Swing Solutions

There is a fine line between a poor golf shot and a wonderful shot. Imagine the success in your slotvibe game if you could perform the same swing with each club to impact exactly on the sweat spot of your club face and directly up your target line. An inch of impact error on your club face (up, down, out, in or any combination) or a few degrees off your target line can destroy any shot. When you consider the action required by every bone and muscle in your body, it’s actually amazing how we hit as many good shots as we do.

The human body is an imperfect machine but our brain somehow makes corrective actions to compensate for the different strengths of muscles on each side of our body. Past injuries like torn muscles, a strained tendon and broke bones all must have an impact on the way we swing a golf club. The older we get the more inconsistent our bodies become. The car accident attorneys reckons that when we suffer from any kind of major injury, naturally it tends to degrade our game skills and become prey to depression. Firstly we need to be healed from our injury, know about compensation available for our injury with the help of attorneys for TBI and make sure to know about injury law mistakes which most people tend to ignore. Finally approach the best attorney who fights on your behalf to get the best compensation and justice for you. By surfing the internet, we would get endless options on choosing the best attorney. But the surest way to know this attorney is the best is to meet one of their clients and ask about their experience of handling the case. Likewise, the list of attorneys get shortlisted and will show Baltimore injury lawyers for hire always, since they are most reputed and best known for their client satisfaction for ages.

We are all frustrated with missed shots. But we all believe that golf perfection is within our grasp and that’s why we keep coming back to this game. YOU need a plan for consistency.

How do We Maintain Consistency in our Swing?
1/ Have you ever noticed that you have played some of your best golf when you are injured with a muscle strain or playing in a mental fog while suffering with cold medication? Your new found success occurs when your mind is minimizing that monster inside your brain. Give yourself more time for a good backswing and time to follow through to a complete finish. Admire your shots.

2/ Why do they call Ernie Els “The Big Easy”? His backswing and transition are slow and in control. Slow down your backswing to give yourself time for hip and shoulder rotation as your wrists cock to create lag.

3/ Power does not come from a Fast Backswing: 100% of your power comes from the accelerating release of your arms and your wrists through the bottom of your downswing.

4/ Control Your Practice Swing: Train your muscles during your practice swing. Choose your target, visualize your shot and deliver the perfect practice swing with exactly the same power that you want when you step up to your ball and make exactly the same swing.

Minimize your mishits by duplicating your prefect practice swing. It’s all in you mind. Don’t change your cadence or power when you swing through your ball and up your target line. It’s that STUPID RUSH as the top that limits your weight transfer and creates your mishits. Practice with GOLFSTR+ as a reminder to feel your straight leading arm throughout your swing. Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com

Golf Truism #37: It always takes at least five holes to notice that a club is missing.

We all struggle for perfection with our game of golf. That’s exactly why we love this game. Yes it’s a love hate relationship but you know that if you can par one hole you should be able to par all 18 holes on any given day. At least you hope to do that. I’ve been reading The Inner Game of Golf by Timothy Gallwey. He really has an amazing solution.

Self Doubt Is our Primary Stumbling Block
CONFIDENCE and TRUST for a consistent swing with every club is all we need to create SUCCESSFUL GOLF SWINGS. Unfortunately we live with 2 alter egos: Self 1 that controls how we TRY for success and Self 2 that OPENS OUR MIND for success. You can’t be thinking about your past swing failures. You need to get rid of mental stress by replacing it with a simple thought that’s easy to accomplish.

Of course you need to know the basics of the proper club selection, grip and setup for your irons, hybrids, woods and driver. You also need the skill to read a green and choose a target line. All of that can be learned with lessons and practice. Where we all fall down is during our swing when nervous tension destroys our rhythm and execution with any club or putter.

If you focus on the top 10 (or 100) moves that you need to execute and then try to join the dots in your mind, you build up panic and emotion that destroys any swing. That’s exactly why Brooks Koepka says that he has “NO thought in his mind when he swings”. He knows his target and the shape of his shot. That wonderful feeling is all he needs to execute his shot.

Professional golfers spend years taking lessons and practicing every type of shot with every club in their bag. Competitive matches just add an extra level of stress that recreational players will never experience. But the moment of truth happens for every shot we take. How do you calm down your brain for every swing?

Take Your Brain out of the Equation
Take the pressure for success off your shoulders. On the tee or fairway after you choose your target line and setup for your shot, just think about an easy task like tossing a ball at your target or on the green think about stooping to pick your ball out of the hole. I like the idea that Jack Nicklaus only visualized the ball fight for his next shot. Give yourself a simple mental task to relax and calm your mind as you execute your shot.

I have learned that my best shots always happen when I know that I can layup to an easy location. It take all of the pressure off so that I just use 1 extra club so that I can easily reach my target with an 80% swing. To let your inner self (Self 2) execute your swing, Gallwey suggests that we just say “Dah, Dah, Dah” for your takeaway, impact and follow-through. That removes any time to think about specific motions for the swing. Your unconscious mind will taking over.

I will report back to you as I transition from my current method to the Gallwey Method. My mental triggers are: “1,2,3” or “out, lag, in” to force me to take more time for my (1) wide takeaway and (2) flat wrist lag before my (3) shallow downswing and impact up my target line. I developed the “1,2,3” method to block my mind from external thoughts. I’d love to hear back from our followers on your thoughts and successes.

Learn the fine points of your swing with every club in your bag using GOLFSTR+ to improve your swing and take the pressure off your game. Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com.

Golf Truism #36: The ball always lands where the pin was yesterday. 

I write these blogs based on interesting golf insights that may affect your game as well as mine. This week I watched a training clip by Quintin on Top Speed Golf that reminded me of a match that I played where all of my iron shots were in perfect control for direction and distance. Why did this happen? I took a divot after impact with the ball on most of my shots.

Like most recreational golfers, I typically make a perfect practice swing for my iron, pitch or chip shots. Then I proceed to put a little more oomph and power into my actual shot before my hips start to rotate. Yes, I rush my shot from the top of my swing without giving enough time for my weight transfer to my leading foot. I often that I rush my swing with my arms while my weight is still on my tailing foot.

The lesson that I watched focused on “Why we Chunk Chips“. It’s also the same reason why we mishit our iron shots.
1/ It’s easy to make a practice swing for a Chip Shot. You don’t need a lot of power so we easily swing to bottom out our swing exactly where the ball is resting or beyond that location.
2/ Then we move up our ball, take a look at our target and start to think about the last chucked chip shot that we made. The body tightens and we turn into a robot.
3/ In our backswing, we limit our hip and spine rotation as we tend to shift the trunk of our body about 2 or 3 inches sideways to create a little more power with a slightly faster backswing and downswing.
4/ Unfortunately we never recover from the side-sway in our backswing. We then bottom out the swing 3 inches before the ball or we blade it like a bullet across the green.

Solution: DON’T SHIFT YOUR BODY SIDEWAYS IN YOUR BACKSWING.
–Keep your head directly over your ball as your shoulders and hips ROTATE [Not Shift].

• –Your leading knee doesn’t straighten, it turns with your body rotation and points more to your trailing knee.
  
• -Stand up right now in a golfer’s stance and cross your arms over your chest and rotate (or coil) WITHOUT SHIFTING SIDEWAYS.
  
• -Do this about 20 times and then complete the same rotation while swinging your wedge. Your club face will ground-out at or just after the ball. No more chunking.

Now practice the same swing with all of your irons using your GOLFSTR+ AND A STRAIGHT LEADING ARM. Make sure that you take a slight divot after your ball. Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com

Golf Truism #35: The rough will be mowed tomorrow.

You will never be a low handicap golfer if you don’t figure out a consistent takeaway that works for your driver and possibly a different one for your irons. Some pros have a wide or narrow takeaway and some flatten their leading wrist and others bow their leading wrist. So what should you focus on for your takeaway?

Rory McIlroy has a wide takeaway. It lets him slightly loop down at the top and shallow his club with his elbow into his side as his leading hip rotates his body through his downswing. I personally had a problem with coming over the top and slicing the ball so Rory give me the perfect swing to shallow my downswing for a square impact.

On the other hand Dustin Johnson does an early wrist cock in his takeaway. He has no problem visualizing the open face of his club as he bows his wrist at the top of his swing. He also has no problem starting his downswing on the same plane as he drops the butt end of his golf club and fires his hooded club up his target line. Most of the teaching pros recommend that you don’t try to copy this amazing swing as you need brute force to get away with his bowed wrist swing.

Bryson DeChambeau keeps his leading wrist perfectly straight in his setup, during his backswing and down on the same plane in his downswing. He looks like a robot but his strength delivers amazing club-head speed.

Does your take-way matter? NO, as long as you can still change your downswing path to release your wrists at the bottom of your inside swing arc and up your target line.

Avoid casting at the top and spoiling your swing with an outside to inside swing. All of the pros pull their bent trailing elbow in as the rotation of their leading hip starts their downswing as they pull down on the butt end of their club. That PULLING action close to their side, stops any premature casting action.

So however you like to coil your body and arms in your takeaway, it really doesn’t matter as long as you can release your lagging wrists to whip your club face up your target line. A flat leading wrist and a straight leading arm is helpful for consistency to avoid any strange releasing action as your club powers through the ball.

Dustin Johnson won the Masters last weekend with power and consistency. His bowed wrist at the top of his swing is NOT what every golfer can duplicate or try to duplicate but it works for him as it is the only way that he can feel his HOODED club face firing down to a square impact. It is definitely not for everyone but he picked up up a cool $2 Million by keeping a consistent performance.

Don’t make your swing complex. Practice with your GOLFSTR+ to swing with a straight leading arm and flat wrist. Your cocked trailing wrist is all you need to think about as you pull down with the butt end of your club. Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com

Golf Truism #34 Nothing straightens out a nasty slice quicker than a sharp dogleg to the right.

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)