Swing Solutions

Swinging a putter is a pretty simple process. Or is it? Why is it so difficult to choose a line and then to putt a golf ball up that line? Unfortunately sloped greens affect our choice of direction and our bodies are designed to swing a putter in an arc. Putters are not designed to be hit in a straight line like a croquette mallet. You have to learn the tricks to swing in a straight line at the point of contact.

Your goal in putting is to plan for a straight putt on a planned target line. Unfortunately your chosen direction and speed of you swing will determine how much your straight putt will break. I love the tip that Rory McIlroy uses in putting.
1/ He checks the slope from below his putting line to the hole as he stands perpendicular to the line of his putt.
2/ He then stands behind the hole to see the break at the hole where the ball will break the most as it slows down.
3/ Then he stands behind his ball for a final check on the slope of the green and to choose his target line. He actually imagines hitting directly at the hole to get a feel for how far his ball will fall down (D) from the hole if he hits the perfect weight to reach the hole. Then he chooses a line to hit his straight putt so that it will fall about the same distance (D) down to the hole.
Now that you have your target line you need to swing your putter with enough force to pass the hole by about a foot (or it will never go in the hole).

You need the skill to hit a straight putt on your target line.
• 85% of your initial putt direction is caused by your putter face direction and 15% is caused by your swing direction. Both must be on the right line-up and your ball needs to be slightly in front of the centerline between your legs to allow the upward impact of your putter to start the roll of your ball.
• Your putter grip should have a flat surface which is perpendicular to the putter face. Let your thumbs line up on the flat surface of the grip and ensure that the back of your leading hand is pointing up your target line.
• Use the rocking motion of your large shoulder muscles for straight putt. Take any wrist or hand action out of your putt to avoid shaking hands.
• Your body naturally want to swing in an arc (around the axis of your spine). KEY FOR SUCCESS: Lock your eyes on that point of impact and swing through the point of impact and then UP (like a pendulum) along your target line instead of arching around your body.

Learn to putt straight using GOLFSTR+ to lock your leading wrist. You may want to try releasing your trailing hand at the point of impact so that your leading hand will carry your putter straight up your target line. (It’s the only way I can swing my putter straight up my target line.) Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com

Golf Truism #33 The wind is in your face on 16 of the 18 holes.

Have you ever noticed how your friends can hit amazing clean shots and then they fall apart on the next shot? Could it be a change in their psyche or a physical change in their body? I’m convinced that I have a combination of both problems and you may have the same.

I really started thinking about this when I saw an article about the ups and downs in Brooks Koepka’s game. He ended 2018 as the number 1 player in golf but a knee injury and a stem cell operation to repair his knee have really made it difficult for him to return to his winning form and as a result to drive again he acquired help from leppardlaw.com/how-to-get-a-hardship-license-in-florida but as it turned out the repair of his knee caused him to lose his rhythm, the law experts stated that he will be back to normal in no time. For injuries due to accident claims, Texas oilfield accidents attorneys need to be contacted.

Fortunately he spent some training time with Claude Harmon III and discovered that his weight shift at impact was not moving to his left side. During his peak performance his weight shift was 70% on his left side at the point of impact. He learned that he was not swinging well because he had lost his rhythm and his point of impact was with 70% of his weight still on his trailing side.

Brooks had to retrain his swing because his knee recovery made a huge impact on his swing. ARE YOU RUSHING YOUR SWING?

If you are favoring an injury that resembles that if you got help injured in car accident or you are frustrated with your results, your psyche may be out of whack. Your brain may be rushing your transition so that you never start your weight transfer at the top of your swing. DISAPPOINTMENT and ANGER may be limiting your golf results.

If I don’t warm up my “swing muscles” (and I mean all of them: hips, shoulders, arms and BRAIN), I tend to rush my transition at the top and miss my weight shift. So I know that I have a mental and physical problem when I start playing a round of golf. It takes me until the second nine before I finally loosen up my body and to start using my weight shift properly.

Brooks missed his chance to win a three-peat for the Wanamaker Trophy and the PGA Championship but he’ll be back. Practice with GOLFSTR+ and find your rhythm. Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com

Golf Truism #32: The rake is always in the other trap. (But not during the Pandemic.)

I just played one of my final rounds of golf for this year. It was a perfect autumn day, the sun was shining and there was a light breeze. How could I ask for more? Well as it turned out this was the day that my body decided to hook my drives. I just couldn’t shake it until I finally discovered the magic in my swing.

We arrived at a par 5 dog-leg to the right. I watched carefully as each player setup and executed their best fad. One hooked his shot, one completed a dead straight shot beyond the bend in the fairway and one sliced into the trees. It was my turn and I was concerned that I had been hooking most of my drives. The moment of truth had arrived.

I setup with a slightly open face on my driver and took and open stance. My backswing was wide and looping at the top so that I could nail that shot dead center up the fairway. A fad would have been nice but a hook would have been deadly. As it turn out I hit the longest drive of the foursome and with a slight fad. I pared that 512 yard hole with a 5 foot putt. Success!

Get Out of Your Rut
When your game is going sideways, why not setup for change:
1/ If you are mishitting your shots, slow your backswing down by counting 1, 2, 3 as you (1) start your takeaway, (2) as you rotate your hips and spine and (3) as you set your wrist lag.
2/ If you are hooking, setup for a fade and check out the results.
3/ If you are hitting your chips fat, put more pressure on your leading foot
4/ If you can’t control your approach chip with a wedge, try punching your shot with an 8 iron for a chip and run.
5/ If you can’t reach the green without risking a shot in the water or sand, just select a club for the perfect layup and then pitch or chip it close for a 1 putt.
6/ If your lag putts or chips are missing to the left or right, spend more time checking out the slope of the green and pay more attention to the roll from the shots by others. Get in the game!

If you find yourself complaining out loud about your consistent bad shots, do something about it. Break out of your slump. Get back in the fairway. And make your next shot count.

Turn every round of golf into a learning experience. Learn from your mistakes and change your swing or your club selection to improve your game. Enjoy your great shots and stop trying to hit the longest shot in your life with every club in your bag. It so much easier to layup and then hit the perfect short iron shot. Practice with your GOLFSTR+ for 6 swing fixes. Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com .

Golf Truism #30: Always limp with the same leg for the whole round.

Golfers at any level benefit from every round that they play. Unfortunately we all have mishits or shanks or poor side hill lies where we only get upset with our game. Wouldn’t it be great to have a second chance to try every one of your poor shots over again? Why not play the occasional round of golf where you take a mulligan for every one of your poor shots. Then add up your score and appreciate how low your score can be.

You learned to play golf hitting buckets of balls at a driving range on a flat surface or mat. So how will you ever learn to improve your game on the rolling terrain of a golf course? Or in the rough? When you play a round of golf, the pressure is on and you really don’t have time to learn from your mistakes. Wouldn’t it be ideal to take corrective action to fix your swing or setup to improve your shots?

SOLUTION: Play a Self-Training Round of Golf
Of course you can’t enter your score for your handicap when you take a number of mulligans. The real benefit is that you can:
1/ Figure out how to hit balls from a poor lie or from a side or downhill lie.
2/ Practice hitting a draw or fad to land your ball where you want it to land.
3/ Avoid the anger that builds up when something goes wrong with your swing.
4/ Enjoy seeing how well you can actually hit the right shot. [Of course, the old saying goes, any idiot can hit the second try.]
5/ Best of all, you can total up your score with all of your great shots to see how low your score can get. It will build confidence in your game.

Playing a practice round will let you make all of those short putts that never reach the hole. Gives you that second chance to get out of a sand trap. Lets you find the perfect direction to aim off your side hill lie. Try out a more lofted club on a downhill lie to actually make your shot count. And best of all you can make that chip with confidence to cozy your ball up to the pin for a 1 putt green.

Mark down the score using your best ball when you take an alternate shot. You will really be pleased to see your score drop by 10 to 30%. When you add up your score at the end of your round, you will really be pleased to know that you have that low score capability in your game.

Practice playing a round wearing your GOLFSTR+ to improve your straight arm swing. It will change your attitude and help you focus on improving your next round. Understand your mistakes and fix them on the spot. Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com

Golf Truism #29: The more your opponent quotes the rules, the greater the certainty he cheats. 

Your setup for every shot on a fairway may need adjustments. Every course is rated with a SLOPE. It is drastically affected by the rolling terrain of the fairways. Every time that you find your ball on side sloping ground or a forward or backward sloping surface, you need to make adjustments or your will lose control of your shot.

Find a FLAT Surface for Your Tee Shot
The simplest mistake that I notice is when recreational players don’t check out the slope on the tee. Premium courses ensure that the they get 3G Pitch Resurfacing every year but many club and public courses don’t pay enough attention to the flat surface on every tee. A side slope to the left will automatically force your ball to pull to the left and a slope to the right is just as dangerous. Find a flat surface to setup your tee shot to avoid pulls or pushes or slices.

Setup for any Shot
Clay at Top Speed Golf recently pointed out the importance of your body position for your setup:
1/ Ball position (forward or back in your stance) affects your angle of attack and shot shape. Practice and know what to expect from your swing.
2/ Let your arms hang to avoid stretching to reach your ball.
3/ Your stance width relates to your stability and power, You need a shoulder width stance for driver power, a narrower stance for irons and even narrower stance for gentle chip shots.
4/ Bend your back forward (don’t hunch forward) at your hips (and stick your butt out) for more power using any club.
5/ Shoulder tilt is so critical to ensure that your club path will add launch angle to your drives.

Adjust for Slope (side, up or down)
A. Your mind expects to make every swing on a flat surface. It is difficult for you mind to adjust for your swing on sloped surfaces. Adjusting for the 5 points listed above will all be affected. To help your mind adjust, make a full speed practice swing on the same slope where your ball is resting. You need to “customize and sensitize” your body and mind for the swing that you need to make. Then duplicate that exact swing without changing your swing speed.
B. You swing a golf club in an arc. Expect that a side slope to the left will pull your shot to the left. If the slope is to the right and you are standing above the ball, you are faced with more problems. You may have to bend your knees a little more (or widen your stance) to reach the ball and to keep your balance. Your club will not lie flat on a down side slope. A severe side slope can catch your hosel and twist your club before impact. Don’t expect a miracle shot. Prepare for the worst and take your medicine to reach a safe location for your next shot.
C. When you hit from any up or down slope, adjust your stance to ensure that you swing on the plane of your slope and your club will bottom out just after your ball. Use a higher lofted club for a down slope and a lower lofted club for an up slope to compensate for added or reduced angles.

Your clubs are designed to hit from flat surfaces. If you don’t adjust for sloped surfaces you can expect direction and distance control problems. GOLFSTR+ is a great training aid to help you learn the correct swing for every club in your bag. Golfing on sloped surfaces needs your special attention. Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com

Golf Truism #28: It’s not a gimme if you’re still away.

Golf is a strange game. Successful swings have evolved over the years. It really is surprising that we can almost recognize any golfer by their different profile and swing. They all have their quirks. Matthew Wolff and Bryson DeChambeau are 2 of the most quirky swingers but their risky swings are really turning out to be rewarding.

So what is this new quirky swing by Matthew Wolff doing? If you watched the US Open, you definitely saw that strange knee wiggle and looping swing by Mathew Wolff. He does a quick practice trailing knee bend to start his swing sequence. He’s actually feeling his impact position so that he can feel it before he swings. He knows where he wants to end up at the point of impact.

Matt also uses a wide takeaway (like Jim Furyk) with a loop at the top to swing from the inside to straight up the target line. His swing is risky because he doesn’t hit a high percentage of fairways but he certainly uses this power and swing motion to hit a lot of greens in regulation. Especially out of the rough.

Bryson DeChambeau’s collection of irons that are all the same length; adding on muscle for more swing speed and his leading arm-lock for every club in his bag are all new innovations. He starts with a FLAT WRIST and keeps it throughout the swing. He is just cutting down on angles for a square club face impact.

Why not try out something quirky to improve YOUR Game
1/Swing to Putt Straight Up Your Target Line: Release your trailing hand at the point of impact and swing your leading hand Straight UP YOUR TARGET LINE. (This is my favorite.)
2/ Trailing Knee Bend Wiggle: Find your point of impact with your trailing knee before you start your swing. (Ala Matt Wolff)
3/ Setup with a Straight Leading Arm: Moe Norman and Bryson setup this way for extreem direction control.
4/ FLAT LEADING WRIST: Either setup with a flat leading wrist or waggle your driver to flatten your leading wrist before you start your backswing (keeping your leading wrist flat). That flat leading wrist will force your trailing elbow to bend into your side for an inside to out swing.

Do the same old swing and you will get the same old result. Figure out what works for you and practice with your GOLFSTR+ to perfect your swing. Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com

Golf Truism #27: It takes considerable pressure to make a penalty stroke adhere to a scorecard. (golf is a game of personal honesty)

Hitting greens in regulation is the number 1 objective in golf if you want to lower your scores. Unfortunately we normally end up with a lot more chip shots than hitting GIRs. So chipping close to the hole for a one putt is really the most important shot for recreational golfers. Patrick Reed took an early lead in the US Open by chipping it close and then making a lot of 1 putt greens. Stabbing your wedge at the ball is NOT a good solution. You need to finish with hip rotation.

Clay Ballard at Top Speed Golf highlighted the setup and swing needed to avoid fat chips or worm burner bladed chips in a recent blog. NOTHING can mess-up a hole worse than a simple short chip. When the pressure is on you may go into a yip mode. With the proper setup and rotating finish you can break out of your missed chips.

1) Narrow Your Foot Separation and Open Your Stance: Keep your feet about 8 inches apart. When your feet are too far apart, it can cause you to be too rigid during the swing, and if they’re too close it can create issues with your balance. A chip is a simple rocking back and through (like a putt), but you want to be loose. Having your feet closer together also allows for a better ball position at the bottom of your swing arc.

2) Ball Position: You want the ball to be “directly under your lead ear”. That’s the natural low point of your swing (where your club grounds out). By having the ball under your lead ear, you’ll naturally be hitting the ball just before the club hits the ground. It helps you hit your ball first. NOTE: Other pros recommend more weight on your leading foot and lining the ball up with your trailing ear. Why not try both and sort out what’s best for you?

3) Shaft Lean: Setup with your shaft pointing up to your leading shoulder. This will also force you to keep more pressure on your leading foot during setup and throughout your chip. You want to impact the ball before you skim the turf.

4/ Flat Leading wrist: A flat leading wrist with a cupped trailing wrist will allow you to swing down into the ball and direct your swing in a straight line toward your target. You should practice chipping by wearing GOLFSTR+ to keep your leading wrist flat and then you can practice limiting the bend in your trailing wrist by fitting the shape of GOLFSTR+ on your trailing wrist.

You will never be a consistently good chipper until you build confidence by practicing your chipping motion and finishing your swing facing your belt buckle at your target. You should also test different lofted clubs to understand how far your chip will fly and roll out on the green with each club and different amount of backswing. Choose your line and make sure you swing to impact the ball on the dead center of your club face. Keep your eye on the ball until after impact.

You will never be a great chipper unless you practice to scoop your chips. GOLFSTR+ is a great training aid to help you get there. Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com

Golf Truism #26: Confidence evaporates in the presence of fairway water.

Why is a flat wrist so important to your swing? As it turns out, you may already be setting up with a flat leading wrist for your irons, hybrids and woods. Unfortunately your forward teed up ball position for your driver forces you to cup your leading wrist. Pros have no problem changing that cupped leading wrist to a flat or bowed leading wrist but it’s not so easy for recreational golfers. If you are having problems creating a flat leading wrist in your backswing why not do it BEFORE YOU START YOUR DRIVER BACKSWING?

Iron, Hybrid and Wood Setup
When we setup with any of our clubs, the grip should run across our the fingers on our leading hand (NOT ACROSS THE PALM). Holding our shorter clubs this way allows us to point the shaft in line with our leading arm and shoulder. It also forces us to setup with a flat leading wrist (not cupped or bowed). This is one of the main reasons why we hit more consistent shots with our irons and hybrids.

Driver Setup
When we setup with our driver, gripping with our leading hand in our fingers, you would think that we would get the same consistent result as our irons. The main difference is that we want to drive up on our teed-up ball so we place the ball forward in our stance. As we place our trailing hand on the lower part of the grip it naturally forces our trailing shoulder to tilt down but the shaft of our driver points at the center-line of our body. That forces us to cup our leading wrist during our setup.

Problems Adjusting Angles During Your Backswing
During your driver backswing your cupped wrist setup needs to flatten and then cock 90 degrees to create lag. Dustin Johnson actually bows his wrist immediately at the start of his takeaway to take advantage of his amazing power and release for more distance. Recreational golfers should NOT be trying to add the extra angles caused by bowing your wrist (according to Leadbetter, McLean and Hank Haney) . Your goal should be to minimize angles and keep your wrist flat throughout your backswing. Bryson DeChambeau flattens his leading wrist in his setup to avoid angles.

New Swing Opportunity
1/ Swinging with a flat wrist will help you avoid coming over the top and causing a slice.
2/ Keeping your wrist flat during your backswing allow you to shallow your club at the top of your swing.
3/ Your flat leading wrist also forces you to bend your trailing elbow to allow you to graze your side (with your elbow) as you swing from the inside and up your target line.
4/ As you swing from the inside you should imagine that you are hitting the inner quadrant of your ball (on the inside of a line running across your ball and up your target line). That also allow you to swing up on the ball to maximize your distance.

Solution for a Driver Setup with a Flat Wrist
Do your proper driver setup and grip. Hover your driver slightly off the ground and flatten your leading wrist so that your driver shaft points up to your leading shoulder. Yes, your club face will open up and move away from your ball as a starting point for your backswing. Low handicap golfers do this naturally in their backswing. You will be amazed at the result. Waggling to a flat leading wrist before you start your backswing takes one more motion out of your backswing. [Bryson swings with a flat leading wrist for all of his clubs including his putt.]

This is a revolutionary new way to fine tune your setup but you will be amazed at how consistent your drives will be with more distance. You can also test this flat wrist setup for your driver with GOLFSTR+ to lock your flat leading wrist. Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com

Golf Truism #25: Bets lengthen putts and shorten drives.

It’s amazing when we hit perfect shots and wish that we could capture that swing in a bottle. It seems to be magic but it’s really the fact that you used the swing skills that you already know. You just need to bottle up the right moves in every swing.

My Recent Awakening
After I played 9 holes of golf with consistently poor drives my wife suggested one of my swing thoughts: “Are you swinging with a flat wrist?” I thought “What a stupid question!” Of course she may not really know what I mean when I tell her to swing with a flat leading wrist but she said it as a serious reminder. Sure enough that was my exact problem. I immediately pared the next 4 holes. It was that one simple thought that I forgot during my backswing. I had been cupping my wrist.

It’s the same thing that a teaching pros will do with professional golfers when they see a swing mistake during a tournament. I’ve heard interviewers discover after a round of golf why a pro has had an amazing turnaround during a round of golf. There is one small detail in their swing that they tend to forget about as they get frustrated with their game. Their trainer spotted the problem and the fix is instant.

FLAT WRIST IN YOUR BACKSWING
That’s one of the 6 swing fixes that you can discover when practicing with GOLFSTR+. I invented this training aid to remind me to keep my leading elbow straight in my backswing. Teaching pros suggested 5 more uses for GOLFSTR and that’s why we call it “GOLFSTR PLUS”.

1/ STRAIGHT ARM BACKSWING: It’s applies pressure on the back of your arm to remind you to keep your leading arm straight and to limit your backswing to avoid bending your elbow.
2/ FLAT WRIST PUTTING: Forces you to learn to putt by rocking your shoulders and NOT bending your wrists.
3/ FLAT WRIST BACKSWING: Swinging with a flat wrist forces your tailing elbow to graze your ribcage during your downswing and to swing from inside-to-up-your-target-line. That was my recent BINGO THOUGHT and it really works..
4/ FLAT LEADING WRIST for CHIPPING: It prevents you from bending your leading wrist while chipping for better direction control to your target.
5/ MINIMIZE TRAILING WRIST LAG while chipping: It stops your wrist from bending more than 30 degrees as you sweep down into the ball.
6/ LAG TRAINER: Reminds you to bend your trailing elbow 90 degrees during your backswing to feel that you have loaded up a proper lag.

GOLFSTR+ helps you train with the 6 most important swing skills that you need to use in every round of golf. Make sure that you practice with it in all 6 applications as you may forget how important one of these swing fixes can be for your game. Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com

Golf Truism #24: The statute of limitations on forgotten strokes is two holes.

I started to write this article about hitting straight drives with your driver. In my research I learned about the bulge and roll across the face of every driver that creates a “gear effect” which causes your ball to curve back to the center line of your swing direction. Then my research stumbled on the way to gain 20 to 50 yards with every drive. The pros do this, so why don’t you?

As an over 70 year old golfer, I can hit my drives 220+ yards but I wanted to know how to turn that into 250 to 270 yards. I have limited strength and a limited swing speed. I just wanted to find that magic formula to gain at least 30 yards on 75% of my drives. I found it with a higher launch angle.

I’m not going into all of the theory of the science behind distance but I do want you to know that topspin and too much underspin both reduce the distance that your ball travels. So we need to eliminate topspin and minimize underspin. Gear effect (caused by hitting off center) will draw or fade the ball back into our target swing path so that should not be a major factor unless you are killing your shot by impacting near the hosel or the toe of your club.

Swing speed is another important way to gain distance. Unfortunately if you have a swing speed which is crossing the face of the ball, you can either add a duck hook or a violent slice on your ball. So power and swing speed really have limitations for all recreational golfer.

The Magic Distance Solution [“Strike Plan” by Adam Young]
It’s a combination of swinging to launch a ball at a higher angle about 4 degrees up (plus the angle of your club face) without adding underspin to the ball. You can minimize the spin by impacting exactly on the perpendicular face of your driver launch angle.

Most of the longest drivers on tour hit up on the ball. Rory McIlroy hits 3 degrees up on the ball with a club face angle of 9 degrees for his total launch angle is 12 degrees. (his club path is close to 0 and his face path is 1.5 degrees closed – creating a draw). Justin Thomas (the most efficient driver on tour) hits 6 degrees up on the ball. Long drive champions, like Joe Miller, can hit as much as 12 degrees up on the ball (but he needs a lot of swing speed to take advantage his launch angle).

As a recreational golfer, your power is limited, so a launch angle over 12 degrees will not help your ball travel an extra 100 yards. Just tee your ball up higher and impact just outside & above the center-point of the your club face. Setup to impact AFTER your swing bottoms out and starts to rise. You still have to minimize the spin of your ball by swinging to impact your ball perpendicular to the face of your club.

Spraying foot powder on the face of my club to see what impact location is giving you longer drives. I love it when I add on 30 yards to my drives and you should too. Practice with your GOLFSTR+ to launch your drives on a higher trajectory with less top or under spin. Buy one today at www.golfstr.com

Golf Truism #23: It’s surprisingly easy to hole a 50-foot putt when you lie 10.