successful Golf  Training Aid.

1.  A Black Rubber EXTENDER has been added to provide 3 options for the pressure on the back of your arm when learning the Straight Elbow Back-Swing.

2.  Mike had previously developed a strap-on Wrist Lock to prevent cupping of the wrist when putting and chipping.  He felt that we could apply the same principle to GOLFSTR.  He recommended that we reverse the direction of GOLFSTR and snug it on the wrist over your golf glove to lock your wrist.  We also found it useful in the back-swing as a guide to prevent cupping and bowing on the wrist in the back-swing.

We also developed a 5th application by reversing the arm band and using the plastic plate to work as a stopping point for your wrist hinge in the back-swing.  We call this application the Back-Swing Lag Trainer.

Place your orders now as we expect to be short of stock this Fall.   CLICK TO check out GOLFSTR+ User Guide on our website.

Hope you enjoyed this release and please pass it along to your friends.

Inbee Park won the LPGA US Open, her third straight major this year.  She isn’t tall or strong.  Her drives are not long or the most accurate but she leads in Putts Per Greens Hit in Regulation.  Strange, Tiger and Matt Kucher were also winning when their putting stats improved too.

Her confidence under pressure and choosing the right line are so important but writers for GLOBAL GOLF POST saw more:  “She keeps her putting mechanics simple: low left hand, head still, her hands ahead of the ball through impact.  Every putt is struck with the same rhythm, so effortless that she reminds you of the swaying arm of a grandfather clock.”  TICK – TOCK

Putt with a locked wrist for a square impact and straight follow through.

Most golfers putt with a conventional grip placing the left hand high.  Inbee’s success is with hitting directly on the intended line and a square putter face at impact.  Light bulbs flashing on!!!  Grip the club any way that works for you.   It’s only the square impact down the intended line that counts.

While practice putting with a locked wrist using GOLFSTR+, I discovered that I no longer “slice” my putts.  Taking any wrist motion out of the putt and finishing along the intended line is so critical.  [By the way, I won a match yesterday on the 18^th hole with a critical right to left downhill putt.  It was a pressure putt and I know that my practice with GOLFSTR+ paid off.]

BEWARE: Golf Liability (found in The New York Times)

Don’t be an to hit when golfers are in-front of you especially when you are impatiently waiting for golfers to clear the green and surrounding area on a Par 3 Hole.  If you hit somebody and injure them — you are  going to be found liable by a court.

Image from The New York Times warning about your liability if you hit before they clear out ahead.

“The golfer is responsible for making sure that other golfers are out of the way before they hit,” said Robert Lang, a New York-based lawyer who has handled dozens of golf-related cases. “Yes, it’s true they aren’t responsible for hitting someone one or two holes away because they slice a ball, but if you’re on the tee and someone is near the green of the hole you are aiming at and you hit that person, you’re liable.”

In other words, multiple courts have ruled that golfers aren’t accountable for errant shots, but hitting someone in your intended line of fire is not an accident.

Like this article and spread the word that GOLFSTR is 5 Golf Training Aids in 1.         5-in-1