Welcome to YOUR Swing Support Center, a blog with tips to help you transition to your new straight leading arm back-swing. This blog allows us to share information which we find in articles by golf professionals or success stories submitted by GOLFSTR users. These tips have helped me and I hope they help you too.

Bill Curry, inventor of GOLFSTR

Archives for the ‘Swing Solutions’ Category

Adjust Your Body for YOUR Clubs

Ideally every year we should all be finding a professional golf club fitter to recommend the perfect clubs for your body-strength and flexibility using the latest technology. Unfortunately that is not financially practical for many of us so we make do with the clubs we have. As our bodies age, we tend to get weaker and less flexible along with more aches and muscle strains. If you want to improve your game first you should consider making some physical adjustments with your existing clubs.

Very minor adjustment can add distance and consistence. Don’t try to make radical changes to your swing on the golf course. You could start by taking lessons with a PGA Instructor. Understand your weaknesses. Create a plan of action for your drives, fairway shots, approach shots and putting. Or you may consider purchasing a training aid like GOLFSTR+ to help you train for 6 swing fixes with all of your existing clubs. In connection, Pclubgolf can serve as your training ground. Learn to swing properly with a straight leading arm, a flat leading wrist and lag for more power and consistency.

Check out these 3 options.
You may need to open your stance and limit your back-swing the way Fred Couples swings for all of his clubs.
What works for your body?

Direction Control

  1. All of your longer clubs (driver to 8 iron) should be swung with a consistent 80 to 85% swing speed. For a shorter distance with any club, just chock down and swing at the same speed. NEVER swing faster for more distance (UNLESS YOU WANT TO ADD A DUCK HOOK OR SLICE).
  2. Stop fighting with hooks and slices. The weight of your club and/or the flex point of your shaft may be killing your shots. There is a perfect open or closed stance with a forward or rearward ball position that will generate straight golf shots for every club in your bag. Go to the practice range to test each of your clubs to determine the right correction for all of your clubs.
  3. Slight adjustments will cause every club to slice or draw. Know your preferred shot shape so that you can setup for your shape.

Distance Control

  1. Train yourself to swing with a straight leading arm. Limit your back-swing at the point where your elbow starts to bend.
  2. Learn to swing with a flat leading wrist. It will force you to bend your trailing elbow and shallow your downswing to avoid swinging over the top for those crazy slices. [ Our #1 tip! ]
  3. Don’t rush your transition as your weight starts the shift from your tailing foot to your leading foot. A smooth transition with a constant acceleration during your lag release will make your club whooosh through the point of impact.
  4. You may want to lift your leading heel to assist your back-swing to allow for more hip rotation. Your back-swing is a hip, spine and shoulder rotation. NEVER sway back. [Swinging with all of your weight on your trailing foot will causes fat, thin and topped balls.]

Putting and Chipping Control

  1. Eliminate shaky hands when putting. Use the major muscles in your back to rock your shoulders and swing your arms with a flat leading wrist and finish by swinging up your target line at impact.
  2. Eliminate the arc in your putter swing at the point of impact. You may want to try releasing your trailing hand at the point of impact and allowing your flat wrist leading hand to swing up your target line.

Practice with GOLFSTR+ to learn the right wrist and arm action for every club in your bag. Experiment at the driving range or ask a pro to help with foot and ball adjustments to get the most out of your existing set of golf clubs. Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com

Golf Truism #41: Out of bounds is always on the right, for right-handed golfers. (that dreaded slice)

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Is Your Problem: Tired Body or Tired Mind?

I recently sent out a Golf Truism with our weekly blog: “Why does it takes 17 holes to warm up?” That thought comes up when the golf Gods allow us to hit an amazing shot on the 18th hole to make sure that we come back again. It’s could be that or your body is tired so you are extremely relaxed or your mind has finally dropped all of its external thoughts so that you can finally focus on golf.

Staying relaxed and visualizing the shot that you want to make must be a controlling factor for your success. Swinging with all your might is definitely not a good solution. Golf is NOT a “no brainer”.

Don’t let your mind wander. Jack Nicklaus lost a Masters Tournament when he lost his concentration as he shook a fans hand during his walked up to the green on the 18th hole. He lost his focus and missed a key putt and lost the tournament. He commented in retrospect that he never did that again. If you want to be good at golf you need to zone in and tune out everything else. Keep your mind on your preparation and execution for each shot.

Tiger knows he can’t afford to be mentally tired. Make the shot.

Great golfers take these 4 distinct steps:
1/ Clear their mind before they setup to execute their shot.
2/ Decide on the shot that they want to make (based on experience).
3/ Visualize their ball flight to their target.
4/ Zone into a rhythm for a full backswing and release to a balanced finish.

The mechanical components of their swing are NOT in their mind.

Rhythm and club head direction are all that they have time to visualize.

For rhythm you may mentally say Dah, Dah, Dah or One Hundred ‘n One or 1,2,3. Or for putting you may want to say “1,2”. Anything that your mind can repeat will allow you to clear your brain from any other thought.

Practice with GOLFSTR+ to learn what swing works for every club to create your draw or fad. Know how to create your shot. Make a practice swing before every hit to FEEL the exact swing that you WANT to execute at the pace and rhythm to generate the perfect speed for both your backswing and your downswing. Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com

Golf Truism #40: You can hit a 2-acre fairway 10% of the time and a two inch branch 90% of the time.

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Find Your Rhythm to Kill Your Early Release

I have played this game for over 50 years and love the challenge. I only break 80 once in a while so I’m always looking for ways to keep a consistent swing for every club in my bag. One of our blog followers asked if GOLFSTR+ could help him overcome EARLY RELEASE. My response reminded me how important your practice with training aids can be.

Swing rhythm and weight shift from your trailing foot to your leading foot during your transition can help you avoid YOUR EARLY RELEASE. Unfortunately the changing weight of each club and the mental pressure from your last shot often have an impact on your next shot.

Practicing with GOLFSTR+ will remind you to keep your leading arm straight. Your leading arm should stay straight in both your back-swing and your down-swing. That’s a good starting point to stop your early release. Following are 2 of the 6 training aid uses for GOLFSTR+

1/ Straight Arm Trainer
a. Feel it touching the back of your leading arm as you pull down to start your down swing.
b. That’s your mental reminder to prevent your EARLY RELEASE as you shift your weight to your leading foot.

2/ Lag Trainer
a. The pressure on your trailing forearm is the reminder to start your transition.
b. The rotation of your leading hip starts your weight shift.
c. Holding your cocked wrist as you start your down-swing stops your EARLY RELEASE.

A recent blog by Danny Maude gives us another great description on how to avoid EARLY RELEASE and generate more power:
a. Store It: Rotate your hips and shoulders as you cock your wrists to store energy.
b. Keep It: Load your weight from your trailing foot to your leading foot.
c. Release It: Start your down swing with your leading hip, shoulders and then arms. Release your wrists last to generate a wooosh at the bottom.

d. Say “One Hundred and One” to add rhythm to your swing.

When you release at the bottom of your swing you will definitely hear a WOOOSHing noise. GOLFSTR+ just gives a reminder to help you delay your release. The woooshing noise is just the proof that you got it right. Practice to get the sound and that feeling for the right release. Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com

Don’t be too serious about your game. Loosen up!
I hope you got some interesting Christmas presents like I did.
Happy New Year

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Allow Your Subconscious Mind to Take Control

Have you ever experienced an Out of Body SENSATION during your golf swing? It’s that moment when you get everything in sync for the perfect shot. Your subconscious mind seems to picture your swing in slow motion as it takes control of your body. I now realize that my brute force in my External Game of Golf is limiting my lower scores.

I decided to share these thoughts after I finished reading “The Inner Game of Golf”. Improve your game by letting your subconscious mind take control.

So many golfers, including myself, rush our backswing during the transition and never give our body time to start the shift of our weight to our leading foot at the top of our swing. Are you experiencing the following in your iron swings?
1/ You finish your swing falling back on your trailing foot.
2/ You rarely take any divot after the point where your ball rests.
3/ Your divot starts before your ball.
4/ The direction of your divot is never running up your target line.

Practical-golf.com provided this image. Impact your ball and then take your divot.

You need to slow down your transition and accelerate from the top of your swing. Danny Maude refers to this motion as swinging from “high to low” as your club falls DOWN through the ball. Your rushed, brute force swing from the top of your swing is killing your game.
a. Add rhythm to your swing by thinking 1, 2, 3 (with “2” at the top of your swing).
b. Force yourself to start the press forward (instead of backwards) at the top of your swing so that you WILL take a divot (or at least some grass) after the point where your ball is at rest.
c. Force yourself to finish your swing so that you are balancing on your leading foot and watching the amazing hit that you just made.

I know that many, including Tiger Woods, shift their minds into a yoga like trance where their subconscious takes over their swing. I’m not sure that I have described this correctly but I do know that it’s a subconscious experience. It’s that strange awareness when your mind takes control of your brute-force swing. Pros get this feeling on almost every shot.

Wouldn’t you like your ball to catapult off your club and vanish directly up your target line? Using your GOLFSTR+ to remind you to keep your leading arm straight is just a great starting point for perfect golf shots. Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com

Golf Truism #38 Every time a golfer makes a birdie, he must subsequently make two triple bogeys to restore the fundamental equilibrium of the universe.

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Hip Press is Key for Your Success

If your lead hip is not starting to press forward at the top of your swing, your transition will not generate a powerful hit. All too often we lock our head and hips at the top of our swing and let our arms take over. That early arm action freezes our body so that we swing with our weight on our trailing foot. Your hip press or bump will start your weight shift to your leading foot.

When you complete a relaxed practice swing (before your muscles tense up for the main event), it’s so easy to allow your weight to start shifting to our leading foot. Unfortunately when we step forward to the ball your focus often changes. We all tend to think about putting a little more power into our swing. That extra power causes us to rush the start of our downswing – – – BEFORE we start to shift our weight to our leading foot.
To help you create a smooth transition, Clay at TopSpeedGolf.com made the following recommendations:

This image shows a light hip BUMP during the transition. It allows you to stay over the ball and to start opening your hips.
  1. At address: Stand nice & tall (but still in an athletic position). You want to begin by standing as upright (with knees bent) as you can and still reach the club to the ball. You’re going to want to squat lower as you launch down in your downswing, so starting with nice posture can keep you from feeling too low to the ground in the downswing.
  2. On the backswing: Activate your hips. If you rotate your hips in the backswing, not only does it help you load up on your leading foot, but it gives your hips momentum to open up through impact as you launch into a standing position.
  3. During the Transition: Push your lead foot into the ground (as you bump your hip forward). Newton’s 3rd Law says that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. So, by pushing into the ground with your lead foot, it pushes your lead hip back (and open). This gives you room to swing through the ball. Opening your hips at impact allows you to power through your ball as you either launch your drives or skim some turf with your irons after the ball.
  4. As you follow through: You need to keep a shoulder tilt through impact. Your trailing shoulder should be tilted down. Focusing on this will ensure you’re staying in your athletic posture through impact.

When you get this right it feels like y o u a r e s w I n g I n g in s l o w m o t I o n. You can feel the leading edge of your club effortlessly power your ball up your target line. Practice with GOLFSTR+ to keep you leading arm straight through impact. Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com

Golf Truism #38 The nearest sprinkler head will be blank.

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The Importance of Your Mind Games

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.

It’s risky to plan and then visualize your shot drawing into the green over water. Let your mind control your shot and enjoy the view.


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.

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Find Your Inner Game of Golf

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.

Charles Barkley was a wonderful basketball players but he can’t melt all of his thoughts into a simple golf swing. He needs to allow his inner self to release his swing.

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.

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Are You Firing from your Trailing Foot?

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.

I found this image in Golf Digest with a perfect position in the transition. Unfortunately many of us execute the downswing without transferring weigh to our leading 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.

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Is Your Takeaway Working ?

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.

The Morning-Read Blog provided this this photo of Dustin Johnson after his Masters Win. No-one swings like Dustin but he is the best. He definitely swings from the inside and up his target line and you should too.

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.

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Putt Straight Every Time

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).

Don’t waste your time practice putting until you setup a string over a straight putt and learn to swing so that your putter is on a straight line at the point of impact.

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.

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