Swing Solutions

Just when we thought that Scottie Scheffler had the magic solution for excellence in golf, his world came crashing down. On the second day of the US Open he just made the cut and we were shocked. We found out that he’s human after all. There really is hope for every struggling golfer. We should all learn from some of the comments and performance at the US Open.

Most golfers will never play #2 Pinehurst as it really is designed to humble any golfer who takes on the challenge. Watching how the pros handle their commitment to their game is the most important thing that we can all take away from this amazing golf event.

Scottie’s Weak Putting Performance:
Even before the start of the US Open, Scottie Scheffler was outside of the top 70 professional golfers for strokes gained in putting. In spite of his seemingly weaker putting performance, he still has an amazing winning record. OUR TAKEAWAY: His performance in other skills like fairways hit, scrambling, greens in regulation, sand saves and one putt greens are enough to keep him at the top of his sport. DON’T LET ONE WEAKNESS DESTROY YOUR MENTAL OUTLOOK.

Positive Attitude:
Roger Federer was a top tennis player who won 80% of the games that he played but he only won 54% of the points. OUR TAKEWAY: The top performer wins by the slimmest of margins. Attitude and Confidence can put you over the top in every sport.

Stay Focused:
Jack Nicklaus commented at his Memorial Tournament that Rory’s inability to win majors over the past 10 years: “He seems to not be able to focus all the way around.” When commenting on Scottie’s success: “He doesn’t make dumb mistakes.” OUR TAKEAWAY: Jack was right about Rory’s focus (when he missed 2 short putts) to lose the US Open and for Scottie: you are only as good a your next shot so keep your head in the game.

Learn Patience:
Scottie’s demeanor stays the same throughout the round. He navigates each shot the same regardless of the level of difficulty. Rather than getting upset over a mishit or a shot deflected by a tree, he takes his mind to a positive place and focuses on what he can control. OUR TAKEAWAY: Avoid #2 Pinehurst.

Over the past few weeks we have seen Nelly Korda and Scottie Scheffler lose their magic touch. We will never know the external pressures that may have thrown their games off but we do know that they are amazing athletes who have the mental fortitude to get back on their games. You can do this too if you practice to improve your swing with GOLFSTR+. Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com

You will never be good at any shot unless you practice a consistent swing that performs well for you. This is pretty basic stuff. Most golfers spend too much time on the range swinging with their driver. Unfortunately, golf is a game played with every club in your bag and each one can hurt or benefit your game every time you play.

Tennis is a lot like golf when it comes down to hitting any shot. Technique is critical but you need to perfect various types of serves, forehand shots and backhand shots to be a great tennis player. To improve my game, I took a single lesson to learn the proper serve as it seemed to be the most critical shot similar to being able to hit a great drive.

I was fortunate to have courts in a park next to our house so I would regularly practice serves using buckets of balls at least 4 days every week. Unfortunately, as a single player practicing my serve the rest of my game suffered.

Reading an article by an editor at GOLF.COM, I realized that his golf game suffered the same fate. His drives and full swing approach shots were great but he could not make chips and flop shots around the green. His friends complimented his game and said, “Its too bad he couldn’t score well”. That set him on fire with determination to clean up his game.

Solution
He learned to trust the bounce for each of his lofted clubs. His old habit was to close the face of his wedges to keep the ball lower to control his shots. When he saw the success that he was having with his open-faced lob shots, his game turn around. Consistent practice allowed him to build confidence for each angle of his lofted clubs so that he could roll or stick his chip and flop shots.

By practicing his short green shots instead of hitting without purpose, it made all the difference. He found the right setup position and with consistent practice he learned to get his chips close for more single putt greens.

Put some effort into your game before you waste more time playing golf. Practice with GOLFSTR+ for perfection with every shot in your game. Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com

Sports Illustrated’ s weekly blog: GOLF.com, recently had a great idea to improve our games. Just set some achievable positive goals before every round. That will help you enjoy your great shots and disregard your worm burners and shanks without setting a grenade off in your butt.

The enjoyment of golf is about setting goals that bring you energy and fun. When you’re having more fun you’re in a happy place. Ben Hogan, one of the greatest champions in the history of the game, said he was happy to hit just one or two perfect shots per round. He said that everyone — from high-handicappers to scratch players — would be wise to play the game that way.

Julie Elion is a mental-game guru, who reminded us of Bobby Jones’ quote: “Golf is a game that’s played on a five-inch course — the distance between your ears,” She found that the mind is the most daunting hazard out there on any course.

Set Your Goals
Julie helps golfers identify their personal goals before every event. The most common theme is CONSCIOUS POSITIVE INTENTIONS. All it takes is a simple message — distilled into a few easy-to-remember lines. Positive goals play better than those who play with fear of negative outcomes. An obsessive insight and analysis about a problem seldom results in a winning putt. Focus on your target Negative thoughts based on avoidance cause a bad case of energy drain.

Knowledge of a relevant hazard is useful, but it’s not a goal. Positivity is paramount. Elite athletes, like Scottie Scheffler with an optimal mental attitude are the ones who end up pulling away from the pack.

A/ Set measurable goals: Number of Fairways Hit, GIRs and 1 or 2 putt greens

B/ Set SWING goals that reinforce energy and concentration with specific steps:

• –Light grip to relax muscles as you swing though the ball.
• –Full backswing to allow time for wrist lag at the top.
• –Swing to a balanced finish
• –Finish your putting swing up your target line to let the ball pass the hole.
  
• Practice with your swing goals in mind using GOLFSTR+ before you reach the first hole. Then keep those thoughts throughout your round. Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com

Every shot in your game can be corrected with a consistent tempo. Every club in your bag is a different weight and different length to accommodate your shots of different distances. Your driver, fairway woods, hybrids and irons all have different contact points with the ground during your swing. For a consistent impact (with each club), you need a consistent tempo, for your backswing and downswing.

Golf is a simple game if you can only control your mind and point of impact with every club.

Tom Watson said that he controls his tempo by saying the word “Edelweiss” for every swing in his game.

I like to use the phrase “One annd Two” where Two is the start of my downswing to a balance finish.

Calm yourself down by choosing the right club to make your shot and then lining up your shot before you move to your stance beside your ball.

MOST IMPORTANT of all is THAT YOU TAKE A PRACTICE SWING AND SAY YOUR TEMPO PHRASE TO SLOW DOWN YOUR BACKSWING.

Take a final look at your target and then execute your swing as you say your tempo phrase AGAIN!

Saying your tempo phrase helps you take more time in your back swing to create more hip and shoulder rotation as you add wrist lag at the top of your swing with a flat wrist and a straight leading elbow.

Taking your practice swing, as you say your tempo phrase, is critical in order to repeat those actions as you execute your full swing to a balance finish. Practice with GOLFSTR+ to control your leading arm and straight elbow. Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com

No two golfers have the identical golf swing so you should be able to make minor adjustments to accommodate your physical limitations. We all suffer from past injuries and different strength in every muscle in our bodies. So, it only makes sense that you should be able to take corrective action by changing your foot pressure, shoulder tilt or ball position during setup. Only you can test out your best setup to create more success for your game.

Lee Travino came up with this tip to fix topped balls, thin shots and fat shots. If you are consistent in hitting your mishits, this tip may be the best way to take corrective action.

If you are topping the ball, just move your ball back a few inches in your stance when you setup. Take a full practice swing to see exactly where you are first touching the grass. Your goal is to impact the ball just before you take any divot.

If you are hitting thin shot (worm burners), use the same correction as topping the ball. You may also be standing too far from the ball. Move an inch closer to the ball and lineup some extra tees inside or outside of your ball to see the result from your swing. You may also want to arch your back (belly in and bum out). Holding this position from setup to impact will keep your club face at the same point through impact.

Hitting it fat (taking turf before you hit the ball) is one of the most common swing problems. Too many golfers sway back in their backswing and never recover by shifting from their trailing foot to their leading foot as they start their downswing.
-Moving the ball back in your stance will give you a better chance to hit the ball first but it is really a dumb correction.
-Stop trying to kill the ball. Your backswing is pulling your body away from your ball and your downswing is not giving your body time to shift back over the ball.
-SOLUTION: Slow down your backswing as you keep your nose over your ball and swing down through the ball without shifting your head.

Testing your swing on the practice range is the best way to find your swing flaws. Making adjustments with your ball will give you some confidence with better hits. A better solution is to set up with 65% of your pressure on your leading foot. Its the easiest way to keep your nose and body forward during your swing.

Practice with GOLFSTR+ as a reminder to keep you leading arm straight throughout your back swing and down swing. It will help you keep your ball at a consistent distance to your nose until impact. Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com

I was blown away by a tip that allow us to naturally shallow our downswing. Of course, shallowing your downswing prevents you from coming over the top and slicing the ball. Too many thoughts will always mess up your swing so you can’t afford to be thinking about each motion that should naturally happen in your down swing. You need one thought to focus on.

David Leadbetter keeps releasing blogs about the first foot of your takeaway in order to sell his miracle training aid. But if you setup with your leading elbow rotated and pointing down your target line, it is very natural to start your takeaway with a flat leading wrist and a straight leading elbow as you turn your hips and shoulders in your back swing.

Clearing Your Hip Starts the Chain Reaction up to Your Shoulders
As long as you take time to add wrist lag at the top, it will also give you time to press forward on your leading leg as you start to CLEAR YOUR HIP. By starting the pressure shift to your leading leg you will also start your powerful downswing.
a. Pressure on your leading leg will help you drop your trailing shoulder.
b. That shoulder drop will shallow your club head (to avoid an over the top swing)
c. This starts a chain reaction to rotate your hip and then your shoulders
d. And finally to drop your straight leading arm to power through the ball
e. And finish in balance on your leading foot and leg.

Your ONLY Swing Thought
Your setup with a proper ball position and leading elbow position is completed before you start your backswing. Your only swing thought is to slow your backswing (by counting ”1 annd 2”) to let the forward pressure on your leading leg start your down swing during your transition at the top.

Your pressure forward starts the chain reaction from the ground up. Of course, you need to swing to a finish in balance on your leading foot but should happen naturally. Every pro finishes that way and that part needs to be burned into your mind.

Your downswing starts with a pressure shift to your leading foot during your transition from up to down. Learn to keep your leading arm straight for a consistent distance down to your ball throughout your swing. Practice with GOLFSTR+. Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com

Using your putter as a plumb bob to determine the break near the hole will cut strokes from your game. Unfortunately, too many golfers try to plumb bob from behind their ball and without a calibrated putter. Those mistakes result in more missed putts.

Gravity and your clubs are the only tools that you can legally use to determine the slope of a green. Plumb bobbing only helps you understand the slope of the green where your feet are standing. For any putt, your ball will bend more with the slope of the green as it slows down near the hole. That’s why you need to plumb bob with your calibrated putter on a line from BEHIND THE HOLE and back to your ball.

Calibrate Your Putter
Every putter head has a different weight, and every shaft has a different taper. Calibrate your putter by standing 6 to 10 feet away from any door frame and letting your putter hang freely from your fingertips. Close one of your eyes and rotate the face of your hanging putter until one side of the shaft lines up with the door frame. [ RECORD the eye that you used, the side of your shaft (NOT INCLUDING THE GRIP) and the putter face orientation.]

Use Your Putter as a Plumb Bob to Determine the High Side Near the Hole

• -Stand on the line behind the hole so that you can see the hole in-line with your ball.
• -Hang your putter shaft in front of you to line up the hole near the bottom of your shaft.
• –The top of your shaft will line up on the high side of your ball so that’s the high side of the slope near your hole.
• -The greater the gap from your shaft edge to your ball, to greater the slope and the faster your ball will break down to the hole.

If there is a significant double or triple break on the green leading to the hole, you need to consider what those breaks will do when your ball is rolling at a higher speed where the slope will have less impact. Plumb bobbing will only help you determine the slope near the hole. If you can see an obvious slope near the hole, DON’T WASTE YOUR TIME PLUMB BOBBING.

On televised golf matches you will often see a golfer plumb bobbing from the ball to the hole. This is useless, unless the slope is exactly the same from the ball to the hole.

Choose your putting line ABOVE for the slope near the hole and limit a slight break by swinging hard enough to pass the hole by up to 3 feet. Practice with GOLFSTR+ to keep your leading wrist flat as you putt by rocking your shoulders. Buy one today at www.golfstr.com

PS: Please forward to Brooke Henderson and Justin Rose (They are examples of misguided Plumb Bobbers).

I have seen too many poor golfers who try to cut or hook their putts with the face of their putter. Your putter face may have up to a 3% tilt to start your ball rolling over and only on a straight line. By adding to the complexity of a swing where you add a curve to your putt is a crazy idea. We all need to use the KISS principle. Keep It Simple Stupid!

Your Starting Point
A student asked: “How do I sink long putts?” The pro replied: “Take a chipping lesson”. It’s so true. Chipping it close for a 1-putt green should be the goal of every Weekend Warrior. Just chip to 3 feet and sink the putt. What could be easier?

Your Putting Goal
Putting is the easiest stroke in golf, so you have no excuse but to make it the best part of your game. You will sink more putts when you commit to a target and only rock your shoulders and torso to send your ball at your chosen target point. Practice putting by locking your wrist with GOLFSTR+.

Scottie Scheffler is the best example of a great putter:
a. Lift and Set: After he considers the slope of the green and lines up his putt, he always lifts his putter directly in front of his face and sets his hands with a conventional grip so that there is no gap from the palm of his hands to his grip.
b. Line-up His Putter: He recently changed putters to a TaylorMade Spider X mallet style head with a bold line extending along the center line on the crown of his putter. His caddy said that it gives him more confidence for a square line-up from his putter on his target line.

Understand the slope: Look at the slope from behind the hole and back to your ball as well as the side view from below your putting line. Determine your feel for the break based on testing the putting speed and breaks on the practice green.

Understand the distance and slope combination: Test the speed of your putts for distance on up-hill and down-hill putts. Before every putt, make a practice swing to feel the amount of swing required for your exact putt to pass the hole by up to 2 feet.

Lock Your Eyes: After you square your putter on your target line. Focus your eyes on a line or the ball’s logo on the exact point that you will impact your ball until 1-second after impact. [Never watch the putter in the backswing or the follow-through.]

Make your putting stroke with a cadence count of “one-two” and practice with a flat leading wrist with your GOLFSTR+. Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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